Saturday, March 31, 2007
iProng Radio 3.28.07: interview with John C. Havens of PodCamp NYC
Listen to this episode now or subscribe for free!
On this week's show:
iProng Radio co-hosts Bill Palmer and Dana Sanders go back to audio-only, and we talk to John C. Havens of PodCamp NYC and the About.com Guide to Podcasting!
iPod and iTunes News this week
Special Guest: John C. Havens
Listen to this episode now or subscribe for free!
Listen to this episode now or subscribe for free!
On this week's show:
iProng Radio co-hosts Bill Palmer and Dana Sanders go back to audio-only, and we talk to John C. Havens of PodCamp NYC and the About.com Guide to Podcasting!
- Apple TV finally ships
- All Nike running shoes to be iPod-compatible
- Microsoft to offer a pink Zune?
- Music news: on the heels of leaving Audioslave, Chris Cornell releases "No Such Thing"
John C. Havens is lead organizer of the upcoming PodCamp NYC, the About.com Guide to Podcasting, Founder of Podcast Vision and Voice, and an actor whose television work is available through the iTunes Store. We talk to John about all of this and more!
Listen to this episode now or subscribe for free!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Who hasn't heard of The Who? A couple of teenagers, that's who
So I saw The Who in concert on Monday night. Roger Daltrey was triumphant despite being very ill at the time, and of course Pete Townsend is Pete Townsend. There's a concert review coming but I'm still wrapping my head around it. I stopped off for dinner at a local restaurant along the way to the concert, and the hostess pointed out that I didn't have my laptop with me for once (the restaurant has free WiFi). I explained that it was because I was on my way to a concert.
Last night I ended up going back to the same restaurant after a very late podcast taping (nothing else is open that late), and the same hostess asked me how the concert has been. I told her that I had high expectations going in because it was The Who, but that they managed to exceed them. She asked again who it was I'd seen, I said "The Who" again, and she said that she'd never heard of them.
"You haven't heard of The Who? Just how young are you?" I blurted out in exasperation. She said that she was sixteen, and I asked if it was just her or if no one her age had heard of them. A nearby hostess, age seventeen, turned around and said that she hadn't heard of them either. Yeah, five days before my thirtieth birthday, this is what I need: teenagers reminding me of just how old I'm getting.
I asked if either of them watched CSI, and when they both said yes, I told them that all three CSI theme songs are Who songs. "Oh my gosh, I love that 'Who Are You' song!" one of them said. "I keep meaning to download it. That's from The Who? I can't believe I haven't heard of them!"
I didn't bother to tell her that the reason she hasn't heard of them is probably because the band is from the sixties and the two members of the group who aren't deceased are now in their sixties. I'll be interested to see if she actually goes and downloads it. I know that Baba O'Riley, Won't Get Fooled Again, and Who Are You are three of The Who's more popular songs to start with, but I find it interesting that they're the three most heavily downloaded Who songs in the iTunes Store. Can't help but wonder how much or little CSI might have to do with that. Especially considering that there are now teenagers out there who like Who songs without even having heard of The Who.
So I saw The Who in concert on Monday night. Roger Daltrey was triumphant despite being very ill at the time, and of course Pete Townsend is Pete Townsend. There's a concert review coming but I'm still wrapping my head around it. I stopped off for dinner at a local restaurant along the way to the concert, and the hostess pointed out that I didn't have my laptop with me for once (the restaurant has free WiFi). I explained that it was because I was on my way to a concert.
Last night I ended up going back to the same restaurant after a very late podcast taping (nothing else is open that late), and the same hostess asked me how the concert has been. I told her that I had high expectations going in because it was The Who, but that they managed to exceed them. She asked again who it was I'd seen, I said "The Who" again, and she said that she'd never heard of them.
"You haven't heard of The Who? Just how young are you?" I blurted out in exasperation. She said that she was sixteen, and I asked if it was just her or if no one her age had heard of them. A nearby hostess, age seventeen, turned around and said that she hadn't heard of them either. Yeah, five days before my thirtieth birthday, this is what I need: teenagers reminding me of just how old I'm getting.
I asked if either of them watched CSI, and when they both said yes, I told them that all three CSI theme songs are Who songs. "Oh my gosh, I love that 'Who Are You' song!" one of them said. "I keep meaning to download it. That's from The Who? I can't believe I haven't heard of them!"
I didn't bother to tell her that the reason she hasn't heard of them is probably because the band is from the sixties and the two members of the group who aren't deceased are now in their sixties. I'll be interested to see if she actually goes and downloads it. I know that Baba O'Riley, Won't Get Fooled Again, and Who Are You are three of The Who's more popular songs to start with, but I find it interesting that they're the three most heavily downloaded Who songs in the iTunes Store. Can't help but wonder how much or little CSI might have to do with that. Especially considering that there are now teenagers out there who like Who songs without even having heard of The Who.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Thoughts on iProng's first video podcast: what worked and what didn't
Last night we published the first-ever episode of iProng TV, our special edition video podcast that we filmed on-site in front of an audience at this past weekend's PodCamp Atlanta. After having had some time to reflect on both the creation process and the final product, here's what I think I've learned heading into our next video podcast:
What worked
Recording audio and video separately: This being our first try at this, I wanted the fallback of having multiple recording sources to rely on. And to be honest, if the video aspect ended up being a total failure, I wanted to be able to put this out as an audio episode instead. So in addition to the camcorder, I set up a GarageBand recording with my MacBook and my Samson mic. Turns out I was able to extract the camcorder's audio and replace it with the GarageBand audio in iMovie pretty painlessly. Part of that was because I didn't make any significant edits, but going into this I was looking to preserve the sanctity of the live nature of the episode anyway. I did speak to the audience both before and after the episode, but once the episode begins, there are no cuts or deletions at all.
Unscripted interviews with audience members: I wasn't sure what to think about having audience members come up and talk with us about their podcasts and their takes on PodCamp, but we ended up four-for-four when it came to engaging chats with the four people who volunteered. I'm still not sure how three out of the four of them managed to be doctors, but that's a story for another day. Needless to say I thought I was at an AMA convention. Good thing Dana is studying medicine, I suppose.
Humor: Although I wish there were more of them, there are a number of laugh-out-loud moments within the episode, most or all of them unscripted, all of which helped engage the audience and keep the tone light. You know the old saying about how a movie is funnier if you're in a packed theater? The same thing applies with a live audience: the humor aspect is more important when you've got a room full of people that you can get to laugh. I wouldn't go so far as to say that you should script humor into the show ahead of time, but when the opportunity arises during taping, don't be afraid to go for it.
What didn't
Camcorder angle: our cameraperson did a fantastic job of filming (thanks Sue), managing to avoid the shaky-hands syndrome that usually dogs me whenever I grab a camera. But for some strange reason I had her stand at a forty-five degree angle instead of filming us head-on. Dana and I spent most of the time looking at each other at a forty-five degree angle so that we could also be looking in the direction of the audience, and when you combine all those forty-five degree angles, you end up with twenty-three minutes of the side of my face.
Camcorder audio: it's a good thing I had the GarageBand audio, because the camcorder managed to record the sound of its own motor. I've got to figure out why. You can hear it pretty clearly on the out-takes that the credits roll over at the end.
Early audience engagement: my original plan was to do a traditional iProng Radio episode for the first half of the session and then use the second half to bring the audience into the action. I should have found a way to do that in reverse. As a general rule, get the audience involved as early as possible. Once we brought them into it, things got funnier, more engaging, and likely more entertaining.
Apple TV: we were supposed to have one in the episode, pass it around, put it in people's hands, but they still weren't shipping by the taping date. Can't blame myself for Apple being late, but I should have had a different prop on hand as a backup.
iMovie: never thought I'd be saying this, but using iMovie was a bit of a pain in the backside yesterday. Back in the day I used to teach classes on how to use iMovie, but that was four versions ago, and a lot's changed since then. I've always told my students that the only real way to learn new creativity software (or a new version of the software) is to dive in with a fake meaningless project that you'll have no fear of wrecking because it's not real anyway. That way you can explore every menu option, every button, every new feature with no inhibitions. You never want to learn a new version by working on a vital project, particularly when under a time constraint to get it out the door. I didn't realize I was so out of practice when it comes to video editing, and it cost me more time than it should have. I'll need to brush up with a nonsense project before the next video podcast.
Exterior shots: circumstances prevented us from gathering buffer footage of the city of Atlanta on Friday afternoon, and as a result there's really no proof in our episode that we were even in Atlanta. It's difficult to capture the sounds of a city when doing an audio podcast, but with video it's too easy not to take advantage of. Next time we do an on-site video episode, I'll make a bigger priority out of acquiring such footage.
Where the jury's still out
iProng Radio feed: since there aren't likely to be frequent enough episodes of iProng TV to merit their own feed, I went ahead and released this episode of iProng TV on the existing iProng Radio feed. The file size is only about four times larger than our typical audio podcast, so I don't think I broke anyone's internet access, and I can't imagine we've got more than a handful of dial-up subscribers anyway. Someone at the LA Podcasters meeting suggested that I put out a warning on the feed ahead of time, which was a good idea, but I didn't get the opportunity to do so. I'll have to see what the subscriber feedback looks like when it comes to being unexpectedly fed a video file.
Video formats: Mirroring our current compromise of putting our audio podcasts out there as enhanced AAC files (playable only in iTunes) but also offering up a generic MP3 direct download on our website, I went ahead and released a video iPod-compatible .m4v file onto the feed but posted a generic .mov QuickTime file on the website. Anyone with QuickTime installed on their computer should be able to watch it in their browser, and anyone who doesn't have QuickTime installed, now would be a good time for them to rectify that anyway. Sorry, I don't waste time with irrelevant formats like .wmv. But again, we'll see what the reaction is, both from existing subscribers and the newlisteners viewers we bring in from PodCamp.
Video quality: Both the feed version and the standalone version of the episode are more than a hundred megabytes in size. My intention was for the generic QuickTime file to be a lower-quality version that would clock in at about forty megabytes (not because I wanted to force people to subscribe to get the full quality but because I was hoping to make the generic version more accessible by being smaller), but I ended up with something that didn't feel was of high enough quality to put out there so I re-exported it with higher settings. As a result, the generic version is almost as large as the feed version.
Length: One of the reasons I watch video podcasts like GeekBrief TV is the fact that they're in the five to seven minute range. Chris Brogan would refer to it as a snack. Because the first episode of iProng TV took on largely the same format as iProng Radio, we ended up with a twenty-three minute video podcast. Too long? I don't know yet.
The next one and the one after that: Remote co-hosting over audio is do-able. But over video? Not so much. And every iProng Radio co-host lives in a different State. That puts to bed the idea of doing a video podcast every week. So do we wait for the next conference or trade show, or do we go for it the next time I've got a co-host in the same room with me? If we do wait til the next conference, do we place an emphasis on putting together a live audience even if might not be easy to find one? Do we do a full iPod and iTunes News Section again, or do we get right to the heart of why we're at the event? Time will tell. But after this experience I can tell you that there will definitely be an Episode Two of iProng TV at some point in the future.
Last night we published the first-ever episode of iProng TV, our special edition video podcast that we filmed on-site in front of an audience at this past weekend's PodCamp Atlanta. After having had some time to reflect on both the creation process and the final product, here's what I think I've learned heading into our next video podcast:
What worked
Recording audio and video separately: This being our first try at this, I wanted the fallback of having multiple recording sources to rely on. And to be honest, if the video aspect ended up being a total failure, I wanted to be able to put this out as an audio episode instead. So in addition to the camcorder, I set up a GarageBand recording with my MacBook and my Samson mic. Turns out I was able to extract the camcorder's audio and replace it with the GarageBand audio in iMovie pretty painlessly. Part of that was because I didn't make any significant edits, but going into this I was looking to preserve the sanctity of the live nature of the episode anyway. I did speak to the audience both before and after the episode, but once the episode begins, there are no cuts or deletions at all.
Unscripted interviews with audience members: I wasn't sure what to think about having audience members come up and talk with us about their podcasts and their takes on PodCamp, but we ended up four-for-four when it came to engaging chats with the four people who volunteered. I'm still not sure how three out of the four of them managed to be doctors, but that's a story for another day. Needless to say I thought I was at an AMA convention. Good thing Dana is studying medicine, I suppose.
Humor: Although I wish there were more of them, there are a number of laugh-out-loud moments within the episode, most or all of them unscripted, all of which helped engage the audience and keep the tone light. You know the old saying about how a movie is funnier if you're in a packed theater? The same thing applies with a live audience: the humor aspect is more important when you've got a room full of people that you can get to laugh. I wouldn't go so far as to say that you should script humor into the show ahead of time, but when the opportunity arises during taping, don't be afraid to go for it.
What didn't
Camcorder angle: our cameraperson did a fantastic job of filming (thanks Sue), managing to avoid the shaky-hands syndrome that usually dogs me whenever I grab a camera. But for some strange reason I had her stand at a forty-five degree angle instead of filming us head-on. Dana and I spent most of the time looking at each other at a forty-five degree angle so that we could also be looking in the direction of the audience, and when you combine all those forty-five degree angles, you end up with twenty-three minutes of the side of my face.
Camcorder audio: it's a good thing I had the GarageBand audio, because the camcorder managed to record the sound of its own motor. I've got to figure out why. You can hear it pretty clearly on the out-takes that the credits roll over at the end.
Early audience engagement: my original plan was to do a traditional iProng Radio episode for the first half of the session and then use the second half to bring the audience into the action. I should have found a way to do that in reverse. As a general rule, get the audience involved as early as possible. Once we brought them into it, things got funnier, more engaging, and likely more entertaining.
Apple TV: we were supposed to have one in the episode, pass it around, put it in people's hands, but they still weren't shipping by the taping date. Can't blame myself for Apple being late, but I should have had a different prop on hand as a backup.
iMovie: never thought I'd be saying this, but using iMovie was a bit of a pain in the backside yesterday. Back in the day I used to teach classes on how to use iMovie, but that was four versions ago, and a lot's changed since then. I've always told my students that the only real way to learn new creativity software (or a new version of the software) is to dive in with a fake meaningless project that you'll have no fear of wrecking because it's not real anyway. That way you can explore every menu option, every button, every new feature with no inhibitions. You never want to learn a new version by working on a vital project, particularly when under a time constraint to get it out the door. I didn't realize I was so out of practice when it comes to video editing, and it cost me more time than it should have. I'll need to brush up with a nonsense project before the next video podcast.
Exterior shots: circumstances prevented us from gathering buffer footage of the city of Atlanta on Friday afternoon, and as a result there's really no proof in our episode that we were even in Atlanta. It's difficult to capture the sounds of a city when doing an audio podcast, but with video it's too easy not to take advantage of. Next time we do an on-site video episode, I'll make a bigger priority out of acquiring such footage.
Where the jury's still out
iProng Radio feed: since there aren't likely to be frequent enough episodes of iProng TV to merit their own feed, I went ahead and released this episode of iProng TV on the existing iProng Radio feed. The file size is only about four times larger than our typical audio podcast, so I don't think I broke anyone's internet access, and I can't imagine we've got more than a handful of dial-up subscribers anyway. Someone at the LA Podcasters meeting suggested that I put out a warning on the feed ahead of time, which was a good idea, but I didn't get the opportunity to do so. I'll have to see what the subscriber feedback looks like when it comes to being unexpectedly fed a video file.
Video formats: Mirroring our current compromise of putting our audio podcasts out there as enhanced AAC files (playable only in iTunes) but also offering up a generic MP3 direct download on our website, I went ahead and released a video iPod-compatible .m4v file onto the feed but posted a generic .mov QuickTime file on the website. Anyone with QuickTime installed on their computer should be able to watch it in their browser, and anyone who doesn't have QuickTime installed, now would be a good time for them to rectify that anyway. Sorry, I don't waste time with irrelevant formats like .wmv. But again, we'll see what the reaction is, both from existing subscribers and the new
Video quality: Both the feed version and the standalone version of the episode are more than a hundred megabytes in size. My intention was for the generic QuickTime file to be a lower-quality version that would clock in at about forty megabytes (not because I wanted to force people to subscribe to get the full quality but because I was hoping to make the generic version more accessible by being smaller), but I ended up with something that didn't feel was of high enough quality to put out there so I re-exported it with higher settings. As a result, the generic version is almost as large as the feed version.
Length: One of the reasons I watch video podcasts like GeekBrief TV is the fact that they're in the five to seven minute range. Chris Brogan would refer to it as a snack. Because the first episode of iProng TV took on largely the same format as iProng Radio, we ended up with a twenty-three minute video podcast. Too long? I don't know yet.
The next one and the one after that: Remote co-hosting over audio is do-able. But over video? Not so much. And every iProng Radio co-host lives in a different State. That puts to bed the idea of doing a video podcast every week. So do we wait for the next conference or trade show, or do we go for it the next time I've got a co-host in the same room with me? If we do wait til the next conference, do we place an emphasis on putting together a live audience even if might not be easy to find one? Do we do a full iPod and iTunes News Section again, or do we get right to the heart of why we're at the event? Time will tell. But after this experience I can tell you that there will definitely be an Episode Two of iProng TV at some point in the future.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
iProng TV 3.21.07: live from PodCamp Atlanta
Watch this episode now or subscribe for free!
On this week's show:
In the first-ever episode of iProng TV, the official video podcast of iProng.com, co-hosts Bill Palmer and Dana Sanders bring you the iPod and iTunes news of the week live from this past weekend's PodCamp Atlanta as well as interviews with various podcasters who attended the event.
iPod and iTunes News this week This week's special guests:
Watch this episode now or subscribe for free!
Watch this episode now or subscribe for free!
On this week's show:
In the first-ever episode of iProng TV, the official video podcast of iProng.com, co-hosts Bill Palmer and Dana Sanders bring you the iPod and iTunes news of the week live from this past weekend's PodCamp Atlanta as well as interviews with various podcasters who attended the event.
- Hidden features of the new iTunes 7.1
- Where on earth is Apple TV?
- Why is Lily Allen feuding with Apple over iTunes exclusives?
- Ron from the Final Taxi podcast
- Dr. Adam Shafran from the Dr. Fitness and the Fat Guy podcast
- Dr. Ginger Campbell from the Brain Science podcast
- Dr. Shannon Clute of the Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir podcast
Watch this episode now or subscribe for free!
Finally Home
For those keeping score, I got home late last night after eleven days on the road. I've spent the better part of the day editing the first-ever episode of iProng TV, our special edition video podcast version of iProng Radio, filmed on-site this past weekend at PodCamp Atlanta. It should be up on the feed (and available for direct download) within a few hours. I'll post a note and a link once it's available.
For those keeping score, I got home late last night after eleven days on the road. I've spent the better part of the day editing the first-ever episode of iProng TV, our special edition video podcast version of iProng Radio, filmed on-site this past weekend at PodCamp Atlanta. It should be up on the feed (and available for direct download) within a few hours. I'll post a note and a link once it's available.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Almost home
PodCamp Atlanta wrapped Sunday afternoon as a resounding success. As I said to the crowd when I was addressing them as the event was about to close out, if podcasting in the South wasn't on the map going into this past weekend, it sure is now. The people who organized the event deserve far more credit than I can properly express here. I'll have plenty more to post (including pictures) once I finally get home but for now I'm visiting a friend out in the middle of nowhere in rural Georgia. Couldn't be more of a contrast from the Southern California stint that represented the first leg of this trip. Was it just a week ago I was cruising up Pacific Coast Highway? Now I'm driving on roads that are barely paved.
This is my tenth day on the road. Tomorrow I head home. I can't believe I made it through this trip without Apple TV shipping. Thought sure I was going to end up having to pick one up at an Apple Store and do my initial testing from the road.
The first-ever episode of iProng TV should be available later this week. I don't feel like a video podcaster yet but maybe that'll change once the first episode is out there.
So what came of this trip? New friends, new perspectives, new opportunities, new products I can't tell you about yet, and at the risk of overselling it, things have really come into focus for me as I head into my thirtieth birthday in two weeks. Can't wait to see what the next thirty years bring. Or for that matter, the next thirty days. Or the next thirty minutes...
PodCamp Atlanta wrapped Sunday afternoon as a resounding success. As I said to the crowd when I was addressing them as the event was about to close out, if podcasting in the South wasn't on the map going into this past weekend, it sure is now. The people who organized the event deserve far more credit than I can properly express here. I'll have plenty more to post (including pictures) once I finally get home but for now I'm visiting a friend out in the middle of nowhere in rural Georgia. Couldn't be more of a contrast from the Southern California stint that represented the first leg of this trip. Was it just a week ago I was cruising up Pacific Coast Highway? Now I'm driving on roads that are barely paved.
This is my tenth day on the road. Tomorrow I head home. I can't believe I made it through this trip without Apple TV shipping. Thought sure I was going to end up having to pick one up at an Apple Store and do my initial testing from the road.
The first-ever episode of iProng TV should be available later this week. I don't feel like a video podcaster yet but maybe that'll change once the first episode is out there.
So what came of this trip? New friends, new perspectives, new opportunities, new products I can't tell you about yet, and at the risk of overselling it, things have really come into focus for me as I head into my thirtieth birthday in two weeks. Can't wait to see what the next thirty years bring. Or for that matter, the next thirty days. Or the next thirty minutes...
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Leaving Los Angeles
One digital media conference, two trips up Pacific Coast Highway, three local user group meetings/meetups, four hundred miles of driving, too many new and upcoming iPod accessories to count, and plenty of new friends on top of it all. Have I really been here in Southern California for six days already? Time to go, regrettably. But I'll be on the ground in Atlanta in seven hours, and I'm very much looking forward to the PodCamp chapter of this trip. See you from the east coast.
One digital media conference, two trips up Pacific Coast Highway, three local user group meetings/meetups, four hundred miles of driving, too many new and upcoming iPod accessories to count, and plenty of new friends on top of it all. Have I really been here in Southern California for six days already? Time to go, regrettably. But I'll be on the ground in Atlanta in seven hours, and I'm very much looking forward to the PodCamp chapter of this trip. See you from the east coast.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
What the suits are saying about the iTunes revolution
So I'm sitting in an IHOP on Sunset Boulevard, on lunch break from the Digital Media Summit in Hollywood before I head south for a few other meetings. The DMS session that stood out to me was a panel of company execs who all have a fairly transparent axe to grind when it comes to Apple's dominance of the digital content landscape. Sorry, but getting up in front of a room full of people and bragging that you'll never buy music from the iTunes Store doesn't change the fact that the train already left the station a few years ago and your company missed it. Other sarcasm along the lines of "the iPhone is great but I've had all that for four years now" (paraphrased), or claiming that ninety percent of the public is thrilled with DRM, just makes these guys look more lost in the headlights. Especially when the gist of what they're saying is that they want to find ways to make DRM more restrictive.
One audience member got up and told them exactly what I've been saying for years: the content companies did this to themselves. For decades they were in a position to screw customers over and over again, and they took advantage of that situation at every point along the way. Now that the technology has shifted and it's the consumers who are in a position to screw the content companies, what do you expect? Didn't they know that the day of reckoning would arrive sooner or later? Content piracy isn't justifiable, but it shouldn't surprise anyone that we've arrived at a place where so many people have so little problem taking content without paying for it.
But still, it's good to check in with these suits every now and then to see what their latest line of thinking is (or rather, what they want us to think their latest line of thinking is). The verdict: their current strategy appears to involve building a time machine, traveling back five years, and preventing the iPod/iTunes revolution from happening. Or maybe they just hope to convince the public that it still is 2001, and it's not too late for their plans for variable (over)pricing, confusing usability, no user rights, etc. to yet rule the day. Yeah, good luck with that.
Gotta run. My complimentary hour of wireless internet access at the IHOP is about to expire...
So I'm sitting in an IHOP on Sunset Boulevard, on lunch break from the Digital Media Summit in Hollywood before I head south for a few other meetings. The DMS session that stood out to me was a panel of company execs who all have a fairly transparent axe to grind when it comes to Apple's dominance of the digital content landscape. Sorry, but getting up in front of a room full of people and bragging that you'll never buy music from the iTunes Store doesn't change the fact that the train already left the station a few years ago and your company missed it. Other sarcasm along the lines of "the iPhone is great but I've had all that for four years now" (paraphrased), or claiming that ninety percent of the public is thrilled with DRM, just makes these guys look more lost in the headlights. Especially when the gist of what they're saying is that they want to find ways to make DRM more restrictive.
One audience member got up and told them exactly what I've been saying for years: the content companies did this to themselves. For decades they were in a position to screw customers over and over again, and they took advantage of that situation at every point along the way. Now that the technology has shifted and it's the consumers who are in a position to screw the content companies, what do you expect? Didn't they know that the day of reckoning would arrive sooner or later? Content piracy isn't justifiable, but it shouldn't surprise anyone that we've arrived at a place where so many people have so little problem taking content without paying for it.
But still, it's good to check in with these suits every now and then to see what their latest line of thinking is (or rather, what they want us to think their latest line of thinking is). The verdict: their current strategy appears to involve building a time machine, traveling back five years, and preventing the iPod/iTunes revolution from happening. Or maybe they just hope to convince the public that it still is 2001, and it's not too late for their plans for variable (over)pricing, confusing usability, no user rights, etc. to yet rule the day. Yeah, good luck with that.
Gotta run. My complimentary hour of wireless internet access at the IHOP is about to expire...
Monday, March 12, 2007
In a meeting, then in the ocean, then in a meeting
So I woke up in San Diego, took care of the business I needed to take care of this morning, and then hit the Pacific Coast Highway headed toward Los Angeles. By early afternoon I was standing in the Pacific Ocean off Huntington Beach (I'll post pictures later), just arrived in the LA area and now I'm headed into a LAPUG meeting.
In a meeting, then in the ocean, then in a meeting. Not a bad way to conduct business. Took in a Patty Griffin concert last night a 4th and B. More later...
So I woke up in San Diego, took care of the business I needed to take care of this morning, and then hit the Pacific Coast Highway headed toward Los Angeles. By early afternoon I was standing in the Pacific Ocean off Huntington Beach (I'll post pictures later), just arrived in the LA area and now I'm headed into a LAPUG meeting.
In a meeting, then in the ocean, then in a meeting. Not a bad way to conduct business. Took in a Patty Griffin concert last night a 4th and B. More later...
Apple UK Store is down
Someone just pointed out the fact that Apple's UK online store (and likely several other localizations whose time zones are ahead of the U.S.) is currently down.
Does this mean Apple TV ships tomorrow? Why would Apple TV require the Apple Store to be offline, if it's already been in the store for months? Or are we looking at a surprise tomorrow?
Update: I guess this explains it.
Someone just pointed out the fact that Apple's UK online store (and likely several other localizations whose time zones are ahead of the U.S.) is currently down.
Does this mean Apple TV ships tomorrow? Why would Apple TV require the Apple Store to be offline, if it's already been in the store for months? Or are we looking at a surprise tomorrow?
Update: I guess this explains it.
What an absurd week that was
What an absurd week. All for the good, but absurd nonetheless.
This was supposed to be a rest up, catch up, get ready to leave town on business for eleven days kind of week. Planned it that way too. No meetings, no distractions, no nothing. During this upcoming week and a half I'll be at the Digital Media Summit in Hollywood, the LA Podcasters meetup, PodCamp Atlanta and too many meetings along the way. Two coasts, three one-way flights involving five airports, two different rental cars, at the moment I can't recall how many different hotels, and a stack of Google Maps printouts so thick it looks like a book report. Fortunately a trip like this doesn't require the kind of nonstop advance preparation that an all-encompassing conference like Macworld Expo does, but I wanted my rest heading into this one nonetheless.
So beyond taping iProng Radio on Tuesday evening, my schedule was literally blank when the week started, and that never happens. I should have known better than to think it was going to stay that way as the week progressed. On Thursday my best friends (not all of whom live in the same State, curiously) all converged on my townhouse and ended up painting several of the rooms. Except when the week started I had no idea that any of them were coming. What led them to end up painting the place is still somewhat fuzzy for me, but I do know that my downstairs bathroom is no longer the same color it was when the week started. Thursday evening ended up consisting of a bunch of paint-covered buddies sitting around in my living room, eating pizza and watching Are you smarter than a fifth grader? and American Idol. Each of them takes one last stab at convincing me not to move to California. I don't even bother to debate it with them. Each of them ends up deciding that they don't really have an argument to make anyway. I love winning arguments without having to open my mouth. I'm still not sure I'm going to. I could always just stay here and continue to fly out there way too often for my own good.
On Friday the painting team is back in action, this time mainly trying to remove excess paint from things that weren't supposed to get paint on them in the first place. Not ten minutes after the gang heads home, I get a call on my cell phone from someone who has her own iTunes Celebrity Playlist, telling me that she heard I was trying to get in touch with her for an interview. So we did the interview right then, timing be darned, because we were both leaving town shortly thereafter. One of the things I'll be sharing at the session on podcast interview techniques that I'm leading at PodCamp next week is that if you have good reason to believe that there's even a slight chance a particular interview may happen at some point in the future, do the research and write the questions now. The worst that can happen is that you wasted a little time and the questions never get used. But don't write them, and you just might miss out on an opportunity. Timing is everything, and since timing is something that you can never quite fully control, you need to give yourself every advantage you can going in.
Now I get word that relatives are coming to visit me at my home this evening. Seeing as how I'm sitting on a plane headed to the west coast right now, I'm not sure how that's gonna work out. Been that kind of week. Well, now it's time to head into one of the biggest weeks I've had in awhile. Or should I say week and a half? I wonder what the weather is like in San Diego. Or Los Angeles. Or Atlanta. I'll know soon enough.
What an absurd week. All for the good, but absurd nonetheless.
This was supposed to be a rest up, catch up, get ready to leave town on business for eleven days kind of week. Planned it that way too. No meetings, no distractions, no nothing. During this upcoming week and a half I'll be at the Digital Media Summit in Hollywood, the LA Podcasters meetup, PodCamp Atlanta and too many meetings along the way. Two coasts, three one-way flights involving five airports, two different rental cars, at the moment I can't recall how many different hotels, and a stack of Google Maps printouts so thick it looks like a book report. Fortunately a trip like this doesn't require the kind of nonstop advance preparation that an all-encompassing conference like Macworld Expo does, but I wanted my rest heading into this one nonetheless.
So beyond taping iProng Radio on Tuesday evening, my schedule was literally blank when the week started, and that never happens. I should have known better than to think it was going to stay that way as the week progressed. On Thursday my best friends (not all of whom live in the same State, curiously) all converged on my townhouse and ended up painting several of the rooms. Except when the week started I had no idea that any of them were coming. What led them to end up painting the place is still somewhat fuzzy for me, but I do know that my downstairs bathroom is no longer the same color it was when the week started. Thursday evening ended up consisting of a bunch of paint-covered buddies sitting around in my living room, eating pizza and watching Are you smarter than a fifth grader? and American Idol. Each of them takes one last stab at convincing me not to move to California. I don't even bother to debate it with them. Each of them ends up deciding that they don't really have an argument to make anyway. I love winning arguments without having to open my mouth. I'm still not sure I'm going to. I could always just stay here and continue to fly out there way too often for my own good.
On Friday the painting team is back in action, this time mainly trying to remove excess paint from things that weren't supposed to get paint on them in the first place. Not ten minutes after the gang heads home, I get a call on my cell phone from someone who has her own iTunes Celebrity Playlist, telling me that she heard I was trying to get in touch with her for an interview. So we did the interview right then, timing be darned, because we were both leaving town shortly thereafter. One of the things I'll be sharing at the session on podcast interview techniques that I'm leading at PodCamp next week is that if you have good reason to believe that there's even a slight chance a particular interview may happen at some point in the future, do the research and write the questions now. The worst that can happen is that you wasted a little time and the questions never get used. But don't write them, and you just might miss out on an opportunity. Timing is everything, and since timing is something that you can never quite fully control, you need to give yourself every advantage you can going in.
Now I get word that relatives are coming to visit me at my home this evening. Seeing as how I'm sitting on a plane headed to the west coast right now, I'm not sure how that's gonna work out. Been that kind of week. Well, now it's time to head into one of the biggest weeks I've had in awhile. Or should I say week and a half? I wonder what the weather is like in San Diego. Or Los Angeles. Or Atlanta. I'll know soon enough.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
That's what friends are for
As excited as I am to have iProng Radio back in action, I've been quietly frustrated all week by the audio imbalance in our return episode that I just haven't been able to solve. Too much audio coming out of the left channel, not nearly enough coming from the right...and it was only for me. Our special guest, despite being remote via Skype, sounded better than I did.
Since my episode in the audio was entirely listenable (if noticeably flawed) and since I really didn't want to put off our return, I went ahead and released the episode as it was, figuring I'd try to solve the bug over the weekend. Turns out Tim Robertson, who's been listening to iProng Radio from episode one (and has been a special guest on the show), had this same problem and managed to find a little pop-up menu in GarageBand that magically solves everything (if you're having the same problem write me and I'll walk you through it).
Not only does it solve the issue for future episodes, it even fixed the problem after-the-fact for this past week's episode, which I've just finished swapping out on the server. That was almost too easy.
Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead will be on the next iProng Radio episode. This is going to a lot of fun.
As excited as I am to have iProng Radio back in action, I've been quietly frustrated all week by the audio imbalance in our return episode that I just haven't been able to solve. Too much audio coming out of the left channel, not nearly enough coming from the right...and it was only for me. Our special guest, despite being remote via Skype, sounded better than I did.
Since my episode in the audio was entirely listenable (if noticeably flawed) and since I really didn't want to put off our return, I went ahead and released the episode as it was, figuring I'd try to solve the bug over the weekend. Turns out Tim Robertson, who's been listening to iProng Radio from episode one (and has been a special guest on the show), had this same problem and managed to find a little pop-up menu in GarageBand that magically solves everything (if you're having the same problem write me and I'll walk you through it).
Not only does it solve the issue for future episodes, it even fixed the problem after-the-fact for this past week's episode, which I've just finished swapping out on the server. That was almost too easy.
Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead will be on the next iProng Radio episode. This is going to a lot of fun.
Friday, March 02, 2007
If only...
Gotta love the battery life on my MacBook these days:
Gotta love the battery life on my MacBook these days:
