Pop!Tech

Well, the new Jetta took me from PEI to Camden in fine style (thanks to Alan and Craig for sending me to Bob, Nettie and Tom at Sherwood VW — you were right!).

You can watch Pop!Tech live via Quicktime, and also read live blogging from Robert Scoble and Dan Gillmor.

I’m typing this live from the Camden Opera House floor during the coffee break on Saturday morning, courtesy of a wireless Airport network. Conclusion: cutting the umbilical cord is way cool. You wouldn’t think it would matter that much, but iut does. It’s transportative; it changes the nature of the laptop tool into something completely different. It’s a new medium.

Conference is something of a personal odyssey for me — I’m taking a decidedly less shy approach to the whole thing, and remembering to talk to people when I would otherwise cower away in the corner. Although I suppose I am cowering as I write this. Key to this, I have discovered, is asking people to talk about themselves and their passions; people love doing this. I have my grade 13 biology teacher Judy Libman to thank for this (thanks, Judy).
More updates later in the day, cowering notwithstanding.

Comments

Dave Moses's picture
Dave Moses on October 20, 2001 - 18:13 Permalink

wireless internet is just one of those things that you don’t realise what you’re missing until you’re using it.

Johnny Rukavina's picture
Johnny Rukavina on October 20, 2001 - 19:38 Permalink

Pete: I’m watching the Saturday afternoon session of the Poptech conference and I don’t know what ‘nips and dips’ are (in reference to Palm vs. Pocket PC). Can you elaborate?

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on October 20, 2001 - 21:01 Permalink

I believe they’re talking about MIPS — millions of instructions per second. MIPS is the way hard computing iron is measured, and I believe the suggestion was that Microsoft is obsessed with shrinking a big ‘ole PC into a palm-sized package.

Johnny Rukavina's picture
Johnny Rukavina on October 20, 2001 - 23:59 Permalink

I was watching Risto Linturi speak at Poptech about our relationship with machines. In the middle of the talk, my fiance Jodi called me outside because the power windows on our Honda Accord weren’t working. I spent an hour locating and checking every fuse. In the process of doing this I dropped a fuse (the one for the airbags) somewhere into the innards of my car. On the way to Canadian Tire to replace the airbag fuse, I found a lock button on the driver’s side door for the power windows. It turns out they were locked the whole time. I missed the end of the talk.