I attended the MHTA Spring Conference yesterday. It was fun to see so many folks focused on high-tech. I met some very smart and innovative people. I’m hoping to profile some of their projects in the upcoming weeks as I follow up with phone calls and tours. The day ended with Ira Flatow and the evolution of science becoming sexy and pointing out that we need to understand science to make good policies. The day began with an opening keynote from Robert Stephens of Geek Squad. I know many readers were at the Blandin Broadband conference last year where Robert was again a keynote speaker. Many of the themes were similar – embrace technology and don’t be afraid to let the world follow your trend.

I know at the Blandin conference one of my favorite parts of Robert’s presentation were the quick comments and resources he mentioned along the way. Today he made my life easier with one slide near the end that listed cool highlights. I thought I’d share that with folks tonight.

I’ve tried to add links and some context – but my hope is to explore each more in the upcoming weeks and rather than dribble out info as I study I thought I’d share this list with you now.

• NFC – near field communication http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_field_communication
• GeoSocial – connect digital data with real world and sense of place
• Identity – keeping your identity will become easier/more desirable
• Mobile – every business should think about a mobile page
• Arduino – open source electronics http://www.arduino.cc/
• GitHub https://github.com/ – a place/way to collectively create apps
• Robotics – getting cheaper so will become a bigger player
• Video – being able to video anywhere, anytime increases your odds of getting the right shot
• Tablets – puts the information in your hands. Great for retailers – employees don’t need to memorize every product, they just need to be able to look it up!

One final note – about the first of the year I started listening to TED talks while I walk in the morning. It makes me feel like I’m at least getting smarter if not thinner. Well I noticed that several of the ideas Robert mentioned this morning came from TED talks I have heard in the last few weeks. I may be onto a good thing with TED. (If you haven’t watched them – you should give it a go. Think of it as 20 minutes of free, professional development.)