The latest from TechCrunch
- Foursquare Takes Over Times Square With A Massive Display Ad
- Ex-Googler and Ex-Facebooker Start Invite-Only Workspace Sunfire Offices
- Wow. If You Think Quitting Booze Freaks People Out, Wait 'Til You Quit Twitter
| Foursquare Takes Over Times Square With A Massive Display Ad | Top |
| In terms of brand recognition, it’s hard to top a huge live display billboard in Las Vegas . But Foursquare has managed to do it. As you can see above, they now have a massive, multi-level and multi-angle display practically screaming about the service to all those in Times Square in New York City. “ Check in, find your friends, unlock your city ,” the ad reads. In smaller print at the bottom it talks about checking in to American Eagle for some kind of special. Foursquare head of business development Tristan Walker confirms that American Eagle is behind the ad, which he says is the “ largest digital billboard in Times Square .” American Eagle or not, this is clearly a huge ad (and a huge win) for Foursquare itself. Walker thanks Foursquare’s designer Mari Sheibley for designing the thing. And hints that a version 2 is coming. The phrase “you can’t buy this kind of publicity” comes to mind — probably because Foursquare, while well-funded , undoubtedly couldn’t buy this type of ad. (American Eagle owns the billboard, Walker tells us.) And yet there it is. This also managed to one-up the big branding rival Gowalla got in New York City earlier this year when they were a part of a massive billboard that loomed large over Madison Square Garden. This Times Square billboard is just about the opposite of a check in off the grid for the service. [photo via WillMcD on Flickr and Twitter ] CrunchBase Information Foursquare Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Ex-Googler and Ex-Facebooker Start Invite-Only Workspace Sunfire Offices | Top |
| A unique spin on the concept of co-working space, Sunfire Offices was started three months ago by ex- Google engineering manager Niniane Wang and and ex-Facebook engineering manager Yishan Wong . While there are plenty of other co-working spaces in downtown Mountain View, like Hacker Dojo and Plug In Play, Wong and Wang, not satisfied with the available options, decided to create a co-working space of their own. They found an office space and got funding from a number of angel investors including Keith Rabois and Justin Calbeck, who completely sponsored Sunfire Offices, meaning that Wong and Wang were then able to offer space rent free to other startups and individuals working on personal projects, "Our goal was to build a co-working space focused on top-tier talent." (They shied away from talking about a future business model.) While it does incorporate incubator type qualities, the two emphasize that invite-only Sunfire Offices is not a incubator," We're optimizing for the quality of people, since they're what really matter in a start-up,” says Wong. They wanted to "avoid the problem often associated with incubators: the theory that stronger startups don’t need an incubator so the startups that apply to incubators tend to be weaker ones, resulting in incubators naturally selecting for poorer startup performance." Unlike most incubators, the only obligation at Sunfire is to attend a weekly mixer where one of the sponsors’ portfolio companies does a pitch or demo. This benefits Sunfire sponsors because they end up getting first look at potential companies and Sunfire residents because they get exposure to potential investors and recruiters. Looking for “aggressively productive individuals” as residents, Wang emphasizes that applicant pedigree doesn't matter. But the the inevitable Google and Facebook connection is strong, "due to our backgrounds, we are able to source from a very high-quality pool – Niniane knows all the great early engineers at Google, and I know everyone from PayPal and Facebook." Aside from free rent, office residents gain the being around intelligent people/environmental aspect of working at a giant company while still maintaining a small scale. "Working in coffee shops or at home can be very lonely and unmotivating," says Wang. Wang also brings up the example of a Nextstop engineer who didn’t want to move to Facebook when Facebook acquired Nextstop — preferring to stay at a startup. “ We invited her to come work at Sunfire, during which time she worked on a small project of her own while talking with various companies associated with our sponsors and network. And just last week, she accepted a position at one of those companies as their first full-time engineer." A visit to the offices reveals an amazing view and a lot of people hard at work on some secret and not so secret projects including YouTube co-founder Jared Karim, former astronaut and Google Manager Ed Lu, and co-founders of iTeleport Jahanzeb Sherwani and Vishal Kapur. You can get an invitation to the Sunfire weekly mixer (and maybe even to Sunfire) by contacting office manager (and former Googler) Elaine Yu or tag along vicariously as they eat their way through Castro Street. | |
| Wow. If You Think Quitting Booze Freaks People Out, Wait 'Til You Quit Twitter | Top |
| I promise this is my last word on the subject. I had already promised myself, actually, that I wouldn't write any more about my decision to quit Facebook, Linkedin, Foursquare, Blippy, Yammer, Dopplr and every other social network other than Twitter. But then I added Twitter to the list – deleting my 10,000+ follower account and returning to more traditional blogging – and suddenly all (social media) hell broke loose. For reasons I can't quite understand – it's not like I've quit food or oxygen – my inbox has since been flooded with emails. Some are just standard notes of congratulations for cutting the cord while others scream that I'm a Luddite who doesn't 'get' Twitter (by and large these are the same people who describe themselves as " social media ninja "s on their profiles: the modern day equivalent of those "My other car is the Batmobile" bumper stickers). The majority of messages, though, are from people who are strongly considering following my lead, but are worried that their body or mind might not be able to cope with the shock. How do I feel since quitting? Can I offer them any advice? The semi-amusing thing is, this isn't the first time I've experienced this kind of email flood of congratulations, insults and pleas for guidance. It happened last October too: when I finally made the decision to quit drinking . Make of that what you will. The difference is that, back in October, I completely understood the tsunami of mail. Millions of people struggle with alcohol addiction – and for those who do, it's a serious problem. Any advice or encouragement could be the difference between life and death. Certainly it was for me. But giving up Twitter? Seriously? Are there really people who can't get out of bed in the morning without sending a 140 character update, just to stop their thumbs shaking from the night before? (The RT DTs?). Or addicts who surreptitiously tweet throughout the work day, from a phone hidden in their desk drawer, hoping that their workmates don't find out? People who are unable to stop at just one “OH:”, sending more and more before they blackout, ready to start the whole Bukowskian cycle again the next day? Judging by my inbox, the answer is yes, there are. But, unlike with drink, I don’t feel their pain. In fact, giving up Twitter (and the rest) has been a veritable walk in the park. I've barely suffered any withdrawal symptoms, I don't feel any sense of loss, and I've certainly not found it any harder to enjoy parties or talk to women without a phone in my hand (and I say that as someone who not long ago started dating a flight attendant after I tweeted about her on a plane. Seriously: I had a problem.) I admit, though, it does feel odd. For more than two years I've been accustomed to sending half a dozen tweets a day, whenever something even vaguely notable happened. Lunch with a friend? Tweet. See someone nearly get hit by a car? Tweet. Think of a funny (ish) joke? Tweet. Fight with a friend or loved-one? Cryptic tweet . Like a Japanese tourist compulsively photographing everything he sees, it was almost as if something didn't really happen unless it was captured in 140 characters and shared with the world. At a stroke, that's all changed. Now if I see someone nearly getting it by a car, my initial reaction is the same as before – "holy shit! someone just nearly got hit by a car!" – but that reaction remains inside my head. And yet, amazingly, even without my 140 character acts of vital citizen journalism the world has carried on turning. And what of jokes? Is my brain filling up with amusing observations and bons mots that, unless released, will cause it to haemorrhage? No. I just write them down in my notebook to be used later: an act which – and this did surprise me – gives me almost exactly the same satisfaction as sharing them with 10,000 followers. The only downside, really, is the occasionally jarring sense that something is missing from my enjoyment of an experience. An involuntary twitch as I reach for my phone and realise I don’t do that any more. I imagine anyone who has quit smoking feels a similar way occasionally; particularly in postprandial or post-coital situations. But the feeling soon passes. Maybe I should start chewing gum? As for the benefits: they've been both noticeable and persistent. For one thing I've rediscovered the joy of making notes, and then refining those notes – sharpening jokes and tweaking arguments, all using a pen and paper – prior to publication. I've also come to re-appreciate sharing thoughts with my actual friends – taking the time to email or text or IM someone who I actually know in the real world, to share something I think they alone would enjoy or appreciate. I've remembered what it feels like to laugh loudly at a joke without having to disrupt the flow of conversation for two minutes while I "overhear" it. I've become closer to my real friends, and more distant from total strangers. Which seems like the right direction for things to be moving in. One of the other things I've been asked – probably fifty times – if whether I expect to stick to my decision over the long-term or whether, like others who have tried to quit Twitter before me, I'll come crawling back in a few weeks. My knee-jerk response is to scream "are you kidding me? I've been sober for 312 days . If I don't miss that shit, then I think I'll be fine without knowing what Guy Kawasaki thinks about the world." (SPOILER ALERT: nothing) My more, uh, sober answer, though, is disturbingly similar to the one I give about returning to the sauce: I don't know if I’ll go back to it. Certainly my life is noticeably better without it, I have more time, I'm closer to my friends and I'm getting more work done. But who knows how I'll feel tomorrow? The only thing I do know is that, in terms of things that are actually hard to live without, I'm far more likely to succumb to the craving for delicious, delicious beer before I surrender to the almost negligible desire to send another fucking tweet. | |
CREATE MORE ALERTS:
Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted
Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope
Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more
News - Only the news you want, delivered!
Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more
Weather - Get today's weather conditions
| You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089. |
No comments:
Post a Comment