Among the webutantes.

“I was going to wear black, because that seemed like the New York thing to do,” confessed Callie Schweitzer, Webutante Ball Queen nominee and Vox Media’s director of marketing and communications, yelling to be heard over the music at Marquee last Thursday. “And then I was like, you know what? This is the Internet. Everyone is going to be wearing the craziest things. I should wear hot pink.”

Everyone did indeed wear the craziest things, though two getups in particular stuck out: matching head-to-toe solid-color suits, in red and blue, complete with fedoras.

“We’re out representing our startups and showing everybody how classy they can be,” said a man who introduced himself as Swift (full name: Mike Swift), showing off his cuff links, which featured the logo of his employer, SendGrid. His companion Jon Gottfried, from Twilio, was wearing sunglasses, which upon closer inspection turned out to be Google Glass.

“We’re the classiest people at the party,” Mr. Swift added, deadpan except for a slight, sly smile.

The guest list was pretty light on techies this year. In previous years, stars like David Karp, Dennis Crowley and Ben Lerer have turned out. A techie visiting from San Francisco, attending with a local journalist, frowned and asked whether the crowd was mainly advertising folks.

The buzziest of the attendees: Omri Mor and Colin Hodge, the co-founders of hookup app Bang With Friends. They had maintained strict secrecy about their identities until being outed by their appearance on the ballot for Webutante Ball King.

Not that Mr. Mor, the quieter of the two, sounded too crushed when we briefly bumped into him. After admitting he’d been hitting the Don Julio, he explained that he wasn’t necessarily one for making a big fuss: “If I do something good for society, so be it. I don’t need press or anything else.”

MediaBistro founder Laurel Touby lurked somewhere in the crowd, and we bumped into man about town Rex Sorgatz long enough for a quick conversation shouted over “212” thundering away at inner-ear-shredding decibels.

The music was so loud, in fact, that we barely heard the fanfare as SplashThat cofounder Ben Hindman and Maura Magazine scribe Maura Johnston were crowned king and queen of the festivities, donned their regalia and took the floor for their coronation dance. All that, and the Bang With Friends guys didn’t even win!

We approached Mr. Hindman, twirling about the dance floor in his red cape and gold crown. “I think we believe what everyone believes—that events are beautiful, that they’re the most powerful way to connect with others. We’re at an event right now and it’s amazing.” He grabbed the Transom’s shoulders and gave us a good shake. “Look, I’m touching you! I’m touching you!”

Why did he think he’d taken home the top prize, beating Messrs. Mor and Hodge, the odds-on favorites, we wondered? “What better way to get banged than going to an event in real life?” he parried, before yelling, apropos of very little, “I AM THE KING. I AM THE KING,” and dancing with Malloy Blair of Small Girls PR.

Music Class Are you excited for the new Daft Punk album? Well, we'll tell you who's really excited, and that's Square CEO Jack Dorsey and VC Fred Wilson. "The new Daft Punk album is a knockout. Pure joy," Mr. Dorsey said in a micro-review of the album on Twitter. Mr. Wilson responded: "yup. I've had it in heavy rotation all week. It was even on in the coffeeshop today." Just an FYI in case, for some reason, you get stuck in a car with both of them sometime this summer.

Pleased as Punch Betabeat bumped into events maestro Gary Sharma last night at the Webutante Ball. He told us that, while making his Internet Week rounds, he'd recently found himself in an elevator with none other than newly rich-as-Croesus Tumblr founder David Karp. You'll no doubt be delighted to hear that, according to Mr. Sharma, the spindly motorcyclist looked pretty damn cheerful.

He might want to enjoy the fun while it lasts, though. Business Insider reports that HuffPo cofounder Arianna Huffington had some dour words of wisdom for Mr. Karp at the Webby Awards: "Soak it all in, because then come the lawsuits." Presumably she was referring to the legal action taken by her own site's unpaid contributors. Honey, you don't know the half of it--if you think the Huffington Post's bloggers are pissy, you've never dealt with a fan-fiction-writing, Homestuck-loving, social-justice-advocating, dyed-in-the-wool Tumblr user.

Or maybe he was just really chipper because he had advance warning he'd inexplicably be appearing as one of Business Insider's Sexiest Tech Execs Alive.

SMDH Important dispatch from the West Coast, courtesy of Eric Eldon: "late at night in silicon valley, grown men are sending stickers to each other."

Scobleized OG (that's Original Glasshole) Robert Scoble took a trip to NYC this week to visit his son, who's studying to become a police officer at the John Jay school of criminal justice. As it turns out, the NYPD were more interested in trying on Mr. Scoble's face computer than they were helping his son learn the tricks of the force. Writes Mr. Scoble on his Google Plus page:

So we're here looking at his school, finding him housing, learning the streets, and all that. Last night these two cops called me over and said "is that Google Glass?"

I was afraid I might get arrested. But they loved it.

He then went on to describe why cops will love being able to record video while chasing suspects, which makes us think he's never actually read anything about cops and recording devices.

Uber Blunder Betabeat received an email today from Uber SF stating that our Uber was en route. "That's strange," we thought, "We live in New York and didn't order an Uber." Turns out the whole thing was a mixup. In their excitement to dispatch an email about the price hikes during Memorial Day Weekend, Uber SF forgot to change the subject line of the email, and sent it out to customers with the subject "[Name], your Uber is en route." Rest assured your account hasn't been hacked; it was just a little PR mistake, according to a follow-up email:

Sorry about the confusion! No request has been made from your account. We were overly excited about our Memorial Day promotion, and should have put some more thought into that subject line. With this second email, we just want to clarify that everything is OK; a car will only be sent when you request it.

Phew. We can't afford an Uber at its normal rate, let alone during surge pricing.

Ab Fab Bradford Shellhammer, the chief design officer of Fab.com and curator of one of the most fabulous Instagram accounts ever, revealed more than a usual shirtless picture of himself this week. In the 'gram, Mr. Shellhammer appears to be wearing a pair of well-fitting boxers featuring some of pop culture's biggest flame-outs, like Britney Spears and Whitney Houston. It’s probably the tamest part of his Turks and Caicos haunt, judging by his other pictures. Anyway, where can we get a pair, Brad? You might know of a place.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Lazy Together Tesla, Uber and Equinox have officially achieved douche bag singularity. Until today, members in Los Angeles and New York can get to the gym for free on Uber with the promo code, you guessed it, “EQUINOX.” Those who request a car might even be picked up in a Tesla Model S, so if you were looking for someone at whom you can direct your scorn, just look for one of those ugly cars.

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.

You know what's cool? A billion dollars, that's what! Huge congrats to David Karp and the folks at Tumblr. Billion-dollar exits form the cornerstone of a thriving tech ecosystem, and this is great news for New York tech.

It's finally here! Internet Week, that is. 45,000 people are expected to attend over 400 parties with keynotes by Randi Zuckerberg, Jonah Peretti (BuzzFeed), Joe Gebbia (Airbnb) and Joan Rivers!

The hottest party during Internet Week? That would, of course, be the Webutante Ball (a.k.a. the REAL #nerdprom!) And lucky for you, I have two FREE passes to give away. Interested? Of course you are! Apply here.

In non-Internet week news, tomorrow evening at the 92Y, my buddy Jeff Pulver (entrepreneur and early-stage seed investor) will be interviewing two famous brothers: Deepak Chopra (renowned spiritual guru) and Sanjiv Chopra (dean of the Harvard Medical School). Also this week is the OpenCo Innovation Festival (a cross between an artist's open studio, a tech conference and a music festival). Over a hundred startups will open their doors including Buzzfeed, Etsy, Fab, Foursquare, Kickstarter, RapGenius, Warby Parker and others.

Coming up on May 30 is Digital DUMBO's dd:IMPACT Groundswell with panelists from VICE, The Onion, Reddit, Buzzfeed, Pulse and Digg exploring the new era of campaigns, content, storytelling, media formats, and more. Also coming up are TechDrinkup on May 30 and Angelhack (the largest global hackathon competition!) on June 1.

Remember Startup Chile? Well, now I present to you Startup Brazil! Spend six months to a year down in South America and receive up to $98,971 in the form of monthly grants. Sounds like a sweet deal, eh? And with the World Cup coming up next year, Brazil is the place to be! Deadline to apply is May 31.

FYI, deadline for the summer edition of Startup Institute NY is May 26. The deadline for applying to the Code for America accelerator is May 31.

And finally, mark your calendars for May 26, people. That's when the hotly anticipated, all-new season of Arrested Developmentfinally arrives on Netflix! My buddy Jon has put together a hack to text you the minute the show hits Netflix servers. Just text ANN to 619-EGG-VEAL. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go practice my chicken dance, check on my frozen banana stand and get hopped up on a 53-episode marathon-viewing binge. You know how it is.

Let's see what's going down in the Alley this week...

Mobile Media Upfront
Monday (May 20), 8 a.m. @ New World Stages, 340 W. 50th Street

NYU ITP Spring Show
A two-day exhibition of recent interactive media projects by the graduate students of ITP.
Monday (May 20), 5 p.m. @ NYU ITP - Tisch School of the Arts, 721 Broadway, 4th Fl.

MOUSE@15: Celebrating 15 Years of Inspiring Innovators
Honoring Bre Pettis (Cofounder and CEO, MakerBot) and Joanne Wilson (advocate, Best Buy Children's Foundation). Speaker Christine Quinn and the NYC City Council.
Monday (May 20), 6 p.m. @ The Pier 61, Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, 23rd Street and 11th Avenue

New York Crowdfunds 2
It's Shark Tank meets American Idol! Judges include Sabeer Bhatia (founder, Hotmail) and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe (New York Knicks, NBA Hall of Fame).
Monday (May 20), 6:30 p.m. @ WeWork Lounge, 154 Grand Street

New Yorks Next Top Makers Open Studio
Come catch up with New York’s Next Top Makers as they turn their product prototypes into businesses. With Bonus Table, MYBELL, Nautilus Bowl, Slide Table, The Power Clip and Tangeez!
Monday (May 20), 6:30 p.m. @ NYDesigns, 45-50 30th Street

Conversational Marketing (CM) Summit 2013: Bridging Data & Humanity
With Ben Silbermann (founder, Pinterest), Jonah Peretti (founder, Buzzfeed), Mike Lazerow (founder, Buddy Media), Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures) and others.
Tuesday (May 21), 9 a.m. @ The Altman Building, 135 W. 18th Street

[Internet Week] POSSIBLE presents Robert Scoble: The Age of Context
Robert Scoble (tech evangelist and author) will talk about the Age of Context, a future comprised of hyper-anticipatory and personalized services.
Tuesday (May 21), 12:30 p.m. @ Alley NYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Fl.

17th Annual Webby Awards
Hosted by Patton Oswalt. Hallmark five-word speeches from Jerry Seinfeld, Grimes and Ben Stiller.
Tuesday (May 21), 6:30 p.m. @ Cipriani, 55 Wall Street

Fireside Chat with Deepak Chopra
Two famous brothers Deepak Chopra (renowned spiritual guru) and Sanjiv Chopra (dean at Harvard Medical School) interviewed by entrepreneur and early-stage seed investor Jeff Pulver.
Tuesday (May 21), 8 p.m. @ 92Y Kauffman Concert Hall, Lexington Avenue and 92nd Street

OpenCo New York
A mix between a business conference and artist's open studio with the vibe of a music festival. Over a hundred innovative businesses will open their doors including Betaworks, Buzzfeed, Etsy, Fab, Foursquare, Kickstarter, Rap Genius, Warby Parker and others.
Wednesday (May 22), 4 p.m. @ The Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W. 18th Street

The NY Times - Technology Job Fair
Come grab a beverage, hang out with some cool tech folks and talk shop.
Wednesday (May 22), 5 p.m. @ New York Times, 620 8th Avenue, 15th Fl.

[Internet Week] A Discussion Around Content, Commerce & Curation
With Pete Cashmore (founder, Mashable), Paul Berry (founder, RebelMouse), Scott Kurnit (CEO, Keep Holdings), Christene Barberich (editor, Refinery29) and others.
Wednesday (May 22), 6:30 p.m. @ Paley Center for Media, 25 W. 52nd Street, 10th Fl.

Bitcoin and the Future of Money
With Felix Salmon (Reuters), Jaron Lukasiewicz (Coinsetter), Charlie Shrem (BitInstant) and Zach Seward (Quartz).
Wednesday (May 22), 7 p.m. @ General Assembly East, 902 Broadway, 4th Fl.

The Future Of Tech Startups
Dave Morgan (founder, Simulmedia) hosts John Battelle (cofounder, Open Co) and Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures). Drinks and food will follow the conversation.
Thursday (May 23), 4:30 p.m. @ Simulmedia, 670 Broadway

The 2013 Webutante Ball
The Internet's famous party of the year is back for its fifth year of revelry! Come hang with New York's hottest startup stars, media elite, venture capitalists, and agency spies. You can't miss this!
Thursday (May 23), 8 p.m. @ Marquee, 289 10th Avenue

The Phat Startup: How To Build A Million Dollar Site
With Chris "Broadway" Romero (Cofounder of Thisis50.com)
Friday (May 24), 6 p.m. @ WeWork Labs, 175 Varick Street

More events on the horizon...
Here a MOOC There a MOOC Everywhere a MOOC MOOC! on May 28 @ Knewton
Startup Grind NYC hosts Jon Steinberg (President, BuzzFeed) on May 29 @ ThoughtWorks
Peter Shankman Speaks Live On His Newest Book - Nice Companies Finish First on May 29 @ Affect Offices
dd:IMPACT Conference Groundswell: The Next Wave of Content (presented by Digital DUMBO) on May 30 @ Galapagos Art Space
#techdrinkup - Open Bar Summer Kickoff Rooftop Party on May 30 @ XVI Lounge
AngelHack NYC - Spring 2013 on June 1 @ Huge Inc
NYC BigApps CityCamp on June 1 @ New York Law School
Bizza90s: Tweet Me Baby One More Time on June 7 @ WeWork
F.A.T. Session 2: Sales/Use Taxation for 21st Century Commerce on June 11 @ Marks Paneth & Shron
NYTECH Presents: The Truth About VC Investing in New York and How To Get Funded on June 11 @ PwC
Inbox Awesome on June 13 @ The DUMBO Loft
Future Energy Investor Feedback Forum on June 13 @ Microsoft
NYTECH Presents: The Big Data Explosion: Using Cloud Computing to Clean Up the Mess on June 26 @ 10gen
Moonwalk NYC 2013 on July 20 @ Venue

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

(Photo: The Webutante Ball)

The Webutante Ball, Internet Week's "nerd prom" that people attend because they feel they have to, is swiftly approaching. Held at Marquee on May 23rd, the event attracts startup glitterati, media titans and various riffraff from The Scratcher.

Here are the nominees for this year's king and queen:

Webutante Ball Queen Nominees

Callie Schweitzer, Director of Marketing and Communications at Vox Media
Maura Johnston, Founder of Maura Magazine
Sarah Austin, Star of Bravo's Start-Ups: Silicon Valley
Jenna Wortham, Technology Reporter of The New York Times
Rachel Sklar Co-Founder of The Li.st

Webutante Ball King Nominees

Michael Martin, Editor-in-Chief of Time Out New York
Josh Gondleman, Co-Creator of Twitter's Modern Seinfeld
Ben Hindman, Co-Founder of SplashThat
Omri Mor & Colin Hodge, Co-Founders of Bang With Friends
Jeremy Fisher, Co-Creator of Days App

You may have noticed that the previously anonymous cofounders of Bang With Friends are on the list. It seems they've doxxed themselves in the hopes of being crowned Kings of the Internet. Omri Mor is the CEO and Founder of ZIIBRA, a crowdfunding site for artists. Colin Hodge is the founder of How About You, which appears to be in stealth but boasts the tagline "It's like LinkedIn... for lovin'."

(We've reached out for comment and will update if we hear back.)

You can vote for the Queen here and the King here. Meanwhile, Betabeat columnist Gary Sharma has a ticket discount: $15 off if you use the code Gary15.

The Real Nerd Prom 

Who Doesn't Want To Take More Pics? If all the apps out right now aren't filling your photo-taking habit, start up company Wander's new app Days may be for you. Days, which was released last week for iPhone, aims to create a digital photo journal, where all your pictures are uploaded and categorized by day, with the hope that its users will take pictures of their entire day and not just what they're eating for dinner.

Mobile Gift Delivery Are you ever running late and wish you had more time to select the perfect gift for your significant other? Online floral service H. Bloom is here to help, with their new mobile gifting app released yesterday, which will help its users send a variety of gifts no matter where they are. The H.Bloom app offers a "curated selection of the highest quality chocolates, cupcakes, candles and macarons, as well as H.Bloom’s own luxury floral arrangements." The app is currently available on the Apple App Store, and is launching in New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Dallas.

Songza Updates Music curator, streaming app and party playlist savior Songza yesterday released its most recent update, version 3.0, which supplies some new features and shortcuts to the award winning service. Version 3.o cleans up the user interface, while also allowing users quicker access to playlists with a long tap on the home screen or by shaking your phone. Other improvements include better audio quality and new search tools and new artist playlist options.

New Inno/vators NYU-Poly announced on Monday the winners of its Inno/Vention competition, which challenged students to create and pitch a buisness or startup that solves real world problems. The winner, Ex-Vivo Dynamics, is a new technology for patients who suffer blood transfusion iron overload, which pulls free iron from blood, reducing the number of blood transfusions that patients need. The runner-up, HuddleUp, is a crowdsourcing platform that lets users buy group rate tickets without having to find a group.

Aol's Andrea Hong, GroupMe/Skype's Steve Cheney, TechStars' Justin Overdorff, Shelby.tv's Chris Kurdziel and Lauren Appelwick, American Express' Meghan Paul, Acquaintable's Joel Rodriguez and Greycroft Partners' Alisa Richter posing at the always epic Webutante Ball @ Internet Week 2012. (Photo: Nick McGlynn / Random Night Out)

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), Founder & 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@garysguide.com.

"I think I just ran into Michael Stipe!"
"Get outta here. Srsly?"
"Well it looked like him."
"Wait, who's Michael Stipe?"
"The lead vocalist for R.E.M."
"Hmmm, are you sure you saw Michael Stipe?"
"Well he was bald and looked familiar."
"Maybe you saw Moby. You sure it wasn't Moby?"
(We all peered into the crowd gathered at the Hard Candy Shell party scanning intently to see if we could spot a familiar, bald rockstar.)

Welcome to Internet Week 2012, y'all! Where the young & the restless mingle with the bold & the beautiful mingle with the rich & the famous all brought together by the seductive beauty and power of this thing we call the Internets! :)

With over 500 companies and 40,000 attendees, Internet Week (now in its 5th year) is billed as a celebration of the city's thriving Internet industry and community. As festival co-chair David-Michel Davies (a.k.a. dmd) pointed out, it's the web, not TV, that is driving the conversation today and is the hub of all things pop culture. And New York is very much a big part of where innovation on the web is happening. "New York is an exceptionally entrepreneurial city," Mr Davies pointed out. "People come here for opportunity, and it’s been like that since the city was founded."

Well, you know what they say. Mo' innovation = Mo' Companies = Mo' Money = Mo' Jobs! :) Yes, I can get behind that. (Also it's been two months since all the partying + boozing + schmoozing + debauchery of SXSW and things have been a tad slow lately. Internet Week, you've arrived just in time!)

Tumblr Founder & CEO David Karp outside the Internet Week 2012 HQ

Demand Media's Oxygen Bar at Internet Week 2012 HQ

My journey began outside the aptly named Internet Week HQ, a 50,000-square-foot space at 82 Mercer. As I patiently waited in line to get in, a couple of girls behind me were chatting excitedly about their startup. "So what's it about?" I asked, unable to resist poking my nose in their bidness. "It's called Picksie! It's an awesome-new-iphone-app-for-location-and-proximity-based-discovery-service-for-things-to-do-near-you!" Their enthusiasm was charming and infectious and I agreed to check it out.

There were a ton of panels and keynotes all through Internet Week. Here are some highlights:

Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore sat down for a fireside chat with Mr. Davies and reminisced about starting Mashable at age 19 back in Scotland in 2005 out of his bedroom and bootstrapping it all the way through. (Interesting factoid: Mashable was hosted on WordPress instead of TypePad because it was too expensive at $10 a month!) Mr. Cashmore pointed out how the lines between consumer and producer are rapidly blurring as users are not just passively consuming but also activately creating and publishing content. Mr. Cashmore also noted that the value of social media is how it becomes our personal filter to the world around us helping make sense of it and making it more personal and relevant. (Personally, I'd have loved it if Mr. Cashmore shed some light on when/how he stumbled upon the goldmine that is Top 10 Lists ;))

In an hour-long conversation, the New York Times' David Carr and Brian Stelter explored the fast-changing world of media consumption, discovery, reporting and business models. "It was scary when it was first announced with all of us there in the newsroom," noted Mr. Carr, regarding the Times' decision to erect a subscription paywall. "We all held hands and jumped through the wall!" "Nobody should ever break news on Twitter," continued Mr. Carr. "There is certainly value to breaking news, but not to kidnapping it." Both Mr. Stelter and Mr. Carr cautioned against getting sucked into the Twitter echo-chamber. "Don’t mistake Twitter heat for real heat!" (Okay, I get it ... Mr. Carr looks at Twitter the way a mouse looks at a rattlesnake ;)

New York's CEO Mayor Mike Bloomberg unveiling the Mapped in NY initiative to help connect job seekers with startups looking to hire.

CNN Money reporter Laurie Segall, LearnVest CEO Alexa von Tobel, ArtSpace CEO Catherine Levene, Birchbox Co-Founder Hayley Barna, Mashable COO Sharon Feder and Nestio CEO Caren Maio at the 'Why being a good executive has nothing to do with being a woman' panel

Then there was the "Future of Media" panel, where folks from the media industry gathered to discuss--you guessed it--the future of media. Reuters social media editor Anthony De Rosa and recently elected Yahoo board member Michael Wolf opined on the continued relevance of smaller local newspapers and Warren Buffett's recent purchase of 63 newspapers. Jezebel's Jessica Coen gave a thumbs up to the tactile feel of glossy magazines that just can't be replicated digitally quite yet. And Buzzfeed's Jonah Peretti noted how Facebook was by far their biggest traffic referrer, surpassing Google.

IAC chief Barry Diller announced at the Federated Media CM Summit that they will be launching an offline component to Match.com. So what does that mean exactly? Well, it means Match.com will be organizing more face-to-face, curated, in-person events. This seems to have disaster written all over it, but I do give Mr. Diller points for trying!

There was video blogger Shira Lazar chatting with new age spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, who has a new YouTube channel The Chopra Well and is working on his 65th book, Spiritual Solutions (talk about prolific!). We waited breathlessly for Mr Chopra to impart one of his trademark enlightening comments and he didn't disappoint. "We are but a speck of dust in a huge infinite void somewhere in the junkyard of infinity." Yes we are!

Video blogger Shira Lazar interviewing new age spiritual guru Deepak Chopra in the Whats Trending section

But as we all know, while panels are great, Internet Week (like SXSW) is really all about the parties, right?!!

There was the opening day party at Internet Week HQ followed by the after-party at Tribeca Grand, where I ran into a bunch of people including the lovely Jennifer Laxmi from Picksie, Stylemusee's Karen Moon, Laughing Squid's Scott Beale, DotGo's Michelle DeForest, Interference's Jessica Randazza and others. The founders of a new startup launching soon called Klooff (it's Instagram for pets!) gave me an impromptu demo in the lobby downstairs. OMGPOP founder Charles Forman offered us strange orange tablets and encouraged us to mix them into our drinks. Which we promptly did. And that's pretty much the last thing I remember from that evening. I kid, I kid! It turned about to be just some tangy, Vitamin C stuff that Charles had picked up somewhere. This wasn't that kind of party, y'know! ;)

There was the Time Inc. party to celebrate the magazine's 10 NYC Startups to watch (ahhh top 10 lists again). The theme of the conversation was very much about 'Why NYC' as a place to start a company. Adaptly cofounder & CEO Nikhil Sethi mentioned how 99 percent of their customers were within a one-block radius of their offices. Sidetour cofounder & CEO Vipin Goyal talked about the breadth of amazing experiences available in the city including one of their more popular tours, "dinner with an investment banker-turned-monk in an East Village monastery." Only in NY! Art.sy founder & CEO Carter Cleveland reiterated what we all know, that New York is pretty much the center of the art world. And Fab.com CMO Scott Ballantyne talked about trying to replicate online that experience of walking down SoHo on Greene Street with one's friends on Sunday and discovering something in the shop window.

Mary Beth, Taylor Bennett and Kaki Read of Warby Parker at the Refinery 29 / Warby Parker party during Internet Week 2012

There was, of course, the much-anticipated Webutante ball (a.k.a. Nerd Prom a.k.a. Everyone Gets Laid Tonight) hosted by Richard Blakeley (Managing Editor at Thrillist) at Marquee, which had lines snaking around the block. I made a beeline to the bar where a young 20-something mentioned to me how excited she was to get away from her corporate cubicle world and finally dip her toes into the "NY tech scene cesspool." Uh-huh. Another pretty young thing whispered in my ear how she loved my curls and proceeded to slide her fingers through them. I closed my eyes, downed the remainder of my drink and signaled to the bartender for an encore. Yes, this was going to be a fun night!

As I made my way thru the crowd familiar faces popped up everywhere. There was The Next Web's Courtney Boyd Myers alongwith Storyful's Erica Berger. RecordSetter's Emily Meithener was there, as was Folio's Niamh Hughes and Sailthru's Aubrey Sabala. Thrillist founders Ben Lerer and Adam Rich and their posse were staked out in a corner. There was the hot (and poachable) Andrea Hong, who does bizdev for AOL, hanging with fellow bizdev cohort Steve Cheney of GroupMe/Skype. I got a hug from Perks Consulting's Lauren Perkins, who'd just arrived with Zelkova Ventures' Jay Levy in tow.

I ran into 360i social strategist Rosie Siman and MDC Partners' Faris Yakob. Mr. Yakob's dreadlocks are getting to be almost as crazy as my curls, if not crazier! I caught up with the lovely ladies of Morris+King - Chi Zhao and Elisabeth Maria. There was WeWork Labs' Matt Shampine, excited about their recent expansion into SF and even more excited about a recent excursion to wine country in Sausalito. Next to him was our very own Betabeater Adrianne Jeffries chatting with frenemy Dick Talens of Fitocracy. Eventually, as all parties do, this one had to end and we all headed over to the after-party thrown by Charming Robot at Destination Bar. The crowd grew drunker, the voices grew louder, the night grew warmer and the party grew crazier.

Gary's Famous (and Sponsored) Red Tie at Webutante Ball at Internet Week 2012

Shelby TV's Reece Pacheco and Lauren Appelwick crowned King and Queen of Webutante Ball at Internet Week 2012. (Photo: Nick McGlynn / Random Night Out)

There was TapRoot's Make It Happen party at a sexy private loft + rooftop apartment in Soho. Taproot's trying to connect folks who are interested in doing pro bono work with charities who could use their help. A worthy cause if there was one. I bumped into a bunch of people including TapRoot's Wendi Sturgis & Robert Acton, Morris+King's Andy Morris, DBG's Chris Young (our gracious host), Social Innovators Collective's Shana Dressler, NY Tech Meetup's Dawn Barber, OMGPop's Charles Forman and others. Inc.'s Howard Greenstein regaled us with stores about the early, early days of Silicon Alley, of Mac User Groups and BBSs.

There was Nick McGlynn's always-happening Obliterati party at Sweet & Vicious, where we all downed copious amounts of margaritas in jars (a.k.a. jargaritas!).

There was The Art of Apps show at the Soho Gallery for Digital Art, which showcased the art and design behind some of the coolest apps such as Path, Mixel, Cameo, Paper and others. As event host (and gdgt founder) Peter Rojas noted: "Creating an amazing user experience for an app – one where the device itself almost melts away – requires a thoughtfulness and cleverness that can be hard to find." Amen, brother.

There was the Stylecaster party, bringing a dash of fashion & style to Internet Week and attended by Fueled founder & CEO (& 50 Most Stylish New Yorkers honoree) Ramit Chawla (who I hadn't seen since SXSW), Foodspotting's Soraya Darabi, Chloe+Isabel's Lindsay Kaplan, Hearst's Head of Digital Marketing (and StyleCaster Co-Founder) Brandon Perlman, The Next Web's Courtney Boyd Myers, Intermix's Dani Axelrod and many more.

Stylecaster's Ari Goldberg, David Goldberg & Meghan Cross and Everyday Health's Mike Keriakos

There was, of course, our very own Betabeat's one-year anniversary party (they grow up so fast!) co-hosted with the Barbarian Group on their awesome Tribeca rooftop with a view to die for. As I arrived, I got a warm hug from Betabeat editor Adrianne Jeffries. Later I ran into Observer Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Spiers, who told me she loved my column. High praise indeed from the founding editor of Gawker and the high priestess of blogging! There was ex-Betabeater Ben Popper who recently jumped ship to VentureBeat and blink-and-you-missed-it jumped again to The Verge.

I bumped into Mr. Webutante Ball himself Richard Blakeley and girlfriend Lindsay Kaplan of Chloe+Isabel. They mentioned they were planning to take a much-needed vacation to Italy. Right on! VYou cofounder and man-about-town Rex Sorgatz was there with the Wall Street Journal's Monica Vosough. Mr. Sorgatz complained that people had been lately confusing him for Barbarian Group cofounder and angel investor Rick Webb. I looked at Mr. Sorgatz, then looked at Mr. Webb and then back again at Mr. Sorgatz. No, I didn't see it--but then again, I was only on my second drink!

I ran into General Assembly's Matt O' Brimer and Jake Schwartz. GA has been on an expansion tear lately, first with London and then Berlin, and the pair were excited about their new online initiative, as well. Mr. Schwartz promised to connect me to their guy in London, where I'll be headed to later this month to explore Tech City. I caught up with Alli Mooney, who I hadn't seen a long, long time. Alli heads trends and insights marketing at Google. I met the lovely Nikki Durkin, the recent Y-Combinator graduate and 99Dresses founder, who bootstrapped her startup down under in Australia. We chatted about her experience at YC, the grueling interview process and the secret to acing it. (Yes, there is one. It's called showing traction. PG loves traction! :))

As the evening progressed, I ran into a whole bunch of acquaintances including Union Square Ventures' Christina Cacioppo, Aviary's Michael Galpert, Barbarian Group cofounder Benjamin Palmer, ABC's Maya Baratz, NYC Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne and many more. Yes, this was definitely a happening party!

Betabeat's One-Year Anniversary Party on the Barbarian Group Rooftop (Photo: Zarah Burstein)

McGarryBowen's Taylor Lorenz and Adotube's Bitsy Metcalf at the BetaBeat 1 Year Anniversary Party on the Barbarian Group Rooftop

Later, a bunch of us headed over to the party at Hard Candy Shell's new offices. Retro was very much the theme, with audio cassette tapes sprinkled everywhere and Mr. Webb snapping and sharing Polaroids all around whilst puffing on an electric cigarette. We ran into foursquare tech guru Harry Heymann at the entrance. He invited us in and encouraged us to make ourselves at home, which we did. The lovely Brooke Moreland from Fashism (there with her beau Joe Wiesenthal of The Business Insider) waved at us. I bumped into former Hard Candy Shell chief and now Charming Robot founder Dan Machharone. (Mr Machharone incidentally is also a co-owner of the aforementioned Destination Bar)

The lovely Bitsy Metcalf and I put on our sunglasses and hammed it up for the camera. A screen on the wall was playing YouTube videos of impossibly cute cats & dogs. I chatted with foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley, Laughing Squid's Scott Beale 'n Rusty Blazenhoff and designer Emma Welles. We all got excited at what seemed to be a whisky cabinet but upon closer inspection it turned out to be just a whiteboard inside. No hard candy for us :(

foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley on realizing the whisky cabinet was really just a hidden whiteboard (Photo: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

And finally there was the Internet Week closing party at IAC's snazzy Gehry-designed west side digs and hosted by hot new streaming-TV startup Aereo. The event was teeming to the brim with celebrities and the city's movers 'n shakers, including actors Wilmer Valderrama, Tyrese Gibson, Carrie Keagan and Allison Williams, IAC honcho Barry Diller, Match.com president Mandy Ginsberg and others. Actor and Comedian Will Arnett was manning the DJ booth.

Actors Will Arnett, Carrie Keagan and Tyrese Gibson at the IAC / Aereo Internet Week Closing Party

The two Rachels: Rachel Sterne and Rachel Sklar at the IAC / Aereo Internet Week Closing Party

Actor and comedian Will Arnett manning the DJ booth at the IAC / Aereo Internet Week Closing Party

The final crowning moment of Internet Week 2012 came as Mr Davies, alongwith the city's Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne and a bunch of others, rang the NASDAQ closing bell on a day that saw the exchange host the historic debut of the IPO of Facebook, arguably the most important Internet company of our lifetime.

Internet Week Co-Chair David-Michel Davies and NYC Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne ringing the closing bell at the NASDAQ

“I’d love to get a time machine and go back to 2004 and invest in Facebook,” quipped Mr Arnett.

So would I, Mr Arnett. So would I.

Mr. Pacheco and Ms. Appelwick. (Photo: Nick McGlynn)

The scene outside Marquee, a 700-some capacity club on 10th Ave. and 26th, was dramatic. Three fire engines wailed, police cars pulling up behind them, beside a long line of well-heeled public relations professionals that snaked around the block. A middle-aged man carrying a brown sack was getting into it with the bouncer. "I was invited, and this asshole..." Never attempt to gain leverage with one bouncer by berating the bouncer next to him. He will never take your side. "Who do you think you fuckin' are?" the guest asked, before he turned and performed a pissy walk north.

A clearly-stressed Richard Blakeley was monitoring the lengthy queue. Were the fire engines related to the fourth annual Webutante Ball, a New York tradition that started as the Internet Week event where the young and webby must tweet and be seen? "No, not us," he assured us as he ushered two sponsors into the shortlisted line.

Indeed, the fire trucks lumbered out of view as we slipped into the Marquee and past the entryway photographer. "Hey, where are you going?" we heard as we ducked past the step-and-repeat and pushed into the main room. Unidentifiable rock music thundered and we didn't recognize a soul. Where was Julia Allison? We'd heard she was one of the judges arbitrating over who would be crowned the King and Queen of the Internet. (Answer: Communing with her shaman, apparently.)

Upstairs the crowd was thicker. In a corner, Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer was perched atop the back of a couch, the men of Thrillist around him like magnets. He introduced his "consigliere," Eric Kramer. We were soon joined by VP of marketing John Wiseman, sporting a pair of spiffy Warby Parkers. "Some of the people in this room are younger than this club," he offered, when we asked for a quote. Of course, that aphorism applied to the startups represented as well.

Back toward the stairs, we ran into WeWork's Matt Shampine and Fitocracy's Dick Talens, in a vest and noticeably bulkier than the last time we saw him. "I'm on steroids," he said, running his fingers through his hair. Everyone laughed a little.

Attempts to elicit predictions for the King and Queen coronation yielded nothing. "I have no idea," Mr. Shampine said. "What do you think?" asked Gary Sharma.

GroupMe's Steve Cheney wandered by. Working at Skype is "great," he said, and GroupMe is still run like a startup and is working on a lot of really cool stuff.

Beside us, Shelby.tv CEO and TechStars grad Reece Pacheco was in a suit and red Converses. Mr. Blakeley approached. "We need to have a quick off-the-record conversation," he apologized.

Betabeat politely looked the other way while the two whispered. It didn't take long to realize what was up: Mr. Pacheco darted down to the dance floor where he joined Shelby.tv's brand director Lauren Appelwick. They were given tiny crowns with white faux fur and pronounced the King and Queen of the Internet. They did a short dance to "I don't want to lose your love tonight."

"She put them on the map," Chloe and Isabel's Lindsay Kaplan told Betabeat. She was speaking of the Queen.

At the bar, Mr. Pacheco was grabbing a few drinks with friends and fending off requests for photos. "Last month I was a vegetarian, this month I'm sober, and next month I'm writing a handwritten letter to someone every day," he said. "I'm doing a new challenge every month."

A good thing, because the King had a board meeting in the morning.

Mr. Sharma, whose fuzzy locks get longer every time we see him, had appeared again, talking to a gentleman with long dreadlocks. "Take a picture of us, with our hair!" the gentleman said.

We meandered a bit, bumping into General Assembly's Matthew O. Brimer, who showed us pictures of graffiti in Berlin, where he had been last week and where General Assembly is opening a new campus. We bumped into digital media man Rex Sorgatz, who asked us, as always, "where have you been?"

The afterparty was at Destination Bar, Dan Maccarone's haunt in the East Village, and Betabeat hopped in a cab with Barbarian Group cofounder Rick Webb, who speculated that the "Calacanis crowd" would be in next week for TechCrunch Disrupt. No Judah Friedlander this time.

Where was the hip crowd these days, we wondered?

"I don't think they're anywhere," he said.

Destination Bar was a closed venue tonight, and the new media guard began to filter in clusters of three. "Get a drink before the open bar closes," Mr. Maccarone said kindly. A glass of wine later, we slipped into the balmy eve. We had our own Internet Week party to get ready for.

(internetweekny.com)

Unless you've gone off the grid, you probably already know that Internet Week 2012 launches on Monday. But with a dizzying number of events to attend, it's hard to figure out which ones are worth the time, effort and subway fare. Betabeat guest blogger Gary Sharma, something of an events truffle hound, already penned his personal list of recommendations. But consider this Betabeat's official to-do list: blogger tested, Betabeat approved.

The Art of Apps Gallery Opening
Monday, May 14th, 10am-6pm
138 Sullivan St.

Expect a lot of rounded edges and pixel talk at this gallery opening, featuring the designs of tech types like Path's Dave Morin, Jon Slimak of Piictu and Matias Corea of Behance. The exhibit will feature some of the best UI designs for apps on iPhone and iPad.

NYU ITP Spring 2012 Show
Monday, May 14th, 5pm-8pm
721 Broadway, 4th Floor

We write about ITP a lot (see the Listserve, the Descriptive Camera, and Kickstriker for some recent examples), mostly because the majority of projects produced by the students at NYU's interactive telecommunications program are actually really, really cool. ITP will unveil its best projects to the public in a two-day spring show on Monday 5/14 and Tuesday 5/15, and we think it's worth attending if only for the chance to see most of the most nimble young minds in the city at work.

Choosey Netizens Choose GIF: Analyzing an Animated Cultural Lexicon
Tuesday, May 15, 12pm-12:45pm
82 Mercer St.

We are huge fans of animated GIFs. In fact, we would probably devolve into communicating entirely through tiny moving pictures, if we could. Motherboard deputy editor Sean Yeaton will discuss how the GIF became its own cultural phenomenon.

Why Being a Good CEO has Nothing to Do With Being a Woman
Tuesday, May 15, 1pm-1:45pm
82 Mercer St.

If you haven't noticed, all of the full-time staff writers here at Betabeat possess two X chromosomes, so we're never ones to turn down a good panel about our fellow XX in tech. Featuring Birchbox cofounder Hayley Barna and Nestio CEO Caren Maio, in addition to some other talented lady founders, the discussion should offer some helpful advice on leading as a woman in the tech community.

TIME Inc.’s 10 Startups to Watch
Wednesday, May 16, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Top Secret

The list of TIME's 10 startups to watch reads like a week in Betabeat posts: NYC tech scene favs Code Academy, Art.sy, Fab.com and Side Tour are among the honorees. But the event is invite-only so be sure to get on the guest list if you want to attend.

WeWorkLabs Happy Hour
Wednesday, May 16, 5pm-8pm
175 Varick St., 4th Floor

First off: there will be free beer at this event. Plus, you'll get to check out the coworking space of WeWorkLabs, a NYC tech staple that seeks to foster collaboration between up-and-coming entrepreneurs. Check out some of the pitches from WeWorkLabs members and network with other like-minded techies.

hackNY Fundraiser
Wednesday, May 16, 7pm-9pm
foursquare HQ: 568 Broadway, 10th Floor

10gen will be providing drinks for a celebration of the hackNY community, an event to help raise funds "for the future tech innovators of New York City," and keep kids off Wall Street as the slogan goes. We had a pretty great time at the last hackNY fundraiser. But if nothing else, it's a chance to peep Foursquare's sweet office digs.

The Webutante Ball
Wednesday, May 16th, 8pm-11:55pm
Marquee

Don't pretend like you don't want to see the digerati all dolled up. The Webutante Ball is in its 4th year, and it's not really getting any cooler, but there will be lots of drinks. The "prom committee" is packed with NYC tech allstars, like Ben Lerer, Dave Tisch, plus old school fameball Julia Allison.

Walkabout NYC
Friday, May 18th, 1pm-6pm
187 Lafayette St. 6th Floor

If you're a fan of the Roger Mag, or just an interior design nut, you'll probably want to take some time to hit up Walkabout NYC, an open house of startup offices around the city. The lineup includes Betaworks, Gilt Groupe, Tumblr and Facebook, among many others.

Future of Media Panel
Friday, May 18th, 1pm-2pm
20 Cooper Sq. at 5th st. (NYU's journalism HQ)

Oh look, another panel to discuss the future of an industry about which no one has the slightest clue. Yay. But! The lineup is packed with A-list names in both media and tech, including Buzzfeed's Jonah Peretti, Thrillist's Ben Lerer and Jezebel's Jessica Coen. As long as everyone's candid about the real state of things, we think it should prove pretty entertaining.

Picadilly CIrcus, London, (Source: Paul Atherton via Wikipedia)

LAWGIC. Today 2tor is partnering with Washington University to put their Master of Laws degree online. 2tor's previous partnerships with USC, UNC and Georgetown have put high-end higher education online with programs in social work, business and nursing. The Washington University partnership is specifically aimed at removing a hurdle for international students who want to study U.S. law. Now they can do it from abroad but still have access to the faculty they would be working with if they were physically in St. Lous.

BE MOBILE. Last week New York City based bMobilized locked down $1.5 million in series A funding from European VC firms Alliance Venture and Investinor. The mobile technology company uses cloud technology to convert websites from one of seven languages to HTML5 for a better mobile browsing experience.

RABBIT EARS. Yesterday NimbleTV named Lou Borrelli as their CMO. Mr. Borrelli joined the cloud-based television subscription service last year as an advisor and investor. His resume includes senior positions at NEP Broadcasting and AOL.

WORKSITE. Yesterday, Scrollkit, the intuitive site building platform, unrolled two big new features. Now users can draw on their websites and buy a domain that automatically propagates. Build entire websites at the speed of Twitter.

COMMUNITY. New Work City just revamped their community membership policy. Now, for $30 a month, members receive one free day pass, discounts on other days and events and access to happy hours, a startup support group, meetups and show and tells.

URBAN EXPLORATION. NYC BigApps winner MyCityWay has gone transatlantic. The urban concierge app is in London just ahead of the Olympics with all the features New Yorkers already enjoy. Need to find Tea? Crumpets? Petrol? They've got you covered.

PUNCH THE CLOCK. Hourly, a matching service for workers and employers looking for flexible work, just relaunched with a slew of new features including enhanced search, a premium membership offering and civic and trade group associations.

DIY. In response to customer feedback, Vook, the e-book creation, publishing and distribution platform, is making their product financially feasible for small players. The new Vook Starter Account is available for $9.99 a month and includes 100 MBs of storage and all the other features that make Vook so attractive, including automatic distribution to the Amazon and Barnes & Noble and royalty collection. Another victory for independent and individual publishers!

INTERNET INVASION. In celebration of Internet Week, WalkaboutNYC is pulling back the covers on New York tech. For the third year, everybody is invited to check out the offices of big names like 10gen, Behance, Art.sy, Codecademy, Gilt Groupe, Jetsetter, eBay, Knewton, Lot18, Spotify, Tumblr—there's a lot, okay? The citywide event is completely free thanks to time tracking company Harvest, and participants can tailor their experience with tours, founder talks and of course, demos.

NERD PROM. The 2012 Webutante Ball is a week from tomorrow where founders, investors and other big names in tech get together to drink dance and crown the king and queen of the Internet. "Series B" tickets are still available for $60 but if you wait for those to sell out the "IPO" ticket round bumps the cost up to $70. All this is happening on May 16 at Marquee, 289 10th Ave.

The event, produced in conjunction with Webutante Ball's Richard Blakely (unlike Seamless, some people apparently see nothing wrong with keeping "Web" in their name), will only be open to a limited number of guests per month. You can buy the $10 tickets here. "Websdays is a networking event for anyone on the web — welcoming developers, digital marketers, bloggers and entrepreneurs,” Mr. Blakeley said in a press release. “But unlike crowded parties with long lines and limited space, Websdays is an exclusive soiree with plenty of room to promote conversation over cocktails." The illusion of exclusivity--sounds like someone been's paying attention to all the beta invites floating around these days.