The Tech Conference Show - Etech 2006 Preview with Rael Dornfest and Tim O’Reilly (MP3 37.0 mb 53 minutes 45 seconds)
LISTEN HERE

Update: Welcome to everyone coming here from the O’Reilly Radar - just to point out that if you’re not at ETech then we have more than just this preview podcast - we’re planning a daily one hour show from each day at ETech, along with a huge number of dedicated 20 minute interview shows. If you dind’t make it to San Diego, or even if you did make it and are scared of missing anything, then hit the RSS feed, which is http://techconf.thepodcastnetwork.com/feed/.
The event that started off the planning Tech Conference schedule was O’Reilly’s Emerging Technology Conference 2006. Having been in both 2004 and 2005, I was always (somehow) going to be at this event. As it turns out, not only am I at the event, but I’ll be bringing as much of the event as possible to everyone who couldn’t make it out for whatever reason.

If you’ve never heard of Etech (as it’s known in shorthand), then this preview is for you. Part of a conference call between a number of reporters, Tim O’Reilly (founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media Inc) and Rael Dornfest (O’Reilly CTO and Program Chair of Etech). It’s a fast and lively conversation covering a huge number of topics, most of which are going to be up for discussion at Etech. Take this 50 minute preview, and imagine the same intensity over 4 days. That’s Etech.

• The Attention Economy: How to cope with more and more information on a daily basis, and the need of many people to get to their rss boxes as much as their email. Using people on the web to drive AI, for example Amazon’s recommendations system that looks at other people’s favourites to give you suggestions. How about using your browser history as an asset in a similar way?
• Will you pay to get less information? A lovely idea is brought up in this, that getting 4 good search results is better than getting 40,000. It’s how you get those four that is key in the new economy.
  Changing attitudes. Maybe ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) is the new normal for tech savvy people. In a non-literate society of a few hundred years ago, Tim’s skills would be irrelevant.
• Etech is all about the horizon, and what is coming up. The conference is a great mix of sociology and technology, and by starting the conversations you could end up almost anywhere. Etech spins out a lot of ideas and starting points. A lot of ’stuff’ rises to the surface during the four days and many find their own successful homes.

All your comments about the Tech Conference podcasts are appreciated, and if you want to get involved while you’re at Etech, then drop me an email, ewanspence@gmail.com. And if you want to make sure you’re subscribed, you can subscribe in iTunes, or add the RSS Feed directly to your podcatching client.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 21st, 2006 at 3:36 pm and is filed under ETech 2006, Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.