If you’ve been to SF Beta before, and you’re reading this post, you may be thinking to yourself that things look a little different around here.

If this is your first time here, then you may be thinking to yourself, “My, what a pleasant looking design!”

In either case, we’re proud to announce the brand new and MUCH-improved look and feel of SF Beta, brought to you by our friends at Blogging Squared. Over the last month, they’ve worked behind the scenes to put together a snazzy new WordPress theme for us, overhauling the CSS-violating hackjob that yours truly had gracefully presented you beforehand.

A big thanks to John Wiseman, founder of Blogging Squared, for his work and skill in putting together this beautiful new design. Hooray for John! If you’re looking for a designer, he’s the man you need.

Like the majority of Europe, SF Beta is taking off August off. We’re going to go sit leisurely in the mountains, read a few good books, and forget about the outside world for a while.

We’re going to return on September 25 to celebrate our one-year anniversary. And to kick off the anniversary, we’re changing our pricing model.

Starting in September, all SF Beta events will be FREE for developers, designers, founders, investors, journalists, and students, as long as you RSVP beforehand. Other folks will be $20 in advance and $30 at the door.

Since this will be our anniversary, we have a few special surprises in store. Stay tuned…

This month, SF Beta welcomes Powerset to demonstrate applications built on its natural language search platform. Some who have seen the demo have called Powerset a potential “Google-killer.” After months of buzz, rumors, and speculation, you’ll have the unique opportunity to see Powerset with your own eyes and make your own decision.

Join us for an unforgettable evening, where you’ll be among the first to see a demonstration of Powerset’s next-generation search technology.

You can join in the fun on July 24 by RSVPing now. If you’ve already RSVP’d, then secure a spot at the event by ordering tickets online, as we will likely sell out.

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Woohoo! It’s a party once again at SF Beta. This time, for our May mixer, we brought in a new round of startups to shake things up. We got to see demos by a bunch of companies, including Devicescape, Veodia, Postreach, NoteFish, Spigit, CommentPower, Academia, and more.

Attendance felt busy throughout the night, and started picking up around 6:30, when both rooms at 111 Minna got full. Since we extended our hours this time, we avoided the usual mosh pit and had crowds coming in at a more even pace.

Looking forward to next month. See you all there!

(Photo Credit: Josh Lowensohn)

Once again, SF Beta arrived in the heart of downtown San Francisco for a big night, celebrating the best of the emerging technology community. Despite an evening packed with events, attendance was strong, with hundreds of founders, developers, and the usual bunch joining us for an awesome evening.

We had demos from a number of companies, including:

• LaborFair
• TeamWork Live
• Koders
• SonicSwap
• Dotherightthing
• RateItAll
• Collanos
• eSibyl by MediaSentiment
• SustainLane
• LuckyOliver
• WipBox
• Litepost

Our event was made possible by two generous sponsors:

ServePath
ServePath provides custom managed hosting and load-balanced server networks built to meet your intensive and mission-critical requirements. All products and services are backed by ServePath’s 10,000%™ guaranteed service level agreement, the strongest in the hosting industry.

b-Hive Networks

B-hive is transforming the data center network from a conduit into the key to delivering a reliable, high-quality Web user experience. B-hive’s Transaction Intelligent Networking™ technology enables the network to analyze and route business transactions instead of IP packets. As a result, Data Center operations groups can monitor the end-user experience and optimize availability, performance and application infrastructure allocation – according to business objectives.
And last but not least, SF Beta wouldn’t be complete without photos. You can find recent sets by Brian Caldwell and Josh Lowensohn on Flickr.

For all of you coming to this week’s SF Beta, we’re proud to announce not one but TWO drink specials for your enjoyment.

First off, 111 Minna is proud to announce that Hendricks Gin will be serving drink specials all night.

In addition, we’re offering $5 Svedka specials through our new partnership with MoVoxx, the SMS coupon service. Sign up for free to get a text before the event, entitling you to an evening-long discount when you present the message at the bar.

We’re pleased to welcome two more web media outlets to the SF Beta family: Justin.tv and WebWare.

Justin.tv is fresh off the block, providing 24 hour live streaming from the life of Justin Kan, as he and the rest of his startup run amok throughout San Francisco. They’re making an official stop at the next SF Beta, so if you can’t make it, tune in for some live coverage!

WebWare is CNET’s latest foray into the Web 2.0 universe. Similar to sites like LifeHacker and TechCrunch, they cover new and emerging web apps designed to change the way we work and live. WebWare is led by Rafe Needleman, CNET Editor-at-Large and an active member in the startup community.
Both outlets will be with us at the next SF Beta. RSVP and join us, too!

If you keep up on Web 2.0 news, Web 2.0 social life, or Web 2.0 virtual worlds, we’re happy to announce some brand new members to the SF Beta community.

We are proud to announce media partnerships with two of the leading emerging technology blogs: TechCrunch and Bub.blicio.us. In addition, we’re partnering with Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, as our newest featured member.

TechCrunch is a familiar name to many of you; not only is it one of the most popular blogs in the world, but its coverage of the Web 2.0 scene knows no rival. Their entire editorial staff is invited to our mixers, and there may even be an appearance by Mike Arrington himself. (No guarantees, but it’s certainly possible.)

Bub.blicio.us, meanwhile, provides news, photos, and video blogs from the heart of the new Silicon Valley social scene. They’ve covered every one of our events from the beginning, and we’re thrilled to have them as an official sponsor.

Linden Lab, based right here in San Francisco, runs Second Life, a digital world built, owned, and imagined by over 4 million residents across the globe. They’re pioneers in the virtual world industry, taking a markedly different path than their competitors by embracing open source technology, a player-run economy, and strong IP rights for content creators.

All three of the companies will be present at current and future SF Beta mixers. So if you haven’t RSVPd yet, you now have three great reasons to do so. See you on March 29th!

More than 100 people have RSVP’d for our next event, taking place on March 29 at 111 Minna Gallery. Once again, we will have the entire venue booked from 6 to 9 PM.

We’re skipping the jazz this time, so we can direct our budget towards larger quantities of tasty food. In addition, we’re featuring demos from a dozen startups. (View the list and sign up on the SF Beta wiki.)

Here is the signup form for those looking to RSVP: