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 things first: Mark your calendars for this Sunday March 31, when Game of Thrones returns for Season 3. Finally!

The city recently announced NYC BigApps 2013, the fourth annual BigApps competition, an ongoing series of software challenges to promote government transparency and innovative new technologies. It's your chance to solve big issues with data and design and maybe win $150,000 in prizes. There are also a series of events planned, starting with the BigApps expo and hackathon at eBay next week, on April 6.

Kaplan and TechStars are partnering to launch the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, a three-month intensive program for ten startups in New York City from June to September. What kindsof companies are they looking for? Apps, platforms, K-12, higher ed, professional ed, and everything in between. Deadline is April 14. You can apply here, and there's an info session on April 2. Contact Phil Schwarz at edtechaccelerator@kaplan.com with any questions. 

The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and the NYC EDC are partnering on a new initiative called Design Entrepreneurs NYC, a free, intensive mini-MBA program for local fashion design business folks. The program kicks off May 30 and the application deadline is midnight on Sunday, March 31.

My buddy Steve Rosenbaum, NYC EDC’s Entrepreneur-at-Large, is holding office hours on March 26 (12 p.m. to 1 p.m.) to answer all your startup questions. Register here.

Betabeat is bringing back The Pitch! The ten startups with the most votes by midnight on Thursday, March 28, will have their pitch vetted on camera by Nikhil Kalghatgi (SoftBank Capital) and Steve Schlafman (Lerer Ventures), vying for the chance to take home $10,000 in funding.

You've probably heard of Startup Bus and some of you may know of the Startup Ship. Now I give you the Startup Plane! British Airways recently announced the first of its UnGrounded innovation lab flights that will assemble a hundred tech luminaries at 30,000 feet on a flight to London on June 12 to devise a platform for connecting tech talent with big problems around the world. Crazy, huh? So what's next? Startup Rocket? (Come to think of it, that's not that crazy. Elon Musk, call your office.)

If you have an innovative technology idea or solution to fill an unmet need in type 2 diabetes care delivery, then you should check out the Healthcare Innovation World Cup. Prize money totaling $75,000. Finals in New York City on May 10. Deadline to enroll is March 31.

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

The Test Tube
It’s like speed dating, but for usability testing. Over the course of an hour and a half, you'll be paired up with 5-6 other NYC companies and take turns to giving and getting feedback on your ideas.
Tuesday (Mar. 26), 5 p.m. @ We Work Labs, 175 Varick Street, 4th Fl.

Hack SummerStage Kick-Off Event
A challenge to developers to build an app that engages the 280,000+ attendees of SummerStage's annual Summer Long Festival.
Tuesday (Mar. 26), 6:30 p.m. @ We Work Labs, 175 Varik Street, 8th Fl.

Want to Be on TV? How to Get Noticed by Media
You've heard the fairy tales. Get a plug by Oprah or The Today Show, and your business skyrockets. But how do companies really get media coverage? Learn from Colleen DeBaise (Entrepreneur.com), Marissa Feinberg (Green Spaces), Rod Kurtz (OPEN Forum) and others.
Tuesday (Mar. 26), 7 p.m. @ Green Spaces, 394 Broadway, 5th Fl.

General Assembly Presents: Heart Beats
Hosted by Matthew Brimer. With special guest DJ Sean Glass. For one night, leave your work at work and come for an evening exclusively devoted to your deepest non-professional passions.
Tuesday (Mar. 26), 7 p.m. @ Tribeca Grand Hotel, 2 6th Avenue

How I Transitioned: Stories of Transition from Corporate America to Startups
With Vinay Jain (formerly Skadden, now at Shake), Leonard Li (formerly Oracle now at General Assembly) and Veeral Shah (formerly BNP Paribas, now at Equitally).
Wednesday (Mar. 27), 6:30 p.m. @ Alley NYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Fl.

March MakeIt NYC: Cubes, Manufacturing & More
With Keith Ozar (3D Systems) introducing the Cube and CubeX 3D printers and Matt Behr introducing 3Sourceful, an upcoming service that helps makers find their manufacturing mojo.
Wednesday (Mar. 27), 6:30 p.m. @ NYC EDC, 110 William Street

Startup Grind NYC
Fireside Chat with Andrew Rasiej (founder, Personal Democracy Media and chair, NY Tech Meetup)
Wednesday (Mar. 27), 6:30 p.m. @ Center for Social Innovation, 601 W. 26th Street, #325

Rise of the Female Entrepreneur
With Kate McAleer (Bixby), Sanchali Sundaram (Ingo), Jane Zhu (SleepBot), Melissa Shin (Dagne Dover), Sam Stephens (Oatmeals) and Courtney Spritzer (SocialFly NY)
Wednesday (Mar. 27), 6:30 p.m. @ NYU Kaufman Management Center, 44 W. 4th Street

Business+Startup by First Round Capital & Foursquare
With Eric Friedman (Foursquare), Chris Fralic (First Round Capital), Scott Pollack (American Express), Wiley Cerilli (SinglePlatform), Lauryn Ballesteros (The Leadership Symposium), Kenny Herman (SinglePlatform) and Anand Chopra-McGowan (General Assembly).
Wednesday (Mar. 27), 6:30 p.m. @ Foursquare HQ, 110 Crosby St

Fashion Disrupted: How Tech Is Changing The Way Consumers Shop
With Mike Hofman (Glamour), Bryan Wolff (Bonobos), Jyothi Rao (Gilt Groupe), Sarah Paiji (Snapette), Claire Mazur (Of A Kind) and others.
Wednesday (Mar. 27), 7:30 p.m. @ WeWork Lounge, 177 Lafayette Street

NYC Gaming March: Demo Night
Demos by Death Goat, Super Jetroid, Beat Blocks, Warping War Pig, Story War, Organic Panic and Worm Run.
Thursday (Mar. 28), 6 p.m. @ Microsoft, 1290 Avenue of the Americas

The 2nd Columbia University Earth Summit: Driving Collaborative Solutions
In light of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Sandy, this year's Earth Summit focuses on Driving Collaborative Solutions, bringing business and social leaders together with academics and students to foster the new leadership required by today’s complex world.
Thursday (Mar. 28), 7 p.m. @ Columbia University Faculty House, 64 Morningside Drive

Open Tech NYC
How open source is driving the NYC tech scene. From locally grown open-source projects to startups and big enterprises that run on open source to new organizations and collaborative models.
Saturday (Mar. 30), 9:30 a.m. @ Hunter's Point Event Space, 47-40 21st Street, Long Island City

More events on the horizon...
Opening Party for F.A.T. GOLD: Five Years of Free Art & Technology on Apr. 1 @ Eyebeam
Kaplan EdTech Accelerator (powered by TechStars) Founder Information Session on Apr. 2 @ Kaplan HQ
Taboola Talks: #ContentYouMayLike with The Weather Company & WIRED on Apr. 3 @ Taboola HQ
Entrepreneurs Roundtable 57 on Apr. 3 @ NYU Stern School of Business
Startup Demo Night Series #16 (ft Mo Koyfman) on Apr. 4 @ Chadbourne & Parke
FinTech Hackathon on Apr. 6 @ AlleyNYC
Startup Brunch on Apr. 7 @ East Village (TBA)
British Invasion on Apr. 8 @ Greenhouse
Big Apple Smackdown: Silicon Alleys 1st Annual Ping-Pong Tournament! on Apr. 14 @ SPiN New York
Kingpins of Silicon Alley on Apr. 15 @ Bowlmor - Union Square
2013 International Space Apps Challenge led by NASA on Apr. 20 @ AlleyNYC
NYTECH Presents: Designing for Touch on Apr. 24 @ Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
NY Tech Day on Apr. 25 @ Pier 92
Women Entrepreneurs Rock the World 2013 on May 8 @ Altman Building

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

(flickr.com/johanl)

Instapaper proper Good news, Android users: No more workarounds for you. You can finally have for-real Instapaper, rather than the next best thing. The reading app is now available for the platform that's not iOS. (That is, unless you're unwilling to cough up the $2.99.)

Ever better Meanwhile, Sailthru is iterating all up in here. They've added new features including zip code radius, so users can now find subscribers within a certain geographical area. Plus you can now label templates with custom tags (simplifying search) and include data feeds in transactional emails.

Gamify your life The NYC Gaming Meetup is moving on uptown. The gathering has outgrown GA, so next Monday, June 11th, will be the first demo night at Microsoft's offices, their new home. RSVPs due tomorrow, June 7th; holler at the organizers if you've got something you'd like to show off.

Gathering in Gotham Heads up for later in the month: The Gotham Ruby Conference is June 23. Here's the speaker lineup for all you curious hackers. Also, we should probably mention that a yacht party is included in the cost of admission.

Just for me Quincy reportedly just closed a $950,000 seed round, led by Great Oaks Venture Capital. The company aims to offer better-fitting women's clothing at a non-couture price point. Here's how: Ditching the traditional S/M/L categories but eschewing the ultra-tailored approach, Quincy has developed its own, more customizable sizing system based on length, bust and cup size.

It's a Jersey thing The deadline approacheth for applications to the first class of TechLaunch, New Jersey's very own tech accelerator. So if you live across the Hudson and you'd like to stay there (with a little assist from New Jersey's Economic Development Authority), June 8 is your cutoff.

Devotion rewarded The newest comer to the NYC startup scene: Loyalblocks, which just launched what's billed as an automatic, walk-in loyalty app here in the city. Users don't even have to open the app or check in, which is certainly simpler than the old punch card. Probably not for the ultra privacy-sensitive, but for what it's worth, we do see that our favorite burger joint is involved. Plus the team tells us they'll be doing special summer promotions, which everyone loves.

Now hiring We hear that SNAP Interactive needs a Senior PHP developer and a QA engineer; 1stdibs needs a Java developer and a marketing operations associate; and B-Reel needs a mobile/iPhone developer. Also, if you aren't already on the Inside Startups jobs mailer, we don't know what to tell you.