The entire time in Lake Tahoe was probably the most productive time I’ve spent this year. Even though I got little to no work done, I was more productive? Yep. I got my focus back, I got my energy back, and I have a sense of clarity I haven’t had in a long time.

I feel kind of bad that my first post wasn’t as high quality as I prefer, but I wrote it between sessions before getting my coffee - Chris WHY did the first session start at 8:30AM???! I also should have popped off a few more entries specific to the sessions and the conference while I was there, but I was so busy keeping up with the sessions, trying to remember to eat, and taking notes/writing down thoughts that I just didn’t have the time. Chris posted about this Feedster link. I suggest going there to see everyone’s take on the show. Don’t cry or sigh though, all the thoughts swarming in my head as a result of Gnomedex ARE going to make their way into these pages over the next few days to weeks.

I didn’t get to network as much as I had wanted, but I was feeling drained and run down most of the show. I did make it to every event and got so much out of every one. The host of speakers was incredible. These folks are incredibly intelligent, are creating trends, have such rapport with each other, and are not past sitting down at a table of us “common pleebs” to chat it up and give/receive opinions.

I was most impressed by the sheer dynamism projected by Wil Wheaton in his presentation. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but what I got exceeded whatever that was. So much so, I actually did something I’ve never done and stood in line for a book signing. It took me a day to come up with the question I should have asked while I was there, but I’ll pop it up here in case Wil’s checking his trackbacks (fairly likely I would imagine… ) Wil, what has been your most fulfilling poker hand and why? Was it because you took down a big timer like Phil Fucking Hellmuth, was it because you got the rocks and just led everyone down a path of disaster, or some other reason?

I have so many things on my to do list now - sites to check out, tweaks to do to my site and blog, items to write, experimental audio/video blogging concepts, and much much more. I also have a couple product/service ideas, hell- I even have a possibly patentable process that jumped into my head at one session.

But for now, I need a day or two to recuperate. Good night everyone…

I’ve got two trains of thought:

TRAIN 1:
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There was discussion of having ISPs shut down users that were compromised, there was discussion about Microsoft no longer supporting security upgrades for WIndows 98, and there awas discussion about how people have insecure platforms and need to make themselves more secure.

Why aren’t people doing this? Why do the words anti-virus and firewall make them go “huh?”? Grandma and Grandpa understand jpgs from the CDs of pictures they get sent, they vaugely understand the Internet and how to get on it. What they don’t understand is security, why it’s important, and most of all how the hell to implement it regularly. My question is how do we make this need known to everyone? How do we get them to if not do this themselves, at elast be as aware of the need as they are aware of how to browse the web.

To use a car analogy (they seemed popular) - people know their cars need tuneups regularly. Most don’t know why or even how to do it, but they take them in to get it done. How do we get people to see that their computers are the same? Maybe there’s a business in a computer Jiffy-Lube of sorts where you can drop off your box and get it patched, scanned and up to date while you wait. Do this every month for $10-$30 a pop and you’ll run so fast and smooth, it’d be worth the money.

TRAIN 2:
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There was discussion of software that can detect and shut down phising sites before they get posted.

My question is this: When will software be commercially available and targeted towards ISPs that will allow them to scan their server’s virtual sites’ pages for possible phishing scams?

Bayesian algorithims adn other methods are getting much better in terms of detecting spam intelligently. What would be nice is using the same R&D that’s been brewing for years and applying it to scanning of web pages. ISPs running this software could quarantine pages and sites dynamically that match profiles established by current phishing sites, past phishing sites, pages that are fairly similiar to those of major phishing bait but are not hosted by said sites.

Imagine being able to stop the phisinhing before the emails go out, and if not, having teh site be shut down before people get the chance to get scammed.

My bags got there just in time for me to catch my shuttle from Reno to Lake Tahoe. It was a nice drive. One of the highways (for folks from the city a freeway is big and busy, a highway is two-four lanes with turns along the way) had signs every couple hundred feet. “Drive 50 Please!”, “Save our kids, drive 50!”, “Slow, slow, slow down” and on and on. Wow, do people really come ripping through here at 90+MPH or something? And if they did, would they be able to read the signs before they passed them?

Got dropped off at Harvey’s and made the very quick walk across the border to the Rodeway Inn. There was no sign (not even a tiny scrawled message) saying exactly when you entered CA. Odd, very odd. Anyway, I’m in my room at the Rodeway Inn hanging onto their wifi by a thread. It’s a nice place. Not fancy, but nowhere near a dive either. And they have cable!! Ooooh, cable…..

Shortly I’ll be off to trot over to Harrah’s to meet up with the other attendees that are starting to straggle in. More later, as I’ll try to post at least once or twice a day.

For those who want to do this but are too lazy, you can pick up a copy of a PST that has just the Gnomedex 2004 events in it. It should be compatible with Outlook 97+ even though aI created it in Office Professional 2003.

Note that I have a few quirks in here that may bug you: 1) I always put “@x - subject” as the subject (where x is a time) so I know when the event truly starts. I often put up-front leeway in my appts so I can schedule getting to places and not worry about if I have the time. Plus, it makes the reminder pop off a bit earlier. 2) I’m staying in South Lake Tahoe, CA, so the first appts of the day are all starting an hour ahead with a reminder of 1 hour. This way I know to get my tired ass out of bed and down the street into Nevada.

Hope this helps some of you out!

If you’re going and would like to meet up while you’re there, feel free to shoot me a mail and we’ll schedule some face to face time.