A look at the New York Tech Scene from the NYCEDC Entrepreneur at Large:
We're now fully in recovery mode, as both the tech community and the city works to repair, rebuild and get back to work.
Fab.com, General Assembly, and others are working out of makeshift temp offices. "Thankfully, modern technology makes it easy to keep working even if we aren't in our offices," General Assembly co-founder Brad Hargreaves told Business Insider. "Conference calls, emails, text messages, Google hangouts. All of these things have helped maintain morale and even helped to spark creative ideas."
Some big tech events were canceled or re-scheduled, including a Google press event. Google was expected to unveil new products, including the quad-core LG Nexus 4 smartphone, the Samsung Nexus 10 tablet and the 32GB versions of the Nexus 7. AllThingsD canceled a two-day mobile-device conference and the Mashable Media Summit was rescheduled (see below).
But AdTech, the NYC-based gathering of advertising technology companies, marched forward despite travel and infrastructure challenges.
ad:tech New York brought together a remarkable showcase of some of the most best known names and brands in the industry, from L'Oreal to Frank Cooper. Three technologies stood out at this years event: 3D projection, gesture-recognition technology and RFID tags. Joshua Cohen, president and chief executive of Pearl Media, gave ad:tech participants a look at 3D projection experiences, in which 3D images are mapped onto a two-dimensional surface. If you couldn't see it in person, check out this YouTube video that has been seen more than 600,000 times -- providing Lexus with a remarkable advertising result. On the gesture-recognition front the company people were talking about was Leap Motion. Leap Motion is offering a device for $70 that allows users to control it with nuanced hand and finger movements. "This could do for the PC what the iPhone did for mobile," said Jacob Braude, senior VP, strategic planning at Saatchi & Saatchi. Braude said that while at first they would likely be add-ons to a computer, much like a web cam, gesture-recognition technology will eventually be incorporated right into the hardware. Finally, in the RFID area, Brightline Interactive CEO Erik Muendel showed of Vail Resorts is use of RFID tags by creating a new app that incorporates gamification elements. Called EpicMix Racing, it allows season pass holders at Vail's six resorts to compare their racing times with family and friends over Facebook and Twitter, and even compair their results to with American ski racer Lindsey Vonn.
All and all adTech was a powerful New York combination of two leading industries, advertising and technology.
There's a great deal of energy and enthusiasm being focused by the Tech community, with NYCEDC's take the HELM events driving visibility and awareness. Take the H.E.L.M. is a competition to attract companies across industries to relocate to or expand in Lower Manhattan. This program is part of a significant city initiative to diversify the Lower Manhattan economy and bring the best and brightest entrepreneurs and employees to the neighborhood.
This week, and in the week ahead -- there are a number of exciting tech events on the horizon.
This week, NY Video Meetup gathers once again at AOL headquarters at 770 Broadway. There is a great presenter line up including CrowdSurf.tv, Rawporter.com, Liveu.tv, Shelby.tv and Pond 5. Brittany Gevanter will be hosting and Vadim Revzin will be co-hosting. I'll be out of the country -- so go and support NYVM and Brittany and Vadim in their second solo appearance. Should be a good time. As always, beer and pizza will be served. RSVP Click HERE.
In the weeks ahead -- a few big events worth pointing out. On Friday Nov. 30 -- the Mashable Media Summit has been rescheduled (postponed due to Hurricane Sandy). The guest list is a who's who of media movers and shakers including Steve Rubel (Edelman), Brooke Gladstone (NPR), David Carey (Hearst), Alexis Ohanian (Co-Founder, Reddit), Kay Matadi (Head of Entertainment & Media, Facebook). The all day event at The Times Center is going to be newsworthy -- as with all things Mashable. Tickets click here
Then, on December 3rd TEDx Silicon Alley is ready to rock. Co-hosted by Ray Kurzweil and Juan Enriquez are bringing the TED vibe to a New York gig. Presenters include Bre Pettis from MakerBot, Futurist Jason Sliva, Music from Jon Carin and many more. Promises to be awesome. Tickets: click here
Tips, events, or N.Y. Tech news? Email me at Srosenbaum (at) nycedc (dot) com.