Meet fellow big apples passionate about revolutionizing the way people create, consume, distribute and monetize video in an IP world at the October Video 2.0 Meetup on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007, starting at 7:00 pm, hosted by For Your Imagination. This month presenters include David Clark, EVP Global Advertising and GM North America of Joost, Mike Hudack, Co-founder & CEO of Blip.tv, Ran Harnevo, Co-founder & CEO of 5min.com, and James Im, Founder & CEO of HeyCosmo.com. Video 2.0 is organized by Yaron Samid, Co-Founder of Pando. Space is limited so make sure you RSVP.

NY-based ReliefInsite has launched what could be the most interesting Facebook application yet. It's a patient health record application. You can create a health journal inside Facebook and then (I assume?) export it to your doctor. I can't picture the take rate on this application to be high. Isn't health a private thing? Not sure I would want to share that with my friends.

"We are extremely excited to be the first company to deliver a personal health record built on Facebook Platform," said Fred Eberlein, CEO and founder of ReliefInsite. "Millions of individuals suffer from pain, so it's wonderful to have this opportunity to offer our pain management tool to the millions of people who use Facebook every day."

Unfortunately the company has no link to the Facebook app on their site and I can't find it on Facebook either.

Buglabs could lay the groundwork for a consumer electronic startup industry in New York and become the new Dell or Apple in the process. The company plans to launch its first product before Christmas.

NY-based Kaltura has received a good bit of buzz since I first reported about their presentation at the NY Video Meetup last April. Since then they have gone on to win the people's choice at Techcrunch40 and have launched a useful Facebook application. I had a chance to grab a coffee with co-founder Ron Yekutiel and here are my notes:

Ron describes Kaltura as "wiki meets YouTube". He believes there is a movement going on from text publishing to video publishing and that collaboration in the video space is where Kaltura leads the pack.

Kaltura is seeking to empower other social networks by their use of the Kaltura application. Ron says that while Kaltura.com is a destination site, the real power is how other sites use the tool within their framework.

What I get about Kaltura is that small contributions can equal big productions where everybody has a vested interest in the final product.

Ron spoke about four reasons people collaborate on video:

1. For social progression and to see interaction
2. Text is dead (Allen's note: I sure hope not!)
3. The number of contributors help to decrease the barriers to contribution
4. The swarm effect of advertising - he sees this as the new model where instead of a 1-1 advertising or many-many, companies will use collaboration to reach their desired customer

The Kaltura team has four co-founders, two are in New York and the other two are in Israel. The team totals 25 people and are in Israel. From what I gather, the leadership of Kaltura might be the most educated group I have come across. Lots of post-graduate degrees from Ivy League schools.

We spoke about the Kaltura business model which is largely based on rev share. It's an interesting model because it puts the trust in the sites using the application to report the income back as they use their own advertising not Kaltura's ad platform. For sites that don't have their own advertising platform, Kaltura can provide one with strong advertising players involved.

Ron left me with some juicy bits about the future for Kaltura but he asked me not to share them at this time. He said they are coming very soon and as soon as I can share with you, I will.

Michel Gondry and Robert Stickgold discuss dreams, filmmaking and the scientific method:

I met the producer of this video, Jacob Klein, last night at the Big Screen Little Screen meetup at For Your Imagination, a great meetup where local online video producers showcase some of their work and then answer questions from the audience and discuss the piece. The discussion focuses almost exclusively on content, instead of the technical side of online video that so many meetups I’ve attended seem to lean towards.

Jacob mentioned that he had interviewed Michel Gondry, and I played it cool, but I gotta admit I was jealous and anxious to watch the interview. Gondry is one of my favorite all-time filmmakers, and this interview is amazing.

Entrepreneurs are a rare breed; we never seem to have enough time to finish our business plan, work on due diligence requests from VC’s, or to stress test our upcoming release… but for whatever reason, we seem to have everything we need.

This means: t-shirts from 10 years ago, pens from the 1 cent bin at CVS, a single pair of shoes that have been to a combined 50 events (weddings, bar mitzvahs, trade shows), a blazer that used to fit over our beer gut in college, and the same inspiring books that are collecting dust on our coffee tables.

The holidays are just around the corner and with about 60 days of shopping left before the big day, I thought I’d compile an entrepreneur friendly list that you can send out to your friends and family. Most of the items aren’t something an entrepreneur would buy, but I can almost guarantee they need them. Whether you’re the wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner/friend of this rare breed of human [entrepreneur] these should be some solid items that you cannot really go wrong with purchasing.  Items range from $14 - $650 though most fall within the $25-100 range.

Please note that I’m not financially motivated to recommend one item over another. I am getting ZERO kick-backs. These are purely items that I think would benefit entrepreneurs and should inspire some ideas of gift giving. If you have any product/service ideas that should be included on this list, please contact me as I’ll be releasing another list much closer to the holidays.

Clothing

Calvin Klein Short Sleeve Cotton T-Shirts: we’ll never admit it outright, but the majority of us wear regular t-shirts under our button-downs. Because of this, the imagery on our t-shirts show thru and it looks terrible. Check out these extremely affordable undershirts that are soft and light… guaranteed to be a hit and something the typical entrepreneur would never buy. Helps out big time when you’re pitching VC’s and your nervous as ever… don’t let those sweat stains develop!

Hugo Boss Black Lawrence Dress Shirt: classy yet snazzy. With a black shirt, you can’t go wrong. It’s trendy enough to wear it out at night but conservative enough to wear to your Series A funding dog-and-pony-show. Make sure you don’t have dandruff because it certainly shows up on black, but black generally makes everyone look healthier. Not a bad choice at all.

Island Soft 3 Button Charcoal Blazer: You need a blazer so you might as well have a nice one. While not the cheapest, this blazer is versatile: you can wear it to your next meeting with your advertising clients, to your first board meeting, or to your hot date at Gramercy Tavern. While not the cheapest on this list, you pay for quality. Goes great with the black button down featured above (Hugo Boss). You’ll score big points at the upcoming nextNY event or NY Tech Meetup because you’ll be better dressed than 99% of the room.

Bacci Bucci Shoes: How scuffed are your current shoes? Look down. Are these the same shoes that you walk down Astor Place in and also, Rivington? If you then wear those to Central Park, then it’s time for new shoes. These should be your special shoes that you wear when you have your biz dev/corp. dev meetings. Why? Because when you sign that big deal, you want to look down at them and see your smile. If they aren’t shiny, then you need new ones. These shoes fit the blazer and shirt perfectly and as a bonus, they’re extra comfortable.

Office Enhancements

I never recommend giving a gift that would be strictly for the office as one could usually buy with a corporate card, but these are enhancers. If you’re jumping from startup to startup, or want to give something a bit better than one would receive as standard issue, consider the following:

Moleskin Pocket Ruled Notebook: The great authors wrote in them. Why not you? Whenever I write in mine, my IQ jumps 10 points. They survive the rough handling of your bags, the spills of frappucinos, and can contain pages of complex notes- certainly should be on your list. Comes in all sizes – I prefer the smallish ones and generally go through at least 1 per month. Beats legal pads or the schwag you get from Ad:Tech!

Porsche Design Aero Pen: Other than the really cool factor of owning a Porsche pen, I have always found that having a nice pen brings good luck. When you’re signing your Series A documents or selling your equity over to your acquirer, signing with a luxury pen makes the day that much sweeter.

Magnetic Business Card Case: Always be closing. If Boiler Room/Wall Street is right, then having your business cards on you all the time is imperative. Instead of putting them in your pocket only to have the corners creased, put them into a nice case that can be pulled out in crowds with positive appeal. The case is small yet firm and will protect enough cards that should last thru DEMO or TechCrunch 40. Not only will it hold your cards, but it’ll keep the biz cards from the associate you just met from Union Square Ventures, Sequoia and Kleiner.

Brendhaven MetroLite Green Bag: You’ve just walked into the office of DFJ Gotham and put your nappy bag down on their beautiful conference table. In walks Tim Draper and he’s looking at your dilapidated bag on his furniture… good start to the meeting. Start strong. Walk in with confidence. Have a nice bag holding your goods. I like a little color in my bags as it livens the mood, but that part is totally up to you. This bag has some extra compartments to hold your iPhone, business card case, and to protect your Aero Pen. Cool. If you’re still using your LL Bean bag from 5th grade, time to change. Trust me, it’s for the better.

Miscellaneous

Eagle Creek Comfort Travel Pillow: Red-eye’s on JetBlue or Virgin America aren’t exactly the most comfortable… your neck is almost guaranteed to hurt the next day when you’re sitting in Accel’s boardroom or eating at Buck’s of Woodside. An extremely cheap investment of under $20 could net you a good night’s sleep and a healthy neck. You certainly want to look into this.

Starbucks Gift Card: Buying $4 latte’s isn’t in the typical startup budget, but having a venti in hand is surely comforting. If you’re bootstrapping and working out of random Starbucks, this is really helpful. Now you can afford to talk to different angel investors and buy them coffee… also, there is no shortage of Starbucks in NYC.

Ansel Adams: Our National Parks: Everyone needs a little inspiration once in a while. Ansel Adams is a world-renowned artist and photographer and much of his work can be found in very cliché spots. The national parks are absolutely gorgeous and are extremely vast… the ability to inspire anyone. If your new Adobe AIR app isn’t functioning correctly, and after 9 hours of staring intently at it isn’t giving you any insights as to why, step back and flip thru the book… it’ll surely take your mind off of the code.

Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure: The book that initially inspired me to create something great… a great memoir/diary of a technology company pre-bubble in Silicon Valley. It’s amazing to read other people’s trials and tribulations and learn from them… a quick read and something anyone would appreciate who is related to the technology industry. It’s an older book (90s) so you can get some copies used (and cheap). I’ve recommended this book at almost every entrepreneurial speech that I give.

Gotham Dream Car Gift Certificate: This gift is for anyone who has an appreciation of automobiles. If you’re looking to rent an exotic car for the weekend getaway or to join GDC’s next Dream Car Tour, this is an amazing gift, one that the entrepreneur wouldn’t buy himself or herself. Luxury this is, not something that benefits the company perse, but could give the entrepreneur the once in a life-time experience or the motivation to go public or sell that social network they are building to buy these cars outright.

High-End Stationery: If you’re looking to give the uber personal present, high-end stationery could be right up your alley. After every VC pitch, you should be sending thank-you notes. You should be writing to your business development partners. Get off Twitter, Facebook, and email and go long-hand. We’re entrepreneurs, go against the grain. Stationery is making a comeback. The person I’m referring to here doesn’t have a website and handles holiday cards, invitations and stationery out of her private office in Westchester, NY. Click the link to contact me for the info… by appointment only.

Feel free to share this with your friends and family… also, let me know your thoughts as to what should be included. The more, the merrier… happy holidays, they are right around the corner.

Today I headed down to the meatpacking district and met with Drew Rayman. Drew is the founder of a new search tool named Attendi. When the PR firm first sent over the information about Attendi a few weeks ago, I checked out the site and passed on writing about it because frankly I was confused as to what the tool does. It was pitched to me as a "people search" which it clearly wasn't after searching on several names and finding not one result. What I learned today is that Attendi is not a people search but rather a social knowledge management tool. Drew seems very motivated to make this concept work, now it's all about the execution.

Here are my notes from the coversation with Drew. Attendi is attempting to build an index of insights in each of us and not an index of websites. The very basic idea is that each of us is an expert at something and after creating an Attendi profile, we wait for someone to need our expertise. Once called upon, we chat with that person about their questions on the topic and provide help. After the chat is complete, it gets archived in both users profiles, other users can rate the quality of the information provided and then the search function indexes the chat.

Once you get the idea of indexing chats between expert and infomation seeker, the system works well against that concept. You signup, create a page about your expertise and then someone can ping you for a chat when the need arises. The chat client works like any other chat client and notes that the chat is public. I would like to see that note be expanded to be noticeable during the entire chat. Drew says they are working on Facebook integration and an interface with other messaging tools including AOL Instant Messenger. You can select how you want to interact - both via IM and email, etc.

Drew defines their message as ABC:

• a - define your aboutness
• b - broker availability
• c - connect people

The tool is currently in a private beta, self-funded and has 4 full-time developers and 2 part-time marketers from Drew's interactive agency, i33.

Drew has to work on defining the target market and making sure that the messaging hits that target appropriately. I believe moms and older people would be a great "expert" pool for this type of knowledge management tool. But to do that, the site has to be responsive to their needs. Tag clouds work well for geeks, but not so much for my mother. And Attendi needs to make sure that they have as many topics covered as possible - if I search once and find nothing, will I return? Probably not.

Lastly, the messaging has to create a strong RTB (reason to believe) -- that is "why should I use this" for both the user looking for advice but more importantly for the expert. The latter is lacking as of today but Drew said they are getting ready to launch a new home page which will address my concerns.

If you would like an invite to the private beta, signup through this link on their home page. Drew said they would fast-track any users coming from CenterNetworks.

AditAll is not the first company that sees opportunity in long tail online video advertising. Early market leaders in cheap, do-it-yourself commercial production include Spotrunner and Pick-N-Click, both with investment from traditional ad holdings.

But the New York-based startup has a nifty ‘patent pending platform’, apparently including a full online video editor. AditAll.com, which launched Tuesday, also invites video and music producers to upload their work for use in video ads for a price they can set.

Tonight, hosted by Cooper Union in NYC, was the latest edition of the Social Media Club. After the previous Social Media Club event I covered in June, I was very much looking forward to tonight's event. Last time there were over 50 people from a diverse set of backgrounds and careers which gave me an opportunity to network with folks I might not otherwise meet. Tonight's attendance was 18 with a couple of late-comers added to the counter later during the event. Last night was the SMC event in San Francisco which judging by the Twitter messages appeared to be very well received.

The topic was listed as "Join NYC chapter leader Howard Greenstein in a conversation with SMC Co-Founder Chris Heuer about how Social Media is making business personal again." The evening began with each attendee sharing sites that they found interesting or exceptional. I won't list them because I am certain you know all of them.

Overall I found the discussion dull and lackluster compared to other SMC nationwide events. Chris had a batch of slides (embedded below) but didn't really go through them other than the first few, other slides he just seemed to slide through. Howard sat in the front but I couldn't really tell to what position he was taking (moderator, leader, etc.).

An alternative would have been to start with the slide presentation, and then open it to discussion topics with Howard and Chris (both bright guys) discussing their opinion on the topic and then group chat. It just seemed like the chat was moving in too many directions with no central focus. I think concrete examples of good and poor executions of Chris' topic would have worked well too. Personally I think Chris should have stood as it would give him additional focus as the topic leader.

Anyway check out the presentation slides below and I look forward to reporting on the next event.

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NY-based marketing technology company Linkstorm has made three key announcements today: new round of funding, a new board advisor and new NYC headquarters.

The series C funding round, which was oversubscribed by former and new investors, will allow Linkstorm to expand its staff and begin an aggressive push into advertising and related market segments targeting large brands and leading advertising agencies. Over 60 new investors participated and more than 25 previous investors re-upped in the current round. Investors include Esther Dyson and Jim Rutt.

Jeff Ballowe, who retired from Ziff-Davis in 1998 having served as president of its interactive media division and also serving as publisher of PC Magazine has become an Advisor to Linkstorm's Board.

Lastly, the company is announcing their new NYC headquarters at 34 W. 22nd Street in the Flatiron section of Manhattan.

Linkstorm creates Portable Universal Profile's which are basically "people popups" where you can learn more about a person through their popup - think Snap previews for people. Interesting note - the company name is "Linkstorm" but the site is "Linkstorms.com" - I wonder how many users and potential customers they lose because of this domain name issue.