The best for last? Loved hearing Lessig put the issues in context and seeing as he is at the forefront of the technology and content wars, there probably are none more aware of the issues large and small. Lots of Hank Barry as well. I meant to ask him and don't recall if the contributory copyright damages claim against Hummer Winblad was ever put to bed. I assume it was. That's a scary thought, because I funded Napster I get creamed. Ouch.
Had to bone out to do the airport thing, unfortunately missing the closing session, The Fat Man Sings. Hope to catch up on it through MP3 files later. All in all a very interesting day. Recorded a podcast before and after that I will throw up on the server, hopefully before my plane leaves. More afterthoughts later. Something about what happens when the most influential bloggers number in the thousands and a gathering like this doesn't work....
Saturday, November 06, 2004
BloggerCon III Mobloging
Interesting discussions around moblogging / promise/examples/etc. It felt like the 'anguish', if I could be so free to describe it as such, is largely related to how many of us grapple with how it is different and the same as web blogging, etc. It seems to me that as more tools get into the hands of people to enable this concept of mobile blogging, it will become more clear what it is. I also think and the point was made repeatedly by a few, that there are many people for who the mobile device is their only method of connecting to the "Global WAN". These people will be too busy creating and consuming mobile originated content that they wont really have the time to engage us in a conversation of what is 'is'.
BloggerCon III Post Overload
This was a highly interactive session. I didn't really have much to add. I am not sure that it changed my perspective on overload. Read the right amount of stuff for me. Groom my lists periodically. Keep the time to as small as possible to fee satisfied. The fireworks around commercial speech with David was interesting. I didn't understand the polarized opinions I had heard mentioned elsewhere. I think Dave was right, and I am not blowing him, but HOW he was right was understandably off putting to many in the room.
BloggerCon III - Post Podcasting
The National Anthem - This Land is Your Land....Nice very Jib Jab.
Adam Curry did the first session on podcasting that was lively and interesting. My favorite part was towards the end when Hank Barry raised the issue of MP3 as a format, and Larry Lessig hinted at making podcasting impervious to lawsuit. I don't think a lot of people got it, but my previous post from two days ago echos what they were saying....
It was fun to get a quick word with Hank Barry afterwards as a kindred spirit in understanding the lawsuit issues.
Next Up Overload.
Adam Curry did the first session on podcasting that was lively and interesting. My favorite part was towards the end when Hank Barry raised the issue of MP3 as a format, and Larry Lessig hinted at making podcasting impervious to lawsuit. I don't think a lot of people got it, but my previous post from two days ago echos what they were saying....
It was fun to get a quick word with Hank Barry afterwards as a kindred spirit in understanding the lawsuit issues.
Next Up Overload.
BloggerCon III - Post 1
Up early, heading off to grab some Starbucks and then settle in for a fun day at BloggerCon...More here later.
OK, back on. Latte over on University avenue. Crisp fall morning in Palo Alto. Kind of reminds me of when I worked here back in 1998-1999 at Sun Microsystems.
Got to Blogger Con very early. Decided to start Podcast of show #6 in the parking lot. Realized I never posted the link to show 5 which was an electronic version. Put in some commentary and then went in to register.
Here's where it got a little more difficult. It appears I was in the large group of people who didn't have their registration cards in the stack. Of course I panicked briefly as I had flow here from San Diego and not getting in, or not getting a good seat, would really suck. I got to meet Dave and explained that I was on the list. This was right after the guy ahead of me freaked out. Not cool. Patience, reason, usually works. They pulled up the list and realized that there were a large number of people in my situation, on the list, but not with a card. It could have something to do with the way the cards were sorted...by first name. That and I saw a guy walk out with a bunch of cards a little while later....Hmmmmm.
Oh well, so here I am set up on wifi and waiting for the show to start. Should be a blast. Saw a couple of people I know already, Stowe Boyd, Andy Abramson...More later.
OK, back on. Latte over on University avenue. Crisp fall morning in Palo Alto. Kind of reminds me of when I worked here back in 1998-1999 at Sun Microsystems.
Got to Blogger Con very early. Decided to start Podcast of show #6 in the parking lot. Realized I never posted the link to show 5 which was an electronic version. Put in some commentary and then went in to register.
Here's where it got a little more difficult. It appears I was in the large group of people who didn't have their registration cards in the stack. Of course I panicked briefly as I had flow here from San Diego and not getting in, or not getting a good seat, would really suck. I got to meet Dave and explained that I was on the list. This was right after the guy ahead of me freaked out. Not cool. Patience, reason, usually works. They pulled up the list and realized that there were a large number of people in my situation, on the list, but not with a card. It could have something to do with the way the cards were sorted...by first name. That and I saw a guy walk out with a bunch of cards a little while later....Hmmmmm.
Oh well, so here I am set up on wifi and waiting for the show to start. Should be a blast. Saw a couple of people I know already, Stowe Boyd, Andy Abramson...More later.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Podcasting, Copyright, and Lessons from Digital music
Over the last couple of days I have been listening to some of Dave and Adam's podcasts and I must admit that I cringed a bit when I heard some familiar music and caught some comments about using BitTorrent to catch the West Wing.
Specifically this morning I listened to an IT Conversations with Dave from October 27th which was very cool and gave me a lot more insight into Dave than what I have gleaned from his blogs these few short months I have been reading it. He describes podcasting in awesome terms regarding the evolution of the technology, but fails to speak to the IP issues. (Not Internet Protocol :-) )
Podcasting, which I think is not what this ultimately is labeled, has a decision to make. The leaders of this 'movement' or however you want to describe this have two paths that I see. The first path is to savor the technical elegance of what they have created with RSS and enclosures and OPML, etc. and ignore the underlying copyright wars that have been fought since the time of the passage of the DMCA. Napster's solution was elegant. MyMP3 was elegant. We all recognize and bemoan the state of content vs. Technology as articulated by Lessig and others. If people insist on using copyrighted content, and talk of embracing the technology that the media companies despise in a flagrant way, this form of distribution/new media/ edge of the network content will be demonized, litigated and made an example of by the armies of lawyers that fight these battles daily.
The second path is to make this an attractive means of distribution for traditional media. You do that by building an audience. You do that by showcasing those artists and creators of content that embrace the new paradigm. You do that by pointing to useful uses of BitTorrent like software distribution that hold the technology out as being ultimately good replacements for the broadcast or physical alternatives. You do that by approaching the media companies and offering to work with them in innovative ways with their cooperation. I think Warner Music Group is a good example of that with MP3 blogs. You learn the lessons of previous litigation and understand where you are stepping on a landmine and where you aren't. At Mp3.com we weren't found guilty of allowing people to stream from lockers content that arguably may have Fair Use merit. We were found guilty of ripping the CDs and putting the files on servers. That hurts, and it doesn't really advance the argument over Fair Use. At least today.
I heard a comment about a podcaster getting an ASCAP license, which is very cool. But that isn't all that is required. The publishers will argue that a mechanical reproduction of their content requires a license and payment.
An alternative distribution platform, that is spearheaded by well known and intelligent people who can lead the direction of this technology/movement, will ultimately succeed or fail like so many other creative and technically brilliant ideas depending on the choices they make. I hope they show the promise of this technology and get the media companies to move towards us, not move us towards the courts.
Specifically this morning I listened to an IT Conversations with Dave from October 27th which was very cool and gave me a lot more insight into Dave than what I have gleaned from his blogs these few short months I have been reading it. He describes podcasting in awesome terms regarding the evolution of the technology, but fails to speak to the IP issues. (Not Internet Protocol :-) )
Podcasting, which I think is not what this ultimately is labeled, has a decision to make. The leaders of this 'movement' or however you want to describe this have two paths that I see. The first path is to savor the technical elegance of what they have created with RSS and enclosures and OPML, etc. and ignore the underlying copyright wars that have been fought since the time of the passage of the DMCA. Napster's solution was elegant. MyMP3 was elegant. We all recognize and bemoan the state of content vs. Technology as articulated by Lessig and others. If people insist on using copyrighted content, and talk of embracing the technology that the media companies despise in a flagrant way, this form of distribution/new media/ edge of the network content will be demonized, litigated and made an example of by the armies of lawyers that fight these battles daily.
The second path is to make this an attractive means of distribution for traditional media. You do that by building an audience. You do that by showcasing those artists and creators of content that embrace the new paradigm. You do that by pointing to useful uses of BitTorrent like software distribution that hold the technology out as being ultimately good replacements for the broadcast or physical alternatives. You do that by approaching the media companies and offering to work with them in innovative ways with their cooperation. I think Warner Music Group is a good example of that with MP3 blogs. You learn the lessons of previous litigation and understand where you are stepping on a landmine and where you aren't. At Mp3.com we weren't found guilty of allowing people to stream from lockers content that arguably may have Fair Use merit. We were found guilty of ripping the CDs and putting the files on servers. That hurts, and it doesn't really advance the argument over Fair Use. At least today.
I heard a comment about a podcaster getting an ASCAP license, which is very cool. But that isn't all that is required. The publishers will argue that a mechanical reproduction of their content requires a license and payment.
An alternative distribution platform, that is spearheaded by well known and intelligent people who can lead the direction of this technology/movement, will ultimately succeed or fail like so many other creative and technically brilliant ideas depending on the choices they make. I hope they show the promise of this technology and get the media companies to move towards us, not move us towards the courts.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
User Generated Content: Godcasters
I read Doc Searls article about the election. It's a great piece, but as a media obsessive, I thought that this article that he references is even more interesting.
This is not unlike Rhizome Radio or other forms of low power FM and AM radio. Very cool, independent of your politics. Inexpensive cost structure, hive like coordination, navigating the edge of administrative and legal definitions.
I believe that the edge of the network media distribution systems continue to find ways around the blockages and constraints of the system to deliver the message, much as TCP/IP was designed to support messaging after a nuclear war. (Ok so I take a little license without explanation)
The bad news is that traditional media will continue to use the resources at their disposal to stop the unfettered development of distribution systems that are not respectful of their current business models. The good news, not unlike the open source movement, is that there is strength in numbers and that the collective intelligence and effort of the edge of the network is a mighty powerful force.
This is not unlike Rhizome Radio or other forms of low power FM and AM radio. Very cool, independent of your politics. Inexpensive cost structure, hive like coordination, navigating the edge of administrative and legal definitions.
I believe that the edge of the network media distribution systems continue to find ways around the blockages and constraints of the system to deliver the message, much as TCP/IP was designed to support messaging after a nuclear war. (Ok so I take a little license without explanation)
The bad news is that traditional media will continue to use the resources at their disposal to stop the unfettered development of distribution systems that are not respectful of their current business models. The good news, not unlike the open source movement, is that there is strength in numbers and that the collective intelligence and effort of the edge of the network is a mighty powerful force.
One Vote at a Time / One Customer at a Time
Of course I was glued to the television last night until around 10:30 PM when I threw in the towel. I was doing the math in my head and couldn't figure out how they would get the votes from the provisional ballots to add up. The commentary all night was around the late results in Ohio and how they would close the gap. They did, but not in a meaningful way.
I have scanned a number of blogs today and have seen a lot of people wonder out loud how we could all collectively be so stupid? This makes me laugh. Of course all of us who didn't vote for Bush had strong feelings about why he shouldn't be re-elected, but so did the people who voted for him, and at last count there were 4,000,000 more of them than us.
Aside from the issues and motivations on both the left and the right, to me it really comes down to the challenge we face as well in business, we have to win our customers/voters one at a time. We have to not only get them to love our product/candidate but we have to get them to actually make a purchase/cast a vote. When you boil this night down in the coming days, the side that won was the side that managed to get their people out to vote. We all knew that there was great polarization, but we also knew it was a dead heat. When that happens, those who show up win. They did a masterful job of getting their side to show up. It truly is a meaningful reminder to me.
I have scanned a number of blogs today and have seen a lot of people wonder out loud how we could all collectively be so stupid? This makes me laugh. Of course all of us who didn't vote for Bush had strong feelings about why he shouldn't be re-elected, but so did the people who voted for him, and at last count there were 4,000,000 more of them than us.
Aside from the issues and motivations on both the left and the right, to me it really comes down to the challenge we face as well in business, we have to win our customers/voters one at a time. We have to not only get them to love our product/candidate but we have to get them to actually make a purchase/cast a vote. When you boil this night down in the coming days, the side that won was the side that managed to get their people out to vote. We all knew that there was great polarization, but we also knew it was a dead heat. When that happens, those who show up win. They did a masterful job of getting their side to show up. It truly is a meaningful reminder to me.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Religion and Politics
This morning I decided to take my son Tate to the polling place to vote with me. As we drove up to the polls I recalled that all of my early impressions of politics were shaped by my great grandmother Henrietta Castillo and my step-great grandfather Abel Sanchez. She was a very short, fair skinned lady who was the daughter of a Spanish minister. Her husband, who wasn't my blood great grandfather but had been married to her for decades before I was born, was a dark skinned Mexican-American from the area that had transferred to the United States in the Gadsen purchase, an area around Nogales and Tombstone Arizona.
I spent a lot of my childhood with them as my father was stationed overseas and my mother worked. They lived in the barrio around the Santa Fe switchyards in San Bernardino. They were the quintessential Grapes of Wrath people. They didn't have much, but worked hard, and were very impactful in my youth. When I was around 7 years old or so, they would sit down with me and show me all the voter information. They would talk to me about the issues, and would tell me all about politics through the eyes of die hard Roosevelt Democrats. Elections have always made me think of them, and I know that my eternal fascination with politics can be traced back to them.
Over time my politics have migrated from their influence from my campaign work in high school for a conservative Democratic Assemblyman from my hometown, to Green Party organizing work in the early 90s, to Jerry Brown volunteer in 92, to Clintonite Centrist Democrat today. I think that if you are exposed early to politics, its hard to break away from those early influences, much like religion. That's not to say that you don't renounce or move away from either, its more that it becomes a part of the things you think about and consider throughout your life.
It wasn't until later today that this fully occurred to me and I laughed to myself when I thought about Tate at the polling place. We walked in and showed our ID and I turned to him and asked him to tell the lady what we were going to do. He looked at her sheepishly and said 'Vote for John Kerry'.
I spent a lot of my childhood with them as my father was stationed overseas and my mother worked. They lived in the barrio around the Santa Fe switchyards in San Bernardino. They were the quintessential Grapes of Wrath people. They didn't have much, but worked hard, and were very impactful in my youth. When I was around 7 years old or so, they would sit down with me and show me all the voter information. They would talk to me about the issues, and would tell me all about politics through the eyes of die hard Roosevelt Democrats. Elections have always made me think of them, and I know that my eternal fascination with politics can be traced back to them.
Over time my politics have migrated from their influence from my campaign work in high school for a conservative Democratic Assemblyman from my hometown, to Green Party organizing work in the early 90s, to Jerry Brown volunteer in 92, to Clintonite Centrist Democrat today. I think that if you are exposed early to politics, its hard to break away from those early influences, much like religion. That's not to say that you don't renounce or move away from either, its more that it becomes a part of the things you think about and consider throughout your life.
It wasn't until later today that this fully occurred to me and I laughed to myself when I thought about Tate at the polling place. We walked in and showed our ID and I turned to him and asked him to tell the lady what we were going to do. He looked at her sheepishly and said 'Vote for John Kerry'.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Podcast Update
Will do Show #5 before I head to Palo Alto for Blogger Con. Show 5 will be electronic, hopefully a little Thievery Corporation like if I can find enough chill out music. We sent out an Acme email tonight so for those of you looking to links of the earlier shows, you can search the blog or click on the links below:
Show 1
Show 2
Show 3
Show 1
Show 2
Show 3
Jess overlooking Tikal
Looking out across the canopy at Tikal - Guatemala. It was like something out of Return of the Jedi. This photo was taken from one of the ledges from the highest point in Tikal.
More Flickr Meets Belize
Ok, so a little more trying out Flickr and the pics will be done. Apparently the free account resets each calendar month so I put up more pictures today. I will cross post a couple and then get back to some serious political website surfing. The end is near!!!!!
Friday, October 29, 2004
Belize April 2004
I spoke about Belize many months ago, but only recently figured out how to put the amazing pictures online. So here is one from a stroll along the water's edge.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
John Kerry
I am what I guess could best be called typical of my peers whether you call them Republicans or Democrats. Most of us who live in California and work in businesses in technology are economically conservative and socially liberal, er maybe even Libertarian in some cases. I have moved over time from left leaning to just a tad bit left of center.
I am not wildly excited about John Kerry, but I don't see how you can vote for someone who has run the country the way George Bush has these last four years. Several calls to amend the Constitution? Record deficits with Tax cuts? Iraq?
Time for change. Too bad Bill Clinton couldn't run again(That should get some excited).
I must say more importantly that after next week, I will miss my frequent helpings of the following:
Drudgereport
Instapundit
Dailykos
Swingstateproject
Race2004
Thanks for making me care and making me realize how shrill both sides can be.
A closely divided Legislative body should act as a buffer against anything too crazy from either of the potential winners.
I am not wildly excited about John Kerry, but I don't see how you can vote for someone who has run the country the way George Bush has these last four years. Several calls to amend the Constitution? Record deficits with Tax cuts? Iraq?
Time for change. Too bad Bill Clinton couldn't run again(That should get some excited).
I must say more importantly that after next week, I will miss my frequent helpings of the following:
Drudgereport
Instapundit
Dailykos
Swingstateproject
Race2004
Thanks for making me care and making me realize how shrill both sides can be.
A closely divided Legislative body should act as a buffer against anything too crazy from either of the potential winners.
Out of Touch & Podcast #4
Travel is bad for blogging, RSS reading, and Podcasting. Fortunately its good for business which I guess is why we do it. I have some topics to catch up on in some posts later, but for now I leave you with a bit of a hard edged version of the radio show....
A couple of things I can't forget. We stayed at the W in San Francisco, enjoyed some great food at LuLu's and EOS, but the most memorable part involves this car. We needed to rent a car to go from SF to Menlo Park for several meetings and when we stepped outside to get into the rental car they brought this monstrosity....
So there we were, a half a tank of gas, a half pack of cigarettes, looking for money for the penguin....
A couple of things I can't forget. We stayed at the W in San Francisco, enjoyed some great food at LuLu's and EOS, but the most memorable part involves this car. We needed to rent a car to go from SF to Menlo Park for several meetings and when we stepped outside to get into the rental car they brought this monstrosity....
So there we were, a half a tank of gas, a half pack of cigarettes, looking for money for the penguin....
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
CTIA Update
Lots of meetings. Lots of fun. Didn't do the sessions piece so I would say that I didn't see anything earthshaking like at the spring show. In between meetings I saw this post, and realized that the place was across the street and was during an open time.
So I got to meet Russ in person, and also got to meet the founders of Buzznet, Feedburner, and one of the Digital Chocolate people. The crowd got big too fast so it devolved into small groups, but it was fun to randomly get to hang out with some cool people.
Today, more meetings.....
So I got to meet Russ in person, and also got to meet the founders of Buzznet, Feedburner, and one of the Digital Chocolate people. The crowd got big too fast so it devolved into small groups, but it was fun to randomly get to hang out with some cool people.
Today, more meetings.....
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Show Attribution
Ok so here are the links to the various artists featured in the existing shows:
Show #1
Triangle
All Thats Left
A Second Chance
Eight Page Pullout
The Gospel of Gloom and Gladness
Show #2
Sweetness
Atomic Garden
Core 13
Sputnik Monroe
All Thats Left
Show #3
Head Change
Audiopilot
Sara Schaefer
Unaware
All Thats Left
Since the publication of the first podcast I there have been 12,819 requests for shows, 1336 downloads of Show #1, 544 of Show #2, and 208 of Show #3. Its been fun watching the power of RSS distribution.
Thanks again to the plugs from Adam and Dave and the nice comment yesterday from Hardcore Insomnia Radio. If you want to send me something for the show drop me an email and put some files up on AcmeNoise.
Show #1
Triangle
All Thats Left
A Second Chance
Eight Page Pullout
The Gospel of Gloom and Gladness
Show #2
Sweetness
Atomic Garden
Core 13
Sputnik Monroe
All Thats Left
Show #3
Head Change
Audiopilot
Sara Schaefer
Unaware
All Thats Left
Since the publication of the first podcast I there have been 12,819 requests for shows, 1336 downloads of Show #1, 544 of Show #2, and 208 of Show #3. Its been fun watching the power of RSS distribution.
Thanks again to the plugs from Adam and Dave and the nice comment yesterday from Hardcore Insomnia Radio. If you want to send me something for the show drop me an email and put some files up on AcmeNoise.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
The $250 Million Radio Show #3
Posted today here. Dave Winer mentioned the show Thursday in his coffee notes. Very cool. I swear I will do the band list for all three shows with links later today or tomorrow.
Friday, October 22, 2004
October 8 016
The coolest guy on the planet checking out the USS Midway museum in downtown San Diego.
Northern California Twice
Next week it's off to CTIA in San Francisco. Should be fun to catch up with a bunch of friends and business associates.
The following week its a quick Friday afternoon flight back up to attend BloggerCon. This should be really cool, and I am trying to sort out my ideal itinerary. I am thinking:
Podcasting is a must. It will be fun to hear Adam Curry live.
Mobile Blogging is next. It is related to what we are working on at Intercasting, and the semantic battles should be fun. Unfortunately my Sony Ericsson P910 will not have shipped by then, so no mobile blogging from that.
I am torn between Overload and Election 2004. I am a political junkie so that has a natural appeal, but meeting Scoble and the topic of overload in general fascinates me much in the same way as meme and idea diffusion fascinates me. So it's looking like Overload.
Law. I can't pass up the chance to hear Lessig. Having been in the eye of the storm between content rights versus technology innovation, this should be a great way to end the day.
This should be a really cool time with a bunch of really smart people.
The following week its a quick Friday afternoon flight back up to attend BloggerCon. This should be really cool, and I am trying to sort out my ideal itinerary. I am thinking:
Podcasting is a must. It will be fun to hear Adam Curry live.
Mobile Blogging is next. It is related to what we are working on at Intercasting, and the semantic battles should be fun. Unfortunately my Sony Ericsson P910 will not have shipped by then, so no mobile blogging from that.
I am torn between Overload and Election 2004. I am a political junkie so that has a natural appeal, but meeting Scoble and the topic of overload in general fascinates me much in the same way as meme and idea diffusion fascinates me. So it's looking like Overload.
Law. I can't pass up the chance to hear Lessig. Having been in the eye of the storm between content rights versus technology innovation, this should be a great way to end the day.
This should be a really cool time with a bunch of really smart people.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Daily Source Code
Well I was bummed to hear about Adam Curry's mom on his Daily Source Code. Having lost my parents I know how hard it can be to discuss those kind of topics. When the show turned to lighter fare, My podcast, The $250 Million Radio Show got plugged and included a section from the first show. That was cool.
So tonight I sent out show number two. Check it out if you get a chance. I will post a playlist from the two shows later on. After I sleep. :-)
So tonight I sent out show number two. Check it out if you get a chance. I will post a playlist from the two shows later on. After I sleep. :-)
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Always On
Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I read a post by Scoble about Always On. Since I had signed up for every other social networking / neo blogging scheme on the planet, I figured what's one more. More importantly, it's being headed by Tony Perkins of Red Herring and Upside fame. I saw him speak several years ago and really enjoyed his talk.
After signing up for the site, I was surprised to see that he was planning on publishing a magazine about blogging written by bloggers. In concept this is cool, but in practice it seems to me that the pace of the blogosphere doesn't lend itself to a print magazine. Its kind of like sports to me. I don't Tivo football games because the minute I hear the score, I have no desire to watch the game arrive at that conclusion. Most of the bloggy memes I have seen so far sound fairly tired a month or two later, although clearly there are exceptions. So who would buy this magazine? People who don't blog yet, but are interested. Yeah, that doesn't sound too promising to me, but I hope he makes it work.
So I delayed writing this because it didn't seem helpful and its really an opinion of mine that I have developed recently that shows how print media lags bloggy media so badly that I don't read the usual suspects when I fly anymore (Biz 2.0, Fast Co., Wired) I have already read what they are writing a month or two earlier. So tonight I get an email trying to upsell me to become an Always On insider. WOW. So this site had done nothing for me yet. I haven't visited it more than once, and here comes a pitch that feels weak to me. I am going to sign up because it's Tony Perkins and if he asked me for $50 bucks I would give it to him because I used to live Red Herring, but so far I haven't seen a reason to support Always On. I hope he proves me wrong. I'd like that. Guess I need to check out the site more, because I must be missing something.
After signing up for the site, I was surprised to see that he was planning on publishing a magazine about blogging written by bloggers. In concept this is cool, but in practice it seems to me that the pace of the blogosphere doesn't lend itself to a print magazine. Its kind of like sports to me. I don't Tivo football games because the minute I hear the score, I have no desire to watch the game arrive at that conclusion. Most of the bloggy memes I have seen so far sound fairly tired a month or two later, although clearly there are exceptions. So who would buy this magazine? People who don't blog yet, but are interested. Yeah, that doesn't sound too promising to me, but I hope he makes it work.
So I delayed writing this because it didn't seem helpful and its really an opinion of mine that I have developed recently that shows how print media lags bloggy media so badly that I don't read the usual suspects when I fly anymore (Biz 2.0, Fast Co., Wired) I have already read what they are writing a month or two earlier. So tonight I get an email trying to upsell me to become an Always On insider. WOW. So this site had done nothing for me yet. I haven't visited it more than once, and here comes a pitch that feels weak to me. I am going to sign up because it's Tony Perkins and if he asked me for $50 bucks I would give it to him because I used to live Red Herring, but so far I haven't seen a reason to support Always On. I hope he proves me wrong. I'd like that. Guess I need to check out the site more, because I must be missing something.
User Generated Content: New Distribution Models reaction to Robin Good post
The Robin Good Weblog has this awesome writeup in response to the same article I mentioned here. Over the last couple of months I have been trying to synthesize the various conversations and conclusions I have arrived at regarding how media evolves in these posts here, and here, and here, to hit the main ones.
The post I read today hits on many of the same themes. I especially like the comments about media reaching it's zenith right before it is superseded by something else.
Over a quick lunch today I mentioned to the person I was eating with, that today's consumer of entertainment and media is an active participant in what they are consuming in the form of entertainment. Arguably they may even be the creator, or at least a collaborator in it's creation.
The media world in general is both a place of unfortunate perspective looking backwards when one considers the consolidation and homgenization of content, while holding untold potential in terms of what the new media world will look like in the future. To me the key issues to consider as we stutter, lurch, drag, and vault forward are:
1. We must have good/better tools to allow each of us to become creators of content. This includes easy tools that normal people can use, not tools that require people to understand unix command line language, etc.
2. We must create the tools that allow people to find the content that they want to consume, or should consume, or might be interested in consuming (etc.etc.) in an easy way. Think TIVO.
3. Intellectual property rights need to be revisited for a world of digital distribution. When I think of digital music and my experience there it makes me sad. For all of the promise that the various platforms hold, the legislative and judicial frameworks do not support the innovation in a safe way. Please don't take that comment as an IP anarchist, rather, there should be some balance between innovation and IP. The pain shouldn't be $150K per infringement. Does that fit the infraction? I don't know. It sounds severe to me.
4. Networks must continue to evolve. I think this one is happening and holds lots of promise, but things like massive adoption of RSS or things like podcasting are going to create the Pointcast effect which will bring the networks to their knees. As we prepare to launch our wireless application, I am astounded by the relatively small number of network usage for data in terms of actual users and the amount of data being transmitted over wireless networks relative to the Internet. It will be interesting to see how these networks deal with enormous data loads.
The post I read today hits on many of the same themes. I especially like the comments about media reaching it's zenith right before it is superseded by something else.
Over a quick lunch today I mentioned to the person I was eating with, that today's consumer of entertainment and media is an active participant in what they are consuming in the form of entertainment. Arguably they may even be the creator, or at least a collaborator in it's creation.
The media world in general is both a place of unfortunate perspective looking backwards when one considers the consolidation and homgenization of content, while holding untold potential in terms of what the new media world will look like in the future. To me the key issues to consider as we stutter, lurch, drag, and vault forward are:
1. We must have good/better tools to allow each of us to become creators of content. This includes easy tools that normal people can use, not tools that require people to understand unix command line language, etc.
2. We must create the tools that allow people to find the content that they want to consume, or should consume, or might be interested in consuming (etc.etc.) in an easy way. Think TIVO.
3. Intellectual property rights need to be revisited for a world of digital distribution. When I think of digital music and my experience there it makes me sad. For all of the promise that the various platforms hold, the legislative and judicial frameworks do not support the innovation in a safe way. Please don't take that comment as an IP anarchist, rather, there should be some balance between innovation and IP. The pain shouldn't be $150K per infringement. Does that fit the infraction? I don't know. It sounds severe to me.
4. Networks must continue to evolve. I think this one is happening and holds lots of promise, but things like massive adoption of RSS or things like podcasting are going to create the Pointcast effect which will bring the networks to their knees. As we prepare to launch our wireless application, I am astounded by the relatively small number of network usage for data in terms of actual users and the amount of data being transmitted over wireless networks relative to the Internet. It will be interesting to see how these networks deal with enormous data loads.
Dircaster
Saw this on a couple of blogs the other day and this was much better than copying someone else's XML and uploading it to a server. If you install dircaster.php into a directory, any subsequent uploads of MP3 files will update the XML when the php file is hit by ipodder or whatever else you are using. Very cool.
Monday, October 18, 2004
ChangeThis - Malcolm Gladwell
I was a bit disappointed in the previous version of the ChangeThis newsletter and manifestos. I wasn't really drawn to any and I found one in particular very weak. I was pleasantly surprised to find three of great interest to me this week. Malcolm Gladwell's (The Tipping Point, one of my favorite books of the last several years) piece entitled The Talent Myth was fascinating. If you manage people, or lead an organization this is a must read.
I don't want to editorialize and wreck the story, but it makes an interesting case against hiring the 'best and brightest' and indulging their whims. Instead it makes a strong case that cultures more focused on the systems approach to management and talent are more successful. Think Enron vs. WalMart.
I don't want to editorialize and wreck the story, but it makes an interesting case against hiring the 'best and brightest' and indulging their whims. Instead it makes a strong case that cultures more focused on the systems approach to management and talent are more successful. Think Enron vs. WalMart.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
RSS 2.0 with enclosures
I have had enough 'technology' for the coming week. My Podcast experiment involved the following:
Downloading and getting familiar with Audacity (Open source audio mixing software)
Setting up my cellphone Bluetooth headset to record my audio tracks
Mixing the show
Downloading and installing the LAME encoding software that Audacity needs to convert to MP3s
Uploading the MP3 file via ftp to Acmenoise.com
Figuring out why I cant get to the URL link (Permissions)
Figuring out where to find an Rss 2.0 XML feed to model my link on
Editing my XML link
Uploading to Acmenoise.
What a lot of work! I thought this would be easy.
If you are using iPodder my feed link is as follows:
$250 Million Radio show
http://www.acmenoise.com/temp/250millionradio.xml
Downloading and getting familiar with Audacity (Open source audio mixing software)
Setting up my cellphone Bluetooth headset to record my audio tracks
Mixing the show
Downloading and installing the LAME encoding software that Audacity needs to convert to MP3s
Uploading the MP3 file via ftp to Acmenoise.com
Figuring out why I cant get to the URL link (Permissions)
Figuring out where to find an Rss 2.0 XML feed to model my link on
Editing my XML link
Uploading to Acmenoise.
What a lot of work! I thought this would be easy.
If you are using iPodder my feed link is as follows:
$250 Million Radio show
http://www.acmenoise.com/temp/250millionradio.xml
My first Podcast
Ok, been a way a while. But in between the flying and business and weddings, I made a quick and dirty podcast of music to check out.
Here it is. I need to figure out the RSS 2.0 with enclosures thing though....
Here it is. I need to figure out the RSS 2.0 with enclosures thing though....
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Road Warrior
I forgot the feeling of being a road warrior. When I was at Vivnedi I would try to spend a week a month in the New York office. I always came home wiped out from all the meetings I would try to squeeze in each trip, So, this week in New York has brought back those memories. I love NYC, but it can wear you down. So other than meeting after meeting, my other New York Highlights.
Hip Guide failed me my first night in town with the selection of Stone Rose as a cool club to grab a drink. I like some of Randy Gerber's other clubs, but this one, although it has a fabulous view, felt contrived and had terrible service. One over worked model/waitress could barely contain her displeasure at having to run around the whole room by herself. Definitely a pass.
The next night we met Thomas Ryan who was one of the founder's of Cductive (later bought by eMusic) who is doing some work with Virgin Mobile. It was great swapping digital music war stories, but even more interesting were the two places he took us to. We started out the night at Soho House in the meatpacking district. This is a very cool private club that caters to the media and entertainment industry. We had a business meeting set up and this was a great place to chill out and talk business. Afterwards we had an awesome dinner at Spice Market which is located next door (and was another Hip Guide recommendation) This was a great dinner.
The next day was travel hell. Late flight to DC. Fast haul to Laurel. Over to Reston to have the pleasure of meeting with Stowe Boyd. Rush to Dulles, miss flight. Get on next flight. Wait on tarmac for an hour. Fly back to NYC. Four states and half the day in screwed up travel. Fortunately for business it was a fabulous day.
Dinner was at Fiamma, which was a solid Italian experience in a real nice cozy room. Today will be the most packed before an early morning jet back to San Diego.
Hip Guide failed me my first night in town with the selection of Stone Rose as a cool club to grab a drink. I like some of Randy Gerber's other clubs, but this one, although it has a fabulous view, felt contrived and had terrible service. One over worked model/waitress could barely contain her displeasure at having to run around the whole room by herself. Definitely a pass.
The next night we met Thomas Ryan who was one of the founder's of Cductive (later bought by eMusic) who is doing some work with Virgin Mobile. It was great swapping digital music war stories, but even more interesting were the two places he took us to. We started out the night at Soho House in the meatpacking district. This is a very cool private club that caters to the media and entertainment industry. We had a business meeting set up and this was a great place to chill out and talk business. Afterwards we had an awesome dinner at Spice Market which is located next door (and was another Hip Guide recommendation) This was a great dinner.
The next day was travel hell. Late flight to DC. Fast haul to Laurel. Over to Reston to have the pleasure of meeting with Stowe Boyd. Rush to Dulles, miss flight. Get on next flight. Wait on tarmac for an hour. Fly back to NYC. Four states and half the day in screwed up travel. Fortunately for business it was a fabulous day.
Dinner was at Fiamma, which was a solid Italian experience in a real nice cozy room. Today will be the most packed before an early morning jet back to San Diego.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Podcasts
So heading from San Diego to NYC seemed like a great time to catch up on all the Podcasts I have downloaded as well as the various MP3 files from Web 2.0. I was so bummed out to find once I got on the plane, that the audio levels on so many of the shows was real bad. Of course, Adam Curry's shows were good as were the Audio Activist podcasts, but the Web 2.0 stuff was barely listenable.
I am putting together a music show I want to do sometime next week and I am painfully aware of how bad audio mixing is a major problem for a listener. I would advise those who are making shows to make sure that their mix is good. I haven't found any good tools yet, but I haven't really looked much yet either. I found an opensource mixing tool called Audacity that I am going to try to use next week. More late. I love NYC.....
I am putting together a music show I want to do sometime next week and I am painfully aware of how bad audio mixing is a major problem for a listener. I would advise those who are making shows to make sure that their mix is good. I haven't found any good tools yet, but I haven't really looked much yet either. I found an opensource mixing tool called Audacity that I am going to try to use next week. More late. I love NYC.....
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Friday, October 08, 2004
More Radio Stuff
Radio Re-Volt - Minneapolis Art project(Walker Art Museum) similar to the previously mentioned micro-transmission post.
Can I Get A Witness! Amen!
This is what its all about. Its DVCam filmmakers or shows filmed on DV like 28 Days later. Its the Mashup creators. Its the hundreds of thousands of bands on sites like Pure Volume. Its the same ethic that started punk rock. Hell, I can play three cords, etc. Its DIY. We technology people look to the blogs and podcasting, etc. but whets really going to be fascinating is when the creative production tools go mainstream. I think that although some of the best stuff I have read in years comes from techno-centric bloggers, the real power is with the 15 year olds at Live Journal and Myspace. This is IM with narrative. IM with history. IM with context.
I communicate in different modes depending on what I want to communicate, or more importantly, how I want to be communicated with.
My communication becomes my media. My information, my persona is a multi modal form of dialogue which is tailored to the delivery mechanism and audience. Our discourse is our narrative to the creation which is our life. Entertainment is active now, not passive, and I am the star of my own show.
I communicate in different modes depending on what I want to communicate, or more importantly, how I want to be communicated with.
My communication becomes my media. My information, my persona is a multi modal form of dialogue which is tailored to the delivery mechanism and audience. Our discourse is our narrative to the creation which is our life. Entertainment is active now, not passive, and I am the star of my own show.
Sony Ericsson P910
I have been meaning to get a new phone for a little while. Actually ever since I purchased my Bluetooth Keyboard and couldn't get it to work for lack of a J2ME driver for my Sony Ericsson T610.
So without fail I trek over to the Sony Ericsson site each week to see if they have updated their release date for the P910a. This morning, after a child induced bout of insomnia, I noticed that they finally updated the shipping information to Mid November. I guess I can pre-order it now, although I would prefer a hard date. As my birthday is mid November, this should be a fitting reason to indulge the technology fetish and get my hands on what looks like an amazing piece of mobile technology.
So without fail I trek over to the Sony Ericsson site each week to see if they have updated their release date for the P910a. This morning, after a child induced bout of insomnia, I noticed that they finally updated the shipping information to Mid November. I guess I can pre-order it now, although I would prefer a hard date. As my birthday is mid November, this should be a fitting reason to indulge the technology fetish and get my hands on what looks like an amazing piece of mobile technology.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
RHZ Amateur Radio Net
The previous mention of the angry article talked about the Radio Rhizome Project in Los Angeles. I was curious what this was and decided to spend some time looking into it. I am fascinated by what they are doing. I always enjoy the idea of spectrum as a public asset or a regulated part of the 'commons'. What Radio Rhizome is doing is dancing on the edges of broadcast law and using the power of the Internet to create a radio station that strictly speaking is a collection of broadcast nodes with synchronized programming.
Any of us can get an AM transmitter and can broadcast a limited signal on a chunk of spectrum, provided the range is limited and provided that nobody else is licensed to broadcast at that frequency. Essentially I can broadcast from a small base to my neighborhood from a very low power station. But what happens when a bunch of people are connected to the Internet, and have transmitters and are all simultaneously broadcasting the same feed provided by one source? Well you all of a sudden have taken back a part of the airwaves and formed your own public access / community radio.
I think this is an interesting concept, which probably has a lot of the same challenges as public access /free wifi. Can you get enough consistent coverage to actually create a consistent signal that is worth hearing? Maybe in dense areas like New York. I am thinking San Diego, probably not.
It will be interesting to see how citizens view spectrum over time. I find it interesting that so much has been allocated to corporations in a variety of frequencies that can't be used by us, but that isn't being utilized by commercial ventures either. Kind of an application of the commons for a purpose without any real good coming back to the community. Sort of like domain name squatting.....
Anyways, this from a physical perspective, and Bit Torrent and podcasting are all fascinating and innovative takes on non - center of the network distribution that have interesting possibilities.
Any of us can get an AM transmitter and can broadcast a limited signal on a chunk of spectrum, provided the range is limited and provided that nobody else is licensed to broadcast at that frequency. Essentially I can broadcast from a small base to my neighborhood from a very low power station. But what happens when a bunch of people are connected to the Internet, and have transmitters and are all simultaneously broadcasting the same feed provided by one source? Well you all of a sudden have taken back a part of the airwaves and formed your own public access / community radio.
I think this is an interesting concept, which probably has a lot of the same challenges as public access /free wifi. Can you get enough consistent coverage to actually create a consistent signal that is worth hearing? Maybe in dense areas like New York. I am thinking San Diego, probably not.
It will be interesting to see how citizens view spectrum over time. I find it interesting that so much has been allocated to corporations in a variety of frequencies that can't be used by us, but that isn't being utilized by commercial ventures either. Kind of an application of the commons for a purpose without any real good coming back to the community. Sort of like domain name squatting.....
Anyways, this from a physical perspective, and Bit Torrent and podcasting are all fascinating and innovative takes on non - center of the network distribution that have interesting possibilities.
User Generated Content:Roll Your Own Network
Yesterday was a big day for user generated content / edge of the network content in the blogosphere. This article 'f*ck big media' was picked up on slashdot and Wired put out this piece.
These are both good posts, although the first has a bit of a hard edge. I like characterizing the battle in content as the battle between the content luddites who got caught off guard by the technological revolution in distribution versus the P2P 'jihadis' who are every bit as dogmatic as the former. We need some middle ground, we need some product.
These are both good posts, although the first has a bit of a hard edge. I like characterizing the battle in content as the battle between the content luddites who got caught off guard by the technological revolution in distribution versus the P2P 'jihadis' who are every bit as dogmatic as the former. We need some middle ground, we need some product.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Capitalism - SpaceShipOne
It's amazing what the profit motive can accomplish when all other things fail. Although NASA has a rich and proud history, it's amazing what one can accomplish when $10 million dollars (and the obvious future benefits resulting from success) is the prize.
Our politicians lack the vision to galvanize the country's resources around solving serious challenges we face (Environment, Energy etc.) Looks like we need a few more capitalists to get the ball rolling.
Our politicians lack the vision to galvanize the country's resources around solving serious challenges we face (Environment, Energy etc.) Looks like we need a few more capitalists to get the ball rolling.
User Generated Content: Low Def TV
One of my projects between Vivendi and Intercasting was a show idea that I worked on with a couple of friends called Low Def TV. A friend sent me a link yesterday to a site called ManiaTV which is a web equivalent of what we were shooting for with Low Def, well sort of.
In February of 2002 we launched MP4.com at Vivendi. The idea was to basically do the MP3.com thing for internet generated video content. The tools for producing really cool and high quality content were widespread with Flash and DV Cam filmmaking and we wanted to showcase this. The site was given zero resources and our GM Natasha Rabe was told to fight to make it work. The site got some really cool traction but ultimately got killed in the divestment of the various Internet assets.
Joe Fleischer (Big Champagne, Crush Management) and I spent a bunch of time talking about how TV evolves, etc. Joe was explaining how TV shows and movies were being trading on Peer to Peer networks at an amazing rate. I shared with him my concept of content coming from the edge of the network as being the most interesting trend in media to me. So we started thinking about Opensource TV and eventually came up with Low Def TV.
We got a hold of David Todd, the content acquisition guy from MP4.com, and started soliciting a bunch of content from the best of MP4. We spent a couple of months getting together an edit and eventually shot and edited a 22 minute pilot. I love the show, but it was really naughty, kind of a variety show for the Jackass crowd. We sent it out to limited parties and seemed to be getting some interest until some woman named Jackson flashed a nipple during the Superbowl.
At any rate we have started sending it out again for reaction, and if you want a peek at the DVD drop me an email.
There are a multitude of talented and bright people doing a variety of things with edge created content using a variety of distribution mechanisms. I haven't spent much time with them yet, but my take is as follows:
1. Centralized hosting of video content costs too much.
2. P2P hosting of content has the challenge of either 1. closed networks, or 2. service level challenges, or 3. possible legal issues (STOP INDUCE)
3. People don't watch TV on computers. Yet. The work with companies like Akimbo and others holds some promise.
For now, I think the best one can do is aggregate content from the edge of the network into show formats (Indie, art, comedy, etc.) and pitch these as the next step in Reality TV. For now.
In February of 2002 we launched MP4.com at Vivendi. The idea was to basically do the MP3.com thing for internet generated video content. The tools for producing really cool and high quality content were widespread with Flash and DV Cam filmmaking and we wanted to showcase this. The site was given zero resources and our GM Natasha Rabe was told to fight to make it work. The site got some really cool traction but ultimately got killed in the divestment of the various Internet assets.
Joe Fleischer (Big Champagne, Crush Management) and I spent a bunch of time talking about how TV evolves, etc. Joe was explaining how TV shows and movies were being trading on Peer to Peer networks at an amazing rate. I shared with him my concept of content coming from the edge of the network as being the most interesting trend in media to me. So we started thinking about Opensource TV and eventually came up with Low Def TV.
We got a hold of David Todd, the content acquisition guy from MP4.com, and started soliciting a bunch of content from the best of MP4. We spent a couple of months getting together an edit and eventually shot and edited a 22 minute pilot. I love the show, but it was really naughty, kind of a variety show for the Jackass crowd. We sent it out to limited parties and seemed to be getting some interest until some woman named Jackson flashed a nipple during the Superbowl.
At any rate we have started sending it out again for reaction, and if you want a peek at the DVD drop me an email.
There are a multitude of talented and bright people doing a variety of things with edge created content using a variety of distribution mechanisms. I haven't spent much time with them yet, but my take is as follows:
1. Centralized hosting of video content costs too much.
2. P2P hosting of content has the challenge of either 1. closed networks, or 2. service level challenges, or 3. possible legal issues (STOP INDUCE)
3. People don't watch TV on computers. Yet. The work with companies like Akimbo and others holds some promise.
For now, I think the best one can do is aggregate content from the edge of the network into show formats (Indie, art, comedy, etc.) and pitch these as the next step in Reality TV. For now.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Channel Derrick
What's going on in my channel you might wonder?
Music:
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand: Cool CD, reminded me of the Strokes on the first listen. I need to spend more time with it, but it will be in my playlist for a while.
Green Day - American Idiot: Still too early for me to know what I think about this CD, but so far so good. I heard that this is their masterpiece. It didn't hit me right away, but time will tell.
Brand New - Deja Entendu: I am really enjoying this CD. Courtesy of my eMusic account. (More on the new eMusic look and site in another post). I obviously got into this late as it was released in 2003, but its really fun for me to hear bands develop and although their first didn't do much for me this is refreshing and this band could have a lot of promise in the future.
Books:
We The Media - Dan Gilmour: I can't add anything to the numerous posts online. As a disciple of user generated content, this book IS user generated journalism. If you are interested in any of my User Generated Posts in the least, then go out and by this book.
Radio:
Adam Curry - Daily Source Code: Just got turned onto this by the recent podcasting posting flurries. At first listen, I was not getting it. Upon a couple of other listens, I can't wait to hear tomorrows show. Its not for everyone, but I love the man in the wilderness, or in this case the Netherlands doing his show for no one or everyone. The transition from MTV VJay to hacker podcaster is just too much fun for me.
TV:
Lost: Ok so TV makes a funny turn when we go from Drama to Reality TV(Survivor) to Drama representing Reality TV(Lost). I am drawn in for now, but this could go either way.
Videogame:
NCAA 2005: I can't quit this one, although in general, the games are an increasingly infrequent indulgence given how busy things are with the business, pending triplets, etc. I liked this so much that I didn't buy Madden 2005. Lucky for me, it shipped with a bad bug...
Music:
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand: Cool CD, reminded me of the Strokes on the first listen. I need to spend more time with it, but it will be in my playlist for a while.
Green Day - American Idiot: Still too early for me to know what I think about this CD, but so far so good. I heard that this is their masterpiece. It didn't hit me right away, but time will tell.
Brand New - Deja Entendu: I am really enjoying this CD. Courtesy of my eMusic account. (More on the new eMusic look and site in another post). I obviously got into this late as it was released in 2003, but its really fun for me to hear bands develop and although their first didn't do much for me this is refreshing and this band could have a lot of promise in the future.
Books:
We The Media - Dan Gilmour: I can't add anything to the numerous posts online. As a disciple of user generated content, this book IS user generated journalism. If you are interested in any of my User Generated Posts in the least, then go out and by this book.
Radio:
Adam Curry - Daily Source Code: Just got turned onto this by the recent podcasting posting flurries. At first listen, I was not getting it. Upon a couple of other listens, I can't wait to hear tomorrows show. Its not for everyone, but I love the man in the wilderness, or in this case the Netherlands doing his show for no one or everyone. The transition from MTV VJay to hacker podcaster is just too much fun for me.
TV:
Lost: Ok so TV makes a funny turn when we go from Drama to Reality TV(Survivor) to Drama representing Reality TV(Lost). I am drawn in for now, but this could go either way.
Videogame:
NCAA 2005: I can't quit this one, although in general, the games are an increasingly infrequent indulgence given how busy things are with the business, pending triplets, etc. I liked this so much that I didn't buy Madden 2005. Lucky for me, it shipped with a bad bug...
Friday, October 01, 2004
Definition of Moblogging - Take 3
This is funny. This is moblogging, or I guess evidence. I guess it really isn't moblogging if you don't post it to someplace for others to read though....
Thursday, September 30, 2004
User Generated Content: User Generated Programming
Early this week I saw the post on the Blogger Con website the post concerning a session on Podcasting. I of course thought to myself that the weirdo Mac people had some new fangled thing that isn’t that interesting to talk about. Mac people are so religious. (You have to take your shots if you are Windows user) By yesterday I had seen a ripple of posts about podcasting and decided to dig out the iPod I bought for my wife for a gift when they first came out. The iPod had been hiding in the bottom of my computer bag waiting for the next cross country trip providing very little value other than making my heavy bag heavier.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Domain Name Branding
Russ wrote an article today about the shortage of mobile friendly names. Shawn and I were laughing about this as we have been enjoying the exercise of 'domain name branding'. It has to be short. It has to be cool. It has to work.
Guess what. Those are all taken. ALL OF THEM.
On the brighter side, if you can find one, I can guarantee that the frustration of finding a domain, paying either the $15-30 or $1000s of dollars is a walk in the park compared to the process of having your lawyers clear the Trademark office.
Guess what, if it wasn't taken in the domain name registry chances are that it may be in the PTO!!!!!
We need to start all over with this again. Can every one just give back their domain names and trademarks and start all over again?
Maybe not.
Guess what. Those are all taken. ALL OF THEM.
On the brighter side, if you can find one, I can guarantee that the frustration of finding a domain, paying either the $15-30 or $1000s of dollars is a walk in the park compared to the process of having your lawyers clear the Trademark office.
Guess what, if it wasn't taken in the domain name registry chances are that it may be in the PTO!!!!!
We need to start all over with this again. Can every one just give back their domain names and trademarks and start all over again?
Maybe not.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Scoble Overload Quote
I read this article yesterday at Scobleizer mentioning the upcoming session at Blogger Con on Information Overload. It was funny to me to realize in the last 6 months or so, I have adopted RSS and have become way more on top of so many things as a result. The by-product of this is a daily chunk of time that is spent 'staying on top' of the trends du jour. Again, I recommend RSS reading to those who don't do it yet....You will.
So in reading his post I was astounded to see that he reads somewhere north of 900 blogs a day. This got me to thinking, how many do I read? Currently I am reading just over 70. This number is growing, and as he mentioned I clean the list periodically as some go silent or I find that they have too much noise without much sound.
I don't know how this ends up with more and more smart/cool/insightful people embracing blogging, but its my hope that it continues to create a fascinating world of user generated content that stands in stark contrast to what most people have become accustomed to reading/hearing/seeing/playing etc.
So in reading his post I was astounded to see that he reads somewhere north of 900 blogs a day. This got me to thinking, how many do I read? Currently I am reading just over 70. This number is growing, and as he mentioned I clean the list periodically as some go silent or I find that they have too much noise without much sound.
I don't know how this ends up with more and more smart/cool/insightful people embracing blogging, but its my hope that it continues to create a fascinating world of user generated content that stands in stark contrast to what most people have become accustomed to reading/hearing/seeing/playing etc.
User Generated Content: MP3.com data mining
MP3.com was always focused on the collection of data from every point we could collect it. The 800,000 unique visitors generated 4,000,000 page views and 4,000,000 downloads and streams a day. We had an extensive data collection/warehousing/analytics team that could slice it many different ways.
- These bands were generally pre-Soundscan (they didn’t show up on local retail sales figures because they only sold their CDs at shows.)
- They were organized online using a combination of IM, blogs, and street team tools to get the word out.
- A majority of them were playing all ages venues which didn’t normally pop up on the radar of club goers. (Who wants to hang out with 15 year olds ;-) )
- The genres of music were genres that weren’t typically represented by MTV, radio and retail and were clustered around emo/pop punk and grindcore.
- These bands generally played around 50-100 shows a year.
There was a lot of more fascinating data, but once we had this data we decided to take a look a level deeper.
- If you can create a platform to distribute content that has detailed data, you can identify trends in large populations.
- Content that has promise can be then test marketed to groups of people within that network to determine if the interest is specialized or broad.
- Based on whether or not the interest is broad or specialized, one can devise a marketing program to fit the right criteria of benefit / return based on the preliminary findings.
- Although data is an indicator of a potential audience for content, there are intangibles that cannot be captured in the data, i.e. will a band do well on TV, can they maintain creative output or even manage enough output to warrant additional investment.
I think that this sort of path of analysis and experimentation is the place where the development of new lower cost content can and should occur. I am not saying that the traditional method of content development and marketing goes away, but I do think that a more low to the ground approach has a lot of promise for a new economic model that is more sustainable in the long-term.
Monday, September 27, 2004
Baby names
You would think that when you have three kids at once, it would be easy to name them. That has not been the case. Over the last couple of days we have finally settled on the names. The identical twin boys are Brit and Tucker. Our girl will be named Mallory. This is a much better nomenclature than Baby A,B and C.
Friday, September 24, 2004
The Changing Face of Content
David Weinberger writes an interesting blog post about his attendance at an Entertainment and Media session of the World Economic Forum. This sorts of discussions always get me started. My comments below:
The greatest challenge for the content companies IMHO is how the explosion in distribution changes all the economics of their business. What has been a hit driven - venture capital style model has seen the erosion of limited distribution which deteriorates their margins. When the promise of a 'hit' to fund the 'misses' disappears, then the model isn't sustainable. In a world of previously untold distribution capacity, yes content is still king, but the marginal value of the content has to outweigh the cost to produce it. This is fundamental. In this world, content creation becomes less of a large scale enterprise and more of a cottage industry. I recognize that 'big hit' style content will continue to be produced, but the majority of content must become cheaper to make and has so if you consider non-mainstream music, reality based TV. etc.
The interesting thing about this sort of distribution is that it gives you an extremely powerful mechanism to market to a select audience in an extremely cost effective way. It really is a rethinking of the whole business, and requires a different skill set for success, but it is possible and I would argue, the inevitable outcome of what is occurring.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Definition of Moblogging - Take 2
Funny how life presents things to you. This is moblogging to me. Our offices are in what is called the Golden Triangle Area of San Diego. This area is just east of UCSD and encompasses the area known as University Town Center. It's where we are, where MP3.com used to be, DIVx Networks is here, Linspire, etc.
On my way to work today (late - nanny was sick) traffic was terrible. I didn't know why until I crossed the bridge on Genesee over Interstate 5. This person just missed out on a 40 ft plunge onto the 5 in heavy traffic. I all of a sudden had the presence of mind to grab my cell phone and snap a picture. Of course I would have never written a blog post about this, but in moblogging, its blogging while you live.
Two other important factors. 1. Time is key. This picture will not be as interesting tomorrow. If you are stuck in traffic right now and had an alert, you would be more sympathetic to the reason for the delay. 2. Location is key. If I had the lat and long, you would know to avoid that area like the plague.
On my way to work today (late - nanny was sick) traffic was terrible. I didn't know why until I crossed the bridge on Genesee over Interstate 5. This person just missed out on a 40 ft plunge onto the 5 in heavy traffic. I all of a sudden had the presence of mind to grab my cell phone and snap a picture. Of course I would have never written a blog post about this, but in moblogging, its blogging while you live.
Two other important factors. 1. Time is key. This picture will not be as interesting tomorrow. If you are stuck in traffic right now and had an alert, you would be more sympathetic to the reason for the delay. 2. Location is key. If I had the lat and long, you would know to avoid that area like the plague.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Wireless Sensor Networks Part 4
I saw this article today about Dust Technologies. It reminded me that my brother in laws company got some great press last week on....
Grand Forks Herald
Minneapolis Star Tribune
WCCO Minneapolis
They are starting to do some cool early experiments and pilots with sugar beets, potatoes, pasta...
More to come I am sure.
Grand Forks Herald
Minneapolis Star Tribune
WCCO Minneapolis
They are starting to do some cool early experiments and pilots with sugar beets, potatoes, pasta...
More to come I am sure.
Definition of Moblogging
I read with interest yesterday the post by Dave Winer regarding the definition of moblogging.
I agree with the definition put forth and would add to the thought a bit.
My partners Shawn and Tom worked at/ran Moviso. One of the applications that Moviso rolled out before it was sold to Infospace was Match Mobile. They came away from that experience with the realization that porting internet applications to mobile, doesn't really work in the same way that you would expect on the web. It's similar to the TV to Internet transition. Remember Pathfinder? Putting TV on the Internet wasn't a wild success. The best Internet content is generally created on and for the Internet. I would say the same holds true for mobile, or at least it should.
Moblogging takes the normal experience of publishing/creating content and adds a layer of time and place value that doesn't necessarily exist when I am sitting here typing on my laptop. On my photoblog I have pictures I took just for family, or pictures that I took because I didn't have time to type the information I needed into my cell phone. The mobile part in the last example was purely a method of capturing information for me. Sorry if it didn't help you out. In an LBS world that picture would have informed you that the Lat and Long corresponded to Costco in Carlsbad. Now maybe that information would be more relevant to someone other than me. Maybe not.
I think that the time/place overlay is a key different piece in the moblogging equation that will reveal itself more clearly in the not to distant future. To that end, yes moblogging is what we do when we are away from our normal blogging environment, but there is an element of context that definitely flavors that experience. Take for instance my bluetooth keyboard for my phone....
I agree with the definition put forth and would add to the thought a bit.
My partners Shawn and Tom worked at/ran Moviso. One of the applications that Moviso rolled out before it was sold to Infospace was Match Mobile. They came away from that experience with the realization that porting internet applications to mobile, doesn't really work in the same way that you would expect on the web. It's similar to the TV to Internet transition. Remember Pathfinder? Putting TV on the Internet wasn't a wild success. The best Internet content is generally created on and for the Internet. I would say the same holds true for mobile, or at least it should.
Moblogging takes the normal experience of publishing/creating content and adds a layer of time and place value that doesn't necessarily exist when I am sitting here typing on my laptop. On my photoblog I have pictures I took just for family, or pictures that I took because I didn't have time to type the information I needed into my cell phone. The mobile part in the last example was purely a method of capturing information for me. Sorry if it didn't help you out. In an LBS world that picture would have informed you that the Lat and Long corresponded to Costco in Carlsbad. Now maybe that information would be more relevant to someone other than me. Maybe not.
I think that the time/place overlay is a key different piece in the moblogging equation that will reveal itself more clearly in the not to distant future. To that end, yes moblogging is what we do when we are away from our normal blogging environment, but there is an element of context that definitely flavors that experience. Take for instance my bluetooth keyboard for my phone....
Friday, September 17, 2004
User Generated Content: unmediated
Got turned onto my new favorite website, unmediated. Their about section says -
unmediated is a group blog that tracks the tools, processes, and ideas being used to decentralize media production and distribution. I love it.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Triplet 3D Images
My wife had a surprise planned for me last week on Thursday. For those of you who know me, I am not a sports fan. I don't really care much for sports. The exception to that is the Church of Football. I am a devout follower who rarely misses a game, literally a game as I have Two Tivo's and the Directv Football package, both pro and college.
My base instinct was that my wonderful wife, who knows I adore Peyton Manning (My 2 year old now says on command that he is the best QB in football), had planned a surprise evening out to watch the first game of the season between New England and Indianapolis.
Ok, so maybe I was on crack. The surprise was a visit to a place called Fetal Fotos. Ok, so don't get me wrong, I think ultrasounds are very cool. The problem with having triplets is you have Dr. appts. that include 3 hour anatomy scans of the kids. Do two of those, and you too can be an ultrasound tech.
This store actually does something cool in that they do 3D imaging. Granted the quality of the scanning isn't the best, and your children can look very odd, but all in all it was really cool and I am glad we did it. Photos included.
My base instinct was that my wonderful wife, who knows I adore Peyton Manning (My 2 year old now says on command that he is the best QB in football), had planned a surprise evening out to watch the first game of the season between New England and Indianapolis.
Ok, so maybe I was on crack. The surprise was a visit to a place called Fetal Fotos. Ok, so don't get me wrong, I think ultrasounds are very cool. The problem with having triplets is you have Dr. appts. that include 3 hour anatomy scans of the kids. Do two of those, and you too can be an ultrasound tech.
This store actually does something cool in that they do 3D imaging. Granted the quality of the scanning isn't the best, and your children can look very odd, but all in all it was really cool and I am glad we did it. Photos included.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
User Generated Content: Gallina
Ok, so this isn't the User Generated Content post I was going to write, but this is really good. This new application, Gallina, allows people to hack their Gmail account and use it as a blog. Nice. A while back I wrote this piece about people being a part of the narrative. What I think I failed to elaborate on was the interesting part of User Generated Content that is exemplified by Half Life / Counter Strike. Half Life was made a a mod friendly game, that was ultimately surpassed in popularity(arguably) by a mod know as Counter Strike. Sometimes it's best to give users a platform and let them create a new context that suits their entertainment needs even more than originally imagined.
Digital Music Take 23 - MusicMatch
I was very excited today to see that Yahoo had purchased MusicMatch for $160 million. Ironically I had lunch with Michael Robertson yesterday and spoke with him about when if ever he thought that MusicMatch would sell, as we both know the executives at the company.
Two thoughts jump to mind. One is that a lot of great people who worked with me at MP3.com and others who I know from my interaction with them in business at MusicMatch have a great conclusion for an admirable run competing against Microsoft and Real Networks. The second thought is that we are approaching the conclusion of this phase of digital music. We have gone from early pioneers, through the lawsuit phase (Napster, MP3.com, Kazaa), the early .99 download phase, and consolidation of a wide number of businesses into a relatively small number of big players (Apple, Microsoft, Napster 2.0, and arguably Yahoo)
The next phase isn't clear to me, but the 9th circuit court decision, and the thin margins of the download stores, doesn't reveal a clear path to the creation of a viable and meaningful market. I see more eMule and Fast Track style clones popping up, more people getting sued, and not much real progress in the near term.
On the other hand, more people are listening to more music than ever, And more importantly, more people are creating music than ever before. I think this may be a good topic for my next User Generated Content posts.
Two thoughts jump to mind. One is that a lot of great people who worked with me at MP3.com and others who I know from my interaction with them in business at MusicMatch have a great conclusion for an admirable run competing against Microsoft and Real Networks. The second thought is that we are approaching the conclusion of this phase of digital music. We have gone from early pioneers, through the lawsuit phase (Napster, MP3.com, Kazaa), the early .99 download phase, and consolidation of a wide number of businesses into a relatively small number of big players (Apple, Microsoft, Napster 2.0, and arguably Yahoo)
The next phase isn't clear to me, but the 9th circuit court decision, and the thin margins of the download stores, doesn't reveal a clear path to the creation of a viable and meaningful market. I see more eMule and Fast Track style clones popping up, more people getting sued, and not much real progress in the near term.
On the other hand, more people are listening to more music than ever, And more importantly, more people are creating music than ever before. I think this may be a good topic for my next User Generated Content posts.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Weird Internet Search Results
So the really freaky thing about the Internet is that it becomes a history of what you have done in the net in a way. In an earlier post, I found some of my goofy comments from Usenet in 1994. Of course you can find my old employment agreement in conjunction with MP3.com's acquisition by Vivendi Universal. OK so these type of things are ok. You kind of want to make them go away, but at least they really happened. What I don't like is this. As part of the internet domain name land grab, I registered a domain that was called plexussys.com, or something like that. I don't recall what it was for exactly, but over time I have registered prolly close to 50 domains. The problem with this, is that it is wrong. It had nothing to do with cars. It had nothing to do with anything, but somewhere the same people who manufacturer spam created this untruth. Who do I get a hold of to make it go away?????
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard
True to form, I picked up that Bluetooth keyboard I mentioned previously. It is really cool. The one big issue is that they wont come out with the J2ME Bluetooth driver for a little while. The form factor is amazing. It looks really small but when laid out on top of my massive laptop, it is almost indentical. I managed to 'pair' it with my laptop and desktop and managed to get it working. I figured out how to hack a 'pairing' with my cell phone, but no services were available. Bummer. I should have a new phone for demo's when we go out on the road next month so I can use it then for some truly mobile blogging. If you want more check out their website at Think Outside.
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
My life on Sony
Branding - When I worked at Sony Pictures Studios from 1992 to 1997 (wow 5 years!) I became a big fan of Sony consumer products. We got a really good discount on Sony products and I really fell in love with the brand. Today I have....
4 Sony televisions (1 that is HD)
A Sony Mini CD Stereo
Two Sony Ericsson Phones - A T300 and a T610. They have some issues, but they are my favorite cell phones I have owned. I really need a P900, but can't rationalize the price point, yet.
Sony VHS Deck
Sony DVD PLayer
Sony Play Station 2
A Sony Clie PDA
A Sony 5 Megapixel Camera
A Sony DV Cam
I think that's it, although Jessica also has a Sony Ericsson T637 phone I think.
If you can create a consistent consumer experience, a fair degree of operability among your media devices, and a sense of a high quality product, you can own a consumer. Or at least you can own me. I think Apple is on the right path with this on the iMac and the iPod, etc.
4 Sony televisions (1 that is HD)
A Sony Mini CD Stereo
Two Sony Ericsson Phones - A T300 and a T610. They have some issues, but they are my favorite cell phones I have owned. I really need a P900, but can't rationalize the price point, yet.
Sony VHS Deck
Sony DVD PLayer
Sony Play Station 2
A Sony Clie PDA
A Sony 5 Megapixel Camera
A Sony DV Cam
I think that's it, although Jessica also has a Sony Ericsson T637 phone I think.
If you can create a consistent consumer experience, a fair degree of operability among your media devices, and a sense of a high quality product, you can own a consumer. Or at least you can own me. I think Apple is on the right path with this on the iMac and the iPod, etc.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Politics
Although I am a political junkie, I have decided that its probably not a good idea to get partisan given the religious tone of the current election. That said, those of you who know me, know that I come down hard on one side. What I have been doing is checking out the blogs on both the left and right and I find them very fascinating. Specifically, Instapundit and Daily Kos. If you are a junkie, these are two good starting points.
Monday, September 06, 2004
ChangeThis - Part 2
I recently signed up for ChangeThis. I mentioned it in a previous post. Today I got an email that was a Blogger preview of their next newsletter and collection of manifestos. There are one or two in the list I am interested in, especially the one about/from Jerry Colonna about the value of misfits. I should read this later today, but I find it an interesting marketing tactic to get bloggers to read the stories before, link to the stories, and build interest before the 'official' release. So I guess blogging continues to evolve.....
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
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Friendster Fires Blogger
Apparently, Friendster just fired one of their employees for blogging about some changes to the architecture of the site. Funny, I thought her post was simply meant to say that Friendster was now working because they migrated from JSP to PHP. I don't think firing someone for telling people something they could easily figure out will do much to help them with the larger issue of what is their business.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Marathon
I think the most powerful part of any Olympics for me is the marathon competition. All of the other events have their drama and history, but the Marathon is timeless. A messenger running a great distance to relay the results of a battle and then collapses and dies. Every time this event takes place in the Olympics I think that it is truly a historical event that transcends the actual running.
Back in 2000, my wife and I completed the Honolulu Marathon. I am not ashamed of the pathetic time that I logged that day, which was something north of 6 hours which I could blame on an improperly cut toenail if you were to believe my excuses. More important to me than the time was the actual finish, which I viewed as a personal accomplishment much greater than my attendance at Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, The Rose Parade, getting good grades, etc.
On that day, I could really understand what it could be like to run 26 miles, deliver a message, and die.
Congratulations to Athens on a wonderful 2004 Olympics. I really enjoyed it.
Back in 2000, my wife and I completed the Honolulu Marathon. I am not ashamed of the pathetic time that I logged that day, which was something north of 6 hours which I could blame on an improperly cut toenail if you were to believe my excuses. More important to me than the time was the actual finish, which I viewed as a personal accomplishment much greater than my attendance at Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, The Rose Parade, getting good grades, etc.
On that day, I could really understand what it could be like to run 26 miles, deliver a message, and die.
Congratulations to Athens on a wonderful 2004 Olympics. I really enjoyed it.
Friday, August 27, 2004
YASN - Yet Another Social Network
I wrote about my first experiences with Social Networking Software a little while ago. An update is that I have continued to add people to LinkedIn, but don't really use any of the other ones. I still don't know what I am going to get by continuing with LinkedIn, but it feels like it could be useful.
Yesterday I read a post by Stowe Boyd about another post calling for a Social Networking Manifesto (which sort of reminded me of ChangeThis, but I digress). I really liked these articles and some others I have read in various places.
I know that there is a move to unify the pain of joining the various sites by people like the FOAF project and ShareID, but I still keep asking myself, "Where is the value, where is the utility?"
I guess we need to keep busy with what we are working on!
Yesterday I read a post by Stowe Boyd about another post calling for a Social Networking Manifesto (which sort of reminded me of ChangeThis, but I digress). I really liked these articles and some others I have read in various places.
I know that there is a move to unify the pain of joining the various sites by people like the FOAF project and ShareID, but I still keep asking myself, "Where is the value, where is the utility?"
I guess we need to keep busy with what we are working on!
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Mozilla
So a bad thing about RSS readers is that I am taking in so much information each day that I frequently see an article, do something, and then forget why I did it. Today I read something which got me to think I should download Mozilla, then I couldn't remember the source. Here I am 6 hours later and I rediscovered the article that prompted the download. Ok, so the browser is cool but I need to spend more time with it before I can give a real opinion. Any trend that shows a movement away from total Microsoft product domination is worth a little investment of time.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
ChangeThis
I like what they are doing here. If you are a fan of Tom Peter's like I am, you will find this interesting.
Monday, August 23, 2004
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Sunday, August 22, 2004
Los Angeles Subway
For 6 months last year I was consulting in Los Angeles with Echo Networks. I decided that the only way to go was to take Amtrak. Last week I was in LA for the day on business and decided to use my pathetic camera phone to snap these pics shown above of my trip.
Anyone who goes between SD and LA should consider the following:
Train between San Diego and Los Angeles.
From here you can either rent a car from Budget, or take the Red Line subway to the 7th street exit, and walk over to the Standard Hotel. They can arrange to have a rental car available for you in the morning.
It really is the only way to travel. A couple of hints, reserve the cheapest car at Budget. They are set up for excursion travel and many times I get a Town Car or a convertible Mustang for the price of a Hyundai. The other hint is that all the rooms at the Standard are great. I stayed last week for $99 and was instantly upgraded to a medium room. I love this hotel. The rooftop bar is a must see and it is almost always 'going off'.
Anyone who goes between SD and LA should consider the following:
Train between San Diego and Los Angeles.
From here you can either rent a car from Budget, or take the Red Line subway to the 7th street exit, and walk over to the Standard Hotel. They can arrange to have a rental car available for you in the morning.
It really is the only way to travel. A couple of hints, reserve the cheapest car at Budget. They are set up for excursion travel and many times I get a Town Car or a convertible Mustang for the price of a Hyundai. The other hint is that all the rooms at the Standard are great. I stayed last week for $99 and was instantly upgraded to a medium room. I love this hotel. The rooftop bar is a must see and it is almost always 'going off'.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
RSS Calendar
At MP3.com we had an amazing intranet that combined some home grown tools with some off the shelf tools. Sitting in our new offices, I really wish I had some of the amazing Gotham tools we had. Our friend Ian is creating an equivalent of Drop Box, which was an internal and external file distribution mechanism to overcome the size issues associated with mail gateways.
The piece that I have been missing the most for coordinating dispersed people is the calendaring tool we used called Ctime. Someone told me Oracle bought the company, and since we are a startup, no thanks for the Oracle licensing fees that I can only imagine. That's why I was really happy when I heard about RSS Calendar. Not only is this cool because it is a free (for now) web available calendaring tool, but it also is a great application of using RSS for purposes other than reading blogs, or reading blogs from my phone. I am certain that there are going to be tons of cool RSS / Webservices concepts that come out in the next year.
The piece that I have been missing the most for coordinating dispersed people is the calendaring tool we used called Ctime. Someone told me Oracle bought the company, and since we are a startup, no thanks for the Oracle licensing fees that I can only imagine. That's why I was really happy when I heard about RSS Calendar. Not only is this cool because it is a free (for now) web available calendaring tool, but it also is a great application of using RSS for purposes other than reading blogs, or reading blogs from my phone. I am certain that there are going to be tons of cool RSS / Webservices concepts that come out in the next year.
User Generated Content: Wikipedia
What is a wiki? I don't remember who it was that told me about wikipedia, but I have got to say that this may be one of the coolest forms of user generated content. I can't find the quote, but if I am correct, wikipedia has on average, like 5 to 10 times the number of articles of traditional encyclopedias. To me it is one of the most powerful examples of creating a context, and then allowing users to create their own narrative, although unlike some other examples I have cited, this is less narrative or entertainment, and lots more about knowledge and information sharing.
Friday, August 13, 2004
ebay
Yesterday I bought my first item on ebay. It was a propaganda art poster for our office. I could see how eBay could become a problem for people.....
Thursday, August 12, 2004
XP SP2 - Couldn't wait
XP SP2 - I am sitting here typing on my cell while waiting for my computer to install the monster upgrade.
I hope it works. :-)
I hope it works. :-)
What I am playing now
NCAA 2005 - The hands down best sporting game on a console device ever created is EA Sports NCAA football. The 2005 version keeps building on what I discovered last year to be the best re-creation of football that I have ever seen. Forget Madden, this is the real deal. On nights when I am to tired to update the project plan or work on research, its me and my opponent for a little four quarter combat.
Vans Warped Tour CD 2004 - For a fresh view on the state of punk/rock/emo music, I always find this annual compilation to be a good refresher course on what is vital to skater/surfer/hipster kids that isn't hip hop. Some of my favorites included on this years CD are Alkaline Trio, Thursday, Coheed and Cambria, NOFX, Flogging Molly, From Autumn to Ashes, and Fear Before the March of Flames. Definitely not for everyone, but if Led Zeppelin has got you down, try something new.
Vans Warped Tour CD 2004 - For a fresh view on the state of punk/rock/emo music, I always find this annual compilation to be a good refresher course on what is vital to skater/surfer/hipster kids that isn't hip hop. Some of my favorites included on this years CD are Alkaline Trio, Thursday, Coheed and Cambria, NOFX, Flogging Molly, From Autumn to Ashes, and Fear Before the March of Flames. Definitely not for everyone, but if Led Zeppelin has got you down, try something new.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Bluetooth Keyboard
Its hard to escape your roots. When I was in high school I was a super geek, doing assembly language programming on the TRS-80, the Commodore Pet, and the Apple II. Ok, so assembly was more about trying to trick out the computer beyond what you could do with BASIC, but the Z-80 and 6502 were fun to screw around with.
Over the last couple of days I have been spending some time doing some serious research on J2ME implementations on handsets and PDA's. Specifically looking at RSS readers and 'moblog' tools. I hate that word. Part of the research has involved loading a variety of applications onto my handset using Bluetooth. I can't continue to rave about this enough, I am a huge Bluetooth fan.
Working on the handsets I get so excited to see the app come across, but then I am back typing on a numeric keypad and I can't seem to get beyond how slow it is. This mobile keypad is the answer to my prayers. I will be buying this at the end of the month when it comes out. If I can use this to type into my handset, the spontaneous nature of moblogging seems as promising as I think it is.
Over the last couple of days I have been spending some time doing some serious research on J2ME implementations on handsets and PDA's. Specifically looking at RSS readers and 'moblog' tools. I hate that word. Part of the research has involved loading a variety of applications onto my handset using Bluetooth. I can't continue to rave about this enough, I am a huge Bluetooth fan.
Working on the handsets I get so excited to see the app come across, but then I am back typing on a numeric keypad and I can't seem to get beyond how slow it is. This mobile keypad is the answer to my prayers. I will be buying this at the end of the month when it comes out. If I can use this to type into my handset, the spontaneous nature of moblogging seems as promising as I think it is.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
My First Internet Post
Its funny how the Internet doesn't forget anything you have ever done. A couple of years ago I was trying to remember when I first was on the Internet. It was in 1994. Here is the first post I made to Usenet some 10 years ago now. A word to the wise, think before you post, I have some funny ones I hadn't recalled.
Monday, August 09, 2004
Safe Sex Computing
I used to be real flippant about computer security. Last year though all the worms and viruses and Trojan horses made me take a lock down approach to all my computers, to the point that I don't let guests use my home computer. I installed McAfee anti virus and firewall on my home computer, and Norton Internet Security on my laptop. I have preferred Norton, but both have worked very well.
Yesterday a friend, who I will not mention, brought over a brand new computer to help him with some editing software. Last year when we were working on Low Def TV, I became familiar with the various packages and wanted to help him out with a project he was working on.
His computer was really slow. I couldn't see the wireless network in my house and thought something was wrong. I tried to go to Symantec to download a new antivirus program but I couldn't get to the website. I also couldn't get to McAfee, or Pand, or you name it virus company. I could get everywhere else, just not anti-virus sites.
Ok, 6 hours later, after I had found the worm that had locked down his computer, we had it back and running. He resolved to never surf porn or download free music ever again. Do not access the internet without a firewall, ever, ever, ever.
Yesterday a friend, who I will not mention, brought over a brand new computer to help him with some editing software. Last year when we were working on Low Def TV, I became familiar with the various packages and wanted to help him out with a project he was working on.
His computer was really slow. I couldn't see the wireless network in my house and thought something was wrong. I tried to go to Symantec to download a new antivirus program but I couldn't get to the website. I also couldn't get to McAfee, or Pand, or you name it virus company. I could get everywhere else, just not anti-virus sites.
Ok, 6 hours later, after I had found the worm that had locked down his computer, we had it back and running. He resolved to never surf porn or download free music ever again. Do not access the internet without a firewall, ever, ever, ever.
Friday, August 06, 2004
RSS Reader for my phone
In May I was raving about RSS readers. As part of my ongoing geek research, today I found an example of a J2ME application that I can download to my Sony Ericsson phone that allows me to read RSS feeds on my handset. A guy named Mark Allanson wrote an application called the mReader that does this.
Its not fast, but its a lot better than just reading the news that TMobile wants me to read through T-Zones.
Its not fast, but its a lot better than just reading the news that TMobile wants me to read through T-Zones.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
User Generated Content: Everquest
I saw this article that is rather old, but is one of the best stories I have heard of online gaming. It is entitled I Saw God and I Killed it.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Triplet Update - Two Boys and a Girl
Ok. I will send an ultrasound later, but the newest news is that we are expecting twin boys and a girl. Hmm. So now Jess and I will lock on the names in prolly the next 24-48 hours. Three boys and a girl. Seems like 4 guys and 2 girls in a house is an even match. :-)
User Generated Content: Fantasy Football
Following up on my posts on user generated content from June and July, I thought that I would talk a little bit about one of my favorite versions of user generated content, which is fantasy football.
In 1998 while bored out of my skull in my apartment in San Jose on assignment at Sun Microsystems, I was introduced to fantasy football. I have always liked football, but nothing could have prepared me for the insanity which comes with fantasy football.
For those who don't know, fantasy football is a game where usually 8-12 players have a draft and select different players from actual NFL rosters to be on their 'team' during the football season. During each week of the season 'teams' face each other in a head to head competition with a lineup of players. Each player earns points that week for TDs, yardage gained, etc. At the end of the week the scores are tabulated and your team either wins or loses.
For the normal football fan of a team, each week of the season usually involves watching the game of your team of choice, in my unfortunate case, that has historically been the Minnesota Vikings. For the next level of fan, usually those who gamble on every game each week, football involves being glued to the set on Sunday's and hoping each team beats the other team by a designated point spread usually determined by Vegas casinos. This gets kind of twisted because you aren't necessarily interested in who wins or loses, but by how much.
Then there is fantasy football. This takes sickness to a whole new level. A fantasy player doesn't care at all who wins or loses a game, or by how much. They care how certain players perform in a game. In fact there are times where you want your team to get destroyed early so your quarterback can put up huge yardage numbers trying to catch up. A classic awesome game of two strong defenses is a fantasy nightmare.
Fantasy football is a awesome example of user generated content. The interesting thing is that people have created a whole form of entertainment that is derivative of the actual games. There is a framework that is applied over the football games that includes a draft, scoring, trades, and head to head competition with your friends. The by product of this is the creation of THE most knowledgeable fans of football on the planet, and some of the most un I have ever had in playing a game.
An even more interesting by product of this is the economy and derivative businesses that are created. TO begin with each year players pay a fee for a league that goes into a pool for the winners. This ranges from a small amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars. Then there is a fee that goes to sites such as ESPN that run the backend for the leagues. There are the fees for the services that provide you with inside information, drafting advice and weekly matchup data and advice. My favorite is The Huddle. Then there is the satellite service called Sunday Ticket from Directv that allows you to see EVERY game.
So you get the idea. The fascinating thing about fantasy football as user generated content is the level of engagement that it creates in a user, and more importantly it follows the construct that users want to be given a framework where they can create the narrative of their entertainment.
In 1998 while bored out of my skull in my apartment in San Jose on assignment at Sun Microsystems, I was introduced to fantasy football. I have always liked football, but nothing could have prepared me for the insanity which comes with fantasy football.
For those who don't know, fantasy football is a game where usually 8-12 players have a draft and select different players from actual NFL rosters to be on their 'team' during the football season. During each week of the season 'teams' face each other in a head to head competition with a lineup of players. Each player earns points that week for TDs, yardage gained, etc. At the end of the week the scores are tabulated and your team either wins or loses.
For the normal football fan of a team, each week of the season usually involves watching the game of your team of choice, in my unfortunate case, that has historically been the Minnesota Vikings. For the next level of fan, usually those who gamble on every game each week, football involves being glued to the set on Sunday's and hoping each team beats the other team by a designated point spread usually determined by Vegas casinos. This gets kind of twisted because you aren't necessarily interested in who wins or loses, but by how much.
Then there is fantasy football. This takes sickness to a whole new level. A fantasy player doesn't care at all who wins or loses a game, or by how much. They care how certain players perform in a game. In fact there are times where you want your team to get destroyed early so your quarterback can put up huge yardage numbers trying to catch up. A classic awesome game of two strong defenses is a fantasy nightmare.
Fantasy football is a awesome example of user generated content. The interesting thing is that people have created a whole form of entertainment that is derivative of the actual games. There is a framework that is applied over the football games that includes a draft, scoring, trades, and head to head competition with your friends. The by product of this is the creation of THE most knowledgeable fans of football on the planet, and some of the most un I have ever had in playing a game.
An even more interesting by product of this is the economy and derivative businesses that are created. TO begin with each year players pay a fee for a league that goes into a pool for the winners. This ranges from a small amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars. Then there is a fee that goes to sites such as ESPN that run the backend for the leagues. There are the fees for the services that provide you with inside information, drafting advice and weekly matchup data and advice. My favorite is The Huddle. Then there is the satellite service called Sunday Ticket from Directv that allows you to see EVERY game.
So you get the idea. The fascinating thing about fantasy football as user generated content is the level of engagement that it creates in a user, and more importantly it follows the construct that users want to be given a framework where they can create the narrative of their entertainment.
IP PBX
I have been using my Vonage account for a long time now. In the office we wanted to figure out a way to use Vonage and avoid setting up phone systems so that we can be flexible as we grow the business and move into different space down the road. So the good thing about Vonage is that it just plugged into our router and then into a phone and a fax. Sweet. No PBX, no phone company etc. Change the message and away we go.
Well not so fast. What if you want call routing, or IVR, or conference calling? Ok. so here Vonage falls down. Its great when I don't answer at my office that it forwards to my cell phone, but what about everyone else in the office. So I called a couple of friends and have been doing some research. It seems to me that we are going to give asterix a try.
If anyone has experience with anything else - shoot me an email.
Well not so fast. What if you want call routing, or IVR, or conference calling? Ok. so here Vonage falls down. Its great when I don't answer at my office that it forwards to my cell phone, but what about everyone else in the office. So I called a couple of friends and have been doing some research. It seems to me that we are going to give asterix a try.
If anyone has experience with anything else - shoot me an email.
Monday, August 02, 2004
What I am reading
Currently reading Lawrence Lessig's book entitled Free Culture. I like it a lot. It's the intersection of technology and copyright. Highly recommended.
I am also reading The Influentials. Not as crisp. Lots of data. Not much you wouldn't know if you have read things like The Tipping Point, but worth a read if you are going deep on trend spotting.
I am also reading The Influentials. Not as crisp. Lots of data. Not much you wouldn't know if you have read things like The Tipping Point, but worth a read if you are going deep on trend spotting.
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