Friday, February 26, 1999

Job Postings ~ 2/26/99

UPCOMING EVENTS * * * *
For the most comprehensive, up-to-date listing on all the cyber
events check out: http://www.TheCyberScene.com/ and click on Calendar of Events

Notable ones that stick out:
3/1: Augustine Fou has generously offered a special discount for readers of The Cyber Scene for his next wine tasting! Read on: An incredible inaugural W I N E T A S T I N G Event. 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm, featuring some of the world's finest sake's and NYC's finest sushi. Sommelier Leonard Phillips from Ambassador Fine Wines will lead us through tasting a premium selection of sake's for the first 30-45 minutes. NYC's finest sushi will be catered from Tatany52. 1st come, first-served for PREPAID RSVPs ONLY. Sutton Place Bar & Grill (UPSTAIRS) - 1015 Second Avenue (btn 53rd and 54th). $70 per person - tasting AND dinner $45 special rate Courtney Pulitzer and friends. RSVPs by email to with credit card info. NO PAYMENTS AT THE DOOR.

3/2: NYNMA's "Hey! Nice Back End" 3/2, FIT, 6:30-8:30
WOW! NICE BACK END! The Secrets Of Successful E-Commerce "After The Click" Moderated by David Kirkpatrick Member, Board of Editors, Fortune Magazine with panelists: Marc Hansen, VP, Systems Architecture, J. Crew; Robert Langer, Director, Dell.com; John McKinley, Chief Technology Officer, Merrill Lynch; Michael Richardson,VP, Application Development, InterWorld Corp. FIT, Haft Auditorium, 27th St. at 7th Ave., C Building, 2nd fl.

3/11: PARTY for Charity - Win Yankee Tickets.
Laura Sorokoff just joined the Leukemia Society of America's Team in Training Program (TNT), and she's training for the Rock-n-Roll Marathon in San Diego! She'll be running 26.2 miles on May 23 in San Diego, and has committed to raising $3500 for the Leukemia Society. To enhance fundraising efforts, she and Kelly Odiorne, another TNT runner will donate all profits to LSA, a charity that is really making a difference in the lives of leukemia patients. So, show up, meet some great people, drink up for free for 2 and 1/2 hours, and contribute to an important cause. 8pm - 10:30 pm, VENUE (Columbus Avenue betw. 84-85), $25, Open bar and free appetizers. AND Just for showing up, you'll be entered to win 2 Yankee tickets, courtesy of Gelman & Gelman LLP (GREAT seats). http://www.leukemia.org

Looking for work? Talented producers send an email to
Lauren Rosen at Brand Dialogue. Tell her Courtney sent ya!
LAUREN_ROSEN@brand-dialogue.com

MOVERS & SHAKERS ~ 2/26/99

MOVERS & SHAKERS * * * *
Blue Dingo (http://www.bluedingo.com), a leading fully integrated traditional and new media marketing and technology firm has announced the addition of Tery Spataro as Chief Operating Officer. Spataro joins the dynamic 70-person strong company from a diverse background in creative management and business acumen. "Tery's philosophy and background completely compliment our full business integration strategies and solutions for clients," said Joe Beatrice, CEO of Blue Dingo. "Her strong background in new media, business management and industry analysis will assist in taking our company to the next level."

After two and a half wonderful years at THINK New Ideas, Vernon Steward is moving on to a new, exciting opportunity. He will be joining an e-commerce company called DirectWeb as Director of Business Development beginning March 1 and relocating to Philadelphia. Keep in touch with this bright man at: vsteward@hotmail.com

Silicon Alley is losing a Canadian Consult member, Matt Toner, but gaining a new Alley business partner. Mr. Toner has over the last 2+ years built up the CanApple program. It says it "was quite a task, one that just wouldn't have been possible without the large doses of help and advice that everyone has been so willing to give." He will be assuming a position with Mercury Seven (http://www.mercuryseven.com)

Eric Gordon has moved from WaveTop to take the enviable position of Northeast Sales Executive at theglobe.com. Congrats!

Doug McCormick, the recent CEO of Lifetime TV, has been elected to iVillage's Board of Directors. As the women's online market welcomes new players, Doug's experience with women's programming will help maintain iVillage's leadership position.

Brett Humphrey's (an old High School drama star like me!) has gotten even more respectable since our high school and drama club days. From Harvard to PriceWaterHouseCoopers to now the role of VP at Bankers Trust dealing with energy and electricity credit risk management, Brett is a rising star in finance! :)

NYU TANG MBA@NYU Whoo!

While sage souls reflected on the 20th Century's great minds at Rockefeller University, one of the 21st century's great minds might have been in attendance at the NYU TANG conference MBA@NY last Friday, February 26. Phil Terry, who organized the Harvard Business School Cyberposium last year and this year's impromptu panel with Melissa Grossman (iXL), also organized last year's NYU MBA@NY with @NY. It was co-chaired by Peter Markham and Nicole Jacoby. Incidentally, Phil corrected my skewed numbers. It wasn't 400 people who heard the Saturday morning panel with distinguished speakers like Julie Fenster of Time Inc. New Media and Christopher Hill of AOL, but 1400! Whoops. Guess that's what happens when you're in the front row and haven't had coffee yet at 7:45 AM! (Also, anecdotally, I broke the story on this conference before Wired or any other publication. Yea!)

Phil introduced me to Lisa Kay, who organized this year's conference with the help of a very capable crew. In conjunction with 10 other partner schools and some top Alley firms, this event became something quite viable. The success of this event also grew the TANG department from six people to hundreds. Silicon Alleyer Jodie Kahn of 24/7, old-time WWWAC member Hung-Hsien Chang, Marc Turk of Bates and Johanna Kietzmann, who works in marketing at Chase, were all students in attendance. They all cited the need to stay in the workforce, and to keep up with the fast-paced industry while learning solid business skills. The lauded the strength of the NYU MBA program as a terrific, but said it is difficult at times to balance with their other responsibilities.

Anne Yoakam and Alex Ellsworth, both entrepreneurs in the city, and Mark Strehlow of Razorfish came out to check it out, as did Mark Hurst, who revealed the URL for his original interactive cartoons for his alma mater, MIT's newspaper "Firehose Engine." Check it out at: http://wt.mit.edu/Projects/Firehose/firehose-home.html. Dan Newman, a part-time student in his second year at NYU, commented on the definite dichotomy between entrepreneurs and "corporate" business. His wife, Barbara, a student at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, said she got some really good advice. Even Chan Suh walked the three blocks from his office at Agency.com to speak and meet students. With the growth of the industry and the whizardry of all these MBA's, it looks as if TIME magazine will have to publish the 200 great minds of the century.

Upcoming Events

For the most comprehensive, up-to-date listing on all the cyber
events check out: http://www.TheCyberScene.com/ and click on Calendar of Events

Notable ones that stick out:
3/1: Augustine Fou has generously offered a special discount for readers of The Cyber Scene for his next wine tasting! Read on: An incredible inaugural W I N E T A S T I N G Event. 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm, featuring some of the world's finest sake's and NYC's finest sushi. Sommelier Leonard Phillips from Ambassador Fine Wines will lead us through tasting a premium selection of sake's for the first 30-45 minutes. NYC's finest sushi will be catered from Tatany52. 1st come, first-served for PREPAID RSVPs ONLY. Sutton Place Bar & Grill (UPSTAIRS) - 1015 Second Avenue (btn 53rd and 54th). $70 per person - tasting AND dinner $45 special rate Courtney Pulitzer and friends. RSVPs by email to with credit card info. NO PAYMENTS AT THE DOOR.

3/2: NYNMA's "Hey! Nice Back End" 3/2, FIT, 6:30-8:30
WOW! NICE BACK END! The Secrets Of Successful E-Commerce "After The Click" Moderated by David Kirkpatrick Member, Board of Editors, Fortune Magazine with panelists: Marc Hansen, VP, Systems Architecture, J. Crew; Robert Langer, Director, Dell.com; John McKinley, Chief Technology Officer, Merrill Lynch; Michael Richardson,VP, Application Development, InterWorld Corp. FIT, Haft Auditorium, 27th St. at 7th Ave., C Building, 2nd fl.

3/11: PARTY for Charity - Win Yankee Tickets.
Laura Sorokoff just joined the Leukemia Society of America's Team in Training Program (TNT), and she's training for the Rock-n-Roll Marathon in San Diego! She'll be running 26.2 miles on May 23 in San Diego, and has committed to raising $3500 for the Leukemia Society. To enhance fundraising efforts, she and Kelly Odiorne, another TNT runner will donate all profits to LSA, a charity that is really making a difference in the lives of leukemia patients. So, show up, meet some great people, drink up for free for 2 and 1/2 hours, and contribute to an important cause. 8pm - 10:30 pm, VENUE (Columbus Avenue betw. 84-85), $25, Open bar and free appetizers. AND Just for showing up, you'll be entered to win 2 Yankee tickets, courtesy of Gelman & Gelman LLP (GREAT seats). http://www.leukemia.org

Shakers & Stirrers

Blue Dingo (http://www.bluedingo.com), a leading fully integrated traditional and new media marketing and technology firm has announced the addition of Tery Spataro as Chief Operating Officer. Spataro joins the dynamic 70-person strong company from a diverse background in creative management and business acumen. "Tery's philosophy and background completely compliment our full business integration strategies and solutions for clients," said Joe Beatrice, CEO of Blue Dingo. "Her strong background in new media, business management and industry analysis will assist in taking our company to the next level."

After two and a half wonderful years at THINK New Ideas, Vernon Steward is moving on to a new, exciting opportunity. He will be joining an e-commerce company called DirectWeb as Director of Business Development beginning March 1 and relocating to Philadelphia. Keep in touch with this bright man at: vsteward@hotmail.com

Silicon Alley is losing a Canadian Consult member, Matt Toner, but gaining a new Alley business partner. Mr. Toner has over the last 2+ years built up the CanApple program. It says it "was quite a task, one that just wouldn't have been possible without the large doses of help and advice that everyone has been so willing to give." He will be assuming a position with Mercury Seven (http://www.mercuryseven.com)

Eric Gordon has moved from WaveTop to take the enviable position of Northeast Sales Executive at theglobe.com. Congrats!

Doug McCormick, the recent CEO of Lifetime TV, has been elected to iVillage's Board of Directors. As the women's online market welcomes new players, Doug's experience with women's programming will help maintain iVillage's leadership position.

Brett Humphrey's (an old High School drama star like me!) has gotten even more respectable since our high school and drama club days. From Harvard to PriceWaterHouseCoopers to now the role of VP at Bankers Trust dealing with energy and electricity credit risk management, Brett is a rising star in finance! :)

A report from Cabo San Lucas, by Anne Yoakam

I'm back from Baja to report a wonderful time at the ADAC Laboratories President's Club Weekend. Imagine the top forty performers of an aggressive Silicon Valley company at a resort so brand-new only 4 phone lines had been installed (the CEO got 2).

Cellular phones and pagers were out of range...their only choice was to
relax and party in Cabo San Lucas' chicest new spot. Alex and I and our team won the Jeep Road Rally. The impact both Silicon Valley and Alley has had on the once quiet destination is visible... When I was in college in San Diego, my friends and I loved to drive down the Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula with a full view of the gorgeous ocean...the only obstruction was an occasional old-fashioned hotel like something out of a film noir. Once crowned exclusively by just one fine resort,
Cabo Real -- today on the tip of the peninsula, at least a dozen major
hotels are under construction. The sophisticated Las Ventanas is
featured in Town & Country (our vote for best cuisine). Our venue, the
mosaic-domed terracotta Spanish-style Hacienda Del Mar, masters old
world rustic grandeur with contemporary luxury -- the perfect vacation
spot for Silicon Valley and Alley stars. The setting is like an Arizona
Ranch with a beach -- my idea of heaven.

The Cyber Scene in Vancouver, by John McLean-Foreman

Ah. Rain, rain, rain. If I were a plant I would be in Nirvana.
Thankfully, I had opportunity remove myself from the grey that makes up our winter and go to my first event this week. In the standard irony that seems to play such a large part in my life, it was put on by a couple of New Yorkers, Mitchell Schlimer and Michael Ringel of the "Let's Talk Business Network", who have set up a branch of their business here in Vancouver. The purpose of this company is not only to give the solitary entrepreneur a peer group, but access to a coach (Allan Holender), ideas, brainstorming groups and so on. Go to http://www.ltbn.com to find out more.

The guests ran from people in the film industry, to new media to those
setting up their own franchises. Of the many faces there, I only recognized Macolm Collings of Cinax Designs Inc. who, as he was leaving, introduced me to Rick Griffiths of PricewaterhouseCoopers. And I thought my name was long.

The Center for Digital Imaging and Sound (CDIS), has expanded its 22,000 sq ft campus in Burnaby to include high-end training in special effects. For more information on special effects training and other programs at CDIS call the Counseling Department at (604) 298-5400 or check out the college's website at http://www.artschool.com .

Here is some interesting news for those Americans who somehow believe us when we tell them, "Oh yes! We really do live in igloos." If you really want to know what Canada is like, then you will need to check out what Ingenuity Works Inc. is up to. (http://www.ingenuityworks.com) Starting on April 15th and continuing for a 9 week period, 3 bicycle teams will be travelling across our rather enormous and greatly underpopulated country. As the cyclists experience the stories, culture and heritage of Canada, they will share those discoveries with students on an interactive web site at http://www.chij.com . When I spoke to Cris Leykauf, I misunderstood her at first and thought she had said that only ONE team was going to do it. She laughed and said that when training, the cyclists only
go about 200km a day. Oh is that all?

TheGlobe.com's In Sync

Hey! I finally got something other than a baseball cap at an event. TheGlobe.com gave out those kewl fisherman/rapper hats and a CD with phat songs from grooveJam, an intelligent real musician-based band, on their Thursday, February 25 party at the Spy bar. It's good to have these kinds of events every now and then. It helps company spirit and morale. And it gives everyone a chance to get out before 10PM!" Todd Krizelman, co-founder and CEO of The Globe took some time out to tell me a bit about how things are going with his high profile-high visibility company. Stephan Paternot, co-founder and CEO also excused himself from some guests to chat and make sure I met the right people, including Gregory Mihalcheon, the marketing guy (and architect to boot) for grooveJam.com. Totally in sync with The Globe's vision of community, this band, with members from jamiroquai, the brand new heavies and primal scream, is all about real world musicians, music, and getting together with childhood and new friends alike. Scott Witt an "OgilvyOne Fellow" and Andrew Wagner (Venture Direct) were hangin' with more @dventure crew and Marnie Kotak of Virtual Growth. She proudly told us of how Virtual Growth rocked SAR '99 with their guerilla marketing tactics, Devin Voorsanger (Venture Direct) debated that Silicon Alley Connections actually is even better with their "Have you seen Salley?" stickers that are cropping up everywhere. Howard Koval of connectionpoints.com was there with Jeff Hearon. Pamela Parker, cyberjournalist about town was in the massive coat check line and we chatted about the massive parties in town.

Cocktails with Courtney ~ Spy Bar

As if Wednesday wasn't busy enough, the night had a few celebrations including my February "Cocktails With Courtney" and the SAR party. Held in the Spy Bar this month's event had over 200 guests. There was a great mix of old friends and new ones.

Some people from the IT at Wall Street show came by (Interwoven) and a few WWWAC and Webgrrls members came out too. Baba, Sanjoy and Jim from Goldman Sachs, Bob Wyman, Sanford Cohen (Ergo-Tech), and David Drimer were among early attendees. Dominique Ellner and Harold Neidhardt of Pixelpark stopped by, as did Eileen Shulock (Clique), Tristan Louis (Pencom), and long-time-no-see Cliff Ainsworth! Anne Yoakam, always a helpful friend and talented writer, met some of the folks from NBC too, namely Andrea Preziotti and Chris and Sharyl Volpe. Kevin Sickles of Sun brought a whole contingent of people from Exodus, Christian Frerecks of Marketwatch, Harold Van Arnem (Money.net), Greg Matuskiewicz of 2Can and Jasmine Lam of Gensler.com brought Ann Nakamura (TV producer for E! Entertainment). Binky Melnik and Catherine Skidmore, two women I know via email buy never met in person came by too. Nick Boris (ABC) and Chip Lewis (MSG) had a chance to talk TV production shop. Howard Greenstein (Microsoft) and Kevin Werbach (Release 1.0) were among the party hoppers.

NYNMA's Executive Director Alice O'Rourke spent some quality time in the plush red velvet-ed lounge with a friend of hers. Bernardo Joselevich (Duty Free Guides) generously offered picture-taking services. A whole Russian contingent showed up too! Ivan and Anya Elieshevich, Alyona Makeeva, Stas, Dasha, Marina Kolesnik, Michael Zaitsev, Sol Zlotchenko and David Garvoille were a few of them. Dennis Adamo (Vison Consulting), Sachin Shar (PR @vantage), Ilya Ravich were others that relaxed on the increasingly colder night. Jeffrey Kurek of Concentric and my neighbors Jonathan Zer and Anna and Simon came by to check out what this Cocktails With Courtney was all about! Of course, my dad Arthur and cousin Justin were there from the start to help me with setup and breakdown (of props, not emotionally!) I must say, having so many supportive people in one's life is one of the richest gifts one can have!

Silicon Alley '99 Conference

Lots of people may have heard about the Silicon Alley '99 conference hosted by the Silicon Alley Reporter Feb. 23-24th. And lots of people were overheard complaining that there was no connectivity at a show that's about the Internet, new technologies, new companies and new ways companies are using technology. And even more people were heard grumbling under their breath about the price of admission for the show and the "exclusive" party.

But it was set way over on the west side in a stunning TriBeCa loft with views galore, bars on every side and plush exclusiveness oozing about. Thomas Flynn and Shan Franklin of Flycast network and Richard Sheinker of ITG were some of the reps from their firms talking with attendees. Peter Kirwan, now CTO of NaviSite also made an appearance since his job (and city) change from Servercast. Matthew Crehan of Applied Theory explained their company's plan of project expansion, which was quite impressive. Guests milling about included Michael Diamante (T3), Courtney Brown (Virtual Resource), Howard Greenstein (Microsoft), Kevin Werbach (Release 1.0). Mark Jefferies (Electric Communities) was also a showcaser and Christine Harmel (Interactive Resource) came out to check it out, even on her birthday! But meanwhile, the big, ol' lumbering Javits Center had a conference on Feb. 23-25th, complete with connectivity, and all for FREE on IT for Wall Street '99.

This well attended event had firms representing staffing solutions, networking, and connectivity interests. Distribution and customer service were hot topics for this year's conference. Familiar Silicon Alley firm Random Walk Computing was also partook in a career forum simultaneously and Eric Lehrfeld, director of biz. dev for the company was enthusiastic about prospects. Adam Levy of RadWare was working the booths and Arthur Patterson, CTNY.com and Sam Lembo (IMRglobal Corp) were friendly at their booths. Peter McMullen of Interwoven enthusiastically told me all about the fantastic website updating, maintaining and other capabilities of their software.

ADV ~ SwedenRules.com

... Who is Lars? What's the deal with SwedenRules.com?
Find out more in April ...

Non-Profits Promote Education & Technology

On the heels of Harvard's Cyberposium, NYU's Technology and New Media Group at the Stern School of Business is hosting a small conference for MBA's and companies in Silicon Alley today, Feb. 26. And NYNMA's Education SIG hosted a panel on Tuesday, Feb. 23rd on "New York's Engineering Schools & Silicon Alley: What Can We Do For Each Other?" Presented with the New York Software Industry Association (NYSIA) and supported by Cooper Union, the attendance was mostly educators and people interested in the alliances. Speakers from the engineering departments at Cooper Union, Columbia, Stevens Institute, Brooklyn Polytechnic and City College all spoke on their programs and what they are doing. But what are they doing together? Moderator Eva Klein readdressed this and followed up with "let's see what's going on next year." Karsten Andersen, Project Manager of Tele DanMark (kra@tdk.dk) and I discussed this very question afterwards and discovered it seems to be an international challenge.

ADV ~ Dewline

Dewline Communications ~ http://www.dewline.com
Serving the new media elite since 1995

A New Kind of Floozie

In earlier generations a floosie was a flaky person. Well, times have changed, and this term has many other different and far nicer meanings. In ancient Persia, for instance, traders in the Mesopotamian valley used the word "flooz" as slang for "cash." And today, at flooz.com, it embodies the spirit of giving and convenience. Say you don't know what to get a friend who just had a baby. Or, as Mother's and Father's day approach, you can't for the life of you think of something new and different that your parents don't already have. Well, Flooz takes all that worry away from you. Now, instead of presenting your loved one with A) a gift they don't like B) will never use C) already have D) a cold, impersonal gift certificate. Now you can give them something fast, fun, easy and unique! "Sending someone flooz money is like sending them an online shopping spree," said Robert Levitan, CEO of flooz.com. It's true!

With my gift flooz money, I went and surfed through a whole bunch of sites they have alliances with and felt such freedom to be able to purchase from any one of them. I finally decided on a lovely, periwinkle, velvet mouse wrist-guard from the Violet site. And, when it came time to purchase I didn't have the hassle of having to go find my pocketbook, wallet and credit card and once again enter all the pertinent information. Considering how much a person can spend online, once comfortable with the concept, using flooz is so incredibly easy. You only have to enter all your information once, and just keep putting money into your flooz account. Then, when you go surfing and want to buy something, Presto!, just plop in your flooz account number.

AND--as a special deal for The Cyber Scene readers, sign up with Flooz today and
1) Be automatically entered in a sweepstakes to win a $1,000 online shopping spree
2) Get $10 Flooz FREE, just by signing up and testing the site.

In a special arrangement with The Cyber Scene readers, flooz will give you $10 flooz dollars, which actually can get you some nice trinkets! Go test the site, which is in beta, and send your comments to me. (courtney@pulitzer.com, with Flooz comment in the subject) Here's your chance to go spend someone else's money (yea!) and in the line of Mark Hurst and his ease-of-use consultancy firm Creative Good, help change a site to be better for users. So, sign up today, identify yourself as a Cyber Scene reader and go flooz around for your benefit and theirs!

The team at Flooz, including Simon, Dermot and Marci are all highly talented and motivated people. They're working hard on adding more vendors and getting the site in tip-top shape. So be sure to help them out, send your comments and get a cool gift too!

ADV ~ Flooz

flooz!
Make someone happy! Give the gift of an online shopping spree, delivered instantly by e-mail. Sign up today and be entered in a $1,000 shopping spree sweepstakes AND GET $10 flooz DOLLARS, a SPECIAL offer for The Cyber Scene readers! http://www.flooz.com


As a special deal for The Cyber Scene readers, sign up with Flooz today and 1) Be automatically entered in a sweepstakes to win a $1,000 online shopping spree 2) Get $10 Flooz FREE, just by signing up and testing the site.

In a special arrangement with The Cyber Scene readers, flooz will give you $10 flooz dollars, which actually can get you some nice trinkets! Go test the site, which is in beta, and send your comments to me. (courtney@pulitzer.com, with Flooz comment in the subject) Here's your chance to go spend someone else's money (yea!) and in the line of Mark Hurst and his ease-of-use consultancy firm Creative Good, help change a site to be better for users. So, sign up today, identify yourself as a Cyber Scene reader and go flooz around for your benefit and theirs!
 

TCS in USAToday


NEWS FLASHES: Hot Site! Check out what USA Today's technology editor Sam
 Vincent Meddis had to say about my website.

Friday, February 19, 1999

Upcoming Events ~ 2/19/99

EVENTS:

2/23
NYNMA's Education SIG and The New York Software Industry
Association (NYSIA) present: "New York's Engineering Schools & Silicon Alley: What Can We Do For Each Other?"
Tues., Feb. 23

2/24: Cocktails With Courtney (SM)
You are cordially invited to attend a fine evening with witty and thought-provoking conversations, cocktails to heighten the mood and hors d'oeuvres with Internet-industry friends, associates and business acquaintances. Spy Bar. 101 Greene Street. 6-9 PM (and on...) RSVP with your name and email to: RSVP@cocktailswithcourtney.com
(Proper dress required) * Come to this event and receive a special collectors item!

2/25: Internet MFG (mixer for grownups) 6:30-9:30pm. Ohm, 16 West 22nd street (between 5th and 6th). Front lounge area.
Cash bar. Your Hosts: Ben Austin, Director of Marketing, Comet Systems ben@cometsystems.com Amy Fried, Recruiter, New Media, Roz Goldfarb Associates amy@rga-joblink.com Annie Rhodes, Director of Business Development, Togglethis annie@togglethis.com

2/26: NYU: MBAs@NY 1999 Conference. Registration begins at 3:30 Schimmel Auditorium, Tisch Hall, New York University, 40 West 4th Street, New York City http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~tang/

3/1: W I N E T A S T I N G Series on Monday, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. Featuring some of the world's finest sake's and NYC's finest sushi. There is a limited number of spaces available, so it will be first-come, first-served for PREPAID RSVPs ONLY. Location: Sutton Place Bar & Grill (UPSTAIRS) - 1015 Second Avenue (btn 53rd and 54th) near E,F,6 subways (53rd & Lex)Cost: $70 per person $45 special rate for AWIB members (verified)RSVPs by email to WineTastings@email.com with credit card info

Links Around the World /&/ Events

AROUND THE WORLD

The Let's Talk Business Network knew a good thing when they read it. After my report on the trip I made to Vancouver, BC, Canada, compliments of Matt Toner and the Canadian Consulate with fellow internetrepeneurs Garnet Heraman (University Ventures) and Niall Swan (NUA), the LTBN guys targeted Vancouver as the next best place to set up shop. The big party is next week and you'll get the whole lowdown right here!

Jupiter Communications announced that it formed a strategic partnership with Sydney-based APT Strategies to facilitate distribution of Jupiter's services in Australia and New Zealand.

* * * *

CALLING ALL BETA TESTERS AND PAINTERS (tell 'em Courtney sent ya!:))

Nothin' to do this weekend? Cheer up little buckaroo! Stop by Comet System's offices at: over this weekend to help paint their new space and receive a FREE Comet Cursor!!! E-mail marketing@cometsys.com for more info! If you can't have fun there, you can't have fun anywhere!

Finance.com is now live at www.finance.com. Most visitors will likely arrive via the Netcenter portal, where Citibank is running banners, but here's your opportunity to come via The Cyber Scene! This "ultra-soft" launch is designed to begin building the brand and gauging user reactions. Please let Marc Perton [mperton@oxygen.com] know what you think.

Shakers and Stirrers - published 2/19/99

MOVERS & SHAKERS
Hearty Congratulations go to Mr. Mark Hurst, president of Creative Good. InfoWorld just bestowed upon him its "Netrepreneur of the Year" award. Mark credits his receiving the award in part to the report he co-authored with Robert Seidman, "In Search of E-Commerce." The second edition of this report (http://www.goodreports.com) shows how sites like Amazon and Dell improved their usability since the report was first released. And the kicker? Many of the changes were suggested in the original release of the report last June. Mark said that he is "happy that *customers*, not technology, were the focus of the Netrepreneur award..."

UniversityVentures, Inc. (http://www.uventures.com), the Silicon Alley intellectual property (IP) development firm, announces the hiring of securities industry veteran Thomas F. Kane, Jr. as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Kane joins co-founders Mr. Heraman and President and General Counsel Craig Zolan as executives of the company.

Marc Perton has just joined Oxygen Media, where he'll be working on personal finance content. Mr. Perton was previously at Citibank.

One of my favoritely-named companies in the Alley has just closed a $3 million first round of financing led by Dawntreader LP. Sybarite (which stands for "a luxurious person") Interactive is now named LivePerson and also received financing from Sterling Payot Capital, LP, Silicon Alley Venture Partners, LLC, FGII, and a group of individual investors.

With great regret a little start-up had to close-up shop. MileNet will be shutting down its service indefinitely due to an overwhelming demand on their server and lack of financing for infrastructure improvements. Since they launched in early November, about 30,000 people downloaded and used their software to earn frequent flier miles by keeping MileNet on their desktops and sending it to friends. Zen and Andy, of MileNet, expressed sincere apologies that they were not able to deliver the service and quality they hoped to. For information on how to redeem miles, please visit: http://www.milenet.com

Upcoming Events

EVENTS:

2/23
NYNMA's Education SIG and The New York Software Industry
Association (NYSIA) present: "New York's Engineering Schools & Silicon Alley: What Can We Do For Each Other?"
Tues., Feb. 23

2/24: Cocktails With Courtney (SM)
You are cordially invited to attend a fine evening with witty and thought-provoking conversations, cocktails to heighten the mood and hors d'oeuvres with Internet-industry friends, associates and business acquaintances. Spy Bar. 101 Greene Street. 6-9 PM (and on...) RSVP with your name and email to: RSVP@cocktailswithcourtney.com
(Proper dress required) * Come to this event and receive a special collectors item!

2/25: Internet MFG (mixer for grownups) 6:30-9:30pm. Ohm, 16 West 22nd street (between 5th and 6th). Front lounge area.
Cash bar. Your Hosts: Ben Austin, Director of Marketing, Comet Systems ben@cometsystems.com Amy Fried, Recruiter, New Media, Roz Goldfarb Associates amy@rga-joblink.com Annie Rhodes, Director of Business Development, Togglethis annie@togglethis.com

2/26: NYU: MBAs@NY 1999 Conference. Registration begins at 3:30 Schimmel Auditorium, Tisch Hall, New York University, 40 West 4th Street, New York City http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~tang/

3/1: W I N E T A S T I N G Series on Monday, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. Featuring some of the world's finest sake's and NYC's finest sushi. There is a limited number of spaces available, so it will be first-come, first-served for PREPAID RSVPs ONLY. Location: Sutton Place Bar & Grill (UPSTAIRS) - 1015 Second Avenue (btn 53rd and 54th) near E,F,6 subways (53rd & Lex)Cost: $70 per person $45 special rate for AWIB members (verified)RSVPs by email to WineTastings@email.com with credit card info

Calling All Beta Testers!

...AND PAINTERS (tell 'em Courtney sent ya!:))

Nothin' to do this weekend? Cheer up little buckaroo! Stop by Comet System's offices at: over this weekend to help paint their new space and receive a FREE Comet Cursor!!! E-mail marketing@cometsys.com for more info! If you can't have fun there, you can't have fun anywhere!

Finance.com is now live at www.finance.com. Most visitors will likely arrive via the Netcenter portal, where Citibank is running banners, but here's your opportunity to come via The Cyber Scene! This "ultra-soft" launch is designed to begin building the brand and gauging user reactions. Please let Marc Perton [mperton@oxygen.com] know what you think.

Around The World

The Let's Talk Business Network knew a good thing when they read it. After my report on the trip I made to Vancouver, BC, Canada, compliments of Matt Toner and the Canadian Consulate with fellow internetrepeneurs Garnet Heraman (University Ventures) and Niall Swan (NUA), the LTBN guys targeted Vancouver as the next best place to set up shop. The big party is next week and you'll get the whole lowdown right here!

Jupiter Communications announced that it formed a strategic partnership with Sydney-based APT Strategies to facilitate distribution of Jupiter's services in Australia and New Zealand.

Shakers & Stirrers and Bits & Bytes

Hearty Congratulations go to Mr. Mark Hurst, president of Creative Good. InfoWorld just bestowed upon him its "Netrepreneur of the Year" award. Mark credits his receiving the award in part to the report he co-authored with Robert Seidman, "In Search of E-Commerce." The second edition of this report (http://www.goodreports.com) shows how sites like Amazon and Dell improved their usability since the report was first released. And the kicker? Many of the changes were suggested in the original release of the report last June. Mark said that he is "happy that *customers*, not technology, were the focus of the Netrepreneur award..."

UniversityVentures, Inc. (http://www.uventures.com), the Silicon Alley intellectual property (IP) development firm, announces the hiring of securities industry veteran Thomas F. Kane, Jr. as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Kane joins co-founders Mr. Heraman and President and General Counsel Craig Zolan as executives of the company.

Marc Perton has just joined Oxygen Media, where he'll be working on personal finance content. Mr. Perton was previously at Citibank.

One of my favoritely-named companies in the Alley has just closed a $3 million first round of financing led by Dawntreader LP. Sybarite (which stands for "a luxurious person") Interactive is now named LivePerson and also received financing from Sterling Payot Capital, LP, Silicon Alley Venture Partners, LLC, FGII, and a group of individual investors.

With great regret a little start-up had to close-up shop. MileNet will be shutting down its service indefinitely due to an overwhelming demand on their server and lack of financing for infrastructure improvements. Since they launched in early November, about 30,000 people downloaded and used their software to earn frequent flier miles by keeping MileNet on their desktops and sending it to friends. Zen and Andy, of MileNet, expressed sincere apologies that they were not able to deliver the service and quality they hoped to. For information on how to redeem miles, please visit: http://www.milenet.com

Harvard's Cyberposium '99


SPECIAL EDITION: The report from Cyberposium '99

 There're a few things I learned at Harvard this weekend. If you don't mind not
 sleeping much and if you move quickly, you might just make it in this Internet industry.
 There was a lot of attention being placed upon serving the consumer, and you must
 stay focused while always keeping moving. The Cyberposium '99, a joint effort
 between HBS's High Tech and New Media Club, 35 sponsors and 30 partner school
 programs drew 1,000 attendees for the weekend brain-meld at Harvard's Business
 School campus in Cambridge. Friday night, February 19th started off with a banner,
 rousing speech by Garage.com's Guy Kawasaki. So impactful was Mr. Kawasaki's
 cheer, "Churn, Baby, Churn" that it became a mantra for the rest of the symposium.

 Directly after the rah-rah rally, Ken Morse of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center
 continued in the "go-get-'em" them vein with the introduction to the Entrepreneurial
 workshops. I sat in on two. People were packed in like sardines for "Starting Up &
 Starting Out" where one of the sound bytes was "self promotion is a great thing." The
 larger hall with the "Intrapreneurship in the Larger Company" panel drew a significant
 crowd too. Robert Rosenberg, director new ventures group, Lucent Technologies all
 conveyed the advantages of having the freedom to do the creative work without
 having to worry about the business and financial aspects of running a company. Tony
 Fadell, VP business development, Philips Consumer Electronics, said that Philips
 decided the only way to compete against startups was to be one too. Two
 departments, External Ventures, which invests in outside companies, and Internal
 Ventures, which gives money to Philips internal groups to spawn a new company are
 two ways they help ideas within and outside the corporate structure bloom.

 Networking went on into the night at a party at the Cybersmith café. Mitchell (who's
 call to fame is also "bigyellow.com"), Andres Glusman, Peter Figueredo and Myles
 Weissleder of I-traffic were out in force, skiing on virtual rides and meeting other
 attendees like Eric Tilenius, co-founder NetCentives. I also met last year's
 Cyberposium's co-chairs, who also serve on this year's Board of Advisors, Jill
 Schaeffer (now at Pandesic) and Phil Terry, (now at McKinsey & Co.).

 Bright and early on the crisp Saturday morning (Feb. 20th), roughly 400 attendees
 absorbed Carly Fiorina's speech. As group president, global service provider business,
 Lucent Technologies, Fiorina had a full bag of statistics on how the Internet, which she
 feels is the most important development in history, has changed the world. Consider
 this--it took one century to install the world's first 700 million phone lines and that
 Lucent expects an additional 700 million to be deployed over the next 15-20 years and
 every minute 5 million e-mails are sent. (Wow! And I thought I had a full in-box!)
 When asked about the Lucent/Cisco battle, Fiorina acknowledged Cisco's monopoly on
 traditional data networking systems, but heralded Lucent's excellence in service
 capabilities and how to put a network together. Closing words of advice to MBA's and
 entrepreneurs were to choose your aspirations wisely; it makes all the difference in the
 world when you manage people.

 Right on the heels of this statistic-intense morning keynote was a lively panel
 discussion titled "Attackers vs. Defenders: The New Media Wars." Julie Fenster, VP,
 business affairs, Time Inc. New Media, spoke out right away citing that Time Inc. isn't
 a defender, but an attacker too. And the debate was off! While there were mild
 introductions from the panelists, which also included David Risher, senior VP, product
 development, Amazon.com, Charles Moldow, VP, sales and marketing, @Home and
 Chris Hill, managing director, Europe, AOL International, agreements were soon set
 aside. Mr. Moldow reminisced on when he was at HBS in '91 and first learned about
 "co-opetition." This theory needs to be more alive today than ever, to help this industry
 grow to the next stage. Ms. Fenster followed with "it's incumbent upon all of us to
 educate the rest of the world about" the Internet. Then all hell began breaking loose:
 Charles began with subtle and not-so-subtle attacks at AOL and its policies on and
 how customers can't keep their e-mail addresses even if they quit the service and how
 difficult AOL makes it to actually close the account. He became more pointed as
 Chris smiled, took the punches politely but responded with appropriate and meaningful
 mugs and grimaces. Sometimes you just have to give the audience a show. And it got
 even more hilarious when Louise Price, a Columbia Business School student was
 caught "stealing" another attendee's seat after asking a question. (She more than made
 up for any embarrassment by asking a good question herself and co-hosting a fantastic
 panel on Financing Strategies later in the day.)

 All panelists agreed that at this point, every company is an attacker and a defender,
 and that the title of the panel is a bit of a distraction from just focusing on serving the
 consumer. Just because an early bird had it lucky to establish a brand in the
 marketspace, you must always keep moving and stay focused. It is dangerous to get
 complacent.

 Product demos of Cross Pen, InterVu, the new Intel Free PC, and others occurred
 during the lunch break. The afternoon was filled with four panels in four tracks that
 kept the mind and pen busy.

 Last year's Cyberposium CTO Melissa Grossman (now at iXL), chief community
 officer Kristen Badgley (now at Proxicom), Jill Schaeffer and others held an
 impromptu panel on "How to get a job OR How to create a job OR How to create a
 job for yourself and others." This well-attended panel lead into the first track I
 attended "If We Build It, Will They Come?" moderated by Annette Tonti,
 Cyberposium '99 Board of Advisors and president of bluestreak.com. Speakers Sandy
 Pentland, academic head, MIT Media Laboratory, Paul Cooper, CEO and co-founder,
 Perceptual Robotics and John Patrick, VP, Internet technology, IBM Corporation gave
 introductions about their companies and their interests. Paul responded to the panel
 title with, "Try it! Build it, they will come, and if they don't you have the luxury of short
 reaction time so you can change it." He also warned that if you want to have a
 business on the Internet, you have to be able to accept public failure. John's response
 to the topic was, "not necessarily" but paid tribute to the very strong economic
 statement in the power of a mouse click." Sandy revealed that there are more people
 with computers than the statistics reveal--his rationale was that even cell phones and
 all the other little devices we carry around with us have computers. Paul encouraged
 everyone to NOT put up with lousy technology--hearing bad audio and seeing a
 "dancing postage stamp" is not acceptable. John recounted how it's the younger
 generations that aren't putting up with current privacy policies. The web is real-time
 market research, and you must be able and willing to change your product or service
 quickly. Again the themes of serving the consumer and ease-of-LIFE came up to give
 students something to think about.

I couldn't resist showing support for a fellow Alley-er and listened in on the "On-line
 Branding" panel with local hero Scott Heiferman of I-traffic. His counterparts on the
 panel were Peter Blackshaw, brand manager, interactive marketing, Proctor &
 Gamble, Jay Thomas, director of digital media, Levi Strauss & Company and Robert
 Cosinuke, senior VP/marketing director, Strategic Interactive Group. Moderator
 Professor John Deighton, Marketing department, HBS tried to rile up the group a bit
 with positioning the clients against the agencies. Scott hoisted his chair above his head,
 but the other panelists shrugged it off with a laugh. The discussion covered branding to
 bonding (with products). Jay spoke of how popular brands with previous generations
 doesn't guarantee future success and the panelists struggled with the challenge of
 keeping customers.

Chris Charron, senior analyst, media & technology strategies at Forrester, moderated a
 panel with Elizabeth Collett, Yahoo!, Ted Philip, Lycos, Inc. Fred Singer, ICQ, Inc.
 and Adam Taylor, MSN/Microsoft to a room of nearly 600 attendees. "Portalmania:
 Are the Deals Worth the Hype?" was obviously a topic of major concern. I briefly
 saw Sarah Holloway, executive director of MOUSE, before she spoke on a different
 panel devoted to discussing access issues for "the other half." David Turnbull and a
 handful of other NYU Stern School of Business students were attending the
 Cyberposium and probably taking notes for their upcoming conference on Friday,
 February 26th at NYU for Technology and MBAs.

The final panel I attended, "Financing Strategies for High Technology Startups," also
 drew a major crowd. The lively Christine Comaford, managing director at Artemis
 Ventures moderated and probed the panelists Whitney Bower, Geocapital Partners,
 Steve Harrick, Highland Capital Partners, Robert Zangrillo, Strategic Global partners
 and Internet Technology Partners, John Hanely, Lucent Venture Partners and Richard
 Vierira, Broadview for good answers. Key elements they look for in a good startup? A
 strong management team, how do they present themselves, what's the space? what's
 the experience of the team, the reality of the business plan, and differentiation. Each
 panelist covered what specifically they look for, how much percentage they take, their
 idea of proper management and the relationship with new companies.

If the attendance of the post-symposium career networking reception is even a mild
 indicator of the success and endurance of attendees and sponsors, the Cyberposium
 '99 needle is way over 100%. Thought-full and provoking panels led by strong industry
 leaders and with seasoned and strong industry players created a hotbed for intellectual
 stimulation and probably began the incubation for not just a few new hot companies!

 Two Killer Apps to Consider: 1. Devices to help you control what information you get,
 how you get it, and when. (Carly Fiorina) 2. Wearable apps (watches that with the
 push of one button tells you where the nearest restaurant is, makes a reservation, and
 then where the nearest public toilet is) (Sandy Pentland)

 www.cyberposium.com

 [Apologies to my readers. In the process of sending out last week's column and getting
 to Boston, there were a few discrepancies. You may have noticed my editor's notes
 and a different e-mail address. I had my father and a friend help dispatch the edition,
 and--Christine Quinn won the election, Kibo is Kenny Schaeffer and Alla Kliouka's
 son.]

TCS Intro: 2/19/99


 Well, I hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day. But if you didn't come by the Spy
 Bar on Wednesday, February 24th for my post-Valentine's, post-Impeachment trial,
 post-Mardi Gras and Black History month celebration!!!! (Details below)

 Also, check out my Calendar of Events. Soon to be the definitive resource for all
 events, cyber and social, for new media and interested professionals. You can add
 your own event as well; instructions are on the page.
 http://www.TheCyberScene.com/calendar/

 This week everybody's talkin' about Telecom. From the Ad Club to the InfoTech
 Forum, the Alley's been a-buzz with news and networking.

Thursday, February 18, 1999

InfoTech Forum Helps You Profit

"How To Profit From the Upheaval in the Telecom World" was the headliner that drew another large crowd to the InfoTech Forum on Thursday, February 18. Entrepreneurs, investors and interested third parties gathered at this morning seminar for meeting and discerning. Two of the early birds I chatted with for this meaty topic were Marc Dwek, Vice President of Ambrose Employer Group and Dennis Berman of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.

The week rounded out for me on Thursday, February 18th at a pre-release showing of Jonathan Sarno's documentary on Silicon Alley. Viewed at the super high-tech, super slick and awesome offices of SMA Video, Inc., Ben Austin (Comet Systems), Bernard Warner (The Industry Standard) and I shared a few laughs. I think I inspired Ben to create a new cursor based on my favorite winter hat with black roses and feathers! Anton Self of Telephant came to show his support for Mr. Sarno and Bigfoot co-founder Leonard Barshack, who is also a featured interviewee in the documentary came out on the pleasant winter evening.

Alley events are just getting more and more popular and this weekend, instead of my usual rest, I'll be traveling to Boston for Harvard's Cyberposium. Stay tuned for the full report and an exciting offer to be exclusive of The Cyber Scene!

Silicon Alley documentary


The week rounded out for me on Thursday, February 18th at a pre-release showing of
 Jonathan Sarno's documentary on Silicon Alley. Viewed at the super high-tech, super
 slick and awesome offices of SMA Video, Inc., Ben Austin (Comet Systems),
 Bernard Warner (The Industry Standard) and I shared a few laughs. I think I inspired
 Ben to create a new cursor based on my favorite winter hat with black roses and
 feathers! Anton Self of Telephant came to show his support for Mr. Sarno and Bigfoot
 co-founder Leonard Barshack, who is also a featured interviewee in the documentary
 came out on the pleasant winter evening.

Alley events are just getting more and more popular and this weekend, instead of my
 usual rest, I'll be traveling to Boston for Harvard's Cyberposium. Stay tuned for the full
 report and an exciting offer to be exclusive of The Cyber Scene!

White Columns launch of Blind Spot

Spring is 'round the corner and I'm almost "outta" here! Well, not really, but I was "out at" an ada'web party on Wednesday, Feb. 18th. The White Columns gallery on Christopher Street was the sparse backdrop for the celebratory launch of their project Blind Spot, written by Darcy Steinke. Vivian Selbo (Artist) graciously spoke with me about the event. Cherise Fong, who designed the project with Vivian and Ainatte Inbal, was helping guests navigate the site from a computer in a small side room. Darcy, who had not written for the web before, was approached by ada'web, shown around the net, went away to write something, and began to learn all about the exciting collaborative process of building a web-based project. Video monitors showed off another ada'web project. Matteo Ames (matteo@ibm.net) looked sharp in his suit and bow-tie. He told me about some exciting inventions (not all digital) he's working on and about poetry online. Other arty types were in attendance at this strictly red wine (and Rolling Rock) affair. The women were fashionably sporting bright tops with colorful silk cigarette pants, or short skirts of varied materials. The guys were straight out of a Details Mag. Ted Werth (Digital Club Network) was positively beaming after just returning from MILIA. His first time in Paris, he reported that this city of romance was a beautiful backdrop for the conference held during the week of Valentine's Day. He and Andrew Raisej (Digital Club Network) stayed across the street from the conference and put on a fabu cocktail party one night. There were about 30 - 40 Silicon Alley-ers in town and many were forming "gangs" and squeezing into the restaurants.

Wednesday, February 17, 1999

The World Trade's WorkWorld

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tip of the island, WorkWorld was underway at the World Trade Center. Many of the companies present reported receipts of 400-500 resumes during the event and Stewart Ashenberg, VP and COO of InPlace said that the event went wonderfully. The organization of the event was much better than Recruit99 according to Mark Hochberg, VP of BlackRock and Jay Patel of Snickelways Interactive was pleased with the turnout too. The Joke-of-the-day team Eric Targan and David Talon were laughing all the way through with the banner turnout. Just down the corridor Leon Greene of Globix was thumbing through a phone book sized pile of resumes, looking quietly elegant in his sharp suit. It must run in the family because his brother Justin Greene, of GCDi, has the same peaceful quality. And now back to our currently scheduled frenzy… Hotjobs.com account executive Jim Opfinger and regional marketing manager of Student Advantage David Laubner were also packing it up after a full day of recruiting and Cheryl Young of NBC.com and Marilyn Delacruz of Comrise Technology looked like they had a full day as well.

AlleyCat News & NYNMA Blood Drive

Sweets were also being passed out, so people wouldn't pass out on Wednesday, February 17th during the AlleyCat News and NYNMA Blood Drive at 55 Broad Street. 40 generous Alleyers will be mentioned in the next AlleyCat News for thanks. As unpleasant a topic for some, this is a serious issue and the Red Cross has said they are in desperate need of blood. If you can, please consider donating.

Relaxing Evening Amongst Entrepreneurs & e-watch

The evening ended on a relaxed note as I spent several quality hours with friends and fellow entrepreneurs during Melissa Grossman (iXL), Jamie Barton and Dawn Botti's (both at ABC news) new circle of like-minded individuals to share in good food, wine, and stories to help each other with our individual businesses and aspirations. Set in Jamie's lovely home, we shared some laughs and then got serious as we listened to James Alexander, co-founder of e-watch retell his story of how he and his brother started their company and the trials and tribulations they had.

Tuesday, February 16, 1999

Ken and 2 Bobs

Who's that across the street from Emporio Armani? Why its K2B of course? What? You mean you haven't heard of this fabulous new line yet? Well, you will! This new company was started by Ken and 2 Bobs. Ken has an illustrious background including being the former media strategist for Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper, Steve Tyler (Aerosmith), Todd Rundgren and Ted Nugent just to name a few; an inventor of the wireless guitar; and founder and (former) president of BelCom, Inc., a pioneering provider of private overlay local, domestic and international satellite and terrestrial telecommunications systems for clients such as Chevron, BP and Radisson in the former USSR. The two Bobs are no less illustrious. Bob Bishop is Ken's best friend and the "smartest electrical engineer/physicist on earth" who co-founded BelCom with him. His relationship with scientists is key to their venture. "Software's Kingmaker," according to "Business Week" is Bobby #2--Bobby Orbach. Legend has it that at the first Comdex, he let Bill Gates use a corner of his table (to hawk Z-80 processors), and so to this day remains known as "Mr. Comdex." Mr. Orbach also put 47th Street Photo into the PC software/hardware business.

Special guests were Nurlan Alibaev and his wife Zoryeh -- from Almaty. Nurlan is the top communications guy in Kazakhstan, who partners with satellite, national TV, local wireless cable, etc. companies. Zoryeh just opened probably Almaty's best art shop, "Living Space."

Alla, Kenny's wife and award winning Russian actress just returned from Moscow and the premier of her new film "I Want to Go to Prison" at Dom Kino. The night before the premier, she was interviewed live for an hour on NTV, and "invited" viewers to the premier. Well, Moscow being the way it is, so many people showed up, the militia had to be called! Other guests including internet technology provider Octet president Tatiana Aleksa, Kirill M. Sirotinskiy, Ivan Eliashevish and of course my good friend Ilya (of the Ilya and Adeo fame) dressed in classic 1940 KGB outfit. Unexpected surprise guests (for them as for me) were Mr. Mark Stahlman and DejaNews Debbie Neuman. All the little tempting sweets and vodka were merrily consumed in the spirit of good things and as I left Kenny's wife and award-winning Russian actress Alla was firing up an educational CD-Rom for little Kibo to play (www.kibo.com).

Carlos Manzano Council Member

Throughout the day the Special Elections were being held for the vacant Council member seat formerly held by Thomas Duane. This election held significance in that the winner will have seniority in the City Council in 2001, which is the year when 41 of 51 Council members will have to leave because of Term Limits, including the Mayor, Public Advocate and Comptroller. While Carlos came in second, he is still interested in representing the Alley and its needs. www.manzano.org

"Fast Company's" Company of Friends

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Special Elections and the Chinese New Year -- all on one day! February 16th held many surprises and treats throughout the day. The Ad Club brought together a roundtable of tapped-in people to discuss the telecommunications industry and down the street, "Fast Company's" Company of Friends group gathered in a classic Mountain Lodge setting within the Society of Illustrators on East 63rd Street. Nick Corcodilos of AskTheHeadhunter.com came to reveal how everything you thought you knew about getting hired or hiring is wrong. Through a series of surprise answers and revolutionary thoughts, Nick outlined how you cannot continue to search for a job in the traditional way. You must go about a job search as a reporter would investigate a company. You must research it, get to know the in and outs of it, and you must DO (demonstrate) the job you're asking for, not just use your resume to get it. These main points were flushed out and he promised he'd put his notes on the web site.

Toffee-colored paneled walls encased the bar and dining/meeting room on the third floor of this historical club. Paintings and illustrations of pin-ups ala Vargas' peered out at us dreamily as guests were checked in by the cheerful and efficient Sachin Shah (PR@vantage). I met Mark Priest, who just left his job of 14 years to start his human resources networking and mentoring business. He brought along friends Colleen Neilsen, who organized the CoF laser tag event and Gerry Fallon, who does event management and trip directing for large corporations. Also out for this compelling talk were aerospace engineer Tom Grzymala (Allied Signal), publicity manager Barbara Schear (MacMillan), and underwriter excess casualty for AIG Paul Rovelli. Sporting a terrific melon silk jacket, Denise Lalonde explained how she travels all around the world training sales forces how to be more effective for Holden Corporation (holden.com). An effective one she is, as she had the mind (rightly so) to put the crackers on the same table as the cheeses! The very Irish bartender poured "club style" strong drinks as Amita Guha (webmaster of Amarex), also looking sharp in a tailored silk black jacket, and I chatted about developing websites. The real wood-burning fireplace made everyone feel toasty and the ambiance of this wood paneled lodge unconsciously set people at ease. Mark Hurst of Creative Good and Adrienne Matt (journalist, editor) were there and met the two organizers of the NYC cell Pat Barrett and Brent Hodgins (account exec at McCann Erickson). After sufficient networking, we settled down and listened intently as Mr. Corcodilos told us to lose the rules you grew up with for job searching. He doesn’t believe in resumes--he believes in approaching a job search as a reporter approaches a story. Target the company you want to work for, research them and then go in and describe for them what you think their challenges are and what are your solutions for them. While some may have thought he was giving away his trade secrets, Mr. Corcodilos relayed that your biggest competition is a headhunter who coaches interviewees. Another point for his case is that just because you know what to do, doesn't mean you know how to effectively go about doing it. That's where Mr. AskTheHeadhunter.com comes in!

Friday, February 12, 1999

Shakers & Stirrers /&/ Links - published 2/12/99

Movers & Shakers:
Jeremy Dine has moved on from Digital Pulp to Togglethis as Senior Producer. Congratulations!



Links around the world:
Hey! Be one of the first: Simple and intuitive Kleptomania is powered by the Direct Klepting technology, which utilizes OCR for capturing visible text. http://www.internetwire.com/technews/tn/tn981811.htx

Everything 2000 -- http://www.everything2000.com/
One-stop resource for y2k

School Work -- http://www.schoolwork.org/
Get help with your homework

Office Space -- http://www.officeguy.com/
The Office Guy is IN (Does he charge $.05 like Lucy did?)

TCS Intro: 2/12/99

In today's climate of accelerated customer service, I must honestly admit that being the recipient of abominably horrible customer service is not only a shock to one's sensibility, but also to one's pocketbook.

As some of you may know, my Dear Old Sweet 1995 Zeos computer died a miserable death with two "attacks" and loss of data. Okay, okay, so I didn’t' take my vitamins and eat a healthy diet. I didn't back-up every week. Sometimes I was so cavalier as to not back up every month. Well, I paid my price.

However. (and yes, that's a BIG however.), the consumer (albeit silly for not being stringent enough to back up at every given opportunity), should not have to suffer the additional insult and burden of poor service from a computer repair place.

Readers who are familiar with my column-turned-newsletter-of-sorts might be shocked by my tyrannical rant, as I am not usually wont to do. However. (again). I have been pushed over and over again by incremental measures that have brought me to this frenzied state of uncontrollable impropriety by even shouting to one of the computer "service" representatives that "I have never received such poor customer service and I … will NOT recommend you to ANY of my friends and colleagues in the industry!!!!" And I made clear who I was and who my friends were and how far my reach went. Okay, so it's the New York Silicon Alley cyber scene world. But. (and there's a "but") I have learned that my reach goes further than my front door, which is as far as I thought it went.

Anyway. If you’d like a non-recommendation of a terribly horrible scarring-experience computer repair place, just give me a call and I'll squawk their condemnations till the end of time. Or, you can read further in the newsletter where I'll reveal the incompetent, uncommunicative, misrepresentative, evil repair "doctors."

Okay, enough rant. On to the good stuff. And there's plenty of that too. So much in fact, that I said to myself, "Self. You must just write a tiny blurb and lead readers to the web site where they can read the full, unabridged version.

And so. Onwards to one of the most exciting weeks in Silicon Alley:

Here's the line-up:

Thursday is always a banner day in New York nightlife. Couple that with Toy Fair being in town and it just being a banner day for (birthday)parties, then you've got the makings of a short novel/cyber column.

Publisher's Note ~ Cool Links

Links around the world:
Hey! Be one of the first: Simple and intuitive Kleptomania is powered by the Direct Klepting technology, which utilizes OCR for capturing visible text. http://www.internetwire.com/technews/tn/tn981811.htx

Everything 2000 -- http://www.everything2000.com/
One-stop resource for y2k

School Work -- http://www.schoolwork.org/
Get help with your homework

Office Space -- http://www.officeguy.com/
The Office Guy is IN (Does he charge $.05 like Lucy did?)

Shakers & Stirrers

Jeremy Dine has moved on from Digital Pulp to Togglethis as Senior Producer. Congratulations!

New Board Members to HEAVEN

As we approach the year 2000, HEAVEN's mission (Helping Educate, Activate,
Volunteer and Empower via the Net) is essential to our future. This
non-profit is providing today's youth with the technology, training, tools
and access they need to succeed.

Jerry Colonna, HEAVEN board chair, and Wendy Dubit, executive
director/producer, HEAVEN, have announced that Jon Diamond, Vice Chairman
and CEO of N2K, and Bruce Lincoln, a senior educational technologist at
Columbia University, have been named to the board of directors of HEAVEN
(www.heavens.org). The news release follows.

Regards,

Renee Edelman Anthony Loredo
PR 21 PR 21
212/352-3430 212/352-3409
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JON DIAMOND, VICE CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF N2K INC. AND BRUCE LINCOLN,
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIST AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NAMED TO BOARD OF
HEAVEN

NEW YORK, February 8, 1999 - Jon Diamond, Vice Chairman and CEO of N2K
and a contributor to the arts and education, has been named to the
board of directors of HEAVEN (www.heavens.org), a national non-profit
dedicated to using the online medium to bridge the "digital divide."
In addition, Bruce Lincoln, a senior educational technologist at
Columbia University's Institute for Learning Technologies, has joined
the HEAVEN board.

In his role as Vice Chairman and CEO at N2K, Diamond is at the
forefront of the convergence of technology and online music retailing
and entertainment. A respected figure in the world of business and the
arts, Diamond has served on the Board of Advisors at Columbia
University Graduate School of Business and lectured at Columbia, Yale
and Harvard. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Lower
Manhattan Cultural Council and the Alliance for Downtown New York, and
is a member of the Corporate Council of the Whitney Museum. Diamond
is also Chairman of Opus 118 in Harlem, the non-profit inner city
music education program.

-more-

Diamond and Lincoln Named to HEAVEN Board-Page 2

"We are very fortunate to have both Jon Diamond and Bruce Lincoln join
our Heaven board," said Wendy Dubit, executive director/producer,
HEAVEN. "Their expertise in the fields of music, education,
technology and youth culture will be a great asset for our
organization in developing our computer training and community service
programs. We eagerly anticipate their contribution to the growth of
HEAVEN."

As a senior educational technologist at Columbia University's
Institute for Learning Technologies, Lincoln's work focuses on
developing advanced multimedia technologies tailored to diverse
populations in underserved communities. As the manager of community
outreach for the Eiffel Project, Bruce is responsible for working with
community-based organizations so they can help bring technology to
their service populations and in that way bridge the digital divide.
Lincoln was also the first Ford Fellow in Educational Technology.

"As business and community leaders, we have an obligation to make
technology available to all children. Students need access to these
resources to become successful adults and community members," said
Diamond of N2K. "I am honored to join HEAVEN's Board of Directors and
look forward to working with my colleagues to find creative ways to make
technology available to all students and children."

"As society experiences a technological revolution, I am dedicated to
working with HEAVEN and instilling education and activism among those
who've been technologically disadvantaged," said Lincoln. " I will
bring my knowledge of the relationship between technology development
and culture."

-more-

Diamond and Lincoln Named to HEAVEN Board-Page 3

Diamond and Lincoln will join the other members of the HEAVEN board:
Kurt Abrahamson, president and COO, Jupiter Communications; Jerry
Colonna, HEAVEN board chair and managing partner, Flatiron Partners;
Carol Cone, CEO, Cone Communications; Robert Friedman, president, New
Line Television; Ted Leonsis, president, AOL Studios; Michael S.
Rockefeller, CEO, ActiveMedia; Jerrold B. Spiegel, Esq., Frankfurt,
Garbus, Klein & Selz.

About HEAVEN (Helping Educate, Activate, Volunteer & Empower via the
Net):

HEAVEN (www.heavens.org) is a national non-profit organization
dedicated to using the online medium to benefit society and bridge the
digital divide. It is a call to action, activism and volunteerism; a
commitment to making sure that the technological revolution leaves no
one behind. By bringing together charitable causes and calendars,
volunteer efforts and opportunities in one appealing and effective
place, HEAVEN helps you find out where, when, how and why you can make
a difference. It enables organizations to increase traffic and raise
awareness and funds. And, through an innovative ANGELS program that
couples computer training with community service, it uses the Internet
as a democratizing force that helps lessen the gaps between haves and
have-nots.

Shakers & Stirrers -- Razorfish

RAZORFISH ADDS HEAVY HITTERS TO LOS ANGELES LINEUP

(LOS ANGELES) February 10, 1999 - Razorfish, Inc. announced today that the Los Angeles office has added Claire Browne as Solutions Manager and Ian Rhett as Executive Producer to its growing roster of Internet professionals.

“The addition of Claire and Ian represents our commitment to expanding our talent. They come to Razorfish from leading positions in their respective fields, and extend our ability to continue to provide effective solutions to our clients,” said Richard Titus, Managing Director of the Los Angeles office of Razorfish.

Ms. Browne brings with her an extensive background in new business development and strategic planning. Prior to joining Razorfish, Ms. Browne was the Director of New Business Development at CKS in New York, where she helped define online strategies for clients including Coty, Hearst Communications, and The Vitamin Shoppe. She also served as New Business Development Director at SiteSpecific, prior to its acquisition by CKS. She worked for Sony during what she calls the "early days" of convergence in 1994, contributing to the launch of Sony Worldwide Networks, a joint radio/Internet venture that anticipated several of today's cross-platform media entities.

"I'm an entrepreneurial-minded person," said Browne, "And I'm enthusiastic about the opportunities we will have to develop innovative solutions for our clients, as we all continue to increase our understanding of the Internet and its potential."

Mr. Rhett joins Razorfish as Executive Producer from MRD New Media Entertainment, a company he co-founded to provide high-profile webcast production services. At MRD, he co-produced live Internet coverage for the Daytime Emmy Awards, the GRAMMYs, and clients including Sun Microsystems, Sony Picture Imageworks, Microsoft, and the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to starting MRD, Ian was a Senior Producer at Apple Computer, Inc., where he led the development of remote-controlled webcast production methods, culminating in the Macintosh Music Network, a live concert content site.

At Apple, Ian also produced the first live Internet coverage from the Sundance Film Festival, the Mission:Impossible premiere party, and the San Francisco New Year's Eve gala. He was also the Online Director for the first-ever New York Music Festival.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited about the opportunity to contribute to an organization with such dynamic vision," said Rhett of Razorfish. "They're a great group of people that takes the work out of work."

Razorfish is a strategic digital communications company with offices in Hamburg, Helsinki, Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco, Stockholm, and Oslo. Razorfish provides Digital Change Management(sm) strategy, design, and technology services to leading companies and organizations across the world. Recent Razorfish clients include Charles Schwab, Ericsson, IBM, KCRW, Nokia, NASA Ames Research Center, Showtime, RAC, and The Smithsonian Institution. More information about Razorfish can be found at http://www.razorfish.com

Voice your support for NYC Garden's

By one of our great readers: Ian McGrath

Please consider supporting the following petition to voice your support for New York City's community gardens. With 14,000 empty, buildable lots in New York City and only 750 community gardens, Mayor Giuliani plans to auction off over 120 thriving community gardens in May. This is the second auction in which gardens have been targeted. These gardens, many of them decades old, were established with the city's blessing on abandoned and vacant lots that had often been centers of drug and crime activity. New York City's gardens are known across the country. They are studied in our nation's schools. Their disappearance would mark not only a tragedy for the city, but would set a dangerous precedent for other cities across the country whose garden programs are struggling to survive. For more information about New York City community gardens and the efforts to save them, visit http://www.nycgardens.org/



THE INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS MULTI-MEDIA CENTER
Presents Its Annual Conference
Thursday, Feb. 11, from 3:30-6 p.m.
at the Grace Church School, 86 Fourth Avenue

BRINGING THE WORLD TO YOUR CLASSROOM
Video, The Internet and Distance Learning

Featuring a Series of Workshops on the Next Generation of Technology
and Multimedia in Schools

NEW YORK, February 4, 1999 --- The Independent Schools Multi-Media Center (ISMMC) is presenting its annual conference, "Bringing the World to Your Classroom: Video, the Internet and Distance Learning," a series of seven workshops designed for lower through upper school educators and administrators in New York City. Hosted by The Grace Church School, the conference takes place on Thursday, February 11, from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. at 86 Fourth Avenue, New York.

Committed to showcasing the next generation of visual multimedia materials and new technologies for the classroom, the 1999 ISMMC conference will feature a broad range of topics and draw upon the resources of outstanding member faculty, at the forefront of their respective fields.

"ISMMC is pleased to continue to provide its community with a source of practical insights as well as an opportunity to share valuable information at its 1999 annual conference," commented Dianne Baasch, Director of The Independent Schools Multi-Media Center.

Faculty from New York's independent schools and members of the New York City Board of Education will lead the workshops to demonstrate their successful and innovative approaches to multimedia and cutting-edge technology in the classroom. Teleconferencing, distance learning in foreign language, creating standards for student web publishing, and integrating multimedia and the Internet into school curriculum are among the topics to be presented during the one-hour workshops. In addition, a special two-hour workshop, "Successful Partnerships with the NYC School Library System," will be offered by representatives of the New York City Board of Education. (See attached for details on conference agenda).

The Independent Schools Multi-Media Center is a co-operative educational organization dedicated to providing its consortium of independent schools in New York City with the best in visual educational resources and new technologies to support and enhance each school's curriculum. Currently, ISMMC offers a collective resource of more than 6,000 educational programs on film, video, interactive laserdisc and CD-ROM to its 26 member schools.

To register, contact ISMMC at 212-873-0844 or e-mail ismmcdb@interport.net. Registration is free of charge and is open to all members of the independent schools educational community.

For further information contact:
Dianne Baasch, Director, ISMMC, 212-873-0844, E-mail - ismmcdb@interport.net

Meet the ISMMC Board and Operating Council members, conference workshop leaders and share information with colleagues. George Davison, ISMMC Board President, and Dianne Baasch, Director, ISMMC, will give you a brief welcome and update.

Creating Standards For Publishing Student Web Pages, (4-4:55 dining room)
Creators of Marymount's pioneering Student Webwork Committee, Don Buckley, Director of Technology and Greg Fortescue, Technology Integrator of Marymount, examine the critical issues that need to be addressed before students publish their work on the world wide web.

Models for Distance Learning: Practical Lessons for Foreign Language Teachers, (4-4:55 computer lab)
Mary Combal, Head, Foreign Language Department, and Hope Chafiian, Director of Technology and Curriculum, Spence, will demonstrate how the Internet can be used in French language courses as a learning tool for cultural and linguistic enrichment. E-mail strategies and an introduction to I-EARN, the International Education Resource Network, will also be featured.

Innovative Use of Video in the Middle School Curriculum, (4-4:55 classroom)
Browning's Taylor Mali; St. David's Rovena Kilkeary, Joe Kilkeary and Tom Ryan; and St. Luke's Rob Snyder are the featured faculty from these ISMMC member schools in this workshop that will discuss how videos have been successfully integrated into their middle school curriculum. They will present examples of programs which have proven effective.

Successful Partnerships with the NYC School Library System, (4-4:55 and 5-6 library)
Join Phyllis Fisher, Coordinator of On-Line Services and Sandra Kennedy Bright, Assistant Director of School Library Services, of the New York City School Library System, to learn about the vast number of cooperative programs and valuable on-line research products available through the New York City Board of Education. This special one hour session will be repeated.

Teleconferencing: What Is It and Why Do We Do it?, (5-6 dining room)
Akbar Ali, Director of Technology, and John Plenge, computer teacher of the Grace Church School, will present an overview of tele-conferencing as an educational tool. Topics will explore technical requirements as well as how this technology can enhance or hinder learning. The workshop will include an on-line session to a distant site.

Multi-media Materials and Their Integration with the Internet in the High School Curriculum, (5-6 computer lab)
For years, The Kew Forest School has been outstanding in integrating film and more recently video and CD-ROM into its curriculum. Dan Horgan, foreign language teacher and Patty Schust, librarian, team up to reveal their winning strategy. Joining them is Brian Kahn, science teacher of United Nations International School, and a recognized leader in integrating new technology and multimedia into classroom curriculum. On-line lesson plans will be demonstrated. Harrison Howard, history teacher at Fieldston, will also share successful uses of video in his classroom.

Innovative Use of Video in the Lower School Curriculum (5-6 classroom)
Five faculty comprised of librarians and teachers from four ISMMC member schools come together in this workshop to showcase their success stories in utilizing video in the lower school curriculum. Faculty include: Barbara Pearl, first grade teacher, Hewitt; Jane Arnold, kindergarten teacher, The Nightingale Bamford School; Edward Goodall, lower school science teacher, The Town School; Solange Warmund, lower school librarian, United Nations International School; and Virginia Whitelaw, first grade teacher, The United Nations International School.

Togglethis Birthday Party


 With a Twister game on the wall, impressive PEZ collection taped to a table, Scooby
 Doo masks and an apparently stolen topiary set (swiped in a moment of giddiness from
 some other office's Holiday party), the Togglethis office space exudes playfulness,
 creativity and a sense of FUN. A good environment for a company that sold its first
 product (and character) to Time Warner and has about three more launches coming
 up. "Hurt Herman--the freak who feels no pain" is another game they'll be releasing.
 Go ahead! Chop off his arms with a chainsaw--he loves it! You can play this starting
 March 1st at the Togglethis site. So what's all the hubbabaloo about? They're 4-years
 old this year! Jason Scott, COO of the firm was only one of the company's own who
 emanated enthusiasm for the company and its direction and growth. They're going to
 be hiring a lot quite soon, he said. Supporters who came out to celebrate with them
 included Garnet Heraman and Craig Zolan of University Ventures, Mark Frisk of
 Vcast and Diana Scott-Monck of Real.com. A keg and bottles of wine quenched the
 thirst of guests who happily snacked on cookies, candies, pretzels and endive hors
 d'oeuvres. With an energetic and fun group like this, Togglethis creates a lot of online
 bliss!


TOGGLETHIS 151 West 25th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues), 3rd floor

Publisher's Note ~ A Rant on Bad Computer Repair, Customer Service

In today's climate of accelerated customer service, I must honestly admit that being the recipient of abominably horrible customer service is not only a shock to one's sensibility, but also to one's pocketbook.

As some of you may know, my Dear Old Sweet 1995 Zeos computer died a miserable death with two "attacks" and loss of data. Okay, okay, so I didn’t' take my vitamins and eat a healthy diet. I didn't back-up every week. Sometimes I was so cavalier as to not back up every month. Well, I paid my price.

However. (and yes, that's a BIG however.), the consumer (albeit silly for not being stringent enough to back up at every given opportunity), should not have to suffer the additional insult and burden of poor service from a computer repair place.

Readers who are familiar with my column-turned-newsletter-of-sorts might be shocked by my tyrannical rant, as I am not usually wont to do. However. (again). I have been pushed over and over again by incremental measures that have brought me to this frenzied state of uncontrollable impropriety by even shouting to one of the computer "service" representatives "I have never received such poor customer service and I … will NOT recommend you to ANY of my friends and colleagues in the industry!!!!" And I made clear who I was and who my friends were and how far my reach went. Okay, so it's the New York Silicon Alley cyber scene world. But. (and there's a "but") I have learned that my reach goes further than my front door, which is as far as I thought it went.

Anyway. If you’d like a non-recommendation of a terribly horrible scarring-experience computer repair place, just give me a call and I'll squawk their condemnations till the end of time. Or, you can read further in the newsletter where I'll reveal the incompetent, uncommunicative, misrepresentative, evil repair "doctors."

Okay, enough rant. On to the good stuff. And there's plenty of that too. So much in fact, that I said to myself, "Self. You must just write a tiny blurb and lead readers to the web site where they can read the full, unabridged version.

And so. ONwards to one of the most exciting weeks in Silicon Alley:

Here's the line-up:

The Vancouver Cyber Scene Report, by John McLean-Foreman

"I am starting to get the feeling that Vancouver does not hold the same sorts of events
 that New York does. So far, most of the people that I have called have given me the
 telephone version of a blank stare when I talk about upcoming events or parties that
 they might be putting on. Everyone has press information though. There is certainly no
 shortage of that. But here's some info I've gleaned from those who would talk.

 Jason Smith of Columbus Group Communications (http://www.columbusgroup.com)
 told me that sometime in March, they will likely be having a virtual launch of their new
 Toronto office. I assume that means that the Vancouver office will be participating via
 teleconferencing, and I'll let you know as soon as I do if it happens.

 During my many phone calls, one receptionist proudly told me about her son-in-law,
 Patrick Sauriol's, web site. She made me laugh, so I decided to check it out.
 (http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/homepage.html). She went on to explain that it has
 been featured in Vanity Fair and it is rapidly becoming one of the most popular sites of
 its type on the net. Essentially, it is a site about movies. From the 10 minutes or so I
 spent on the page, I found information that I suspect would be hard to come by unless
 you are involved in the industry. As most of us are not, this page is an interesting read.

 Also to do with the Film/New Media cross over is a page that is based way to my
 South. Information about a California based site called Next Wave Films
 (http://www.nextwavefilms.com/) came to my attention. Apart from being excellent
 timing, it was a surprise in that the last conversation I had with Tara Veneruso (one of
 the 3 heads of the site), I got the impression that she had filed me under "weird" and/or
 "potential stalker". (Can't say I blame her either. I was trying to organize a group of
 like-minded entrepreneurs for brainstorming and networking but was completely
 unable to express what I wanted, as at the time I had no clear idea of what it would
 entail.) While the site seems to deal mainly with making a low-budget film in the
 traditional way, when I met Tara, she was giving a talk on the viability of making films
 for the Internet.

 Finally, New Media BC held its second breakfast meeting on Thursday morning. The
 guest speaker was financial analyst and Southam News columnist and broadcaster
 Michael Campbell. He spoke about the future of New Media and British Columbia.
 The enormous turnout at these breakfasts astounds me. There are several New Media
 BC events coming up in the near future, and I am told that they will be on their web
 page in the next couple of days. (http://www.newmediabc.com/).