SOMEWHAT FRANK

TECH cocktail: ITA CityLIGHTS Award Finalist

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!

SmartyPig Offers A Social Savings Solution

Have you been saving up for a new computer, a vacation or home? Your piggy bank might be the way to go but it can be difficult to determine just how long and how much you need to save to meet your goal. SmartyPig, a Des Moines, Iowa based startup is looking to help with its recent release of a "smart" and social savings plan application.

Outbrain Launches Content Ratings Widget

Taking a page out the Netflix and Amazon playbook, outbrain, a New York-based startup, officially launched yesterday to offer a ratings and recommendations widget for content. With outbrain bloggers, news, media, magazines, rss readers and other publishers/aggregators can add a rating and personalized content recommendation widget to their blogs and sites easily and free.

Web 2.0 is _____?

It is time for a Web 2.0 pondering checkpoint poll. In the past there have been a number of videos and such that I have referred to that try and define Web 2.0 which included this basic definition video to this inventive video. But I wanted to see what you think about Web 2.0. What would you say if you had to fill in the blank to complete the following sentence:

Web 2.0 is ______?

Leave it in the comments section below and be sure to pass this post on to your friends and colleagues as we look to create a list potential Web 2.0 definitions.

HeyCosmo Prankster Makes April Fools Easy

If you are still looking to do something fun for April Fools Day today but do not have any idea what you want to do you might want to check out a new Facebook application called HeyCosmo Prankster. Now, I have written about HeyCosmo previously and they are offer a prank call application on Facebook. With HeyCosmo Prankster prank calling your people  is made easy. HeyCosmo Prankster does the work for you by simply typing your wicked custom message,  enter their telephone numbers and we do the magic behind the scene. Done! Your April Fools prank made easy thanks to HeyCosmo Prankster.

URLRURL Giving Other URLs A Run For The Money

In case you have not already heard the news today, urlrurl.com is coming out of stealth-mode, to launch a link shortening service which will revolutionize how links and information moves across the Internet on April 1st.

urlrurl.com stands out from other link shortening services because of its patented Relay-Stick™ algorithm, which dives into the links put through its shortener and exposes common memes across the pages people are clicking on. It also leverages the Twitter API to maximize meme tracking.

urlrurl.com is a New York-based company with development offices in China and is backed by a group of angel investors called Rat Pack 2.0.