The talk our buddy Dan Ariely gave at Poptech2009 is finally up. Watch it here, and be sure to pick up Dans books Predictably Irrational or his new book The Upside of Irrationality.

I’ve been incredibly busy helping organize the TEDxCambridge event occurring May 16th at the MIT Stata Center. The theme “How do you eat”  is based off of this year TED prize winner Jamie Oliver in regards to Food and education. If you are in Boston May 16th, apply to get an invite and let me know. We can only invite 300 attendees and registration will close soon. You can learn more on tedxcambridge.com

Also, if you are in a position to sponsor any food, funding, or gifts for the event, please contact me asap. (now! =) ).
We will have 2 break sessions followed by an evening event in eating, drinking, and idea sharing!

Lots of awesome speakers in the line up!
- Wylie Dufresne: WD 50
- Chandler Burr: Times Scent critic
- Dan Ariely: Behavioral Economist
- Richard Chisolm: Filmmaker
- John Gertsen: Mixologist
-  many more!

update: Photos on flickr, via eddric(350),Tino(40), JB (60), millie(16)

Intro to PopTech from PopTech on Vimeo.

I’m off to Poptech 2009: America Reimagined for the rest of the week. Follow their PopTech hub for live updates and I’m hoping like in previous years the live broadcast of all the speakers. It’ll be a chilly one this year, but I’ll be back with some updates, posts, and goodies like before.

update: Ah, yes, they are streaming it as usual here.

Gaming: Real air pilots race simulated pilots.
Art: Matthew Chambers sculptures. Pretty neat.
Art: The drawings of James Jean.
Tech: Storytlr.com, recompiling your feeds to make sense.
Object: A pretty cool scale with large text!
Tech: Spreednews.com, reading text fast without page turns via your pda.
Tech: DingItUp.com, be informed when a  webpage is up or down!
Science: Visualizing Invisible Magnetic Waves. Very cool!
Art: Toilet roll cutout art work by Yuken Teruya.

I’ve posted about Benjamin Zander before, but it’s always great to see him present again with a live demo for a mini master class! Zander rocks along with Rozie (Zanders inspiration)! Buy his book “The Art of Possibility“.

“Opportunity is always one sentence away.”
“Always give an A!”
“When you make a mistake, say, HOW FASCINATING!”

“The only conductor to ever lead the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Zander is a prophet of human potential and an unrivaled champion of joie de vivre. Watch as he helps unlock the boundless potential of a 15 year old cellist and teaches the entire Pop!Tech audience what it means to live in a world of possibility. “

Juan Enriquez presents a vigorous 10 point commandment plan to save the US economy for our next president during Pop!Tech 2008. Watch the video here with more info on joining to help out including a pdf of his presentation!

Buy Juan’s books here.

Copied from the current wiki here:
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS FOR THE COUNTRY AND PRESIDENT ELECT DURING THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION’S FIRST 60 DAYS:

1. We have to save the dollar (AAA rating in jeopardy)

2. We have to fundamentally and brutally restructure debt

3. All entitlements are fair game.

4. Cut back military by 2% per year for ten years

5. Cap medical costs at 18% GNP (going to be a cat fight, but we need to have it)

6. We have to triage our support for companies (don’t attempt to save dying whales)

7. The program has to be fundamentally American, meaning it must once again limit the federal government.

8. Simplify and broadly apply Sarbanes Oxley – apply it to government, apply it to hedge funds

9. We will invest in growing start up companies (which create the most jobs – this is where the economy is growing)

10. We will treat education as a varsity sport (and continue to recruit foreign PhDs)

- Chris Anderson, Editor Wired magazine
- Stephen Badylak, Regenerative Medicine
- Malcolm Gladwell, Tipping Point, Blink, New Yorker
- Van Jones, human rights and civil rights activist
- Jay Parkinson, online doctor
- Clay Shirky, all things web
- Frank Warren, Post Secret Founder
- Benjamin Zander, renaissance musician
- Imogen Heap, musician
- Erin Mckean, lexicographer
- Chris Jordan, photographer
- the unusual, suspenseful, mind blowing, amazing!!!

I’ve mentioned Chris Jordan’s work and amazing presentations throughout this year, and now he’s online for ya’ll to watch!… so go watch it here or above via TEDtalks.
Buy his amazing book Running the Numbers” here.

I mentioned Van Jones awesome speech during my PopTech adventure last year and now it’s online, or watch it above!(22 mins) He has an incredible vision, a whimsical way in delivering and connecting everyday people to his message, and is one damn smart cookie. Basically, he talks about building a green economy to lift people out of poverty, and giving green jobs over jails! Give it a definite watch and pass it around!

PopCast Video
Van Jones website.

Above is the lecture by Van Jones who is an activist in urban poverty and environmental peril…a must watch!. He’s incredibly talented, smart, funny, and great at speaking that all should learn from!

A few other videos released:
- John Legend: his music and his campaign on global poverty.
- Jessica Flannery: Kiva.org, a must do Micro Funding site.
- Chris Jordan: Photographer on consumerism
- Christian Nold:Bio Mapping/ Information Visualization
- Steven Pinker: The thinking behind conversation and language.
- Louann Brizendine: The emotional behavior of the brain, men and women.
- Daniel Pink: Insights on business and how Artists rule the future!!! (awesome for us creatives !)
- Caleb Chung: Pleo, Furby, and otehr fun inventions!

I’ll post the videos after the jump!

John Legend: his music and his campaign on global poverty.

Jessica Flannery: Kiva.org, a must do Micro Funding site.

Chris Jordan: Photographer on consumerism

Christian Nold:Bio Mapping/ Information Visualization

Steven Pinker: The thinking behind conversation and language.

Louann Brizendine: The emotional behavior of the brain, men and women.

Daniel Pink: Insights on business and how Artists rule the future!!! (awesome!)

Caleb Chung: Pleo, Furby, and otehr fun inventions!

I’ve returned from the mind-numbing inspiring PopTech Conference still a bit jittery from the collective curious minds at this year’s awesome gathering. This year’s theme “The Human Impact” was way more than I expected covering everything from politics, waste, medicine, minds, communities, art, science, music, and everything else in between. The speakers filled the opera house with passion, greatness, huge questions, and ideas that sparked the hundreds attending and thousands watching online.

PopTech also launched a new extension to their conference called the “Pop!Tech Accelerator” facilitating world changing projects starting off with “Masiluleke“which is a groundbreaking software tool for HIV/AIDS patients throughout Africa. The idea of “Accelerator” is to leverage the community of PopTech attendees with their network to create world changing projects.

As usual, I’ll point my fingers to ninja blogger Ethan Zukerman who sat in the dungeon simulcast room next to me zipping his feisty fingers onto his furious laptop for the complete detailed recap, but I’™ll post more on my experience, a bit on the speakers, lots of pictures, and my journey up to beautiful Camden Maine. I’m not sure when all the footage will be archived and available for viewing, but they’ll eventually appear on their PopCasts Streams which I’d suggest catching up to.

My recap after the jump, otherwise, Poptech 2008, a definite must go to!

Day 1, Camden, Maine.

As I did last year, I drove up with my buddy Doug from Boston, witnessing the ever changing fall foliage and gleaming in jealousy over the amazing colors cascading the roads up to Camden.

We also stopped by a harbor port with an amazing view for our yearly lobster roll PopTech initiation treats, yum!!!($15 a roll¦ 6 bites, it better be good!)

Camden Maine is a breathtaking getaway for anyone living the chaotic, information loaded, city-like conditions most attendees come from. Everything from kayaking, hiking, fishing, camping, whale watching, biking, golfing, or even walking down the calm shopping streets packed full of enthusiastic shop owners is an experience in it’s own. I actually brought my laptop, but never had a WiFi signal, so my disconnected week in Maine was stressfully stress less =). I’ll admit it was a bit odd to find people parked in front of the coffee shop after midnight punching away on their bright laptops. I said they were “geeking”, but hell, I’ve done this myself in other situations. If you come to PopTech, try to come a day early or stay a few extra days as the conference uses your days fully.

The leaves up here are awesome, shining colors of all sorts as bright as the sky above.

The first nights reception takes place at the Waterfront restaurant; where PopTech serve up all sorts of tasty treats while attendees fill up with wine and spirits and newbies mingle. It gets crowded, but it’s a great space to get to know one another and rub elbows with upcoming speakers. I came here the next night for a meal with past PopTech friends who all happen to be designers! What an awesome crew!

After the Waterfront, everyone leaps over to the nearby bar Gilberts which is filled with pool tables, darts boards, video games, and my all time favorite ping pong table! Last year I duked it off with game guru Will Wright and funny man Ze Frank, this year I got to play doubles with media moguls Jonathan Harris, John Maeda, and Jakob Trollback.. all of them were solid with their paddles!

The conference started out the very next morning. I’m in the dungeon room down below the stage, where most of the bloggers are with laptops out, food at a hands reach, fighting for wall plugs, and mingling like no one can upstairs though very focused on the good speakers.

I’m not going to dive into alllll the speakers in detail here, but I’ll mention a few. Otherwise, go to Ethans Blog Recap for full the details. Lots of the conference stage pictures by Kris Krug from the PopTech Flickr pool.

Chris Jordan- photographer
Chris visually depicts our society’s ugly addiction to consumerism through images of landfills piled high in everyday objects. Do you know what 130 million discarded phones is?…not really right. He breaks it down to days, 426,000 phones and creates a mosaic. 426,000 phones laid side to side. It really hits you how much waste there is now! He hopes his images will inspire change. A few other facts:

- 15 million sheets of paper used every 5 minutes. Scaled to a days worth, he had to compare it to the Seattle space needle, which took up a small portion in a corner of a days worth of paper used each day.

- 60,000 paper bags used every 5 seconds.

- 2 million plastics bottles consumed every 5 minutes.

- 130,000 aluminum cans used every 30 seconds.

- 1.14 million paper bags consumed in the US every hour.

For more, go to his webpage. or watch his PBS video. or his Colbert appearance below.

I had dinner with Chris a few days later. He took a huge risk. He was actually a lawyer for 10 years before taking on his passion in photography. He had $60,000 to spend in 2 years. That ran out, and then he took out his 401k (30k), and that ran out. Then he took his girlfriends 401k, and luckily before that ran out, an online gallery found him and he was off to conferences such as PopTech. I actually saw him speak at TED2007 an GEL 2007, but speaking to him in details was an absolute pleasure.

Christian Nold: Emotional Maps, visualization Information
He creates visually rich emotional maps of people in cities. Extremely interesting mapping methods. Check out his work here.

Jessica Flannery: Micro Funding
Co- Founder of Kiva.org
A must do, visit, and donate! Kiva is an awesome Program I’ve mentioned before.
Andrew Zolli points out that “for every dollar of US foreign aid, 14% makes it to its intended recipient.

A Whole New Mind:
Steven Pinker, Louanne Brizendine, Daniel Pink (in his terms, this group was pink, Pinker, Pinkest)

- Steven Pinker talks about indirect speech in understanding human behavior.
If you could pass the guacamole, that would be awesome.

- Louanne Brizendine, a Neurobiologist, explains the difference between a male and female brain. Did ya know everyone starts out with a female brain. “The fundamental point – there’s no such thing as a unisex brain, and we need to understand it to understand how humans actually work.”

- Daniel Pink: Business Writer
Analyzes the left and right brains and talks about the 21st century. “Abundance, Asia, and Automation.” The evolution of human economies, he tells us, moves from farmers to factory workers to the information age… and now to the conceptual age. It’s the big ideas that make money, and we’ve got to find ourselves new, conceptual jobs in a new economy. (Buhyahhhh!)

This session rocked!!!!



Some music by Zoe Keating. Very cool. I spoke with her at Gilberts. She actually tours with Imogen Heap… makes tons of sense. She rocks! She was actually deaf her first 5 years before getting surgery.(at least this is what I was told)

Caleb Chung
Garage Inventor, toy designer, Tinkerer.
Creator of Furby, and now the upcoming Pleo (making of video)life like dinosaur with 37 sensors, 14 motors, and 7 microcontrollers. Caleb goes through his design process, design failures, and all kinds of funny things. He’s a firecracker of enthusiasm and laughter. Caleb would be amazing to work with.

Day2

Jonathan Harris
Information visualization storyteller on emotion. He shows us his sketchbooks, how he works, and dives into his current projects which documents his adventure in Alaska where it’s -22 and his host family takes him to a rather gruesome whale slaughtering. He takes 3214 pictures and documents them through several axes allowing users to examine images by color, which can relate the color red in his bedroom to the whale’s blood. Jonathan is known for his project “We Feel Fine” which he presented at TED this past yr. He briefly went over it again.
He has some really interesting interface interaction ideas.

Dan Gilbert
(Stumbling Happiness book and Professor of psychology at Harvard)
He talks about Global Warming and why we as humans do not see or perceive the immediate need to address global warming.

Carl Honere
Slowing down. He’s not saying we have to slow down everything, but we should be able to shift gears when needed.

Robert Boroffice
The Nigerian Space Program. The title says it all. Fun personality.

Day 3

Nina Joblonski- Talks about our skin, the sense of touch, and how touch has evolved over the past 40 million years. She urges us to hug. Great lecture!

Elizabeth Streb- Choreographer.
She makes flying easy, but prefers to crash. Very engaging presentation.

Dialog about Islam

John Esposito- Islam hasn’t changed; what has changed is that it has become visible in the west.

Daoud Kuttab- In the Arab world, you can say anything you want about the Arab world, just not about your own country.

Sarah Joseph- I’ve spent half my life as a non-Muslim, half my life as a Muslim: I’m part of the “we” for both halves; things done in the name of democracy“ not in my name; things done in the name of Islam“ not in my name.

Mustafa Ceric- let us fight for the Holy Peace, not the Holy War

Vanessa German- Powerful, passionate, poetry. She gives a standing ovation performance.

Zainab Salbi- Women for women International
“15 years ago, I came to US. When I told people I came from Iraq and they stepped back from me. Now they say, ˜I’m sorry.”

Van Jones- He tells us that he’ll be offering “the powerpoint presentation Al Gore would do if he was black.” He rocks! Green Jobs for all! www.greenforall.org

Poptech 2008 is done! Applause! This years speakers were awesome! Not too much glimmer, but all the stuff that counts.

Party time at the Aviation Museum!

I had dinner with speaker and photographer Chris Jordan, photographer Kris Krug, musician Bora Yoon, performer Billy Shannon, Gus, Nikao Yang at Lexus, and a few others. Great conversations!

Billy Shannon rocks out some moves on the museum floor. He had another long demo outside in the parking lot with car lights beaming at him. Pretty cool! Check out his YouTube videos!

PopTech is over. The crew takes their last moments this year sitting front row in the opera house.

A walk on the pier where we all went sailing after last years trip… not this year though. Too many of us are driving long distance and exhausted.

Woohooo, jump jump.. Group Jumping at it’s best!

Someone’s pimping it in Camden.

Having a bit of fun with the fall trees.

My yearly stop for sushi and walk around Portland!

This years PopTech Giftbag!

I’m off to the mind-numbing idea-gathering  Pop!Tech Conference focusing on “The Human Impact” this week in beautiful Camden Maine October 17-20. If your not one of the lucky ones to attend, be sure to tune into their interactive LIVE STREAMS . Yes, I said Live and free! Otherwise, if you want some catching up to do, go through their Pop!Casts videos from previous years, go through their blog, or check out my post from lasts years fun trip

As usual, I’ll be back with goodies to post about.

The above MUST watch video is an astonishing and inspirational highlight from the 2005 conference of Jesse Sullivan & Todd Kuiken presenting the world’s first non-fictional bionic man maneuvers of his prosthetic arm using only his mind. (Don’t ignore me…watch it!)

Watch the rest of the captivating videos after the jump!


Rodrigo Y Gabriela

The Mexican acoustic guitar duo sensation Rodrigo y Gabriela put fast fingers to strings for a performance that will put you on your feet and keep you moving. There’s no better way to say it: they rock!

Brian Eno

Musician, producer and artist Brian Eno shows how simple things can give rise to complex things—in art and life. See how he uses Darwin’s ecological model of the world as a roadmap for human culture now and in the future.

Thomas Friedman

You may know Tom Friedman as a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and author, but a fashionista?! Well, sort of. Tom purports that green is the new red, white and blue, and that our currentenergy crisis is like no other.

Carolyn Porco
As leader of the Imaging Science Team on the Cassini mission to Saturn, Carolyn Porco brings to the Pop!Tech stage breathtaking images and stories of exploration and discovery that, by her own admission, make grown men cry.

Neil Gershenfeld
Twenty minutes may not really be enough time to fully understand the implications of the so-called Fab Lab, invented by the director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. But it’s a mind-blowing place to start!

Serena Koenig
Dr. Serena Koenig, director of Haiti programs for Partners in Health, isn’t afraid to ask the searing questions, especially about global inequalities in health care. With a simple philosophy—equal lives deserve equal treatment—she addresses the dilemma head-on.

Thomas Barnett
Strategist and expert on national security affairs Tom Barnett takes command and focuses in on the role of the United States in a geopolitical world of “core” and “gap” states. As you were, soldier.

Jesse Sullivan & Todd Kuiken

Don’t miss the “it” moment from Pop!Tech 2005, as the world’s first non-fictional bionic man maneuvers his prosthetic arm using only his mind. Jesse Sullivan and his doctor, Todd Kuiken, move every heart in the room with indomitable spirit and astonishing bionics.

Juan Enriquez
The stars and stripes forever? Futurist and author Juan Enriquez isn’t sure of that. He cites a long history of borders, countries and flags that have changed, and warns the United States isn’t immune.

Reggie Watts
Hop on board. Writer, composer, musician and comedian extraordinaire Reggie Watts leads a musical trip that’ll get (and keep) you movin’.

Zinhle Thabethe
Zinhle Thabethe has faced the prospect of her own death. Her personal stories about survival and family loss reflect a nation’s epidemic in a sobering and inspirational wake-up call.

Sinikithemba Choir
Prepare to be moved … “Sinikithemba” is Zulu for “give us hope” or “we give hope.” This group of HIV-positive Zulu men and women who provide support to persons with HIV/AIDS at McCord Hospital in Durban shake down the house.

Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins believes science’s ability to admit ignorance is one of its greatest strengths. On the flip side, he proposes that faith remains arrogant and all too certain of its validity without any rational set of proofs.

Martin Marty
A foremost interpreter of religion and culture says we’re missing a rest-of-world perspective about faith. Martin Marty invites a broader definition of religion as well as a closer look at its meaning for the majority of the world.

Erin McKean
Self-proclaimed word geek Erin McKean, editor-in-chief of U.S. Dictionaries for Oxford University Press, is on a mission to debunk common misconceptions and elevate the use—and cool factor—of dictionaries. And what’s this about dictionaries being “the vodka of literature”?

Kent Nichols
What does the future of entertainment look like? Ask a ninja! Entertainer, tech geek and co-creator of AskaNinja.com, Kent Nichols, delivers his rules for phenomenal success in the Participation Economy.

Chris Anderson
What happens when material things become free? Long Tail author and Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson examines new models of wealth distribution and claims we’re moving from economies of scarcity to an age of abundance.

Marianne Weems
As artistic director of the New York-based performance and media ensemble The Builders Association, Marianne Weems shows us how she puts technology at center stage to extend the boundaries of contemporary theater.

Bunker Roy
Profound respect for collective wisdom and traditional skills permeate Bunker Roy’s tale of how his Barefoot College empowers local people to improve their communities by demystifying technology and recognizing the dignity of labor.

Theo Jansen
Blending the line between art and engineering, this Dutch visual artist creates “life” in the form of “animals” that walk the beach in the Netherlands, and, to the delight of Pop!Techers, the stage and streets of Camden, Maine.

Jonathan Coulton
Code Monkey get up. Code Monkey go to job. Code Monkey have boring meeting. With boring manager Rob. Want more from singer/songwriter and Pop!Tech balladeer Jonathan Coulton? Download podcast, Monkey.

Marcia McNutt
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute director Marcia McNutt takes us on an amazing, otherworldly tour of the deep seas, the incomprehensible life still undiscovered there, and the full power and potential of our oceans.

Lester Brown
Lester Brown, preeminent environmentalist and head of the Earth Policy Institute, warns that society is too dependent on fossil fuels, and consumption habits must change to maintain a healthy social, economic and environmental balance in the world.

Homaro Cantu
Part mad scientist, part artist, chef Homaro Cantu pushes the traditional limits of known taste, texture and technique in a stunning futuristic fashion. With lab partner Ben Roche, Homaro slices and dices technology to reinvent the way people eat.

Pop!Tech 2006 was an amazing brain safari filled with big ideas, great conversations, and a gathering of curious open minded people from all disciplines and places. I’d usually post tons of pics and detailed descriptions, but other guru bloggers have done this timing favor, a very detailed textual blog by Ethan Zukerman, or a more visual dose by core77. Hopefully they’ll post all of the webcast lecture online much like TEDtalks soon. Pictured above is Rodrigo and Gabriela rockin out the house!!!

Read those blogs for the full details, and hit up Flickr for some images, otherwise, I’m going to post my experience outside of all the great lectures after the jump with a bunch of pics:

Highlights:

- Playing ping pong at the bar with Will Wright, the genius founder of the Sim’s franchise and creator of Spore!!!! I won 21-10, but I had no clue it was him till the next day when he presented. Cool guy!

- Ponging it up with guru performer Ze Frank….yup, he beat me, but it was a kick-butt game…26-28. Game on next time!

- Having some great conversations with Ed Burtynsky while talking about everything and anything! Super chill person!

- Playing with a bunch of cool materials Blaine Brownell brought over, most of them in his book transmaterials.

- Learning tons about shark feeding habits by a past Havard phd graduate.

- Hanging out with Brian Eno, well, for a bit at least.

- Drooling at Homaru Cantus presentation of mouth watering food inventions.

- Listening to Chris Anderson not talk about “the long tail”, but instead about Abundance. You can download his powerpoint slides here!

- Crusing through the ocean the on a yatch with a bunch of poptech-oids the next day to end it off!

- Meeting many great individuals with great stories, ideas, personalities, and something to share.

Here we go…less on the lectures, more on everything else.

On the drive up to Camden, my buddy Doug (Big Fresh) and I drove past this boat off the side of the road…we drove by it, laughed, then turned around to take pics…this was a sign for good times to come!

First night, I ponged it up with Ze Frank above…he kicked me good….26-28…great game!! we both wanted to stand 5 feet back, but this table was at a bar(Gilberts) with limited space and drunken random walkers abouts the space.
I actually played Will Wright before Ze, and I had no clue who he was….I was informed later that night that he was the creator of the SIMS franchise and the freaking amazing game SPORE! I beat him 21-10. So weird, I played pong against the god of digital games, but oh sooooo cool! I should make a shirt, “I ponged Will Wight”.

I played with probably 12 people that night!

The master Pong, Ze Frank!

That’s Will Wright (right)(Who I ponged with) giving his lecture with Brain Eno, father of Ambient music and super smart! The combination of the two on stage was awesome!!!

Reggie Watts rehearsing before his great performance…great entertainer..beatboxer, mixer, and comedian…and, some crazy hair!

Reggie Watts..see….crazy hair yeah!

Next night, great conversations with Ze Frank and the amazingly passionate photographer Ed Burtynsky who gave a slide show of some amazing photos he took in Chinese factories!

Blaine Brownell brought over a nice set of material for people to play with in the hallway. Most of them were from his book Transmaterial. Very knowledgeable guy.

This was a small cube with 4 sphelar cubes(solar balls) that lit up the LED when light was surrounding it, and turned off once you enclosed it in shadows. The energy absorbed can easily be stored.

Here’s a matrix of those Sphelar balls lighting up a super bright LED. This stuff rocks!

Some play with Fiber Optics…basicaly square U-shaped pieces of plastic that transfer light to another portal on the surface, hence giving this play with light as you waved your hand abouts…good stuff….but the cooler part…that’s Brian Enos hand… He had me make a small movie with his camera for his daughter to see….Whooohoo!!

Here’s the same material, with my cell phones light hitting it….understand now?…the lights hits the surface, and the natural optics bring it someh where else.

Ready to Drool!!!! Homaru Cantus rocked the house with his rustic kick-butt style cooking inventing. Had had a “This sucks! This rocks!” attitude kinda like a rock star or Biker person on the discovery channel. He showed us some 20+ dishes which were patented processes. Above pictured is a glass upside-down, getting fused with a cinnamon stick getting hit up with a laser, hence dispensing smoke. The glass collected the smoke then glass was set upside down for a customer. After several minutes, the glass is lifted upright while the smoke misted away and wine was poured in immediately to allow a smoke coating between the glass and wine…wowo!

Homaru gave out these patented flavored pieces of paper… At his restaurant, he serves this particular piece with a printed iconic pink cotton candy stamp…and guess what..ya stick it in your mouth, and Bahm!!!! pink cotton candy!!!

Chris Anderson of Wired and the Long Tail prepping for his Slide show…..Great to see an icon like him working on the floor, surfing the web, and being a super cool dude.

Road stop sign! I dunno what I’m doing.

Dinner at the Waterfront! Yuuummm, scallops!!!

After 4 days of brain charging lectures, it’s off to the aviation/transportation museum for the conferences party! I felt like flying, so, the arms went up!

James Clar displayed his well-known LED boxes!! I got to hang with him….and in fact, ran into him later during my lobster roll adventures.

Next morning, a bunch of poptech-ers went sailing on a yatch! super nice chilly weather, but great for good conversations! I think the camera clicked while I was serenading the ocean my master opera skillz.

Heading back to Boston, we stopped by this pier where they served up some incredible Lobster rolls…I’m not posting that picture cause I’m seriously drooling and smiling at the same time.

A short stop in Portland….hmm….a 2nd lunch, yup!!! Some awesome Sushi!

Simply amazing and breahtaking!!! Incredibly unique vibrant sound with a pop! A Latin percussive acoustic guitar duo with a thrash metal Influence!

I heard them live at Poptech2006. Hit up their website here or here, their myspace page, listen to them on YouTube here, or select videos here, then buy their CD here!

update: Another amazing performance of the duo on the Letterman Show. Also a nice video tutorial on their magical sound!

I’m zippin off to the PopTech Conference in Camden Maine for an amazing idea gathering. I’ve heard it’s very comparable to GEL or TED and based on the line-up of speakers, I can see why. If you think your missing out…not at all because all the freakin speakers will be webcast LIVE here!!!

Here’s a partial list of speakers that I’m familiar with though the unknowns are the ones that usually captivate me:

- Chris Anderson: Long Tail, Editor and Chief of Wired Magazine.
- Stewart Brand: Long Now Foundation and Global Business Network.
- Blaine Brownell: Architect, sustainable building advisor, and materials researcher.
- Homaro Cantu: Chef, Scientist, Artist.
- Richard Dawkins: The world’s most influential thinker on evolutionary biology
- Brian Eno: musical legend, innovator, visual artist, and pop icon.
- Juan Enriquez: Futurist, author of As the Future Catches You
and The Untied States of America.
- Ze Frank: This dudes amazzzingly funny.
- Kevin Kelly: Technology Visionary. Has a great blog as well.
- Bruce Streling: Futurist, science fiction author, jounalist and critic.
- Craig Venter: Dedicated to human genomic research.
- Will Wright: Creative force behind the groundbreaking Sims franchises and Spore!!.

To make up for the week, some goodies:
- spider on a bill.
- Real money is magnetic!
- Interesting discussion about Emotional Design and Cultures.
- Jumpcut- online video editor(Yahoo bought recently)
- Chris Angel: levitation trick revealed!