In the below video, Roni Zeiger talks about information and data driven health.

I had a chance to chat with the Thinglink team at SF Music Tech last week. They’re a provider of image interaction tools, which aims to change how people interact with photos by transforming them into a navigational surface for search, commerce, and social connection. In other words, you can mouse over images or objects within images and have them convert to clickable links. (think singers, songs, instruments and more).

90+ billion photos online offer rich opportunities for in-image links to engaging user experiences that will transform how we interact with images. Have a listen to their explanation below on the show floor at San Francisco’s Kabuki Hotel.

Below, Brad Templeton on security and privacy.

Lawrence Sherman uses humor and wit to talk about the future of medical education at FutureMed this week to an audience of investors, physicians, medical visionaries, thought leaders and healthcare executives:

David Ewing Duncan moderated a panel on personalized healthcare, technology and solutions with Carol McCall and Esther Dyson at FutureMed this week, which is part of Singularity University. The goal is to educate, informs and prepare physicians and senior healthcare executives to understand and recognize the opportunities and disruptive influences of exponentially growing technologies within medicine and healthcare. More from Esther and Carol below:

Last night, I was due to have dinner with a client in Phoenix and she texted me letting me know it would have to wait until Obama's speech to the nation – Osama bin Laden had been killed. A quick Google search brought up the news and a few minute walk brought me to a random hotel lobby where CNN was on, a handful of people muddled around waiting for him to start his 9+ minute speech.

When Obama finally came on in his polished blue jacket, white shirt and red tie with the composed and stately White House behind him, he said half way through his talk: "Justice has been done". He also gave thanks to those who successfully carried out the action that brought Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader held largely responsible for orchestrating the 9/11 attacks nearly a decade ago, to his final death.

It was said that Bin Laden was killed in "deep" Pakistan and although the details we learned through the in-depth coverage on CNN, the news first emerged on Twitter.

A media alert went out shortly before 9:45 PM EST that the President would “address the nation” at 10:30, but a few minutes (five) before the speech began, Keith Urbahn, the chief of staff for the former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted out this: “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.”

President Obama confirmed the news only after a handful of tweets had already erupted in the tweetosphere, retweeting and responding to Urbahn’s message at a rapid pace.

When I checked status of Foursquare and Twitter when I arrived at the hotel, the news of Bin Laden's death was already trending and remained trending well into the night.

Sure, Twitter is useful for breaking news, rapid fire reports (you see a fire on a city street, you can take a photo and tweet it out in real time before major news reporters from a so called "respectable" station or paper arrives), but a lot of people are still not on Twitter.

The same weekend of news of his death, we exhibited at the Ultimate Women's Expo in Phoenix, where we had nearly 3,000 women (and some men) stop by the booth each day. Every time I asked whether someone was on Twitter, 98% of them said no whereas a significantly larger percentage were on Facebook. And, remember that we were in Phoenix, a major American city, not a small town in the midwest.

That said, news of Osama’s death originating on Twitter from the chief of staff for the former defense secretary brings some credibility to the table is compelling (in other words, it wasn't from a 15 year old teenager).

Despite Urbahn's tweet and several other successful cases of Twitter reporting the first "news" (also note the trend and success in the world of entertainment: Charlie Sheen, Britney Spears, Jackie Chan), people still refer to more authoritative sources for things of significance. Also truth be told, Twitter can't go into depth about a story, and people want depth – the where, how, what, when and the intimate details of the WHY.

News of Osama’s death is so significant, not just because of who it is, but because there's so much emotion connected to it around 9/11 and those who have lost loved ones or been impacted directly and indirectly by those tragic attacks.

It's the in-depth emotional captures, the discussions on and offline and the impact of what his death means now and for the foreseeable future that people will want to dig their teeth into. Twitter can't provide that. 

Remember while I was not a fan of Twitter in the early days, these days I am and have several accounts which I'm active on daily. Yes, daily. Even when I went deep into the desert, I had tweets queued up and tweeted in real time with photos when I had coverage. I did however leave my mobile device behind when I went into the South American Amazon……tweeting from such raw nature seemed a bit too much and I knew it would take away from the experience of being present with the beauty around me, rather than add or compliment it, which it can do in other situations.

While Twitter may continue to prove to be a useful source of breaking news moving forward, I still want depth. And, my Twitter stream is crowded despite my attempts to keep lists and streams, which work fairly well most of the time. The problem is that even well known "tweeters" with traffic and influence and some people I WANT to follow send their Foursquare check-ins to their Twitter streams or talk about their child losing their first tooth. Really? Time for quality control or perhaps a  little of that Klout score needs to be taken away from that almighty Influence Number Ladder.

Below is the original speech that Obama gave the nation from the White House posted on YouTube, which give you something you could never get in 140 characters: the richness of the colors, the texture of his voice and the emotion surrounding the video, and the visuals of people parading outside the White House singing the National Anthem and carrying flags singing, waving and yes, celebrating.

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.

Arianna Huffington took the center stage and keynotes this year’s AdTech San Francisco this week and as always, nailed it again, despite a couple of questions about the controversy around the ongoing discussion of unpaid versus paid bloggers prior to and following the sale to AOL. (and in general as a standard for the industry).

Yet, with fearlessness, poise, humor and confidence, she moved from old media to new media and referenced Craig Newmark, Guy Kawasaki and Biz Stone as well as cited quotes from her mother and Shakespeare all within a ten minute window.

Her focus and leave behinds primarily revolved around humanity, the need to return to hyper local engagement (and Enchantment per Guy’s new book) as well as connecting with community. (she gives examples including their focus on Patch, the new hyper local sites — a friend of mine runs Santa Cruz).

Arianna also talked about the importance of sleep and how sleep deprivation doesn’t serve anyone or anything…..”we can’t be enchanting or engaging if we’re sleep deprived,” she says.

She says of new media, “we suffer from OCD – obsessive coverage of topics,” and related to humanity, she quotes Biz Stone who said of Twitter, “it is not not a triumpth of technology but a triumph of humanity.” Her full talk below in a two part series. Also up on YouTube. 

I attended the Red Carpet Press Event on March 14, 2011, for the opening premiere of WIN WIN at Austin’s Paramount Theatre during the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW).

We had to arrive an hour and a half before the producer, actors and director arrived. During that time, the film publicists checked you in and lined you up in a particular location at the edge of the red carpet, which was set up in an L shape that led into the theatre.

The cast included talent Paul Giamatti, most known for his stunning and humorous performance in Sideways (aka I don’t drink Merlot), Amy Ryan and new to the stage Alex Schaffer who was a young boxer who tried out for a part for the first time. Tom McCarthy was the film’s Director/Writer. 

Below is a live broadcast interview they did the day before the premiere which I attended as an observer. 

Should you see the film? Absolutely! Here’s the storyline: disheartened attorney Mike Flaherty (Giamatti), who moonlights as a high school wrestling coach, stumbles across a star athlete through some questionable business dealings while trying to support his family. Just as it looks like he will get a double payday, the boy’s mother shows up fresh from rehab and flat broke, threatening to derail everything. As always Giamatti brings you in for more of his quirky and funny personality regardless of what role he plays. 

Here’s a handful of snapshots I took at the Red Carpet Event:

Amy Ryan: warm, engaging, charming and playful 

Paul Giamatti: funny, direct, warm, engaging….wish I had more time

Tom McCarthy: smart, honest, sincere, soive, reflective (also wish I had more time: we seem to have similar roots)

Alex Schaffer: youthful, shy, adorable….shocked to discover that it was his first time in a film role

Below is the video footage I took of the cast and director getting interviewed along the Red Carpet while I largely shot stills:

Here’s a review by the Christian Science Monitor. One other note: Tom McCarthy’s latest film (The Station Agent & The Visitor) was also a big fan favorite at Sundance. I had a chance to talk to him briefly and in my brief exchange, all I can say is thumbs up.

Seth Priebatsch who calls himself the Chief Ninja at a company with no vowels: SCVNGR! gave a keynote at the recent SXSW in Austin this past week. Talk about a mouthful….not a name I’ll ever remember but luckily his energy and conviction was addictive and engaging. He discussed gamification, location-based services, social media engagement and more as it related to businesses, in education and beyond.

Seth talked about education. School is broken because while it is perfect for ‘game mechanics’ it doesn’t work because there is no engagement in schools. “Kids are bored,” says Seth. “Engagement is a critical concept that any good game designer thinks a lot about. When you replace the real reward, i.e., learning for learning sake, with something that feels like a chore, i.e., getting a grade, kids get bored. Right now, grades are a simple game mechanic in education and that’s how we reward today. Grades are naïve implementation of a status mechanic. The problem with grades is that it’s a game where you can lose and in education, you don’t want anyone to lose.”

He challenges the audience with this question: “Why not create a grading dynamic based on progressions? Rather than grade on a particular test or one experience, you grade and give points based on progression – focusing on the positive. In this scenario you can’t fail, it’s more how quickly do you move from x points to y points, starting with zero experience for everyone. The idea is to have kids focus on the end result and on progression rather than grades.”

He then dissected Groupon and explored various game mechanics, what works and why:

Free Lunch – this is one of the most subtle game mechanics in the deck. It plays off consumers own skepticism. We’ve been taught that no free lunch exists, but what we see with Groupon, we see something that is too good to be true. With Groupon, the free lunch is justified, i.e., so many people need to sign up and if they do, we get the free lunch. The brilliance of what Groupon has done is that they can present the free lunch, play off the consumer’s skepticism, but guaranteed that the consumer doesn’t have to take any action to do it.

Communal Game Play – based on the idea that you can give anyone a complex problem, you can solve it using a community. As a community, if you share the deal with your friends, together you all win. Groupon uses this game mechanic as a kickstarter.

The Countdown – whenever you see a deal on Groupon, you see a countdown, which is a game mechanic that creates a spike in activity as you get closer to countdown zero.

Loyalty: the idea of being a regular, i.e., Norm at Cheers. American Express uses status really well, making you feel really special every time you move to the next level with different colored cards (progression game mechanics).

The Level Up Game Mechanic: unlocking a higher reward. You have different levels, i.e., good, better, best. Levels one and two are locked, they can see them but not have them. New comers move to regulars and they receive rewards for leveling up.

Inclusive Ownership – Exclusive ownership means that you get the benefit from owning something and no one else can benefit from it, i.e., the game of Risk is a great example. Inclusive ownership are group owners – everyone gets a benefit. Community gains from a group checking into a place.

Reward Schedules – the idea behind reward schedules is ‘what do I get for doing this?’ Everyone has introduced something you get for doing something, i.e., badges, lotteries, free drinks, points at a place, something that allows you to engage with a place. Rewards actually work really well.

Communal game play and communal discovery – The idea behind this is that you give a complex problem to a group of people and the community solves it together. The mechanics to make a group give something away that will be bad for them in the short term in order to have a better result long term. Decentralized leadership can solve complex problems so much faster than centralized leadership with communal game play mechanics in play.

People want to be part of something epic and work harder tha you normally would because you’re fully engaged and you want to be part of something greater than yourself. In other words, a Global problem with a local solution.

He also used examples by getting the audience involved in games he created to prove his points. Have a listen: