Silicon Valley Watcher - conversations and observations at the intersection of technology and media

Most of the cafes in my San Francisco neighborhood have people staring into their laptops, they are like libraries with piped music. Yet for hundreds of years cafes used to be centers of debate and interaction.

Some of the first newspapers grew out of the newsletters associated with cafes.

Today there is little conversation in cafes and when I do chat with friends or business contacts, I feel self-conscious, I feel I'm disturbing the screen focused concentration of other patrons.

It's largely because many cafes are being used as cheap office space. Our modern workforce is rapidly turning into independent "consultants" and contractors performing digital work. But cafes weren't designed for such uses.

If they are to be used as an office space why not have an area set up as a meeting room that could be rented by the hour? Or small booths for meetings? Why not have a fax and a printer available?

These days cafes seem caught in a limbo, they are neither good office spaces or good at fulfilling their traditional neighborhood roles.

But things could be changing. Some cafe owners are discouraging the laptop crowd by turning off the Wi-Fi and blocking power outlets.

Margaret Rosas pointed me to a Santa Cruz cafe whose owner has done just that and caused a local controversy.

Alan Hawrylyshen posted the owner's (Manthri Srinath) reasons for the change:

Our perspective after doing this a quarter-century, is that we operate coffeehouses with a view to creating a space for community to gather. We have only accidentally become a "WiFi cafe", by virtue of the fact that we haven't done anything to dispel the notion that we are. Now that we are doing so, it is understandable that some of our clients are surprised and upset. For this, I apologize.

Internet use results in a disconnect between the user and ones' physical surroundings, similar to watching television. No moral judgement here. I do it too. In a coffeehouse however, this results in rooms full of solitary people with no connection to the space or the people around them and has the unfortunate effect of crowding out any other sort of activity. Which of course is how we come to the misconception that we are a "WiFi cafe".

... we have also come to the realization that the use of our space, "the Commons" if you will, is something of a zero-sum proposition. We can either have rooms full of laptop users or rooms half-full of folks having a cup of coffee with a friend. Not both.

We have chosen to return to our roots as a coffeehouse where folks can come to converse with friends, read books, hold meetings and religious studies, listen to live music and generally have an experience that transcends Explorer or - if you're a bit more savvy - Firefox. We regretfully realize that this means that people who "must" have Internet access will be unable to use our space, at least for now, unless they bring in wireless cards or tethering capability. Of course, on the flip side, it's been nice to see a new clientele who want something different from a coffeehouse.

... I'm sure there are ways for us to solve everyone's connectivity issues, but this really is not our charter. There are many things we could do to make money. Selling umbrellas and offering/charging for WiFi access are two of them. We're in neither business.

We're old-style coffeehouse operators who came to this pass by accident. We were pioneers in offering WiFi when hardly anyone knew what it was, and we will be pioneers in moving beyond it. We're comfortable in that space. It's largely been why we operate the busiest cafes in town.

You can read the full post and discussion here: Geek Friendly Cafe - Santa Cruz Geeks | Google Groups

It's refreshing to see this type of thing. And its good to see a cafe owner bringing back discussion and debate to cafes, although it's ironic that the subject is his cafe. Maybe this will encourage other cafes to follow or even become more specialized.

Some cafes could focus on offering great wifi and office-like facilities. Others would be more traditional. Others more like restaurants and bars.

I can see myself working in one cafe, strolling over to another one for lunch, maybe a late-afternoon meeting with friends at another, then catching an early evening lecture or performance at another cafe.

Each one would be set up for such activities instead of each cafe trying to become a hybrid space that doesn't fully satisfy either type of customer.

Since there are so many cafes these days, creating differentiation would be a prudent survival strategy.

- - -
Please see:

Wallace Baine: Free Wi-Fi and the 'tragedy of the commons" - Santa Cruz Sentinel

This week is Burning Man week, and in many ways, this is Silicon Valley's unofficial alternative festival in that there are tremendous numbers of people from the Bay Area attending.

This is where Silicon Valley blows off steam. Yet Burning Man is far from a relaxing place. It is located in one of the most inhospitable places in the world, a huge dried out lake bed two hours drive outside Reno, Nevada.

Nothing grows here. This could be the surface of Mars. The temperatures at this time of year range from scorching hot, to teeth chattering freezing. Dust storms can leave you chocking on alkali dust and disoriented. And sudden rainstorms will leave you waddling through mud.

Yet out of this hellish place rises Black Rock City, which for about a week, it becomes one of the largest cities in Nevada. It has multi-story buildings, daily newspapers, dozens of radio stations, and an entire infrastructure of people and services.

And then it disappears leaving no trace at all.

It is born out of nothing, yet out of this emptiness sprout amazing art projects, theme camps, and so much more, more things than you can imagine.

Last year about 50,000 people took part. And "took part" is key to understanding Burning Man. Participation is expected of everyone, spectators are discouraged.

In one way it is a blank canvas similar to the Internet. You can build anything at Black Rock City as you can build anything on the Internet. The only bounds are safety, your imagination, and your resources. People will band together to create immensely intricate structures and theme camps.

No sponsors

Importantly, there is no commercial activity at all. You can buy ice and coffee at the central camp and that is all. You have to bring everything you need with you, and you have to bring everything out.

No commercial messages are allowed. There is no such thing as "This theme camp sponsored by Microsoft." The radio stations have no advertisements. People cover up the brand names on moving vans.

Being away from commercial messages for a week is quite an experience -- as soon as you leave you start noticing how many commercial messages we are bombarded with every minute--it's extraordinary how painful it becomes.

In many ways, the Burning Man culture mirrors the proto-communist, Digger-like cultures of the geek software engineering community and its celebration of open-source, sharing, and distrust of leaders.

Critics and naked hippies

The most vocal critics of Burning Man are always those people who have never been there. They are the ones that know all about Burning Man and they will tell you everything you need to know. To them it is just naked hippies taking drugs in the desert.

Sure, there is some nudity, but there's so much more. The amount of creativity that people bring to Burning Man is jaw dropping.

The vast expanse of the playa -- the empty space at the heart of Burning Man, acts as a canvas for spectacular art projects. My favorite part of the Burning Man experience is cycling across the playa and discovering new art.

Good for job hunting

There are a lot of Silicon Valley people that come here. This is a favorite place for Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. [It's one reason that Eric Schmidt got his job at Google, because he had been to Burning Man.]

It's been a few years since my last trip. I've been three times and each time it seemed so fragile as if it could easily be ruined by the next year. Yet it continues to survive and continues to change.

Its culture has spilled out into many regional festivals around the US and the world. And its message of "leave no trace" becomes ever more important as we grow to understand our fragile global environment.

If you get a chance to go please take it. You won't find anything like it anywhere.

- - -
Please see:
Burning Man: A temporary world blooms in the desert

Today's Burning Man: Anarchy? Not so much

Silicon Valley's festival of Dionysus...
- - -

Advert: It's time to get a Kindle and discover why people rave about it!

There is much discussion lately about the need to upgrade our publishing/conversational platforms to bring together all the places where our content is published, and the responses to that content -- one place where it can all be regarded and archived.

One thing is for certain, what we have right now isn't cutting it.

Om Malik wrote a thoughtful piece last week: The Evolution Blogging. After a long preamble he eventually got to his point:

...blogging platforms need to evolve from the hierarchical content-management systems of today to more fluid, free-flowing, more socially relevant and real-time lifestreaming systems.

There's been a fair amount of discussion of online anonymity lately. Paul Carr, a columnist at Telegraph.co.uk wrote that there is no place for anonymous comments on the Internet. ['Rascal! Your name!': Schopenhauer vs the Internet trolls]

I'm in no doubt that if we forced everyone who wanted to respond to a blog post or online article to use their real name, the Internet would be transformed.

Andrew Keen, also writing at Telegraph.co.uk, is also a supporter of banning anonymity and pseudonyms. [Punishing anonymity]

Not for the first (or last) time, I'm in 110% agreement with Carr. Anonymity is indeed killing our online culture and making it, in Carr's words, "a cesspool of trollery and abuse".

I have two kids, Matt, 21, and Sarah, who just turned 15. I often ask them about their online habits and those of their friends.

Matt and his friends aren't all that keen on Facebook, they are spending a lot less time there. Where are they going? It's not clear they are going anywhere else. Also, a lot of them use Youtube as a free streaming music service. Twitter hardly registers at all with this group.

Sarah and friends spend a lot of time on MySpace, which is also where they find new music. Music is one of the key draws for Sarah. Texting is a big deal in this group, much more than making cell phone calls. But texting programs are expensive unless you can get onto an all-you-can-eat plan. T-Mobile is very popular in this group.

I was at an event this evening and I met a journalist who was new to the profession. She had been in IT and now was working for a San Francisco newspaper. She asked if I had any words of advice for a new journalist.

I said welcome. But be careful it doesn't get under your skin because if it does, it will become a problem. It'll be very difficult to leave.

In many ways,  being bitten by journalism is similar to being smitten. It's similar to falling for the wrong person.

On Sand Hill Slave, Slave Girl gets her mid-year performance review . . .

In my case, partners always catch me for the review when I’m in the middle of something that has my complete and undivided attention.

Partner: I have time for that review now.

SlaveGirl: Okay, can you give me a few minutes? I’m wrapping something up...

Partner: Well, I’ve only got a few minutes-

Sensing his tone, I immediately close out my YouTube window and scamper into his office.

Continues . . .

Sand Hill Slave: Even Though I Walk Through the Valley in the Shadow of Tech, I will fear no VC...

On my ZDNet column I recently wrote about a Silicon Valley and French based startup that had contacted me on a Friday to introduce me to its new service. I noticed that there was a problem with the javascript for its widget.

They were very glad that I had spotted the bug and promised to get back to me toot suite. They did. They said their French developer team had gone home and they wouldn't be able to fix the problem until Monday.

[Please see: Where are the French code warriors when it's "Le Weekend?"]

They did fix it on Monday. But is the French way of keeping work and non-work balance right?

This startup is launching its service and its developer team is MIA - it could have been a simple fix that took just minutes instead of nearly 3 days. Potential customers/users these days won't take a second bite at the cherry -- why risk the launch? Why not insist the team be 24/7 on this important occasion?!

I'm all about the work and non-work balance thing . . . but times have changed and it is now all grouped into Life whether we like it that way or not.

But it must be said that France, despite its 37 hour week and its stalwart support of "Le Weekend" has not yet sank and vanished below the waves. So, is the US or French work place attitude the right one?

Here are some responses to my original post (I love the last one.):

[This is an excellent comment that I'm republishing as a guest post. It is in response to Twitter and Facebook In Corporations: IT Professionals Are Often The Most Reactionary To Change]

By Gary Wilson

Set the users free! Let them do their stuff and take accountability for it. When it all goes bottoms up and the branch or department go offline, then they will wise up.

Last night I asked on Facebook: "What's up with people that love to hate Twitter, Facebook but not even on it? You've got to be in it to know it/hate it."

It got some interesting replies on my public page: Facebook | Tom Foremski

Lately, I've been writing about the new laws in South Korea that impose requirements on web sites to verify the real names of users. It was an issue that hadn't been reported much by the US media until just this week. And there is lots more Korean legislation in the pipeline that is jaw dropping in its ambitions to use the Internet and mobile phone technologies to monitor Korean citizens.

For example, the government is trying to pass a bill that would give Korea's spy agency real-time monitoring of all Internet and mobile communications, and real-time access to every cell phone's GPS location data.

The government says measures like these are needed for a variety of reasons. Critics of the measures see a government hitting back in retaliation because of several embarrasing online incidents. Such as the bungled prosecution of a blogger over his economic predictions.

The Korean people have a strong culture of fighting injustice and the excesses of government. It's a culture that readily takes to the streets in demonstrations and protests. And not surprisingly, this is reflected in its online communities, where there is a sophisticated society of Internet users using their online skills to organize resistance to government policies.

To fight back, and to try to dampen the spirit of its digital opposition, the government has passed laws such as the one that requires web sites to verify the real name of any Korean citizen, before allowing them to upload files or leave comments. And it is seeking even greater powers of regulation.

These are interesting developments because they could very well be providing us with a sneak preview into our future. South Korea is several years ahead of the US in terms of how much time its population spends online and its relatively long history of access to high speed Internet services.

The Koreans are dealing with many issues that result from living in a society that lives far more in an online world than we do. It will take the US several years to catch up.  

Hopefully, the Koreans can figure out how to deal with Big Brother governments and other societal issues, before we get to the same stage.

. . .

Please see:

The Korea Times: Is Korea Turning Into Internet Police State?

"According to the draft, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the country's spy agency, gets expanded surveillance power that allows real-time interception of mobile phone and Internet communication, compared to current law that limits monitoring to fixed-line telephone calls.

All communication operators, including telephony carriers and Internet companies, will be required to operate surveillance equipment and save call recordings and log-on records of their users.

The bill also enables law enforcement authorities to collect and monitor location-based information, or Global Positioning System (GPS) records, of civilians. Considering that GPS capabilities are increasingly included in the latest mobile phones and portable Internet devices, a fast-growing number of people would be susceptible to investigators tracking their real-time movements..."

The Hankyoreh: "[Analysis] Google chooses its credibility over profit in South Korea

"Some analysts have suggested that it would be too burdensome for Google to challenge South Korea’s Internet policies because the government had promised 1.2 billion won (911,200 dollars) in research and development support, and the possibility of more through online advertising business."

Korean Presidential Office Bypasses Real Name Law - Posts Videos On Foreign YouTube

"Google managed to avoid this law by disabling uploads and comments on its Korean version of YouTube, while at the same time telling people that they could continue anonymous uploads and commentary by accessing other countries' YouTube sites.

It seems that this is the preferred method for the Presidential office of South Korea, the Cheong Wa Dae.

The Korean newspaper The Hankyoreh reports that the Presidential office, of South Korea, the Cheong Wa Dae, has been using this loophole to post PR videos of President Lee Myung-bak."

Google Tests The Limits Of Governments - Bars Korean Users From Uploading Videos And Leaving Comments

"Rachel Whetstone, vice president of Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google, offered in a statement posted on Google Korea's Website the reason why the company has refused to comply to the real-name system. In a statement titled, "Freedom of Expression on the Internet," Whetstone said, "Google thinks the freedom of expression is most important value to uphold on the internet." Whetstone continued to say, "We concluded in the end that it is impossible to provide benefits to internet users while observing this country's law because the law does not fall in line with Google's principles.""

Updated: Google Says It Is Still Examining Korea's Real-Name Verification Law

"Google wouldn't have much to lose if it stood up to the Korean government. It's YouTube business isn't profitable, so no shareholders would be hurt. It could argue that its servers aren't housed in South Korea and therefore it doesn't have to comply with the local law.It would be a bold statement and it would focus world attention on the South Korean government and its efforts to curb its citizens from using the Internet to criticize politicians. A bold stand from Google might even discourage other governments from following with similar laws."

[Hat tip Korean reporter Koo bonkwon, who works for The Hankeoreh.]

South Korea is one of the most "online" societies in the world. So it is very interesting to see how the population and the government are dealing with the issues that the Internet brings, such as the power of bloggers, and the power of anonymous commentary because these things are waiting for us in our future.

The government has attempted to deal with some very embarrassing online incidents by forcing Korean web sites to verify the real name of anyone that uploads files or leaves comments.

Google managed to avoid this law by disabling uploads and comments on its Korean version of YouTube, while at the same time telling people that they could continue anonymous uploads and commentary by accessing other countries' YouTube sites.

It seems that this is the preferred method for the Presidential office of South Korea, the Cheong Wa Dae.

The Korean newspaper The Hankyoreh reports that the Presidential office, of South Korea, the Cheong Wa Dae, has been using this loophole to post PR videos of President Lee Myung-bak.

While YouTube has restricted South Korean users from uploading video clips and posting comments on its Korean-version of its Web site since April 9, the Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House) keeps posting public relations (PR) videos of President Lee Myung-bak on the site by registering its ID as a foreign user from another country. Internet users criticize the Cheong Wa Dae of undermining the intention of its real-name system.

Cheong Wa Dae bypasses YouTube Korea's upload limitations

- - -

Please see:

Google Tests The Limits Of Governments - Bars Korean Users From Uploading Videos And Leaving Comments

YouTube User Needs Real-Name

I covered the opening of the Apple's San Francisco retail store in February, 2004. It was Apple's seventh store and its first flagship store, the first to feature a very modern design.

The building was a minimalist cube and inside were two floors of stunning decor and a centerpiece glass staircase. We were told Steve Jobs was involved in every aspect of the design, down to choosing the seats in the upstairs theater.

It was impressive, but what was more striking to me was its location: Across the street sat a huge Virgin Megastore, 6 floors of music and movies.

Megastore. It sounded so 1980s. Two floors versus six floors. It was an apt metaphor for the changing landscape in commerce.

I walked past the San Francisco Virgin Megastore yesterday and it was festooned with colorful banners. It's closing. A mega sale at the megastore. I pulled out my iPhone and snapped a picture.

- - -

Please see:

It's official: All U.S. Virgin Megastores closing down : Ben Patterson : Yahoo! Tech

It was a rainy Sunday evening but the 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco was full of people that had come out to support a project to house and digitize the the archives of Timothy Leary -- a Harvard lecturer in psychology turned counter-culture hero.

Mr Leary is best known for his enthusiasm for LSD, a drug that influenced the 1960s and much of his life. "Turn on, tune in, drop out" is his most famous maxim.

The phrase came to him in the shower one day after Marshall McLuhan suggested to Leary that he come up with "something snappy" to promote the benefits of LSD.

Joi Ito, venture capitalist and CEO of Creative Commons, was one of the speakers. Wikipedia reports:

Ito was one of Timothy Leary's so-called "God Sons" - a close non-traditional family-like relationship said to have been conceived by Leary for a few of his friends.

Some other guests Sunday evening:

Ralph Metzner (Colleague of Tim's at Harvard and co-author of "The Psychedelic Experience"), Joi Ito (Tim's Godson, CEO Creative Commons), Denis Berry (Futique Trust Trustee), RU Sirius (Collaborator, Author), John Perry Barlow (Friend of Tim, EFF Co-Founder, Grateful Dead Lyricist), Michael Horowitz (Tim's Personal Archivist), Lisa Ferguson (Grew up at Millbrook, Director of "Children of the Revolution"), Zach Leary (Tim's Stepson, Leary.com), Joey Cavella (Leary.com, Retinalogic), Chris Graves (Leary.com, Retinalogic) . . .

Brewster Kahle will also be on hand to give a little tour of the Internet Archive's recently launched Timothy Leary Video Collection: http://www.archive.org/details/Tim_Leary_Archive

The goal was to raise money to build a museum to house about 400 boxes of his archives, and enlist volunteers to help Lisa Rein digitize those materials. The event premiered the film "The Terrestials."

"The Terrestrials," Directed by filmmaker Rene Daalder, is a feature-length scifi documentary that follows 6 students of UC Santa Cruz as they digitize Tim's video archives.

Here is a brief video of the event:

Here is a CNET story by Daniel Terdiman about the Leary archives.

Timothy Leary's archives: Bridge from '60s to '90s | Geek Gestalt - CNET News

Timothy Leary Archives

Lunarr, in Portland, Oregon has launched an interesting site called Lunarr elements. It is based on the Japanese concept of 一期一会 “ichi-go ichi-e” or "one chance, one meeting." It is the central concept on which the Japanese tea ceremony is based, the idea that you interact with others as if it is the last time you will see them.

Lunarr elements displays inspirational images or quotes. The viewer is asked to quickly vote if they like it, or to "cast" it to others, or simply continue exploring the database of elements. The goal is not to think about it too much, to decide in a split second.

Users can upload their own images and quotes, and also follow other users. I recommend you try it, it's a great way to spend a few minutes and take a refreshing break from your daily tasks. And it might help provide a creative spark for whatever project you are working on.

Here is an example of an element.

[I got this note from Adrian Chan recently and I asked his permission to share it on SVW. I'm a big proponent of "turning offline," it is the only antidote to ADD and it helps me think and get some work done. I spend large blocks of time every day not checking email, facebook, twitter, sms, voicemail, etc.

Ad hoc greetings to you all, and a happy new year!

I want to apologize for missing out on communication for the past couple wks. I did something I havent done since the new millenium -- I was off the computer for 2 wks. Well, with a couple teeny tiny exceptions to download email and use google maps. I turned off my phone, hauled out a couple dozen books of philosophy and theory, and sat down for a good old-fashioned reading vacation at home.

I can tell you, it was interesting. It took a day to forget about twitter. Two days to forget about facebook. Three days to forget about Cnn.com. At three days one's ability to read without distraction really picks up, and by the end of the first wk I could sit without moving for several hours, and read 50 plus pages easily without so much as getting up to stretch.

Constant and daily use of tools like twitter definitely has consequences for the mind! I'm communication sensitive, meaning that as soon as I see a message, I begin to answer or respond or comment on it, in my mind, and so being offline was a real treat. Eliminating the phone seals the experience -- it's strange how aware one is of the possibility that somebody may call, and even turning off the phone didn't get rid of that entirely. But I'm not joking that by the end of the 2 wks I was pretty ambivalent about turning everything back on again... We're not aware of what social media do until we take them away.

On that note, I'm back now and looking forward to a productive -- and hopefully inspiring -- year with you all!

cheers,adrian

Is it TV sweeps week? Usually taunting the Apple community is a surefire way to to get a traffic spike as the faithful rush to defend their choice of computer. (Fair disclosure: I use a Mac and have had one since they first came out :-)

Here is a very funny episode of The Simpsons: "Mypods and Boomsticks," courtesy of Hulu (my apologies to my non-US readers - you would need a US proxy to view the episode.)

It is difficult to escape our day-to-day lives but it is important that we do. I love spending time in environments where people just know me as Tom rather than in my professional roles.

The geek-life is fun but it's not enough. Understanding the culture of our times is important to every business, to every startup--but you won't get it unless you go out and get it. No TechCrunch, no Giga, no Twitter, know tech-nothing--just getting out into a wider culture is important.

Here is one way to do that...

Here is an event, the 11 day Hornucopia music festival in San Francisco, a celebration of any music with horns-- that deserves support--especially the upcoming Saturday show with the Jazz Mafia Summit at the Rickshaw Stop in Hayes Valley.

Allison Lovejoy from Lovejoy Lowdown has the details . . . She interviews Sol Crawford, one of the more interesting of San Francisco's young music promoters. He is a co-partner at Amnesia, which has earned a stellar reputation as one of the best live performance rooms in the Mission district.

Click To Play

http://blip.tv/file/1218918

The Hornucopia Festival is also a non-profit effort to benefit community organizations through a free music workshop, an educational presentation on the provocative history of brass and horn music, and as a fundraiser for two worthy causes: delivering new instruments into the hands of beleaguered youth second line bands in New Orleans and raising money for a humanitarian circus that presents free shows and workshops to refugee children in Kosovo.

http://www.hornucopiafestival.org/

This is the type of job advert we will soon be seeing:

"Wanted: Chief Marketing Officer for a Web 2.0 startup based in San Francisco. Candidate must have a blog with a PageRank of at least 5 and/or at least 800 followers on Twitter and/or 1500 friends on FaceBook or LinkedIn. Competitive salary, benefits and stock options."

You can fill in the job title for various professions and fiddle with the numbers of friends/pagerank etc, but the message is clear: self-publishing through a blog, Twit-stream, or FriendFeed is going to be good for your career. And it is going to be great for getting that next job.

And you can't fake this stuff, at least, not for long. And you have to do it and keep doing it, which isn't for everyone.

Think about two equally educated candidates with similar experience but one candidate doesn't have the same social or professional footprint in the mediasphere as the other. Which one gets the job?

This is how software engineers get their jobs. This is how many other professionals will get their next jobs too.

Let me know if it's worked for you.

We visit Cybozu Labs, created by Cybozu, a very successful Japanese software company founded by Toru Takasuka, from Lunarr. Cybozu Labs tries to offer a US-like environment to incubate new ventures.

This work environment is far different from that in other Japanese companies, which one person described as "jail" with very little space per person because of the high costs of office space. This is part of Cybozu Lab's efforts to attract top talent away from the large companies.

We see presentations from Yuichi Kawasaki, from Hatena; Shimizu Ryou from Ubiquitous Entertainment; Tom Sonoda from Utagoe; and Ken Suzuki from Sargasso. We also have a discussion about the differences between markets in Japan and in the US.

One of them asks how do you take a product out of the geek community and into the consumer markets? I said that this is a problem in the US too, there are a myriad web 2 applications popular in the geek communities but are completely unknown in consumer markets. Education needs to happen buy that's a slow process.

We walk down a narrow alley and squeeze into a narrow room to meet with Mr Banganji and Mr Shimachi from a "garage" based Web 2.0 startup called Rinen. Their place seems more like a closet than a garage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TauchMpPAQ8

We hear about several projects they are working on. We also hear about their challenges, especially in finding VCs willing to invest in early stage companies.

One of their projects is called OpenTrace, a wiki-like database to calculate the carbon footprint of everything. This value could then be represented on the packaging of anything and help consumers make better decisions.

[I'm on my first trip to Japan as a guest of Lunarr - a Portland based tech start-up founded by two Japanese entrepreneurs Toru Takasuka and Hideshi Hamaguchi. On the trip with me is Marshall Kirkpatrick from Read Write Web, Bob Walsh from 47Hats, and Kristen Nicole from Mashable.]

[I'm a little behind on my Tokyo Diary because of celebrating my daughter's graduation from middle school and her 14th birthday. But here is a taste of what is still in store...]

Meetings with some of Japan's savviest young entrepreneurs . . .

It's raining. But we have umbrellas as we make our way to the Kanda Myojin shrine where many businessmen go to receive a good luck ritual blessing from the priests.

There are quite a few IT companies in the area and this shrine has a special talisman that is in the shape of a microchip.

We created the American Japanese Bloggers Association (AJBA) for the purpose of the ritual blessing and I was appointed chairman. The ritual consisted of prayers, drums, and the swishing of branches. I sit on a stool and am handed a small branch with leaves attached. I recieve it with both hands and place it on a small altar with the end pointing to the back of the shrine. I bow twice, and clap my hands twice, I bow again and sit down.

If you ask Japanese people which religion they belong to, 90 per cent say Budhist, and 90 per cent say Shinto. They combine the two. Shinto celebrates nature and it belives that there is a god in everything, a stone, a tree. In Shinto there are 8 million gods. I much prefer this form of pantheism to the monotheism of Christianity with its angry and evangelical "sky-god" as Gore Vidal terms it. [Please see the excellent: Gore Vidal Monotheism and Its Discontents]

After the tea ceremony we walked out from what seemed like a small teahouse built next to a peaceful garden into a hotel hallway. A jarring transition.

We then take a stroll through the high-end Ginza shopping district, where a square meter of land retails for about $100,000. It's one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the world.

It is late afternoon by the time we head over to the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower for a 360 degree view of Tokyo from the 54th floor. The 333m tall red Tokyo Radio Tower dominates the landscape, especially at twilight.

In the morning we meet up again with Hisashi Katsuya, from IBM Japan Venture Capital Group, and meet his colleague Tsutomu Kodama. These two will be our constant companions and guides throughout our entire trip.

They used term Deep Dive into Tokyo to describe our trip because it was designed to immerse us in the old and modern cultures, in and around, Tokyo.

This morning our first stop is the Asakusa (old town) district to visit one of the oldest temples Sensoji, built more than 1,000 years ago. At the entrance gate is a huge lantern.

[Kristen Nicole and Tsutomu Kodama in photo.]

The flight from SFO to Tokyo Narita airport is just about the right length of time: 9 to 10 hours depending on direction and how the jet stream blows. Enough time to watch a movie, eat dinner, and wake up for the snack 90 minutes from deplaning.

I had barely slept the night before because I felt like a kid again and waiting for Christmas, my first trip to Tokyo. And I didn't feel tired at all when we landed and got onto the bus for the Tokyo Dome Hotel.

After a quick shower we were in the lobby and meeting with Hisashi Katsuya, an executive with IBM Japan. Mr Katsuya is a human social network, a central connector for the Japanese VC and startup communities. He works with IBM venture capital group and is often described as the most connected person in the Japanese VC community. He knows all the startups that are worth knowing.

He is also a native of Tokyo's labyrinth of streets, and knows its narrow alleyways and hidden gems very well. He guided us past ancient temples and down narrow alleys with cobblestones, and then into a tiny restaurant that could have been someone's living room that served superb food.

Here is a quick account:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JwvvDroHYHg

More essays on Tokyo every day all this week . . .

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. . . a global festival of art on the edge.

The Biennial 01SJ arts festival opens this Wednesday evening and runs through Sunday evening. Here is a taste of what you can see, hear, and do - a video commissioned by 01SJ and created by SVW's Arts & Culture editor Lucaso, aided by Laura.

http://vimeo.com/1082764

I recently interviewed Steve Dietz, the creative director:

The goal of the festival is to change people's perception of San Jose by establishing a festival that showcases digital arts and that will one day rank alongside Sundance and Austin's South by South West festivals. "Those festivals took 20 years and we're just starting," said Steve Diez, creative director of Zero One.

"We learned a lot from the feedback in 2006. Things were spread out quite a bit so this year we have concentrated on fewer events but with much more focus. So for example, Friday night we've got lots of outdoor music events and with DJs flown in from Spain. You'll want to be on First Street on Friday. Every day there will be a focus on a specific part of San Jose."

There will also be a contribution from the Burning Man organization. "It'll be interesting to see a Burning Man installation in an urban setting," said Mr Dietz.

The annual Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert typically commissions huge art installations. Here is one, a 30 foot tall mother and child sculpture created by a friend of mine, Rebecca Kaplan and her colleagues. It was the star of the 2005 Burning Man festival. In 2007 it was shown in San Francisco on the Embarcadero, with the Bay Bridge in the background.

Zero One commissions many of its arts installations. "Our goal is to change the perception people have of San Jose by providing them with a remarkable experience through the use of technology in compelling ways."

That's not easy but that's the promise. I thought it was very good in 2006 and 2008 is looking even better.

Here is a very small taste of what you'll see at this year's 01SJ:

One exhibit is Superlight.

Steve Dietz explains:

The future will undoubtedly have a significant technological quotient. It must also have an ethical framework. The supercharged collision between innovation, the way things are now, and an irrepressible need to re-imagine what matters next is what compels the artists in Superlight.

The artists in Superlight lighten but do not make light of the seemingly intractable problems facing us. They use the tools at hand, especially contemporary technology, popular culture, and the hybrid, virtual reality that we increasingly inhabit, to aerate and illuminate. They enlighten without getting heavy. They practice levity without making fun.

Memories I'll Never Have - Brendan Lott

Self-proclaimed “instigator” Brendan Lott culls photographs from internet sharing networks and then sends jpegs to China where they are reproduced as oil paintings. According to Lott, "it all happens because everybody's got a cheap digital camera, broadband, and in most cases, too much to drink."

There is also a film festival. It includes:

SPECTROPIA: A highly imaginative interactive cinema event, a “scratchable” movie performed by video DJs playing a movie “instrument”. Toni Dove’s sci-fi hybrid, features time travel, telepathy, and elements of film noir in a drama set in England, 2099 and in New York City, 1931, following the Great Crash. Spectropia, a young woman, lives in the salvage district of an urban center of the future, a black market hub of retro object barter.

Here is one of the commissioned works:

Ryoji Ikeda’s datamatics was co-commissioned by ZERO1 | ISEA2006 with the AV Festival 06. [ver 2.0] of datamatics the new, full-length version of Ryoji Ikeda’s acclaimed audiovisual concert is being presented at YCAM.

“Ikeda has significantly developed the earlier version of this piece (premiered in March 2006), adding a newly commissioned second part. Driven by the primary principles of datamatics, but objectively deconstructing its original elements - sound, visuals and even source codes - this new work creates a kind of meta-datamatics. Ikeda employs real-time programme computations and data scanning to create an extended new sequence that is a further abstraction of the original work. The technical dynamics of the piece, such as its extremely fast frame rates and variable bit depths, continue to challenge and explore the thresholds of our perceptions.”

Here are the events:

Here is a list of exhibitions.

Here is the 01SJ Blog.

See you there!

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BTW here is a Silicon Valley Watcher taste of the 2006 festival by Lucaso:

I just got back from my first trip to Japan as a guest of Lunarr - a Portland based tech start-up founded by two leading Japanese entrepreneurs Toru Takasuka and Hideshi Hamaguchi.

It was an incredible immersion into the many traditional, modern, and futuristic cultures of Tokyo. Every moment of the trip was accounted for, leaving hardly anytime to blog, email, or Twitter - but it was worth it.

I met with top government ministry officials; I met leaders of the Japanese startup community; I met Japan's top venture capitalist (who never talks to the media); I met with "Maidols" French maid-costumed guides to Japan's many subcultures; I took part in traditional Japanese ceremonies; I ran into my former boss at the FT Paul Abrahams on a subway platform; and I was one of the founders of the American-Japanese Bloggers Association (AJBA) and became the organization's first chairman.

I have many photos, videos, and insights to share with you as part of a week long series of essays here on Silicon Valley Watcher, so please tune in daily!

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Travelling from the US with me: the incredible Marshall Kirkpatrick from Read-Write Web, the irrepressible Bob Walsh from 47hats; and the charming and talented Kristen Nicole from Mashable, and the mastermind (inspirationator) of this trip - Hideshi Hamaguchi.

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Since the lexicon is still very young on many of these new types of media technologies, I would like to suggest the use of Twitt instead of Tweet to designate a post in your Twitter stream.

For example: "Did you see my Twitt about Tweets?"

Tweet sounds too sweet. Twitt sounds more self-effacing--more apt for the Twitterati-- so that they/we aren't seen or seem to be so pretentious, n'est pas?

Yea or nay in the comments please . . . and vote with the daily use of your choice!

Craigslist is one of my district neighbors, I often see CEO Jim Buckmaster and his partner Susan Best, and of course, founder Craig Newmark. Cragslist is not only a San Francisco institution, it is one of the top ten largest web sites in the world, providing a mostly free classifieds ad service for millions of people in 567 cities.

It's an amazingly useful social service provided by a private company that happened to reluctantly acquire EBay as a minority shareholder in November 2004 when an early shareholder sold his shares to the online auction giant.

Initially Mr Newmark and Mr Buckmaster agreed to the sale because they were impressed by EBay's stated common values. They were also impressed by Ebay's founder and chairman Pierre Omidyar and his widely publicized philanthropic activities and they asked for him to be Ebay's representative on the Craigslist board believing he had " a moral compass similar to its own."

Things started falling apart very quickly as Ebay demanded more control over Craigslist and access to competitive information. The falling out between the two companies is now the subject of of two lawsuits filed against each other. Ebay has complained that Craigslist illegally reduced its minority holding and this week Craigslist complained that Ebay stole proprietary information and engaged in other nefarious activities.

On the Craigslist blog:

We filed a complaint in California today, charging eBay with unlawful and unfair competition, misappropriation of proprietary information, deceptive passing-off, business interference, false advertising, phishing attacks, free-riding, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and breaches of fiduciary duty.

We respectfully ask the Superior Court in San Francisco to enjoin this conduct and order eBay to (1) make full restitution to craigslist, (2) disgorge their related profits (3) restore to craigslist all shares of the company acquired by means of, or for the purpose of unfair competition, and (4) pay punitive damages for their malicious behavior.

The text of Craigslist's complaint makes for fascinating reading and provides an inside peak into a very private company.

Full text of the complaint

Reuters story by Eric Auchard: Craigslist sues eBay, alleges corporate spy plan