A team of entrepreneurs is clocking 20-hour days polishing up a fresh twist on the Internet social networking movement in time for its debut at a San Francisco business plan competition at the end of the month.

AbbyMe.com wants to be the obsession of the work-hard, play-hard crowd that wishes it had time for poker night, but have found that even instant messaging takes too much time from a busy day.

The site, based on artificial intelligence technology harnessed from Carnegie Mellon University, is an online community where a roster of very good-looking avatars act as personal assistants or "sidekicks" who take over the hard work of managing overstuffed social and professional calendars.

"Abby," or whatever persona you choose, will make nailing down a date for poker night a cinch -- she's trained to handle the task of calling, e-mailing or text-messaging your buddies.

Co-founders of the 7-month-old firm, President R.F. Culbertson and Chief Technology Officer Wayne Scholar, have worked together before, heading business incubator Venture Beginnings in the 1990s. They linked up with operations chief Adil Wali last year on the first leg of his MBA pursuits at CMU's Tepper School of Business.

"The goal is to have [the Web site] be an integral part of the way you do things," said Mr. Scholar. "Your avatar enables you to communicate when you're not there."

Working with the boot-strapped Downtown-based startup's staff of seven is a growing community of guinea pigs who've used their virtual personas to make 2 million calls.

Live music database ShowClix.com was launched this week, after months of preparation by partners Joshua Dziabiak, 19, and Lynsie Camuso, 29, band fiends who met at their daytime gigs at Downtown Internet firm Spreadshirt.com.

The duo, who work at night at the South Side's Tuscany Cafe or at Downtown's SanRemo Pizza, say ShowClix is the virtual depot for lesser-known "indie" bands to sell tickets -- and their fans to buy them.

"What we saw was a lot of these bands don't have an outlet to sell tickets because large ticket sellers and concert promoters often overlook them," said Ms. Camuso. "It gives the venue and the band a way to minimize the risk involved in putting on a live performance."

ShowClix claims to be the only one of it's kind -- a virtual swap meet -- listing shows and selling tickets for the not-yet, not-ever or soon-to-be famous.

Anyone can promote his or her shows on the site, said Ms. Camuso, "We want to create the most extensive listing of live music online."

Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse chief John Manzetti wasn't kidding when he said the Hazelwood-based economic development group was setting its sights on money to help local health and bio-focused startups grow.

The technology engine's board agreed yesterday to appoint Jim Jordan to the newly created position of vice president and chief investment officer in charge of rounding up investors and match-making them with young Pittsburgh firms.

Blue Tree Allied Angels is accepting nominations for an individual who "contributed time and intellect to the advancement and awareness of angel investing." The recipient of the Dave D'Appolonia Award, named for "one of the fathers" of angel investing in the Pittsburgh region, will be announced March 14 at the 2007 Pittsburgh Angel Venture Fair. Nominees needn't be private investors but anyone who's worked to build the community of private individuals, or "angels," that fund and guide upstart businesses in the area. Nominations are due Wednesday.

Fax your nomination to CV Mott at 724-475-4538 or mail it to her attention at Blue Tree Capital Group, 190 Guckert, Wexford, PA 15090.

The hairy guys at Sunnyvale-based Ariba Inc. ended their third annual Ariba Moustache Contest with rounds of beer to celebrate winner Mike Walker, a senior manager in Ariba's Global Services Organization. "I would like to thank my father for giving me strong enough genes to win this 28-day race," he said.

Started by Ariba project manager Lonnie Petrill, the competition is an effort to beat back winter ennui. "It's cold and boring in February and nothing goes on so we decided to spice up life in the office by growing some facial hair and looking like total fools for 28 days. The bad thing is it totally ruins Valentine's Day," Mr. Petrill said.

He finished in the middle of the pack. "Every year, I put up great numbers, I run hard, and I come up in the middle of the pack. It's completely frustrating and I now know how Dan Marino felt."