Post-Techcrunch Evaluation: or why Mike Arrington should stay in Palo Alto

Last night was Techcrunch at BED NY in Chelsea. Where they found this place was beyond me. To start the evening off, it was pouring rain and guests were left outside to wait for the cargo elevator which goes to the club on the 6th floor. It was a mobscene.

I got in though and was milling around checking out the various booths and displays, talking to the folks. Brian Skowron from LogicWorks, our new infrastructure host showed up as did Duncan. I had met Duncan earlier that day which was something that I looked forward to. There were some other folks I didn’t know there as well. Ernstjan Albers, a Dutch entrepreneur talked to me a long time about his new project, Souki.com which apparently takes search to a new level providing results in the context of behavioral patterns. Take Google and mix it with Pandora, the service that learns your musical tastes and plays music you actually want to hear, and you’ve got Souki. It’s in closed beta at the time though, and I’m not sure when it’s supposed to launch.

But the demonstration of arrogance for the evening goes to Mike Arrington himself. Here’s a guy who runs the foremost Tech News blog in the world and can easily be identified by the train of people following him around begging to kiss his ass. But he’s not from NYC. He’s from Palo Alto, California.

Up he steps, throngs of people pressing in to hear his words. He tells everyone to quiet down. No one does. He then comments that people were nicer in California. My thoughts? Go back to California, asshole. This is NY. This is the east coast. I speak on behalf of all NYers (having been one), when I say, I’d rather have the NY lifestyle, diversity and attitude than have a Palo Alto calm any day.

My advice to Mike: Think twice before you come to NY next time. If you aren’t prepared to be stepped on (and like it), maybe this isn’t your town.

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About the Author: Aaron Brazell is the lead editor of Technosailor.com and a social media expert. His passion is to see companies and individuals use the internet and web technologies wisely and effectively to promote their brands and companies. He served as Director of Technology at b5media from 2005-2008 and is currently an independent consultant.