Socially Speaking

Yesterday’s mention (Thanks, Mike!) officially counts as the second time we’ve been TechCrunched. Even if on somewhat a smaller scale, what to say about it? Don’t let anyone fool you — it’s a whole lot of fun.

Here’s a geographical representation of some of the people who’ve signed up to participate in Waxxi’s interactive podcast with Jimmy Wales, on April 5th:

• Perth, Australia
• Reykjavik, Iceland (!)
• London, UK
• Dublin, Ireland
• Taipei, Taiwan
• Wellington, New Zealand

Canada: Montreal, Toronto

China: Beijing, Ningbo

India: Mangalore, Nepal

US: New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Washington, DC; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Seattle, WA; West Hollywood, CA; Ellington, CT; Artlington, VA; Menomonie, WI; Vista, CA; Belchertown, MA; West Lafayette, IN; Wilmington, DE; Stonemountain, FL; El Segundo, CA; Reston, VA; Potomac, MD; Greenwich, CT; University Heights, OH

If you’d like to register, go here (but we’re rapidly running out of space, so hurry!) And, thanks to everyone who signed up to be a part of the conversation. Talk to you soon.

In a report from Tokyo yesterday, Reuters declared, “the online collaboration responsible for Wikipedia plans to build a search engine to rival those of Google Inc. and Yahoo, Inc.”

Well, we could’ve told you that.

Jimmy Wales came out, fully loaded, with some fighting words — or about as peaceful as fighting words can get:

The idea that Google has some edge because they’ve got super-duper rocket scientists may be a little antiquated now.

He went on to describe Google and Yahoo! as “black boxes” that won’t reveal how they rank search results. And, that collaborative search technology could transform the structure of the Internet.

What this translates to is Wikia, the for-profit sister site to Wikipedia, will take great lessons from the non-profit’s core. Wikia Search, then, is a place where:

…users could work together to improve search engines, just as Wikipedia users had tweaked and rewritten articles on the sprawling encyclopedia.

Wikia as a whole hosts collaborative community publishing sites, and is supported by advertising. Examples of some of these communities include 24, the Muppet Wiki (one of Jimmy’s favorites), and the currently featured collaboration, Gears of War.

Our next Waxxi interactive podcast will feature two world-renowned figures in technology and business: Michael Parekh and Michael Arrington.

A founder of Goldman Sachs’ Internet Research group, Michael Parekh was one the early pioneers who helped discover, nurture, and fund the foundations of the web as a lead analyst for the IPOs of such organizations as UUNET, Yahoo!, and eBay. Michael (Mukesh) is a native of India and came to the US in 1977. He is passionate about all things Internet and technology, as well as interesting trends he observes, globally.

In building TechCrunch over the last year, Michael (Mike) Arrington helped lay the foundation for the Web 2.0 world we’re living in today, becoming one of its most highly respected pundits, educators, and analysts. Mike is a former corporate attorney (of Wilson Sonsini fame) who has also helped bring public several companies, and is co-founder of edgeio. He grew up in California and Surrey, England, and lives and works in Atherton.

Together, Michaels Parekh and Arrington represent the core of the Internet, and technology: where it’s been, how it’s evolving, and where it’s going.

The date to join in on this global conversation is Thursday, June 29, 2006 and time is 10:30AM PDT. As always, all you need is a phone and/or Internet connectivity.

By dialing in, you’ll not only hear the entire conversation, but have the chance to be a part of it. We’ll give you instructions when you register, but the process is rather simple: hit two buttons on your phone in order to ‘raise your hand’ to ask a question or make a comment.

Many of our members and participants outside the US will choose to use this feature only. This was tremendously effective and important for our first interactive podcast.

We’ll have more details posted shortly. Stay tuned.

Last week, at a gathering at San Francisco’s Hotel Utah, a powerful group of social media types, podcasters and bloggers corralled. Shel Israel hosted the event in honor of Jackie Danicki and Adriana Cronin-Lukas.

Jeremiah Owyang helped spread the word, as he does so masterfully, as well as putting people who should be talking together, together. One of them being, on my behalf, Mario Sundar. Mario is a passionate, inquisitive, and incredibly knowledgeable person with whom I’m interested in becoming more acquainted. Thanks for sharing some time to speak (and for the very kind words), Mario. We must continue the conversation.

Gratefully, Adriana was quick to introduce me to Mike Hudack of Blip.tv. And Jeremy Pepper was quick to point out how much he sounded like Vince Vaughn (it’s true. Jeremy was spot on). If you haven’t seen what they’re doing, take a look at Blip. We are.

It was great shaking hands and chatting with BrainJams‘ Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells. [mental note: keep in touch with them. we like what they're doing.] And just down the bar, not there for the event, was Buzz Andersen who does some interesting work with Apple’s Soundtrack Pro.

A nice surprise was seeing Mike Arrington again (the last time was at a much larger party at the TechCrunch House) who agreed on the spot to join our next interactive podcast with guest Michael Parekh. More to come on that…which will prove to be one heckuva global conversation.

What I’m finding so interesting is the concentration of immensely driven, passionate innovators, thinkers, creators and knowledge workers here in the Bay area. We’re thrilled to be a part of it all.

(closing tip: if you’re in London on June 21, be sure not to miss What My Space Means, held by the Engagement Alliance).

After many hours of post-cast work in the studio, and answering many emails, IMs, blog posts and calls, I can finally blog about Waxxi’s inaugural, historic interactive podcast.

Before writing about the details of the event, which Jeremiah Owyang did with lightning fast timing and hurting fingers (indeed, a Web Prophet), and which Mish, Peter Dawson and Robert Scoble live-blogged, we need to send thanks to many.

To our guest speakers:

Shel Israel, renowned consultant, accomplished and in-demand speaker, writer, genuinely nice guy, and soon to be globe-trotter. It all started at a really fun party over a glass or two of great wine. Thanks for being open to something new. Thanks also for the kind words, and continuous support. We hope you’ll come back for a future Waxxi cast to talk about the findings of your next book.

Robert Scoble, who I feel like I know yet I’ve barely met (only briefly when he signed my copy of Naked Conversations at said party). Why? Because he’s real. He’s a real guy talking about real things, Microsoft-related and not. Thank you for being bold, brave, honest and forthright. Thank you for opening up our tech/business/shareholder value-driven world to something more important: life itself. And thank you for taking time to spend with us today, so close to the time that you left your Mom. I hope you and I get the chance to sit down together someday soon.

To each and every one of the participants today who took the time on a Saturday morning/afternoon/evening (depending on where you were in the world). It was an energetic, insightful first session, albeit not without a bump or two in the road. Mr. Raftery, we owe you at least a pint of Guiness after you welcome your newborn to the world.

To TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington. Thanks for liking the concept, and because of that alone, helping introduce the world to Waxxi.

And last – but certainly not least – heartfelt, very special thanks to our hard-working, always on, and very patient team of developers, designers and consultants:

Bob Joyal, formerly with Fast Company; Frank Gruber, of Somewhat Frank (Frank, you rock!); Frederick Giasson of Talk Digger fame; Val Landi, Silicon Valley IT veteran and author of A Woman from Cairo; and our partner-in-design, Chicago’s Inflatble3.

Thanks, to all. We wouldn’t be Waxxi without you.