It was getting late — for me, anyway, having flown in from “back east” as they say here in Cal. But, before I faded, I managed to catch part the opening evening sessions of the Emerging Technology Conference on Monday evening. I joined it in progress, after a great dinner with fellow bloggers Steve Borsch and Marc Orchant at a place called Buster’s Longboard Bar, which was full of surfing decor and photos. I was lovin’ it. (And the shark fish tacos were excellent.) 
But I then managed to slip into Tim O’Reilly’s session called “O’Reilly Radar” and was glad I did, because he uncorked a great new definition of Web 2.0 … at least one I hadn’t heard yet.
“Web 2.0 is not over and out yet,” he said. And he went on to to describe what now distinguishes Web 2.0. This is O’Reilly’s definition:
“Systems that harness network effects to get better the more people use them.”
I think that’s a great way to freshen up what’s become a bit of a tired term for many. Thank you, Tim! He went on to touch on a few companies that ostensibly fit this definition … or are poised to, anyway: Freebase, an open/shared structured database of the world’s knowledge … personal financial management site Wesabe (O’Reilly mentioned his firm is an investor) … and a stealthy investor market intelligence company called Mint.
“Web 2.0 is moving from consumer to mainstream business,” O’Reilly said. He ended his talk with a request of the audience: “Let us know when you see people having a lot of fun with technology. We want to know.” That’s a key reason so many people turn out for this event, I’ve decided — to learn what’s new and what’s fun. I think that’s great.
Speaking of which, Tim’s talk was followed by an absolutely fabulous magician act — actually, a “mathamagician” — named Art Benjamin. To say he wowed this largely developer crowd was an understatement. The guy was amazing, had lots of willing audience participants get up on stage, and got applause like you couldn’t believe. But, he was so good, he was making my brain ache. I was fading fast. So, off to the room I went, figuring I’d naturally be up way early and could blog then without falling asleep at my Powerbook. The first day’s sessions start in an hour or so.
Update: Forgot the photo credit. It was shot by Duncan Davidson and is from his Flickr set tagged “ETech.”
I know from years past that the attendees at eTech are top notch — many leading developers, trendsetters, founders, and VCs (definitely a lot names you’d recognize). The strength of eTech, according to O’Reilly, is how it “taps into the creative spirit of all attendees, sparking provocative encounters and productive inspiration that continue long after the conference ends” — and I agree based on personal experience. In addition to the variety of sessions and extra-curricular activities, eTech has an exhibit hall featuring a focused group of about 14 exhibitors and sponsors.
So, take that Google! It previews the content of a web link without clicking on it — by studying the language, the linguistics, behind it. Pretty heavy stuff, but this team of developers has been working on perfecting this technology for years, so this is certainly no upstart. Perhaps they’re onto an application of it now that will stick, and that the powers-that-be will allow to happen. User acceptance will tell the story, of course, and that’s why reaction in the blogosphere will be big for these guys. Smartly, they’re opening the technology up via open source XML web services, I learned last week.
Okay, here’s the 30th and last post in my “DEMO 2006” category (many also tagged in other categories, as listed on the right) since I began publishing pre-conference. So, who could have done more posts than this — maybe CNet? Then again, quantity isn’t everything… 🙂 But I was honored to be on a list with many of the great 
It was non-stop buzz, business models, and blabbing about everything imaginable relating to today’s souped-up economy for technology startups (especially Internet-related ones)…a giant energy-drink slurpee lasting three days. And the people — wow! I know I met many who’ll be valuable contacts and friends for years to come. Plus I learned about some cool new services that’ll help me in my crazy, tech-challenged world…just as I know they’ll help you. 
Companies in point who presented at Demo that are taking advantage of this trend in various ways include: 
But I was fascinated by how blog-savvy so many of the companies are that launched at DEMO — and I learned a lot from them. They get the blogging model, the power of the blogging community. They spent just as much time talking up the bloggers as they did the traditional press. Blogging is even changing the model of how some tech companies launch — read: without traditional PR. My fellow blogger and conference reporter Shel Israel did 
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