Representatives from Shindig, Skillcrush and Appguppy answer questions about their products.

Crowded into NYU’s Skirball center, the New York tech world got one step closer to developing Skynet Tuesday night at the monthly New York Tech Meetup, just one day after NYTM reached the 25,000 member mark.

“What I fell in love with was the community. I had not really had any tech in my background at all, and yet felt totally at home here,” gushed Jessica Lawrence, the managing director of NYTM, as she announced their membership accomplishments to cheers from the boisterous crowd.

Perhaps of more relevance to the future of our society—Jonathan Gottfried, a developer evangelist at Twilio, did a live demonstration of the TwilioBot 3000, a possible predecessor of assassin cyborgs. Mr. Gottfried was able to control the TwilioBot with his phone, sending it commands by typing numbers on his keypad … until he accidentally hung up on the TwilioBot.

But the robot didn’t drive off the stage, and Mr. Gottfried was able to answer a few questions about the bot, including a dreaded revenue inquiry. “I feel like I won’t need venture capital once my robot minions have taken over the world,” he responded, eliciting laughter from the tech savvy audience.

Vook and Appguppy Mobile also demoed during the evening, two platforms that allow you to respectively create your own ebook or your own mobile app in a matter of minutes.

Appguppy, founded by Anu Nadkarni, Raj Dandage and Ash Nadkarni, lets you make an app about your favorite topic: yourself! The service lets you integrate your personal webpage and social media presence--say tweets about a concert date if you're a singer. Watch out Apple, because Appguppy bypasses app stores and allows users to sell their all-about-me app to iPhone and Android-using friends directly through Facebook and Twitter. “Now your friends can be obsessed with you on your phones,” Ms. Nadkarni said.

In the same DIY spirit, Vook simplifies the process of designing and marketing an eBook, a process that Matthew Cavnar, the vice president of business development for Vook, insisted was unnecessarily painful.  Using the platform, you can quickly move and resize images (something that could usually take days according to Mr. Cavnar) and even insert those big, swirly letters that start chapters in all the important books. Once completed, users can sell their eBooks through iBook, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Vook’s website, and violá, you have self-published your no doubt fascinating memoir.  (Warning: don't bother trying to pretend you wrote The Bell Jar; Vook does have a quick screening process for the eBooks.)

Other notable presenters included Dashlane, Consmr and Instinct. Dashlane makes it much easier to spend your entire trust fund on Amazon by saving website passwords, emails, address and credit card information in a central location. So, instead of having to spend 15 minutes filling in the same information at every online checkout, the platform will automatically input your card number and billing information into online forms. For all you conspiracy theorists, the saved information is encrypted and can only be unencrypted with a special master password, a feature that pleased the many perpetually paranoid NYTM attendees. Dashlane does not keep any database of these passwords, only the users know them, so even if authorities subpoena the company, they would only have access to encrypted data. Dashlane: 1, Evil Government Masterminds: 0.

Consmr, which actually previously demoed at the NYTM about a year and a half ago as a website, is a smartphone app that also simplifies shopping, though in actual stores, by allowing users to scan barcodes and then see reviews of the product and alternative suggestions. Users can also look up top-rated products in certain fields, such as hair products for curly-hair.

Though Ryan Charles, the CEO of Consmr, struggled a bit with scanning the barcode on a box of Triscuits, the app does feature over 100,000 reviews. The platform will also soon be including nutrition information about food products. To underscore the brilliance of the design, Mr. Charles showed the crowd the page for a box of Trojan condoms. The top review: “Well, she didn’t get pregnant.”

Instinct, a real-life Guitar Hero-type app that teaches you to play the instrument, was a crowd favorite. Co-founder Brian Stoner practiced playing riffs as the audience clapped along. The website uses the computer’s microphone to detect the notes being played and indicate to the user whether they are hitting the correct notes. At the end of the lesson, users can show off their skills to a panel of three avatar judges. Mr. Stoner received a six, nine and seven from the judges for his lovely performance.

Shindig, a Skype-like platform that allows for more users and more complex interactions, Skillcrush, a tech education blog for anyone who has ever wondered what the hell an API or python is, Social Bycicles, which is pretty much a bicycle with a computer in it and Jirafe, a marketing tool, also demoed during the evening.

Mr. Charles was on television.

Ryan Charles was the social media whiz kid at Zagat: the aging empire that was once part of the Silicon Alley 100 but has been drifting further and further out of touch as Yelp, Google, Citisearch, Menupages and others scooped the old Zagat survey. At Zagat, Mr. Charles headed up mobile partnerships with Foursquare, Foodspotting, and took the lead on mobile apps, which kept Zagat in the game. He left to start Consmr, another user reviews-based site.

When news broke that Google was acquiring Zagat, Mr. Charles declined to give interviews (or answer questions about equity). But he took to Tumblr with his thoughts on the big question: Why did Google buy Zagat?

"I believe that through Google Maps and Places, eventually Google’s local content would become the standard on Android devices," Mr. Charles says. "With Motorola they could ship devices with their Places solution embedded everywhere. Their mobile web enhancements were just the toe in the water. And with Zagat they’ve shown how serious they are about local."

"This was all about credibility," Mr. Charles writes. "I can’t see Google going into the print guide business or the sale of corporate guides. Their efforts with print advertising did not yield the results they wanted. I don’t have to share any stats about the print world. Just look at the closing of Borders. Imagine if The Daily started a print version?"

Yikes, comparing The Google to The Daily? A print version of The Daily, which no one reads or cares about, is more analogous to a VHS version of a Laserdisc. Sleepy Hollow or Tokyo Raiders, anyone?

The start-up week starts Wednesday:

VIDEO LAUNCH. General Assembly-based VHX.tv, launched by Vimeo alum Casey Pugh and Know Your Memester Jamie Wilkinson about a month and a half ago, is in public beta as of yesterday. The app, which creates a curated stream of video based on links your friends share on Twitter, Tumblr and the rest, has a better looking interface than TechStars-hatched competitor Shelby.tv and more channels , verticals, or filters, whatever you want to call them--but unlike Shelby, doesn't put emphasis on who exactly shared what. "Coming soon: mixtape-style playlists, an API for developers, and iPhone, iPad and Boxee apps," the company teased.

Meanwhile, Blip.TV and YouTube are ramping up efforts to suck users into web television with the same enthusiasm previous generations had for television-television.

KICKSTARTER TEASES TEE. There's a link going around that declares--"this is not a Kickstarter shirt"--it's a lie. Kickstarter founder Yancey Strickler has been printing t-shirts with stats from the box that hangs up and to the right of every project, indicating how much money has been raised and how many days are left; he's been giving them out to friends but is now scaling the project. Since the number of shirts to be printed is fixed, donors can consider themselves part of a special Kickstarter club, he says in the video.

UBER WENT TO THE HAMPTONS. No really, they did. Uber's New York office sent drivers of two cars to the Hamptons over the weekend to drive well-heeled vacationers around from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., Friday to Sunday, at the same rates found in the city.

NO VACANCY. Recently-funded, bi-coastal start-up Nodejitsu is up to 12 developers. "The hiring spree slows down," said co-founder Marak Squires.

ALSO, IN HIRES. Former Quirky community intern Ruthea Noteware has joined ex-Zagat mobile chief Ryan Charles on his boot-strapped start-up Consmr (not to be confused with New Jersey-based Cnsmr).

NOW HIRING. "Quick update is we are over 100 start-ups and counting, 250 registered job seekers and counting (we are going to begin getting aggressive outbound push from some great sources, so expect every bit of 1000 candidates)," Silicon Alley Job Fair organizer Tarek Pertew writes with about two weeks to go to the event.

APPS, EVENTS 'N LEFTOVERS. Skype competitor ooVoo, 26 million users, launches iPhone app. The June 8 New York Tech Meetup will start at 7:30 pm, instead of the usual 7 pm. Continuing hacker education group Collabracode hosting demos on Saturday, June 4 (there will be dumplings!). Union Square Ventures partner Brad Burnham is speaking at General Assembly tonight;  DUMBO Tech Breakfast meets Friday. Consultant Bill Manos taking over for Andrew Ran-Wong as head of the meetup for New York Business Entrepreneurs Network, which is up to more than 10,400 registered "business mavens."

Got an announcement for the start-up news roundup? Email tips@betabeat.com.

Disclosure.

Gonna get that paper

The brand new WeWork labs will be welcoming Ryan Charles and his startup Consmr when they open their doors Friday.

Word broke today that Charles was leaving his job as head of mobile at the venerable Zagat guide to focus full time on his startup, which is a sort of Yelp for consumer products that allows folks to check in and express opinions on items like shampoo or soup.

"We're planning to raise funds in the near future," says Charles, a smart move given the current founder friendly environment for funding. It was this development which led him to focus on his new space over a steady job.

"I know a lot about building a business and finding partnerships with established corporations," says Charles, who helped Zagat integrate with Foursqaure and Foodspotting. Consmr already has some deals in place with big beverage brands.

"I think where we need help is on the funding side of things. We are going to have access to the kind of advisors at WeWork who can guide us through that," says Charles.

Will WeWork prove to have the golden touch when it comes to funding, or is General Assembly one of a kind?