Big week — Intel, Disrupt, iphone 5S
The future of tech will be on display in the Bay Area this week.
About 3,000 people are expected to descend on the Concourse at San Francisco Design Center starting Monday for the annual TechCrunch Disrupt conference, which exposes venture capitalists to about 310 startups, all hoping to be the next big thing.
And about 4,000 people are expected to attend the three-day Intel Developers Forum at the Moscone West Convention Center, starting Tuesday. In addition to unveiling a new generation of lowerpower processors, code-named Bay Trail, this year’s event marks the first public keynotes by CEO Brian Krzanich and President Renée James.
Krazanich and James, who took over the top spots at the Santa Clara chip-
maker in May, are expected to outline their vision for Intel’s future, especially in mobile devices.
Meanwhile, the eyes of the tech world will be on Apple Tuesday as the company reveals its latest iPhone. As is always the case with the Cupertino firm, rumors abound leading up to the event, including some indicating that Apple will actually come out with two new models, one of which will be named iPhone 5s. A larger screen and several vibrant colors, like gold, may also be in the mix.
Making sense of it all
In an interview, influential tech blogger Robert Scoble talked about his plans for TechCrunch Disrupt, but he could just as well have been speaking about the unusually packed week of tech news.
“We’re trying to understand where the future is going, what infrastructure needs to be built and how fast it’s going to happen,” said Scoble, who is the startup liaison officer for cloud computing company Rackspace of Texas.
Scoble will be conducting online interviews with some of the startup leaders who have come from around the world to show off their technology. About 30 startups will be selected to compete for a $50,000 top prize from conference organizer TechCrunch, the online tech news site owned by AOL.
It’s a fairly good stage for those startups — some of the past winners include Yammer, Dropbox and Fitbit.
Scoble, in particular, is looking for the next big thing in wearable technology. Rackspace will award a $10,000 prize to the app developer that comes up with the best idea for Google Glass, the Web giant’s fledgling wearable computer.
Scoble himself has become a big Google Glass fan — he wears his all the time. But he said developers haven’t begun to tap the full potential of the device, which includes a sensor that tracks what his eyes are seeing.
“Developers haven’t even started dreaming about what they’re going to be doing with that eye sensor,” he said.
Looking at the bigger picture, Rackspace is also conducting market surveys to determine how people are reacting to a new wave of devices that compile personalized information about our daily habits and lifestyles. Activity and health tracking devices like the Nike+ FuelBand and Fitbit, self-driving cars and the newly introduced Samsung Galaxy Gear smartphone are among the products helping to create a new “age of context,” Scoble said.
Sharing health data
One Rackspace-commissioned study found that more than 35 percent of those surveyed wouldn’t mind using a wearable device that anonymously shared information about their health and fitness with a health care provider or national health organization.
“We’re trying to understand this new contextual world we’re living in,” Scoble said.
The list of speakers during the three-day conference includes an unlikely trio — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler.
No, they won’t be in the building at the same time. The Winklevoss twins — best known for their protracted legal battle on claims that Zuckerberg stole their idea for a social network when they all attended Harvard — are scheduled to appear Tuesday for a panel on Bitcoins, a digital currency used for online payments. Zuckerberg is scheduled to appear Wednesday in an on-stage interview.
Other speakers include Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Linkedin CEO Jeff Weiner, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff and Silicon Valley angel
investor Ron Conway.