03/28/12 5:29pm

Half of New York City’s best and brightest technologists live or work in Brooklyn, yet we travel to Manhattan every week for the best tech talks. Not anymore! BK Tech Talks are presentations about the most interesting problems and solutions that New Yorkers are working on. The first BK Tech Talk is next Monday, April 2 in Dumbo’s NYU-Poly Dumbo Incubator (20 Jay St, Suite 312, Brooklyn, NY). Dumbo based Mobile Commons‘s CTO Benjamin Stein, Michael Frumin, Systems Engineering Manager at the MTA, Jeff Maki, head of Transportation at OpenPlans will present the technology behind Real Time GPS Tracking of New York City Buses, including the unique technology challenges rolling out a high profile project in NYC.

meetup.com/BK-Tech-Talks
MTA BusTime: Real Time GPS Tracking of New York City Buses
Monday, April 2, 2012, 7:00 PM

MTA Bus Time is an amazing new project by the New York MTA that allows bus riders to find the real-time location of the next several buses that will arrive at their stop.

MTA Bus Time was built on an open source and open standards-based platform using commercial technologies provided by multiple different partners. It uses GPS hardware and wireless communications technology to track real-time bus locations, integrate with route and schedule information, and makes the result accessible across a huge array of interfaces, including the web, a mobile website, on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, SMS text messaging, and via an open developer API.

Bus Time ran as a pilot on the B63 bus line in Brooklyn early last year, was expanded to Staten Island in January of 2012, will launch in the Bronx by the end of 2012, and will be deployed across all of New York City by the end of 2013.

Go here to sign up: meetup.com/BK-Tech-Talks/events/55116342

03/19/12 5:29pm

NY Content Meetup is a monthly meetup in Dumbo for content providers, startups, social media community managers, and anyone else interested in meeting with influencers who are creating community around content online.

From From BKLYNhaus, the organizer:

Connection Through Creation

What does a New York Times Producer, a Founder and Principal at race + vine and an acclaimed Fashion Photographer and Blogger have in common? They are all speakers for our March 21st NY CONTENT MEETUP!

Speakers:

  • Emily Rueb (@rueby), Senior Producer, New York Times
    Put A Bird On It: What I Learned About Community Engagement From the Hawk Cam

    Using the New York Times’ Hawk Cam as her case study, Emily will discuss the journalistic challenges of covering a live streaming event that required 24/7 monitoring and where the subjects were not available for comment. Without a strategy and content approach the Hawk Cam could have been just another Yule log, as bill Keller, then the executive editor of the times, called it in an essay. But what she discovered instead was an opportunity to leverage the wisdom of the crowds to build an engaged, active community that took the story to unexpected places/levels.

  • Meagan Cignoli, Fashion Photographer & Blogger (Web: @meagancignoli | ilovemeagan.com | meagancignoli.tumblr.com)
    Creation & Connection Intertwined

    Fashion photographer and blogger Meagan Cignoli explains the value of establishing a personal brand through dedicated promotion and active influence. Knowing first-hand the importance of promoting yourself, your work, and getting others to promote you, she will guide you with tips and ideas to successfully market the most important asset you have…. YOU!

  • Michael Parrish DuDell, Founder and Principal, race + vine (@notoriousmpd)
    Michael Parrish DuDell is a writer, speaker, entrepreneur, and all-around media renaissance man. He is the founder of race+vine—a consulting firm specializing in content marketing, millennial engagement, and brand advocacy.
    Content Marketing: Meet Your New Business

    For over a hundred years, the publishing industry has remained relatively static. But in the last 5 years the Internet has created a new model, allowing every business the opportunity to enter the content game. In this talk, marketing expert Michael Parrish DuDell shares why it’s absolutely essential for every business to begin thinking (and acting) like a publisher.

Date/Time: Wednesday, March 21, 2012, 7:00 PM
Location: 20 Jay Street, Suite 904, Brooklyn, NY
** FREE wine and other refreshments will be served **

03/15/12 9:16pm

light bright.

The Dumbo Improvement District is asking tech and creative companies to take a brief survey about your organization and its needs.

Take the survey now (survey will close soon)

Note: This survey is for firms currently located in Dumbo and beyond in Brooklyn and those who want to be here in the future. All answers to the survey will be kept confidential and data will be presented to us in aggregate form.

From the BID:

We’ve teamed up with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and the Brooklyn Navy Yard and NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, partners in the recently dubbed Tech Triangle, to study the economic impact and space needs of the tech and creative sectors in Brooklyn. With this info in hand, we can work with our public and private partners to create conditions within the Tech Triangle that nurture and support the growth of your company and many others like it.

Each firm that fully completes the survey and enters a contact email will be entered in a drawing to receive:

  • a private boxing lesson for up to 20 people (complete with Grimaldi’s pizza-fest) at the legendary Gleason’s Gym,
  • lunch or dinner for up to five (5) people at La Defense in 2 MetroTech Center,
  • or a guided tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard for ten (10).

The DUMBO Improvement District asks that you please also help us spread the word! We want firms both inside and out of DUMBO to take this survey. Whether they’re interested in getting out of a living room or relocating to this thriving tech community, we would love to better understand their needs. Tweet the survey link using #techtriangle.

(Photo by bekka payack)

01/12/12 11:21am

DUMBO Startup Lab (not to be confused with the Dumbo Incubator) launched for business last month. DUMBO Startup Lab is a an affordable, flexible and convenient communal work space for entrepreneurs, freelancers and startup companies. Similar to other co-working spaces such as Loosecubes, the goal is to create a synergetic atmosphere for innovative thinkers and developers. As Dumbo becomes the base for more and more startups, the DUMBO Startup Lab fosters the entrepreneur, freelancer, and designer collaboration. They also host community meetups, networking events, panel discussions and creative workshops.

DUMBO Startup Lab’s rates are lower than similar co-working spaces found throughout New York City. Portable desk rates start at $200/month and stationary desks start at $300/month. There’s no deposit or binding time commitment. Another great option for co-working space in Dumbo.

DUMBO Startup Lab (dumbostartuplab.com)
68 Jay st. #415 Brooklyn, NY 11201

12/21/11 4:55pm

Wednesday, December 21, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and State Senator Daniel Squadron joined Brooklyn elected officials and community and business leaders to rally in support of the New York University and Polytechnic Institute proposal for an applied sciences campus at 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn. Creating a hub for science and technology that connects the budding tech community in Dumbo and the surrounding neighborhoods with NYU-Poly’s proposed Center for Urban Science and Progress, as well as City Tech and Poly’s existing campuses would be a major step for Brooklyn and Dumbo’s NY Digital District and Digital Dumbo.

NYC is aiming to build a world class applied sciences and engineering campus, called Applied Sciences NYC at Roosevelt Island to be competitive with other tech centers such as Silicon Valley. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Cornell University, and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology announced an historic partnership to build a two-million-square-foot applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City. (also on NYTimes).

In addition to the Applied Sciences NYC, building on Dumbo’s tech community will attract and retain the creative entrepreneurs that will drive innovation for NYC. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said in a statement, “With today’s announcement behind us, let’s now look ahead to the new year and make the case that New York deserves more than one first-rate applied sciences school and that serious consideration be given to New York University’s partnership with Polytech proposed for 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn—home to more college students than Cambridge, Massachusetts—as well as Carnegie Mellon’s plans for the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which along with DUMBO, is part of our borough’s emerging new Silicon Valley. Both locations offer a unique opportunity to create a job-creating epicenter of learning, research and innovation. I normally don’t celebrate Brooklyn being a runner-up in anything, but considering the importance of this center to the future of Brooklyn and New York City, in this case I would happily make an exception.”

Dumbo Improvement District Executive Director Alexandria Sica added, “DUMBO is home to more than one hundred technology firms, digital and creative start-ups that are growing—some at a faster pace than there is talent available. NYU-Poly’s proposal for 370 Jay Street would provide these companies with a highly skilled workforce in their backyard. Furthermore, having an applied sciences school at 370 Jay Street will help DUMBO and the greater Downtown Brooklyn area to continue to grow as a location for tech-based companies that choose to be here around like-minded companies and innovators.”

The Wall Street Journal published an article on Dumbo’s tech yesterday. The article mentions “Tech startups and digital advertising companies have flocked to Dumbo throughout the past decade, drawn to the neighborhood’s industrial lofts that eschew Midtown’s buttoned-down culture. Now Dumbo’s tech scene is about to get bigger.” Polytechnic Institute of New York University will open a new incubator in Dumbo that could house as many as 20 small companies at 20 Jay Street. With innovation fueld by the intersection of creativity, media, and technology in Brooklyn, the community should be looking forward to more private and public partnerships.

(Photo by Kathryn Kirk)