Seeking Head Of State Like Powers

Image via WikipediaIn seeking to create a for profit, high tech microfinance startup, in seeking to lead it as Chairperson/CEO, I seek to create head of state like powers for me that I hope to put singularly to the cause of microfinance. I am confident the technology that is the Internet is already ripe for such possibilities.

The Google/Facebook Of Microfinance
Microfinance Alone Can't Cure Poverty
Microfinance: No Substitute For Good Governance

I have said time and again, good governance is the number one factor in tackling poverty. It is not microfinance. And riding a microfinance outfit would give me a way to take close looks at governance structures around the world.

For instances, I am gripped by the street revolutions across the Arab world. Few things are as exciting to me as a democracy movement. There is no better display of people power.

The Long March Of Democracy
The Internet And The Emperors
Syria Is Being Left To The Dogs
Indiscriminate Firing By Syrian Security Forces

Charlie Dumbfuck Rangel

Charlie Rangel did not do it for Hillary or Caputo. He did it for himself. He looked at me and saw someone who had what it takes to become the Don of New York City politics without representing two sidewalks in the US Congress for 50 years. I could do it without holding elected office, and I could do it fast. He saw that. And the motherfucker panicked. And so he did what he did.

Third World Guy
Questions Prepared By My Lawyer For Immigration Court Date Tomorrow
Bill Perkins: Rock Star
Brooklyn And Santogold/Santigold

Social Media More So Than Social Gaming

Image via CrunchBaseKevin Slavin Sold His Company To Zynga
Meeting Kevin Slavin: Tumblr's Brilliance

In my leisurely talk with Kevin Slavin yesterday, we touched upon many topics. On my part I was very eager to get out of him the Area/Code story. And I did. He relayed how it was two people for a year. And how they grew organically for a few good years until they got bought by Zynga, and now his team is Zynga's New York City branch.

And of course we talked microfinance a bunch, which is why we were meeting in the first place. Here was a social gaming master. And so I brought up the topic of putting social gaming to the service of microfinance. And he said he was not so sure gaming was a good fit for microfinance.

We both agreed social media can play a much larger role than social gaming when it came to microfinance.

Kevin Slavin Sold His Company To Zynga

Meeting Kevin Slavin: Tumblr's Brilliance



Kevin Slavin's - Area/Code co-Founder of Area/Code ..... Founded in 2005, Area/Code creates cross-media games and entertainment .... Area/Code builds on the landscape of pervasive technologies and overlapping media to create new kinds of entertainment. They have built mobile games with invisible characters that move through real-world spaces, online games synchronized to live television broadcasts, and videogames in which virtual sharks are controlled by real-world sharks with GPS receivers stapled to their fins. Their Facebook game “Parking Wars” served over 1 billion pages in 2008. ...... Before founding Area/Code, Slavin spent over 10 years in ad agencies including DDB, TBWA\Chiat\Day and SS+K, focused primarily on technology, networks, and community.

Kevin Slavin | LinkedIn Spent a decade or so in design, advertising and branding ..... a few years as a strategic planner...... With Frank Lantz, co-founded Area/Code Entertainment in 2005 (acquired by Zynga in Jan. 2011, becoming Zynga New York) ....... Between 2005 and 2011, Area/Code focused on cross-media entertainment and "games with computers in them." ..... Frank and I were named in 2008's "Creativity 50." ...... In 2008, I co-founded AFK with Ben Cerveny and Tod Kurt, focused on building platforms for spatial interaction. ...... In 2010, I co-founded Starling with Declan Caulfield (Fremantle) and Kenny Miller (MTV), building second-screen engagement with broadcast television. I lead product vision and development. ...... Together with Adam Greenfield, I developed the Urban Computing class at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. ..... I serve on advisory boards for a few small, ambitious, interesting companies ...... creative direction, business development, geolocative technology, urban computing, social television, advertising and marketing ....... Starling has soft-launched in Q1 2011