My talk for the Harvard Club of Silicon Valley connects the dots between enthusiasts and technology innovation.

1. Watching the Alpha Geeks
Tim O’Reilly
Harvard Club of Silicon Valley
May 5, 2010

2. I’m best known as a computer book publisher

5. “Martha Stewart
for Geeks”

7. Reinventing the Faire
Low Tech Meets High Tech

8. “A wondrous thing: the gathering
of folks from all walks of life who
blend science,
technology, craft, and art to make
things goofy and grand.”
–New York Times

9. What We Really Do At O'Reilly
Change the world by spreading the
knowledge of innovators

10. O’Reilly Radar Methodology
 “The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed
yet.” - William Gibson
 We “watch the alpha geeks” and think about the
futures they are living in
 We then look for trend data that tells us that a
particular future is becoming mainstream
 I’m going to tell you some seemingly unconnected
technology stories from the front lines of innovation.
Then we’re going to connect the dots.

11. 11

12. 12

13. Just give the one finger salute and
keep going! - Col Joe Kittinger
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14. 14

15. Closer to home...
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16. 16

17. “A PC on every desk and in every home”
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18. “The PC is just a toy.”
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19. In 1998, search had largely been written
off as a business opportunity...
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20. “Organize all the world’s information”
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21. Hackers Like Big Challenges
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22. “I’m an inventor.
I became interested in
long term trends because
an invention has to make
sense in the world in
which it is finished, not
the world in which it is
started.”
-Ray Kurzweil

23. The Internet as Platform

25. “Ask yourself for a moment, what is the
operating system of a Google or Bing search?
What is the operating system of a mobile
phone call? What is the operating system of
maps and directions on your phone? What is
the operating system of a tweet?”

26. The smart phone plus local search. Today pizza, tomorrow
Pazzia, 337 3rd Street
California Pizza Kitchen, 53 3rd Street
Blondie’s Pizza. 63 Powell Street

27. An application running on a
mobile device whose user
interface is driven by sensors:
- Touch screen
- Motion and proximity sensors
- Microphone
- GPS or cell tower triangulation

30. An application that depends on
cooperating cloud data services:
- Speech recognition
- Search
- Location data

31. Another application that
depends on cooperating
cloud data services:
- Location
- Search
- Speech recognition
- Live Traffic
- Imagery

32. The Yelp Monocle
 Find cafes nearby.

36. 35

38. AMEE - the world’s energy meter

39. We’re moving to a world in which every device
generates useful data, in which every action creates
“information shadows” on the net.

48. What’s wrong with Government today

49. Vending Machine Government
Vending Machine Gov concept from Donald Kettl:
The Next Government of the United States

50. We Need to Do More Than Shake
the Vending Machine!
http://image06.webshots.com/6/2/57/50/190125750NgQXwu_ph.jpg

53. Manufacturing
Transportation
Food & Water
Renewable Energy
Learning
There’s a lot
we can do ourselves.

54. A Maker Faire
For Detroit
Foster the
engagement of
individuals and
communities in
science and
technology
innovation, the
practices of creative
arts and hands-on
education for kids of
all ages.

55. For More Information
• What is Web 2.0?
http://www.oreillynet.com/go/web2
• http://tim.oreilly.com
• http://radar.oreilly.com
• http://www.makezine.com
• http://www.oreilly.com
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