These past few days have been quite “playful”.
On the one hand, I have just discovered, right around the corner from our apartment by London Bridge, a free and public playground that has an artificial grass hockey field, half a basketball court, 3 pingpong tables and even a beach volleyball court with sand and all! So obviously, the next day I went with my son to a sports equipment store and bought a soccer ball, a pingpong set, a basketball, a volleyball and a badminton set.
On Thursday we (Carlos and Victoria from Kanteron, my wife and I) were invited, since we are members, to the TechHub 5th birthday party at an abandoned textile warehouse in London.
The party was expertly organized by the TechHub crew, and had everything you need to ensure a great party: two DJs, karaoke, photo-booth, grilled cheese sandwiches, ice-cream, cupcakes, booze, and cool tech (this time it was the HP Sprout).
On June 23 I was invited to attend the Google Next Event, as a customer of Google and a potential partner.
It was quite a shock comparing the overall tone and spirit to the same event in New York, last year.
In New York everything was oriented toward networking, and you had the feeling that anyone could be anyone, and it didn`t matter if they represented a large company or a “start-up wannabe”.
I have been working at the Google-TechHub Campus in Shoreditch (the “Silicon Roundabout”) London for a few weeks. It is really cool. In no particular order, here are some things I love about this place:
A cafeteria (open to anyone) with terrace, foosball table, bitcoin machine, device bar (to test your developments in many different devices) and even a spacesuit! A small but well stocked library of tech books Very nice team, from security to reception, to admin, to social media… all of them Two levels of office space, one of them (supposedly) “quiet zone” Unlimited supplies of toast and tea, great wifi, and good scanners/printers A ton of areas to sit down and have a meeting, not just the “meeting rooms” Most importantly: the events.
This past winter I met Sandy and James from Open ITP in New York, and Pepe from Valencia. They were organizing the Circumvention Tech Festival to be held in Las Naves, Valencia (Spain) March 1-6.
They invited me to give a talk, which was eventually scheduled for March 4th at 3pm. I titled the talk “When privacy does not mean the same to you and me”. It was meant to generate debate, to expose other people’s points of view, rather than to be a unidirectional speech.
On Monday, February 9, I attended a Bitcoin – Blockchain event with my wife at law firm Latham & Watkins in New York, organized by Hedgeable.
Over 100 bitcoin enthusiasts, investors, journalists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs networking over food and beverages, with demos from:
and a round table of Bitcoin innovation experts:
Since I have already started researching the application of the block chain technology for healthcare, it was quite a useful event.
If anyone wants an invite to buy a OnePlus, the best phone in the market, or to join Ello, the social network that does not sell your data, send me a message.
STW
