Peace Market 2010: March 10th in NYC

If you're in NYC or will be in NYC on March 10, 2010, I highly encourage you to attend Peace Market 2010. It will be held at the M2 Ultralounge. More from their site:

"Join 1,000 remarkable friends and celebrities as the Peace Market transforms M2 into a market offering tastes, scents, sounds, and art from the Middle East and South Asia. Belly dancing, performances, video art, a Moroccan tea salon, a live auction, a hummus taste-off, the chance to meet inspiring Seeds of Peace graduates, and more will be revealed on this special night.

Seeds of Peace is proud to present Mr. Ozi Amanat and Mrs. Asema Ali Ahmed with the 2010 Young Peacemaker Award for their outstanding philanthropic work supporting youth leadership empowerment programs in South Asia and throughout the world."

Google TechTalk Tomorrow! The First International University in the Heart of North Korea

Christine organized a TechTalk at Google on very short notice. She usually needs a month or more, but I guess the administrators didn't know this. Here are a couple articles on this new university and the information below:

"The capitalist who loves North Korea
After making it as an entrepreneur in America, James Kim is fulfilling his dream of opening an university in North Korea that will offer, of all things, an MBA." Fortune

"Letter from North Korea --Ray of Hope?" The Huffington Post, Ben Rosen


Tech Talk: Pyongyang University of Science & Technology (PUST) -- First International University in the Heart of North Korea
Time: Thursday, February 11, 2010 12-1pm PST, lunch following
Location: Kiev Conference Room, b40
VC Dial In: 3-253-5512

Abstract:
The opening of Pyongyang University of Science & Technology (PUST) was once thought to be an impossible dream. However, the first phase of the campus is now finished and ready to accept students in April 2010. Dr. David Kim, who serves as the Vice President of PUST, will be joining us to raise awareness about this first international university in North Korea (where the teaching language will be English), discuss recruitment of international faculty and explore fund-raising opportunities. Dr. Kim will share his experience in North Korea and also China as well. We'll leave enough time for Q&A from the audience. VC dial in is also available. Lunch following, please email if you're interested in joining!

Please see their website for more info on how to get involved: http://www.pust.kr/


About Dr. David H. Kim:
Dr. David Kim is the Vice President of Pyongyang University of Science & Technology in Pyongyang, DPRK, and the Vice President of Yanbian University of Science & Technology (YUST) in Yanji, Jilin Province, China. He also teaches business management courses in the Department of Management Information Systems in the YUST Business School.

Prior to joining YUST, Dr. Kim worked as a Principal Project Manager at Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in San Francisco. He also worked for Engineering and Construction companies including Bechtel Power Corp. in San Francisco. He has more than 30 years of broad based experience in the areas of Project Management, Engineering, and Construction.

Dr. Kim received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from San Francisco Christian University, CA. He holds an MBA in General Management from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, CA and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, CA. He received BS in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University in Seoul, South Korea. He is a PMI certified Project Management Professional and a registered Professional Engineer in Mechanical Engineering.

2010 AT&T Developer Summit in Las Vegas

Just received this notice for you mobile developers out there:

"The 2010 AT&T Developer Summit is a full day event giving developers first access to exciting technology announcements, strategy, guidance, and tools for developing applications on the AT&T Network and devices.

By attending the 2010 AT&T Developer Summit, you will be the first to learn about new developments in our technology roadmaps through a morning of General Sessions including the Executive Keynote by Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. You’ll also be able to customize your Summit experience through four different tracks of presentations, panels, and demos for developers wanting to build, market, and sell applications and devices."

The event will be on January 6th, 2010 at the Palms in Las Vegas.

Conference Hopping Today: TechCrunch's Real-Time Stream & Guy Kawasaki's Revenue Bootcamp

I'm conference hopping today before I take off for Chicago today to meet Christine and our girls. I'm at Guy Kawasaki's Revenue Bootcamp this morning and headed to TechCrunch's Real-Time Stream event later today.

Slice of Revenue Bootcamp
Keynote
Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief, Wired magazine
Author of Free: The Future of a Radical Price
11:00am - 12:00pm

Is the Advertising Model Dead?
1:30pm - 2:30pm
This panel answers questions like: Can you build a real business around advertising revenues? What does it take to optimize ad revenue? Are new ad techniques energizing?

Samir Arora - Chairman and CEO, Glam Media
Neil Chase - Vice President for Author Services, Federated Media
Xavier Zang - Publisher Partner Management, Microsoft
Tim Kendall - Director of Monetization, Facebook
David Kopp - Senior Director, N. American Ads, Yahoo!
Bill Reichert - Moderator. Garage Technology Ventures

Slice of Real-Time Search
9:00 - 9:45 am
The Real Time Opportunity
Q&A with leading angel investors John Borthwick and Ron Conway, moderated by Michael Arrington and Steve Gillmor.

9:45 - 10:30 am
The Real Time Moment

* Jack Dorsey, Twitter
* Chris Cox, Facebook
* Bret Taylor, Friendfeed
* Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch (moderator)

Candlelight Vigil for Laura Ling and Euna Lee in San Francisco & Los Angeles!

For those of you that haven't heard, here is the background story:

"Laura Ling and Euna Lee, their cameraman Mitch Koss and their Korean Chinese guide had entered China to interview North Korean defectors living along the PRC-DPRK border near the Tumen River. According to JoongAng Ilbo, a Seoul based newspaper, they were detained by North Korean border guards on March 17 as they were walking along the shallow Tumen River into North Korea. Although Koss and the Korean Chinese guide were able to escape captured by the North Korean, Koss was detained by Chinese Border guards, and released.

North Korea has stated “they’re suspected of hostile acts”, and has charged them with spying and illegally crossing the border. Their trial date is set for June 4. If found guilty, they could be served a sentence of five to ten years in prison.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been held in seperate cells, in North Korea, since March 17th. We are asking for your help. Will you?"


On JUNE 3rd, there will be candlelight Vigils for Laura and Euna nationwide. For San Francisco and Los Angeles, here is the information:

SAN FRANCISCO
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
6:00pm - 8:00pm

Location:
Front Steps of San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA

Organizers: Lynn Perkins, Mike Shen, Gibson Pearl

LOS ANGELES
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
6:30pm - 8:30pm

Location:
Wokcano
1413 5th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Organizers: Teddy Zee, Welly Yang, Kelly Hu and Dina Morishita

We have changed the time of the Los Angeles Vigil to 6:30 because CNN's Anderson Cooper will be feeding live with Lisa Ling. This will coincide with the beginning of Laura and Euna's trial so it's very important that they have all the support we can possibly muster!

Please come out on Wednesday, June 3rd! Let's all tell the world we want Laura and Euna to come home!


Message from Dina Morishita:

"As many of you may know, Laura's family and Euna's husband and their 4 year-old daughter were on the Today Show this morning. I know it's hard to watch TV in the mornings so I am forwarding you the link.

Please take a moment to watch their families' heartfelt pleas to get their loved ones home."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Geeks on a Plane East Asia Tour!

George Godula, who I worked with on the Open Web Asia conference, is putting together a tour of Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai with Dave McClure and The Founders Fund. More from their site:

Geeks On A Plane Overview

View more presentations from Christine Lu.

Geeks on a Plane is inviting international investors and tech entrepreneurs on a 10 day orientation tour of Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai's Internet, Mobile & Gaming sector.

For more details please visit http://www.geeksonaplane.com and follow us on Twitter @geeksonaplane

Itinerary:
· Tokyo, June 8th - 10th 2009
· Beijing, June 11th - 12th 2009
· Shanghai, June 13th - 16th 2009

Objectives:
· Gain insight into tech & innovation trends coming out of East Asia.
· Meet the startup & tech community in Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai.
· Understand the current investment climate in each respective city.
· Participate in a pro-entrepreneur and pro-investment initiative
during a tough global economy.

Each tour stop in Japan and China will offer the opportunity for our tour attendees to connect with the hottest local tech companies, start ups, entrepreneurs and investors via the following formats:

· Tokyo 2.0
· Startonomics conference
· Startup2Startup dinners
· Geeks On A Wall (Great Wall of China Hike, Beijing)
· Barcamp Shanghai
· TEDxShanghai
· VIP dinners and cocktail receptions
· Break out sessions & individual appointments
· Geeks & Glamour After Party - Geeks On A Plane, TEDx Shanghai and the Shanghai International Film Festival. By Invitation Only.

This tour is supported and co-organized by plus8star, KDDI Web Communications, the Tokyo 2.0 Team, Tudou, cilantromedia, Chinameme and many others.

Local startups, entrepreneurs and investors in Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai: Please do also contact George at george@web2asia.com if you would like to get involved in this tour as speaker, moderator, supporter or sponsor. This tour is all about you and will be a unique platform for you to show case your services or portfolio companies.

For sponsorship opportunities please visit here or send an email to george@web2asia.com for further details & pricing.

THE POWER OF ONE, multiplied Event by LAUNCH, May 7th

HatTip to Jeremy.

InnerCircle1 is hosting their Launch series event this Thursday, May 7th in Oakland. The event is featuring Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and inventor of PONG. Also speaking on the combined subject of gaming and social media platforms will be Ariel Polar, Nicole Lazzaro, and Andrew Mayer.


Spring 2009: THE POWER OF ONE, multiplied

With today's world the power of one individual can become truly transformational and revealing. Serendipitous relationships are created, nurtured and evolve to form greater meaning in our lives and lead to other connections and friendships.

Yet how do we help users truly unleash this power to advance career, social and possibly romantic interests? How can game play and interaction shape and encourage these experiences and results? To help guide our thoughts and ideas in this area LAUNCH, spring 2009 will focus on the power of one, multiplied - to empower users and ourselves in a connected society. Our speakers are uniquely qualified to speak on how the new world of social media and gaming is changing the way we interact.

The KYOPO Project Fundraiser Benefit in SF This Wednesday, May 6th!

Some of our friends are involved in an art & culture photography project related to Korean Diaspora called THE KYOPO Project. The artist is Cindy Hwang, which you can read more about here.

The fundraiser for the project is this Wednesday, May 6th, in San Francisco. It will be held at VESSEL, which is located at 85 Campton Place.

Registration starts at 5:30 and the event starts at 6 pm and continues until 9 pm.

Cost:
$100/Entrance Ticket (100% Tax Deductible)
$200/Vip Ticket, $1500/Table (100% Tax Deductible)
$50/Entrance Student Ticket (Valid Id Required) or for those 21-25 Yrs Old (100% Tax Deductible)

More from the event site...

Attend this night of entertainment and festivity to support the first project of its kind. Help realize a publication on multiculturalism and immigration illustrated visually and textually through the lens of the Korean Diaspora.

Guest Emcees And Keynote Speakers:
Yul Kwon, CBS’s “Survivor” Winner: Cooks Islands, Community Leader
Sue Kwon, Reporter, CBS5 Eyewitness News

Guest Performers:
Bobby Choy (Big Phony) – Singer, Songwriter
Maggie Kim - Singer Songwriter & Her Band
Susie Suh - Singer, Songwriter

Silent And Live Auction:
Meals With Mayor Jun Choi, Yul Kwon, Actress, Comedian Suzanne Whang, Author, UC Berkeley Professor Elaine Kim, Autographed Original Jersey By Hines Ward, Fine Art By Casey O’Connell, Ski Chalet One Week Vacation At The 5-Star, 5-Diamond Stein Erickson Lodge, Special, Exclusive Meal With Wine Pairing In The Kitchen Of The French Laundry, Meet And Greet With Chef De Cuisine Corey Lee, Meal For 2 At Gary Danko Restaurant, Meal For 4 At Laiola Restaurant, HBO Dvd Sets, Whistle & Flute Cascade Collar Coat, Jennifer Loomis Photography, Peekadoodle Kidsclub 1 Year Family Membership, Etc.

Kyopo Consultants:
Joy Yi Boatwright, Linda Kang Chong, Joseph Chong, Yul Kwon, Kevin Kim, Clara Chung, Eunyoung Byunn, Bibiane Choi, June Choi

Host Committee:
Claire Chang, Sunwoo Hwang, Bill & Mary Kim, Michael & Letitia Kim, Sarah Kim-Lee, Sophia Kim, Andrew D. Ko, Consul General Koo, Daniel S. Lee, Teresa Lim, Phillip F. Shinn, Jiin Son, Juliana Youn

RSVP to kyopoproject@gmail.com


**If you cannot attend the event but wish to contribute a donation online, instructions can be found on the KYOPO website at www.kyopoproject.com

"Red & White" Wine Tasting Event, April 18th@6PM

Christine and I decided to make our board activity for the Central YMCA fun and creative this year, so we have organized a wine tasting event. I'm inviting people in the Bay Area to the "Red & White" wine tasting fundraiser on April 18th from 6:00PM - 10:00PM.

It's not just any YMCA, it's the Central YMCA that is helping many underprivileged youth and seniors living in the Tenderloin District, which is the poorest area in San Francisco. Especially in these tough economic times, they need your help to keep programs going as many members rely on financial assistance from the Y. Please consider attending the wine tasting fundraiser (tickets can be purchased online here).

For $50 ticket, you will get unlimited tastings from various wineries from Napa, Sonoma, and Santa Cruz Mountains. Also, each attendee will get a $15 gift certificate from Bottlenotes.com. We also have exciting items being auctioned/raffled off: art work by Casey O'Connell, custom wine label and bottling services by Winefornia.com, an exclusive Byington Winery touring and tasting for group of 30 and other great prizes.

Even if you cannot attend, consider donating to the Central YMCA by clicking here and please enter "wineevent" in the reference box.

Thanks to your support:

* 250 teens find a healthy, safe refuge with academic support in our youth program here in the Tenderloin, a community struggling with drug use and violence.
* 500 Seniors come into our YMCA and participate in our wide range of programs, including fitness, language, and life skills classes.
* 700 low income individuals from all walks of life gain access to our facility and become socially involved in our YMCA, supported by our Financial Assistance program.

Look forward to seeing you there!

John Legend & Ambassador Stephens Charity Event in Seoul on March 28th

Our NetKAL colleague, Kevin Kim, is organizing a charity event in Seoul. Our friends Sonny, Roy and Esther are helping out too.

"John Legend in Seoul for a Night of Charity for Children" will be held at Bamboo House (www.bamboohouse.or.kr) in Yeoksam-dong.

It will be on Saturday, March 28, 2009. The event starts at 6:00pm and it is limited to 75 tickets at W1,000,000 (US$700) each. Please RSVP to seoulfoundation@yahoo.com if you are interested in attending.

Do Something.org Party... Computer History Museum in Mountain View

HatTip to Rahul. Tomorrow, Thursday, February 19th at 8:00PM in Mountain View, CA. It is hosted by Matt Cohler and Reid Hoffman. There are other secondary co-hosts like Rahul who sent me the info. More from Rahul...

"Do Something works to engage young people to get off the couch and take action in their communities - and they do it on a massive scale, having interacted with over 11 million teens last year alone. They are a young, hip, high-energy organization with a lot to celebrate (awarded Fast Company Social Enterprise of the Year, Featured at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, Invited to the White House this week, etc.)."

MobileBeat, Mobile Web Wars, TechCrunch Party

Thursday I attended VentureBeat's MobileBeat 2008 and was pleasantly surprised. The event was well done. Matt Marshall, Tim Chang, and others did great at moderating. Good energy, the panels were informative, and the crowd was good. Some random facts to note:

- Total U.S. subscribers in Q1 of 2008 was 255 million.
- 198 million text messengers.
- 123 million multimedia SMSers.
- 95 million Internet users through mobile.

U.S. market has a 16% penetration rate of mobile users using the Internet. 95 million subscribers pay for mobile Internet access.

4% of mobile internet users have iPhones, but they access the Internet 5x the average.

- PC Home users 120 million
- Mobile users 40 million
- Mobile Lift: 14% (outside the overlap of PC Home users & Mobile)
- Unduplicated audience is 137 million

VentureBeat's review, "Thanks for coming to MobileBeat 2008"


Friday I went to meeting after meeting and then attended TechCrunch's Mobile Web Wars. It was an entertaining panel, but a bit chaotic since there were 19 panelists. Arrington and David Rivas from Nokia were going at it early on, which was amusing and prompted me to Twitter about it (rare occasion that I tweet on live events).

Anyway, I went to the TechCrunch August Capital party afterwards. I couldn't go last year due to being knee deep in my startup, but went the year before. It is good being out and about again after being in a cave for a couple years. This whole year has been good since I've been finally putting together real people with faces on various social networks or email correspondence.

"There's a New Conversation"

I'll be at a one-day conference celebrating 10 years of The Cluetrain Manifesto. Should be insightful and fun:

There's a New Conversation
Join us in reflecting on the past 10 years since the publication of the Cluetrain Manifesto and what the next 10 years will be like as more and more of us defect from marketing and join the conversation!