Thanks to everyone that has followed and contributed commentary to the Uptown Innovation blog since we started in June. It has been great to hear your opinions and feedback on posts we have made over the course of the last four months.
As you would expect with a name like "Uptown Innovation", this site will be undergoing some changes in the coming weeks. Both the visual layout and approach to content will be different than what you have seen thus far. I hope you will be pleased with the updates.
Bruce, Dan, and Don will not be back, at least in the immediate future, but instead will be working away on other great things that I am sure you will be hearing about. In the meantime, I will be fleshing out details of the new site and be back here blogging soon.
Thanks again for reading. You will be first to know when the site is back up and running.
Here are some great blogs that my friends have started in the past few months that you might enjoy as well:
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I Found Matt Dancing (in Seattle)
Here's a quick video from Matt Harding at the Gnomedex 8.0 Conference in Seattle a few weeks ago explaining how he did the "Where the Hell is Matt?" videos.
Altogether, he shot videos dancing with over 2,000 people all across the world -- literally. His videos have been viewed by over 30 million people. Pretty incredible...
Here is his actual video footage. The last part of the first video shows Matt dancing at our very own Gasworks Park.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Winners of TechCrunch50
The tally is in and the winner of TechCrunch50 is Yammer -- a business-oriented version of Twitter that answers the question, "What are you working on right now?" vs. "What are you doing right now?"
TechCrunch calls Yammer "Twitter with a business model."
Here's a demo of the product at Yammer's website.
Grockit-- an online learning tool that allows for collective learning between users through online chat conversations and user-awarded points for insightful input.
Swype -- an predictive textual tool that allows users to write on touch-screen devices by connecting letters on a standard keyboard through finger swipes vs. pressed keys.
Here's a demo of the product at Yammer's website.
Runners-up include:
Atmosphir -- a gaming application that allows for users to easily create their own customized, 3-D gaming world.
Fitbit -- a small, $99 gadget that tracks your fitness (i.e. calorie burn) and sleep levels throughout your day.
Grockit-- an online learning tool that allows for collective learning between users through online chat conversations and user-awarded points for insightful input.
GoodGuide -- a product guide that helps consumers make conscious buying decisions on the products they purchase based on their social, environmental, and health impact.
Swype -- an predictive textual tool that allows users to write on touch-screen devices by connecting letters on a standard keyboard through finger swipes vs. pressed keys.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Games Aren't Meant to be Decided by Referees
Today's game between the Washington Huskies (0-2) and 15th-ranked BYU Cougars (2-0) was a great example of how a game should never be decided. Rules are rules, but in the context of the situation there is a right call and a right no-call.
Down by a touchdown, 21-28, with :09 seconds left in regulation, QB Jake Locker made a courageous scramble to the left pylon of BYU's endzone, avoided three diving BYU defenders, and extended over the goal-line for a touchdown that looked like it would set up a game-tying PAT and bring the game into overtime. In celebration, Jake tossed the ball into sky and jumped into the air with his teammates as any team would do after such a momentous event. The crowd went wild and the sirens blared, but in the midst of all the commotion, down to the turf went a penalty flag from the back pocket of the game's head referee. The call was an excessive celebration penalty that resulted in a 35-yard extra-point attempt to tie the game. The ensuing kick was blocked and UW fell to 0-2 on the season with the 27-28 loss.
It's extremely upsetting to see these college athletes battle for 48 minutes of a hard-fought football game, only to have it decided on the last play by a penalty that should have never been called.
Update:
Here's ESPN SportsNation's take:
Down by a touchdown, 21-28, with :09 seconds left in regulation, QB Jake Locker made a courageous scramble to the left pylon of BYU's endzone, avoided three diving BYU defenders, and extended over the goal-line for a touchdown that looked like it would set up a game-tying PAT and bring the game into overtime. In celebration, Jake tossed the ball into sky and jumped into the air with his teammates as any team would do after such a momentous event. The crowd went wild and the sirens blared, but in the midst of all the commotion, down to the turf went a penalty flag from the back pocket of the game's head referee. The call was an excessive celebration penalty that resulted in a 35-yard extra-point attempt to tie the game. The ensuing kick was blocked and UW fell to 0-2 on the season with the 27-28 loss.
It's extremely upsetting to see these college athletes battle for 48 minutes of a hard-fought football game, only to have it decided on the last play by a penalty that should have never been called.
Update:
Here's ESPN SportsNation's take:
Friday, September 5, 2008
TechCruch50 Starts on Monday
What do you get when you take 50 startups with the most potential to be the next Google, Facebook, MySpace, or YouTube and put them in front of the biggest hitters in the tech industry?
TechCrunch50.
For those unfamiliar, TechCrunch50 is an annual startup conference held in San Francisco as an extension of the Web's most notable tech blog, TechCrunch. It will take place starting Monday and continue through Wednesday of this week. Its purpose is simple: to put the best startups in front of some of the industry's most influential minds, venture capitalists, corporations, media, and fellow entrepreneurial circle.
Having drawn from this year's pool of over 1,000 applicants, 50 (actually 52) startups will vie for a grand prize of $50,000, but even more importantly, showcase their innovative ideas before impactful people that can potentially help make them explode.
TechCrunch50's impressive panel of experts includes:
Chris DeWolfe - Co-Founder and CEO of MySpace
Mark Cuban - Owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Chairman of HDNet
Kevin Rose - Founder and Chief Architect of Digg
Chad Hurley - Co-Founder of YouTube
Sean Parker - Co-Founder of Napster, Plaxo, and Facebook
... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
One of the most notable presenters at this year's conference will be Ashton Kutcher. Along with his film- and television-producing counterpart, Jason Goldberg, Kutcher will be presenting his startup venture, Blah Girls (an interactive online video site).
Michael Arrington, Founder of TechCrunch, recently asked Kutcher to say a few words in lieu of his excitement leading up to the event. Here is Ashton's ever-so-candid appreciation for the strong confidentiality and quality of the event that TechCrunch is ever-so-carefully upholding. (Warning: strong language.)
For the record: Jason Calacanis, Yossi Vardi, Roelof Botha, and Marc Benioff are the Founder and CEO of Mahalo, the first investor in ICQ, a partner at Sequoia Capital, and the Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, respectively. In other words, very important people. :)
If you'd like to tune in live to TechCrunch50 interviews starting on Monday, you can do so here.
Seattle Side Note:
Brandon Morrow, in his first major league start, pitched a no-hitter through 7 2/3 innings against the Yankees tonight. What do you know? Maybe there is hope for Mariners' baseball after all -- next year of course.
TechCrunch50.
For those unfamiliar, TechCrunch50 is an annual startup conference held in San Francisco as an extension of the Web's most notable tech blog, TechCrunch. It will take place starting Monday and continue through Wednesday of this week. Its purpose is simple: to put the best startups in front of some of the industry's most influential minds, venture capitalists, corporations, media, and fellow entrepreneurial circle.
Having drawn from this year's pool of over 1,000 applicants, 50 (actually 52) startups will vie for a grand prize of $50,000, but even more importantly, showcase their innovative ideas before impactful people that can potentially help make them explode.
TechCrunch50's impressive panel of experts includes:
Chris DeWolfe - Co-Founder and CEO of MySpace
Mark Cuban - Owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Chairman of HDNet
Kevin Rose - Founder and Chief Architect of Digg
Chad Hurley - Co-Founder of YouTube
Sean Parker - Co-Founder of Napster, Plaxo, and Facebook
... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
One of the most notable presenters at this year's conference will be Ashton Kutcher. Along with his film- and television-producing counterpart, Jason Goldberg, Kutcher will be presenting his startup venture, Blah Girls (an interactive online video site).
Michael Arrington, Founder of TechCrunch, recently asked Kutcher to say a few words in lieu of his excitement leading up to the event. Here is Ashton's ever-so-candid appreciation for the strong confidentiality and quality of the event that TechCrunch is ever-so-carefully upholding. (Warning: strong language.)
For the record: Jason Calacanis, Yossi Vardi, Roelof Botha, and Marc Benioff are the Founder and CEO of Mahalo, the first investor in ICQ, a partner at Sequoia Capital, and the Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, respectively. In other words, very important people. :)
If you'd like to tune in live to TechCrunch50 interviews starting on Monday, you can do so here.
Seattle Side Note:
Brandon Morrow, in his first major league start, pitched a no-hitter through 7 2/3 innings against the Yankees tonight. What do you know? Maybe there is hope for Mariners' baseball after all -- next year of course.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Google's Android is on Its Way...
Search? Check.
Email? Check.
Calendar? Check.
RSS reader? Check.
News? Check.
Finance? Check.
Web browser? Check.
Mobile OS? Check.
Cell phone? Get ready. Rumors out and about in the tech world are coming to reality. Having developed its Android mobile operating system, Google has signed an agreement to offer an HTC-manufactured "Google Phone" through T-Mobile. Rumor mills have said September 17th is the date for the release of T-Mobile G1, while others are proclaiming it'll be October 13th.
In any case, in common fashion with Apple and the iPhone wave, Google's approach is out to re-affirm that the proof is in the programs. $5 million in prize money was awarded by Google a few days ago following completion of its Android Developer Challenge I. 50 winners were awarded $50,000, 10 were awarded $100,000, and another 10 received $275,000 for their parts in developing a series of Android-compatible mobile applications.
With this, Google has now created a diverse software suite to go along with its base mobile OS functionality. The platform promises to have some of the same flavor as recently released Web browser Crome. Here's a brief demo of what's (soon to be) in store:
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Google Releases Google Chrome Beta Version
Well that was fast...
Just as Microsoft launched its newest version of IE, Google is just as quickly jumping into the Web browser market. As of today, users can download the beta version of Google Chrome.
As mentioned in a previous post, I'll do a comparison in a later posting (now including Google Chrome along with incumbents, FireFox 3 and IE8).
Here's a videos from the folks who helped in creating Google Chrome:
Just as Microsoft launched its newest version of IE, Google is just as quickly jumping into the Web browser market. As of today, users can download the beta version of Google Chrome.
As mentioned in a previous post, I'll do a comparison in a later posting (now including Google Chrome along with incumbents, FireFox 3 and IE8).
Here's a videos from the folks who helped in creating Google Chrome:
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