via @edbott on Twitter and Suspect Device

It’s no wonder geeks get such a geeky reputation is a post from: The Inquisitr

Multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the distance. . . . . And, when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain was the silence. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It’s easy to be passionate about technology and the internet and its place in the world, and I make no apologies for often joining the crowd in sharing a passion for the new and shiny. But any such immersion is always taken with a grain of salt, the seeded idea that for all that I feel necessary to buzz that often many of these products are doomed to fail, the concept of mainstream acceptance replaced by one that lacks a business plan, that aims for the next Crunchmeme headline or Arrington write up and ignores the billions outside of the space.

Have we, living inside a bubble of who is first with what is shiniest lost touch with the world outside our digital frontiers, a world where MySpace became the king of social networking, and where Photobucket is the prefered choice of photohosting over the tag friendly Flickr. A world where people don’t have 300 accounts across 25 microblogging platforms, a dozen social networking sites, and god knows how many other sites we tried then forgot 5 minutes later.

Strangely, it’s why I loved Gnomedex so much. It wasn’t the typical tech conference crowd and speaker list, instead Chris challenged the audience with a rich tapestry of varied thought, from Mars, to Ignite, and the realities of the global poor through the efforts of the simply amazing Beth Kanter. Next to the Cyborg Anthropologist was a guy who made a living bringing 4chan cats to the mainstream, and a guy who spends his time dancing around the world. Certainly in depth occasionally it may have been frivolous, but it was a strong reminder that outside of the crunchmemeosphere that there are people creating, challenging, innovating, and they aren’t simply tied to the next business plan free first adopter aimed web startup.

I heard . . . . . . the great echo flap And buffet round the hills from bluff to bluff. Lord Alfred Tennyson

Every space needs its first adopters and passionates. The seed that spreads the word of value must always start somewhere. In a world dominated by corporate manipulation that the tech world has cast aside its reliance on the corrupted memes of mainstream media instead allowing a guy like Scoble to have a voice that spreads further than the newspapers of old is a positive. But it must be taken with not a grain of salt, but with an entire truckload, because in replacing one medium with another we are creating our own elites, an echo that bounces round the hills from bluff to bluff, with the rest of humanity often residing on the other side, oblivious to our rambles.

I will not pretend to offer an answer to the problem, particularly when I am sometimes a contributor to it. Keeping it real is a poor cliche, but the reality distortion medicine should be prescribed in twice daily doses from your family doctor. Rise up from your keyboards and cross the street, observe if you’re outside of the Valley the unwashed masses living without many of the things we use. See how the things they use are different, and note that while it is alright to like shiny things, the real opportunities lie outside of the cruchmemeosphere we live in.

headline credit: Alexander Pope

And more than echoes talk along the walls [Crunchmemeosphere] is a post from: The Inquisitr

I sat opposite Amber Case, a cyborg anthropologist at dinner last night. As much as I struggled to understand much of what she was saying, it none the less challenged me in ways I didn’t think possible. She spoke of dimensional space, what we can and cannot see, and asked whether the internet was the 4th dimension. Eric Rice sitting beside me said in response that he finds himself considering what is behind an object or person in seeking to understand the full picture. I’ve since tried visualizing things from the perspective of what I can’t see; I have no solid idea what the purpose of doing so is, but the lateral thinking involved may, with time, help me develop a broader sense of looking at the larger picture in any situation as opposed to what Case describes as a two dimensional view.

I cannot honestly provide a fair assessment of this wisdom having true validity, and some one else that night suggested that there was way too many drugs being taken by those at the table, a call which in the past I probably would have agreed with, and yet I know that in part by chance (I was invited to the table at the last minute) I had discovered notions that I was not previously aware of, a wisdom that was foreign to my own.

There are other stories I could use from my week in Seattle, but I purposely picked the extreme case in terms of thought as a challenge to our understanding of collective wisdom. That knowledge exists, and that we as humans continue our long march towards understanding is a given proven throughout history, but how do we better tap the collective wisdom, and what role does the internet play?

We’ve covered the echochamber of the Crunchmemeosphere previously on The Inquisitr, and yet it is only one particularly small part of the collective echo. Conferences like Gnomedex go some way in sharing wisdom that may not be as well understood or explained, and yet it is the domain of a select few with the money or foresight to attended. The age of Barcamps and Podcamps and unconferences is upon us, and yet like Gnomedex they often suffer from a collective echo imposed upon them by geography. Ross Dawson’s Future of Media Summit drew an audience in Silicon Valley and Sydney together to share and discuss media, but in reaching across continents it still did not open its doors to a broader wisdom to those without the presence, or finances to attend. We have comments on blogs, or discussion threads in video on Seesmic, but do they truly allow us to yet fully tap the collective wisdom?

The answer may not have been invented, nor even technologically feasible, but there must be a better way. Could it be the next generation of virtual spaces, technology that will allow us to fully emerge ourselves into a shared space of reality based sharing where we can collaborate no matter where we are on the globe as if we were actually there? Or is it something else machine enabled that will allow our 2.0 tech world to emerge into 3.0 or 4.0 as a movement of global enlightenment that delivers the collective wisdom as a force for good. Ask yourself that if we are all so smart today why we still have wars, or why people starve, why Armageddon is still a red button away, and we continue to look at our own problems in a narrow perspective when as Scott Maxwell noted when he showed the first picture of Earth taken from another planet, we are but a small spec in the universe.

We may not have the answers, but we can start the movement for change. Listen to opinions and voices different to your own, accept that you do not know everything, and develop your own knowledge further, leading by example. It’s a small thing, but it may be a start.

How do we tap the collective wisdom? is a post from: The Inquisitr

There is a common thread in the most part around technology, but the speakers list this year was more eclectic again. From lolcats through to the Mars Rover, with virtual rendering to the most amazing and inspiring tales of making the world a better place, Gnomedex had it all. Despite the variety, or perhaps because of it, Gnomedex worked, and people have walked away not having attended a conference, but having experienced something unique, so unique that it may have opened their minds and inspired them to greater things. One person I spoke to tonight said that the only thing that comes close is TED, which has a 2 year waiting list and starts at $9,000 a head.

In a sea of sameness, in the echo chamber of the tech community, Gnomedex teaches the world that there is a common thread of humanity and interest that binds us all. It teaches the conference world that the same old speakers and the same old topics may sell seats, but it never delivers a remarkable experience. Chris + Ponzi Pirillo, and the whole team (and a big hi to Kat) dared to be different, dared to challenge the audience instead of pander to the accepted norm, and it paid off in spades.

I wrote on my personal blog yesterday that perhaps I was drinking the kool aid, and maybe I still am, but if I ever see another enriching line up, combined with a great group of people attending I’ll be a very lucky man. It worked, and it worked better than good. As I told Beth Kanter tonight, my only challenge now is whether I can now find my path to make this world a better place.

PS: if anyone is interested in organizing an Ignite in Melbourne, drop me a line.

See also our coverage: Scott Maxwell, Boxee, Sarah Lacy + the day one Gnomedex wrap.

What Gnomedex teaches the conference world is a post from: The Inquisitr

Scott Maxwell of JPL and the driver of the Mars Rovers presented at Gnomedex this afternoon, and managed what I’m told is only the second standing ovation in the history of Gnomedex.

I haven’t checked the video for quality, but put simply space has a spokesman, and let loose on kiddies and adults alike, Maxwell could inspire an entire new generation to dream of space.

Space has a spokesman: Scott Maxwell is a post from: The Inquisitr

Boxee presented at Gnomedex this afternoon (video above) and there was hardly a person in the room who wasn’t completely wowed. For those not familiar with the product, Boxee is a media sharing platform targeted at the television, and will be available across multiple platforms (Mac/ Linux/ Windows). The focus of the product is the user interface, both visually and ease of use, and without doubt they’ve mastered both. I’m looking forward to getting into the Alpha program so I can use it myself. Also built in is social sharing and recommendations, so it’s media center 2.0 to some extent.

One small problem though: the business plan. The platform is open source to allow third party development, so they won’t be selling it. Direct sales, tie-ins with digital media providers like Amazon or doing it themselves, obvious ways to make money from something like this, no, not that either. Instead they’re pursuing what I can only describe as an affiliate/ Adsense style strategy. They called it the Firefox (Mozilla) business plan, where they get a cut of the ads shown on recommended services. Nice idea at the small scale, and it works well with Firefox because of the serious dollars involved in search advertising, but to expect a cut from providers such as Hulu from pre-rolls on video in a market where the monetization of online video is still a serious challenge…well lets just say it doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

Having said that though, I really do hope it works out for them. I can still like a product and hope it goes well even if the business plan was written by a 14 year old with a Blogspot blog who thinks Adsense is where it’s at

Boxee: Brilliant UI, shame about the business plan is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sarah Lacy on Blogging is a post from: The Inquisitr

Aside from some Wifi issues early in the day, the whole thing has run smoothly. Here’s some of the highlights and my thoughts from the day and Gnomedex videos from the better sessions.

Best announcement, worst presentation: Ma.gnolia

It’s never easy being the first speakers at any event, but delivering a walking history of online open source history and sneaking an announcement in at the end that had already appeared online doesn’t help matters. See our full coverage of Ma.gnolia Open Source via the link The success is best summed up by the first question from the audience (and remember this was an online focused audience) “what does Ma.gnolia do.” Those that cared already knew the history and issues, those that didn’t really couldn’t have cared, and the broad background stuff delivered nothing to the audience. The lesson is that if you’re on stage making an announcement, you are allowed to talk about your company and indeed you should be focusing your talk in that direction.

Ben Huh took to the stage with a hilarious walk through of the sites history, the issues they faced, and different ways they overcame issues. As much as it was fun, the message is was that sometimes you don’t get direct returns, sometimes they can’t be predicted, and you do have to innovate to drive new growth.

The internet can be used for good causes

Beth Kanter was inspirational, so good that I doubt there was anyone in the room who didn’t donate at the end of her session. The Internet can be used for good.

I’d not heard of Ignite before, but roughly its a function where people are given 5 minutes to talk about what ever they want, and by whatever that means it’s not tech related, although there is often crossover. We were read a “virtual drama”, were told that when Ron Paul’s blimp deflates we can use Michael Arrington’s ego to reinflate it (which gained loud applause), but to finish the Ignite session off, Matt Harding, aka The Dancing Man, gave us 5 minutes of how he got to where he is. At the end, half the room ended up on stage dancing with harding. The key to Ignite is the brevity: people have to talk quickly, they have to be switched on, but you get a lot of information quickly from it. It’s in the video below, and they’ve just announced an expansion into most large US cities, but I’d love to see this in Australia.

Also see Gnomedex pictures on my Flickr account.

Gnomedex Day One Wrap + Gnomedex Videos is a post from: The Inquisitr

Starting now and for two days we’ll be covering Gnomedex from Seattle. We’d stream it but (unsurprisingly) the wifi is flaky, but I’ll be on the floor for the next two days covering the best of from an event nearly universally loved by nearly anyone who has attended. The official live stream above if you’d like to tune in, and a full run down of speakers here.

Join The Inquisitr Live from Gnomedex is a post from: The Inquisitr