This video is Part 1 of 3, taken at the fbFund REV Demo Day on 9/1/09 that features an introduction by Cat Lee, Sheryl Sandberg, Dave McClure, Thread.com, Funki, Sociable, GeckoGo, DropPlay, Photos I Love, Vittana and Workstir.

This video is Part 2 of 3, taken at the fbFund REV Demo Day on 9/1/09 that features Backlight.org, NetworkedBlogs, Wildfire, NutshellMail, Cash.io, Gameyola, RunMyErrands and Samasource.

This video is Part 3 of 3, taken at the fbFund REV Demo Day on 9/1/09 that features MyChurch, RunThere, Zimride, Sortuv, Life360, RentMineOnline, and an outro/wrap-up from Enrique Allen and Dave McClure.

“fbFund is a fund focused on continuing to create incentives for the development of applications on Facebook Platform. Initially, the fund will make available $10 million in capital which may grow over time.

The fund is now accepting applications for $25,000-$250,000 non-recourse grants from anyone interested in building their business on Facebook Platform. Any individual or company, anywhere in the world can apply as long as they have not raised any formal venture funding.

We are forming this fund to help grow the Facebook application ecosystem. By decreasing the barrier to start a company, we hope to entice an even larger group of people to become entrepreneurs and build a compelling business on Facebook Platform. We hope this is also a funding model that other venture capitalists will follow.

fbFund will be administered by Facebook and funded by Accel Partners and The Founders Fund. The investment committee will be comprised of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, and Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook vice president of product marketing and operations. Facebook board members Jim Breyer (Accel Partners) and Peter Thiel (The Founders Fund) will also be part of the committee. Additionally, the fund will rely upon an advisory council that includes Reid Hoffman, founder and chairman of LinkedIn; Josh Kopelman, founder of First Round Capital; and Rajeev Motwani, professor of computer science at Stanford University and early advisor to Google.”

Please submit your application at http://www.facebook.com/developers/fbfund.php.

Video filmed and produced by Shaun Tai.

Byron Reeves - Professor in the Dept. of Communication at Stanford University

Byron Reeves (twitter: @byronreeves) on Gaming for Work. In this intriguing video (Part 2 of 2), Byron speaks on using games and virtual worlds to change the way people work and businesses compete. Presentation titled “Work Sucks - Games are great“. Filmed July 31st, 2009 in Palo Alto at the fbFund HQ by Shaun Tai of SHAUN TAI Films (ZTY MEDIA), ©2009.

ABOUT BYRON REEVES

Byron is the Paul C. Edwards Professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford University, and Co-Founder and Faculty Co-Director of the H-STAR Institute (Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research) and its industrial affiliate program, Media X. He is an expert on the psychological processing of media in the areas of attention, emotions, learning, and physiological responses, and has published over 100 scientific papers about media and psychology. His research has been the basis for a number of new media products for companies such as Microsoft, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard, in the areas of voice interfaces, automated dialogue systems, and business process simulations. He is currently working on the application of multi-player game technology to behavior change and the conduct of serious work, and is Co-Founder of Seriosity, Inc., a company building enterprise software inspired by game psychology.

ABOUT FBFUND REV

fbFund is a fund focused on continuing to create incentives for the development of applications on Facebook Platform. Initially, the fund will make available $10 million in capital which may grow over time.

We are forming this fund to help grow the Facebook application ecosystem. By decreasing the barrier to start a company, we hope to entice an even larger group of people to become entrepreneurs and build a compelling business on Facebook Platform. We hope this is also a funding model that other venture capitalists will follow.

For more information, please visit fbFund.com

Tuesday, July 7th 2009. TECHAFFAIR was fortunate to have attended Michael Jackson’s “INAUGURAL PUBLIC MEMORIAL SERVICE” at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.  The 20,000-seat facility for MJ’s public memorial was free of charge with swarms of invited media documenting the historic event. Millions watched the televised event, you know the story.

But even more intriguing, the millions upon millions of internet users at home, on their computer streaming the event live at CNN.com facilitating an open, interactive forum for adorning fans all across the globe… with the help of Silicon Valley, social networking giant, Facebook.

Michael Jackson will forever be immortalized not only as the King of Pop, but the King of Social Media. TECHAFFAIR crowns Michael Jackson MJ 2.0.

CNN claims hundreds of thousands of fans were logged into the Facebook widget (Facebook Connect) and 6,000+ status updates were coming in every 60 seconds (totalling over 6,000,000 status updates) - think instant feedback.  Fact check: that was more than during the Obama inauguration, an inauguration that took months of preparation, not days.

Remember Twitter (and nearly the entire Web) collapsed at the breaking news of Michael Jackson’s death and since then, the impact of new social media including real-time phenomenons such as Twitter; have become intertwined into daily life as a source of communication and news / social gathering.   

One thing is for sure, CNN gets the social data revolution and is utilizing these real-time tools correctly. Perhaps the immediate use of social media in response to the death of Michael Jackson can only be compared to the power that the Vietnam War gave television. Yes, MJ 2.0 is that powerful.

Michael Jackson transcends age, race, religion, borders, and now, music technology. MJ lived and survived through all of the music media transitions: from LP’s, to cassette tapes, to compact disc, to MP3.

Let’s take a brief look at a timeline of the history of music media:

1877 - Thomas Edison invents the phonograph, the first medium for recording and playing back sound. It used cylinders instead of discs

1887 - Emile Berliner invents the gramophone, the first flat record player

1900 - Eldredge Johnson perfects mass duplication of pre-recorded flat record discs

1906 - RCA Victor introduces Victrola model record player, which had variable turntable speed control that accommodated the wide range of records produced at the time

1908 - Columbia introduces the first double-sided phonograph records

1912 - Disc recordings become more popular than cylinder recordings

1924 - Electrical records replace acoustic discs

1928 - The 78.26 rpm speed becomes standard for all phonograph records.

1946 - German magnetic tape recorders are copied for commercial use by AMPEX

1948 - The 33 1/3 LP is introduced by Columbia

1949 - RCA Victor introduces large-hole 45 rpm records. It became the preferred medium for singles

1952 - The Recording Industry Association of America is formed.

1955 - 12" LPs become more popular than 10" LPs

1962 - Multi-track analog tape recording begins in recording studios

1963 - Phillips develops compact stereo tape cassettes and players

1982 - The compact disc is introduced. The first CD is released in Japan. It is Billy Joel’s “52nd Street.”

1983 - The first CDs are released in the United States

1986 - CDs overtake LPs as top-selling medium in the United States

1999 - Recordable CD-R discs become available

2000 - Napster is created. This is also the first year that recording sales declined, and the recording industry blames online music sharing.

2001 - Napster is slapped with a lawsuit by the RIAA. In October, Apple introduces its iPod portable music player.

2003 - Apple introduces its online music store iTunes, offering free music downloads at 99 cents per song.

2006 - In February, iTunes sells its billionth song.

2007 - Just over a year later, in July, iTunes crosses the 3 billion songs sold mark.

2008 - Present - The digital revolution has just begun…

Talent. Moonwalk. Thriller. 100+ Million Sold. Music 2.0. Technology. Twitter. Enter MJ 2.0.

Monday, June 29th 2009. TECHAFFAIR was fortunate to have been invited to the Singularity University’s “INAUGURAL SUMMER PROGRAM AT MOFFETT FIELD / SU Graduate Summer Program Launch” featuring 40 students chosen from more than 1,200 candidates.

Singularity University narrowed the final students from a pool of applications around the globe. Students are focused on addressing “Humanity’s Grand Challenges” through scientific and technological collaboration and innovation.

The SU curriculum provides a broad, interdisciplinary exposure to ten fields of study: future studies and forecasting; networks and computing systems; biotechnology and bioinformatics; nanotechnology; medicine, neuroscience and human enhancement; artificial intelligence, robotics, and cognitive computing; energy and ecological systems; space and physical sciences; policy, law and ethics; and finance and entrepreneurship.

Singularity University was founded Sept. 20, 2008 by a group of leaders, including Worden; Ray Kurzweil, author and futurist; Peter Diamandis, space entrepreneur and chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation; Robert Richards, co-founder of the International Space University; Michael Simpson, president of the International Space University; and a group of SU associate founders who have contributed time and capital.

The energy at Singularity University is absolutely electrifying. It’s difficult to get across in words alone. So, hopefully the following images taken by TECHAFFAIR staff will tell the story:

The Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (MVCPA)

NASA Ames Research Center located at Moffett Federal Airfield

Dr. Peter H. Diamandis (Vice-Chancellor & Chairman, Singularity University) & Friends

Tim Ferriss (Author of The Four Hour Work Week) and Troy Byrd

Susan Fonseca-Klein (VP of Operations, Singularity University) & Friends

Photography by Linda Poeng & Shaun Tai.

TECHAFFAIR would like to thank Bruce Klein and the entire Singularity University & NASA staff for allowing us access to this compelling event.

Friday, June 26, 2009
Reception: 6:30 p.m.
Premiere: 8:00 p.m.

One Jelly Belly Lane
Jelly Belly Visitors Center,
Fairfield, CA

For information and tickets please contact Jennifer Lawrence at (202) 547-5420.

Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny examines and celebrates the life and legacy of the 40th President of the United States. Hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich, this documentary tells the story of the Reagan presidency and the three pillars that shaped his time in office: reviving the American economy, restoring America’s spirit, and challenging the oppression of the Soviet Union.