Reminder: Don’t Miss Jessie Newburn on the Par-Tay
April 15, 2008
Everyone knows that we are huge fans of Jonny’s Par-Tay here at East Coast Blogging. We love the weekly shows, I mean who wouldn’t. Last week they had a professional yo-yo champion!
Tomorrow is sure to match that. My good friend up Baltimore way Jessie Newburn is the featrue guest on the show.
Jessie Newburn is a social media coach, cross-generational marketing maven, speaker, hula hooper and Iconic GenXer living in Columbia, Md. She applies how and why the varying American generations use communication technologies and has a unique perspective on generational use of social media.
The talk is sure to be a good one, as they dive into the various generations and addressing social media at the various levels. It is sure to be an enlightened chat that I for one will not miss. Thank god they have the interwebs here in St Louis !!
See everyone in the Par-Tay chat room !
Got More Rhymes Than Chris Brogan’s Got Questions
April 12, 2008
Now that is saying something !
Well its the new rage today out on the ol “series of tubes” as Senator Stevens would say. I got word form the artist himself this afternoon about his new feature nerd rap.
Scott Stead has released he entry into the Ze Frank Nerd Rap Contest. It is really quite good and you should head over and give it a listen.
The great line of it though “Got more rhymes than Chris Brogan’s got questions” is quite funny, even picked up by Mr. Brogan himself
Great work Scott.
DC - A Technology Hub in the Making ?
April 4, 2008
I was perusing my Facebook page this evening and saw a post by my friend David Patton of Trafficland. It was a link to this article, “D.C. Capital Region Is A Major High-Tech Hub“
Apparently our little corner of the world is doing pretty good. The article is based on a study recently conducted
Cyberstates report detailing national and state trends in high-tech employment, wages, and other key economic factors. The report, Cyberstates 2008: A Complete State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry, covers all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The study found that this area is starting to become a hub for technology and innovation. Virginia has the highest concentration of high tech workers in the country with an average high tech salary if nearly $87,000, not too shabby huh ?
The DC Capital region may not immediately come to mind when people think of high tech, but it should,� said Matthew Kazmierczak, Vice President of Research and Industry Analysis, AeA. “Proximity to the federal government, including its major research centers, combined with a highly educated workforce, has made the area a key location for innovation. If you were to combine DC, Maryland, and Virginia, you would have the 2nd largest cyberstate by tech employment, slightly ahead of Texas.�
�What is hard to understand is that so many policymakers in Washington do not see the tremendous value of a high-tech workforce and are not committed to policies that would help it grow,� continued Kazmierczak.
I loved this quote. While many don’t see the value of the tech community, it is here and growing and maybe soon people outside the area will take notice.
Thanks David for pointing out the study !
Lawmakers Move to Repeal MD Tech Tax
April 3, 2008
Our friends over at the Tech Council of Maryland did an outstanding job of brining the tech community in Maryland together to fight the proposed Tech Tax. Had it passed it would have leveied a 6 percent sales tax on the following computer services:
- Computer facilities management and operation.
- Custom programming.
- Computer system planning and design that integrate computer hardware, software, and communication technologies.
- Computer disaster recovery.
- Data processing, storage and recovery.
- Hardware or software installation, maintenance, and repair.
Anyway, luckily for us MD resident computer workers the
Legislators took a first step Wednesday toward repealing Maryland’s new computer services tax and replacing it with an income tax surcharge on millionaires, the most significant victory yet for business groups warning that the levy could destroy the state’s high-tech economy. (Baltimore Sun)
This is great news and we thank everyone at the Tech Council Maryland for working for us and fighting the good fight !
Local Focus: Jeremy Epstein
April 3, 2008
One thing I wanted to use Local Focus for was to shine some light on the various people that come togther to make up such a great community. Of course I will focus on the "Rock Stars" that many of you know, but I also want to show a sampling that many of you do not know in the hopes that you will then know them and what they are all about.
My focus this week is on Jeremy Epstein of Microsoft. I met Jeremy at Jeff Pulver's breakfast several weeks back. We had a great conversation and hit it off and have been in touch ever since. My tag line at that breakfast was Passionate Technology, it could have been the same for Jeremy.
Read on to learn more about Jeremy and his take on all things.
jeremy epstein, senior partner community manager, Microsoft public sector
2. Are you working on any startup venture ideas ?
No. To test my skill and theories about social networking (think of it as ‘sharpening the saw’ work outside of my day job), I am consulting New York Times bestselling author, Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, to prepare and execute his online strategy for his upcoming book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need. We’re using GraffitiCMS for this, a truly great product. His holding page site is at www.johnnybunko.com
3. Tell us a bit about your company or what you do ?
Don’t think I need to introduce Microsoft. As a partner community manager, I am responsible for recruiting Microsoft partners into a relationship with the Public Sector team, providing value so that the relationship holds, creating and executing scalable marketing engines to drive the sale of Microsoft products. There are over 2000 partners US wide.
4. How are you using social media tools for your job and/or business
I have had a personal blog for over 7 years (jer979.blogspot.com) since before Blogger was purchased by Google and that experience persuaded me of the value of the medium. As a result, I started a blog at Microsoft “Igniting the Revolution: Change the Way Microsoft and Our Partners Do Marketing…or Get Fired Tryin’” (http://blogs.msdn.com/maamktg) to help build the relationship with our partners and put a human face on MSFT. I have enough anecdotes to show that it is working.
It gets over 100k views/month. It also *may* be the most highly ranked marketing blog at MS (preliminary research verifies that, but need to validate) Plus, I’m encouraging my extended team to have links to their LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo, Twitter, Tumblr or whatever to build that relationship level. On a grander scale, we’ve partnered with PartnerPoint as a community center for our partners and have a Facebook group for our partners.
We’re looking at leveraging Ning as well, but that’s early stage. We’ve also got plans for using Dopplr to help facilitate contact between MS field people and partners around the country to encourage the meet-ups. We find that the face to face touches go a LONG way to building the relationship. The social networking technologies have to result in a face to face at some point. That “keeps it real.” And we do that w/some of our larger partner conferences throughout the year.
I will be the first to admit that these social networking sites for MS parnters haven’t “taken off” yet, but we’re trying. Have no choice, really. Part is momentum. Partly is internal to Microsoft. The understanding of the power of these tools hasn’t permeated the organization yet. It’s growing, but Microsoft a big ship and not so easy to turn.
5. Are you from the DC area ? Why did you stay and/or move here ?
Yes, born at Georgetown hospital. Grew up in Chevy Chase. Graduate of the Jewish Day School in Rockville. After living around the world (Frankfurt, Germany; Tokyo, Japan, and NYC), my wife and I decided that being close to family was a high priority for us (she’s from Albany, NY and aside from Eliot Spitzer’s latest stuff, there’s not much excitement for us there!) Plus, being at the center of world politics is rush and, I’ve found, a lot of people from around the world come through here, so you can more easily maintain relationships than if you lived in Omaha.
6. How have you found the local area with regards to support and technology adoption ?
This is all my opinion, of course. There are a ton of super-intellectuals in this area. I’m particularly excited about the folks I meet in the political consulting arena who are trying to tap into tech to drive their agendas. There’s a robust commercial sector that is as innovative as anywhere. However, the 800 lb gorilla is the Fed Gov’t and that makes it tough because this is such a government-town and the desire for innovation (outside of defense, of course) is driven by that. The gov’t isn’t an early adopter and the incentive for greater productivity wouldn’t be as high as a Silicon Valley, for example, to its challenging.
7. What are your thoughts and ideas to help grow and support the local tech community ?
I think the recent uptick in DC networking events is going a long way to doing that. And anything else you want to add. I LOVE meeting up with others who are smart and passionate about technology (remember your tag at Pulver, eh?). connect via any one of the platforms.
Anyone else have any good questions to focus on ? Or someone for us to showcase, let us know.
Check Your Calendars !
March 30, 2008
Well, okay at least check the DC Tech Events calendar maintained by Ross Karchner. As many of you in the DC area know, we have a habit of holding great events on the same night, making it hard for many of us to be everywhere at once. Based on some feedback I have gotten here on the blog and also from people I meet, there is a definite need for some type of process the various communities can use to make sure we can not step on each others "feet".
An initial step for planners out there should be to stop by the DC Tech Events calendar I mentioned above to pick a good date for everyone. Now obviously sometimes that may not be possible and that is understandable. But at least if you check we may be able to avoid those conflicts. There are also DC Tech Events groups: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
So if you have an event, check the calendar and if you have a date in mind Add it to the DC Tech Events calendar HERE.
Also, you can add this link to Google Calendar, iCal, and many other calendar apps to subscribe to the events right there and always be up to date.
Also, if you have a blog or web site, go ahead and add a link to the calendar in your sidebar like I did under DC Community Stuff, see it over there ?
DC Photowalk Pics
March 30, 2008
Here is a look at some of the pics I got form my photowalk yesterday in Washington DC. IT was the Cherry Blossom Festival and as you can see, the blooms were out and beautiful.
1. Blossoms, 2. Bronze, 3. Blossoms & A Distant Memorial, 4. Blossoms, 5. Fallen Friends, 6. Pink Blossoms, 7. Wall of Stars, 8. Fly, 9. Tulips, 10. Crooked, 11. Honor, 12. Spirit of St. Louis, 13. Start Your Engines, 14. Heroes, 15. Shimmering Stars, 16. WWII Memorial, 17. Thanks You For Your Service, 18. Reflection, 19. Hat, 20. Blossom Sky, 21. Star Wall, 22. Focus, 23. Jefferson Memorial, 24. Propeller, 25. Silver & Orange, 26. Cherry Blossoms In Bloom, 27. Jefferson Memorial, 28. Jefferson Memorial
Local Focus: Loladex
March 26, 2008
Today was the launch of DC startup Loladex, a Facebook application to leverage your Fabebook network for local reviews.
Trying to find the perfect spot for a first date? Need a good mechanic to check out that noisy rattle? When you're searching for a local business, what you really want is a thumbs up from someone you trust – Loladex helps you get recommendations from people you know and sources you trust.
I got a chance to sit down with the founders Dan Goodman and Laurence Hooper out near their headquarters in Leesburg, VA the other day to chat about their creation over a nice cup of coffee.
Both guys were great explaining their vision and what Loladex is all about now, and where they see it going in the future. Nick O'Neill of Social Times and Eric Schonfeld of Techcrunch had the first reviews on the street of the product. In a nutshell, you install the Loladex Facebook application into your FB profile. Then search away to find that local … well whatever. It could be a doctor, sports shop, basically anything. And best yet, it tells you who your Facebook friends have recommended. I like this idea in that on sites like Yelp, you are at the mercy of the crowds recommendation. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but with Loladex you are getting a review from most likely a trusted friend. They also have featured third party input from sources like The Washingtonian Magazine as well.
Laurence told me that initially they looked at building it as a web application, but when Facebook launched it API and platform, they decided to take advantage of that. However, in the future they would look to branching out from the Facebook application to a web presence.
Like Erick said on his review, building the user base is going to be critical for them. I think leveraging people's friends for the reviews brings a little more of a personal touch, but I think it may be hard to get people to review things in some cases. But I hope they do for Loladex.
I did find a point Nick made very interesting, that I had not noticed, but they have limited their reviews to 140 characters … sound familiar ? Exactly the number Twitter allows… Hmmm… Maybe we can look for the review to be shot over to Twitter as well here soon reaching a much wider audience and pulling them back in to the application to check it out.
Obviously being a DC startup I am totally rooting for the guys to do well. Another success story will garner the area some well deserved good press.
Anyone Up For A Cherry Blossom Photowalk ?
March 23, 2008
I must admit, it kind of snuck up on me this year, but this coming weekend is the start of Cherry Blossom season. And how better to celebrate than to get out and take some pics ?
So I want to put the feelers out there to see who may join me for a Cherry Blossom Photowalk. Anyone interested ?
Here is the link to the Park Service page with all the blossom information. Forecast is for rain on Saturday, but Sunday is supposed to be nicer with a high around 60 or so.
So what do you say, you in ? Stop by and give me a handshake over at WhyGoSolo
Event: DC New Media Technology
March 18, 2008
It seems like every week there is a good thing to do, and this week is no exception. I know its a bit late notice, but tomorrow night the DC New Media Technology is having their monthly Happy Hour to schmooze with the other locals on Web 2.0 and Video 2.0 stuff.
I am going to make that long and harsh journey to the land of DC to join in on the fun and would love to see some of you there.
Here are the details for those interested.
When
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 6:30 PM
- Where
- Lotus Lounge (DC)
1420 K St NW
Washington , DC 20005
(202) 289-4222
The event page can be found HERE.
Meet and greet others interested in new media, social networking/web 2.0/video 2.0. Besides talking about our current interests & projects, suggested topics:
* Financing Web 2.0/social media efforts
* Technical developments
* Startups
Shoot me an email, Twitter DM, or better yet come over to WhyGoSolo to join my Community Listing if you are interested in getting together.
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