We got this video with some of the speakers this morning. Thanks to Sara for filming.

There are actually three ways to play PONG (or derivations of it) at NEXTFEST. Atari has their set up, another group has an air hockey game projected on a table, and an artist has a 3-dimensional representation where players move their LCD screens (and bodies) to rebound the ball to their opponent.

A good number of the attendees to NEXTFEST, including myself, were not around to play PONG in the arcades when it debuted. The amount of excitement over the newest iteration is proof that good game play stands the test of time.

NextFest has been educational, fun and inspiring. Make sure to visit http://www.ge.com and http://www.gewater.com to play the Water World Tour Challenge one more time or learn more about the technologies used to treat water today.

It’s been fun New York!

The nurse could not find a strong vein and it took her four shots to strike gold and get the blood flowing. Boy I could have used this. Better luck next time. Check out the video!

Spent some time at “Virgin Galactic� yesterday and I was simply in awe. The interior looks almost like a New York dance club. Everything was white and the seats for the passengers were curved; almost looking like they would mold to the passengers body.

A real time simulation of the whole shuttle experience ran on a nearby plasma screen. The whole experience for the passengers would run only about 5 minutes in space. But wow what a five minutes that would be.

We’re going to be uploading some great video this morning on the blog…more to come.

As I’ve worked the Energy booths and observed patrons over the past three days it’s been so refreshing to see the interest in science and technology. Sure, it’s cool to look at a flying car or a robot that is, quite frankly, all too human, but it really went beyond that with the children. Throughout the education day I watched students from fourth graders to sophomores in high school ask thought-provoking and insightful questions about renewable energy. The detail of their questions and the knowledge they brought to the exhibits was impressive – they were truly educated consumers in training. They knew what a megawatt was – something that I would have to admit I don’t think I knew until physics class in junior year of high school – they were able to guess within 20 feet the height of a wind turbine and they knew how solar panels worked and why wind turbines couldn’t be residential.

One student informed me, “The wind turbines can’t be residential because it’s too much money to connect them to the electric wires, but my Dad says there’s a Wal-Mart that has wind turbines powering it and that’s cool. I bet you I could figure out a way to make some wind turbines for my house.� And, he’s actually fairly accurate. There is difficulty and expense around residential wind (something GE doesn’t dabble in to my knowledge) with grid connectivity and power distribution and there is an Environmental Wal-Mart Supercenter in McKinney, Texas, that has a 50 kW wind turbine powering it on site.

The teachers deserve credit too, as many of them would explain each exhibit and even told their students there would be a quiz the next day on what they had learned (we found this out by watching a studious young boy scribble notes feverishly on his NextFest program) as he really “wanted the ‘A’.� Some of the teachers that came through discussed with me that they went on the NextFest website in advance and learned about the exhibits and taught their students about specific ones so they could get them excited and them have them see the real thing the following week.

Overall, this technology exhibition is an impressive forum for innovation – tomorrow’s ideas and today’s technology. It’s a great venue for educating and inspiring young and mature minds. So far, it’s certainly been an encouraging weekend. I look forward to seeing what develops from the scientists in training I’ve met. Hopefully they’ll keep their innovative and educated spirit.

Among the technologies on display at NEXTFEST was a lamp that opens or closes (think flower petals) based on your home’s energy consumption. Using too much power? You’ll have to cut back before you can light up your living room.

Sara also illustrated the wasted energy in a light bulb. “Only 5% of the energy is used for light…the other 95% is given off as heat,� she explained. To demonstrate the energy “loss� as well as provide a functional appliance, the Institute developed a matrix of light bulbs that act as a light as well as a heater. In the somewhat chilly convention air, several people stopped to warm their hands as if the “Element� was a campfire of sorts.

My chat with Interactive Institute has got me thinking about how design and ecomagination can go together. Certainly, the aesthetics of a GEnx aircraft engine are far less important than safety and efficiency. However, can a wind turbine be both a power generation engine as well as a beautiful part of the landscape? Can it remind us to conserve what power we do have? And will it be NEXT?

A young, artsy crowd packed the ballroom for three innovative acts – Peeping Tom, Diplo, and Girl Talk. When we were there, we danced (badly, most likely) to the unique sounds of DJ Diplo, who mixed everything from The Beatles to Kanye West to Paul Simon. The music’s visual counterpart was just as varied. Fight scenes from Kill Bill, subtitled foreign films, and Napoleon Dynamite’s dance moves (my personal favorite) appeared on a giant screen above the stage. There was a cool energy in the crowd and we all had a great time.

The concert, which was presented by WIRED and Flavorpill, benefited Creative Commons. It’s a nonprofit that provides free copyright licenses that let artists, authors, and other content creators share their information with the public tell the world exactly which parts of their copyright they are happy to give to the public. Sounds pretty sweet.

An exciting visitor who stopped by our booth was Chairman Connaughton from the Energy Council. He learned all about the water solutions that we provide.

Just a little over 1 1/2 days left to enjoy the show.

A shameless plug; the GE “Edison’s Desk” is running a video feed for GE on Demand, a podcast series of GE scientists providing glimpses into their labs. Like the whole scientist exhibit, its drawing great crowds. Yeah scientists!

Participants include: David Hanson, Hanson Robotics (Albert Einstein face creators); Takehashi Mita, Kokoro Company (creators of the Actroid).

Here’s the schedule for the rest of the afternoon….

Let’s Go Already: The Future of Exploration 2:00 - 2:45 PM.

Robots: Here We are Now, Entertain Us 4:00 - 4:45 PM