Every month, professionals from all parts of the New York technology community meet up to support the growth and diversification of the city’s technology industry at New York Tech Meetup. NYTM is a community-led organization supported by its members, who created it to allow companies to network to further their businesses. On August 4th, 2015, another meeting took place at the NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts, where in two hours, more than ten companies presented demos on new apps or devices that could be used by the public eventually.
Different companies joined to present live demos from companies developing new technology in New York. Some companies were developing applications that performed a variety of tasks such as providing treatment for addiction and dependence disorders or apps that develop text-to-video technology that allow publishers to make informative video summaries in seconds.
While the Tech Meetup helps publicize companies like Wibbitz, the meetup also allows high school students to present their demos as well.
Students from Stuyvesant High School presented Vynl, and TLDR.
Vynl is an application created by Eric Z. Chen, Andrew Fischer and Daniel Zabari, that takes the role of a DJ, while allowing users to collaboratively create playlists at a social gathering. During their presentation, three students provided the audience with a link to demonstrate how many people can contribute to one playlist at the same time with ease. The song choices brought some in the audience to laughter, as many added works by Fetty Wap or Neil Young.
TLDR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) is a chrome extension that allows users to have articles summarized and saved for later reading, or studying created by Leslie Bresnahan, Miranda Chaiken and Anya Hargil. This extension highlights key words and saves them defined as a study tool. Afterwards, the young women said that their idea was inspired by the workload they were given. “We had this teacher that would assign us like 40-page readings in one night,” said Bresnahan, who will attend Brown University in the fall.
They haven’t publicized the extension in their school, but they did expose it to many developers who can help them improve or spread their creation. They were asked if they had spoken to Zohar Dayan, the CEO and co-founder of Wibbitz, who made a similar app that takes written word and makes it into a video in order to summarize it. They were yet to speak with him.
The New York Tech Meetup allows people to network. Who knows whether TLDR will get tips from the CEO of Wibbitz? Who knows where it can take someone? Whether it be at a job in Google or IBM, the New York Tech Meetup has much to offer to those who attend. The meetings occur monthly, and regulars and newbies will meet once again next month on September 9th, 2015.