As you may have noticed, my postings have become less frequent and my life has become more hectic.¬† It’s officially time to get away.¬† I’m off to the beach!¬† Maybe I’ll have a random posting up sometime this weekend, but get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!¬† Have a great weekend!

As you have probably noticed, my posting frequency has gone down. Friday was my last day at Fleishman-Hillard and I’m on to bigger and better things now. I am going to have some pretty huge announcements in the coming days but for the time being you’ll have to wait to find out. I have been actively blogging over at AllFacebook and will continue to do so for the time being. That has been taking up most of my time recently.
Additionally, I had a great time at Social Media club the other night. I had the fortune to co-host with Peter Corbett. It was definitely different than typical Social Media Clubs. We talked about Facebook and soon after starting the discussion, people broke up into groups and started talking. I think there was more networking and socializing going on than typical but it was a great time none the less. I have some new things that I need to post about but I’ve been slammed with the new projects that I will be announcing soon, so stay tuned!

The iPhone launches tomorrow and people are going to be rushing to get their hands on one. Apparently there is a huge demand for the phone which will run $499 plus a $59.99 a month plan through AT&T Wireless. The phone is definitely a costly item. I recently decided to go ahead and buy the Blackberry Curve rather than waiting for the iPhone because I was highly skeptical of the iPhone keyboard. To counter the buzz that had been circulating about a non-friendly keyboard, Apple released a video yesterday demonstrating the keyboard functionality. I watched the video and I have to say that I’m still a little skeptical. Conversely, I can’t argue that I can type 80 words per minute on my Blackberry Curve. Someone should release a typing speed test for the Blackberry. Anyone know of one? If you plan on getting your own iPhone chances are you are going to have to wait in long lines given that people are camping out, even the employees. Tomorrow will be a big day for iPhone fans worldwide. Will you be getting one?

You may be wondering where my post from today went. Well it was never written because I had a surprise this morning when I woke up. A few months back I received a speeding ticket. While I try not to drive to recklessly, I got caught by a speed trap. Anyways, when I woke up I realized that I had failed to pay my ticket and the trial was scheduled for this morning. I rushed out to Fairfax County Virginia General District Court and attended my trial. It was one of the longest processes ever. While sitting in the courtroom I had the opportunity to listen to and watch other individual’s trials. It was truly a learning experience.

The first thing I learned is to get a lawyer if there is a chance you might end up in jail as a result of a guilty verdict. Well maybe I didn’t learn it today but I saw the end result of not getting a lawyer. This one guy was driving recklessly at close to 100 miles an hour in a 55 mile per hour zone. The judge informed him that his charge was an offense that was punishable by jail time and then gave him the option to obtain a lawyer. This guy decided that he didn’t need a lawyer and that by simply apologizing, all would be well. What’s funny is how adamant the judge was in explaining that this guy should get a lawyer. He still decided not to. The result? He ended up in jail. The look on this guy’s face was priceless. I honestly feel bad for the guy but part of me doesn’t simply because he was a complete idiot.

My second lesson? I have a lot to be grateful for. There were countless people that walked up to the podium to be advised to get a lawyer. Prior to obtaining the lawyer that was assigned by the court they were asked how much they made. The majority of the people that were asked how much they make responded that they make a few hundred dollars a week. One guy worked in concrete while another guy operated a crane full-time. You think your life is hard? Try making $350 a week working out in 95-degree weather, only to have a quarter of your week’s earnings slashed because you had to appear in court. That sucks. After sitting in court for the day I realized how much I really have to be grateful for and it hit me hard. Try it out some time, it can give you a whole new perspective on life.

My good friend Frank Gruber just notified me of a new suite of products that is being launched by AOL. Frank has been working hard on preparing the products for launch and has now released the above video of the unlaunched products. Some of the products include a new feed reader, customizable Ajax start page, and Mgnet (pronounced “magnet”), an image-driven content discovery and recommendation engine. If you want to learn more about the products, check out the myAOL blog. The products should be launching later in the summer.

There is a meme going round blogosphere discussing the Age Question. The discussion seems to be centered around the concept that it is more challenging to be an entrepreneur the older you get. Michael Parekh is wondering why none of these 20-somethings that are part of the Facebook generation are commenting on the subject. I’d love to take the opportunity to speak on their behalf!

First let me say that it is a privilege to speak on the behalf of 20-somethings everywhere, especially since I do not accurately depict the average 20-something. Most 20-somethings are not blogging about technology, or the state of affairs in this world. Instead they are blogging on MySpace about their dysfunctional (and occasionally functional) relationships. Ok, so aside from trying to sum up all 20-somethings in a couple sentences, allow me to comment on the age thing.

Investors will consistently throw money at young entrepreneurs because they are “fresh” and “new.” If you want to feel the pulse of the future, you turn toward those that are more youthful. In all honesty, if I was a venture capitalist and a 40-something came and pitched an idea targeting his or her own generation I would say “Wonderful!” I think bloggers have the unique ability to come close to grasping what is hip among the 20-somethings. Bloggers are inquisitive by nature and thus no matter what the age they will flock to the next cool thing to see what all the buzz is about. It’s in their nature.

So is there a barrier created by age? Nope. Not unless you think there is. The only barrier that exists is the absence of a center of communication where the age demographics are equal (if there is one that you know of please feel free to comment). This is especially the case in the blogosphere (primarily the tech blogosphere). Maybe I’m wrong but my guess is the demographic breakdown of those featured on techmeme is somewhat skewed toward late twenties and beyond. I would be interested to see a chart of the age demographic in Techmeme. Maybe we could talk to Gabe about this?

According to a New York Times article today, it has become more challenging to make money in the porn industry. Why? Thanks to online sites such as PornoTube and YouPorn (not work safe sites), porn enthusiasts have begun filming their own movies at home and uploading them to free sites. This shift in porn consumption has caused a 15 percent decline in pornographic video sales and rentals. And you thought music companies had it tough!

Not only are users spending less on porn, but apparently their taste for large production pornography has reduced as well. According to the New York Times,

Unlike consumers looking for music and other media, viewers of pornography do not seem to mind giving up brand-name producers and performers for anonymous ones, or a well-lighted movie set for a ratty couch at an amateur videographer’s house.

Apparently, the production company Nectar Entertainment which has produced such infamous movies such as “Exxxtasy Island” (one of my personal favorites), spends between $50,000 and $80,000 to create a movie. Unfortunately, he can no longer compete with those that have virtually no cost since all they need is a camera and two people to have sex. Any you thought your job was tough? Think again!

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Facebook audio mysteriously disappears – Eric Eldon covers how a new Audio feature that was created has disappeared from the applications list. My thoughts? Facebook will be launching a new music feature and has other partners that are heavily invested in launching the new feature. As of now adding music to your profile doesn’t seem to work properly, and I have a feeling that this app will get removed.

The Flexible Entrepreneurial Mind – Noah Kagan covers the importance of being able to continue learning throughout life. Best part of the article is the first line: “Einstein was a retard as a child.”

Jangl Tailors VOIP for Social Networks – Great Techcrunch article about the new Jangl service. Jangl enables users to anonymously contact each other. All you need to know is their email address. Pretty slick.

Overview of the Identity Landscape – Great article covering identity on the net. The image at the top of the page says it all. Here is online identity summed up. Pretty simple right?

I thought I would include an entertaining Dimitri Martin Video with my links.

Thanks to Samuel Huleatt who informed me of a pretty cool event taking place in DC this Friday morning. The first OpenCoffee Club in DC will be taking place Friday from 9am to 11am at Caribou Coffee on 17th and L. Luckily this is next door to my office at Fleishman-Hillard so I will be in attendance. After checking out the OpenCoffee Club website I found out what the event is about.

The OpenCoffee Club was started to encourage entrepreneurs, developers and investors to organise real-world informal meetups to chat, network and grow.

It definitely sounds like my type of event. While they would like to have demonstrations I’m not sure how many demonstrations will be taking place in a Caribou Coffee on a Friday morning. Either way I am definitely looking forward to checking it out. If you are in the area then I highly suggest you stop by as well. Also, if you are interested in local events for entrepreneurs, investors, and tech enthusiasts then check out the upcoming Tech Cocktail event that I am co-hosting with Frank Gruber next Thursday. If you would like to sign up then head on over to the registration form now! There are only a few spots left so if you are interested then you should sign up ASAP. At the beginning of next week we will be announcing all of the final details about the companies demoing and sponsers.

Today we are announcing the details for the first ever Tech Cocktail DC. The event was founded in Chicago by Eric Olson and Frank Gruber. Both Frank and myself will be hosting the event at MCCXXIII, located at 1223 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC. The event will take place Thursday, May 17, 2007 from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. The event is going to be limited so you need to sign up soon if you plan on attending. The event is free to attend and there will be free beverages as well so you must be 21. If you are interested in coming to meet local DC tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and fellow business professionals interested in technology then go sign up at http://techcocktaildc1.eventbrite.com. The event will be limited to the number of attendees so registration is on a first come first serve basis. If you want to read more about the event you can view it on the Tech Cocktail website. Past Tech Cocktail events in the founding city (Chicago) filled up rapidly so hurry up and signup! I hope to see you there!

When I was 19 I started a business called Musical Revolution. The aim was to sell independent music online, similar to what CDBaby has succeeded with. Long story short, the business changed paths (resulting in Frusic) and the website ceased to exist. While I shouldn’t have let the domain expire, I always enjoyed having access to the history of my site via the Wayback Machine. Now someone had the great idea to purchase my domain as a business opportunity, most likely hoping that I would want to buy my domain name back. If you go check out the site as it exists today, you can see the lovely landing page. Also, the company that snatched up the domain had the great idea to add a robots.txt file that effectively prevents the Wayback Machine from archiving the site. While business-wise it was a smart move on their part, it’s definitely annoying. I want my history back!

Last night I had the opportunity to attend my first Washington, D.C. Blogger Meetup. It was a great experience and I met a lot of passionate D.C. bloggers. One of the more interesting bloggers that I had the chance to speak with was Abi Jones of HeatEatReview.com. Abi and her writers post reviews of frozen dinners. It’s a pretty quirky topic to be covering. I also had the opportunity to speak with Ross Karchner who covers D.C. technology and media news and events. If you want a quick way to meet a few people that share some common interests, then I highly recommend checking out some of your local meetups. There are a variety of options covering a vast array of topics with everything from spiritual topics to people passionate about blogging. Check it out!