Future Salon

First Futuresalon.org Post

This feels like moving into a new house. One can still smell the fresh paint, the refrigerator has not been delivered yet, but one is happy and excited to have finally arrived. How do you like it?

The great news is, that I am not the only one shining a light on the future here: Wayne, Marc, Bill, Christopher and Jeff are joining me. Others have verbally committed to write too. Let us know if you would like to be part of the Futurenauts too. If you don't have enough time to blog here, just use the email link on the right to send us pointers to future relevant stories or events.

Flower-Power Could Help Clear Land mines

Yahoo! News - Flower-Power Could Help Clear Land mines Wow, a flower that turns red if it grows close to a land mine. How beautiful is that? I want to plant some of them in my front yard.

Next up, flowers that fold their blossoms, when mean people are around. [Thanks Mike Slinn]

The Macintosh Marketing Story at the Computer Museum

"The Macintosh Marketing Story: Fact and Fiction, 20 Years Later " The Macintosh Super Bowl ad from 1984, which 1995 was voted to be the best ad of the last 50 years, almost didn't make it, or that is what these web pages claim [more].

Get the real story from the people who worked on it this Thursday at the Computer History Museum. Don't forget to RSVP by the 19th.

Future Salon Friday 16th 7pm: Search and Analysis

"Wow, she is great" said Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, when he heard that Anna Patterson will present at the next Future Salon. He knows, after all the search engine recall.archive.org that Anna developed is searching over the 11,094,924,000 pages of his archive.

Scott Rafer: Giving a Talk on Why Feedster Exists

Scott Rafer from Feedster, very sharp guy, met him at the Geek dinner over the Holidays, is pointing to his talk next week. You shouldn't miss it.

By the way, he is a poster boy for Google's Ad Sense campaign.  Which disturbed me a little bit, not that he is the poster boy, but that Google is running these annoying adds in the middle of articles. Not sure if they do pop-ups too, I am using the Google bar so they get blocked :-)

What a Brad !

Brad Templeton chairman of the EFF (donate today) just started a Weblog . Add him to your must read list. I did. Aaron Schwartz has him as one of a very short list of Superheroes.

You want an example why? Remember the disagreement between Scott McCloud and Clay Shirky about micropayments? Clay Shirky: Micropayments will never work, you have to choose between fame and fortune. Scott McCloud: It is just a matter of making it easy enough and fair and people will do it.

Brad's elegant proposal would turn things upside down: I suggest reversing things, so that paying for something is the default, and not paying requires special action. Sweet.

You see, Brad flat out refuses to live up to his first name. Probably because he spells it with a 'd' instead of a 't'. Man, this joke is so bad, my apologies.

Future of the Future Salon

Picking up on an idea from Marc Goodner and or Joseph Anderson I would like to invite you to a meeting about the Future of the Future Salon.

Let's discuss how to get our Salon to the next level. I would like to get your ideas and share my vision.

One improvement I am working on is opening up this weblog to other contributors, taking World Changing as a good model. Let me know, whether you would like to be part of that more active group.

Please join us this Sunday the 11th 4pm at my place 5 Prospect Avenue San Francisco 415 641 8124. Let's take two to three hours time and go for dinner afterwards or cook together. Please let me know that you are coming.

For the people that can't join us this Sunday, you still can participate by posting your ideas on the Future Salon Workspace in the Improvement Ideas Section.

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to see you all this Sunday, Mark.

Great Conversations at Jeff's Junto

Was a great dinner with Jeff and his entourage. Lots of interesting conversations and tips and tricks. I only took very few pictures and like this washed out one to the right. I was unaware, that I had the setting "Show sparkle of idea flashes" on my camera.

Brewster Kahle founder of the Internet Archive was dining with us. The funny thing is that the search technology that Anna Patterson, who will present at the next Future Salon, has developed is implemented at the Archive. When Brewster heard that Anna is presenting, his immediate reaction was: "Wow, she is great." That endorsement made me very happy. Mark your calendar next Future Salon Friday 16th of January 7pm at SAP. More details to come.   

Stealth Patriot Act II: Wired News: Bush Grabs New Power for FBI

Finally Wired News picks up the story about the Stealth Patriot Act II:

The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 grants the FBI unprecedented power to obtain records from financial institutions without requiring permission from a judge.

Under the law, the FBI does not need to seek a court order to access such records, nor does it need to prove just cause.

The law also prohibits subpoenaed businesses from revealing to anyone, including customers who may be under investigation, that the government has requested records of their transactions.

[Thanks Marc]

Stealth Patriot Act II Bloise update

If you read Ross' post, the from the mainstream media ignored story of the Stealth Patriot Act II, you can count 5 TrackBacks plus my manual one, makes at least 6 links. 

When you check Blogdex.com,  just a minute ago it only listed 3 links, which was place 85, now with 4 links, it is up the chart to place 51. Still, at least 2 links are missing, which would almost push it to the top 20.   

One more thing is strange/funny Blogdex took my comment title: Make some Bloise about Stealth Patriot 2! instead of Ross' original line: Patriot Act II.

On Daypop 8 links are needed to get to be in the top 40, no chance yet.

Technorati is a disappointment, you only need three citations to be in their top 100 list, but Ross' post is nowhere to be found.

* Reminder Blois stands for Blog Noise. Go out and make some.