In 1995, Brian Alvey designed the first TV Guide website and helped BusinessWeek leap from AOL to the web. Brian built database-driven web applications and content management systems for many large companies in the 90′s including Intel, J.D. Edwards, Deloitte & Touche and The McGraw-Hill Companies. His 1999 Tech-Engine site was a “skinnable HotJobs” which powered over 200 online career centers including XML.com, Perl.com, O’Reilly & Associates Network, DevShed and Computer User magazine. He has been the art director of three print magazines and was the Chief Technology Officer of Rising Tide Studios where he developed The Venture Reporter Network, which is now a Dow Jones property.

In 2004, Brian Alvey and Jason Calacanis created the publishing company Weblogs, Inc. – home to such category leading blogs as Engadget, Autoblog, Joystiq, TUAW, TV Squad, Cinematical, Download Squad, WOW Insider, Slashfood and Blogging Stocks. AOL acquired Weblogs, Inc. in October 2005. In June 2006, Brian also became the chief architect of Netscape and lead the development team which turned the struggling portal into a thriving social news site.

In November 2006, AOL acquired Blogsmith, the enterprise-grade blog publishing platform Brian built. Today AOL uses Blogsmith to publish more than 50 Weblogs, Inc. blogs, dozens of AOL channel blogs and the leading gossip site, TMZ.

Rachel Feinstein will be performing at The Audience Conference and we are psyched cause she is funny as shit.

From her site;
Rachel Feinstein grew up outside Washington DC, the daughter of a civil rights lawyer and a blues musician, giving her a keen eye for the absurd and unjust. She developed her hilarious, character driven style by opening for her father’s blues band as a kid and doing impressions of various loud and jarring relatives.

Rachel has made numerous appearances on “Comedy Central” and can also be seen on upcoming episodes of “Comics Unleashed” as well as the “ Just For Laughs” comedy series on TBS.

So happy to have Heather joining us.

Driven to comedy by law school, Gold never does the same set twice. Her unique style—raw and participatory, inflected by confessional politics—is a reflection of her unorthodox artistic path: studies at Yale and Northwestern Law, training at Groundlings, plus years soaking up Hollywood and the geek culture of the Net and Silicon Valley. Heather worked the web since it’s earliest days in 1995, influencing her innovative form of comedy which involves the audience whenever possible, drawing them out and threading and connecting ideas and people.

Chris Brogan is an old friend. Just don’t ask him about me. Look for another side of Chris perhaps you haven’t seen before when we talk at The Audience Conference.

We are so pleased to have Morgan Murphy joining us.