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.

R.I.P., Roger Ebert. Over the years I've learned a lot from Mr. Ebert, inspired not only by his style of writing and communicating but also by his personality and approach to life. Check out this TED talk he gave--"Remaking My Voice"--and here's a wonderful essay from his book Life Itself: A Memoir.

Also R.I.P., Allen Stern. I was very sad to hear about this. Allen was one of the early tech bloggers--he ran CenterNetworks covering startup news and later started CloudContacts. I frequently ran into him at tech events and he was a genuinely awesome, nice person. He'll be missed.

On a happier note: Did you know that it's National Robotics Week? Robotics has become a critical element of innovation today, and it's helping kids get interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Which is awesome :) So don't miss New Frontiers in Robotics: Extending Human Reach, scheduled for tomorrow. I'm still waiting for my own Jetsons-style robot (or better still a Terminator!) but, in the meantime, meet the smartphone robot Romo.

Two NYC BigApps events this week. On Wednesday is the jobs and economic mobility event (learn about solving challenges related to unemployment) at the Robin Hood Foundation. On Thursday is the data visualization event (learn leading-edge visualization techniques) at the Huffington Post.

L'Oreal is looking for three groundbreaking companies led by women for their annual Women In Digital Next Generation Awards. You can nominate someone here! Past winners have included my friend Kathryn Minshew (The Daily Muse), Vivian Rosenthal (Gold Run) and Doreen Bloch (Poshly).

Also check out the Core Innovators Mega Challenge, a contest to find the best new financial product or service for America's middle class. Cash prize of $10,000. Questions? Contact Victoria at victoria@corevc.com.

Congrats to my buddy Jason Saltzman and the folks at AlleyNYC on their recent partnership with RackSpace. Also congrats to the winners of NYCEDC's Next Top Makers! (That would be Nautilus Bowl, MyBell, The Power Clip, Bonus Table, Tangeez and Slide Table.)

The NYC Dept of Education is challenging software developers to submit apps and games that enhance math teaching, learning and engagement for our middle schools. Deadline to submit is April 10. The NY eHealth Collaborative is sourcing innovative and exciting designs that can be used to design a patient portal for New Yorkers. Submit your ideas by April 11.

And if you're interested in applying to the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, remember to submit your application by April 14.

In case you're distracted by taxes, remember there are several deadlines April 15, for applications to the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program, submitting your entry for the User Experience Awards and for applying to be a mentor at the Academy for Software Engineering (AFSE).

And finally, here's a Roger Ebert quote I really like: "I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization." Well said.

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

The 5th Annual Shorty Awards
Hosted by Felicia Day. Presenters include David Karp, Coco Rocha, James Urbaniak, Miss Teen USA, Kristian Nairn, Hannibal Buress, Carrie Keagan, Chris Hardwick and others.
Monday (Apr. 8), 6:30 p.m. @ TheTimesCenter at NY Times, 242 W. 41st Street

British Invasion
Investor panel includes Thatcher Bell (DFJ Gotham) and John Frankel (ff Ventures). Demos by Love Home Swap, Blottr, Footfall123 and Platter.
Monday (Apr. 8), 7 p.m. @ Greenhouse, 150 Varick Street

[Tech@NYU Startup Week] Innovating in NYC
With Elias Roman (founder, Songza), Robby Stein (founder, Stamped - sold to Yahoo) and Greg Leppert (founder, Svpply - sold to eBay).
Tuesday (Apr. 9), 6 p.m. @ Ebay NYC HQ, 625 6th Avenue, 3rd Fl.

April NY Tech Meetup
You know the drill. Five-minute, cutting-edge tech demos. 850 fellow NY Tech startuppers. One amazing event.
Tuesday (Apr. 9), 7 p.m. @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts, 566 Laguardia Place

A Conversation with Tommy Mottola
With Tommy Mottola (one of the highest-profile execs in the history of the music industry) on the release of his autobiography Hitmaker: The Man and His Music.
Wednesday (Apr. 10), 3:30 p.m. @ Global Center for Academic & Spiritual Life, 238 Thompson Street, C95 Auditorium

LeanUX NYC
Speakers include Cindy Gallop (MakeLoveNotPorn), Heather Gilchrist (Socratic Labs), Ryan Jacoby (Collaboration Fund), Johanna Kollman (Sidekick Studios), Tomer Sharon (Google) and others.
Thursday (Apr. 11), 8 a.m. @ NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, 44 W. 4th Street

[Tech@NYU Startup Week] Investing in NYC
With Eric Hippeau (Lerer Ventures), David Hirsch (Metamorphic Ventures) and Roger Ehrenberg (IA Ventures)
Thursday (Apr. 11), 6 p.m. @ NYU Law Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square S., Room 210

Investor Feedback Forum
Investor panelists include Somak Chattopadhyay (Tribeca Venture Partners), Owen Davis (NYC Seed),
Micah Rosenbloom (Founder Collective) and Peter Valhouli-Farb (Bessemer Venture Partners). Startup Pitches by Nero Commerce, SolarList, Nutmeg Education, UPlanMe, FreshGrad, Wavicle, Gift.Rs and CreativeWorx.
Thursday (Apr. 11), 6:30 p.m. @ Microsoft, 1290 6th Avenue, 6th Fl.

NYC BigApps Data Visualization Event
With John Pavley (CTO, Huffington Post), Alexander Chen (creative director, Google Creative Lab), Lauren Talbot (chief programmer, Mayor's Office of Analytics) and others.
Thursday (Apr. 11), 6:30 p.m. @ Huffington Post, 770 Broadway

#techdrinkup - Official Kickoff Party for the Lean UX Conference
A party for NYC's brightest and savviest people in tech to get together at exclusive NYC venues and mingle over drinks and food.
Thursday (Apr. 11), 8:30 p.m. @ Lilium at the W Hotel, 201 Park Ave S.

PSFK Conference 2013
Speakers include Neil Blumenthal (Warby Parker), Julius Marchwicki (Ford), Abigail Posner (Google), Dan Barasch (Lowline), Benjamin Dyett (Grind) and others.
Friday (Apr. 12), 9 a.m. @ Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place

Assembled Food
With Benzi Ronen (Farmigo), David Bloom (Ordr.in), Geoff Bartakovics (Tasting Table), Jen Pelka (Tumblr), Josh Hix (Plated), Julia Bainbridge (BonAppetit)
Marguerite Mariscal (Momofuku), Wiley Cerilli / CEO (SinglePlatform) and others
Saturday (Apr. 13), 11:30 a.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway, 4th Fl.

Big Apple Smackdown: The Silicon Alleys Ping-Pong Tournament!
Featuring DJ Premier of Gang Starr + Bunny Love. Hosted by Gary Sharma (GarysGuide), Nihal Mehta (LocalResponse) and Vijay Chattha (VSCPR)
Sunday (Apr. 14), 6 p.m. @ SPiN New York, 48 E. 23rd Street

More events on the horizon...
AllThingsD: Dive Into Mobile on Apr. 15 @ The Ritz-Carlton Battery Park
ERA Summer 2013 Happy Hour With MicroOffice on Apr. 15 @ MicroOffice
Kingpins of Silicon Alley on Apr. 15 @ Bowlmor - Union Square
April 2013 NY Enterprise Technology Meetup on Apr. 16 @ Cooley
Hack'n Jill: Mastering the Technical Interview on Apr. 16 @ AppNexus
2013 International Space Apps Challenge led by NASA on Apr. 20 @ AlleyNYC
Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo on Apr. 22 @ Jacob Javits Convention Center
Women Innovate Mobile: Behind The Pitch on Apr. 22 @ AppNexus
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! ;)

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of Gary's Guide 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.

Like to hack? Well, you're in luck! :) This week there are a whole bunch of hacking-related events on the docket, including ROBOTIS at Hack Manhattan, the Open Street Map hack day, Ordr.in's Hack Food, a contest at Wix design, and hackathons at the Feast Conference and Tapped NFC.

Speaking of hackathons, the good folks at Bond Strategy are organizing an awesome one next week called the Film Experience Hackathon. Coders, hackers, filmmakers and visual artists will be joining forces to create new and innovative ideas demonstrating how technology can enrich the end-to-end movie experience. The winning team will receive three SXSW 2013 Film badges and be featured as a highlighted participant in the inaugural Film Startup Alley at the festival. Nice!

If you're in the market for a good hacker or engineer, my friend Michael Latulippe (founder, New York Software Engineers) and Victoria Ricciuti (Techno Solutions Group) are putting together a really awesome job fair on October 23 at AlleyNYC. The goal? Connecting NYC's most talented techies with amazing companies ranging from Fortune 500s to funded startups.

And don't forget, Noah Kagan (numero uno on Andrew Chen’s Growth Hacker list) will be in town this week for a panel on Growth Hacking. In case you don't know Noah, he built two multi-million-dollar online businesses before turning 28, is currently the Chief Sumo at AppSumo and his recent blog post "Why I got Fired from Facebook (a $100 Million dollar lesson)" has been blowing up all over Twitter.

Hungry for still more hacking? No worries--I got your back. It's also NYU Startup Week. Their theme? "Hacking as a mentality." The terrific lineup of events includes Hacking Industries on Monday, Hacking Your Career on Tuesday, Hacking the Future on Wednesday, A Hackers Education on Thursday and Hack Day on Friday.

New Yorkers sure do like hacking! And THAT can only mean good things for Silicon Alley.

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

[Advertising Week] Under The Influence Summit
With Gary Vaynerchuk (cofounder, VaynerMedia), Baratunde Thurston, (founder, Cultivated Wit and author, How to Be Black), B. Bonin Bough (VP global media and consumer engagement, Kraft), Tim Perzyk (global sales strategy, Twitter), Christine Osekoski (publisher, Fast Company), Ben Lerer (cofounder and CEO, Thrillist), Nick Emery (CEO, Mindshare), Marc Speichert (CMO, L’Oréal USA) and others.
Monday (Oct. 1), 4 p.m. @ Liberty Theater, 234 W. 42nd St

All NYC Mobile Branded App Show-Off
The largest gathering of the mobile community during Ad Week. Seven different brand apps presented in a Battle of the Apps program with a panel of esteemed judges.
Monday (Oct. 1), 6:30 p.m. @ Union Square Ballroom, 27 Union Square West

World Business Forum NY 2012
Rockstar speaker list includes Sir Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Robert Gates, Jim Collins, Fareed Zakaria, Michael Porter, Barbara Corcoran, Ursula Burns and others.
Tuesday (Oct. 2), 9 a.m. @ Radio City Music Hall, 1260 6th Avenue

Fashion 2.0: The Digital Evolution of Fashion Week
Panelists include Michelle Horowitz (exec VP of marketing and communications, Diane von Furstenberg), Rachel Arthur (editor, media & marketing, WGSN), Amy Odell (editor, Shift @ BuzzFeed) and Jill Meltz (director of sales, FashionGPS).
Tuesday (Oct. 2), 6 p.m. @ Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue

[NYU Startup Week] Hacking Your Career
With Alexander Pease (analyst, Union Square Ventures), Trevor Owens (CEO and founder, Lean Startup Machine), Sachin Kamdar (CEO, Parsely) and Hursh Agrawal (cofounder of Branch).
Tuesday (Oct. 2), 6 p.m. @ Varick Street Incubator, 137 Varick Street, 2nd Floor

Daniweb Presents: Tech Mayhem!
Drinking, dancing, DJs, live entertainment, celebrity impersonators, blackjack/roulette/billiards, 3D TV giveaways, geek toys and much, much more.
Tuesday (Oct. 2), 6:30 p.m. @ Slate Lounge, 54 West 21st Street

The Feast 2012
With Arcade Fire (Grammy winners), James Adams (deputy chief technologist, NASA), Beth Comstock (CMO, GE), Gillian Ferrabee (creative director, Cirque du Soleil), Neil Blumenthal (CEO, Warby Parker) and others.
Wednesday (Oct. 3), 5 p.m.

October NY FinTech Startups Meetup
With Amanda Steinberg (founder, DailyWorth), Mike Dunne (IP partner, Day Pitney) and Michael Schonfeld (developer evangelist, Dwolla).
Wednesday (Oct. 3), 6:30 p.m. @ Day Pitney, 7 Times Square, Ste 20

[NYU Startup Week] A Hackers Education
With Frank Rimalovski (managing director, NYU Innovation Venture Fund), Evan Korth (NYU Computer Science professor and cofounder of hackNY) and Micah Kotch (Executive Director of NYC ACRE).
Thursday (Oct. 4), 6 p.m. @ Varick Street Incubator, 137 Varick St

NY Tech BD Happy Hour
Mingle, sip, nibble and unwind with happy hour hosts Kristal Bergfield, Megan Towe and Alex Taub.
Thursday (Oct. 4), 8 p.m. @ The Orchard House, 146 Orchard Street

WeIntern: An Emerging Talent & Employer Mixer
CreativeInterns.com and WeWork are partnering to introduce college students and employers.
Friday (Oct. 5), 11:30 a.m. @ WeWork Soho Lounge, 154 Grand Street, 1st Floor

FOCUS100 Symposium and Pitch Bootcamp
Connecting thought leaders, tech startups founded or cofounded by black women, brand managers, and innovators!
Friday (Oct. 5), 12:30 p.m. @ Ogilvy & Mather, 636 11th Avenue, (btw 46th and 47th St)

Women 2.0 Founder Friday New York
Guest hosts are Christina Wallace (CEO & cofounder, Quincy) and Christina Koshzow (cofounder, Branding Brand) with a special introduction by Matt Wolfrom (EVP, Makovsky + Company).
Friday (Oct. 5), 6 p.m. @ Makovsky + Company, 16 East 34th Street

TAPPED NFC Hackathon
Make your idea into a near field communications reality? Connect with some of the most influential people in mobile and NFC? And win some major cash? Tap into that!
Saturday (Oct. 6), 10 a.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway, 4th Floor

The Feast Pavilion Party
Come dance the night away after dark at The Feast Pavilion presented by Rooftop Films. Enjoy drinks, music and a screening of the feature-length dance music video Girl Walk // All Day.
Saturday (Oct. 6), 8 p.m. @ The Feast Pavilion, 121 Delancey Street

More events on the horizon...
The IncubateNYC New Venture Bootcamp on Oct 08 @ DUMBO NYU Poly
Machine Learning + NuoDB on Oct 09 @ Knewton
Hire the House | Tech Recruiter Mixer on Oct 10 @ Arabesque
NYTECH Presents: Author Series with Andrew Blum on Oct 11 @ Citrin Cooperman
Film Experience Hackathon on Oct 13 @ Meet at the Apartment
Fresh Perspectives: Collaborative Brainstorming for Entreprenuers on Oct 13 @ Projective Space
Talk NYC Presents: 2nd Annual Tech Madison Avenue Conference on Oct 17 @ Crosby Street Hotel
October NY Enterprise Technology Meetup on Oct 17 @ Cooley
Ignite NYC 15 - Truth is a Moving Target: Oddities Anomalies and Wonders with Data on Oct 22 @ Sheraton New York Hotel
New York Software Engineers (NYSE) Job Fair on Oct 23 @ AlleyNYC
All Things D: Dive Into Mobile on Oct 29 @ The Ritz-Carlton Battery Park
Ad:Tech New York on Nov 07 @ Javits Convention Center

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

Fitocracy goes mobile.

FITOCRACY MOBILE. "After what seems like an eternity, we've finally released the very first version of our mobile web app. That's right, you can now log your workouts on the go if you have an iPhone or an Android phone!"

INCUBATE ME. Blueprint Health recently closed its fund and opened for applications.  "The program will be launching on Jan 9, 2012 with an application deadline of November 13."

FACE ME. Facebook is hiring in New York. Via Inside Startups, the company is seeking a "Strategic Partner Development, Media" with "high levels of creativity and strategic thinking, extensive experience in the media industry, eight-or-more years experience, including 5 years of related partner or partner facing experience, a proven track record of initiating and successfully driving new business opportunities, exceptional communication and presentation skills."

NEW MUSIC. Exfm is about to release its next major version, due out this afternoon. Look for a "push play music experiences available at ex.fm, new extensions for Firefox and Safari, plus a completely revamped one for Chrome" as well as a new embeddable site player for music blogs.

NEW GILT CITY. "Gilt City is excited to announce that we have acquired Joe Bastianich and Jeff Zalaznick’s upscale private dining booking engine, DinePrivate.com. Gilt City’s acquisition of DinePrivate.com will allow members access to over 90 of New York’s top private dining accommodations in restaurants such as Del Posto, Bluefin, Megu, Marc Forgione and Da Silvano."

USERS. "ONE MILLION. That’s how many subscribers have signed up for FanBridge’s Social Digest in just 24 hours. I wanted to reach out again with this update, as it means that Social Digest has established itself as a new, viable revenue channel for FanBridge, especially since they control 4 advertising and partner inventories in the digests, and are now opening the doors, at scale, for advertisers looking to get in."

BINDING. "DIRECTV and GetGlue have partnered together to create a first for the TV industry: people can now share what they are watching with their friends, right through their TV screen. Additionally, GetGlue’s enhanced iPhone app now automatically detects and pairs with DIRECTV customers’ set-top boxes, allowing one-tap check-ins.  The integration enables DIRECTV and GetGlue customers in the U.S. to use their remote control to check-in to their favorite TV show, view the feed of their friends’ check-ins and easily change channels to see the shows their friends are watching, automatically detect what they’re watching on DIRECTV with their iPhone, check-in on GetGlue via DIRECTV’s iPad app."

HOPSTOP GETS A PATENT. The New York-based startup is going to need a patent arsenal to compete with its big cousin Google. "The United States Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company a patent for its popular location-based service that provides door-to-door mass transit and walking directions. The patent touches on major trends in mobile applications and local navigation."

F&*$ YOU, PAY ME. New Jersey baby startup Takeoff Video is taking off. "We’re turning Takeoff into a paid product," the company writes on the eve of the close of its free beta. "This will allow us to continue our service, feed our families, and ensure Takeoff is the best it can be for years to come. We’ve got great plans in the near future including custom skinning (aka white labeling), native mobile apps, public sharing, editing program integration, and much more!"

NYU STARTUP WEEK. Started Monday. You can still catch "How to Get a Job at a Startup" with Union Square Ventures and others, and "Designers as Entrepreneurs" with Khoi Vinh.