Where In The Web Are We Going?

KQED radio has been playing a recording of the Joint Venture: 2007 State of the Valley Conference program this week. If you can get the audio, I highly recommend Eric Schmidt's talk. Move the pointer about 1/2 through the playback to hear Schmidt's talk (although the 1st half of the broadcast is worth a listen, too).

Of course, Schmidt puts search at the center of solving all the problems of finding information, whether its in databases or on youtube. He also points to how mash-ups may start creating virtual mergers of companies. Some other highlights about end-user empowerment from the talk :

• It's going to be important in social networks to know who we're talking to and to understand how we might be manipulated.
  
• Language barriers go away as online translators provide real-time translations.
• What happens when a billion people use cameras (think camera phones) and document everything all the time?
  
• What happens to personal privacy in an always documented world.
  
• Users generate the content and become the content programmers.
  

Here's a video that sums up a lot of what Schmidt says in his talk (tip of the hat to Dennis):