I was recently interviewed via Skype by Hermione Way, and she is determined to help startups to get their dream buzz that other media usually fail to do right. Although the quality of our skype video call wasn’t that great, I came away impressed with how she asked intelligent, though provoking questions and could grasp awesomize.me. So, I decided to do a little bit of checking on Hermione Way. Those of you startup Washingtonians, you definitely need to be on her radar.
Hermione Way is a British journalist and media entrepreneur babe who moved to the US about six months ago. She is currently based in San Francisco working for The Next Web. What I like about her style compared to others like TechCrunch, Mashable, GigaOm, Venturebeat, as well as the major media giants like NY Times and LA Times who have covered my previous ventures, is her preparation and personal approach. In our conversation, it was very apparent that she takes her time to study every startup, and subsequently goes about asking entrepreneurs the right questions. She brings a personal touch by interviewing them either face to face or via Skype. I find her and her approach very refreshing in the world of media and journalism – particularly when it comes to the coverage of tech startups which are typically more challenging to be understood by the journalists.
Some people have already made their prediction about the outcome of the recent marriage between Tim Armstrong, AOL’s boss and Michael Arrington, Techcrunch Founder.
It’s not even two full days that the two got married, this cartoon is already floating around the internet
byElias Shams According to the latest data from mobile ad network AdMob, mobile Web traffic generated by users of mobile devices running Google’s Android operating system was greater than traffic from Apple iPhone users in March in the U.S., TechCrunch reported.
Android accounted for 46% of U.S. mobile Web traffic in March, compared with 39% for the iPhone — although international traffic figures show the iPhone on top with 46% to Android’s 22% of market share. read more…
If you are about to dump your Amazon’s Kindle for iPad, you may want to wait for a while – particularly if you are a non-AT&T customer. There are still three major obstacles about iPad to be resolved – wireless technology, wireless pricing, and of course the video functionality. Regardless, how pretty the iPad is, what are you going to do with it without these three? It’s like you are dating the hottest babe or honk in town, but you can’t even touch. Correction: you can touch, but can’t do anything. You know…
No doubt iPad has more goodies over Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble e-reader – from supporting apps, much nicer screen, the look, to its crazy battery life and etc. Literally, every site and blog I know of, they jumped on iPad and promoted it – iPad this, iPad that, iPad the killer, Gazillion reasons iPad will kill Kindle, etc. Frankly, they might end up to be right, but I think it is too early to jump to such conclusion. Read more…
One company the Washingtonian techies and VCs should thank to is TECH cocktail DC. They have been around since May of 2006. The company is a community building startup founded by Frank Gruber and Eric Olson that offers events and community-powered projects open to bloggers, technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs & professionals interested in technology in under served technology communities.
Their mission is to amplify the technology signal in under served markets and have fun doing it which is right along our mission in Awesome DC for the entire DC and not just our technology sector.
Referring to my recent coverage comparing our Potomac River with California Silicon Valley, not every city has a sense of community seen in technology rich areas like Silicon Valley. TECH cocktail DC hopes to remedy the situation by creating a place for bloggers, technologists, entrepreneurs and other business professionals to meet, share ideas and have some fun. TECH cocktail is not exclusive to Chicago, and is open to the public in hopes people from around the globe will be able to participate. In the past TECH cocktail has also hosted events in Chicago, Boulder and Boston.
As for the two dudes behind the company, ERIC OLSON is a Massachusetts native and Bentley College alumnus who now resides in Chicago. Eric is currently working on TransFS.com – a comparison shopping website for credit card processing (with more financial services to come). Eric is also an MBA student at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Prior to TransFS.com Eric worked as an Associate at DFJ Portage Venture Partners where he worked on evaluating and investing in the top technology startups in the Midwest. Prior to DFJ Portage Eric was in Partner Development at Google and in Business Development for Chicago-based startup FeedBurner, which was acquired by Google in June 2007.
The other co-founder is FRANK GRUBER is a product strategist and evangelist for AOL in the social networking & platforms group. Frank has lead the AIM team to create the AIM Lifestream and was also responsible for the myAOL suite. Frank’s expert analysis on Web 2.0, social media and emerging technologies have been featured in TechCrunch, Read Write Web, iMediaConnection and on SOMEWHAT FRANK. Frank also produces a video podcast called SOMEWHAT FRANK TV. Growing up in the Chicagoland area, Mr. Gruber received his Master’s Degree in Computer Information Systems from Northwestern University, and his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Information Systems from Purdue University. Frank is also the co-founder of Shiny Heart Ventures. Frank was named of the 100 DC Tech Titans by Washingtonian Magazine in May 2009.
Tech cocktail events are open to everyone, You can be blogged or podcast. I have been attending most of their events and they are packed and awesome. They gave away a HP Envy laptop last time I attended their event.
Here is their interview during one of their events. Good luck hearing them.
Congratulation Nick O’Neill, the founder of Washington, DC based Social Times! He got to be a happy dude tonight. His blog that started less than two years ago was acquired by WebMediaBrands (NASDAQ:WEBM) today. Correction: according to Nick, the Social Times is more than just a blog. their events, mixers and conferences take place all around the country, with an online presence linking all physical events back to the website. They update their site daily with news and videos, and serve as a hub linking our users to all types of media pertaining to building social capital.
I met Nick at the first Techcrunch event in London about three years ago. Neither of us knew we were both Washingtonian and in social media space.
The financial details of the transaction are not disclosed. Whatever it is, acquisition always create a good buzz in town. I hope With the resources I am sure they will get from WebMediaBrands, they grow faster and bigger. Nick will be staying on to continue running Social Times.
I was recently interviewed via Skype by Hermione Way, and she is determined to help startups to get their dream buzz that other media usually fail to do right. Although the quality of our skype video call wasn’t that great, I came away impressed with how she asked intelligent, though provoking questions and could grasp awesomize.me. So, I decided to do a little bit of checking on Hermione Way. Those of you startup Washingtonians, you definitely need to be on her radar.
Elias Shams
Kamran Abdi
Tatiana Sorabi
