Long Beach

Digital Bromance: Producer Lloyd Braun and MSN's Scott Moore Talk About Online Content on a TV Set!

Kara Swisher in News on April 13, 2010 at 12:49 pm PT

Yesterday, BoomTown interviewed Hollywood producer Lloyd Braun onstage in Las Vegas at the National Association of Broadcasters annual confab about the future of television in the digital age. Braun, as well as many other longtime entertainment execs, are trying to forge the gap, by trying to operate in both worlds. So last week, I motored down to Long Beach to the set of a very elaborate pilot for an action drama that he is shooting for NBC called “The Cape,” to talk about television, as well the latest Web site he launched in partnership with Microsoft’s MSN.

Google's Brin Says He Is "Always Optimistic" About China Solution

Kara Swisher in News on February 12, 2010 at 11:47 am PT

Google’s Sergey Brin took the stage at the TED conference this morning for a brief discussion about the search giant’s recent declaration that it will pull out of the country if it has to continue to censor results. “We want to find a way to work within the Chinese system,” said Brin, but without having to censor political search terms. “A lot of people might think I am naive and that might be true.”

Microsoft Demos Live Fish-Tossing in Bing Maps at TED

Kara Swisher in News on February 11, 2010 at 3:55 pm PT

Debuting a series of eye-candy features in its ongoing oneupmanship with Google in the increasingly competitive mapping arena, Bing Maps architect Blaise Aguera y Arcas unveiled a new series of enhancements to its spatial search offerings, some of which are available today. Coolest ones: Indoor panoramas to move mapping inside and real-time video overlays to maps, which Microsoft illustrated by tossing fish and bench-pressing crabs during its demo today at the TED conference.

BoomTown Heads to TED (And Promises No Pretentious Tweets!)

Kara Swisher in News on February 10, 2010 at 12:09 am PT

What is it about TED, the iconic conference founded an astonishing 25 years ago, that gets so many people who don’t go in a lather? Nonetheless, the gathering still represents one of the best venues for deep and varied thinking on a wide range of important issues, even if there are moments that might seem twee and elitist to some. TED2010 officially opens tomorrow morning in Long Beach, Calif., although events at the conference actually began last night. Speakers run the gamut and will talk on a wide range of topics, from poverty to clean tech to global warming to ukulele playing.

"Changing the World Through the Web": Video Interviews with Zuckerberg, Kutcher, Rospars and Shah

Kara Swisher in News on October 28, 2009 at 7:19 am PT

Yesterday, BoomTown moderated a panel at California’s Women’s Conference titled “Changing the World Through the Web” for a crowd of several thousand people. The panelists included Hollywood actor/producer, Katalyst co-founder and Twitter demigod Ashton Kutcher; Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg, who leads the social networking site’s elections, breaking news and social change initiatives; Premal Shah, president of online microloan site Kiva.org; and Joe Rospars, founder and creative director of Blue State Digital and new media director for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Here are video interviews I did with each of them.

Video Scenes From the Women's Conference (Even Barbie!)

Kara Swisher in News on October 28, 2009 at 7:16 am PT

Here is a video of some scenes from the Women’s Conference in Long Beach that took place all day yesterday, where BoomTown moderated a tech panel. The huge conference, attended by 24,000 people, was organized by California First Lady Maria Shriver, who can be seen on this video, talking about the recent death of her mother.

Kara Visits the Women's Conference (Questions for Ashton Kutcher, Please!)

Kara Swisher in News on October 27, 2009 at 1:57 am PT

This morning, BoomTown will be onstage at California First Lady Maria Shriver’s well-known Women’s Conference in Long Beach, Calif., to moderate a panel titled “Changing the World Through the Web.” The panelists include Hollywood actor/producer, Katalyst co-founder and Twitter demigod Ashton Kutcher; Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg; Premal Shah of Kiva.org; and Blue State Digital’s Joe Rospars, who was also new media director for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. In other words, as a group, they are all either prettier, smarter or better for the planet than anything I have ginned up so far.

"Has Your Head Exploded Yet?" BoomTown Queries TEDsters on What They Learned

Kara Swisher in News on February 11, 2009 at 11:30 am PT

While at the TED conference last week, I asked a variety of people in attendance at the elite gathering which presentation had blown their head off–figuratively, of course! TED, which feels like a four-year college in four days, had an eclectic range of speakers, many focusing on the awful state of the earth. But there were also less-dire presentations, such as one on how Brad Pitt’s head and range of facial expressions are now stored in a Sony database for all eternity. That’s a cold comfort amid all the global melting down, but BoomTown will not refuse it. Here’s some more TED reaction from the digerati.

Kara Visits TED (The Belated Video)

Kara Swisher in News on February 11, 2009 at 8:30 am PT

Last week, BoomTown traveled to Long Beach, Calif., to attend the TED conference, a longtime gathering of digerati and others who have come to love its eclectic and outward-looking program. The four-day TED2009, titled “The Great Unveiling,” included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates unleashing a small swarm of mosquitoes in the hall, a long list of varied speakers and a whole lot of schmoozing. Here is my belated video of the event, including my kids trying to steal a futuristic car.

The "Billionaires' Dinner" at TED: Readjusted for the 2009 Econalyspe

Kara Swisher in News on February 9, 2009 at 2:13 am PT

Many years ago in the midst of the Web 1.0 boom, when working as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, BoomTown redubbed an annual dinner that book agent John Brockman threw at the TED conference. It was jokingly called the “Millionaires’ Dinner,” but I renamed it the “Billionaires’ Dinner.” That was due to the frothy fortunes that had been made at the time by the Internet pioneers, from Amazon to AOL to eBay. Get it?!? Well, despite the economic meltdown, there were still a lot of billionaires in attendance at Brockman’s most recent dinner last Thursday in Long Beach. But he recounted to me that the proceedings were a lot more focused on the serious times we are in, as was the whole digerati-packed conference held last week.