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.

I speak for production company VidSF and myself when I say it was a pleasure to talk with Slideshare co-founder Rashmi Sinha at the company’s SoMa office recently about her early visions for the site and her career. The interview, which addresses her advice for people considering leaving their jobs to start a new endeavor, is part of Women 2.0′s In Conversation series (and, for the sake of disclosure, her company partners with my own, Federated Media Publishing).

Starting tonight at 6 Pacific time, the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts will be presenting a second set of SENSEable Cities talks in conjunction with the digital art space’s partnership with MIT. After yesterday’s “New York Talk Exchange” visualization, I’m upset to miss these two talks tonight especially:

Trash Track foreshadows the internet of things and smart dust, where everything that can be instrumented will be. Dietmar Offenhuber will present how his team instrumented thousands of pieces of garbage in NY and Seattle with small location-aware tags. The trash transmitted its location and journey, revealing seldom observed phenomena of the of the reverse supply chain.

The Copenhagen Wheel is part of a global movement to reduce our dependence on cars by embracing intelligent hybrid bicycles that participate in networks. This project is part of a more general trend: that of inserting intelligence in our everyday objects and of creating a smart support infrastructure around ourselves for everyday life. MIT grad Christine Outram will present how this went from idea to a project that debuted at the Copenhagen Climate Conference, along with its implication for people, transportation and urban systems.

When designer Chris Olson packed her bags to head to Florida, I was sad because–among many other things–few people can brighten up a studio apartment the way she can. Thankfully she’s opened Hue Amour, a color consultation and decorating biz to spread the interior joy. Have a look–you’ll like.

The Women 2.0 Labs pre-incubator program (featured here on TechCrunch TV) has been a great example of all that a new endeavor can accomplish in five weeks. Looking forward to seeing the companies’ final pitches this evening thanks to True Ventures.

I’m not one for beach reads. I didn’t really realize it until my family caught me reading Chekhov beachside one college summer (yes, for enjoyment, not a class). So lists published between May and August with reading recommendations have often fallen short for my bespeckled self, and not because I’m too academic or snobby for chick lit, but because I want to read work that I know my teammates and pals can also benefit from.

A few recent reads are just that, whether because they combine fun anecdotes with advice that has take home value or because they include stories you’ll want to tell over group dinners. They’re all first-person non-fiction, and I’ll let the esteemed authors speak for themselves:

On Collaboration Twyla Tharp’s “The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together” was the second book I’ve read by the choreographer who has completed successful dance/music partnerships with the likes of Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan. Readers gain insight into her personal dedication (think daily workouts with a trainer at dawn) but mostly ideas about working with other creative types: “The key to a workable routine? First, make sure you have agreed upon a common purpose. Amateur or professional—that distinction doesn’t matter. The first requirement of collaboration is commitment.”

On Making Things that Sing On a recommendation from Sloane I read Nancy Lublin’s “Zilch” and found that the writer also stresses commitment—this time on the quality product front. The CEO and “Chief Old Person” at DoSomething.org shares 11 themes for organizational success along with advice for creating goals and values that team members care about, even when money is tight. Lublin explains that “people want to work on a product or service that they love and respect. John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla Firefox, the organization dedicated to producing and maintaining an open Internet, likes to talk about how his product ‘doesn’t suck.’ (This is a direct quote). Lilly believes that people may try Firefox the first time because of its open philosophy and not-for-profit status, but they keep using it because the product is good.” I couldn’t agree more.

On Clear Thinking I’ve long been a fan of Acumen Fund, the non-profit venture fund that works to combat global poverty, as well as its founder, banker-turned-entrepreneur Jacqueline Novogratz. In preparation for an opportunity to interview her this fall as part of a Women 2.0 video series with organization founders, I read Novogratz’s biography “The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World” enthusiastically. In a conversation with a former colleague who was convinced that good-doers need to start with money, power and influence, she argued “that you have to start early, understand how change happens, and build relationships and credibility over a long time.” Consider it the long road approach, and I appreciate this book for it.

More Pre-Fall Fun As I crack the spine on “The Mayor of Castro Street,” Randy Shilts’ biography of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in pursuit of inspiration and history, there are two other titles I can’t resist sharing. Zainab Salbi and Laurie Becklund worked together to pen the former’s book about leaving pre-war Iraq and starting Women for Women International, and “Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing up in the Shadow of Saddam” tells her disturbing but triumphant story of helping rape victims worldwide. Similarly heroic is Caroline Paul’s recanting of being one of the first women to join a major American city’s fire department in “Fighting Fire,” which may have you swearing by biographies as you sweat this summer.

After a few high profile newsmakers’ questioned female aptitude for intellectual pursuits–including Larry Summers’ controversial musings on women’s biology and Susan Estrich’s accusations that the LA Times’ editorial was sexist–Katie Orenstein founded the project as a way to see if changing the makeup of “gateway forums” could be teachable. The head of the nationwide organization explains that “the range of voices we hear from in the world is incredibly narrow, and comes from a tiny sliver of the world’s population: mostly western, white, older, privileged and overwhelmingly male. Which means we’re hearing from only a small fraction of the world’s brains–including very few women’s brains–which is a big problem for women and for all those of us who aren’t being represented – our stories and perspectives are not being told, sometimes with life and death consequences.  But it also suggests a tremendous opportunity for all of us:  what would be the return to society if we could harness all that brain power?”

I’m fascinated by this question and the longer term implications it might have on females being interviewed as experts in their fields more frequently. And in its efforts to get women to engage more with front door forums (op-ed pages and online communities included) the project will be offering its next training at the ACLU on Drumm Street this Sunday. Pick up your pens.