SOMEWHAT FRANK

2008 Web 2.0 & Technology Conference Calendar

UPDATE: Check out the full schedule and stay up to date here.

It is time to start planning your 2008 conference schedule. Last year, I pulled together a list as 2007 brought us many new conference opportunities. To make it easier to plot out your conference roadmap this year I have once again compiled a list of some of the best web 2.0, technology, design, marketing and innovation conferences and events scheduled in 2008. This list does not contain all the TECH cocktail events I will be hosting as they will be announced soon.

If you are a conference organizer interested in having Somewhat Frank as media sponsor covering your event or if I have left an event off the list please contact me as this is meant to be a living blog post.

2008 is going to be busier then ever - happy conferencing!

     

UPDATED: I have pulled together a shared Google Calendar of all the events in this list.

 

The Untold iPhone Story, Gates CES Keynote, Ways To Broadcast Yourself, Facebook Update Fatigue, The 24 Hour .com & Saving Your Eyes

Photo of the Week: I snapped this photo of my to do list earlier this week while staying at the W Hotel in Silicon Valley.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 01.13.2008

Video: Tantek Çelik On Open Web Media

Tantek Çelik, an innovation leader and long time advocate of open standards efforts like microformats, recently discussed open Web standards and data portability at an Open Media Web Meetup. Tantek  believes writing on the Web is like "writing in sand" since it all could be wiped out irretrievable when the next wave of technology standards come through. Tantek also speaks about data formats and how content data formats expires content over time. Tune in to Tantek's forward thinking perspective and analysis.

Fly Clear To Breeze Through Airport Security

With the U.S. terrorist threat level at orange airport security lines can be time consuming. If you are a frequent traveler like I am you probably are not a big fan of waiting in lines while unexperienced travelers struggle to learn the ropes. Clear, a New York-based identity verification startup founded in 2003, looks to speed up airport security checkpoints by pre-screening travelers.

CES Should Move to Chicago

CES, the largest consumer electronic trade show, is wrapping in Las Vegas and it was reported by an NBC affiliate that CES may be leaving Las Vegas! PC World also echoed this news. We thought it would be great if we could help bring CES to Chicago. Why not? Chicago is a world class city with the facilitates to host a huge event like the World Fair or Olympic games. Not to mention Chicago has lots of tech companies and hotels, restaurants and bars to accommodate the 200,o00 attendees. So TECH cocktail co-founder Eric Olson and I have decided to help initiate the ‘Bring CES to Chicago’ movement. If you are interested in supporting the cause let us know in the comments below or email us directly. Also join the Bring CES to Chicago group on Facebook.

OUTSHOUTS Makes The Music Go Round

OUTSHOUTS, a Palo Alto, California based three employee startup, takes 'making music going round' seriously. OUTSHOUTS enables anyone to act as a DJ to create and send their own mixes of your recorded voice and pre-recorded music or other content over email and text message directly to your mobile phone.

AOL's Extra Sr VP of Special Excellence?

With the Hollywood writers on strike  many of my favorite television programs have either stopped production or have had to improvise. 30 Rock where Alec Baldwin portrays a NBC executive is included in this list. A video surfaced before the holidays of another role that Alec Baldwin has recently taken on as AOL's Extra Senior Vice President of Special Excellence.

Somewhat Frank Contributes to RWW Network

I am pleased to mention that my recent Somewhat Frank health 2.0 roundup article has made its way onto the Read/Write Web Network by appearing today on the fabulous Alt Search Engine blog. In case you are new to the blogosphere, Read/Write Web, Read/Write Talk, last100 and Alt Search Engines make-up the RWW Network and have been contributing compelling content to the Web everyday for years. I am a big fan of the RWW Network and I am honored to be a special guest contributor. Thanks to Charles Knight & Richard MacManus for showcasing some Somewhat Frank content.

Give the article a read here on Alt Search Engines.

Qik Streams Live Video From Your Phone To Web

Video lifestreaming has made great strides in the past year as Justin Kan strapped a camera on his head. Robert Scoble, Sarah Meyers, Justine  Ezarik and a number of others including myself have participated in one way or another in the lifestreaming video movement leveraging tools like UStream.TV, Mogulus, Justin.TV and Blog.TV.

With CES taking place in Las Vegas this week and the unfortunate fact that I am unable to attend I am going to take full advantage of my friends lifestreaming videos to get a feel of the conference. Qik is an alpha product that has sprung onto the scene to enable users to stream live video directly from their mobile phone making the barriers of entry into lifestreaming a step closer to the everyday mobile phone user.

Social Network Advertising & 2008 Web Predictions, Online Giving Sites, Twitter Communications & Design Trends

Photo of the Week: Happy new year!! taken by Solveig with sparklers.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 01.06.2008

Video: We Are The Web

The Web has connected and empowered humans - but what does the Web look like? Today, thanks to my friend Jesse Thomas, I found Space Collective.org which is a cross-media information and entertainment channel for post-ideological, non-partisan, forward thinking terrestrials. That's a mouthful. Basically, Space Collective has created a number of videos, channels and projects devoted covering a number of space related topics. I wanted to showcase a video called" We Are The Web" which helps to visualize the Web.

What the heck is doof?

Dooflets. Doofspace. DoofPulse. Doof. What is doof? According to Wikipedia doof is a type of outdoor dance party in Australia. The Urban Dictionary defines doof as a foolish person. While I may be a fool, I am not in Australia and the doof I am referring to is actually a fun little social startpage built around casual gaming.

definr: A Simply Fast Dictionary

I am a terrible speller. So when spell check is not available I turn to Google for dictionary options to ensure I am spelling correctly. I recently found a simple and fast alternative called definr. Definr, just as it may sound, is an online dictionary.

Lemonade Stands Go Online To Make You Money

I spent many summer days as a child attempting to sell lemonade to anyone that passed by. I cannot say it was that lucrative a business and recall spending a lot of time waiting and waiting for lemonade customers. Aside from a solid suntan from my hours spent waiting I also learned that lemonade stands are all about location, location, location. Lemonade has taken the idea of the "lemonade stand" to the Web making it easy to recommend items you like on sites where you already have visitors.

Wakoopa Tracks What Software You Use

Do you ever wonder what software products you spend the most time on? I do. While there are ways to check the last time you used a software product it is not a 'walk in the park.' Wakoopa, an Amsterdam-based startup, tracks what software, games and other applications you use. Similar to how Alexa keeps track of web site metrics, Wakoopa looks to keep track of applications that you run on your PC or Mac. Wakoopa makes it easy to share your top software as well as discover new software from other Wakoopa users.