(via the New York Daily News)

Maybe it's the revelation that Facebook's IPO might happen as soon as the third week of May (at least according to 143 phone calls made by Kara Swisher and, yes, she's counting), but it seems like even the local press has Mark Zuckerberg on the brain.

The New York Daily News, a paper about as known for its tech coverage as Zuck is known for his formal wear, decided to pick out 12 tech folks to watch and led with the portentous line, "The next Mark Zuckerberg might be right here in the city, sharing space with a dozen other startups in a loft near Union Square." HE WALKS AMONG US!

It's refreshing to see no actual "under 30" or "under 25," cap on this list, but the names were still familiar. In fact, so familiar, it's rather like taking a stroll down Betabeat's archives. There's Union Square Ventures' Christina Cacioppo, Raise Cache's Rebecca Zhou, Codecademy's Zach Sims, Lover.ly's Kellee Khalil, Coursekit's Dan Getelman, Cornell's Dan Huttenlocher, TimeHop's Jonathan Wegener, Fab.com's Beth Ferreira, GetGlue's Alex Iskold, and more.

Congrats, guys! Don't forget who knew you when.