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October 13, 2005

The (Vicarious) Web 2.0 Conference Experience

For those of us unable to attend the Web 2.0 conference in SF last week, bloggers' debriefings are the next best thing. So feel good about the $2800 you saved, and instead read a roundup of the highlights, as seen by one non-attending observer:

Where does this leave us? Certainly the hype is building to a troubling level, particularly in cases where business models are de-emphasized (again). Some people are already mourning the death of Web 2.0, but I'm inclined to be a little more optimistic. The rapid technology growth is compelling, but investors need to remember the lessons of Bubble 1.0. I'm heartened to read VCs like Fred Wilson (who sits on the board of del.icio.us) expressing caution:

It doesn't mean we are going to stop investing. But it does mean we are going to be more careful. We have to raise our hurdles when others are lowering them.

If other investors share this cautious optimism, funding only companies that have a chance of actually making money, Web 2.0 may yet prove naysayers wrong. If not, we'll look back incredulously at Bubble 2.0 someday. We're still getting over the hangover of Web 1.0; there's no need to bring the punch bowl back just yet.


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[For visuals, Flickr has photos from the conference, as well as from the tongue-in-cheek "blink tag worshiping" rival Web 1.0 summit.]

Related reading:

Posted by complexify at 12:29 PM | | Comments (0)

May 18, 2005

Nanotech is not an industry


Nanotech: "Hype or Reality?"
Originally uploaded by complexify.
I had the pleasure of attending a panel at the Commonwealth Club of SF last Tuesday entitled "Nanotech: Hype or Reality?" The participants were Joe Stetter of SRI, Mark Abumeri of Knobbe Martens, Paolo Gargini of Intel, Ron Mosso of NanoGram, and Warren Packard of Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

For a gathering of lawyers, scientists, and a VC, it was a very lively discussion, with topics ranging from implantable nanobatteries for internal defibrillators to the future of Moore's Law.

Despite the title of the panel, there was no question that nanotech is reality (with a healthy dose of hype mixed in, of course). The safety of nanotech materials was a topic of discussion, however, with the consensus being that the biggest concern is at the point of manufacture, for nanomaterials are easier to keep an eye on once incorporated into larger structures (e.g., nanopants).

An audience member asked what it would take for Silicon Valley to become Nanotech Valley. The panel's response was that nanotech isn't an industry but rather a group of technologies and materials involving very, very, very small things. Silicon Valley is named for the electronics industry that is based on the silicon of the transistor and the microprocessor. In contrast, nanotech is a technology that transcends many industries: biomedical, transportation, energy, communication, and even the silicon industry itself.

Posted by complexify at 05:53 PM | | Comments (0)

May 05, 2005

Digital organization - Part I (Desktop Search)

In theory, it's easier to organize digital data than paper files. Digital is certainly more space efficient, for a 3.5" hard drive can hold millions of pages filed in thousands of folders. However, finding and retrieving data has been much more challenging. One approach is to methodically systematically name and organize files in folders and subfolders, but this requires both self-discipline and adherence to a rigid hierarchy.

Alas, Newton's Second Law of Thermodynamics seems to apply here, for entropy increases over time. Despite the best intentions, the steady influx of new data often leads to a proliferation of unfiled items. To locate an important document, the only option may be a full text search. Windows has a built-in search feature, but its full-text search can be timed in minutes, not seconds.

AltaVista gets no respect these days, but it was a pioneer both in full-text web searching and, perhaps more importantly, nearly instantaneous searches of one's own PC (remember AltaVista Personal eXtension 97?). Aside from the funky capitalization, Personal eXtension was a direct precursor to Yahoo Desktop Search, Google Desktop, and the Lookout plugin. While these are extremely useful products, the biggest question the latest crop of utilities raises in my mind is why it took us eight years to get here from AltaVista PX.

The next big change in local search will likely come at the operating system level. Microsoft's long-awaiting Longhorn OS was supposed to include WinFS, an object-based file system that would dramatically enhance search capabilities. However, we now have the following disclaimer from Microsoft:

UPDATE: In spite of what may be stated in this content, WinFS is not a feature that will come with the Longhorn Operating System. However, WinFS will be available on the Windows platform at some future date, which is why this content continues to be provided for your information.

Nonetheless, Longhorn will still offer advanced search features to rival Yahoo and Google's offerings (Microsoft acquired Lookout back in 2004). These incremental improvements make it ever easier to search gigabytes of data to find particular words. What they won't provide, however, is a new way to organize the ever-growing complexity of modern data. For that, a new paradigm is needed.

Coming soon: metadata and tagging to the rescue

Posted by complexify at 04:17 PM | | Comments (0)