• Last Call for Labs (Foodspotting Proves It Can Work)

    imgThis Saturday marks the last day to apply for the pre-incubator Labs program through Women 2.0, but fear not: men and women can still qualify for the five week program for engineers, designers, and “business and marketing mavens” looking to start developing high-growth technology ventures in SF. Labs doesn’t require company equity or require that you quit your day job, so hop to it, advocates of rapid prototyping.

    And if you’re seeking proof that concentrated time through these programs can pay off, look at Alexa Andrzeweski: after founding meal recommendation tool Foodspotting through one of Women 2.0′s incubator programs, the company has taken off in ways the former UX designer would never have expected. She sat down during final presentation night for the summer Labs to discuss picking business partners and surrounding yourself with entrepreneurial-minded individuals. Thanks to Alley Pezanoski-Browne for videography and VidSF for editing.

  • Fifty24SF Opens “Over Normal”

    Radiohead’s interactions with San Francisco have been overwhelmingly positive (if you discount sound interruptions at the first Outside Lands fest, of course). I’m excited to see that their artist collaborator Stanley Donwood is having his first stateside show, “Over Normal,” at Fifty24SF on Fillmore starting tonight. Following a reception tonight, the work that plays on text-focused ads in primary colors will be viewable through the end of October: “The catalyst for the large works featured in the show is Los Angeles, where Stanley began to notice (with equal parts amazement and distress) that the advertisements bombarding him on the multilane highways were made of seven basic colors, immediately grabbing viewers’ attention in a primal way…Stanley noticed a parallel between the use of those colors and an influx of spam emails that promised everything from more fruitful sex lives, to cheap foreclosed properties at the expense of someone else’s misery. ”
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  • Listen.

    What would we do without public broadcasting?

    I loved this Everynone production “Words” created in collaboration with WNYC, RadioLab and NPR. A good reminder to pay attention thanks to San Francisco-bound pal Michelle Cohen.

  • Welcome September + Architecture & The City Festival

    imngHearing about “Investigating Urban Metabolisms” so soon after lunch may have you reeling, but program details for the seventh Architecture and the City Festival may get you ready to digest (tours, films and lectures, that is). For the month of September, the American Institute of Architects’ local chapter has planned events that consider how information, building and transportation systems act almost like a human body in their intricacy. Maybe that’s why a Food Foraging Tour post-SF Design Awards sounds so good.img

  • Outdoors Again >> The Amrita Edition

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    Ah, weekend getaway. I’m still getting back to it after a camping trip with pals took me to Yosemite, and while I’m not much of a camper, well-outfitted friends demonstrated how much nicer being outside all night can be with select geimgar. Since I’ve been back in the City by the Bay, I’m realizing what I should have packed from a few eco-minded companies on the West Coast: a) Portland-based Nau’s new merino wool shirt-dress; b) the BPA-free ALEX Bottle, which their team tells me is better for mixed drinks than hot ones; and c) Alite’s “sexy hotness,” alleged to be “the perfect sleeping bag for making love in the woods”–finally! I would have considered it guilty pleasure camping until mi amiga Amrita (who’s woefully London-bound) introduced me to “glamping,” or packing drop earrings in preparation for communal bathrooms.

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  • Building by the Block

    imgMy first question upon seeing creator Patrick Chirico’s “Build Your Block” pillow set based on Brooklyn brownstones was when SF renditions might be made. The answer? When you’re ready. For $75, your favorite corner store/Victorian/vertical park image can grace your couch. Why not go for a full set of Painted Ladies?

  • SFMADE on Branding Local Products

    You may hear “California public benefit corporation,” but what local group SFMADE actually advocates for is local manufacturing that makes good economic sense. Enter an event series that includes manufacturing best practices and marketing tips for companies with local roots. This Thursday, Rickshaw Bags founder and former Timbuk2 head Mark Dwight will speak in the Dogpatch about branding locally made products. You may not yet know anything about “geographic ingredient branding,” but pride of place is certainly familiar to this site’s kind readers.

  • Digital Goings On for End of August

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    Lest you think the return of summer weather has people flocking only to Zeitgeist, there are two meetups worth mentioning on the social web front this week that may make being inside (temporarily, of course) worthwhile. Tonight’s Chomp Tastemaker Party at Sloane on Mission sold on quickly, for which you can thank a Rose/Scoble duo. And tomorrow Ubergizmo will be hosting Digital Summer, their annual combination of photography, tech and fashion at Temple (think gadget demos and eco-fashion by Edun). Hot stuff.

The San Franista

Culture coverage by Emily Goligoski

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