Future Salon

Wow how far have we come with Open Source software ...

I think this is a major one. The city of Munich is deciding for a Linux solution even on the desktop. Reports claim that Microsoft was offering major discounts and would have been $3000 cheaper then the IBM/Suse Linux solution and still they decided against it. That's the price of freedom. All praise to them.

Munich breaks with Windows for Linux. The German city has decided to switch a significant proportion of its computers from Windows to the open-source OS, despite an aggressive counterpitch from Microsoft. [CNET News.com]

Of course it is only a coincidence that at the same day Microsoft is lowering it's prices.

Much ado about blogging.. Scott...

Much ado about blogging.. Scott Rosenberg at Salon has a new piece on blogging that's fairly level-headed: "...to lazy reporters, the world of blogs represents their worst nightmare: It's an endless parade of experts in every conceivable subject they might write about, all equipped with Internet-style megaphones ready to pounce on errors. Careful and thoughtful journalists will nevertheless welcome the advent of blogging: At worst, it should keep them on their toes and give them an incentive not to slip up, and at best, it should give them a chance to do their job better." [evhead]

Yes, let's keep on fact checking and the journalist on their tows. 

Would you mind if I use your Laptop?

This is an intriguing concept. A device not larger then the palm of your hand and all your data on it. Every wireless enabled computer can be used as your computer. On the plane you just ask your neighbor very nicely: "Would you mind if I use your laptop?" (But then you are not allowed to use any wireless devices on board :-) *

Intel's Handheld Personal Server.

Mark Baard is claiming an exclusive in his report of a wireless, pocket-sized, personal server, under development by Intel's "ubiquitous computing wizard" Roy Want. No i/o, no screen, no peripherals -- the size of an iPaq.

(Thanks, Rustyschwinn!) Thanks [Smart Mobs]

* Udate: I just remembered, after a three month trial Luftansa German Airlines will offer wireless broadband throughout their long distance flights.

The first 'THE' at Google ...

Mila said:"It feels just like home" It was last Tuesday and we were at the Quantum Theology Seminar. Mila, Wayne and me in the audience and John Smart doing his preaching at the front (If the seminar is called Quantum Theology, then the speakers are preachers, right?)  It felt very similar to our Futurist Salons, well we do less preaching more discussing, but it was very informative indeed.

Afterwords our little congregation had dinner and the conversation went to Google and that they leave out 'the' when you include it in your search term. Here is their reasoning: "the" is a very common word and was not included in your search.

Question then, what is the first link you get when asking the Gooracle?

My Sidekick came really handy that moment within seconds I had the answer and everyone at the table a great laugh. Check it out. Hint, it is not 'The Economist' or 'The White House', it is much better and we all agreed well deserved.  

We also picked up a strong recommendations for Science Fiction books from Greg Egan: Diaspora, Permutation City and a collection of short stories. I have to check them out one of these days.

EcoIQ Magazine Spring 2002 Features

For all of you that don't have a copy yet of Bill Shireman's book: What We Learned in the Rainforest: Business Lessons from Nature here is a link to the first chapter.

I was really surprised, that Coors was more or less the inventor or at least the driving force behind aluminum recycling here in the US.

Unite the Future Parties ...

I am part of the team that is making sure that Accelerating Change Conference 2003 is going to be a great event. Which has it's challenges with me being in the Bay Area and the core team living in LA.

For weeks I get almost daily emails with details to our fundraiser party Unite the Future that is happening this Saturday the 17th of May in Culver City. It is getting more interesting by the day. In my head I was looking for additional reasons to be down there that weekend, but I didn't come up with any. In addition we have our Futurist Salon this Friday. Therefore I will no go. If you are in the Valley of the Angeles check it out and get a futuristic drink for me at the bar. Thanks.

But don't despair, if you are living in the Bay Area. Fellow Futurist Farsam who just moved up from LA to San Francisco is a member of Aloft Interactions and they are  throwing a Matrix Pre-loaded party this Wednesday May 14th.

It is hilarious how many elements of the two events overlap.

Spinning by the famous DJWolfie, dance floor, $500 costume contest, live performances and auditory-psychedelic assaults by the amazing Mutaytor crew, (other performances TBA!), Cyber Fashion show, transhumanist art, spoken word in chillrooms, full bar, many secret surprises!

Event Includes: ? Real-time, multimedia presentations on the Art & Philosophy of The Matrix Trilogy ?Style? of The Matrix Fashion Show, 
Interactive ?Hong-Kong Stunt Action? exhibit to illustrate the choreographic artistry of the films ?Trinity? look-alike contest Playboy Magazine photo shoot submission ?Take The Blue Pill Or Red Pill? performance art piece, Professor William Irwin, Ph.D., author of The Matrix and Philosophy, delivering a real-time analysis of The Matrix film as it plays live as well as offering signed copies of his book, Professors of film theory will be dissecting the hidden layers of meaning in The Matrix film, Live DJ-sets incorporating Matrix motifs and elements, Screenings of original Matrix shorts and trailers for the new film, Highly-anticipated Enter The Matrix Game demos, ?The Animatrix? screening (original Japanese Animation shorts based on The Matrix),
Direct audience engagement with the special-FX wizards from ESC Studios, On-site, custom creations of original ?Matrix Preloaded? T-Shirt Art.

If you are really dedicated, you can go to the Matrix Pre-Load Party on Wednesday, the Matrix Reloaded opening on Thursday, the Futurist Salon on Friday and Unite the Future on Saturday. Take a video camera with you, blog it in real time and afterwards make a road movie out of it: "The long weekend in the Future" :-) See you at one or two of these events.

How timely is this ...

It is amazing how often a week before our Futurist Salon there is an event or story that fits into our theme. This month we cover sustainable economy and the following story is about how non sustainable we Californians live and what the consequences are for Ecuador and Canada.

Great online environmental journalism. Alex sez, "This series on the environmental impacts Californians have on the rest of the world is pithy, striking and well-reported. As a former environmental journalist, it's the kind of work I wish I'd done. The online version also uses its multimedia features well, for a change - the photos by Jose Osorio are particularly beautiful. And while the series may be about California, the lessons are pretty universal to the developed world." Link Discuss (Thanks, Alex!) [Boing Boing Blog]

Little tidbit from the story: I am disappointed with the San Jose Mercury News, because they are dead last regarding using recycled paper.

This graph is also an example of how to lie with statistics. By glancing over this chart you would think that the Los Angeles Daily News is using 89% recycled paper. If you read the fine print, it turns out that these 89% are referring only to using 40% recycled paper. The real portion of recycled paper is therefore even at the best place in california only about 36%. How disappointing I thought we would be better by now. 

Let's hope Global Futures CEO Bill Shireman who will introduce his book: What We Learned in the Rainforest: Business Lessons from Nature will have some brighter stories to tell next Friday May 16th at 7pm Barnes and Noble Bookstore at the Hillsdale Shopping Center. (Map although the star is slightly misleading, it is right at the El Camino across from the Caltrain station.).

As always we will start with futurist articles/news-clips that you stumbled over recently. Print them out and bring them with you.

If you are up for it, we always continue the discussion and extend the evening next door at Romano's Macaroni Grill with some good wine and Italian food.   

See you all there.

LazyWeb

Read less and post more. I have a bunch of notes from the Emerging Technology Conference last week but I don't get around to post them.

Didn't know about LazyWeb before. Here in their own words:

Do you have an idea that you think others might be able to solve?
Make a LazyWeb request by writing it on your own blog, and then sending a Trackback ping to the new url: http://blog.mediacooperative.com/mt-pi.cgi or by using this form. 

At the LazyWeb Bird of the Feathers we were all sitting in a big circle. Conducted by Ben Hammersley and Clay Shirky who were going around the room everyone had 60 seconds to explain an idea that one wants to have developed. Examples ranged from: "I use a spam filter, which works quite well but still some come through. Give me a little game like space invaders to shoot it down." to "I hate people taking pictures of me. I want an invisible screen that cameras can't get through." 

The nicest ones where ideas that are solved already. "I want Google like search for my desktop, files and email and stuff" Well there is Find, from http://find.idealab.com/ a tool that comes pretty close to that.

A fast typer was able to write down all the ideas and some apparently are getting developed.

So if you have a neat idea post it on the LazyWeb and may be someone has developed it already. I love lazy.

Bill Gates' Web Site - Speech Transcript, Newspaper Association of America Annual Convention

There it is, Bill Gates talking about blogging:

"That sort of bottom-up publishing capability has really exploded in a certain way. Blogging [lets you] decide "

Is it only my imagination or isn't the fact that he did not speak a coherent English sentence a hint that he is not telling us all about what Microsoft is planning to do in this area? Would love to see his body language while he said this.

Otherwise he is pushing the Tablet PC which still has ways to go. I tried one early this year and am very happy with my keyboard all in a sudden.

The OneNote sounds interesting unfortunately he stopped before getting to the publishing side of it. Email is so '90s.