Me, New Yorker of The Month?
Complementary vents are my favorite kind on VentBox.
I had to share this one with people:
Ask a New Yorker.com
We invented venting:) Whoever came up with this idea for Ventbox must be a New Yorker....and I would love to make you New Yorker of the month. Kennedy@AskaNewYorker.com
Maybe I'll be New Yorker of the month, though I'm not sure my two years in The City and 513 area code qualify me as a REAL New Yorker yet. We'll see.
@ the NY Tech Meetup tonight — Find Me!
& 
Boy do I have a great post coming up for you all regarding all that I'm seeing in web video trends.
But for now, I wanted to alert you that I'll be speaking tonight at the infamous gong-show-styled NY Tech Meetup, hosted by Meetup founder Scot Heiferman himself.
There's still room for more, so sign up here, and if you come, find me after the event if you want to grab a drink and talk shop.
The Great Hall, Cooper Union
7 East 7th Street
New York , NY 10003
Rotten Apple Store Experience
My vent here mostly says it all.
I'm not even stepping foot in an Apple Store today, but I'm already annoyed with them. I wanted to buy a Black MacBook with 2GB RAM and a 160GB hard-drive. That's two upgrades from the standard configuration, and Apple Stores don't carry any configurations in stock (I'm glad I called).
So I'm headed to Tekserve. They have it how I want it in stock -- none of this waiting around for it to come in the mail.
Anyway, join my vent:
Apple Store
I think it sucks they don't have different configurations of computers in stock. I want what I want and I want it now.
Imitation is the Sincerest Form Of…
I wrote about it on the BricaBox blog...
...but someone on oDesk is asking for a VentBox clone to be made.
We're blushing over at BricaBox, and applying for the Gig.
Everybody, meet the new VentBox.com
Well, I figured I'd announce it here on my blog and on the nextNY blog...
VentBox is live and kicking in version 2.0!
Kyle worked his butt off with this new design to get it out the door in time. His contributions to the code base were also invaluable, and we're excited that he'll be sticking around... GREAT WORK!
But what are you still doing here on this blog?? Go check out the new and improved, VentBox.com!
VentBox Re-Launch
The time is almost here!
We are working around the clock to get the next version of VentBox out to you. While our official re-launch is scheduled for 6pm on Tuesday -- we'll be presenting VentBox to the NY Web 2.0 Social Networking Tech Meetup -- but we'll likely get it live earlier in the day and let our users know about it. A preview (screenshots) is up at the VentBox Blog now.
We really can't wait to hear what you think!
If you're in the New York City area, we'd love to see you at the 2.0 Meetup on Tuesday. All the important information is a follows. Also, note that I'll be talking about cafeBricolage during the second half of the Meetup, which is really a second Meetup, called the NY Web Entrepreneurs Meetup. I think the combined event is called the Web 2.0 Business Meetup.
Anyway, here's the info you need:
Tuesday March 20, 2007 | 6:00 - 9:30pm
Mixx Lounge
84 7th ave. South
(Between Bleecker & Grove)
New York, New York 10014
By the way! If you come, you'll be among the first to hear about BricaBox's next awesome project! You're going to love it.
(Press release found on our company blog).
VentBox looks for designer/UI guru: Our Wish List
I have lots of issues with the VentBox design, in its current state. The biggest problem is that it's not compelling -- as in there's no harmony between our platform's vision and our platform's design, leaving the site feeling dull. Worst of all, it leaves the site's visitors and users felling confused.
"What's with this 'target' / 'title' distinction?"
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Where do I....?"
These are not good things to hear, especially because our platform demands that certain kinds of information at different points. The distinction between "Target" and "Title" ARE important for the site, and the platform, to work properly, provide a good experience for our users, and provide the best data to those interested in what people are venting about.
Anyway, we know why the design we have now isn't very good: we hired him off oDesk as a super cheap rate. You get what you pay for.
But now VentBox has been out for a few weeks and we're getting to know where our users are having troubles and we're ready to do a complete design overhaul of the site, while adding several technological features that will increase the quality of experience as well.
To attract candidates, we've posted the job on the well known 37Signals Gig Board (many of you reading this may be from that board) and have forwarded the post on to "several people who know people."
We're excited by the response so far, and will surely pick a wonderful person to work with. But to make sure that everyone knows exactly what we're looking to do, I'm expecting the person we hire will come by and read this blog, the VentBox Blog, or the BricaBox site, and so I'm giving those intrigued parties a little leg-up.
---
Our Wish List:
- We want someone who wants to take credit for the VentBox and platform design. We'll give it to you!
- We need someone who understands why we've built and organized the site the way we have.
- We'll love someone who's used our site before we start the interview!
- We're looking for someone who'll join the VentBox Family and come to our reunions (i.e. stick around, evangelize the site, blog on our blog, etc)
- We really value good communication skills. It's not just what you say, but how you say it and how often you say it. If something is going to be late, tell us! We'd rather hear from you that it's going to be late, than not hear from you at all.
- We like people who ask a lot of questions. But, if we're paying you a lot of money, make sure those aren't stupid questions. Just kidding :-)
Again, the job post is here.
Brica What? The Vision Behind VentBox™, BricaBox™, and Social Knitting
You may be surprise to hear us say this, but VentBox™ isn't at all about venting -- it's about BricaBox™ and the Social Knitting of people and information that's going on around us.
"Brica What?!" you ask. "Social Knitting?"
"What's happening now" with the Internet, or as others like to say, "Web 2.0":
We see that the shining light of Web 2.0 seems find its brightest points in an interesting duality: the power of the individual expression and the power of the coming together to relate around that expression. This duality is experienced with the blogger who rises to prominence after being "Digged" and it's experienced when Ask a Jew uploads his movie and thousands of people watch it on YouTube and distribute it further. We all extract value from this process when we find an article we like or see that our tastes in home videos are the same as thousands of others.
But, in a way, there's something awry with this duality: This model separates the social aspects of the Internet from the production aspect, and creates what's actually a lop-sided, non-organic relationship among information and people. And while the duality doesn't go against recent truths such as "The Long Tail," "The World is Flat," and "You Have the Power", it doesn't allow us to claim that most people aren't still "small fish" out there. In Web 2.0, we're learning that networks still dominate people; Digg can be gamed; LonelyGirl15 is a professional actress and funded; and that MoveOn's agenda is still decided on by a small group of people, despite it being social media.
And so we were inspired to build BricaBox™.
BricaBox -- the platform behind VentBox -- is a platform that recognizes that information production and the social activity around digital goods has to be better fused together. We say that when you produce content it's good to see what other people have produced which is similar AS you're producing it. This gives you choice to join forces with others, and then allows you to continue expressing yourself. The platform asks you to share certain types of information at certain times in order to optimize the possibility of "coming together", but it never restricts how much you share or deviate from what others have said.
Essentially, the vision for BricaBox™ is to be a platform that optimizes the movement of information to the 'Net, the organic organization, promotion and distribution around that information; it's making this optimization powered by the people whom are interacting with the site and its cache of information and human capital. It's trying to get information and people to grow, ebb and flow together.
Social Knitting
We think this dynamic between and among people and information can best be described as "Social Knitting," and we think there's a lot of potential for the Internet if we recognize this and continue to work on a product that honors this vision which has been wrought from an important intersection of trends and forces making the Web what it is, and taking the Web where it's going.
Indeed, we also see Social Knitting happening in other places on the Web, and we've been duly informed by their progress in this area:
43things.com is an incredible phenomenon and resource, though it has its own weaknesses. LibraryThing is a great example of how Information and People organically co-exist and build off each other. Upcoming.org and Last.fm reveal how dynamic this information can be when the production of information and coming together around that information are seamless.
--
So, take VentBox for what it's worth now, but understand where it's going and why. This is our vision, and we're excited to bring it to you.
VentBox Launch Party
Thanks to everyone who came out to the VentBox party last night.
Check out the recap on the VentBox Blog
Here's a photo of the nextNY crew that made it. You guys and gals are great!
MORE SNOW PLEASE
Hey New York People!
Click on the VentButton if you wish there was more than just three inches of snow in NYC right now.
Thanks to Michael for writing this Vent and inspiring the hacked VentButton.
Who is Nate?
You've found Nate Westheimer's blog. Nate wears many hats. He's the EVP Product & Technology and Co-founder of AnyClip, the Organizer of the NY Tech Meetup, and Advisor to Flybridge Capital Partners.
More about Nate can be read on his Bio page and you can follow his thoughts on Twitter
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