heathervescent

Tracking Vectors

An astute observation about launching innovative technology from last month's NYTimes article on the ipad. When launching a product, innovative technology or novel concept, timing isn't everything; but it can be the difference between you personally having success with that technology - and someone else with different (later) timing. Its one of the things that feels so unfair in new technology: that the earliest adopters, the earliest users, evangelists and sometimes even the original creators & inventors do not get the monetary or fame that goes along with the breaking innovation.

Timing is essential to make such big steps ahead. Carver Mead, a leading computer scientist at the California Institute of Technology, once said, “Listen to the technology; find out what it’s telling you.”

Mr. Jobs is undeniably a gifted marketer and showman, but he is also a skilled listener to the technology. He calls this “tracking vectors in technology over time,” to judge when an intriguing innovation is ready for the marketplace. Technical progress, affordable pricing and consumer demand all must jell to produce a blockbuster product.

This is something I have watched happen many times, and it is a well known phenomenon in some VC funding and technology circles. It's the difference between financial success (and the ability to fund later innovative ventures) and (for me) feelings of failing the technology. (In the end though, the technology will make it to the mainstream, through a meandering and strange path, possibly obscure.)

As I work on my Masters in Technology/Future Forecasting, these trends are something I am watching like a hawk. I want to understand and predict/forecast when society is primed and the time is right for launching these technologies. I know these answers in my gut, but gut is not empirical evidence.

Ignite Returns to Los Angeles: March 1

IgniteLA is back in LA after a short hiatus. I helped launch Ignite in Los Angeles last year with Dan Gould, the local wrangler, Brady Forrest from O'Reilly and Matt Forrest, (yes they are related) at Social Animal.

Starting Monday, March 1st, we in Los Angeles are kicking off Global Ignite week. That means cities across the world will host local Ignites. We have a great lineup of speakers here in Los Angeles. But first, the details:

• Monday March, 1st, starts at 7pm until 9pm
• Location: Cinespace in Hollywood (1st 50 folks who registered (and show up first) get free valet), 6356 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028 (map)
• Tickets are Free, but please register.
• On Twitter: @ignite2la
  
• Ignite LA Facebook Group
  

And now, our wonderful speakers (in no particular order):

• Karen North, USC, Social Media
• Eric Gradman: Through the Cloudmirror
• Adam Sadowsky: OK Go & the Grand Machine
• Mike Flynn: Something really cool
• Chad Catacchio: How Crisis Commons is Helping Haiti & Chile
• Sasha Chock: Something really neat
• Kasey McMahon: Breaking the Mold: Pattern Recognition, Art and Nanobot Housecleaning Services
  
• Lisa Remmington: Social action through film
• Sekou Andrews: Spoken Word
• Dena Plotkin: Working with difficult people
• Kurt Daradics: Something cyborgy
• Jenny Funkmeyer: Remote Viewing
• Chris Spurgeon: Mapping India: A True Tale of Balls-out 18th Century Science. With Tigers.
  

Note: If you are any of the above speakers, contact me to add your bio and link to your site.

Ignite2LA is organized by Dan Gould (@dgould), Michael Liskin (@rhetor), moi, Heathervescent  (@Heathervescent), and Matt Forrest.

It is co-sponsored by USC's Annenberg Program on Online Communities (@APOCusc) and Social Animal who are graciously managing production--and will put the talks on the YouTube.

Ignite was started by Brady Forrest at O'Reilly. This event is part of Global Ignite Week, March 1-5. As part of Global Ignite Week, there will be Ignite events on six continents in 60 Cities with 600 Talks, encompassing 10,000+ Igniters.

Black n White Tights

Black n White Tights
Originally uploaded by heathervescent

Another pair of my current fav tights.

Classic

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Originally uploaded by Marino

That's moi, wearing Travis' classic wool-mink coat with two guys who totally inspire me.

Tights

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Originally uploaded by Marino

I'm king of into crazy tights these days.

Suicide Girls Radio

I'm spending a little studio time with the Suicide Girls Radio team tonight and joining them on their show about Social Media and the Internet Premier of We Live In Public (you might remember this as one of the films I was obsessed with last year).

I'm bringing some of my favorite mash-ups to play along with my radio wit and social media delight.

Be sure to tune in on Indie 103 Internet Radio! And if you missed it, grab the podcast here!

What does the World Want?

Do you know what the world wants?

How about the earth?

How about the United States? What are our goals as a nation?

I've been thinking about these things since I started my first grad class, World Futures. People have so many assumptions about what they think is right or correct or the way to do things. Today I read an article about biofuels that posited that increased focus on biofuels would increase poverty and hunger.

The only reason global warming is a problem is because it might be a problem for humans. It might make the earth not optimal for the human race (and possibly a bunch of other animals). But in the scheme of the universe, does this really matter?  I mean, what does the earth want?

Let's assume that the earth wants life on and around it. If that's that case, then it really doesn't matter in the long run whether or not an animal (human, plants, etc) is extinct now or later. Everything dies. The human race will cease to exist at some point in the future. Life will continue. But what kind of life does the earth want? What kind of intelligent life (if any)?

I often think about pollution and destruction of the environment in the same frame of mind as ingesting drugs or other "poisonous" items. To much drugs of any kind can often kill you, or do irreversible damage. That sucks for the person who damaged themself, but if they survive, they will still live, still have experiences, life. Life wins. If they kill themselves by drug usage, well then, their life transforms and lives on another way - sometimes that energy lives on in their stories.

Recently I have become obsessed with economics and have started reading copious quantities of financial reports and documentation. I started wondering, what is the goal of our nation - the United States. And I sadly could not identify any goal. It made me think that perhaps our past goals (set by our founding fathers) have been achieved, and we are in the state of confusion, waffling, figuring out where to go and what to do next. We've gotten our priorities confused, gotten bit by the hierarchy bug, forgotten our values, taken drugs.

This makes me very sad. And I wonder, is it possible (yes, of course the possibility it there, but how high the probability is it) for a country, a nation, to have goals?

And if a nation can, what about a world?

Tech Crunch and Women's Entrepreneurs

TechCrunch_WomenEntrep_Ling
Originally uploaded by heathervescent

It's not a new lament - where are the women leaders in technology companies? It is a problem - and it's certainly not helping serving up half naked women in lingerie ads on the same page.

Great Job Tech Crunch.