Adron on Twitter: "@gravyontherice @zdnet @tomforemski but you'd rather Oracle than Microsoft?! That doesn't seem like a good trade off at all…" Gapingvoid sur Twitter : "Gapingvoid, on getting through writer's block: #CREATE #adviceguide #cultureofsuccess. Magic. Chris Anderson's book signing. Chris Anderson: "3D Printing Will Be Bigger Than The Web" Posted by Tom Foremski - November 16, 2012 Chris Anderson has exited one of the top jobs in publishing - Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine - to pursue the life of an entrepreneur, making a big bet that 3D printers represent a massive new phase of the industrial revolution. He spoke at a Wired "Culturazzi" event, at the Marriott Union Square and to sign copies of his latest book: "Makers: The New Industrial Revolution. " Mr Anderson is always an excellent speaker and his talk covered the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, which he picked out as the invention of the Spinning Jenny in 1764 - a hand powered machine for spinning yarn.
I'd have pinned the start of the Industrial Revolution to the invention of the steam engine and its ability to power large numbers of machines thus enabling the first factories - which represented aggregated labor energy. Today, Mr Anderson explained, there is Aliaba - an online registry of factories that will make anything for you. More photos: TedX San Francisco 2011. SFCurators Salon. The Brutally Honest Guide to Naming Circles in Google Plus. Silicon Valley Culture And Burning Man... Posted by Tom Foremski - August 31, 2010 {Rebecca Kaplan and team built the above 20-ft metal sculpture for Burning Man which travelled to San Francisco.)
There's a strange hush around San Francisco and the Bay Area. There's fewer people around, there's a little less traffic, and there are parking spots where there are normally none. This week is the week of the Burning Man festival -- a celebration of abundance, creativity, the arts -- set within one of the most inhospitable places on earth, a place where NASA might test its Mars Rover because of the extremes of temperature, wind, solar radiation and dust storms.
About two hours drive outside of Reno, Nevada, a city of about 50,000 rises up from the bed of an ancient alkali lake where nothing grows. For about a week it is one of the largest cities in Nevada, and then it disappears, leaving no trace. Residents of what is known as Black Rock City build incredible buildings and art installations. Beach party... A blank canvas... Loren Feldman - The Jester In The Court Of Web 2.0. Posted by Tom Foremski - September 1, 2010 [From left to right: Loren Feldman with Mike Arrington, Loic LeMeur, Robert Scoble during happier times - photo from Loic LeMeur] Loren Feldman is the New York City based publisher of 1938Media.com, a fascinating, irreverent and funny critic of the West Coast tech scene. Loren used to be an insider, a close friend of the princes of the Web 2.0 world: Michael Arrington, Robert Scoble, Loic LeMeur, and others. But Loren has managed to upset all those people, and more; and so have I simply by retweeting some of his comic puppetry.
(I've been blocked and called names because of my re-tweets of Loren's material but that won't stop me. Loren's puppets are hilarious. Here is an example of Loren Feldman's puppetry: Steve Ballmer's iPad review. Loren often hits the nail on the head and says things that I hear others saying privately. Court jester...
In my opinion, Loren is playing a key role, the role of the court jester. Survey Shows An Always-On Society... Posted by Tom Foremski - October 29, 2010 We tend to be canaries-in-a-coal mine here in Silicon Valley as we tend to live the way others will in the near future. One of those canaries is always working, or at least, always being able to work -- we are always on. This survey, commissioned by Egnyte, a provider of cloud based file servers, questioned 350 people and found: - Eight in ten small business professionals say they plan to work during the upcoming holiday season and most plan to do so remotely – from their home office, extended family’s/in-law’s house and even from the road. -Nearly nine out of ten people will work from their smartphones, with iPhones and Androids leading the pack of the most popular devices. - Three-fourths of people will use document apps most often. - 82% plan to work during the holidays - 73% anticipate doing work over Thanksgiving - 87% will work during the December holidays (Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza) - 55% will work on New Year’s Eve/Day.
We Live In The Age Of Conversation Overload: G+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn... Posted by Tom Foremski - July 13, 2011 I can deal with information overload -- if I didn't get to read that special article everyone is sharing then no big deal. But conversation overload is an entirely different thing. As a journalist I have trouble keeping up with the conversations in my email, yet today I have conversations everywhere and in new places. There's email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, my two blogs, then there are SMS messages, voicemail (which I never check) and the latest is: Google Plus. The problem with conversations is that they are more important than not reading that great article... But I don't want it to seem that I'm ignoring people or that I'm arrogant in some way, but I have to admit this -- I can't keep up!
This is a big problem because some people will try to maintain all their conversations, because they have jobs in professions such as PR where they have to be always on, always responsive, always engaged. But trying to keep up is a killer. Silicon Valley: The Next Decade. Posted on Thursday, Jun 2nd 2011 Amidst incessant talks of bubbles and baubles, it is clear that Silicon Valley is back. With a vengeance, no less. Innovation is back.
Leadership is back. IPOs are back. The technology industry has shaken off the post-dotcom malaise and is once again exciting. Now is perhaps a good time to stop for a moment and reflect on what this coming decade will be all about for the Valley and its denizens. I will share some of my thoughts, but mostly, I’d like to hear from readers on what you’d like to see happen over the next decade in Silicon Valley. Philosophy My vision of what Silicon Valley needs to focus on is best described by the title of Michael Dertouzos’s book The Unfinished Revolution. For example, the technology that makes it possible for a digital worker in rural Africa or small-town India to work on data processing projects already exists. In some of these areas, Silicon Valley has already played a phenomenal role.
The Renaissance Mind. Silicon Valley: The Next Decade (Part 2) Posted on Saturday, Jun 4th 2011 How Do You Foster Renaissance Thinking? Each period of renaissance from history saw great congregations of talented people from multiple disciplines in certain cities or regions. Two prominent examples are Florence under the Medicis and Elizabethan England. Artists, writers, scientists, and philosophers were in the same place, working close to each other and exchanging ideas on a regular basis. In contrast, Silicon Valley is ill-equipped for Renaissance thinking. Over the years, I have spoken with art gallery owners who have complained that Silicon Valley’s elite lack taste and do not buy art. One of the first things that needs to happen is a concerted effort to expand the social framework of Silicon Valley from a nerdville to a more well-rounded, sophisticated, and interesting place.
Many of our nerds are absolutely brilliant. Renaissance Patrons and the Renaissance Salon How could that happen in a natural way? Madame Geoffrin held dinners twice a week. Silicon Valley: The Next Decade (Part 3) Posted on Sunday, Jun 5th 2011 The Money and How It Is Applied Of course, the models discussed are predicated upon the fact that the patrons and salonniers had money and were willing to spend it on fostering a community of artists and intellectuals without directly benefiting from such an “investment.” In Silicon Valley, we have plenty of money. There will be more as the next wave of IPOs and acquisitions happen. However, I am not so sure that the Valley’s wealthy will put in the same effort to go find the next Botticelli and invite him to come live on their estates in Atherton or Woodside, as Lorenzo would. This effort, if Silicon Valley’s elite can rise to the challenge, will make the crucial difference.
We have the money here. For Silicon Valley, a social and cultural “growing up” is in order. Silicon Valley: Vision 2020 In conclusion, let’s take a walk through Silicon Valley in the year 2020. Look around. At a piano lounge on Chestnut, the Ella Fitzgerald of this era sings. June 9 Roundtable Recording, Part 3: Silicon Valley: The Next Decade. What The First-Ever Website Teaches Us About Usability.