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April 28, 2006
Life as a working parent
BusinessWeek Online: "One of the hardest things about being a working parent is that, quite often, it feels as if there’s just no margin for error."
Amen to that.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 9:44 AM | Comments (1)
April 20, 2006
May 18 Pre-Supernova party -- Save the date!
We had a pre-pre-Supernova party in February, and the week of Supernova in June is turning into one long party, so what should we do in between? Why, have a party!
We’ll be hosting a pre-Supernova technology industry networking reception in San Francisco on Thursday, May 18. More details coming soon, but mark your calendars now.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 4:15 PM | Comments (0)
A Weeklong Festival of Tech Goodness
I'm psyched that a group of Bay Area technologists and entrepreneurs is organizing a BarCamp and Mashpit in conjunction with Supernova 2006 in June. Chris Messina just posted the announcement on his blog. As if the three days of Supernova weren't enough, the week of June 19 is turning into a non-stop techfest.
Contrary to popular belief, open, decentralized events like BarCamp are complementary with structured conferences like Supernova. I'm always looking for opportunities to open up Supernova to the broader community, and I wholeheartedly support the BarCamp SF effort. To participate or find out more, visit the BarCamp San Francisco wiki.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2006
Connected Innovators Deadline Approaching!
A week from Friday is the deadline to submit companies for the Connected Innovators showcase at Supernova 2006, co-hosted by TechCrunch.
We've received applications from some great startups, but we're still looking for more. We'll be selecting ten top innovators to present at Supernova 2006. Participation is only by application, and applications are due April 28, so don't wait!
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
Wealth of Networks
Congratulations to my friend and former classmate, Yochai Benkler, on the publication of his important new book, The Wealth of Networks. Yochai is among the most brilliant thinkers in the world of technology and information policy; hopefully this book will gain him greater exposure outside of academia.
As one might expect, there is a wiki for the book, and free PDF downloads with a Creative Commons license.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 10:45 AM
Stella Pearl Werbach
Meet my new niece, who arrived in the world just over a week ago:
And a belated Happy Passover and Happy Easter to everyone of the relevant faiths. I was away last week celebrating the holiday with my family, and I'm now busily catching up.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
April 7, 2006
Supernova speakers
Over at the Supernova weblog, I've posted some thoughts on the initial list of Supernova 2006 speakers.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 9:11 AM
April 5, 2006
Down Hill from Here?
Phil Sim argues (with data!) that the tech blogosphere has peaked.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)
Get ready for mobile TV
Lots happening right now in the mobile video world. Don't be surprised when this sweeps the mainstream in the US.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)
April 4, 2006
More Mac Frustration
Just when I was confident my Macintosh problems were behind me, I installed Apple's OS X 10.4.6 update. And the computer promptly became un-usable. It's glacially slow (several minutes to open an application or do virtually anything else), the Dock no longer works, and so on. Once again, I envy those who find OS X more stable than Windows. (And yes, I've taken the machine to the Apple Store -- they couldn't find anything.)
So here I am, posting from a backup Windows machine, and not looking forward to another period of debugging and reinstalling things to get my Powerbook working.
UPDATE: Thankfully, with some help from MacFixit the machine seems to be working normally again. Still, this shouldn't be so hard, not on a platform that prides itself on stability.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 1:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
New Supernova 2006 website, blog
We've launched a redesigned and updated website for Supernova 2006, which is now a mere 11 weeks away!
The new site, built by our friends at Ideacodes, includes an initial confirmed speaker list and agenda. And, perhaps most important, it marks the launch of the Supernova 2006 weblog. Check out the blog, or susbscribe to our RSS feed for conference updates, interviews, and comments on the themes we'll be addressing at Supernova.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Morality of Web 2.0
Interesting perspective from Doc.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
April 3, 2006
We Want Freedom!
I wasn't able to make it to my friend David Isenberg's Freedom to Connect conference this year, but I'm sure it will be a fantastic discussion of telecom policy and the future of the Net. David is now partnering with my other friend Jeff Pulver to organize the event; live streaming audio is available here.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 9:02 AM | Comments (1)
The Beeb
Last week, I attended a lecture at the Annenberg school by David Levy, head of public policy at the BBC. Afterwards, David came over to Wharton for an informal chat about telecom/media policy in the US and Britain.
The BBC is a unique animal. From the US perspective, it's a hybrid of PBC, CNN, and HBO, all funded by a tax of about $225 on every TV set in the UK. Every ten years, it has to go through a charter review process, which forces a hard look at how the BBC works and whether it should change.
The current charter review process, which David has been in the center of, is coming to a close. It has been even more contentious than usual, because the BBC was caught up in the controversy over the mis-use of intelligence information to justify the war in Iraq. Many of the reforms in this charter review therefore relate to governance, but David's main focus in his talk was on the BBC's evolving role as a public service media company. He made a strong case that, although one can certainly challenge the premise of funding TV and radio content through taxation, the system can produce a unique combination of quality programming and social benefits.
I'm particularly interested in the BBC because, in some ways, it's better positioned than other major video content producers for the transformations of digital convergence. The BBC makes plenty of popular, mass-market programming, but because it sees itself as a public service, it doesn't have the usual reflexive desire to keep that content close to the vest. It also doesn't depend on advertising for its primary revenue stream. As a result, the BBC is willing to experiment with opening up its program archive to the Web in ways no US broadcaster will consider. It's also willing to use the Internet as a key distribution platform, because it's not as concerned with cannibalization of its TV advertising base. At some point, as I suggested at David's lecture, there may be a disconenct in funding a non-platform-specific digital media company from sales of TV sets, but that's probably something that can be addressed.
In talking with David, it was fascinating to hear how different the communictions policy landscape looks in Britain, compared to the US. Network neutrality, the source of so much debate here, is largely off the radar screen across the Atlantic. Digital TV is more widespread in Britain, but high-definition TV (which, in the US, came in with digital) is non-existent. And so forth.
Of course, the Net ignores geographic boundaries. As we move further into the era of digital convergence, the differences among countries and regions will either be sources of tension, or opportunities. If David is any indication (and I know there are many other great people at the BBC), the Beeb is going to be an important testbed to watch.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 8:01 AM | Comments (2)