TechDrinks IV: A New Hope

Hi there, long time no talk! I missed you, for real.

Lots of cool things happening, the coworking movement is brewing and much is to be done.

More on that soon. For now, I present:

TechDrinks IV: A New Hope

Same deal as always: a happy hour for the NY Tech community… no presentations, no pitches, just cheap drinks, cheap & delicious food, great service and good company.

Here’s the deets:

Date: Thursday, 3/20

Time: 5pm - 9pm

Location: Lunasa Bar, 126 1st Ave @ St. Mark’s Place

RSVP: Meetup & Facebook

See you there!

Tony

(Edit: Renamed the event to “A New Hope” because that’s so much nicer :-)

Posted in NY Tech Events, CooBric News | No Comments »

Planning the Dedicated Coworking Space: Moving Forward

For the last 6 months or so, I’ve been talking to a lot of you fine people about coworking and NY Tech and where it’s all going. And you’ve all been really awesome and have had a lot to say about it.

I bought 250 business cards for CooBric around the end of September, and they’re pretty much all gone now. That means I’ve talked to at least that many of you at one point or another.

And I have to say, after handing out 250 business cards, I am amazed at what I’ve seen. NYC has a fantastic tech community, filled with some really exciting and inspirational people.

And if there’s one thing all of these people have agreed on, it’s this: a Manhattan coworking space and tech community center would be a great thing to have, both for individuals and for Silicon Alley as a whole.

Here’s the catch. It’s this money thing. Apparently, renting commercial space Manhattan requires buckets of it. Who knew, right?

So I sat down and crunched the numbers, and I was able to come up with a model that I believe will work. With just the right balance of (relatively) inexpensive space and carefully balanced membership rates, a coworking space can be sustainable in Manhattan*.

Nifty, right? Let’s sign a lease now, right? Not quite so simple, young Padawan**. First we need to quantitatively define the level of interest to determine the true viability of such a space. I think there’s sufficient interest, based on my personal interactions with people, but we need to gather those names together on one big list to prove it’s the case.

The next step is to create a name and a brand for the place and get a teaser site going to collect interest. That’s what I want you to help me with right now.

Head over to a special Bricabox designed for choosing a name for this space and think up the awesomest name you can, or choose from the existing awesome names. Things will move rather quickly from there.

We’re all in this together. Building a space such as this one is a huge undertaking, and it will only succeed because you want it to. Thanks to all of you for your continued support and enthusiasm.

Discussion continues on our Google Group!

* There are already a few short-term office spaces in Manhattan that may, to varying degrees, qualify as coworking spaces, depending on how you define it. I’m talking about something in the vein of Citizen Space and Indy Hall and others like them; that’s what we haven’t really seen yet.

**  I made a Star Wars reference. Sorry. If you prefer Long Ranger references, you can substitute “Kemo Sabe”.

Posted in Coworking | No Comments »

Coobric Referral List

We’ve been kicking around the idea of a referral list for some time, as a way to help connect CooBric’ers, and to help subsidize our efforts to find a dedicated workspace. Now we’re ready to give it a try… CooBric’ers interested in receiving referrals, please sign up here.

If you end up finding someone for your project through our referral program, we suggest a 10% “referral fee” as a donation to CooBric. This money will help us get our dedicated space off the ground.

Want to be involved in how this money is spent? Opinions on how this is structured? Join the Google Group discussion. We’ll have a vote on how the money is spent when the time comes. Also, everyone who signs up gets a vote to amend the rules. You’ll find a permanent link to the referral list on the right side of the page.

Link: Referral List

Posted in Coworking, CooBric News | No Comments »

Who’s up for some drinks?

We’ve had a tentative date set for a TechDrinks this Friday, but we couldn’t nail it down for sure until recently– so here’s the deal. Lunasa Bar is the home of TechDrinks, and this Friday, I’ll be there along with several other CooBric’ers.

All are welcome to join. Because of the short notice, the event will likely be a bit smaller and more intimate.

As always, the drink and food specials are awesome.

No need to RSVP. Just come by!

The next full-on crazy RSVP TechDrinks spectacular will be either January 31 or February 1. Stay tuned for a confirmed date.

See you soon!

Posted in NY Tech Events, CooBric News | 1 Comment »

Cowork with cooBric in Queens this Thursday at Communitea

This Thursday, in addition to our usual Gramstand, cooBric folks will be coworking at Communitea in Queens, starting at 9 a.m. and throughout the day. First-timers are very welcome.

Communitea is wonderful with free wi-fi, great food and friendly folks, just one subway stop from Grand Central. Sign up on the cooperBricolage wiki with when you expect to be there and what you’re working on.

Please tell everyone you know who lives in Queens or near Grand Central. Coworking is growing in New York.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

* * *

Communitea is a five-minute walk from the 7 train’s Vernon-Jackson stop, the first stop after Grand Central. Just exit near the intersection of Vernon Blvd and 50th Ave. Start out going north on Vernon Blvd towards Hunters Point Ave., and you’re there, at 4702 Vernon Blvd in Queens. Personalized directions at: www.hopstop.com

Posted in Coworking | No Comments »

Who’sAtCooBric: Kareem Kouddous

Kareem Kouddous is the founder of DoubleOne Media LLC. They recently launched their first site, beYOU.tv, an online service for fitness and wellness video.

How did you start beYOU.tv?
I made a personal commitment to leave consulting and start a business although I didn’t know exactly what that business was going to be. I was very excited about online video – and this is before YouTube exploded. I also started boxing so that I could lose all that weight I gained from taking advantage of the expense account while traveling. Giving people the tools to improve themselves and reach their personal goals through video is such an obvious service that would be of great use to a lot of people

So the simplest form of instructional video is how to tie a tie?
The simplest thing is how to tie a tie or learn the perfect golf swing. Practice videos.

We did a lot of analysis. We found that a lot of people who want to practice yoga don’t have time to practice at a studio. beYOU.tv is perfectly suited for the home experience.

During that whole process I was about twenty-five pounds heavier than I am now. When I had been doing all this traveling as a consultant, food was all expensed and I never worked out. So during this process with beYOU.tv I started working out intensely.

I started boxing. I would box five times a week for an hour and a half per day. It was a ruddy, smelling, no air-conditioning type of gym in Chelsea. I would go there and it was a great experience.

Just like starting a company, it takes a long time to get results. I always thought when you’re working out, you’re going to get results in two to three weeks, but it took two to three months. While I was working out, I was putting together a business model.

The business name is DoubleOne Media. DoubleOne because eleven’s my lucky number. If I’m ever in a casino, I always play roulette, and I’ll always put my money on number eleven and everything surrounding number eleven. You just have to be patient.
(more…)

Posted in Friends of CooBric | 1 Comment »

Brief Recap: Android Workshop

Gramstand’s basement was jam-packed with Android enthusiasts today– some of them actively developing apps, some of them still getting the hang of it, some simply curious– and a couple of Googlers to boot!

Lots of brainstorming and discussion was had– and a few new apps and ideas were born. In addition, a few of the attendees remarked that simply getting out of the house to work alongside others was enough to motivate them to focus on their work and address some goals that would otherwise have been put off.

Some of the discussion was copied to a drop.io page for the event, where notes, ideas, and code were shared between the attendees. Feel free to check it out! A few excerpts here:

• New “Purrbot” app built– will turn on a phone’s vibrate feature until you turn it off. Original name: “Is that an Android in your pocket, or…”
• Question: Can an Android app be set to run when the phone boots? Answer from the Google team: Yes (some more details in the drop.io page)
• Android File Browser Tutorial
• Notes on future support for 2D Bar Codes
• App ideas:
  • A nice weather application
  • An odometer based on GPS
  • “Flashlight”: just turn on screen at 100% brightness for when you need a little light
  • Magic 8 Ball: use OpenGL to animate a nice magic 8 ball-clone / dodecahedron
  • Eliza the lolcat: chat with a lolcat (Eliza port)

Thanks very much to all those who helped made this happen. We’re looking forward to hosting another event in late January, as well as a larger presentation/discussion-focused conference in early February!

Posted in CooBric News | 1 Comment »

Schedule Change: Android MiniDevHouse

Due to an unexpected scheduling conflict, we’re going to have to shift things around a bit for tomorrow’s Android MiniDevHouse.

Location:

CooperBricolage at Gramstand, 214 Avenue A

Time:
1p - 5pm: Begin hacking!

5pm - 6pm: Pause to show off and discuss your apps.

6pm onward: Continue hacking at your discretion (upstairs!)

Sorry if this is a problem for anyone’s planning. More Android events are in the pipeline for January and beyond!

Posted in Hackathon, CooBric News | No Comments »

Wifi Upgrade at Gramstand

+ = :-)

This week, NYC Wireless installed a new node at CooBric– so now there are two wireless routers running, and this new one is faster and more robust!

The addition of an NYC Wireless router into the mix brings not only better wireless service for coworkers, but will also allow for the possibility of an automated sign-in system sometime in the future.

That way, instead of having to remember to update our sign-in wiki page, you would simply need to connect to the router and your information could automatically update a publicly-viewable page.

We’ll be working on that in the coming weeks, along with a few more events and promotional efforts. Feel free to get involved– join our Google Group and participate!

Thanks to Gramstand and NYC Wireless for helping out with this!

Posted in Friends of CooBric, CooBric News | No Comments »

Was TechDrinks II Awesome?

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves:

View the full set here.

About 40 people in attendance. Lots of $3 Oktoberfest beer and appetizers. Friends made, and fun times had by all.

Stay tuned for the soon-to-be legendary TechDrinks III, coming to a bar near you in 2008!

Posted in NY Tech Events | 1 Comment »