Eric Reasons

Not much commentary, I just wanted to lay down some photos. I arrived early on Sunday, found my way to the Moscone center, hopped on a bus with 300 other crazy VMWorld attendees and rode out to the shore for a 5k at dusk in San Francisco. I forgot my parka. I hit a nondescript "wine bar" for dinner. The dinner was decent enough, the wines weren't anything special. I was fed, I was tired, I was ready for bed at about 9:00PM. Monday started the conference. It was hard to miss: Here some photos throughout the day at VMWorld: Social Media and Blogger Lounge: This is where the cool people hang out and tell each other how many Twitter followers they have. You know how you can tell they're cool? The dancing little icons under the cloud. Also, they'll tell you.  Lab Thunderdome: Okay, the labs are clearly where it's at this conference. The monitors you see facing you are just 1/4 of what's in this room. The lab text appears on the right hand monit...

Hey folks, I'm heading to San Francisco at the end of the month for VMWorld, and I'm building a map of must-hit restaurants, kitchens, food stands, coffee shops, etc. I'm also heading up to see old friends in Santa Rosa for the weekend. Are you a NorCal native? Hit my Google map and leave a suggestion or two in the comments. (Or just leave your suggestion here in the comments, if you like). Anyplace between Santa Rosa and San Francisco is fair game. View San Francisco Food Tour in a larger map The plan is to be at the VMWorld conference until Sept. 2nd, then head up the coast to visit wine country and friends until the 7th. I'm also going to try and make a pit-stop into the TWiT Cottage in Petaluma to catch a taping of This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte  on Sunday. Lastly, if you're in the area between 8/29 and 9/7 and want to meet up for drinks or dinner, let me know! Reach me via the usual methods:  http://www.google.com/profiles/ereasons

Good God. It's back and worse than the last time. The "Performance Tax" idea, payola in reverse, has returned to Congress's doorstep, and it is more ridiculous than ever. As if it weren't absurd enough to have radio pay to promote your music, they have added the following absurdity: The RIAA wants a federal mandate to put FM receivers in " cell phones, PDAs, and other portable electronics." If it was from anybody less reputable than  Ars Technica , I'd think this news was an Onion-esque spoof: The mind boggles. Enjoy Penny Arcade's brilliant send-up here . Check out details on the Performance Tax from the last time it reared it's ugly head here . Here's how you can help fight the Performance Tax .

Mike Masnick over at Techdirt has some rock-solid analysis on Kodak , and why it's an outstanding example of the Innovator's Dilemma . The article sent me off on a tangent in the comments about the role of disruptive technology, and the Internet in general. I asked if there were any examples of technologies that expanded capitalization in a market instead of shrunk it. I was promptly corrected (of course there were! Most technology is introduced to this effect!). Mike listed many of the basics: automobiles, telephones, computers, etc. My question revealed my bias: I was thinking only of the Internet (which I would equate more to Mass Production than to the Automobile, in terms of historically allegorical technologies). A new product is likely to expand a market, but a new *mode of production* has vastly more complex effects. Part of my reply: When it comes to new technology in general, I think you're absolutely correct--they tend to increase the pie. I was thinking s...