The next 50 years could bring such astounding technology advances as self-aware machines, the end of aging and ‘printable’ human organs, Cisco Futurist Dave Evans postulated during the live Talk2Cisco broadcast this week.

In an animated half-hour conversation with viewers, Evans shared his thoughts on the art and science of being a futurist, speculated on the implications of the explosion of data and described his vision for a future Internet of Things—when trillions of networked computers could free people to focus their energies on pressing issues like climate change or resource shortages.

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. -P.J. O’Rourke

Trust me: if you pick up a copy of Inder Sidhu’s (@indersidhu) New York Times best-seller, Doing Both, you will look good…really good…while reading it. But don’t take my word for it, check this interview with the man himself.

Last night on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) broadcast of The 7:30 Report, Australians heard from Mike Quigley the CEO of NBN Co Limited which was established by the Australian Government to design, build and operate the wholesale-only National Broadband Network.  In the interview he stated how NBN Co is using high end video conferencing between its Sydney and Melbourne offices “so that we no longer have to get on planes anywhere near as frequently.”  And what viewers saw on their TV screens was a short clip of an NBN Co meeting held over Cisco TelePresence (to view segment, go here and click on video on right-hand side). 

In the interview Quigley went on to state that “this (video conferencing) will start to have a real big impact on small-medium businesses, especially outside cities”.  This is poignantly demonstrated earlier in The 7:30 Report’s segment on the National Broadband Network with a short clip on how Grampians Rural Health Alliance is using Cisco TelePresence to make a dramatic impact in delivering healthcare to rural Australia.

Did you shoot any video this weekend?  Specifically, this Saturday, July 24th?  If so, you might want to submit it to YouTube’s “Life in a Day” project.  This is a very cool YouTube project produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.  “Life in a Day” is an “historic global experiment to create a user-generated feature film, shot in a single day.”

Which got me thinking.  If a picture is worth a thousand words…what is a video worth?

I did participate in the video project.  I shot some extremely compelling footage of my 3-year-old son shelling peas so that he could make “pea cakes.” Had I simply taken a photo of him shelling peas, sure, it would have been cute (he’s a cute guy) to see the strawberry stain on his chin and the bright, green pea pods in front of him, but it wouldn’t have told the entire story as well as he did in video-form.

On Tuesday, July 27 at 10:00 a.m. PT, Cisco will host a live IPTV show and Q&A session with NightHawk Radiology – one of the first ever Cisco UCS customers.

NightHawk provides radiology services to more than 25 percent of U.S. hospitals, with the majority of their work in critical patient care. This means that NightHawk depends on the reliability of Cisco technology to transmit patient information in the most crucial of times – when patients are in the ER or operating room. Also featured will be their channel partner World Wide Technologies (WWT). 

Be sure to tune in tomorrow morning to find out more. The broadcast can be launched here just before the show begins.

Teamwork makes the dream work, baby…and in honor of Cisco’s Smart Grid Solutions, I used this week to partner with Nick Streets, a summer intern at a local solar company, for my first official “Most Interesting Intern Collaboration.”

As Ryunosuke Satoro says, “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” Objectively, Nick and I are two downright interesting drops…and I will continue to collaborate with other interns (Cisco and non-Cisco alike) in order to generate the most interesting lyrical ocean the internet has ever seen. And, once again, big ups to my boy JurahzTRUTH for another filthy beat!

On Monday July 26^th Cisco will announce the winners of its “What If Your TV Could… ?” contest live via a special Talk2Cisco online broadcast on UStream.tv, at 9:00 AM PDT/12:00 PM EST. Our “What if Your TV Could” contest is a global video contest that encouraged consumers to submit creative short videos about what they wish their TV could do for them for an opportunity to win $10,000. Yes- that’s right $10,000! We have had over 175 video submissions in response to Cisco’s question, “If your TV could do anything, what would you want it to do?” on Cisco’s contest website at http://www.ciscocontest.com. Consumers’ submitted animated videos, powerpoint videos, rap videos, and cool skits to share their ideas. 

According to Cisco’s 2010 Midyear Security Report, published today, time travelers from the 1970s would barely recognize the workplace of 2010. We have experienced  tectonic changes such as the rise of social networking, the widespread adoption and proliferation of network-connected devices, and the embrace of virtualization.  The security report reviews the risks we face and suggests five tips to help enterprises strengthen their security by 2011:

1) Close Gaps In Situational Awareness. It’s not enough for IT departments to focus on blocking immediate security threats or patching major vulnerabilities. They also need to have “moment-to-moment”  awareness of the state of the network because the enterprise is in a constant state of change. As new companies are acquired, new employees hired, applications changed, and new devices added, these changes can present real risk. By taking stock of elements such as mobile workers,  mobile devices, web-based collaborative applications and the cloud, IT teams gain better visibility into the network. The report recommends IT departments disable unused services, such as operating system add-ons.  It also recommends a “change-control” approach to managing devices,  whereby stakeholder groups are informed when a device is connected to the network, as well as when it has been removed from use.