Gaming 27 - The PlayStation Ryvita

Washington Memo: Change (but Not Too Much) at the Top of the Pentagon

The changing of the American defense secretary in the middle of two wars (and an unofficial one in Libya) was meant to broadcast continuity. The choreography of it certainly did. Mr. Panetta, the just-departed director of the Central Intelligence Agency, bounded up the steps of the Pentagon?s River Entrance, where the Fife and Drum Corps had paraded at Mr. Gates?s retirement ceremony the day before. Within minutes, at 8:48 a.m., Mr. Panetta was sworn in as the nation?s 23rd defense secretary, and Mr. Gates, who had already escaped to his lakeside home near Seattle, was out of a job.

There is a lot of symmetry, too, in the sensibilities of the two men. Both have served as C.I.A. directors and now, defense secretaries, both are known for bipartisanship and both rose up from modest backgrounds ? Mr. Panetta, 73, washed dishes at his father?s Italian restaurant, and Mr. Gates, 67, put himself through college as a grain inspector and bus driver.

They are also longtime friends and members of each other?s fan clubs. Mr. Panetta wrote an opinion article in 2008 recommending that President-elect Barack Obama retain Mr. Gates, a Republican, as defense secretary. Three years later, Mr. Gates told the president that his successor at the Pentagon should be Mr. Panetta, a former Republican. There is no question that they represent, along with Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American commander in Afghanistan just confirmed as Mr. Panetta?s replacement at the C.I.A., the blurring of lines between the military and intelligence worlds since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But there are meaningful differences in style and in the substance of the battles on their watch. Mr. Gates, who likes a Grey Goose vodka martini and has a dry, puckish wit, is nonetheless a buttoned-up son of Kansas, an Eagle Scout whose unflashy demeanor masked his role as one of America?s most powerful defense chiefs.

Mr. Panetta, the son of Italian immigrants who grew up in Monterey, Calif., is gregarious and casual (and a California wine aficionado). He titled his goodbye message to his C.I.A. employees ?arrivederci? and told them, in part referring to the C.I.A.-run raid that killed Osama bin Laden, ?We had one hell of a ride together.? His golden retriever, Bravo, joined him on the stage at his C.I.A. farewell ceremony and is expected to sit in on his meetings in the Pentagon?s E ring. Unlike Mr. Gates, who was relentlessly prompt, Mr. Panetta rolled up for his first day at the Pentagon at 8:38 a.m., eight minutes later than scheduled and an eternity in military time.

More important, Mr. Panetta inherits a world even more complex than when Mr. Gates took office in late 2006, when Iraq was in chaos. Mr. Gates presided over the subsequent troop surges in Iraq and Afghanistan but also over booming military budgets that gave the Pentagon all that it wanted. Mr. Panetta must now preside over the withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan (60,000 forces from both countries in this year alone), a shrinking military budget, and conflicts in Libya, Yemen and Somalia ? three countries where the Pentagon is engaged in missile and drone strikes.

?The first thing that strikes me about poor Leon is that Gates walked away leaving every burner on the stove still going,? said Gordon Adams, a professor of foreign policy at American University who oversaw military spending for Mr. Panetta when he was budget director in the Clinton White House. ?He?s got the budget on the front burner, he?s got Libya on the other burner, he?s got the execution of the Afghan decision on the other burners.?

At the Clinton White House, Mr. Panetta handled the trillion-dollar federal budget of the early 1990s (it has nearly tripled since), so the $670 billion that the Pentagon is spending this year, although almost as much as all other military budgets in the world combined, should not be a stretch. But Mr. Panetta will still have to convince the Defense Department?s 2.2 million active-duty and civilian employees that coming budget cuts do not undermine national security.

Mr. Panetta, in an e-mail to Defense Department personnel around the world, vowed that ?there will be no hollow force on my watch? ? a reference to the demoralization in the military after the Vietnam War.

He spent his first day as defense secretary at lunch in his office with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then had a meeting in ?the tank,? the room deep within the Pentagon where the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force and commandant of the Marine Corps meet. Most senior civilian policy makers will remain in place, although Mr. Panetta brought with him Jeremy Bash, his chief of staff at the C.I.A. who will have the same role at the Pentagon.

Mr. Panetta is expected to travel soon; as C.I.A. director for two and a half years he logged 200,000 miles to 40 countries.

By Friday, he had already left on his first trip. Like Mr. Gates he headed west: home to the family walnut farm in Carmel Valley, Calif., for the July 4 weekend.

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Gaming 28 - Revisiting the Village

100 Years of IBM in Pictures

IBM DEY RECORDER (1880)

This device, resembling an antique clock, is an early Dey dial recorder, which was used to track the hours worked by employees. The dial recorder was developed in 1880 by Alexander Dey. In 1907 his business was acquired by the International Time Recording Company, one of the companies that would later form IBM.

Credit: IBM

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Samsung intros five more Series 9 ultraportable laptops

Following up on a "very positive reception" to its initial Series 9 notebooks, Samsung has expanded the ultraportable line with five more models. Unveiled ahead of the back-to-school season, the new additions include three 13.3-inch and two 11-inch models spanning in price from $1,049 to $2,049. Like the original Series 9 systems, the latest iterations emphasize extreme mobility while remaining quick enough for heavy work sessions. We've slapped the core specs of each system in a table below:

All five models sport an LED-backlit 1366x768 "SuperBright" display, a spiffy duralumin chassis, Windows 7 Home Premium and get seven hours of battery life. Samsung didn't offer a full rundown on connectivity, but the systems have at least one USB 3.0 port that can charge devices while the laptop is off. Samsung also ships the Series 9 with its FastStart technology, which allows the notebooks to wake from sleep in three seconds flat. The 13.3-inchers measure 0.62 inches thick and weigh 2.89lbs.

The new Series 9 models are expected to reach electronics retailers over the next month. During that same timeframe, Apple is expected to refresh is popular MacBook Air. According to scattered reports, the revamped ultraportable will emerge sometime in the middle of July and will finally shed Intel's dated Core 2 Duo processors in favor of the second-generation Core i3, i5 and i7 chips (aka Sandy Bridge). Most folks are also convinced that the new Macbook Air will have Thunderbolt connectivity.

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Soak up the season: How summer sparks creativity.

There are hundreds of different job categories- each with its own necessary modus operandi. A landscape designer or wedding caterer can?t realistically decide to take a long summer holiday, just as a Wall Street day trader shouldn?t take up flexible hours. But remember, regardless of your occupation, we all grew up recognizing a renewed sense of dedication in the fall, following a summertime desire for freedom, and those habitual inclinations will never fully cease to exist.

As the ubiquity of the Internet pervades, shifts in the workplace open up opportunities for mobile working, giving us freedom to be productive. But the Internet, and particularly social media, has also encouraged us to be constantly productive. It?s why you may find yourself hustling, self-promoting and tirelessly networking to launch, to pass that milestone. But eventually if you?re not careful? you will burn yourself out. This summer, take moments to enjoy the natural world around you; find action in relaxation and you?ll find the necessary inspiration for innovation. Here?s how today?s entrepreneurs are doing just that.

Take Breaks, Slow Down

?It?s Sunday morning. Take a deep breath. It?s summer time. Go for a walk. Or a run. Play with your family. Take a nap this afternoon. Read a book. Go to a movie. Chill,? writes Brad Feld of The Foundry Group in his recent post titled ?Slow Down to Speed Up.? He suggests cancelling unnecessary meetings, calls and lunches. Do you really have to attend every board meeting? Use Skype and Google Video Chat for meetings. Instead of scheduling with others, schedule time with yourself.

?Basically, I?m trying to slow down. If I do this right, I believe I?ll be able to cover even more ground. I think this applies to any entrepreneur, or anyone involved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. ?Being really busy? is seductive ? it has nothing to do with getting things done, or actually accomplishing your goals. But there?s something satisfying, or at least addictive, about being so busy that you don?t have time to think or reflect on what is going on around you. This is a big mistake long term as you?ll ultimately make crummy decisions.?

-Brad Feld

According to TNW co-founder @Boris, in order to have ideas that change the world, you need to dive in, absorb the medium, then take a step back to see the opportunity. You do this by breaking the pattern.

He suggests:

Travel to a city you?ve never been before.
Take a walk in the woods, or a long shower.
Read a random page on Wikipedia.
Read a book, visit a museum or talk to a stranger.

NYC entrepreneur Nicholas Gavronsky also wrote a blog post this week about learning to take breaks. In addition to taking mini-vacations every 6 months, Gavronsky sets aside 1-1.5 hours a day to staying fit. He writes,

Many of us, especially aspiring entrepreneurs or those working on a startup, think it?s all about working 24/7, all nighters, and red bull fueled brainstorm sessions. However, the farther I get down my path to becoming an entrepreneur, I am learning that it is critical to take a break and refresh yourself mentally and physically. If not you?ll end up burning out, losing focus, and your productivity will plummet.

If staying fit isn?t your idea of fun, NYC based startup SeatGeek likes to keep its team hydrated during the warm summer months, so they plan frequent team drinkups where they partake in craft beers, cocktails, and most importantly ? craft beer in a can. ?It?s something we?ve been tracking a trend on (#craftcans) for sometime, because well ? cans are more fun, better for the environment, and get colder, faster!? says SeatGeek?s Ben Kessler. When they?re not at a East Village watering hole for a team outing, they can most likely be found at Citi Field or Yankee Stadium catching America?s favorite past time, and soaking up the rays.

Work, ADVENTUROUSLY!

On the first official day of summer, the NYC based company, Tumblr hosted its staff at a week long ?think tank? in the Hamptons (pictured below).

And they aren?t the only company hacking away in the Hamptons. The founders of Of a Kind, a NYC fashion startup that has harnessed the viral power of Tumblr, have just returned from 3 days in Montauk. ?We had a lot of work to do on our investment deck so it was the perfect opportunity to sequester ourselves and buckle down on one project without the distraction of meetings and the day-to-day things that pop up in an office setting. We?ve traveled together a few times since launching and always end up talking a lot about how much the change of scenery and pace is so conducive to creating new ideas, and looking at problems in a different light? It?s the kind of ideation that doesn?t happen when you?re sitting in front of your computer or running between meetings or generally just feeling the stress of the typical work day,? says Of A Kind?s Claire Mazur. Pictured below is her co-founder Erica Cerulo reading HBS case studies on the beach.

Expect the Hamptons-hopping to continue throughout the summer, even for the city?s busiest entrepreneurs.

?Starting the Friday before the holiday weekend, I will be working from a wired house in Montauk. We code or conduct business calls as we watch surfers drive bye with their long boards, or ladies who lunch walk their small dogs in the sun. Summer is the best time of year to appreciate everything nature has to offer, and I find myself most productive when I can think through my daily inbox while breathing fresh air and enjoying the surroundings, including the company of friends. So if you have the luxury of working outside on a summer Friday, do. And if you have the flexibility to change up your office space in the summer, I highly recommend doing so. It clears the mind and helps with productivity, but above all, summer is about fun and freedom.?

-Foodspotting co-founder Soraya Darabi

?I want my life to be totally free, surrounded by friends and family but still working productively on what I enjoy,? said Campbell McKellar, the Founder of Loosecubes during our interview in early May. If you?re traveling abroad and looking for office space, look no further. Loosecubes, based in Dumbo, Brooklyn is a site that wants to set the global workplace free. Functioning as a global workspace community, Loosecubes hosts 1,057 spaces in 229 cities in 29 countries, making it largest network of its kind.

The site now offers spaces in all corners of the world as far-reaching as co-working in the Caribbean, collaborative workspace in the Philippineship spaces in Berlin Germanytrendy spots in London to small town America in Ft. Collins, Colorado. You could say it?s like the Airbnb for workspaces but no one likes cliché metaphors.

I?m thoroughly convinced that a change of scenery forces us to make little shifts in our habits, and its these adaptations that enable us to grow intellectually. So instead of just little breaks, take A BIG BREAK, and work adventurously.

Getting off the Grid

In his recent post titled ?Slow Down to Speed Up,? Brad Feld of The Foundry Group writes, ?I too am intensely busy. And anyone who knows me knows that I eventually hit a wall, have short term burnout, need to rest / recover, and then get back at it. However, as I?ve gone through this cycle throughout my life, I?m getting smarter about how to handle it. My week a quarter off the grid helps. July in Alaska helps, (although this summer has a fun, European twist).?

I took a 10-day vacation at the beginning of June with my wife. We went to Israel up north to a spa and shut off our phones for 10 days. It was so relaxing. I did miss some things (95% of Weiner-gate and Lebron losing the NBA Championship) but it allowed me to recharge my batteries. It was my first real vacation since joining Aviary a year ago and boy did I need it. Now I am back and focused and ready to pound the pavement. The best part of the summer is that even when leaving the office at 7 or 8pm it?s still light outside!

- Alex Taub, Aviary?s Head of Business Development

I recently took a 5 day holiday in Portugal and left the following vacation responder: At the moment, I?m letting my computer die as I recharge! Prior to taking time off, I had both physically and emotionally exhausted myself trying to meet everyone in London?s tech scene while concurrently keeping tabs on New York news. The result of that 5 day vacation was the inspiration for this post. I felt so grateful for my work, even missed it quite a bit. I returned ready to hit the ground running.

Before taking time off, make sure that you?ve set up delegates for important, time sensitive work and let your colleagues and professional contacts know you?ll be disconnected in advance. If there is something super sensitive going on, you probably shouldn?t be on vacation, right? But as the pace and presence of technology increases, getting off the grid has never been more important. You are not a robot. You are a human. Or, are you? In mid to late March, I polled the Twitterverse on three different Fridays asking them: Do you have problems ?unplugging? while on vacation? Press 1 for Yes. Press 2 for No. 87% of those polled answered Yes. One tech reporter said he hadn?t had a vacation in 3.5 years. One startup founder said she needed a reminder of what a vacation is. This past week, I ran the same poll and found 92% of those polled have problems unplugging on vacation.

No one is going to chastise you for checking in every now and again while you?re on holiday. (Well, maybe your wife will.) But there?s no need to beat yourself up over not being able to unplug completely. Technology is awesome, so go ahead, tweet while you tan. But if you need tips to unplug? Leave your smartphone at home, says @emvignapiano, the Head of Social Media for Mondadori. Or, how about heading to a music festival?

Until America gets with it and embraces the 25-day vacation policy of most European nations, you?ll need to be diligent when choosing a vacation spot. Just before she took off on holiday, I caught up with Dorothy McGivney, the founder of Jauntsetter, a free weekly newsletter that rounds up the very best travel deals of the week, picked especially for New Yorkers. For an off-the-grid retreat from New York City, she recommends a little town upstate called Callicoon. The area is relatively undeveloped and its pristine outdoors offer opportunities to get into nature ? there?s a stretch of the Delaware River that?s perfect for tubing, and the surrounding Catskill mountains are perfect for hiking. ?What I love about it most is that there?s extremely spotty cellphone service in the area and my friends? home has no WiFi. Meaning there are zero technical distractions: no push notifications lighting up your iPhone, no text messages interrupting dinner ? even cooking is a more focused experience. To find a recipe, we read actual cookbooks ? imagine that!? she says. (Callicoon is where she decided to quit her job at Google and start Jauntsetter!)

On the West Coast, she recommends trips to Big Sur (pictured above) where the cellphone service in the area is terrible. Enjoy the gorgeous stretch of Pacific coastline with Redwood forests, have drinks overlooking the ocean at The Post Ranch Inn and enjoy a massage at the Esalan Institute followed by a dip in their (clothing optional) hot springs. She highly recommends renting a yurt in the Tree Bones Resort to really soak up the woodsy atmosphere of the area.

If you need inspiration picking a vacation destination, check out Wanderfly, a fun NYC startup aiming to monetize off of the ?travel exploration? space. It?s a beautiful idea and a great way to learn about new places during the preliminary planning phase.

?In my line of work it?s actually very important to make sure you don?t stay inside all summer (or any time of year). I recently returned from an amazing 10-day trip to Iceland. The trip recharged both my love for travel and my love for working in travel?The summer is a time to recharge and recoup. It?s important to give yourself more time to think and plan your next course of action?I also think the summer is an important time of year to physically challenge yourself. My long runs give me time to explore the city and enjoy the outdoors, while giving me time to reflect and think about everything from my new favorite summer song to my life working at Wanderfly. A healthy summer life is one that allows you to do everything you love. Also, cold beer and patio seating is very important.?

-Kerrin Sheldon, Wanderfly?s content manager, writer and planker extraordinaire.

For travel logistics, Hipmunk is my all-time favorite flight search app, and it?s just entered the hotel search space. It?s a team of super smart guys in San Francisco who also created Reddit. It filters flights in the most sensible, ?Agony? free way. For hotel deals, visit Jetsetter, Gilt Groupe?s travel arm, which provides high-end, curated deals. Also, never forget to check Airbnb and Roomorama for sweet homestays ranging from tree-houses in the Belize to a hot chick?s couch in Copenhagen. And staying organized? TripIt FTW.

I write this to you now from the back porch of my apartment. It?s Friday, 4pm, and I?ve set up small fan to keep my laptop cool and surprisingly, the MacBook Air has impressive screen brightness. I realize not everyone can be productive while bikini blogging, but the next time you hesitate about getting outside and shaking things up, ask yourself: ?Are you really going to have that 10 million idea in an overly air-conditioned board room on a Friday afternoon?? Big spaces allow for big ideas. Get outside and soak up summer.

Dirty Gold ? California Sunrise by isaidahip

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New York?s Approval of Same-Sex Marriage Spurs Opponents for New Fights

Less than 24 hours after the New York Senate?s vote, made possible by four Republican defections, a leading anti-gay-marriage group started sending out defiant pleas for money.

?This fight is far from over,? the group, the National Organization for Marriage, told supporters as it pledged to spend $2 million in 2012 to defeat New York?s four ?turncoat senators? who ?betrayed marriage.?

The organization, which says it expects to raise $20 million this year from Roman Catholic and evangelical Christian groups as well as individual donors, is gearing up for intense battles over same-sex marriage in several other states; so far, voters in 29 states have adopted constitutional amendments banning it.

Since the vote, the Family Research Council, one of the largest conservative Christian advocacy groups, started hearing from more followers who wanted to defend traditional marriage, and officials said they expected a jump in donations.

?More than ever before, people are seeing this as a national issue,? said Tom McClusky, senior vice president of the council.

National and state organizations fighting same-sex marriage have raised millions of dollars on the issue in recent years and won some major victories, including the unseating last fall of three Iowa Supreme Court justices who had ruled against marriage restrictions. But some say their fund-raising has sometimes been impeded by the harassment of donors, an accusation that gay rights groups call exaggerated.

In Minnesota, where both sides are preparing for a vote next year on a constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage, conservatives are fighting financial disclosure requirements that they say would expose donors to intimidation.

Several local and national groups are starting to coalesce into a campaign in support of the amendment, said Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference. But he said that fund-raising would not go into full swing until the disclosure issues were settled.

Gay rights groups like the Human Rights Campaign say their victory in New York, which became the sixth and by far the largest state to adopt same-sex marriage, gives them momentum. They say that time is on their side and that a reversal in New York is improbable because as same-sex marriages become more common, people will see that they are no threat.

But opponents say the New York vote has not shaken their resolve.

?If gay marriage supporters think that New York is an indication of a national trend, they are mistaken,? said Brian S. Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, which has received large donations from the Knights of Columbus, the Roman Catholic fraternal organization.

A battle is expected soon in Maine, where gay rights proponents, inspired by the outcome in New York, announced last week that they would start gathering signatures to put same-sex marriage on the ballot next year. The governor in 2009 signed into law a bill allowing same-sex marriage, but opponents pushed it to a referendum, and voters defeated it a few months later.

North Carolina will be another early battleground, with its legislature, now controlled by Republicans, expected to consider this fall whether to put a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage before voters in November 2012. North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast that has not already adopted such an amendment.

?There is a greater resolve in our state to stand up and get a marriage amendment into our State Constitution,? Ron Baity, the president of Return America, a conservative religious group in Wallburg, N.C., said after seeing the results in New York.

Another battle is expected in New Hampshire, one of the states that has adopted same-sex marriage. Pressure is mounting for the Legislature to take another historic step by reversing course.

In a fight expected to begin in January, conservatives think they have a good chance of victory in the Legislature, but they are not sure if they can muster enough votes to override an expected veto by the Democratic governor, John Lynch.

?The votes will be very close,? said Kevin H. Smith, the executive director of Cornerstone Action, a conservative group there.

The legislative fight in New Hampshire may take on national significance because a vote is expected in early February, around the same time as the state?s important presidential primary. Republican candidates ?will have to be vocal? on same-sex marriage, Mr. Smith said. ?The spotlight will be on it.?

In Maryland, a last-minute push by opponents this spring derailed a same-sex marriage law that had been widely expected to pass. Buoyed by New York, gay rights advocates plan to press for a vote to reverse that outcome next year.

But opponents say that even if the measure passes the legislature, they will gather signatures to force a ?people?s referendum.?

Whether the vote in New York matters elsewhere may be tested this year. James S. Alesi, one of the four New York Republican senators to support same-sex marriage, said he expected to travel to other states to help defeat proposed constitutional amendments against it.

?It?s important for a Republican,? he said, ?to go to other Republicans and say, ?Remember who we are ? we?re the party of Lincoln, we call ourselves the big tent, and I?m here to help you pitch the tent.? ?

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Gaming 28 - Revisiting the Village

Hard Lines iPhone Review

Hard Lines iPhone Review

Posted on 26th Jun 2011 at 10:44 by David Hing with 9 comments

Back when mobile phones were still thought of as a new idea, Nokia's 3210 was highly sought after in many circles for its built in version of the highly addictive game Snake. Fast forward a decade, and Hard Lines is attempting to be a worthy successor to that classic title.

The mechanics of Hard Lines are simple. With simple directional strokes of your finger, you steer a line around the screen towards randomly spawning markers, accruing points while avoiding other lines that enter from the sides of the screen.

Slick and neatly designed, Hard Lines is clearly influenced by the Light Cycles from Tron, yet it doesn't limit itself to that one style of play; there are several variations. In some modes, you gain points by getting opposing lines to crash into you or the walls; in others you race against the clock, or just try to last for as long as possible. There are also some good bonuses, such as the occasional power up that enables you to crash through any other competing lines without killing yourself.


The gameplay is occasionally made overly complicated, however, via the addition of dialogue that bikes may utter in the middle of a match. This appears as a single line of text and, while it's often funny, it's usually just a distraction that obscures your view.

Aside from this, though, the balancing is beautiful and the game manages to be both punishing and forgiving at once. Each line is only a single pixel wide, for example, but you only need to pass near an item on the screen to collect it, avoiding any frustrating situations where you might end up circling it forever. Not only this, but the very narrow nature of your line means the game can afford to throw a lot of competing lines at you at any one time. In particular, the Gauntlet mode continually spawns large numbers of other lines rapidly, resulting in an intense session that's highly satisfying when it goes your way.

Verdict: Hard Lines is a well designed, easily controlled, multifaceted version of Snake with enough new material and creativity behind it to stop it being called a straightforward clone.

Hard Lines is available from the AppStore for 59p / 99c.

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How to optimize your conference for social media

At this year?s South by Southwest conference, Samsung erected a large screen hub to visualize social media activity at the event, allowing its attendees to view the tweets and check-ins in real time. Several weeks after the conference, the tech company used the data it had curated to create an infographic detailing the volume of social media output that had emanated from the conference goers (a design company I work for helped Samsung create the graphic). During the time it collected the data, Samsung had logged over 375,000 tweets and 120,000 check-ins on geosocial apps.

As conference attendees become more digitally connected, news emerges from an event at a faster and faster rate. A word has hardly escaped Steve Jobs? mouth during one of his keynote addresses before it?s tweeted out or live-blogged for the millions of readers who are following along at home. Panelists are no longer speaking to a small, select group, but can now have their speeches dissected in real time by people thousands of miles away.

Jeffrey Harris recognizes that a conference organizer?s job is not just to make arrangements for on-the-ground attendees, but to optimize it for online coverage as well. Harris runs the social media strategy for the Aspen Ideas Festival, an event that has been taking place this week in Aspen, Colorado. The conference, which has occurred annually since 2004, is purposefully far-removed from most major metropolitan areas. This year it has over 2,000 attendees, 300 speakers, and close to 200 sessions. Put on in collaboration between the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, the Aspen Ideas Festival is considered to be one of the most coveted forums from which to speak and is regularly attended every year by Supreme Court justices, former presidents, and CEOs of Fortune 100 companies. Or, as one snarky Salon writer put it, ?The festival ? is like South by Southwest for people who are willing to pay Thomas Friedman money for his thoughts.?

The first step to optimizing your conference for social media sharing, Harris told me, is to ensure that people can actually log on to the internet. ?We?ve made efforts to extend the regional wi-fi across the entire campus,? he said in a phone interview. ?We?ve brought in extra signal strength repeaters from AT&T.? And at the end of every year the organizers survey its staff, speakers, and attendees about their experience, a strategy that allows them to flag any technical issues that need to be addressed the next year. ?Our geographic location is such a benefit for us in that it allows us to have a really unique atmosphere for our guests,? Harris said. ?At the same time, we realize this isn?t somewhere everyone can get to, and even if they could we wouldn?t have the space on campus to accommodate them. So we really want to make sure that we?re spreading what?s going on here to as many people as possible. To do that we want to get the festival present as many places online as possible.?

By that, he meant covering the event on multiple platforms. Its Tumblr blog, for example, aggregates quotes emerging from the speeches and panels, including insights from Justice Stephen Breyer, Obama?s senior adviser David Axelrod, and, of course, Tom Friedman. ?We extended our efforts to creating festival-specific Twitter accounts and Facebook pages,? he said. ?In the past we?ve just been operating under the accounts of the Aspen Institute, but this year we wanted people to realize the difference in the brand of the Aspen Ideas Festival.?

Harris and his team also partnered with Foursquare to create a conference-specific page. ?Part of the reason folks come here is because they want to know who else is here, to be able to connect with them,? he said. ?This was a great opportunity to work with Foursquare to provide a check-in service for people to use regularly to get around campus. So we got in touch with Foursquare and they helped us create a page and advertised that on their homepage as a newer destination for people to check out. For the festival, we have not just what?s happening on campus, but what?s happening in the town of Aspen this week. So with the Foursquare page we can tell them where tickets are available for different sessions, but we can also tell them how to find out information about things happening around town as well as on campus, both so the folks know we?re here and also to use Foursquare as a way to advertise and connect with the community. We do a lot of one-off sessions that we want to engage with the local town of Aspen on.?

The benefits of using festival-specific hashtags and Foursquare check-ins is twofold, Harris said. Obviously, it encourages conference goers to communicate with each other, but it also allows his staff to sit back and watch the burgeoning trends that emerge from the conversation; if a speaker says something newsworthy, for instance, Harris will see a sudden flurry of tweets, and his team can focus on that particular session when they?re deciding what speeches to highlight on the festival?s website or its Tumblr page.

Perhaps the festival?s largest endeavor was to have each of its panels, speeches, and events live-streamed and recorded on video. To do this, they partnered with FORA.tv, and the company?s video capabilities allowed the conference to charge a premium to users who want to watch the events live while also giving the organizers plenty of material to post on the website ? both during and after the festival. And by monitoring what speeches and quotes are getting the most buzz on Twitter, Harris is able to splice video snippets and quickly upload them to the event?s social media channels to push them out to the public.

Given how each year conferences become increasingly amenable to social media, I asked Harris if more news has emerged from the festival over time: ?The past couple years, we?ve seen news coming out of here at a faster rate,? he replied. ?Not necessarily more news is being made, but we?ve seen news coming out of the festival a lot quicker and from a lot more sources.? As it turns out, Tom Friedman?s thoughts ? much to Salon?s chagrin ? may actually have some worth after all.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/07/02/how-to-optimize-your-conference-for-social-media/

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