We know that getting tickets to NYTM is a challenge, so we’re experimenting with something new this month: we’re partnering with New Work City and General Assembly to provide simulcasts of the event. Connect with a small group of your peers at either venue, grab a beer, and sit back and enjoy the show. Cost is $10, which supports the venues and their setup, clean up, and staff costs, as well as providing attendees with a few beers whenever possible (see each listing for the imbibing specifics).

RSVP for the New Work City simulcast here.

RSVP for the General Assembly simulcast here.

Aside from thanking the teams at New Work City and General Assembly for “beta testing” this new program, I wanted to thank two other people for inspiring this idea and pushing to make it happen.

First the inspiration: Back in 2009, right after we moved the NY Tech Meetup to the 700 seat Haft Auditorium, we started selling out our events faster and faster. To help, Livestream began streaming each of our events to the broader community that couldn’t get tickets. Soon thereafter, Eric Friedman (then Analyst at Union Square Ventures, now BD maestro at Foursquare) started inviting people to the Union Square Ventures offices for NY Tech Meetup viewing parties. As he explained it back then, it was an opportunity for people to still have community even if they couldn’t make the main event; it also provided the opportunity to talk more deeply about the companies and trends they saw.

Fast forward three years and Brandon Diamond joins our Board after running on a platform which included a desire to find smarter ways to alleviate the ticketing / demand issues we have at NYTM (e.g. next week’s event sold out in 4 minutes, leaving many disappointed and with no way to enjoy the event). At Brandon’s first Programming/Community Committee meeting, he pushed us to consider setting up simulcasting relationships with key venues/communities in NYC and around the country, following the ethos that Eric Friedman set out 3 years before.

Three weeks later, thanks to the flexibility of the great folks at GA and NWC, and really thanks to the hard work of our own Jessica Lawrence, we’re beta testing the idea. If it works well for our hosts and attendees, we’ll be doing it again. We’ll also be looking to other cities to see if there should be viewing parties there as well.

This is an exciting step for the NY Tech Meetup. I hope this helps with our ticketing issue and lets us continue to build community in the broader NY tech ecosystem. So thanks for Eric for the inspiration. Thanks to Brandon for the push. Thanks for Jessica for getting it done.

~Nate

WE DID IT!

The Senate has postponed its vote on “cloture” effectively ending the possibility PIPA will ever be voted on in its current form.

http://democrats.senate.gov/2012/01/20/reid-statement-on-intellectual-property-bill/

This morning Senate Majority Leader Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement on the Senate’s PROTECT I.P. Act:

“In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.

“There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved. Counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, with the movie industry alone supporting over 2.2 million jobs. We must take action to stop these illegal practices. We live in a country where people rightfully expect to be fairly compensated for a day’s work, whether that person is a miner in the high desert of Nevada, an independent band in New York City, or a union worker on the back lots of a California movie studio.

“I admire the work that Chairman Leahy has put into this bill. I encourage him to continue engaging with all stakeholders to forge a balance between protecting Americans’ intellectual property, and maintaining openness and innovation on the Internet. We made good progress through the discussions we’ve held in recent days, and I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks.”

This happened because of you!

As important as all of the online protests were around the country and the world, our Emergency NY Tech Meetup provided the physical, people-filled backdrop that filled the papers and newswires with photos of us fighting for our industry, our city, our Internet, and our democracy.

Our next step will be to make sure that whatever gets proposed by the other side as they try to salvage something from the ashes of their SOPA/PIPA push, that we, THE NEW YORK TECH COMMUNITY, is included in the process and has a major role.

We won’t let Congress, the copyright organizations, or the press, look only to Silicon Valley as representative of the tech industry or the Internet community.

What is at stake is making sure that we permanently protect the web from future attempts to attack and redesign its basic structure and insure that the NY tech community continues to grow and flourish.

In the meantime, congratulate yourselves for a job well done.

Sincerely:

Andrew Rasiej, Chairman — @rasiej
Scott Heiferman, Founder — @heif
Dawn Barber, Co-Founder – @dawntweet
Nate Westheimer, Executive Director — @innonate
Jessica Lawrence, Managing Director — @jessicalawrence
And the entire NY Tech Meetup Board — @nytm

Dear NY Tech Meetup Member:

The future of the NY tech community is in jeopardy. We are writing to call you to an Emergency NY Tech Meetup in New York on January 18 so that we can publicly demonstrate our collective dismay at the unprecedented attack currently being made on the Internet and our industry. We will gather at 12:30 pm outside the offices of Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand at 780 Third Avenue (at 49th Street). Let us know that you’ll join us by going to http://nytm.org/sos.

Here’s why:

The Internet and information technologies have created a renaissance in startup innovation in New York that now rivals Silicon Valley as a hub for economic growth. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers have been inspired to become entrepreneurs creating thousands and thousands of new jobs and offering professionals in many of New York’s traditional industries the opportunity to start new careers participating in the 21st century global economy.

However, Congress is in the process of rushing through legislation which will not only severely damage the Internet as a marketplace and platform for entrepreneurship and open innovation, but will also seriously impact the ability of our New York tech community to continue to generate jobs, grow and flourish. Within the next two weeks, the US Senate is planning to bring the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) S.968 to the floor for a series of votes to ensure its passage.

This legislation would give the government and corporations the ability to censor the net in the name of protecting creativity simply by convincing a judge that a site is “dedicated” to copyright infringement. PIPA would give the government and corporations the ability to shut down any site connected to an accused copyright infringer. Its companion legislation in the House, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), H.R. 3261, contains many similar problems, as well as threatening ordinary users with jail for streaming any copyrighted work – even just video of themselves singing a pop song.

More importantly, the legislation amounts to a wholesale re-engineering of the open web in a way that would allow the US government to prosecute Internet users without due process, which in turn would discourage innovation, limit investment, and hurt the our economic future. You can read and hear more about this dangerous and hurtful legislation here: http://www.fightforthefuture.org/pipa or http://americancensorship.org/

As much as we agree that infringing on copyrighted material should be eliminated from the web as much as possible, the cure that is being proposed and championed by the lobbying power of major copyright holding organizations like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) will create a cure that is much worse than the disease and irrevocably damage the very nature of the internet and by extension, the future of New York.

We believe it is imperative that we stop this bill from passage!

Therefore, please join us for an Emergency NY Tech Meetup:
When: Wednesday January 18, 2012
Time 12:30-2:00PM
Where: 780 Third Ave (at 49th street) – outside the offices of New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand

What to Bring: Your bodies and your minds, your entire team, your co-workers, your friends, your family, and your social networks

Who Will Be There: Everyone who cares about the New York tech industry and the future of the web. Special guest speakers to be announced.

How to Sign Up: RSVP at http://nytm.org/sos

You Can Tweet This: I’ll be at the Emergency NY Tech Meetup on January 18 to stop SOPA and PIPA. Join us: http://nytm.org/sos #nytmSOS

Hashtag: #nytmSOS

Thank you for stepping to take action.

Signed:

Andrew Rasiej, Chairman – @rasiej
Scott Heiferman, Founder – @heif
Nate Westheimer, Executive Director – @innonate
Jessica Lawrence, Managing Director – @jessicalawrence
And the Entire NY Tech Meetup Board

Press and General Information Contact: organizer@nytm.org

The lineup was:

• PunchUp - www.punchup.com – @PunchUp
• YouNow - http://younow.com – @younow
• Deaftel - www.deaftel.com – @deaftel
• Buyosphere  - http://www.buyosphere.com – @buyosphere
• Chat & - www.chatAND.com
• Sonic Notify - www.sonicnotify.com – @SonicNotify
• ObscuraCam (Witness & The Guardian Projet) - http://witness.org – @witnessorg
• Fluidinfo - http://fluidinfo.com – @fluidinfo
• Memberly - http://member.ly – @memberly

Here are the companies that will be demoing:

• Buyosphere  – http://www.buyosphere.com – @buyosphere
• Memberly – http://member.ly – @memberly
• Sonic Notify – www.sonicnotify.com – @SonicNotify
• Deaftel – www.deaftel.com – @deaftel
• ObscuraCam (Witness & The Guardian Projet) – http://witness.org – @witnessorg
• YouNow – http://younow.com – @younow
• Fluidinfo – http://fluidinfo.com – @fluidinfo
• PunchUp – www.punchup.com – PunchUp
• Chat & – www.chatAND.com

We are sold out, but there are sometimes tickets available at the door or through other members via Twitter or our Meetup.com page.

In addition to our annual and founding sponsors, tonight’s event is being sponsored by Dave Partners (http://www.davepartners.com/).

Tonight’s afterparty will be in the Kimmel Center (Eisner & Lubin Room) and is being sponsored by Dice (http://www.dice.com/)

If you’re interested in sponsoring a future meetup or afterparty, please contact Jessica at jessica (at) nytm (dot) org

For full election results, visit: http://vote.nytm.org/polls/3

Our mission is “To support and advance the New York tech community for its people and the world”.

To that end, NYTM believes it is our duty to inform you about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) which we believe poses a direct threat to our community of coders, creators, makers, builders, founders, investors, and leaders of tech in New York.

We believe SOPA threatens to undermine the very nature of the open internet and will expose you and your companies to significant legal liabilities.

SOPA is slated for a vote in the House Judiciary Committee on THURSDAY. We urge you to take action TODAY to help stop SOPA.

Here’s The Most Important Thing You Can Do:

Step 1:

CALL CONGRESS – you can use the simple, automated service at http://americancensorship.org/ – Tell your Representative that you want them to vote NO on SOPA.

Step 2:

SHARE THAT YOU CALLED – share that you called on Twitter, Facebook and whatever other platforms you use – encourage others to call as well

Need More Information?

If you want more information about SOPA, check out these resources:

1. General overview and ways to take action: http://americancensorship.org/
2. SOPA infographic from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2011/12/07/sopa-business-infographic/
3. Letter submitted to Congress by Mozilla, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga and others: http://www.protectinnovation.com/downloads/letter.pdf
4. Blog post from Albert Wenger at USV: http://www.usv.com/2011/11/help-protect-internet-innovation.php
5. Blog post from Yancey Strickler, Kickstarter cofounder: http://yancey.tumblr.com/post/14144797713/defeat-the-stop-online-piracy-act
6. NY Times opinion piece by Rebecca McKinnon: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/firewall-law-could-infringe-on-free-speech.html?_r=2

Other Ways You Can Take Action

1. Tell the world you work for the internet by adding yourself at: http://iworkfortheinternet.org/
2. Sign the petition: http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet
3. Send a letter to Congress: http://www.engineadvocacy.org/voice/about.html

Thank you for stepping up to take action to support the tech community!

Sincerely,
Andrew Rasiej, Board Chair, NYTM and the NYTM team

Many of the candidates attended the Meet the Candidates event on December 5 – you can watch their speeches here:

Here is the full list of candidates:
Ben Kessler
Brandon Diamond
Charlie O’Donnell
Courtney Bolton
Dan Healy
David Tisch
Eric Friedman
Evan Schreiber
Gregory Schnese
Jack Welde
Jalak Jobanputra
Jesse Landry
Jonathan Askin
June Cohen
Luke Haseloff
Matthew Knell
Michael Liebow
Murat Aktihanoglu
Shai Goldman
Wei Zhao
Whitney Hess

Qualifications to Vote and Vote Count*
As we just alluded to, not every proxy vote recorded by the voting platform may end up being a qualified vote in our final tally. As our Bylaws state, only the proxy votes by Class B members — people who have RSVPed for a NY Tech Meetup event via the Meetup.com platform by 11:59 pm NYC time on the Record Date (November 1) — will be counted in our final tally (despite the fact that the voting platform will allow proxy votes to be submitted by all registered users of their system). At the annual meeting, we will work with the Meetup.com team to produce the final vote-count of Class B members, which we will then make public to our membership via our blog and an email blast.

*Procedural clarification: students who have RSVP’d to attend a NYTM through the NYTM Student Group are also qualified to vote.

Questions
If you have any questions or need anything clarified, please use the public comment system below this post so that your question may be answered and then useful for everyone to benefit from.

Demos included:
CrowdScanner
Pixable
Listly
5ivepoints
Bubb.ly
Foretuit
Zemanta
Mailgun
Smartling
Kogeto
Shapeways
Livestream

Presenters will be:

5ivepoints
www.5ivepoints.com
@5ivepoints
5ivepoints turns political campaigning into a mobile game that helps candidates win elections by transforming virtual enthusiasm into real world action.

Bubble
http://www.bubble.ly
@joinbubble
Use Bubble to discover what’s being shared about your interests and join the networks for them.

CrowdScanner
http://crowdscanner.com
@crowdscanner
CrowdScanner: Making remarkable conversations happen

Foretuit
www.foretuit.com
@foretuit
Foretuit takes an intelligent, predictive approach to business-to-business sales.

Kogeto
www.Kogeto.com
@kogeto
A New Weapon for Social Media: An iphone appcessory that creates interactive, shareable panoramic video

Listly
http://listly.it
@listlyit
Create lists of the things you want. Share them with the people you love.

Livestream
www.livestream.com
@livestream
Livestream is the leading provider for real time event coverage. Our tools make it simple for anyone to broadcast live to the web, and Livestream.com is the destination for the top live content from around the world.

Pixable
www.pixable.com
@pixable
Pixable is a beautiful app that finds the top photos and videos shared by your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Shapeways
http://www.shapeways.com
@shapeways
Shapeways is your source for limitless personal production. Welcome to the future of stuff.

Smartling
www.smartling.com
@smartling
Smartling: the easiest way to translate your website or mobile app.

Zemanta
http://zemanta.com
@zemanta
Zemanta: A quick and elegant way for bloggers to use images, links and related stories.