This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

First off, some sad news: R.I.P. Aaron Swartz. Aaron, who was based here in Brooklyn, was a brilliant mind, hacktivist and internet folk hero who co-authored the RSS 1.0 specification at age 14, joined the Reddit team in its earliest days and was the founder of DemandProgress, playing a key role in helping win the fight against SOPA/PIPA. Many friends have weighed in including Lawrence Lessig, Cory Doctorow and danah boyd. Aaron was only 26 years old and it's such a tragic loss for the internet community. Thoughts and condolences to his friends & family. Here's the official statement from his family and here's a video of Aaron on how we stopped SOPA.

The NYC EDC is launching its Spring 2013 NYC Tech Talent Draft, a series of on-campus info sessions providing computer science and engineering students with a firsthand look at exciting NYC tech startup careers. First event starts January 30. Interested? Go register here.

My buddy Steve Rosenbaum (founder/CEO of Magnify) is NYC EDC’s entrepreneur at large, and he'll be doing virtual office hours (via Google Hangout) on January 18 (12 to 1p.m.) to answer all your startup and entrepreneurship questions. Register here.

Hacker School (a three-month, full-time school for becoming a better programmer, like a writers retreat for hackers) is accepting applications for its Winter 2013 batch that'll run from February 11 to May 2. Oh, and did I mention it's absolutely free?!

Google recently rolled out the biggest Free Wifi network in the city in the n'hood of Chelsea (also the location of the company's offices), spanning the area from Gansevoort Street to 19 Street from 8th Avenue to the West Side Highway. Kudos to Alex Abelin, who heads community affairs at Google, for helping make this happen!

Forget "America's Next Top Model." The real action is in becoming one of New York’s Next Top Makers! The competition is sponsored by the NYC EDC to challenge makers, designers, and engineers to develop new products with commercial potential. Submissions are open until February 13th, and the organizers are throwing an event January 22 where you'll hear from IDEO storytelling gurus why good design doesn’t always speak for itself, and learn about the role of a designer in a world of 3D printers.

Congrats to my buddy Dick Talens (cofounder of Fitocracy and 500 Startups alum) for helping coach Brooklyn's own Mallory Hagan to the Miss America title!

I have one free pass to the Vator conference in San Francisco on February 13. Interested? Email me at gary@garysguide.com.

Looking to master the art of public speaking? Check out Holley (with an E) Murchison's Cool-As-A-Cucumber class series this month at AlleyNYC on the 15th and the Grind on the 30th.

Space Shuttle Enterprise: A Pioneer is a new exhibition opening January 17 at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, exploring the history of Enterprise and its critical role in the development of the space shuttle. The exhibition is free (with the price of admission) and the museum is offering a “buy one, get one free” promotion through February 15 to their Facebook and Twitter fans.

On Saturday, New York declared a public health emergency over the flu outbreak, with over 20,000 cases now reported across the state. Wondering where to get that flu shot? Here's a list of locations.

And now let's see what's going down in the Alley this week...

New Work City Member Show & Tell!
Demos by Anna Curran (Cookbook Create), Jason Kende (Inbox.io), Michael Carvin (Smart Asset), Natalie Rodic Marsan (The Social Media Playbook), Tobin Schwaiger-Hastanan (JobsNearby) and John Federico (Qrious).
Monday (Jan. 14), 6 p.m. @ New Work City, 412 Broadway, 2nd Fl.

CTO School: Becoming a better Technical Leader - Tips & Discussions
Jean Barmash will give a brief overview of different aspects of the role of CTO, as well as share some experiences for learning the skills needed to excel.
Monday (Jan. 14), 6:30 p.m. @ Pivotal Labs, 841 Broadway, 8th Fl.

5th Hardware Startup Meetup
Presentations by Ben Einstein (founder, Bolt, a new hardware incubator), Alex Hawkinson (founder, Smart Things), Britta Riley (CEO, WindowFarms) and James Wolff (VP, DSHAPE - the world's largest 3D concrete printer).
Tuesday (Jan. 15), 6:30 p.m. @ NYU Poly Varick Street Incubator, 137 Varick Street, 2nd Fl.

I Like It When You Call Me Big Data
Presentations by Kevin Turner (Associate Partner, IBM Global Services), Josh Baron (Senior Academic Technology Office, Marist College) and Dr. Bruce Wexler (C8Sciences).
Tuesday (Jan. 15), 7 p.m. @ Knewton, 100 5th Avenue

Twitter NYC Engineering Tech Talk
Showcasing some of the latest and greatest projects Twitter is working on in New York City. An evening of beer, food and talks. With Nathan Marz (operating Storm clusters), Naz Erkan (an overview of Spiderduck) and Alek Kolcz (machine learning).
Wednesday (Jan. 16), 6 p.m. @ Twitter NYC, 340 Madison Ave

1st Bronx Tech Meetup
Wednesday (Jan. 16), 6:30 p.m. @ Majora Carter Group, 901 Hunts Point Avenue, Bronx

Starting From Scratch:How One Small Idea Becomes a Big Deal
With Lisa Gersh (CEO, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia) and Lisa Belzberg (founder, PENCIL) for cocktails overlooking the Hudson and a conversation on turning ideas into success.
Wednesday (Jan. 16), 6:30 p.m. @ Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, 601 West 26th Street, Northwest Showroom

Social Retail Summit #4
With Angela Min (Snapette), Erica Cerulo (Of a Kind), Chelsea Sun (Shoptiques.com), Lauren Sherman (Conde Nast LuckyMag), Kate Sekules (ReFashioner), Robert Gaafar (CropUp), Keith Fiore (Zenplaya), Abe Burmeister (Outlier), Seph Skerritt (Proper Cloth), Carine Carmy (Shapeways) and more.
Thursday (Jan. 17), 3 p.m. @ Dumbo Spot, 160 Water Street, Brooklyn

Music recommendations at Spotify
Erik Bernhardsson, the tech lead of the Discovery team at Spotify, will present music recommendations at Spotify.
Thursday (Jan. 17), 7 p.m. @ Pivotal Labs, 841 Broadway, 8th Fl.

#techdrinkup - Kick Off the New Year - NY Tech Party
Kick off the new year right by partying with over 500 awesome people in the tech community at a kick-ass lounge with a one-hour open bar!
Thursday (Jan. 17), 8 p.m. @ Liliam - W Hotel, 201 Park Avenue South

DUMBO Developers: Human Brain Robot Body
Given the chance, would you put your brain in a robot body?!!!
Friday (Jan. 18), 12 p.m. @ Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main Street, Brooklyn

Monthly Music Hackathon NYC
All-day event for musicians & engineers to create new music-related projects from scratch. Amazing cellist Colette Alexander will be in residence throughout the day to collaborate on whatever crazy project you can think of.
Saturday (Jan. 19), 10 a.m. @ 199 Lafayette Street, 3rd Fl.

More events on the horizon...
Legal Essentials for Startups: Part 3 - Intellectual Property Protection on Jan 22 @ Anchin
Entrepreneurs Roundtable 54 on Jan 22 @ NYU Stern
Next Top Makers: The Business of Design on Jan 22 @ 3DEA Pop-Up Store @ Eventi Hotel
How to Build Great Communities: Lets Collaborate on Jan 23 @ Projective Space LES
dd:COLLECTIVE - The Changing Retail Environment Presented by Digital DUMBO on Jan 24 @ Huge
NYC Mobile Startup Weekend on Jan 25 @ WeWork Soho Lounge
TEDxBroadway: Industry leaders envision the future of Broadway on Jan 28 @ New World Stages
Rapid Iteration With Python: Scaling AppNexus on Jan 30 @ AppNexus Razzle Space
Entrepreneurship in the Beer Industry on Jan 30 @ Professor Thoms
Business Insider Presents: Social Commerce Summit on Feb 06 @ Pier 60
UX Design and User Experience Optimization Trends on Feb 06 @ Anchin
Hearst Fashion Hackathon 2013 on Feb 09 @ Hearst
Social Media Week NY 2013 on Feb 18 @ Metropolitan Pavilion

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

So, 2013 is almost here. Time to break out the paper hats, the party glasses and the annoying air horns. How are you planning to spend your New Year's Eve? At home with friends and family watching TV? Partying it up (a.k.a. getting your drunk on) at an overpriced club / lounge? Or smooshed together with the rest of humanity in the bowels of Times Square? Well, wherever you are, I hope you have fun and remember that 2013 will be an amazing year!

While we're on the subject, an advisory from our friends at Uber: Surge pricing will be in effect for NYE, people. So don't be surprised tomorrow morning when ya see the bill. In Uber's own words, "NYE pricing is not for the faint of heart! The average surge multiple will likely be 2x normal prices, but during extreme spikes it could cost you $100 MINIMUM before time and mileage charges!" The most expensive times to take an Uber? Between 12:15am and 2:45am. There. You've been warned.

This Sunday is the Tesla Spirit Award Gala Benefit Reception at the New Yorker Hotel, marking the 70th anniversary of Nikola Tesla. Tesla died on January 7th, 1943 at the hotel in room #3327 on the 33rd floor, where he'd lived for the last 10 years of his life (1933-1943). Yup, he was a fan of the number three. And in case you don't know who Tesla is (god forbid), here's the Oatmeal comic celebrating the greatest geek who ever lived.

A few months ago, at the launch of the Queens Tech Meetup (complementing existing ones in Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey), I wrote how cool it would be to have a Bronx Tech Meetup. Well, guess what folks--it's finally happened! The first meeting is January 16 at 901 Hunts Point Avenue. So go check it out and show your support for the community taking shape there. Any takers for a Staten Island Tech Meetup next? ;)

Want a no-strings-attached grant of $100,000 to skip college and focus on your cool projects? Of course you do. Check out Peter Thiel and his fellowship program. Applications for the 2013 class are due by 11:59 PM, December 31, 2012. That's tonight, so you'd better hurry.

The good ol' MTA finally gave us the holiday gift we'd all been craving: Subway Time!, an app providing a countdown to the next train's arrival arrives so you can slurp down one last mojito before heading home. Took them 11 years and $228 million but by golly they did it. Now, before you get all excited, remember there are a few caveats. It only works on the iPhone (for now), it does need an internet connection, the UI is bad, it only works with a third of the subway lines (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & S) and it could take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to fully roll out. But..... it's a start! And while we're on the subject, MTA, can we haz some WiFi pleez?

It's almost the end of the year, which means everyone and their uncles have predictions for 2013. Lemme save you the time and spell it out for you: Moar cloud, moar big data, moar 3d printing, moar wearable computing, moar internet of thingz, moar collaborative consumption, apple tv (duh), moar contextual stuff, moar privacy intrusions, moar k-pop, moar grumpy cat photos (hola Tardar Sauce!), moar sexting, moar oversharing, moar mobile everything. Moar moar moar! Meanwhile, here's a video you should watch.

And now let's see what's going down in the Alley this week...

Headspace: Your Brain on Music!
Showcasing the latest at the intersection of neuroscience and new media, with a focus on music. Live demonstration of a brain-controlled environment to drive spatial control of music and real-time visual effects based on the thoughts, moods and emotions of the headset-wearer.
Monday (Dec. 31), 10 a.m. @ Dolby Theater NYC, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, Main Floor Screening Room

Startup Pitch Night
Wednesday (Jan. 2), 6:30 p.m. @ Bar 13, 35 East 13th Street, 2nd Fl.

Raising Startup Capital
With Arie Abecassis (cofounder, AppStori and venture partner, DreamIt Ventures)
Thursday (Jan. 3), 6 p.m. @ General Assembly East, 902 Broadway, 4th Fl.

Explore Social Media
Thursday (Jan. 3), 6 p.m. @ Empire State Building, 350 5th Avenue, 59th Fl.

The Product Group January 2013
With Jared Raskin (manager, site and subscriber analytics, WeightWatchers)
Thursday (Jan. 3), 7 p.m. @ MTV Networks / Viacom, NYC

Village Tech Breakfast
Friday (Jan. 4), 8 a.m. @ The Smile, 26 Bond Street, #1

Foursquare Hackathon 2012: Connect all the Apps!
The best Foursquare hacks and apps will get global glory, swag and some mind-blowingly awesome prizes including ringing the NASDAQ closing bell, rocking tickets to SXSW, partying with an action figure version of yourself, or wearing the infamous Foursquare hackathon TITLE BELT!
Saturday (Jan. 5), 9 a.m. @ Foursquare HQ, 568 Broadway

Conducting User Research
With Diane Loviglio (resident mentor at 500 Startups and former Mozilla user researcher)
Saturday (Jan. 5), 11 a.m. @ General Assembly West, 10 E. 21st Street, 4th Fl.

Tesla Spirit Award Gala Benefit Reception
Marking the 70th anniversary of Nikola Tesla. Organized by the Tesla Science Foundation and endorsed by HRH Prince Philip of Serbia. Event will include a number of prominent speakers, dignitaries, artists and others who will receive this year’s Tesla Spirit Awards.
Saturday (Jan. 5), 6 p.m. @ New Yorker Hotel, Grand Ballroom, 481 8th Avenue

More events on the horizon...
A Conversation with Adaptly Founder Nikhil Sethi on Jan. 7 @ General Assembly East
#BARK Presents: New Year New You | What Can We Learn From Brands That Pivot on Jan. 8 @ Yotel
Invasion of The Hackathons: Creating Unique Opportunities for Entrepreneurs on Jan. 8 @ NYU Poly
January 2013 NY Tech Meetup on Jan. 8 @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts
NJ Tech Meetup 32 on Jan. 10 @ Stevens Institute Of Technology
Investor Feedback Forum on Jan. 10 @ Microsoft
Startup GC Panel #2 on Jan. 10 @ General Assembly
Startup Dinner on Jan. 10 @ Central Cafe (TBA)
Enterprise Technology Meetup on Jan. 15 @ Cooley
1st Bronx Tech Meetup on Jan. 16 @ Majora Carter Group
Hearst Fashion Hackathon 2013 on Feb. 9 @ Hearst

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! And Happy New Year! :)