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TechMeme Adds a Human TouchYesterday

by Brian Solis

Gabe Rivera announced that TechMeme will complement its advanced news aggregation algorithms with a human touch. Last month, Megan McCarthy, formerly of ValleyWag and Wired, joined the team to fill the “news maestro” role.

Credit: Brian Solis on flickr

The benefit?

The news will just get faster and more interesting. Obsolete stories will be eliminated sooner while breaking stories will be expedited. Related grouping will improve. Plus, I’m a big fan of Megan’s work, so I’m looking forward to the new and improved TechMeme.

According to Rivera’s post, “I should note that the experience of introducing direct editing has been a revelation even for us, despite the fact that we planned it. Interacting directly with an automated news engine makes it clear that the human+algorithm combo can curate news far more effectively that the individual human or algorithmic parts. It really feels like the age of the news cyborg has arrived. Our goal is apply this new capability to producing the clearest and most useful

iTunes NewsYesterday

by Michelle Lentz

There’s all sorts of news out there today centering around iTunes and the App Store.

Apple’s Best of 2008: Apple has created a special section of the store with the Best of 2008 in everything it carries. That covers movies, music, audio books, podcasts, free apps, and purchased apps. Not only is Apple offering the best-of in what was downloaded/purchased the most, but they’re also giving their own editorial opinion on several of the options.

Pandora: Everyone’s favorite music app for the iPhone, Pandora, has reached a milestone. Yesterday morning they recorded their 2,000,000 registered user. That’s right - 2 million registered Pandora users on the iPhone. Pretty exciting, yes?

Amazon Mobile: Amazon has released a free iPhone app. I was a little surprised by this. I often use, and have always been impressed by, Amazon’s iPhone site. But this app takes the site even further. The new and “experimental” feature called Amazon Remembers lets users take a photo of a product out in the “real world.” The photo is then uploade

Bay Area Holiday Parties in 2008Yesterday

by Adam Jackson

Credit: Brian Solis

This year, the consensus was that there wouldn’t be any holiday parties or we would simply see a lot less. I’ve followed the Silicon Valley tech scene for a number of years and I remember the big parties - the parties with ice sculptures and rock bands. I remember when every event was open bar and catered. Ah, those were the good days.

The idea that holiday parties will be non-existent this month is incorrect. In fact, there are still plenty of parties going on. I’m adding 3-5 new parties every day to SocialCalendario. What I’m noticing is that these parties are drastically smaller than previous years. It’s easy to throw a holiday party for your employees, their families and for your users.

The first step is to cut the extras - no live bands, no performers of any kind. Every Silicon Valley geek loves a clown making balloons, but that’s an expense that isn’t feasible right now. You still have to offer something for free though. Music is a must and it’s best to make the alcohol free. It doesn’t have to be free all night and you don’t have to do an open bar. Drink tickets are a great way to budget the alc

Enterprise Community Partners: Fast Company’s Social Enterprise of the YearYesterday

by Michelle Lentz

Fast Company  has named Enterprise Community Partners the Social Enterprise of the Year. Based in Columbia, MD, Community Enterprise Partners is a largely unknown organization which has worked tirelessly for over 25 years to provide clean homes, in a responsible and sustainable fashion, for impoverished Americans.

Enterprise has provided:
–$9 billion in capital and financing for low- and middle-income housing
–$700 million in capital each year to affordable-housing efforts
–Thousands of “green” affordable-housing units across America

I used to live in Columbia, MD, and it was a rather serene, almost gated community. It was the first true planned community I’d lived in, and I believe one of the first in the US. It was created by James Rouse, who also created Fanueil Hall and The South Street Seaport. He was also the grandfather of actor Edward Norton. Rouse and his wife Patty were the co-founders of Enterprise Community Partners.

Now, Norton and the company his grandparents built have become major players in the green movement as well.

In their quest to find new and innovative ways to fund clean, affordable housing, they’ve invented a mechanism to measure and collect construction related data, real world information about which construction, design and appliance choices make the most impact on removing carbon emissions from the air. (The va

Microsoft BizSpark & The TechSet Present: Ignition-Los AngelesDecember 2

by Brian Solis

The spirit of entrepreneurialism is what drives all of us to innovate and excel. Economics aside, there is no better time than now to pursue and invest in that next big idea. This is your time to shine and we want to celebrate you, your vision and help you succeed.

Announcing Ignition Los Angeles.

Microsoft Startup Zone, in partnership with The TechSet (Stephanie Agresta and yours truly), is bringing together the tech innovators in Southern California to celebrate the launch of BizSpark, a new program for those who contribute to a dynamic ecosystem that helps startups flourish.

Join us at Beso in Hollywood for free hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and also the opportunity to network with some of the most influential technologists around. All attendees can participate in a “twitter raffle” to win an XBox 360 Elite.

Beso
6350 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Make sure to RSVP here: http://ignition-losangeles.eventbrite.com/

If you’ve missed our previous events, you can relive the experiences below: