Web 2.0 Expo

The people-finding site/app spock officially launches at Web 2.0 Expo this week.  I’ve put my name in for an account (and am trying to tap into my network for peeps to get bumped up in the queue), since it’s in private beta I haven’t been able to look at it (except for screenshots).  Well if Tim O’Reilly’s review is any indication, I think we should all be pretty excited next week:

You can search for a specific person — but you can do that on Google. More importantly, you can search for a class of person, say politicians, or people associated with a topic — say Ruby on Rails. The spock robot automatically creates tags for any person it finds (and it gathers information on people from Wikipedia, social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook), but it also lets users add tags of their own, and vote existing tags up or down to strengthen the associations between people and topics. Users can also identify relationships between people (friend, co-worker, etc.), upload pictures, and provide other types of information. This is definitely a site that will get better as more people use it — one of my key tests for Web 2.0. It also illustrates the heart of a new development paradigm: using programs to populate a database, and people to improve it.
Source: O’Reilly Radar > Why I’m so excited about Spock

The idea of pulling together and relating your online activities might be pretty scary to some, but in my world, where my online persona is my resume, I find it exciting.  Except for a chemical and a transportation agency, I’m the #1 Tris on Google (so I’m the #1 human, I guess).

What Spock suggests for us is something that could be akin to an extremely detailed online resume, with perhaps, connections to people in your circle.

Can’t wait to get a look…

Okay just got this from Twitter.  Scoble will be doing live web broadcasting starting Monday at Web 2.0 Expo!

Watch for the ScobleCam on Monday from Web2Expo!

 I saw a mention of ExpoCal earlier yesterday, but when I saw the post on the Web 2.0 Expo blog, well I decided to take a look.

Sign up is easy, picking your choices, also easy.  You can also see what people are choosing as a tag cloud.  Hmm does this make picking conference sessions a popularity contest?  Boy I hope the next time I have the chance to speak all my friends choose me!  I’d hate to be a speaker in 9 point type!

Regardless, the conference starts tomorrow as I start my journey South.  Now, I don’t fly out until about 2:30 so if you have hot tips or anything, just e-mail me at tris AT onebyonemedia DOT com.  I have some new tricks up my sleeve that will let me post on the go.

Once I’m in San Fran … I’ll be trying to keep my Berry data use to a dull roar.  International data and roaming charges are insane!

Reading Renee’s blog this afternoon I saw this on a recent post:

Its the first of this kind that he is co-producing with John Battelle, his partner in all things ‘web,’ following a two year successful run of their fall Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco.

Bottom line: the demand for Web 2.0 ‘stuff’ is on the rise, and more and more innovation is coming out. Solution: A Web 2.0 version of Comdex that draws more people in across multiple levels – vendors, sponsors, press, bloggers and attendees.
Source: down the avenue: Hot & Around the Corner: Web 2.0 Stuff

I gave the Tim O’Reilly interview on Wired a read and I think Tim is correct, Web 2.0 is about services.  We’ve got most of the “stuff” we need (software that runs our machines), but it’s how to connect, find, sort, and other stuff it all that makes a powerful tool.

I’m excited to be going to Web 2.0 Expo, and I’ll take this first of many opportunities to thank Rick and Dave for helping me get there.

Don’t know how I’m going to do much when I get home, since I think I’m going to be typing my fingers to the bone next week!

I’ve been on LinkedIn for a while.  My use of it waxes and wanes.  Why?  Because I don’t find it terribly useful.  I haven’t gotten a job through it.  I haven’t found an employee through it.  Really, I send and accept requests to/from my friends out of politeness than feeling like it’s going to help me in some way, shaped, or form.  Next week at Web 2.0 Expo, VisiblePath is “officially” launching.  Techcrunch (of course) got an early look:

Silicon Valley-based VisiblePath is a lot like LinkedIn, but it automatically determines who your real network is, and how strong each individual relationship is, based on your emails and calendar items that involve them. VisiblePath will officially launch next week at the Web 2.0 Expo.
Source: VisiblePath Is A Lot Like LinkedIn, Except It’s Useful

Will I be checking this out?  Sure.  I’d like to see if it takes networking to useful point.  Twitter, blogging, and other ways of connecting have really worked for me in the past.  But being the geeky guy that I am, I’m willing to try it.

Just got a ping from Jim with the official Web 2.0 Expo twitter account.  Go to http://twitter.com/w2e and add them as a friend (I have already).  It looks like they are adding most folks as friends so we should get a cool stream of info like at SXSW (which I followed via Twitter).

They say the tweets from friends will be on the lobby LCD screens … looks like it’s going to be wild.  Watch your cell phone bills folks, there’s gonna be a lot of twittering soon!

 Mashable is covering companies that will be at Web 2.0 Expo (in the social networking space) next week.  They covered nine yesterday and 7 more today.  Looks like I’m going to be a busy guy trying out new sites, services, and products.  Cool!

This is one of the most fun parts of conferences, seeing all the new companies and start-ups who have awesome ideas.  Sure not all of them succeed, but the ideas generated have a lasting effect.  I was watching The Hour this week and caught the interview with Irshad Manji and she quoted Rushdie saying essentially once the thought or statement is out there … it cannot be unthought.

Powerful statement.

If any company would like me to profile them here on this blog (I’m even set up for podcasted interviews), just let me know.  You can drop me a line at tris AT onebyonemedia DOT com.

Let’s start off the Web2Expo blogging early, shall we?  Sunday, which I’ll miss :(, is Ignite which looks like a really awesome time.  On the Web 2.0 Expo blog they have the speaker list posted:

On Sunday Ignite Expo will feature the following 16 speakers (in order). They each get 5 minutes to speak using only 20 slides that switch automatically every 15 seconds.
Source: Web 2.0 Expo blog: Ignite Expo Schedule Posted (See also O’Reilly Radar)

If I were there I’d be really looking forward to Andre Charland, Nik Cubrliovic, and Mary Hodder (let’s see how many more stickers she has on her laptop!).  Not that all the others are slouch speakers, I’ve just heard them, talked with them, etc and know that it will be cool.  Since I won’t even be landing at SFO until 8:30, I’m pretty much SOL for catching the coolness.  However, I will be up for catching up with folks later.  You’ll be able to reach me on my cell: 250.222.1234.