All packed and ready to go for the Oracle Open World conference–October 11-15, 2009. Stop by the ImageSource booth; we will be located in the South Hall in booth #200. Our representatives will be showcasing the latest in ECM solutions that will help you automate and streamline your business processes. We will feature Oracle IPM, UCM, Fujitsu scanners, and Opex. This year Oracle Open World is all about “Going Green”, and ImageSource has a way for you to see 2 shades of green–one environmental and the other, your bottom line! You won’t want to miss this chance for hands-on demonstrations and face to face meetings with our ECM Solution Specialists.   See you there!

Kim Torres
Marketing Coordinator
ImageSource, Inc.

To help planners save time and money in making an initial assessment of San Francisco as a possible meeting destination, the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau (SFCVB) and Moscone Center have unveiled a new virtual tour of Moscone Center, Northern California’s premier convention and meeting venues.  The easy-to-navigate virtual tour may be viewed on the Meeting Planners section of the SFCVB’s website at www.sfcvb.org/convention/tour.

The interactive tour provides visitors with the ability to take in 360-degree views of Moscone Center’s three major buildings, as well as navigate from one meeting room to the next, view photo galleries of different space usage, and download capacity information.

This Summer Organized Chaos Events hosted over 7,000 delegates from all over the world to convene in San Francisco for the 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

13th World Conference on Lung Cancer

Coit Tower

Gala Event Moscone Center

Gala Dinner Moscone Center

The Opening Ceremonies and the final Gala Dinner Event took place at the Moscone Center with special guest performance by Glide Memorial Church, Beach Blanket Babylon and The Beach Boys.

Beach Blanket Babylon

After a long and rather excruciating public transportation experience, I finally arrived at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco.  I was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer size of the event.  Just the solar portion of the conference was three floors, each with easily 1,000 exhibits!  There were two more similar halls dedicated to the semiconductor industry.  After wrapping my head around the situation, I started to wind through the seemingly infinite maze.  I scanned through the booths, looking for familiar names.  I had some really great conversations throughout the day–talked to a recruiter from SolarWorld who said the company is actually hiring (!!), reminisced about working in the 130 W. Union building with another Idealab company, and got a few contacts for Stion.

On the way back, someone commented on my new reusable grocery bag and immediately a conversation began from there (“What’d you think of the show?” What do you do?” Etc.).  I talked to the two gentlemen from a local solar company nearly the entire way back to San Jose (much more enjoyable train ride than the way there).

Overall it took a great deal of motivation to suffer through the long trek to the city, but I was glad that I went.  It was amazing to see so many companies with panels.  In the coming years, solar is going to boom like the iPod and everyone is going to want them.  That’s the dream at least…

Today I shot Michelle Obama, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jon Bon Jovi. Not bad, huh?

All in a day’s work.

While the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service at the Moscone Center in San Francisco may not exactly be in the Daily Cal’s scope of coverage, we made sure to get someone in. And since the media relations people gave us trouble trying to get in more than one person, I offered to write as well as shoot. (I’m still trying work out how the article is going to work with over 5000 people in attendance, making it hard to find the local angle, but I’m confident I can make it work)

Again, I found myself star-struck because of the Daily Cal. I’m not sure if the feeling will go away with time, I’m not sure if I care – it reminds me how lucky I am to have these kinds of opportunities and to hope that one day I could get paid a decent wage for it.

Just got approval and registered for VM World 2009, which is being held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.   To keep informed, I am now following VM World on Twitter , Linkedin, and Facebook.

This year at VMworld 2009, discover how virtualization is revolutionizing the next generation of computing—providing efficiency and flexibility at a time when both are critical to the future of IT.

As the only event completely dedicated to virtualization, VMworld, brought to you by VMware, is your opportunity to:

• Learn how VMware is transforming the datacenter and desktop into a flexible, reliable cloud infrastructure
• Discover the best way to introduce more efficiency, control and choice to your organization
• Connect with peers and virtualization thought leaders

I’ll be sure to blog about my discoveries there.

I probably should have learned my lesson from my laptop battery crapping out and my iPhone dropping calls on the overloaded AT&T network at Moscone in San Francisco today. But at its developers’ conference, Apple offered some tasty new products that this consumer wants to get her grubby hands on. Here are the top five things announced at WWDC that I covet:

1. A 13″ Macbook Pro laptop for $1,199. A nice compact computer with firepower? Sign me up. 2.26 GHz Core 2 duo, 160 GB hard drive, 2 GB DDR3 memory, 9400M graphics, built-in SD card slot, and, so they claim, a good battery that actually lasts. I’ll believe it when I try it, but I really want to try it.
2. I may be a longtime Mac user, but I’ve never felt inspired to spend $99 per year for MobileMe yet. One new product that’s bundled with the service rocked my world: “Find My iPhone!” It’s pretty self-explanatory, but the features are excellent. You can see on a map where your phone is located at that instant. You can send the phone an “I’m lost” message to display and make it play a sound, even if you left it in silent mode. If it was really lost or stolen, you can remote wipe all your personal information. But if you were wrong and it was just misplaced, you can restore it. And with one fell swoop, Apple cures high blood pressure everywhere! (But c’mon…do I really have to buy MobileMe?)
3. A new iPhone. This is the announcement I was dreading. I really don’t need an upgrade. I really don’t. But speed speed speed, battery life, voice control, video capture…sigh. At least I can comfort myself while I use my perfectly good iPhone that AT&T is taking its sweet time making the new phone fully functional by withholding tethering and MMS support until its network can handle it.
4. Zipcar app, coming this summer. OK, there’s no reason for me to want this. I own my own car. But how sweet is it that you can honk the horn and unlock the doors of a Zipcar using an app from your iPhone? I only hope they’ve thought the security through really, really well, because I would love to see this set an example for a world where your phone is your remote control for everything.
5. Tom Tom app. A GPS navigator is another thing I’ve never wanted to shell out for, but if this is priced reasonably in the iTunes store, I’d go for it. The app gives turn-by-turn directions via the iPhone — finally! Tom Tom is also offering a new iPhone accessory that improves the GPS, holds the phone on your dash and charges it at the same time (good thing, GPS is a monumental battery drain).

Bueno chicos, llegó la hora de la verdad. Meses y meses de especulaciones se terminan hoy, con el comienzo de la WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) que se realiza, como todos los años, en el Moscone Center de San Francisco, California, Estados Unidos. En los últimos días han estado dando vueltas por internet los más variados análisis pre-evento con todos los rumores que se espera se conviertan en realidad hoy (iPhone nuevo, avance de Snow Leopard, regreso de Steve Jobs), así que no añadiré más leña al fuego; sólo espero que el evento colme las expectativas.

Desde 1996 que Apple organiza este encuentro de desarrolladores para mostrar sus últimos avances en este sentido; además, ocupa esta plataforma para presentar lo último en software y hardware mediante las ya míticas Keynote, que se supone debiera estar comandada este año por Phil Schiller si es que no regresa Su Steveza.

Muchos sitios se encargarán de seguir el evento minuto a minuto, informando las novedades recién salidas del horno. Revisé varios, y me he decidido por promocionar la iniciativa del sitio español Mundo Mac, que ocupa la página Mundo Mac Live para informar del evento casi en vivo, según un sistema del que se pueden enterar visitando el sitio. La hora del evento coincide con las 13:00 para nosotros en Chile y a las 19:00 para la gente de Madrid, España, para que estén atentos. Me gustaría ser yo mismo el que informe las cosas a medida que ocurren, pero el poco tiempo disponible me lo impide.

Espero que el sistema de Mundo Mac funcione, y que las noticias que nos trae la WWDC 2009 sean magníficas.

Did you know that there is now a solar exhibition that is the premier event representing companies from the solar supply chain from around the world? This exhibition presents the latest technology trends and vital information for improving the solar business. The exhibits and workshops help improve the global solar supply chain, including distribution, training, policy regulation, and business issues. This is an event where deals are made.

2009 is now the second year for this premier exhibition. It will be held in San Francisco from July 13 to July 16, 2009. Last year’s event had representation from 87 countries. This year the event is expecting 400 exhibitors and over 15,000 people.

The exhibition — Intersolar North America — will be held in San Francisco at the Moscone Center. The 400 exhibitors expected include manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers, project planners, research institutes. The visitors expected include industry professionals, manufacturers and suppliers, distributors, architects and project planners, investors and analysts, utility companies, installers and integrators, government officials and policy planners. Featured services and products include:
• PV cells and modules
• Equipment
• Inverters
• Building solutions
• Solar facades and roof elements
• Solar chargers and batteries
• Planning and consultation services
• Solar project financing
• Project development
• Planning software
Accompanying the exhibition are 2 special programs and a schedule of conferences running throughout all four days. The programs include an Innovation Exchange and a Job and Career Forum. The conferences will be held next to the Moscone Center at the Intercontinental Hotel. The conference topics cover PV technology; solar thermal technology; PV equipment and manufacturing; policy analysis; performance, standardization, and installation.

Free registration to attend this conference expires today 6/5. After 6/6 the fee is $100. View the website: http://www.intersolar.us to see all the details, including exhibitors, conference workshops, and registration information.

The largest U.S. gathering of voluntary effort — the National Conference on Volunteering and Service — will take place in San Francisco in just a couple weeks. The nonprofit workshop track at the conference is among the largest, with over 100 presentations.

The National Conference on Volunteering and Service (NCVS) is the Fashion Week of the service world in the United States. It’s taking place June 22-24 (plus various pre- and post-meetings), at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

It’s a time to see old friends from across the country, to meet new people engaged in their communities in innovative ways, to catch up on trends and best practices in volunteering, nonprofit management, and national service, and to learn about new opportunities and programs that are tabling as part of the expo. (This year, Idealist.org is hosting a career center in the expo, which I wrote about in March.)

Among the countless events taking place throughout the multi-day event, the conference boasts 170 workshops — about 110 of which are part of its nonprofit track.

Topics vary widely and include

• social media for service learning
• nonprofit management
• group and family volunteering
• helping volunteers retire with dignity
• mobilizing organizational change, and
• Summer of Service strategies (featuring Shirley Sagawa, and Jean Manney — Jean is a colleague of Colleen Hammelman, a contributor to The New Service blog)
• including members and volunteers with cognitive and developmental disabilities in volunteer programs (led by colleagues of Sarah Kaplan, also contributer to this blog. See other workshops that the National Service Inclusion Project will offer.)
• And many, many more.

Attendees also come from government and business sectors. Organizers have established other workshop tracks in addition to the nonprofit track mentioned above, to help conference participants register wisely:

• Disaster
• Business
• Youth
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Higher Ed
• Philanthropy

Conference goers are urged to register for the sessions they’d like to attend — and to be courteous to others if their plans change and they decide to drop in to other sessions at the last moment— by waiting to enter and sit down if seating is limited.

Register for the conference; check out the conference blog; and follow NCVS on Twitter.

Artificial Authenticity

The first day at Google I/O, I met Trevor: intelligent, handsome and brilliant blue eyes that lit up when we made eye contact.  The connection was undeniable.  He was also a charming conversationalist, but I noticed his speech patterns and body language were a bit off.  Yes, I realize developers often poke fun at their eccentric social skills, but this was beyond anything I had seen at other tech gatherings.  Every few minutes, Trevor’s bright eyes faded mid-sentence, his head dropped forward and he went mute.  A few seconds later, Trevor recovered.  He picked his head up, his eyes filled with that mesmerizing light and he continued speaking as if there were nothing out of the ordinary about his behavior.  Narcolepsy?  No, blame it on Moscone center’s poor connection.  Trevor’s real name was not Trevor.  It was QA1, a robot and not even a 3G robot.

I returned to the conference the next day and ran into QA1 in the middle of a crowd of spectators entranced by that electric blue gaze.  I joined the crowd and noticed someone standing beside QA1 whose badge read: Trevor, CEO, Anybots.  Trevor was the man “behind the curtain” who spoke to me through QA1’s body the day before.  Speaking to Trevor was awkward, as if we had almost met before, although we had communicated only through QA1’s cameras and microphones.  The day before I was under the guise that I was speaking to a robot, and, oddly enough, I could accept that, but I could not transfer the relationship to the stranger/human being standing before me.

What does this story reveal other than the fact that I enjoy talking to anyone, robots included? It demonstrates that connection, however futuristic or traditional it may be, is obviously dependent on authenticity, but authenticity is no longer obvious. Authenticity becomes increasingly complicated as we interact in many more ways both online and in real life (“IRL”).

I compare this to meeting Andy Wang at the same conference.  I had communicated with Andy for about a month on Twitter when Andy and I met for coffee.  We had never met IRL and know very little about each other, but the conversation flowed.  We discussed careers, our favorite sushi places and Slideology.  We also discussed how meeting IRL vastly improves future online communication.  Why?  I can anchor a physical experience to the online identity of the person behind the name/handle who was once simply an avatar.  The real world interaction reinforces our trust in the person the behind profile. That person becomes more authentic, because interpersonal chemistry, body language and other characteristics contribute to that individual’s identity.  Each of us walked away with a more complete mental profile.

Nothing will ever replace human interaction IRL, no matter how rich the user experience or how far technology advances.  Accordingly, artificial intelligence will become more sophisticated and blur the line between humans and robots, but I will always know there is a man behind the curtain, and I prefer to speak directly to that man than to speak through his robotic counterpart.

Posted via email from www.LizaSperling.com

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Sun is holding its CommunityOne West conference at the Moscone Center June 1-3 in San Francisco, California.

Sounds like there will be a wide range of Solaris and Open Source topics, including virtualization, system management, cloud development, mobile development, web development, and much more.

The OpenSolaris community will be there in force, so don’t miss it!

This is one of the first conferences since Oracle announced their acquisition of Sun; it would be interesting to be plugged into the rumour mill on the floor.

Did anyone go to CommunityOne East in New York City?

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apple keynote

 Con molta cortesia, l’ufficio stampa Apple mi ha mandato una mail per avvisarmi che la Worldwide Developers Conference 2009 si terrà in quel di San Francisco lunedì 8 giugno… credevo che ci sarebbe stata la presentazione del nuovo iPhone (che in ogni caso non credo porterà rivoluzioni estetiche quanto invece strutturali), invece la mia speranza è svanita leggendo il planning dell’evento…

Image via CrunchBase

Als Mac-User weiß ich selbstverständlich, welches das bessere Betriebssystem für einen Computer ist. Und ich freue mich auch schon auf Snow Leopard. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob es schon für die WWDC von 8. bis zum 12. Juni im Moscone-Center in San Francisco bereit steht oder ob Apple nicht wieder das iPhone in den Mittelpunkt rückt. Die neue iPhone-Software 3.0 ist schließlich schon für den Sommer angekündigt. Warten wir es ab.

Abwarten hieß es aber auch am Münchner Flughafen Franz Josef Strauß am vergangenen Samstag. Die Monitore der An- und Abflüge waren ausgefallen. Eine Windows-Fehlermeldung thronte auf dem Bildschirm. Ja, ja das ist Schadenfreude. Ein Kollege war vor Ort und hat ein Foto gemacht (danke Michael). Da kann Microsoft noch so viel Werbung gegen vermeintlich teure Mac-Rechner machen. Die Realität ist der beste Beweis für die Überlegenheit.