Tuesday, July 8, 2008
D6 Conference Recap
Here are all of the highlights from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference, organized by day and speaker:
Day One
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft
You would have loved Windows 1.0. Walt. You would have LOVED it.”
–Ballmer
Session post | Photos | Videos: One and Two
Windows 7 Demo
Day Two
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com
People loved their horses, too. But you don’t keep riding your horse to work just because you love it.”
–Bezos on the difference between physical books and digital ones
Session post | Photos | Videos: One and Two
Bobby Kotick, Activision
The social element has really transformed the gaming experience.”
– Kotick on the impact of games like Guitar Hero
Session post | Photos | Video
Guitar Hero IV Demo with Tony Hawk and Paula Abdul
Howard Stringer, Sony
If we were any more successful, we’d be bankrupt.”
–Stringer on the success of Sony’s LCD business
Session post | Photos | Video
Barry Diller, IAC
Hollywood is a community that’s so inbred, it’s a wonder the children have any teeth.”
Session post | Photos | Video
Michael Dell, Dell
I could take him.”
–Dell on his chances of success in a brawl with Apple CEO Steve Jobs
Session post | Photos | Video
Jerry Yang and Sue Decker, Yahoo
I will never be a CEO again.”
–Yang
Session post | Photos | Videos: One and Two
Jeff Bewkes, AOL
AOL is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Web. We don’t get no respect.”
Session post | Photos | Video
Nathan Myhrvold, Intellectual Ventures
We invest in the creation of ideas… It’s like Baby Mama, with me as the mama.”
Session post | Photos | Video
Demo: G.ho.st Web Operating System
Lets users access their desktop from any computer with an Internet connection.
Session post | Photos | Video
Tom Glocer, Thomson Reuters
We have one great advantage over bloggers: we write once, and sell many times to many different media outlets.”
Session post | Photos | Video
Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook
I won’t ever stop until you’re either the biggest thing around, or you’re dead.”
–Kara Swisher on her relentless coverage of Facebook
Session post | Photos | Videos: One and Two
Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation
I want to meet Obama. I want to know if he’s going to walk the walk.”
Session post | Photos
Full Session Videos: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six
Day Three
Demo: evri
An application that graphs the Web via grammatical information.
Session post | Photos | Video
Demo: 23andMe
Web-based, direct-to-consumer genome services.
Session post | Photos | Video
Melinda Gates, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
All lives are equal.”
Session post | Photos | Videos: One and Two
Demo: TransMedia’s Glide
A mobile-operating system that cuts across all operating systems.
Session post | Photos | Video
Tom Rogers, TiVo
The TV set and its primary position in the home isn’t going anywhere in the future.”
Session post | Photos | Videos: One and Two
Demo: Deka
The “Luke Arm” prosthesis, a state-of-the-art bionic arm.
Session post | Photos | Video
Kevin Martin, FCC and Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless
You’re the chairman of the FCC. How did you allow this to happen?”
–Walt Mossberg grills Martin on the lousy broadband situation in the States
Session post | Photos | Videos: One and Two
Tom Rogers, a well-rounded media executive, has had his work cut out for him at TiVo, the iconic but often-struggling pioneer and leader in the digital video-recorder market. Before coming to TiVo, Mr. Rogers was chairman and CEO of Primedia, which publishes 200 magazines, operates more than 400 Web sites and runs a wide range of television and video businesses.
Before she ever dated Bill Gates, let alone married him, Melinda French was a damned good product manager at Microsoft. She brought to market Microsoft Publisher, which popularized the step-by-step wizards that have since spread through software everywhere. And she made a valiant, if failed, effort to radically simplify computers with Microsoft Bob. Now, with her husband, she heads the world’s largest charitable foundation, bringing to philanthropy a rare combination of compassion and the business skills she honed at Microsoft. 
Today’s session begins with a demo from personal genomics outfit 23andMe. Founded by Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki (wife of Google’s Sergey Brin), the company is among those pioneering Web-based, direct-to-consumer genome services. Today the two will talk about 23andMe’s newest effort, 23andWe, which will conduct large-scale genome-wide association studies with the help of individuals willing to share information about their health and other personal traits.
