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While I'm glad I attended Ignite NYC II, unfortunately, I don't have much to report. The event was packed (in the best possible way), and a lot of good networking appeared to be taking place, but the whole social thing is not my thing. So I grabbed a free beer, found a corner and read a bit of Code by Lawrence Lessig.

The cupcake competition went well; a lot of people took part (and a lot just ate their cupcakes!), but it seemed a bit chaotic. I'm still not sure which cupcake won!

Alicia Gibb from NYC Resistor introduced me to her friend, Robert Thomas. Not only has Rob spent some time in Milwaukee, he's also the creator of Java Settlers! Rob is an amazing guy, and we had a great conversation prior to the Ignite NYC II speakers starting.

Speakers whom we did not hear speak—at this point, Alicia, Rob and I decided to make our escape and get dinner. This was a decision I do not regret! We walked from 50th to 27th, talking about robots, video games, Arduino, job searches, the Internet Society of New York and pirate radio. Ignite NYC!

I took a few photos from the event prior to my departure which have been posted to Flickr.

The New York Web Standards Meetup Group will meet this Thursday (28 August 2008) at theMechanism at 7:00 pm.

Margaret Michele Waldman (Sovereign Sites L.L.C.) will briefly discuss Ajax and present a number of coding variations, including rolling your own, using a JavaScript library and using Xajax. The examples will demonstrate how to consume XML, HTML and JSON.

Prior to the discussion, there will be a brief period for announcements. Afterwards, there will be an optional "show and tell" session. Show off sites you’re currently working on and get design feedback and technical assistance.

28 August 2008 . 7:00 pm
theMechanism
440 9th Avenue 8th Floor
New York, NY 10001 [map]

RSVP now!

Please contact theMechanism if you'd like to present at the October or November meetup.

ISOC-NY's August monthly meeting will take place tomorrow, 14 August 2008, at NYU.

Date: Thursday, 14 Aug 2008
Time: 7:00 pm–9:00 pm
Location: Room 317, 251 Mercer Street NYC (SW corner of West 4th)
Note: Use the entrance on the west side since construction blocks the Mercer Street entrance. Must bring photo ID.

Agenda

• Meet new members. We expect and welcome new faces!
• By-laws reform. Progress report from Joseph Shraibman.
• Planning future meetings and events. Good news is we have just received a sizable grant from ISOC-NY for our Fall program.
• ISXubuntu Linux project progress report. News from our trusty coders.
• OneWebDay planning progress report. Washington Square Sep 22 event taking shape.
• NYC Broadband. Discussion of new report from from the Mayor's office.
• ICANN. We have been accepted as an at-large structure.
• Status of Connecting .NYC. An update from Tom Lowenhaupt.
• Web standards. How can we make our own site more W3C compliant?

There's an interesting article on the new nerd culture in today's New York Times. Night Life Reprogrammed by Allen Salkin is primarily about the recent IgniteNYC event (including an audio slide show and video), but it also touches on changes within the internet producer social scene:

Something new is happening in the Silicon Alley night. A decade ago, a typical party for New York techies would be held at a glitzy club to celebrate the start of a Web site. There might be minor celebrities, go-go dancers, an open bar and pricey giveaways all to build brand-awareness, which, it was believed, would somehow, someday, lead to profitability.

But when the Internet bubble collapsed, so did the Silicon Alley 1.0 party scene. What remained was more buttoned-down and sedate. Cybersuds, a low-key monthly networking party, started in 1994 at a TriBeCa bar, evolved into a formal technology conference and then around 2003 disappeared.

Now, young Internet entrepreneurs, some holdouts from the old days and a few members of the city's creative class (and underclass) are engaged in a new type of party, which mashes together Silicon Alley 1.0's camaraderie and optimism, meetup.com’s spontaneity and informality, Burning Man’s home-brewed creativity, and a technology conference’s devotion to unveiling ideas. These days many of the ideas are about producing and delivering video content.

Via NYC Resistor

Google I/O '08 Keynote by Marissa Mayer

Marissa Mayer has been with Google for nine years, helping to build Google into one of the world's most popular web services. As the VP of Search and User Experience, her team is behind some of Google's most popular and successful products including core web search, images, news, books, maps, iGoogle, toolbar, desktop and health. This talk is a glimpse from inside the trenches of how Google builds products (including practical insights on how to build the best products), how to prioritize your efforts especially under resource constraints and how to think about strategy.

Source: YouTube

Keynote for Google I/O 2008: Client, Connectivity and the Cloud

Featuring Vic Gundotra, Allen Hurff (MySpace), Steve Horowitz, Kevin Gibbs, Mark Lucovsky, Bruce Johnson, David Glazer, Nat Brown (iLike)

Source: YouTube

ISOC-NY's July monthly meeting will take place tonight, 17 July 2008, at NYU.

Date: Thursday, 17 Jul 2008
Time: 7:00 pm–9:00 pm
Location: Room 317, 251 Mercer Street NYC (SW corner of West 4th)
Note: Use the entrance on the west side since construction blocks the Mercer Street entrance. Must bring photo ID.

Agenda

• Meet new members. We expect and welcome new faces!
• By-laws reform. Needed but a drudge! How can we set about it?
• Planning future meetings and events. Good news is we have just received a sizable grant from ISOC-NY for our Fall program.
• ISXubuntu Linux project progress report. News from our trusty coders.
• OneWebDay planning progress report. Washington Square Sep 22 event taking shape
• Access advocacy program. Just an idea at present—the city needs some kind of central resource for those with connection difficulties.
• ICANN. Tom Lowenhaupt will report on his experiences at the ICANN Paris meet in June.
• Web standards. How can we make our own and OneWebDay sites W3C compliant?

I'm glad I made it to BKLN 2.0's July real time social networking experiment. It was nice to get out of the office to chat with other developers and the bar we met at, Pacific Standard, had an amazing beer selection! I also learned about Ning, which allows one to create their own social network for anything, and might be a cool service to look into. As CMSWire notes, Is Ning The Next Facebook or MySpace?

Thanks for organizing the group, Eric, and thanks for joining me, Christy!