Do you want to know where I will be on November 17th, Im going to be at the O2 Indigo, not hanging out trying to get signatures of the latest bands but at the #140conf London event, more details below but with Stephen Fry on the bill its going to be a fantastic day and if you want to attend as a Sun Startup Essential member you get 40% discount. Yep 40%....

The 140 Characters Conference: London will be taking place on 17 November at the O2 Indigo.

The schedule for #140conf: London offers 50+ speakers in 27 fast sessions during the course of just one day.

At the #140conf events, we look at twitter as a platform and as a language we speak. In London we will be exploring the effects of the real-time Internet on Business. Overall we will be exploring the systemic effects the worldwide adoption twitter is having on business.

Some of the topics we will cover at #140conf London include: Racism as a Resource; Sky News: Twitter, Reputation and #iranelection; twitter and Brands, twitter and Education, twitter and Media, twitter and Small Business, twitter and Sports, twitter and The Police, twitter and TV, twitter and Music.

Please review the videos from the NYC event to get a feel of the pace of the event and the content shared

It is our intention to provide a platform for as many people as possible to share their thoughts and engage in conversation with the attending delegates. You will find individual talks set to: 10 minutes; “Featured talks” 15 and 20 minutes and the various panel discussions are set for 15 and 20 minutes.

Speakers include special guest Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) together with:

Alex Bellinger (@alexbellinger) - Journalist; Founder, SmallBizPod
Andrew Davis (@andrew_davis)
Andrew Keen (@ajkeen) - Author, Cult of The Amateur: How the Internet is Killing our Culture
Babs Rangaiah (@babs26) - Vice President, Global Comms Planning, Unilever
Becky McCray (@BeckyMcCray) - Founder, Small Biz Survival
Boyd Hilton (@boydhilton) - TV Editor for Heat Magazine
Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) - President, New Marketing Labs
Ciaran Norris (@ciaranj) - Director Invention/SocialMedia8
David White (@daveowhite) - Chair
Dean Landsman (@DeanLand)
Digital Maverick (@digitalmaverick) - Learning technologist, Moodle evangelist
Ebony Rhiney-James (@EbonyRJ) - Digital Marketing Manager at Warner Music Group
Federico Grosso (@federicogrosso)
Gerd Leonhard (@gleonhard) - Media Futurist, Author, Blogger
Heather Gorringe (@wiggled) - Founder, Wiggly Wigglers
James Poulter (@jamespoulter) - Digital Strategist for Ogilvy PR
Jeff Pulver (@jeffpulver), twitter investor, creator of #140conf
Jeffrey Hayzlett (@JeffreyHayzlett) - CMO, Kodak
Jonathan Almond (@jonalmond)
Josie Fraser (@josiefraser) - Social & Educational Technologist
Kathleen Hessert (@kathleenhessert) - CEO, Sports Media Challenge
Kyra Gaunt, Ph.D. (@kyraocity) - Associate Professor of Music and Anthropology, Baruch College-CUNY, writer, blogger
Lauri Stevens (@lawscomm)
Manny Norte (@mannynorte) - Kiss FM
Marsha Collier (@MarshaCollier) - Author, Ebay for Dummies; Radio Host
Maz Nadjm (@Mazi) - Responsible for social networking at Sky Television, sky.com
Nick Halstead (@nickhalstead) - CEO, TweetMeme
Nick Keane (@nickkeane)
Pamela O'Hara (@pmohara) - Co-founder, Batch Blue
Peter Gregson (@petergregson) - Cellist and Co-founder of the Production Company Coffeeloop
Ray Paul (@raypaulbbc) - Executive Producer for Weekend Programs at BBC Radio 1
Roberto Bonanzinga (@Bonanzinga) - Balderton Capital
Saul Klein (@cape) - Index Ventures
Sean Seton-Rogers (@setonrog) - PROfounders Capital
Sherry J. Bitting (@SJBRules) - Co-founder and Marketing Director, Parlour Magazine
Shirley Williams (@shirleyearley)
Stephen Fry (@stephenfry)
Steve Saul (@stephensaul) - Social media/blogger for Simon Cowell's X-Factor
Sue Black (@Dr_Black)
Tal Givoly (@givoly) - Chief Scientist, Amdocs
Tim Bradshaw (@tim) - Digital media correspondent, Financial Times
Vikki Chowney (@vikkichowney) - Editor of Reputation Online, Centau Media

The take aways from this event will provide the attending delegates knowledge, perspectives and insights to the next wave of effects twitter and the real-tme internet will have on business.

As Sun Startup Essentials is a friend of Jeffs we have a lovely discount for you, save 40% on a Delegate Ticket up until 15 November or until tickets last. 

Click here to register:

Busy entrepreneurs need to stay on top of all the latest startup information, but who has the time? Here's a look at what went on around blogosphere and in the news last week, in case you missed it.

Are advisory boards a good or bad idea for startups? Entrepreneur-turned-VC Mark Suster says that depends on your goals.

All the advice from startup industry analysts who recommend entrepreneurs consider starting new green-tech business aren't just spouting rhetoric. Finance mogul George Soros recently committed a whopping $1 billion to the clean-tech startup sector.

Do you have trouble balancing work and home life? Do you love the art of the deal? Are you addicted to pursuing the next big opportunity? You may be an entre-holic.

Some startups don't need barrels of money to get off the ground. If you're a U.S.-based business looking for a micro-loan, there's a good chance Kiva.org can help.

Startups looking to raise capital sometimes hire finders to help them out. If this is something you're considering, “We can’t find investors on our own� isn't a good enough reason to go this route.

Flickr image courtesy of angermann.

 Do you want to attend Social Media 09 ? - http://socialmedia09.com/

More details below, but with 

6 speakers
14 case studies
8 demos & 1 tools overview

with Sarah Beeny and Chris Thorpe on the agenda its going to be an informative interesting discussion based event.

Make sure you are a Sun Startup Essential Member and get a 20% discount on this great event now - http://sun.com/startups

Join us in celebrating the launch of Enternships.com during Global Entrepreneurship Week in style with the company of 900 entrepreneurs / SME's / investors / advisors / press / entrepreneurial students and graduates for a night of mingling with mojitos, speed networking, live entertainment (magicians, a cuban band, cocktail mixology lessons, Salsa lessons, Top DJs + more...) all until the early hours of the morning. You'll even leave with your very own Enternships goody bag!

The Sun Startup Essentials team and supporters will be running mini masterclasses on marketing, sales channels and brand strategy throughout the day, not as exciting as magicians but will help your business grow.

It's taking place from 7pm (until 2am) on Tuesday 17th November  at Floridita, 100 Wardour Street, London W1F 0TN. Tickets are normally £20 (those magicians don't grow on trees, you know) but for the first 100 Sun Startup Essential members its FREE, yes I said FREE indeed.

If you would like to go then sign up here for a ticket - http://enternships.eventbrite.com/ , if you are a SSE member you will get your FREE code in the newsletter next week so wait till then and the whole Startup Essentials team will be there to greet you and say hi.

VIP Invitation to the exclusive Insider Secrets breakfast with Greg Dyke


We are pleased to be a host to an unusual breakfast session and I am delighted to invite you to it.

The breakfast setting is going to be interactive, challenging, stimulating and driven by the audience.

on

Date:             Thursday, 22nd October 2009
Time:             8 am to 10 am
At:                 Sun Customer briefing Centre

To get tickets at SSE Member rate please go here now  - SSE MEMBERS ONLY PRICING

There's no room here to list in detail what Greg did that prompted literally thousands of BBC people to take to the streets in protest when he had to resign from the BBC, causing "men, women and even journalists to cry" and flooding his inbox with 6,000 emails from BBC people, most of which said how upset they were that he was going.

Greg was Director General of the BBC and is now the Chairman of the British Film Institute, Chairman of Brentford football club and also Chancellor of York University.  He also was one of the original architects of the Premier League in his days with LWT.  He has changed the face of British Television and British football whilst introducing a new no-nonsense direct style of inspirational leadership.

In his typical direct no-nonsense, impatient style Greg will take on the challenges from the audience and share his nuggets of insights. 

These are the 5 areas he will span:

1.             The "Berlin Wall" moment for Democracy - His unique perspective on Public service reform and transformation of Democracy is that we are heading to a "Berlin Wall" moment that will change the course of politics
2.             Leadership in a crisis - is the outlook less bleak?  he has his own brand of leadership advice for entrepreneurs, corporate and public service leaders as they prepare to come out of the current crisis.
3.             Learning from shambles - the ITV mess provides a number of fabulous lessons for the choice of Board, the relationship between CEO and Chairman
4.             GAME changing innovations: Greg created BBC Freeview that changed British television and 20 years ago created the Premier League which has transformed the face of British football. 
5.             What next for the British Film Industry -  how can new technologies like the internet be monetised to the advantage of the film industry and not just the pirates.

It is an unusual opportunity as Greg does not do sessions like these very often.  He does get called to do his set speeches but speaking directly from what he is passionate about and responding interactively to the challenging and confronting questions in public will be the juicy part of this breakfast. So definitely, keep your questions ready.

There are only a few spots still available as we like to maintain the intimate interactive style of these breakfasts. 

We look forward to seeing you there.

Mint CEO Aaron Patzer presented a step-by-step narrative on how he built his company in three years to $170 million target for personal finance giant Intuit.

In a moment of nonchalance, Patzer, who spoke at the Juice Pitcher event, hosted by TheFunded.com and Vator.tv, admitted to Adeo Ressi, the founding member of The Funded, that he sold Mint for cash to Intuit, so it didn't matter to him what happened to Intuit's shares.

This Sun BluePrints™ article provides an overview of Sun's VeriScale architecture. The article includes details of VeriScale's defining principals, underlying components, interactions, and advantages. Applicable real-world scenarios are also described.

The article addresses the following topics:

• Requirements of a Scalable Datacenter" describes the requirements that are addressed by the VeriScale architecture.
• VeriScale Architecture Overview" describes the automation layer and functional components of the VeriScale architecture.
• Project OpenSolaris™ Dynamic Service Containers (OpenSolaris DSC)" describes the components of OpenSolaris DSC that are used by the VeriScale architecture.
• Service Delivery Network (SDN) Architecture and VeriScale Automation" describes how the SDN architecture is used to implement the VeriScale automation requirements.
• Network Optimization Through Distribution" describes how the VeriScale architecture can be used to distribute and optimize application deployment and load-balancing.
• Proof of Concept for the VeriScale Architecture" describes a proof-ofconcept (POC) that was implemented to verify the feasibility and utility of the VeriScale architecture.
• The VeriScale-Enabled Business Process" describes how the Veriscale architecture concepts can be applied to business processes in a software intensive enterprise.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud provides a Web-based platform that is transforming the way music is shared. Over 250,000 customers — including artists and other music professionals — already rely on SoundCloud to send, receive, and distribute music. Based in Berlin, Germany, the company employs 12 people.

Everything a brand needs to know about twitter and real-time social media*

* but was afraid to ask

Media140 London

We explore the effects of twitter and real-time social media on agencies, marketers and brands, looking at how platforms such as Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and AudioBoo are disrupting, challenging and changing traditional media and advertising. Focusing on customer engagement, how to make sustainable profits and build loyal communities.

In partnership with Contagious, Revolution and IAB the event will bring together brand strategy, creatives, ad agencies, media planners, media buyers, PR agencies and publishers to share and understand the disruptive impacts of real time social media on their industry.

We have a veritable collection of industry speakers including Tom Bedecarre, Gareth Jones, Jess Greenwood, Lloyd Salmons, George Nimeh, Robin Grant and Amelia Torode amongst others...