Startup Monday: Prismatic

Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past that we would like to share with the friends and followers of ABCey Events.

Are you ready to see what your ideal newsfeed looks like? Get ready to discover Prismatic!

Prismatic is a web service, and now an iPhone app, that sources data from multiple sources such as Facebook and Google Reader to deliver your favorite news straight to you. Prismatic software is called a social network aggregation that uses an algorithm to filter content that aligns with the interests of that specific reader. Based on what you view and what you “like,” Prismatic personalizes your homepage with the news you enjoy most!

Prismatic’s design is ultra sleek and really based on user comfortability and experience. Best of all, Prismatic is socially adept! For each article the recommend for you, popular tweets from readers all over the web are shown. Articles read or suggested by your social networking connections are usually recommended for you to encourage interaction and sharing amongst contacts. Prismatic brings news, especially tech news, back to our attention.

Have you used Prismatic? What do you think of it? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section or on Facebook and Twitter!

Outdoor Events: The 10 Things You Didn’t Know You Needed

As summer BBQs and outdoor events reach their peak, you may find yourself ready to throw your own outdoor event! Remember ABCey’s list of 10 essential outdoor event items that are easily overlooked.

1. Permits | Whether your event is in a park, campgrounds, or even in your own yard, sometimes permits and restrictions you never new existed are lurking! Get all the facts before you start playing loud music or starting fires, even on the grill.

2. Speakers | You never know the difference a little music makes until it’s there! Products like Jambox are lightweight, easy to carry, and connect wirelessly to your iPod. Bring the party with you wherever you go!

3. Blankets and Chairs | Chairs are bulky to carry and blankets can be an afterthought, but these items make a world of difference! Not only do they give guests a space to sit and enjoy, they make your get-together look more official. Plus, your group is easy to spot from across the park!

4. Lighting | As the event moves into evening, you’ll need a seamless way to keep the party going strong! Use candles, tea lights, or lanterns as decorations and centerpieces during the day for an easy transition into nighttime fun!

5. Bug Zappers | The weather is hot, and there will be bugs. If no one wants to use bug spray, outfit your space with citronella candles designed to keep mosquitos away. No one likes getting bit!

6. Shade | Sun is definitely fun, but there should be options for people in need of a little escape. In addition to guest sunscreen, set up large umbrellas or tents for any shade seekers. They’re also useful in the (unfortunate) event of bad weather!

7. Water | Nobody ever brings enough water! If you’re outside for a couple hours, your body is losing even more fluid than usual. Keep that in mind when buying supplies.

8. First Aid Kit | Kids scrape knees, people need aspirin, and someone always seems to need a bandaid! Keep a medical kit, even a little one, on hand just in case.

9. Weights | Can you picture the wind sending all the napkins into a flurry? Prevent it by bringing your own table weights to weigh down tablecloths, paper plates, and anything else in danger. Weights can be anything from rocks to ready-made ones from a party store.

10. Solemates | Sometimes, a girl just needs her heels. Walk over grass, dirt, and mud easily with Solemates, a plastic cover that slips over your heel to protect you from sinking and staggering.

Did these tips help you? Tell us in a comment below or on Twitter and Facebook!

ABCey’s Weekend Lineup 7.12.13-7.14.13

This weekend is all about loving our beautiful city! Compete to be the cable car champion, beautify the beach, or, in true San Francisco style, get to coding! Whatever you choose, ABCey wishes you a great time this weekend!

1. 50th Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest | Thursday, July 11th | 12:00 p.m. | Union Square| Celebrate one of our city’s most iconic figures, the cable car, with a bell ringing contest! Amateurs are welcome to try first, followed by the big guns (grip men and conductors!) If you work in Union Square, we are so sorry.

2. Salsa Festival on the Fillmore | Friday, July 12th- Saturday, July 13th | 7:30 p.m.- 1:30 p.m. | Fillmore Central Plaza | Get ready to get your groove on! This two-day celebration of salsa dancing features music clubs, retail shops, restaurants, and over 7,000 participants! Grab your dancing shoes, take a lesson or two, and dance the night away on the outdoor dance floor.

3. Tech Carnival | Wednesday, July 17th | 6:00 p.m.- 10:30 p.m. | Candlestick Park | Who wants to ride the Ferris Wheel? Here’s your chance to be a kid again while supporting a fundraiser for the Special Olympics. Go ahead, let loose and get that funnel cake!

4. Ocean Beach Volunteering Party | Saturday, July 13th | 9:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. | Ocean Beach | Ben and Jerry’s, as well as other delicious companies, are sponsoring an Ocean Beach clean-up! Come out on Friday to Pier 17 for an ice cream festival and return on Saturday to help your community. What’s better than sweet, sweet service?

5. HackaBLITZ WebRTC Hackathon | Saturday, July 13th | 9:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m. | Globant San Francisco Offices | Coding and keynote speakers, oh my! Representatives from Disney, Wells Fargo, and more will kick off the day of wedRTC coding and brainstorming. WebRTC is a free, open project that allows users to richly code without plugins, downloads, or installs. Let’s get coding!

Spotlight Event: Lightning in a Bottle | Thursday, July 11th- Monday, July 15th | Lake Skinner, Temecula, CA |

This annual music festival at Lake Skinner is so much more than a music festival. LIB’s activities and performances reflect its mission to support art, sustainability, and music. Lightning in a Bottle is the perfect summer road-trip destination and overall good time!

What will you be doing this weekend? Tell us in a comment or on Facebook and Twitter!

The 5 Innovative Ways to use Apps in Event Planning

When it comes to event planning, technology can either help you or set you back a few paces. ABCey has hand-selected the apps we find most useful when we’re putting on your flawless event. These apps are great for any occasion but have found their long-lost calling in the event planning world!

1. Get Together Remotely | Whether you’re across town or across the country, it’s near impossible to get everyone in the same place at the same time. Get through the planning process with ease by downloading a conference call app like UberConference! This app is free, customizable, and lets you send files from Evernote and Box through the call. That’s what we call multitasking!

2. Be a Task Master | To-do lists are great, but having a communal to-do list is even better! Skip the Post-it note and create a list that’s on your computer, your phone, and all your colleagues’ devices. We suggest Wunderlist because you can invite others to collaborate on tasks and check the group’s progress in the activity center.

3. Track it Down | Sometimes, an emergency coffee run is just necessary. Keep track of all the little out-of-pocket expenses piling up with XpenseTracker. This app holds photos of receipts and describes each expense in detail. After the event, the app uploads the expenses to your computer in Excel format.

4. Be the Bouncer | The guest list is one of the most integral parts of event planning and production- you have to keep your guests happy! The Attendium app makes sure you never skip a beat from downloading guest lists from Excel and e-mail to making sure staff, VIPs, and attendees feel welcome and taken care of.

5. Stay in Command | While a walkie-talkie app may sound unnecessary (and dated,) Voxer is worth a download before your event begins. With the ability to send and save voice messages as well as texts, it’s the only live push-to-talk app where you’ll never miss a message. Your coworkers will thank you in advance!

Which app would be most helpful to you? Tell us in a comment or on Facebook and Twitter!

Tech Tuesday: Handleband

Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming companies for their innovative ideas and ability to think outside the box!

If you love to bike and are looking for a way to take your ride to the next level, look no further! Our favorite new gadget is the Handleband, a universal bike mount that uses your phone as a navigational tool, ride-tracker, camera, and light. Plus, it has a bottle opener!

You probably use your phone to listen to music during your bike to work or while getting some exercise, but the Handleband harnesses our phones’ full potential. Because it’s made from high-strength silicone and 7075 Aluminum spline, the Handleband is both strong and flexible. It wraps once around a bike’s handlebars, then again around a smartphone to create a secure connection. Its flexibility means this gadget can work with any phone, bike, and case!

The Handleband is unique because it’s smaller than a deck of cards, yet durable enough for any mountain trail. You can remove the devise at any time or reinforce it with a zip tie for extra security. The best feature of the Handleband’s design is that it doesn’t cover your phone in any inconvenient way. You have full use of your phone camera and screen should you need access to it. This is how your phone becomes your light source, ride tracker, music player, light source, and anything else you could need while biking!

The Handleband has received full funding from its Kickstarter page and continues to grow. What’s next for Handleband? We think there should be a Handleband app for phones that helps the rider get even more out of his or her phone. We’ll just have to wait and see!

Would you use the Handleband? Do you think this gadget has potential? Share your thoughts in a comment or on Facebook and Twitter!

Startup Monday: TaskRabbit

Let’s face it: in any given day, you have 100 things to do and no time to do them. That’s where TaskRabbit and its team come in!

TaskRabbit is a service connecting those with extra time on their hands and busy people in need of a helping hand. First, post your task on the site and state the maximum amount you would pay someone to do it for you. Each task is performed by a skilled and trustworthy TaskRabbit that you choose to most adequately perform your task. The TaskRabbits can do just about any chore or errand from doing your grocery shopping, assembling tricky Ikea furniture, or picking up a couch you bought on Craigslist.

In February of 2013, TaskRabbit launched an official dashboard for businesses, which account for roughly 35% of its business. This service focuses on temporarily staffing companies to do odd jobs in an efficient and reliable way. The site also has a mobile edition for iPhone and iPad that allows you to add instructions with a voice recording, attach images, and pinpoint your location with ease. Just imagine how much this service would come in handy while you’re planning an event!

Would you use TaskRabbit to help you with your errands? Let us know in a comment or catch up with us on Facebook and Twitter!

ABCey’s Weekend Lineup: 7.4.13 – 7.7.13

Independence Day is only one day away and we have the perfect lineup for you! Whether you walk the Embarcadero for some fireworks and a booze cruise or prefer a pub crawl on Fillmore Street, ABCey knows you’ll have a fun, safe holiday!

1. July 4th Pub Crawl + Hot Dog Eating Contest | Thursday, July 4th | 2:00p.m.- 6:00p.m. | Kelley’s Tavern, 3231 Fillmore St. San Francisco | Absolutely nothing is more American than tons of hot dogs and beer! Celebrate abundantly with Americana foods and drinks then follow the party to watch fireworks on Marina Green. This event promises a fun after-party, too!

2. America’s Cup Opening Day | Thursday, July 4th | 3:00p.m. | Piers 27/29, Embarcadero, San Francisco | Celebrate the kick-off to weeks of races with all things sailing. The history, science, and culture of sailing will be intermixed with

3. Speak Easy 4th of July Cruise | Thursday, July 4th | 6:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. | Pier 40, South Beach Harbor, San Francisco | The best view of the city and the fireworks, a 1940s theme, and an open bar. Need we say more?

4. After Dark: Boom! | Thursday, July 4th | 6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. | The Exploratorium, Pier 15, San Francisco | Explore what makes fireworks explode with a special exhibit filled with experiments and fun! Get geared up to see the sky filled with pyrotechnics with this boom-themed learning experience!

5. Fourth of July Celebration at the Pier | Thursday, July 4th | 12:00p.m.-10:00 p.m. | Pier 39, Embarcadero, San Francisco | During the day at this busy pier, live music and family fun make this the perfect place to spend your day off! As soon as 9:30p.m. rolls around, the city of San Francisco will dazzle you with an amazing fireworks display! Pier 39 is our pick for best firework-scouting spot!

What are your plans for Independence Day? Tell us in a comment or on Facebook and Twitter!

Tech Tuesday: Palantir

When you have a problem that you need to solve, who you gonna call? That’s right- Palantir! This software company grew from startup to International corporation with their data analysis software, and they say they can solve your hardest problems.

Palantir, the 2012 Crunchie Award runner-up for “Best Overall Startup,” is a Palo Alto-based company founded by Stanford and PayPal alums well-versed in anti-fraud systems. In fact, PayPal technology to detect fraudulent activity was the basis for their software concept. The Palantir team believes the most effective way to defeat an adversary like a fraudulent hacker isn’t just with Artificial Intelligence but with human analysts. We applaud this company for recognizing that human data analysts are the best way to combat human frauds!

The U.S. Intelligence Community, the Department of Defense, and the Armed Forces are amongst Palantir’s clientele. So far, their technologies and data solutions have been used to combat terrorism, prosecute crimes, eliminate waste, and more! It’s easy to see that this company thinks of themselves as modern superheroes with their bold and altruistic uses for technology and product names like “Palantir Gotham.” Palantir aims to use its technology for good around the world alongside the likes of Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne.

What do you think of Palantir? Are they the superheroes you’d trust to fix your tech problems? Tell us your opinions in a comment or on Facebook and Twitter!

Startup Monday: Wedding Party

The days of leaving a disposable camera in the table centerpiece are over! The perfect app for your wedding is Wedding Party, which allows guests to share the photos of your big day in one easy location. Let the party begin!

This app is a must-have for any wedding! Wedding Party helps you create your wedding’s very own website displaying wedding information, gift registry, and (of course!) your pictures. Whomever downloads the app and uploads photos will find them shown on the website in realtime! The app makes one cohesive wedding album to share with friends, family, and guests filled with a unique blend of professional and candid shots that tell your complete wedding story. The pics can be used to create a timeline of events, like saying the vows and cutting the cake, and to create Facebook albums.

Photosharing is just the tip of the iceberg. Use Wedding App to make place cards, keep a guest book, and interact with your guests. You’ll be able to see every single moment from the happiest day of your life through the eyes of your loved ones. This app will be the best (free!) gift you can get.

What do you think of Wedding Party? Is it a good fit for your wedding? Let us know your thoughts in a comment or on Twitter and Facebook!