Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

moo Money — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:07:29 -0000

Oh, and it was nice meeting you, Mark. Even if you didn't take my "herpes"! :P

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

moo Money — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:06:40 -0000

As someone that has lived in both LA and the South Bay, it was really hard for me at first to get used to Texas. It was even harder for me to admit that I love Austin more than any location in California.

I live super close to downtown, so on any given night, there's at least one activity for me to do. I can see a live show, check out a symphony, hit up a geek meet, go to a bar, or watch a movie at the Alamo Ritz. If I timed it right, I could possibly do all of those things in the *same day*.

What I loved most about Sunnyvale was that I could step outside of my apartment, get a coffee, and just breathe in the geekery. However, Austin offers the same thing, but when you combine that with the unusually friendly Texan attitude, it makes it much more meaningful. I find myself running into the same people at the same parties and I love it!

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

PHP Developer — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:28:32 -0000

I agree there is a new "Internet" energy here.

But this is no accident, Texas recruited the big tech companies back in the 90s, I believe IBM has its HQ here for that reason. You got Intel, AMD, Dell, I could drop names all night. From my last apartment I could walk to Apple, Sun, Nvidia. And don't forget the video game industry, Richard Garriott's castle is here.

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:52:00 -0000

The short answer, Lisa, is that Pete is our resident rock star. You can draw your own conclusions from there. :-p

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:50:38 -0000

I feel the same way about Dallas - and I think the answer is that a lot of folks either integrated to other industries or moved to stronger tech centers. I know after the dot-com bust in Dallas, a large portion of my circle moved to Austin, and many others stayed in Dallas but moved to other industries.

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:48:09 -0000

Indeed. Texas as a whole was a great tech center 10 years ago. Even in my little hometown of Tyler, TX, there were a few dot coms. Dallas was where I spent most of my time during that boom, though, and it was sad on many levels to see the waters recede as far as they did.

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:46:31 -0000

Hah - yeah, I was pretty incognito for the night. While I generally love meeting as many people as possible, I really enjoyed having very in depth conversations with the fewer people I hung out with over the course of the evening..

I have a feeling after this we'll be doing more stuff in Austin, so we'll have more opportunities in the future.

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

ekhess — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:06:06 -0000

Lisa: Pete struck me as a pretty chill, understated guy. Can't help being photogenic!

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

joshuamcclure — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:40:28 -0000

Whoops! That was @Tinu not @John

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

joshuamcclure — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:36:51 -0000

@Lisa, Re: Pete... Want to know something funny. I didn't know what he looked like and I nearly tipped him over as he went by me double fisting beers in his double breasted outfit. I totally thought he was a south austinite dressed that way. ...and you don't have to be gay to act like you're a badass!

@John, Re: Austin Tech... Get me at facebook.com/joshuamcclure or twitter.com/joshuamcclure and I'll forward you an invite to a happy hour coming up. It's tech & entertainment people meeting up at the do512 hq.

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Lisa — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:00:41 -0000

Ok, so I've gotta ask: Is Pete Cashmore gay? Or does he just have an exaggerated sense of himself?

Just wondering. It's hard to tell by the photos.

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

ekhess — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:40:49 -0000

I've been in Austin for the last 13 years after graduating from UT. A lot of folks fall in love with our city after school, after a visit, or after hearing the glowing reviews, and they're absolutely hell-bent on staying here.

I think that has forced a lot of creativity and entrepreneurship. People develop their own opportunities if there are not as many obvious, defined jobs in their chosen industry.

â€œWhen forced to work within a strict framework the imagination is taxed to its utmost â€“ and will produce its richest ideas." - T.S. Eliot

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Michael Durwin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:36:18 -0000

I often wondered what was up with Boston. Silicon Valley, now Austin? How is it that a city with the ridiculous amount of colleges that Boston has (Harvard, MIT, WIT, Northeastern, BU, Suffolk, etc.), one of the highest rates of education per capita hasn't become a tech mecca. After all Facebook, Naspter and Zip Car all got their start here. We did lose alot of people during the .Com crash of the 90s and it seems they never came back. Is it the high rent? Lack of parking? When is Boston going to become a force in online space? We even have our own Second Life office!

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Bryan Menell — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:26:43 -0000

Doing this event with Mashable will probably be the most talked-about Austin Tech Happy Hour of the year. Thanks for making Austin a stop on the tour, and I'm really bummed that I didn't get to meet Adam Hirsch. It seems like a lifetime ago that Adam and I started planning this bash. And Karen did a great job of carrying the ball over the goal line.

Thanks again for a great time, and let us know the next tour or bash events. See at SouthBy if not sooner!

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Laura beck — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:24:50 -0000

As I'm less than 3 weeks away from popping out another kid, and was home single parenting for the night with my 3 year old, I missed the party of the year. Seriously. Mashable, thank you ALL for coming to Austin and giving us such a great reason to get all together. We've always adored you guys, particularly Kristen Nicole - props!, and getting to be such a big part of the evening (us PN Texans love nothing more than the front door real-estate to see all the comings and goings) was honestly a lot of fun and appreciated.

Thanks for being a catalyst to bring us in the Austin Web 2.0, Interactive, Internet Tech, call it whatever you want, scene together. Want you to know some follow up meets have already happened to make sure we make momentum like this happen more often, and keep it going and growing. Yes, during March and SXSXi, but all year long! We got it going on here and we are going to start being louder about it.

It is NOT Valley Envy at all. We are totally apples to the Cali oranges, and we in Austin really like them apples! (a little nod to my Boston roots there and Matty D).

Thank you, and come back again, anytime, Mashable!

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Tinu — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:08:29 -0000

Hi Josh,

School me on Austin Tech. New to the area.

John,

I never thought of myself as a Texan either. But then I never knew about the "hill country" part of Texas which is quite green, friendly and laid back. Like Maryland but with relaxed butt cheeks.

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:29:26 -0000

The last line you have there pegs it, Bruce. I know it when I see it.

I could write a post defining Web 2.0 hub, but we all catch on pretty quick that it's a cultural term that refers to the broader movement and community around New Media, cloud computing, and social media.

We had this same problem back in the 90's in defining the difference between IS (information services) and IT (information technology).

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

John — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:46:35 -0000

Yes. Austin is AWESOME. Never thought myself as a "texan" but austin is like no other.

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

joshuamcclure — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:46:22 -0000

I thought I knew Austin tech. I've been active in the Austin tech scene for several years now. I've started and sold two online ventures and I'm on my third... I refused to move away from Austin, during the sale of the last one and ended up commuting between Boulder and Austin for 9 months.

That said, the size of the Austin Mashup crowd really surprised me. I have to admit my main goal was to meet Rizzn and pick his brain on a couple thoughts that have been bugging me. I expected a few dozen people. So, when I was greeted by excited-geek-crowd-babble-of-hundreds... Arg!

I thought "sheeesh, I don't even know how to ask someone where he's at. I doubt he's introducing himself as Rizzn." I could see myself walking around saying things like, "Yeah, two z's then an n, you know?"

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Tinu — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:41:10 -0000

Bruce, I was totally ready to make mockery of your post until I read that last line. That's actually fairly close to true though it isn't directly related to the post...

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

MiamiWebDesigner — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:53:47 -0000

Web 2.0 Is Like Pornography

Like so many tech articles posted since Tim O'Reilly coined the term in 2004, this one references "Web 2.0" as if it were something tangible--or at least a concept with clear, concise definition. It is not. In 2006, Web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee sagely observed that "nobody knows what it means":

http://tinyurl.com/y6ewzy

And now in 2008, the most honest thing we can say is that "Web 2.0" means whatever the techno-marketeer (ab)using it wants it to mean. Otherwise, why would intelligent people like Isaac O'Bannon still be writing articles asking "What is Web 2.0":

http://tinyurl.com/5solok

And, why would McKinsey's just-released best-of-breed report entitled "Building the Web 2.0 Enterprise" ...

http://tinyurl.com/6sxls7

... include no attempt at defining the term other than to list the "Web 2.0 Tools" that comprise or enable it? And even there, the chief ingredient is identified only as "Web Services", adding more mystery to the mix as one ethereal term is offered up to explain another.

As originated in an Onstartups.com posting that no longer exists...

http://tinyurl.com/57a2u4

... "Web 2.0" is like pornography: Nobody has defined it, but you know it when you see it.

Bruce Arnold, Web Designer
PervasivePersuasion.com, Miami Florida

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

thom singer — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:41:23 -0000

Austin is a great city where diverse people can come together and create. Where 20 years ago there was not much business opportunity (or national attention on Austin), today the city is thriving with the entrepreneurial spirit.

Most people who live in Austin would not want to live anywhere else, thus there is no "Valley Envy". Those who have to leave Central Texas for job reasons usually forever miss their lifestyle that this unique city provided.

But Austin needs to have more visible tech successes that will bring more investment and attention to this booming tech hub.

Your party was a perfect example of the eclectic and welcoming networking culture that exists in the business community. The optimistic feelings of the future are thriving in the tech community.

However this is tech explosion (both in feeling, attention and substance) existed a decade before. After the bust, much of this was put on hold. The enthusiasm that exists in the community this time should lead Austin to new levels of technology success.

If the party was any clue, big things are happening in this fine city.

Re: Austin as the Next Web 2.0 Hub (video)

Tinu — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:00:08 -0000

It's probably inappropriate for me to shout "That's right, Austin Toros! Bitches!" right about here? Yeah. I thought so too. I also thought about yelling *first* but I wouldn't want anyone to know that I was drunk.

We Austinites appreciate the accolades by the way.