Also miss it? Then enjoy some photos from talented local photog Anna Webber.

I’m a research junkie, so I looked for first-timer’s guides all over the place, hoping I’d find something like I did for Burning Man. But despite the fact that SXSWi is made up of a bunch of compulsive Tweeters and bloggers (who, as I mentioned before, are all good-looking and intelligent), you guys are completely pathetic when it comes to any kind of online tip guide. Seriously, when a bunch of Burners outdo you in the organization department? That’s a sorry story, right there.

So, in the spirit of sharing – and because the end of SXSW has left me with the three-second memory of a goldfish and I’ll forget this all if I don’t get it down – here’s All The Things I Wish I’d Known About SXSW.

Things I Wish I’d Known About Food and Drink at SXSW

@sxswfreenoms would make you think that food just floats out of the sky at SXSW. And sometimes it does. I was dodging cupcakes left and right in front of the Conference Center Saturday, and if Zone Perfect bars were $5 bills I’d be able to buy myself a new MacBook (okay, okay, at least an iPod). But for actual sustaining meals, there’s a lot of things I wish I’d known before SXSW.

1. If you’re vegetarian you will starve. There is allegedly a lot of great vegetarian food in Austin, but just about none of it is within a mile radius of the Convention Center. When parties say “We have free food!” they’re really saying “All the cow you can eat!” You can try a bean and rice burrito, but the refried beans are made with lard and the rice is made with chicken stock. And God help you if you have food allergies. Which is why you should…
2. Hit Whole Foods when you get into town and stock up. It doesn’t matter if you’re a vegetarian or a carnivore – stock up at Whole Foods. The Whole Foods Death Star is at 6th and Lamar. It is approximately the size of the Austin Convention Center. If you haven’t been there, you think I’m exaggerating, and if you have you’re probably saying to yourself, “Actually, I think it’s a little bigger.” It’s like Yuppie Wal-Mart – they have everything. But before you hit Whole Foods, go a block down 6th and…
3. Get ice cream at Amy’s. HOLY CRAPNUTS. I’d heard that Amy’s had the best ice cream on the planet, but I thought that was hyperbole. I wish I’d gone the first day. And every day. It’s not like I was eating anything else, anyway, because I didn’t…
4. Research restaurants before you go to Austin. 80% of the restaurants within a 10-minute walk of the conference center suck, and 18% of the rest are wall-to-wall with SXSW folks. Which means you can either miss three panels waiting for a table or eat bad food. If you flail on Yelp looking for something decent and nearby, you’ll burn valuable time that you could be using walking to a restaurant. If you walk into a random place on 6th Street, you will, like we did, have them deliver your meal an hour late, with every item wrong. (Staring at Anil Dash for 35 minutes didn’t improve things.) Do the research and write it all down before you come. Or better yet, mark it on a map.
5. You can get free water if you bring a water bottle. There’s plenty of water coolers around, but SXSW staff frown on attendees wrapping their lips around the spout. Bring an empty bottle and refill it. (Or buy a bottle of water, but that’s about $3.50 in the convention center.)
6. Don’t dehydrate. There’s a few ways that SXSW is like Burning Man, and this is one. It’s dry, it’s dehydrating, and most of the drinks people are handing you are alcoholic, which will just dehydrate you more. Drink water, and tons of it. Next year I may bring a Camelbak.

Things I Wish I’d Known About Panels Before I Went to SXSW

Every time I had #panelfail, because the panel was packed and I couldn’t get in or it sucked or it just wasn’t applicable to what I do, it made me crazy for the next few hours, because I knew I could have been at something better. Here’s some info that might have helped.

1. Panel rooms are really spread out. It’s about 4/10 of a mile from the front door of the Hilton to Ballroom A in the Conference Center, plus there’s geeks to dodge. If your prime pick panel is in the Hilton, several floors up, and your backup is in Ballroom C, you might make it in time for the Q&A, or as I like to call it, “oversharing time.” (More on that later.) When you pick a panel, make sure you have a backup in the same building, or that time slot may be a wash.
2. If you get the vibe you’ll hate it before hand, you’re probably right. I went to a panel that I thought would be on professional development. The bullet points on the boards made it clear it was about “The Secret.” I still stuck it out for 15 minutes, hoping I was wrong. I would have been better off bolting to my Plan B before the panel began.
3. Q&A sessions = audience self-promotion. At least half the people asking questions would spend several minutes shilling their skills, then ask something just meant to show themselves off. If you need to get to another panel, or lunch, skip the Q&A.
4. Panel hashtags almost always change. SXSW likes giving panels 30-character hash tags. Panelists ruthlessly shorten them, usually by scrawling with a Bic pen. This is a problem if you’re in row 40 and trying to monitor the Twitter backchannel.
5. Panelists need lessons in how to use the microphone. No, actually, that’s what I wish SXSW knew about panels. Speaking directly into a mic may seem simple, but many speakers can’t seem to grasp it, even when the audience shouts it repeatedly. Sit near the front so you can hear them even without the mic.

Things I Actually Got Right at SXSW

And here’s some things I actually did right that friends of mine who came to SXSW wished they’d done.

1. Bring multiple pairs of shoes and rotate them. I learned this lesson, painfully, at Burning Man last year. C.K. Sample didn’t have that info, and by Day 3 was Tweeting desperate requests for shoes.
2. Give yourself foot massages at the end of the night. It may sound lame, but otherwise you will wake up with feet that are almost as sore as when you went to bed.
3. Bring an umbrella. Nick Fairbairn of Engine Company One gave me this tip the day before I left, and I listened. Monday night the skies opened up when I was standing in front of Tech Karaoke. Suddenly, I had five new friends standing as close as possible. I wish more of them had showered during SXSW.
4. “Remember” people’s names. Everyone is wearing a badge with their name on it. Everyone forgets they’re wearing a badge with their name on it. When you say hi to someone you’ve met before, glance at their badge and use their name. It makes them feel special and it makes you look like you care.
5. RSVP for every single party. Some parties are hard-core about their guest lists; some will let anyone walk in who has a badge. There’s no way to tell which will be which, and I missed a few parties because I had RSVPd but my crew hadn’t. Just because you RSVPd doesn’t mean you have to show. Follow @sxswparty, @sxswparties, or @sxswPartyList(or next year’s versions of same). Check out the blogs Austinist and Republic of Austin about two weeks out. Between all of them, you should find 80% of the parties.
6. Make plans to see people. You think you’ll just run into people. You’re wrong. (Unless they’re Sean Percival, who is everywhere. How does he DO that?) I missed a good friend who lives in London because we’d never made real plans and he left Saturday afternoon. He was on London time and I was on California time, which meant when one of us texted “What are you up to?” the other was sleeping. I only got to see Jason Calacanis, Lon Harris and Mark Jeffrey – all people I really wanted to see – because I knew they would all be at the TWiST event, and I completely missed C.K. Sample there, which was when I knew I had to make plans. You won’t just run into people (except for Sean) – you have to make it happen.
7. You will always miss something cool. Deal with it and enjoy where you are. At every party I went to, there were a bunch of people sitting there, jacked into Twitter, trying to find out if they were missing something cool. And they were – they were missing the cool thing right in front of them. There’s a million cool things going on simultaneously at SXSW. Enjoy the cool thing where you are rather than searching for something cooler.

Where else can so many of us geeks justify our existence and relevancy? Look here are 15,000 weirdos just like me! For others it’s just a great place to get tanked and finally score that hot PR girl you’ve been flirting with on Twitter with for LIKE EVER. For just about everyone it’s a place to connect, share, and form something offline.

Really SXSW can be a lot of things, none of which we really wanted to hear about. So we challenged the leaders of over sharing to distill their message into one simple word. Here is how they did.

Video features:

• Alana Joy
• Alexia Tsotsis
• Andy Sternberg
• Ben Metcalfe
• Brian Solis
• Cathy Brooks
• Chris Saad
• Damien Basile
• Erin Broadley
• Francisco Dao
• Gabe Rivera
• Jeremy Johnson
• John Boitnott
• Laura Fitton
• Lon Harris
• Loren Feldman
• Marc Hustvedt
• Mark Krynsky
• Micah Baldwin
• Michelle Oshen Feldman
• Nicole Gustas
• Nicole Jordan
• Pete Cashmore
• Robert Scoble
• Sean Percival
• Serena Ehrlich
• Tony Adam

Digital LA Digital Drinks - ‘Tis our lucky day! We’ll be celebratin’ St. Patty’s a wee day early with our pre-St. Patricks Day – Digital Drinks @ Dillon’s Irish Bar. Rest ur feet and pull up a chair with good cheer! And practice for the next day: wear some green! We’ll be networking in the left back private room – the one with the big screen!

Time: 8:00pm to 11:00pm

Location:
Dillon’s Irish Pub
6263 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca

Tickets: $10 advance registration required

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Mindshare LA – We hope to see you there for another night of enlightened debauchery!

Program Includes:

• David Orban / Founder, Chief Evangelist, WideTag, Inc. & Advisor, Singularity Univeristy / The Internet of Things
• Matthew J. Smith / Harvard Law School / Negotiation & Mediation Afterhours
• Wil Carson / Senior Project Designer, Michael Maltzan Architecture / New Questions for a New City
• Emily Tyrant / Pervert Extraordinaire, Den of Iniquity / Acclimating Men to Pain

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Club 740
740 S. Broadway
(Enter through the alley at 8th Spring St.)
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Tickets: $30

WITI Spring Mixer with Girls In Tech – Make new contacts, re-connect with former colleagues, invite clients (and make new ones!). You’ll have rare access to a highly diverse group of professionals committed to your success! Men and women are encouraged to attend this smashing seasonal event and we will be inviting many other LA based groups to join us.

Time: 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Wokano
1413 5th Street
Santa Monica, Ca 90401

Tickets: $20 for WITI members $40 for non-members

Docstoc March Mixer and Startups Uncensored #15 – How to Persuade People – This month’s Startups Uncensored will be on “How to Persuade People”. It will be an open and frank town-hall conversation talking about the skills and techniques leaders use to influence others. Led by Jason Nazar, the “How to Persuade People” presentation will be geared towards startups and entrepreneurs to learn and review the skills that will help them raise money, hire great talent, and land partnerships.

Time: 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Location:
Santa Monica Public Library (Auditorium)
601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, Ca 90401

Tickets: Free, RSVP
*This event is capped at 140 attendees. Confirmation will be required or your spot will be given up for our waiting list.

MediaClub LA – Join LA’s Largest Business Networking Organization for Media Professionals and see you at our next event. Come mingle with top industry professionals in Media and Technology. Attendees work at companies such as CAA, Disney, Dreamworks, Fox, ICM, MySpace, NBC, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, William Morris, YouTube, etc.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
W Hollywood
6250 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, Ca

Tickets: $12 until March 15th, then $15

It’s also a great tool for stalking your friends.

Of course many SXSW attendees this year were happy to broadcast every spot they visited, even their hotel location. And while that may not include their exact room number that’s easy enough to come by thanks to the friendly front desk staff.

So we decided to see just how many people we could track down based on their last check-in of the night. We can not confirm or deny if there was some responsible drinking involved. In either case here is what we found when we tried to unlock the coveted “Annoy the crap out of your friends at 5am” badge.

*Update: Some took this joke better than others so we have updated the video to include the best call of the night, the one and only Gary Vaynerchuk:

In addition to a fun night of mingling, they are having a tweet contest to see who the “Best Social Media City” is. This is based off of tweets that contain the hashtags #medialeaders and #LA. Currently out of the eight cities in the running, Raleigh is winning by a landslide. Now, I’m not encouraging you to spam your readers but, do you really want North Carolina to beat us at this?

To participate in the tweet contest and let other LA residents know that you will be attending the event, visit MediaLeaders.tv and click the tweet “this button”. Or just tweet out:

I am attending #MediaLeaders #LA on March 9th (and I want LA to win the tweet contest). Join me:  http://bit.ly/ab8CI8.

To check out who has already tweeted that they are attending and to quickly search what’s going on live at the event in your city, check out their Twitter Tracker.

Details

Date: Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Rush Street
9546 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, Ca 90232

Tickets: $12

(Photo from rushstreetculvercity.com)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Digiday: Mobile – Is Mobile The Next Critical Mass Medium? – Discover the what the future holds for you and this game changing media platform at digiday:MOBILE in Los Angeles. During this high-level full day event – top Publishers, Agency Executives and Brand Marketers will come together to discuss and debate how to fully utilize the next critical mass medium: MOBILE.

Full day of sessions and networking. Agenda here.

Time:
Starts at 8:00am, last session at 5:00pm
Cocktail party 5:30pm

Location:
Hilton Los Angeles (Universal City)
555 Universal Hollywood Drive
Universal City, Ca 91608

Tickets: $595.00
*The ticket includes all sessions, keynotes, meal functions, and a networking cocktail party.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Digiday: Social – The New Media Reality: Everything is Social. Are You? – During this high-level event, top Publishers, Agency Executives and Brand Marketers will come together to discuss how Social Media is everywhere and is changing everything.

Full day of sessions and networking. Agenda here.

Time:
Keynote starts 9:00am, last session starts at 4:45
Cocktail party at 5:30pm

Location:
Hilton Los Angeles (Universal City)
555 Universal Hollywood Drive
Universal City, Ca 91608

Tickets: $595.00
*The ticket includes all sessions, keynotes, meal functions, and a networking cocktail party.

Media Leaders Networking Event – Join fellow Media Leaders to share ideas and enjoy meeting new friends a week before SXSW. There’s no keynote speaker or panel of experts, just socializing and mixing with key influencers that are changing the way the industry operates.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Rush Street
9546 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, Ca 90232

Tickets: $12

Crash Space LA – BristleBots and LED throwie art – Tuesday night Crashpace LA is open to the public. They’ll be having some fun quick DIY projects for you to build. Come on over and have fun. The project kits are $5 for CrashSpace members or $10 for non-members and you can take them home after you build them. In the kit you get the parts to build your own Bristlebot, a tiny robot made from a toothbrush and LED throwie art. They’ll have a Bristlebot race track you can do time trials on.

Time: 8:00pm

Location:
Crash Space
10526 Venice Blvd
Culver City, Ca 90232

Tickets: None needed, more information on Crash Space here.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

ThinkLA’s February Interactive Mixer – Mingle at this mixer geared towards the interactive community. Appetizers served, no host bar.

Time: 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Rush Street
9546 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, Ca 90232

Tickets: Registration for this event is now closed. Walk-ins will be available at the door at $40 an individual.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Los Angeles VC and Angel Event – How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check! We will be discussing trends in Early-Stage Investing, hot sectors, sectors that these Angels and VCs look at, things that are most important to them when they are considering an Investment, the best and worst things an entrepreneur can do to get their attention, additional advice for entrepreneurs, and, of course, the best ways to reach these and other Investors.

Time: 2:00pm – 6:15pm (workshop is 11am-1pm)

Location:
Bingham McCutchen LLP
355 South Grand Avenue Suite 4400
Los Angeles, Ca

Tickets:
Entrepreneur Raising Capital – Event: $75
Entrepreneur Event + Pitching Workshop: $350
Investor / Service provider: $85

Friday, March 12, 2010

By now most of LA has arrived in Austin, Texas for the first day of  SXSW Interactive, excluding me of course. For those of you not going and wanting to drive everyone crazy with non SXSW tweets, check out @notsxsw.

Thanks to Nicole Jordan for information taken from her LA Tech Calendar on KickingSand.com

To be inspired of course. All week long Ignite events are taking place across the planet in different cities. Known as Global Ignite Week, participants get five minutes to present on stage with their 20 slides and try to enlighten and inspire the crowd.

The tag line for all of the events is “Enlighten us, but make it quick”, with topics ranging from social good, to robots, to remote viewing?? This was my first Ignite and I am sad to say I had to ask my friends that had been to past events what the point was. Thankfully there were a few presenters that stood out and actually made me think “Wow, that’s really cool, I want to know more.”

Kurt Daradics bravely took the stage and gave a very touching and funny speech about being a cyborg. He shared with the room a personal story that many have never heard, how he was born with a condition that left him deaf with 40% hearing loss until they were able to implant a piece of metal in his ear that conducts sound through the bone. I even had people coming up to me at other events this week to talk about how great they thought it was.

Photo by Laurie Percival

Eric Gradman shared a range of projects he has worked on including one called the Narcisystem, a wearable suit of biometric sensors which allows different parts of his body to control the elements in the room around him like the lighting and sound. How you can use RFID tags to turn any space into an interactive one and he talked about Sockieokie, a project that will be unveiled at a Syyn Labs, formerly Mindshare Labs, event this Saturday. He definitely inspired me to get out to the next Mindshare event.

The last presenter, Adam Sadowsky, treated us to some of the specifics behind the recently debuted video for OKGO’s new song “This Too Shall Pass”. It was released at 4pm on Monday and encompasses a Rube Goldberg machine. The band was really specific on their requirements and it was quite impressive that Syyn Labs was able to meet them all and pull off such a cool video in one shot.

The presenters that I liked, I really liked but they were few and far between. Overall I found the evening interesting but not necessarily enlightening. I didn’t seem like I had experienced what I had heard a typical Ignite event was like. That being said I am still willing to attend another one as long as they make some changes.

To the organizers I would have to recommend next time get a bigger venue, have the community vote ahead of time on who they want to see present, and for the love of god, have food available.

(Photos by Jim Alden @TechFrog)

Monday, March 1, 2010

Ignite LA – Speakers get only 5 minutes to give an amazing, inspiring talk. In LA, there are tons of different communities at the intersection of tech, art, green/sustainability, unique lifestyle design, digital/collaborative media, and social action that don’t know each other but should. Think of Ignite as a set of trailers for exciting projects people are doing that you should know about.

Time: 7:00pm to 9:30pm

Location:
Cinespace
6356 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Free, RSVP

A Good Knight’s Party — Premiere Party for ‘A Good Knight’s Quest’ – official premiere party for A Good Knight’s Quest, a new web comedy series by The Escapist and writer/director Brett Register. Evening includes: special guest DJ Michael Woodward of Your Only Friends, signature “Quest” drink specials by a Capitol City mixologist, win an evening with a cast member, red carpet interviews w/Kristyn Burtt of The Web Files, high-definition screening of our extended trailer and cast and crew Q&A.

Time: 8:00pm to 11:00pm

Location:
Capitol City Hollywood
1615 N. Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca 90028

Tickets: Free, RSVP required

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Scripped – Hollywood 2.0 – The topic of the discussion will be *”Film Production and Online Distribution – Strategies for Success.”* This will be an especially useful chat for those of you interested in hearing how quality content is put together, and how to go about distributing content on the web.

Panelists:

• Tyler Crowley – Director of Strategy, Mahalo ; producer of several web series
• Sean Percival – Director of Content Socialization, Myspace; founder lalawag.com
• Mali Elfman – Editor-in-Chief, Screencrave ; Producer
• Aaron Lubin – Producer

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Mahalo
902 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, Ca 90401

Tickets: Free, RSVP required (email Sunil at Sunil@scripped.com)
* We can only accept 100 people into this event due to the limited space.

Dealmaker Media – How To Build A Remarkable Company (aka: How Not to Be Boring) - At this special event, we’re thinking out of the box, so you can too. We’ll be discussing:

• Startup DNA: How do you build a truly remarkable company?
• Where does inspiration for “new” ideas come from?
• How do you promote a new idea to a market that might not yet be defined?
• Spreading the gospel: turning doubters into believers.
• How to surround yourself with a winning team

Time: 6:00pm to 9:0pm

Location:
Clearstone Venture Partners
1351 4th Street (4th floor)
Santa Monica, Ca

Tickets: Strategy Series & Mixer: $60 Member Price: $40 / Mixer Only: $35 Member Price: $25

Digital LA – Celebrity Websites Panel – The Oscars are coming up, perfect time for our panel on celebrity websites! At the perfect venue to talk celebs: Madame Tussauds in Hollywood, right on the Walk of Fame, on the same block where the Kodak Theatre will be hosting the Oscars a few days later! So after our panel in a section of the exhibit reserved just for us to talk about celebs, u can take pics with ‘em too!

Panelists:

• Jeff Pierce, 65 Media, concepted JimCarrey.com website, currently a finalist for this year’s SXSWi Film/Web award http://jimcarrey.com
• Anthony Malzone, Art Director for Prince, manager of Prince’s online presence, including his official website LotusFlow3r http://www.lotusflow3r.com
• Karen Woodward, content manager, writer, Booeep.com, works with Greg Grunberg, Sophia Bush, Lauren Holly, Disney kids, etc. on their official websites

Time: 5:00pm to 8:00pm

Location:
Madame Tussauds Hollywood
6933 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, Ca

Tickets: $60 thru Mar 1, Increases to $75 on March 2-3
* Includes admission to our panel, and a self-guided tour of the museum immediately afterward.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Digital LA – Alice In Wonderland – We just reserved a block of 10 VIP tickets to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 3D at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood! Our VIP tickets include no waiting, reserved seating, popcorn, a drink and 3D glasses.

Time: 9:00pm to 11:30pm

Location:
El Capitain Theatre
6838 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, Ca

Tickets: RSVP here, and they will let you know when registration is available

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Art Directors Guild Panel Discussion – An open invitation to attend a panel discussion of Production Designers and Set Decorators nominated for the 2009 Acadamy Award for achievement in Art Direction. Footage from the nominated films will be shown. Following films will be discussed: Avatar, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Nine, Sherlock Holmes and The Young Victoria.

Time: 2:00pm doors open 2:30 event starts

Location:
Egyptian Theatre Hollywood
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Free, seating is first come first served

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Digital LA – Oscars Viewing Party – Get ready for the big awards show of the year: it’s our second annual Oscars Viewing Party! We had so much fun dressing up and watching the show together last year, we’re looking forward to more of the fun this year. Especially cuz a third of the Best Picture noms are digital: Avatar, Up, and District 9! This is a dress up event, blazers for guys and cocktail dresses for the ladies.

Time: 4:30pm to 8:00pm

Location:
The Parlor
1519 Wilshire Boulevard
Santa Monica, Ca 90403

Tickets: $35 thru Fri Mar 5, Increases to $40 Mar 6-7
*Your ticket includes light appetizers (shrimp cocktail, chicken satay skewers, sliders, veggie platter, and unlimited soda, juice, water).

Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry

Join media empress Shira Lazar and theStream.tv’s Jim Festante as they a Read off the nominees for ten of the main categories. The full list of nominees in all 35 categories are set to be announced in a press release immediately following. Check back with us for a complete list once we have it.

The official Twitter account for The Streamys will be live tweeting the event and are planning on giving one special fan a ticket to the Streamy Awards sometime during the announcement. Be sure to follow them at @streamyawards for a chance to win.

The second annual Streamy Awards ceremony is scheduled for April 11, 2010 at The Music Box at Fonda Theater in Hollywood.  See photos of last years event by Wm. Marc Salsberry here and by Lan Bui here .

UPDATE: Info from NewTeeVee.com

And the nominees are:

OVERALL SERIES

Best Comedy Web Series
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
Easy to Assemble
The Guild
The Legend of Neil
Wainy Days

Best Drama Web Series
Angel of Death
Compulsions
OzGirl
The Bannen Way
Valemont

Best Hosted Web Series
A Comicbook Orange
Diggnation
Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show
Know Your Meme
The Totally Rad Show

Best Reality or Documentary Web Series
Interview Project
Mommy XXX
RADAR
Streak to Win
The Secret Life of Scientists

Best News or Politics Web Series
Auto-Tune the News
Rocketboom
The Tommorow Show with Mo Rocca
The Young Turks
VBS News

Best Foreign Web Series
Flying Kebab
Girl Number 9
Noob
OzGirl
Riese

Best New Web Series
$5 Cover: Memphis
Girl Number 9
Odd Jobs
Old Friends
The Bannen Way

Best Companion Web Series
Assassin’s Creed: Lineage
Dexter: Early Cuts
Harper’s Globe
The Office: Subtle Sexuality
Weeds: University of Andy

Best Animated Web Series
Eli’s Dirty Jokes
Happy Tree Friends
Homestar Runner
How It Should Have Ended
Zero Punctuation

Best Branded Entertainment Web Series
Back on Topps (Dick’s Sporting Goods)
Brainstorm (Altoids)
Easy to Assemble (IKEA)
Parts Art (Lexus)
The Temp Life (Spherion)

Best Experimental Web Series
Auto-Tune the News
Green Porno
HBO Cube
INST MSGS
Level 26

DIRECTING

Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series
Blue Movies (Scott Brown)
Dorm Life: Semester 2 (Chris Smith, Mark Stewart Iverson)
James Gunn’s PG Porn (James Gunn)
The Guild (Sean Becker)
The Legend of Neil (Sandeep Parikh)

Best Directing for a Drama Web Series
Anyone But Me (Tina Cesa Ward)
Compulsions (Nathan Atkinson)
Girl Number 9 (James Moran)
The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren, Mark Gantt)
Young American Bodies (Joe Swanberg)

WRITING

Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series
Back on Topps (Jason Sklar, Randy Sklar, Eric Friedman, Matt Price)
Dorm Life (Chris Smith, Jordan Riggs, Jessie Gaskell, Jack De Sena, Jim Brandon, Brian Singleton, Mark Stewart Iverson)
The Legend of Neil (Tony Janning, Sandeep Parikh)
The Guild (Felicia Day)
Wainy Days (David Wain)

Best Writing for a Drama Web Series
Anyone But Me (Susan Miller, Tina Cesa Ward)
Compulsions (Bernie Su)
Girl Number 9 (James Moran, Dan Turner)
The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren, Mark Gantt)
Valemont (Christian Taylor)

ACTING

Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series
Zach Galifianakis (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis)
Tony Hale (CTRL)
Amir Blumenfeld (Jake and Amir)
Sandeep Parikh (The Guild)
David Wain (Wainy Days)

Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series
Illeana Douglas (Easy to Assemble)
Justine Bateman (Easy to Assemble)
Joanna Cassidy (Sex Ed)
Felicia Day (The Guild)
Lisa Kudrow (Web Therapy)

Best Male Actor in a Drama Web Series
Craig Frank (Compulsions)
Robert Englund (Fear Clinic)
Joe Absolom (Girl Number 9)
Mark Gantt (The Bannen Way)
Eric Balfour (Valemont)

Best Female Actor in a Drama Web Series
Zoe Bell (Angel of Death)
Rachael Hip-Flores (Anyone But Me)
Tatyani Ali (Buppies)
Sophie Tilson (OzGirl)
Crystal Chappell (Venice)

Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series
Back on Topps (Randy Sklar, Jason Sklar, Jason Nash, Janet Varney, Stephanie Courtney, Brian Huskey, Phil LaMarr)
Dorm Life (Nora Kirkpatrick, Hannah Pearl Utt, Anne Lane, Jessie Gaskell, Brian Singleton, Jack De Sena, Jim Brandon, Jordan Riggs, Pancho Morris)
Easy to Assemble (Illeana Douglas, Justine Bateman, Eric Lange, Michael Irpino, Cheri Oteri, Daryl Sabara, Michael Panes, Rob Mailhouse, Sean Durrie, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak)
GOLD (Robert J. Brewer, James Paul Xavier, Nathan Mobley, Rick Robinson, David Nett, Gary Karp, Shannon Ivey, Alan Loayza, Shannon Nelson, Jeremy Guskin, Angela Schnaible) The Guild (Vincent Caso, Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen)

Best Guest Star in a Web Series
Chris Hardwick (Back on Topps)
Nathan Fillion (PG Porn)
“Weird Al” Yankovic (Know Your Meme)
Wil Wheaton (The Guild)
Courteney Cox (Web Therapy)

Best Web Series Host
Alex Albrecht (Diggnation)
Zadi Diaz (Epic Fu)
Kevin Pollak (Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show)
Kristyn Burtt (The Web.Files)
Michael Buckley (What The Buck?!)

Best Vlogger
Brigitte Dale (Brigitte Dale)
iJustine (iJustine)
Phillip DeFranco (sxePhil)
Shane Dawson (ShaneDawsonTV)
Shira Lazar (Shira Lazar)

CRAFT AWARDS

Best Editing in a Web Series
$5 Cover: Memphis (Nathan Black, Morgan Jon Fox, Josh Swain)
Brainstorm (Jochen Kunstler, Jacob Vaughan)
Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)
I Kissed a Vampire (David Bekoff)
The Bannen Way (Zack Arnold)

Best Cinematography in a Web Series
Angel of Death (Carl Herse)
Brainstorm (Michael Lohmann)
LUMINA (XiaoSu Han, Andreas Thalhammer)
I Kissed a Vampire (Robert Lam)
The Bannen Way (Christopher Charles Kempinski)

Best Art Direction in a Web Series
$99 Music Videos (Kit Pennebaker)
Green Porno (Rick Gilbert)
Mountain Man (Matt Enlow)
Riese (Chad Krowchuk)
Tiki Bar TV (Kim Bailey)

Best Sound Design in a Web Series
Fear Clinic (Kunal Rajan)
Mountain Man (Michael Miller)
Riese (Bill Mellow, Kevin Belen)
Rockville, CA (Seth Talley)
The Vetala (Randy Kiss)

Best Visual Effects in a Web Series
Backyard FX (Erik Beck)
Fear Clinic (Jason M Bergman, Nicholas Onstad, Bethany Pederson, David Dang)
Mordy Koots (Reece Sanders, Clayton Jacobson)
Safety Geeks: SVI (Thor Melsted, Mike Smith)
The Crew (Jeff Bell, Zack Finfrock, Brett Register)

Best Animation in a Web Series
College Humor: Hardly Working (Dan Meth)
Happy Tree Friends (David Winn, Alan Lau, Jason Sadler, Brad Rau, Roque Bollestros, Paul Allan, Nica Lorber, Michael Lipman)
How It Should Have Ended (Daniel Baxter, Tommy Watson, Tina Alexander)
Inventions (Chris Weller, David Lamps)
theGoob (Magnus Jansson)

Best Original Music in a Web Series
Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)
Horrible Turn (Chance McClain, Kevin Ryan, Frank Bullington, Jeremy Botter)
Key of Awesome (Mark Douglas)
Sparhusen (Rob Mailhouse, Todd Spahr, Illeana Douglas)
The Coat (Thierry Chaze)

Best Live Production in a Web Series
Coin-Op TV Live
Fantasy Football Live!
Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show
The RadNerd Show
TWiT.tv

Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series
Circle of Eight
I <3 Vampires
Married on MySpace
Valemont
Wreck and Salvage: Suppendapo

Best Product Integration in a Web Series
Circle of Eight (Mountain Dew)
Easy to Assemble (IKEA)
The Bannen Way (Jaguar)
Valemont (Verizon Wireless)
Woke Up Dead (Kodak)

Best Mobile Experience in a Web Series
AT&T Life Without Mobile
Mr. Wrong
Playboy: Interns
Seth on Survival
Valemont

(Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry)

So what can I do to help? What can this lowly individual do to add to the sheer amazingocity (trademark Jobs) that is the iPad? I can’t program. Christ, I can’t even spell HTLM let alone do anything with it (see what I did there?). So I decided to compile a list of books – real books – from Amazon that I thought would be perfect for the iPad. Titles that sum up the sexy piece of glass you just bought. Imagine booting up your iPad to see these titles winking back at you.

1. What Is This? by Antje Damm
2. Pointless by Jeff Connor
3. Waste of Money by Owen Money
4. Why the World is Full of Useless Things by Steve McKevitt
5. Useless Beauty by Robert K. Johnston
6. Don’t Be Afraid to Drop by Julia Cook and Anita Dufalla
7. Boom! Splat! Kablooey! by Pat Murphy and The Scientists of Klutz Labs
8. Why Did I Buy This? by Lynn Brunelle
9. More Money Than Brains by Laura Penny
10. Refund by Mike Thompson

(Photo from wired.com)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Gravity Summit – We have an amazing day planned for attendees – a virtual brain trust of the top brands and minds in the industry. In addition, the attendees are outstanding – decision makers from all types of businesses across Southern California – financial services, entertainment, healthcare, music, high-tech, non-profits, municipalities, and entrepreneurs.

Time: 9:00am to 4:30pm conference
Tweetup Cocktail Party at the Roxy at 6:30pm (free)

Location:
UCLA Covel Commons
200 De Neve Drive
Los Angeles, Ca 90077

Tickets: Register here

UCLA Anderson School Of Management – Entrepreneurship Week – Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora, will be delivering the Keynote address on campus as part of UCLA Entrepreneurship Week. His speech will be followed by time for networking. UCLA Entrepreneurship Week encourages and celebrates entrepreneurship across all the graduate schools on campus.

Time: 7:30pm

Location:
UCLA Anderson School of Management
Gold Hall (Building B)
Executive Dining Room

Tickets: Free, RSVP

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Social Media Club – Going Goo Goo over Google Analytics - join Social Media Club as we discuss Google Analytics, with John Shiple, CTO, Ultralive; Alex Becker, Co-Founder and President, Highly Relevant; and Andrew Hahn, Luxury Link and Familygetaway.com. Erica Forrette, Online Marketing / E-commerce will be moderating this event.

Time: 7:00pm to 9:30pm

Location:
Mahalo
902 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, Ca 90401

Tickets: Advance Pre-Sale $10 Members Free Student Free

Thursday, February 25, 2010

New Media Vault 1 Year Anniversary Bash! – New Media Vault Celebrates its 1 Year Anniversary with a New Media Star Studed Bash at its new location The Standard Hotel in Downtown LA. With Live Jazz and Musical Performances! Get your photo taken at our free photo booth to comemorate this historic evening! Tech and Software door prize give aways all night! We will be raffling off tuition for 2 students for Hollywood’s Newest Web TV School! WEB TV WORKSHOP. Raffle tickets will be sold for $5

Time: 7:30pm

Location:
The Standard Hotel (Downtown)
550 South Flower St.
Los Angeles, Ca 90071

Tickets: Free, RSVP

TechZulu Turns 2 – Digital LA, Techzulu, and Citrusbyte invite you to celebrate at the new Geisha House – Santa Ana. Just walking distance from Efren’s home! TechZulu’s Efren says: “Come down and celebrate with us. There will be lots of new faces and contacts to be made so we are definitely looking forward to this years celebration!”

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Geisha House
2773 North Main Street
Santa Ana, CA

Tickets: $10 advance registration required

Friday, February 26, 2010

Digital LA – LA3D – VFX Animation Panel @ Cinespace – We’re teaming up again with the LA3D vfx/animation group, for our VFX panel and mixer at Cinespace. Our top-notch panelists specialize in movie animation (character design, title treatments, visual effects), and commercial effects. We’re super stoked that the lead designer on Avatar will be joining us to chat about animation, design, and FX on the highest grossing film of all time.

Time: 8:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Cinespace
6356 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, Ca

Tickets: $15 Advance Registration Required

Sunday, February 28, 2010

UpTake’s Los Angeles Meet-up for Bloggers – Learn tips & secrets from UpTake’s search engine team to
increase visitors and awareness to your blog.

Time:
Increase Your Blog Traffic Seminar: 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Cocktail Reception & Networking: 4:00pm to 5:00pm

Location:
Huntley Hotel
Aqua Room
1111 2nd Street
Santa Monica, Ca 90403

Tickets: Free, RSVP

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Digital LA – Digital Drinks at W Hollywood - Introducing… the new W Hollywood! After months of construction and anticipation, the brand new W Hollywood has *just* opened! We’re among the FIRST to schmooze in this new hot spot in Hollywood – check it out before your friends and give them the report! We’ll be in the ‘Station’ outdoor patio reserved just for us, for your digital networking, just off the Living Room lobby.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
W Hollywood
6250 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca 90028

Tickets: $10 advance registration required

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Los Angeles Social Video Meetup – Join us for our first LA Meetup. Mark Horvath, a visionary producer, will join us. Mark is the founder of InvisiblePeople.tv has travelled across America to capture the stories of people without a home, raw and unedited. Mark will share his experiences and the effectiveness of using social broadcasting technology to rapidly share your story. We’ll also have a cool new start-up, Vpype presenting along with producers/media mavens and personalities to talk about how to use social video within Facebook to create your personal digital studio.

Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Location:
Blankspaces
5405 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca 90036

Tickets: RSVP

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Streamys – IAWTV Member Webseries Courtesy Screening – Join us for a special screening of web shows in a lovely environment where you can kick-back and just watch. With drinks. Each featured show will offer a sampling of episodes for your consideration for the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards. This screening event is being held as a service to IAWTV Members, but is open to the everyone. Please, come, hang out, drink, laugh, and enjoy these shows of which we are so proud. Space is limited, RSVP soon!

Time: 7:00pm to 9:30pm

Location:
Cinespace Hollywood
6356 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, Ca

Tickets: RSVP

One particular link caught my eye so I clicked.

What I was rewarded with was a Twitpic of two completely naked girls, a full frontal shot you could say. I couldn’t believe my eyes! The tweet was normal sounding enough, I though maybe some drunken debauchery would be shown but there was no hint that there would be nudity in it. I immediately got Sean’s attention and showed it to him. We joked about it for a minute or two and then let it go.

*Black bar was added to the picture by us

A few minutes later more tweets from this user started flowing in, along with them came more naked pictures. This time they had a clear explanation:

*Black bars added to the picture by  us

Again, I was surprized but didn’t think much of it. I am not the kind of girl who shy’s away from nudity. I have no problem with out of the ordinary things that may cross my path. However the next day this got me thinking. What about the people who are not so casual about these things? I wonder what their reaction to seeing these pictures would be? Better yet, what about the teens that are supposedly on Twitter, are they coming across this kind of material?

The first thing to consider would be the user that was putting this info out there. It was Olivia Munn, one of the hosts of  “Attack of the Show” on the G4 network. I follow her because we watch the show and I am a fan, probably much like the other 114,647 people that follow her. (Which I would have to assume includes young men). I have seen her tweet about her Maxim pics and heard her talk about her Playboy spread but up until that moment I had never seen Twitpics of a totally naked girls coming from her links. I didn’t expect these kinds of pictures from her account.

I went back to the pictures a few days later and found that over $20,000 people had viewed the first full frontal nude one, and 53 accounts had re-tweeted the two pictures. I honesly thought they would have been taken down by now, considering the network she works for is fairly conservative.

With all the tools we currently have available that allow us to instantly share our experiences and feelings, when and where do we draw the line and decide, maybe I shouldn’t share that? Should Twitpic have some responsibility for hosting the nude pictures? Should Twitter be monitoring what’s out there? Or should we as adults monitor ourselves and know that some things just shouldn’t be shared. What about the women in the photos? Yes they are strippers but that doesn’t mean they want naked pictures of themselves floating around the internet.

Who decides when we have crossed the over sharing line and invaded other peoples privacy? Do we need someone to tell us or can we be responsible enough?

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Startups Uncensored – Google Adsense for Websites - This month’s Startups Uncensored will be on the “Google AdSense Tips for Startups”. It will be an open and frank town-hall conversation talking about how to best optimize and monetize your website with Google Adsense.

Time: 6:30pm to 8:00pm (Reception to Follow)

Location:
Santa Monica Public Library (Auditorium)
601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: Free, RSVP
*This event is capped at 140 attendees. Confirmation will be required or your spot will be given up for our waiting list

ThinkLA’s Interactive Mixer – Mingle at this mixer geared towards the interactive community.

Time: 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Rush Street
9546 Washington Blvd.
Culver City CA 90232

Tickets: Registration is closed, walk-ins welcome $40

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Digital LA -The Actor Producer Panel – We’re teaming up with SAG’s New Media group for our panel on how actors can use online tools to create, develop, distribute and market their web stories. We will be covering Creation, Development, Distribution and Marketing.

Panelists:

• Brett Register – Actor/Creator, The Crew, @brettregister @theCrewtv
• Jodi Binstock – Producer of Web Therapy, starring Lisa Kudrow; (formerly at E!, Disney ABC TV)
• Aaron Grasso, Producer of Closure, part of the 30 Day Film Challenge; appeared at Sundance Tweethouse panel @30dayfilm
• Amber J. Lawson – Babelgum, Comedy Publisher
• Brandon Martinez – Abrams Artists Agency, New Media Agent
• Marc Hustvedt – Tubefilter, Editor-in-Chief; Ex.Pr. Streamy Awards, SAG @MarcHustvedt @Tubefilter
• Mark Friedlander – SAG @SAGnewmedia

Moderator: Kevin Winston – Digital LA founder @kevinwinston @DigitalLA

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
SAG
5757 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets: $20 advance registration required. Tickets increase to $30 on February 8th.
*Free for SAG members, email name and SAG number to specialevents@sag.org.

ProductCamp Preview – ProductCamp SoCal is just a few weeks away! If you’ve never been to a ProductCamp, you need to come to OC Product Managers’ ProductCamp Preview. Following an hour of networking, we will have a session that will follow the format that you’ll see at ProductCamp SoCal. Drinks and appetizers will be served.

Time: 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Location:
JT Schmid’s @ The District
2415 Park Ave
Tustin, CA 92782

Tickets: $15 pre-register online and pay at the door, ($20 if not pre-registered)

Thursday, February 11th, 2009

Tech Happy Hour Mixer – Gravity Summit, Tech Supper Club and iHollywood have teamed up to host a happy hour mixer for you to meet executives with a passion for digital media, social media, sales and marketing. Come mix and mingle and learn more about the Gravity Summit taking place on February 22nd at UCLA. They will also raffle off the new Cisco HD Flip Camera at 7:00pm. (Must be present to win).

Time: 5:00pm to 7:30pm

Location:
Acapulco Restaurant
1109 Glendon Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Tickets: $10 for one, $15 for two

Register now for discount rate of only $249 for the Gravity Summit.

*Special thanks to Nicole Jordan for some of the events included. Taken from her LA Tech calendar on Kickingsand.com.

Merging social media and food together, the Battledish Dishcrawl will take you on a culinary mission around Los Angeles. The location based food adventure consists of five missions. Each mission is a dish in a restaurant. To play, simply pick an adventure, go on missions, and get foodie prizes.

Battledish is still in private alpha mode, but if you’re lucky, you’ll get a peek inside. Sign up here. You can follow them on Twitter at @battledish.

Details

Date: February 6th and 7th

Time: Happy hour kicks off at 7:30pm at Little Bar

Location:
Around Los Angeles, more information here

Tickets: Free, Register here

(Photo from steelheadstudio.com)

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Web TV Prep Classes - Are you a writer compelled to finally produce your passion project? Are you an actor inspired to take control of your own career? Are you an independent producer ready to jump into new media?

In just four short weeks WebTvPrep will take you from an aspiring actor, frustrated writer, or stagnant producer, to the star/producer of your own show. The course will cover the four major areas of: creative development/casting, production, Post Production/Web Design/Technology, and Social Networking/Viral Marketing/Sales.

Date: February 1st to February 24th

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Dogma Studios
4136 Del Rey Ave.
Marina Del Rey, Ca 90292

Tickets: Discounted Tuition for New Media Vault Members $225 or pay by individual week, prices here

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

New Music Seminar Los Angeles – The day will kick off with a keynote speech, followed by four sessions filled with vital information on how to see it and how to do it, accompanied by the New Music Seminar Guide Book filled with important contact information and vital new music business basics. With a focus on Social Media impact.

Speakers and Presenters

Time: 7:30am registration begins, Schedule

Location:
Henry Fonda Theater,
6126 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, Ca 90028

Tickets: Online Registration closed but you can register at the door

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

GDP Talk – TechZulu has partnered up with GDPWealth to bring you a night of amazing talks with some of the brightest minds in Southern California, Startup interviews, and networking. Join the conversations enlivening the courtyard, in an evening filled with lovely music, good food, and fine libations. When you aren’t mingling, come listen to some of LA’s great minds as they present ideas about trends and realities facing today’s world.

Speakers:

• Scott Bell, Founder, Gross Domestic Product, Inc. — Everything Your Broker will Never Tell You
• Greg Ferenstein, UC: Irvine Researcher, Fast Company Expert Blogger — American Education: “What is Litrarcy?”
• Kurt Daradics Founder of CitySourced, Co-Producer Digital Family – The Future of Civic Communication
• Adam Mefford, Co-Founder MindShare.LA — The iPod Generation Goes To Work!

Time: 6:30pm to 10:00pm

Location:
The Belamar Hotel
3501 North Sepulveda Blvd.
Manhattan Beach, Ca 90266

Tickets: $15 (all of which will go to charity) or $0 if you are a bit strapped for cash at the moment.
*Ticket includes appetizers & Hosted Wine/Beer for 2 hours. Discounted cash bar for sprits.

Cafe 50’s Tweetup – Watch @percival try to defend his mayorship at the first Cafe 50’s tweetup. Ever since they started on Twitter, Facebook, Yelp and Foursquare they’ve met a lot of great people online. Even though many are regular customers, they don’t have all the names and faces paired just yet and have decided it’s about time to change that. Come in after work and enjoy drink specials, discounts and freebies.

Time: 5:00pm to 8:00pm

Location:
11623 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Tickets: No RSVP needed, anyone can come

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Gov2.0 Camp LA – Join government, industry, and nonprofit new media leaders at the first West Coast unconference on social media and government. Together we will work to make “Gov 2.0″ more accessible to the public, share advice, and solve common problems both at the Camp and beyond

Date: February 5th – 7th Agenda

Time: TBD Check the Schedule for updates

Location:
BlankSpaces
5405 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets: Register

Austin Passy with his super sweet and cute girlfriend Jeana Arter

By Wm. Marc Salsberry

Kurt Daradics with Mark Jeffrey and his date “the hottest girl at Twiistup”

By Wm. Marc Salsberry

Marketing Pro Nicole Jordan and Serena Ehrlich from Social Media Club

By Wm. Marc Salsberry

Pete Cashmore, CEO and Founder of Mashable and Neil Patel, SEO Ninja and Twiistup Owner

By Wm. Marc Salsberry

Eston Bond with Read Write Web’s Jolie O’Dell and Mike Prasad

By Wm. Marc Salsberry

See the rest of the evenings photos here, and check out Wm. Marc’s other work here.

(Header Photo of Neil Patel by Wm. Marc Salsberry)

My Thoughts on the iPad

Now that the presentation is over, I’ll share my thoughts on the iPad device. It seems to be a great price for an entry level device, but my concerns come in when you start looking at the power under the hood. I’m not convinced a 1GHz processor is going to hold up to what they are trying to throw at it.  Some of the games involved and that will be developed will definitely push it to it’s limit, not to mention the iWorks suite.  Overall it looks like an giant iTouch (not an iPhone, since it has no phone component).  Another downside that is readily apparent is the lack of a camera. I’m not sure with a tablet if you would want one on side facing the user or the other side, but given that most laptops and smart phones have cameras these days, I think they’re missing out on an opportunity by not including that option.  Maybe that will be included in the iPad 2.0. Finally, another item that was conspicuously missing was any mention of Flash. Apparently that didn’t make it into the iPad either. I think it will end up being a great product for low-end users and even some people who are current laptop users. However, the biggest draw appears to be the iBook Store and I think that could definitely give Amazon and the Kindle a run for their money.

(Thanks to Engadget, Gdgt.com and Leo Laporte’s live team, whose coverage allowed us to blog this event today.)

Live Blog Coverage Below

11:35 – He invites the event participants to go and get some hands-on experience at the demo tables and this concludes the live event.

11:34 – Jobs also says, “We’ve always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts — we want to make the best tech, but have them be intuitive. It’s the combination of these two things that have let us make the iPad.” Really? I’m not sure how that fits into tech today unless Jobs is channeling his inner hippie from his early days.

11:32 – Jobs: “The iPad is the most advanced technology you can imagine in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.”

11:31 – Jobs says over 75 million people will intuitively know how to use it (based on iPhone and iTouch sales)

11:30 – Video ends to a round of applause.

11:26 – Video presentation going over the features we’ve already seen, highlighting the iPad’s ease of use, simplicity of functions as well as top notch  multi-touch design.

11:23 – Showing video that will be available online soon … basically a commercial for the iPad.

11:21 – Steve announces a special item no one (I think) was expecting: a keyboard dock! Nice accessory.

11:20 – 60 days for shipment of WiFi models

11:19 – Entry level pricing: $499 for 16GB models

11:18 – Pricing is up next … hold your breath …

11:16 – ALL iPads will come unlocked, so they can be used with current GSM cards and may work overseas.

11:15 – These offers are for the US market only, working on international deals for this summer.

11:14 – AT&T also throwing in free WiFi at all their WiFi hot spots. Additionally, there are no contracts and no plans to sign.  You sign up for the plan directly from the iPad. YES! Now this is a selling point, finally!!!

11:13 – Two iPad data plans: 1) 250 Mb data only $14.99, 2)Unlimited for only $29.99 via AT&T.

11:13 – Every iPad will come with WiFi and 3G models will be available.

11:12: – Jobs is back up and talking about iTunes. It will sync with everything, literally, that you have on your iPhone or iPod Touch, via USB.

11:11 – Price for iWorks apps? $9.99 for each app. Wow. Now that’s pretty impressive!

11:10 – That concludes the demo of iWorks on the iPad.

11:08 – Moving on to Numbers now.  How the heck can you do spreadsheets without a mouse or a keyboard? Over 250 formulas available from within the app.  Lots of tapping and dragging, but it seems to be functional.

11:06 – Now he’s going over the demo of Pages for the iPad. Briefly went over functionality and ease of use.

11:03 – Navigation seems to be fairly easy. This would have been one of my concerns, using a touch screen exclusively to navigate any robust software package.  Tapping is used to advance sliced, also to move groups of slides as a bundle. It’s a basic review of the Keynote product, adapted for a touch screen version.

11:00 – Phil is up now to demo the iPad version of Keynote.

10:59 – Steve has just announced that a version of iWorks has been developed for the iPad. Now I’m starting to be impressed!

10:58 – Several major publishers have already signed up to sell books in the iBook Store and he’s opening up the store today for others to join in.

10:54 – Steve has announced a new native app called iBooks (after mentioning the Kindle, lol). It will connect you with the new iBooks Store, which looks like a bookshelf. Nice touch.

10:52 – Scott makes a point to mention that the iPad will run all of our current apps as well while we’re waiting for new apps. Steve comes back to the stage.

10:50 – Major League Baseball is demoing their app (apparently the last developer demo) for the iPad, which features computer models of live games, inline video and replays. Very interactive, and again, taking advantage of the screen space.

10:48 – EA ’s Travis Boatman demos “The Need For Speed” app.  Nice screen views and the game seems to really take advantage of all the additional space on the screen.

10:45 – Next demo was for an app called Brushes, an art and painting app. Up next is EA.

10:43 – Up next is The New York Times demonstration of their new iPad app. It seems to integrate with their site as well as the iPhone app.  Overall design looks very sleek.  Will it be enough to keep the NYT going in the digital newspaper revolution?

10:41 – If you’ve played many Gamesoft iPhone games, then you probably know about NOVA. Here’s a shot of the iPad demo of the modified app for the larger screen.

10:39 – They invited some of the Gamesoft developers into a preview several weeks ago so they could see what theycould do with the larger display and games. They are coming out to demo some of their work.

10:34 – Scott Forstall has come out for the next demonstration, which revolves around accessing the current iPhone App Store. It is interesting but the sizing of the apps appears to be something they are trying to work around on this size of a device.

10:31 – Battery life of 10 hours? Say what? If that’s true, that is quite an accomplishment. Combine that with over a month of standby time and I don’t know anything that will beat it.

10:30 – It’s hooked up with 802.11n wireless, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1

10:29 – Apple is using their own proprietary chipset, the A4, running at 1 GHz coming with 16, 32 or 64 GB of flash memory.

10:28 – Going back to hardware specs now … “.5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds — 9.7 inch IPS display”

10:26 – Steve is now demonstrating the video capability of the iPad to view HD video from YouTube.  He’s pulling up a Star Trek clip.  Who knew he was a Trekkie?

10:24 – Using map features to find restaurants and other items. You can zoom in and out and view the actual place using built-in Google maps street view. Nice.

10:22 – Using picture features and iPhoto along with easily created slideshows.

10:20 – Takes the crowd through using e-mail on the iPad.

10:18 – “More intimate than a laptop, more capable than a smartphone.” Really? I’m not convinced yet, but we’ll see…

10:17 – Steve has demonstrated Internet browsing on the iPad, showing portrait and landscape views.  Sites visited included YouTube, Apple.com, Fandango and Time.

10:15 – It really does look like an over-sized iPhone … seriously.

10:12 – Going over the details of the features of the iPad.

10:10 – Announcing the Apple iPad!

10:09 – Jobs is going over what the devices can currently do and says a new device has to be more than a smart phone, and ebook reader, etc. He just dissed the netbook saying, “A netbook isn’t better than a laptop at anything.”

10:06 – Apple is the #1 mobile device company in the world. Okay Steve, tell us something we didn’t know. Anticipation is building.

10:04 – Steve Jobs is on stage and announcing progress of the company including 284 retails stores and the fact that they are now a $15 billion company.

10:03 – We’re ready to rock and roll now and apologize for the delay.

Monday, January 25th, 2010

SXSW Interactive Mixer – It’s your chance to meet some of the SXSW organizers and of course all the great folks who make up the LA tech and gaming community. On top of that there are free drinks, music and one lucky person is getting a free ticket to the SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin Texas.

Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
The Griffin
3000 Los Feliz Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90039 (map)

Tickets: RSVP only, registration closed

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Media Leaders Networking Event – Bring your business cards to take part in a cutting edge junction of leaders in PR, media, marketing, advertising and tech while discussing current events and new ideas. We are a group of influencers that come together to exchange and thrive on meeting new people and making lasting connections.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
The Other Room
1201 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291

Tickets: $12

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Twiistup 007 Day One (evening only) – Twiistup kicks off with Leila Janah, founder and CEO of Samasource.org, followed by demos from new company “Wildcard” and a reception at Hotel Angeleno.

Time: 6:00pm to Midnight

Location:
UCLA (Korn Hall)
110 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Tickets: $397 (price is for both days and mixer)

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Twiistup 007 Conference and Mixer – Day two of the conference picks up at the Skirball Cultural Center. Check out the full agenda here.

Time:
Conference 8:00am to 5:30pm
Mixer 7:30pm to Midnight

Location:
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N Sepulveda Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Tickets: Full Event Pass $397

It’s your chance to meet some of the SXSW organizers and of course all the great folks who make up the LA tech and gaming community. On top of that there are free drinks, music and one lucky person is getting a free ticket to the SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin Texas.

So come on by and get to know some of your fellow SXSW’ers, who knows you may be sharing a beer (or a bed) with them come March.

Details

Date: January 25th, 2010

Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
The Griffin
3000 Los Feliz Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90039 (map)

Tickets: Free while supplies last, must register by Friday Jan 22 on Facebook or here

Monday, January 18th, 2010

HOLIDAY! Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Startups Uncensored #13 – Building an Online Brand – This month’s Startups Uncensored will be on the “Building an Online Brand”. It will be an open and frank town-hall conversation talking about what it takes to build and grow an online brand that’s meant to last.

Speakers: Sean Moriarty – former CEO of TicketMaster, Blake Irving – former Corporate Vice President, Windows Live Platform Group.

Time: 6:30pm to 8:00pm Reception to follow

Location:
Santa Monica Public Library (Auditorium)
601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: Free, RSVP *Event is capped at 140 attendees, confirmation will be required.

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

LA Web/Mobile Software Entrepreneurs- iPhone Developer Happy Hour – Our next happy hour will be co-hosted by Los Angeles software entrepreneurs Ryan and Evan Rifkin from .app/ads..App/ads is a new network agnostic ad platform for iPhone developers. Anyone building iPhone apps that serve ads should come have a drink.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Copa D’Oro
217 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: Join LA Web/Mobile Software Entrepreneurs to RSVP

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

LAWeekly Web Awards – an evening to celebrate the winners of this years LAWeekly Los Angeles Web Awards. Check out all 36 winners here.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Bardot
1737 Vine Street
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Invite Only but stay tuned to @LAWeekly for a chance to get on the guest list.

Social Media Club – Getting It Right In 2010 - Join a stellar group of speakers to discuss social media in 2010. They will be covering topics such as social media trends and how to take advantage of them, where people are getting their news today in relation to your business, what real-time search has to do with social media and news, how to craft a strategy that builds engagement and what to measure so you know your actions are effective.

Speakers: Sally Falkow – Moderator. Social Media Expert, Strategist and Trainer, Jessica Gottlieb – Named a “Power Mom” by the Nielsen Company in 2008 and 2009, James Macpherson – Editor and Co-Founder of Pasadena Now, Dana Chinn – Web Analytics and News Organization Expert, USC, Annenberg School of Journalism.

Time: 6:30pm to 9:30pm

Location:
Western Justice Center Foundation
55 South Grand Avenue
Conference Room
Pasadena, CA 91105

Tickets: $10 RSVP

Mindshare – Program includes: Jim Bell / Cornell Astronomy Professor & President of the Planetary Society, Mars Exploration Rover: Postcards from Mars; Sasha Strauss / founder of Innovation Protocol & prof. in USC’s school of communications, Social Cachet and the Perils of Celebrity Endorsement; Andrea Gunschera / Executive Creative Director, Realtime Technology AG, The Flexibility of Reality.

Time: 7:00pm to 1:00am

Location:
Downtown Independent Theater
251 S Main St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Tickets: $30

Tubefilter Hollywood Web Television Meetup – For the January edition of the Hollywood Web Television Meetup, we are proud to present a very special evening with popular internet culture show EPIC FU as they launch the new EPIC FU network. Join us as we screen the premiere of one of the web’s most revered and award-winning series, followed by an intimate discussion with its creators—Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf. The evening is sponsored by HP and Intel, who will be onhand to give away a free HP Envy laptop and a free HP DreamScreen for Meetup attendees. This is definitely a night not to be missed!

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Busby’s East
5364 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets: Panel and Mixer $9.99 Mixer only $4.99

*Some information from Nicole Jordan’s LA Tech Calendar on www.kickingsand.com

“We believe that our Best of the Decade awards is the most comprehensive and ambitious online awards program ever attempted,” said RateItAll CEO Lawrence Coburn. “Our longevity online combined with the breadth and depth of our data have allowed us to keep the pulse of public opinion for an entire decade.”

They hosted a small, invitation only event in San Francisco yesterday to unveil the data at RateItAll’s headquarters. Three cities were chosen as the ones that had the most impact on the decade; San Francisco, New York City and Chicago. I have a feeling that the next time these awards happen, Los Angles will be a force to be reckoned with.

Take a look at the full presentation and follow them on Twitter at @RateItAll:

Get to Know them

RateItAll – Based in San Francisco, RateItAll is a consumer rating community where visitors can find and share opinions on virtually any topic. Since the company’s inception, more than 5M opinions have posted to its databases from hundreds of thousands of consumers. All of the site’s content is available for syndication via widgets, and RateItAll members share in the advertising revenue associated with their reviews. RateItAll’s mission is to power the exchange of the world’s opinions.

(Photo from RateItAll.com)

If you have never attended a MediaLeaders event here’s what you can expect.

“Bring your business cards to take part in a cutting edge junction of leaders in PR, media, marketing, advertising and tech while discussing current events and new ideas. We are a group of influencers that come together to exchange and thrive on meeting new people and making lasting connections.”

Details

Next LA Networking Event | Jan 26 @ The Other Room (Venice Beach)
Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm
Location: The Other Room 1201 Abbot Kinney Blvd Venice, CA 90291
Tickets: $12

Next NYC Networking Event | Jan 26 @ W-Hotel Union Square (Olives Lounge)
Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location: W-Hotel Union Square 201 Park Avenue South, New York, NY
Tickets: Early Bird FREE (still available) Standard Registration $12

Next San Fran Networking Event | Jan 26 @ W-Hotel San Francisco
Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location: W-Hotel 181 Third St , San Francisco, CA 94103
Tickets: Standard Registration $12

Next Austin Networking Event | Jan 26 @ 219 West Restaurant
Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm
Location: 219 West Bar and Lounge 219 West Austin, TX
Tickets: Standard Registration $12

Next Boston Networking Event | Jan 26 @ City-Bar (Back Bay)
Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm
Location: City-Bar 61 Exeter Street (at Boylston) Boston, MA 02116
Tickets: Early Bird FREE (still available) Standard Registration $12

Next Chicago Networking Event | Jan 26 @ W-Hotel Whiskey Sky Bar on the 33rd Floor
Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location: W-Hotel Whiskey Sky Bar 644 Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60611
Tickets: Early Bird FREE (first 100 only)

(Pictures provided by Media Leaders)

We have a special discount code that will give you $50 off of the ticket price but it is only good for a limited time. When purchasing your ticket just use the code “seanshair” and the discount will be automatically applied. But don’t wait too long, our code will expire at 6:00pm this Thursday, January 14th.

Confirmed Speakers so far:

• Peter Guber – Chairman and CEO, Mandalay Entertainment
• Richard Rosenblatt – Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Demand Media
• Om Malik – Founder Giga Omni Media
• Lisa Stone – Co-Founder and CEO of BlogHer
• Eric Ries – The Lean Startup
• Bambi Francisco – Founder and CEO, Vator.tv
• Leila Chirayath Janah – Founder and CEO, Samasource
• Robert Scoble – Technology Blogger
• Dave McClure – Seed stage investor for the Founders Fund
• Rick Heitzmann – Managing Director of FirstMark Capital
• Brian Solis – New Media Author and Consultant
• Alex Quilici – Co-founder of Quack.com, CEO of YouMail

Details

Date: Wednesday, January 27th to Thursday, January 28th 2010

Time:
Wednesday: 6:00pm to Midnight
Thursday:
Conference 8:00am to 5:30pm
Mixer 7:30pm to Midnight

Location:
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N Sepulveda Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Tickets:
Full Event Pass $397 (includes meals)

Full Agenda Here

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

LAVA Breakfast - CEOs Talk Startups – Discussion on start-up issues including i) team building and recruiting, ii) business plan issues, iii) developing a concise message, iv) building credibility (with customers, partners, employees and early investors), v) getting the business model to work properly, and vi) finally getting funded. What mistakes did you make during in the early days and what lessons would you pass on another entrepreneur?

Panelists: Wil Schroter, Founder and CEO – Go BIG Media and GotCast.com, Marc Diana, Founder and CEO -LeadPoint, Inc., Keith Richman, CEO – Break.com, Matthew Dusig, CEO and Co-founder – United Sample, Inc.

Time: 7:00am to 9:00am

Location:
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Tickets: $60 (onsite $85)

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Social Media Club “Dating & Relationships: The Game Has Changed” – mix, mingle and discuss how Social Media has changed the rules of dating. Exactly one month before Valentine’s Day, come hear all about how social media can help you with the hook ups.

Panelists: Liz H. Kelly (@lizhkelly), Linda Sherman (@lindasherman), Julie Spira (@juliespira), Evan Marc Katz (@evanmarckatz), Analis Flox (@avflox).

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
12th & Highland
304 12th St.
Manhattan Beach CA 90266

Tickets: Free, RSVP

Schmoozd – Social Media Mixer – The first-ever Schmoozd event, a new Social Media Mixer event in Los Angeles. X bar’s environment is the perfect place to network – a lounge designed with spots for hanging out as well as socializing and action. Whether closing the deal or sharing ideas, X bar’s renowned design, cuisine and location means X marks the spot.

Time: 6:00pm to 9:30pm

Location:
Xbar
Hyatt Regency Century Plaza
2025 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA, USA

Tickets: $10 discount price available until Jan 14th at 1:00pm

Think LA Thirsty Thursday – Meet up with thinkLA for a free-to-attend networking mixer organized by AdZoo! Thirsty Thursdays are casual events (no name tags) that give people the chance to mix, mingle and make new friends in a relaxed atmosphere.

Time: 6:30pm t0 9:30pm

Location:
Bigfoot West (not the Los Feliz location)
10939 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90034

Tickets: Free. To register please email tony@thinkla.org.

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Digital LA – Digital Drinks at Wonderland – For our next Digital Drinks, we’re headed to exclusive new club Wonderland. Complete with an Alice in Wonderland theme, this new club (where Shag used to be) is Hollywood’s latest hot spot.

Time: 6:00pm to 10:30pm

Location:
Wonderland
1835 Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca 90018

Tickets: $10 advance registration required

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

Barcamp San Diego 6 – Barcamp has grown – again. This coming barcamp will be SD 6, which means we’re on our THIRD year of barcamp. More info here.

Date: Saturday, January 16th to Sunday, January 17th

Time: 10:00am to 7:00pm

Location:
Intuit (San Diego, Santa Fe Campus)
7535 Torrey Santa Fe Rd
San Diego, CA

Tickets: Free. RSVP

*Some information taken from Nicole Jordan’s tech calendar on kickingsand.com. Thx Nicole!

Crunchies – January 8th – San Francisco

The Oscars of the startup world, The Crunchies awards are hosted by TechCrunch, GigaOm, and Venturebeat. We plan to both attend and cover this event.

CES – January 7th-10th – Las Vegas

The famous and massive geek gadget orgy in the desert, CES. Check out TechZulu for live coverage this year.

Sundance – January 21-31 – Park City, Utah

Hob nob with the stars while you freeze your ass off in Utah at the Sundance Film Festival.

Mindshare – January 21 – Downtown LA

Have your mind both shared and expanded at Mindshare.

Media Leaders – January 26 – Los Angeles

Professionals making a positive impact at the nationwide Media Leaders event.

Twiistup – January 28th – Los Angeles

The entrepeneur showcase that is Twiistup returns once again.

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Tubefilter Hollywood Web Television Meetup – Going Pro: Seducing the Studios – Many producers dream of scoring a studio deal. With financing, marketing, and distribution all taken care of, can’t you finally just focus on creating something great? But what’s it really like when a studio gets involved? At December’s Hollywood Web Television Meetup we’re exploring these questions with Going Pro: Seducing the Studios, featuring panelists from Big Fantastic, Sony Pictures Television, and The Bannen Way.

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Busby’s East (Mid Wilshire)
5364 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, 90036

Tickets: $10 panel and mixer $5 mixer only

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Digital LA Holiday Party at Green Door – Digitally Deck the Halls this year at Green Door for the annual Digital LA holiday party. Relax with drinks in the French-inspired Victorian lounge, dance to our special holiday DJ mix, and don’t forget to ask for our Holiday Digital Drink special. Festivities will continue next door at the Cabana Club after 10pm.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Green Door
1429 Ivar Ave Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: $10 advance registration required

New Media Vault – This month join us as we celebrate the holiday season, we’re supporting the efforts of the SillyWalksforHunger, whose goal is to serve 1 million meals this holiday season. Every $5.00 equals 35 meals — so this is doable with the help of Los Angeles’ New Media community. So, come share the holiday cheer, and enjoy the only downtown Los Angeles new media networking event.

Time: 7:30pm

Location:
The Crocker Club
453 S Spring St.
Los Angeles, 90013

Tickets: Free

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Mindshare Mixer – “Another Night of Enlightened Debauchery!” – Program includes: Dan Busby – Physicist and Freelance Tinkerer /Electric Cars: 19th Century Technology Today, Jamie Zigelbaum – Oblong Industries /Digital Dactyls, Vanessa Van Petten – Youthologist & CEO Radical Teenagers, Inc. /Virtual Dating, Friends and Sex: How .Com is Changing Next Generation’s Relationships, and Tim Nordwind – Bassist for the band OK Go, will be DJ’ing.

Time: 7:00pm to 1:00am

Location:
The Downtown Independent Theater
251 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, CA

Tickets: $30

Chris Brogan

Michael Arrington

Yosef Yardi

Dave McClure

Chris Sacca

Cathy Brooks

Yours truly!

You can see the entire line of David’s work at flickr.com/dnsf.

Dubbed the “Deep Discussion” Stage – Salle 400, you can find specific tweets about speakers and presentations that happened in this room by using the hashtag #lewebdd.

It would be impossible for me to recap everything that was discussed in the afternoon panel, ”How brands and marketing have to adapt to this new worldwide real-time “word of mouth”, so I thought I would share some of the gems that came out of it.

Panel Participants

Moderator:
Chris Brogan President, New Marketing Labs, Author, Trust Agents

Panelists:
Richard Binhammer – Senior Manager, Involved in Dell’s Social Media efforts
Matthais Lüfkens – Associate Director, Media, World Economic Forum
Steve Rubel – SVP, Director of Insight, Edelman Digital
Brian Solis – founder and President, Future Works
Seth J. Sternberg – Co-Founder and CEO, Meebo

First off I would like to say this panel was outright scrappy. It was definitely not the love fest that some of us are used to seeing. That being said there were many great points of views being shared and each member was respectful of the others opinion while they were disagreeing with what the last one said.

It started off with a few members missing, well one member in particular Mr. Solis. Taking time to be interviewed in the hallway, Brian was late to his own panel and made a grand entrance by walking down the stairway onto the stage only after everyone in the room called out his name.

Here are some of the best quotes that came out of the panel:

Matthais – “Instead of just citizen journalism there should be CEO journalism.”

Steve to Chris – “You are the Owen Wilson of web 2.0″

Richard -”At Dell we are banking revenue because we are connecting with customers. We have gone from a static web to interactive web, that direct connection with customers is what’s important, people connecting with people. Social Media scales relationships in a very real way.”

Seth - “Brands are understanding that they need to be where the conversations are.”

Brian- “Everything we are talking about today will resonate with this crowd but we all have to report to someone who won’t give a shit about authenticity”

Steve – “We have to think about the business cause first not just the puff in the pan”

Matthais – “ROI is return on involvement not investment”

Richard – “People want to connect to the engineers not the CEO at Dell. Social Media scales because our guy can connect to so may more people from his desk than the time it would take on the phone or traveling to conferences”

Seth – “You guys have said Twitter way to many times, let’s talk about another social media tool. Facebook will have a higher click thru rate than Twitter because the people there know you better. Meebos click thru rate is about 1%. How do we do that? Time. How long the ad is in front of the user.”

Richard – “As the web becomes more social these tools (social media tools) are more important because people won’t search they will ask their friends. Social networks will give search a run for their money.”

Question from the audience - How do smaller brands connect in a big way with their customers?
Richard’s answer – “Go where they are.”
Seth’s answer – “If on your website you make it easy for them to share from there through all communication networks, that helps.”

Everywhere you went there were food/beverage stations, great seating areas with tons of outlets and the wi-fi worked (mostly) and so did the heat. I have never attended a classier conference, once again the French have topped anything I have seen produced in the states. Bravo!

Some of the big announcements from day one came from Twitter and MySpace. The four major ones from Twitter came during Ryan Sarver’s presentation. Unfortunately I am not a developer so some of this stuff doesn’t exactly make me jump up and down, but for those of you in know I hear this is pretty exciting stuff.

Twitter Announcements:

1. Firehouse for everyone – they want everyone to have access to the entire Twitter data feed. This means any developer can build rich applications off this data, instead just the lucky few who currently have this access.

2. New developers site – a place for developers to get together and learn, ask questions and share information, including tutorials. Should be launching in the next couple of weeks.

3. Move to OAuth – requests per hour will be increased which they believe will make it easier for 3rd party applications to add more features and increase the engagement that they are able to provide.

4. Chirp – the first Twitter development conference taking place in San Fransisco in 2010. Tickets will be priced under $400 and the venue will hold around 900 people. More details to come at chirp.twitter.com

Mike Jones, COO of MySpace, took the stage and had some news to share as well. MySpace is opening up their massive data feed, something they have never done in the past.

MySpace Announcements:

1. MySpace is opening up their entire data feed to all developers. Much like the Twitter fire hose, this data feed gives unprecedented access to the 35 million daily status updates of MySpace users.

2. New developer site – MySpace is also revamping their developer site to offer better tools and documentation to developers.

3. $50,000 contest – MySpace is offering a prize of $50,000 to one lucky developer who can build the most compelling service off the new MySpace data feed. More information is available on their developer site at http://developer.myspace.com/.

Safe to say we’re pretty excited to be here. Since we honeymooned here in Paris this trip is even that much more special. But don’t worry, it won’t be all coffee and sex like our last visit here. We hope to share some the experience with you in true lalawag style.

So look out for some exclusive content here on lalawag and also keep an eye on our Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube accounts.

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Media Leaders Toys For Tots Fundraiser & Networking Event – Bring your business cards to take part in a cutting edge junction of leaders in PR, media, marketing, advertising and tech while discussing current events and new ideas. We are a group of influencers that come together to exchange and thrive on meeting new people and making lasting connections.

There will be MARINE CORPS RESERVE members in attendance to collect toys. Please help by bringing a new, unwrapped toy valued at $10 or more to the event. Toys suitable for 10-14yr old are especially needed.

Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Location:
Shade Hotel Zinc Lounge
1221 N Valley Dr
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Tickets: Free, Register

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Jobnob Docstoc Happy Hour – Come “Jobnob” with cool new start ups and talented job seekers at this informal networking happy hour where you can find startup jobs. Be flexible on commitment and compensation- bootstrapped startups may be offering *alternative compensation: reduced rates, equity, internships, part time, etc. Get in on the ground floor with these great startups and meet cool tech companies!

Time: 4:30pm

Location:
Air Conditioned Supper Club
625 Lincoln Blvd
Venice, CA 90291

Tickets: Free, Register

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Dealmaker Media Investor Outlook 2010: Startup Strategy Series and Mixer - Hear from VC’s and Angels as they discuss trends VC’s are betting on, if investing is in an upswing, steps startups need to take for investors to take them seriously, and what the new fundable trends will be: Healthcare 2.0? Green tech? Or are mobile and cloud computing still “in” for 2010?

Time: 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Manatt
11355 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Tickets: Strategy Series + Mixer $60 Mixer only $35

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Ford Fiesta Movement Celebration – For the last six months, 100 Fiesta Agents have been taking to the streets with the Fiesta Movement. On December 1st everyone can join the Movement and get a sneak peak of the 2011 Ford Fiesta. To commemorate the movement, Ford is aiming to organize the largest corporate-hosted Tweetup on record. The event will also include a special live performance by Parachute.

Time: 8:00pm to 12:00am

Location:
Hollywood Palladium
6215 W Sunset Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028

Tickets: Free RSVP

Digital LA Princess and the Frog – Screening & Experience – see the Princess and the Frog movie on the Walt Disney Studios lot, more than a week before its Dec 11 release. Afterwards, head over to Sound Stage 3 for the Ultimate Disney Experience, where you can meet the Disney Princesses, see original props and costumes, learn to draw from a real Disney animator and much much more.

Time: 1:00pm to 4:30pm

Location:
Walt Disney Studios Lot, Sound Stage 3
Burbank, CA

Tickets: Sold out but you can still purchase regular price tickets here

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Digital Family Reunion – DFR ‘09 promises to be the largest holiday party of the season, bringing together Southern California’s technology and business communities. Including leaders from all of the major industries such as media, entertainment, finance, publishing, venture funding, software, commerce, education and many more.

Time: 6:00pm to 11:00pm

Location:
Wokcano
1413 5th St
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: $50 ($30 for WITI members)
*Use discount code: DFR30 to receive $30 price

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Affiliate Convention Conference LA – Affiliate Convention bases its conference and tradeshow series on the idea that actionable information, business building and networking opportunities should be freely available to everyone in the affiliate marketing industry, especially to working affiliate marketers. Sporting a growing line-up of thought leaders in the affiliate and search engine marketing sectors, Affiliate Convention LA is a unique opportunity to meet and share ideas with the brightest business people in the affiliate marketing industry. Affiliate Convention is the only event in the affiliate marketing industry which gives affiliate marketers free access to the movers and shakers in the sector.

Date: Thursday, December 3rd to Friday, December 4th

Time: Schedule

Location:
Hyatt Regency Century Plaza
2025 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, California 90067

Tickets: $850 Registration at the door

Digital LA – Burgers & Cocktails - Get together with your friends from Digital LA for beer and burgers to celebrate the launch of Save As. The first 10 people to bring their s4ve.as file upload confirmation page print out get a free burger.

Time: 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Location:
Umami Burger
1520 N. Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Free No RSVP required

The New Media Vault is getting together at the Crocker Club tonight to celebrate Turkey Day. They will be giving away a free turkey and giving a portion of the proceeds to the Downtown Los Angeles Midnight Mission. In addition there will be a special screening of the New Girl Gamer Series: Girl Gamer Rocks Tokyo City.

So head downtown and have some fun. I”ll be at home thinking about the wonderful 5 hours we’ll be spending on the freeway tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving.

Details

Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
The Crocker Club
453 S Spring St.
Los Angeles, 90013

*Strict dress code enforced

Tickets: Free RSVP

If you’ve been to SXSW before, you’re already halfway through planning your trip. If next year will be your first, this will get you up to speed.

(photo by Lan Bui)

1. Get on a panel

Tickets have already gone up in price, but you can still grab a badge for $475. The price rises again in February. But ideally you can get around the ticket cost altogether by landing on someone’s panel. Browse this giant list of panels to find one you might fit on. The moderators’ home pages are conveniently linked from their panel pages.

Now, most moderators will have loads of people trying to get on their panel. The less sexy the panel you qualify for, the better your chances. But you never know which moderator just doesn’t have as many panelists as they need.

You should also find panels where you could be the dissenting voice. SXSW’s organizers have explicitly told panel moderators that they value a variety of voices. Your chances are even better if you’re anything other than a white male from a major city, since moderators try to find some demographic variety too.

Feel free to apply to several moderators, but if more than one accepts you, decide quickly whether you can do both. SXSW doesn’t really love seeing the same people on multiple panels, so there’s no need to over-extend yourself. Just don’t leave any moderators hanging, because they might complain about it online.

(photo by Scott Beale of Laughing Squid)

2. Pick your hotel

A quick note before we go into hotel choice: If you want to make sure you get a good hotel room, you should buy a conference pass now. That will let you access SXSW’s block of discount hotel reservations. If you get on a panel, SXSW will let you transfer your pass to someone else. But if you’re willing to risk it, you can wait until you get on a panel, and SXSW will offer you their reserve block of panelist rooms.

Okay, so which hotels are worth it? Well, if you’re broke, make your own decision based on SXSW’s list of budget hotels. You can get a cab from the hotel each day, and you’ll only need to make morning and evening trips if you travel light. (Hint: Don’t get the heavy goodie bag. It’s mostly ads and useless trinkets anyway.) Most of the action happens near the conference center, but some parties are a short drive away. A room at La Quinta is just $104 per night.

The best cheap option is the free option: stay with friends. Everyone I know who’s done this was satisfied. Just find a host who’s okay if you come home at 3 AM. Or, of course, end up in someone else’s hotel room every night.

But if you’ve got the cash, it’s luxurious to book a hotel right near the conference center, using this map. The ultimate in comfort and convenience is the Hilton Austin right outside the conference center. You’ll spend more time in your elevator than on the walk over. For old-school class, go to the Driskill on Brazos and East 6th. They have the best staff, and usually there’s a party or two each year in their bar.

This year, I’m trying the Hilton Garden Inn by the highway. It’s still very close but it’s a lot cheaper than the other central options. But by all means, avoid the Doubletree along the highway – it’s just close enough to take a long uncomfortable walk to the conference center, without being very cheap.

(photo by Scott Beale of Laughing Squid)

3. Get your flight

Whatever you do, buy your flight soon. I recommend arriving the evening of the 11th and leaving midday on the 17th. That gives you some extra time to get acquainted with the neighborhood and hang out with other early-comers and late-leavers. So keep an eye on plane fare at Kayak using this LAX-AUS search. Set up a daily alert and you might catch a deal. Aim for direct flights, since bad weather in Dallas frequently delays everyone making a connection.

If this guide is helpful, let us know in the comments so we can tell you more about how to rock SXSW.

(top photo by Mike Rohde)

DFR ‘09 promises to be the largest holiday party of the season, bringing together Southern California’s technology and business communities. Including leaders from all of the major industries such as media, entertainment, finance, publishing, venture funding, software, commerce, education and many more.

This years celebration will give attendees the chance to network with people from many different industry’s, talk with the recipient of the DFR “Outstanding Achievement Honor”, enjoy great food and entertainment, and check out the showcase tables from the sponsors and partners.

Last years DFR turned out over 800 attendees, which is why we are bringing this fabulous event to your attention now, it will sell out, and possibly sell out early. We have a special discount code to share with our readers that will give you $20 off the ticket price. Just use code DFR30 when registering to receive the $30 ticket price.

Check out some of the happy faces from last year’s event, hope to see you there!

Photo (CC) Brian Solis, www.briansolis.com, bub.blicio.us

Photo (CC) Brian Solis, www.briansolis.com, bub.blicio.us

Photo (CC) Brian Solis, www.briansolis.com, bub.blicio.us

Details

Digital Family Reunion

Date: Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Time: 6:00pm to 11:00pm

Location:
Wokcano
1413 5th St
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: $50 ($30 for WITI members)
*Use discount code: DFR30 to receive $30 price

(Photo from digitalfamilyinc.com)

Instead of bombing we’re bursting with sentiment based aggregating geo-targeted real-time delights. Of course those concepts are way too much for a normal web user, just right for us geeks though. So while I didn’t leave seeing any huge breakaway ideas or products, I continue to see some great innovations around the real time web. Perhaps one day this spaghetti like mess of data can be distilled into something amazing. Or at the very least, give us more ways to broadcast to our friends exactly what we had for lunch.

Here are some photos of the event from Kenneth Yeung at thelettertwo.com.
You can see all of Ken’s photos here.

@marlooz behind the lens.

Team TechCrunch preps for a marathon blogging session.

Twitter COO Dick Costolo assures us Twitter to have ads, and those ads will be “fascinating”.

While everyone fights over data, Seesmic CEO Loic Le Meur starts to own the access to it.

Tweetmeme CEO Nick Halstead takes a break from fighting off acquisitions to talk retweeting advertisements.

Writer Paul Carr says silly things, wears silly hats.

This is how happy you look after Facebook acquires you.

Robert Scoble explains the super tweet.

Synaptic Web Sandwich.

Techmeme founder Gabe Riviera meets newest member of the TechCrunch staff, buddy the dog. Watch him try to sniff out Gabe’s algorithm about 10 seconds in.

Thanks to Wm. Marc Salsberry, lalawag has 10 RSVP codes to give out at our discretion. To enter, just tweet out why you want to go. Be sure to include @lalawag and @undergroundpdc in your tweet so we can find it.

You have until Tuesday at 5pm to get your tweets in. We will pick a winner based off of how much we enjoy your tweet. Here’s a few tips, we like sarcasm, wit and humor. Good luck!

Details

The Underground @ PDC 2009 – An invite only event taking place after the PDC conference. Sponsored by INETA, Microsoft and local Southern California partners. We hear this is one party you don’t want to miss. See pics from last year’s event.

Date: Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Time: 7:00pm to 1:00am

Location:
The Conga Room
800 W Olympic Blvd
Stes A160 and A260
Los Angeles, CA 90015

(Photo from chelliepingree.com)

Monday, November 16, 2009

Digital LA- Sci-Fi Panel @ Star Trek: The Exhibition – Sci-fi movies rank at the top of the box office: Transformers 2 is #1 for the year so far, plus Star Trek, and Monsters vs. Aliens. Sci-fi TV shows includes remakes like award-winning Battlestar Galactica and highly-anticipated V. Join them for a discussion on online sci-fi communities and marketing sci-fi to the mainstream, on the day before the Star Trek movie DVD release and in the Star Trek Exhibition.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Star Trek: The Exhibition @ Hollywood & Highland
6801 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

Tickets: $19 advance registration required by November 16th at 4pm

Myspace Redcarpet Livestream of Twighlight New Moon Premiere – fans of ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ can experience the Los Angeles premiere, exclusively on MySpace. Anya Marina, writer and performer of “Satellite Heart” on the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, will co-host the broadcast with the winner of the Red Carpet Correspondent Contest.

Time: 6:00pm

Location: anywhere with a computer and an internet connection

Tuesday, Novembers 17, 2009

GIT LA Presents: The Impact of Tech on Good & Green – taking a look at how the tech industry is jumping on the green bandwagon and what kind of impact it will have on the industry and on the good and green companies it supports. The panel will also discuss how we as business people can do some good and make money in the process.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
The Organic Panaficio
4211 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets: $10 RSVP
*A portion of the ticket sales will go to Free Arts For Abused Children

SMCLA November Corndog Social – Simply keep next Tuesday night open for a rockin’ good time.

Time: 7:00pm to 9:30pm
Location: To be determined
Tickets: No RSVP yet

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Underground @ PDC 2009 – An invite only event taking place after the PDC conference. Sponsored by INETA, Microsoft and local Southern California partners. We hear this is one party you don’t want to miss. See pics from last year’s event.

Time: 7:00pm to 1:00am

Location:
The Conga Room
800 W Olympic Blvd
Stes A160 and A260
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Tickets: Invite only, you must have an RSVP code to attend. Thankfully we were given 10 tickets to give out at our discretion. Details on how to enter are listed in a separate post on lalawag.

The Los Angeles MySQL Meetup Group - join them for an evening of networking and conversation regarding performance optimization for MySQL with InnoDB & XtraDB and updates on Infobright. Hosted by Joe Devon and Scott Metcalf with guest speakers Carl Gelbart and Morgan Tocker.

Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Location:
Sun Office in El Segundo
222 N. Sepulveda Blvd
El Segundo, CA 90245

Tickets: Seating is limited, RSVP deadline is November 18th at 6:00pm

Digital LA – Video Game Marketing panel @ OTX – Join them for a panel discussion on console video games (xbox, PS3, Wii) trends and marketing. They’ll discuss marketing both hardcore (action/shooter) and mainstream (music, party) games, niche and portal strategies, social media, and more.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
OTX Research
10567 Jefferson Blvd
Culver City, CA

Tickets: $22 Space is limited, Advanced registration required by Nov 18 at 3pm

Mindshare Event – Program for November 18th includes:

Alex Lightman / Executive Director of Humanity Plus – The Ten Minute Transhumanist
Jamie Zigelbaum / Oblong Industries – Augmenting Human Intellect
Alexandra Hall / CEO, Airship Ventures – Zeppelin Tourism Takes Off
Dr. Tristan Ursell / Adventurer & Biophysicist, Stanford – Off Silk Roadin’: A Rally Across Eurasia!

Time: 7:00pm to 1:00am

Location:
Downtown Independent
251 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, Ca 90012

Tickets: $25 Early bird $30 Regular

Thursday, November 19, 2009

DIY Days LA 2009 – an evening of talks and networking, with a mix of both structured and free form activities to encourage open discussion. Plus the night will end with a rooftop party.

Time: 6:00pm to 11:30pm

Location:
Downtown Independent Theater
251 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, California 90012

Tickets: Free but you must register in advance

Friday, November 20, 2009

Digital LA – Digital Drinks @ Janes House – Join the digital la folks for their pre-Thanksgiving Digital Drinks at Janes House. After last month’s Halloween party at MyHouse, they are continuing their Cozy House Party tour at new Hollywood “House” hot spot, Janes House. Citysearch says this house party lounge “keeps things modern with bold earth tones, moody lighting and a DJ, with plenty of plush retro seating on the front porch patio under the stars, or in the jungle themed Monkey Room.”

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Janes House
6541 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

Tickets: $10 advance registration required by November 20th at 4pm

Angels United Benefit – Stylit.TV is proudly co-hosting the Angels United Benefit to support Vitamin Angels, who supplies 10,000,000 undernourished children with vitamins to make them healthy. This is going to be a great night with celebs, a hosted open bar, a silent charity auction, gift bags, hors d’oeuvres, and more. All proceeds go to the charity, with the suggested donation is $35 (though if you give $100 you receive a special gift.)

Time: 7:00pm to 11:00pm

Location:
Marrakesh House
The famous eco-green, sustainable living, Marrakesh House, built by Hollywood’s legendary filmmaker, Chris Paine.
6310 Tompkins Way,
Culver City, CA 90232

Tickets: $35 recommended at the door RSVP

Start- Up Weekend- November 20th to 22nd – Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54 hour event that builds communities, companies and projects. lalawag founder Sean Percival will be speaking on Sunday afternoon, be sure to check him out.

Time: Full Schedule here

Location:
BLANKSPACES
5405 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets: $75

In fact, if I was a single man in Los Angeles, the GIT events are the ones that I would be sure to make an appearance at. Where else are you going to find a concentration of intelligent women who are interested in the same geeky stuff you are?

Girls in Tech is giving you another opportunity to meet new people and learn a little bit about going green and making green. This Tuesday, join them for cocktails and conversation at The Organic Panaficio, where they will discuss how going green and doing good is impacting the tech industry and the companies that it is embracing.

Because you’re awesome and you read lalawag, you have the chance to win a ticket to the event. Just send out a tweet with a few key pieces of into in it and tell us if you would rather learn how to do good or make green. For example, your tweet could look like this:

“Hey @lalawag I would rather learn how to make green at the GIT Good and Green Panel because you can’t buy Jimmy Choo’s with monopoly money.”

Be sure to include @lalawag, a reference to the Girls In Tech panel and if your’e interested in good or green. Other than that you are free to be creative with your remaining characters. We’ll pick the best two tweets and those lucky people will get a free ticket to the event. We will pick the winners by end of day on Friday, good luck!

Not funny or creative? No problem, just click here and purchase your ticket now.

(Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry)

Details

GIT LA Presents: The Impact of Tech on Good & Green – taking a look at how the tech industry is jumping on the green bandwagon and what kind of impact it will have on the industry and on the good and green companies it supports. The panel will also discuss how we as business people can do some good and make money in the process.

Speakers:

Sandra Sanchez – creator of orGLAMic.com, and Reality TV Host and Producer
Sara Townsend - editorial Director at Social Vibe.com, creator of TechDarling.com
Tracy Helper - Co-founder of Yourdailythread.com

Date: Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
The Organic Panaficio
4211 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets: $10 RSVP
*A portion of the ticket sales will go to Free Arts For Abused Children

(Photo from amctv.com)

Web TV Prep Classes – The four-week long course will cover the four major areas of: creative development/casting, production, Post Production/Web Design/Technology, and Social Networking/Viral Marketing/Sales. Each week will be team taught by Damian Pellicione and Brian Rodda, pioneers of the on-line media movement in a supportive and creative space. Students be given the tools via handouts, homework assignments, contacts, etc…to immediately make their dream web series a reality. Additionally, a panel of expert guest speakers are brought in each week to give each student further perspective on the changing landscape of new media.

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Dogma Studios
4136 Del Rey Ave.
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets: $125 for New Media Vault Members

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Digital LA – Movie Marketing: Publishers Panel – Join them for a discussion on the latest techniques and trends in movie marketing. With scheduled speakers from AOL, MSN, Rotten Tomatoes, Yahoo Movies, Fandango, Google, and Eventful.

Time: 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Location:
AOL
331 N. Maple Drive
Beverly Hills, CA
*Free parking in building parking lot

Tickets: $60 Advanced Registration Required

Media Leaders Networking Mixer – Bring your business cards to take part in a cutting edge junction of leaders in PR, media, marketing, advertising and tech while discussing current events and new ideas. Media Leaders is a group of influencers that come together to discuss, exchange and thrive on meeting new people and making lasting connections.

Time: 6:30pm to 9:30pm

Location:
Bodega Wine Bar Santa Monica
814 Broadway (at Lincoln)
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: $12 for one, buy two and they are $9 apiece

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Digital LA Comedy Panel – Join them for a Comedy panel on stage at the world-famous Laugh Factory on the Sunset Strip. Immediately after, will be the VIP reception to watch the night’s comedians, including scheduled comedian Tim Allen.

Time: 5:30pm – 9:30pm

Location:
The Laugh Factory
8001 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Tickets: Advance Registration Required by Nov 11th
$65 includes Panel, VIP Buffet and Show
$30 Panel only

The Magic Castle, nestled in the Hollywood hills, is an exclusive club for magicians and members only. I recently had the pleasure of having dinner there and meeting the founder Milt Larson. A charming gentleman that has added his castle of magic to Twitter and did his very first tweet that night from @adventuregirl’s account. He told us a little bit about an event they have coming up, and the best part is,  it’s open to the public.

“It’s Magic!” will give the general public a chance to see many of the magicians that perform at the exclusive private club. With an all star line up including Lance Burton and special guest host Neil Patrick Harris, this evening promises to be a memorable one.  Including magic for the whole family, stage illusions and slight of hand, I can see why this event is having their 53rd anniversary.

Keep up with the latest news and special promotions by following them on Twitter @MagicCastle.

(Photo from modernmechanix.com)

Details

Featuring Performances by:

• Lance Burton
• Mac King
• Rudy Coby
• Joseph Gabriel & Katalin
• Kevin James & Company
• George Blass
• Shimada

*Special Guest Host: Neil Patrick Harris

Date: November 8th, 2009

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
The Kodak Theatre
6801 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Range depending on seating

The Tweeters’ Cup will mark the first time a Tweet-Up will be held onsite during a Championship event. It will have its own exclusive area in Santa Anita’s Seabiscuit Court, which also includes designated frontside seating for ultimate live tweeting of the races. Ticket price includes a betting voucher, buffet, gifts and chances to win prizes like a trip for two to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs.

Be sure to follow them on Twitter @BreedersCup to see the feed from both days of the championship races. Hope to see you there!

Details

Highlights of the day include:

• 11:15am – Betting the Breeders’ Cup Handicapping session with Joe Drape (@joedrape) of the New York Times, Ed DeRosa (@EJXD2) of the Thoroughbred Times and Tom Quigley (@Quigleys_Corner) of Horseplayer Magazine
• Q&A with prominent jockeys
• Appearances by ESPN personalities and jockeys from Animal Planet’s critically acclaimed reality show “Jockeys”

Tweet-Up will include:

• Betting voucher
• 2009 Breeders’ Cup gift
• Buffet (including non-alcoholic beverages)
• Two will Win a Nikon Coolpix camera – Perfect for a TweetUp

* Best Tweeter on-site will Win a Trip for Two to the 2010 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs including airfare and hotel.

Date: Friday, November 06, 2009

Time: 11:00am to 5:00pm

Location:
Santa Anita Park
285 W Huntington Dr.
Arcadia, CA 91007

*Enter at Gate 3 or 5 proceed to Clubhouse Entrance

Tickets: $25 Tweet Up only, $15 If you already have a Breeders’ Cup Ticket

(Photo from zimbio.com)

If you know of an event that we didn’t include, please tell us about it in the comments.

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Digital LA – South Bay Cocktails @ Twelve+Highland – Digital LA wants you to join them in Manhattan Beach for super-casual South Bay Cocktails, taking place at Twelve + Highland. Relax in this renovated bar/restaurant’s classy white beach house feel. Try its Thursday night specials: $3 beers + $6 calls + $9 premiums from 8-10pm.

Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Twelve + Highland
304 12th St
Manhattan Beach, CA

Tickets: No guest list or registration, just show up and look for the Digital LA nametags!

Where’s Waldo? Finding Social Influencer’s and Decreasing Your Costs – Find, connect, empower, then what? This panel will dive into the next step – discussing the value of key social influencer’s in action sports, where they are on your social network, and how targeting these potential brand evangelists will have a positive influence on your social media network and your return on investment.

Moderated by Denise Garciano -Social Media Manager for PacSun

Panelists Include:

Jonathon Rosen – luckyny.com
Cameron Olthius – 5ones.com
Scott Tilton – loopd.com
Emily Goligoski – federatedmedia.net
Jonathan Nafarrete – jonathannafarrete.com
Greg Cargill – bigmethod.com

With Special Guest – TechZulu

Time: 6:30pm to 9:00pm

Location:
BlankSpaces
5405 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets: Free, RSVP here

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Tweeters’ Cup – Spend a day at the races! This Tweet Up will include an exclusive area in Santa Anita’s Seabiscuit Court, designated front row seating for live tweeting of the races, food, prizes, guest appearances, a chance to win a trip for two to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs, and more.

Time: 11:00am to 5:00pm

Location:
Santa Anita Park
285 W Huntington Dr.
Arcadia, CA 91007
*Enter at Gate 3 or 5 proceed to Clubhouse Entrance

Tickets: $25 Tweet Up only, $15 If you already have a Breeders’ Cup Ticket

(Photo from Adam Tow)

@Dom- Dom Sagolla impressed me with his words of wisdom up on stage during his panel, so as soon as he finished I immediately ran up to him to ask about a program he had mentioned. Dom was kind enough to take a few moments and talk with me. I learned that he helped create Twitter along with Jack and a team of entrepreneurs in SF.

Previously unknown to most of us, he is “coming out” in a big way. His new book “140 Characters; a style guide for the short form” just hit shelves last week and is a comprehensive guide on how you can best utilize the service. It also gives a very in-depth account of how Twitter was hatched, very cool.

(Photo by CuriousJosh.com)

@Drew- If you have ever met Drew Olanoff you will understand what I mean when I say you can’t help but love this guy and immediately want to hug him. He just radiates warmth and happiness despite the fact that he has Cancer. His story is one that has touched me many times and brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it.

During his panel, Drew used his time to get people to connect with each other. He encouraged everyone in the room to stop tweeting and take a moment to reach out to someone close them and share a message of love. It was great reminder that no matter how important the knowledge and information we are gathering at a conference is, the people in our lives are so much more important.

(Photo by CuriousJosh.com)

@Wmmarc – Wm. Marc Salsberry is LA’s resident photographer. He has shot most of the avatars you see the LA tech crew sporting on their profile pages. He got into this business to meet people and he figured the best way to do it was to make people look good, and boy was he right.

His speech, Passion + Cancer = The Perfect Wingman, talked about the overwhelming support he has seen from the community and the tremendous gratitude he feels towards everyone who took part and helped spread the word about his brother Robert. Marc touched so many people in the room with his speech that he got a standing ovation.

(Photo by CuriousJosh.com)

@JessicaGottlieb – There is definitely one word you will hear in a presentation from Jessica that you don’t usually hear from other speakers, Fuck. That’s right, this mommy blogger drops the f-bomb like there’s no tomorrow and we absolutely love her for it. If you think all mommy bloggers are sweet and innocent and talk only about diapers and soccer games you are in for a big surprise and a real treat.

In her panel, Jessica expressed the fact that she is not a marketer but a mommy and shared her tips on how to monetize your Twitter stream. She may have advertised or paid for tweets in her stream but she is up front and honest about it. Like she said, if you know her and trust her and an occasional tweet with an ad in it bothers you, then don’t follow her. Simple as that.

(Photo by CuriousJosh.com)

Please do enjoy.

Monday, October 26th, 2009

The Perfect Pitch 2009 Entrepreneur and Investor Conference – Hundreds of influential entrepreneurs and investors will converge for a day of learning and dealmaking. Powerful speakers and panelists will show you what it takes to build a successful startup in 2009.

Time: 9:00am to 5:30pm
Doors open at 7:30am
Speakers begin at 9:00am sharp

Location:
The Ritz-Carlton
4375 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets:
Full-Access Conference Ticket $295
Live Online Streaming Ticket $49

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

#140 Characters Conference – The #140conf is not an event about microblogging or the place where people share twitter “tips and techniques” but rather where we explore the effects of the real-time Internet on Business.

Dates: Tuesday Oct. 17th – Wednesday Oct. 18th

Time:
Doors open at 7:00am
Conference begins at 8:45am

Location:
The Kodak Theater
7080 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Range depending on access

Girls In Tech Social Fashion and Beauty Summit Part Deux – Are fashion and beauty blogs the new magazine? Join them as they discuss the ever-changing face of beauty and fashion, touching on everything from the new FTC guidelines for bloggers to why the fashion industry should use social media at all. There’s going to be a fabulous cocktail party as well and they will be collecting gently used purses and shoes to help Dress For Success.

Time: 7:00pm to 11:00pm

Location:
LIVE! ON SUNSET
8801 W. Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Tickets: $20 (a portion of ticket sales will be donated to Dress For success)

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

140Conf Official After Party – Media Mixer LA – Demand Media and Mashable have teamed up for the 140Conf after party at the posh H. Wood lounge. With two floors, a full kitchen and large patio, it should be a great venue for networking with the tech and social media scene.

Time: 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Location:
H.Wood
1738 N. Orange Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Free, RSVP

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Startups Uncensored “Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs” –  This months installment will focus on what it takes to build a successful business and how to distinguish yourself as an entrepreneur. They are joined this month by Jason Calacanis the CEO of Mahalo, co-founder of Weblogs Inc and publisher of Sillcon Alley Reporter. Jason is one of the best known internet CEOs and hosts the popular show This Week in Startups.

Time: 6:30pm to 8:00pm (Townhall) 8:00pm on, Reception

Location:
Santa Monica Public Library (Auditorium)
601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: FREE but you must RSVP

Friday, October 30th, 2009

NeighborGoods Costume Share – NeighborGoods is throwing a Halloween Party with a twist. It is for members only and completely in the spirit of the idea behind Neighborgoods, sharing. Don’t wear a costume to the party, instead bring one with you to share and pick one out from the costumes in the share pile. Feel free to bring a snack or a bottle of something to share, this party is not catered. NeighborGoods members only. Space is limited!

Time: 8:00pm

Location:
Idyllic Nerd Commune
923 E 3rd Street #307
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Tickets: RSVP with your NeighborGoods’s username. Not a member, join here.

Saturday, October 31st, 2009  HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Mother of all Halloween Parties – Hosted by Francisco Dao. This time the stage will be all about strutting your costumes, NO Karaoke, just a party. Chippendales vs. Strippers vs. whoever else wants to strut their costume on stage! So get your costume appropriate dance routines ready because we’re going to battle!!

Time: 9:00pm to 2:00am

Location:
On The Rox – at The Roxy
9009 W. Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA

Tickets: Free but you have to RSVP if you want to get in. Drinks are up to you.

LACMA Muse Heroes and Villains Party - The Muse Costume Ball has quickly emerged as one of Los Angeles’s premier Halloween parties after just five years in existence, attracting more than 1,000 revelers for a night filled with art, music, drinks, and costumes. This year’s event takes its inspiration from Heroes and Villains: The Battle for Good in India’s Comics. Featuring installations and projections from Mindshare Labs.

Time: 8:15pm to midnight

Location:
LACMA
5905 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca 90036
‎
Tickets: $30 for Muse members / $50 for non-Muse members
Prices includes admission, entertainment, open bar, and parking

This coming Monday, October 26, the Perfect Pitch 2009 Entrepreneur and Investor Conference is taking place at the Ritz Carlton. Sir Richard Branson will be starting off the day as the Keynote Speaker. Next up is a series of panels and breakout sessions, followed by Christian Audigier closing out the day.

Some notable members of the LA tech community will be speaking, moderating, or presenting at the conference and we’d like to wish them all good luck. Mr. Tony Adam will also be in attendance, so if you didn’t get the chance to say goodbye before he whisked off to SF, now’s your chance.

Jason Nazar – CEO / Founder – Docstoc
Mark Suster – Partner – GRP Partners
Frank Addante – Founder / CEO – Rubicon Project
Jackie Peters – Founder – Heavybag Media
Tony Adam – Director of Search Marketing – BillShrink

Details

The Perfect Pitch 2009 Entreprenuer and Investor Conference - Hundreds of influential entrepreneurs and investors will converge for a full day of training and dealmaking. Powerful speakers and panelists will share the secrets on what it takes to launch and build a successful business… Your business

Date: Monday, October 26th, 2009

Time: 9:00am to 5:30pm
Doors open at 7:30am
Speakers begin at 9:00am sharp

Location:
The Ritz-Carlton
4375 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets:
Full-Access Conference Ticket $295
Live Online Streaming Ticket $49

Speakers:
Key Note: Sir Richard Branson – Founder – Virgin Group
Closing: Christian Audigier – Founder – Ed Hardy, Christian Audigier & Audigier Brand Management Group
See the complete list of Speakers and Judges

Conference judges represent the following firms:

• August Capital
• Cal Cap Partners
• GKM Ventures
• Price Waterhouse Coopers
• Rustic Canyon Partners
• Baroda Ventures
• Draper Fisher Jurvetson
• PerfectBusiness
• Qualcomm Ventures
• Virgin
• Tech Coast Angels

(Photo from Manolith.com)