SOMEWHAT FRANK

Tis The Season For 2 More TECH cocktail Events

It has been a rather eventful year for TECH cocktail, a community building media startup, that I co-founded in 2006. We are wrapping up another year with two more TECH cocktail events one in DC on Thursday, December 3rd and our final 2009 event in Chicago on Thursday, December 10th. We have some great sponsors like Intel and Winamp and more and about 20+ never before seen start-ups showing off their products or services in an expo style.

Wow, these events will be our 10th and 11th events this year. Hope you can make it to DC or Chicago for one of these events - tis the season to TECH cocktail.

Nine Startups Demo at TECH cocktail Chicago 11

On Thursday night, Eric Olson and I hosted our 11th TECH cocktail in Chicago. Since we started in Chicago we have seen the event grow from the simple idea of hosting an event to bring together the community and showcase the local start-ups into a premiere event where we can't even find a big enough venue anymore. TECH cocktail 11 had close to 700 paid attendees. We were rather surprised as this is the first event we charged attendees $10 to attend so we thought the event numbers might see a slight dip in attendance. But, this doesn't seem to be the case at all, in fact the stellar attendance further validates what we are doing.

Check out this quick video that gives a (12 second) look at what it was like at the event.

TECH cocktail Chicago 11 on 12seconds.tv

Nine new startups from the local Chicagoland area showed off their latest technological creations. 

Interview With CrowdSpring Co-founder

CrowdSpring Co-founder Ross Kimbarovsky Interview from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

I recently visited Chicago and got a chance to visit the office of CrowdSpring a crowdsourcing design marketplace startup I reviewed previously and put to the test for a logo redesign. I got a chance to chat with CrowdSpring co-founder Ross Kimbarovsky (the other co-founder is Mike Samson) as he explains their progress and even hints at upcoming features in episode 58 on SOMEWHAT FRANK (above).

TECH cocktail Chicago 9: Big 2008 Finale Event

Last Thursday night I co-hosted our last TECH cocktail of 2008. This wrapped up a 2008 TECH cocktail season that included 8 mixer events spread across Chicago, DC, Boston, Boulder and Champaign and one full day conference. We were pleased at the consistent growth of TECH cocktail and TECH cocktail Chicago 9 pulled in our largest crowd of the year with over 700 attendees. The event showcased six startups. Check out the photos from TECH cocktail Chicago 9.

WIRED NextFest Looks Into The Future

What does the future hold? I am not a psychic but I recently attended the opening preview of the WIRED NextFest in Chicago as it looks to enable visitors to experience the future. It was a great event kicked off by a breakfast keynote by WIRED Editor in Chief, Chris Anderson. The event focused on innovations as exhibitors from across the country were on hand showing off their products. Check out the full list of exhibits. I captured the WIRED NextFest Experience as episode 53 on SOMEWHAT FRANK (below).

WIRED NextFest Looks Into The Future from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

LEAP Ajax Server Webtop Launches

Though servers and hosting is a necessity for any Web business I have to admit the topic really does not excite me at all. I don't wake up in the morning thinking about how I am going to access my hosting. But I may need to eat those words at some point. Imagine if your blog, site or web product is down at 3 a.m. and aside from a call to support, all you have is the tools provided by your hosting company to try and save it. While I know there are lots of hosting options out there, SingleHop, is a Chicago-based hosting company I have grown familiar with that is trying to provide fresh and helpful tools to help its users manage their hosting with ease.  SingleHop has just launched a new Ajax-based environment for managing your servers called LEAP.

Video: Visiting the DVA Gallery Chicago

I was in Chicago a few times in May and got a chance to visit the DvA Gallery while strolling through the Lincoln Park neighborhood. I was drawn into the gallery when I saw artwork that reminded me of JoyEngine, the community building design company in Boulder, Colorado which was previously featured on SOMEWHAT FRANK TV. Maybe these two galleries and art communities should sync up.

Video: Threadlemanss & TECH cocktail RACING

Saturday... Saturday ... Saturday! Start your engines as Threadless.com, a Chicago-based skinnyCorp operated company, will be hosting a Pine Wood Derby race called the THREADLEMANSS. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to get SOMEWHAT FRANK car ready for the race but I did get my friend Carlos Pero, whose son was undefeated this year in the Cub Scouts Pine Wood Derby, to lead the TECH cocktail RACING effort which is powered by coloring.com.

Carlos is featured this week on episode 25 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV as he previews the TECH cocktail car and shares some Pine Wood Derby knowledge. Thank you Carlos for your help. You can cheer on the TECH cocktail car this Saturday, May 17, 2008 as Threadless will be streaming the derby live.

crowdSPRING Launches To Crowdsource Design

If you are looking to have a new logo, business card, graphic or web site designed you know it is sometimes tough to decide where to get started. crowdSPRING, a Chicago-based crowd sourcing startup, might be a good option as it offers a marketplace for your design projects. Simply create a project and the design community will offer up suggested proposals. You can select the one you like the best and pay the designer a one time fee for the design you decide to choose.

May & June 2008 Web/Tech & Social Media Events

I will be speaking about social media and blogging in May and June at the following events:

Social Rockstar Workshop
May 16. 2008 - Washington, D.C.

I will be speaking about social media and blogging and making some references to its use in the corporate environment of AOL, Tribune and Classified Ventures where he has lead blogging & social media initiatives. There are a number of local D.C. area social media experts which will be offering perspective followed by workshops.

TECH cocktail CONFERENCE
May 29, 2008 - Chicago, IL

I am co-hosting our first TECH cocktail CONFERENCE bringing attendees access to a day full of amazing speakers, great perspectives and advice in an intimate environment where speakers are approachable. The goal of the conference is to assist attendees by bringing them essential business startup tips, advice and knowledge from a super-cast of successful founders, developers and entrepreneurs. It should be a super day followed by our popular TECH cocktail Chicago 8 mixer event. Use the discount code: somewhatfrank to save on your ticket!

BlogPotomac
June 13, 2008 - Falls Church, VA

I am giving the lunch keynote on social media Friday the 13th for the first BlogPotomac event. BlogPotomac  seeks to provide a local “un-conference” on best marketing practices for the social media community in the D.C. metro area.   

IfbyPhone Launches Free Calling On Facebook

Now you can make free calls to your friends from your Facebook profile thanks to IfbyPhone, a Chicago-based telephone application platform company that has created Phone-Me-Now.

Phone-Me-Now gives Facebook friends free "click to call" functionality without disclosing their caller ID. I am not really sure if that is a good thing or not but I guess it depends on your objective. I would think it would play to the advantage of a telemarketer but I guess it could be nice to call your friends without disclosing your phone number in case you are trying to keep it private. The Phone-Me-Now application takes advantage of Ifbyphone technology to enable all types of phones (i.e. mobile, VoIP or rotary) to connect via the Web and enables inbound, outbound and click-to-call telephone applications with integrated interactive voice response dialogs.

Kirix Strata: Web Browse Your Data

At the heart of just about every web application is a database. Getting at and manipulating that data is often done through SQL statements which involve a level of database understanding. Kirix, a Chicago-based startup, is looking to help change that by exposing your data in a Web browser experience with the launch tomorrow of Strata. Strata is a powerful set of tools that enables anyone to access, browse and manipulate data from a Web browser.

Video: TECH cocktail Earns CityLIGHTS Award

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.

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!

Chicago Tribune Embraces The iPhone

The Tribune Company, an old Chicago-based newspaper giant, has just announced an iPhone compartable version of one of its flagship properties, the Chicago Tribune. As a former Tribune employee it gives me great joy to see my old hometown paper now viewable on my iPhone at this URL: chicagotribune.com/iphone.

They have not enabled an auto redirect to when viewing ChicagoTribune.com from an iPhone but it does promote the iPhone option. I figure the auto redirect on the iPhone will be coming soon. Congrats to the Tribune on embracing the new device. Thanks to Steve Rubel for pointing it out.

Editor's Note: The SF Bit as I am calling it is new short or brief format post on Somewhat Frank which will basically offer a quick informative post or bit rather longer article format. Let me know if you like it and I will keep them flowing.