Speakers in the News »

7/14/06
IRINIA SLUTSKY

Congrats to Eddie Codel and Irinia Slutsky, the creative team behind Geek Entertainment TV. Their quirky and highly-informative video blog was purchased this week by PodTech, and the two have now become full-time employees of these new owners. Writing on her blog, Slutsky explains the new chain of command: "Robert Scoble is my boss! Eddie and I are reporting to him as 'Director of Content' and we couldnt be happier. Thanks to John Furrier who emailed us the day he announced podtech funding and said 'let's work together' and we are. Let's see what we can do." Codel was part of the "How to Add Video to Your Blog" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival. Meanwhile, at the 2005 event, Slutsky interviewed BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen.

12:08pm CST | +

7/13/06
ANDY BUDD

Need a great excuse to visit the United Kingdom later this summer? Then consider attending d.Construct 2006, which is scheduled in Brighton on Friday, September 8. Organized by SXSW speaker Andy Budd, this event is "discusses how new technology is transforming the web from a document delivery system into an application platform." Scheduled 2006 speakers include SXSW alums such as Derek Featherstone, Jeremy Keith, Thomas Vander Wal and Jeffrey Veen. The event begins accepting registration fees at 10:00 am on Monday, July 18, which is important to remember, since tickets for last year's event sold out in less than half an hour. Budd, who was part of the "How to Be a Web Design Superhero" presentation at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival, also promises to launch a pre-event d.Construct podcast -- so stay tuned to their website for more information on these audio offerings.

10:18am CST | +

7/12/06
MOLLY HOLZSCHLAG

Do you feel overwhelmed when you consider your ability to change the massive problems we face in today's world? Frequent SXSW speaker Molly Holzschlag points out that changing yourself is ultimately the only real solution here. She writes: "The troubles of this entire world weigh heavily on my soul. I can’t help that; I’ve always been sensitive that way. Much of that comes from this disconnect I feel between what my core values are and how I see people, including myself, behave. So, there I was watching the news, and those tears began to fall, and I questioned aloud to an empty room 'Why, how, when will we heal?' Instantly, a voice (my own? God’s?) spoke clearly and succinctly in my head: Fix yourself. The rest will follow. If we as individuals are filled with rage, how can we as a world society not be enraged? I don’t think it’s possible. So we have to start with our own house, to borrow from a biblical metaphor. In my own deep soul searching after reaching the lowest point in my life in 20 years, it is becoming clear that the reason I need to get better as a human every day has actually very little to do with me at the end of it all. But, it has everything to do with contributing to the world’s healing. Before you think that’s profoundly egocentric, the point is that it’s not about me at all. It’s about fixing the microcosm in order to heal the macrocosm, which in turn could take care of individuals far more effectively. I believe now that we all bear this responsibility if we are to see human growth and societal advancement and not destroy ourselves, our planet and each other in the process." Holzschlag spoke on the Web Standards and Search Engines: Searching for Common Ground" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival; she also moderated the "Web Standards Project Annual Meeting" that took place at last year's event.

5:09pm CST | +

7/11/06
DAN PINK

Free Agent Nation author Dan Pink writes about the process of creativity in the July issue of Wired. His piece focuses on the research of University of Chicago Economics Professor David Galenson, who contends that there are two distinct paths to mastery of your craft. Notes Pink: "What Galenson has found is that genius – whether in art or architecture or even business – is not the sole province of 17-year-old Picassos and 22-year-old Andreessens. Instead, it comes in two very different forms, embodied by two very different types of people. 'Conceptual innovators,' as Galenson calls them, make bold, dramatic leaps in their disciplines. They do their breakthrough work when they are young. Think Edvard Munch, Herman Melville, and Orson Welles. They make the rest of us feel like also-rans. Then there’s a second character type, someone who’s just as significant but trudging by comparison. Galenson calls this group 'experimental innovators.' Geniuses like Auguste Rodin, Mark Twain, and Alfred Hitchcock proceed by a lifetime of trial and error and thus do their important work much later in their careers. Galenson maintains that this duality – conceptualists are from Mars, experimentalists are from Venus – is the core of the creative process. And it applies to virtually every field of intellectual endeavor, from painters and poets to economists." Pink was part of the 2005 SXSW Interactive Festival, where he talked about his most recent book "A Whole New Mind: Moving From the Information Age to the Conceptual Age".

12:05pm CST | +

7/10/06
MARC CANTER

Marc Canter knows what makes for an exciting panel at a technology conference. Or, more appropriately, Canter has perfected the art of falling asleep while watching boring conversations at technology conference. A recent post on his blog (which is accompanied by three photos of him enjoying mid-session naps at various events) makes light of this talent: "I have been going to technical conferences since 1980. There are good panels and bad. Boring speakers and exciting conversations. Even Gnomedex and Bloggercon had boring sessions. My body is the ultimate judge. I have been known to wake up a crowd, keep a flame burning and tell it like it is. Sleep is the ultimate statement of “what’s up”. Or not - as the case may be." Canter spoke on the "How to Develop for (Convergent) Personal Devices" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival. By all accounts, his presentation was extremely lively and upbeat -- resulting in few (if any) snores from the assembled audience.