BlackJet San Francisco Launch Event

You heard it here first!! Tomorrow (aka Valentine’s Day), ABCey Events will have the pleasure of producing BlackJet’s San Francisco Launch Event celebrating their new direct service route connecting San Francisco with Los Angeles, New York, and Las Vegas.

BlackJet, already dubbed the “Uber for Private Jets” is an online service and phone app that connects travelers with the reliability and convenience of a private jet experience at prices commensurate with premium commercial carriers. Recently featured in TechCrunch, BlackJet aims to revolutionize private and charter air travel to become “the world’s cheapest, easiest way to book private jet service.” The startup is backed by Garrett Camp, founding CEO of StumbleUpon and co-founder of Uber, and has an all-star list of investors including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, First Round Capital, Shervin Pishevar, SV Angel, Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, Tim Ferriss, Steve Jang and more.

Thursday’s launch will feature a $6M Giveaway including 1,000 comped memberships (first 1,000 to arrive) with a complimentary companion seat to any BlackJet destination. One lucky Grand Prize winner will receive Roundtrip Private Jet Seat Service to Las Vegas for two leaving just post contest on Thursday and returning on Sunday. The winners will also be comped a 3 nights stay at the acclaimed Bellagio hotel along with $1000 in cash. How’s that for a Valentine’s Day gift for your special someone? Local SF fave dj David Carvalho will playing some lunchtime beats, so come on down and get your free membership along with your photo taken in our aviation themed digital photobooth!

BlackJet is currently invite-only, but ABCey has got the hookup – you can login to their site with the code forbesvip300. What do you think of BlackJet? Let us know if we’ll be seeing you at the launch in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!

Tech on Tuesday: Techify Your Super Bowl Party!

Are you hosting a Super Bowl XLVII party? Undoubtedly, some of your guests will have their eyes glued to the screen mesmerized by every play. Others, I’m sure, will be staring at their phones in mid-Tweet or Facebook post and waiting for the (not-so) amazing commercials or Halftime Show. ABCey has compiled a list of our Top 10 Superbowl apps that will link what you’re seeing on your television screen to your phone screen!

1. NFL Mobile: This app lets you view every play of the game, and if you’re wise enough to have Verizon Wireless, you’ll be able to stream games live on your mobile device courtesy of the NFL and NBC. This is particularly useful if you need to go on a beer-and-chips run before halftime, or if you want to set your living room up with multiple screens.

2. Super Ads: Super Bowl Commercials: This app is perfect for those who love the commercials just as much as the game (if not more). You can instantly replay the best commercials throughout the game.

3. Are You Watching This?!: Just in case you find yourself away from the TV during the game, this free Android smartphone and tablet app will let you know if the losing team is mounting a historic comeback. Depending on what cable or satellite TV provider you use (also available for Google TV), the app will actually change the channel back to the game (if you set it up this way). It’s also just great for any smaller, day-to-day sporting events that might not always be on your radar.

4. A+ Super Bowl Commercials: Similar to the previous app, this app compiles all the best Super Bowl ads in one place for your convenience. Sadly, it’s only for iOS users.

5. Official SB XLVII Guide: This official guide to Super Bowl XLVII from the NFL is packed full of interesting content and features. It’s most useful for those attending the game, for information about local nightlife and restaurants in Indianapolis, and ability to find your seats in a virtual tour of the stadium. But- even if you’re not going to the game, you might use this app to experience what it would be like if you were there!

6. NFL Logos: Show your loyalty for your favorite football team by downloading this app, which has 96 graphics, featuring the official logos of all 32 teams of the National Football League.

7. Super Bowl Predictor: If you like to make the game a bit more interesting by laying some wagers on it, this is the app for you. You’ll be able to assess the odds of outcomes, get guidance, and see important information that can affect your wagers (like injuries).

8. Madden NFL 13: Can’t wait for the Super Bowl game to begin? Download this app and jump into immediate on-field action. This app lets you choose from the 32 NFL teams and battle it out in their true-to-life stadiums. Make trades, track stats, and launch winning strategies from in-depth playbooks, unique to every team.

9. 49ers Gameday Live: 49ers Gameday Live will allow fans at Candlestick Park, through a Wi-Fi connection, to view multiple camera angles and watch the NFL RedZone channel live on their phones. All fans will have the ability to follow real-time statistics (including drive-by-drive stats, box-scores, standings and player statistics) and catch the latest news and twitter feeds on the team, regardless of their location.

10. Baltimore Ravens Mobile App: Catch breaking news of the team, see real-time statistics for every drive, watch video-on-demand clips of press conferences and player interviews and follow post-game blogs and pre-game previews of the matchups.

Which of these game day apps will you be using on Super Bowl Sunday? Are there any that we missed? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook & Twitter!

Startup Monday: DudaMobile

We all have had that annoying and frustrating experience while on our mobile phones… when a particular web-page we try to view just won’t load properly, is a tiny version of the desktop website or the formatting is all wrong! This week, we are excited to feature DudaMobile, a simple mobile website builder that offers features geared toward small businesses including one-click site conversion, auto-sync between the regular site and mobile site, click-to-call widget, mobile maps and site analytics.

Having a mobile site is becoming a necessity. As reported recently in CNET News, almost 1/3 of all Internet search traffic now comes from smartphones and tablets. “In some categories, such as restaurant search, mobile already accounts for that share of search. And in several categories important to advertisers — electronics, beauty, finance, and autos — mobile searches are rapidly climbing.”

Cliff Sarkin, Duda’s Director of Operations tells us, “as more and more people search and browse the web on their mobile devices, businesses are stepping up their game to get in front of their customers by having a mobile presence. Duda is knocking down hurdles by making mobile websites easy to build and cost effective.”

At ABCey, we’ve just created our new mobile site and found our experience with Duda to be quick and fun! And, we love the results! Check it out below — and on your iPhone, Android or Blackberry.

While they do offer a custom build option, DudaMobile is primarily a DIY (do-it-yourself) website maker. You can create your mobile site in 3 fairly simple steps which we pictured below. Once in the editor, you can choose from a large selection of templates and pallets, and there are lots of ways to customize your own design.

DudaMobile was first launched as a white label platform in 2010; now it is a self-service website builder. They now host more than 3.2 million mobile sites, with the addition of 100,000 sites monthly!

Our favorite advantage of using Duda is that their patented auto-sync technology keeps your mobile site automatically updated, reflecting any changes made to your original website with zero maintenance necessary. How much does it cost? Only $9/mo. They also have a free offering (with limited features and banner ads).

What are your thoughts on DudaMobile? Let us know if you’ll get mobilized with Duda in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter.