InTheEmpire

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This is the seed blog for InTheEmpire, a Streetwise Media site specifically for NYC, set to officially launch this April. Follow @InTheEmpire for up-to-the-minute news. The talented folks running this site are -- Will Wei, Sam Dwyer, & Sarah Shanfield. For more info, feel free to email us at info@intheempire.com.

March 21, 2012

Linsanity In Book Form: Jeremy Lin Bio Coming Out March 31

By Will Wei

Judging by the drastically reduced prices of Jeremy Lin gear, it’s safe to say that Linsanity is over. Hell, even the New York Times declared “Linsanity has left the building.”

Sounds like no one told Right Fit Reading the news of Linsanity’s departure, though. The New York based publishing company announced today that it will release the “first-to-print unauthorized biography” of Jeremy Lin. The bio, titled “From the End of the Bench to Stardom,” is authored by Bill Davis and will hit the bookshelves on March 31st.

Here’s what the unauthorized bio is all about, via a release by Right Fit Reading:

“From the End of the Bench to Stardom” traces the life of the basketball star, from childhood into his college years at Harvard University, and beyond. Through exclusive interviews and the colorful recollections of Harvard insiders, including his college basketball coach, author Bill Davis introduces the real Jeremy Lin as told by those who know him best.

Capitalizing on Lin’s heritage and immense popularity in China and Taiwan, the bio will also be available in Chinese.

Lin’s numbers have been down coming out of the All Star Break, but since the departure of Mike D’Antoni, the Knicks have won four straight and Lin has been putting up solid, though not Linsane, numbers.

Even if Lin’s on-court production kicks back up, will New Yorkers care? Because, you know, Tim Tebow.

1:30pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z0_NIwILJrte

(Notes: 3)

March 21, 2012

BREAKING: Jets Acquire Tebow For 4th Round Pick

By Sam Dwyer

According to ESPN.com, our very own NY Jets have acquired Denver Bronco’s QB Tim Tebow for a fourth round draft pick.

After the Bronco’s announced their signing of Peyton Manning—arguably the best passer in NFL history—to a 5-year, $96 mil contract, it was apparent the team would have limited use for their former starter.

Still, the trade has already raised a few eyebrows. Here’s what ESPN had to say:

The timing of the trade is curious.

Two weeks ago, the Jets gave Sanchez a three-year, $40.5 million contract extension, professing their faith in him even though he regressed in certain areas last season. They signed former Detroit Lion backup Drew Stanton last week to be their No. 2 quarterback, handing him a $500,000 signing bonus. They also have former Alabama star Greg McElroy.

With the Jets suffering from a plague of off-the-field issues that culminated in a season-ending collapse on the field, notoriously religious Tebow may be the prayer the team has been searching for.

Apparently, not everyone agrees. Take a look at Antonio Cromartie’s recent tweets:

I couldn’t care less what Cromartie has to say. Bring on the #Timsanity.

More to come on this breaking story.

1:20pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z0_NIwILIUCZ

Filed under: Broncos Jets NY Jets NYC News Peyton Manning TEbow rex Ryan Tim Tebow Tebowing Tebowmania

March 21, 2012

The 41 New Yorkers You Need To Follow On Twitter

By Will Wei

Time just published a slideshow of the 140 best Twitter feeds of 2012. A little strange, considering it’s March and we rang in 2012 less than three months ago.

At any rate, social media editors Allie Townsend and Amy Lombard of Time were tasked with the assignment of choosing the “140 Twitter feeds that are shaping the online conversation in 2012.”

Each Twitter handle falls under a certain category: Experts; Art, Style & Photography; Culture; Humor; Sports; News & Information; Tech & Geek; and Politics.

Tim Tebow made the list under the Sports category. He really belongs in the News & Information, Culture, Humor, and Experts categories, though. Because, he’s Tim Tebow and he’s made us all laugh, scream, feel more informed, and (maybe) cry at least once in our lives.

Of the 140 Twitter handles on this list, a whopping 41 of them reside in New York City. Take a look at the 41 New Yorkers you NEED to follow on Twitter:

Pat Kiernan — I anchor the news on NY1 and host game shows. And I’m up early digging through the headlines to find interesting and important stories to Tweet.
Seth Meyers — Head writer for Saturday Night Live and host of its Weekend Update segment.
Brian Stelter — I report on TV & digital media for The New York Times. RT & links aren’t endorsements.
Anderson Cooper — Personal tweets by Anderson Cooper. Anchor of @AC360, weeknights at 8p/ET & 10p/ET on @CNN and daytime talk show host of @Anderson, airing weekdays.
John Hodgman — All you need to know about wine, wealth, sports, and the end of the world.
BuzzFeed — Feeding the buzz and such. Tweets by @_mikehayes.
Jay Rosen — I teach journalism at NYU, direct the Studio 20 program there, critique the press and try to grok new media. I don’t do lifecasting but mindcasting on Twitter.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta — Staff Neurosurgeon, Emory Clinic CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
Cecile Richards — President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund
OccupyWallSt — News and information about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Opinions tweeted do not reflect the occupation as a whole. Official twitter of occupywallst.org #OWS
Ed Husain — Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR); author, ‘The Islamist’ (Penguin).
Daisy Khan — Executive Director and Co-Founder of American Society of Muslim Advancement
Neil deGrasse Tyson — Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History. Author: Space Chronicle, The Pluto Files,. Host: StarTalk Radio
GalleyCat — The First Word on the Book Publishing Industry
McNally Jackson — Bookstore dispatches from McNJ booksellers Dustin Kurtz and Sam MacLaughlin
Baratunde — Author of #HowToBeBlack (http://howtobeblack.me) Dir. of Digital for @TheOnion. Reside in Brooklyn Live in Twitter. My tweets represent your employer’s opinions
Longreads — The best long-form stories on the web. Great with @ReadItLater, Flipboard, Instapaper. Use the #longreads tag to share your favorite stories. Est. 2009.
Vulture — Devouring culture. Purveyor of #clickables.
Teju Cole — Writer, art historian, street photographer, Distinguished Writer in Residence at Bard College.
Vogue — The official twitter page of Vogue Magazine.
Kate Spade NY — quick and curious and playful and strong. follow us for a glimpse into the world of kate spade new york.
Amy Odell — BuzzFeed writer of girly things, cat owner, Beyonce lover.
Fashionista.com — All the fashion news you need to know…and fast.
The Cut — New York Magazine’s fashion blog.
Tory Burch — CEO and designer of Tory Burch, a “a luxury lifestyle brand.”
Cathy Horyn — Fashion critic of The New York Times, editor of the On the Runway blog. Reports from the shows in Paris, Milan and New York.
Joe Zee — Creative Director of ELLE Magazine, Host of Sundance Channel’s original series All On The Line With Joe Zee, Stylist, Fashion Loudmouth, Backup Dancer
Oscar PR Girl — PR girl for Oscar de la Renta reporting from inside one of the world’s most prestigious fashion houses. http://oscarprgirl.tumblr.com
Yoko Ono — I love dancing. I think it’s better to dance than to march through life.
Joe Randazzo — Thinking about changing my profile photo since 2009. Editor of The Onion.
Grace Helbig — I vlog. I like funny.
The Onion — America’s Finest News Source. Follow @OnionPolitics for the latest War For The White House election coverage.
The Times Is On It — Because sometimes stories in newspapers are just *that* obvious.
Andy Revkin — Pursuing ways to forge progress on a finite planet on http://j.mp/dotEARTH and at Pace U. The rest? Family, friends, living, music: http://j.mp/unclewade
Today Show — America’s favorite morning show. News, weather and everything else to help you make the most of your day. 4 hours of live TV, 140 characters at a time…
Tim Pool — Independent Journalist covering political action and activism.#OpStream Agent
Matthew Keys — Deputy Social Media Editor at @Reuters.(Any opinions are my own)
Rachel Zoll — Associated Press national religion writer based in NYC. Native of Salem, Mass. RT are not endorsements.
Maria Popova — Interestingness curator and semi-secret geek obsessed with combinatorial creativity. Editor of @brainpickings & @explorer. Bylines for @WiredUK & @TheAtlantic
Andy Borowitz — There is a fine line between social networking and wasting your fucking life.
Taegan Goddard — Publisher of Political Wire

If you’re curious who else made the cut of Time’s best Twitter feeds of 2012, check out their slideshow here. Or, if you hate clicking, check out their full list.

March 21, 2012

NYC Prepares To Double Its Renewable Energy Capacity

By Sam Dwyer

Fresh Kills Landfill—the 2,200 acre dump in Staten Island (pictured) where the majority of NYC’s rotting garbage is laid to rest after stinking up our streets—is set to change its image from malodorous wasteland to green, clean, fighting machine.

Yesterday, through the PlaNYC program, the City government released an official Request for Proposals (RFP) for companies to “design, construct, install and operate solar and wind power facilities” on 75 acres of the fill’s land.

Officials say that, if fully utilized, the project will more than double the city’s renewable energy capacity and power over 6,000 homes.

The announcement is a significant step for New York’s plan to turn the city into the greenest and cleanest in the world but if I lived in Staten Island, I’d simply be happy that the heaping pile of 65 year-old filth is finally getting a few fans to air it out.

The RFP will operate on a rolling basis, accepting applications from now until February 2013. Applicants will be judged mainly on the quality of their proposal, their experience in the industry, and their success with similar projects.

11:35am | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z0_NIwIL62Jr

Filed under: Clean Energy Renewable Energy Energy NYC PlaNYC Request for Proposals News New York City

March 21, 2012

Wanna Make Bank? Work In NYC’s IT Industry

By Sam Dwyer

For any city to draw the best talent in an industry, it cannot rely on culture and community alone. Employees could enjoy every minute they spend in the city and their office, but if they aren’t adequately compensated for the service they provide, they’re guaranteed to leave for greener pastures.

Thankfully for New York’s tech scene, a recent study by recruiting firm CyberCoders shows that the city ranks among the highest for IT salaries. The study analyzed the salaries of over 3,000 jobs in the industry and found that NY IT employees earn an average of $105,192.

This doesn’t land NYC at the top of the list though. Coming in ahead of the Big Apple are San Jose at $119,412 and San Fran at $112,739.

According to CyberCoder’s CTO Matt Miller via eWeek, employees who capture the higher range of salaries have intensity and a wide range of skills. “The highest-paid candidates,” he said, “are those who have multi-platform skills and can design and code for the fast-paced, ever-changing world of mobile applications.”

It’s great to see our city challenging San Francisco on every level. Such an even playing field for salary means developers and programmers will base their employment decisions on every factor but salary…like which city spawns daytime stripper shows in the middle of the street.

10:35am | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z0_NIwIL0RUr

(Notes: 1)

Filed under: Jobs Tech NYC New York City Information Technology IT IT Jobs Salary CyberCoders Cyber Coders

March 20, 2012

Wine and Dine with Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier Tonight

By Sam Dwyer

Knickerbockers legend and current color commentator for MSG’s Knicks coverage has opened a new restaurant only a few blocks away from MSG on March 16th. The place is called Wine and Dine (it was between that or Lunch and Munch, which was deemed to limiting to the menu) and is located on in Hell’s Kitchen at 485 10th Avenue.

Using his Twitter Walt has invited his followers to “slide and glide with ‘Clyde’” at the restaurant after the game!

I had the great honor of spending a few days with Clyde when I was a production assistant on MSG Network’s Who Wore it Best and I can assure you that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. While I can’t speak for the quality of food to be served, Walt is one of the greatest gentlemen, scholars, orators, and “cool cats” of his generation. Miss this and you’ll be kicking yourself for the rest of your life.

5:51pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z0_NIwIItToR

Filed under: Walt Frazier Walt Clyde Frazier Walt Clyde Wine and Dine NYC New York City

March 20, 2012

Capitalize on ‘Big Data’ or Risk Failure, Says IBM [INFOGRAPHIC]

By Sam Dwyer

The hype around Big Data— the use of “structured data found inside databases” and unstructured data “flowing from new sources like social media, mobile devices, sensors, RFID, smart meters and financial systems” to gain industry insights—has reached a deafening roar.

Ardent supporters claim it can improve virtually every aspect of our lives in unimaginable ways. Vehement opponents believe it could be an uncontrollable leviathan that, with the slightest miscalculation, could cause another crisis as disastrous as the 2008 financial collapse.

Today, IBM released a Big Data infographic that will almost certainly intimidate a few businesses that find themselves on the other side of the debate.

According to the infographic (below) Big Data is growing at an unprecedented rate. By the end of 2012, the “digital universe” will grow to 2.7zb—48% larger than 2011. If, like me, you weren’t born with the inherent knowledge of what a zettabit is, 2.7zb = 2,700,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits. What’s more, the “digital universe” is predicted to triple over the three years after that to 8zb by 2015. Still wonder why the NSA is building a $2bil, 25,000 sq ft data server in the middle of Utah?

The most interesting information in the infographic relates Big Data’s effect on businesses. With analytics, organizations are 2.2 times more likely to outperform their peers, earn 1.6 times higher revenue growth, 2 times the profit, and 2.5 times more stock appreciation. At that rate, can any business afford to not look into Big Data?

Take a look:

These are remarkable statistics but, in my opinion, they don’t change much for the argument against Big Data. Few people will argue that Big Data doesn’t have a role to play in most businesses. As with all hot new business tools, it is inevitable that Big Data helps those businesses that use it from the start. What opponents are afraid of are the answers to questions like, “What happens when everyone has Big Data on their side? What happens when people rely too much on the quantifiable and too little on the qualifiable? What happens when a ‘too big to fail’ makes a minute mistake using Big Data?”

For now, IBM’s statistics bode well for Big Data but they have to be taken with a grain of salt as the effect of applying Big Data over the long-term is still completely unclear.

5:00pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z0_NIwIIiLAG

(Notes: 2)

Filed under: Big Data IBM Data unstructured data news New York City NYC structured data

March 20, 2012

Pole Dancing On The Corner Of 7th Ave & 30th St. RIGHT NOW [PHOTOS]

By Will Wei

So, this is happening: There’s a stripper pole set up on 7th Ave between 29th and 30th St, and of course, there’s a dancer twirling and spinning her way around and upside down the pole.

We have no idea what this could be for other than to maybe promote the US Pole Dance Championships. Or maybe the friendly folks from Panzai (“men’s & ladies’ custom made clothing”) or LZ Sushi are up to this.

If you have any idea what this outdoor pole dancing is all about, Tweet us at @InTheEmpire.

(Images via Evan Novis)

3:38pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z0_NIwIISAow

Filed under: Pole Dancing Pole Dancer Dancer New York City NYC News Stripper Pole Chelsea

March 20, 2012

Kickstarter Project Of The Day: Comedian Starts A Kickstarter To Buy Kickstarter

By Will Wei

Comedian Eric Moneypenny started a Kickstarter project titled “I Would Like To Buy Kickstarter.” Needless to say, Mr. Moneypenny would like to buy Kickstarter.

The funding goal of this project? A cool $19 million. Here’s Moneypenny on his Kickstarter page:

Hi, my name is Eric Moneypenny. I would like to raise money to buy Kickstarter. WorthOfWeb.com estimates Kickstarter’s worth at 18.6 million dollars. Therefore, I estimate that I will need at least 19,000,000 to make this happen.

Pledgers who donate $10,000 or more get to have a pizza party with Mr. Moneypenny himself, “the new owner and CEO of Kickstarter.”

Now, of course, this all just one big joke. Although, if Moneypenny somehow did raise the $19 million, who knows what he’ll do with the money. Maybe he’ll really try to buy Kickstarter. Or maybe he’ll just spend the rest of his life counting the money.

Either way, his Kickstarter is sitting stagnant with exactly 0 backers and $0 pledged toward his $19 million goal. Come on, people. Don’t you want to have a pizza party with the soon-to-be owner and CEO of Kickstarter? I hear it’s a pretty hot startup.

3:17pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z0_NIwIIOail

Filed under: Kickstarter Eric Moneypenny News Money

March 20, 2012

The Ultimate Mad Men Reading List

By Sam Dwyer

Earlier this month, we satisfied your stomach’s hunger for Mad Men when we posted a map of every restaurant in NYC via Eater. Today, as the Season 5 air date approaches, we’re quenching your thirst for Mad Men knowledge with an Ultimate Reading List.

Using a list compiled by the New York Public Library—who are much more adept at judging books by their covers…on T.V. sets—here is every book seen and referenced in the series by season and episode, with links to Amazon so you can read more.

The books range from children’s novels to dictionaries. Some are spiritual, self-help, or practical. Others are well-regarded and there are a few I’ve never heard of. Regardless of their genres, audiences, or statures, almost all of them are more than mere props and provide insight into the show’s characters, its direction, or the times as a whole.

To help you analyze the subliminal messages or underlying themes behind the use of each book, we’ve also linked each season and episode to their appropriate guides.