This post is about one of the greatest guys I have ever had the honor of meeting.  In case you didn’t bother to read the title of this post, that man is Jason Calacanis, founder of Mahalo.

Jason is such a great guy, I would say he gave me the greatest opportunity of my life.  Jason invited me as a guest to the TechCrunch50 conference.  The conference turned into an amazing opportunity to network with angle investors, venture capitalists, founders of startups, bloggers, journalists and much more.  The connections I made with people from all over the world are already opening some doors for me and it is all thanks to Jason.

The event was the most amazing event of any kind that I have ever been to.  Many of the companies that were unveiled had products that blew me away.  While some had evolutionary products, there were several that were revolutionary.  If I had the money, there were a couple that I would have invested in without a second thought.  I will be blogging my thoughts on a number of the different companies, both the good and the bad over the next week or so on the Global Geek News Blog.  I will also be writing a couple of more posts on here about the event over the next couple of days to talk about the trip, the event itself, the connections that I made, and finally meeting some internet friends such as Justine Ezarik and Don Reisinger.

I really hope I can go again next year as this was truely one of the highlights of my life.  I can never thank Jason enough for giving me this opportunity.  Jason, if there is ever anything that you need, just ask!  Below is the picture that Jason’s wife took of me and him together after the conclusion of the conference.

Me (Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray) and Jason Calacanis

-pcnerd37

As I’m sure most of you noticed, due to a very busy week and internet problems, unlike what I had planned, there have been no blogs, podcasts or just about anything else.  I have been in San Francisco since Sunday night for the TechCrunch50 conference (which is amazing) and I am exhausted.  The trip out here was a very long adventure in itself, something I will try to write about later in the day.  Long story short, it involved lots of time in the air and a couple hour shuttle ride, so it will be worth the read when I post about it.

While I can’t say I’m very impressed with San Francisco, this is an amazing conference.  I really believe in what they are trying to accomplish with this conference.  There have been a few companies that have presented that I’m not impressed with but there are a few companies that have nothing short of an amazing product.  I will be posting about them and my thoughts on the Global Geek News Blog starting today.

As fun as this has been, with all the travel, early mornings and late night parties, I am ready to crash.  My flight isn’t until Saturday afternoon but I am really considering canceling that flight and just leaving tomorrow.  I have been looking forward to the Nightwish concert on Friday and already have my tickets, but I am ready to go home.

A huge thanks to Jason Calacanis for inviting me to the conference as it has been an amazing experience!

More to come later today and don’t forget to check out the Global Geek News Blog for more about the TechCrunch50 and the companies that have been presenting here!

-pcnerd37

I figured I would give everybody a heads up that I will be blogging my entire trip next week to San Francisco.  From my adventures in the airports to the Nightwish concert on Friday night, I will be blogging everything!  All of the technology related stuff that I will blog about in relation to the TechCrunch50 will be posted on the Global Geek News Blog.  I will likely be doing some other posts here as well but the main technology posts will take place there.

Also, I am planning on still doing the Geek News Daily podcast every day while I am there or at least as much as possible.  If you haven’t been listening to the show since I restarted it, I highly recommend it.  This of course will depend on internet access more than anything, but I will do my best to have a show every day although I don’t know what time the shows will be up by.

I will also try to resurrect the Global Geek News podcast while on my trip, so keep an eye out for that.

I will be Twittering when new blog posts are up as well as just about everything else that happens, so if you aren’t following me on Twitter, this would be a great time to start!

If you have anything in particular that you want to know about that is presented at the conference or have questions you want me to ask some of those in attendance, you can email me at pcnerd37@globalgeeknews.com or just post your questions in the comments.

-pcnerd37

I come bringing good news!  I am going to the TechCrunch50!  Thanks to a generous offer I received to pay for my flight to San Francisco for the TechCrunch50 Conference, I am now going to the conference!  Due to the huge jump in price that airfare has taken over the past few days, I reluctantly booked my flight on Priceline.  Normally I hate using services like that as I prefer to know who am flying with and the times of my flight before I purchase tickets.  The times or airline that I got are not what I wanted but they will work.  I will be flying with American Airlines.  I will be flying out much later than I had hoped and flying back much later than I had hoped with a stop at LAX both ways.

I figure I will survive either way, I will just be a bit more tired than I would like.  I am also going to the Nightwish concert next Friday in San Francisco if anybody is interested in going.  Feel free to email me or leave a comment if you would like to go.  Its going to be an amazing concert as I already saw them back in June.

I’m very excited, I cant wait!

I thought I would give a quick update as to what is going on with my podcasts.

First, Geek News Daily.  I tried restarting this last week and had everything done but the recording.  The day was not going my way.  I plan on starting it back up first thing on Monday with a little bit of a change, so make sure to check it out.

Second, the Global Geek News podcast.  While the blog is going strong, the podcast has been in hibernation for a while.  It could be coming back to life as soon as this weekend.  I am throwing around several ideas for changing the format of the show and I will likely post them here later to get some feedback or give them a trial run to see how people react.  I may even alternate between several kinds of formats.  If you follow me on Twitter and Facebook, you likely already know im moving to a premium content service for Global Geek News in hopes of trying to make some money for the time I spend working on it.  Don’t worry, you will still be able to get the Global Geek News Podcast and blog for free.  However, for a monthly fee which has yet to be finalized, you will have access to even more blog posts, audio content and even video content than everybody else.  I am also going to be having some Global Geek News shirts made which if you are a premium subscriber, you will get a discount on.  There will be two tiers of premium service, one which will get you extra blog and audio content, another which will get you video content on top of that.  Also, the higher level service will give you a greater discount on Global Geek News stuff.  That is what I’m looking at doing and I will keep you informed about that.

Last, the Unofficial Mahalo Podcast.  Unless a major development happens, this podcast is on hold indefinitely.  I don’t really have the time for it as it took a fair bit of prep work.  Also, it seems Mahalo has stopped doing lists, something I prominently featured in the podcasts.  I may pick back up on this podcast, but as of right now, its not looking likely.

Now that you know what is going on with each individual announcement, I have a special announcement that affects all of the podcasts.  They will all be streamed live!  I have yet to set up dedicated pages, but I will be streaming all recordings on Stickam bandwidth permitting.  If you want to see the behind the scenes stuff and watch things go down live, this is what you will want.  Right now, you can access my stickam page by either going to www.pcnerd37live.com or www.globalgeeknewslive.com.  I will have a dedicated page set up soon rather than just taking you to the stickam site.

And don’t forget, if you have a podcast and need hosting, I offer it at www.geekpodcastingnetwork.com!

While I don’t know when, there will be a hickup in podcasting when I move and possibly when I am in San Francisco for the TechCrunch50 conference.  That is all the updates I have for now, but stay tuned for more!