IT Conversations

Spencer Wells - The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Dr. Moira Gunn talks with Cornell professor and author, Spencer Wells, discussing the contents of his new book 'Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization' where he voices misgivings about the breakthrough to farming 10,000 years ago, spurred by climate change.

John Climaco - Determining the severity of scoliosis

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Dr. Moira Gunn talks with Axial Biotech President, John Climaco, about a new test for pre-determining the severity of the back condition scoliosis, which mostly affects young girls.

Brian Aker - A Guide to No-SQL

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Brian Aker, an open-source hacker and former Director of Architecture at MySQL AB, gives an analysis of No-SQL -- a class of non-relational data stores. Adding humor and a blunt comparison of the pros and cons of these data stores, he explains the basics of the No-SQL system and its applications.

Peter Collingridge - Enhancing the Ebook

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Describing the past, present and future of his business, Enhanced Editions, Peter Collingridge uses this platform to explain deeper issues as well: ebooks as a whole, publishing, and technology's effect on reading. He also discusses the specifics of his business and market.

Andrew Turner, Robert Greenberg, Mikel Maron, Dave Warner - RAPID FIRE: Location, Location, Location

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

In this series of short talks from the Gov 2.0 Summit, four pioneers of open geospatial data share their experiences in encouraging collaboration through data sharing. From Virtual Alabama to "Beer for Data" in Afghanistan, it's an eye-opening look at the doors which can be unlocked by open data in government.

Tim O'Reilly - State of the Internet Operating System

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Tim O'Reilly describes the state of the internet operating system. As more services and data move from computers onto the internet, there are new opportunities to create value as well as new risks for lock-in. Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook: which has the right strategy?

Jon Udell - Architectures of Context

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Beginning with a short history of his understanding the Internet, Jon Udell of Microsoft, and host of the Conversations Network's Interviews with Innovators, discusses the history of the Internet as a whole. This history is also framed within the context of context, and how cyberspace is shaping the world.

Mark Callaghan - MySQL at Facebook

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Mark Callaghan of Facebook describes some of the uses Facebook makes of MySQL and the challenges Facebook's database team has in their large-scale deployment of MySQL. Facebook has thousands of MySQL database servers, which gives them unique insights and challenges.

Brian Aker - State of Drizzle

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Beginning the lecture with a description of Drizzle, Brian Aker, an open-source hacker and former Director of Architecture at MySQL AB, continues on to fully discuss the merits of this open source database management system (DBMS). Also central to this lecture are the three key success points of Drizzle and what its creators plan to do in the future.

Matthew Ericson - Red State, Blue State: Election Maps at The New York Times

Fri, 9 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Journalists tell stories. In this Where 2.0 presentation, Matthew Ericson talks about how the New York Time's team of designers, cartographers, and developers worked as journalists to create interactive maps and charts that told stories about the 2008 presidential election.

Mark Drummond - A Conversational Approach to Search

Wed, 7 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Do you set up feeds and alerts, and jigger social sites as headline aggregators? How do you get news on your favorite topics and find out about things you didn't know you wanted to know? And how do you stay informed without showing your hand? Mark Drummond, CEO of Wowd, offers 'a discovery tool for the real-time web.' It dynamically ranks listings. Alert information stays on your machine, while its indexing happens in the cloud, promising the freshest, most relevant results.

Arianna Huffington - Publishing is Dead; Long Live Publishing!

Mon, 5 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Publishing is the main topic at hand in this lecture by Arianna Huffington, with subjects running from her online news source, the Huffington Post, to the emergence of writing as the new form of entertainment. Snippets of personal history, stories and ideas are also featured in this presentation, surrounding her central topic of the importance of self-expression.

Joe Vito - Everything That's Old is New Again

Fri, 2 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Software is reorganizing the world, according to Joe Vito in this presentation from the 2010 Kynetx Impact Conference on how technology and apps are changing the relationship between businesses and consumers. With a bit of social commentary and a few anecdotes, he explains how companies should keep up with changes in efficiency, demand, and customer preferences.

Eric Ries - Lean Startups: Doing More with Less

Thu, 1 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Eric Ries talks about the elements that allow startups to succeed, what causes them to fail, and how entrepreneurial management can effect the outcome. The idea of pivot, reasons why lean startups are better at it, and how pivot can be built upon by startup managers are discussed briefly, but in depth.

Sebastian Stadil - Cloud Computing and Business

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Sebastian Stadil discusses how Scalr assists businesses in expanding their use of cloud computing. In addition to his appearance at Gluecon he reviews both technological and economic aspects of what business have to consider. He reviews some of the more difficult aspects of cloud computing and details his company's business model as a very small organization.

Dan Simons - The Invisible Gorilla

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Dr. Moira Gunn talks with author and professor, Dan Simons, about his new book, The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us, where he and his partner, Christopher Chabris, explore the limits of human perception.

Mark Callaghan - A Future

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 CDT

The future is at hand in this lecture by Mark Callaghan, the leader of Facebook's MySQL engineering team. He discusses MySQL, the host company of the conference, and considers future trends, forks, and ideas.

Sam Lightstone - Making it Big in Software

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Sam Lightstone, author of the the book, Making it Big in Software, discusses the process of moving up from initial education through eventual job success. He talks about the importance of the mentoring process for apprentice software engineers, as well as how crucial innovation is to success.

John Podesta and James Fallows - Diplomacy 2.0: Social Media, Diplomacy, and Co-Creation of Dialogue

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 CDT

John Podesta and James Fallows discuss Gov 2.0 communication challenges for presidential candidates and administrations, and how messaging strategies and tactics affect international perceptions of America.

Sheena Iyengar - Human Decision Making

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 CDT

Dr. Moira Gunn talks about the science behind the decision making process, with noted author, Dr. Sheena Iyengar, from the pages of her new book, The Art of Choosing.