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Tim Berners-Lee audio at WWW2008

I recorded W3C President Tim Berners-Lee's press conference at this week's WWW2008 conference in Beijing.

I will write about the contents later. Click here for the audio and then click on the olive-colored play button.

Please forgive the mediocre sound quality; I record for my notes, and not primarily for broadcast. I came in a few seconds late as Berners-Lee was being introduced in alternating Chinese and English. The remainder of the press conference, including questions and answers, is in English.

Other posts from WWW2008 are here, and I'm Twittering here.

Update: I was having a glitch … Read more

WWW2008 - Snippets from William Chang of Baidu, plus some on the semantic web

Other than highlighting Baidu Chief Scientist William Chang's statement that China doesn't need Wikipedia, here is a selection from the Twitterati (including me) on his presentation, and a concurrent one on the semantic web.

web2asia: Robin Li of Baidu could not make it to his key note, Chief Scientist Dr. William Chang is taking over web2asia: facts on chinese internet: only 1/8 internet users earn usd 5000/year me: Baidu's William Chang: Only 1/8 of Chinese internet users earn $5,000/year. me: Chang: Half of Chinese users over 25, half under 25, according to … Read more

WWW2008 - Social media in 2020 to be pervasive, ambient

A panel of social media experts believe that in 2020, social media will be far more pervasive, interlinked, and location-aware than they are now. Here are my comments as published on Twitter, with some comments following. (Reverse chronological order)

David Shamma brings up what I've been wondering: What about security? Questioner answers vegetarian question by calling for show of hands. Old tech, hurrah! Marc Davis thinks in 2020, we'll have ambient data about stuff like who around us is vegetarian when we travel And David Shamma thinks it's more problematic: we need to manage different audiences. Marc … Read more

Live Blog WWW2008: Kai-Fu Lee of Google Greater China on cloud computing

I'm now sitting in the opening keynote of the 17th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW2008) here in Beijing, adjacent to the newly opened Olympic Stadium.

The first presentation is by Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google Greater China. He's talking about "cloud computing," the general term for developing ways to turn our computer lives into something not tied to any single device.

So far, he's been outlining what cloud computing is, something that he admits is not news to anyone in this room full of industry and academic researchers, and highlighting all of Google's … Read more

TechFest catch-up

There was plenty of TechFest coverage last week, but we have a couple more bits to add to the mix.

Up now are several videos from last week, including highlights of a walk-around I did with Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer.

There was a lot last week--from Micropedia, to the much-touted WorldWide Telescope to a new operating system called Singularity. To make it easier to find it all, check out this roundup of all our print and video coverage.

Also worth checking out is a video that colleague Kara Tsuboi did looking at some image-editing software … Read more

Microsoft's telescope looks beyond space

REDMOND, Wash.--One of the key things in Microsoft's new WorldWide Telescope software has nothing to do with space.

The software uses a new Microsoft "visual experience engine" to gather and stitch together images from multiple data sets as well as allow a variety of users to author their own guided tour. While space was a good area to try out the technology, principal researcher Curtis Wong notes that it's not the final frontier for the visual experience engine.

"It's a core one to start with," he said, but noted that the idea … Read more

A M*A*S*H-up at TechFest

Microsoft aimed to spice up its TechFest keynote event Tuesday by inviting actor and PBS science show host Alan Alda onstage to chat with executive Craig Mundie.

Though perhaps an odd pairing, it's not uncommon for Microsoft to have celebrities and executives mingle onstage at its events.

During the talk, Alda and Mundie talked about how computer science is moving into new areas such as biology. One topic they adressed was the notion that at some point drugs may be able to truly be tested on computer cell simulations rather than living beings.

Alda pressed Mundie on whether Microsoft … Read more

Microsoft's telescope centers on Windows

REDMOND, Wash.--When Microsoft releases its WorldWide Telescope this spring, the program will be a Windows-only download.

Much of the astronomical community, however, uses Macs and other Unix-based hardware. So, when principal developer Jonathan Fay shows off the program, he often uses a MacBook Pro. The telescope program itself, though, is running in Windows using the Mac's dual-boot Boot Camp software.

Other Mac users will have to use similar technology. The program can theoretically run using virtualization programs, such as VMware's Fusion or Parallels, but 3D applications often throw those programs for a loop.

Principal researcher Curtis Wong … Read more

Telescope is what makes Scoble cry

Is flying through outer space from the comfort of your living room enough to make you cry?

It is for former Microsoft evangelist Robert Scoble. A couple weeks back he said on his blog that a new Microsoft technology made him cry. He didn't give many details, citing a confidentiality agreement, but he provided enough there for folks to connect the dots.

My new boss, Dan Farber, correctly predicted that it was an updated version of the WorldWide Telescope program, a fact later confirmed by TechCrunch.

Microsoft researcher Curtis Wong showed an early version of the telescope software at … Read more