I haven't been blogging as much as I should have been, so I figured it is time for some catch up posts. Before hitting the DLD conference with GABEB I went out with JAG. I've only been talking with JAG online, and it was so great to finally meet her in person. We had a great night dancing at the Escape in Amsterdam thanks to a couple of free tickets from Pensly. Here is a short video of dancing. Ok, it is one of my, "I don't care" video styles. But still nice. I'm sure there are a lot of jealous guys out there going to look at this. All I can say about JAG is that she is one of the coolest people you will ever meet.
During DLD Yossi Vardi and Gabe Mac get to conduct a 4 string quartet in their own styles thanks to Itay Talgam. This video is best watched with headphones.
Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine and Alan Rusbridger of the Guardian talk about the crisis and it's effect on old media at DLD, Munich 2009.
What is in the DLD goodies bags? We take a look.
There is a guilty pleasure that really comes out in Flickr. Anonymous voyeruism. I noticed that some complete strangers have been faving certain pictures of mine for some time now. I could not figure out whether it was a stalker, or just some sad lonely person as there is nothing in the profiles to understand who it is. Then after digging deeper I think I discovered it. It is like a game almost. In my search for why or what it is... I discovered the stories. Clicking randomly on commenters, seeing thier favorites and making huge leaps and jumps starting from my own anonymous voyeuers, I begin to make a story together. A weaving through the reaches of cyberspace, to create a story in my head, based on the click of the mouse and my own A.D.D. to guide me. Here is a small glimpse into the stories you can piece together.
MAke your own story, and let me see.... Add a link in the comments.
I'm having fun with some flickr tools today. Here is a quick sample.
Got this in my e-mail today...
Click here to download QuickTime version This is what Oktoberfest looks like. Thanks to the DLD team for having me.
pic by acrib
I have started a new project called Anonymous Twitter. You can see it on http://twitter.com/anonymousidea. The reason behind it is that all twitter posts usually are traceable back to your digital identity, ergo yourself. Back in the early days of the web, we didn't have lots of email sign ups and stuff to track what we were talking about. Now every new service wants information about you. So, what happens when someone can tweet 140 characters and they know it will not be traced back to themselves. Will they post secrets, ideas they have that may sound crazy, start whistle blowing, what?
It is also a large problem on the internet as we saw a couple months back with the Steve Job had a heart attack scam, that anonymous, or non authenticated news stories can have a drastic effect on the economy when people react before checking facts.
I am not sure how long the account will stay up, but the idea is to open up this account with the password so ANYONE can twitter anonymously.
Now to get things started off I went to LeWeb08 and asked people to write down what they would like to anonymously tweet as I put on a blindfold. Those notes are now already put in.
The BBC has already reported on the project, and I am sure many more news outlets will soon as well. So stay tuned here for more news and follow the twitter feed to get the info to log in and post your own anonymous twitter.
Ok, so people are complaining about the following things at Le Web 08. It is too cold, the food is scant and auditorium has too much noise to hear speakers, etc. etc. etc. Yeah it is cold, ok. Other conferences there is no air and everyone is sweating and smelly. Which do you prefer? Food is scant? Great means people get drunk faster and start loosening up and talking more. Speakers are hard to hear, well if you are really interested in a speaker you sit in the front, otherwise it is a nice distraction while you try to check your email anyway, let's be honest. So why am I loving Le Web. Just like any conference I ever go to. The people. It is not the speaker list that attracts me, the big names, it is the people I meet there, having a smoke, sharing a coffee, one on one chat in an exchange of ideas, common interests, and start building the ties of a relationship. I honestly no longer try to "network", as if I could ever really do that. Talking with a big VC investor, I ask, so "How are the kids doing now?", or some CEO of a startup, "Man, you look tired, are you doing ok? Can I help you out in any way?", or talking with a top blogger of tech crunch or something saying ,"Man, check this out I can make my fingers smoke." These are the things that I talk about at a conference with people becuase most of these people are my friends over the years. And of course in between come the moments of aha together, and those are the seeds of a great idea, that could turn into a great company, or change in direction or whatever.
This year at le web I am blown away by in just one day I've gotten 5 job offers from all over the world. I know people are looking for jobs everywhere and I am frtunate to have 5 offers in 1 day here at le web. So whatever any one else's expereince may be at le web is an individual one, so remember that. This year I am having an amazing time, and feel extremely fortunate. There are not many conferences where I can go to in a time of recision and get so many job offers. Thank you Loic and Geraldine Le Meur. Thank you for Le Web.
And for me to finally meet Meghan Asha from Nonsociety. Just the icing on the cake.
