Gawker
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conferences
Is the Demo conference still worth $18,500?
For nearly twenty years, the Demo conference has been considered the place to be for tech startups seeking attention for their new products. Instead of speeches, companies are required to give live demos of brand-new products, basically launching them onstage. Demo organizer Chris Shipley has a reputation for picking products worth flying to a conference to see. But in this economy, Demo has a problem: The show makes money by charging participants $18,500 to get onstage. The rival TechCrunch50 doesn't charge. What does $18,500 buy? Shipley has published a list of conference benefits. Don't bother reading it. Instead of checking off fluffy perks like "an online microsite" and "invitation for one senior executive of your company to attend the invitation-only CEO/Dealmaker's dinner," Shipley should write another post: List all the successful products that were launched at Demo. Because right now my stomach hurts too much to remember them, and I know I'm not alone.
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By Paul BoutinComment by categorically: I can never remember if "Chris" is a dude or a chick. The picture is no help. 2 Responses | Other threads
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meltdowns
Who's shameless enough to go to The Lobby this year?
Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Hornik's invite-only dealmaking conference, The Lobby, takes place again next week at a plush resort in Waikoloa Village on the Big Island of Hawaii. Camp Cyprus was nothing compared to this funeral pyre of cash. Who cares that twentysomethings spent their own money to vacation with friends, and filmed an over-the-top video of their frolics? Hornik's hoedown is the ultimate marker of what-me-worry excess in an age of recession. And Valleywag has the complete list of who's going. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Web2PointOhShit: And they're all going off to Hawaii... Anyone seen Snakes on a Plane? Anyone know where I can buy a... 1 Responses | Other threads
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e for all
IDG's game expo stiffs
After a weak start last year, trade mag and conference company IDG's attempt at a trade show for videogames looks to be an outright flop. Staff at AOL's Big Download blog contacted all the big game makers and came up with a pretty thin attendee list for next month's show in Los Angeles. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Shadowlayer: I heard one of the organizers was in last year's pax trying to gather some intelligence on why that expo... more » | Other threads
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conferences
Ziff-Davis kills DigitalLife snoozefest
"The poor economic conditions have created a very different and difficult dynamic for us this year," says an email explaining the cancellation of next week's DigitalLife Expo in New York. But don't you quit your startup in a panic. Our gadgethound buddies at Gizmodo don't buy the economy excuse. "We think it's lack of serious news draw," writes Wilson Rothman. "Booth after booth after booth of stuff we already covered" at earlier, bigger shows. All I remember from last year was iRobot's gutter-cleaning droid.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Jandek: It's common knowledge ziff-davis is in the shitter. more » | Other threads
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conferences
Reclusive Level 3 CEO fails to turn up for conference keynote
The buzz at the Structure 08 reception yesterday evening on Pier 38 was surrounding a scheduled speech by communications network heavy James Crowe, CEO of Level 3, who rarely appears in public. The speech has started — but late, and without Crow, who complained of the flu. Vice chairman Buddy Miller took the podium in Crowe's stead, stating that Level 3 truly believes Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash will come true, though not fast enough to save Second Life. Maybe if Crowe could have attended as an avatar, he wouldn't have gotten such stagefright. [GigaOm]
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By Jackson WestComment by Widget Economist: Oh, that creep. I didn't know they even had a CEO. It brushes off like the guy doesn't care. more » | Other threads
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conferences
Only two days left to register for Microsoft's Worldwide Partner bacchanal in Houston
Put on your high heels and book that plane ticket, escorts, because 10,000 of Microsoft's closest friends will be descending on Houston for the Worldwide Partner Conference on July 7th and 10th. From what we hear, these parties are fairly legendary for their excess. From the footage of the last WPC in Denver, Microsoft spends more on this event than it spends on employee fêtes (at least nowadays — I remember some wildly lavish Christmas parties and company picnics from back in the eighties). Nothing like offering an alternative to sloshy Billy Joel singalongs — with full release — to close that deal. Registration ends on Friday, and the company says it's already close to capacity. Got any good WPC stories? Send them in or post them in the comments. -
conferences
Loic Le Meur goes spelunking for the mythical g-spot in Seesmic demo
$1795 a head is a lot to pay for a sex ed lesson, let alone a tech conference, so why not combine the two? That was apparently the idea behind "Liquid Conversations" at Supernova, which nearly ran off the rails when panelist Loic Le Meur demonstrated his startup Seesmic, which the ebullient founder describes as "video forTwitter for video." The video he chose featured an international group of users and a talking head with a velvet vagina puppet leading them on an intrepid search for the g-spot. Le Meur may have thought the full-motion lesson would shake up the room of predominantly male attendees. But putting female sexuality front-and-center, especially when the few women in attendance just wanted equal time on the mic, not necessarily equal time for their orgasms, was just awkward for everyone. And it didn't do much for the sex ed lesson, either, nevermind that in another context it would have been not only appropriate but sorely needed. More sexploration on Seesmic after the jump. More »
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Comment by Traci Nickell Munns: I know the G spot!I have felt what happens when it is greeted.Yes it is better to greet it after... more » | Other threads
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conferences
Kongregate's Jim Greer, on how to get a girl-crazy VC to commit
In this morning's otherwise sleepy session the "brave new world" of entrepreneurship at Supernova, Vipin Jain of Retrevo offered the analogy first — that for startups, attracting venture capital is like dating. "When you first start there’s some excitement. Then, the unknown!" Jim Greer, CEO of the epic timewasting Flash-game site Kongregate jumped in: More »
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Comment by random_play: Why is everything desirable like a woman? Why can't a startup be like a puppy dog? Then we could tell... more » | Other threads
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sex trade
Why you'd never whore your way out of D6
Oh, fine. Your supportive emails dragged me back onto the Internet — tempting as Leah Culver and iJustine's offer to link arms and walk off the Internet with me into the sunset was. Someone reminded me that my contract specifies I'm bound to write for one hundred years or until my first gray hair, whichever comes sooner. So back to whoring. More »
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Comment by random_play: Yay! Old-skool Melissa Gira Grant is back, bitches! more » | Other threads
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deathwatch
Red Herring cancels China event with one week's notice
Red Herring's magazine has not been regularly printed in ages. Today, its its website has been displaying error messages — not that readers are missing much of the understaffed RedHerring.com's output. Herring's conference business alone has been sustaining Alex Vieux's rocky tech-publishing empire. But that, too, seems to be falling apart. A commenter has posted what he claims is an email from Vieux announcing the cancellation of next week's Red Herring Wireless conference in Beijing. At first it struck me as ludicrous that Vieux would cancel one of his cash-cow events. But I called the host hotel, the Ritz-Carlton Beijing, and staff there confirmed that the event was off. Vieux's email cites "difficult personal family health problems" as the reason. If true, it is most unlucky for Vieux that these health issues just happened to coincide with an eviction from Herring's Belmont headquarters. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by wavalley: This is absoultely ridiculous. There is clearly no way Herring will pay back registration fees; not to mention reimburse travel... more » | Other threads
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leaks
Who's going to TechTalk Menorca, the Balearic boondoggle?
Martin Varsavsky, the founder of Wi-Fi startup Fon, has concocted another excuse for Web 2.0's jet set to rack up frequent-flier miles and buy carbon offsets: It's called Menorca TechTalk, held on Varsavsky's ranch on the Mediterranean island this weekend. The website is password-protected, but Valleywag got a list of who's going. It's a curious mix of professional conference attendees, like Rapleaf's Auren Hoffman, Loïc Le Meur of Seesmic, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, and David Sifry of Technorati, mixed in with a few people who have day jobs. There are even Googlers on the list — and when have you known those lot to leave the protective bubble of Mountain View? Oddly, Jimmy Wales did not seem to make the cut, though his New York patroness, Louise Blouin MacBain, is listed. In the comments, sort the TechTalkers into your preferred categories. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by sggrf: is this a joke? any list that michael arrington, with his tiny blog, as the most successful makes me very... more » | Other threads
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conferences
I went to San Francisco for JavaOne, and all I got was this Norovirus
Giving every junketeer who might have over-imbibed a good excuse to blow off chores and work once they get home, conference organizers at Sun's JavaOne developer fest at the Moscone Center are now warning attendees that the City has released a public health warning about a virus on the loose.Testing is still underway to identify the specific virus in question, but they believe it to be the Norovirus, a common cause of the "stomach flu", which can cause temporary flu-like symptoms for up to 48 hours.
Full alert after the jump so you can study up on symptoms if called on to fake them for getting a spouse or boss off your back. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by BobDope: I guess I'll wash my hands. Thanks, news you can use. more » | Other threads
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conferences
My young, white, and nerdy boys, let me show you them
CAMBRIDGE, MA — There's still hope, future. A full half of the people behind ROFLcon, the world's largest concentration of Internet-inspired pop-culture trends in one room, are female. Or, as they might put it, IRL LULZ 50% XX! As it's now officially impossible to host a tech-related conference without asking, Where are the women?, a "commenter" posed this to the morning's first all-guy panel. "Girls just have better things to do," answered Kyle "Paperclip to House Guy" MacDonald. Other possible explanations? More »
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Comment by raincoaster: @Patricia2: It's just that women are underrepresented in the circle jerks which have controlled the public perception of the internet.... more » | Other threads
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conferences
Rumors of booth babes at Ad:tech only slightly exaggerated
Ad:tech San Francisco is on and I'm disappointed. AdWeek's Brian Morrissey promised me Ad:tech would be full of "random, sketchy lead gen ad networks who hire booth babes." Instead, I'm stuck in a session with panelists explaining how Google could better sell search advertising for offline brand advertising campaigns, which sounds boringly profitable. And I've encountered precious little sleaziness yet. Except for one guy and his two friends from Blow4Free.com. And the 13 others I met, in photographs below. A warning: The last two pics are probably too hot for your office manager to handle. More »
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Comment by Peteski: Wait there are women in SF who don't wear sensible shoes and don't want to kick my ass? more » | Other threads
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sex trade
Sex conference brings bloggers together to Twitter about getting laid
ATLANTA, GA — The only unconference to open with a feminist pole-dance lesson, Sex 2.0 brought close to a hundred new-media sex nerds to Atlanta this weekend. The sessions dealt with how to get what you want on social dating sites, find people to swing with, and how to blog about your sexcapades while managing your reputation and privacy online. Daytime panels segued from theory to practice: strip clubs, sex parties and hookups. Here's what you can learn about sex from people who write about it for a living — especially the bits you'll never find field-tested in "sex" advice columns: More » -
online advertising
Ad:tech conference features "vast underbelly of capitalism," and I can't wait to tickle it
NEW YORK — I told a friend of mine atDoubleClickGoogle that I'm flying to San Francisco next week for Ad:tech. His response: "Hahahahahha. Have fun with that." Worried, I reached out to conference veteran and Adweek writer Brian Morrissey. His words were kindly reassuring. "It's very, very sales-y," he said.Tons of random, sketchy lead gen ad networks who hire booth babes and blow their marketing budgets on parties filled w drunken sales guys for vendors. One VC I met w here called it "the vast underbelly of capitalism."
Sounds like I'm going to be busy. Get ahold of me now if I'm going to buy you that drink I owe you. (Photo by b_d_solis)
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Comment by Danilo Campos: It's pretty over-the-top. Last year I counted no less than five cash-filled wind tunnels. more » | Other threads
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conferences
TechCrunch50 vs. Demo — a fight guide
Conference gnomes will need to choose sides. Blog moguls Jason Calacanis and Michael Arrington have teamed up to schedule their TechCrunch50 show in September in direct competition to Chris Shipley's Demofall event. I've prepared a cheat sheet to follow the action at a distance. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by demo-tc50truth: there are rumors floating about that Mike Segal, who helps run Demo alongside Chris Shipley, has been dating Michael Arrington's... more » | Other threads
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conferences
Marten Mickos misses OSBC panel
Never believe a German when he tells you he can drink you under the table. Yesterday morning at the Open Source Business Conference at the Palace Hotel in SF, the appropriately named Conference Fonzerelli noticed the wunderbar German head of Sun-ified MySQL wasn't there in time for his first talk. Fortunately, it was a panel affair, and even the world's second space tourist landed in time to make it (Mark Shuttleworth). Marten Mickos, however, was evidently too hung over to make an appearance. You'd be hung over too, if you'd just landed in a country where your wallet's contents is increasing in value at a rate of 10 cents a minute! More »
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By confonzComment by raincoaster: But American beer, unlike German beer, is poisonous. more » | Other threads
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blogging for dollars
Big-brain conference seeks blogger
PopTech, the only tech conference whose door I deign to darken, is looking for a part-time blogger to do about 15 hours a week of paid work for this year's event. Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe and former Pepsi/Apple chief John Sculley created the annual gathering, timed to October's peak autumn leaf season in Maine. It's like TED without the over-the-top zillionaire celebritard factor. It's not like SXSW at all. It'll make your mind hurt — in that good way.
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By Paul BoutinComment by matto: Sweet, a chance to ask Sculley how hard it was to nearly ruin Apple. Sounds exciting! Make sure to get... more » | Other threads
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conferences
Om is the loneliest number
Don't let our man Om Malik webcast to himself — tune in and watch a bunch of talking heads discuss the future of television live this afternoon. It's fun stuff: A browser in every TV! Because I want my TV to crash in the middle of The Unit so I can upload a problem report to Microsoft. -
conferences
News flash: Industry events dull
"The problem with most conferences is we don't have enough to do," laments seminar veteran Dave Winer, who admits to Web surfing, emailing and instant-messaging during presentations. In Las Vegas today, speaker Mike Arrington from TechCrunch forgot to show up. [Update: Arrington says he never agreed to do the event.] Why bother? Instead of onstage pony shows and awkward demo booths, conference sponsors should just set up an open bar. Invite potential clients to come schmooze with a few paid celebs and Marc Canter (zzz at left). Think David Hornik's The Lobby for the rest of us. But first, make sure the Wi-Fi's rock solid.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Tiltawhorl: Please god, no more Calacanis nonsense and certainly no more Cantor. If he wakes up, he might eat the whole... more » | Other threads
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blogging for dollars
Big blog conference somewhere
This week, a bunch of bloggers are gathered somewhere to blog about blogs, blogging and bloggers. We forget the location — Vegas? or is it Beijing? — but topics will include blogs and politics, blogs and business, blogs and the media, and how to make some dough at this blog thing. Unless Dave Winer shows up and pisses everyone off by telling the truth again, we'll skip it.
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By Paul BoutinComment by d1taylor: And yet, curiously, it *is* going to be a valuable event for people who are either new or already way... more » | Other threads
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breaking
Geeks on fire! Flames close The Lobby
Southern California's not the only area ablaze. Fires have broken out on the Big Island of Hawaii, near the Fairmont Orchid, and the hotel has evacuated its guests. And those guests include many attendees of VC David Hornik's exclusive funconference, The Lobby, who had extended their stay through the weekend. Such a bummer when your poolside-getaway boondoggle gets cut short by Mother Nature, isn't it? -
geeks gone wild
The day the routers died
What do a bunch of networking geeks do when they gather for a five-day conference in Amsterdam? Nothing like the debauched dealmaking drinkfest wrapping up in Hawaii. But attendees at the Ripe 55 meeting, covering a very different kind of networking, will probably do much more to improve the world's Internet connections. And they enjoyed a much more memorable sendoff, with this "American Pie" parody, "The Day the Routers Died." I don't understand half of it, but it's still hilarious. -
geek love
Is Matt Mullenweg getting Harde?
When David Hornik pitched VCs and entrepreneurs on his tropical funconference, The Lobby, part of the sell was that the whole affair was to be off the record. Ha! Good one, David. Turns out what happens in Hawaii only stays there long enough to launch itself toward our inbox. Take for example, what struck some attendees as a budding romance between TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde, the former Fox executive Michael Arrington hired to run his blog's business end, and Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress. Now, TechCrunch runs on WordPress, so it's possible that Mullenweg was just giving Harde blogging tips. But witnesses to their late-night canoodling at the bar say that wasn't the kind of pointer in question. More » -
geeks gone wild
In your face! BusinessWeek columnist throws drink at TechCrunch editor
The Lobby, David Hornik's Hawaii funconference, may have no agenda — but a lot is happening all the same. One delicious incident recounted to us: TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington, who'd previously wooed BusinessWeek columnist and Valley fox Sarah Lacy onto his TechCrunch40 judges panel, apparently said something that made her throw a drink in his face. That's the first thing I've heard about The Lobby so far that actually made me wish I was there. Update: We hear the glass was empty. Okay, so make that two wishes: That we were there, and that Lacy wasn't so quick to sling back her booze.
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By Owen ThomasComment by DaveMcClure500Hats: @Twig: he probably wasn't sure what it really means. also, that's a cutout from photo of mike & tara both throwing... more » | Other threads
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nerdspotting
Yahoos and hacks clutter The Lobby
Really, we're confounded. David Hornik's Lobby conference is ostensibly an invite-only affair. But some of the attendees had us scratching our head. Spotted, Yahoo's Bradley Horowitz, Brad Garlinghouse and Kiersten Hollars enjoying some sun instead of participating in Jerry Yang's 100-day turnaround of the company. Then there's Jessica Livingston and Paul Graham from Y Combinator. There's nary a 22-year-old wantrepreneur in sight, so what's the draw of this conference for them? Other inexplicables: Kara Swisher from AllThingsD, and TechCrunch heavyweight Michael Arrington, two notoriously gossipy hacks. Wasn't this event supposed to be off the record? And does Arrington even know what that means? (Photo by bradley23) -
nerdspotting
The Lobby's leisurely entrepreneurs
While other startup founders have to stay home and, you know, work, these guys have the time and the spare $3,000 to spend hanging out at a zero-agenda conference in Hawaii. (For the record, we're jealous.) Spotted in Yahoo executive Bradley Horowitz's Flickr stream: Benchmark entrepreneur-in-waiting Nirav Tolia; "stepped-up" LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman; FeedBurner founder Dick Costolo, who's rolling in Googlebucks; Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale; Evan Williams from Twitter; Mashery's Oren Michels; and More »
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Comment by World of Warcraft Map Guy: Looks like all the photos are now marked private. more » | Other threads
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nerdspotting
The moneymen at The Lobby
The venture capitalists spotted at this week's Lobby conference in Hawaii are not, we've noted, the Sand Hill Road dwellers who inflated bubbles past or present. No sign of anyone from Sequoia or Kleiner Perkins. So who is enjoying the tropical sun? Well, conference host and August Capital partner David Hornik, of course. Also photographed on the scene: Greylock's David Sze, SoftTech's Jeff Clavier, Foundation Capital's Mike Brown, Panorama Capital's Mike Jung, and Bay Partner's Eric Chin. Hats off to First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman, who is using his entrepreneurial skills to cash in during the scavenger hunt. (Photo by: bradley23) -
crash this bash
The Lobby leaks out
David Hornik tried so hard to have his conference kept from the prying eyes of bloggers. He put a password on the juiciest bits of the offical website, like the attendee list. We got our hands on it anyway. And, as commenter EastofWest pointed out, there was a plea to keep the entire gathering off the record. Not going to happen. Proof is above, a video shot by AllThingsD's Kara Swisher. On tape are attendees including Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson of Digg, on the plane and at the hotel. (By the way, Rose's new haircut looks worse in motion than you'd imagine.) More inside reports to come.
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Comment by scoobydoo: @sample032: Yeah, damn them. All rested and relaxed after a 6 hour flight spent sleeping, drinking free booze and enjoying... more » | Other threads
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conferences
Who's heading to The Lobby?
If you notice a dearth of cashed-out entrepreneurs and rolling-in-it venture capitalists around town this week, you're not hallucinating. Today kicks off August Capital VC David Hornik's conference The Lobby, located on Hawaii's sunny Big Island. The conference is, ostensibly, "off the record," but we think some tidbits will manage to get out. We hear that the nonstop out of SFO this morning was filled with conference-goers. (This video of SoftTech VC Jeff Clavier and Dogster founder Ted Rheingold before takeoff makes the eerie observation that, if the jet goes down, so does Web 2.0.) Hear anything interesting coming from the Big Island? Let us know. -
conferences
Reclusive egghead conference now open to you
I hate conferences — boring masquerades whose true mission isn't collegial thinking, but business development and self-promotion. The exception is PopTech, a tiny get-together held in bucolic seaside Camden, Maine, each October at the height of the colorful autumn foliage season. Organizers Bob Metcalfe and John Sculley deliberately chose the location as the furthest possible spot from Silicon Valley's inbred excess. It's like a TED for New England-y wonks. Instead of PowerPoint or product demos, people who actually do stuff get up and present their ideas, often engaging in unscripted "gotcha" debates. This year the whole thing will be webcast live starting today at 9 a.m. Maine time. Valley snobs, wake up: Schoolkids in Maine now get free iBooks in seventh grade, thanks to former PopTech star Angus King. At this hour, they're already eating your lunch. -
web 2.0 summit
Web 2.0, here we go
In response to my public putdown of tomorrow's Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, conference organizer Tim O'Reilly's publicist gave me a press pass to the three-day event. This is becoming like the plot of Dune — tricks within tricks within tricks! Look for my fawning, co-opted coverage at Rupert Murdoch's feet, starting 8 a.m. Wednesday morning.(Photo courtesy of Read/WriteWeb) More » -
lobbyconners
Only fools pay to sit and listen
If you're an entrepreneur, you probably don't care what Rupert Murdoch has to say about MySpace's rivalry with Facebook at the upcoming Web 2.0 Summit. (Short version: Bitches just jealous.) You're there looking to hook up with clients, investors, or journalists. And that doesn't happen during panel sessions or keynotes, does it? "The sessions at technology conferences are often like plots in porn films," technology consultant Ben Metcalfe told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's required for the context, but it's not really what you paid for." Metcalfe is a "lobbyconner," as these deep-thinking, shallow-pocketed startup types call themselves. They refuse to pay conference fees which run to the thousands of dollars but still covet the schmoozing, which can be had for free. And heck, they're probably the ones you want to talk to. The ablity to do simple math is a nice thing to have in a business partner.
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Comment by Web2PointOhShit: "The sessions at technology conferences are often like plots in porn films," technology consultant Ben Metcalfe told the San Francisco... more » | Other threads
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jason calacanis
Why Facebook isn't Google, in 100 words
Cuddly entrepreneur Jason Calacanis shut down the happy-talk at the end of this week's Graphing Social Patterns conference for Facebook developers. In response to TechCrunch chief Mike Arrington's question about the potential for attendees to "monetize Facebook applications," Calacanis launched into a Pacino-esque monologue and slapped down videoblogger Robert Scoble — Facebook ain't never gonna be no Google, paisano. After the jump, my edit of Calacanis's advice, which begins at 6:55 into the clip. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by PrimaveraAthamas: As a Madison Avenue guy who understands that people buy on "perceived" value: Google has distorted advertising as advertisers online... more » | Other threads
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web 2.0 summit
When "blogger" rhymes with "flogger"
Don't feel bad if you weren't invited to next week's Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Billed as a big-think brainstorming session, Web 2 .0 is actually a three-day business-development party with a $3,000 entry fee. Attendees are there to find sales and partnering leads, and to boost publicity for their companies and products. Most of the "bloggers" who'll post from the show will be there to hawk either a product or their consulting services. No one wants to waste their time on you. Fine with me, but so far there's a lack of walk-the-talk participatory media from conference-goers. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Stawker: @markcorker: Do you have a free press pass, or did you buy a ticket? more » | Other threads
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mark zuckerberg
Facebook CEO hates face time
At 23, Mark Zuckerberg is already a conference-circuit regular — seen at last month's TechCrunch40 and again at this month's Web 2.0 Summit. But even fans ding Zuck's presence as dull, wooden and robotic. Is he shy? Nah, "He just doesn't care," says a coworker. Despite his current heavy rotation in the media, he only takes the stage when he's told it's a boost for the company. Don't believe it? Zuckerberg's not even scheduled to appear at the Facebook-themed Graphing Social Patterns conference on Sunday in San Jose. The kickoff keynote will be delivered by LinkedIn's more entertaining founder, Reid Hoffman. Aw come on, Mark. After the look-at-me antics and vain false modesty of the tech industry's quasi-celebrities, it'd be a soul-cleansing relief to come watch you stare at yourshoesAdidas sandals.
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By Paul BoutinComment by 0x6772: @valleychick: News? You might be on the wrong web site... more » | Other threads
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capitalism
Why Demo's conference beat TechCrunch40
Techdirt, the ever-opinionated analysis blog, has weighed in and found Demo's lineup of startups and new products more compelling than last week's TechCrunch40. Why? Mike Masnick doesn't come out and say it, but his implication is clear: Unlike the parade of Web 2.0 one-note-Johnnies drummed up by TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, most of experienced Demo organizer Chris Shipley's picks were focused on useful improvements to existing technology, not gimmicky new ideas. Arrington and Calacanis launched TechCrunch40 because they felt that it was somehow wrong for conferences to charge startups to present. Nonsense, of course. I think that the fact that Demo charges presenters — reportedly $18,500 apiece — was actually what makes it a stronger event. More » -
bubble 2.0
Cheese plates and interest-rate cuts indicate booming tech economy
An attendee at the EmTech conference reception Wednesday afternoon — okay, okay, my boss — noted that he hadn't "seen that many kinds of cheese at a party since 2000." Today the Financial Times observed that in 1998 the Federal Reserve was forced to cut rates because of credit issues and the biggest boom in history followed. So, is all this merely boom-times deja vu or a real indication of the state of the tech economy? All I'll say is if you missed your chance to cash out the first time around, the cheese barometer says to act now, before the opportunities become a bit too well-aged. (Photo by junehug)
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Comment by dula: why would you suggest that people cash out their shares in tech? If people were to take your advice, this... more » | Other threads
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