down the avenue

Cambridge's Nokia Labs Key Research Areas

I'm at Nokia Labs in Cambridge England looking at their latest innovations under the hood. Four Key research areas for them include: rich context modeling, new user interfaces, high performance mobile platforms and cognitive radio.

We looked at smart surface materials that externally control color change as well as nano sensing in future mobile devices.

Consider the mobile opportunities with over 3 billion mobile subscribers today. The Labs folks tout an outstanding statistic: up to 90% of the 6 billion people on earth will have mobile coverage by 2010. Note the adjective coverage, not mobile phones.

We also covered physical and digital worlds from personal to global sensor information.

Below Nokia's head of social media worldwide: Mark Squires in Cambridge.

Skype's Blogger-in-Chief & Robert Scoble Chat about Social Media

Below, I'm interviewing Robert Scoble and Skype's blogger-in-chief Peter Parkes about how blogging has changed over the years and how Skype is using blogging and social media in Europe and the rest of the world.

Is the Web Female?

Yesterday at Reboot Britain in London, there were back-to-back sessions and countless panels on technology, innovation, social media and the web.

It ranged from ending the digital divide, redefining the role of public service media, where next for the media and politics, consumer democracy or a politics of citizenship, to the future of policymaking, how video games open learning and creating a social, environmental and ethical revolution in business.

On the panel, “is the web female?” moderated by BT’s JP Rangaswami, four women talked about their opinions around a) what does the web ‘being female’ mean and b) should there be the "divide debate" at all?

Australian Joanne Jacobs was amusing and got a laugh from the audience when she said, I’d like to think that I’m the token bloke on the panel.” She tends to do more ‘masculine’ things online, she tells us. Before she went deeper, I was wondering whether that meant playing war games or creating widget skins in black and gray. Not quite.

Bottom line, how we spend our time online is different depending how much feminine energy we house in our daily lives. Are we women working from home, raising two children and active in our kids PTA? Or, are we women engineers developing the latest UI and have a child, but our husband does the chores and looks after the kids most of the time?

Or, frankly other issues altogether, such as the ones that we didn’t have time to really explore at depth. It’s not just how comfortable we are throwing ourselves into the public eye, but how much we say once we do, how often and with what tone.

Says Joanne, “Culturization is the hardest thing for specific needs or outcomes. The web a great opportunity for women and men to deliver what they are looking for and get what they want online.”

MT Rainey of Horses Mouth brings up the feminine versus masculine issue that I spend a lot of time thinking about. She says, “it’s not so much is the web female, but the question is how can the web men help bring out the feminine side?”

The flip side is true too and we see it in places like Second Life or chat rooms where women take on a male persona or act things out anonymously because it ‘feels’ safer to do so.

The debate in the hallway was mixed but most didn’t feel that technology was geared towards men. They haven’t been to Silicon Valley I was thinking. 99% of my client CEOs and head honchos have been men as have the majority of their engineering team. There’s always a token woman or two among us but I never feel as if they’re the main decision drivers. Bear in mind that this is the majority of my experience but not all.

I’ve certainly worked with women CEOs and proactively pushed women heads of business development and engineering for speaking roles and media interviews on countless occasions.

Masculine energy drives a lot of the UI decisions in many of my past experiences, as well as the marketing ones. When a target audience is predominantly female, then they'll often fork out the cash for the research to make sure they’re on track with patterns and preferences. And yes, they look to me for guidance.

It’s an interesting dance however since designers, like artists, love to create what they love and what works for them – and we all know that this isn't necessarily what their audience wants or needs.

One of the things women do online is get things done. It’s all about efficiency. Meghan feels that if women were involved earlier on, there would be more group regulation around commentaries on social forums and that technology would be more practical and efficient. More practical and efficient? I couldn’t agree more.

There’s also the issue about how comfortable women feel about making abrasive and controversial statements and comments on the web. Joanne feels that Americans and Australians are fairly comfortable about making abrupt statements online, although Sarah thinks that while American women are active on the web, they’re still not that comfortable with aggressive behavior on line.

It's obviously a cultural thing. Joanne would love to see women participate in more games in the real world that are more outcome oriented. “If I was going to improve the web, it would be more game oriented for women entrepreneurs,” she says.

As for improving the web, MT says in the spirit of Reboot Britain, “we have a lot of users who don’t use a lot of rich-media sites. We should create sites where women can come to a place to help each other rather than having to rely on institutional resources only. We should take those two big slices of what we spend millions of pounds on in the public sector, and create things online where people can deliver the soft elements that will appeal to women.”

Meghan adds two things: “clarity and friendliness and making it easier to find things on the web.” That goes back to the old age search debate.

Things often come full circle.

BT Tower by Night

BT hosted a magical dinner for the Traveling Geeks at the BT Tower in West London last night. BT's CEO Ian Livingston greeted us (below) and JP Rangaswami followed up with introductions to countless meet-and-greets, which included BT and NESTA managers and directors, as well as other partners and affiliates, such as a team from Ribbit, over from Silicon Valley for a board meeting. (they were acquired by BT roughly a year ago).

The view was incredible:

The food a treat (scallop salad, jersey royal potato pancetta frisse sauce with slow roasted beef fillet, girolles, baby carrot broad beans and summer truffles with red wine reduction).

The hospitality and service incredible (our telecom giants could learn a thing or two). Below a few fun snapshots from our evening.

The BT creative mastermind behind our a collage with character-like images of each of the Geeks...

Ribbit's Don Thorson, Tom Foremski, Rocky

Howard Rheingold, Sarah Lacy, Joe, Renee Blodgett, Meghan Asha, Jeff Saperstein

Sarah Lacy

Ian and Jeff Saperstein at dinner

Two of our BT hosts and Renee Blodgett, Sarah Lacy and Susan Bratton

Susan Bratton and Sky Schuyler

Meghan Asha

The Geeks crowd into one of the last elevators south for the night...

London even delivered us a sunset...

And Robert Scoble wasn't quite done shooting.....all the way home

Micha Benoliel Interviews the Geeks

Digitrad's CEO Micha Benoliel interviewed the Traveling Geeks at our London TweetUp. The entire line-up of blogger interviews have been posted to Vimeo.

On Organizational Growth & Use of Sales at Reboot Britain

Jeff Saperstein spoke today at Reboot Britain in London on opening up organizations for growth. He walked the audience through various case studies, which included how sales is currently being used in these organizations. Here's a quick overview on two of them in a short video clip.

London: Rich Stories at their Best

I always go to a melancholy place when I head back to the streets of London, even moreso when I visit my old stomping grounds. I suppose you could say that this is the case for everyone when they return to anywhere in the world they once lived, yet having lived in more than ten countries, England is different. London is different.

I think part of it is its heritage. Part of it is the left over piece that feels embedded in you as if some part of some generation before you walked the same streets before the turn of the century and their passed on DNA shows up at the oddest times….whenever I have a cup of English tea brewed the old fashioned way for example.

It also shows up when I feel the sense of community in both rural and urban pubs that has been watered down in the states over the last two generations.

And so, I cherish these melancholy walks. They take me through narrow alleyways with a surprise around every corner, crowded obscure bookstores near Tottenham Court Road, into cafes and wine bars where the tables are close together and people are wearing hats even in summer, past well manicured lawns in London’s northern burbs and well behaved dogs in Regent’s Park.

And then there’s Camden Town. Every time I think about my need to return for a meander for old time sake, I sometimes wonder how much of a hippee I was, or whatever the equivalent of that was in the late eighties.

I was drawn to the place then and still am today, despite the fact that my first introduction to it was 25 years ago and it’s become a very different place and I’ve obviously become a very different person.

Yet, it all still draws me in for the taking. The colorful stalls, the tattoos, the edgy haircuts, the funky boots, my favorite creperie that is still in the same place it always was, the incense that burns upstairs and that fabulous material and linen shop I can never remember the name of.

When you think about the energy of the universe and how it works, it’s no grave surprise that an old South African friend I first met in London before I hit the big 21 has returned to live here with her husband. She still lights candles and drinks Cabernet Sauvignon.

We were both blondes at the time and are now both brunettes or close to it. We both sold art from around the world – or so we tried. We both threw fabulous international parties where we danced and drank cinzano and lemonade until dawn.

Mine were held in my Earls Court basement flat which opened up to a small but tasteful garden courtyard. I still remember the faces as if it was yesterday and what a fascinating representation of friends I had at the time: Morocco, Ireland, France, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Iceland, Russia, Italy, Denmark, Israel, Greece, Belgium, Scotland, Zimbabwe…..

As you can imagine, the food was diverse and an important part of our experience with one another and we were never tired of conversation. We’d often land at someone’s flat for espresso at 3 in the morning after stopping into a famous Jazz Club near Kings Cross.

It was nearly a daily part of our evening routine for months until the big Kings Cross fire and then suddenly the bus, train, bus, and then bus again hassle to get there forced us to find a new locale.

Did I mention that we never tired of conversation? Everyone had a story, a rich, diverse and emotional story they were passionate about, and so, passion ruled our every exchange with each other, through some other form of expression we shared: art, music, dance, cooking, poetry or mime.

Although the international diversity was much less when I moved to the country, the stories remained an integral part of my experience living in the U.K. and now an integral part of my memory.

My neighbor Bill was the managing director or some such close to the top of the food chain title at Harrods Department Store in Knightsbridge, which was always a bit too much for my budget in those days.

I remember recruiting him and his wife for a play I wrote, which involved the launch of a marble tile company. I wove in Vivaldi to one of the scenes and Bill would dance around out of character, pause for a whiskey sundowner and then return with a smile and say “shall we begin?” Yes, but of course. And so, we’d begin again. And again. And again.

Life was much simpler even for the workaholics around me. I did a stint at Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising which was near or on Goodge Street at the time. We had an American Managing Director and his office was always open for any of us to waltz in to solicit advice.

People worked late and instead of beer and pizza which is what I think of when I think of late nights in Silicon Valley, particularly if engineers are involved, it was gin and tonics and cheese and crackers.

Account management merged with creative and vice versa and the place was a dynamic one, full of bright and interesting minds I learned something new from every day. We worked hard and then we played hard. It was always like that and results came, award winning ones.

So that brings me to this trip, which is different than any other I’ve made to London in the past couple of decades. Nearly every memory and experience I’ve had in this place, whether it was 25 years ago or two, was centered around creative energy: artists, designers, travelers, authors and musicians.

I’m here to contribute to a different kind of creative energy, one which just like every other English memory, involves storytelling.

Along with 11 other writers, bloggers and content creators, I’ll be capturing people’s stories on and off stage, company backgrounds, tales of technology successes and perhaps failures, lessons learned in business and government, and how emerging technology and new media is being used in innovative ways.

Great Show for Traveling Geeks' London TweetUp

Traveling Geeks organized a Tweetup at London's JuJu last night, sponsored by NESTA, The Conversation Group, and Symbian.

Below are a few snaps from the event that included start-up entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, bloggers, journalists and vendors.

Traveling Geeks Sky Schuyler, Susan Bratton, Renee Blodgett and Howard Rheingold

Claire Walker and Mark Mellor from Firefly Communications

Sarah Lacy, Meghan Asha

Craig Newmark talks to a group of London geeks

Symbian's Joe Neale

Mitzi

Micha and Danielle from Digitrad

Jon Wheatley, founder of Daily Booth

Dennis and Joe Morin

Rosemary Forsyth, Vincent Camera, Renee Blodgett

Redefining Digital Inclusion

We met with Tristan Wilkinson this morning at Savoy Place in London. Tristan, who is Intel's Director for Public Sector for Intel EMEA, wears many hats and has several interests.

Below Tristan with Perveen Akhtar, Intel UK PR Manager

He tells us about a program called One Goal which will be launched in August and piggyback off the South African World Cup. The goal is to get 30 million online signatures in an effort to help make poverty history. Take note: 75 million children still don't have access to primary school education in the world.

Tristan asks, "do those that enjoy the benefits of technology have a moral right over those who don't? If you don't have access, you're missing so much." He adds,"for example, when did a blue collar worker need access to the Internet and many of these tools simply to get a job? It's particularly important in this economic climate."

He talks about the broken education system where we're still assessed by written exams, rather than an interactive system that allows students to exchange ideas and use technology to learn.

Essentially you've got a 21st century learner in a 19th century environment and the two are starting to cancel each other out. And, what are the other things that allow these technology tools to be unleashed? We have to figure out a way to embrace and value informal learning, such as self-study.

The thread is one that isn't a new one: the digital divide, largely an economic one, however it's beyond a financial issue, it's also attitude; attitude among teachers and among parents.

Parents have learned about the perils of Internet use but haven't necessarily learned about about the value that it can bring to their child's life, particularly in the classroom.

Robert Scoble asserts that the change will come from the kids, not from top down. And, adds that it's not about the technology or being able to afford it, it's about lack of knowledge and education - what's out there? what tools can help me find a better job? go to a better school?

We discuss key drivers. If success and nirvana is a digitally educated population, we shouldn't have to wait twenty years for people to catch up to embrace these changes...with technology change accelerating at such a dramatic rate, there needs to be an effort to bring those who are being left behind forward.

Tristan asserts that the problems are very fragmented and that there needs to be a more concerted effort to bring groups like us together to take action.

Sky adds, "the best thing that educators can do is to be totally open to the new devices that already have some of these services embedded....but we have legislation." Robert has become demoralized and is one of the reasons he doesn't get involved in this debate regularly.

We also discuss the role of the press....how do the press educate parents and educators and what form it takes. "It's not that my children are going to get online and be stalked but that if they don't get online and learn how to use these new technologies, they won't get jobs, they will be left behind. Parents need to understand that the jobs of the future are going to require them to support their kids to learn how to use technology. There may not be any public or private funds for it but the change needs to happen.

We need to redefine Digital Inclusion. The definition of digital inclusion today is basic access. It doesn't include basic skills such as understanding some of the technology and social media schools to network and make friends not just locally for globally. It increases their job and life opportunities significantly.

It's time to move that definition beyond simple access. We need a new definition that policy makers, technology creators, parents, and educators can rally around. There will be a revolution when more and more students get their hands on some of these devices and start using them in the classroom.

Digitrad Launches Yes.tel, Digital Business Card Service

Digitrad, a company specializing in unified communications, launched Yes.tel today in the U.S. Yes.tel provides instant access to a person’s contact information from any PC or mobile device.

Using one user-friendly platform to manage a multitude of digital identities, consumers can seamlessly access and update their personal information consolidated into one domain from their laptop, desktop or their mobile phone.

A subscriber based service, costing $19.99 annually, Yes.tel allows registrants to select a user .tel name of their choice, which includes a local phone number with a unified voicemail, an integrated email re-direction system, anti-spam and antivirus services.

Yes.tel user records are consolidated and stored within an information-encrypted Domain Name Server (DNS), allowing a certain level of access to the public. Once a user registers a domain and distributes it to friends, family and colleagues, other users will be able to look-up the domain and have full access to all of the information associated with that domain, which will be immediately re-directed to the device and saved.

Disclosure: Digitrad is a sponsor of the Traveling Geeks blogging tour to London.

Traveling Geeks off to London

Below is the press release of our second Traveling Geeks blogging tour to London this week.

U.S. Bloggers Travel to London to Exchange Ideas on How Technology and Media Innovation Can Improve Corporations and Government

Traveling Geeks’ London Blogging Tour Opens Up Opportunity for Idea Exchange Between U.K. and U.S.

LONDON - July 3, 2009 - Traveling Geeks is sending a group of 12 influential bloggers to the U.K. to collaborate with technology innovators and influencers in London and Cambridge from July 5 to July 11, 2009.

The mission of Traveling Geeks is to connect with technology innovators and influencers in various regions of the world, then share what they have learned through blogging, video, podcasts, meet-ups, Twitter and other social media tools.

Through idea exchange and reporting, both countries can become better informed about how to use new technologies to improve communications and productivity, more effectively promote products and services and strengthen communities for corporations, non-profits and the public sector.

The bloggers hope to learn about how the U.K. is effectively implementing emerging technologies, social media tools and e-government initiatives to better serve its citizens, as well as enhance the way government and corporations work together. The group is a collection of writers, content creators and entrepreneurs who cover technology, business, innovation and social media.

The U.K. Traveling Geeks team includes: Meghan Asha, Renee Blodgett, Susan Bratton, Tom Foremski, Sarah Lacy, JD Lasica, Craig Newmark, Ayelet Noff, Howard Rheingold, Jeff Saperstein, Sky Schuyler and Robert Scoble.

They will participate in a Greenwich Observatory event; a NESTA-sponsored conference about moving forward in the new economy, a U.S./U.K. Speed Date with Seed Camp Winners and UK Leaders; eConsultancy Innovator’s Open Discussion; the TechCrunch Europa Awards; University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School Roundtable on Open Innovation; as well as meetings with Nokia Labs, Microsoft Labs, East of England International, Skype and others.

The bloggers will also be speaking and participating at a Reboot Britain event and the Guardian’s first Media Talk Live event, as well as organizing a TweetUp in central London on the evening of July 5, 2009, which is being sponsored by NESTA and The Conversation Group.

There will be numerous gatherings that will bring together individuals and organizations in the U.K. who are making a global impact through the innovative use of new technologies and social media tools.

Traveling Geeks was founded by Jeff Saperstein and Renee Blodgett in 2008, beginning with a blogging expedition to Israel.

News, updates and other content from the tour can be found at www.travelinggeeks.com, as well as on flickr, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networking services.

Sponsors include: Intel, Nokia Ovi Maps, NESTA, East of England International, Skype, British Telecom, Rackspace Hosting, Digitrad, Symbian, Flip Video, and ProPhotoRental.

About TravelingGeeks

The mission of Traveling Geeks is to collaborate with technology innovators and influencers in various regions of the world, then share what we’ve learned through blogging, video, podcasts, social media tools and meet-ups. Traveling Geeks was founded by Jeff Saperstein and Renee Blodgett in 2008, beginning with a blogging expedition to Israel. Our hope is that we can inform, educate and connect on behalf of innovators who are changing the world with like-minded people on the planet. Trips are funded by sponsorships from corporations and governments.

More about Traveling Geeks here.

Slow Food and Wine at its Best

Below are a few interviews and takes from last week's Golden Glass Slow Food event in San Francisco.

Also check out my blog post from the event, which is full of photos of the best in slow food and wine, and includes entertaining sommeliers and chefs, largely from northern California.

BRAND YOU Book Signing in Dorking

David Royston-Lee will be at Waterstone’s in Dorking, England on Thursday July 2, 2009 at 5pm for the launch of his new book: BRAND YOU. He will be speaking for 40 minutes before answering questions and signing books.

Voyij Adds European Destinations: Tons of Deals Under One Roof

Client Voyij.com, the most comprehensive site on the web for travel deals and sales, has now added European destinations.

For the first time, travelers now have one central location where they can discover the widest variety and largest number of European travel deals and specials under one roof.'

The concept behind Voyij is simple. Voyij fills a void on the web that people want: “what travel destination is on sale today?” With Voyij, you can explore and discover travel sales and deals you never knew existed independent of origin, destination or dates.

Other travel sites concentrate on real-time inventory and the few that do focus on deals have substantially less offerings, focus on one aspect of travel but not another, i.e., hotels, or do not include filters so you can narrow down what you want.

Travelers simply enter the city they are leaving from and Voyij does the rest. You can choose to review the deals and specials that are on sale that day, which is a compelling part of the discovery experience Voyij offers. Because the site grabs deals from hundreds of travel suppliers, you often learn about destinations and deals you never knew existed and from sites you never heard of.

Additionally, Voyij goes one step further. If you choose to narrow down your scope, a second step allows you to filter by region, time of year, popular destinations, hotel star ratings, beach hot spots and more.

These features are particularly useful for European destinations where popular hot spots are often more expensive and booked up months in advance during the summer months.

My Stroke of Insight Makes NY Times Bestseller List

I first heard Jill Bolte Taylor's remarkable story about her stroke when she spoke at the TED Conference. Her talk blew the audience away, not surprising given her remarkable tale, one which has both inspired people and provided incredible insights for the world of medicine.

Her new book My Stroke of Insight is receiving positive acclaim worldwide and can be easily found on the web. For those who haven't seen her talk at TED, you can view it here.

For more about what she went through, the Q&A below recounts her story and some of the feelings she went through while she was going through the stroke, as well as a deeper look into the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Q: You describe the series of strange sensations your body was going through the morning of the stroke. At what point did you realize how serious the situation was?

A: From the moment I woke up with a pulsating headache, I was aware that something was not right. While in the shower, when the sound of the water surging into the tub knocked me over, I was aware that I was having a major neurological phenomenon. However, I did not realize that I was l was experiencing a stroke until my right arm went totally paralyzed by my side.

Q: What was your immediate reaction?

A: When I first realized that I was having a stroke my left hemisphere brain chatter said to me, “Oh my gosh, I’m having a stroke!” Immediately following that, it exclaimed, “Wow, this is so cool!” You have to understand that I had spent my entire life studying the brain from the outside in. On that morning, I had an opportunity few scientists will ever have – the ability to study their own brain from the inside out! It was a fascinating experience…through the eyes of a trained scientist.

Q: As a neuroanatomist, you're an expert on the brain. What was the most unexpected thing you learned from actually having a stroke?

A: I did not realize that I was capable of experiencing bliss and deep inner peace. When my left hemisphere and its ongoing brain chatter became completely non-functional, I shifted into an incredible state of euphoria. It was a really beautiful experience that I was not aware of ever experiencing before.

Q: What helped you the most during your decade of recovery?

A: I owe my entire ability to recover to my mother GG Taylor. She came to my side immediately, and recognized that I was now an infant in a woman’s body. Even in this completely debilitated condition, she treated me with respect and together we embarked upon trying to figure out what my brain cells needed in order to recover health and function.

One of the most important things we did was that we focused on my abilities rather than my disabilities and we gave my brain the sleep it desperately needed in order for the cells to recover. In addition, we did what we needed to do to take care of my brain, realizing that if my brain cells were happy and functional, then I could be happy and functional.

Q: Now that you've experienced living in your right brain, can you go back to that euphoric place at will?

A: Yes, the beauty of our brain is that both of the hemispheres are always active so the bliss of my right hemisphere is always a circuitry that I can tap into. I believe we all have this ability.

We have the ability to choose to pay attention to the circuitry of our chattering left hemispheres and attend to the details in our lives, or we have the cognitive ability to change what we are thinking about, choose to take a pause, take a breath, step back and look at the big picture of who we are and what are we doing here as a magnificent life force power in physical form.

We are always using both halves of our brains and we make choices thousands of times a day about how we want to perceive something. An easy example of this is listening to a piece of music. You can choose to listen to the piece as a whole creation or you can choose to focus on each of the instruments playing its line. You can choose to listen and think with language, or choose to think and interact with the ongoing kinesthetic stimulation your body is receiving.

Q: You're still a neuroanatomist, and you remain affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine. How has the stroke changed your approach to studying and teaching about the brain?

A: I have a very different perspective of myself in relationship to the external world and I am no longer worried about or focused on my own personal gain or value.

As a result, I have shifted my concern to the students and the quality of their education. I teach them about the value of compassion and about the choices they are consciously or unconsciously making day by day. I try to instill in them an awareness of their responsibility for how they present themselves to their patients with the hope that they will become more caring physicians.

My interests in research have also shifted away from choosing to work in a lab environment where I spend endless hours in isolation, to working with helping others find the resources they need to recover. I have become much more of a humanitarian.

Q: And what can your readers learn from your experience?

A: I believe that this book is of tremendous value to anyone who has a brain that they would like to create a better relationship with. Caregivers of anyone who is ill will walk away with a shifted perception of what the brain needs in order to recover and a toolbox of recommendations to help someone in need.

Anyone who has experienced a brain trauma of any sort will also be armed with real strategies to help them help themselves during the process of neurological recovery. Spiritual seekers will better understand the neurocircuitry underlying the ability of our brains to have a spiritual experience, and how they can work with themselves to shift their own perceptions.

People who are extremely right hemisphere dominant find validation as to why “they are the way they are” and that it is healthy to celebrate that. Also, anyone interested in learning more about how to “get their brain to do what they want it to do” will rejoice in the cacophony of practical information.

Future of Online and Mobile Video Distribution & Monetization Strategies

The UCLA Anderson School of Management and the German American Business Association (GABA) are hosting a panel discussion with top digital media executives and venture capitalists followed by a reception at the UCLA Faculty Center, on the future of online and mobile video distribution and monetization strategies in North America and Europe.

The event will be held at the UCLA Faculty Center on 480 Charles Young Drive in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 starting at 7 pm. You can pre-register here.

Despite the rapid online video adoption, achieving profitability continues to be a challenge for many content creators and distribution companies.

Panelists include:

Brett Brewer - President of Adknowledge, a performance-based advertising network; Myspace (Intermix Media) Co-founder (acquired by News Corp) & Advisor at Crosscut Ventures

Curt Marvis - President of Digital Media at Lionsgate; Curt oversees digital distribution at all Lionsgate divisions, the company's stake in online video hub Break.com, the FEARNet VOD/Internet channel, as well as the new EPIX online streaming venture together with Paramount & MGM

Mark Suster - Partner at GRP Partners with ~$1 billion under management, previous Founder and CEO of Koral (acquired by Salesforce.com) and BuildOnline (acquired by SWORD Group)

Frank Chindamo – President of Fun Little Movies, the first company to make comedic movies for mobile; FLM won the Content Award at Cannes and the Mofilm Award at GSM and airs on Sprint, MSN Mobile & the iPhones

Michael Metzger (Moderator) - UCLA Anderson Alumnus; GABA Board Member; Vice President at New Century Capital Partners - a digital media focused investment banking firm

The panelists will share their vision of the future of mobile and online video and cover topics including:

--Key success factors for content generated by users, independent producers and the major networks

--Distribution strategies on an individual brand’s site, video portals, mobile carrier’s deck and social networking sites

--Most effective methods for monetizing video content in North America and Europe

--Exciting opportunities for entrepreneurs and video content creators

How Obama's Antitrust Policies Could Impact Silicon Valley's Economy

If in the Bay Area, come watch Gary Reback, author of the new book Free the Market and Michael Arrington talk about how the Obama Administration’s antitrust enforcement policies will affect Silicon Valley’s economy.

At the Computer History Museum on June 30, Reback and Arrington will explore President Obama’s commitment to innovation along with his promise of renewed antitrust enforcement to make predictions about how the new administration will answer important questions.

They plan to draw on accounts of leading high tech lawsuits involving top companies like Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and AT&T. His new book paints a tableau of government policy gone awry.

GasPedal Event: Corporate Social Media Success Stories

I attended the Gadspedal BlogWell event yesterday in San Francisco, which covered 8 case studies in four hours about how corporations are using social media in innovative ways.

I was interested in listening to all of them however due to time constraints, they divided the floor so you had to choose which one was more relevant for you. Unfortunately, on nearly every occasion, both choices were relevant so I missed half the stack.

They didn't have the Twitter protocol posted where it was easy to find, so sadly, none of my tweets made the pool, but there's a bunch of two liners from various speakers out there in Twitterspace somewhere.

The line-up was top notch and included the likes of enterprise players like Cisco and SAP, as well as consumer and SOHO-facing offerings from PepsiCo and Intuit.

Cisco's key takeaways:

*Listen to the conversation

*Include blogs as part of your communications strategy

*Spread workload amongst team

*Be ready to address risks – have your policy at hand

*Inform and involve your executive team

*Incorporate video and audio

*Optimize your content for search

*Issue a social media release

*Stay focused on your business goals – customer successes

A lot of these points are pretty basic and are not new tricks we haven't already heard. The thing that really hit home was the importance of integrating them with a strategy in place. I say this to clients all the time - what's the point of using social media tools unless it's helping us meet our overall business objectives?

That leads to measurement which came up in the Q&A of every session. People want to know how these big players are measuring the ROI of these campaigns and in some cases, how and if they're planning to generate revenue as a result.

The less complex the corporate structure, the less complex the story, which leads us to the SAP presentation. There was likely a ton of really great content and examples they could share, but sadly they tried to pack "it all" into PowerPoints that were rich with jargon, heavy text and graphics.

SAP's Mark Yolton

He also flew through the text-heavy slides so I missed more than half the content and because the volume of content overtook the value of it, I didn't leave with a sense of what was relevant to any market.

Then again, I'm not a big PowerPoint fan. Pictures and "painting stories" through powerful words, demonstrations and examples go such a long way.

So, in a long ramble, I got that they do a ton of events, build communities, core contributors power their communities, their reputation management system rewards members for behavior and contributions, they offer exclusive content like how-to guides, white papers and newsletters and that there's 70 SAP mentors they tap into for advice about their policies and procedures.

SAP communities deliver customer value, customers benefit from participating and partners get insight from what is going on inside the SAP marketplace. And so, their social media strategy is what exactly?

Intuit's talk hit home for me largely because they used tons of examples of what tools they used, when and why. Through reaching out to small businesses asking for their own core stories, they generated evangelists without asking for them.

Intuit's Christine Morrison

They are integrated social media tools into their products, such as QuickBooks. Imagine that you're a small business owner and have an issue or problem - QuickBooks finds like-problems to help you solve your own more easily.

Dell too has successfully jumped on the social media bandwagon. Dell is reaching their customers on social media platforms like YouTube, flickr, Facebook, Delicious, and Twitter.

"Change starts with content and that content needs to be flexible and modular - shareable, embeddable, and syndicatible," said Dell's Lionel Menchaca.

They are modularizing content through tags, widgets and RSS feeds and using it to populate topic-based Activity Streams.

Adds Lionel: “People actively re-tweet our tweets as well as RSS feeds. If the customer has comments, questions and ideas for new content, they’ll tweet it.”

Their real time activity streams come from blog posts, ideas, Twitterstream, comment information stream, forum threads flickr images, YouTube videos, Delicious and podcasts. They're focused on producing content and moving content out to where it’s relevant.

I wish I could have attended more sessions as there's always so much to learn from what companies with larger budgets and resources have tried and tested and what has worked and failed. David Spark also has a great write-up of the event.

GasPedal holds a number of interesting events on this topic if you want to learn more.

Craigslist Foundation Bootcamp: Contribute & Give Back

The Craiglist Foundation 6th annual bootcamp had an interesting line-up of speakers and panelists from volunteer and non-profit worlds this past weekend in Berkeley.

The wrap-up panel included: Craig Newmark, Arianna Huffington, founder of Action Without Borders Ami Dar, AllforGood's Jonathan Greenblatt, Rich Harwood of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, Shirley Sagawa, co-founder of Sagawa/Jospin Consulting, and Steve Wright, Director of Innovation for Salesforce.com Foundation.

Wright says, “I’m hoping for the day when marketing becomes synonymous with truth telling. Ultimately that’s really where we have to be. We keep borrowing stuff from the corporate sector. We have to have more real value in decreasing poverty in the same way that a corporation generates real revenue. It has something to do with competition and something to do with collaboration.”

Harwood talks about the fact that all of this is just a journey and you have to keep moving forward, applying different approaches along the way. In other words, our work doesn't end. He says, “there are ways we feel that we have to tell stories. It holds greater meaning from what you learn throughout the journey."

Greenblatt says, “so much of the innovation is happening at a grassroots level. Here’s where technology comes into play to help empower you. Using social tools like Twitter and open source tools, it becomes bottom up. Throw your API out there when you build things. The point here is that this revolution is not going to happen top down, it has to happen bottom up." He adds, "keep driving change in your own communities.”

Ami Dar reminds us that it can't just be about the technology. He says, “it's really about the people. We’re almost over emphasizing technology. The Romans actually built an empire without Facebook. People are amazing. Technology is useful, but in some ways, technology is making us less ingenious. Technology is not the answer. We are the answer. Technology is just a tool.”

Wright pipes in, “I agree with that. With social networking, we’re still focusing on the node rather than the network. The power is the lines between the people. It’s in the relationship not in the individual. Even when I hear things through Facebook, it’s still push. One of the things we haven’t figured out yet, is how do we discover aggregate value. It’s not about the social networks, it’s about how do we discover what is of value in what people are doing.”

It's not just about service and volunteering to give back, it's about a commitment to a cause, something you are truly passionate about.

Craig shares jokes but there’s a serious sentiment behind them. He says, “in our case, Craigs List is like a flea market, a marketplace where people come to do commerce but also to socialize. People come together to do what they want to do. Build the right platform and then get out of the way. People will mobilize and generate their own communities.”

Arianna adds to the community thread, “we evaluate what is fun. Why is it fun to shop in a mall? I find it completely exhausting. People have more time on their hands, people watch TV, search on Wikipedia."

She asks, "What is it that makes people interested in something? The conventional ways of how people spend time are not necessarily how people may have the most fun.”

Overall, the pitch between the lines is: get passionate about something you believe in, have fun in the process, bring others to the table to do the same, give back and make an impact in the world. Contribute to something greater than yourself.

Techlicious Blog Unveiled: Tech-Savvy Friend for Women

The Techlicious blog was launched today, whose mission is to simplify technology, particularly for women.

They tout themselves as the tech-savvy friend women can count on for tips and tricks to get the most out of technology; whether that’s saving time in their hectic schedules, discovering new ways to enjoy their personal interests, or keeping up with the latest technology trends and styles.

As founder Suzanne Kantra points out on the site, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, women influence the purchase of more than 90% of consumer electronics, yet there is nowhere women can go to get straightforward advice tailored to them that is not overly geeky, snarky, or dumbed-down.

Techlicious simplifies things by cutting through the hype and technical jargon to give you the information you need, in language that's easy to understand.

The content will include how-to videos, new product and website recommendations, as well as useful tips for getting the most out of the products they already own.

Their Buyer’s Guides provide advice on choosing the right product for every lifestyle, and include recommendations at various price points. Techlicious also offers a community forum where women can get answers to their questions and share their own tips and discoveries.

NY Times Useful Travel Sites for the Practical Traveler

Client Voyij today makes the NY Times in a piece for the practical traveler looking for useful sites to visit.

Golden Glass Slow Food Event at SF's Fort Mason

I attended this year's Golden Glass event at San Francisco's Fort Mason. The event celebrates the efforts of over 100 international wine producers who strive to protect, nurture, and revive the indigenous and classic varieties of their regions. In other words, think slow food thinking: organic, local, fresh and authentic.

The MyFarm folks were there whose goal is to increase local food production, so they can create a secure and sustainable food system.

The wineries were clustered in designated, regional areas throughout the pavilion, starting with the deeper, fuller bodied reds at the entrance, then moving into the Pinot Noirs, lighter sauvignon blancs and champagnes as you made your way to the back. Here sat bread sticks, prosciutto (ham, pork and turkey (with pistachio, pepper and fennel) and cheese, which sadly I couldn't touch.

All under one roof, there were so many authentic small family stories, you could easily sit at each table for hours listening to their starts, stops, wins and losses, each one of them proud of their own blends.

For example, one of my favorites was the Prunetto Mompertone 2006, which apparently won a silver award at the event. Emanuele Baldi, their marketing head told me that it was the only wine they had that was a mixed blend.

I can't say that I don't have a practiced palate of international food and wine, having lived in over ten countries and traveled to nearly 70. Then again, how practiced can it be when the only solos I'm comfy with once cork leaves the bottle are California Chardonnays and Cabernets.

That said, I'm open to them all, even the Syrahs they announce with a starter like: "people either love this one or hate it," or "this isn't your typical Syrah so it's an acquired taste." What are they saying? I don't have that acquired taste therefore think again unless I've popped at least a dozen corks with their sommeliers.

I'm still relatively new to learning the nuances of Italian reds. Every time I've gone to Italy, my friends pour Chiantis down my throat from decanters without labels.

It wasn't until my Italian restaurant and wine store owner friend from NY's West Village introduced me to Perbacco's Mauro Cirilli that I learned about Barolos and Barbarescos. Mauro is a pro; more than a pro - he makes learning about wine not just fun but irresistable.

A sample of their salame below: Nostrao, Piccante and Sanguinato Dolce. Which one I asked Mauro? Which one he asks back as if to say what kind of question has the word one in it? When he wasn't looking, I went for the Nostrano because frankly by that stage of the day, my poor stomach couldn't have handled a taste of all three.

That brings me to food. Slow food. Each booth is a gastronomic and educational experience. One of my favorites was from entertaining chef Suzette Gresham of Acquerello in San Francisco. She made sure I got the delicacy right, particularly when I came back for thirds. Below is a glimpse of her oil leached swordfish with candied silicon olives and almond and parsley pesto.

A few more fun tastes below:

Fromage at its Best

Causa Casera Potato Causa with Artichokes, Asparagus, Avocado and Tomato Confit with Basil Cilantro Oil - La Mar Restaurant

Bruleed Mission Figs Burrata and Sliced Prosciutto

Decadent Chocolate Baby before during and after each taste (okay, maybe in my twenties)

There was a delicious looking Strawberry Gazpacho I never managed to try but people were raving about.

Group shot in the middle of the full bodied reds and the Pinots

To the left Laura Gallino, Sales Manager with Filippo Gallino wines

Bodego Del Sur Winery owner Victor Reyes Umana and Renee Blodgett (I loved both his Tempranillo and his Sangiovese (the 2006). Worth a try.

Below shot from Slow Food SF photo pool

Poggio Trattoria's chef Peter McNee

It's so much more fun and interactive covering food and wine than technology. And frankly, is there not far more interesting choices? I've seen reporter pal's offices and homes piled with hardware and software boxes, but its a far cry from the wine and food writer's cube at USA Today during a visit in the last year. How do you get through it all I was thinking as I passed the mile high stack of samples.

And there's so much to learn, particularly when you take a deeper dive into the diversity of each wine from regions around the world. I learned about Scacciadiavoli for the first time. Unusual taste I thought. What is it?

It is one of the most ancient wine production estates of the Montefalco zone. The name Scacciadiavoli (Devil banisher) derives from the exorcism carried out in the XVII century, as described by Johannes du Rupescissa in a treatise on quintessence.

If you haven't been to a slow food event before, I'd recommend it. If you don't know much about slow food in general, then dive in and learn more.

All For Good is About All For Good

The reality is that people don't automatically just come to your website, you also need to go to them. All for Good spoke at this year's Craig's List Foundation Bootcamp.

Their message is simple: find volunteer activities near you and share those activities with your friends. You can also see what your friends are interested in and then track volunteer activities you care about.

They have open APIs to increase the number of third party apps; one such mobile app example is Catalista, and their developer community is growing.

Says Jonathan Greenblatt, "It's a free tool on the web to bring people to non-profit sites. Think of it as a platform for getting people do good. Our mission is getting more people to serve and to volunteer."

As for how you rank in their system? With a geek crowd like this, search rankings had to come up. Right now, geographic listings near you rank higher than virtual opportunities. Also opportunities that are current rather than in the past or future are also likely to come up higher. And of course, there's standard keyword matching.

Check it out - it's a great free tool to find out where you can make a difference.

Digitrad Simplifies the Way People Communicate

Digitrad is a sponsor of the upcoming Traveling Geeks trip to London. The concept is easy. They simplify the way people communicate by using their name as a single point of contact. All you need to do is to type a name within your web browser.

No matter how many different digital IDs you have. No matter how many different social networks you use. No matter if you change address, country, phone number or job.

Digitrad's goal is to help people to find the best way to reach you. Their new service, Yes.tel, provides you with a unique .tel name, a first top level domain name dedicated to communications. I plan to play with it over the next few weeks.

Craig's List Foundation Bootcamp

Craig's List Foundation is having a Bootcamp in Berkeley tomorrow.

The expect 1,500 attendees which consist of people who are passionate about changing the world. It's about community change and collaborating with others in the business and government sector to strengthen existing communities.

At the Bootcamp, people will learn how to take action in interactive workshops, meet people who can turn dreams into action, receive expert coaching, and get fired up by stories of successful community transformations.

There will be 24 workshops throughout the day with free podcasts after the event in case you missed something of interest. Keynotes include Arianna Huffington, Randi Zuckerberg and Craig Newmark.