Speaking to Googlers

Last month I visited Google to present some of my research. For the last year and a half, I'd taken a break from public presentations, but it seemed like time to return. Since Google puts all of its tech talks on U-Tube, my return to public presentation seems to be very public. It's availible on my publications page.

1 Week, 4 Talks

It began with a practice talk at the Mind, Brian & Computation on Wednesday
The first talk for points was at Starkey Hearing Research in Berkeley the following Friday.
This Tuesday I visited Google.
Finally, yesterday I spoke at the CCRMA seminar series at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.

In order, the talks went mediocre, good, OK (+ free food) and great. I met many people with cool ideas with whom (or for whom) I'd love to work. I also learned that I need to visit Paris... in MA.

Many thanks to Bill, Martin and Malcolm for the invitations.

P.S. Eizaburo - thanks for all the encouragement.

My Industry Flame-out

The next couple of weeks in May will be a bit busy.

I'll be giving a talk at Google on May 20th. This came about from a very kind invitation from Martin at Google. Unfortunately, it was recently revealed to me that one of the principal "targets" of my talk, Dick Lyon, hated our Nature paper on this same material. Pehaps he'll appreciate it if I bring a bucket of rotten tomatoes with which he can pelt me during the show.

The Google talk has been on the back-burner for a while, but suddenly, I not only have a talk at Google, but also at Yahoo Research and Starkey Hearing Research (hearing aids), and completely unsolicited. I gave a very small talk at the "Vision Lunch" informal talk series at Stanford last week. Much to my surprise, Malcolm Slaney, a prominent auditory researcher now at Yahoo, showed up. After 1-1/2 hours of miscommunication, he walked up to me a said, "Why don't you come talk to people that will understand what you're talking about." What luck, bongos...

That night, back in Berkeley, I checked my email to find a message from the head of Starkey Research, also in Berkeley. He'd like me to come give my talk for them, along with a meet and greet and lunch. This email is just sitting in my inbox, materialized from out of the ether. Serendipity.