Deductible Junkets
August 11-13 Future Transportation Technology Costa Mesa, California
"Every transportation expert in the freaking world was in the same place, and the interchange was fantastic," says auto industry analyst Gerry Conover of last year's event. Sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, this meeting brings together more than 500 of the brightest in the field. The car talk ranges from intelligent transportation systems – the onboard information networks for next-generation cars – to crash-avoidance systems. And with greenhouse gas quotas in mind, engineers will deliver papers on hybrid and electric cars and alternative fuels. While many demos and papers at FTT come from blue-sky territory, you'll also see product people circling the periphery for gadgets to add to Detroit's next line.
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July 19-24 Siggraph Orlando, Florida
Siggraph is a privileged look at the future – researchers stand behind improbable high tech contraptions and animators show off the special effects in next season's films and TV commercials. This year's event boasts an interactive nightclub with a dance floor that turns into a giant human interface: Dancers in the small interactive zone affect house music loops and funky graphics with their movements. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Siggraph – which stands for Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics – will also include a keynote from CGI pioneer Jim Blinn, informal talks with other computer graphics legends at the Digital Campfire, and a survey of the history of futurism.
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July 27-28 Herring on Hollywood Santa Monica, California
Entertainment companies have been eyeing the Net as a content conduit for a while now, but bandwidth has been a big obstacle. It's hard to squeeze radio broadcasts, video, and multimedia HTML down a phone line. What to do? Find a solution and make a bundle of money. This second annual event, sponsored by The Red Herring, brings venture capitalists, investment bankers, and movie execs together to hobnob and study ways of putting entertainment content online. One of this year's Big Ideas is PCTV, the thin client that brings the computer into the TV room. Got a better idea? Polish your business plan and head to Los Angeles.
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July 21-24 INET '98 Geneva
The Internet Society's annual shindig isn't so much a geeky event as an opportunity for 3,000 policymakers and mid- to upper-level managers to discuss politics and business. Get an earful from MCI senior vice prez and coinventor of the Net's communications protocol, Vint Cerf. Themes include the Net's connection to health care, the law, and education, as well as talks on new software applications. Spontaneously organized birds-of-a-feather sessions flesh out some of the best ideas. Come early to take one of the special preconference workshops such as the "Developing Countries Networking Symposium."
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July 31-August 2 Def Con 6.0 Las Vegas
The media has a field day when more than 1,500 hackers descend on Las Vegas for this annual meeting, but that doesn't stop conferencegoers from trading real information in private rooms. The event is part plenary session, part networking, and plenty of fun and games. Among the sessions planned are wireless networking, copyright on the Net, and the weaknesses of intrusion detec-tion systems. Encryption is a hot topic, so expect Applied Cryptography author Bruce Schneier's talk to fill up fast. When you've heard enough yakking in the panels, join fellow phreakers in playing capture the flag, spot the Fed, and spot the screenwriter.
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July 31-August 2 Send event information to junkets@wired.com.
