"Unexpected" Posts on ValleyZen

What do you think when you see this image of a traffic light —showing STOP and GO simultaneously? I had never seen a traffic light hold two contradicting signals ever before until recently. It seemed a visual koan for life in the Valley – something you could meditate on and reflect upon endlessly. I loved it and immediately took a cell phone photo. All of a sudden a banal traffic light wasn’t so banal. I was interested to see the many meanings and possibilities people would unpack. I posted it on facebook and got brilliant and witty feedback from…

Fast-paced action and friends took center stage at CookFest 2009 hosted by Wellsphere Co-Founder Ron Gutman and Miri Gutman. Digerati descended on the Gutman home to celebrate Wellsphere’s recent acquisition by Virginia-based HealthCentral with a homey homestyle digerati hoedown. The Zen of Process…It wasn’t a slick East coast styled cocktail party and sitdown dinner (although there were many friendly ex-New Yorkers there). Instead the day began with a communal trip to Whole Foods led by Ron and Miri. Next engineers and product designers alike pitched in to chop vegetables and talk about their startups.

Eight hours later…

After his presentation today, Tom Siebel fielded audience questions.
A voice began speaking…

“What are you?” Siebel asked.
“A freshman,” the voice said.
“What are you studying?”
“Still figuring that out.”
“Me too,” said Siebel.

Silicon Valley gets Zen.

In the 80s and 90s, Siebel’s expertise in relational database theory helped him make Siebel Systems a global leader in software. Now he is becoming a Zen beginner—moving away from his domain, IT (Information Technology) into a totally new arena (Energy Technology). Even though Siebel has spent the last three years doing research on energy issues, this is uncharted territory for him. He’s taking a radical departure from his “comfort zones” in order to tackle pressing ecological problems. Siebel gave us a sneak preview of…

Go all access with us at Tim O’Reilly’s home, as he graciously opens his doors to ValleyZen.

Join us in an exclusive video experience where twisting country backroads lead to the home of the Founder & CEO of O’Reilly Media. ValleyZen was invited to O’Reilly’s Sebastopol dwelling which is nestled on 6 acres of farmland–far from Silicon Valley hustle and bustle, and tucked between California earth and sky.

O’Reilly is candid, open and relaxed, taking us on a tour of his home, his kitchen, and even his treehouse. This video is filled with action, movement, and satori!

The trailer below shows a few minutes of highlights taken from footage shot over the course of an entire morning…

Watch a video with Jim Barnett, Founder & CEO of Turn, Inc. Jim Barnett’s Zen insights are interesting for entrepreneurs , business people, or anyone implementing a big vision.

Don’t Miss Jim Barnett on:

• 19 years of morning meditation
• Riding up King’s Mountain to clear his mind
• Simplicity in advertising
• On naming his company “TURN”
• Performance and simplicity behind Turn
• On building a culture of honesty and Zen authenticity
• Why he doesn’t care about reference checks in hiring…
Keep Reading

The Tech Awards show that “Big changes come from simple solutions” said Tech President Peter Friess —opening an elegant black tie gala for the premier annual humanitarian awards programs in the world. Over 1500 Tech Museum friends & donors gathered to honor 25 global innovators (Laureates) who were carefully selected from hundreds of applications received from 68 countries. $250,000 in cash awards were distributed on one evening.

“We are gathering all the intellectual capital of all these prestigious laureates…

Digerati 9 “sold out” faster than expected and was filled to capacity. The free, but invitation only event formed a wait list quickly earlier this month. On Sunday at the private home of Ron Gutman, techies took in sun and a view from his deck while leisurely sipping champagne and eating mousse. I asked Ron Gutman about the Zen of Digerati. “There is no agenda and we don’t try to frame anything. We don’t tell people what to expect or how to behave. It just…

Step inside William H. Draper III’s James Bond-like San Francisco office. Bill Draper is one of the West Coast’s first venture capitalists, starting his VC career in 1962. He was founder of Sutter Hill Ventures and led it for 20 years. In the eighties, he served in diplomatic positions such as head of the Export-Import Bank and chief of the United Nations Development Program. Currently, he is the General Partner of Draper Richards and Director of the Draper Richards Foundation. ValleyZen interviews him. Don’t miss this amazing video!!

Prof. Jeremy Bailenson is turning heads (real and virtual). With all the media attention he has received lately for his research at Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL), you might suspect he was making use of multiple avatars to sit in for all these interviews.

The New York Times, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Science Magazine, and The TODAY show have got Prof. Bailenson in the media spotlight right now.

Today TIME magazine features…

“If you want to be at the heart of the intellectual universe come to Stanford,” said Stanford Law School Dean, Larry Kramer, introducing Jonathan Zittrain to a pumped-up pro-Stanford audience at the Ritz Carlton, San Francisco. This book signing event was organized by Dean Kramer and Stanford Law School in an effort to recruit the Oxford professor and internationally-known cyberlaw scholar to come to Stanford.
“There is no place like Stanford Law School,” Zittrain agreed and began his talk centering on his latest book, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It. Flanked by giant digital images from the book, Zittrain described the magic of the early Internet…