Etsy Struggles To Keep Members Active

The Brooklyn-based online marketplace for independent artisans to sell their wares boasts 2.4 million members and 155,000 active vendors, but with many not able to earn a living via the Web site, Fortune Small Business reports that the company is struggling to retain members.  The article claims that some Etsy members are upset by the company's perceived new focus on small businesses over individuals.

EtsyBitch | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

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> The Rise of NYC Shops on Etsy

Cuomo to Sue Tagged.com for Identity Theft

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has stated that he plans to sue the social networking site Tagged.com for identity theft.   Cuomo has accused the site of stealing the identities of more than 60 million Internet users worldwide, namely by sending e-mails that raided their private accounts.

AP

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> Symantec and McAfee Settle with NY AG's Office
> Cuomo To Investigate Arbitron For Insider Trading

NYC Media Leaders Discuss Industry Issues

Yesterday, Gotham Media Ventures held a panel discussion called "Media in Crisis: Is There A Way Out?," which, like many panels of late,  focused on the problems that are plaguing journalism today, including  the changing advertising market and media bias versus niche markets. 

The panel featured Financial Times Media Editor Andrew Edgecliff-Johnson, Newspaper National Network CEO Jason Klein, Air America CEO Bennett Zier and Andrew Heyward, senior adviser at MarketSpace LLC and former president of CBS News.

FishbowlNY

[Editor's Note: Air America is a current client of Trylon SMR, publisher of NYConvergence.]

Verizon Files Complaint Against Cablevision

The complaint, which was filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), says that Cablevision is not selling high-definition (HD) programming from its Madison Square Garden Network to the telecommunications company for broadcast on its FiOS service.  Cablevision is currently making such programming available in standard-definition format.

Broadcasting & Cable

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> Twitter Coming to Verizon FiOS?

Can NYC Better Promote Itself to Media Companies?

The recently announced NYC Media 2020 plan was "conceived amid a seemingly nonstop flow of negative news in the media industry, which has affected the city's media base," but is NYC doing enough to promote the benefits to media companies of doing business there?

The Bloomberg administration hopes hopes that MediaNYC 2020's initiatives will "aid the industry for the next decade and create about 8,000 jobs" and the effort to promote its benefits is being handled internally according to PRWeek.

Some would argue that more needs to be done.  Lloyd Trufelman, president and CEO of agency Trylon SMR, said, "“If they want to attract and maintain top talent and successful companies, it has to be an ongoing marketing effort, akin to what the city is doing for the TV production business.”

PR Week [subscription required]

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> Reactions to NYC Mayor's Media NYC 2020 Plan Mixed

[Editor's Note: Trylon SMR is the publisher of NYConvergence.]

New York Publisher Launches New Internet Paper

New York based Sam Apple is launching tomorrow a new online news outlet called Faster Times, according to a profile in The New York Observer.  Faster Times will be a combo of original content and aggregated links  including stories on business, politics, arts, food, sports, design and travel.

According to Apple, who is the founding publisher and and editor-in-chief,  the writing staff will not draw salaries, but instead earn 75 percent of the revenue brought in through ads sold against their individual pages.

The New York Observer

Reactions to NYC Mayor's Media NYC 2020 Plan Mixed

NYC's local media reacted differently to Mayor Bloomberg's NYC Media 2020 plan for strengthening the media industry in NYC.  Some simply reported on the initiative while others offered their opinions on the plan's specifics.  Coverage of the initiative appeared in the following outlets:

• Business Insider
• The Hollywood Reporter
• Mediabistro's FishbowlNY
• MediaPost
• paidContent
• PRWeek
• The New York Times
• Reuters
• The Wall Street Journal

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> NYC Plans to Strengthen City's Media Sector
> NYC & Downtown Alliance To Open Digital 'Hive'

NY Public Library's New Catalog Malfunctions

The library's new catalog system, introduced Monday, has led to long lines at some branches as patrons are appearing in person to renew or put books on hold due to glitches in the system.  The new system integrates the catalogs for circulating and non-circulating materials, but the glitches are preventing patrons from accessing or updating their records online remotely.

The New York Times

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> NY Public Library Turns to Web for Donations

FourSquare Links To Food Trucks' Twitter Accounts

Location-based social networking service Foursquare is now linking to the accounts of food trucks in NYC.  c | net's Caroline McCarthy has a screen shot of the Dessert Truck's recent location on her Tumblr blog as an example which you'll find below.

 
Caro

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> Food Trucks in NYC Use Twitter to Reach Customers

July NY Tech Meetup Fills FIT's Haft Auditorium

NYConvergence ORIGINAL

More than 700 members of the NYC tech community RSVPed to attend the July NY Tech Meetup last night, held at the Haft Auditorium on the campus of SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.  From our seat in the front near the team from presenter Designer Pages, it certainly appeared that it was a packed house this month. 

This month's presenters included:

• Exit Strategy NYC: We blogged about this yesterday, but we learned a few additional details about their iPhone application last night.  The brother and sister team behind the application compiled their data over a ten-week period of riding the NYC subways and it's now available on iTunes for $1.99.
• Gliider: This startup's Firefox add-on allows you to copy and paste travel items of note into it and it can recommend deals on, for instance, hotels based on your tentative plans.
• Designer Pages: The design community can use this Web site to share information about products; they have also devloped a patent-pending, result-based advertising system for product manufacturers to get their products highlighted.
• urtak: Users can submit questions that can be answered by other users.  The developers called it "collaborative public opinion."
• VocabSushi: Billed as a "bento box for vocabulary," this Web site can help users develop their vocabulary based on quizzes pulled from the text of newspaper articles freely available online.
• SpongeCell: Buttons can be layered into banner advertisements using this startup's technology, creating a more interactive experience for users by allowing them to share advertisements, get more information, etc.
• Zagat: The dining guide's new Near2U application, currently available on Google's Android phone and soon to be available on the iPhone 3GS, allows you to see restaurants around you in a radar-screen layout.

There were also three other presentations, one about the membership of the meetup by committee member and "mayor" of co-working space New Work City, Tony Bacigalupo, Iranian musician Ali Emami about the current unrest in his country, and Douglas Rushkoff about his new book Life Inc.