Highlights from Web 2.0
I got to visit my old conference-attending life today (without the responsibility of writing stories, thankfully), and am hanging out at the Web 2.0 Summit this afternoon. A few highlights…
* Google’s Marissa Mayer talking about the importance of speed, and nearly-instantaneous feedback.
* Digg’s Kevin Rose showing off an example of how the company is letting developers create innovative interfaces to the amazing amount of data that the site’s users are creating every minute.
* The teen/parent panel, masterfully moderated by Safa Rashtchy, in which ordinary people shared their personal experiences of the Internet. Surprises included how many of these folks are using Firefox. One was even using Opera. But, in other cases, I was surprised at the lack of sophistication. Only 2 had heard of, or used, Skype, for example. The kids spend an outrageous amount of time on MySpace (my teenage niece and nephew’s addiction is Bebo), but that’s not a huge surprise. But spending hours regularly updating your page, so the kids at school the next day will compliment you? Wow. (Like I should talk…. sitting here blogging.)
So, I’m hanging around this afternoon at the party FM is sponsoring. Hope to see folks I know there, including FM Authors. In contrast to other conferences I’ve been to, the attendance here still seems to be very strong, though it’s 5:20 p.m. on the last day of the show. Impressive.
A VC: Ricky’s Back
Since one of the most popular ways people find this site is via a search for “Ricky Gervais Podcast” (which takes them to this post), I feel compelled to note that Fred’s discovered Ricky’s podcast is free again. Yippee!
Blogs Give Voice to Otherwise Silent Community
Heard a really interesting story on NPR the other day about the roles blogs are playing in a protest at Gallaudet University, a liberal arts school for the deaf in Washington D.C. No doubt the growth of blogging in the deaf community has also helped the controversy reach many more ears through the mainstream media. (Protestors are speaking out against a new president set to take office in January.)
Some of my earliest experiences online, well, on BBSs, anyway, were courtesy of two blind co-workers of mine at Taping for the Blind in Houston. It might seem counter-intutive that a computer screen was liberating for these sight-impaired folks, but the digital format made for easy amplification and translation via text-to-speech technology. Yes, I know there are still many battles to be fought for accessiblity online, but it’s certainly better now than it used to be in those days (early ’90s).
The FM Search Engine
FM’s own Justin Watt, using Google’s new Co-Op project, has created the Federated Media Search Engine, which searches all of our authors’ sites. Nice!
Tom Shot
I only heard this weekend that Dynamic Logic‘s COO Tom Deierlein, who was called up by the Army to go to Iraq about a year ago, was shot by a sniper in September. He’s OK, and seems to be in good spirits, but he’s got a long road to (hopefully) full recovery.
The company has set up a Web page for Tom where people can comment and share well wishes.
Just wanted to post to say you’re in my thoughts, Tom, and I’m hoping you heal quickly and remain in good spirits. It sounds like you were doing great work over there, especially in helping poor children and needy Iraqi families. Sorry things turned out the way they did, but am happy you’re back in the U.S.