SF New Tech

As an application developer, if you’ve ever used shared hosting service for hosting and serving up your web sites and applications, you know how unreliable the hosting becomes once you start getting a decent amount of traffic. Things just don’t scale. At that point, the most logical thing to do is to ditch the traditional shared hosting service in favor of dedicated cloud servers such as Amazon EC2.

Because the knowledge and experience of an infrastructure engineers is quite different from that of the software engineers (web application developers) managing cloud hosting becomes hard and cumbersome for the software developers.

This is where flexflux comes in. Co-founders Kei Kubo and Hiro Fukami came up with an idea to provide standardized redundantly distributed multi-layered servers with auto-scaling, load balancing and replication to developers who are not comfortable setting up servers for their web services.

Their goal is to forge innovation in the shared web service hosting industry by changing the way of hosting services in each of development, deployment, management and payment phases. Users can use their service as easily and as inexpensively as traditional shared hosting services, but with the difference of professional redundantly distributed multi-layered scalable infrastructure.

This Wednesday at SF New Tech, Kei will show you how easy it is to develop web applications and publish them in distributed servers with fluxflex.

Business Model? fluxflex operates on a freemium model, so there is certain amount of free usage followed by paid subscriptions as and when your usage exceeds the free amount.

About fluxflex

fluxflex is based in San Jose, California. They’ve raised about 240K in angel funding.

Company: fluxflex, inc.
Product: fluxflex
Website: http://www.fluxflex.com/
Twitter: @fluxflex
Founder: Kei Kubo @keikubo
Co-Founder: Hiro Fukami @d_sea
Contact Email: support @ fluxflex.com
Contact Form: https://www.fluxflex.com/contact.html

When serial entrepreneurs Cameron Brain (built and sold 3 web startups prior to this one) and Eric Roach (built and sold a brokerage company to Morgan Stanley, worked with & invested in several early-stage startups) met through a mutual connection, they hit it off right away.

The two teamed together and produced a blog called the RoachPost.com that focused on their own operational experiences as entrepreneurs – stuff like building a board, raising capital for startups and so on. They quickly realized that they didn’t want to write a blog, but the  time that they spent producing content, promoting it, and building their readership set them on course towards an idea that would eventually become XYDO.

Given the sheer amount of content that’s published on a daily basis, combined with the number of different channels through which you can consume it, the 2 co-founders felt that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to separate the signal from the noise. So they’ve build XYDO, an app that approaches news and information from a people angle, not a pure aggregation or algorithmic angle.

XYDO is still in private beta, so we don’t know anything more beyond this, however if you come to the SF New Tech event this Wednesday, you can directly quiz/grill Eric and Cameron, who will be giving a live demo of XYDO on stage.

What else is in store for SF New Tech peeps?

XYDO will be offering beta invites to 100 members of SF New Tech. Simply follow this link to get set up with your own XYDO account.

If you don’t snag one of the 100 invites, it’s not the end of the world. Just

1. follow them on Twitter @xydoapp or
2. visit xydo.com and input your info and they’ll include you in the next batch of invitations.

About XYDO

XYDO is based in New York City and is self-funded to the tune of $500K. The startup is now actively trying to raise their first round of outside capital.

Website: http://xydo.com
Twitter: @xydoapp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/XYDO/104923692894968
Contact email: cbrain @ xydo.com
Feedback: http://getsatisfaction.com/xydo
CEO & Co-Founder: Eric Roach, @veroach, http://roachpost.com (blog)
Co-Founder: Cameron Brain @cameronbrain, http://roachpost.com (blog)

Crowd-sourced TV is now just a click away, thanks to the efforts of Redux co-founders David McIntosh, Max Crane, Chris Pennello and their team. A welcome change from traditional cable television providers like Comcast who limit consumer choices and forces bland, boring content down your cable line, Redux enables a discovery layer on top of video, photo and rich media content that could be consumed via numerous platforms.

Discovery takes the form of the social graph and recommendations. In other words, Redux is a personalized channel for you that’s curated and programmed by your friends and people that share your taste.

There is much more to it than this, and that’s why David McIntosh and his team are descending onto the stage to give us a demo of Redux at the Dec 15th SF New Tech event.

What’s In Store For SF New Tech Peeps?

Along with their demo of the Redux platform, they will also be showing off “Redux Discover” for Google TV – a fun and beautiful way to discover the videos that your friends and relevant tastemakers are watching, all in an effortless lean-back experience. Although this feature is not publicly available yet, Redux has promised to give away private invites for SF New Tech attendees, so don’t miss it if you want one!

Plus free custom RVCA Redux T-shirts for a chosen few!

About Redux

Redux is based in Berkeley California. The company has raised venture capital from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Alsop-Louie Partners.

Website: http://redux.com
Twitter: @redux
Contact Email: feedback @ redux.com
Contact Form: http://redux.com/contact

Add-on-Con is the only industry conference focused on web browser extensions, and this year’s event is going to highlight some dramatic changes occurring in the industry.

Join the conversation on Dec 8th and 9th in Mountain View, California.

Especially for SF New Tech fans: Use the discount code SFNewTech on checkout to save $50 off the registration price. That is over 30% in savings right there!

Registration includes lunch, goodies and hands on training. Click here to register!

On Tuesday evening, December 7th, come and join SMAC (Social Media Advertising Consortium) board members Bonin Bough, Global Director of Social Media at PepsiCo and Heidi Browning, President of Rally, the social media agency at Universal McCann as they lead a conversation in what’s working in Social Media for brands and start-ups.

Joining Bonin and Heidi will be Chris Perry, President of Weber Shandwick Digital and Nichole Goodyear, CEO of Brickfish and Richard Jalichandra, CEO of Technorati. This is the first San Francisco SMAC Event, so don’t miss it!

The event is hosted By Technorati and brought to you by Brickfish & 33Across.

Join SMAC members and fellow social media thought leaders for networking, wine & light hors d’oeuvres.

About SMAC

SMAC, short for Social Media Advertising Consortium, is dedicated to responsible scale, innovation and evolution of the social media industry. Their 3 main objectives (as stated on their website) are

1. Create a common vocabulary
2. Define standard buying units
3. Standardize measurement metrics

For more information, and to become a member to join and contribute, visit smac.org

SF New Tech gold sponsor CALinnnovates has just announced the Grateful Tech “What Technology Are You Grateful For?” Contest where you could possibly win

1. A brand new iPad ($499 value) or
2. An iPod Touch ($299 value)or
3. An iPod Nano ($149 value)

All you have to do is record a 30 second (max) video telling them what technology it is that you are grateful for, upload the video to youtube, and enter the youtube url along with your contact info on the contest page here.
Your video could be serious, funny, heart-warming or anything else, so long as it is “clean” (before uploading to youtube, think about whether you could watch it with your mom AND grandmom !).

"Technology I am Grateful For? 'Nuff Said!"

In addition to the prizes above, each winner will get 100$ donated to Kiva.org in their name for them to invest in an entrepreneur of their choice.

Deadlines and Dates: The contest runs from November 23rd 2010 until December 15th, 2010 and online voting runs from December 15th, 2010 until December 31th, 2010.

For a full list of contest rules and terms, click here.

Photo: via joshfassbind

About CALinnovates

CALinnovates is a statewide coalition focused on championing the conversation about the future of California’s critical technology sector. For more information, check out calinnovates.org

You can also stay updated and follow CALinnovates on twitter @calinnovates and fan them on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CALinnovates

This just in from our Tip Line*!

Skyara, a marketplace for experiences just launched a campaign of donating an experience to charity to raise money for the UCSF Children’s Hospital.

MySpace.com co-founder Aber Whitcomb has donated a chance to win a trap and skeet shooting experience with him for a few lucky people who donate to the UCSF children’s hospital. Details here.

Please note, NO living creatures will be harmed in this event! Whitcomb promises it will be a fun event!

Trap-Skeet With MySpace Co-Founder Aber Whitcomb (Photo by Britney McIntosh)

Our tipster notes that YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim has also promised to join in supporting the UCSF Children’s Hospital by donating an experience soon.

We are on top of it, so stay tuned to SFNewTech.com!

( Tips? News? Stories? Let us know at tips @ sfnewtech.com )

Tonight in San Francisco, come and meet 50 amazing technology companies who will be showing off their latest gadgets and technology at the 2010 GDGT Show in downtown San Francisco.
Get your hands on brand spanking new gadgets! Did we say..

• Windows Phone
• Sony Internet TV
• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Boxee Box
• Logitech Revue
• HP Envy 3D Laptop

WHEN: Friday, November 12th from 7 – 10pm
WHERE: SFDC Galleria, 101 Henry Adams St. (click here for map)

The event itself is completely FREE and the first few 100 peeps will get free gdgt t-shirts and cellphone cases. On top of that, there are a whole bunch of cool giveaways and, of course, tons of hot new gadgets to play with!

Another awesome GDGT Event (This one in Seattle).

Want even more? Well, how about…

• Free T-shirts for first few 100 gadget lovers.
• Free tacos outside for the first 500 gadget lovers.
• Over 7,000 dollars in gear up for grabs
• No Car? No Problemo! FREE shuttles from Civic Center BART stop and downtown SF Caltrain.

The event is for all ages and open to the public.

RSVP on Facebook and let the peeps at GDGT know if you’re thinking of dropping by!

So don’t forget your Grandpa’s BIG DUFFEL BAG, because 2 hands are not enough to take home all the FREE schwag!

While our leaders are busy bickering over Healthcare reform in Washington, OneMedical is bringing reform to our personal health care experience, with their state of the art technology platform that is a combination of their website and a (newly released) iPhone App.

One Medical iPhone App

With their proprietary technology and business processes, One Medical Group has re-invented primary care, enabling practices to deliver patient-centered, high-quality care at a lower cost than other high-service models.

Their iPhone app makes the practice even more accessible and convenient by extending a number of their services right to your phone! You can schedule appointments, renew prescriptions and access your health records from anywhere using their iPhone app or by visiting the website from your mobile device.

Tonight at SFNewTech, One Medical will be showing off their awesome technology and their iPhone App.

When high school sophomore Andrew Sutherland needed a good way to study a list of 111 French animals for his French class, he came up with an ingenious idea. A FlashCard site online that he could use to learn the french animals himself and share it with his friends anywhere in the world.

And so Quizlet was born. Since then Quizlet has spread to millions of students around the globe!

Quizlet - The best way to study languages, vocabulary, or 111 French Animals

Quizlet is a fun, free, way to study languages, vocabulary, or almost anything. It is the largest and fastest growing educational flashcards site on the web, providing powerful online study tools and games to millions of students.

Tonight at SFNewTech, Quizlet will be showing off the latest in educational technology, with its online study games and tools used millions of students.