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SXSW 2010 for Web Celeb Stalkers

A ReadWriteWeb Guide

OMG! Kevin Rose just touched my shirt!

Don’t lie – we know you get butterflies at the thought of bumping into iJustine or Robert Scoble at a tech conference. We’ve pulled together a nice little cheat sheet just for you, friends. Whether you want a simple handshake, and autograph on your iPhone or a chance to pitch your idea for the Next Big Web App, here’s ten places, panels and parties where you can track down the Internet famous at SXSW 2010. Don’t forget to leave your tips in the comments!

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This is part of a series of ReadWriteWeb guides to SXSW Interactive 2010. If this guide isn’t your cup of tea, be sure to check back for more information soon!

Justine Ezarik, a.k.a. iJustine

Longtime lifestreaming queen iJustine is famously an Apple fangirl, but it’s Intel that’s giving you the key to tracking her down at SXSW. She’s and Intel Insider, and she might be stopping by some of the Intel Insider events, like Frank Gruber’s Johnny Cash party or Chris Heuer’s Social Media Clubhouse. We don’t have hard and fast details on Ezarik’s whereabouts, but wherever she is, she’ll probably be tweeting, so keep an eye on her Twitter accounts.

Christopher Poole

Pool may not be a household name in and of himself, but there’s nary an Internet user who hasn’t been in some way effected by the fun and foul play on 4chan. “4chan – often referred to as a ‘meme factory’ – has been responsible for the creation of countless Internet memes but is perhaps best known for its exploits. In this conversation, we’ll explore the game mechanics of online communities. What fosters creativity in an online community? What design elements can we incorporate to increase interaction? How is the game played?”

Baratunde Thurston

In “How to Be Black,” The Onion web editor and star of Popular Science’s Future Of series Baratunde Thurston will “touch on the black online experience (if there is such a thing) included memes, statistics on usage patterns, popular destinations and issues of representation. For example, are black people as represented among the creators, developers and builders of our future or are we more consumer oriented than average?”

Violet Blue

Our favorite sex blogger will be kicking off SXSW with a presentation on “How to Not Be a Douchebag at SXSW[...] Aimed at both first-time and long-time attendees to SXSW Interactive, this biting and humorous, yet useful panel takes a look at the common actions and behaviors to avoid if you don’t want to be described as ‘doing it wrong.’”

Kevin Rose

This year, the Digg founder returns to host Diggnation Live at Stubb’s. The Bigg Digg Shindigg was certainly one of the largest events at SXSW 2009, with fans crowding around the large outdoor stage to take pictures and watch Rose shoot the Diggnation episode. But don’t expect to meet the man himself unless you’ve got VIP status for the party.

Chris Messina

In his talk, “ActivityStrea.ms: Is It Getting Streamy In Here?,” Messina will explore the nuances of the real-time web. “From Facebook’s newsfeed to Twitter’s relentless real-time updates, the metaphor of the ’stream’ has taken social networking beyond blog posts and on to rich social activities. Learn about ActivityStrea.ms – the open format adopted by Facebook, MySpace, and Windows Live – and how it’s fundamentally changing the social web.”

Leah Culver

This young developer and successful entrepreneur will be hosting the Web Framework Battle Royale. “Which web framework will rule them all? As an audience member you pick the winner! We will present an introduction to a variety of web frameworks including Rails, Django, Catalyst and Sinatra. You can vote for the best web framework in categories such as URL handling, database integration, forms, HTML templating, documentation, testing and deployment.”

Gary Vaynerchuk

The WineLibraryTV founder is a true Web guru and an inspiration to entrepreneurs and content creators around the globe. He’ll be giving one of his signature, unforgettable presentations again this year as part of the Interactive Speakers Series.

Three years after his web app hit it big at SXSW 2007, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams takes the main stage to be interviewed by Havas Media Lab director Umair Haque in front of a live audience . All we have to say is that you’d better get there early if you don’t want to get stuck watching a simulcast in an adjacent room!

Molly Wood

A last-minute stand-in for Natali Del Conte, Wood has a fanbase of her own. “CNET’s Buzz Out Loud will broadcast live from SXSW. While discussing the day’s tech news, hosts Tom Merritt, Jason Howell, Molly Wood and others will chat with the audience and invite special guests to talk about what’s happening at the show and beyond.”

Bonus Round! If you stalk him on Twitter, Foursquare, Plancast and Gowalla, you might get to bump into Robert Scoble, as well. Or, you can catch him at the Rackspace party Monday evening. And of course, while we don’t consider ourselves celebrities, the RWW crew will be present and accounted for at the PBS/NPR/RWW party Sunday night!

Those are our SXSW Interaction recommendations for web celeb stalkers of all stripes. If you’ve got suggestions or feedback, let us know in the comments! See you in Austin, folks!

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The ReadWriteWeb Thanksgiving Day Parade

Like us, you’ve probably just come out of a tryptophan-inspired coma on a relative’s couch and are jonesing for some tech news. Unfortunately, the newsmakers are likely in the same position. While we cull the tubes for Internet-related happenings, check out this panoply of sites, apps, curiosities, trends and more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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“Somewhat” Frank Gruber Is Thankful For His New Web Project

Our good friend Frank Gruber has been working on Thankfulfor.com, a social gratitude journal.

Gruber writes that he and partner Jen Consalvo wanted to create “a forum for expressing gratitude routinely as a foundation for happiness and well-being.”

Frank and Jen with Sir Richard Branson earlier this year.

“People come to the site and post what they are thankful for to their personal journal of thanks. People can also choose to send each Thankfulfor post to their social network on Twitter (each post starts with the #thankfulfor hashtag) extending the good vibes far and wide.”

During the holiday season, Gruber’s hosting a Gratitude Challenge for the remainder of the holiday season to encourage users around the world to spread the love. A great idea from a couple of great people!

Helping the Hungry Through YouTube Videos

Most of the Americans reading this are probably ridiculously stuffed with turkey and the associated edibles, but the good folks at YouTube recognized our annual gluttony as a great opportunity to help the less fortunate.

Using their own homepage and blog as a platform, the site asked users, a.k.a. Video Volunteers, to create videos to promote the hunger-related nonprofit of their choice. along with the organization Feeding America and special curator David Arquette, YouTube has selected three submissions on the site. Here’s one we liked:

Next week, curator Morgan Freeman will kick off another round of submissions, this time focusing on human rights.

Search Traffic Gets Seasonal, Economy Remains Slow

Hitwise research director Heather Dougherty writes that year after year, Thanksgiving is the peak day for Internet visits to major retail websites, outstripping Black Friday, the day after Christmas, and other traditional big shopping days. Typically, for search engines, Thanksgiving also marks a peak in user searches for major retailers.

However, yearly trends show significant drops in traffic and searches between 2007 and 2008. And, Doughtery writes, “The daily visits to the Retail 500 are down compared to last year leading up to the big holiday weekend.” Check out the purple line on this graph; it represents search traffic for major retail brands leading up to the holiday, and it’s measurably lower than in previous years:

Also, the orange line on this graph shows site traffic stats for the same group of retailers. It, too, shows a decline from traffic in previous years.

Take heart, online retailers! Stats for traffic coming from email marketing are actually quite robust. Are email marketers with cleverly presented bargains succeeding in these times of woe and want? This seems to be the case.

SocialVibe’s Facebook App Aims to Feed Folks in Need

SocialVibe is all about helping brands and users create positive social change. In a typical SocialVibe setup, a brand “sponsors” users, who take small actions and engagements to raise money for the charity of their choice.

The new SocialVibe Facebook app involves partnerships with multiple brands and allows users to help feed the hungry through the UN World Food Programme.

Users create virtual Thanksgiving tables, choose one of three decor themes, pick food items to bring, and and invite friends. By engaging in simple, free brand interactions, users are able to furnish their and their friends’ tables with turkeys, mashed potatoes, and all the traditional dishes – and best of all, each food item in the app equates to a specific number of meals the UN World Food Programme will be able to provide to hungry families and individuals.

That wraps up this year’s Thanksgiving around the web. What new sites, apps, or campaigns did you notice and love this year? Tell us all about them in the comments!

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6 Resources Towards a Happier You

If you’ve got a case of the Mondays you are not alone. Thousands of weekend warriors have nestled into their cubicles and desks only to be greeted by a two day backlog of spam, invoices and tedious emails. It’s easy to focus on all the negative things that make it tough to get out of bed in the morning. But complaining aloud is not going to make you feel better and it’s not going to get you a lunch date with your cute coworker. To pull you out of your Monday doldrums, below are a few services to help you share your feelings with your fellow netizens.

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1. ThankfulFor: A product of Shiny Heart Ventures, Thankfulfor was created by popular lifecaster Frank Gruber and talented photographer Jen Consalvo. The two recently launched this microblogging tool to help friends count their blessings. Thankfulfor asks users to document what they’re thankful for in 140 characters and the messages can either be kept in the community or pushed out to Twitter and Facebook. Think of it as a Thanksgiving event without the hangover or football.

2. Gratitude Journal iPhone App: This product offers users a chance to list the 5 things they are grateful for on a daily basis. More often than not, users list the people they love. From here they rate their day and add a photo. This app provides great insight into the everyday goodness that fills our lives, or if you’re kind of a downer, it keeps a running log of your complaints. Either way, it will change how you view your life.

3. Moonrise: Like Twitter, Moonrise is a microblogging site where users add information in short 140 character snippets. Instead of asking for your current activity, Moonrise asks the question, “How are you feeling?” Users type in their 140 character response and add photos, videos and quotes.

4. Thanks-o-meter: This is a public site where users thank others for being considerate and making their lives easier. Stories can be kept private or shared publicly and statistical information on different types of joy are displayed in pie charts and bar graphs. Recently a colleague at a conference was honest enough to alert me to having something hanging out of my nose. If he hadn’t done that I’d have been tagged as “booger girl” across numerous networks.

5. Group Hug.us: This site offers users a chance to confess their deepest darkest secrets in complete anonymity. Often the site fills up with unrequited love notes. If you’ve got something to confess, this site offers cathartic release.

6. FML and My Life is Average : Both of these sites are for those who have a knack for making their life stories sound funny. FML offers users a chance to commit short snippets of often mortifying events anonymously. Meanwhile, My Life is Average allows users to catalogue their most mundane moments.

Photo Credit: Abba Mouse

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Nine Startups Present To The DC Tech Community At TECH Cocktail

This post was written by Frank Gruber, who cofounded TECH cocktail, a startup that looks to help people involved with technology connect at events, which it throws around the country. Tonight’s event is being held in Washington DC, where nine startups are presenting to tech enthusiasts from throughout the region.

Though situated in the heart of Government 2.0, the private sector in Washington, D.C. has been a wellspring of new startups each quarter. TECH cocktail, a community building organization, looks to help entrepreneurs by giving them a place to share their latest creations with the local technology community. The first couple of TECH cocktail events in Chicago were covered here in July and October 2006. Since then, TECH cocktails have been guzzled down like dirty martinis quarterly in D.C. and Chicago and annually in Boulder, Boston and other smaller technology communities.

TECH cocktail D.C. 6 is being held tonight and is supported by local companies like AOL, which will be showing off the new AIM product with its real-time lifestream. AOL is joined by Boalt, TransFS, Jess3, iStrategyLabs and a handful of other local supporters who help make it possible for TECH cocktail to promote the startup scene.

The start-ups demoing will include the following:

AddyMate a free web service that helps you manage & communicate with all your contacts across various web services, social networks & computers from one central connected address book that self-updates when you or your contacts change your personal information. It also offers various privacy settings to help group together family, friends, co-workers & others.

CostToDrive or C2G is an application that uses a “galculator” to help people quickly and easily discover how much it costs to drive anywhere in the United States. You might want to check with CostToDrive before you gas up the family truckster for a Sunday drive. There is also a CostToDrive iPhone application coming soon.

CYNCZ pronounced “syncz”, is a subscription-based contact aggregator that consolidates and synchronizes all your contacts from multiple address books so that you can access them at any time, from any device.

Grasshopr is an online civic platform enabling organizations and individuals to connect, communicate, and take action on issues at the federal, state and local level. Grasshopr makes connecting with your elected officials only a click away. Elected officials can also use Grasshopr to build authentic, sustainable connections with their constituents, inviting them to a town hall meeting, or polling them on current issues. Grasshopr is a free service but premium services may be on the way soon.

Keen Guides is a platform for delivering download-able short-format audio, video and audio tours. Keen Guides has a very nice iPhone application that makes getting audio and video tours a breeze. Keen Guides was a 2009 LaunchBox Digital company.

LegalRiver is an online marketplace dedicated to helping lawyers and businesses connect. It is a free, anonymous and non-binding tool, empowering businesses to solicit, compare, review and retain the right lawyer for their legal need. Legal River was a 2009 LaunchBox Digital company.

Seizure Tracker helps manage and track seizure activity. Created by the parents of a son born with epilepsy, the tool is dedicated to providing patients and their doctors with free comprehensive tools to help understand relationships between seizure activity and anti-epileptic medications. SeizureTracker.com allow patients to create personalized reports of logged seizure activity and medication history that can be easily shared with their medical team.

TapMetrics is a Northern-California & Washington D.C.-based start up that provides mobile application analytics to developers for the iPhone and other mobile platforms. Their developer analytics are focused on creating tools for application architects to better understand their users, continually improve their applications, and help their businesses grow. This could be a very popular analytics toolkit going forward. TapMetrics was a 2009 LaunchBox Digital company.

Thankfulfor is a microblogging site created by Shiny Heart Ventures focused on gratitude. In just 140 characters, users can share what they are thankful for, saving each item to their personal “journal” of thanks. Users can also be social by choosing to send each Thankfulfor post to their social network on Twitter, spreading the good vibes far and wide. What are you thankful for?

If you cannot make the D.C. event, look for TECH cocktail Boston 3 on September 3rd or work with us to bring TECH cocktail to your local tech community.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

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