April 5, 2008
The Illinois I.T. Association CityLIGHTS 2008 Awards Gala took place in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday, April 3, 2008. The event was held at Union Station which you might recognize from the epic scene from the movie The Untouchables where Kevin Costner saves a baby carriage while also shooting up the Al Capone gangsters on its marble steps. While did not save any babies TECH cocktail, the community building startup that I co-founded with Eric Olson, was nominated for the CityLIGHTS Award for its positive impact in connecting the Illinois technology community. I am please to report, that TECH cocktail took home the hardware. I was deeply humbled by winning the award as it serves as validation that all the long hours and hard work is truly helping to sculpt a better connected local technology community while helping to amplify that same community to the world.
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April 3, 2008
I am pleased and somewhat humbled that TECH cocktail, a little events startup which I co-founded with Eric Olson back in May 2006, has been nominated as a finalist for the Illinois Technology Association CityLIGHTS Award. Over 700 great entrepreneurs, startups and established companies will be in attendance tonight as the awards are presented.
TECH cocktail is nominated for the CityLIGHTS Award which is given to an individual or individuals that have made a significant impact on the Illinois technology community. The list of finalists include:
* Ron and Jeff Galowich, co-Founders, Initiate Systems
* Bob Geras, president, LaSalle Investments
* Brian Knudson, CEO, NogginLabs, Inc.
* Eric Olson and Frank Gruber, founders, TECH cocktail
* Brad Spirrison, president, MidwestBusiness.com
TECH cocktail was started as a way to better connect and amplify the local technology community and being a finalist for this award validates that all our hard work has been paying off. Our first TECH cocktail CONFERENCE in May should further along this mission - don't forget to sign up now. Cheers!
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March 27, 2008
If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, mark your calendars for BlogPotomac, a one day event aimed at providing advanced marketing insights beyond the average social media 101. BlogPotomac will be held on Friday, June 13, 2008 at the State Theater in Falls Church, Virginia. BlogPotomac seeks to provide a local “un-conference” on best marketing practices for the social media community in the D.C. metro area.
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March 8, 2008
On a clear, crisp evening in Boulder, Colorado over two hundred technology enthusiasts piled into The Foundry Billiards Club to better connect and amplify the technology signal of the region. The event, TECH cocktail Boulder in partnership with DEMO, showcased five startups from the local area. The event was sponsored by Boulder-based Lijit and Chicago and soon to be also Boulder-based skinnyCorp - thank you both!
Since TECH cocktail is one of my own creations with co-founder Eric Olson, we were really enjoyed the evening getting to hangout with some of the technology "movers and shakers" in the Denver/Boulder area. For more details check out the official TECH cocktail Boulder 1 photos and event wrap-up article. Read on for more on the startups that demoed at TECH cocktail Boulder.
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February 21, 2008
I am pleased to say that TECH cocktail, the events startup that was created by Eric Olson and I back in Ma y 2006 has made a couple of exciting moves today by launching a substantial redesign of the TECH cocktail website that we have been working on for the last couple months. In addition, you might notice that we also have announced the first ever TECH cocktail CONFERENCE (or TECH CONFERENCE for short) which will take place in Chicago on May 29, 2008. Register now - it should be a great event!
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February 7, 2008
I am pleased to announce that TECH cocktail will be making its first appearance in Boulder, Colorado. TECH cocktail Boulder 1 is another big step forward for TECH cocktail for another reason besides the obvious one of expanding to a new area. TECH cocktail Boulder 1 will be the first event we are putting on in partnership with the DEMO conference. Yes, the DEMO that just attended last week near Palm Springs.
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January 22, 2008
I am pleased to announce that TECH cocktail Chicago 7 details have just been posted on the TECH cocktail web site. This is the seventh TECH cocktail in Chicago and ninth event overall since Eric Olson and I founded the community building startup TECH cocktail in 2006. RSVP now for TECH cocktail Chicago 7!
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January 10, 2008
CES, the largest consumer electronic trade show, is wrapping in Las Vegas and it was reported by an NBC affiliate that CES may be leaving Las Vegas! PC World also echoed this news. We thought it would be great if we could help bring CES to Chicago. Why not? Chicago is a world class city with the facilitates to host a huge event like the World Fair or Olympic games. Not to mention Chicago has lots of tech companies. So TECH cocktail co-founder Eric Olson and I have decided to help initiate the ‘Bring CES to Chicago’ movement. If you are interested in supporting the cause let us know in the comments below or email us directly. Also join the Bring CES to Chicago group on Facebook.
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December 23, 2007
Are you familiar with the ultimate Web 2.0 directory online Go2Web20.net? I sat down from my parents home in Chicagoland to chat with Orli Yakuel from her home in Israel. She recently left AOL where she acted as a Web 2.0 analyst and is now in search for the “dream job.”
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December 1, 2007
I got a chance to chat with Greg "The Trend Junkie" Cangialosi today regarding his new book "The Business of Podcasting Book." The book is a great guide for any corporate executive or other party interested in better understanding podcasting. Greg and I leveraged BlogTV, a split screen webcam video platform I previously highlighted on Somewhat Frank, to chat about a number of topics related to social media from discussing our podcasting pal Gary Vaynerchuk who has been changing the wine world to a quick getting started with podcasting step-by-step.
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November 16, 2007
I co-hosted a sixth TECH cocktail in Chicago last night and co-host Eric Olson and I had a blast doing it. With 500 plus attendees at John Barleycorn in Wrigleyville there was so much energy and love in the room it was an amazing feeling. I got to see many familiar and many new faces as we continue to try and build a better and more tightly connected community in Chicago.
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November 4, 2007
How can you engage your client community via blogs and social media? Last Thursday, I spoke on a panel at The New New Internet Conference to discuss this very question. The panel consisted of Gary Vaynerchuk video blogger at Wine Library TV and Director of Operations at Wine Library, Geoff Livingston blogger at The BuzzBin and author of Now Is Gone and Rohit Bhargava blogger at Influential Marketing and author Personality Not Included and myself blogger at Somewhat Frank, co-founder of TECH cocktail a community-building event startup and product manager of myAOL. If you want to find out about social media you best watch the video and learn about blogging, engaging social media and hustle 2.0!
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November 3, 2007
I got interviewed by trend junkie and entrepreneur Greg Cangelosi of Trend TV this week while at the The New New Internet Conference. In case you might not know Greg Cangelosi is a podcasting expert and just authored a book titled . I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy.Greg and I sat down and chatted and he captured the casual interview on Trend TV.
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November 2, 2007
The DC area was looking a little more like Silicon Valley this week, welcoming a number of prominent bloggers, social media consultants, tech company product managers, startups, VC's, and more - well, with the exception of all the dark suits in the audience which made it a great Silicon Valley/DC mashup scene. Such was The New New Internet Conference - Web 2.0 for Business, presented by Potomac Executive Biz at the Reston Hyatt on Thursday, November 1st.
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October 27, 2007
I spoke a few weeks ago at the Widget Summit in San Francisco on a panel dedicated to discussing the personal homepage space. The session was an hour long discussion with a cast of industry experts. I had a chance to get ahold of a video clip of my introduction. Additional footage will be coming out soon but I wanted to preview this video introducing myAOL to the Widget Summit crowd.
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September 11, 2007
Typepad, the popular hosted blog platform by SixApart, has announced a new iPhone optimized interface. Typepad users can now visit http://i.typepad.com on an iPhone or the new iPod Touch in their Safari Web browser use an optimized version of Typepad.
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September 7, 2007
TECH cocktail Boston took place last night in the shadow of Fenway Park and brought the Boston tech scene together. With about 400 people in attendance, TECH cocktail Boston brought together a number of startups, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts for an evening of food, drinks and passionate conversations. It was pretty wicked!
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August 16, 2007
What's new new on the Internet? If you are looking for a conference to help you find out you might want to check out this years The New New Internet Conference on November 1, 2007 in Reston, Virginia (northwest of Washington, DC).
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July 13, 2007
Last night I was in Chicago with Eric Olson co-hosting TECH cocktail Chicago 5 for an estimated six hundred guests at John Barleycorn near Wrigley Field. Eric and I co-founded TECH cocktail just a year ago looking to help foster a tighter and more amplified technology signal and community in...
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July 7, 2007
I recently attended Supernova 2007, a conference in San Francisco focused on innovation, and was interviewed by Adriana Gascoigne of Bub.blicio.us, Future Works and founder of Girls in Tech. The video interview (below) is found at the 3 minute 30 second mark on this 9:03 minute video clip. In the...
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June 27, 2007
Birthday logo thanks to Orli Yakuel. Somewhat Frank is embarking on the terrible two's - that's right, today is Somewhat Frank's blog birthday! I have to say the last two years have flown by with thousands of article and comments being generated on Somewhat Frank. Thank you to everyone who...
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June 23, 2007
BlogTV is an Israel-based company that enables people to create their own live broadcast channel on the Web. Similar to UStream.tv, BlogTV empowers anyone with a webcam to create a destination channel for broadcasting live episodes. I got a chance to sit down with BlogTV Vice President of Product &...
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June 19, 2007
So you want to organize all your stuff on the web in one place? A new myAOL is coming soon. The current myAOL is solely a feed reader that offers some recommendations. The new myAOL offers a personalized homepage experience with some additional bells and whistles. Aside from an Ajax...
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May 27, 2007
Photo of the Week: This photo was taken by James Yu at Pier 38 in San Francisco on Thursday night (May 24, 2007) as part of the NewTeeVee and MetaCafe Pier Screenings. Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 05.27.07 Facebook Moving to An Open Platform Strategy Facebook has announced a new strategy...
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May 18, 2007
A few hours ago, TECH cocktail completed its first event in DC at the popular MCCXXIII bar (1223 Club DC, for the non Roman-numeral types). The event was packed with hundreds of guests mingling as the place rocked to music, wine, product demos and mingling. Over 225+ technology enthusiasts, VCs,...
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April 27, 2007
Founded in September of 2006, BusinessPOV is a Chicago-based weekday video blog focused on profiling companies, people and products that display elements of innovation, entrepreneurship and creative culture. Following a short video format the site is organized to offer top stories and local knowledge. Both video types provide valuable insight...
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April 24, 2007
While online video upload sites have become extremely popular in the web 2.0 movement, it appears that live streaming video seems to be catching on fast. UStream.tv offers users the ability to create their own live web channel with live chat functionality. Streaming video is by no means a new...
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April 23, 2007
I am happy to announce that TECH cocktail is coming to DC in May! Coming off a great event in Chicago a couple of weeks ago we are excited to be co-hosting TECH cocktail DC 1 (TcDC1) on May 17, 2007 from 6 to 9:30pm at MCCXXII, a sweet venue...
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April 13, 2007
With April flurries plaguing the Midwest the past few days, TECH cocktail 4 offered the Chicago technology and entrepreneurial community a place to get out of the cold spring weather to enjoy an evening of fun. With a number of activities and another excellent turnout which included an appearance by...
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January 25, 2007
TECH cocktail, an event series I co-founded and co-host with Eric Olson with the mission of better connecting the technology and business community to help better tell the local story, is having its third event tonight in Chicago. With over 700 guests signed up we expect a large turnout at...
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January 21, 2007
What happens when you place the faces of 2000 bloggers in one huge collage? See for yourself below, in this recent project by Tino Buntic called 2000 bloggers. Can you find my ugly mug among the sea of bloggers? Also, how many other faces do you recognize?
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January 6, 2007
Photo Attribution: grayedMatter Congratulations to TechCrunch as it was named Best Web 2.0 Blog in the 2nd Annual Search Engine Journal Awards. TechCrunch is the benchmark for web 2.0 blogging. As all bloggers know, it is not easy to keep fresh, solid content flowing day in and day out, 24/7/365...
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December 31, 2006
It has been a great 2006, as Somewhat Frank has offered up over 400 articles which attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors. I thought it might be interesting to reflect on some of the best of 2006 as we look forward to 2007. Here are some of the most popular...
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December 30, 2006
So you probably have seen by now the slew of articles that start out "What superhero are you?", "What superhero am I?" or "I am December 21, 2006
Somewhat Frank has been nominated by Search Engine Journal as the Best Web 2.0 Blog of the 2nd Annual Search Blog Awards. The awards highlight a number of great blogs focused on search but have been expanded to include awards for Best Social Media Blog, Best Web 2.0 Blog and...
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December 7, 2006
Start 2007 off on the right foot by attending TECH cocktail 3 on Thursday, January 25, 2007 from 6:30 to 9pm at Amira in Chicago. Amira is located at the base of the NBC Tower close to the Chicago River and Michigan Avenue. Co-founder Eric Olson and I are pretty...
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November 22, 2006
Just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend our friends over at TechnologyEvangelist.com have unveiled the first couple videos in a series of film captured at TECH cocktail 2: The TechnologyEvangelist.com crew traveled down from Minnesota to spend the evening interviewing as many guests as possible on a range of...
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November 18, 2006
TechCrunch 8, an event celebrating the web 2.0 movement, took its show on the road to New York City this past week (November 16, 2006) and I traveled to be in attendance. AOL supported the event by being one of the many sponsors. AOL also had space at the event...
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November 12, 2006
There have a been a flurry of niche job boards developed recently to help connect employers with the right niche employees. Paul Stamatiou has previously highlighted the job board boom and had this to say: "In a nutshell, these small job boards are great places to start looking for your...
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October 27, 2006
Freshwater Venture is an effort devoted to restating the rich Chicago entrepreneurial history by profiling the startups that have been developed in the Chicagoland area. Freshwater Venture was created by Keith Schacht and Eric Antonow as they looked to raise the profile of entrepreneurs and their ventures in Chicagoland. The...
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October 22, 2006
TECH cocktail got some more TechCrunch loving - several of the Tc2 startups from the October 12 Chicago event were highlighted. Thank you Mike Arrington for allowing me to cover the event for TechCrunch - hope you can make it out and cover TECH cocktail 3! Featured startups included: Liquid...
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October 21, 2006
TECH cocktail 2, an event I co-hosted with Eric Olson on October 12, 2006 in Chicago, helped to bring together the technology business community. If you missed the event but want to know what it was all about be sure to watch the video that was produced by Lambert Smith...
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October 13, 2006
Last night (October 12, 2006), Eric Olson and I hosted our second TECH cocktail in Chicago at the Gramercy. As we first envisioned nearly 8 months ago, TECH cocktail 2 brought together the technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, bloggers, podcasters and corporate masterminds in the area. With the list of rsvp'ed guests...
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September 16, 2006
TECH cocktail, the series of technology/business mixer events I co-founded with Eric Olson back in May, is ready for the second event which is scheduled for October 12, 2006 from 6:30 to 9pm CST at The Gramercy in Chicago, Illinois. The first event was a great time and was well...
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September 2, 2006
Yesterday, I bid farewell to Classified Ventures' Apartments.com as I have taken a senior product management/development role at AOL. So I will be moving out of Chicago to work at AOL headquarters in the Washington, DC area soon. I have truly enjoyed my time in the Midwest, growing up, attending...
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August 2, 2006
Apartments.com, the national apartments web site owned by Chicago-based Classified Ventures, launched a spruced up design last night (August 1, 2006). The new design is fresh and clean and should result in a better user experience. Check it out for yourself below: New Homepage Old Homepage The design was done...
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July 26, 2006
I continued reporting on the ad:tech Chicago for iMedia Connection on day two of the conference. I covered the following sessions: Advertising on Social Networks Integrate Your Local Media Strategy Here is an excerpt from the session on social media which showcased MySpace.com: Shawn Gold, senior VP of marketing and...
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