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! ;)

We'll use this as an artist's rendering. (Photo: flickr.com/lac-bac)

Silicon Alley Smackdown One of the many tech events on rain delay because of Hurricane Sandy was the Big Apple Smackdown ping pong tournament, whose guest list included an impressive number of familiar names from the New York tech scene. (Betabeat is one of the media sponsors, so we may be a little biased.) Among the techno-athletes scheduled to play was Gilt Groupe CEO--and soon-to-be Gilt Groupe chairman--Kevin Ryan. Apparently, we missed quite a show.

The tournament was scheduled for Sunday, "and I played on Friday and on Sunday just to get ready for it!" Mr. Ryan told Betabeat. Really? "Oh yeah, because I won a tournament about a month ago." That was an invitation-only affair for ping pong ringers at the Hamptons manse of ABC Carpet & Home's Ken Pilot. "You had to put $100 into the pot and the winner got two-thirds of the pot, so I was pretty excited about that," Mr. Ryan enthused.

Mad that Sandy ruined your chance to see him action? You can drown your sorrows at Appular's F#@K SANDY event this coming Thursday and throw one back for a good cause.

Make It or Break It Start-Ups: Silicon Valley glamazon Kim Taylor finally has a name for her soon-to-launch startup, and being the gymnast that she is, she's named it after a move from Yelena Shushunova’s floor routine. The former NBA dancer will launch Shonova this winter, targeting the "millennial luxury fashion market," because you can never have too many websites dedicated to selling expensive clothes to young professional women.

LOLfamous Speaking of Bravo, it appears that I Can Has Cheezburger founder Ben Huh is starstruck by himself. Following the premiere of his new Bravo show, LOLwork, Mr. Huh tweeted a link to his freshly-minted IMDB profile with the caption "So...this happened." Don't let the fame get to your head!

And the techno's so loud USV ringleader and hometown hero Fred Wilson is wheels up and L.A.-bound today. However, his wife--Gotham Gal and investor-in-her-own-right Joanne Wilson--booked the tickets, and so he's not flying his preferred airline. Instead, he's flying Virgin, which is not his preferred airline and for a very specific reason: "I find flying on Virgin like going to a nightclub because of the lighting and I avoid it as a result." We always suspected Mr. Wilson was more of an indie music club kinda guy, and this cinches it.

"Executive scent" It seems that, after several years of "sifting through the crap," Team Thrillist has finally found the platonic ideal of brochandising. Behold:

Via Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer's Instagram.

So saucy Betabeat hates to clutch her collective pearls, but my goodness! Who knew the crowd at AllThingsD were quite so naughty? (Okay, we had an inkling.) Earlier this week, ATD doyenne Kara Swisher tweeted out the link to a colleague's story, which had the headline, "Meet the Man Behind Those Hot Pink Mustache Rides." Catalyst Group CEO Nick Gould immediately gave that the side-eye, noting that he "Can't help wondering if @lizgannes is aware of the off-color meaning of the term "mustache ride." Ms. Swisher didn't miss a beat: "i mean I ASSUME she is. I am." Duly noted.

Digging up history The Computer History Museum, located in Mountain View, California, is kind of like mecca for tech geeks. Contained within its hallowed walls are artifacts that tell the history of computers and videogames. Among those artifacts, apparently, is a copy of Windows 1.0, originally owned by Digg founder Kevin Rose. "My copy of Windows 1.0 on display!" Mr. Rose wrote in a caption for the below photo. A nerd's dream come true.

(Photo: Instagram)