Gaper Hunting (Neon and Fanny Pacs Rock!)
Now Playing: Sujan Stevens - Dear Mr. Computer
In honor of recently discovering Gaper Hunter.com, here's my salute to the people out there who make gaper hunting a real sport. Thanks to Flickr user Riomx/Joktan for the photo below, the only person on Flickr who tagged photos with "gaper" and used it correctly (applied to dumb skiers/snowboarders):

And no more blogging (yeah right) until I finish Yochai Benkler's book, The Wealth of Networks. Need a reason why? because Lessig says so...

"This is — by far — the most important and powerful book written in the fields that matter most to me in the last ten years. If there is one book you read this year, it should be this."

Currently Playing: Sufjan Stevens - Dear Mr. Computer

Analysis of Always-On Hollwood
Now Playing: Josh Rouse - James
Here’s the complete AlwaysOn Hollywood video archive list and below are my notes or comments from two of the panels. Check out Stowe Boyd’s post for more concise and insightful analysis.

1) Where’s the Ad Money Going?-

Audience Question-Where’s the [advertising] money going?
Sarah Fay, President, Isobar U.S, said that the money on digital is coming from all of the other mediums. A big flux from TV to digital- "a gusher." Since online market has been a small part of the media mix, it doesn’t take much for online/digital media budgets to double.

Also from Sarah, she mentioned a client that spends $100 million a year that undertook an internal analysis to understand how much time they bought in TV media with their target audience over the course of year: 6 minute average

Audience Question- Working with advertisers, it’s difficult to manage their online campaigns because of fragmentation and complexity, as compared to reaching millions via TV?
Panel Answers:
a) Rocketboom guy- if anything, if you find right show then you can the exact target of 10,000 people that are a perfect fit
b) New era of brand accountability. You must deliver the brand promise now and if you don’t, the consumers will fill it in for you.
c) Even if you mess up the online plan, you’re still better than if you committed the ad money to TV. As an advertiser, it’s much more precise than having to wait 6-8months for TV response data.

Audience Question- Who has substantially increased budget to online? How has a large budget percentage transferred to from traditional to online without affecting performance of traditional media.
Sarah- Dollar for dollar is the same but the performance percentage from online is better. One example is Adidas, who used to see online as too experimental and it took arm twisting to get them to sign up.

Audience Question- Where are TV up-fronts going this year?
Sarah- It will be down. Also, where online used to ride on the coattails of TV, online and TV will now come to the negotiating table with equal voice.

---

2) Is the Web the New Hollywood



I posted Thursday the opening quote from this panel and it’s a point worth repeating:
The audience is taking over the programming. A few years ago we looked at litigating it, now we are looking at how to monetize it."
Ted elaborated later on saying this loss of control is a huge pill to swallow for the traditional media companies.

From Ted Cohen, he mentioned the online launch of Alias and Desperate Housewives. He described how the ads are embedded in the videos and you’re forced to watch for maybe 20 seconds but then there’s an option to skip the ad. As Curry and Dave Winer have said, if you make good advertising, it longer is really an advertisement and people will want to watch that content.

Also, it may not be entirely user-generated content, but the ability to mash-up or how you can users put frames around their videos. Hmm, if there’s a huge market there for being able to frame or re-mix (or mash-up), then all of those online video editing tools will take off. Check out TechCrunch for some reviews of those companies.

Advertisers are confused about user-generated content, some like it and some litigate it.
Ted Cohen- “You’re seeing a lot more letting go." There can’t be too many rules right now. “If you don’t let them play, then they’re going to play anyway. So we have to figure out how to monetize it."

MySpace Killer: Not with a bang but a whimper
Now Playing: Knowledge@Wharton podcast
To keep the conversation going from my last MySpace post, wanted to examine the flip side of the site's possible demise, which is to look at external factors. I'm not advocating MySpace's demise but there's seems to a lot of discussion on the topic, usually refining the death of Friendster as the fad-example demise that MySpace could suffer. Besides an internal threat, like my mp3 sharing program that would turn the site essentially into a giant P2P network, there's the external threat that people just tune out and move onto another platform. A recent Knowledge@Wharton article on the long-term viability of social networking sites got me started on this subject. Here's a choice quote that at first struck me as blunt and shallow but give it a second and then reassess:

"MySpace, with 70 million visitors, has become the digital equivalent of hanging out at the mall for today's teens, who load the site with photos, news about music groups and detailed profiles of their likes and dislikes."

Why do I bring this up, the possible ephemeral foundations of MySpace? Yes, there are entrenched fans and social behaviors tied into particular sites that would mean high transaction costs for some; I don't think strong allegiance keeps the majority of people on one social networking site or another. It's the network effects, Metcalfe's Law, that first help a site explode past the Tiiping Point and enter the mainstream consciousness. So I bring it up because the sites depend on openness to what the users (and most importantly the influencers and first-adopters) demand of the platform. YouTube, the darling of the online video, is starting to see ripples (waves, probably not there yet) of discontent and abandonment. Although the copyright issues surrounding any online video site aren't usually addressed, or are skimmed over, by MSM articles, it could be the death knell of online video sharing. A recent YouTube user was kicked out for supposed "repeat offenses" relating to copyrighted content; here's his response:

"Anyway, I’m done with YouTube, almost. It is clear they have no interest in preserving a digital archive of video content for the future, and that I cannot rely on them for posterity...I do have one thing left to do: Ruin YouTube. Since it is so easy to get someone kicked from YouTube, I am going to launch an assault on the service...Every day, I will destroy at least one account. I will only target those with copyright infringing content. When I am done, the only popular videos on YouTube will be those with zero commercial value. We will see how well the service does without the Daily Show and South Park entire episodes that are its real bread and butter." (InsideGoogle blog- "SCREW YOUTUBE")

No, online video sharing will never die completely (the genie is out of the bottle), there will always ways to distribute it through alternative channels if necessary, but let's hope that copyright holders get their heads out of their proverbial butts and realize the value of sharing video online. And Hollywood is starting to get it, slowly but surely. I wasn't able to listen to the webcast of AO's OnHollywood event, but here's a SVP at EMI Music talking about social, user-generated content:

The audience is taking over the programming. A few years ago we looked at litigating it, now we are looking at how to monetize it." (ZDNet link)

I don't want to open up the can of worms around social media and whether it will replace traditional/professional media producers (it won't) but I hope the connection is clear between MySpace's network-based foundation (and is susceptibility to the user's demands or whims-- remember, we're not talking about an entrenched player like Microsoft here-yet) and how it could be undermined both internal or external forces (a giant mp3 P2P network or by user backlash, ala the YouTube example above).

today's lunch, mmm...

Currently Playing: Knowledge@Wharton podcast (iTunes podcast link)- TV Models and the Internet, 4/24/06

Another Great Video- Fed Chief Parody
Now Playing: The Police - Parody Video on Fed Chair Ben Bernanke
Topic: Web 2.0
Go read everything that you know about user-generated video exploding online, including the section in the new issue of WIRED, and when when you strat thinking that it's all a bunch of garbage, watch the video below:

Media and Marketing
Now Playing: Rob Dickinson - My Name is Love
Topic: Web 2.0
Man I get really excited about this stuff, so much so that here I am posting at 12:55am (now 1:41am EST- damn PC) in the morning, screaming at my crappy quasi-broadband EDVO connection over my smartphone. Or maybe it's my almost 4-year old Dell Notebook ready to crap the bed as my Uncle Ed would say. Regardless, here's why the future is bright for media and technology and everything in-between; a quick hodge-podge of good finds from the last couple of days.

1) Forwarded this to Zeldman and BoingBoing, let's see if we can spread the web design/CSS geekiness joy of this love song about web standards.

2) Reddit linked to Advertising Age's article on How to Be a Master of the Digital Domain. I don't read the magazine but my colleagues do at the MarComm/Ad Roundtable so I gave it a glance. Lucky me, though the article itself wasn't too eye opening, it did mention my oft-referenced blogger guru Fred Wilson and even a small photo too. Here's Fred's take on the Magazine Publishers of America's second "Magazine 24/7" conference in New York.

3) Discovering the debut of the Marketing Voices Podcast from Podtech.net, with an interview with Steve King, Senior Advisor at the Institute for the Future.

[I had heard somewhere through the grapevine that in addition to Adam Curry's Podshow venture receiving a bunch of VC money, John Furrier of Podtech had also received a bunch of money as well.

I've enjoyed most of John's podcasts, found a few quite thought provoking and few quite dreadful (probably the interviewee more than anything), and have listened on and off since he first started. He has a distinct style of interviewing that often involves acronym-ridden summaries like "so what really you're saying is XXX is like XXX..." But generally, John knew what was going on and I highly enjoyed the caliber of his guests, including the VCs, and even the last question, making a five-year forecast into the future, slowly grew on me. Just glancing at the new site, it does look like they've received some money. The old website wasn't bad but this new one has the look and feel of professional media company. That's a compliment.]

Jennifer Jones' interview with Steve King was good, echoing a lot of the sentiments that I took away from Scoble's book. It's late so I'll post tomorrow comparing notes from Scoble and this interview, a few common themes arose as I listened to the podcast. And I hope Jennifer or someone at Podtech reads this or my comment on their site (nevermind, my cookie handling is giving the Wordpress login heart palipatios, I'll comment later) because, though I understand the need to reduce comment spam, having to register & log in to comment was a small but slightly annoying chore.

4) Upcoming D.C. shows:

This Sat. night Phoenix (music overview & samples here) is playing 9:30 Club, $15 tickets. They had a song playing during the karaoke scene in Lost in Translation.

Eric Hilton of Thievery Corporation is playing May 13th at 18th Street Lounge (ESL) and it's going to be a killer show. Music overview & samples here, quick blurb on the show below:
"For those of you in Washington, DC, Eric Hilton will again man the
decks at the Eighteenth Street Lounge on Saturday May 13th for what is
sure to be a memorable night. Expect to go on a musical journey with
forays into the finest dub, Brazilian, reggae, and other outernational
sounds"

"Third Annual Testicle Festival, brought to you by the good people of the state of Montana" is this Saturday night in Arlington. Thanks to DCist for the juicy details.

Oh yes, a great two weeks it's going to be.

Currently Playing: Rob Dickinson - My Name is Love

Posted by cph19 at 1:30 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 2 May 2006 1:56 AM EDT

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America's Backbone Shows its Spine
Now Playing: Marketing Voices Debut Podcast- Podtech.net
Topic: Personal or Reflective
I don't often watch the national news at night but I hit the gym for the first time since mid-Feb. and was amazed at the images from the May 1st economic strike. I don't want to delve into the what we call them, though I agree illegal immigrants is loaded term, but America's backbone, immigrants who work extremely hard everyday to keep this country running, showed the rest of America that they are a powerful force.

If the rallies of a couple weeks ago weren't enough, today was a powerful message to all those who think non-citizen immigrants are a silent majority. I think Brian Williams or a fellow reporter mentioned perhaps half a million in L.A. or NYC or Chicago (can't remember exactly which one), truly amazing. Just to mobilize that many people is a tremendous feat in and of itself. Although the 7pm national news didn't yet have a figure for the economic impact of today's marches, that number is coming and I'd guess it will be substantial.

(Thanks to Same Felder and Flickr for the photo)

To update yesterday's post about Colbert's ballsy move at the Corespondent's's Dinner here in D.C. last Saturday night, Boing Boing now has the story and yes, now's there's a torrent link. That's the tell-tale sign of any potential video going big on the internet: if it only has a WMV or QuickTime link, then it's not going tot takeoff but oncer's's there's a torrent file, that a sign of credibility that there's good content and good buzz surrounding the video. Torrents, not YouTube or OurMedia (at least for now), are the best indicators for viral success.

MySpace Killer: Mp3 Sharing
Now Playing: White House Correspondents video w/ Colbert
Topic: Web 2.0
I've been on a small MySpace bent the last couple of days after finally getting to this design tutorial from Mike Davidson on making well-designed MySpace pages. I've hated their crude layout and design tools so I was relieved (and impressed with Mike's clean design) that someone had found a way to realyl get under the design hood of MySpace.

But getting back onto the site kept reminding how popular the MySpace platform has become on the internet. It's traffic is approaching Google's page views per day and they've gotten so much press coverage these days that everyone seems to know about MySpace. Of course, that means that everyone is talking about the ultimate MySpace killer, whether is be Facebook or some other social networking site.

Remember, it's the type of users and now the network size that has made MySpace so popular and the site started originally as a way to share music. With that in mind and padding this article on downloading the streamed version of any posted mp3, there's the seed of a real MySpace killer.

No, it's not another social networking site but it's a way that brings down MySpace under it's own popularity and based on it's original music roots. Can we create a porgram that automates the XML trick described in the article? A small, simple yet elegant app that could take a MySpace address where streaming mps are located and automatically list the mp3s and download the files as well. This isn't revolutionary, but think about what it would do to MySpace, an app that would spread like wildfire around the community and really leverage the network for music sharing.

Granted, there are lots of issues around this, not least among them that MySpace could change the way it loads the streaming mp3s so that the XML trick wouldn't work anymore, but an app like this would make huge ripples. Someone out there, can we do this?

Is Colbert's Performance the Next Big Viral Hit?
Now Playing: WETA 90.9 FM
I just read about Stephen Colbert's performance last night at The White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

It sounds like it was an amazing performance and though it doesn't look like it's quite taken off yet (b/c I don't see any torrents posted yet), I'm predicting that this video is going to spread like wildfire and even surpass the popularity/downloads of the Jon Stewart on Crossfire episode. The Jon Stewart video showed the power of viral online videos because more people watched the video after the fact that even watched the original Crossfire episode.

Let's see what happens with this one. As of 4/30/06 @ 9:50pm EST, Technorati is showing 525 hits for "Colbert Correspondents". Let's see what happens when the story and video hit the MSM on Monday and check in on the Technorati hits in a week.



Currently Listening: WETA 90.9 FM

PBR + Music + NPR
Now Playing: KCRW streaming via iTunes
Topic: Personal or Reflective
Three good things in life all wrapped up together: PBR + Music + NPR

After enjoying a good brew and good music, go watch Dave Winer's interviews on Rocketboom (especially his take on the future of advertising) and follow it by reading the latest issue of WIRED for the article on online video.

Finally, take your new insights and call me in the morning, you owe me one.

One of My Most Famous (Infamous) Stories...
Now Playing: Wilco - Jesus, Etc.
...but you'll have to ask me in person for the details. Thanks to JK for joining me on the original trip and to him and Trevor for our recent ski trip, it was a lot of fun.

Survey on New Media
Now Playing: Economist Podcast - Survey of New Media w/ Chris Anderson
Topic: Web 2.0
I'm spreading the word as I'm sure that many others as well, about The Economist's recent issue that includes a survey on New Media. Great thoughts and conversations, including a podcast w/ Chris Anderson of WIRED and one with Dave Sifry of Technorati.

Highlights from the Chris Anderson (aka Mr. Long Tail guy) interview:

1) There will still be the superstar performers/artists, but the gap between their sales and the average folk will diminish
2) Rather than people coming together over mainstream content that was pushed because of broadcasting scarcity (media monopoly of the airwaves or means of distribution), people will come together based on the stronger bonds of actually shared interest in content (because we will all be content creators, in the very basic sense since our playlists will be tracked and shared with the network). Imagine that, coming together over actual shared interest rather than over tenuous links of geography/location.
3) New Media companies (and if Old Media companies can make the transition) will have to unbundle content into microchuncks, one-to-one broadcasting, but in a smart, rebundled manner (sounds like what Umair pointed out was missing from the recent Disney deal to offer some limited content online for free).
4) Your collective memory and learning will now be accessible and probably value to yourself and others (exactly what I was thinking about a year ago).

Especially with theme #4, check out the David Sifry podcast, which discusses this idea of your collective learning/ah-hah moment engine. I'm reading The Virtual Handshake by David Teten and Scott Allen on my smartphone and here's Cory's Doctorow's perfect quote on this concept:

"Author Cory Doctorow calls his blog his 'outboard brain:' the place where he archives information that he needs. Your files, and better yet your blog, are a powerful way to organize your own accumulated learning." (pg. 180 of the PDF)

Fred, Umair, or Jeff, any thoughts on this, I assume you guys will read the survey and maybe listen to the audio interviews.

NY Times Redesign and Mobile Browsing
Now Playing: David Gray - Babylon
Topic: Web 2.0
It's old news now that the NY Times redesigned their website and I do compliment them for the increased XHTML/CSS design; it's clean, simple, and seems fast-loading. It's nice to see a top-tier web destination redesign with these standards and style. I can barley remember what it looked like before their last redesign (check out the Wayback Machine to see previous designs).

What's disappointing is no longer being able to view the site from my smartphone, which I could do before relatively easily before the redesign. Yes, the pages were a little awkward with the graphics and ads, causing lots of scrolling or choosing the printer-friendly versions to get full screen-width flow of text, I was willing to do that for their content.

Now, as soon as I click on an article from the main page, Internet Explorer immediately crashes and I have to start all over again. So it means no more NY Times during my downtimes during the day. While I'd rather hit NY Times over CNN or Goggle News, I'm having to choose these second-best options for now. Can the NY Times fix this, which I attribute to some CMS or javascript error, so that I can continue reading the NY Times son my mobile device?

I've been meaning to post since the NY Times redesigned back on April 01 (02?), but I've been busy with work. It wasn't until Fred's Union Square Ventures blog.

I barely read his original post on web services after seeing a MIT Sloan Management review article on the same subject and immediately posted about the article because it seemed relevant. Well, it was that exact article that did indeed prompt Fred's post. So I apologize: lesson learned-- read the entire post before jumping in to make a comment that's already discussed in the post.

Currently Listening: David Gray - Babylon

Me and You and Everyone We Know
Now Playing: Engadget Podcast 04/04/06
Topic: Personal or Reflective
Thanks JK for the recommendation. Delightfully weird, I laughed out loud in my apartment while watching this late at night, I can only imagine what the neighbors thought. Great scenes of awkwardness, not like the awkward make-you-squirm kind of scenes from The Office (BBC version, not the NBC stateside version) but more like how did someone come up with a scene so seemingly strange yet realistic too. So many great moments to list but the scene at the park, on the park bench where the young boy meets his older online flame, funny.

Back for Now, But My Attention is Scarce
Now Playing: Coldplay - Talk (Junkie XL remix)
Topic: Web 2.0
Thanks to Justin for posting a comment, chiding me on the recent dearth of posts, been busy at work and although a lot of good ideas have stemmed from my most recent reading, I just haven't had the time for even any basic analysis.

The attention economy, focusing on our increasing scarcity of time as information keeps overhwelming our inboxes and eyeballs on a daily basis. The general idea has come up a lot over the last year or so, spanning the various reading/podcasting that I do to keep on the convergence of technology, the internet, media, and culture.

Between Fred Wilson, Adam Curry's podcasts (including his recent golden ticket idea), Bubblegeneration (and Umair just responded to the Disney news today as well) and linking concepts from Battelle's Google book and Scoble's blogging book, the legitimacy of the Attention Economy concept is cementing in my mind.

I don't have the time to write up much on the idea but saw this post on an Eric Schmidt talk that mentions the idea and that finally sparked me to post on the subject. So do yourself a favor and start reading Fred and Umair if you're interested in the future of new media, advertising, and the internet and technology, because these guys (among the many out there) are talking about it a high level. I wish that I could stand on the shoulders of these giants to see what they see so reading their analysis gets me as close as I can for now.

Now, if only I can subtlety hint to my colleagues, who work at a sister Council, that they should be reading this stuff...

Currently Listening: Coldplay - Talk (Junkie XL remix)

Back from Vacation...Temporarily
Now Playing: Tapes 'n Tapes - Cowbell
Topic: Personal or Reflective

Back from vacation...until this Thu., then it's off to FL w/ Tyler and Stacie for a long weekend. Tyler promised kite-boarding and that was enough for me. So it was snow and gnar last weekend and it should be sun and water this weekend.

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, especially as it relates to new technology/Web2.0/blogging ideas (thanks to Scoble's new book, which I finished during the Breck vacation. Hopefully I'll write and read a whole bunch over this weekend.

Currently Playing: Tapes 'n Tapes - Cowbell

On Vacation, Shredding in CO
Now Playing: Coldpaly - Talk (Junkie XL remix)
Topic: Personal or Reflective

Brazilian Girls 03/03/06 Review
Now Playing: The Brazilian Girls - Don't Stop
Topic: Music
The doors to 9:30 Club opened at 9:00pm and The Brazilian Girls, scheduled for 11pm were closer to 11:30pm before taking the stage. It was a little empty at 9pm and remained so until closer to 11pm; I'd hoped it would fill up b/c I love their music and wanted to see the place packed. So after a beer and a couple G&Ts, which were quite expensive as DCist pointed out (luckily the bartender was pouring strong), I kept thinking they better put on a damn good show for all this standing around and consuming of $6 drinks. The lights started to change a little and the fans upfront kept looking stage right and then, yes, BZ took the stage. All I can say is unbelievable, they delivered a truly kick ass show that kept you enthralled for the entire set. Sabina, I don’t what she was wearing but you couldn't take your eyes off of her (or the outfit); she kept getting drinks and even taking a few from the crowd.

Below is my live note-taking (moblogging was working, sorry, I'm not that hardcore) during the show, so excuse the incompleteness:

Track #1-- was new, not sure what it was
Track #2-- in French w/ a good beat
Track #3—Lazy Lover (and Sabina grabs a tequila from a friend offstage, drinks it, and tosses it over her head and keeps going)
-- The lighting on this song was amazing, white to red
Track #4-- Sabina grabs the video camera and pans across the entire crowd. Featured an amazing trombone solo that would have made my cousin Will (a professional bass trombone player) really proud. The trombonist was playing at crack speed, literally.
Track #5-- slowed down song
Track #6-- not sure, “On China…”
Track #7-- “Homme Me Gusta”
Track #8-- “Don’t Stop”—perhaps the highlight of the night, it got everybody so pumped up, awesome
Track #9-- not sure, had an airy sound
Track #10-- some new song in French, good beat
Track #11- the classic, “P*ssy,” which the trombone player killed and the band played for an extended time
BZ leaves and then…encore…
Track #12-- new song?
Track #13-- Dance Till the Morning Sun, played for a long time and Sabina had the crowd join the m on stage

An amazing show, I can still feel it and my head is still moving from that Friday night, now a full two weeks ago. "Don’t Stop" has become my new walking to work song; there’s no better way to start the day.

I found two Flickr photos (is that all there is D.C.?) or any blog reviews from the show. The best I could find was this review from their last show at 9:30. Feist had photos and even Jon Stewart back in Roch. had photos, but alas, D.C. isn't representing.

Moblogging Flickr
Now Playing: Corinne Bailey Rae - Like a Star
Topic: Web 2.0

Happy B-Day Benny (a little old, sorry)
Now Playing: Daily Source Code - #348
Topic: Personal or Reflective

Happy 24th Benny

...and interesting links just for my Dad, particulary the last two (thanks BoingBoing):

1) In eastern Turkey, where one family's children, due to a genetic abnormality, walk on all fours.

2) How to make a railroad bike.

3) Boiling Water Thrown Into Freezing Air (this video shows what happens).

My quick review of The Brazilian Girls show at 9:30 Club last Fri. night is coming, nothing profound but a damn amazing show like that deserves some mention.

Protest Un-Smart Net Filters
Now Playing: Corinne Bailey Rae - Like a Star (again)
Topic: Web 2.0

From BoingBoing, net filter company SmartFilter is blocking BB for unfounded, un-"smart" reasons that only prove how net filters, great (like the Great Firewall of China) or small (Net Nanny) will always fail. Here's how to get around internet filter.

Currently Listening: Corinne Bailey Rae - Like a Star

** BONUS mp3 ** In anticipation of The Brazilian Girls (eat your heart out JK) this Fri. night at 9:30 Club, their "Don't Stop" single. Here's what happened last time they came to D.C.