SOMEWHAT FRANK

Shiny Maine Lobster: Order Fresh Maine Lobster

I am excited to share some news about a Shiny Heart Ventures project I have been working on for the last couple months. My partner at Shiny Heart Ventures, Jen "@noreaster" Consalvo comes from a little town near Kennebunkport, Maine. She grew up there and her family still lives there. Her dad, Captain Dave is a retired Merchant Marine and Nuclear Engineer who has returned to his passion of lobstering - something he has been doing for over 45 years.

This summer we visited Captain Dave and his First Mate "@LobstahLady" Frannie in Maine and did some lobstering. While we were there they explained how hard lobstermen work and how they are basically being undercut more and more each day as the price lobsters continues to fall while it stays stable in restaurants around the country. This seemed unfair to all of us. Jen and I saw an opportunity to help them by cutting out the middle men and selling their fresh Maine lobster catch directly to consumers via the Web.

So I am pleased to announce the recent launch of Shiny Maine Lobster an online fresh Maine lobster shop where you can buy fresh Maine lobsters directly from Captain Dave and Lobstah Lady Frannie.

Thummit For Mobile Recommendations

Last week I got a chance to attend a dinner and demo night for the new startup called Thummit. Thummit is a new service that looks to offer simple, social and portable recommendations. It is currently focused on the restaurant scene and offers a way to send recommendations via text message or Twitter. You can simply text thumbs up, down or maybe to Thummit and the service does the rest. Thummit can also send restaurant recommendations back to you via text message. If you are trying to make a dining decision between a couple of different restaurants Thummit can help by enabling you to setup a poll among friends and then send it out via text message.

Video: Foodzie Web Gourmet Food Marketplace

Are you a foodie? If you love food you might want to watch episode 40 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV as it explores the new gourmet food marketplace called Foodzie. Foodzie looks to make it easy for gourmet food producers to sell their products online similar to how Etsy creates a marketplace for handmade goods. Foodies should love it as it offers a brand new channel for buying gourmet food. Foodzie is based in Boulder and was founded as part of the 2008 TechStars incubator program by Emily Olson, Nik Bauman and Rob LaFave.

I had a chance to meetup with the Foodzie team recently and talk with them about their new food product marketplace. Check out the video with Foodzie (below).

Nudo: Give The Gift Of An Olive Tree

I love olives and just about any product made from olives. If you know someone like me you might be interested in getting them a gift that keeps on giving - adopt them an olive tree. Nudo is a Le Marche, Italy-based company offers the opportunity to adopt an olive tree online and will send you products from your tree all year long.

Thanksgiving 2007 on the Web

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for all we have. This includes indulging in way too much food and football with family. Needless to say there are lots of ways to get into the Turkey Day spirit. Last year, I showed just how to or how not to deep fry a turkey. Today I am going to list a number of other how to's, lists, recipes and videos to get you ready for some TURKEY!

HumanFlipbook.com

Have you ever given a stick figure life with a flipbook? Erbert & Gerbert's has put its own spin on a flipbook by creating what they are calling the first ever human flipbook. It is posted at humanflipbook.com. It's a very artistic and clever way to passively promote the Midwest-based sub and club sandwich shop.

GrubHub Food Delivery Search Expanding

Even with a drawer full of take-out menus finding places to order food can sometimes be a tough task. GrubHub.com, a Chicago-based food delivery and menu startup developed by Mike Evans and Matt Maloney, looks to help you find a place to order food and has been making some moves to improve.  Placing over $1M in delivery orders per month in Chicago and have now focused their efforts on expansion.

The site enables users to enter an address and then GrubHub returns restaurants that deliver to that address. GrubHub displays a menu, reviews, and coupons for a restaurant. Users can register and place a food order online.

TECH cocktail Boston Coming Soon

TECH cocktail, the tech mixer aimed at amplifying the technology signal in under served communities and having fun doing it, is going to be stopping in its third city soon - Boston.  Ironically, GigaOm recently published an article highlighting some of the startup activity in Boston and that is exactly why we have decided to make it our next cocktail location. With the help of some great TECH cocktail'er in Boston we wanted to announce TECH cocktail Boston and it won't be a tea party. We are still working out a few details but we wanted to let some of the details so you can save the date and start spreading the word.

Date: Thursday, September 6th
Time: 6:30pm - 9pm
Venue: Tequila Rain  (on Lansdowne Street right behind Fenway Park)

Thank you to our TECH cocktail Boston sponsors in advance. They include:

Compete.com

Geezeo.com

ZoomInfo.com

Northbridge Venture Partners

Without them TECH cocktail Boston would not be possible. To get in the mood you could start listening to this tune by Augustana titled Boston. Or you could watch some Red Sox baseball. Additional details and event sign-up information will be coming soon.

Photo attribution: Boston night taken by Mitul Desai.

Gary The Vlogging Wine King On Conan

Gary Vaynerchuk, the host of WineLibrary.com's video blog Wine Library TV is a pretty entertaining guy. I got a chance to see Gary's energy in action a few months back when he both demo'ed and sponsored at TECH cocktail DC 1.

Gary's love for wine and charismatic personality has created quite a following on the Web which has resulted in being profiled by the Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine and now he has landed spot on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Wednesday night (August 1, 2007).

Aside from the Wine Library TV video blog, Gary also commands a family owned wine empire which recently acquired the Corkd wine lovers online community.

Check out Gary in action tonight on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and also watch his latest video blog post (below) where he breaks the news about getting on the popular show. Tune in to cheer Gary on. Good luck Gary! 

Uncover Hot Local Venues & People

Uncover offers a community-powered site for local venues and people. Recently released into public beta by three twenty-somethings, Spencer Fry, Jason Nelson and Dave Gorum, aim to deliver a social network for people looking to go out and meet people at night.

Similar to Digg or other community powered sites Uncover has it's own currency called the "Uncover" which is awarded for a venue rating or review on the site. Users with the most "Uncovers" are given promotion in the community. For example, here are the top people in the Bay Area.

Currently in 20 cities, Spencer Fry he had this to say of Uncover's approach and future direction: 

"We're trying to combine keeping friends in touch with providing ideas about where to go out for the evening, and with whom. We want Uncover to be the website you just have to visit before going out for the night, and we're organizing our future features around that concept."

While there are other sites that offer up local venue information, Uncover's rich and clean design is different by leading with photos rather than text-based reviews. Additionally, users are can contribute reviews, tags and photos. I expect Uncover to add more social hooks soon which would help to contribute to Uncover's social stickiness.

Ask 3D Launches, Amazon Buying Netflix?, New AOL Feed Reader, WordPress vs. Movable Type, Web 2.0 Viral Growth Secrets, Gayest Sites & Widget News

Photo of the Week:  Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch from Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom by Josh Hallett was taken this week with the successful launch of the space shuttle.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 06.10.07

Major Relaunch For Ask: Ask3D
It looks very sharp. I like the way they allow users to personalize the wallpaper behind the search box with a few different colorful skins. Very innovative and 3D yummy design.

Will Amazon Purchase Netflix?
Rumor has it (coming from major news outlets) that movie rental company Netflix may be purchased by internet retail giant. Does it make sense?

Who Matters Now?
Business 2.0 Magazine invites you to vote for the business people who inspire, inform and infuriate you, from CEOs to entrepreneurs to media stars. Vote for Pedro Mike Arrington.

Secrets to Web 2.0 Viral Growth
Forbes.com has a short but informative article in which Roelof Botha (the Sequoia Capital venture capitalist instrumental in the success of YouTube and PayPal) shares two tips on how to have your service explode in membership using viral marketing.

Watchdog group flunks Google on privacy practices
In what looks to be brewing into a mutual smear campaign, London-based Privacy International has ranked Google among the worst top Internet sites for privacy protection, and Google is reportedly taking the watchdog group to task.

All New AOL Feed Reader Coming Soon
This new feed reader looks pretty sexy...I cannot wait to see it go live. :)

Clearspring Lands Major Deal With NBC
Clearspring, a Virginia-based company that demoed at TECH cocktail DC 1, announced it was chosen by NBC to be its exclusive widget platform for the next year. This is a major deal for Clearspring, and for NBC as well. The specific terms of this business arrangement have not been disclosed.

Yourminis Delivering Triple Widget Play
Yourminis delivers a triple play of widgets: online personalized desktop widgets, actual desktop widgets and blogs widgets.

What’s the gayest site on the web?
With June being Gay Pride month throughout the US and the World, Compete.com tries to uncover the gayest site on the web.

The Top Social Networks Where Alcohol is Allowed
Mashable looks at the various drink 2.0 web sites.

Feedtwister Lets You Mix Feeds
After registering with Feedtwister, members can begin adding their favorite RSS feeds. You can create as many lists as you like, and each list is a combination of the RSS feeds you selected.

WordPress vs. Movable Type
The interesting question is how the market will respond to an open source battle between the old blogger favorite and the new blogger favorite.

Search is history, says Yahoo!
Although Yahoo!, like Google, has talked before about developing a more personalised web, with relevant information delivered directly to readers, this was the first time that the company has said publicly that search will become less important.

Unthirsty Quenches Happy Hour Thirst

I know it is just the start of a new week but if you are looking to ease into it with a happy hour, you might want to check out Unthirsty. Unthirsty is a local happy hour search engine and directory. Unthirsty's mission is simply to connect users with the closest happy hour possible. With Unthirsty you enter your address and the site presents you with local happy hour drink and food specials on an Ajax Google map. Upon interacting with the plotted locations, drink specials and happy hour schedules appear in a bubble above the venue. For example, I searched for a happy hour in Mountain View, California and found a couple which are plotted in the screen-shot below.

If interactive maps are not your thing, Unthirsty also offers a list view of the happy hour directory. Additionally, Unthirsty offers a mobile version of the site that offers a single text box to enter a location and receive a list of the closest happy hours. This could come in handy on the road so just remember this URL: unthirsty.com/mobile. Finally, you can help Unthirsty by submitting a happy hour location.   

Hopefully, Unthirsty makes handling the start of another week a little easier - cheers!

TECH cocktail 3: Coming In Early 2007

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 psyched about the venue so we hope you like it too.

Click here to RSVP for TECH cocktail 3

If you are looking to find some talented employees be sure to check out TECH cocktail Special Job Board. It is FREE to post a job listing if you contact us for the promo code - give it a try. We made it to help the tech community connect with good people. We will most likely be demonstrating it at TECH cocktail 3. If you are interested in demonstrating a product at TECH cocktail 3 please let us know.

We still are looking for sponsors for TECH cocktail 3. If you are interested please let us know. Our email addresses are as follows:

frank [at] techcocktail dot com
eric [at] techcocktail dot com

We could really use the help especially since hosting a party like TECH cocktail is not free though we are able to keep it free to all guests with the help of our great sponsors. Help us help you.

For more details please stay tuned to TECH cocktail or subscribe to our feed. See you at TECH cocktail 3!

Photo Attribution: sonson on Flickr

Grilling Technology Highlighted

The New York Times recently published an article titled Pimp My Grill highlighting the use of technology to produce some high-end, pimped out grilling machines. The piece also spotlights some of the grilling obsessed. These are the folks that use their grill year round through sun, wind, rain, snow and sleet.

I must say, I have also shoveled snow to grill, so I understand where they are coming from. Though my grill may not be as fine as some of the items mentioned by the NYTimes, I am pretty happy with my green Char-Broil Patio Caddie (space saver)  shown to the right.

What is a TECH cocktail?

I am pleased to announce the creation of TECH cocktail (as mentioned by Mike Arrington), a series of mixer events opened to bloggers, technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and companies interested in the technology arena in the midwest. I am working with a fabulous team which includes Eric Ols0n, of VentureWeek as well as a few others. The first event will be held on Thursday, July 6, 2006 at STATE Restaurant and Café in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. Check out the TECH cocktail about page which explains:

“Chicago has a number of Internet startups and technology companies as highlighted recently in Crain’s Chicago Business. However, there is not that feel of community like you might see in other technology rich communities like Silicon Valley or Boston .”

We hope TECH cocktail can help to remedy this situation by creating a place for the Chicago and midwest tech community to meet, share ideas and have some fun.

The night will start out with demonstrations from a couple of Chicago-based companies (more details on the demos to come) followed up by Apple giveaways and then, of course, free wine complements of Stormhoek’s 100 Geek Dinners (see #59). 

If you'll be in the Chicagoland area on Thursday, July 6, 2006 be sure to stop by STATE in Lincoln Park for a night of fun. This is NOT just for Chicago residents - it is open to the public. If you are a midwesterner interested in attending swing on in for the event. Drink some wine, meet some people, watch some demos, bring a date, and you could win an iPod!

RSVP here.