If there has been one upside to the Covid-19 lockdown it has been that when you do actually go somewhere there is no traffic. No gridlock. Point A to point B is quick and efficient. While the lack of normalcy has been riddled with anxiety, personally I have had two extra hours a day to allocate however I choose. Not driving from my home to the office has positively impacted my productivity and lowered my stress in relation to that activity. I miss my co-workers, the city itself and the office. …

The annual Wall Street Journal Tech Live Conference was held the week of October 21 in Laguna Beach California at the Montage Hotel.

The conference focuses on leaders in technology, venture capital and media. It is attended by a global audience of 500 people. On stage interviews, breakout focus sessions and networking events make up the conference activities.

This year’s version was focused on privacy, government regulation, the financial markets in relation to tech, the impact of AI and the entertainment industry’s tech driven disruption. These topics spanned the US and China.

Below are highlights of what some of the…

At a time where the technology world is focused on the promise and hype of AI, Blockchain and Digital Disruption, there is a far less talked about infrastructure advancement about to make its way around the globe. 5G could be the one of the most impactful technology evolutions of the last two decades.

Speed and Consumption

5G trials have already begun in some US cities and over the next couple of years it will become readily available in most urban areas. 5G is a wireless networking advancement that will likely surpass the impact of broadband. It has a few benefits — the most…

This week I attended Recode’s annual Code Conference — the premier tech industry event attracting leaders in technology, media and venture capital.

The conference was held over 3 days at the Terranea Resort ~ 50 miles south of Los Angeles and featured on stage interviews with the founders / leaders of some the world’s best known tech companies and VCs. There were also some intensive learning sessions around topics ranging from blockchain to drones to biohacking. The conference was attended by 700 people via invitation from Recode.

Conference Summary: The topics centered on technology’s impact on the media, the responsibilities…

Tech Sector

The cloud’s impact on technology and business is already profound and we are in the early stages of adoption. In the startup world, cloud services have reduced the cost of bringing a product or service to market substantially. No longer do founders have to set aside a percentage of VC funds to buy servers and network equipment; they now just establish a credit line with a cloud provider and build in monthly operating costs for compute to their burn rate. The cloud has also allowed technologies to scale to a global level with far less IT operational staff…

Many people are upset that Facebook has been selling their personal information to various data mining companies. Recently the show Silicon Valley took a shot at the company by changing the Facebook sign to one with Russian letters in the show’s opening sequence. Soon Facebook will be making an appearance in front of Congress.

Personally I avoided joining Facebook until 2009, which was very late in the game (hundreds of millions joined before I did) considering how early I was active on the Internet in general. In the late 80s I learned the nuances of TCP/IP (IP addresses) at a…

Recode’s annual Code Conference was held May 29–31 at the Terranea Resort ~ 15 miles south of Los Angeles and featured on stage interviews with the founders and leaders of some the world’s best known technology and venture companies. The conference was attended by 700 people via invitation.

Conference Summary: There were three overarching themes this year. The first was the tech industry’s responsibility for the content on their platforms and their product’s impact on society. The second was the consolidation of traditional media companies in an effort to compete with Apple/Facebook/Netflix in the entertainment space. …

One of the recent business obsessions going around is the idea of “digital transformation.” If marketing has ever taken over a business concept, this is it. Digital transformation has been going on since the advent of the IBM PC in 1981 — some would argue before that. The business world has been transformed by technology for the last 35+ years — from the PC to the Internet to the iPhone — we are all walking around with the world’s knowledge in our pocket these days.

In the last year, I have been inundated with solicitations for seminars, conferences, and consulting…