In June Veotag wrote this obituary on the demise of their closest competitor Click.tv. Both companies are in the video tagging space. Another competitor is New York-based Motionbox.

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People are sometimes surprised that Snooth, as a wine company, is based in New York. “Why not Napa?” seems to be the most common question.

We think that sitting here in Manhattan allows us to span the world of wine in a way thats hard to do elsewhere. Think about the following: We’re based in the state with the 3rd largest wine production volume (thanks to the Finger Lakes as well as the North Fork of Long Island). We’re close enough to California that we don’t lose touch with what America’s epicenter of wine is doing, but we’re also just a stone’s throw away from America’s largest shipping port, Port Elizabeth, which is where most of the wine from France, Italy and other European countries comes into the US.

New York and New Jersey (closer to the port and with cheaper warehouse space) has quite a roster of wine companies, from the importer Kobrand, to some of the best wine stores like Astor, Zachy’s and Morrells. Even the iconoclastic Gary of Wine Library calls Manhattan home. New York is even host to the headquarters of Constellation, the worlds largest wine company, and the only wine company with revenues of over $1 billion.

So, although literally we live on an island, figuratively, it’s anything but.

KickApps is one of the rising stars in the New York web 2.0 industry. The company packages social networking functionality in an enterprise-ready platform. HBO, BET Networks, Scripps Networks and VIBE Magazine use KickApps’ platform to integrate and maintain web 2.0 features in their sites.

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Have we got some great presenters for you! The first BigScreen LittleScreen - The Creative Side of Video 2.0 Meetup on August 1st will feature presentations by Jacob Klein (Seed Media Group), Tania Yuki (Content Acquisitions Manager at ROO),  Eric Gunnar Rochow (gardenfork.tv), Matt Semel (10ton.tv) and Gino Tomac and Jon Johnnidis (For Your Imagination).  Come watch a few engaging online video works and then discuss creative, production, and technical issues. We, For Your Imagination, are hosting the event in our studio located at 22 West 27th Street, 6th Floor, between 6th Ave and Broadway, in New York City. Welcoming and networking is from 6:30-7:30pm and the presentations begin at 7:30pm. Make sure you RSVP and meetup!

Cruxy still looked a lot like another YouTube clone when I interviewed founders Jon Oakes and Nathan Freitas last Fall for Dutch magazine Emerce. Since then the Brooklyn-based startup has sharpened its focus as a media marketplace for independent content creators.

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An interesting discussion has broken out between Revlayer and ExpoTV. Both presented at last week’s Web2NewYork networking party.

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This article was inspired by the birth of a new blog in NYC, the Silicon Alley Insider.

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Everyone here has heard of the Silicon Alley Reporter. Why? Because it was the NY tech press back in during the 90s boom, and because it was run by Jason Calacanis, and because it eventually sold to Dow Jones.

But what about now? During this Silicon Alley Resurgence 2.0, who’s covering all the breaking news? The hot gossip? The acquisition and funding rumors? Where’s the Silicon Alley Reporter of today — the dominant publisher for this community?

The answer is, “everywhere you look.” While some people long for one industry-legitimizing news source, they must also understand that in the day of easy and free personal publishing the chances of creating one main source of information for the Alley are slim.

It’s not like people haven’t tried, though.

nextNY’s blog was created last year to try and harness the collective and individual blogging of the NY Tech Community. While it’s turned into a great way to syndicate personal content, it hasn’t matured into a real source for breaking news.

Meanwhile, local PR firm Trylon SMR has been publishing NY Convergence since the Fall of 2006, trying to capture its share of NY tech start-up readership. And while a noble attempt, grazing the home-page finds but one user generated comment — a sign that it has yet to catch on as the destination for NY tech insiders.

Bill Sobel might also have this problem on the NY:MIEG blog, though his events seem to be well attended.

On an individual level, Allen Stern also has his hand in the attempt to cover NYC, authoring “the new” Center Networks blog since September of last year, writing with a certain preference toward New York City (though much more broadly too).

And finally, nextNY midwife Charlie O’Donnell must come the closest any one individual comes to covering the NY Tech Scene AND having a wider readership, though his personal blog is certainly a personal blog, and could not be considered an industry source.

Enter the Silicon Alley Insider.

Perhaps in the most audacious attempt to be THE NY tech press, Alley notables Henry Blodget (very formerly of Merrill Lynch), Kevin Ryan (ShopWiki, Panther Express), and Dwight Merriman (DoubleClick, ShopWiki, Panther Express) pulled together a team of writers and editors to start covering NY and tech news.

So far, these writers are pumping out dozens of stories a day — mostly recaps of wire articles written by Blodget himself — covering a broad spectrum of news. One way the Insider hopes to capture the NY tech community is by opening itself up to “community” writers, which is a model the nextNY blog has been working on for nine months or so.

Nonetheless, this new blog is a welcome addition to the NY tech scene. As recent history indicates, this is a very crowded space as it seems most rely on their Google Group message board or friends’ personal blogs for the latest NYC gossip and news. But it’s also a space where a dedicated — and community oriented — team could pull through and plant itself in the center of this exciting city for Internet start-ups. We shall see.

Good luck!

AskTheVC recently addressed the question of what was the best state of incorporation. The short answer is one of 3 preferred states: "Delaware, whatever state the company is in and whatever state(s) the VCs are located in." Obviously, the last is hard to determine if you're going to incorporate before you close financing.

California is notoriously employee-friendly so it should be avoided. Some of those laws may still apply if you are based in California, but if you are elsewhere you should definitely assume those burdens.

New York is also undesirable. It's fairly balanced when it comes to dealing with owners vs. employees, but the one big red flag is Section 630 of the NYS BCL. This section states that the top 10 shareholders are liable for employee wages if the company goes out of business and employees aren't paid. This statute does not apply to foreign companies (i.e., those incorporated in other states) even if they're doing business in New York. Considering the largest shareholders are going to likely be the founders (you) and a VC, it probably makes sense to look elsewhere.

Delaware is the default for good reason.  As Jason said, "Delaware law is well-settled, generally business friendly and most lawyers in the U.S. are adapt at dealing with DE law."  The second point is perhaps the most important point initially, but it's the first point that makes you choose Delaware over another state that is as business friendly. Because Delaware has a well-established body of law, you're not going to pay to litigate those "basic" issues, where you might in a state like North Dakota which may have adopted business-friendly laws but doesn't have the precedent to draw upon.

The last point is important too, but it goes beyond lawyers being "adept" with Delaware law. After incorporation, when the company does any deal that requires legal opinion, part of the opinion will require the lawyer to validate corporate structure (i.e., "Due incorporation and valid existence"). If you're incorporated in New York or California or practically any other state, only a lawyer admitted to that state can make that opinion. If you're in Delaware, every lawyer can opine even if they're not admitted in Delaware.

If you ever want to go public, the bankers are pretty much going to require moving it there before the public offering anyway.

Revlayer has been getting a good amount of press since its launch under another name at Tuesday’s Web2NewYork.

TechCrunch had the scoop Monday. Michael Arrington was most impressed with the simplicity of Revlayer’s solution.
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Wired just posted an article about Jelly, the quirky little twice-a-month coworking session I run from my apartment.

I even got a straight-faced joke in(!):

They started by informally inviting people over. Then a friend set up a wiki, another created a Google group, and soon people they barely knew were showing up. Anyone is welcome to attend — so far the open admission policy hasn’t led to any incidents. Were there to be any riffraff, Gupta feels he could control the situation. “I’m exceptionally strong,” he said.

Thanks to Anna Jane Grossman for the great article!

Link: Wired: Freelancers Forgo Office Space for Casual Coworking
See also: Jelly in the NY Post

Update: The story also hit Buzzfeed, my favorite meme-tracking news site. I made a short video that shows what it’s like at Jelly.