Netizen

Apple Trying To "Get" Social Now?

This is icon for social networking website. Th...

New York Times: Bits: Apple-Facebook Friction Erupts Over Ping: Apple’s entry into social networking with the iTunes music social network Ping on Wednesday ..... Facebook insists that businesses that send a lot of traffic to its servers first work with the company to make sure those problems can be handled smoothly

Google's efforts at trying to "get" social are legendary. There have been so many failed attempts. Now looks like it is Apple's turn to "get" social. Google and Apple are competing on so many different fronts. Apple is not in search yet, and Google is not into hardware yet, but other than that they are all over each other. And now looks like Apple just got interested in social.

Hotmail was the first web email program. But then everyone started doing their own little email program. Yahoo got one. A few years later Google got one. The inbox did not stay with Hotmail. Social is the same way. Social does not belong to Facebook any more than the inbox belonged to Hotmail.

What happens when both Apple and Facebook try to do social? What happens when Facebook and FourSquare both try to do location? Sometimes friction happens.

September NY Tech MeetUp Needs To Feature Reshma Saujani

Image representing Nate Westheimer as depicted...

Image via CrunchBase

I have an email from Nate Westheimer from two days ago and I don't see any mention of the Reshma Saujani name anywhere. This is so lame. Nate can do better than this. There have been times before when someone who was not listed as a speaker spoke. I hope this is one of those instances.

Reshma Saujani: Innovation, Ethnic Pride, Thought Leadership
AnyClip Is Live Now
AnyClip.com: Second Thoughts
AnyClip.com: More Thoughts

One of the founders of the NY Tech MeetUp Dawn Barber first came up with the idea that Reshma Saujani should speak for five minutes at the September NY Tech MeetUp. That was back in June.

Reshma 2010: New Office: Party: June 21 Monday
Maloney's Idiotic Debate Non Stand Can Be Countered Through Use Of Social Media

Why would Reshma speak at a NY Tech MeetUp? It is about tech and it is about gender. Reshma Saujani is the national candidate to the tech sector.

Reshma Saujani "Gets" Tech
Reshma Saujani, Scott Heiferman, Chris Hughes: TechCrunch Disrupt
Reshma Saujani: South Asian Powerhouse, National Candidate To The Tech Sector
Reshma 2010 Clean Tech Event July 27 Tuesday
A Clean Tech Experience

This is about the New York tech scene refusing to play second fiddle forever. This is about the NY tech scene getting a voice of its own in Washington DC.

NY1, NY1, NY1, NY1, NY1

This is also about gender, a raging topic in tech these past few weeks.

Aliza Sherman Takes Mike Arrington To Task
Women In Tech: The Debate Rages On
Gender Talks
FoodSpotting Is The Next FourSquare
Mike Arrington Is A Sexist Pig: Say PeeeeG!
Tech, Women, Diversity
September 14 Will Birth The New Woman

Nate Westheimer to newtech-1-anno.
show details Sep 1 (2 days ago)
Hey Meetupsters!

Next WEDNESDAY, September 8th, connect with 850 fellow technologists at the beautiful NYU Skirball Center for another evening of non-stop startup thrills.

RSVP now-- this is going to be big!
http://www.meetup.com/ny-tech/calendar/14336711/

We've got an unbeatable lineup of talent for you --
Propercloth, Grovo, MeetMoi, Nearsay, Apture, JIBE, and an exclusive demonstration of Google Goggles! (More TBA)

Get your RSVP: we'd love to see you!
http://www.meetup.com/ny-tech/calendar/14336711/

The NYTM is produced in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Also, thanks as always to our sponsors, DFJ Gotham and Wilson Sonsini who help make NYTM possible (with your support too!).

See you soon,

Nate and Brandon
NY Tech Meetup

P.S. If you can't make the event, you can watch live (and again after the curtain drops!) -- thanks to our partnership with Livestream -- at nytm.org/livestream!

P.P.S. Anyone looking to launch a tech startup should check out the Founder Institute - an entrepreneur training program that doesn't even require you to quit your day job. The Fall NYC Semester is accepting applications until this Friday, Sept. 3.

P.P.P.S. We're really bummed about the scheduling conflict with Rosh Hashanah and have posted a full response on the NYTM Meetup page.

Learn more about our venue:

Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
New York University
566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South)
www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu / 212.992.8484

To visit NY Tech Meetup, go here:
http://www.meetup.com/ny-tech/

Apple, Google, Music

Image via Wikipedia

Reuters: Apple And Google To Clash In Music Space By Christmas: The music industry hopes to benefit from a battle for control of the mobile phone and computer desktop between Apple and Google as both technology giants go head-to-head in a wide range of media and consumer technology areas including online TV and movies, mobile phones, software and even advertising. ...... iTunes Music Store, which accounts for 70 percent of all U.S. digital music sales..... Sales of Android-based phones have rocketed in recent months to 200,000 a day ..... Music executives have long believed having other competing powerful digital music retailers could help expand the market...... Labels have been hoping that the introduction of new cloud-based music services from Apple and Google would be a major boost for winning over consumers who want to be able to access their music libraries, discover new songs and make impulse purchases wherever they have Internet access.

Competition is a good thing. What is remarkable about the Google-Apple rivalry is the two are similar sized companies that are very loved by very many people, and by now they are competing in so many different ares. That is a good thing.

The iPhone met Android. Now I guess it is iTunes' turn to see some competition. What would Google's music service be like? All the music you can consume for a basic monthly fee is my first guess, music that you can transport from device to device using your Google account.

Android phones are doing very well and are about to take over the iPhone in terms of very many numbers. They are selling as many phone as the iPhone by now. This diversity is a good thing.

The real clincher would be if these guys did to movies what they are doing to music. The movie business is so stuck. It's not even funny. It asks to be unhinged.

A New Floor Of 1,000 Page Hits

Last month my tech blog - Netizen - suffered because I was primarily focused on blogging for Reshma 2010 at my Barackface blog. (Reshma Saujani) I have only 20 posts at this blog in August as compared to almost 60 each for the two months before that. On the other hand I have 110 posts at my Barackface blog for August. That might be my best month at any blog ever. In a way I feel very good about that output. On the other hand I consider myself someone wanting to make a full time income as a blogger while blogging not being my primary thing to do.

I hate it when people call me a writer or a journalist. As far as my political blogs go - I got two - my work can more appropriately be described as digital activism. The work is political. You are trying to impact, you are trying to contribute. You are trying to move and shake things.

My best day at this blog has been 3,000 page hits. By now I think a floor of 1,000 page hits for a day is no big deal. It can be done. I worked extra hard yesterday and already things are picking up.

I want the floor at this blog to be 3,000 page hits. I want the ceiling to become the new floor. A few weeks of work might bring that about.

1,000 is a very good number for a day. That is about 10% of what Fred Wilson's blog does.

What Just Happened? 3,000 Page Hits