I’m back in the UK, and it’s half-past midnight and I feel as fresh as a daisy despite only having slept for about half an hour in the last thirty-six… My mind still feels like it’s got too much Emerging Tech stuff in it that I need to digest, contemplate, post about, link to, think about and (hopefully) get into fights about – but I don’t know when I’m going to get the chance to do it. So in the meantime, I hope people can forgive my fragmentary writing – it’s simply reflecting the state of my mind… Over the next few days, expect massive catch-ups on what’s been going on elsewhere around the world, random pictures being displayed completely out of sequence as-and-when the urge takes me, discussions about the stuff we talked about in Santa Clara as well as the stuff that has crept blinking from my mind over the last couple of weeks. Also expect griping about the state of my financies, anxieties about the future of UpMyStreet.com, the posting of a just-in-case CV/resumé and as many of the intelligent brain-scrapings as I can muster over the next few days (before they go stale)…
If I say nothing else about the whole experience, let me say this: If you are working on something innovative or cutting-edge or interesting – anything with wider implications that you think could matter to anyone else – and you feel that you’re lacking a community of engaged and interested peers to connect with and relate to, then you should seriously consider going to Emerging Tech 2004. In the meantime, I think it’s about time those of us in the UK persuaded Danny O’Brien to start another XCom (for the altogether scruffier UK alpha geeks and their fans). See you all next year!