In the world of web mavens - there are the new Captains of Industry (as AO calls them) and then there are the guys who've been around long enough to actually have some institutional history. Tony Perkins has been there from the beginning. From the original "Upside" magazine, to "Red Herring" to now - Always On, he's been ahead of the cure all the way. So an invitation to one of his conferences is something that companies are always hoping for.

Magnify.net was invited to present at the Alumni Center on the Stanford Campus along with a who's who of web visionaries and leaders. And heck, it was a ton of fun. First of all, the energy was infectious. You really do sense that the change that has been building since 1996 is now evolving into a heady mix of mature companies and feisty start ups. It's really a heady elixir.



The three day event was so jam packed with panels, parties, and presentations that I suspect I only got to see about half of what was going on. But just hanging out in the lobby with Robert Scobel, Chris Nolan and David Spark was plenty of fun. Chris O'Brian from Motionbox was in from NY. And my pal JD Lassica continues to be able to see around corners and have his finger on the pulse of the fast moving video space. Talking with Dustin Moskovitz the co-founder of Facebook, it was good to get a first-person sense that these guys really do believe in the open platform that they're putting out there. They really do walk the walk. And from what I was told, there's plenty more on the way.



Charlene Li from Forrester moderated what was for me the most interesting panel - Social Networking 3.0. Great conversation, and some really forward thinking questions about shared registration, multiple identities, and the complexities of keeping all the various social networks from not overwhelming the user.