One of the great things about my new Gateway laptop is it's a powerful thing with lots of memory, so I don't mind taxing it to its limits. Primarily, I bought it for video editing, but I find it a great tool for staying abreast of everything (and I mean everything) that is happening in the world of media, technology, Web 2.0, etc. I have 11 feeds coming in across my screen, so as a former newspaper reporter, it's like having continuous streams of AP, UPI, Reuters making their way into my ongoing consciousness. Back in the day, there was one ticker in the newsroom and the content came in via tickertape…but I digress (and date myself).

Two of my favorite feeds are MoMB (Museum of Modern Beta) and Killerstartups.com. These two sites provide you an up-to-the-Internet moment compilation of companies who have just launched. I mean literally just launched. The point is, the array of new ideas—some good, some bad, some downright strange—shows that innovation is a compulsion that does not know the meaning of quit. Some folks are in it for the money; some are in it just because. Take one I just found: Vzaar, a company out of the UK that allows sellers to record short video clips of their products and link them to their eBay ad. That's a textbook mashup service that was created via eBay’s developers program by two former eBay employees.

At the Gartner Web Innovation Summit, I will be looking at how traditional media companies (aka incumbents) are struggling to fit innovation, especially Web 2.0 innovation, into their mindset and product sets. My presentation is 3 p.m. on Sept. 19th, titled "How Media Incumbents Can Embrace Web 2.0 to Survive and Thrive." Stop by and say hello

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