Speakers in the News »

4/28/06
KATHY SIERRA

As the festivities of TV Turn Off Week! wind to a close, we reflect on a recent post from Kathy Sierra about the benefits of liberating yourself from small-screen addiction: "I've been TV-free for more than six years, along with my co-authors Bert, Eric, and Beth, and none of us will ever go back. Imagine what you might do with that time? It's usually a misperception that one is too tired to do anything but television, but many people have to lose electricity or have their TV break before they realize that. . . . At the Conference on World Affairs, Dr. Thomas Lewis, who I referenced in the Why face to face still matters post, talked at length about how drops in social and community involvement track closely with the arrival of cable to an area with no TV reception (most heavily documented in the Canadian studies mentioned earlier). He mentioned scenarios where a community loses power for several days in a row, cutting off their nightly TV ritual, and they suddenly get to know their neighbors for the first time. (Other factors are at work there as well, but it's not that hard to imagine that the lack of TV played a role.) Throwing out my television has made a greater difference in my life than anything else I've ever done. But again, I recognize that there are some people who have the discipline to watch only very specific programs, using time-shifting to skip ads and news promos, as opposed to saying, 'Let's see what's on TV...' For me, I found television to be too much of an event horizon; the only way for me to break free was to get rid of it completely. Of course, getting rid of TV just means I have more time to obsessively check my email." Sierra delivered the extremely popular "How to Create Passionate Users" presentation at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

12:15pm CST | +

4/27/06
PETER MORVILLE

Peter Morville

One of the newest innovations from Google is Onebox for Enterprise, which was released on April 19. As noted in an Information Today story by Richard W. Wiggins, "the new appliance feature searches sources such as CRM (customer relationship management), ERP (enterprise resource planning), and business intelligence systems. Thus a single query—a search typed into “one box”—searches a variety of enterprise information sources while also exploiting the Google Appliance’s traditional ability to crawl, index, and search the HTML content of an enterprise intranet." Wiggins' report also quotes Ambient Findability author Peter Morville (pictured above), who comments: “Google’s OneBox taps into the fast-emerging market opportunity for products that provide integrated access to structured and unstructured information. The blurring of lines between search, text analytics, and business intelligence is a trend to watch for 2006.” Morville spoke about information architecture at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

11:29am CST | +

4/26/06
MARK CUBAN

Mark Cuban

First, he made his fortune during the dotcom boom. He used these funds to buy his way into the NBA. Next came the blogosphere, followed by an effort to revolutionize the movie business with digital distribution. The next challenge for ever-outspoken billionaire Mark Cuban is the airwaves, as SIRIUS Satellite Radio has announced that Cuban will has a two-hour Sunday show on their state. He tells Orbitcast.com that he will bring his trademark controversial approach to the airwaves: "I plan on raising hell and covering any and all topics that I think are interesting and taking no prisoners along the way." Meanwhile, Cuban boasts to the Houston Chronicle that "Howard Stern won't have anything on me. I'm going to cover everything and anything, from sports to business to technology, movies and entertainment. I'm going to take full advantage of the no-holds barred opportunity that Sirius is offering me." Currently residing in Dallas, Cuban delivered a keynote speech at the 1999 SXSW Interactive Festival.

11:16am CST | +

4/25/06
GARRETT DIMON

Garrett Dimon

Read "Build for the Future: Bend, Don't Break" an essay by Garret Dimon that appears in the current issue of Digital Web Magazine. Dimon explains that having a flexible website is the key to long-term viability: "The true benefits of bending are heavily dependent on the future. If you’re building a page that’s only going to be used for a day or two, you’re probably wasting your time by making it flexible. However, if you’re going to be creating different variations in the future for monthly promotions or specials, it’s in your own interest to spend the time up front to save you time on the flip side. Of course, only you can make that decision." Dimon led the "Holistic Web Design: Finding the Creative Balance in Multi-Disciplined Teams" panel at this year's SXSW Interactive Festival.

10:25am CST | +

4/24/06
BEN BROWN

You love Ben Brown. You hate Ben Brown. You can never get enough of Ben Brown. Right? Get even more of the always-entertaining founder of the online dating site consumating.com via the "SXSW: Behind the Badge" video, shot by the Independent Film Channel (IFC) at this year's event. Asked to explain what happens in March in Austin, Brown reveals "the activity to do at SXSW Interactive is social networking. We are all recruiting people for our MySpace pages." Thanks, Ben, for such a flattering description. Brown appeared on the "New Startup Cultures" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.