Chris Ritke is thinking and writing...

Done here.

2007-03-04T00:27:00.000-08:00

Wanna see what I'm doing? Go here. I'm videobloggggggggggging.

49Sparks Video Trailer

2006-12-17T23:14:00.000-08:00

Woah. That was fun!

5 Things

2006-12-12T22:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is some sort of MLM thing - no, it can't be because I was tagged by my good friend Markus. Blah. I wanted to ignore it. But I can't. It has been bugging me every 10 minutes since I got the email yesterday.

So here goes.

1. I got married.
2. I am a video blogger.
3. My dog Mikey stinks because it's raining here.
4. I hate IE and Safari. I use Firefox.
5. My wife promised to bake Christmas cookies but hasn't yet. How much longer do I have to wait?

Ok. So who do I terrorize with this? Aha. Uta, of course. And then there's my friend Lucy in Portugal. She'll hate it, but she'll do it, darn it. And there's Marc in Amsterdam. Steven - no, he won't do it, but I'll try anyway. And, and, and, and... damn five. Really? Oh, sure. Of course. Jan.

60 Fashion Designers, 80 Painters & Photographers, 60 Filmmakers, 6 DJs!

2006-12-03T23:03:00.000-08:00

Woah. That was awesome. A video of Impressions from the event and an interview with the event organizer Irene Hernandez-Feiks of Chillin' Productions.

Hatfactory Holiday Potluck Party Dec 15

2006-11-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

We're having a party at the Hatfactory! Signup at Upcoming.org!

Bring Whatever You Want (BWYW) However, to avoid meatloaf overages, you might better say what you are bringing in the comments.

Dec. 15, 7:00 till late. Party ends when it ends (if it ends).

We'll have some food, we'll have some booze, we'll have some beers. ...and bring your holiday hat!

Uta's doing her thing at Cut & Paste Design Competition SF

2006-11-20T22:52:00.000-08:00

Cut&Paste Design Competition SF
Originally uploaded by ucool.

Yeah - soooo cool! Jeez - that was a fun event. And we've got the video to prove it.

SF Video 2.0 Meetup

2006-11-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

This was on Tuesday - and of course there's a video of the event. Duh.

It was fun and I'm going again next time.

Podcamp West San Francisco

2006-11-14T14:45:00.000-08:00

PodCampWest Nov. 18-19th, 2006, Swedish American Hall, San Francisco

Um - yeah. Gotta blog this.

2006-11-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

Jeez. If a 10 year old comes up with this, you've just gotta support it.

At just 10-years old, Florida native and entrepreneur Lily Capehart is gaining international acclaim for her unique ability to catch and "hypnotize" the wild South Florida anole lizards.

www.lizard-ville.com

This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.

2006-11-11T11:02:00.001-08:00

What? I just uploaded the video of the previous post to Youtube. Just to see what happens. Well, something did happen. This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.

WTF? This is a video of the 2006 AIGA San Francisco Gala. AIGA is the professional association for design. We got permission from the AIGA SF people responsible for the event. I just sent in a help request to Youtube. I'll see if they actually reply. Maybe it's just a stupid mistake. Or maybe you can't have the word 'Adult' in the title. Or maybe you can only publish videos you grab from your TV or of your cat on the sofa. Jeez.

Big high-five to Blip.tv - that's where it's at. They rock!

AIGA San Francisco: A Night of Adult Toys

2006-11-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

Woah! That was fun!

Michael Verdi stopped by

2006-11-08T22:34:00.000-08:00

Yeah, my good friend Michael came by for a visit - and videoblogged it. Of course! It was so nice to have him here - in the woods - in the sticks - but remember: we have DSL that's close to a T1... so it's perfect!

Citizen Space Open House

2006-11-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Another coworking space here in San Francisco - check it out on Friday - we are!

Time Capsule Video

2006-11-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a video I shot and edited yesterday at the Yahoo Time Capsule Camp in Sunnyvale/Palo Alto. Boy, I have to practice more. This is not easy. The video thing.

Yahoo Time Capsule Camp

2006-11-06T22:12:00.000-08:00

Time Capsule Camp Monday 11:03 am 11/6/06
Originally uploaded by timecapsulecamp.

That was a fun day - started out in Sunnyvale, took a bus to Palo Alto etc etc... I'll be posting a video soon.

And guess what - my team won!!!!!!!! We got a real medal and each of us got a portable dvd player. Never wanted one of those, but now that I have one, I might even use it!

New Video Camera

2006-11-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah. I got a new video camera. Good thing all these vloggers were around for the Vloggies and all that - Michael said I should get the Canon ZR500 - and he should know. So I did. It was the cheapest at Best Buy - just $250. But who cares. It shoots video, I can hook it up to my Mac Mini and it has an Audio-In Jack. And I got a cool teeny weeny tripod. It's soooo cute.

And tomorrow I'm going to the Yahoo time capsule thing. I bet I'll be able to shoot some video....

What a great day! Awesome!

2006-11-05T23:53:00.000-08:00

We managed to get up this morning and make it over to the Outhink brunch in Tiburon on time. That was a great event. Awesome discussions - awesome people. Yeah Yeah Yeah!

And then we were at the Hat Factory where the Alive in Baghdad guys gave a presentation - awesome. Awesome.

I've got to find a different word. I can't say (write) 'awesome' all the time. But that's how it was today. AWESOME!

The Vloggies

2006-11-05T00:06:00.000-08:00

Josh and Uta talking about Germany. No. It's not always Germany. Just sometimes.

Whatever. The Vloggies was FUN!

Chasing Windmills - The Adolfo Jacket

2006-11-03T22:48:00.000-08:00

Yup - I got it. And I got the show notes for the episode. Wow. Was it worth it? You bet it was!!!!!! Chasing Windmills is the coolest video blog/thing/series on the web.

Too bad it doesn't quite fit. So what. I think I'm going to have it framed or something.

SFO->FFM->HAM->LHR->SFO

2006-10-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Germany yesterday - had a great week with the kids in St Peter Ording. It really is beautiful there - too bad it's in Germany. It's amazing how living in California has changed my perception of 'normal'.

I won!

2006-10-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

I just won the Chasing Windmills jacket on Ebay.

I can't wait to get it.

Podcastcon UK

2006-09-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

Just got a message from Alex about Podcastcon UK - Jeez. I can't go. Too bad - it was sooooo much fun last year.

Register here.
When: Saturday 18 November 2006
Where: CCT Smithfield, London
Admission: £41.50

It started with PodcastCon UK 2005, which broke new ground as both Europe’s first podcasting conference and as the world’s first dedicated podcasting conference.

True to the independent spirit of podcasting, four people — who had never met in person — created a conference to bring together podcasters, enthusiasts, tech-watchers, the media and many others. It was a gathering as diverse as it was vibrant and entertaining.
What was originally envisioned as a handful of folks in a pub grew to a sponsored event in a posh London meeting room with 140 attendees gathered from all around the world. Live demos, speakers, and lots of social networking made it a day to remember.

Bid on a fictional character's tweed jacket on eBay!

2006-09-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

I watched the 2nd episode of Chasing Windmills yesterday, where the guy puts a jacket on eBay. I hadn't thought of actually checking Ebay until a saw this post from Chuck Olson.

Now I put in a bid. Is this crazy or what?

Put in your own bid here!

Web two-oh: Stop the bickering

2006-09-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

Just posted this comment over at Jack of All Blogs:

Yeah! I'm totally with you: Stop the bickering and get a life. Everybody. Just forget this stupid Web 2.0 crap and let's get on with the important stuff.

It won't be long and I'm going to start deleting a whole lot of feeds again. It's getting on my nerves big time.

Sheesh.

media does not converge

2006-08-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Medianipple is right on the mark with this post!

One false media theory is that of convergence. Media does not converge – it mutates into ever more varieties. Old media does not die, it moves over to make room for more.

Woah - Is this cool or what?

2006-08-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Just found this at Techie Diva:

Every key of the Optimus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing exactly what it is controlling at this very moment.

See it here.

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)

2006-08-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

Cool - just got an invite to try out the new EC2 beta from Amazon:

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers.

I've got to try this out. Sure sounds promising!

And: I've already been able to access Amazon's S3 - it really seems to work like a charm. If EC2 is as good as S3 - well, then I'm a happy guy!

EC2 and S3 - don't you just love those acronyms!

Don't Download This Song

2006-08-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

Weird Al really did it this time.

You don't want to mess with the RI-double-A They'll sue you if you burn that CDR It doesn't matter if you're a grandma Or a seven year old girl They'll treat you like the evil hard-bitten criminal you are...

Free Josh Wolf

2006-08-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

I'm heading over to the House of Shields on Thursday to help out Josh who's been in Jail for not handing over video footage to a federal grand jury.

Radiopodcast.fr

2006-08-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

Just got an email from my friend Thomas in Paris - he's put together a totally cool podcast site called Radiopodcast - there are tons of shows from all walks of life - too bad my French has gotten sooooo rusty that I can only understand half of what they're talking about. But one thing's for sure: the shows are really well produced - so check it out if you speak French and want to get into some of the coolest French podcasting action!

I'm at the Hat Factory

2006-08-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I just became an anchor at the Hat Factory - a totally cool place in the city (San Francisco, that is) where I can hang out and try to get some work done. That's not all that different from working at home where I'm trying hard pretty much all the time. EXCEPT for the fact that I get to sit next to the coolest people like Ryanne, Lorelei, Jay, Schlomo, Neil and other people I haven't actually met yet.

Check out this video of the place: I bet you'll want to work there too!

This is why I don't need a TV

2006-08-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

Because there's cool stuff like this on the web.

HOWTO Screencast

2006-08-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

1. Think about what you want to do.
2. Write it down.
3. Practice many times.
4. Revise so that it makes sense.
5. Take the dog for a long, long walk. Or drive into town and buy a rib roast.
6. Try a final take.
7. Find a mistake.
8. Go to step 5. Or better yet, go to step 4.

Do not, I repeat DO NOT try to do a final take right after finding a mistake in one you just did. It will not work. Trust me.

Oh - almost forgot: you might want to have a glass of wine before 6. - but then don't drive into town for the rib roast.

What's it like at Revver?

2006-08-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

Check out this video over at Vaspers The Grate!

I love it.

Constant innovation is perpetual disruption

2006-08-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

Wow - this is awesome:

Innovation is disruption; constant innovation is perpetual disruption. This seems to be the goal of a well-made network: to sustain a perpetual disequilibrium. A few economists studying the new economy (among them Paul Romer and Brian Arthur) have come to similar conclusions. Their work suggests that robust growth sustains itself by poising on the edge of constant chaos. "If I have had a constant purpose it is to show that transformation, change, and messiness are natural in the economy," writes Arthur.

Read it all here.

Off to Germany - again

2006-07-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

Yup - vacation, kids (yeah!!!!), friends and more. No soccer, darn it.

What's Asobi Seksu?

2006-07-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Find out here.

(It does have to do with sex...)

Some photos from Berlin

2006-06-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

From Mindcaster:

Mmmmmhhhh - that was yummy!

Btw - I'm back in California. Yeah.

In Berlin: A Video

2006-06-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hey - I'm at the WeAllSpeakFootball appartment here in Berlin, this is sooooo cool. Check out the video (go ahead : click on it!)

Watch the Video

I've never been interested in Soccer, but....

2006-06-16T02:19:00.000-07:00

... check this out:

I'm heading over to Berlin on Monday to check this out... maybe I can be a soccer fan after all - if only for a day.

In Germany

2006-06-16T02:17:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah yeah. In Germany again. But hey - the weather is great, everybody's got German flags flying on their cars - there is just such a World Cup buzz going on here I can't believe it.

Yeah! Vloggercon

2006-06-11T23:17:00.000-07:00

Wow. This was a great weekend. I got to meet some of the coolest people. One highlights for me were meeting J.A. del Rosario and Cristina Cordova of Chasing Windmills fame - they are as exceptional in person as they are in their videoblog.

Holland Wilde was there two - he showed an absolutely awesome video that just totally blew me away - Damn - I wish I could find a link to it somewhere. He's such a great guy - sorry, photo is private!

And I finally got to meet Josh Leo - another wonderful person. If you get a chance to see him as Lyle - hey - what can I say, he's awesome!

And all the other wonderful people (in no particular order, darn it!): Jan, Dave, Markus, Mike, JD, Rich, Morty, Shane, Eric, Bre, Jay, Alicia, Enric, Ted, Zadi, Stephanie, Ben, Gabe, Micheal M, Micheal V, Josh, Steve .... aaarrrrgghhhhh - that's just the tip of the iceberg...

Vloggercon Today & Tomorrow

2006-06-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

I'm heading over to vloggercon today - that's going to be great - it's sold out, about 400 people will be there - isn't that awesome?

Yesterday was setup and a Meet The Vloggers at the Apple store - again: so many totally cool people to talk to.

I'm taking my camera for sure.... and my eyes and ears!

Have Money Will Vlog

2006-05-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

Now this is one awesome idea: Have Money Will Vlog.

Have Money Will Vlog? What’s the deal?
Many good projects need only action to be successful. With the distribution of the internet, a person with a good video project can be seen by thousands of people. But some ideas need money.
Money for equipment.
Money for travel.
Money for time.

Traditional artists can apply for grants to make their work. Have Money Will Vlog supports videobloggers trying to do the amazing. The power of the community can fund projects on a regular basis. You easily spend $10 or more everytime you go out to see a movie…so consider donating $10 a month to a videoblog project. If we have 100 people that give $10 a month, that’s $1000. Let’s energize creators.

Ok already. I did it.

2006-05-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

I'm on Myspace as alternativechris. Probably one of the last people on earth to sign up. Oh well.

Alternative Chris on MySpace

Alternative Chris #7

2006-05-29T00:37:00.000-07:00

More great music on my podcast at towerpod.com!

Hey - btw - Alternative Chris is #1 (again) on Towerpod.com!!!!!

Eeeeeuwwww - it's a NEWT

2006-05-27T00:42:00.000-07:00

Man, that thing was biiiiig. But - sooooo friendly. A little yucky though. Brendan found it digging in some mud. He put it back in the mud after a few minutes. Don't worry.

Well, we were thinking about BBQing it for a second or two. Decided to go to M&Gs instead. Yeah - their burgers rock.

Vloggers are great

2006-05-27T00:33:00.000-07:00

Went to the vloggercon meetup today in SF - what a glorious day. What excellent people.

Oh, yeah. That's me at Markus' place - thanks Jan for taking such a nice photo!

I'm going to vloggercon

2006-05-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

Yes I am.

Yeah!

2006-05-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Check it out - the new logo for the Alternative Chris Podcast @ Towerpod.com.

OMG: Alternative Chris#6 Podcast

2006-04-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

Yes. It's up. Listen. Enjoy. Listen some more. Killer music. Yeah.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Sunset at Point Reyes

2006-04-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

Sunset at Point Reyes
Originally uploaded by itzechris.

Aaaahhhhh - how nice is that? A beautiful sunset at the beach at Point Reyes and then some Oysters. Gotta love California.

Vloggercon SF Meetup

2006-04-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

Vlogger Friends
Originally uploaded by itzechris.

I somehow ended up at the vloggercon meetup yesterday - good thing though - it was packed with some of the coolest vloggers around!

New Book: Secrets of Videoblogging

2006-04-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Just found out that the book Secrets of Videoblogging by Ryanne and Michael is now available at Amazon.

On the ferry

2006-04-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

... from San Francisco to Larkspur

Alternative Chris #1 on Towerpod.com

2006-04-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah - this is fun. Well - while it lasts, at least. My podcast Alternative Chris is #1 on Towerpod.com. How did I do it? Don't know, really. Well, I have my secrets.

But, to tell you the truth - it's not me. It's the awesome music out there. Listen in. You'll probably like it. I love it. I almost live for it. Almost.

The things you can do with an iPod...

2006-04-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

SEX WITH iPOD
Hm. Now What?

Mickey Mouse in Flash

2006-04-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

Mickey Mouse Animated in Flash
This is really cool stuff.

REAL Grass Roots Media

2006-04-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

Click here for a sample of REAL Grass Roots Media.

Another fine example of cool stuff on 49Media.

zZz & Brown Shoe on Alternative Chris

2006-04-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Check out the newest Alternative Chris podcast - I'm playing some totally awesome music from zZz and Brown Shoe. Both bands just blow me away.

Oh - guess what. Eli interviewed Minipop a while back at the Noisepop festival in SF. That interview and some of their music will be on the next podcast. Yippeeee!

Don't you hate it when people post photos of their pets to their blog?

2006-04-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

Biiiiig Nose
Originally uploaded by itzechris.

Well I hate it too. But I'm doing it.

WTF?

Back from Santa Barbara

2006-04-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Whew - what a great trip and conference. Check out the cool videoblog with interviews of some of the attendees.

I learned sooo many cool things. United Villages is really fascinating - they put mobile routers on scooters and buses that pick up and drop off data in remote villages. Wow.

3 Cows on a hill

2006-04-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

3 Cows on a hill
Originally uploaded by itzechris.

Can you see them? Kehoe beach @ Point Reyes, California

Santa Barbara Forum on Digital Transitions

2006-04-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Driving down to Santa Barbara on Sunday for the Santa Barbara Forum on Digital Transitions: Social Collaboratiion & Dynamic Communities.

You can still sign up and come.... do it - it'll be tons of fun, you'll meet lots of cool people and probably even learn some amazing things.

SF Chronicle: TLXN & Alternative Chris

2006-04-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

This is very cool - the Chronicle mentions my interview with The Love X Nowhere on Towerpod:

Local band the Love X Nowhere is helping kick off Tower Records' TOWERpod podcast network. TLXN's song "Unworthy" is featured on the debut episode of the network's "Alternative Chris" show, which also features an interview with the band. Check it out at www.towerpod.com/channels.html?id=12. Don't miss TLXN live Friday at Bottom of the Hill.

TLXN are awesome! Listen & enjoy.

A Video: I35

2006-03-28T23:49:00.000-08:00

I35 in Austin Texas at 10pm. Eery. Fascinating. Hypnotizing. Soothing.

A video: Impressions from SXSW Tower Showcase

2006-03-28T16:11:00.000-08:00

Wow. Totally cool. The Tower Showcase @ SXSW. Great bands, tons of people everywhere - greate vibe. Too much beer. Took a little long to post it. Oh well.

I don't know about iMovie... it took about 90 minutes to render the movie to a .mov file. That's nuts.

Are you bored?

2006-03-23T15:00:00.000-08:00

I sure am not. I'm busy with all kinds of stuff.

So who is bored? Who has time for videos, podcasts, chatting, finding new friends online, going through user profiles etc etc etc?

Let me guess: Kids in School and College. Who else? Can't think of anybody else.

So what does that mean? Who's the target audience for consumer social media?

Kids. School kids. College kids.

Or am I missing something here?

Quick Release Cycles

2006-03-20T14:13:00.000-08:00

Great post here on why quick release cycles are becoming more and more important.

I really can relate to that - it's all about getting in there and doing it. I have never been a fan of writing business plans mapping out everything from start to finish. You can't really know what you're going to do until you're actually doing something.

You do, however, need to have a general strategy/idea of what you're doing, who you're targeting and what in the heck it will be that will get your users to tell their buddies about what your doing. The viral thing is soooo vital these days - what startup can afford the funnel model. I really liked Seth Godin's talk at Google where he spoke about tipping the funnel. You've got to come up with something that your users will talk about in the first place. And then keep them talking by keeping them happy and adding in new amazing stuff all the time.

Not an easy task.

The Sound of ZZZ

2006-03-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

Wow. These guys rule. Dan and Bjorn. They're from Amsterdam - play the wildest music - are awesome live and are the coolest guys. I interviewed them at the Tower showcase... it'll be online soon. Here.

Listen. Here. Here. And Here. I'm listening.

Check out the sexy tunez by zZz, the Sleaze Steamin' Locomotive from Amsterdam. Organ 'n drums is all it takes to give you that zZz feeling...

Towerpod.com by Uta!

2006-03-19T19:29:00.000-08:00

Check it out - towerpod.com - design by Uta.

Uta & I at SXSW

2006-03-19T19:24:00.000-08:00

Had to add this - a photo of us at SXSW from JD

My iRiver @ SXSW

2006-03-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

Wow. My (old model) iRiver really did a great job. We interviewed about 1000 bands (hardly anything is uploaded yet, probably monday) - and it worked great.

I've got to warn you - don't buy the new iRiver (T30) - it only has a line in so you can't just plug a mic into it - you have to use the built-in one. Can't really say if that mic sucks or not - probably does.

Tower Showcase @ SXSW

2006-03-18T19:53:00.000-08:00

Wow - more bands, more interviews - more great music, more great bands, more great people.

My head hurts.

That's Me!

That's Uta!

Bill, Morty & Dave

Ok Go & Sonny

ZZZ From Amsterdam - OMG - They're absolutely amazing.

Twin-A

Isobel

SXSW Music Video Mashups @ Outhink.com

2006-03-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

You've got to check out the music video mashups at outhink.com. The music is from bands featured at the SXSW IODA showcase - the videos are from the coolest video bloggers. They are soooooo well done!

SXSW Band Interviews & Music @ Towerpod.com

2006-03-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

Yeah! Just finished the 6th show! Listen to them all at towerpod.com.

JD and I interviewed these bands:

Dengue Fever
Heavyweight Dub Champion
Magneta Lane
Oranger
Phosophorescent
The Cuts
The Herms
The Mutts
The Teeth
Tina Dico

The thing that really amazes me is that they are all absolutely wonderful people. ALL OF THEM! I don't know why I'm amazed - maybe people are always nice when you show interest in what they're doing... but I suspect that they are all just nice, amazing and cool people. Period.

Off to the Tower showcase tonight - more bands, more interviews, more great music, more great people! SXSW rules!

SXSW - Interviewing bands

2006-03-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

Yeah! Interviewed tons of great bands here at SXSW in Austin from the IODA showcase. Check out the photos - the interviews JD and I have been doing will be up soon at towerpod.com.

More showcases and hopefully interviews today, tomorrow and Saturday. I'm Lovin' it!

Outhink Media with Dave, JD and myself

Phosphorescent

Magneta Lane

JD & Tina Dico

The Mutts

Heavyweight Dub Champion

Alternative Chris Podcast @ Towerpod.com

2006-03-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I'm Alternative Chris on Towerpod.com. I love it. I love the music. I love the bands. Love Love Love. Yup!

Make it up as you go along

2006-03-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

Found this here. Snippets from SXSW. This is how I work. Don't like it? Tough.

Make it up as you go along. You're in a much better place to make a decision when you're in it, than when you're planning.

SXSW & Towerpod

2006-03-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

Wow. Towerpod is up and it's looking great! It's Tower Record's podcasting site. Check out all the podcasts including mine!

Heading to SXSW tomorrow - I'll be interviewing some bands at the IODA showcase and posting other reports at towerpod. That'll be soooo much fun - really look forward to it.

Pancakes

2006-03-06T22:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, now you got me started.

Pancaked organizations. Good idea. Bad idea. Whatever.

Let's take cars: You have an assembly line. Are you telling me that the guys installing the windshields are supposed to be discussing money with the guys in finance?

Ok, bad example. How about media. Is the guy cutting deals with the major labels supposed to be talking to the guy pushing the buttons on the Pro Tools rig? Sure, maybe about the weather, but I'm not quite so sure about what else. There has got to be some sort of mechanism in place that somehow sets a direction, a strategy. Can everybody in an organization be involved in all the discussions? Or do the people who happen to be at the water cooler make the decisions?

Could somebody please tell me how this pancake thing is supposed to work?

Oh - wait - I get it - a pancake has all sorts of layers.... maybe that's a clue....

Well, I'm off to bed. Ahhhhhh - pancakes with maple syrup in the morning! Yummmmmmm!

This is why the internet is great

2006-02-26T12:58:00.000-08:00

This is going viral:

After CBS4's Mike Kirsch aired a piece where several South Florida police officers were caught on camera intimidating would-be complainants against their police departments, one officer has taken action against the station in court.

These goons can't just do whatever they want anymore. You can't hide anymore. Everything is out there. Watch out! You're on the Internet!

No, don't f*ck YouTube

2006-02-22T18:41:00.000-08:00

They may be pulling all those eyes in with stolen crap - but they're pulling eyes in, and that's got to be a good thing for grass roots media. People are learning that there is an alternative to MSM. They're learning through YouTube and other sites like Ourmedia and 49Media that there is something going on outside of TV and Radio. There may be a lot of crap in there (much much less crap in Ourmedia, no comment on 49Media for obvious reasons) - but I'll bet there's also some good stuff. And one person's crap is most probably some body else's good stuff!

I think that's good!

Back from the Dojo (Digital, that is!)

2006-02-22T15:50:00.000-08:00

Had a great time at the Digital Dojo in Ojai. Alicia and Marcus were wonderful hosts as always!

Dave Toole, JD Lasica (Darknet, Ourmedia etc etc), Lucas Gonze (Webjay), Joshua Paul and a whole lot of other amazing folks were there (or with us through a video hookup, like Jay Dedman and Mike Meiser). The darknet/lightnet thingy is really a great way of seeing things - I learned (among other things, of course!) that there is one lightnet but many darknets... Lucas was very adament about that.

Now I'm starting to think more about the interaction of media and user profiles - I think it boils down to two types: the creators (very low percentage of people) and those who don't create but want to associate themselves with creators, much like kids having posters of their favorite bands/actors or whatever on the walls - now they're putting that up in their profiles. And they are going to associate themselves, whether through dark, gray or lightnets; whatever it takes!

Off to Ojai

2006-02-18T20:52:00.000-08:00

I'm heading down to Ojai tomorrow - to the Digital Dojo to be precise. We'll be discussing 'Darknet and Lightnet Applications' - Wow, it says breakfast on Monday at 8am. Really? Well, they do have a few of those really cool French Press coffee makers, so I'll probably be able to handle it.

I look forward to meeting some awesome people - some for the first time. Yeah!

More info to come.

Those damn captchas

2006-02-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to feel some sort of connection to captchas. You know, the little thingys you have to type in so your comment will post. Don't know if this is a good or a bad thing.

I'm SMAHUKO. No, wait - I'm ZKISH. No, now I'm QJVFZDY. No, it's 198273.

Aaaarrrgghhhh! They're eating away at my brain. OKWERZ. BLSNT. KSYE89.

!*@&(*@&#(*$@&#*$&!@#!?!?#!?@#!?#@?!@#?!@#?!@!!!

Ugh. 3 Posts in 15 minutes. Steven - what have you done to me?

You wanna know why YouTube is so successful?

2006-02-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

Because people are just regurgitating MSM crap on there. They wait until they get a cease & desist and then take it down. But by then they've gotten a million hits on it. Then BoingBoing writes about CBS getting on their case about somebody posting some TV show snippet and they get a million more hits.

They're getting hits because of stolen crap.

Being mean and agressive

2006-02-18T20:21:00.000-08:00

Damn. What can I be mean and agressive about?

Steven at Vaspers the Grate today writes about sissies and cry babies screwing up blogging - being nice, agreeing.

Ok - how about this: Steven just turned me on to A Jack of All Blogs. Mr. Cowboy writes about having been turned into America's Favorite Scapegoat. What? Who but a handfull of Cowboy followers knows what he's talking about? I clicked on about 100 links trying to figure out what the heck all that is about. Do I know what is going on? No! Am I American? Yes. Is he my scapegoat? Hell no. Am I going to spend hour upon hour trying to figure out what is going on there? No. He's in this little world of his thinking he's important. Well, maybe to his followers. There's so much other really cool stuff going on out there. Damn.

Ooohlala - Cowboy reports there's 'More nasty drama to report in a few hours'. So what?

(Disclaimer: I'll keep my subscription to see what Steven has to say there. And darn it - I'm going to disagree with something he writes. You just wait!)

Did you delete your cookies today?

2006-02-12T12:11:00.000-08:00

I just added this to my email signature - this whole cookie business is getting scary.

On the other hand - how would logging in to sites work without it (well except for those weird workarounds)... so it's not about deleting all cookies - just the ones that you absolutely don't need. I'm being extra careful to delete all search engine cookies!

It also doesn't make sense to disallow accepting cookies - you'd be losing all sorts of cool functionality. Just delete them once a day... that's what I'm doing... unless I forget.

AJAX @ 49Media

2006-02-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

Just got AJAX working in 49Media - we're using it to dynamically show a link's points when a user votes by clicking a smiley icon.

It's not rocket science - but it's totally COOL!

Hm - what else could we do with that?

My friend Andreas' new site

2006-01-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

Yeah - it's up and it's GRRRRRRREAT!

And guess who designed it?

Contrasts in Germany

2006-01-21T21:58:00.000-08:00

It was darn cold - but check out these photos - one in Hamburg, one in Itzehoe - can you guess which one is which?

49Media Link Groups

2006-01-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

Here's one of mine:

Yeah - The New 49Media is up!

2006-01-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

Whew. That was a lot of work. But it sure was worth it. The new 49Media really rocks. I especially like that post bookmarklet widget thingy and how it grabs the thumb images off of the web page your adding.... oooooh lala!

And one more thing: Uta's design just totally blows me away. She has done such an amazing job.

Long time no post...

2006-01-15T21:54:00.000-08:00

Ugh. So much is happening - so little time to blog.

We've been working on a MAAAAJJJOOOORRRR update to 49Media, I hope I'll start posting again after we finally roll that thing out.

Ugh.... but it's fun!

Btw: Listen to 3wk - it's my energizer!

Verticals

2005-11-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

What's the message if you're doing something that you hope appeals to everyone?

BLAH. NADA. NOTHING. RIEN. NIX.

So I say: Attack the verticals!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

2005-11-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. - Eric Fromm

From Audiobulb.

Unbundled Media

2005-11-02T02:44:00.000-08:00

Read, think - repeat

Sheesh - It is all about sex

2005-10-16T17:14:00.000-07:00

So there's the what's hot right now section in 49Media. What's up there all the time? SEX. SEX. SEX. Sheesh. Now it's not like that's what is coming through the spider... people are searching A LOT for music videos and movie stars and all that stuff - check out the list of top searches:

BLACK EYED PEAS-HUMP | PARIS HILTON | ADVENT CHILDREN | CLIVE OWEN | NICOLE | MUSIC VIDEOS | WWW.VIDEOCODE4U.COM | MUSIC CODE | ESPECIALLY FOR YOU-MYMP VIDEO | ADULT | CANON | THE KILLERS | EMINEM | ESPECIALLY FOR YOU-MYMPMUSIC VIDEO | GREEN DAY | BLACK EYED PEAS | MARIAH CAREY | GIRL | FABIAN BASABE | NARUTO

So what does that mean? Especially if most of the searches don't really bring up that much sex/nakedness? Well - if people see a post that says 'sex' or 'nip slip' or they see a breast or whatever - well, they're going to click on it.

Now is this bad? Well is what big media has been doing for decades bad? Using sex to make (tons) of money? Can grass roots/little media use this model? Heck yeah! Why not use a little bit of sex/flesh etc to pull people in and then expose them to smarter stuff? Why not? So now the problem is: What's a little bit? How much is too much? How little is not enough?

Thanks Holland - you've exposed me to some smart stuff!

Remember this #2

2005-10-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry about using this blog to remember important stuff I've read - but what the heck, I can do whatever I want here, right?

Anyway:

Anytime you feel tempted to add a new feature or advanced technology to your site, first consider whether you would get a higher ROI by spending the resources on polishing the quality of what you already have.

Link