Category Events

SXSW 2013 Style

I do’t know exactly how or why SXSW - South by South West is or how it became such a big deal but here in 2013 the reality is that it is a big deal.

Maybe tech staffers needing social contact and increased interaction see it as a good opportunity to get away from their stuffy and messy cubicles for a while venture out in the actual world to join the next best freaky get together next to Burning Man. Or it could be that the people and things they might discover at SXSW might possibly help them successfully get through the rest of the year.

It could also be that with all the other trade shows fading fast and losing focus this new take on what a trade event could and should be is evolving and becoming much more culturally relevent and socially pliable not to mention media focused.

Whichever the true reason TCF will monitor ongoing reports from friends and staff reporting live from the event and we will post them here.

MacWorld 2013

mwiw-logo-hp

What is this MacWorld in February crap? It was not so very long ago that attending MacWorld in early January MacWorld was the destination of my yearly pilgramage to San Francisco. Even when I lived far away in West Africa or when l limped around on a cane from a stroke I made it a point to stop in at MacWorld back to be bathed in the flow of things Mac.

In the last 5 or 6 years this once-hearalded tradeshow was the very best of the bunch and for us Mac fanatics almost approaching a religious experiece like a Hajj to Mecca. Now it has faded into the background in importance and impact to the technology industry. It has almost become an afterthought of an event which I almost forgot about which is sad.

I am also confused by the renaming of MacWorld as “iWorld:The Ultimate iFan Event”. Who thought tat up?

MacWorld’s decline actually started back when when Apple pulled out as a corporate sponsor. The facilitators valiently have managed to keep it going but each year it has been more and more evident that things are not the same nor will they ever be. CES which was getting upstaged annually by MacWorld has subsequently stepped into the void and after their own decline has arisen to greater importance and promanance. the rest is history.

Well its all over now and MacWorld 2013 is a wrap. MacWorld 2013 offered up a few answers and clues to Apple’s development pipeline.

MacWorld 2013  featured hundreds of Apple product and accessory manufacturers and solution developers that showed their wares to thousands of new and longtime Apple users and loyal fans and ollowers. It wasn’t quite the event it used to be but it is more than adequate for a changing time and industry very much in flux.

CES 2013: Day One

We can seal the folder on day one of CES 2013. Among the many keynotes announcements, press releases, company parties, demos and meetings we can attempt to cull out the meaningful occurances that can give us a clue as to what we can expect in 2013 and beyond.

For me I must remotely monitor the happenings in Las Vegas this year but I am finding that this is a much more productive and comprehensive tack although much less an investigative in-their-face approach. I have resolved to follow up story leads and announcements in the many days that follow CES and to address my probing questions and incisive comments to the just right people in an effort to get better answers than the off-the-cuff or prepared ones I have relied on in the past.

Salesforce.com: Claiming the Cloud

Salesforce.com was one of the first tech companies to take all manner of solutions online and hang tough with the cloud concept until the world caught up to it. Now as the Cloud has become a real thing Salesforce.com stepped forward to lead the charge at Dreamforce 2012 that happened in San Francisco last September 18 to 21

As the one company dedicated to using the cloud as a platform and as a service Salesforce.com is using that tight focus to stimulate and drive increased Cloud utilization and innovation.

They expect to launch a new updated version of the popular Salesforce.com.

CES 2013

With CES only a month of days away I anticipate that we will see a robust and volitile mobility market positioning like never before.

It will come in a slew of new product launches, patent suit news,  good deal announcements, OS/Device upgrades, and yes countless lies and rumors all mostly intended to capture our interest and purchase decisions.

Some will be smoke and mirror announcements that will never see the light of day. Other announcements may be intended to simply slow up or confuse the competition.

As diligent consumers we all need to do our homework and closely follow developments.

I have a strong feeling this years event will be the most important CES in the past two decades. Already new products are flooding onto the market prior to the official January 8th start date.

Having survived a shut door several years ago CES is now THE premiere event of its kind anywhere. Companies literally spend millions of dollars trying to gain the attention of retailers, consumers, users and the press.

For us press types it is the best chance to see and test many of the latest products, innovations, applications and services of the previous and upcoming years.

The event absolutely dominates Las Vegas as well the pages of every print and online tech publication worldwide.

The Coolness Factor will be issuing daily reports from the flloor of the event as well as putting the spotlight on key products and innovations introduced or  launched during the show.

We also hope to vital web links to stand out products worthy of extra special attention.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Google I/O becoming a big deal event

Google I/O is really turning out to be more of a major technology spectacle and event than ever in previous years. Google is finally revealing the fruit of all the innovations it has stimulated internally and throughout the developer community and the external innovations it has diligently monitored and tracked over the years.

Of course there are the obligatory presentations , keynotes and leading industry speakers including a whole showroom floor full of product demos and informal networking opportunities.

Google I/O 2012 has become the launch pad for a number of innovative products and accessories.

Highlights:

  • Google Nexus 7 Tablet Introduction
  • Google Glass update
  • Android 4.0 Jelly Bean preview
  • Hangouts and Google+
For an event initially and traditionally aimed at developers Google I/O now speaks to consumers and media looking to identify the better device/platform mix.

 

Run up to Google I/O 2012 in SF

Now that Apple, Samsung and Microsoft have revealed a few of their hold cards at conferences focused around them it is time for Google to put on a show supposedly aimed at developers as was WWDC. That has been what Google I/O was usually all about. But just as Apple has pimped WWDC to be an opportunity to launch new things, we can be sure Google will do the same.

This years event (12th in the event line) will be held in San Francisco at Moscone should go a long way in spelling out Google’s proposed direction for the remainder of the year and into 2013.

At Google I/O 2012 we might expect to see:

  • A new Google-labled tablet
  • New Android features
  • A host of new Android smartphones and tablet devices
  • Updates and enhancements to Chrome, Google Doc, etc.
  • Many innovative Android phone and tablet device and app demos
  • Promotion of Google+ for Social Media

This year Google will attempt to make the event as virtual and geographically distributed as they can through what they are terming as “Google I/O Extended”. Events and parties will be held in various cities and the main event with keynotes and sessions will be streamed live.

To register for Google I/O you will need a Google+ account (Surprise! Surprise!)

Mystery Solved: Microsoft Surface

 

Microsoft Surface

Microsoft Surface

First Microsoft would not state for the record what the event would be about. Then they refused to even say when or where it would occur. All the while they covertly spread seeds of rumor and disinformation about what it would involve. It seems all this was a blatant Mad Men-type marketing attempt to heighten the drama, interest and suspense around the mysterious event to scare up some free press.

Now so close to the moment we have discovered that that Barnes and Nobles is not a part of the mystery announcement and that the event will occur in Los Angeles at Milk Studios.

Was this Microsoft trying to be cool like Apple? Will any of this help usually boring Microsoft pull off something cool? In a short couple of hours the other shoe will finally fall and we will all see if Microsoft has the goods to merit all this mystery and be enough to get back in the game.

Odds-on Speculation was strong that Microsoft would use this event to launch a new Windows tablet (they were right, sort of) into a market that has deep historic reservations about anything almost anything new coming from the once-dominant company that virtually owned the market and had all the chips, but some say didn’t play fair.

At 3:30 p.m. PST I’ll take some valuable time out of my day to sit down and plug into one of the live blogs and like all the other tech media pundits not invited to attend I’ll sit back in emperor-like gladitorial judgement to give it thumbs up or down.

A few questions come to mind. Why LA? Are they deliberately staying out of the SF Bay Area traditionally Apple territory? If so, what does that say? Who is Microsoft aiming whatever they will announce at the media, traditional and social, or us everyday technology consumers?

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!\

Microsoft’ has unveiled two tablets. or as they are calling it a new  ecosystemem withe name of Microsoft Surface

Microsoft Fanboys who needed a reason to jump back on the MS bandwagon now seem to have one. A few of them have gone way overboard claiming that Microsoft Surface is the single best thing that ever happened in computing,

The day after the event Microsoft staffers must be rejoicing and patting themselves on the back believing they hit it one completely out of the park leap frogging past Apple wiith a device that seems to combine the function and appeal of tablets and ultrabooks in one fell swoop. Nobody saw that coming.

They differ in dimensions and a few features:

No straight dope on pricing –

The Surface for Windows RT will cost about what similar to other Windows RT tablets

The Pro version will have prices similar to Ultrabooks.

Microsoft Surface for Windows RT has an NVIDIA chip inside,

Surface for Windows 8 Pro, which runs off Ultrabook-grade Ivy Bridge processors.

WWDC 2012

This post is not really so much about WWDC than it is about the concept of the World Wide Developers Conference.

First this unique event is very well located in San Francisco where the streets literally flow with talented young creative types eager to make their millions by coming up with the next best thing.  Another key factor is that it is so near the halls of money and power not to mention it is on the rim of the Pacific Rim.

We all now realize thatthe engine that fuels and drives new technology industries such as mobility is development. This is no more evident than in the App explosion fueling the smartphone and tablet revolutions. In other words the Bay Area is where the action is and where innovation lives.

There is a blood in the streets battle going on to draw developers to platforms such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, now, the once great Microsoft is making strong moves to get back in the game. The objective is to win over the developer base and here is where WWDC comes in.

In the next few days we can expect many new product announcements, company perks and fluffed up press releases.

There will be a number of live blogs reporting from the event that we should all monitor. I will wait until the end of the day to summarize and take comments. See you then.

Flood of Smartphones & Tablets

MWC 2012

Mobile World Congress 2012

Thanks largely due in part to the ocassion of the Mobile World Congress held over in Spain we can certainly expect in the next few weeks and througout the year to see a literal flood of new mobile devices each hoping against hope to capture lightning in a bottle and a place in our budgets.

Every iPhone/Smartphone and iPad/tablet manufacturer will be ever busy touting the amazing benefits and suppossed advantages their device brings to our mobile computing experience and online lives. Much of this will of course be overblown hype. Some of it will be vaporware about products that will never reach the shelves. A select few will be actual released products that will bitterly vie for our purchasing decisions and loyalty.

How can we navigate through the hype? How exactly are we to wisely judge which exactly devices we will choose?

  1. By the performance specs?
  2. By the coolest looking and feeling
  3. The most and best apps
  4. The better options and acceessories?
  5. The better connectivity and bandwidth?
  6. Best pricing and deals?
  7. Company support policies?
  8. Positive reviews and feedback of knowlegbale and trusted friends

There are certainly a whole lot of essential variables to consider in chosing a new phone or upgrading from an older unit.

This is one specific objective that The Coolness Factor is here to help you with. Please take a moment to bokmark us, subscribe to our RSS feed and newsletter, to LIKE our Facebook page and do whatever other hoops social media puts you through, regardless do not forget about us we are here simply to help.

Get ready for the CES 2012 Onslaught!

With CES only a few short days away I anticipate that we will see mobility market corporate positioning like never before.

It will come in a slew of new product launches, patent suit news,  good deal announcements, OS/Device upgrades, and yes countless lies and rumors all mostly intended to capture our interest and purchase decisions.

Some will be smoke and mirror announcements that will never see the light of day. Other announcements may be intended to simply slow up or confuse the competition.

As diligent consumers we all need to do our homework and closely follow developments.

Demise of Tech Conferences

When, and if this actually occurs the blame for the demise of tech conference can be placed squarely on the Internet and the subsequent rise of telepresence and the virtual conference and meeting concept and now cloud computing the days of tradeshows as we know them are numbered.

It is extremely hard in these times of tight budgets to justify the expense and high costs related to exhibiting at or even attending tech conferences. Aside from the mega events like CES we are seeing a rather abrupt and drastic decline in the number and scale of existing conferences and expos. The best example that comes to mind is the latest macinations behind MacWorld Expo and Conference usually held in San Francisco.

for over 16 years I traditionally attended Macworld  as if it were somesort of religious pilgrimage. Then BANG, BOOM  in 2008 Apple announced that they were pulling out.

Sure, they have held Macworld somewhat together and it has been a good thing it really hasn’t been much the same since Apple checked out. Some think it is better. 

Matt Ryan created a post listing five reasons to attend tech conferences. Most of it I agree with some provisions. However if they are local and promising I will cut back if not totally out my participation. Are we losing something valuable in trade shows that cannot be replaced?

TechCrunch Disrupt Wrapup

techcrunch disrupt SF

techcrunch disrupt SF

 

TechCrunch Disrupt: Its all over now!

For three full days San Francisco was all abuzz with the fever of Startups, investors, and innovators, not mention a few parties and meetups.

Onstage companies battled for respect and attention. On the showfloor Exhibitor companies demonstrated their wares and answered tons of questions.

Investors were busy searching for the next Twitter or Facebook. There were quite a few greying-haired millionaires wandering the aisles and taking the stage of Disrupt looking to sink eary investments into promising projects and talented people. Former TechCrunch mogel Micheal Arrington brought hard-edged attitude to the podium seeming to challenge or irk them into revealing secrets and admissions regarding investment decisions. If you are an entrepreneur with brilliant ideas there is no bether place on Earth to be right now than sunny San Fran at TechDisrupt.

The information on ideas and funding floating around is thick and plentiful. The talent roaming the aisles if canned could reinvent society given the chance and capital. If it too short a notice, not in your plans and you can’t get there you can be there virtually by checking out their UStream broadcast. You can also peek in at stream by visiting the Chill Lounge.

Being a SF native I may be locally prejudiced but I firmly believe that San Francisco is the perfect location for holding “a startup wonderland”.

That’s exactly what TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2011 is. So, for 2 beautiful sunny weather days and one cloudy day in the city-by-the-bay hundreads are busy downing coffee and chatter. If you manage to bypass the Rice-a-roni, sourdough and seafood you get to step into a concourse full of venture investor types, eager innovators, self-satisfied movers and shakers, and media moguls looking for the next big thing.

Ideas and innovation was simply flowing from the heads of young would-be Steve Jobs types. On the show stage powerful presentations are judged, reviewed and by rule kept brief and to the point with Q&A.

One of the best features of this conference was the International flavor. With attendees, exhibitors, presenters and speakers from far flung places around the world this was a chance to learn what else is happening outside the USA.

On the show stage powerful presentations are judged, reviewed and by rule kept brief and to the point with Q&A.

Just to tease you here is an outline of the Agenda:

AGENDA:

  • Startup Battlefield (Complete)
  • Startup Alley (Yeah Boy!)
  • Hackathon (Done)
  • Industry Leading Speakers (were great)
  • Exhibitor Booths (ho hum)
  • Recorded UStream Broadcasts (briefly available)
  • After Parties and Affinity Meetups (over)
  • Speakers: (Kevin Rose, Ashton Kutcher, Micheal Arrington &  more)
Congratulations to the winner of the Startup Battlefield: Shaker (2011 Disrupt SF Cup Winner of $50,000 prize, Runner Up: Prism Skylabs) I was hoping BitCasa would win. I guess they will just have to win in the consumer marketplace and shame the TechCrunch Disrupt judges.

TechDisrupt SF

 

techcrunch-disrupt

SF- Sept. 12-14

If you are an entrepreneur with brilliant ideas there is no bether place on Earth to be right now than sunny San Fran at TechDisrupt.

The information on ideas and funding floating around is thick and plentiful. The talent roaming the aisles if canned could reinvent society given the chance and capital. If it too short a notice, not in your plans and you can’t get there you can be there virtually by checking out their UStream broadcast. You can also peek in at stream by visiting the Chill Lounge.

Being a SF native I may be locally prejudiced but I firmly believe that San Francisco is the perfect location for holding “a startup wonderland”.

That’s exactly what TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2011 is. So, for 2 beautiful sunny weather days and one cloudy day in the city-by-the-bay hundreads are busy downing coffee and chatter. If you manage to bypass the Rice-a-roni, sourdough and seafood you get to step into a concourse full of venture investor types, eager innovators, self-satisfied movers and shakers, and media moguls looking for the next big thing.

Ideas and innovation are simply flowing from the foreheads of young brainiacs and would-be Steve Jobs types. On the show stage powerful presentations are judged, reviewed and by rule kept brief and to the point with Q&A.

AGENDA:

  • Startup Battlefield
  • Startup Alley
  • Hackathon
  • Industry Leading Speakers
  • Exhibitor Booths
  • Live UStream Broadcast
  • After Parties and Affinity Meetups
  • Speakers: (Kevin Rose, Ashton Kutcher, and many many more)

One of the best features of this conference is the International flavor. With attendees, exhibitors, presenters and speakers from far flung places around the world this is an excellent chance to learn what else is happening in areas outside the USA.

I have to make an admission. I totally misjudged actor/investor Ashton Kutcher. I thought he was just another over-rated pretty-boy (that gets to sleep with one of the sexiest women in the world). Wrong, he is a brilliant, caring man/child, deep and profound, wise and effacing. I should know better than prejudging others and this is just the reminder I needed to straighten out my act.

There are quite a few greying-haired millionaires wandering the aisles and taking the stage of Disrupt looking to sink eary investments into promising projects and talented people. Former TechCrunch mogel Micheal Arrington brought hard-edged attitude to the podium seeming to challenge or irk them into revealing secrets and admissions regarding investment decisions.

Dreamforce ’11: SF 8/30 to 9/2

Dreamforce '11

Dreamforce '11

San Francisco is preparing to host yet another big time tech media event. This time its billed as the Cloud Computing Industry Event of the Year.
Dreamforce ’11, happening August 30 to September 2, 2011 at Moscone Center, San Francisco.
It really seems a little strange to me that an event about the cloud is not held in the cloud. If ever there was any event that should be virtual, this is it!
Sponsor Salesforce has been long been waiting for this level of industry confirmation of their belief that online services and software is the only true way into the future and It turns out that they were dead right, just ask HP and IBM.
Take a moment to visit the event site at http://dreamforce.com/ready and get a discount on keynote and Expo passes.
By the way Salesforce is another leading San Francisco-based company.

Happy 20th Anniversary WWW

According to TNW, 20 years ago today, the World Wide Web opened to the public

Today is a landmark day in the history of the Internet. On 6 August 1991, exactly twenty years ago, the World Wide Web became publicly available. Its creator, Tim Berners-Lee, posted a short summary of the project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup and gave birth to a new technology which we now know has fundamentally changed the world and everything in it. Others such as Ted Nelson had a part in framing the vision that would evolve to become what we know and use. But that is a whole nother story for another time.

Enjoy!

D9 2011: All Things D Conference

D9 Conference 2011

D9 Conference 2011

It used to be called the “All Things Digital Conference” but that was too many letters to remember so it became “All Things D”, that too was a little too much so now its just “D9″, OK Then! This is when tech guru and innovation evangelist and pioneer journalist Walt Mossberg gets to hold court with the big names sitting at his knee.

This years D9 Conference started today Tues. May 31  and will run to Thurs. June 2, 2011 at the Mediterranean inspired Terranea Resort located in sunny  Rancho Palos Verdes, California RSS feed for this category (the feed)

Sorry readers, it is already SOLD OUT! WE must be content with getting our virtual fix and settle with enjoying the vicarious experience.

So what’s the big Whoop? For over a decade groundbreaking innovation has erupted on the All Things D stage and they’re looking forward to even more at D9.  All Things Digital conference has been the site of breaking news,  and events highlighting innovation, and conversations with influentials in media and technology.

Take a half hour and visit the Conference Site:

Internet World 2011: London

Internet World 2011

Internet World 2011

I was just wondering where the agenda for the online world gets set and lo and behold I found Internet World 2011. My problem is that it just ended and I do not have a working time machine and science has not discovered the key to the Einstien-Rosen Bridge as yet so I am stuck here scurbbing what I can find online and it being Internet World that should work or something is essentially wrong if we have to circumnavigate the planet just to keep on top of the latest web happenings.

I will dig deep into the info that remains and post it here for those that were also unable to jet off to London to attend. In the meantime follow the link below and see what we missed. Being there virtually is something we should be getting used to.

Internet World 2011 UK

InterOp 2011 Las Vegas

InterOp 2011

InterOp: I took most of the week to draft a report on the just completed InterOp. My attempt to save the file in Text Edit which resulted in an unrecoverable crash that rippled down through my site and derailed my ability to update my site. I had not saved at points previous and thus had to Force Quit losing everything in the post. So I am left to trying to recover my site and remember the important points to make a rewrite.

InterOp claims to be the “Leading Business Technology Event”. Using a strict description and definition that is true although subject to debate. InterOp 2011 took place from May 8 to May 12th in Las Vegas.

I am in recovery from a stroke so this time I was unable to attend in person. I began to consider if this might not be an execellant opportunity to see if covering events virtually online could be effective. In this instance having so many event resources available certainly helps. By Tuesday May 17 I hope to be back to full strength and have the interOp report complete.

EVENT: NAB SHOW 2011

NAB Show

NAB Show

NAB 2011 is all over now, but it merits a quick check out to see what went down there that we missed.

When I was a young eager professional broadcaster NAB was the site of an annual pilgrimage. Since I got bitten in the neck by Digi-Drac and my subsequent conversion to geek I have been missing in action. I just decided to check in and see whatI may have missed, especially now that that industry is drinking the tech kool-aide.

The event has been running for 85 years and though not new continues to be a destination for broadcasting® professionals who desire to stay connected and share their passion for content from creation to consumption. They have registered andare pimping the term Broader-casting® in efforts to expand the focus of their work. The following is excerpted from the show site.

NAB Show Fast Facts

• 90,000+ media and entertainment professionals from over 150 countries

• Over $35 billion in purchasing power represented on-site

• 1,500+ unique companies spread over 800,000 net square feet

• 9 conferences and 3 training programs, featuring more than 500 skill-building sessions

• 1,200+ members of the press

• 85+ years of industry leadership

Take a look at the substantial video coverage ans show news on their site:

http://www.nabshow.com/2011/index.asp

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