There will be a Milwaukee lan party for any Fireseed Gamers the weekend of June 21st. Please go to spoolan.net for details, and register if you plan to attend. The event is currently planned to be at bucketworks, but may have to be moved due to flooding. It sounds like BW will need help, in addition to what they are expecting to receive from their insurance company.
Fireseed’s original mission was to foster the development of Milwaukee’s tech passionate elite, and since its inception a lot has happened in Milwaukee, however its not enough. The next step in bringing Silicon Valley to Milwaukee involves building a social bridge between Milwaukee and Silicon Valley like no other social startup bridge to date. As things stand, Milwaukee’s tech scene is growing with groups and events like web414, web608, barcampMilwaukee and milwaukeedevhouse.
Our strong tech scene needs to focus on building bridges now, so that we do not become an echo chamber of ideas, and fresh ideas come from different cultures, different cities, and diverse backgrounds can come in and shake things up. All of this points towards bridge building. To both build my company Social Helix and serve as an endpoint for a bridge between Silicon Valley and Milwaukee, I (justin kruger), have moved to the Silicon Valley, SF Bay area for the time being. Fireseed is going to continue to throw events in Milwuakee as long as we can, and I am going to start promoting Fireseed here in the valley with some of the values of Milwaukee. I am hoping that we can provide a different experiance than most of the folk around here are used to, so we can show off the pride, passion, and work ethic that the Midwest is known for. As part of the bridge project, I want to enable a ton of virtual presence between here and there.
My motto for this one is “Bridge differently.” (who knows who could help, seesmic, yahoo, socialhelix, second life, skype….)
One fantastic project that might help build a different sort of bridge is the m7combinator that Fireseed will be discussing on the 24th of June. The goal with the m7combinator is to create an incubator resource that not only draws in people to our side of the bridge in Milwaukee, but to build a place that increases the chance for success for Milwaukeans to succed in web startups. yCombinator has done something that works great for Boston, and Silicon Valley, but I think we can create something that works better in someplace like Milwaukee. It will take time, yCombinator is now in its 3rd year, so I expect this to be a 5 year journey for Milwaukee, and I need all of your help if we are going to pull this off.
Lets build a different sort of bridge.
date: april 18th, 2008
time: afternoon 1:30pm-4pm
location: Bucketworks – 1340 N 6th St., Milwaukee WI 53212
topic: Have you ever wanted to use your Graphic Card GPU for something else?
nVidia’s 8800 line of graphics cards have up to 128 streaming processors and can perform some operations 500x faster than your cpu can. This drastic shift in performance is opening up new options in research, web services and desktop applications.
There are a world of interesting applications for GPUs that range from physics simulations, DNA folding and docking, and some groups are even experimenting with artificial intelligence engines on the graphics cards. GPUs are an exciting and disruptive technology that can either make you 500x more productive in your efforts, or allow them to happen at up to 1/500th the cost.
This discussion lecture will be given by Micheal Garland of nVidia and the University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign.
UPDATE 2008-04-14: This event is still trying to find a date.
I have a tentative date from Amazon on a Tech Cafe. Please talk it up, and I need some Milwaukee Volunteers to pull off the event, as I will be in Japan at the time. Jinesh was going to be in town anyways that weekend so it made a lot of sense for Amazon. Volunteer needs
Rush Hour 3, Meet the Spartans, Deck the Halls, and Good Luck Chuck are but a few of the major motion pictures in which Milwaukee’s own Backlot Imaging contributed to the success of the picture.Backlot (backlotimaging.com) is a post-production company bringing high quality cinematic effects to Hollywood studios, as well as businesses throughout the Midwest. Backlot’s team of graphic specialists is led by former Disney executive Steve Muckerheide, and has a strategic alliance with Tri-Marq Communications, with the combined teams bringing more than 40 years of studio and post-production experience, including 20th Century Fox, Columbia/Tri-Star Pictures, Todd A/O and The Walt Disney Studios.
Join us for an insiders view into Hollywood special effects, and the people and technology to produce them.
Scheduled Presenter:
Justin Bosar, Backlot Imaging. Justin leads the graphics and animation teams for video, film and interactive applications, and has designed specialized systems and processes that have improved Backlot’s productivity, effectiveness, and cut costs.
Who Should Attend?
Participants will get a crash course in digital effects creation, manipulation, and work flow, as well as the demands of working with Hollywood studios. This event will include a tour of Backlot Imaging.
Why should You Attend?
Get an intimate, “behind the scenes” look at practices, processes and technologies that Backlot uses to deliver Hollywood cinematic quality for both the motion picture industry, as well as for leading companies in the Midwest.
Where and when?
Date: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Location: Milwaukee Ale House, 233 North Water Street, Milwaukee, WI
Schedule:
Registration and Networking 5:30 PM
Program and tours begin at 6:00 PM, and continue every 30 minutes
Cost (includes two drink tickets at the lower level bar)
$25.00 for e!nnovate members
$35.00 for non-members
How to make a reservation for this event:
E-mail your reservations to einnovate@teamwi.com or register online at http://einnovate02142008.eventbrite.com
For further information contact, e!nnovate
Phone: 262-532-2440
Fax: 262-532-2430
Email: einnovate@teamwi.com
Web: http://www.einnovate.org
== Event Details ===
This will be a fantastic event.
Ben Geisler and Norb from Frozen Code Base will be coming in from Greenbay, WI to Milwaukee to talk about starting a video game company in Wisconsin. Ben was first able to raise a small amount of seed money in this state and then later was able to raise money from the west coast to build his company Frozen Code Base in Northern Wisconsin. His company is a developing success story with the launch of their first game on Xbox live arcade, “Screwdiver.”
Ben and Norb will be a riot as they present this topic like no other. Norb is a true performer and adds a level of creativity to topics that just can’t be matched. Please join us for a short presentation, no holds bard questions, and then pending enough contributions we might all rent a bus to travel to the Brew City Bruisers Roller Derby with Frozen Code Base. Frozen Code Base is a big fan of the bouts and is also a sponsor, so it should be a good time to get to know some of the most interesting entrepreneurs that Wisconsin has to offer.
You have a choice to attend the event for free, with food for a fee, or to contribute to a bus pending enough interest(if there is not, I will refund the difference between the food ticket and the
transportation one ~$10).
I have also added an option to donate money to bucketworks for getting us the space. I highly recommend making a donation so we can continue to use the space for events like this.
RSVP link
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/93702266
The event will start shortly after 3pm pending Ben’s arrival time from Green Bay, so we might have a few moments to talk about other startup related activity before Ben and Norb are ready.
Please save the date of Saturday January 26th, 2008.
Ben Geisler of Frozen Codebase is coming to Milwaukee to see the Brew City Bruisers; and I have gotten him to agree to come early to discuss what it is like to start a Video Game Company in Wisconsin. The event will be mostly casual, and some how in the afternoon-evening, but details are still being worked out at the moment.
If you would like to help with the event here is what is on the table.
Ben and Norb will be giving a presentation, performance or something from left field about getting into the video game industry and raising capitol locally and out west.
Ben and Norb would like to show off the game they just launched on XBOX live arcade.
Some open discussion about entrepreneurship, gaming, art, code, or anything else you can think of.
Some plans to get beer, some dinner, and maybe “bus” like transportation to and from the roller derby.
This event will be perfect for anyone that is starting a technology business in Wisconsin, is interested in creating video games, or just wants to meet some of the coolest people I know in Wisconsin.
Details will follow…....
Greetings!
The next Inventors and Entrepreneurs Forum of Greater Milwaukee (I&E Forum) is scheduled for
Wednesday, December 12th.
The program is titled,
“Patent Law Update: 2008 and Beyond.”
‘Twas the night before the new patent rules were to go into effect. A federal court issued an injunction on October 31 delaying the patent office from implementing sweeping changes. These rules are enjoined, but not forgotten. How does this historic court battle affect your business interests as an individual inventor or small business? Jill Gilbert Welytok, Registered Patent Attorney and author of “Entrepreneurs Guide to Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets and Licensing”,will help update you on what you need to do to formulate your patent strategies in 2008 and beyond.
The meeting is FREE and open to the public. Registration starts at 5:30 PM, the meeting at 5:45 PM, and is held at the Tommy G. Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park (enter Gate 5, just south of I-94 on 84th Street). Our usual introductions and networking will cap off the evening.
Mary Steinbrecher
MMAC – CEOs of Growing Businesses
756 N. Milwaukee Street – Suite 400
Milwaukee, WI 53202
414-287-4128
Meeting Location
Tommy G. Thompson Youth Center
Wisconsin State Fair Park
640 S. 84th Street
West Allis, WI
Monthly Meeting Schedule
All meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of the month (unless noted otherwise).
Registration Begins at 5:30 p.m. – Meeting at 5:45 p.m.
Meeting Topics & Presenters
Wed., December 12, 2007 Patent Law Update: 2008 and Beyond Jill Gilbert Welytok, Absolute Technology Law Group
Wed., January 9, 2008Legal Structures for a New Company
Wed., February 13, 2008 Financial Aspects Regarding Your New Business (Boot Strapping)
Wed., March 12, 2008 Marketing Your Product/Service
Wed., April 9, 2008 Hiring/Managing/Firing (HR Aspects of Running Your Business)
Wed., May 14, 2008 Growing Your Company
Wed., June 11, 2008 Sales Management 101
July & August 2008 Summer Break!