Pop!Tech 2006 was an amazing brain safari filled with big ideas, great conversations, and a gathering of curious open minded people from all disciplines and places. I’d usually post tons of pics and detailed descriptions, but other guru bloggers have done this timing favor, a very detailed textual blog by Ethan Zukerman, or a more visual dose by core77. Hopefully they’ll post all of the webcast lecture online much like TEDtalks soon. Pictured above is Rodrigo and Gabriela rockin out the house!!!

Read those blogs for the full details, and hit up Flickr for some images, otherwise, I’m going to post my experience outside of all the great lectures after the jump with a bunch of pics:

Highlights:

– Playing ping pong at the bar with Will Wright, the genius founder of the Sim’s franchise and creator of Spore!!!! I won 21-10, but I had no clue it was him till the next day when he presented. Cool guy!

– Ponging it up with guru performer Ze Frank….yup, he beat me, but it was a kick-butt game…26-28. Game on next time!

– Having some great conversations with Ed Burtynsky while talking about everything and anything! Super chill person!

– Playing with a bunch of cool materials Blaine Brownell brought over, most of them in his book transmaterials.

– Learning tons about shark feeding habits by a past Havard phd graduate.

– Hanging out with Brian Eno, well, for a bit at least.

– Drooling at Homaru Cantus presentation of mouth watering food inventions.

– Listening to Chris Anderson not talk about “the long tail”, but instead about Abundance. You can download his powerpoint slides here!

– Crusing through the ocean the on a yatch with a bunch of poptech-oids the next day to end it off!

– Meeting many great individuals with great stories, ideas, personalities, and something to share.

Here we go…less on the lectures, more on everything else.

On the drive up to Camden, my buddy Doug (Big Fresh) and I drove past this boat off the side of the road…we drove by it, laughed, then turned around to take pics…this was a sign for good times to come!

First night, I ponged it up with Ze Frank above…he kicked me good….26-28…great game!! we both wanted to stand 5 feet back, but this table was at a bar(Gilberts) with limited space and drunken random walkers abouts the space.
I actually played Will Wright before Ze, and I had no clue who he was….I was informed later that night that he was the creator of the SIMS franchise and the freaking amazing game SPORE! I beat him 21-10. So weird, I played pong against the god of digital games, but oh sooooo cool! I should make a shirt, “I ponged Will Wight”.

I played with probably 12 people that night!

The master Pong, Ze Frank!

That’s Will Wright (right)(Who I ponged with) giving his lecture with Brain Eno, father of Ambient music and super smart! The combination of the two on stage was awesome!!!

Reggie Watts rehearsing before his great performance…great entertainer..beatboxer, mixer, and comedian…and, some crazy hair!

Reggie Watts..see….crazy hair yeah!

Next night, great conversations with Ze Frank and the amazingly passionate photographer Ed Burtynsky who gave a slide show of some amazing photos he took in Chinese factories!

Blaine Brownell brought over a nice set of material for people to play with in the hallway. Most of them were from his book Transmaterial. Very knowledgeable guy.

This was a small cube with 4 sphelar cubes(solar balls) that lit up the LED when light was surrounding it, and turned off once you enclosed it in shadows. The energy absorbed can easily be stored.

Here’s a matrix of those Sphelar balls lighting up a super bright LED. This stuff rocks!

Some play with Fiber Optics…basicaly square U-shaped pieces of plastic that transfer light to another portal on the surface, hence giving this play with light as you waved your hand abouts…good stuff….but the cooler part…that’s Brian Enos hand… He had me make a small movie with his camera for his daughter to see….Whooohoo!!

Here’s the same material, with my cell phones light hitting it….understand now?…the lights hits the surface, and the natural optics bring it someh where else.

Ready to Drool!!!! Homaru Cantus rocked the house with his rustic kick-butt style cooking inventing. Had had a “This sucks! This rocks!” attitude kinda like a rock star or Biker person on the discovery channel. He showed us some 20+ dishes which were patented processes. Above pictured is a glass upside-down, getting fused with a cinnamon stick getting hit up with a laser, hence dispensing smoke. The glass collected the smoke then glass was set upside down for a customer. After several minutes, the glass is lifted upright while the smoke misted away and wine was poured in immediately to allow a smoke coating between the glass and wine…wowo!

Homaru gave out these patented flavored pieces of paper… At his restaurant, he serves this particular piece with a printed iconic pink cotton candy stamp…and guess what..ya stick it in your mouth, and Bahm!!!! pink cotton candy!!!

Chris Anderson of Wired and the Long Tail prepping for his Slide show…..Great to see an icon like him working on the floor, surfing the web, and being a super cool dude.

Road stop sign! I dunno what I’m doing.

Dinner at the Waterfront! Yuuummm, scallops!!!

After 4 days of brain charging lectures, it’s off to the aviation/transportation museum for the conferences party! I felt like flying, so, the arms went up!

James Clar displayed his well-known LED boxes!! I got to hang with him….and in fact, ran into him later during my lobster roll adventures.

Next morning, a bunch of poptech-ers went sailing on a yatch! super nice chilly weather, but great for good conversations! I think the camera clicked while I was serenading the ocean my master opera skillz.

Heading back to Boston, we stopped by this pier where they served up some incredible Lobster rolls…I’m not posting that picture cause I’m seriously drooling and smiling at the same time.

A short stop in Portland….hmm….a 2nd lunch, yup!!! Some awesome Sushi!