The Traveling Geeks land at Le Web

by David Spark on December 6, 2009 at 10:49 pm

Go to dinner with the geeks and you’ll get lots of photos taken

Let me set the scene for you. More than a dozen geeks have traveled to Paris for a weeklong tech odyssey culminating with coverage from France’s premier Web 2.0 conference, Le Web. I’m having a hard time trying to determine what the difference is between “Le Web” and “The Web,” but as far as I can tell, it’s soft cheese.

Our group, the Traveling Geeks, has come from all over the world to meet, see new technology, and report about it. Everyone is blogging from multiple locations, but if you want to catch everyone’s coverage, no matter where they write it, just follow the blog Traveling Geeks (RSS).

Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

“Traveling Geeks” pens look a lot better than they work. I’ve witnessed three run out of ink within one minute of use.
Connectivity at hotel is horrible. I’m jonesing for a fast connection so I can upload some videos. I’ve got a video of an aging accordionist playing and singing “I’m Just a Gigolo.” UPDATE: I got a fast connection and I just posted the video. Take a look.
Geeks bring their video and image capturing equipment to dinner. Things normal people wouldn’t dream to photograph will not only be photographed and videotaped, but you’ll have lots and lots of it. Here’s just the beginning of our photostream.
The doors on the Paris Metro will try to crush you if you don’t get in or out fast enough. Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher was unfortunately our guinea pig for that discovery. Despite all the photos of everyone’s meal and the closeups of the pores on my face last night, nobody got a shot or video of Tom vs. the Paris Metro.

Special thanks to Mobile Globe for sponsoring last night’s dinner. I was privy to a rather cool demo of its mobile application that lets you make international calls anywhere in the world for just 4 cents per minute. Installs on BlackBerrys, iPhones and a bunch of other Java-enabled devices. And another thanks to Mashcast for making that silly video of all us at top.David Spark helps businesses grow by developing thought leadership through storytelling and covering live events at Spark Media Solutions. He blogs at The Spark Minute and can be heard and seen regularly on ABC Radio, Cranky Geeks with John C. Dvorak, and KQED in San Francisco. See his business profile, contact David, or leave a comment below.

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