Report from The Future of Web Apps 2007

Felix Petersen, Jyri Engstrom and Brian Oberkirch. Photo by Ted Rheingold.

We know a lot of you are attending other exciting events, besides SIME. Here are some ideas and conclusions from FOWA (The Future of Webb Apps 2007) last week in London. The event, which was sold out, focused on successful web 2.0 applications. Thanks to Joachim Jardenberg, for the input! Check out Joachim’s blog for more inspiration or meet him at SIME in November.

What was hot at FOWA?

1. Jaikus backchannel: Seriously, it’s becoming clear that Jyri Engström is a guy to listen carefully to.

2. Heather Champ gave the audience a great behind-the-scenes tour of Flickr. She is always a great presenter with interesting ideas on how to create user experience.

3. The conversation between Om Malik, GigaOM and Michael Arrington, TechCrunch was a great introduction.

4. Kevin Rose, chief architect at digg, is a darling on stage, although he doesn’t have that much to say, that hasn’t already been cited a hundred times. But still. Cosy.

5. Paul Graham from Y Combinator was unexpectdely good.

6. Erika Hall, Mule Design, did a simple but tasteful story of the importance of using words in a proper way. Feel-good, in a Meg Ryan-kind of way.

7. What I liked the most were the participants! There was a great crowd here. Fascinating to see that there were so few Swedes. I think we were only four in total, among which Niklas Derouche was the most prominent. Where is everyone else? And where are the traditional media?

SIME Crew Working hard for you

Here dear participants, speakers and other SIME friends is the SIME2007 Crew.
Location: Headquarters in Stockholm

Mission: To produce the best SIME ever

Mr SIME, Ola Ahlvarsson and PR Manager Beata Wickbom.

Mr Everything & more: Christoffer Granfelt.

Webmaster Felicio da Costa and Ola.

The man with the Excel-sheet: Mats Larsson, producer.

Henric Wirfelt, working with SIME Awards, (together with Urban Pettersson).

Top media executive in the age of information overload

The media industry is struggling to find new business models in the digital age. Will anyone pay for content in the future? What will be the relationship between the media companies, the advertisers and the readers/users? What is journalism 2.0? Will the social networking entrepreneurs replace the role of the publishers? We will have several discussions on these topics at SIME. To nourish these discussions we are proud to include Michael Oreskes, editor in chief at the International Herald Tribune, in the agenda. Before joining the IHT, Michael was the deputy managing editor of The New York Times.

To give you an idea of Micheal Oreskes view on the role of journalism, here is an excerpt from his opening remarks in the media panel in Davos 2007.

"... living in the digital age is like standing at the bottom of a grain elevator as they pour in the wheat.

Our audiences are literally drowning in information, unrefined wheat and chaff and all the muck raked up with the harvest…

You can call this the digital age, or the internet age, or the information age…to a lot of people it must seem like the age of information overload. At first that overload seems like a problem to us, perhaps a fatal problem, but I suggest it is in fact our opportunity. Indeed, information overload is THE opportunity that we as journalists cannot afford to miss. For our own sakes and for the sake of the society that needs what we journalists do. It is the opportunity to reshape what we do so it survives well into the future.. And survival, it wont surprise any of you to hear, really is at stake".

Zennström stepped down from Skype ahead of schedule

Yesterday SIME:s keynote speaker and industry hero, Niklas Zennström stepped down from the role as CEO of Skype, the company he founded with Janus Friis four years ago. This was ahead of the scheduled work-through period after the acquisition by eBay.

Shortly before the public announcement of his departure, Zennstrom agreed to give an exclusive English-language interview to Thomas Crampton (our favorite SIME-moderator). Zennström has also agreed to speak with Dagens Industri (but the interview has not been published yet). Good job Thomas!

From the interview: "Top on Zennstrom’s Internet wish list: A solution to the deluge of email. 'Everyone is getting lost in their in-boxes. I would really like to see some innovation there, please.'" Read the full story on Thomas' blog.

SIME announces the Awards Jury

The SIME Awards were founded in 1996.Over the years the competition has grown in scope and size. This year we expect over 300 entries from all the Scandinavian countries. This year’s jury, under the chair of Pontus Schultz, Editor-in-Chief for Swedish business magazine Veckans Affärer, will look more closely at the strategic level of the entries.

The purpose of the awards, which have nine categories, is to highlight and honor excellence in online communication, business practice and technology. Many of the entries are business critical multimillion investments, but you can also find the rising stars of tomorrow, who are using the web in new and creative ways. ”Perhaps we will find the next Skype among the participating companies”, says Hjalmar Winbladh, founder and CEO of Rebtel and chairman of the technical jury.

This year’s jury is divided into three different teams; technology, communication and business strategy. Chairmen of the different jury teams are:

- Hjalmar Winbladh, founder and CEO of Rebtel (Technology)

- Göran Garberg, marketing-guru and CEO of Corporate Missions (Communication)

- Jette Jörgensen, CEO of MTG Denmark (Strategy)

Among the other jury members are: Osma Ahvenlampi, Sulake (producers of Habbo Hotel), Daniele Palmucci, Ericsson, Sofia Svantesson, Ocean Observations, Martin Tivéus, VD Glocalnet, Anna O. Lindgren, vVD SvD Nya Medier och Vetle Sovik, Startsiden i Norge.

Nominate your site now!

Mr Netocracy: Alexander Bard

Yes, you will have a chance to meet your favorite rebel and Master of Netocracy at SIME2007!

We asked Alexander to answer a few questions for our readers:

1. What is really important right now?

The world economy, as always. And inventing a more intelligent social community tool than the stupid underclass nonsense called Facebook.

2. What are your expectations on SIME?

Networking, networking, networking, and getting some new insights I never had before. Plus of course going home afterwards with some new delightful little gadget in my pocket (beata: hint to sponsors?). Let's not underrate the value of fetichism.

3. What can European entrepreneurs learn from their American counterparts?

Being more daring and updated, for a start. When it comes to entrepreneurship, it is currently American entrepreneurs who have more to learn from their European brethren rather than the other way round. And everybody should learn a thing or two from Korean and Indian entrepreneurs.

4. How can Internet contribute beyond the corporate world?

It does already. People LIVE through the internet these days. The world is already virtual and symbolic.

Alexander Bard is a writer, a founder of the Netocrats.com, a non-profit organization aimed to build the new informational society and a member of the band BWO (Bodies without Organs).

Fight for Burma - on the net

Much of the footage of soldiers facing Buddhist monks – and details of the events in Burma – have come from so-called citizen-journalists, sending images and information to outlets such as Irrawaddy, Mizzima and the Burmese-language services of the BBC and other broadcasters. The Financial Times had a great article yesterday on this topic: "All eyes on Burma in the information age". (Thanks to Ulf Wickbom for the link).

Since Friday the news from inside Burma have dried up. The news service Irrawaddy is "infected with a virus". Has the government pulled the plug on internet links?

Don't forget the Burmese people. You are powerful, you can help by spreading the news and keeping the struggle alive and visible in your network.