The massive proliferation of web services, their corresponding APIs, and the notion that “the web is the platform” has caused me to spend a lot of time in what I call “horizontal land.” This is a special place where software that nits everything together (sometimes nicely, sometimes not so nicely) lives. Our RSS theme and corresponding investments (FeedBurner , NewsGator, and Technorati) arose from one aspect of this problem. ...
I sponsor a roundtable series titled The Silicon Flatirons Roundtable on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Public Policy. It is hosted four times a year by The Silicon Flatirons Program at CU Boulder and is modeled after the Union Square Ventures Sessions. We pick a topic and then get 30 or so smart and diverse thinkers in a room to kick the topic around for two hours. Phil Weiser (Professor of Law and Executive Director of Silicon Flatirons) moderates and someone always takes extensive notes and writes up a summary paper. ...
At BlogWorld last week, there was a lot of chatter about ClosedPrivate. Several of the key members of the initiative are blogging up a storm about it and there have been invitations to conferences to discuss ClosedPrivate vs. OpenSocial . Lijit has even managed to turn me into a search wijit. My favorite search term – ClosedPrivate. Yes – we had a lot of fun at BlogWorld, even though we ate way too much sushi at Nobu on Thursday night. Ok – it was the sake that did us in, not the sushi.
If you aren’t at Defrag but want to follow along at home, there are two solid summaries up on the web. Jeff Nolan (NewsGator): Live From Defrag! Dan Farber (ZDNet): Defragging identity, disclosures, and vendor relationship management There is also now a ClosedPrivate Facebook group . Don’t bother joining. When I left for home at 8:30 Eric Norlin was nursing a beer at the bar.
I’ve often said in the past that I’m not a conference guy so I recognize the irony of me helping organize a conference. Eric Norlin did all the work and as we head into the home stretch of day one of Defrag , I’m blown away. The quality of the attendees is stunning and the panels and side discussions are fascinating. David Weinberger took us on a romp through his mind, Alex Iskold (AdaptiveBlue) discussed structured attention, Greg Reinacker (NewsGator) covered RSS in the enterprise, and Michael Barrett (Paypal’s CISO) told us why we are totally screwed. ...
Yeah – well – it’s always conference season in the tech business. I’ve been enjoying Web 2.0 from a distance while getting reports from the field. However, I will pop my head up above the surface at a few conferences in November. We start with New New Internet conference on Nov 1 in DC followed by a quick trip to Chicago to judge the Global Student Entrepreneurs Awards . Next up is Defrag on Nov 5 and 6 in Denver, which I’ve helped organize. I then head to Las Vegas to play with Amy for a long weekend while doing a quick flyby of Blogworld on Nov 7. Then on to NY for the week of Nov 12th for a bunch of stuff. ...
If you are in Colorado this Thursday (October 11, 2007), I encourage you to register and attend DEMOgala 2007. This is the CSIA’s (Colorado Software and Internet Association) third annual day long conference highlighting some of the most innovative companies in Colorado. I’m giving the opening keynote starting at 8:30am at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Denver. I’m going to be sharing the stage with Colorado Governor Bill Ritter who – in addition to discussing the drivers, issues, and opportunities facing Information Technology and Software Innovation in Colorado – will be making a special announcement. ...
A fascinating sociological experiment is going on this weekend in Boulder called Startup Weekend. Several people in the local tech / entrepreneural scene including Andrew Hyde, David Cohen, Kevin Cawley, Danny Newman , Joe Scharf, and Alex King decided to get a bunch of people in a room for a weekend and see if a company could come out of it. Whatever comes out of the weekend will be up for grabs for someone to run with it. ...
Metzger Associates is hosting Denver’s Second Annual New Media Summit on May 31st at 5:30pm at the Denver Press Club. Doyle Albee from Metzger is our moderator. I participated in this last year and thought it was loads of fun and very relevant. This years panel includes me, Phil Weiser (CU Law School / head of Silicon Flatirons Telecommunications program), Veronica Belmont (Associate Editor at CNET.com), and JB Holston (CEO of NewsGator.) ...
Registration for the Defrag Conference is open. My friend Eric Norlin (who I’ve still never met in person – I love this cyberspace thing) is doing an amazing job getting the conference up and running. Great sponsors, a blog full of crazy ideas, cool advisors, and a fascinating agenda emerging. What more could you want from a conference? November 5th and 6th at the Hyatt Regency in Denver, Colorado. Be there or be square.