CEO Jonathan Zabusky. (Photo: Seamless)

This week, just when you most wished for the familiar comfort of Seamless order delivered to your door, loss of power and Internet, lack of availability or guilt over subjecting delivery guys to the elements kept you away.

In the midst of the storm, one wit started a Tumblr chronicling the most egregious egregious wait times on the food delivery platform Seamless (try ninety minutes for a smoothie or 37 days for some soup). Asked for comment, a company spokesperson  pointed out that most of the times highlighted were for catering companies, which "are meant for larger parties and therefore need more time to prepare."

But, understandably, delivery times had doubled Monday, just after the storm. (Even if your favorite Mexican place was open during the storm, did you really feel like it was okay to ask them to send a delivery guy out into the hurricane to bring you some fish tacos? If you did, we hope you tipped 200 percent.)

However, over the past few days, restaurants have been slowly coming back online. On Sunday, 28 percent of restaurants in Manhattan were closed. Monday the number jumped to 53 percent, and on Tuesday it ticked up to 64 percent. On Wednesday, however, the rate of restaurants closed slid back to 61 percent, and delivery times are creeping back toward normal--–at least in parts of the city that still have power.

The photos coming out of the bus line are reminiscent of World War II-era bread lines. According to a developer at the New York Times, "Manhattan bus line at Barclay Center nearly wraps around entire arena, along Flatbush, down and around back to Atlantic." Click through the slideshow to see for yourself.

Among the locations: Six subway stations. (Photo: flickr.com/anniemole)

Quick question: What would Microsoft have to offer to get you interested in Windows 8? Would free Wifi perhaps do the trick?

Starting now until the end of the year--i.e., all the way through the holiday shopping season--Microsoft will be sponsoring free Wifi access at several locations around town, via Boingo Wireless. (San Francisco is getting the same treatment.) The program is already up and running in each of Manhattan's six wired subway stations, and it'll be extended to more than 200 unspecified hotspots across the island starting November 1. 

Those of us in the outer boroughs are, as per the usual, Wifi-less.

What's behind such generosity? Well, it's not a sudden desire on Steve Ballmer's part to play Santa. The press release basically admits the free Wifi gambit is a naked attempt to attract developers! developers! developers! to the platform:

“At Microsoft, we know that amazing apps are being built in New York and San Francisco, and we want to give talented developers the chance to launch their businesses through the Windows Store,” said John Richards, Senior Director at Microsoft Corp. “We hope our Boingo Wi-Fi sponsorship will introduce the Windows 8 opportunity to app builders in NYC and San Francisco, while providing folks with Wi-Fi connectivity on-the-go.”

Well, developers? Are you not enticed?

New Tech City (Center for an Urban Future)

The Center for an Urban Future, a think tank headed by Jonathan Bowles, has released a lengthy report  about New York City's tech sector, titled "New Tech City." The Center's findings indicate amazing growth over the last decade. While "New Tech City" contains mostly good news for the local tech set, there is a dash of cold water--just a bit--to leaven any prospective startup's bright-eyed optimism.

First, the good news!

• New York is home to the fastest growing tech sector in the United states and has beaten Boston to become second only to Silicon Valley. Out of the top seven technology regions in the country only New York saw a rise in VC deals between 2007 and 2011. During those 4 years venture capital deals rose by 32% in New York while declining 11% nationwide.
• Center for an Urban Future reports New York's tech sector is sustainable and has major potential for growth in the future. This is in contrast to the dotcom bubble that burst so dramatically at the end of the 1990s.
• The Center also found that Manhattan alone has 431 startups and in recent years more than a dozen established startups have migrated to New York from San Francisco and Boston.

Time for some real talk. New York is a good place for continued growth, but the report also notes many of these new startups will fail. Mr. Bowles elaborated in an email to Betabeat, stating that they interviewed over 50 people for the report and were told many startups won't make it because "There just isn’t a market to support every one of them."

"Many are competing in the same space," Mr. Bowles told Betabeat, "For instance, look at all the companies in the fashion tech space. Already, at least one or two of those have shut down." However, Mr. Bowles states this is a relatively normal thing for the industry--"a natural shaking out process."

"All of that said," wrote Mr. Bowles, "I think the bigger message from our report is that even if some of the city’s startups fail, the city is so much better positioned today to keep growing its digital sector."

Crain’s is just the latest to notice all the fuss across the river. Etsy has long been a neighborhood fixture; digital consulting firm Takeout just relocated; Loosecubes and Docracy are homegrown efforts. Why are startups flocking to a neighborhood with a mere 3 percent commercial vacancy rate? Surely there are roomier (and therefore cheaper) environs. Turns out, Manhattan lacks a certain spark. (Manhattan, are you just going to let them talk about you like that?)

Shirley Au, president of HUGE Inc., told Crain’s:

“There's this combination of creative energy and digital business talent that gives us an edge,” Ms. Au said. “Frankly, that's been driven out of Manhattan.”

She added, “Just by being here, we're saying something about our company's values, our ethos.”

A bit of neighborhood pride is all well and good, but let’s keep the internecine rivalry to minimum, here. We don’t want the subway ride to New York Tech Meetup feeling like The Warriors.