Poor Economy + Shortage Of Entrepreneurs + Young = Jack POT (Perfect Opportunity & Timing)

January 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment


by Elias Shams
Here is another awesome initiative in DC that is right up my alley. If you are an entrepreneur or student living in the DC area, you may want to put this in your calendar – Ashoka’s Youth Venture and Young Impact, in partnership with a consortium of sponsors, announce the StartUp Scramble DC University Challenge taking place January 29-31st, 2010!

If you are not an entrepreneur, I strongly urge you to consider becoming one fast – particularly if you are a student and just about to graduate. Here is Why:

a) I don’t need to remind you that the current economy and job market is pretty bleak and will probably stay this way throughout 2010. I don’t mean to be pessimistic, in fact I am a very optimistic dude. But this is real. There is no job waiting for you once you graduate. Hope it gets better in 2011.

b) There has been a major shortage of entrepreneurs in our nation’s capital and in other parts of the country these past few years.

c) You are single, with little responsibility or financial burden, so you can afford to forgo a big paycheck for a little while.
Read more…

Filed under Business & Finance Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Twitter Or Facebook for President Obama And Bill Gates?

January 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment


by Elias Shams
What a milestone for Twitter! They are officially the only website that has both the most powerful man and the richest man in the world as users.

President Obama and Bill Gates are now tweeting. Those of you still living in 70′s or 80′s may think that “tweeting” is waste of our president’s time, but this is the age of the Internet! Internet has proven to be highly effective tool for anyone, particularly for celebrities and politicians with a cause. There are nations out there where media is completely cut off or limited – either because of Politics like Iran and China or because of natural disaster like Haiti.  All in all, the most effective tool to keep an open line of communication is social media.

Besides, according to President Obama’s staff, he typically sleeps only around five hours each night, so he does put in a pretty long day. In fact, I guess the only time any President can halfway relax is at private family time in the family quarters at the White House. And even then, all Presidents are subject to be yanked back into “the world” at any moment.
Read more…

Filed under social media Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Washington, DC Is Officially #1 In The Nation Tops NYC By A Few Decimal Points

January 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment


by Elias Shams
No! not because AwesomeDC is headquartered in town :-)

As the Wall Street companies are going down, our Government is going up – thanks to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other financial companies nearly two years ago. The fortunes of New York are dependent on the financial industry, while D.C. obviously is dependent on the size of the government. I am sure you all can tell how big our Government has become these days.

Besides, what should we expect when one of the largest Aerospace company, Northrop Grumman Corp decides to move their headquarter to DC from Los Angeles, as well as a planned move by Hilton Hotels Corp. to Washington from Beverly Hills. Not to mentioned many other businesses, lobbyists and corporations alike are also flocking to DC. These corporations will likely choose offices in Virginia or Maryland, depending upon the incentives they get from the States or District of  Columbia.

Not sure how many of you recently drove through the SW and SE DC region recently. There are a massive number new office constructions under way in the area which could eventually knock DC off its perch at the top, as vacancies rise until the new space is absorbed by the marketplace. Long term as the financial markets heal and DC changes political leadership, New York will likely take the top spot back from DC.

Read more…

Filed under About DC Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

DC For Haiti – Special Event @ Lima Lounge, The Second Heaven

January 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment


by Kamran Abdi
There will be a special event at Lima restaurant, one of my favorite places in DC for Haiti tomorrow January 21, 2010 from 6:00 p.m till 10:00 p.m. Please attend and help those in desperate need. Monetary donations suggested but canned food and clothing also accepted. Proceeds and donations will directly benefit the relief effort in Haiti.

Guest speakers are planned. Agencies contacted/represented at the event include:

- Embassy of Haiti
- Inter-American Development Bank
- Organization of American States
- Pan-American Health Organization
- World Bank
- Democracy Now
- International Relief and Development
- Oxfam
- Direct Relief International

Event format will be to have various open dialogues explaining each organizations role in Haiti, what is needed now, what will be needed in the future, as well as a Q&A session on how people can become more involved.

Speaking of Lima,  I have been going there one or twice a week past three years or so. I have always had a blast in the place. Lima is a bar, restaurant, lounge, and one of the best nightclub in DC. It is a great place to eat and party. I have never really met anyone that did not enjoy Lima.

In a nutshell:

. The mango mojitos…or any of their mojitos…yum! Be sure to get a pitcher because you’ll want to keep drinking.

. Their food – specially their Cuban chicken is fantastic. Also, their shrimp ceviche experience. BELLISSIMO !

. Their laid back and the sidewalk patio on a beautiful day…you must visit for happy hour in the spring. But be sure to get there early because it gets packed.

. And of course, my favorite, the crowd. To me, Lima is another heaven on earth – to be more specific, another heaven in DC. Everyone is beautiful there – even the dudes. As always, my digital camera was on fire :-)

Read more…

Filed under Clubbing, Dining Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Can Someone Connect The Dots About AOL?

January 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment


I am confuse as hell about their strategy and the direction they are heading. Since their separation from Time Warner and IPO, my optimism is slowly fading away.

First, it was their 2,500 employee lay off announcement. Then, Shashi Seth, their head of Ad Products resigned just three month after being hired to build their ad platform. Then, the News about Ted Cahall, their CTO leaving. Now, their MediaGlow gone? Is it really gone? I thought they were trying to become a content company. MediaGlow was about a year old. It now redirects to this page.

What’s even more confusing, it was just less than a year ago when they issued a press release boasting about their 76.3 million unique monthly visitors to MediaGlow sites – the site that included all of Aol’s content sites, aol.com home page, Engadget, TMZ, and more.

Not quite sure whether all these are related to their separation from Time Warner and their IPO or this is just part of the new content strategy their New CEO, Tim Armstrong is taking AOL toward. If it is part of their new Content strategy, then why killing MediaGlow?

And, what’s the deal with the dot (.) they put in their new logo? Also, I wonder how much they paid for that and for the MediaGlow logo that you can hardly read without either turning your head to up, down, left, right or lift up your laptop and turn it around.

Bookmark and Share

Filed under Business & Finance, Online Media Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dr. Ruth Is About To Transform Washington To Shaggington! Yeah Baby Yeah!

January 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment


Now that I have you attention, what I meant to say is “Dr. Ruth  Is About To Transform Washington To City of Love And Romance”. So, forget Paris!

Another Obama effect is hitting our Nation’s Capital next month. The kind of experience no Washingtonian has  seen before initiated by the Administration.  DC’s official tourism agency has launched a web site for a one month-long promotion, called “Date Night D.C” – a 28-Day Stimulus Plan for Love & Relationships. Translation: healthy shagging :-)

The agency hopes to position Washington, DC as the city of romance and fun.  And, guess who is publicizing it? Our beloved Dr. Ruth, the honorary secretary of the Department of Love and Relationships who will be sworn in this Thursday :-)

Read more…

Filed under About DC Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If You Connect The Dots, The Employment will Come

January 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment


I am no economist to have a solution for our unemployment situation. But, as a technologist in telecom and social media space, here is my two cents to tackle the problem for DC area in telecom space:

You want to stimulate productivity and job growth in DC area? Get Sprint and Clearwire to deploy more broadband in our region first! I don’t see them doing enough.

I have been closely monitoring the effect of broadband deployment on output and employment for the past few years. There are numerous clear evidence out there supporting that broadband indeed has economic benefits and has boosted up the employment in the regions where it was deployed. We have the White House, the Congress, New America Foundation and their Open Technology Initiative, Clearwire, and Sprint in our backyard. So, why haven’t they been able to connect the dots to boost up the employment of the region?

First, let me start with some facts I have been experiencing and reading from various sources such as The Brookings Institution and  GigaOm:
Read more…

Filed under Business & Finance Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Forget Paris! Forget NYC! Forget Moscow! It’s Washington DC! Yeah Baby Yeah!

January 16, 2010 by 8 Comments


by Kamran Abdi
I have been a Washingtonian since 1985. I have never seen so many new night clubs popping out in every corner of DC like this. It totally feels like the rise of Obama administration has attracted a large number of young people from all over the nation and the world to our Capital. DC has become such a young city, not that it wasn’t before, it has just become even younger. Not to mention the insane ratio of women to men. You can easily notice seven women for one man in DC. No complain :-)

There is a new happening place just opened in Dupont Circle two blocks from where I live. It’s called Lounge One , and it is AWESOME! The place is a bar, lounge, restaurant, and you could say a night club. I went there last night for the first time. OMG! It was raining women :-) Referring to my previous post about the Mullah’s preach, death, and sex with seventy two virgins in heaven, they should have called this place “Heaven One” . Why traveling all the way up there with no return flight? The real heaven is right here in Dupont Circle :-)

I had never seen so many beautiful women in one club like this. It was too much to handle. It was insane. Men were slaughtered left and right! I shall call it The Mecca of the Night Clubs. It was packed with just unbelievably gorgeous and sensational women. I think they must have had a “Hot Models Only” sign at the door.

The ceiling is not that high, but the layout, the dynamics, and the atmosphere are so cozy, modern, and fantastic. You can tell I had a blast with my digital camera :-) Even my camera could not handle the heat:

Read more…

Filed under Clubbing, Dining Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Best Of Jon Stewart And Bill Maher This Week

January 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment


Jon Stewart had such an awesome fun with Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, and so DID we :-) In this clip from The Daily Show, Stewart mocked Beck for his journal entries on Palin, and compared the two to ‘The Silence of the Lambs. I found it hilarious to see Glenn Beck did the interview in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, a gift from Socialist France :-) , a country in “old Europe”. :-)

You won’t miss how Sarah Palin was totally creeped out by Beck’s slavish lackyness! I got the feeling Palin didn’t really know who he was outside of the name recognition, and spent most of the hour staring at Beck’s fresh hair. Palin also looking like she smells something really, really bad.

more about “The Daily Show: Crazy Like a Contributor“, posted with vodpod

Those of you still blaming the Left for Palin’s ineptitude, you got to check out this clip of Palin unable to name her favorite Founding Father? Even the conservatives expressing doubts about her. Here is another source from Christian Science Monitor.

Here is a classic proof of her stupidity. Could a person be more inept than this on national television? This incredibly stupid moment was not unlike the so-called gotcha moment with Couric when Palin couldn’t name what she reads. Only this gotcha moment came from a so-called “team” member at Fox News!

Anyway, I think this is awesome News for our country and the world. Palin candidacy as the vice president, he took down McCain, and now her contribution to Fox will shut down Fox for good soon :-)

And, here is Bill Maher explained why we should move your money out of a “too big to fail” bank and put it into a local community bank or credit union. According to Maher: “This is not a conservative idea or a liberal idea. It’s not left or right. It’s populism at its best.”

Bookmark and Share

Filed under Our Bill Maher, Our Jon Stewart Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

An Awesome Real Time Image Search Engine Twicsy!

January 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

In addition to twitter and facbook, here is another great social media site who has played an important role to get people of Haiti and Iran to get their voice out. The site is twicsy, a startup right here in Washington, DC.

What’s unique about twicsy that others missing, is their bad ass real-time image search which has got me glued to them since their launch back in June of last year, shortly after disputed presidential election in Iran where no media were allowed in the country.

. Real Time image search for Haiti
. Real Time image search for Iran

For anything you query, they pull up related images that have been shared on Twitter. You can sort them by time or by relevance. The results are awesome – pretty solid! Instead of using Twitter’s search API, they grab the images from twitter by indexing all tweets with image links and populates them from that.

The site features a main page with all image shared over Twicsy with the default images from top trending topics for Pics on Twicsy. The images shown on the homepage are based on contextual tags and user analysis which is one of their main advantages over any site I have ever experienced.
Read more…

Filed under social media, Web Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 352 other followers