Fox's Secret Millionaire Comes to San Francisco

Fox's newest reality show "Secret Millionaire" featured San Francisco in the most recent episode. The "millionaire" was online advertising entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal who went undercover and lived in the Tenderloin for a week.

Here's a little more about the show:

Like the British version, the Fox show will feature wealthy benefactors each week that will go undercover in the most deprived neighborhoods of the United States. For approximately ten days, the millionaires will mingle within the community and live on a very low-cost budget, for few this being the very first time. At the end of the show, the millionaires reveal their identities and proceed to give a minimum of $100,000 (which can be divided among the recipients). [Wikipedia]

And some more about Gurbaksh Chahal:

Gurbaksh Chahal is one of the youngest and one of the most successful internet entrepreneurs of recent history.Chahal has created companies worth over $340 million by the age of 25. On December of 1998, at the age of 16, he dropped out of Accel Middle College to start his first venture ClickAgents. ClickAgents was one of the first performance-based advertising networks in the industry. Two years later, on November 1st 2000, ValueClick announced it agreed to buy ClickAgents in a $40 million all-stock merger. Chahal had a three year non-compete with ValueClick. He was 18 years old at the time. On January 12, 2004 he founded BlueLithium. BlueLithium was an ad network focused on data, optimization, analytics and a pioneer of behavioral targeting. He has been recognized as an innovator in the online advertising space by Business 2.0 as well as a sought-after speaker, featured at conferences including Red Herring, JP Morgan, Bear Stearns and Ad:Tech. Under his leadership, BlueLithium was named one of the top 100 private companies in America three years in a row by AlwaysOn.On September 4th 2007, Yahoo! announced that it has agreed to buy BlueLithium for $300 million in cash. He remains CEO of the company through the transition period [iMedia].

Related Links:
SFGate - Advice from young millionaire Gurbaksh Chahal
Personal Site
"G" on Fox Business Channel
His SF Penthouse

Goodbye Puppy Cam, Hello Tenderloin Cam

Its time to say goodbye to the now famous Puppy Cam.

It seems like only yesterday the Shiba Inu live puppy cam stole our hearts. Now, 8 weeks old, they are ready to venture out into the real world (and off line). Some of the puppies will be leaving this weekend. [HuffingtonPost]

Links:
The Puppy Cam - not sure how much longer it will stay up
Puppy Cam Basically The Happiest Thing In The World


It's now time to say hello to the Tenderloin Cam

And now a self-described computer geek named Adam Jackson has gone a step further. He's created adamsblock.com - one of the hottest live shows on the Internet - simply by pointing a camera out his Tenderloin apartment window.

Jackson, 22, moved to the city in June from a small beach town in Florida and quickly discovered the realities of San Francisco real estate. Prices were so high that he said he "jumped on the first place I found."

It turned out to be on Taylor Street, just across from Glide Memorial Church. It's an ideal location - for watching crack deals, late-night violence and random crazy behavior.

"By the third night I was basically fed up with the crime and noise," Jackson said. "I didn't really have a plan. I just put the Webcam up, my girlfriend made a little Web page to display it, and here we are."

If you haven't checked out adamsblock.com, you are missing one of the greatest at-work time-killers ever to pop up on your monitor. There are two cameras, both on 24 hours a day, and a real-time chat room that crackles with activity. And no wonder - there is always something to talk about.

Jackson's camera has caught a man throwing himself into the side of a bus, apparently hoping to work an injury scam. It didn't work. The bus didn't stop. Viewers have also watched fights, car chases and break-ins.

If it sounds like an idea that might attract a crowd, you're right. After clips were posted on YouTube, the original group of 50 viewers grew to more than 500,000. [SFGate]

Links:
Adam's Block - Tenderloin Cam on Taylor Street across from Glide Memorial Church