Tuesday, July 31, 2001

School Spirit ~ by Gina Larson

About 20 people gathered at Dewey Flatiron on Tuesday night prepared to get schooled. The lesson of the evening? Spirits. Scott Lima of FutureBrands LLC held class in the upstairs lounge and lectured the audience about the strict guidelines makers follow to yield Bourbon (51 percent corn minimum), Scotch (12 year aging process) and that South of the Border specialty, tequila (minimum 60 percent agave).

My fellow classmates and I were riveted by the jars of unfinished brews and starter potions that Scott passed around the room. Afterwards, the graduates were invited to experiment with various liquors from FutureBrands stable of 135 liquor brands, including Absolut, Vox, and Jim Beam.

The recess gave me the perfect opportunity to catch up with Stephen Gilberg, CEO of HappyHours.com, the host of our evening. Steve said that business was going well, but he was hoping to enroll more people. "Maybe I'm competing with Madonna," he shrugged. I also talked with Dietman Petutschnig, CEO of Nunet Solutions, who said that despite the lack of enthusiasm towards the Web, there is still an interest in streaming - "where it makes sense." After a few more sips of my delicious apple-tini, I felt that it was time to dismiss myself.

The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson

After two weeks of nonstop conferences (first oil and gas and then music), I am getting back into the Cyber Scene swing of things.

On July 31 I attended Carl Fischer's Pink Slip with a Twist party. He was going to have it on the terrace of his loft in Writer's Square, but the weather looked threatening so he relocated it for Josephina's in Larimer Square. I had planned to go anyway, but knowing that Wendy Woo (http://www.wendywoo.com) was playing the event a nice plus. Carl provided us with food, margaritas, and music -- not a bad way to contemplate a declining economy and to brainstorm ways to overcome it. While there I had a chance to catch up with Curtis Hart of 2c1h.com (http://www.2c1h.com). You can read more about Carl and his projects at:
http://www.emilehigh.com/news/viewnews.asp?alt=100001532&author=Lainson

On August 1, I attended the first CIK Apres Work (http://www.cik.org) in Boulder. It was held in a private room at Triana. There were probably twenty to thirty of us there including Cate Lawrence of Warrior Solutions (http://www.WarriorSolutions.com/warrior/html/index.html) and Erich Stein of Erich Stein Communications (http://www.erichstein.com). Erich's partner Nina and I had a long talk about the tango, which she teaches. Emanuela Panebianco, CEO of EC-Way (http://www.ecway.com), and I talked music and also the European tech show she is involved with. As she told me, "The show will be held in Milan, Italy, Oct. 18-22.Our exhibit, endorsed, among others, by the Mayor's Office for Economic Development, will be part of by the US Pavilion organized by the US Chamber of Commerce." She encourages Colorado companies to become sponsors.

On August 7, I attended First Tuesday (http://www.ftdenver.com), which this month was held at the brand new Mile High Station, a renovated turn of the century industrial building that is now available as a party location. Among the people I saw were Yvonne Lynott of Lynott PR, Jeff Finkelstein of Persona (http://www.persona.com), Suzy Thevenet and Mark Weakley of Holme Roberts & Owen (http://www.hro.com),  Dilpreet Jammu of Nortel Networks, Dan Lubar of dataDistributions (http://www.datadistributions.com), and Greg Berry of Think Tank West (http://www.thinktankwest.com). The Spire team was there, most notably Pamela Bergeson, the new VP of sales and marketing (http://www.spiremedia.com). And PR divas Donna Crafton, Jen Hofmeister, and Marissa Peede were there. Donna's starting up PrimaDonna PR. You can read more about the event at:
http://www.emilehigh.com/news/viewnews.asp?alt=100001574&author=Lainson

And then on August 9, I attended the CIK meeting at the Chop House in LoDo. I had never been there before, but was glad to check out the place that has hosted various Avalanche parties. We had a back room to ourselves, which was nice. Among those making the rounds were Mike Gellman and Brandon Shevin of Spire, Cate Lawrence, Erich Stein, Curtis Hart, Scott Price of CustomerCentrix (http://www.CustomerCentrix.com), Alex Teitz of FEMMUSIC (http://www.femmusic.com), Jon Fetzer of TamTam (http://www.tamtam.com), Kari Nelson of Recess Active Entertainment (http://www.YourRecess.com/index.html), Larry and Pat Nelson of ICR Web (http://www.icrweb.com), Mark Weakley and Linda Wackwitz from Holme Roberts & Owen, and Sara Yelton and Terri Douglas of Catapult PR (http://www.catapultpr-ir.com).

On August 10 I was down in Colorado Springs for the Colorado Technology Summit 2001 at the Pikes Peak Center, a great venue. Lots of Boulder/Denver folks made it there. I saw Mark Weakley, Larry and Pat Nelson, and Julie Jacobs of PHD Management Group (http://www.juliejacobs.com).

Governor Owens looked particularly spiffy at this event. And he obviously felt comfortable in this Republican stronghold. I arrived in time to hear him speak, followed by a panel of mostly telecom CEOs, and then the keynote speech by Craig Barrett, president/CEO of Intel. The three most noteworthy comments of the day were John Sie, founder/chairman/CEO of StazEncore, saying that entertainment would drive broadband usage, Larissa Herda, chairman/president/CEO of Time Warner Telecom saying that her company knew better than to get into the DSL business, and Craig Barrett saying that on Intel's website, $60 million in orders are placed each day.

As always I have been hitting the clubs and running into familiar faces. Mark Weakley and his wife were at the Boulder Theater for an eTown performance featuring blues guitar legend Buddy Guy and blues/folk singer Odetta. Alex Teitz was at the Gavin Summit enjoying all the live music that comes to Boulder every year in conjunction with that event. Kari Nelson dropped into Soma, the techno club in Boulder. Erich Stein and Curtis Hart were among those who joined me to catch Wendy at Denver coffee house Stella's. Then later than evening those of us who were still around headed over the Herman's Hideaway to hear Opie Gone Bad do their final set, capped off with Wendy and Jake Schroeder doing a full bore duet to the Bill Withers classic, "Use Me." 

Friday, July 27, 2001

ADV ~ Iconoscape

ICONOSCAPE: THE INTERNET RENAISSANCE BEGINS!
See the best examples of online marketing at ICONOSCAPE, Sept. 20 at San
Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts. CyberScene members save $25 off the $495
early bird discount when you sign up by July 31. Use COURT in the reference
code field. Sign-up at http://www.iconocast.com/list/114/courtney.html

ADV ~ American Friends of The Hebrew University

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2001, 8:30 PM until Midnight. American Friends of The
Hebrew University and The President's Council invite you to attend:
Mystical Morocco Under The Stars. Join the Young Leadership Division (late
20s - 40s) at its Third Annual Summer Fundraiser. Private Party at Club
Exit's "Rooftop Lounge," 610 W. 56th Street (between 11th & 12th Avenues),
NYC. Features: Dinner Buffet, Open Bar, DJ/Dancing, Raffle Prizes, Belly
Dancers, Body Art and More! $125 per person in advance; $150 at the door.
This charity event benefits the Street Law Project, a program administered
by the University's Faculty of Law, where law students visit Israeli
communities and provide critical guidance and legal aid to children and
their families who have been exposed to alcoholism, violence, poverty and
other social problems. For Information/Reservations, contact Tani Schwartz
at 212-472-0040/tschwartz@afhu.org,or visit www.afhu.org.

>> CYBER SCENE SOCIAL NOTES ~ 7/27/01

** If someone accidentally posts an email to an entire mailing list, don't post defaming and derogatory emails to the entire list, further humiliating the person. Lists are usually heavily traveled anyway, so why exacerbate the problem?

TCS Intro ~ 7/27/01

Courtney Pulitzer's Cyber Scene ~ July 27, 2001

>> THIS WEEK
Swashbuckling and Sushi ~ by Gina M. Larson
The Politicos Are Coming
Willkommen! Bitte, How do I start abroad?
It's my Party Now!
The Night Spa Treats Musical Women
Yo! Lawyers in da House!
Webgrrls Pursuit of Passions
The Natives Get Restless

The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson
The Cyber Scene in San Diego ~ by Lilia Phleger Benjamin

>> REGULAR FEATURES
Cyber Scene Social Notes
Shakers and Stirrers
Bits & Bytes

>> SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
"The Cyber Scene" is published weekly. Subscriptions are free. To
subscribe or unsubscribe: http://www.pulitzer.com/subunsub.html

http://www.ewomp.com/CustomSolutions/cgi-bin/imgclk2.pl?id=P1N1H5R1&sid=161

>> CORPORATE PARTNERS
Sparklist -- Mailing list services
http://SparkLIST.com/

>> UPCOMING EVENTS
Cocktails with Courtney ~ Los Angeles
Date: August 14th
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Place: TBA!

>> RECENT PRESS
Crain's, June 25, 2001. "Alley II: The New Face of New Media"

The New York Observer, June 22, 2001. "In Market Slump, Courtney Pulitzer Kicks Things Up. http://www.observer.com/pages/financial2.asp

Thursday, July 26, 2001

The Cyber Scene in San Diego ~ by Lilia Phleger Benjamin

SAN DIEGO—Well it has been quite a summer here in San Diego.

We’ve managed to avoid mass rolling blackouts, and “June Gloom”, our yearly overcast weather, has finally left us.

As has Cliff Numark, former president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance http://www.sdrta.org/! He resigned due to family responsibilities, and is now replaced by the highly qualified Tyler Orion. Cliff was an integral part of the San Diego scene…and though he says he’ll visit, Los Angeles seems awfully far away. Speaking of the SDRTA, their flagship event – The Big eSchmooze – is taking place at the Torrey Pines Glider Port on August 23rd. If you only go to one networking event a year, go to the eSchmooze. It’s crowded, it’s noisy, and the lines for food and cocktails are long…but absolutely everyone will be there and you’ll kick yourself if you aren’t!

June 1st saw the wrap party for The Girls Project, a collaborative effort spearheaded by the San Diego Futures Foundation http://www.sdff.org/. Becky Stawiski, head of the SDFF, built a team of women from Techniquelle http://www.techniquelle.com/, WITI http://www.witi.org/, the SDRTA, and other area companies. The party celebrated the creation of a brand new computer lab with six weeks of hands-on training for the girls and the staff.

I also got notice that we have a new neighbor. Swedish-based AU-System http://www.ausystem.com/, a leading Mobile Internet consultancy, announced the opening of its North American subsidiary in San Diego. The company's client list includes Ericsson, Motorola, Hyundai, Compaq, Philips and Volvo, and its major investors include Schroder Ventures, Ericsson, and IBM. With all of the downsizing happening lately in our town, its nice to have a new company join the scene.

Talking about a scene, the one that everyone thought was going to be a replay of Seattle turned out to be nothing but a peaceful gathering of a few protestors and hordes of journalists. I’m talking about BIO2001, one of the largest biotech/life sciences conferences in the world. Fanned by media hype, local shopkeepers hunkered down prepared for battle, but the protestors stayed home, the weather was great, and the conference was a success. 

Another success was the second annual WebSanDiego.org Bonfire, taking place in Mission Bay under the stars and a cool fireworks display by Sea World. The truth is out…geeks CAN play sports!

Geek sports notwithstanding, one of my personal highlights was meeting Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder of Hotmail. I was invited to attend his presentation at one of San Diego’s most effective networking organizations – TIE San Diego http://www.tiesandiego.org/. I was impressed by the large turnout this group attracted, as well as the obvious support (economical and educational) they offer their members. But back to the charming Sabeer, who of course everyone knows as the man who negotiated a $400 million dollar sale (for Hotmail.com) with Mr. Bill Gates of Microsoft. Clearly, a 26-year-old kid from Bangalore “playing hardball with the world’s richest man” is a story worth remembering! Ironically however, it was not his experiences at the helm of Hotmail that taught him how to run a successful business. Instead, he says it was the dismal failure of his second startup, Arzoo.com, which taught him the most important lessons. 

What I found fascinating were the stories of mind-blowing craziness in the Seattle of 1997. In fact, the idea of Sabeer taking Microsoft’s initial offer of $140 million and almost tripling it was just the start in an industry ready to explode. Living in Jamaica at the time, I was unaware that this virtual (un)reality was taking place…and I wish now that I had been there!

Finally, I want to make sure that I mention the upcoming entrepreneurial conference put on by the San Diego Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE) http://www.fwe.org/socal/. Called the eSeries, it is a six-week comprehensive program for women entrepreneurs in the high tech and life sciences industries. Only 30 women are chosen to participate, and registration closes on August 20th, so if you’re interested, contact Carrie Schultz right away! mailto:cschultz@san.rr.com.

Until next time!



Webgrrls Pursuit of Passions

If you'd ever wanted to know what passions women have, you should've been at the Webgrrls Women Series on "Passion, Pleasure & Profits" on Thursday, July 26th. (Or you can go read an issue of Cosmo). The speakers for the evening were HipGuide's Sly Tang, Daily Candy's Marcy Swingle and myself. Prompted with creatively poised questions by the Webgrrls diva and director of the NYC chapter, Eileen Shulock, we discussed our businesses, how we started them, what motivates and scares us and what's next. Webgrrls NYC director Eileen Shulock was, as always, a most gracious and witty moderator for questions posed afterwards as well. Attended by over 100 women from all areas of technology and business in the city, the evening was a well-rounded insight into the fun aspects of the Internet industry and was an empowering experience for all involved.

Wednesday, July 25, 2001

The Night Spa Treats Musical Women

With Madonna in town, J-LO performing last week on NBC’s Today Show and hype about all the alpha-women in the music industry, Christine Courtney Communications in conjunction with Girl’s Night Out, hosted  the first of their quarterly parties that will provide a creative environment for networking and celebrate the accomplishments of women in the music industry.

M-Girls Mobile Messaging, which is provided by Upoc, hosted a late-night girl jam at Spa on Wednesday, July 25th. With tantalizing offers of complimentary hair styling for a select few by Sean James (Fred Segal Beauty - LA), manicures by Polish Nail Emporium and martinis by Brilliant Vodka, the club was bouncing with a bevy of beautiful business women interested in celebrating Women in Music—the theme for the night. Even DJs Colette, Dayhota and Lady D of Chicago's leading female DJ team SuperJane Collective were on deck to spin luminous labels to women who knew how to shake their booty! Fashion house Fiorucci outfitted the DJs and hostesses with the mostesses Christine Courtney and Emily Twomey of Christine Courtney Communications, Jamie Roberts of Girl’s Night Out and Meg Ritschel of Sanctuary Records modeled Jill Platner Silver accessories during the event.

M:Girls even doled out fun gift bags with donations from cosmetics companies and the latest releases from several record labels. And if that wasn’t enough to entice young hipsters out, the do-gooder in all of us would have been pleased by the charitable aspects for this benefit. Malaak Compton-Rock’s (comedian Chris Rock's wife) non-profit organization Styleworks was the beneficiary of the evening. Styleworks offers free comprehensive makeovers, interview preparation and job-retention services to women transitioning from welfare to work. Its efforts are geared towards enhancing the personal appearance and self-esteem of women as they journey towards satisfying employment.

If you missed this all-out-girls-musical fete, never fear! There’ll be another in the next quarter! Sign up for the announcements on Upoc’s site!

The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson

On July 25 I headed over to the Turquoise Technology (http://www.contentcube.com) open house. Since Turquoise is a SpireMedia (http://www.spiremedia.com) client, Brandon Shevin and Brett Madden were there. LH3 (http://www.lh3.com) was handling some of the PR duties so Lauri Harrison, Jen Hofmeister, and Marissa Peede of were greeting people at the door. The in-house PR person is Jeannie Freis, who was wandering around in turquoise hair for the occasion (a wig, actually). Richard Sharp and Brad Spirrison of eMileHigh (http://www.emilehigh.com) were checking out the scene and taking photos. Mark Weakley and Linda Wackwitz from Holme Roberts & Owen (http://www.hro.com). So were Carl Kalin of The Jedi Group (http://www.jedigroup.com) and Adam Asnes of lingoport (http://www.lingoport.com). There were on-going demos of the company's flagship product, the ContentCube, a self-contained hardware/software appliance designed for advertising and multimedia agencies.

Friday morning I was at another Colorado Internet Keiretsu (http://www.cik.org) roundtable. This one was on sales and was held at the University of Colorado-Denver's Bard Center for Entrepreneurship Development (http://www.cudenver.edu//bard) located on the 16th Street Mall. Before the presentation began, several sponsors were recognized: Honorable Selling (http://www.honorableselling.com), SpireMedia, and Cooley Godward (http://www.cooley.com). There were six presenters and here are some of the highlights:

Jared Polis, founder of BlueMountain.com and chairman of Proflowers (http://www.proflowers.com) and Dan's Chocolates, said sales are sales even in different sectors. You must keep the end consumer in mind. Your top sales people are going to do great without supervision. If you can improve your middle salesepeople, you'll get a noticeable payoff. Top sales people do not necessarily share common traits. Often the most important thing they do is just to show up. Boards of advisors and directors can be a good source of sales leads. When distributing resources, focus on sales because they drive the marketplace. His balance would be 10% marketing to 90% sales.

Brad Morgan has worked for VISA and Harrah's and several other companies. He considers himself more of a marketing guy. While at VISA, he organized and managed a large sales force to call on merchants and was responsible for getting credit cards into supermarkets and doctors' offices. He was able to get this program underway by hiring eagles from different sectors. They were a small, elite group who were highly compensated.

Dick Pankoski of Strategic Development said that he focuses not on advice but on results. There is nothing that isn't sales. The only thing worse than bad news is not hearing the bad news. The most important call is the call we least want to make. A successful person is always making the toughest call. The only prospect you can't sell to is the one you can't engage in a dialogue. The ultimate rejection is when a person will not talk to you. The best sales angle is to be the company that takes away the most pain.

Mike Gellman, CEO of SpireMedia, said that he hates sales. It's a rare breed of people who don't hate sales. But he learned to live sales because he had to make money to live. He accepted the motto, "ABC -- Always Be Closing." The CEO needs to be the biggest sales person in the company. Make your clients evangelists on your behalf.

Janet Ryan of Ryan Whiteman (http://www.ryanwhiteman.com) said sales strategy depends on multiple factors such as price points and product lifecycles. Those factors determine what kind of sales force is needed. What is your sales culture and how do you want to be known? Every organization is different. One way to generate results and minimize risks is to offer a commission based on profit rather than on revenue.

Larry Nelson of ICR Web (http://www.icrweb.com) said he learned everything he knows from his five kids. Having lived and worked in Japan, Australia, and three European countries, he learned to ask the right questions.

Among the advice coming from the audience: If you can't afford eagles, look for industry experience. If potential salespeople don't have lots of experience, have them pitch to you during the interview process. Partnerships sometimes work by letting other companies promote your products as they sell theirs.

Friday evening I found out from Phil Smith, with Replay Rich Media (http://www.replayhq.com), that Running with Sally (http://www.runningwithsally.com) was playing at the Catacombs in Boulder. He wanted me to check out the band since one of his co-workers, Chris Sheldon, is the band's drummer. After first going to Trios to catch two sets by the Billy Tolles band (http://www.dmamusic.org/billytolles ) and chatting with Billy about a party he played for me up in Vail last summer, I headed over to the Catacombs.

It was my first time to hear Running with Sally and my first time in the Catacombs, so I don't know whether it was a typical  crowd for either. But it was the best looking crowd I have ever seen listening to music. Boulder is a good looking town to begin with and this had to be the creme de la creme. It was virtually impossible not to strike up a conversation with someone you'd consider going home with. It was like being in the middle of a J. Crew catalog. And it wasn't exclusively a 21-25 crowd. I saw a surprising number of people 35+ (definitely not in the majority, but enough that if you've already left your twenties, you'd still feel comfortable there). The place had a bit of a frat party atmosphere: Lots of little rooms to hang out in. Couches tucked into corners. There was a smoky bar (a rarity in Boulder), a pool room, a music room (just big enough for the band and a small dance floor), and miscellaneous other rooms. The advantage of this arrangement is that you can periodically wander from room to room for a change in atmosphere.

It was a very energy scene. A good time had by all. Typical of a Boulder band, Running with Sally's music doesn't quite fit into any one category. They deliver a lighter touch than a hardcore boogie band and they aren't as random/spacey as an acid rock band. I'd call them a jam band with very danceable rhythms. For the two hours I was there, never once did I see a time when people weren't dancing, It was great party music. I highly recommend catching them.

On Saturday I attended the Platinum Ball at the MCI Plaza in the Denver Tech Center. The setting was very cool -- a large courtyard open on two sides, but still enclosed. So while you were protected from the elements, you had a great view and a feeling of being outdoors. The event was thrown by eight hosts (seven men and one woman) and billed as the social event of the season for 20-to-40-year-old movers and shakers in the Denver/Boulder area. I wasn't sure how many people I would recognize and, as it turned out, not many. Among the estimated 1300 attendees, I spotted Jared Polis, of BlueMountain.com fame, Andrew Currie, co-founder of what is now MessageMedia, David Hieb of Namewise (http://www.namewise.com), Denise Soler of Giggle with the Girls (http://www.gigglewiththegirls.com), and Barry Fey, famed Denver music promoter.

I tried to discern some common theme to describe the crowd. It is easier to say what it was not. First of all, black tie in Denver does not necessarily mean tuxes and long dresses. I saw some suits and short dresses. Secondly, Denver appears not to be a town of boob jobs, big hair, statuesque blondes, or bimbos. There wasn't a "look" to tie all the women --or the men for that matter -- together. I suppose we should be happy about that. If you want to get more info about the Platinum Ball, go to eMileHigh (http://www.emilehigh.com) for my article about it. And also check out this site for photos and more details. http://www.blacktie-denver.com/premiere_parties/details.cfm?id=92.

Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Yo! Lawyers in da House!

Just when you thought it was safe, and that the money-grubbing dot-comers were holed up in their homes, there's a hot new clique ready to take over the too-cool-for-school slot. You'd never guess it by their clean shaven exterior, but lo! and behold New York's lawyers are taking the club scene by storm! In an unprecedented move, the New York Lawyers and Friends Network and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Entertainment Committee hosted a special party for NYC area lawyers and everyone else interested mixing business and pleasure. And who isn't interested in that?!

CLICK FOR THE FULL STORY:
http://www.thecyberscene.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?city=newyork&issue=current#6

It's my Party Now!

While some New Yorkers were uptown trying to figure out who and what was going on with this year's upcoming elections, another set of New Yorkers were trying to figure out what was going on with one character in the Mayoral races. The Women's National Republican Club hosted a "Mike for Mayor" reception and talk on Tuesday, July 24th at their New York headquarters.

Michael Bloomberg's candidacy has garnered a lot of attention because of his focus on education for our children. In fact, while Mike is on the Republican Ballot for the primary in September, he has established his own Education First party as well....

CLICK FOR THE FULL STORY:
http://www.thecyberscene.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?city=newyork&issue=current#4

Willkommen! Bitte, How do I start abroad?

Zum Schneider was humming, slightly crammed with those fresh new faces from abroad. The occasion was a beer tasting at the trendy East Village bar and eatery, hosted by the very cordial Volker Detering, COO of EventMe! Volker provides a welcoming of sorts for new arrivals to the Big Apple. "Many people who attend my events are all alone and we provide them a place to meet others like themselves. It's a good way to do business as well."

...The crowd was mostly European with some representation from the Middle East. I expected to see a line of beers on a table, and the participants sipping various imports....

See all the happy people at: http://www.startabroad.com/party_2001_07/

CLICK FOR THE FULL STORY:
http://www.thecyberscene.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?city=newyork&issue=current#3

Converse with the Politicos

It's hot out now, but the political races for Mayor of the Big Apple and other lead roles will be heating up even more in the coming months. In an effort to serve its constituency, the non-profit nonpartisan election forum for NYC voters, SavvyVoter.org, partnered with E-thepeople, their national counterpart and a nonpartisan site as well. E-thepeople works with over 400 online newspapers, television stations and Internet portals to bring government closer to the public. The two sites decided to partner with the Daily News and host a reception to kick off the 2001 NYC edebates.

Held on Tuesday, July 24th at Club 101 on Park Avenue, a respectable number of people attended to discuss the impending debates and hear comments from leaders of the involved parties....


Guests showed up to sample hors d’oeuvres and chat about the open offices.

With the big mayoral campaign coming up there are sure to be more political events peppering the scene. Be sure to know fully who stands for what by checking out SavvyVoter.org and be a Savvy Voter!

Swashbuckling and Sushi ~ by Gina M. Larson

It was one of those oppressively hot summer nights in New York City where the heat and humidity are like a lovely warm blanket to keep you warm on a winter night-except it's July and you don't want a blanket. Answering the cry of in and out of work dot-comers and non-comers alike, HotJobs hosted their annual summer party drawing 150 people. Cyber Scene writer Gina Larson braved the heat to check it out...

The staff at HotJobs knew how to stay cool this week. On Tuesday, July 24th the crew, led by their fearless leader and CEO, Dimitri Boylan climbed aboard The Peking. Although the three-mast ship stayed parked at Pier 17, the breeze coming off the East River was strong enough to peel off the sticky sweat baked on by the city heat.

Jeff Taylor was on board the ship, but the CEO of the Monster.com didn't cause a mutiny. Since the two former rivals joined forces in the last minutes of June, Jeff was a welcomed member of the crew. In fact, he even let staffers emblazon the HotJobs' logo on his bicep, which he was proud the show off. I chose to take my tattoo on the back.

A bounty of sushi, shrimp and chocolates were passed around the deck in an attempt to offset the effects of the open bar. The DJ tried to get all hands on deck to dance, but most just chose to schmooze with staff and guests. Simon Goddard VP of Sales, was reminiscing about his sailing days with the Marines back in London, while VP of Advertising, Marc Karasu, mused over past summer loves.

I also caught up with some non-staffers, such as Cristoph Mittendorf, Justin O'Conner, from AFD Contract Furniture, Amber Spierer and George Hinckley, from Traiger & Hinckley LLP. The party was still going on when this landlubber shipped out, but something tells me that some buccaneers were
only starting the night.

Friday, July 20, 2001

The Courtney Report on Her West Coast Excursion: Part 5

Part Five - LA bound

Leaving overcast, drizzly and foggy San Francisco I arrived in sunny LA to be greeted by an older man who asked me: "Young lady, do you know you just sat next to two very famous actors?"

I glanced at the Barbie and Ken couple sitting next to me in the rental car pickup van. "No."

He pursued with, "Do you watch day-time TV?"

"No."

"Do you watch TV at all?"

"No." I remain brief but am thinking to myself, "Look buddy. I just pulled an all-nighter at a wwwacky web party and I am working behind a computer all day long. I don't have time (or interest) to watch day-time TV shows!"

"Well, they just flew in from Orlando and I am their writer!"

(How much more must I learn of these people?)

"Oh. That's nice."

Welcome to LA.

The day progressed much less jarringly and ended on a sweet note as I enjoyed a leisurely networking dinner at Rix in Santa Monica for the Digital Commerce Exchange. Hosted by Ben Mendelsohn and Janine Parker guests enjoyed two hearty appetizer orders each, thanks to sponsorship by Response magazine. I chatted with InternetWire's Michael Terpin; The Walt Disney Company Digital Industry Relations, New Technology and Development VP Philip Lelyveld, Kenneth Papagan; NTV president Linda Thurman and WireBreak Entertainment CEO David Wertheimer. Careerbuilder Manager, WestCoast Advertising Sales (and Cyber Scene LA contributor) Keren Taylor was enjoying dinner with her husband and friend at the next table, and we chatted for a bit afterwards as well. The scene over by Shutters, where Mike Terpin and I met up with Traffic411.com CEO/Founder Lisa Osborn and R&D Graphics & Marketing Denise Denison-Erkeneff, was picking up. After a cocktail of seltzer waters and revolving conversations we adjourned for the night. After all, Friday and the weekend still have numerous activities to be enjoyed!

>> CYBER SCENE SOCIAL NOTES ~ 7/20/01


In an attempt to help facilitate better networking for new media professionals and "Scenesters," here are some points that will be added during the weeks. They will be archived here.

** In networking scenarios, the embarrassment of not remembering someone's name is worse than not being remembered. If someone forgets your name, politely remind him or her and don't make a big deal out of it. As "The Tipping Point" author Malcolm Gladwell states, "humans typically can only manage up to 150 relationships at a time."

TCS Intro ~ 7/20/01

Courtney Pulitzer's Cyber Scene ~ July 20, 2001

>> THIS WEEK
The Courtney Report on Her West Coast Excursion:
Part One - Cocktails with Courtney kicks off the Webby Awards Reception
Part Two - Lunch with the BBC and Mayor Willie Brown
Part Three - Cyber Scene Spotlight: More Wondrous Revelations @ the W
Part Four - Wednesday Wonders Won't Cease As We Go To The Webby's
Part Five - LA bound

The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson

>> REGULAR FEATURES
Cyber Scene Social Notes
Shakers and Stirrers
Bits & Bytes

>> SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
"The Cyber Scene" is published weekly. Subscriptions are free. To
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>> CORPORATE PARTNERS
Sparklist -- Mailing list services
http://SparkLIST.com/

>> UPCOMING EVENTS
Cocktails with Courtney ~ Los Angeles
Date: August 14th
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Place: TBA!

>> RECENT PRESS
Crain's, June 25, 2001. "Alley II: The New Face of New Media"

The New York Observer, June 22, 2001. "In Market Slump, Courtney Pulitzer Kicks Things Up. http://www.observer.com/pages/financial2.asp

Thursday, July 19, 2001

The Courtney Report on Her West Coast Excursion: Part 4

Part Four - Wednesday Wonders Won't Cease As We Go To The Webby's

There were a few themes that threaded the fabric of this year's 5th Annual Webby Awards: endurance, a sense of accomplishment for having staying power and unwavering belief in the ultimate longevity and success of the Web, the Internet and what we're all doing.

While this year's Webby's felt smaller and more subdued than last year's, the theme of "Gutsy" prompted people to express themselves liberally in their dress and speech. Although most men were clothed in mostly black or dark suits ranging from traditional to modern, the two stand-outs were John "CockyBastard.com" Halcyon Styn, who strapped on white "ass-less" chaps, lace stretch briefs, a URL-branded t-shirt and his signature pig-tails and Randy "Peter Pan" Constan, who wore a traditional green Peter Pan outfit. Google.com guys roller bladed around with silver lame capes floating after them. EssEff-er microstar Justin Hall wore a crisp cream suit, burgundy polka-dotted bow tie and no shirt. Visionary Howard Rheingold was in a signature loud-crazy suit jacket (green, yellow and pink paisley-very 1960s). And of course, Webcast host Sam Donaldson was just the most outrageous, crazy guy ever in his classic charcoal pin-stripped suit, crisp bright, white shirt and grey-silver tie. What a guy!

Not many women were truly gutsy in their attire either, but the notable exceptions were the lithe bodies in wide fishnet body stockings with latex coverings, Botticelli-shaped women in curve-hugging latex and body sparkles and semi-dominatrix-types in stereotypical outfits. The Webby's seem to draw a large Burning Man festival crowd as well and after the ceremony the after-party antics were what seemed to be in anticipation of the bacchanalian experience to come over Labor Day.

Here are some highlights from the show....

CLICK FOR THE FULL STORY

Wednesday, July 18, 2001

The Courtney Report on Her West Coast Excursion: Part 3

Cyber Scene Spotlight: Part Three - More Wondrous Revelations @ the W

Wednesday was the day of W's (W Hotel, Webby Awards, A Workout in the fitness center). In the late afternoon on Wednesday, July 18th, I met with W Hotel CMP, director of Sales and Marketing Bill Tremper. Coming from a career spanning fourteen years at six hotels in the hotel industry, Bill has proven himself as being one of the more inventive "do-ers" in his field. Having worked at more traditional properties like the Marriott, Tremper stood out with his creative ideas and aggressive action-oriented approach. Only ten months into his tenure at the San Francisco W, he already has identified and initiated change. Knowing full-well that "people expect change from a design and style source," which the W represents, the SF W will be set into motion of evolving change. Staying within W standards, of course, they will be changing the colors and the artwork in the lobby. Digital art and flat screens will project new exhibits and there'll be a DJ spinning tunes based on the mood of the gathered crowd.

With a nose for sales and marketing, Bill is also implementing...

CLICK FOR THE FULL STORY:
http://www.thecyberscene.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?city=newyork&issue=current#3

The Courtney Report on Her West Coast Excursion: Part 2

Part Two - Lunch with the BBC and Mayor Willie Brown

Part of the thrill of business travel is the opportunity to partake in the pleasurable pastime of dining in a city's trendy, upscale, noted (fill-in-the-blank) establishments. Having enjoyed the hotel's happening bar, I also partook in a fine lunch at the XYZ Restaurant with BBC America PR manager Josh Weinberg and BBC America.com publicity manager Matt Marshall on Wednesday, July 18th. I learned about their efforts of putting original content in addition to existing BBC content on their site. We chatted about events and news stories of the day and I learned more about the state of convergence and ITV in the UK.

Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown sat down at the table next to us and in his deep, melodic voice ordered the spinach salad and pecan-crusted chicken. And coincidentally I learned over the course of my stay in EssEff that the W is apparently the hotel of choice for three of California's mayors, all of whom also seem to have children out-of-wedlock. I wonder why the W is the welcome way station for these mayors' wandering and love wagering?

Tuesday, July 17, 2001

The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson

On Tuesday, July 17, I attended the Colorado Internet Keiretsu (http://www.cik.org) roundtable on business in Asia held at the SOFTBANK (http://www.sbvc.com) offices. The presentation was made by Ed Roberto, president/ CEO of Asia Online (http://www.asiaonline.com). His job at the company was to aquire businesses. He bought 18 companies in 15 months. The company raised $143 million in three rounds. Back then it was easy to raise money, but the company also burned through a lot of it. The business plan was to offer Internet business solutions to medium and large organizations in the Asian-Pacific region...

* * *

Thursday, July 19, it was the Internet Chamber of Commerce (http://www.icc.org) barbecue at the Westmoor Technology Park. The most notable feature: the weather. Dark clouds came rolling in, gale force winds blew up, and people were hanging onto poles to keep the tents from blowing away. I considered leaving but I hadn't eaten yet, and I was at least going to get some food before I headed back to my car. As it turned out, most people decided to stick around, and by the time I had finished eating, the wind had died down a bit. The entertainment looked promising: Boa & the Constrictors (http://www.boablues.com), a jump blues band. I read that they have played in Europe, so I wanted to hear them, but the wind made that all but impossible. Maybe some other time....

CLICK FOR THE FULL STORIES:
http://www.thecyberscene.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?city=denver&issue=current

The Courtney Report on Her West Coast Excursion: Part 1

The Courtney Report on Her West Coast Excursion:
Part One - Cocktails with Courtney kicks off the Webby Awards Reception

San Francisco has always been kind to me and this trip was no exception. The weather was gloriously warm and sunny. It's a pleasant surprise as I usually forget "the city" is chillier than the stereotypical constantly warm, sunny California climate. My accommodations were also a giddy luxury as I was able to set up temporary residence at the hip W Hotel. And from my 19th floor king-sized quarters I had a perfect view of the idyllic Yerba Buena Gardens, the Metreon, SF MOMA and the Mosconi Center. I even got out to enjoy some of the day and typed a bit as I lay outstretched on a fine blue W Hotel blanket in the center of gardens. Church bells rang, in recognition of some passing of time or event and couples lounged in the warm sun.

When I arrived yesterday, July 17th, I checked into the W and did the typical business traveler routine: made calls, answered email and unpacked. Since my cocktail party was starting earlier this night I showered, dressed and got ready for my cocktail party and headed over to the Foreign Cinema. The Webby Awards Luncheon had ended and I had just enough time to do my usual run-around as I set up and dispersed the "good-luck-pixie-dust" confetti. InternetWire, the sponsor for the party, was well represented by chairman Michael Terpin and Western Region VP M. Reynolds Morgan, who also set up.

With over 400 rsvps the Foreign Cinema was a unique venue for our event, as they had several large drinking and dining rooms. Guests begin arriving as we were finishing setting up so the night got rolling early. Mojitos and complimentary Bombay Sapphire drinks were flowing and I'd ordered hors d'oeuvres to satiate some early hunger pangs (at least till the alcohol kicked in) for the guests. Unfortunately the Foreign Cinema and I do not share the same point of view on quantity for value (i.e. there weren't as many seared-tuna-on-toast-points as I expected).

Nonetheless many SF dot-com old timers as well as some newcomers came to check out our national cocktail happening. Among the guests who have proved to be dear supporters were the visionary NRW PR Chairman Bill Ryan, community builder Craig Newmark (of Craig's list), marketing and ad-guru analyst Michael Tchong, sfGirl.com Patty Beron, Edelman PR Global Technology VP Colette Ballou and Hambrecht & Quist's Kirsten Bartok, writer and editor Caroline Waxler, Technanogy EVP Scott Mize and my good friend Lisa Jouris. TechTV's Guest Relations & Booking director Cathy Brooks added color and vivacity to the party with her bubbly bon mots and blue rabbit fur vest.

Read about all the other fabulously witty cocktailers....

CLICK FOR THE FULL STORY:
http://www.thecyberscene.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?city=newyork&issue=current#1

Friday, July 13, 2001

Cyber Scene Spotlight: AOL Time Warner Foundation President, Kathy Bushkin

Buskin Interview


While the dizzying array of assets that AOL-Time Warner share are easily recognized by businessmen and consumers alike, the company’s commitment to social causes is probably less familiar.

But make no mistake about it; this new media empire isn’t your usual large capitalist conglomerate. While other multi-million dollar companies have held their purse-strings tight, CEO Gerald Levin and Chairman of the Board Steven Case are happy to spread the wealth by actively partnering with charities and organizations and drumming up support amongst their staff for community volunteerism.

The social mission and work of the company is entrusted into the very capable hands of Kathy Bushkin. As president of AOL Time Warner's Foundation and a Senior Vice President of AOL Time Warner, Kathy is perhaps one of the most influential humanitarians in America today. Her work and influence are felt nationwide, “a perk,” she says, “no other job can match.”

While her heart for giving was born long before she entered the workforce, Kathy’s skill for identifying social causes was developed while serving as press secretary for Senator Gary Hart. She worked with Hart from 1976-1984, and she was there through his presidential campaign in the year of Yuppies and New Democrats. The experience, she says, helped her to learn about the country in a whole new way: She was addressing social causes of the day, honing her influence around the country, and most dear to her, working on something “significant.” It was also during this time when she met the future founder of Share our Strength, Bill Shore, who later convinced her to sit on the board of the prestigious hunger and health organization.

By 1985, Kathy moved off Washington Hill but even her next full-time job didn’t keep her away from the social issues that she felt most passionate about.  She enrolled her time in several non-profits, serving on the board for Share Our Strength and the National Press Foundation. She also was a formidable player in the creation of the International Women’s Media Foundation. The organization grew out of a one-time event whose purpose was to bring women journalists together after the Berlin Wall came down in 1990. But its success demanded an ongoing foundation that would encourage the very American idea of networking amongst European women in the media.

Besides the triumphs in her philanthropic work, Kathy was also receiving high marks of achievement at “US News & World Report.” As editorial administrator of the popular newsweekly, Kathy was overseeing the logistics of everything from budgets to policies. In fact, it was her policy work on emerging technology issues that first plunged Kathy into exploring the nascent world of the Web. Convinced that there were uncharted opportunities in the burgeoning virtual space, she helped the magazine create an online presence early in 1993 by partnering with CompuServe (AOL had already accepted Time magazine as a content provider). The concept of online journalism and interaction between readers and writers was indeed compelling and Kathy helped the magazine claim an even larger stake of the web by launching their own site in 1995.
It was Kathy’s involvement on the boards while maintaining a demanding job that showed her that it was possible to be involved in philanthropy while having a full-time career. When she was offered the job of AOL's chief communications officer, she jumped at the opportunity. Part of her role now included overseeing the AOL Foundation.

The job, she admits, was a perfect fit with her ideals and a rare chance for her to bring her dedication to social causes to a company whose commitment ran just as strong. The Foundation altruistic motives were the basis of the current AOLTW Foundation’s mission, striving to ensure the Internet medium focused on helping society, improving civic engagement and alleviating the digital divide.

AOL built its business by creating partnerships with organizations that brought content and community to its members, so it was a natural step for the Foundation to operate in partnerships as well,” she says. “We also preferred partnering with other organizations to create programs that could effect change rather than just making grants and donations.”

One of the more dynamic projects Kathy was involved with was the creation of Helping.org, a philanthropy portal of more than 700,000 charities where users can check on facts about non-profits and make donations. The site, which was created in 1999, allows users to punch in their credit card numbers to advance cash to their favored charity, but the card companies still need to collect their 2% processing fee. As part of the partnership, The AOL Foundation agreed to cover the cost of all online fees, making the donations free to both donors and charities. Kathy also created other success stories for AOL with their involvement in the Digital Divide Network and their Digital Heroes e-mentoring initiative, a partnership that the company struck with the National Mentoring Partnership (mentoring.org).

While AOLTW is a relatively new entity, Kathy is quick to point out that both companies carry a strong legacy of commitment to social causes. “The fit between Gerry and Steve is good,” she says, “because they’ve always been involved with the bottom line– the REAL bottom line, not the numbers but social impacts of companies.”

The two heads have encouraged the newly formed Foundation to act as a unified part of the whole company, just like all the other corporate divisions. And Kathy’s latest assignment is to work with all those entities to see how each product in the AOLTW stable can work towards social goals. The challenge has led her to determine what might be obvious: “There are lots of powerful ways to bring attention to the issues of diversity, corporate responsibility and giving, kids and social issues,” with their combined properties.

Yet as apparent as that seems, many other well-known companies let their opportunity to spread good karma slip them by. Kathy is making sure that doesn’t happen. In fact, as the two sides were signing their nuptials in January, Kathy was instrumental in the discussion of the mission statement of the newly formed foundation. The overall gist, she says, is “to use the power of media, communications and information technology to serve the public interest and strengthen society.” From there, they focused more clearly on the actual objectives: equipping kids for the 21st century, extending Internet benefits to all, engaging communities in the arts and empowering citizens and civic participation.

All together, the Foundation has more than $10 million in assets not including in-kind giving, additional corporate contributions and division giving for social causes. Employees have their pick of more than 91 programs for participation. Some of the more popular ones include Ted Leonisis’s E-buddies, which models itself after a buddy program for retarded people, but via email. E-mentoring is also a popular choice among employees, since positive work can be accomplished via email. So far, she reports, about 20,000 hours per week are donated by employees to just one of their sponsor programs, Time to Read.

For employees not sure where to donate their time, the company created ECHO, Employees Caring and Helping Others, a site that provides information on volunteering opportunities in the local communities and offers a link for online donations.

Philanthropy and volunteerism online is one thing, but the off-line experience is where major impact is more noticeable. In an effort to improve the DC philanthropy scene, Kathy’s been visiting and investigating the more mature New York charity arena. She has found that DC-ers are picking up the knack quite well; “philanthropy has become a real bond for a lot of people who wouldn’t necessary come together, and the high tech sector, in particular, has been very responsive.” The issues that the technology industry has rallied around, she points out, address the digital divide, housing and education.

In fact, education is one of the ongoing initiatives for AOLTW. Spurred on by a Principal for a Day program at the Roberto Clemente School in the Bronx, Kathy says that her short-lived stint showed her the power schools have in children’s lives and how technology can improve the system. “It’s important for our society to continue to provide support for teachers, so that schools can continue to be sanctuaries of learning and assistance for our future generations,” she says.

To accomplish that goal, AOLTW recently launched “Bootcamp for Teachers,” a pilot program in DC in partnership with Trinity College--a teaching university. This year-long program which kicked off on July 9th, starts with an intensive summer program training 60 teachers and administrators from all levels of schools on incorporating technology into their curriculum. If all goes well, they plan to take the program to Boston and New York next year. The foundation also broadened its commitment with the New Educators Support Team (NEST) with a $500,000 grant to accelerate new teacher development and retention in cities.

While Kathy is bringing the philanthropic efforts of AOLTW into a whole new era, she is also hard at work on legacy initiatives like Time Warner’s 20-year heritage of encouraging philanthropy among its employees. On June 22nd, the Andrew Heiskell Award for Community Service was bestowed on ten employees in a gala celebration to recognize volunteer efforts. The award was established in 1982 to honor staff members who serve their communities in the tradition of the former Chairman and CEO of Time Inc., Andrew Heiskell. The winners this year were gifted with a $2000 and a $3000 donation to the charity of their choice.

Between supporting and training teachers, teaching adults and children to read, mentoring and numerous other initiatives, AOLTW is not only a major contender in our world of media, publishing, entertainment and online services, but also in community service. With Kathy Bushkin at the foundation’s helm, the newly formed company is not only setting a model of philanthropic giving amongst its corporate peers, but also instilling a sense of social action amongst individuals.

>> CYBER SCENE SOCIAL NOTES ~ 7/13/01


In an attempt to help facilitate better networking for new media professionals and "Scenesters," here are some points that will be added during the weeks. They will be archived here.

** When an invitation requests Rsvp, it is impolite to not respond with a Oui or Regrets. Your host/ess has graciously extended an invitation to you, and needs to know for planning purposes if you'll be there, so do the proper thing and comply with the "Responde s'il vous plait" request.

TCS Intro ~ 7/13/01

Courtney Pulitzer's Cyber Scene ~ July 13, 2001

>> THIS WEEK
NEW! Cyber Scene Spotlight: Interview with Kathy Bushkin
A sea of activities
Lessons From the World's Oldest Profession
The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson

>> REGULAR FEATURES
Cyber Scene Social Notes
Shakers and Stirrers
Bits & Bytes

>> SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
"The Cyber Scene" is published weekly. Subscriptions are free. To
subscribe or unsubscribe: http://www.pulitzer.com/subunsub.html

http://www.ewomp.com/CustomSolutions/cgi-bin/imgclk2.pl?id=P1N1H5R1&sid=161

>> CORPORATE PARTNERS
Sparklist -- Mailing list services
http://SparkLIST.com/

>> UPCOMING EVENTS
Cocktails with Courtney ~ San Francisco
* The Official Webby Awards Reception *
Date: July 17th
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Place: Foreign Cinema (2534 Mission St)

Cocktails with Courtney ~ Los Angeles
Date: August 14th
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Place: TBA!

>> RECENT PRESS
Crain's, June 25, 2001. "Alley II: The New Face of New Media"

The New York Observer, June 22, 2001. "In Market Slump, Courtney Pulitzer Kicks Things Up. http://www.observer.com/pages/financial2.asp

Thursday, July 12, 2001

The Natives Get Restless

The media was out in droves and there were clips of interviews of Silicon Alley stars like Kyle Shannon of Agency.com on MSNBC then next day. NYNMA had done another banner job of promoting their annual Town Hall event on Thursday, July 12th. As was done in prior years, NYNMA shared the stage, so to speak, with the WWWAC organization to bring together a full community experience.

The glitterati panelists included the sage Kevin Werbach of Release 1.0, a youthful grandfather of the Alley Kyle Shannon and the spritely TV businessman from AOLTV Robert Friedman. Acerbic David Kirkpatrick of Fortune magazine moderated and indulged Robert for a volley on advertising on the web. BlackPlanet.com's Omar Wasow roamed the floor with the mike to aid the townspeople with their questioning. Deb Schultz, Sorceron's Howard Greenstein and other illuminati shared the responsibility and facilitated questioning.

Among the questioners were...

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http://www.thecyberscene.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?city=newyork&issue=current#8

Wednesday, July 11, 2001

The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson

On July 11 it was another big night for both events and music. Dave Matthews was playing at the University of Colorado football stadium, the Front Range Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (http://www.fwe.org) was meeting at trendy Sacre Bleu in Denver, and the Front Range Alliance (http://www.frontrangealliance.com) was meeting in downtown Boulder.

I passed on Dave Matthews because arena shows aren't my thing. I was all set to attend the FWE event when Larry Nelson, who heads up the Grassroots Initiative (http://www.grassrootsinitiative.com), invited me to the Front Range Alliance meeting. All he had to mention was that it had been organized by Brad Feld, of SOFTBANK (http://www.sbvc.com), and Jared Polis, of BlueMountain.com fame, and I was interested. Plus the location was so appealing -- four stories above the Pearl Street Mall at the Holme Roberts & Owen (http://www.hro.com) offices. Truly a great location to spend a summer afternoon: a view of both Pearl Street and the Flatirons. We stood on the terrace, enjoyed the food and wine, and savored the moment.

It was a very high powered crowd. I spotted Brad and his wife, Amy Batchelor, Juan Rodriquez, co-founder of both Storage Tech and Exabyte and co-founder and chairman/CEO of Ecrix (http://www.ecrix.com), Catharine Merigold, a principal with Vista Ventures (http://www.vistavc.com/), Pamela Bergeson, founder/chairman of Bid4Vacations.com (http://www.bid4vacations.com), Dave Secunda, founder of PlanetOutdoors, Jerry Lewis, editor of the Boulder County Business Report (http://www.bcbr.com), Steve Segal of Cooley Godward (http://www.cooley.com), Sara Gutterman of Boulder Ventures (http://www.boulderventures.com), Chris Wan of SOFTBANK, Dan Murray, marketing director of Persona (http://www.persona.com), Erika Brown, founder of NetGoddess (http://www.netgoddess.com), Derrin Smith, CEO of GetGo (http://www.getgocorp.com), and Eric Kirby, CEO of Veripost (http://www.veripost.com). Mark Weakley, of HRO, mentioned that his fellow attorney, Suzy Thevenet, helped to set up the event and then joined her sister on vacation in Croatia....

CLICK FOR THE FULL STORIES:
http://www.thecyberscene.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?city=denver&issue=current

Monday, July 09, 2001

A sea of activities

It’s summer in the city and the days are hot and sticky. But that doesn’t prevent the city from its usual pace of conferences and ability to address hot and sticky issues. For instance, the Fancy Food show is going on at the Javits Center. I’m sure there’s lots of hot and sticky things going on there. And the movie “Legally Blonde” is having a hot promotion with its “Go Blond for a Day” at Gotham’s two Vidal Sassoon salons. Michael Chaut of Monday Night Magic told me their 200th show was Monday, July 9th, where those talented magician-maestros extricated themselves from some other sticky situations.

And then there was the 6th Annual New York City Venture Capital Conference and Showcase that started on July 8th and continued through the 10th. Lots of sticky issues about launching, building, financing, structuring, restructuring, capitalizing, recapitalizing and surviving were addressed at this three-day VC power fest. Attending a conference on a Sunday is not usually high on my list of things to do, it was, however, a weekend highlight for about 200 of the attendees who did show up and listen to the workshops. I popped over to catch the beginning of the wine and cheese networking reception, and saw conference organizers and exhibitors put the last minute touches on booths and banners. And I chatted with just a few guests to get a sense that this conference promised to pack a punch with powerful information and networking. Shazam!

I-Hatch Ventures managing principal Derek Reisfield reported that his panel, with Silicon Alley Venture Partners managing director Stephen Brotman and Advantage Capital Partners SVP Elliot Fishman, on “Creative Strategies for CEOs/CXOs” was well attended. He was deep in conversation with a young upstart so I let them continue. I didn’t get far, however before I was descended upon by the informative trio of New York Insider Magazine’s technology editor Trent Gough, Black Cat Media Associates president Allen Leider and American Commentary Global News Service editor-in-chief Stanley Hersch. Stanley expertly and deftly shuffled a deck of cards while Trent and I caught up on various summer escapades and travels. And while I was learning about where to make my tresses blonder (see above) Stanley then placed one of those ancient and ceaselessly amazing party toys in my palm – it was the Fortune Teller Miracle Fish. Well, the fish diagnosed me as "In Love," then "Passionate" and then "Fickle." Trent and Allan were "In Love," and Stanley stopped his fish before we knew his diagnosis too--"love."

Ah well, Love is a fickle thing, no? Meanwhile consultant Vincent Yeh came over to chat and TechKnowMan Rich Garboski barreled over to announce some pre-press news (just wait and you’ll hear it here first very soon!). There were a few dozen men still mingling and chatting, but this reporter knew it was going to be a busy week, and she needed to get back to relaxing the rest of the Sunday afternoon away.

Saturday, July 07, 2001

ADV ~ Webby Awards

The What do Alan Cumming, Julia Butterfly-Hill and Sam Donaldson have in common? They're all participating in the 5th Annual Webby Awards on July 18, 2001 at San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House. And you too can join this group because we are providing tickets to certain special people. People who understand what it takes to be creative, who believe in the power of good ideas and who like to celebrate greatness in creativity and technology. People like you. We promise it will be a great time. Check out the details below. Dress code: Gutsy. Ticket prices: $90 - $175. To purchase tickets click on "invited to purchase." Use the passcode: csvop2090

Publisher's Note ~ Previews

Greetings lovely Cyber Scenesters! I know you're all still out there, enjoying the lovely summer days-swimming, sunning, tennis-ing and golfing. And, as you should be! Summer is a wonderful time to slow down and look at all the pretty flowers, smell their fragrant blossoms, watch a cardinal fly down onto a lush green lawn, stroll leisurely after a lovely dinner and watch the ocean waves lap up onto the beach.
Meanwhile, the city churns away at its usual frenetic pace in bright glaring sun that exposes all its beauteous and beastly features. Industry events are slowing down too, taking advantage of the slow down in the economy as well. And I have been luxuriating in a pace I haven't enjoyed in quite a few years.

However, I do have a treat for you. Next week you'll get to read an exclusive Cyber Scene Spotlight on AOL/Time Warner Foundation president Kathy Bushkin. This is the beginning of a new feature for our publication. Starting on a monthly basis we'll be featuring a notable leader in our world, whose influence and efforts are making a difference.

So with that-hope you all had a Happy Independence Day, have a great weekend and see you all around!

Friday, July 06, 2001

Shakers & Stirrers and Bits & Bytes

Foundation Names Harper as Adjunct
The Progress & Freedom Foundation has named Jim Harper, founder and principal of PolicyCounsel.Com, an Information Age public policy consulting firm, and the Editor of Web-based privacy think-tank Privacilla.org, as an adjunct fellow. As such, Harper will research privacy issues, particularly policy issues at the state level. In addition to his work at PoilcyCounsel.com and Privacilla.org, Harper has served as counsel to committees in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The Progress & Freedom Foundation, founded in 1993, studies the impact of the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. Sounds right up Jim's alley!

Colonna Names to Entrepreneurs Board
Jerry Colonna, managing partner and co-founder of well-known VCs Flatiron Partners, has been named to its Advisory Board of the Silicon Alley Entrepreneurs Club. SAEC, which started as an online discussion forum and networking group for entrepreneurs in 1999, provides its 3,100 members with such programs as new business-plan submissions and the speaking management guidelines of the Straight-talk. Colonna has been named to Upside Magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People of the New Economy and Forbes ASAP's list of the best VCs in the country. Flatiron Partners is his second venture capital investment firm; Colonna was a founding partner of @Ventures. He currently serves on the boards of directors of AppGenesys Inc., Planet Out Partners Inc., Electron Economy Inc., and Standard Media Inc;, publishers of The Industry Standard magazine and the advisory board of The New York Times Digital. Check out SAE at http://www.SAEClub.com.

Webby Awards Honors Lifetime Achievement
Vint Cerf knew way back when that the Internet would be big. That's why he co-designed the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. And it's also why the Webby Awards will honor him on July 18th with their first Webby Lifetime Achievement Award. Cerf, known as one of the "fathers of the Internet," is now senior vice president of Internet Architecture and Technology for WorldCom. Cerf will receive his award from The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences during The Fifth Annual Webby Awards, which will be Webcast live from the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House on ABCNEWS.com. ABC News' Sam Donaldson will host The Webby Awards pre-show, which begins at 10 pm ET on Wednesday, July 18th. Tony Award-winning Actor Alan Cumming will host the ceremony. Congratulations, Vint!

IC3D Hits the Venture Trail
The 6th Annual NYC Venture Capital Conference will welcome IC3D as on of eight companies chosen to present at the event on July 10. (http://www.nycventureconference.com/advisory/advisoryboard.html). As a presenting company, IC3D will discuss its business with a panel of VCs and the audience for 20 minutes, then answer questions from the VCs for 20 minutes and answer questions from the audience for 20 minutes. Members of the IC3D management team are calling this an "amazing opportunity" to reach the venture capital community and to recruit additional managers. They have invited Dupont, which has officially expressed interest in IC3D. Good luck, IC3D!

Razorfish Earns Kudos in Britain
Razorfish, Inc., and Eardrum, one of the United Kingdom's sound specialists, earned several awards from the British Interactive Media Awards (BIMA) held recently in London. The two companies collaborated on a project that won the Getty Images Award for best use of design and creativity and the prestigious 'Judge's Choice' award, chosen from all other entries combined. Established in 1985, BIMA is a national trade association representing the interactive media industry in Britain. Eardrum provides creative expertise in sound, commercial production, programming, and sound design for radio, television and all new media. The challenge for Razorfish was to create a business-to-business site that would showcase the impact that audio could play within an on-line user experience. The Razorfish-Eardrum project demonstrates sound's potential as an integrated design feature aimed at encouraging creative agencies to give sound design greater consideration in web based projects. Perhaps we'll be hearing a lot more over the Internet in years to come.

Medical Records Go Online
Imagine your doctor looking up your medical records online? That may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. EZMedicalOffice.com has unveiled a free, integrated Web-based Electronic Medical Record (EMR), ICD-9 Coding and Prescription application, offered exclusively to licensed physicians and other healthcare professionals. The company says the technology will improve patient care and reimbursement. Doctors will be able to spend less time with charts and more time with patients. Managed care and insurance companies will get more accurate information in a more timely manner. Let's hope so!

>> SHAKERS & STIRRERS -and- >> BITS & BYTES ~ 7/6/01

>> SHAKERS & STIRRERS
"Check out the site for the latest in who's movin' and shakin'!
For the whole scoop, go to:
http://www.thecyberscene.com/newyork/index.shtml"

Foundation Names Harper as Adjunct
The Progress & Freedom Foundation has named Jim Harper, founder and principal of PolicyCounsel.Com, an Information Age public policy consulting firm, and the Editor of Web-based privacy think-tank Privacilla.org, as an adjunct fellow. As such, Harper will research privacy issues, particularly policy issues at the state level. In addition to his work at PoilcyCounsel.com and Privacilla.org, Harper has served as counsel to committees in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The Progress & Freedom Foundation, founded in 1993, studies the impact of the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. Sounds right up Jim's alley!

Colonna Names to Entrepreneurs Board
Jerry Colonna, managing partner and co-founder of well-known VCs Flatiron Partners, has been named to its Advisory Board of the Silicon Alley Entrepreneurs Club. SAEC, which started as an online discussion forum and networking group for entrepreneurs in 1999, provides its 3,100 members with such programs as new business-plan submissions and the speaking management guidelines of the Straight-talk. Colonna has been named to Upside Magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People of the New Economy and Forbes ASAP's list of the best VCs in the country. Flatiron Partners is his second venture capital investment firm; Colonna was a founding partner of @Ventures. He currently serves on the boards of directors of AppGenesys Inc., Planet Out Partners Inc., Electron Economy Inc., and Standard Media Inc;, publishers of The Industry Standard magazine and the advisory board of The New York Times Digital. Check out SAE at http://www.SAEClub.com.

>> BITS & BYTES
Send your news to: news@TheCyberScene.com
For the whole story, go to http://www.thecyberscene.com

Webby Awards Honors Lifetime Achievement
Vint Cerf knew way back when that the Internet would be big. That's why he co-designed the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. And it's also why the Webby Awards will honor him on July 18th with their first Webby Lifetime Achievement Award. Cerf, known as one of the "fathers of the Internet," is now senior vice president of Internet Architecture and Technology for WorldCom. Cerf will receive his award from The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences during The Fifth Annual Webby Awards, which will be Webcast live from the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House on ABCNEWS.com . ABC News' Sam Donaldson will host The Webby Awards pre-show, which begins at 10 pm ET on Wednesday, July 18th. Tony Award-winning Actor Alan Cumming will host the ceremony. Congratulations, Vint!

IC3D Hits the Venture Trail
The 6th Annual NYC Venture Capital Conference will welcome IC3D as on of eight companies chosen to present at the event on July 10. (http://www.nycventureconference.com/advisory/advisoryboard.html). As a presenting company, IC3D will discuss its business with a panel of VCs and the audience for 20 minutes, then answer questions from the VCs for 20 minutes and answer questions from the audience for 20 minutes. Members of the IC3D management team are calling this an "amazing opportunity" to reach the venture capital community and to recruit additional managers. They have invited Dupont, which has officially expressed interest in IC3D. Good luck, IC3D!

Razorfish Earns Kudos in Britain
Razorfish, Inc., and Eardrum, one of the United Kingdom's sound specialists, earned several awards from the British Interactive Media Awards (BIMA) held recently in London. The two companies collaborated on a project that won the Getty Images Award for best use of design and creativity and the prestigious 'Judge's Choice' award, chosen from all other entries combined. Established in 1985, BIMA is a national trade association representing the interactive media industry in Britain. Eardrum provides creative expertise in sound, commercial production, programming, and sound design for radio, television and all new media. The challenge for Razorfish was to create a business-to-business site that would showcase the impact that audio could play within an on-line user experience. The Razorfish-Eardrum project demonstrates sound's potential as an integrated design feature aimed at encouraging creative agencies to give sound design greater consideration in web based projects. Perhaps we'll be hearing a lot more over the Internet in years to come.

Medical Records Go Online
Imagine your doctor looking up your medical records online? That may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. EZMedicalOffice.com has unveiled a free, integrated Web-based Electronic Medical Record (EMR), ICD-9 Coding and Prescription application, offered exclusively to licensed physicians and other healthcare professionals. The company says the technology will improve patient care and reimbursement. Doctors will be able to spend less time with charts and more time with patients. Managed care and insurance companies will get more accurate information in a more timely manner. Let's hope so!

>> CYBER SCENE SOCIAL NOTES ~ 7/6/01


In an attempt to help facilitate better networking for new media professionals and "Scenesters," here are some points that will be added during the weeks. They will be archived here.

** Handkerchiefs are back in style! Why not use one today to mop off that damp brow?

TCS Intro ~ 7/6/01

Courtney Pulitzer's Cyber Scene ~ July 06, 2001

>> THIS WEEK
Previews
The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson

>> REGULAR FEATURES
Cyber Scene Social Notes
Shakers and Stirrers
Bits & Bytes

>> SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
"The Cyber Scene" is published weekly. Subscriptions are free. To
subscribe or unsubscribe: http://www.pulitzer.com/subunsub.html

http://www.ewomp.com/CustomSolutions/cgi-bin/imgclk2.pl?id=P1N1H5R1&sid=161

>> CORPORATE PARTNERS
Sparklist -- Mailing list services
http://SparkLIST.com/

Baldwin Communications -- Connectivity/Hosting
http://www.baldcom.net

>> UPCOMING EVENTS
Cocktails with Courtney ~ San Francisco
* The Official Webby Awards Reception *
Date: July 17th
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Place: Foreign Cinema (2534 Mission St)

Cocktails with Courtney ~ Los Angeles
Date: July 19th
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Place: TBA!

>> RECENT PRESS
Crain's, June 25, 2001. "Alley II: The New Face of New Media"

The New York Observer, June 22, 2001. "In Market Slump, Courtney Pulitzer Kicks Things Up. http://www.observer.com/pages/financial2.asp


Previews

Greetings lovely Cyber Scenesters! I know you're all still out there, enjoying the lovely summer days-swimming, sunning, tennis-ing and golfing. And, as you should be! Summer is a wonderful time to slow down and look at all the pretty flowers, smell their fragrant blossoms, watch a cardinal fly down onto a lush green lawn, stroll leisurely after a lovely dinner and watch the ocean waves lap up onto the beach.

Meanwhile, the city churns away at its usual frenetic pace in bright glaring sun that exposes all its beauteous and beastly features. Industry events are slowing down too, taking advantage of the slow down in the economy as well. And I have been luxuriating in a pace I haven't enjoyed in quite a few years.

However, I do have a treat for you. Next week you'll get to read an exclusive Cyber Scene Spotlight on AOL/Time Warner Foundation president Kathy Bushkin. This is the beginning of a new feature for our publication. Starting on a monthly basis we'll be featuring a notable leader in our world, whose influence and efforts are making a difference.

So with that-hope you all had a Happy Independence Day, have a great weekend and see you all around!

Thursday, July 05, 2001

The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson

With the Fourth of July falling right in the middle of last week, no one scheduled any tech events. That left ample time to take in some music and I ran into others doing the same. On July 5, while at the Boulder Theater hearing Wendy Woo (http://www.wendywoo.com) open for Karla Bonoff, I ran into Brian Nevin, drummer for Big Head Todd and the Monsters (http://www.bigheadtodd.com). After saying hi to Wendy, he was headed over to the Fox Theater to hear Blues Traveler (they had already done Red Rocks the night before). Another person at the Bonoff/Woo concert was John Robinson of design/ad firm ProMotif (http://www.promotif.com).

On July 6, the blues band Tempa and the Tantrums (http://www.tempaandthetantrums.com) were in Boulder playing to a full house at En Vie. At their show I ran into Jim Primock, vice president of the Colorado Blues Society (http://www.coblues.com), who is a big fan, as am I. About Tempa he has written, "She has character and expression like I've heard only in singers like Lannie Garrett and Koko Taylor." (Taylor, being, of course, the queen of Chicago blues.) I'd describe Tempa's voice as sultry and her range extends to blues, jazz, R&B, and cajun. She and her band can hold their own in environments as diverse as biker bars, blues festivals and jazz clubs.

Over the weekend, there was the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, featuring three days of live music. Wendy and her band were at that event so I stopped by and ran into Steve Swoboda of Ereo and Alex Teitz of FEMMUSIC.com (http://www.femmusic.com). Then on July 10 Jen Hofmeister, of LH3 (http://www.lh3.com) which does PR for the Denver Film Society (http://www.denverfilm.org), invited everyone to head to Red Rocks to hear Opie Gone Bad (http://www.opiegonebad.com) and see the largest public showing ever of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I didn't make it, but she told me that more than 2,500 braved the rainy weather that eventually cleared and left. As Jen noted, the "witching weather" was perfect for the movie. The event featured four different Rocky Horror Picture Show casts, which she described as amazing! "They performed perfectly in sync with the movie. They sold little packets of rice and bread and other Rocky Horror accoutrements. Various cast members walked through the crowd shouting out call back lines. The crowd was very into it. Nobody left early." Then she added, "It was a true cinematic experience, complete with retro 'snack bar' advertising and a Woody Woodpecker cartoon." I've already got tickets for the next Film on the Rocks, July 16, which features blues singer Nina Storey (http://www.ninastorey.com) (whom I would describe as Aretha Franklin on overdrive) and From Hear to Eternity. Five bucks. Such a deal.

July 10 was also the night that the Rockies Venture Club (http://www.rockiesventureclub.org) had its monthly meeting in Denver and the Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group (http://www.rmiug.org) and the Colorado Internet Keiretsu (http://www.cik.org) held a combined meeting at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which sits atop Table Mesa Road and offers a spectacular view of Boulder. Sponsor MicroStaff (http://www.microstaff.com) provided the pizza and let it be known that while there are fewer jobs, they are still placing people in them. Among those mingling were Dan Murray of Persona (http://www.persona.com), Scott Price of CustomerCentrix (http://www.customercentrix.com), and Stacey Alexander of FourThought (http://www.fourthought.com). Dan Lubar of dataDistributions talked about his book on wireless text messaging and that various magazine editors were calling expressing interest. Carl Kalin of The Jedi Group (http://www.jedigroup.com) mentioned he had extra tickets to the Dave Matthews concert (more about that next week).

The topic of the meeting was "Internet Startups - the Next Generation."  First up was Daniel Feld, executive director of SOFTBANK's Hotbank Incubator (http://www.sbvc.com). He gave an overview of SOFTBANK ($2.5 billion under management with a portfolio of more than 160 companies) and said that Internet technology companies, including infrastructure, messaging and communication and services were its investment focus. So far SBVC has invested $130 million in Colorado with sixteen portfolio companies, five of which are in Hotbank. The incubator exists, he noted, to provide value-added services for SOFTBANK's existing investments, not to give birth to SOFTBANK-conceived companies. He said the bad news in today's market is that it is a lousy time to find financing, it is nearly impossible to get the attention of VCs (who are focusing on existing investments rather than new ones), valuations have contracted tremendously, and no one has any idea when or where the bottom will be. The good news is that shaky firms are being weeded out, the build-to-flip entrepreneurs are fleeing and the good entrepreneurs are staying, and start-up valuations are more reasonable, which works in favor of VCs. The focus is returning to long-term investments with a 5-to-7 year lifecycle. Companies are again being judged on value-based metrics such as revenue and profitability.

Next came Eric Kirby, CEO of Veripost (http://www.veripost.net), an email change-of-address company that resides at Hotbank. He compared and contrasted his experiences with an Internet start-up during the peak, Worldprints.com, with a company started after the decline, Veripost. Worldprints.com got VC money to sell posters online. One of the products the company developed was Image Catcher, which offered free screensavers. Within six months there were more than two million registered users. Excite acquired the company for $75 million in stock and transfer of debt. Veripost was started in May 2000. Among the changes he has seen in the business environment:
THEN
1. Early mover advantage.
2. Spend whatever it takes.
3. Expensive marketing deals, rapid growth, large office spaces.
4. Eyeballs have value.
5. Speed is important.
6. Internet companies are different. It's a new economy.
7. When are you going to do an IPO? When the paperwork is filed.
NOW
1. Grow cautiously.
2. Make the money last.
3. Targeted marketing, controlled growth.
4. Solving problems has value.
5. Focus on products and services.
6. Internet companies are companies. The old rules still apply.
7. When are you going to do an IPO? We want sustainable revenue and cash flow first.
   
David Jilk, CEO of Wideforce (http://www.wideforce.com), created the concept for this remote workforce and workflow management company during his recent tenure as a development officer for SOFTBANK Venture Capital. Among his points:
    Being an investor had been fun but required the ability to do a lot of parallel processing.
    He used to participate in "pitch day" where entrepreneurs could come in and make presentations. It was very easy to see which companies made sense and it was usually apparent within 30 to 60 seconds.
    SOFTBANK is more interested in investing in people than business plans. Different VCs have different interests; entrepreneurs should take that into account. SOFTBANK, for example, has a strong interest in and knowledge of email services and technologies.
    At some level VCs are similar to day-traders. The purpose of a venture fund is to invest, make the investment successful, and then sell. VCs are like lemmings and now many of them have what one described as a "stinking mountain of shit to clean up." In 2000 entrepreneurs were realizing in the spring that the market collapsed. The VCs didn't realize it until fall. The limited partners are just waking up to that fact now.
    Angel investors are fleeing. Last year they were talking about making money on all their investments and now they are hoping to get their money out of at least one. The way for new entrepreneurs to survive is to bootstrap. Have a day job and start your new company on the side.
    As for running a company, the down times make it possible to find Java engineers to hire and to find office space.

At the event I ran into David Hieb, whose big news was that his company, Namewise  (http://www.namewise.com), has just done its hard launch. Considering the fact that there are 10 million business names already registered in the U.S., and 16 million Internet domain names already taken, finding something new and different can be a daunting task. (Just ask some of those companies which have had to rename themselves after finding out they didn't have legal claim to the names they were already using.) Currently Namewise offers a brainstorming tool and a domain tool and, when the full roll out is completed, will consist of five integrated naming tools, including two for generating new names, one for market-testing name effectiveness, and two for securing domains and trademark rights. In many respects Namewise is a full service branding company. Experts, for example, are available to help in the name development process. One of those experts is co-founder Stacey Schuham, whose company, Word for Word, has a long track record developing corporate names, including Circadence, Solista, Nike InnerActives, SmartPoint, and Symbius.com. Namewise is offering a nifty package deal of 100 strategic name candidates in three business days for a fee of $950, considerably less and done much more quickly than what is available from other naming services.

And finally I also ran into Grassroots Initiative (http://www.grassrootsinitiative.com) organizer Larry Nelson who told me about a gathering the next night of high tech bigwigs talking about the environment. That report will be in next week's column.