Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Is Tech Really Buried Treasure?

Even with all the technology trade shows at Jacob Javits Center, Internet cafes in places like Bed-Stuy and Crown Hts., NYC government is still unsure just how big the tech industry is. How can that be? The mayor Michael Bloomberg runs a financial services megagiant powered by information technology.

Maybe it’s a matter of documenting it and reading the numbers over and over that’s required. On October 10, 2007 NYC Council Committees on Economic Development and on Technology in Government held a public hearing in the Council Chamber that brought out businesses, economic development organizations, trade groups and academia. In fact, representing Brooklyn’s interest was a staff member from Brooklyn Economic Development Corp. The centerpiece to the proceedings was a report done by Industrial + Technology Assistance Corp. (ITAC) entitled Buried Treasure New York City’s Hidden Technology Sector 2007. Franklin Madison, ITAC technology program director summarized the report and offered best practices for industry growth.

The report reveals, “For 2004, the New York metropolitan statistical area was the nation’s biggest center for high-tech employment.” The metropolitan area includes northern Jersey, southern Connecticut, Westchester and Rockland counties as well as Long Island. This finding is reasonable--maybe too obvious; New York metro is the most densely populated area in America. It contains banks, hospitals, universities, media outlets, publishing and financial enterprises. It also has big and small software developers, computer technicians and programmers operating throughout the five boroughs. IBM is in Westchester County, Google recently set up in the City, and Steiner Studios is in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The report indicates, “Close to 620,000 people have tech jobs.” Of that number 226,000 live in the five boroughs. Taking off from an old spiritual, are you counted in that number?

To whet your appetite more, another finding is “high-tech jobs generate well above average earnings, a total of $12.5 billion in 2004 alone.” That works out to an average salary of $75,458. Actual figures vary dependent upon self-employment and employment within the private vs. public sectors. Now don’t you want to be in that number?

The people providing testimony know the industry. Their concern was organizing and cultivating the sector. Councilwoman Diana Reyna (CD 34) advocated for her constituents by suggesting “matching neighborhoods to this industry”, meaning training and employing folks in the community rather than recruit workers from miles away. Reyna wanted to ensure the tech firms in northern Brooklyn stay in Brooklyn. One best practice Franklin Madison advanced was business incubators. Bruce Bernstein, president of NYSIA, Jerry Hultin, president of Polytechnic University and Victor Goldsmith executive director of Pace University’s SCI2 Incubator promoted their existing incubators and wanted money to expand operations. This public hearing was well orchestrated—like the saints that formed a line and marched in.

You have to love Councilwoman Gale Brewer (CD 6). She is the chairwoman for the Committee on Technology in Government. She’s on top of her game. Brewer knows city procedures. She’ll keep crossing t’s and dotting i’s until New York’s tech industry is at world class level—not just big.

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Don’t Miss DigitalLife Ever Again



DigitalLife is a major consumer technology trade show. In its fourth year, technologists and consumers visit Jacob K. Javits Center the fourth weekend in September to watch, handle, sample, experience and click the latest HD TVs, cellphones, PCs, digital cameras and virtual life gaming products. This year it was open from September 27 – 30. Products were organized around five DigitalLife Lifestyle Zones: Digital Defense Zone, DigitalKidz Zone, Digital Memories Zone, Mobile Living Zone and Web 2.0 Zone. There is also the Tournament Area, meeting rooms and keynote address/conference center area. Great picks include M-Audio music recording products, Toshiba’s HD DVD player, Squawkers McCaw. The DigitalKidz Zone featured products for girls six years and up that would shame some women. Girl Tech’s IM-Me and Video Journal put young girls on the fast track for life planning and communication. IM-Me is a wireless messaging system that communicates with only other IM-Me devices. Video Journal is a digital camera and software combo that creates a calendar and digital journal. MediaFlo USA ‘s FLO TV puts live TV on cell phone. So remember: late September means DigitalLife at Jacob K. Javits Center.

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Advertising Week2007

In its fourth year, Advertising Week2007 ran from September 24 – 28 in various venues in New York City. The splashy event drew advertising and media leaders from the US and Canada. This year’s focus was social impact, talent and diversity. Advertising agencies recognize the Internet’s rise as an important media that supports do-it-yourself programming. More Americans turn from ads that sell but don’t show America’s diversity in race, style and expression. New blood from different veins is needed to maintain the talent bank and address diversity in the media and the agency work place.

During the New York Times CEO Summit I – Media, held September 26, Laura Desmond CEO of StarCom Media Vest Group – The Americas stated that “There was no right or wrong way to get on the superhighway of change…we just have to commit to changing media choices…include digital and mobile channels.” Emilio Estefan shared his thoughts on connecting with Latinos during Univision’s Connect Via the Cultural Beat. Estefan, media genius and Grammy Award winner, believes music is an essential element for ads and programming to cross national boundaries. North American agencies must get off the trap of simply adding a beat and translating an ad to Spanish language. Rather, “the message requires a cultural translation.” While Estefan stressed the many nations that comprise Hispanic America, he fell short by not mentioning the ethnic diversity. Hispanics range from the light tan and slightly wavy-haired people who populate Telemundo and Univision programming to the Asian, the brown indigenous and African types who live there, too.

The highlight for September 26 for this columnist was Chaka Khan and Emily King’s appearance at Tribeca Cinemas, after the Branded Music Entertainment: How Leading Brands Activate Through Music panel. It was as if Chaka Khan was performing in my living room. Chaka Khan sang two cuts from her latest CD Funk This and classic rocking anthem “I’m Every Woman.”

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Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Got Jelly?

Jelly.com is Amit Gupta’s answer to breaking up days of solitary computer work with a day of shared workspace with other techies. Every two weeks, people bring their laptops over to his small apartment to work on job or school projects, from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

His home has a wireless connection. There’s no fee and no dress code. Some days there is a lot of brainstorming and resource exchange; other days it’s uneventful chatter.

Gupta started Jelly with his previous roommate, Luke Crawford, March 2006 in Manhattan. They designed the Web site that explains the “semi-weekly, informal co-working sessions” and did viral marketing through blogs and other social networking sites. Registration is required. The Web site features a video of actual Jelly session participants. The Web site is named after one of the ingredients to a popular morning and afternoon snack. Jelly has spread to other cities under different names. Someone in Philadelphia set up Cream.

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With so much boundless creativity and technical know-how, one would think reuniting the majority of New Orleans’ scattered families would be a snap. There’s TV, radio, My Space, You Tube, Flickr and Photobucket. Can’t some national organization devise scheduled video interviews at public schools and libraries across the nation? Using grassroots tactics, couldn’t folks forward email of photos and contact information of relocated adults? How about setting up a My Space page and the Friends are all from New Orleans?

Care must be taken to protect children and weed the predators. One Law and Order 2007 season episode dealt with the case of a black sexual predator who traveled to the flood-ridden city to kidnap two or three siblings. With careful tweaking, this crusade to reunite families could identify and reclaim abducted children.

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