Sarah Lacy is an award winning journalist and author of the critically acclaimed book, “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0″ (Gotham Books, May 2008). Lacy has been a reporter in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade, covering everything from the tiniest startups to the largest public companies. She writes a biweekly column for BusinessWeek.com called “Valley Girl” and is co-host of Yahoo! Finance’s Tech Ticker. She lives in San Francisco with her husband.

Sarah will be helping us determine the lineup of Showoffs that will demo at our next event in February.  She will also attend the event and weigh in on the Judge’s Choice award.  We’re psyched to have her on board and can’t wait to see her at Twiistup 5.

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Congrats to Noah and the Mint crew for winning the ‘Top Company’ award at TechCrunch 40.  Mint is now open for business – check it out.

Red Cross has some really cool mobile billboards. This one is in front of the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Displays a depiction of a major disaster – and I guess the message is that Red Cross is there, or at least this mobile billboard is. Either way, it’s damn cool.

Between the Embarcadero and Montgomery BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station in San Francisco you will see some interesting marketing. When you stand in front of the sliding doors on the left hand side you will see a flip book style commercial for Westin. As the train moves, the film strip gives the sense of motion. Westin shows a blooming flower then cuts to the line ‘Morning Stretch.’ The final frame/s show the Westin logo with the tagline ‘This is how it should feel.’ The Westin chain along with Hotel W has some of the most comfortable hotel beds I’ve slept in. They also have some of the best looking hotels, as big chain hotels go. This form of advertising was totally unexpected and reminded me of the urban myths around ’subliminal advertising’ from the 80s. Or was that true? Bravo Westin and BART for a killer idea.