Dumbo/Brooklyn Flea/BK Bridge (Photo credit: xbettyx)

Brooklyn resident Dr. Jay Parkinson is changing the scene for doctor visits. Now, when someone is sick and doesn’t feel like going to the doctor, they can e-mail or text in their symptoms to Parkinson.

Parkinson has founded Sherpaa, a startup Web site that serves as a virtual doctor’s office. He examines patients via e-mail and text message and so far clients include employees of Tumblr, Skillshare, General Assembly and Hard Candy Shell. He calls it “tech-savvy doctors” for “tech-savvy patients.”

Parkinson graduated from Penn State College of Medicine in 2007 and completed his residency at St. Vincent’s Manhattan Hospital and one in preventive medicine at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He then moved to Brooklyn and started a blog on health issues relevant to the L train riders. Instead of setting up a standard practice, he decided to invite patients to contact him virtually or request a meetup at a coffee shop. He plans to work exclusively with companies and specialists to help save them money on healthcare for their employees.

The New York Times

The Telephone Building (Photo credit: Darny)

After two years under construction, the old Verizon building in lower Manhattan has reopened as the largest high-rise data center in the nation. The center, is the only major data center to open in recent years as data centers are most frequently located where real estate and power are less expensive. The Sabey Corporation under CEO Dave Sabey has invested hundreds of millions into the high-rise and hopes that the center will be in high demand from Wall Street firms. The building will also be home to technology and biomedical companies.

Crain’s New York Business

Logo of Polytechnic Institute of New York University. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New York University‘s Polytechnical Institute announced plans to launch an interdisciplinary center for the creation of video games in downtown Brooklyn. The 40,000-square-foot center, Media and Games Network, will launch in the fall and will host programs from a master’s degree in game design to a doctorate in educational communications and technology.

The program will be an expansion of the current game-related programs at NYU, including the six-year-old NYU Game Center under Tisch School of the Arts. The Wall Street Journal writes that the video game industry could be an important area of growth for a city with strengths in arts, media and entertainment.

The Wall Street Journal

Image via CrunchBase

The eight-year-old Brooklyn based online marketplace Etsy now has more than 17,500 NY sellers and is still expanding. The majority of these sellers, according to the NY Daily News, are located in Brooklyn.

Etsy currently employs 300 in the city and it’s CEO, Chad Dickerson, is now featured in a Made In NY ad campaign. The market place allows designers, artisans and craftsmen to sell products at a low cost, with sellers paying only a 20 cents listing few and a 3.5% commission on sales to Etsy.

On the site, one could purchase anything from a bamboo cutting board in the shape of Florida to wooden cake toppers.

NY Daily News

English: The western ramp and pylon of Brooklyn Bridge, New York City (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As the NY tech scene continues to grow, Brooklyn has received grant programs, study money, and a new urban engineering school. What it’s missing, according to the New York Observer, is tech tenants. Aside from a 3D printing firm and MakerBot Industries, the area has few startups.

The Observer said that while it might take a while for tech companies to follow the “first-wave creatives” that are already there, it is inevitable that they will come. They cite that there are also few other places for the companies to go.

The New York Observer

Welcome to Loosecubes (Photo credit: ajleon)

Cambell McKeller started Loosecubes, which consisted of shared office space for freelance and mobile workers, three years ago in Brooklyn. Now it’s shutting its doors completely, Smart Planet reports. McKeller had experience at Goldman Sachs and in a real estate but had no experience in the technology startup world, turning to books and colleagues for help.

Loosecubes disclosed in 2012 that it has $7.8 million in secure financing and had served 10,000 users. McKeller said that during its time, the company had many fans both techies and non-techies and had made $1.2 million three months after the launch. That being said, when the company relied on funding from ventures, the power began to slip from McKellers hands. They disagreed over how the company should be run and much of the $7.8 million did not come through.

Now, McKeller is working on a nonfiction novel about Silicon Alley.

Smart Planet

Tempranillo varietal wine bottle and glass. Shot with Nikon D70s (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NY entrepreneurs Aaron Sherman and Gianfranco Verga partnered with Goldman Sachs analyst Neal Parikh to create an online database and resource for wine purchasers in the NY and NJ area. The site allows users to search all wines, beer, and liquor available by region, size, and price.

The Brooklyn-based site, SevenFifty, began when Sherman and Verga were frustrated by the shortcomings of the site Beverage Media, which previously was the only resource for industry news and information about distributors. They found it difficult to find many wines and also found smaller distributors that didn’t appear on it.

The Wall Street Journal

Image via CrunchBase

Brooklyn-based personalized fashion website Etsy has grown quickly to become a competitor to major web-commerce platforms such as eBay and Amazon.  With an 80 percent  female customer base and 50 percent female staff, the company decided in 2011 that they needed more female engineers. Since then they have increased their female engineers from 3 to 20.

In a male dominated industry, Etsy set out to find talented female engineers. They found that this was costly and difficult but after encountering problems, they decided to invest $5,000 in grants for women to attend an educational course at their Brooklyn office. After offering grants for their Hacker School, female applications when up significantly and after their summer course they hired five women from the program.

Business Insider

Chad Dickerson (Photo: John Herren via CrunchBase)

Etsy had its best year ever. On the Brooklyn-based company’s blog, CEO Chad Dickerson wrote that overall 2012 community sales grew 70.3 percent year over year, to $895.1 million, up from $525.6 million in 2011. In 2012, new buyers increased by 83 percent. Ten million new members joined last year—almost doubling the total number of members to 22 million. And to top it off, it eight-year-old company only launched its iPad and Android apps about two months ago.

WebProNews

Much of Williamsburg and Greenpoint are zoned for mixed commercial and residential use, but developers favor building for residential use. Jeremiah Kane, an advisor to Rubenstein Partners, said that many owners of old factories and warehouses won’t sell because they are waiting for the area to be rezoned for residential use.

The New York Times

Boxee TV (Photo credit: deborah.soltesz)

Boxee TV isn’t faring well with Walmart customers. Sold exclusively though the big box store, customers say the new over-the-top Internet video and cloud DVR service from Brooklyn-based Boxee doesn’t work. They also claim it is missing key features. According to Multichannel, reviewers on Walmart.com are largely negative and only 34 percent would recommend the product to a friend.

One Los Angeles buyer wrote that, “it’s painfully obvious that it was rushed to market for the holidays.” A Lewisvile, Texas, shopper wrote, “With antenna hooked up to my TV, I get all local channels except for ABC. With the exact same antenna hooked up to the Boxee TV, I only got 4 channels and only 1 of them worked well at all.” The reviewer went on to say that Boxee TV’s tuner is weak and the cloud DVR doesn’t work because it’s in “beta.” But one Atlanta user said he would “reccomend [sic] to fellow ‘cord cutters.”

Multichannel

English: Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Brooklyn Public Library is moving ahead with a new strategic to plan to bring the institution into the digital age. The library has evolved into more than just a place to borrow books but also a social service agency, where people come to learn computer skills. Linda Johnson, the President and Chief Executive of the Brooklyn Public Library, has developed an agenda which reflects the shifts in the community of library users and in the publishing world, such as the introduction of e-books. Also, Johnson is looking to open two smaller branches next year that will focus more on technology than books, populating the main library with a special teen section and training residents to take their GEDs online.

One of the obstacles in the way for Johnson and the Brooklyn Public Library is figuring out how to raise money. Ms. Johnson has reached out to Russian billionaire and Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who recently donated $1 million to the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Crain’s New York

Downtown New York (Photo credit: sreevishnu)

After Hurricane Sandy the NY tech community mobilized its resources and time to help with donations, rebuilding, and other relief efforts. Here is a round up of some different NY tech initiatives that are doing their part to help those affected by the storm:

• WNYC‘s New Tech City reported on the efficiency of the recovery post-Sandy. Host Manoush Zomorodi spoke with NY Tech Meetup chairman Andrew Rasiej, who helped launch nytechresponds.org where over one thousand tech experts have offered to donate time to businesses and non-profits struggling from tech problems caused by Sandy. In DUMBO, Rasiej noted that the tech community has allied before– in the aftermath of September 11. This disaster led to the creation of the National Tech Corps, a group of techies that would be available after or during emergencies for tech support. However, neither the Bush or Obama administration focused on this initiative, but there are similar ideas in the works to ally the tech community on a national level. Rasiej said, “The NYTM is trying to show that we can provide critical tech support, and it shouldn’t just be the role of government to provide relief and recovery.” Rasiej suggested using open mapping, search databases to help people find lost loved ones, and equipment supply to help communities help one another post-disasters.

• PC Mag covered the joint donation efforts of Tumblr and Humans of New York (HONY) photo blog in response to Sandy. In less than 24 hours, the fundraising team raised $100,000 for hurricane victims. HONY was started by Brandon Stanton, a NY photographer that set out to catalog the people of the city. The HONY Facebook page has over 424,000 fans and features daily photos of people that Stanton meets in NY. Tumblr and HONY dedicated the next ten days to helping Sandy victims, and reached their ten-day goal of $100,000 in one day. According to a spokeswoman for the campaign, the average donation is about $63. Tumblr and HONY are providing incentives and rewards for donations, including following HONY for a day. This prize can only be obtained by donation $2000+ dollars, so far three people will be shadowing Stanton. If you donate $30,000, HONY and Tumblr will gift you Stanton’s Canon EOS 7D, the camera that he uses for his photographs, this prize has yet to be claimed. All proceeds go directly to the Tunnel of Towers foundation which gives resources to areas hit hardest by the storm.

• AMNY compiled a list of volunteers that came forward during Sandy to help out in the best way they knew how. Jessica Klein, Mozilla designer, grew up in Belle Harbor in the Rockaways. During Sandy her parents refused to evacuate Klein’s childhood home, and when she arrived at the scene the next day her parents were stranded on the second floor and her neighborhood was in shambles. Klein decided to use her technology skills to help those in need. She created Rockawayhelp.com to coordinate volunteers and distribute donations, answer insurance questions, and address problems with power restoration. Before long, Klein was meeting with FEMA officials and organizing supplies for those in need. On Thursday her team joined up with Team Rubison, a disaster relief group, to do an intense clean up in the area. Nick Weissman of Williamsburg Brooklyn is a photographer who took pictures after the earthquake in Haiti. However, after Sandy Weissman felt like doing more than taking photos. He has been working with the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective to show Charlie Chaplin movies to antsy children and disabled people who have been stuck in shelters since Sandy. the collective also delivered food and other supplies to people in Coney Island. Additionally, Noah Reisman, a medical student at NY Methodist Hospital, volunteered his time and medical expertise to those in need of medical help after the storm.

• Reuters reported on NY-based iPhone app Budge, which set out to make donating to charities a social effort. The app lets friends challenge each other in games and activities. The loser has to make a donation of either $1, $2, or $5 to one of the charities supported by the app. Hillan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Budge said,”For us it’s really about changing the way people think about donating. We are driving to change the culture and say you can have fun while you do good.” Though the donation price tags seem small, they can add up. Klein noted that some people end up donating $24 to $50 in the course of a month. The app is partnered with organizations like Breastcancer.org, World Food Programme USA, and more. However, Budge is looking for more charity partners to aid with Sandy relief. Budge is free and available in the US and Australia.

WNYC New Tech City

PC Mag

AMNY

Reuters

English: The Brooklyn Bridge, seen from Manhattan, New York City. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On November 14th, the Brooklyn Venture Community will be holding an event called, “The Brooklyn Startup Scene: Brooklyn CoWorking Spaces & Their Entrepreneurs.” The Brooklyn Venture Community is a meetup group with over 250 Brooklyn-based entrepreneurial and freelance members that serves as a support and platform for the Brooklyn tech community. At the event tomorrow, founders or managers of co-working spaces throughout Brooklyn representing various entrepreneurial communities and neighborhoods, will each give a brief presentation. The presenters will include:

1. Bat Haus CoWorking (Bushwick) – Bat Haus is a work community founded on openness, fun, and a respect for peers. It operates like a clubhouse. Every member helps make decisions about how the space is operated. Knowledge and know-how adds to the a collective pool (meaning that while you do your own work, you have neighbors who are more than happy to share some advice, a little hands-on help, or, if nothing else, conversation and a cup of joe when time allows it). Bat Haus believes that openness and the sharing of resources far outweigh the alternatives.

2. Dumbo Startup Lab (Dumbo) - The DUMBO Startup Lab is a community hub for entrepreneurs, designers and innovators focused on tech & web development providing cowork space, host classes and events in a beautiful 2,300 sq. ft. corner loft in Dumbo.

3. The Yard (Williamsburg) – Private work suites in Williamsburg (overlooking McCarren Park) designed to inspire creativity, collaborations and connections.

4. The Secret Clubhouse (Williamsburg) – a recently launch coworking space in Williamsburg that lives up to its name! Also home of the North Brooklyn Breakfast Club.

5. Brooklyn Creative League (Park Slope/BoCoCa) – Brooklyn Creative League was founded to give independent professionals, small-shop companies, and nonprofits the tools they need to get their work done: affordable, green, shared workspace and a community of professional colleagues — someplace to meet with clients, host a conference call, and make a pitch

For more info and to RSVP, visit http://www.meetup.com/Brooklyn-Venture-Community/events/83235392/ OR http://brooklynventurecommunity.eventbrite.com

Brooklyn Bridge (Photo credit: akibubblet)

A Brooklyn-based clothing startup has decided to go against the grain and make its clothing at home, here in NY. The company, Outliers, is located in Williamsburg, and designs, manufactures and retails its own clothes, mostly for men. The co-founders, Abe Burmeister and Tyler Clemens met each other after an introduction from their barista at Gimme! Coffee in 2008. According to Crain’s NY Business, Outlier turned a profit within two months. All designing, marketing and selling take place in a third-floor walk-up loft in a former bridal-garment factory. Clothes can only be purchased online, there is no retail site. Clemens said, “We just felt we add more value by keeping things in more direct touch.

Retail trend analysts have reported that Outlier is among a group of companies using technology to reinvent the retail business model. Building revenue by outsourcing and wholesaling to mass-market retailers isn’t necessary with a small niche and selling exclusively online. It’s not yet known how long a retailer can survive on this model, but so far Outlier’s co-founders aren’t worried. Sales generated are at about $2 million a year and the company employs eight people.

Crain’s NY Business

Brooklyn Bridge from Red Hook (Photo credit: Martin at Sea)

Corner News Media, a local Brooklyn news network, created an online tree map during the Hurricane which detailed the spots of downed trees throughout the neighborhood. According to The Observer, the map was created by a network of readers and tipsters instead of on-the-street reporting. Liena Zagare, the publisher of Corner News, said, “It’s mostly about having credible sources.” Zagare foresaw the issues that trees in Ditmas park could create for residents.

The website features a masthead of one full-time reporter, a managing editor, and two contributors. It has a similar mission to Patch, which bought Zagare’s original neighborhood blog before she left to start Corner news.

The Observer

English: The Brooklyn Bridge, seen from Manhattan, New York City. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Brooklyn Tech Triangle coalition chose a design team recently out of 17 proposals in order to improve transportation, infrastructure and land use in DUMBO, downtown Brooklyn and the Navy Yard.  The winning team consists of WXY Architecture + Urban Design, Sam Schwartz Engineering, Control Group, and HR&A Advisors. The goal of the project is to boost the tech and creative industries in the area. According to Crain’s, the plan is expected to cost about $375,000.

Claire Weisz, principal of WXY, said, ”This is the moment for Brooklyn, there is an amazing tech sector here. The numbers show how interested tech companies are in being in Brooklyn. We are hoping to find the key ingredients and make the neighborhoods even better and vibrant.” The team will begin the process with recommendations about improving transportation and infrastructure in the areas. The team will also work on real estate strategies that will help draw more tech firms to Brooklyn. It is yet to be determined how extensive the damage from Sandy will affect the plan. Despite that, the project is expected to be completed in 2013.

There are currently 9,600 people employed in the three Brooklyn neighborhoods which generate about $3.1 billion a year in economic activity, according to a study done by the coalition. By 2015, the “Tech Triangle” is estimated to have around 18,000 people employed which would generate $5.8 billion in economic activity.

Crain’s New York Business

Train on Williamsburg Bridge (Photo credit: marcgg)

A webcam has been installed at the Williamsburg L train stop. The camera captures video of those walking out of the subway and is mounted a block away on a Bedford Avenue building. According to Gothamist, the camera is known as the Styleblaster and shows a real time feed of various styles seen on the street. Each photo is paired with a time stamp and users on the Internet site can then decide if the style captured deserves a “top hat,” a fashion seal of approval. The site reads, “The blog updates in real time  showcasing each new image as quick as it can be appraised.

Online viewers can watch a live feed, peruse a recent history of images, or compare shots over the days and weeks as FW-2012 blossoms into SS-2013. We believe this service fills a need for live fashion information, with a unique and unmatched vantage point on the hippest block in New York City”

Gothamist

Pathways in Technology Early College High School

NY plans to open two more schools like P-Tech in the next two years with a focus on other growing industries. P-Tech is actually located in Paul Robeson High School, which is being closed down because of bad performance. The days are split into ten periods that span topics from English to technology to business. Ideally, students will leave prepared for entry-level jobs in the technology field. In fact, certain I.B.M. employees were analyzed to determine exactly what skills students would need. Students are also paired with a mentor at the company and make trips to I.B.M. locations to learn about computers. Additionally, P-Tech’s 18 teachers were all trained by I.B.M.

The New York Times

Image via CrunchBase

Accedo Broadband, a Stockholm-based technology developer for smart TVs and IPTVs, plans to build a NY branch. According to Xconomy, the company announced its acquisition of Brooklyn-based CloverLeaf Digital, which gives Accedo an automatic NY presence. CloverLeaf, in return, can increase its operations according to founder Lawrence Brickman, “We wanted to be larger, more muscular, and have more resources available to us.”

CloverLeaf was founded in 2003 and develops services like personal dashboards and app stores for the interactive television market in North America. Its customers are mostly independent cable television operators and telephone companies. There has been increase in demand recently for CloverLeaf’s TV Everywhere, which makes shows accessible online to subscribers and pushes content to mobile devices and tablets. Brickman will lead the NY team for Accedo.

Xconomy

English: New York Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In early 2011, NY’s Digital Roadmap was founded in order to forward the technology sector in the city. Rachel Hoat was hired by Michael Mayor Bloomberg as the NY Chief Digital Officer, and the head of NY Digital, the department in charge of completing the goals of the roadmap. According to WNYC’s New Tech City, more than 80% of the original goals in the roadmap have been achieved. New Tech City Host Manoush Zomodori spoke with Haot about where NY stands in terms of technology, and also discussed the next steps for the Bloomberg administration and NY Digital.

The NY Digital department is still trying to address the city’s need for engineering talent and the lack of broadband across all five boroughs. Hoat cited CornellNYC Tech and NYU Poly as examples of the Mayor’s collaboration and commitment to engineering and tech education in the city. When Zomodori asked Hoat about the lack of broadband in some areas she replied, ”We are certainly aware where the access is and where it needs to be stronger. One of the initiatives that Deputy Mayor Steele introduced is the broadband map, which will hopefully create pressure and competition among real estate owners.”

WNYC New Tech City

Brooklyn Book Festival

A shofar made from a ram’s horn is traditionally blown in observance of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish civic year. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you type into Google “When is Rosh Hashanah,” the first search result will be Chabad.org. The site, also known by its rabbi-programmers as the “Chabad in Space,” has become the world’s largest religious website and recently had to be rebuilt because it was outgrowing its original space, according to DNAInfo.com. Chabad.org has been through an 18-month long reboot and the new site is ready just in time for the autumn holidays. “It came to a point that we outgrew our space,” said Rabbi Meir Simcha Kogan, 35, Chabad.org’s managing director.  “We felt with the site we couldn’t do anymore incremental changes.”

Chabad.org has about 1.7 million unique visitors a month and employs two dozen coders in Brooklyn and others scattered around the globe. The site educates visitors with things like the right prayer for a sick friend or the perfect Passover video for a Preschooler.

“I feel that we’re really holding a sacred trust for the Jewish people,” said Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, director of Chabad.org.”This is not our private website — these are the tools and resources of the Jewish people. We’ve simply been blessed and entrusted to make it the best it can possibly be.”

DNAInfo.com

DUMBO Arts Festival (Photo credit: Lynt)

This year, the DUMBO Arts Festival will include a wide range of technology-related installations and exhibits. The event takes place from September 28-30, and will include technology highlights like:

• Superhero: Participants are transformed into superheroes in this interactive projection mapping experience. Users have the opportunity to fly, shape shift, and throw light beams.
• Codex Dynamic:  This  large-scale video projection exhibit is presented on the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage and Archway. It features video artworks by internationally known video artists, and the exhibition is meant to transform space, time, and the users’ perceived reality. Curated by Leo Kuelbs and John Ensor Parker.
• ITP Residents’ Show: 10 artists from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at the Tisch School of Art demonstrate communications technologies and how they might enhance, improve, and enlighten art in people’s lives.
• Neurime: A large scale instrument exhibit that can be activated by touch. It utilizes neural connections and features with 12 discrete audio channels.
• Universal Mobile Interface: This is an origami-based sculpture that uses live camera feeds to work with the interactivity of the viewer and surrounding landscape.

DUMBO Arts Festival

English: Google Map Maker logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Internet is helping the ever-changing neighborhood distinctions of NY. Even though the Neighborhood Integrity Act was introduced in 2011 to calm disputes over resale values in different neighborhoods, there was still a lot left to be decided. Now, according to The New York Times, amateur cartographers are in charge of these neighborhood lines with Web sites like Google and Wikipedia.

For example, Chef Matthew Hyland who lives in Downtown Brooklyn rejects and approves changes to Google’s online map of New York City in his spare time. Last month alone the users of Google Map Maker sent over 2,000 revisions to the map of NY city. Hyland consults city maps and local blogs before making any changes to a neighborhood boundary. However, many professionals dispute the maps presented by Google. Lisa Keller, executive editor of the Encyclopedia of New York contacted many local experts and historians for each entry.

The New York Times

Rocket to the Moon 54893 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Singularity & Co. is a Brooklyn-based bookshop specializing in obscure and out-of-print science fiction. It was founded in April with the help of a very successful Kickstarter campaign. Their campaign earned them 350 percent of their $15,000 goal.

Each month they pick an out-of-print title and track down the copyright holder in order to make it available in DRM-free PDF, Epub, and Mobi format for subscribers. Their Dumbo bookstore, located at 18 Bridge st, also carries new sci-fi books. Soon, their e-store will offer sci-fi cover art merchandise.

Arstechnica

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 01: Police prepare to arrest demonstrators affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement after they attempted to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on the motorway on October 1, 2011 New York City. The highway is not intended for pedestrians, the marchers attempted to cross the bridge on the highway and were stopped on the middle of the bridge by police. Police were in the process of arresting hundreds of the protesters on the bridge. Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are opposed to outsized corporate profits on Wall Street. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Malcolm Harris, an Occupy Wall Street protester, filed a civil proceeding recently to block a judge’s ruling that Twitter must hand over his tweets and account information to prosecutors. Harris took part in the mass protest on the Brooklyn Bridge last October and was charged with disorderly conduct. The Brooklyn-based writer, is one of a handful of protesters in which authorities are trying to obtain tweets and account information from, according to NBC News.

Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office have said that Harris’s tweets could demonstrate that he knew police ordered protesters not to walk onto the bridge roadway during the October protest. The lawyers for the arrested protesters have said police appeared to lead the march onto the roadway before arresting hundreds of them.

“In this case, anyone reviewing the information and material Twitter has been ordered to turn over will know each time – between September 15 and December 30, 2011 — Harris logged into his Twitter account, where he was when he logged in, how long he remained there and both what he did and who he communicated with while he was logged in,”  Mr. Harris’ lawyers wrote in a memorandum accompanying the civil proceeding.

NBC News

English: The Brooklyn Bridge, seen from Manhattan, New York City. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Venture Capital scene in Brooklyn is becoming more attractive for investors, according to CB Insights. The total funding in the second quarter of 2012 hit a ten quarter high and was twice the level of the next highest quarter for Brooklyn. Also, VC deals came in at a four quarter high mark in Brooklyn.

Although Brooklyn’s VC  funding is on the rise, the large majority of VC funding in NY still goes to Manhattan based companies. 84% of dollars and 92% of deals over the last 10 quarters have gone to Manhattan-based companies. In Q2 2012 Manhattan matched its own ten quarter high on a deals basis too.

CB Insights 

English: The Brooklyn Bridge, seen from Manhattan, New York City. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While several parks in affluent sections of Northern Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan have free WiFi, large swaths of Southern Brooklyn have none. In a letter to NY Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Assemblyman William Colton (D-Brooklyn) wrote that Brooklyn citizens feel “stranded,” adding, “We pay our taxes like everybody else, and we are entitled to the same level of services just like everybody else.”

The Parks Dept. replied that it is currently installing free WiFi on Coney Island’s boardwalk and MCU Park. There are also plans for Manhattan Beach, the Nature Center at Marine Park and possibly at Owl’s Head Park in Bay Ridge.

The New York Post

NYPD Security Camera Sign July 2008 (Photo credit: J.D. Abolins)

Residents of the Bronx say that their security is being ignored. According to the NY Daily News, 492 locations in the city are equipped with camera boxes, and there are two NYPD cameras in each box. Currently, Manhattan has 177 boxes, Brooklyn has 153, Queens has 77, the Bronx has 43, and Staten Island has 42. The Bronx, though it has the second fewest cameras, has the highest number of crimes per person in the whole city. There are plans to install another 320 boxes. Police say that the Argus cameras, are installed based on crime reports and counterterror concerns.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, “Those locations that have experienced a significant amount of violent crime are given top consideration.” Officials have often stated that the surveillance cameras are important for crime-solving.

NY Daily News