YCombinator and Techstars
YCombinator and Techstars spawning similar startups. I’ve noticed this too, though it’s most likely just good ideas occuring to several folks at once and the seed folks lowering the barrier to entry of starting a company and execution, so we notice more of the confluences.
Bryght Closing
The End of a Bryght Era. One of the earliest hosted CMS ventures (based on Drupal) is closing.
Hong Kong, Osaka
Breakfast in Hong Kong, a crazy plane ride to Osaka, amazing ramen, then exploring the parks and markets of Osaka.
Hong Kong
Two speaking engagements in Hong Kong, and everything in between. One for business, one in a bar.
More Hong Kong
Photo shoot, wandering around Hong Kong, a home-cooked meal with Edith’s parents, and karaoke.
WordCamp Hong Kong
WordCamp in Hong Kong and some wandering around the city and markets afterward.
WordCamp Shanghai
WordCamp Shanghai at Fudan University.
Night in Shanghai
A night in Shanghai: Dinner at TMSK followed by jazz at the Cotton Club.
WordPress Party Pictures
Pictures from the party at the Automattic lounge. It got a little rowdy! If you recognize, please help caption using the “tag” feature on the photo page.
WordPress Party Tonight
Tonight (Monday March 30) at 7 PM we’re opening up the new Automattic space at Pier 38 for the first time because so many of our friends will be in town for Web 2.0 Expo and all their fun events. Come by our spot (on Embarcadero in between Brannan and Townsend) starting at 7 PM and enjoy good music, free booze, and geeky friends. We’re on the left corner and there’s a bunch of circles in the window and an Automattic sign over the door. (Sorry for the late announcement, if you could help us get the word out I’d appreciate it.) You can RSVP on Facebook here.
WordCamp China, Hong Kong, and Japan
I’ll be attending our two WordCamps in China: WordCamp China in Shanghai, on April 4, and WordCamp Hong Kong on April 5. I think this says I’m going to be in Japan for WordCamp on April 12th.
Downloadable Web Fonts
Downloadable font formats for the Web. See also: Web Font Optimizer (visit in anything except Firefox). 2009 will be an exciting year for typography on the web, particularly when Firefox 3.5 comes out this summer. Hat tip: Mark Wubben.
Berkun on 2.7
Gravatar in Gmail
Jon experiments with Gravatar in Gmail. I would love to see more of this. We also need a better way to get Gravatars into your Apple address book / iPhone for people that don’t have a set picture.
Vietnam School
Visiting Room to Read school with Tim Ferriss and two other donors about 3 hours outside of Saigon / Ho Chi Min City. More about the school here. They teach ages 2-5. Also: birthday dinner for John.
Saigon
Traveling to Saigon, small night market, and BBQ dinner.
Authentication in WordPress 2.8
I Heart Blogging design contest
You may know of Infectious as those guys who make the cool vinyl decals for cars. Now they have laptop and iPhone skins, too, and WordPress has partnered with Infectious for the launch with the “I <3 Blogging” contest.
The winners will be chosen by Derek Powazek, Matt Thomas, Team Infectious, and yours truly, and the prizes are sweet. If you nab the grand prize, your design will be printed on laptop and iPhone skins that will be sold in the Infectious store. You’ll also get a cut of the profit from their sales, $400 cash, some WordPress schwag, and $400 to spend on merchandise in the Infectious store.
The contest ends March 31, so hop on Photoshop or Illustrator and use your design chops to show us why you love blogging. The theme is completely open to interpretation, so feel free to get creative. You can submit your creations and vote on others here. You might also want to check out the official WordPress logos and graphics because friends don’t let friends use the incorrect WP logo. 😉
As a final bonus, I’ll be putting the winning design on my next laptop, so it’ll get exposure all over the world. (Last year I spoke in over 35 cities across 6 continents.) Enter your design here.
PollDaddy API & Twitter
PollDaddy has a new API. Also check out their easy tool for polling your Twitter followers.