Humans are found everywhere on Earth. Yet how did we get here? Why do we look the way we do? IBM and National Geographic are mounting the Genographic Project, an ambitious attempt to answer these fundamental questions. Kris Lichter talks about the how a worldwide, decentralized group of scientists collaborates on the largest DNA sample database ever assembled to understand the story of the human race. [Supernova 2005 from IT Conversations]

As broadband and wireless access become more widely available, the fabric of the telecommunications industry is unraveling. How do the emergence of wireless and broadband access and voice over IP (VoIP) solutions affect the telecom marketplace, and how will these new technologies fit into the overall suite of choices available to users? [Supernova 2005 audio from IT Conversations]

Everyday people are participating in media and it's the internet that has made it all happen. From the early days of amazon.com encouraging readers to post reviews to today's world of podcasts and blogs, personal publishing has become mainstream. This panel discussion from Supernova 2005 features the folks behind the applications that let us all create our own media. [Supernova 2005 audio from IT Conversations]

Does intelligence reside at the edge or in the core of the network? Are smart devices connecting to dumb networks or dumb devices to intelligent networks? The truth is that in the 21st century the edge and the core are converging and providing a new set of challenges, opportunities and revenue models. Hossein Eslambolchi, President of AT&T's Global Networking Technology Services, describes the IP evolution and the wireless, on-demand, collaborative network of the not to distant future. [Supernova 2005 audio from IT Conversations]

In the openening session from Supernova 2005, host Kevin Werbach interviews Jonathan Schwartz, president of Sun Microsystems. They cover a lot of ground, but the dominant theme is the ways in which technology and control of technolgy are decentralizing: moving into the hands of users. As Kevin suggests, consider a world in which one billion people will have camera-enabled mobile devices.

Innovation certainly isn't dead, says Jonathan. As computing continues to get cheaper (a trend that began when employees demanded PCs from formerly centralized IT departments), decision making also migrates to lower levels within organizations. It's massive decentralization. It's even having an effect on media and entertainment, as users demand that they be able to listen and watch what they want and when they want.

It wouldn't be an interview with Jonathan if the subject of blogging by executives of public companies didn't come up. He describes what he's learned about public and internal blogging -- Are they really separate? -- and the importance of openness and transparency, even in public, or perhaps particulary in public. [Supernova 2005 audio from IT Conversations]

Information technology is reducing the costs of communication to such a low level that it's now possible for huge numbers of people even in very large organizations to have all the information they need about the big picture to make their own decisions for themselves about what they do rather than waiting for people above them in some hierarchy to tell them what to do.

A Supernova 2004 Panel: Wireless connectivity will be the backbone of the emerging pervasive Internet. New technologies, unleashed by new regulatory approaches, promise an explosion of wireless communications capacity unlike anything seen before. Disruptive innovations range from low-power ad hoc sensor nets to ultra-wideband video streaming links to metropolitan-area data networks. How real are these scenarios, and what roadblocks stand in their way? Are unlicensed technologies such as WiFi and WiMax a threat to the 3G vision of wireless operators, or the mobile industry's true future? Will software radio and other edge innovations shift the balance of power in the wireless world?

A Panel Discussion from Supernova 2004: Policy developments in areas such as broadband deployment, content regulation, intellectual property, Internet taxation, telecom regulation, privacy, and outsourcing have significant impacts on innovation. The tech industry complains that it just wants government off its back except when it wants help, subsidies, or other changes in the law. Beyond the usual political rhetoric, what is the right way to think about technology policy? How will the business and technical trend toward decentralization affect both the participants and the substance of these debates?

A Panel from Supernova 2004: There are now more than 25 million high-speed Internet subscribers in the US. Millions of customers in Asia enjoy broadband connections at 10 megabits or greater. Yet the promise of the broadband home as a networked hub for compelling media and computing experiences remains elusive. What are the killer applications, devices, standards, and interfaces that will make broadband more than just a faster way to surf the Web? And once it arrives, how will the broadband home shift industry dynamics and user behavior?

A Panel from Supernova 2004 considers what they've learned over the previous two days of the conference, and what new questions have been formed. The roundtable surfaces the interactive virtual communications channels that operate alongside the physical conference, adding richness to the community.