Most conferences I’ve been to have one keynote for the entire conference, maybe one keynote per day.  This conference had a bunch of keynotes all in one big block – every day!  On the official Day 1 of the conference, April 1st, they had the keynotes in the evening after the sessions and before the cocktail reception, sponsored by Palm. The other days the keynotes were in the morning. I made it to the keynotes on the 2nd, but not on the 3rd, so those notes are coming tomorrow. Without further ado, here is a recap of some random notes I took during the first day’s keynote sessions.

Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly Media: O’Reilly Radar

• Google figured out how to extract additional data.
• Able to extract meaning.
• Starting to see coordination of electronic sensors.
• A meaningful names pace is a very powerful tool.
• Meaning doesn’t have to be formalized.
• The energy signature of major appliances are so unique you can identify the make/model by the energy surge.
• We’re getting beyond the point where the web is just fun and it’s starting to work.
• Web 2.0 + World = Web Squared
• History is on a different course because of someone being able to understand how to apply technology (President Obama).
• The Power of Less
• Take what we’ve learned with the consumer internet and apply it to hard problems.
• Build a simple system – let it evolve.
• Create more value than you capture.
• Continue to create, invent, and make value.

John Maeda, Rhode Island School of Design: “Open Source Administration”

• Developed the laws of simplicity.
• Forever Stamp the perfect example of simplicity of design.
• Technology makes things happen at light speed.
• The pendulum swung towards tech and now it’s swinging back to humanity.
• RISD is a traditional art and design school.
• Perfect symbol for American innovation.
• Used to have a hierarchy of leadership tree, turning into a network that you can talk to anyone in.
• Creative Leadership:
  • Leading Creatively – example Steve Jobs
  • Google creative leadership

Stephen Elop,  Microsoft Business Division: A Conversation with Stephen Elop

• People are bringing in different perspectives.
• Has the benefit of learning from other areas of the business.
• Taking on the cloud: Microsoft working to combine offline.
• Will there be MS Office apps for the iPhone? Keep watching!
• Beta code for Office online soon (maybe next year).
• Software plus services.
• Sharepoint is the fastest growing product in the history of Microsoft.
• If they redo any interface, half a billion people use the products and would have to re-learn the software.
• OneNote is like Word on crack.
• Microblogging – will Microsoft get into that? They’re experimenting with it and blogs.
• There’s a joke that Microsoft is the evil empire, so Stephen gave Tim a “I am the Empire” shirt people around the MS campus have been wearing lately.

Amanda Koster, SalaamGarage: Imagine What You Can Do

• Telling stories that will make a difference in people’s lives.
• She told the story of a little girl and what it’s like to go on a SalaamGarage.com trip.
• Tell someone’s story through you, through your social media.
• Use your influence to educate to make a difference.
• It’s all for amateurs; not for professional photographers.
• They’ve used ReveNews
• It’s not a broad message, it’s one little girl, that you met, whose story you can share.

Michael Abbott, Palm, Inc.: High Order Bit

• New Palms run on a web OS
• Cards – multiple apps running at once.
• Palm Synergy – bring the data together in a single place.
• Notifications – notice manager.
• Web OS platform built with HTML, Java, and CSS.
• Doesn’t require a server to run.

Tim O’Reilly had very engaging and interesting things to say, and I loved listening to John Maeda’s presentation.  Stephen Elop seemed to be on the defensive a little during the Q&A portion of their conversation, and what he said kind of ran on a little and I tuned out unintentionally.  I appreciated Amanda’s passion and I really like what they’re doing at SalaamGarage, but towards the end it did sound like a Save the Children commercial.  Finally, since I have a Blackberry that I love I kind of tuned out Michael’s commercial for the new Palm Pre, but it DID sound like a pretty handy little PDA.

I’m glad that they made the video of John Maeda available and I wish they’d have made the video of Amanda Koster available too, because they were both good speakers.

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