The New York Tech MeetUp After Party: January 2012

The Best NYTM After Party Ever

A Rising Economy?

Image via WikipediaThe recovery is slow but sure. I would have liked something more dramatic, but good news is good news. I don't think it's fragile. I don't think next month we will be like, oops, we are going down again. The rise I think will be steady, although not a smooth steady. Much of it is about growth in jobs. People need work. And the economy simply has to come up with those jobs.

There has been some good news especially on the jobs front today.

A dramatic realignment that I was expecting did not happen. The stimulus bill of 2009 was not dramatic enough as far as I was concerned. But the president perhaps did what he could under the given political alignments.

How long before the unemployment rate hits 6% again, you think?

The Best NYTM After Party Ever

I have been to numerous NY Tech MeetUps over the years. Biggies like Tumblr and FourSquare have all demoed at the NYTM. I don't remember Tumblr's presentation though. Maybe that was a MeetUp I missed. (Dennis Crowley: I Underestimated Him, Dennis Crowley: Role Model For Kids?)

I started going to the NYTM when it was six people at a bar on the Lower East Side, one of them the MeetUp.com CEO. And that was only a few years ago.

I have said several times at this blog that Digital Dumbo beats the NYTM after party. No more. Not after last night. (Digital Dumbo 18: The Dumbo Loft)

What made the difference?

It was not at a bar. It was in the same building. You left the hall and you went upstairs. When people have to walk three blocks to the after party, many of them leave.

The space was huge.

Free drinks, free food. Worth seeking out sponsors.

And that was pretty much it.

I think the NYTM should stick to this venue forever.

Pinching Pennies

Image via WikipediaI came across this article earlier. You have to remember you are talking about a billionaire dude.

Forbes: You Can Get Richer Pinching Pennies Like Warren Buffett

Brown bag breakfast and lunch at work..... Don’t go food shopping when you’re hungry. ..... Cook meals instead of relying on takeout and ordering in. Eat at restaurants only on special occasions. ...... Scoop your own ice cream. ...... Carry a refillable water bottle instead of buying bottled water. ...... Wait for items you covet to go on sale—either in stores or online. (By then you may have decided you don’t them after all.) .... Avoid recreational shopping. Instead, make a list of what you really need. ..... Unless you need something immediately (and chances are you don’t), buy seasonal clothing once the season is already underway. Examples: bathing suits in July; winter coats and cashmere sweaters at after Christmas sales. ..... Leave your credit cards at home and pay in cash. ...... Take your date to a freebie. ..... Cook together; how you cope with kitchen mishaps could speak volumes about how you would weather life’s serious ups and downs. ..... Look for a partner whose money styles are compatible with your own. ....... To reduce the price of formula, nurse your baby for the first year, if possible. ...... Until children reach age 12, buy clothing on sale at the end of the season and put it away for the following year. (Once they become teenagers this doesn’t work anymore, since their growth rate can be dramatic and unpredictable.) ...... Check thrift shops for lightly used children’s clothing, especially sweaters, fleeces and outerwear. ..... Buy toys and children’s books at yard sales and rummage sales. ....... Buy furniture at auction. .... Hire painters and contractors during the winter. ...... Get plumbing repairs done during the summer if you live in a climate with seasonal differences. (Plumbers are busiest during the heating season.) ...... Pay down your mortgage (and other debt) ..... Don’t see a movie in the theater unless it has gotten great reviews or has so many special effects that it can only be thoroughly enjoyed on the big screen. Otherwise rent it. ...... Patronize your local library. ...... Find the swankest hotel in town, and look for a cheaper place next door. ..... Bring your own food and soft drinks instead of buying food on board planes; at airports; or relying on hotel minibars and room service.

But then there is another billionaire, Larry Ellison. The guy went ahead and bought a boat. That wrecked his first marriage. I guess there is no one way.

Gotta Have It: Kanye West And Jay-Z

Via Nyka Milbrun

Don 2

AMC Empire 25 234 West 42nd St
AMC Loews Village 7 66 3rd Ave
Big Cinemas Manhattan 239 East 59th Street

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

5G + HTML5 = Magic

Image via WikipediaWhen we get there it will be like there is just one operating system on all smartphones and tablets. Better, it will be like there is not even an operating system. The browser is all you need. And it will be a rich browser.

For the longest time the underlying assumption has been that if you want rich applications you need to do it on the desktop. On the smartphone we call them apps. By the time you hit 5G and HTML5 we will have crossed a threshold. The reverse will be true. The not rich applications will be on the desktop and in the form of apps on smartphones. The truly rich apps will be all browser based. That is really something.

This is not just an always on premise. This is an always on, and really really fast premise. And HTML5 is that architecture that all top tech companies are rapidly gravitating towards. When we get there it will be like all of software will have to be reinvented, redone. All apps will need a redo. There will be a lot of work to go around for sure.

The single biggest failure of the stimulus bill of 2009 was that taking every American into gigabit broadband territory was not the centerpiece of that legislation.

Tens Of Billions Of Devices

Image via WikipediaThe smartphone as a form factor has been firmly established. The tablet as a form factor has been firmly established. There will be new generations of laptops, tablets and smartphones that will respond to new developments in software, hardware and connectivity. But the basic form factor level innovation now perhaps has moved to things that will be smaller than the smartphone. In an earlier post I called it the wrist watch. But the wrist watch is only one of 100 possibilities. By the time you get to small, smart flying objects you are looking at some serious damage.

The wrist watch metaphor is erroneous since most of these devices will not have screens. They will simply sit there and collect data, lots of it, like the fly on the wall. The data thus collected might be displayed on the screens of the larger form factors.

There was a wonderful article I read on the topic at ReadWriteWeb a few days back that I have not been able to dig up. But there is a similar post on AllThingsD.

Beyond Tablets: The Next Five Computing Form Factors

Google Is Mind Blowing

Image via CrunchBaseGoogle conquered search. I remember the days when I used to fondly display the Google search engine on my personal homepage on Geocities. This was when Google had just launched. The company has come a long way since.

It conquered search. It floundered on social, the next big trend, for a few years. But now it seems to also have mastered social. Google Plus is a big hit.

It has conquered the mobile space with Android.

Big Data is the next big thing after social, I think, many think. Google is doing some really interesting things in that space. Facebook is not, Apple is not. Microsoft might, but is not. Many new startups are doing better work than Microsoft in that space. Just like social belongs to Facebook, Big Data deserves to belong to new names, not Google. But Google is proving surprisingly resilient.

People talk about the magic of Apple. I never really got it. For me the magic has always rested with Google.

And that is not even talking about Google X. Google thinks long term like no other company I know. I think Google more than Apple is poised to end up the most valuable company in the world. Google X has been working on entire new industries of the future. Much of it comes across as sci-fi.

I love Google like some people love Apple. But that is no news. That has always been true for me. But I have always been fascinated by the Steve Jobs life story.

It's a buy from me on Google stocks.

If I were forced to choose between Gmail and Facebook, I would pick Gmail. But I am glad I am not being forced.

Happy New Year (2)

@paramendra
Paramendra Bhagat Happy New Year http://t.co/Q0iM006H
Jan 01 via GoogleFavoriteRetweetReply

@paramendra
Paramendra Bhagat Nowhere near Times Square, but you get the point. :-) Happy New Year! 2012 is going to be prosperous!
Jan 01 via txtFavoriteRetweetReply

@paramendra
Paramendra Bhagat I can't see the ball. Damnit. :-;
Jan 01 via txtFavoriteRetweetReply

@paramendra
Paramendra Bhagat Central Park rabid fireworks.
Jan 01 via txtFavoriteRetweetReply