Baratunde Thurston, The Ultimate Black Guy, At The Googleplex

Baratunde Thurston At The Web 2.0 Summit
Baratunde Thurston: The Brain Behind The Onion
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Baratunde Thurston: The Brain Behind The Onion

Baratunde Thurston At The Web 2.0 Summit

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Baratunde Is Funny
Baratunde Thurston: The Brain Behind The Onion

Internet Week: Day 1: Observations

I am so revisiting my decision to camp out at one location for Internet Week. (One Location, Camping Out) I did that one location thing today, and it was not the best of experiences. I mean, it was good. It was pretty good. But I had this lingering feeling that I was missing out. There's a lot happening at other sites as well. I complained a few days back about how Social Media Week has you going all over town, and that is not the best idea, and I am not so sure no more. There is a certain thrill to ending up at a new location.

The Metropolitan Pavilion is a great venue, but it really is just this one big open space. There's the main stage, and there's the AOL stage, and both have bad acoustics. And there is this classroom. I spotted Charlie O'Donnell in there towards the end of the day. He be pontificating. The final event of the day was an Onion event. Onion's three developers presented. Baratunde was apparently back from Georgia and in the audience. The dude had been flooding my Facebook stream with his tweets. Apparently Kevin was on the same trip: small world.

The BuddyMedia stall was the best one. They were serving popcorn. I had three bags. And there was this stall that had this game projected on the wall called swatting birds. I got two workouts playing the game.

Meeting Kevin Slavin: Tumblr's Brilliance

I have been following Slavin on Tumblr for months now. I have known him as one of the most prolific of all the 100 plus people I follow on Tumblr. Him, Mike Hudack, Anthony De Rosa (soupsoup - why do you have to say it two times?), vruz, these dudes are prolific. And these are hard core politicians pretending to be in tech.

I started following Slavin because he was on David Noel's list of entrepreneurs and VCs to follow. I am not on that list. That explains why I have only 70 followers on Tumblr. I do better on Quora where I have 1,000 followers. And I am not much active on Quora. But I am on Tumblr every day.

Jeff Who?

Patti Smith: Dancing Barefoot
Mark Birch
Mike Arrington And I: Close

Ignite NYC: Here I Come

Ignite, Set It On Fire
Internet Week: Going To Three Events So Far
Digital Dumbo: Here I Come
July 1 Digital Dumbo: Do Not Miss

I tried and failed to get on any Internet Week panel. But something better might happen. I just saw this in my Facebook stream, and jumped at the opportunity. I am applying for my five minutes at Ignite NYC during Internet Week. Tikva, make it happen, please.

General Assembly: A Floor, A Building, A City Block

Image by Laughing Squid via FlickrGeneral Assembly is such a good idea - and right now it is two floors - that I think it deserves to be an entire building, perhaps a city block. If you have not visited already, you should. Go make your pilgrimage.

It has been designed just right. When you are in front of your computer, you are in front of your computer. And there should be a headphone rule. When your ears are covered, you are saying do not disturb.

But then there are times when you want to be in a big, open space. There are times when you want to hold meetings. Small meetings, big meetings.

And it has a great business model. If it has 90 occupants paying $500 each, I am doing the math and the numbers are looking great. And there is a long waiting list, 100 strong, I think. General Assembly could easily occupy another floor.

Baratunde Thurston: The Brain Behind The Onion

Baratunde Thurston is the brain behind The Onion.

If onions had brains.

Baratunde Is Funny

Baratunde, long time property of Master Thurston.