Independent...On The Edge (Of Cool!)

By Aimee Spanier

It's no secret that technology companies-especially in the Silicon Valley-have a strong desire to be Cool. And why not? Who doesn't want to be cool? I do! You do (admit it)! Hell, everyone wants to be cool.

What might come as a surprise is that a conference of tech companies-specifically, the Web Innovation Conference being held over the next three days at the San Jose (CA) Convention Center- is practically bursting with coolness. Of course, coolness is a matter of opinion, but seeing as I'm here and you're wherever you are, I get to use my own criteria and I say it's cool.

What constitutes cool, you ask? Fair question. In this case, cool means great technological toys to play with, rock 'n' roll light shows, smoke machines, team uniforms and free games. Duh.

The Web Innovation Conference (the theme of which is "Independent...On The Edge") is a three-day forum for the Web developer community to strut its stuff, to show every other Web developer just how (you guessed it) cool they and their products are. The conference's goal is, in the words of the official literature, "to provide a content-rich environment and the latest tools of [the Web developers] trade in one location," complete with panels, speakers, booths, presentations and of course a live Netcast of the keynote (and other) speakers provided by MediaCast (MC).

Check back later for blow by blow accounts of the action on the conference floor, at the MC booth, and at the panels, as experienced by your intrepid reporters, Allen Whitman and Aimee Spanier (me! Hi!).