Is Illumina Delivering the MVP of Long Reads?

At AGBT last week Illumina released additional details on their still incubating Complete Long Reads (CLR) product (formerly known as Infinity) but is still holding back both some interesting technical information as well as exact performance specifications.  Illumina is already floating some of their marketing messages, which in some cases are dependent on some of those still-in-flux specifications and some of the claims may not withstand careful scrutiny.  And Illumina continues to make statements that irritate anyone with deep technical knowledge of the long read space.  The reaction by attendees was definitely mixed - one long read aficionado even offered me a very spicy title suggestion for this entry.  Alas, I can't use it, as it would be a bit of an inside joke based on a portion of a presentation that the presenter asked not be tweeted.  So instead you get the above title,  which may not be what you think. 

What's AGBT Like?

AGBT begins in less than 24 hours, and the signs are everywhere here at the Diplomat Resort in Hollywood Florida.  I arrived Friday with family, and the count of old friends I've chatted with is steadily climbing.  If you somehow forgot about the meeting, the insides of the elevator doors will remind you. This is the fifth time I've attended in person, plus heavy monitoring of about twice as many via Twitter.  It's one of the premier events of the genomics conference schedule, and if you haven't been it's certainly fair to ask why?  Or whether you would want to go to a future edition?  So I'll try to capture what makes AGBT so irresistible to many but also why it just might not be your cup of tea