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I’m looking for speakers on Role-Playing Games

I’m organising an event for NMK, called My So-Called Second Life. It’s an afternoon seminar on the opportunities for creative firms and investment in the new world of MMORPGs (massively mulltiplayer online role playing games). Why is this interesting? Well, the likes of Disney and the directors James Cameron are getting into the area, along with a new wave of technology and media firms. If you think you could contribute

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Tokyo Diary

So, a little more on my trip here. I got here Sunday, contending with the now familiar terror scare , to find Tokyo sweltering in heat and humidity. Luckily the evening was bearable enough to venture out for a meal in a down-home local place. The next day a short trip out of the city showed a little more of the real Japan – miles of rice paddies (all subsidised

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Blog in Japan

How can you be dynamic and conservative at the same time? Tokyo seems to pull off both, at least from the outside. First impressions are of a hustling, bustling city at the forefront of modernity. But come across any person and you will soon be met with astounding formality. Don’t shake hands, bow. Don’t say who you are, present a business card, while bowing of course. Smile all the time.

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Hell trip to Tokyo

Remind me never to go to Heathrow when there is a security scare on. It took about 4 hours of chaos and queueing to get to the departure gate, then another hour to get through the takng off of shoes and the patting down of clothes. Although I sprinted to the gate, the plane ended up not taking off for another hour while the captain had the bags of the

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Off to Tokyo

Next week I’m off to Tokyo, where I’ll be dunking my head into all things mobile, electronic and (I daresay) visiting the famed Akihabara area, famed for it’s geeky fascination with technology. Being a card-carrying Neophiliac and already write a column called Technofile, it’s just as well…

It’s all coming together in LA

One thing that struck me while I was in Los Angles last week was that the people I met kept saying the same thing: media, entertainment and technology are converging (yes, THAT word) on Los Angeles. The simple fact that the biggest music and Hollywood players are there, and the act that it is an hour’s plane ride from Silicon Valley, and an hour’s drive from San Diego (where the

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Reflections on AlwaysOn and Silicon Valley

AlwaysOn is not your typical conference. During the two and a half days it was on, it ranged from discussions about data to user generated content to venture capital to mobile. Quite a range. This was both a strength and a weakenss, but the audience handled it all with aplomb. Perhaps the hottest topic at the event was social media and in particular the rise of sites like YouTube and

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Steve Wozniak laser-signed my Macbook!

We were interviewing Steve Wozniak (the original co-founder of Apple with Steve Jobs, who actually built the first Apple machines) after his speech at the AlwaysOn conference. Being a Mac fan and user of old I asked him to sign my Macbook. He tried a ballpoint which didn’t work. The next thing I knew he’d whipped out what appeared to be a portable laser (it was damn bright to look

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