A couple of us from Vidoop took a trip to sunny Mountain View, CA to be a part of the ShesGeeky (un)conference experience. The venue provided a great opportunity for women from various disciplines and backgrounds to get together in a fun and collaborative setting. The event boasted sponsorship from big players like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, etc. with Vidoop being one of the startup sponsors. The group was intimate enough with about 200 or so women attending. We met sketch bloggers, filmmakers, podcasters, programmers, photographers and a multitude of other women who were involved in exciting tech projects of all sorts.

The powerful thing about the unconference structure was that attendees defined the talking points and the agenda, allowing for everyone to be included and heard. Anyone who had anything to share was invited to do so. There was a big sheet of paper where all of us could post discussion topics. We could then choose from the schedule and pick sessions that we could attend. We had groups as small as 2 people and as large as 50, all genuinely interested and engaged. Here’s some of the topics on the line up - Google Geo API’s, Brain Storming New Technologies, Identity Security and OpenID, Art and Geekyness, Product Development, Paths for Accidental Techies, etc.

Interestingly enough, we talked about security and OpenID at the conference, and it was very well-received. We gave an overview of OpenID and got everyone excited that we no longer have to remember a slew of passwords for all the websites that we visit. We also showed off the new openid.net website which Vidoop helped design. There was a lot of interest in the fact that OpenID allows individuals to maintain separate profiles within one identity.

When users create an OpenID Identity, which is simply a URL — for example https://JohnDoe.myVidoop.com — they fill out a default profile, with the option to make the default profile the person’s public profile. In addition, people can add new profiles to their identity and choose to share different profiles with different websites, all with the same identifier. And no – the profile option is not a part of OpenID but is built in by the identity provider you choose to go with. For those of you that are interested in creating separate profiles, make sure your identity provider supports this feature. Everyone wants to keep their work life separate from their dating life and so on. And OpenID provides the perfect tools to be able to do so.

We had representation from both the for-profit as well as the non- profit sectors, with a lot of interaction and support between the two sides. It was an immensely diverse group of fun and geeky gals, whose singular purpose was to connect and learn from one another.

Here are some notes on an interesting session that we attended called ‘The Future of Technology’.

The Future of technology: Every one of us is impacted by technology and its growth. This session presented futuristic ideas about technology and where the next leaps might take us - in the real world and the virtual world. The session was divided into three segments.

• Melanie Swan from MS Futures gave us a fascinating look into the world of possibilities….discussion topics ranged from affordable space launch and economics to immortality. The talk about anti-aging and life enhancement, toys with ideas where nourishment can be provided to the body via clothing; where nanobots can be programmed to provide nutrients to the body and remove waste; and where the functions of the heart can be performed by nanobots delivering oxygen to the cells, rendering it obsolete!

• Christine Peterson from the non-profit Foresight Institute, which focuses its efforts on nanotechnology, talked about the concept of Open Source Security. The idea being that an open source approach to physical space and security, would mean that the code base is open for review, creating a third party audit system to detect bugs and hidden security errors. The built in checks would help us beef up our security, and ensure that the national IT infrastructure is more secure and reliable for widespread deployment.

• Liana Holmberg, an open source evangelist, gave us an overview of the simulation called SecondLife, and talked to us about how we could create digital personas called avatars, and live and work and travel in the online world…

p.s. - We had the best Indian food ever at the conference!