ETech news emerges (and mind control)

Welcome to today's IT Blogwatch, in which the Emerging Technology Conference offers up more geekery. Not to mention controlling a computer with the power of your mind ...

O'Reilly's ETech bash is in full swing and bloggers are blogging. Bloggers such as Michael Calore: "Tim [O'Reilly] has just taken the stage, sporting a beard ... Filters Tim uses to figure out what to focus on: The technology is on track with a long term trend // is disruptive (therefore interesting) // uptake is accelerating // has grassroots support // inspires passion // has deeper social implications // where better information really can make a difference. Applications we rely on are not just machines -- they're cyborgs, which rely on the users who are so passionate about them ... New concept: 'Bionic software' ... Intelligence Augmentation, or IA, instead of Artificial Intelligence ... Hacking the physical world ... Integrating Net applications with non-Net apps."

» Ray Ozzie: "one of the greatest user benefits first delivered pervasively by the GUI was the radical concept of running multiple applications simultaneously and, more importantly, using them concurrently and inter-operably ... suddenly users had the power to interact in ways that bridged divergent applications. And what was the most fundamental technology enabling “mash-ups” of desktop applications? The clipboard ... So, where’s the clipboard of the web? ... The team took me up on the challenge ... using techniques that are incredibly simple, and which work securely and are browser independent ... I call this new concept Live Clipboard, because we view 'live' efforts as those providing users with seamless end-to-end scenarios that 'just work' by weaving together the best of software and the best of services ... screencast of a Live Clipboard demo, and a simple web page-based demo"

» Phillip Windley: "Seth Goldstein is talking about Root Markets: Applications for the New Attention Economy. Root is an attention exchange. Is attention about money or time? Seth jokes that he’s from New York and so he focuses on the money aspect of attention, leaving the time aspect to folks from San Francisco ... He defines 'PPA' as the promise to pay attention. Putting something on a calendar is an example of a PPA. PPAs form attention bonds. When you promise to attend an event, like your son’s soccer game, you are creating an attention bond. Failing to deliver impacts your reputation. Why is this relative to Wall Street? You can secure and trade PPAs. He makes an analogy to the commercial mortgage market. This turns mortgage payment promises into a trillion dollar market. Your attention is valuable. As an impression, it’s worth $0.001. For a click it’s $0.50. For a mortgage lead, it’s $25. An completed US Army application is worth $2000."

» Erick Schonfeld: "Last night at ETech, I ran into Brian Dear, the CEO of EVDB, which is behind Eventful, a community-powered events Website. Tomorrow he is going to launch a new feature on Eventful which will let fans request events from performers. The idea is to use the Web to aggregate demand for different kinds of events—anything from rock concerts to book readings. So someone in Omaha who really wants U2 to play there could start a campaign on Eventful, and if enough people join and demand that U2 plays there, the tour manager would probably be wise to add an Omaha date to the tour. But the beauty of this system is that it would work for smaller, more obscure bands as well, who don't even know that they have any fans in Omaha ... It would be extremely cool if this turns out to actually work."

» Marc Hedlund: "I've given this general talk a few times now -- how can the more technically minded among us move into making companies of our own? I really enjoy the talks because I really enjoy entrepreneurs; at least, I enjoy the ones who are really excited about making something fantastic through their efforts. 'Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?' Right ... being an entrepreneur is the best job I've had ... shutting down a company is unbelievably difficult ... Plan as many paths to success as possible for your company, and always have a Plan B ... Too much prudence edges away from research and into procrastination ... just start. Do whatever you can ... Make the jump into your business when you have considered the fear, and come out more excited than afraid ... Sometimes an idea catches hold of you and you find you can't put it down. Pay attention to that! ... If you keep your secrets from the market, the market will keep its secrets from you ... does everyone immediately tell you your idea is great? Run away from it ... scratch an itch you have yourself ... Give people what they need, not what they say they need ... three people can do well together, but having two founders is best ... Work only with people you like and believe in ... Build the simplest thing possible ... small budgets give big focus ... A plainspoken pitch is the surface of a very solid business ... No means maybe and yes means maybe ... The best way to get investment is not to need it."

Buffer overflow:

• Sophos: SEI-CMM Checklist for Requirements Management
• Zach Gemignani: 10 Ways Not to Build an Analytics-based Business
• Jeremy Reimer: Future laptop batteries to get boost from nanotechnology
• Nate Anderson: Intel: WiMAX cards by the end of this year
• TONT: Why is there no message for disabling the Cancel button on a wizard?
• Barry Schwartz: Amazon More a Threat to Publishers Than Google
• David Zeuthen: System-wide Lockdown and Usability
• Michael Arrington: Exclusive Screenshots: Google Calendar
• Jim Fenton: Mail Authentication as a Peephole
• Martin MC Brown: Origami or UMPC, it's all tablet to me
• Alex Scoble: The Code Room: Breaking Into Vegas
• CJ Kelly: Phishing happens at home
• Martin McKeay: Is identity theft really a problem?
• Shark Tank: Ys suggestion
• Douglas Schweitzer: Do card skimmers have your number?

And finally... Mental typewriter

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richi.co.uk.