O'Reilly
August 16, 2006

O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference Opens Call for Participation

ETech 2007 to Explore "Sufficiently Advanced Technology"

Sebastopol, CA--According to Arthur C. Clarke, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." But just how advanced is sufficiently advanced? Clarke's Third Law provides the inspiration for the next ETech, the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference. The 2007 edition of the conference is all about magical innovations and will reveal the sufficiently advanced technology behind them.

The call for participation for ETech 2007 has just opened, and O'Reilly Media invites technologists and strategists, CTOs and chief scientists, researchers, programmers, hackers, and standards workers, business developers, and entrepreneurs to lead conference sessions and tutorials. The next ETech takes place on March 26-29, 2007 in San Diego, California. Proposals are due no later than October 9, 2006.

"Some magical effects are made by big technology," observed program chair Rael Dornfest. "Others by judicious selection and integration of existing subtle technologies. If your magic makes complex things simple or makes the impossible possible, we want to know about it. Whether the sufficiently advanced technology is computer science, user interfaces, or cleverly routing around a problem, we want to know about it. We want to leave the conference overflowing with great ideas and new approaches."

Here are some of the technologies and transformations currently on the radar for ETech 2007:

  • The iPod can almost be seen as a step backward in terms of the technology behind its user-interface, yet is usable by everyone from kids to their grandparents.

  • TiVo took a commodity Linux box, imbued it with a television hook-up, recorder, and decent user-interface--yet is so much more than the VCR.

  • Google scored web pages by the words they contain *and* by the number of times those pages were linked to by other web pages, a simple idea that lets the web scale.

  • BitTorrent's use of sufficiently advanced resource locators and fragmented files together allows the entertainment industry see the Internet as an opportunity, not a threat.

  • Just what is the technology landscape behind the orchestration jujitsu of logistics masters the likes of FedEx, UPS, Amazon, Netflix, and Wal-Mart?

  • When will it be possible to receive a monthly DVD with the top 100 rental movies--or at least the first fifteen minutes of each as a teaser while the rest trickles in through the network?

  • Bionic systems combine biological and mechanical systems to create an enhanced system that is more powerful than either alone. Where is this people-inside intelligence being baked into projects, products, and services?

  • Programmers have always dreamed of that data-store in the sky, an enormous, secure, easily integrate-able hash that truly raises software above the level of a single device and data above the level of a single application and use. What does this mean for the way we interact with our data? What impact does this data-ubiquity have on program design?

  • With the current and looming energy crises, where will our energy come from in the near and not-to-distant future?
  • Join with 1200 technologists, hackers, researchers, thinkers, strategists, and entrepreneurs at ETech to learn how to make magic and discover which areas of technology have sufficiently advanced. ETech taps into the creative spirit of all participants, sparking provocative encounters and productive inspiration that continue long after the conference ends. ETech is built on many layers of conversations: plenary sessions that alternate between rapid-fire high-order bits and blue-sky views from visionaries; in-depth, thoughtful discussions with experts during three-hour tutorials; breakout sessions that inspire real-world ideas; events, extra- curricular activities, and a lively "hallway track" that foster unexpected encounters.

    Be a part of the conversation that happens only at ETech. Share your take on the shape of the future. ETech filters the wealth of ideas powering the growth of the tech community at every level, exposing us to new ways of thinking and working, expanding our possibilities for collaboration, focusing our attention, allowing us to play harder.

    O'Reilly conferences include: OSCON, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention; EuroOSCON, the O'Reilly European Open Source Convention; the MySQL Users Conference, co-presented with MySQL AB; ETel, the O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference; the O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference; RailsConf, co-presented with Ruby Central; and Web 2.0 (co-hosted by Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle, and co-produced with CMP Media). O'Reilly conferences bring together forward-thinking business and technology leaders, shaping ideas and influencing industries around the globe. For over 25 years, O'Reilly has facilitated the adoption of new and important technologies by the enterprise, putting emerging technologies on the map.

    Additional Resources:

    Upcoming O'Reilly conferences:

  • O'Reilly European Open Source Convention, September 18-21, 2006 in Brussels, Belgium
  • ETel, the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, February 28-March 1, 2007 in Burlingame, California
  • MySQL Users Conference, April 23-26, 2007 in Santa Clara, California
  • RailsConf, May 17-20, 2007 in Portland, Oregon
  • Where 2.0 Conference, June 19-20, 2007 in San Jose, California
  • O'Reilly Open Source Convention, July 23-27, 2007 in Portland, Oregon
  • About O'Reilly

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