But, uh, with all those sponsors, why did Mashup Camp need to send the attendees a plea for donations?

The "please donate to our indie Sun/Microsoft/etc.-funded camp" e-mail after the jump.

Mashup Camp is now less than 2 weeks away. The response to Camp has been phenomenal and we are looking forward to an informative, valuable, and fun 2-day experience for everyone. Now that David and I have gotten through the massive amount of email responses we received to attend the Camp, we are now in the final process financing actual Camp costs.

As you may know, we have designed the Camp as an open program at no cost to all attendees. However there are some expenses associated with the camp, so we are appealing to all Camp participants to help out in any way they can. Any contribution is a help — — $50, $100, $200 or whatever you might spare ( $10 or $20) would help.. This money will be used to pay for incedentals and to improve the museum's communications infrastructure. Any moneys left over from Camp will become part of a permenent donation to the Museum from Mashup Camp.

David and I have set up an account on PayPal under Mass Events Labs. You don't have to be a paypal member to contribute. Here's the link:

Click Here to Donate to Mashup Camp

Please let us know if you have any questions, we look forward to your response.
Regards
Doug Gold
Mashup Camp co-organizer

You know what's sad, they say 1,500 applied and only 70 accepted, I guess sorta like McDonalds, billions and billions served, with maybe 10,000 digested. And boy, I guess I got some work to do with the 1,430 left.

———————-

iodum - "the Web 2.0 personal call management system". I really don't even need to add much more than that; damning praise that. What exactly is Web 2.0 anyways? Someone hand me the Steve Gillmor to English Dictionary please. More like use iodum, need imodium. What's with the return of tech-cutesy 1999-era names anyways?

SproutIt Systems - "Email management software system", umm yeah, so? Lots of established low to middle-tier competitors, what's so jazzing about this upstart? Blogs? Web 2.0? Oh you mean they do "form letter replies which can be customized". And to think people were doing this back in Wordperfect DOS days. Silly them.

Three more after the jump.

Earlier: Chris Coulter's Demo 2006 report [Valleywag]

Panoratio Database Images - Wow, another one, with more promises "to bring supercomputer powers to laptop computers", kinda like Wonder Twin Powers? Zap, zap, form of a slow Dell laptop, form of a water-bucket cooled Cray mainframe, shazzzam. And they have been around too, with customers and all, so they run out of money? Need more cash infusion? What's with the Demo trend of non-start-ups? So Demo will become companies with "long-histories-that-you-never-heard-of-that-went-nowhere-and-are-out-of-cash-but-look-so-much-like-start-ups"? Impressive Management Bios, always a doomed tip-off, when the Bios are overshadowing the product, as to say "we are smart", just "trust us". Yeah, well see, there was this thing called the dot.com crash, you know. All those impressive Bio pages just went the into the Wayback time-machine, pulling up old Webvan and Kosmo Bio's, laughs a million. Plus the Flash website and pre-fab stock photography look, so very very 1998.

FrontPorch - "a seven-year-old security company" So why they at Demo? I thought Demo was for "start-ups"?? They run outta cash? Whatever, security company, blah blah blah. Seems a more a newfound-feeling raid-the-Homeland-Security-budgets play.

Network Streaming - "Claims affordable tech support over the Internet." Geee, never heard that line before. And "claims", and "delivers" are two differing things. Yet another supposedly established-company posing as a start-up for raw venture cash?

Business 2.0's Erick Schonfeld has an admittedly "completely inappropriate" scene from the Demo conference. Some guy at the conference told Walt, "I just want you to know what an honor it is to be pissing next to Walt Mossberg." Erick's source says that Walt muttered, "Bizarre."

Meanwhile, Walt's personal photos showed up in a public feed on Vizrea. The photo sharing site, which launched today at Demo, ran his photo stream on the front page. The photos are down, now, and someone (Walt, I presume) has taken them off their home on Walt's Vizrea page.

Well, someone sent in copies. So, Walt, please don't get mad:

After all, he looks good. Wise and slightly bikerish. Or is it Stowe Boyd?

His wife Edie British radio journalist Jan Ziff...not so much, in this picture. But I assume she looks lovely when she's not about to sneeze.

Full-size pics after the jump.

Microsoft Alums Create Flickr Competitor [Thomas Hawk]
Can I shake your hand, Walt? [B2Day, Business 2.0]

I swear to you Lloyd looked as if he had just snorted coke before he went on. he brushed his nose at least 8 times during his speech, and had tourette's like facial twitches the whole time. I talked to others present, and they came independently to the same conclusion. He said he hadn't slept or eaten either and made all kinds of self revealing comments about how he kinda neglects his kids.

Much as we love our tipsters, we've got to pour a little cold water on this particular report. It's a little too easy to assume that any Hollywood executive must by definition be a cokehead. Just like people assume that Silicon Valley geeks over-indulge in the free snack rooms. Lloyd Braun may indeed have looked like he was on coke. But see the comments for an innocent explanation.

Earlier: Lloyd go home: Braun bombs at conference [Valleywag]

So Evans Data is holding their Developer Relations Conference here in SF at the fabulous Argent Hotel, site of many a drunken Java developer's undoing. Bill Roth from BEA keynoted in a rather muted way, refusing to elbo the competition in this mixed crowd, unusual for him. But the real excitement is that, as these valley execs navel gaze for the crowd, there's almost no one in the audience who doesn't have their email client open. With all the key clicks, you'd think that these people are taking copious notes. Wrong. Everyone is bored with hearing about how to form a develolper community. They'd much rather work.

And:

Dear god in heaven, Jean Elliott, Sun's director of developer marketing just told a roomfull of evans data attendees about the Underpants gnomes from South Park. Specifically, she referenced their business plan: Step 1: Steal underpants Step 2: Step 3: Profit!

Sounds an awful lot like Sun's current business model!

He left shortly after his speech and after having a fight with richard after he bombed. A shame really because the yahoo folks are smart and get it and he didn't serve them. Others can tell you the details of how his speech missed the mark. Its some combo of his not being at the conf and getting the conversation, the fact that the session 10 minutes before his zereod in on the rise of the audience and instead of adding to that theme (a natural for yahoo) he wandered back to 1998 in vision, and perhaps that he gets web 2.0 in his head but not his gut. He and wurman had a spat. He was pissed richard didn't interview him and just sent him out to give a talk, and wurman was pissed that braun was not at the conf all along and thus felt an interview inappropriate since and interview should tie to earlier speakers.

After his talk dropped by the yahoo party for a moment and left never to be seen again for three days. Though his, ugh, memory lingered on and was a topic of much conversation till the very end.

The only question is, why did Yahoo's next ex-executive even bother showing up?

Update: USA Today's Kevin Maney says that during his speech, Braun was "exhausted, unprepared and seemingly clueless about the audience's sophistication level."

Presenters [EG 2006]
Previously: Yahoo's media boss: so out [Valleywag]
And: Missing: Lloyd Braun [Valleywag]

Just imagine rubbing shoulders with notables Robert Scoble, B.L. Ochman, and "blogpreneur" Jeremy Wright. I am overcome with chills of excitement — dare I say "blogcitement" — over this blogference full of blogstars.

I mean, not only do you get to meet these people, you get to hear them lecture on electrifying topics:

- Choosing and Developing Content
- Blog Metrics
- Business Applications and RSS
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Monetization
- Return on Investment

Core areas of knowledge for everyone in blogdom, and a completely appropriate set of topics for discussion on a cruise ship sailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Cozumel, Mexico.

Blogonomics cruise! Tons of fun! Bring the kids!

*cough* Include Valleywag's affiliate ID and earn $50 off Valleywag's cruise ticket. *cough*

Blog Cruise [Blogonomics]