A few weeks ago when speaking at a conference, I told a group of attendees that today might just be the most exciting time in the history of technology – not because you can build a cool app to share photos or build a group messaging application and sell it for millions of dollars. Instead, it’s because we are finally seeing the long-awaited confluence of computing and connectivity.
Just as the marriage of the steam engine with the wheel opened up a world of possibilities, the marriage of microprocessors (everywhere) and network connections (everywhere) is opening up new vistas for the technology industry. The power of a computer in your pocket is such that it impacts how you find places to congregate and consume – from food to wine to clothes to even cars. Every day, you make decisions, based on what the iPhone (or Android or whatever) brings back from the web.
Everything that has a silicon beat – phones, eBook readers, game devices, cars, televisions to even heart rate monitors and scales – is being connected and in turn redefining the very idea of our economy. This state of constant connectedness is what makes it an exciting time. And as exciting as this time might be, today is a time of immense confusion. In order to make sense of many of the changes, I decided that it was time to host an event that gives us a roadmap to the future.
Unlike our previous events — Structure (infrastructure and cloud), Structure Data (data and cloud), Mobilize (mobile Internet), Net:Work (collaboration and work) and Green:Net (clean IT) — RoadMap is less about a single vertical and is more focused on the broader trends.
At GigaOM and our research service, GigaOM Pro, we try and provide our readers with information and insights that act as a guide as they make their decisions. GigaOM RoadMap is going to do that as a one-day conference and focus on the broader technology trends and how they impact businesses and what opportunities they can create.
What are those trends? Well, if you have been a subscriber of my Om Says newsletter, then you are quite familiar with some of the themes we are going to be exploring at the conference. These themes include:
- Data as the new plastic
- The Alive Web
- Collaborative consumption
- Networked cars
- The connected self
- Everything as a service
The event will be held in San Francisco on November 10 at the Mission Bay Conference Center. Further details about speakers will be announced shortly.
Stay tuned.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Cubo789