By Alexandra Hitzler 7/27/12 4:50pm

Meetups

Guests Mingle On a Long Island City Rooftop Before Demos Begin

Tug of War, Cat Photoshoots and the Aereo Lawsuit at Last Night’s Queens Tech Meetup

More than 150 people braved last night’s land hurricane–technically called a derecho–to attend Coalition for Queens’ second Queens Tech Meetup at Hunters Point Plaza in Long Island City.

Unfortunately, the crowd of young professionals was only able to enjoy rooftop views of the Manhattan skyline for a short while before the clouds came rolling in. Thankfully, the demos inside provided plenty of amusement, including a tug-of-war match and a feline photo shoot for mycatandi.com. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 7/18/12 3:45pm

Silicon Alley U

The crisp Ms. Quinn.

Christine Quinn Introduces a Cheaper Computer Science Option for NYC Students

It was merely mid-morning when Betabeat arrived at enterprise-focused accelerator Tipping Point Parters for a presser, and already everyone in attendance seemed to be wilting. The exception: City Council Speaker (and, let us not forget, mayoral candidate) Christine Quinn, who looked downright jovial. Perhaps she was just that excited about her coming announcement.

Or perhaps she was simply thrilled to be wearing what looked like seersucker, while the rest of us suffered in the heat.

We were gathered into a rather claustrophobic–but very well air-conditioned–startup space, complete with white lighting fixtures and random whiteboard. The occasion: The creation of two new programs meant to feed engineers and other much-needed tech talent into the city’s startup sector. Read More