tl;dr: Over the past three months, I’ve shed 4 stones. This is a personal account of my journey to a fitter body and better health, achieved in a surprisingly short time. This information is not intended to proselytize, please consult a doctor and read the disclaimer at the end of this post. If you decide to skip a meal, consider donating the value of that meal to feed the hungry, at Let’s Not Do Lunch or at the World Food Programme.

The end of the line

I could hardly believe what I was looking at. There it was, starting right at me. I could no longer ignore, deny, or post-rationalize what I already knew as the digital evidence stared me down and waved its merciless accusatory finger at me. This marked the end of the line for me, three months ago to the day.

Let me rewind a little.

My friends and I had just returned from an overwhelmingly fun and unexpectedly gluttonous weekend in the Florida Keys. It wasn’t necessarily our intention to gorge on food, but we managed to turn a great idea — “Let’s hold our annual SxSE (South by Southeast) shindig in Key West” — into a convenient excuse to participate in a three-day orgy of food and drink. We kicked off the weekend on Friday with a creative and deliciously rich, chocolaty concoction at Better Than Sex dessert lounge, which, by the way, almost lives up to its name, and finished with a big order of spareribs at Porky’s Bayside BBQ on our way back home on Sunday. Sure, we had a lot of fun besides eating and I did make a valiant effort to burn off the excess calories with a good bike ride around the island, but in hindsight, our various delicious but rich meals stood out most for me. For a fuller retelling of our weekend, here is a good account and collection of photos.

So as I sat on my couch at home staring at my friends’ new albums on Facebook, I was taken aback, shocked, and horrified by what I saw. Those of you who know me will recognize me in these photos. Was that really me? Is that what I look like? How did my mirror lie so much to me for so long? Did I not notice the weight creeping on? What about all that daily biking I had done over the past four months, for nearly an hour a day — what did I have to show for that?

The high water mark for my weight was also an emotional low point for my spirit.

After meticulously untagging myself from the offending pictures, I shut down the laptop and turned on Netflix, hoping to distract myself.

Rebooting the system

“One telling statistic is that the average weight of an adult in the United States has increased by about twenty-six pounds between 1960 and the present. Clearly, this is not due to genetic changes in the population. Rather, it’s mostly a result of the concerted effort of these corporations to produce food and drink, served in large portions, that maximally activate the pleasure circuit and thereby contribute to overeating.” ~David J. Linden, “The Compass of Pleasure”

By some ingenious if slightly creepy and synchronous design, Netflix divined my state of mind and suggested a documentary: “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.” Wow, that’s exactly how I felt .. well, the Fat and Sick part, not the rest. Of course I watched it. This is the story of an Aussie who spends two months driving around the US “juicing” his way back to health with fruits, salads, and vegetables. Along the way, he meets a trucker who looks to be twice as heavy as he is, who then proceeds to juice his own way back to health. The documentary is very compelling.

I watched the movie twice and started juicing the very next morning. I had bought a juicer years ago which I hadn’t really put it to use. Luckily I had some leafy greens, peppers, and carrots in the fridge, which made for a bizarre tasting breakfast. I was so eager to get started that I didn’t bother to look up  a recipe.

I remember those first days well. I looked for juice bars in Miami, which are few and far between, and would drive miles during lunch to buy two juices. They were tasty, but gone in a few sips. I did this for three days, then switched to water. Yes, water.

While on my juice fast — or feast, rather, as the juices are really refreshing — I was reading all I could about fasting. Some of the resources I came across suggested to alternate juicing with water days. That is, once you’ve “cleansed” your system through juicing, you can easily and safely spend some days on a water fast. That’s exactly what I did, with an initial goal of 5 days.

Let’s be clear

I am not a doctor or a nutritionist and I am not posting this to proselytize. I am sharing a personal account of my own profoundly positive experience following a regimen of fasting and eating a plant-based diet. The information in this post is not intended to be medical advice or instructions for medical diagnosis or treatment. Always consult your physician before making any dramatic changes to your diet and lifestyle. For some people, this kind of regimen may be dangerous to their health. Not getting enough nutrients during prolonged fasting diets may lead to dangerous symptoms. People with diabetes or women who are pregnant or breastfeeding or those with chronic diseases should not fast.

Exercising mind over matter

 “Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.” ~Buddha

When I tell people about my experience, they like to conclude that I followed a “cold turkey” approach: one moment I was eating and the next I had stopped eating, forever. But that’s not quite how it happened. I had noticed I had gained a lot of weight over time, because my scale told me so, because my parents dropped not-so-subtle hints, and because my closest friends would needle me. I knew I had to do something about it one day, but kept putting it off as I prioritized other areas of my life, mostly work and professional activities.

When I did start the water fast, I did so gradually by juicing first for a number of days. Had I gone straight from eating a dozen spareribs at Porky’s to fasting for 21 days … well … I would not have made it through the first day. My body would have rebelled by driving me to the nearest source of food and my mind would have done nothing about it. Juicing for three days was key to completing a prolonged fast.

So I ended up fasting exclusively on water for 21 days. I initially set out to fast for 5 days, then 10, then 21. As I reached each stage, I felt better and better. By day 3 I no longer felt hungry, by day 5 I no longer felt the occasional but infrequent nausea, and from day 10 to 21 it was smooth and pleasurable sailing.

I discovered that fasting is a voyage of discovery larger than just the weight loss alone. Because eating is such an important part of our lives, the nihilism of our modern way of eating is an affirmation of self. So much of our daily lives is dedicated to food, between grocery shopping, cooking, driving to restaurants, and eating. So much of our body’s energy is spent on digesting the food we eat. For some people, so much mental effort is spent obsessing about their body image. When you remove these things, your choices in life are laid bare: how you spend your time, who you keep company with, what you do … When you figure out the direct link between the food you eat and your body, so much else in life becomes crystal clear.

What helped me most was to settle into a daily routine. I found myself waking up well before dawn, at which point I would put on some light clothes and go for a long walk. It’s refreshing to be up when everyone is still sleeping, when few cars are on the road, when cats and owls peer at you through the darkness, and when you can hear the wind rustling the leaves. Of greatest value was taking the time to meditate for about 20 minutes after the morning walk. This morning routine nourished my senses, cleared my mind, and reinforced my will.

At times, it felt like the passage of time itself slowed down, especially during my early morning walks. Even as time slowed down, issues unraveled, my motivations became clear, and I gained new insights about myself and about others.

Challengers and skeptics abound

Fasting is rightfully intended to be a personal journey not to be shared with the world at large. However, people will invariably find out. Along the way I met a lot of skepticism and just enough encouragement to keep me going. Nine out of ten people were flat out against my decision to fast, sometimes adamantly so. The handful that supported me made it easier.

Eating is social. So many business and social interactions occur over meals and it makes people uncomfortable to be around someone who’s fasting. The only solutions are to come up with a great excuse, to be upfront about fasting, or to cut down on lunch and dinner dates. This is just a minor challenge to fasting.

Most people, including closest friends and family, try to discourage their loved ones from fasting. It turns out that sometimes the people who are closest to you are not always the most welcoming of dramatic change. They love you as you are and drastic change can be threatening. More importantly, eating is one of the most significant and time consuming physical activities in our lives, along with sleeping and breathing. Most people have been eating three times daily since they were born. How can you possibly convince them that it’s good to take a break once in a while? It goes against everything they’ve always known.

The food industry certainly doesn’t want you to fast. Turn on the TV and you’ll be encouraged to eat all sorts of food at all sorts of places. One thing that stood out for me during the fast was the prevalence of restaurants in our cities and along our highways. They are literally everywhere. They are so omnipresent that we take them for granted. Another thing: except for the very high-end establishments, have you ever noticed how the waiter comes around every 5 seconds to ask “Is everything alright?” You might be engaged in the deepest and most profound conversation of your life, and yet there’s the waiter requesting confirmation that you do indeed know how to eat. It almost seems like they are ready to spoon-feed you should you require assistance. Food is everywhere and the food industry will make sure we eat it.

The medical industry and pharmaceutical firms are also not to keen on promoting fasts, for obvious reasons. To his credit, my family doctor was not too fazed when I told him about it and he took it in stride. During the fast, my cholesterol level shot up, but within a month of returning to food, the levels were better than they had ever been before and I was handed a clean bill of health. Despite your doctor’s potential skepticism, do not attempt a fast without consulting one first, as there are many things that could go wrong.

Inception

“Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.”  ~Lao Tzu

I lost a ton of weight, about a quarter of my body weight and what seems like half my body mass. Beyond that, I felt many additional benefits, including more energy, healthier skin, clearer eyes, better sleep, and improved digestion. My gums improved, much to my dentist’s delight. My sinuses cleared up. I feel less tense. These are permanent and unexpected improvements.

I tuned into a certain synchronicity around me. Was it always there? Without a doubt. I hardly noticed it before.

How can drinking nothing but distilled water for 21 days accomplish this? I took no vitamins, no medication, or anything else.

Our bodies hold deep mysteries and the curative power of fasting is certainly a powerful mystery. Yet, the subject of fasting is taboo. Go figure.

Breaking the fast

My fast was going so well that I delayed the break by another day; I fasted for 22 days and approached my first meal with some apprehension. As important as fasting is breaking the fast. There is an abundance of advice on how to do this, but the main principle is to ease yourself back into eating. Ideally, a fast is followed by many days of juicing, followed by fruits, then vegetables, then other foods.

It should be fairly obvious that eating a burger after a fast ranks among the worst things you can do to your body. It’s very unlikely to happen, because after an extended fast you crave healthier foods. Water has a neutral pH balance of 7.0. After spending many weeks on water, the body reaches a less acidic homeostatic balance and the digestive enzymes change. Meat and poultry are acidic foods which the body is less prepared to deal with after a fast.

In my case I juiced first and then ate a light meal of brown rice and vegetables. That proved too much and I paid for it with strong intestinal pain some hours later. Lesson learned. Subsequent meals were thankfully uneventful. I took the opportunity to switch to a vegan diet and have immensely enjoyed new tastes I was unaccustomed to before. I cannot imagine returning to the way I used to eat.

Rinse and repeat

After this first fast, I ate for three weeks and then went through a 10-day fast. This time, the fast was a breeze, without any unease or hunger. Three more weeks of eating and I’ve just now broken my third fast, of 7 days. This one was relatively easy as well, although I did crave a return to my vegan diet.

It’s funny how on the first few days of my first fast I craved a pepperoni pizza or a burger, and on my last fast I craved vegetables and fruit. What’s going on? As it turns out, the stomach contains neurons which communicate back to the brain (see Scientific American):

Technically known as the enteric nervous system, the second brain consists of sheaths of neurons embedded in the walls of the long tube of our gut, or alimentary canal … The second brain contains some 100 million neurons, more than in either the spinal cord or the peripheral nervous system.

This multitude of neurons in the enteric nervous system enables us to “feel” the inner world of our gut and its contents.

Scientists were shocked to learn that about 90 percent of the fibers in the primary visceral nerve, the vagus, carry information from the gut to the brain and not the other way around.

It’s no surprise my stomach is asking me to make food choices which are very different, even diametrically opposed, from how I used to eat. I lost all appetite for hambugers, late-night pepperoni pizzas, and spareribs.

A new day, a new way

“By persisting in your path, though you forfeit the little, you gain the great.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just three months ago, I was paralyzed by dejection as I faced that fellow looking back at me in the photos my friends uploaded.

I revisited those pictures for the first time today. I now commiserate with that fellow.

There is hope.

There is a way.

And it is so worth following that path.

October 17th is World Hunger Day. If you follow a fast or skip meals, please consider donating the value of a meal to Let’s Not Do Lunch or to the World Food Programme.

Disclaimer

If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or your emergency number, (911 in the United States) immediately:

If you would like to know more about fasting, here is a useful starting point.

Have you ever fasted for any length of time? I would love to hear your experiences, both negative and positive.

The topic will be “Re-Shaping the Purchasing Process: The Rise of Social Retailing”

Of course, social retailing has always existed at the local level, through people-based businesses like the market and mom-and-pop convenience stores. Even larger retailers like Nordstrom’s understand the value of personal relationships and delivering personalized service (and here’s how one sales associate extends relationships and service on Twitter). But for the most part, businesses have not yet figured out “how to take what they’re already doing in their local communities and transfer it to the new world of Facebook and the Web.” (see this TechCrunch post by Craig Donato)

The key to social commerce is not automation, but developing relationships, establishing trust, and creating conversations.

In today’s chat, we’ll be discussing the following questions:

Q1: How is social impacting retail sales?
Q2: How does Facebook, LBS (Location), Group Buying change brick & mortar?
Q3: What is most important with social commerce — branding, promotions, experience — and why?

If we have time, we’ll also discuss Q4: What is the future of the group buying industry?

I hope you’ll join us! Just search for hashtag #sm104 on Twitter between 12pm and 1pm, ET.

Ang araw bago sumikat nakikita muna’y banaag. (Early dawn precedes sunrise.)

For the past year, I have been collaborating with two teams in the Philippines, on the medical social network I’ve been working on. It has truly been a pleasure to work with them, as I have often told my friends and colleagues. Professional, friendly, and precise, they have exceeded all my expectations when we first entered into partnership. Despite the 12 hour difference, which actually accelerates development when properly focused, we have had few if any problems coordinating our work.

So it is as the dawn precedes sunrise that after a year of virtual meetings, conference calls, Skype chats, Google Wave updates, Pivotal Tracker and Track tasks, and the like, I am now traveling to the Philippines for the first time to meet them. And I couldn’t look more forward to the trip.

Aanhin mo ang palasyo, kung ang nakatira ay kuwago. Mabuti pa ang bahay kubo, ang nakatira ay tao. (What good is a palace if it’s inhabited by owls. Better a straw hut inhabited by humans.)

From my experience but also from what I’ve researched,

Filipino people are among the most relaxed and fun-loving people you will ever meet with an average of about 10 festivals being celebrated every month across the nation. So much so, in fact, that there has been a distinction made between regular time and “Filipino time”, which is generally delayed by thirty minutes to an hour.

The Filipino possesses a unique ability to maintain a lighthearted mood no matter what the circumstances are. Throughout political strife, economic hardships, and a rough colonial history, the spirit of the Filipino remains unconquered; sharing laughs and smiles with everyone they meet. This is key to understanding the culture and traditions of the Filipino. The Filipino way of life stems from their desire to live in happiness and peace.

As I am half-Brazilian, I can fully relate to this. It sounds like I’ll feel right at home.

Ang tunay na anyaya, sinasamahan ng hila. (A sincere invitation is accompanied by a pull [of the hand].)

This further confirms it:

The Filipino is known across the globe for being very hospitable and pleasing to be around. With currently 11 million Filipinos working overseas, there are many nations that will confirm that they are some of the warmest people you will ever meet. Due to their colonial history, Filipinos can be especially accommodating to Westerners that they come across. They will often turn sheepish around them and try to avoid hiya or shame.

Filipinos possess what’s known as utang ng loob, or debt of gratitude, in which they feel obliged to repay any kindness that you show them to fortify their alliance with you. As well as utang ng loob, Filipinos possess a willingness to engage in cooperative labor for the good of a person, family, or a community; this is what is known as bayanihan.

For the beautiful landscapes and the warm people, this country is blessed.

philippines, travel

Crisis Camp Haiti in Miami, originally uploaded by alexdecarvalho.

Whenever I take a step back to reflect on the past two years, I realize with a great sense of accomplishment how far I’ve come, and with a great sense of humility how little any of it had to do with me. These 24 months have been transformational, after a many-years-long period I will forever metaphorically remember as a “crossing of the desert.” I knew the hardship would end one day, culminating in an abundance of rich experiences and opportunity, but I never thought I would count so many blessings.

Indeed, I have been blessed by the help of a great number of people, many of whom are listed below. The peril of this exercise is, of course, that I will inadvertently omit dear friends, for which I apologize in advance. Clearly more people deserve mention, and it is my own failing for not including everyone.

My personal interest in this post is in looking back years from now to remember the moments and people that made it all possible, that kept me motivated, and that made the journey worthwhile. There were some low points, for sure, which I choose not to dwell on so as not to cast a shadow on the brilliance of those who made it so great.

Can a few short words or a sentence fully express how you’ve impacted me? Of course not. But you have made it better in many ways unmentioned.

In alphabetical order but in no small measure, thank you:

• Adriana Queiroz – for listening and for holding my hand
• Alejandro Corpeño, Roberto Brevé – for an excellent WebConf last year and a sublime visit to a special country, Honduras
• Angelique Swann – you are an inspiration, for your ideas, your energy, and your smile
• Bill Roy, Susan Kelley – for you have held me up when I have most needed it, on many occasions
• Bruce Turkel – for sage, sage advice, for inspiration, and for the positive push now and then
• Carlos Miller — for speaking truth to power, respect
• Chris Fullman, Peter Imbres – speaking at SXSW was a big, unexpected highlight
• Chris Heuer, Kristie Wells – for the friendship and for the invaluable relationships brought by Social Media Club, AdHocnium, and SMCEDU, and for your never ending ideas
• Christian Altaba, Henry Gazay, Liz Gazay – for you have opened new doors and set me to sail on an exciting new path
• Cyndee Woolley, Mollie Page Griffiths, Amanda Marie Eyer – for believing in me early on, when I was still finding my footing
• David Meerman Scott – for being a like-minded internationalist who generously gave to our local community
• David Speroni – for being the true friend you are
• Eric Oetjen – for thinking way outside the box, brother
• Florian Seroussi – for our occasional behind the scenes commentary and for stepping up at Mobile Monday when we most needed you
• Frederico Kler – my cousin, you are an inspiration to me
• Gary Bahadur, Padmini Pandya – a nice friendship evolving to a business relationship through a challenging book, thank you for inviting me on this journey
• Grandmother – you raised me through my adolescence and teens, and I will miss you. It’s still too early to fully appreciate your loss, but I moved back from Europe a few years ago in part to reconnect with you and make peace. Thank you for the heartfelt conversations.
• Hugh MacLeod – for sharing uncannily wise advice and for your continued friendship. Rock on.
• Irina Patterson – for being all heart
• Jason Inasi – hello, my co-author, it’s truly a pleasure to learn more about you
• Jean-Michel Caffin – congratulations for an exceptional CCEF conference this year, and thank you for including me in the program
• Jeff Sass – for the laughs and for the friendship, it’s a pleasure to see you every time
• Jens Horneman, Alejandra Betancourt – you both rock and I am overjoyed by your smiles. I miss Milou, though.
• Jessica Kizorek and Erin – I’ve watched you change and grow and it’s wonderful to see. The future is yours to grab.
• Julia Wakefield – for being awesome
• Kim Grinfeder, Rich Beckman, Sam Terilli, Yves Colon – it’s an honor and a privilege to teach at the University of Miami, and I have you to thank. I know you’ve gone out on the line — it’s not lost on me and I appreciate it.
• Loic Le Meur – thank you for agreeing to speak at Social Media Club and for an outstanding LeWeb, which blew my mind with its multiple TED-like moments.
• Marc Michel, Silja Chouquet – that workshop was fun, thank you so much. There’s lots to do …
• Maria de Los Angeles – for the conversations and for the friendships. You know.
• Michael Tangeman – the true force behind Mobile Monday Miami, we miss you sorely. Thank you for your integrity and professionalism, it has been a pleasure working with you.
• Nick Dominguez – for outstanding design and for stepping up on short deadlines.
• Parents – the main reason I moved back, to spend more time with you, for better or worse – I try my best. Thank you for all you do.
• Paul Kruger — for being a steadfast friend through thick and thin.
• Patrick Barbanes, Stephen Malagodi – the picture above says it all, doesn’t it? What an outstanding Crisis Camp Haiti. We could have done more. Mea Culpa, perhaps.
• Richard Menneveux – the French Web lives on, and how. Thank you for some great conversations.
• Roy Lindemann, Andrew Storer – no more raclettes, for sure. Just fondue.
• Robert Murray – remember that night outside Tobacco Road? Thank you.
• Saulo Passos – you killed it with NokiaTalks, thank you for including me. It was amazing meeting up with 100 South American bloggers.
• Seth Elliott – good conversations and a budding partnerships in many areas. Looking forward to next year.
• Social Media Club: Yvette Ferry, Christine Adolf, Agustina Prigoshin, Ulises Orozco, Denise Jacobs, Jay Berkowitz, Murray Izzenwasser, Toby Srebnik, Angie Moncada, Neil Bardach, Matt Chamberlain, David Suarez, Jessica Jurick, Michelle Catin, John Prieur – it has been a pleasure and an honor to work with each and all of you. You have surprised me, you have made it awesome, and you have made it fun. Thank you for your patience, too.
• Social network friends – really? Really. Every single day I look at what you’re up to, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Reader, on Flickr. You show me new things. You blow my mind. You inspire me. You make me tear up. You send me a word of encouragement. You chastise me. Build me up or tear me down, you are always there. And I am never alone. It’s selfish, perhaps, but you make me better.
• Steve Roitstein – latin music with a kick. And kick-ass food. And a big heart. Thank you, mi vecino.
• Tonya Scholz – you’re a true badass. And you’re lovely. Thanks for looking out for me.
• William Plasencia, Jami Reyes – you are so thoughtful, you fill me with peace.

When I look back at this list, I am especially humbled by how much each of you helped me along the way, as well as by the number of you who helped. If in two years, so many of you graced my life, I can only wonder what of the 40 previous years?

It’s no small epiphany to say I’ve found new meaning in John Donne’s quote:

No man is an Island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
It tolls for thee.

John Donne, Meditation XVII

wikileaks, assange, greenwald, dave taylor, privacy, transparency

How time flies … my last post was months ago, way back in June …

What happened in between? Well, among other things,

- A book deal with McGraw-Hill, co-authored by Gary Bahadur and Jason Inasi
– Lots of travel abroad and a great cross-country trip (thanks to Scott Monty and Gwen Peake at Ford)
– Setting up a new club for entrepreneurship, The Startup Forum, with Seth Elliott
– Teaching a social media course at the University of Miami
– Leading monthly meetups of Social Media Club South Florida
– Managing the offshored development of a worldwide medical community, VoxMed
– Creating a syndicated report about the Pharmaceutical industry’s use of social media

I’ll be updating about the projects above and more as they develop, including posting the syllabus of the social media course.

Glad to be back.

And thanks for reading.

For the record, I am not the Alex de Carvalho in question. I do not work for the Holiday Inn, I do not live in the UK, and I am not related to the person who is sending out these letters.

This 419 scam has been documented at the following links:

http://www.fraudwatchers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=36023

http://www.419scam.org/emails/2010–02/14/01009521.29.htm

For more information on what a 419 scams and advance-fee frauds, see the following: http://www.419eater.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_fraud

And that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

UPDATE: There’s a good thread on Yahoo! Answers about this: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100601231817AAml806

You may also contact the hotel directly:

LONDON KENSINGTON FORUM
97 CROMWELL ROAD
LONDON SW7 4DN
ENGLAND
Hotel Front Desk: +44–871-9429100
Hotel Fax: +44–20-73731448

419, fraud, scam, advance fee, holiday inn, kensington

One of the advantages of traveling on a major holiday is that no one else does, and so my flight to Rio was empty as my calendar turned its page to 2010 at 30,000 feet.

Corcovado (the Christ the Redeemer statue) is an inspiration to many for religious reasons. Standing high above the city with arms outstretched, it evokes feelings of protection, benevolence, compassion, charity, and friendship.

Have you seen videos of wingsuit flyers? What if Corcovado was also reminding us to soar in our daily lives?

Chris Brogan just blogged his 3 keywords for 2010. I’ll draw inspiration this year from Corcovado as a visual metaphor for soaring.

“Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.” –A.W. Tozer

Wishing you good fortune in the new year.

You brought joy to those you touched. You had an irresistible charm borne of innocent mischief. You saw yourself as more human than cat, and made your presence felt despite not speaking much. You participated in everything and your curiosity knew no bounds. You were a peacemaker and a soother. You ruled the house and you welcomed all into your sphere. You feared naught. You lived to eat and you ate everything — we understood this as a show of affection, of belonging, of participating in the daily family rituals. You lived a full life, and you gave more than you took.

So long, my steadfast companion. Thank you for the memories; you graced our lives. You are my friend and I miss you much. May you rest in peace.

The Best Thing in the World

What’s the best thing in the world?
June-rose, by May-dew impearled;
Sweet south-wind, that means no rain;
Truth, not cruel to a friend;
Pleasure, not in haste to end;
Beauty, not self-decked and curled
Till its pride is over-plain;
Love, when, so, you’re loved again.
What’s the best thing in the world?
–Something out of it, I think.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

• G Kofi Annan — Annansi LLC
• Charles McCathieNevile — Opera Software
• Matt Womer — World Wide Web Consortium
• David Rogers — OMTP Ltd

In many regions, the mobile phone is the primary tool for Web access. As mobile Web connections increase in developing nations the impact will be significant. This panel examines the differences between mobile Web access in developing and developed regions and how the mobile Web can affect social development.

Why is the mobile web interesting in the developing world? More people have access to a mobile phone than to clean, running water. More people have a mobile phone than a computer. About 80% of the world has some sort of mobile coverage, so it’s obvious to say that mobile should be a point of online access. People in the developing don’t use mobile phones just for mobility. They are using it to access the internet with browsers like Opera Mini.

The uniqueness of the emerging economies is that mobile products must be adapted to how these economies are growing, so you need to analyze usage patterns, get feedback, and iterate often. Closed systems will not work because the barrier is too high; you need to be using open source software. Open source is also good because it avoids duplication of efforts.

In developing markets, the top applications are Facebook, MySpace. People are using this for entertainment and for connecting socially. There are many local sites that are big in their respective countries as well. Some examples of leading-edge applications in emerging economies include mobile banking, health care apps, and agriculture.

There’s a tendency to think that what we have in the West is what developing countries should aspire to. But if text is working, then that’s what should be used. There are a lot more options with text at this point and that’s what should be explored. What matters are the design challenges of “being local”, as you attempt to cater to locals and travellers. For example, the mobile capacity inside Australia matches demand (actually, you only really get about 2/3 of what is advertised). Because of the congestion of international lines, you only get about 10% when you travel outside of Australia.

Emerging markets are often in physically hostile environments. There is a unique opportunity now to provide a platform for the government or humanitarian organization to create a network that would constantly monitor the environment and give an early warning of impending natural disasters.

In developing markets, there is demand for either the most expensive smartphones, or the cheapes phones. There is not much demand in the middle: you can either afford the most expensive gear … or you can’t.