(Photo: DeviantArt)

2012 was quite a year for the New York tech community. Several NYC startups scored monster exits, while others raised millions to up their chances of scoring a ping pong table for the office. Whether or not that hotly debated bubble bursts, we imagine 2013 will be another exciting year for NYC's tech set. Here are some New Year's resolutions from some of the NYC tech community's boldest names.

Rachel Haot, NYC Chief Digital Officer

1.      Cook more meals at home (FreshDirect and BlueApron)

2.      Shop local (local goods on Etsy: http://on.nyc.gov/ZPpbIp)

3.      Read more books (both physical and digital: all three NYC public library systems now offer e-books)

4.      Volunteer more often (http://www.nycservice.org/#s)

5.      Learn a new skill – like middle eastern cooking or how to use a letterpress.

Ryder Ripps, Cofounder of OkFocus

Work more, vroom bye haters.

Mallory Blair, Cofounder of Small Girls PR

Identifying our year's wins and losses and using that information to create defined roles for new team members to hire in the first quarter. Then the rest of 2013 is  about running the business instead of being the business.

Cindy Gallop, Founder of Make Love Not Porn

1. To champion and help every entrepreneur who wants to change the world through sex....This is the one place with enormous potential for innovation, disruption, and colossal financial returns, that the tech world refuses to go. I want to help drive more open-mindedness in the tech community around startups to do with sex.

2. To identify and use anything that is the future of money and payments. This resolution is born out of the frustrations and difficulties we've had setting up our payments infrastructure for MakeLoveNotPorn.tv.

Those difficulties led us to spend a lot of time and effort researching and talking to fintech startups, with the result that I am now passionate about working with and using anyone/thing inventing the future of money, finance and payments, both in an MLNPTV context and also a personal context.

Paul Berry, Cofounder of RebelMouse

My resolution is to keep focused and clever and build the fundamental culture for RebelMouse to grow from.

Christina DiRusso, PR Manager at Livestream

More: Reading, Engineering (currently learning to be a Livestream Encoding Engineer), Entertaining in, and exploring, my new Brooklyn hood, and Reality-TV watching. Less: Emailing, English (honing my Italian skills), Gchatting with my dad.

Josh Miller, Cofounder of Branch

Figure out how to get my (non-techie) roommates to be addicted to Branch, and learn how to rap so I can complement A-Flock's beat boxing (one of our engineers).

Dave Winer, Software Developer and Writer

My resolution for the New Year is: I will do what I can to make tech writing more literate. (Ed. Note: Read more about Mr. Winer's resolution here.)

Ricky Robinett, Hacker at Ordr.in

Be the first hacker in XXL.

Jason Baptiste, Cofounder of OnSwipe

On a personal level, I really want to get back into writing and blogging.  It's why I started Onswipe and lead to my book coming out.  On a professional level?  It's growing Onswipe in a revenue generating machine.  It's an aggressive goal and year, but we have the team + traction to do it.

Jose Mejia, Editorial Director at Huge

One of my resolutions, which I think a lot of people can relate to if they're honest with themselves, is to stop using work/being busy as an easy excuse for what are really just basic character flaws that I need to fix. If I can avoid issuing  "Sorry I'm running late, something came up at work" texts like they're stock in the Shitty Friend IPO, it'll be a good year.

Alex Taub, Biz Dev Builder at Dwolla

My New Years resolution is to be faster and better at creating relevant pop culture twitter parody accounts- a la @invisibleobama

Suri Ratnatunga, Community Lead at Sidetour

To take no cabs in 2013 unless I'm stranded/drunk in Brooklyn.

Crystal Fawn, Community Engagement at Atavist

To read all the books that Stanley Kubrick based his films on.

Taylor Lorenz, Social Media Specialist at McGarryBowen

Stop and think before including emoji in every text message.

Nitasha Tiku, Editor of Betabeat

Make friends based on charger compatibility.

Photo taken last night on 8th Street by @dens.

The storm's passed and the sun's up, which means it's time to take account of the havoc wrought on New York City.  That includes the city's techies, many of whom are currently dealing with power outages, water damage, and inconveniences ranging from the minor to the maddening.

On a basic level, with the subways out of commission and a huge swath of downtown Manhattan (a popular neighborhood with techies for work and living alike) without power or cell service, many startup workers are likely either holed up at home or headed north in search of power.

For example, after a long night of tweeting rather dire images from the East Village, Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley reported in this morning:

Hello from 23rd & Park!We okay but no power below 42nd st, no cell service below 23rd st. Cops say could be days before power in EV tho :/

— Dennis Crowley (@dens) October 30, 2012

But it looks like he found shelter soon enough:

Power, wifi and clam chowder. I heart E 50th Street (@ Ashton's Alley Sports Bar w/ @holger @chelsa) 4sq.com/RmYm4G

— Dennis Crowley (@dens) October 30, 2012

Has any sports bar ever seemed so welcoming?

In terms of businesses affected, one victim seems to be the TV livestreaming service Aereo, which had expanded its try-for-free option to serve New Yorkers without cable. Everything was working fine when this reporter went to bed around 12:45 a.m., but upon attempting to log on this morning we found this:

:(

We can't help but worry about that warehouse with all those tiny antennas, secreted away somewhere in Brooklyn. We've reached out to Aereo and will update if we hear anything back. UPDATE 1:05 p.m.: Virginia Lam, Aereo's VP of Communications and Government Relations, tells us the service is back up and try for free has been extended once more. Guess the temporary outage had more to do with the power outages than any more serious damage.

Data centers and servers seem to have taken quite a hit. Gawker Media and the Huffington Post have experienced problems with their sites. Even those who aren't totally screwed are dealing with nagging inconveniences. From reporter Kashmir Hill:

Sandy got the Forbes email server. Please contact me instead via Twitter, FB, Gmail, Goog+, OkCupid, MySpace, Friendster, AOL chat or phone. — Kashmir Hill (@kashhill) October 30, 2012

WYNC's New Tech City program didn't air this morning. Said host Manoush Zomorodi:

Would have been ridiculous to broadcast @wnyc's @newtechcity this AM. Today NYC is decidedly low-tech: SMS and radio rule! — Manoush Zomorodi (@Manoushz) October 30, 2012

DUMBO-based Huge is also closed today, but reports no damage to the company's offices:

We're shut in Brooklyn today (thanks #Sandy), but the office is fine. Our thoughts are with our neighbors. @dumbonyc has local updates. — Huge (@hugeinc) October 30, 2012

SwissMiss Tina Roth Eisenberg reported that Tattly shipments will be a couple of days late, but the team is safe:

Hey @tattly fans, our team is safe but our studio is in the evacuation zone so we won't be able to ship any orders today/tomorrow. #sorry — Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) October 30, 2012

A spokesperson for Chelsea-based social prototyping startup Quirky told Betabeat that the company's basement is currently flooded and they've got no power, but the site is up and running. We've also reached out to two other companies with major facilities, Shapeways and Makerbot, and will update if/when we get more details.

Venrock partner Marissa Campise has been posting some pretty amazing pics of the damage downtown:

That's not good. (via @Marissa)

Meanwhile, those with power are pitching in. Local Response CEO Nihal Mehta announced, "dear NYC: looks like the @LocalResponse office (28/6th) has power + internet + water. tweet or email at nihal at localresponse if u need it!" A followup tweet suggests it's quite the happening hotspot:

Caption: "power + pingpong = hurricane party @ LocalResponse HQ"

Om Malik sends warm thoughts eastward, via a blog post titled, "For my friends and New York – stay strong":

At every corner is a flashback. And there are friends – so many of them. Some who I grew up as a kid. Others who I just met a few months ago. And many who I work along side every day. How can I not be worries about them as the city gets submerged in water from the angry sea.

But it is New York. It will get back on its feet. It always does. Because if it doesn’t then what’s the point. Stay strong my friends. Stay stronger New York!

UPDATE 1: Looks like Squarespace having data center issues, as well. From the company blog come reports of flooding in their data center:

Unfortunately, this means that Squarespace will be offline soon (our estimate being at 12PM today). Be assured that while this will impact our availability, there is no chance of data loss or any other permanent effects. We have simply run out of power, backup power, and cannot access our fuel in a flooded basement.

UPDATE 2: Good news from Shapeways. A spokesperson tells Betabeat:

We just got word that the factory in LIC was totally untouched by the storm. We're also happy to report that our servers and machines are now powered backup.

Perry Chen has also checked in:

kickstarter office closed w no power but many of us are online. if you need help from us today pls be patient thnx!

— perry chen (@perrychen) October 30, 2012

UPDATE 3: Betabeat has learned from Betaworks CEO John Borthwick that the firm's office is closed but dry (despite flooding in the general vicinity). However, Mr. Borthwick himself is dealing with the storm's aftermath. "My family and i are bailing a foot of water out of my kitchen," he told us.

We also talked to Livestream CEO Max Haot, who's still on the West Coast. "The power actually went out during the night... we actually have backup power that is provided by the building, by generators on the roof, and that still is what is powering operations there." Hence, they were able to keep the #SandyCam running. Mr. Haot estimates they got at least 400,000 unique viewers throughout the day, and Livestream was also the first media outlet on the scene of the collapsed building in Chelsea.

Like many tech companies, Livestream's data center is facing floodwaters. "They've lost power as well, as has everybody south of 34th Street." They've got about a hundred hours of backup fuel, so Livestream hasn't felt any impact on their core servers, but it could become a headache if their data center doesn't get more fuel and the power supply doesn't come back online sometime soon.

Yesterday, Mr. Haot added, the company was able to run its sales and customer support operations just fine, with New York-based employees working from home. Today, however, "most of these guys have now lost power and are now MIA because they're dealing with their own families and their own issues" and Livestream's VOIP provider is having issues. So business operations aren't quite back up and running just yet. All in all, though, Mr. Haot seemed relatively upbeat about how Livestream was weathering the weather.

Update 4: We caught up with Makerbot CEO Bre Pettis to find out how the company had fared. Their offices and manufacturing facilities in downtown Brooklyn (at 87 3rd Avenue and 314 Dean Street) escaped unscathed, though Mr. Pettis admitted, "we're going to have to put everything back together, because we put everything up on tables, just in case there was flooding.

Their workshop by the Gowanus had a closer call: "The water basically came right up to our door and then receded." Next time, the Makerbot team plans to have sandbags at the ready. "We got lucky--the folks down the street were all pumping out their basements today," Mr. Pettis added.

Also, it seems Twitter took in the Gizmodo team in their time of troubles:

Big thanks to @cpen and @twitter for letting me and fellow #sandy refugee @samfbiddle use their internet.

— joemfbrown (@joemfbrown) October 30, 2012

 

Betabeat will be updating this post on a rolling basis with any new information from the city's startups. Please email tips@betabeat with any details about how you or your fellow tech types are coping. 

"I put it up and I immediately went to sleep," Sankho Mallik, a web developer and primary instigator for the site, which is unaffiliated with HUGE, told Betabeat.

We the Lobby works by allowing users to pool together micro-donations for political causes. As the accusation goes, Washington only listens to lobbyists, so why shouldn't you get one of your own?

The whole project grew out of the rabid anti-SOPA threads on Hacker News late last year declaring the legislation preposterous. But rather than take the angle of the lively Mother Board piece, "Dear Congress, It's No Longer OK To Not Know How The Internet Works," the folks behind We the Lobby took a page from Clay Johnson's rebuttal, "Dear Internet: It's No Longer OK to Not Know How Congress Works."

Unlike some of the tech community's attention-getting anti-SOPA efforts, We the Lobby's understanding of the political process seems to give their initiative a clearer direction for how to be heard on K Street. One of the team members, Adam Dunn, for example, is a JD who spent time at a law firm in DC with a lobbyist wing and acts as the site's legal advisor and lobbying contact.

Kickstarter's guidelines prohibit "charity or cause funding," but like Kickstarter, We the People offers better incentives the more you contribute and won't charge you unless the desired goal has been reached during a set time period. In the interim, a service called Stripe stores credit card information.

There's always something in the ether during an election year, but this political cycle seems particularly fecund. YouLobby, a crowdfunding site for lobbying, was supposed to launch in October.  And last month, Jumo and Facebook veteran Chris Hughes announced his next project, Cloud Tiger Media, an engine for spreading progressive ideas.  But Mr. Mallik said the idea was not to create a "silver bullet," but rather raise awareness using their technical skills.

Currently, there are two causes being featured on We the Lobby: one for opposition to SOPA and PIPA and the other to raise money to support Bernie Sanders proposed Constitutional amendment to ban for-profit corporations from campaign spending.

Although there is also a form for users to submit their own causes for inclusion on the platform, ideally they would be related to a current bill being debated in Congress, as that is where lobbying is likely to make the most impact. The ultimate goal, said Mr. Dunn, is to partner with "liberally-minded lobbying shops, former senators" or anyone skilled at grassroots lobbying.

Although We the Lobby wasn't built under the company banner, you can expect similarly creative side projects when Huge Labs rolls out this quarter. The company said it plans to launch its own incubator/initiative where employee ideas can be launched and developed with the goal of keeping employees from jumping ship if they have a good startup idea. Think of it as a variation on "If you build it, they will come"—If you let them build it, they won't leave.

(Two Trees)

Dumbo—the quasi-acronym for "Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass"—is the former manufacturing neighborhood in Brooklyn that's recently taken on the nickname "Silicon Beach," and it continues to rack up digital cred. Despite slim pickings for good restaurants and coffee shops, the sleepy neighborhood is looking more and more like a sliver of the Bay Area nestled within the better borough. Trailblazers Etsy, Huge LLC and Wireless Generation have expanded their leases and new tenants are signing on, including Armchair Studio, LLC, a graphic design, communications and computer programming company and Type/Code LLC, an interaction design and development company. 

The Flatiron District is popular with VC firms and web 2.0 startups, Madison Ave. is popular with the older startups like Facebook and Twitter that need to interface with advertisers, Soho is popular with content-based startups and Chelsea is popular with ... Google. But design, branding and development consulting seems to be where Dumbo's carving its niche.

Two Trees Management, the father-son group that holds the leases for all the above companies, is playing this up to its advantage. The management company also recently signed leases for Plausible Labs Cooperative, Inc., a mobile software consultancy company, Lovaro LLC, a product design and branding company, and Tippr, LLC, an e-commerce site.

"I've been with the company for eight years and the past year has been one of the busiest years," said Caroline Pardo, director of leasing for Two Trees. "The interest is coming from Manhattan, it's coming from companies all over, from new startups outside of even New York."

"Tech and creative types" want to be around other tech and creative types, she said. Most referrals are from current tenants, she said, and a majority of prospective tenants don't have broker representation.

Two Trees has been targeting startup tenants, even though such companies can be difficult tenants—just because they occasionally explode and grow so fast that they need to constantly be signing new leases. Namely, Etsy and the agency Huge—Two Tress' anchor tenants in the 2.0 district.

It certainly seems as if tech could begin to dominate the up and coming neighborhood—but a look at the list of tenants shows a good mix. The neighborhood was able to establish free wireless internet for all. Now, if there were only a great deli... and perhaps another subway line. Or more Taxis.

Get this guy a smartphone

Aaron Shapiro sees a lot of interesting data as the CEO of Huge, one of the Big Apple's top digital agencies. The jetsetting Mr. Shapiro just made the Crain's 2011 "40 Under 40" list of New York's young business leaders. His firm oversees campaigns and website redesigns for CNN, Reuters and Pepsi. And right now, Mr. Shapiro said, "The tablet market is the top of my mind."

This holiday season tectonic changes are expected in the tablet market, with Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet going on sale at $199. "We have a giant client with millions of unique monthly visitors. Right now the no. 2 browser is the iPad, which really portends the future of internet consumption. Right now, the biggest barrier is clearly price. Amazon can change all that," Mr. Shapiro told Betabeat by phone.

Mr. Shapiro is the author of the forthcoming book-- Users, Not Customers--being published next week by Penguin. "To be successful in this new world, companies have to find ways to engage their potential customers on the internet, which is where they are making their decisions about what to buy and even completing most of those purchases," he said.

The last decade is littered with giants who missed the boat on this. "Look at what happened to Blockbuster. Instead of figuring out the best way to reach their market through the internet, they hired Enron as their technology provider. True story."

J.P. Morgan just revised its sales estimates for the Kindle Fire to up to five million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. Amazon, which will be offering the Kindle Fire at $199, is expected to lose money on every unit, unlike Apple, which books a healthy profit on the iPad. But Amazon knows it can drive massive amounts of media consumption through these devices, dollars that will flow right through their bookstore, e-commerce and streaming video platforms.

"If you look at the pre-sale numbers for the Kindle Fire and the trends we're seeing in terms of traffic, it's easy to image that six months to a year from now, the majority of consumer web browsing will be done on a tablet," Mr Shaprio said. "That's a bigger shift than anything we have experienced with a mass audience since the dawn of the PC era. Companies need to be ready to reach those users."