Reflecting on Tony Hsieh's Death

I've been disconnected from my old world for awhile now...the one where my identity revolved around being "a connector" among and amidst technology entrepreneurs. It was the world of start-ups, the world of venture capital, the world of creators and engineers and a world predominantly led by men. It was a world where I never truly felt like I belonged, despite having many positive experiences and magical moments along the way. I always felt like a circle that didn't fit into the square or a triangle that didn't fit into the circle, deeply yearning to create a community for other misfits, a bit like the infamous Island of Misfit Toys that Yukon Cornelius, Hermey the Elf and Rudolph fell upon in the Arctic tundra. It was in this world of hardware, software, apps and IoT that I had the opportunity to not just meet Tony Hsieh, whose death came with great sadness, but also hang out with on occasion. I hadn't realized that he stepped down as CEO of Zappos in August after 21 years, not until I read of his death, which just so happened to be on my birthday. 

Credit: Renee Blodgett[/caption] Death is such a heavy word for most of us and there's no doubt, I felt a deep sense of sadness both in my  heart and gut when I first learned of the news, a very common reaction when we experience the loss of someone we once knew. Yet, in my new world which is predominantly led by Consciousness and Spirit, I know that his 'death' isn't really 'death' at all -- it is a mere shedding of his shell -- aka the mask and costume -- he chose to wear for yet another physical experience. Those still embedded in scientific materialism may see this as perhaps a 'religious statement' however it couldn't be further from my meaning. As folks like Bruce Lipton, Dr. Joe Dispenza, Gregg Braden, Mark Gober and countless others have written about, we are now aware that the bridge that has always separated science and spirituality is getting closer and closer every day. We know that powerful healing and elevated states of awareness can happen through meditation. Evidence points to the notion that consciousness exists outside the physical brain, almost like data stored in the cloud, to take an analogy from the world of technology. Knowing that Tony's Soul and his Consciousness lives on, why shed a tear of sadness? It is because within this physical plane of existence, we grieve the loss of a 'being' who came here to bring light, joy and happiness, the latter of which was even in the title of a book he authored: Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose.

Despite this innate knowing, we realize we can never look into the person's eyes again, not in their latest physical manifestation anyway. Nor can we hold their hands, hear their laugh or share a cup of coffee. And so, there was a jolt to my physical system when I heard the news despite that innate realization that his Soul lives on and becomes reconnected to universal consciousness so to speak. "It" becomes part of the aether, part of the Void, part of the All That Is and part of the Cosmic soup. As a misfit himself, I always felt that he somehow knew this and is one of the reasons he didn't project some of the traditional fears that so many others plug into, at least not in any of my direct experiences with him. I can't recall the exact moment I first met Tony but I think it was in 2007 in Austin -- long before his  'Happiness' book hit the market. By the time the book was released, I had already experienced many special "Tony moments" including a Zappos tour to better understand his vision of what customer experience, loyalty and appreciation should look like.

At Zappos Above and below: great memories at Zappos. Credit: Renee Blodgett Above and below: fun and creative energy at Zappos. Credit: Renee Blodgett Above and below, fun times at Zappos Creativity throughout the workplace at Zappos. Credit: Renee Blodgett Tony also invited me to their holiday parties, and on one such event, a pair of shoes was waiting for me upon arrival that was a perfect match for the 1920's flapper outfit I chose to wear that evening.  Renee Blodgett, Shore Slocum and Jeni Holt at Zappos Holiday Party. Credit: Renee Blodgett

 

Then there were interactions at Austin's annual SXSW, which was all about parties -- thrown by individuals and vendors -- and they went on for days. They weren't the kinds of parties we attended during the "heyday" of Comdex and CES that ended around 11 pm -- SXSW parties would carry on throughout the night -- every night -- for a week, and often we'd end up at some all night joint for pancakes at around 5 am. Those who were part of this eco-chamber well remember SXSW and it's "magic moments."

 

It was SXSW 2007 that Evan Williams set me up with my Twitter account directly on my phone in one of those long corridors well before the Twitter frenzy hit, Robert Scoble looking on with a beaming smile to demonstrate how 'cool he thought it was.' I remember thinking at the time: 'another ridiculous name for a start-up that has no meaning.' But, I respected Ev and the rest is history. That same SXSW, I hung out with other technology visionaries (and bloggers) as we ventured from party lounge to party suite. Zappos had a gathering and if my memory serves me right, it was here I was first introduced to Tony. Calm and centered were two words I'd use to describe him, which amidst the chaos of SXSW's youthful glam and tech illuminati was hard to pull off. Simply put: SXSW was full of inventors, creators, engineers and artists and all the frenzied energy that came along with it. Alcohol too of course. It was either that same SXSW or subsequent ones (likely both) that I'd jump aboard Tony's rented bus which would transport us from party-to-party. Sometimes, we wouldn't get off at all and the bus became the party with plenty of beer along for the ride and even a decorative balloon artist on board to boot.

 

It turns out that Steven Rosenbaum who shared those same Austin experiences had equally fond memories as he writes in his own beautiful tribute to Tony on MediaPost. Luminaries abound became the order of the day in those fun but often misunderstood days of technology creation and advancement. Tony was among the few that were not just truly respected but truly liked. Whether you were drinking beer with him at the TechSet Blogger Lounge in Vegas or Austin or hanging out with him over much better food at LeWeb in Paris (Geraldine & Loic LeMeur certainly knew how to throw a party and curate a menu), if you met up with him, you'll remember another important quality that Tony possessed: Presence. As entrepreneurs rose in fame (and bank accounts), so too did the ego and with "it" often came 'lack of presence,' where you always felt that they had somewhere more important to get to or someone more important to talk to other than you. We've all been there and it's an inauthentic and empty feeling, isn't it? 

Tony Hsieh speaking at the Tony Robbins Business Summit I attended in Vegas in 2009. Credit: Renee Blodgett

 

On another occasion, there was an awkward moment when I was turned away at the door of a 'nearly all male' poker party that I was invited to by several entrepreneurs in my 'circle.' As I recall, it was in some 'power suite' on the top floor of some 5 star hotel I don't remember the name of, and suddenly Tony was at the door and told the person to let me in. He did so with a balance of both softness and firmness and a smile that simply let you know that 'all would be okay.' And of course, all was okay. Those who knew him well and shared in these special "Tony moments" understand this feeling. As Sarah Lacy wrote in her Business Insider article about his passing, Tony was "fundamentally someone who wanted to make people happy." She also shared a story I resonated with as it was similar to my own experiences with him over the years. During an uncomfortable moment deep in an underwater cave, Tony took her hand and like I felt in my own special "Tony moments", let her know that all would be okay. You see, he had that way about him and people just 'felt it.' You know that beautiful quote from Maya Angelou: "people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

-- Maya Angelou

Tony lived that. In 2011, I had an idea for a photo book and began shooting entrepreneurs across industry sectors who turned to heart as their 'go to' for decision making. Tony Hsieh was among my 'picks' -- it was a project that I never completed but had a blast in the creation process. I don't even remember the city where we had the photo shoot but I do remember that it was just the two of us in a small hotel suite where the lighting was far from ideal. My own primitive lighting system wasn't good enough for the backdrops and so we had to make do. He was more than indulgent when I asked him to stand on the couch or up against silly props, and he simply smiled in a way that always put me at ease.

Above and below, from our photo shoot in 2013. Credit: Renee Blodgett Photo shoot with Tony. Credit: Renee Blodgett

 

When his book came out, I somehow found myself at nearly every book party and not just in the United States. There were parties in France and Ireland, as well as in the likely suspects in the states, like NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Austin. He would hand his books out like candy so I had collected many over the years and at one particular event, he gave me more than a dozen. I used to keep them in the trunk of my car and after a networking gathering or a coffee or lunch meeting, if I felt the person could benefit from his book, I'd give one away. This went on for years and we used to joke about it whenever we saw each other. "You'd think that you worked for me," he always said with a laugh. The truth is: I loved the book and it felt so 'full' compared to the 'emptiness' from so many other start-up books I had read at the time. His 'voice' exuded heart and purpose...at least it felt so to me.

Tony Hsieh signing books in Austin after his Delivering Happiness book release. Credit: Renee Blodgett

 

And, his passion echoed elsewhere as well, which went on to create community, the Happiness Bus Tour and others within his sphere who would also spread the value of happiness as an important ROI at the workplace.

Jenn Lim speaks at SXSW on Delivering Happiness, extending the message beyond a Happiness Bus tour. Credit: Renee 

 

Tony's Soul Imprint Lives On

So friends, I write this piece as a tribute to his 'physical experience' as Tony Hsieh in this timeline and in this reality. I write this piece as a nod to the contributions he made to humanity, speaking up and out on the importance of living from a place of heart, purpose and ultimately a higher consciousness. Although I lost track of him in recent years, the last two times I saw him, there was a sadness beneath those dark eyes. I couldn't explain it nor did we have time for a "heart-to-heart" but I could sense and feel it -- one of those innate kinda things we all have from time-to-time. As an empath who now teaches about consciousness and spirituality, I've always felt people's emotions and not just from time-to-time, but almost always. 

 

It was as if his own "magic moments" had come to an end, or at a minimum diminished so much that he wanted to be elsewhere, like the Island of Misfit Toys. As a visionary, he loved to build and create so perhaps being at the top of an empire just didn't offer the same magic. Had his most vibrant contribution to humanity felt too distant to recapture? Whatever it was, I noticed it both times I last saw him, deeply buried in his soul that others may have seen as well if they were present enough to feel it...sense it, know it. The one thing I feel, sense and know now is that the Soul chooses its purpose and its 'story,' as well as its timeline and its own reality. You see, in a quantum world view, the particle and the wave exchange places. They can be one or the other or both. Physical matter such as our perceptions of who we are as physical human beings, the skyscrapers in the cities we frequent and even the houses in which we inhabit are projections in a way....and less real than we perceive them to be. Even if Einstein couldn't make peace with all things quantum in the days of Bohr and Planck, he knew this deep down too. Remember that we are not outside of time and space but we are time and space. From a mathematical model/perspective, its like a "fusing of the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold." 

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." -- Albert Einstein

And so my friends, Tony Hsieh's Soul and its beautiful imprint lives on. Or, if that's too much for the scientific materialists among you, then perhaps you can handle the notion that his Consciousness lives on. But for us mere mortals still imprisoned in our 'shells', living out this one quantum string that shows up as a theatrical play we perceive as reality, we shall miss his physical voice, touch and embrace. Or, the perception of them anyway. We could say then, that from a quantum perspective, RIP Tony Hsieh takes on a new meaning, one which is full of life not rest.

A Visual Journey of DEMOFall 2012

I missed DEMOFall last year if I recall and hate to miss a DEMO since I'm a huge fan of their events, having gone for years (and years). I'm also a media partner every year. As always, they had a great line-up of companies, many start-ups making the trek over from Asia and Europe to unveil their latest and greatest on the DEMO stage.

Some of the highlights included a kick-off Beer reception in the Oktoberfest theme. The great thing about such a theme is fabulous dark German beer and fashionistas like Jolie O'Dell showing up looking like Heidi. (it doesn't seem to matter what outfit she puts on or color her hair is, she always looks smashing).

The downside? The food of course. It was great to reconnect with old friends, some of whom I only see at Demo every year. Not everyone was as stylish as Jolie of course, but the pressure of women pulling out in the stops in Silicon Valley has Dylan Tweney rethinking what he puts on before he goes out of the house...yup, even the socks! (see my geek fashion hurts my senses piece).

Dean Takahashi decided to support the theme in one way he knew how: put on an Irish hat to support the Germans of course. :-)

In all seriousness, the beauty about Demo is that after hours (and before hours), people still know how to have fun. Below - is it easy to recognize a Brit among us? After all, the Brits know how to let loose despite myths that they don't. (Trust me, I lived there...ask me for stories sometime).

The every so "fun" Redg Snodgrass and Andrew Scott announced Taploid, a gossip tabloid for the digital age, so hey, they were just celebrating their unveiling after all...

 

Speaking of celebrating and having fun, Dave Mathews and co-founder of InTooch Julian Salanon demonstrated to the audience that they can START to have fun if they only freed their lives from business cards with their new mobile app. Hear hear.

Given that this event was Matt Marshall's last DEMO event, Neal Silverman bid farewell to Matt on stage while the audience cheered him on (and yes, we even stood up and whistled). Erick Schonfeld takes over in 2013 and am looking forward to seeing what direction he takes things.

There were also the traditional DEMO God awards that DEMO is notorious for. This year's winners included: bandu from Neumitra, Birdeez, ElectNext, Flinja, RentLingo, and VPC from Neurotrack (Alzheimers development).

One conference - multiple personalities. Up on day one was Ray Kurzweil, who talked about everything from singularity and speech recongition to nano bots and our brains. Up on day two was Twitter co-founder Ev Williams.

In between each category, a group of "sage" panelists came out and gave their opinion on every app that presented - what they liked and didn't...and why!

Journalist Rob Pegararo made the trek from DC...

There was, as always, loads of schmooze time as well and on the last night, a farewell celebration party thrown by Citrix.

Drew Carey Seems to be Getting Hotter & Younger

 

Is it me or does Drew Carey look A LOT better and A LOT younger than he does in this photo than his Wikipedia shot taken four years ago? Below shot taken at the Steve Wozniak Woz 6.2 Birthday Party this week. I couldn't resist doing the ole pose. He's kinda hot for a man born in the 1950s wouldn't ya say?

 

Happy Birthday Steve Wozniak: Woz Celebrates His Big 62 in San Francisco

Steve Wozniak, known by most as "Woz," turned 62 years old this week.

While the world at large knows his name as co-founder of Apple, today he sits as Chief Scientist at a company called Fusion-io, whose chief focus is to deliver data faster.

Their pitch of their ioMemory platform is that it accelerates databases, virtualization, cloud computing, big data, and the applications that drive our economy and our daily lives.

The team decided to throw Woz a surprise birthday party this week at Yuerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.

The marketing folks were seen texting with his wife Janet to get ensure they had the timing right and that everyone was behind a closed door with not one party hat in sight prior to him entering the main building.

As invited guests showed up early to ensure Woz wouldn't find out, they were given noise makers, pink boas, party hats and bags of glitter to throw at him when he walked through the door.

Even after a shower, I'm still finding those damn glitter flecks on my body and my living room floor nearly 24 hours later.

Invitees included old friends, industry illuminaries, geeks, former Apple folks he worked with and a handful of press.

I ran into some people I hadn't seen in years and met new ones I didn't know existed in the "biz."

One of the first people I ran into was Fusion-io's CEO David Flynn (left) who gave kudos to Woz on stage for his dedication to the company and of course to wish him a Happy Big 62. 

Old time industry pals showed up like Tim Bajarin, DEMO's Neal Silverman, Harry McCracken, Therese Poletti, and Janet Rae Dupree and other media who have been covering this industry for years such as Don Clark, Dean Takahashi, Chris Taylor, Mike Isaac, Ina Fried and a host of others.

People seemed to keep the pink boas on for most of the night -- men and women -- and people queued up to have a photo taken with Woz and his wife Janet, pink feathers and all.

The guys decided it might be fun to give Woz "the what and who" he always wanted (?) to pop out of a cake: a geek with zero social skills and less than zero protocol.

It wasn't until he started stripping in front of Woz and the crowd that we began to uhh, wonder, what next?

Woz seemed to go with the flow, which is one of the things we all love about him so much. Sure, he's brilliant and has a lot of charisma, but its his warm engaging smile and authentic way of being with pretty much anyone who approaches him that people fall in love with. In other words, he's about as real as it gets and this "real" comes through when you're around him almost immediately, whether its your first encounter with him or your twentieth.

Below is a shot of Woz with his brother Mark

Below are the two Fusion-io founders. Can you tell which one is the token geek and which one isn't? 

Well renowned and charming TV personality Drew Carey showed up and while he was there because he knew Woz personally, he dealt with the fan love extremely well by posing with people all night long, including yours truly. I couldn't resist. He looks damn good, does he not? (remember, the man was born in the 1950s).

Large Woz posters filled the lobby.

And, after the burgers, stirfry chicken with noodles, potstickers and wine, they served Happy 62nd Birthday Woz cupcakes with the works so to speak.

Even though there was a DJ and drums, and the music brought back a boat load of memories from the 1970s, no one danced because frankly people at technology events never dance regardless of how much they drink. (Note: I did dance with Bill Gates once and was even interviewed by a Washington Post reporter about whether I "thought he could dance" after the fact, but I'm not sure that really counts. I think it was in Vegas although it could have been NYC - it was a LONG time ago).

Instead, we did what geeks do - talk about technology projects and analyze photos AND the cake, both of which were oozing with Steve Wozniak DNA. No, I'm not kidding. Below, Woz lifts up a "birthday present" photo for the crowd so we could all get a visual of his "framed DNA."

They replicated his DNA on a cake, not to be mistaken with the three-tiered one that the 'scary geek' popped out of earlier in the night.

A large vibrant digital screen displayed icons of people wishing Woz a Happy Birthday in whatever way they cared to express it.

Everyone who attended received 'goodie bags' which included a Woz Birthday t-shirt and a game though somehow more of those glittered sprinkles landed in my bad and I imagine I'll find them under my rugs and behind my curtains for months to come, just like the Christmas tree pine needles do after I take the thing down every January.

Happy Birthday Woz. It was a pleasure to be there to help you celebrate, together with pink feathers, glitter, cupcakes and dozens inspiring geeks. Thanks for all the things you do!

August Capital Food Porn: Bring it On

August Capital held their annual bash this week at their Silicon Valley's Sandhill Road headquarters. They did a fabulous job curating the best of the best in the industry, which equated to a wealth of interesting conversations.

Of course, they are notorious for making sure the food and wine is top notch and as always, they didn't disappoint. Below is a visual journey of what was on the menu, thanks to Taste, based on Third Street in San Francisco. 

While I typically have spent my time capturing photos of attendees and fun, social group shots, this year, I only focused on food porn, likely due to the increased time I've been spending covering food, wine and culture over on We Blog the World. (besides, food is a whole lot more fun to cover than gadgets even if I am a part-time geek).

Starting with the fresh peach prosecco spritzer, we then moved onto white wine (chard and sauvignon blanc) to go with some of the lighter appetizers.

There were the the petit lobster rolls with avocado, jalapeno & key lime aioli and the guava and brie empanada with basil, as well as the scrumptious salt code escabeche with roma tomatos and silicon olive oil on crostini and the Vadouvan spiced eggplant on pinenut biscotti.

They also had an oyster bar with two different kinds to choose from - both from northern California's coastline.

Passed plates included tamarind glazed marin sun farms pork belly, sauteed okra with pimento peppers and sweet corn, roasted local sea bass with compressed melon and cucumber salsa cruda and fried green beefstaeak tomatoes. (yes, time to move onto the Merlot and the Cabernet from Napa).

I loved the hand cut (homemade baby) pasta with summer chanterelles (very fresh), the sungold tomatoes, peas & marjoram and my two favorites of the savory dishes all night: the chilled corn soup in demitasse with chive and la tourangelle avocado oil on the top and the smoked spanish paprika flank steak with arugula and salsa rossa.

Did I mention the desserts?

New York's 140 Conference: Photos, Webdocs, Interviews & More - #140Conf

Jeff Pulver’s 140 Conferences are growing. He has held these conferences in all the popular American spots such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco but he’s also had them in the Midwest, is working on one in Canada and has gathered people in London, Israel and other interesting pockets of the world.

Where there’s passion, an interest in a conversation about social media and people doing remarkable things, Jeff will find them.

One of the things he is exceptionally good at, is curating an incredible mix of people who have a lot to say and operate from the heart, but may not necessarily have anything else in common.

Where else can you go to a technology or social media event or any event for that matter and hear an ex-convict, a Graffiti artist, Craig Newmark, a cop, a school teacher, a dating coach, a major Fortune 500 brand strategist, AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong, The Today Show’s Ann Curry and Sesame Street’s chief social media guru all on the same stage within the same day?

Tear Down Those Walls:

On the first day, betaworks CEO John Borthwick (@Borthwick) talked about fragmentation, which he says is not just happening across the web but also at the network level as well. “This is the area that is concerning me most,” he said. “Facebook feels like the old early days of AOL – they’re a citizen of the Internet and yet they own and control too much. They need to integrate more with the web.”

He thinks we need to see companies and creators embrace the Internet much more than what we’re seeing today.  “The network is important,” he says and ends his talk with a few words for Mr. Zuckerberg: “Tear down that wall.”

Curation:

Curation continues to be a strong topic of discussion and its relevance and need is only growing more critical as the amount of data coming our way continues to explode.

Curation is so important because we’re trying to combine and recombine things to make sense of things. We need to be able to move and transition data seamlessly across devices. Refer to Steve Rosenbaum's talk on the need for clarity above and beyond more information and data. Human curators are a big part of the upcoming revolution. Video clip here.

Do You Have a Revolution?

“What’s your revolution?” Ja-Nae Duane aka The Sun Queen (on Twitter), asked the audience and added, “why aren’t we highlighting the social good more than we do?”

She shared a handful of amazing stories which have come out of Detroit and Dallas among other places. As the founder of Wild Women Entrepreneurs, she is passionate about accelerating women’s growth and personal revolutions.

Listen to this video on why she started her “movement.” And check out a webdoc created on her raison d'etre during the 140 Conference here.

Jeff Jarvis' talk: Tweeties have attacked the sanctity of the article. See webdoc here.

Below is a smattering of photos I shot during the speaker talks, the networking breaks and the after parties:

Dan Gillmor on life and ethics in "new media..." Refer to a webdoc that includes links, tweets and information about his book.

Foursquare's Dennis Crowley

The Webdoc team rocks it in the demo room. Check out their webdocs of the conference here.

AOL's Tim Armstrong talks about community and the importance of connection, social media input and regional/local content (Hatch.com).

Jeffrey Hayzlett in his normal charismatic self.

Sesame Street's Dan Lewis on how and why Sesame Street "tweets":

NPR's Andy Carvin

Craig Newmark talked about leaving your mark online by contributing and giving.

The Today Show's Ann Curry gets "very inspirational" during her 10 minute turned 20 minute talk. Love htat sixties style flower-child dress: she just makes it work.

Mashable's Adam Ostrow interviews Foursquare's Dennis Crowley

There's a singalong in honor of Jeff Pulver at the end of day two at the funky venue 92nd Y on the upper East Side.

New York Times Jennifer Preston interviews NPR's Carvin

Webdoc's Vincent Borel and Stelio Tzonis with Magnify's Steve Rosenbaum and his new book: Curation Nation

Paintings created on-site, proceeds of which go to breast cancer -- announced by Jeffrey Hayzlett on-site. For more information, check out Gaby (aka @Gaby407) and be sure not to miss Toronto cop Scott Mill's story (aka @GraffitiBMXCop). See webdoc for more information which includes links, videos, photos and more. His story includes work with graffiti artists Kedre Browne (@BubzArt) and Jessey Pacho (@ArtOfPhade). Their message will inspire the lives of many young people around the world and provide proof that graffiti can paint a positive message, not a negative one. Nicholas Maharaj aka @Twittnick is also a “student” of Mills.

Ann Curry in a moment of blissful expression as she gets authentic with the audience.

Bombshell coach Gigi Belmonico on the Bombshell factor and not letting Twitter become a "popularity contest." See webdoc on her work here.

Disclosure: I have provided some consulting to Webdoc who was one of the 140Conf sponsors.

Viral Media Experiment #Swagapalooza Hits San Francisco Again

For the second year in a row, I attended the quirky consumer and technology blogger event called Swagapalooza, which they call an experiment in viral media.

In a dark club in San Francisco (DNA Lounge), some of the top bloggers, tweeters, and digital influencers in the areas of mobile, tech, food and lifestyle gathered to watch and judge five-minute auditions from the creators of cool new products, largely targeted at mainstream consumers.

The key here is that the products are actual physical products rather than services and websites, which you so often find at similar events. Some of the products I had a chance to see and play with are listed below:

• Waboba Balls - They bounce off water, so that you can play catch in the pool or ocean. Video of product in action: http://bit.ly/gNw7kQ
• Mimi IQ - Like go fish, but with silly facial expressions. Will be available on Amazon in a few days.
• Crumpled City Maps - Lightweight, waterproof, 12 cities. More info here: http://bit.ly/f0dh2Q
• woDegrees - For every nutrition bar you buy, they give a nutrition pack to a hungry child.
• Sabøteur - The world's first tailored waterproof blazer.
• Transcendent Man - A documentary film about the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil
• Boom Boom! Revolution - A card game you play by performing 'underground acts of guerilla goodness'.
• Grubwith.us - Eat with interesting people!
• FlingsBins - Pop-up recycling and trash bins.
• Stunner of the Month - A subscription sun glasses service that sends you a new pair of 'stunners' every month.
• Fizzies - Instant soda in a tablet, relaunching after 40 years.
• SwipeGood - Round up your purchases. Donate the change to charity.
• SourFlour - Building community through bread. (I just finished my loaf and I have to say, it went fabulously well with my homemade chicken soup I had waiting for me at home).

Silicon Valley Women of Influence 2011: #SVWOI

I attended the Silicon Valley Business Journal 2011 Women of Influence event in Santa Clara last week. Each year, they choose 100 women of influence and celebrate them at an annual dinner and awards gala in Santa Clara, CA. (this year, it was held at the convention center).

Speaking to a number of them over the course of several hours, the range is diverse, from engineers, high-profile lawyers, venture capitalists, space scientists, to healthcare leaders, technology pros and nonprofit executives.

One honoree, when not in the valley, lives in a rural village in Belize; another leads trips to the back country of the Sierra Norte and Sierra Madre. One honoree formed a nonprofit organization for the Muslim community to help give them a voice after 9/11 backlash.

I met another woman who is helping Muslim seniors find resources when they don't know where else to turn. Below is Moina Shaiq who founded the Muslim Support Network based in the East Bay. (She also runs a restaurant specializing in food from Pakistan).

Below is founder of Mylawsuit.com Michele Colucci accepting her award on the main stage.

Mary Furlong, who has been instrumental in helping the aging population and empowering the 'age boom' was also on the list. For the full list of women, check out the SV/SJ Biz Journal piece: Meet the 2011 Women of Influence | Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal.

Each woman had to deliver a 'thanks' and what/who inspired them in 10 words or less. (not even sure if that's quite 140 characters.....certainly a challenge to do). One Thai woman had the audience in stitches when she said, "I'd like to give myself a pat on the back for selecting my parents wisely."  

To hear some of the fabulous other thanks and kudos, check out the video below for a myriad of female voices doing remarkable things.

Snapshots From #LAUNCH11 in San Francisco

Below are some random shots from the LAUNCH Conference held at the Design Center in San Francisco this past week.

Jolie O'Dell, Marshall Kirkpatrick and Heather Meeker

Above photo credits: Kris Krug 

Below Tim O'Reilly, Renee Blodgett, Francois Nadal (myERP.com)

Above photo credit: Jean Baptiste-Su

Below Robert Scoble and the Domo guys geek out over fun mobile apps and new Motorola Tablet

Meeting Max Swisher for the first time, a 7th grader who is running / writing the Good Morning Geek blog and website. What were you doing when you were in the 7th grade?

Below, Dave Mathews talks ToothTag on the Launch Stage (wins best technology by judges)

The Domo guys certainly have passion even if you can't exactly figure out what they do

 
The TripBod Team....YAY, Women at the Helm.

The ViralAge Team show their new Launch.Forum platform, soon to be launched.

Some of the judges below. Full listing can be found here.

While most people were in T-shirts, some folks were a stylin' such as the sneakers Addreoid's Head up from LA. When someone dresses well in the Valley, you know they're either over from Europe, in from New York or Miami or up from Los Angeles. Not a priority here but writing k-a code sure is. :-)

C'mon, Go to TEDxBerkeley if in the Bay Area or Can Be: Feb 19

TEDx VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL: Give your sweetheart the gift of a creative mind. Take them to TEDxBerkeley next Saturday, February 19, 2011 at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, CA. Experience the romance of new ideas and deep connection. If you don't have a Valentines Day sweetheart, then bring a friend. Buy 2 tickets and get 25% off.

For special go to http://tedxberkeley2011.eventbrite.com/ and enter the code bears11. And while you're at it, become a fan over on Facebook and follow along on Twitter.

Photo credit: Heather Garland