Here are the top ten IT Conversations shows for May 2008:
- Michio Kaku - Physics of the Impossible (Rating: 3.89)
Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist and author of "Physics of the Impossible" about the improbable, and the very likely in the near future: phasers, force fields and time travel.
- Arthur Benjamin - Secrets of Mental Math (Rating: 3.62)
Mathematician, magician and lightening fast human calculator Arthur Benjamin delights and amazes the Etech crowd with some stunning numerical acrobatics. In an interactive, high energy performance, he demonstrates and explains the secrets of rapid mental calculation, providing a fascinating window into how the mind thinks. If you've been wondering how to square 73,542 in your head, be sure to listen through to the end of the show.
- Susan Blackmore - Memes (No rating yet)
Memetics is an intellectually rich but controversial field which seeks to explain how our minds and cultures are designed by natural selection acting on replicating information, just as organisms evolve by natural selection acting on genes. Sue Blackmore, one of the field's leading thinkers, skillfully unfolds the major arguments for a meme's-eye view of the world, and explores the implications for humanity. Are our brains best seen as machines invented by and for propagation of selfish memes?
- Changing Biotech - Bio-IT World Panel Session (Rating: 3.00)
Dr. Moira Gunn and David Ewing Duncan host a panel at the seventh annual Bio-IT World Conference on Changing Biotech.
- Bill Janeway, Peter Bloom - Web 2.0 and Wall Street (Rating: 3.59)
Many of the current attributes of Web 2.0 were first exposed in work done on Wall Street. Bill Janeway and Peter Blook, two Wall Street veterans, discuss some of the changes that have taken place over the last three decades in the investment banking and trading industries, like the shift from sales to use of proprietary information, the reduction of latency, and collaboration of ideas. The ideas in this discussion should give insight to anyone looking to the future of Web 2.0.
- Steve Cone - Power Lines: Words that Sell (Rating: 2.75)
Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with author Steve Cone about his new book "Power Lines," in which he writes about words that sell, grip fans and sometimes change history.
- Adam Jacob, Jesse Robbins - Automated Infrastructure (Rating: 4.27)
In his recent presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Adam Jacob talked about why a start-up needs an automated infrastructure. He covered the components necessary for any automated infrastructure to be successful and also presented use-cases. Along with Jesse Robbins, Adam joins Phil and Scott to talk about the automated infrastructure process.
- Lucas Gonze - Discovering, Sharing, and Experiencing Music (Rating: 3.18)
Lucas Gonze founded the playlist-sharing site webjay.org, and currently leads the development of the Yahoo! Media Player. He's also an amateur guitarist who records and performs 19th-century parlour music. In this wide-ranging conversation on Interviews with Innovators with Jon Udell, Gonze reflects on the ways we discover, share, and experience music in the digital age.
- Mitchell Kapor - Open Source: The End is Not in Sight! (Rating: 3.50)
The first generation of Open Source has been a wild ride unimaginable at the time it began. But Mitch Kapor, President of the Open Source Applications Foundation and chair of the Mozilla Foundation, thinks the end is not in sight and that we can influence the future of Open Source by our actions and contributions. Open Source has some great virtues that deserve to be spread through all of society, not just the computing industry.
- Wireless Innovation Panel - What will drive wireless innovation? (Rating: 3.20)
In this panel discussion from the Emerging Communications Conference, experts from wireless carriers, application developers, and entrepreneurs discuss the potential, and the obstacles to wireless innovation. They present a range of viewpoints on topics from open networks to software for handsets.
The Susan Blackmore talk from PopTech showing up is interesting given that it's three years old.
Since moving to the new ratings system and site design, we're getting a lot more ratings per show, so I'm more confident of them than I have been in the past. It's interesting that the most downloaded shows are not always the highest rated. I think that that shows the gap between expectation and satisfaction, to some extent.
