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Sunday, July 31, 2005

links for 2005-07-31

Fashion Models are blogging


Anina & Lisa Stone by jdlasica, uploaded from flickr.

Fashion model Anina (who has appeared in Elle and other magazines) with BlogHer conference organizer Lisa Stone.

Zadi Diaz & Michael Verdi


Zadi Diaz & Michael Verdi by jdlasica, uploaded from flickr.

Zadi Diaz and Michael Verdi at Pizza Hut just after BlogHer's conclusion, July 30, 2005.

Send invoices online

Blinksale | The easiest way to send invoices online.
via [ Waxy ]

Chuck Olsen in Boston


Chuck Olsen in Boston by stevegarfield, uploaded from flickr.

Chuck contemplates his new surroundings in Boston.

People do buy that CVS video camera


People do buy that CVS video camera by stevegarfield, uploaded from flickr.

See, here's a guy at the Red Sox game shooting exciting footage.

Stephen King


Stephen King by stevegarfield, uploaded from flickr.

Stephen King walked by us. Exciting. Digital photos are the new autographs. Even better!

Saturday, July 30, 2005

links for 2005-07-30

Eggs


Eggs by Markus Masataka, uploaded from flickr.

My mom had an egg explosion at her place.

How to Start a Blogger Blog


Go over to blogger.com and start a free blog.

See: How do I create a blog that Blogger will host for free? for all the details.

You can host your new blog over on their servers, or you can host it on a hosting company of your own.

BLOGSPOT
If you use their free hosting service, blogspot, you won’t be able to store images, audio, or movie files over there. You’ll have to host them somewhere else like your own host or the internet archive.

You’ll use blogspot if your hosting provider won’t allow blogger blogs hosted over there. Some examples of hosting providers that don’t support blogspot are: .mac, Comcast, and AOL.

You’ll still be able to link to your video files from your blog, but they’ll just be saved somewhere else.

YOUR OWN SERVER

If you’ve got a hosting provider that supports FTP, then you can host your blogger blog over on your own host. That way, you’ll be able to use blogger to upload images, audio, or movie files onto your host.

Here are some hosting provider options
.

Video Compression - 3ivx Dual Pass


Michael Verdi has created this pdf takes you step-by-step through compressing video using the dual pass feature of 3ivx. Combined with MPEG4 audio, you can produce files in the 60 - 70 Kbits/sec range that look and sound pretty darn good.

Click here to download the 3ivx pdf. [ pdf ]

Note: The pdf details the steps to compress from Final Cut Pro. The process is the same if you are using QuickTime Pro for Mac or Windows.

Check out the 3ivx web site.

Make a QuickTime Reference Movie


Make a QuickTime Reference Movie
Written by Adrian Miles

For those of you using QT, and wanting to keep content on your own
server/site but also appear elsewhere, eg i want to publish in vimeo
but don’t see point in having my video in 2 places at once:

1. launch qt player
2. File - Open URL in new player….
3. enter the url of your QT movie (put in full url eg:
http://yourblogname/archive/path/somename.mov)
4. load it
5. once loaded File Save As…
6. save it as a QT file *with* dependencies (will only be a few kb).
7. give it a web sensible name (no spaces and end in .mov)
8. This is a ref. movie and it references the url. double click it
anywhere on the net and it will get the vid. from your server.
9. i upload this to vimeo.
10. presto it works, but the bandwidth is from me (so we share, and I
can remove and break it if i wish).

this has lots of uses

cheers
Adrian Miles

How To: Edit with QuickTime


In the Quicktime Player:

1. Open up Source video
2. File/NEW PLAYER
3. Go back to Source and move play head to start of video you want,
then click and drag the the triangle to the start and then move the
other triangle to the end point
4. Edit/copy
5. Go to the new player window, Edit/Paste
6. GO TO #3 UNTIL DONE

Adrian Miles
added:

On apple Command B moves in out points to current playhead position. This makes it very fast and easy to do a series of butt edits. (is that what they’re called, forgotten my videotape editing lessons of 1986…)

Also you can drag the in and out points to mark a selection and then paste over the selection.

You can also add scaled (via edit menu) which stretches or shrinks what you paste to what you’ve selected.

You can also select by holding down shift while dragging playhead or while playing video.

There isn’t a timeline but that’s because QT is not about linear film media.

How to: Subscribe to blogs


This post answers the question, "How do you talk people through the subscription idea?"

Sometimes people only want to hear how to subscribe to my blog via email.

They are comfortable with that.

If I can get them beyond that, I ask them if they have their own personal My Yahoo! page, and tell them that they can click the Add To My Yahooo! button, if it's on a weblog, and the new entries will end up on their My Yahoo! page.

That's an example of why those ever expanding universe of 'add to my yahoo' and 'sub with bloglines' buttons work for users.

If they aren't half asleep at this point, I might try to explain the XML button and how to copy and paste the link it into an aggregator like bloglines.

I'll then explain that "bloglines is a web site that keeps track of new posts to weblogs. So instead of having to go to a website to see it there's a new post all the time, you just go to bloglines and it displays new posts from any website you tell it to keep track of."

It's really best if I can get on their computer and show them. How else am I going to explain adding a 'sub with bloglines' bookmarklet?

I guess I could send them here to figure it out: http://www.bloglines.com/help/easysub

A list of video editing software for Windows.

FREE
Windows XP: Movie Maker 2.1

Avid Free DV

NOT FREE
Ulead Video Studio 8 offers free fully functional trial download at ulead.com
They import and output .mov files.

Adobe Premiere Elements

Pinnacle Studio 9

Embedding QuickTime for Web Delivery

Embedding QuickTime for Web Delivery
The <EMBED> tag allows media file types other than those directly supported by the browser to be handled with an external application or plugin. In this case, the external application is QuickTime Player and the plugin is the QuickTime Plugin.


PAGEot is an application which generates EMBED and OBJECT code for the QuickTime Plug-in.

QuickTime and Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, versions 5.5 SP2 and 6.0
Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, versions 5.5 SP2 and 6.0 (soon to be released) no longer support Netscape-style plug-ins, such as the plug-in installed as part of QuickTime 5.0.2 and earlier versions. Consequently, Windows customers using these versions of Explorer may be unable to view QuickTime content in the browser. Mac users and Netscape users are unaffected,

To restore compatibility, Apple has provided an ActiveX control.

Rotate an image using QuickTime Pro.


There’s an easy way to rotate an image using QuickTime Pro.

Go to the Movie menu, select Get Movie Properties.

Then select Video Track, and then select Size.

You are presented with arrows that allow you to rotate the image.

How to delete a file off of Our Media

Log on to Ourmedia
click My Page
Scroll Down tot he bottom for your list of files
Click on the file you want to delete
Click Edit
Scroll down to the bottom of that page
Click Delete
On the next page click Confirm

Friday, July 29, 2005

Rent: Movie trailer


Apple - Trailers - Rent

A collision of art, commercial culture, and madness


Rejected.

Color TV


I was just looking through a new catalog that came in the mail today and saw cool Color TV Lightbox from Sturbridge Yankee Workshop:
"Brighten up any space with our lighted gallery 'color tv' sign."
Cool. TV in living color!

Beats black and white. ;-)

Water filled bags combat houseflys

The AP says so.


Eric Rice has a photo.

Everything you always wanted to know about video blogging


Videoblogging is a continuum: Watch, Learn, Create, Teach.

How to add an RSS 2.0 Feedburner feed to your Blogger Blog.

Steve Garfield's Video Blog: How To: Promote Your Videoblog.
links for 2005-07-29

digg this

digg is a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allowing an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do.

Videoblogging is a Continuum


As more people get involved in videoblogging, they find that they are somewhere on the videoblogging continuum and usually progress though the levels.

The levels are:

Watch, Learn, Create, Teach.

Let's look at each level.

WATCH
When first encountering the world of videoblogging, you go out and watch what people are creating.

When you find some that you like you can subscribe, and have new videos automatically delivered to you.

Here are a few places to help you find videoblogs on the web:

The Watch This tag on Deli.cio.us
Videoblogging Universe
Mefeedia
FireANT Directory
Akimbo
OMN.org
vlogdir
vlogmap
MediaTuner
iTunes Music Store Podcast Directory

Viewing Tools:
FireANT - Mac/PC based video aggregator and viewer

LEARN
There are a number of sites that will help you learn about videoblogs and how to create them.

FreeVlog
FeeVlog
Videoblogging.info
Yahoo! Videoblogging Group



CREATE
Camera, Lighting and Sound

Compression: iMovie, FCP, Movie Maker

Hosting and Blog Software
Hosted blog software


TEACH
Meet the Vloggers
Yahoo! Videoblogging Group

Woods Hole Film Festival


My interview with Boston artist Temah Nelson is now featured on the Woods Hole Film Festival web site.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Let's Go Curling

Check out the 'Let's Go Curling' podcast, Episode 1 - Curling 101:
"We cover the rules of the game, sweeping, delivery and team structure in this curling primer. We also talk about new clubs, open houses and a few bonspiels coming soon to a rink near you. "
via [ David Pogue ]
links for 2005-07-28

Steve Googlarfield


Steve Googlarfield made with the Google Logo Maker.
via [ Make ]

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Carol and Steve are punk rockers

NYTimes takes on videoblogging… and misses.:
"The Steve and Carol show... “borrows” as much from TV as it borrows from any other culturally relevant experience, though mostly from regular old mundane life. That’s exactly why it’s relevant — not because it wants to sell us on a blockbuster lifestyle, but because it simply wants to share with us a lifestyle we all know and can relate to — the mundane lifestyle. Weeding the flower bed on the front lawn is not the stuff of American Idol. It’s the stuff of Steve and Carol, and — despite its lack of blockbuster production quality — it’s curiously compelling, and it’s something that I’ll wager more people could relate to than whatever tripe “reality TV” is coming up with these days."
Mundane is the new punk rock.
links for 2005-07-27

I hate online-poker

At the risk of giving them what they want by posting this here, I want to tell you how much I hate online-poker and their co-horts casino games.

They are making trackbacks to me on my TypePad blog like crazy and I have to go in and delete each one.
Source:
Online Poker 4u

From Post:
http://online-poker.bac8.com

Title:
Online Poker 4u

IP:
67.19.123.2
Die online-poker Die!

Can one-man bands report the news?

OJR introduces its first live collaborative story, 'Video journalists': Inevitable revolution or way to cut TV jobs?
This week, five writers take turns crafting a wiki-style article on 'one-man bands' who report, film and edit their own video stories.
Follow the conversation with Mark Glaser, Michael Rosenblum, Cory Bergman, Andrew Baron and Stewart Pittman. You can submit a question for discussion too.

Die bewegten Blogs

Christa Tamara Kaul writes a article on vlogs for Telepolis, Die bewegten Blogs.

It's all in German.

My friend Anja translated the Carol and Steve Show part:
What are we expecting from Video-Blogs? For example there is the Carol and Steve Show. We are allowed to watch them doing their daily business. For example cleaning the paved floor of their very nice front yard. Unfortunately Steve is soon nervelessly (floppy), so that (how could it be different) he has to chill out/relax in the deck chair and Carol has to finish the work alone.
Thanks Anja.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Deval Patrick, Democrat for Governor


Deval Patrick Statement on Governor Romney’s Abortion Stand:
The Governor continues to play politics with a woman’s right to choose. On Monday governor Romney decided to veto emergency contraception legislation and today in his op-ed he changed his stand on an issue of fundamental privacy. By doing so, he has betrayed the trust of the people of Massachusetts. In fact, as a candidate in 2002, Governor Romney pledged both to expand access to emergency contraception and to be a pro-choice Governor. It is time for Massachusetts to demand more leadership and fewer empty promises from its governor. I pledge that I will be a pro-choice governor and I will defend a woman’s right to access emergency contraception.
I'm listening.

Videobloggers doing live video without blogs

Markus Sandy has annotated this weekend's Videoblogging Video Conference.

We've been having these live video conferences twice weekly for a while now.

Take a look to see what we're discussing, and the cool FlashMeeting technology that we use to both see and hear each other live.

Here's a link for you to join tonighjt's meeting at 8:00 EDT.

You don't even need a camera and microphone to participate, there's also text chat. You'll still be able to watch and hear everyone else.

Here is the wiki where all archives links are kept.


How To Set up a Free Video Blog


Michael Verdi and Ryanne Hodson have updated the Freevlog Tutorial to take into account that Blogger is now hosting images and Ourmedia is publishing instantly. This cuts a lot out - one step is gone and two others are shortened!

For those of you considering other video blogging solutions, take a look at FeeVlog, a site I'm putting togehter to assemble info on paid blogging services and hosting solutions.

Waiting for my Imogen Heap


Imogen Heap sends word that her new CD, Speak For Yourself, is now in stores in the UK, with a picture, Got mine!

I ordered mine directly from her. Looking forward to getting it!

Vlogs could challenge MTV or CNBC

Matthew Schifrin, Editor of Forbes, writes this about their Summer 2005 edition of Forbes.com Best of the web in the article, Blog Power:
"In reviewing the entries for this guide, I was especially struck by the growing movement of video bloggers, or 'vloggers', online. More and more people with digital video cameras are easily creating mini-documentaries, newscasts, parodies and 'television-like' reality series on their own. One New York City vlog, Rocketboom, reports the 'news' every morning at 9 a.m. for three minutes in an irreverent, but endearing style. It has formed alliances with other vloggers so that it effectively has correspondents in Minneapolis, Boston, LA and Switzerland.

Elsewhere online, there are video directories forming so that one day soon you will be able to click onto a 'guide' and watch whatever you want, whenever you want. Sound like Tivo? So just as 500-channel cable television disrupted the big powerful networks, thousands of vlogs could one day challenge now-thriving cable channels like MTV or CNBC."
Yeah... Blog Power.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Forbes.com Best of the Web

Forbes.com Best of the Web: Steve Garfield's Video Blog:
"Steve is a prolific video blogger. Every Monday he posts a new episode of The Carol and Steve Show. The sitcom-like theme music is a hoot. Don't look for a plot or purpose, just watch if you have the time. At press time they are approaching the equivalent of three seasons of a network show. While they can be deadly boring at times, there is something endearing about reality TV without elimination rounds or convoluted challenges. There is nothing more real than a guy explaining the proper way to use the gas grill in his backyard."
Thanks Forbes!

Cool Retro Fonts!

"The Carol and Steve Show" type was designed by Stu Sandler of The Font Diner.

See Blogumentary at Harvard, for Free!

Joho the Blog: Showing of Blogumentary at Harvard:
"The Berkman Center is arranging a showing of Chuck Olsen's Blogumentary, a documentary about — surprise! — blogging. Chuck's going to be there so there will be a discussion afterwards.

It's at 7pm, Tuesday, August 2, in Pound #102. It's free."
Update on directions:

Pound Hall is on the Harvard Law School Campus on Mass Ave, just past Cambridge Common.

Map.

The Podcasters Special

The Edirol R-1 Portable 24-Bit WAVE Recorder & Player.

I demand a retraction from the New York Times


Here are some excerpts from New York Times article, Watch Me Do This and That Online, that I'd like to address:
"Another vlog, the Carol and Steve Show, in which a married couple offer up the tedium of their daily lives - shopping, driving to the gym, arguing about American Idol' - has stolen its type and its theme music from the land of sitcoms."
"Mudane is the new punk rock", Chuck Olsen.

I demand a retraction from the New York Times. Nothing was stolen. The theme music comes from Apple's Soundtrack Application, which I own. The theme music was made up from included guitar riffs that come with the package and are included for the specific purpose of using in your own productions. The theme music might have been influenced by what has come before, but that's not stealing, that's art.

The type was designed for me by Bill Dawson, the same guy who designed the intro to The Apprentice. again, not stolen. Sheesh.
"It wants to sell out, but who would buy?"
Why would you determine that I want to sell out? Because my vlog looks like tv? I like tv. I package my video blog posts in a nice wrapper that people are familiar with. That doesn't mean that I want to sell out, although if any network executives are reading this, give me a call. We'll do lunch. ;-)
"Maybe a laugh track would help."
Help you maybe, but people seem to like it the way it is.

Blogumentary: New York Times Doesn't Get Vlogs

I'd prefer to give the main link on this post to Chuck Olsen, who writes, NY Times Doesn't Get Vlogs, and explains why Sarah Boxer of the New York Times doesn't understand vlogs.

Her article, Watch Me Do This and That Online, concludes that video blogging, even though it's a newborn, will end up marrying television. She implies that vlogs really just want to grow up and become TV.

Vlogs don't want to be TV Sarah, they want to grow up to be whatever they want to be. They want to do what their creators love.

Videoblogging might end up marrying television, but that doesn't mean that vlogging has to become television.

A strong marriage is made when two partners join and keep their separate identities. They each bring their strengths to the union, and that makes each of them better.

Television, do you take vlogs to be your lawfully wedded spouse?

- Do you promise to produce programming of interest to narrow audience?
- Do you agree to post shows on the internet with an RSS 2.0 feed so people can subscribe and view them whenever they want?
- Will you allow two way communication with your audience?

And vlogs, do you take television to be your lawfully wedded spouse?

- Do you agree to allow your video to be broadcast on TV, forsaking your text post, permalinks, and comments, like podcasts do when delivered on iPods?
- Will you attach opening titles and credits to all your videos?

I propose that you two live together for a while to see how things work out.

A marriage between the two would generate some very interesting offspring. TV on vlogs. Vlogs on TV.

I'm excited about the future.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Perpetuating the lie: George H. W. Bush and the supermarket scanner

In Friday's Boston Globe, Mac Daniel and Michael Levenson combine to report on Governor Romney's MBTA train ride, in this article, Hey, governor, welcome to the T, where Romney reportedly didn't know the cost of a T ride.

Guess what? T fares are variable.

But my main problem with this article is that the authors perpetuate the myth that George H.W. Bush had never seen a supermarket scanner. They report:
"Romney's gaffe recalled President George H.W. Bush's puzzlement during the 1992 campaign over a supermarket scanner, seen by many as patrician aloofness. The charge has been disputed by some, but has neverthless dogged the elder Bush ever since."
A quick trip over to snopes.com shows that the supermarket scanner story was false.

What this quote shows is a bias on the part of the reporters.

The scanner story, false, and the cost of the T, no big deal.

I'm going to send an email to the Globe's new Ombudsman to see what he has to say about it.

Instapundit had similar complaints about reporters in 2004.

It's Socks and Sandals Music

One of my favorite videobloggers, Clark ov Saturn, makes music under the name Socks and Sandals. I've seen him use music by Socks and Sandals in his videos but never made the connection that this is Clark's band.

Clark explains:
SOCKS AND SANDALS was first concieved as a strictly "live and laptopless" techno band in the summer of 2002 by Clark ov Saturn and Sean Smith. After a few years of attention-grabbing gigs throughout the bars, warehouses and boats of NYC and the Northeast, they are currently retooling their live setup and getting down to recording some tracks. SOCKS AND SANDALS's musical style is raw and weird minimal techno with a heavy emphasis on danceable grooves. The live show is always fun, involving improvised vocals and live sampling.
Love and Cush Records.

Download their song Schnee at Love and Cush.

Get their song Lover from Microcosm Music at minlove.net.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

It's about relationships

Jeff Jarvis has the formula:
(information + aggregation) / trust = relationships
links for 2005-07-23

Blogumentary: Screening at Harvard on August 2nd


Blogumentary: A Documentary About Blogs will be screening at Harvard on Tuesday August 2nd.

Filmmaker Chuck Olsen will be there.

Save the date. More details soon!

Hug

Join hugnation every Tuesday at 1:00 PST.

hug.

Karlson and McKenzie coming back to Boston

Heard on the Boston Radio-Info message board: Karlson and McKenzie coming back to Boston:
"Here in the Hudson Valley of New York, rumor has it that Karlson and McKenzie are headed back to Boston...possibly to WZLX...or maybe a replacement for WBCN when Stern leaves his schtick."
I'm waiting for confirmation.

I'm interested because I used to be a producer and wacky sidekick on the show when it was in Boston on Eagle 93.7 FM.

Here's the story of my Adventures in Radio.

Logan Airport getting new signs

In today's Boston Globe article, Getting there from here, we hear that Massport is going to redo all the signs at Logan Airport.

There's a cool graphic on the page which shows what seems to be the new entry sign. It's better already since it will clearly show that parking is available in Terminal B. As it stands now, the only indication you get that Terminal B has available parking is a small right arrow over at the entrance to Central Parking.

Who will be in charge of culture?

Fort Culture - What's at stake in the fight for digital rights.

Social bookmarking for news

On the Berkman mailing list, I saw that Brian Del Vecchio posted about CommonTimes a new social bookmarking site for news that his friend Jeff Reifman has built.

CommonTimes.

New cellphone for grandma?

Hey mom, this might be a good cellphone choice for you if the pre-paid minutes don't expire.


New cellphone puts grandpa on speed dial:
"Firefly has found that the simplified device has drawn interest from people well outside the target market, including an 81-year-old grandmother in Minnesota and fashion-minded 20-something Manhattan women who like a weekend phone tiny enough to fit in a clutch purse. Families of adults with physical or developmental disabilities have also signed up."
Engadget review.

Firefly cell phone roduct listing at Target.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Become a beautiful geek

Chris Pirillo has a voicemail from a show producer about how to become a Beauty and The Geek Contestant.

CBS - Rock Star


One of my favorite shows is Rock Star: INXS.

I think I even like it better than American Idol. Here we have experienced performers and they are singing songs that I really like.

Brooke Burke is a great host, Ty is an amazing performer, and I like how Jordis takes comand of the stage.

J.D. and MiG are the other two I enjoy watching.

My mom wondered why I didn't post today

My mom was wondering why I didn't post this morning.

;-)

The cable went out in Jamaica Plain today, so I was without both cable TV or internet all day.

My friends Ravi and Sonia also had no cable, so I figurerd that it was a widespread problem.

I called the support line and they scheduled a call.

Then this afternoon, I called back and they knew that it was a major outage in JP and that they were working on it.

Now it's back and I'm back.

It was a pretty good thing to be offline though since it gave me a chance to get through my backlog of unread emails and unwatched videos.

I also finished up editing of a major video project I've been doing this summer! Next step is making hte DVD. Yay!

Where to find video blogs: A list

Here's an answer to the question, "Where can I find some videoblogs to watch?"

Vlogs I watch:
http://stevegarfield.kssx.com/blog/_WebPages/VlogsIWatch.html

Snap shot of recent vlogs:
http://videoblogging-universe.com/

Browse vlogs online:
http://mefeedia.com/feeds/

vlog directories:
http://vlogdir.com/
http://www.antisnottv.net/directory.php
http://vlogmap.org/

Thursday, July 21, 2005

podsafe music network


podsafe music network is live.

Check it out.
links for 2005-07-21

Beer of the week

My beer of the week is Samuel Adams 3 Weiss Men.

You can't beat a Belgian style weiss beer on a hot day.

It's the specialty beer on tap right now at Doyle's in Jamaica Plain.

It's the podcast show with Andrew and C.C.

C.C. Chapman and Andrew Grumet will be talking about podcasting at tonight's Berkman meeting. The show starts at 7pm at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Icerocket => Blogscour

blogscour.com
links for 2005-07-20

Remarkable things blogging can do for people who are older than 30

Ronni Bennett writes Blogging To Enrich Your Life:
"We bloggers are connected to one another in a whole new way that is no less friendship for being physically separated. We matter to each other. We encourage and support one another. We learn from and are entertained by one another."

Where to set up a video blog

Here's my answer to people who are looking for places to host their video blogs:

The free option is to host your files with Our Media.

freevlog.org tells you how.

There's also a tutorial on compressing video for the web over there.

videoblogging.info has lots of good info too.

feevlog.com is a site I'm putting together about paid blogging sites...

Eric Rice :: Videoblogging the Stratosphere

Eric Rice takes Boeing's Connextion One demo flight around the summit of Mt. Rainier with Robert Scoble, Phil Torrone and Chris Pirillo.

Here's a link to his video.

My inboxes are overflowing


I'm kinda behind in reading my mail. Not my regular mail which is up to date, but mail which I have filtered into folders as it arrives.

The folder with the most unread mail right now is from the Yahoo! videoblogging group.

1,081 unread messages.

I go in there from time to time and read the most recent, but I'm missing whole topic threads. Back in the good old days, a few months ago, I could keep up.

Now, we've got 100's of new members joining each month. That's great, but I wonder how they feel with so many messages flying by.

I've also fallen behind watching videos.

My unwatched video list is just like my unread email list, only I've got unwatched videos in three places, TiVo, FireANT, and Akimbo.

We're at the very start of the citizen media revolution. How will we be able to filter and watch all this new video content that's being produced?

Nationwide, no drug matches the threat posed by marijuana

Your Government Is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana - NORML.

Moveable Type: generate RSS feeds by category

Here's a tutorial on how to generate RSS feeds by category for Moveable Type.

Has anyone tried this with TypePad?

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Blogs, blogs, blogs

Blog software comparison chart.

From the entries listed on this chart, I use Blogger, TypePad Pro, Blogware, and WordPress.

I like htem all for different reasons.

No Lines, No Blogs


I woke up to find all my feeds are missing from Bloglines.

Oh oh, I'm sure they are working on it. I've contacted them to be sure.

Now I'll have to go read the Boston Globe. :-(

Update:
Bloglines is fixed. Whew.

It's the Steve and Chuck Show

Check out the sessions that Chuck and I are going to be in at the Wood s Hole Film Festival, Xwhaves:

SUNDAY, July 31:

SHORTwhaves
Woods Hole Community Hall, 8PM - 10PM

A digital melange of shorts, video blogs and podcasts featuring a discussion of the use of short form digital content as a means of conveying story. Featuring Steve Garfield Boston Correspondent, (RocketBoom.com) and videoblogger (stevegarfield.com) and Chuck Olsen (BLOGUMENTARY) and videoblogger (MNSTORIES.COM) who will share tips and talk about the video blogging experience.

MONDAY, August 1:

Xwhaves DISTRIBUTIONS
Woods Hole Community Hall, 2PM - 4:30PM

Where will the DIGITAL wave take us?
Moderated by Tony Kahn of WGBH Boston
Citizen journalism, personal media, video blogging and the convergence of digital storytelling methods meet an new era of novel, inexpensive worldwide distribution: An active, open discussion about the ever-changing landscape of how content gets delivered.
Panelists:
- Dave Winer, one of the fathers of the blogosphere and the coder responsible for RSS and web-based citizen journalist movement that it spawned
- Bob Lyons, executive producer, and Director of Radio and New Media Initiatives at WGBH/BOSTON where Bob oversees Web and streaming services for WGBH's radio, Television and Cable outlets
- Sam Weisman, Director, (DICKIE ROBERTS, FORMER CHILD STAR; GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE; THE BERNIE MAC SHOW)
- Steve Garfield, Boston Corespondent, RocketBoom.com and videoblogger (stevegarfield.com)
- Chuck Olsen, documentary filmmaker (BLOGUMENTARY) and videoblogger (MNSTORIES.COM)

Monday, July 18, 2005

NashvillesNews is broken

NashvillesNews is s new citizen journalism site that still needs a lot of work. I commend their efforts, but am dissapointed in their openness to getting feedback on what they are doing.

I tried to send them feedback, via the site feedback form, and got an email back saying you need to be registered with their googlegroup to send feedback. There is no indication on the form that you need to be registered.

I added feedback to their Wiki, it got deleted without a reply.

There is no contact info on the website. If there is, I'd like to know about it.

Since my feedback has been rejected, deleted and ignored, I'll post it here in hopes that it will be listened to.
From: Steve Garfield
Date: July 17, 2005 12:33:39 PM EDT
To: distribution-nashvillesnews@googlegroups.com
Subject: Feedback: - NashvillesNews linking back to me

-- The following message was sent using the feedback page --

Hi,
Thanks for linking to me but I've got some suggestions.

Please take them in a constructive and friendly way.

1. Don't copy my whole post.
The way of the web and linking is to mention my post and provide a link back so people can come to my site and read the whole post. If you are going to link to me, you can use an excerpt of approximately 10-20%, but pleae do not copy the entire post.

2. Please provide a link back to my post.
You link back to my blog via a graphic, but not to the post that you have copied. Please copy the permalink and link back to that for reasons stated above.

Something like:
via [ Off On A Tangent ]
That way would be a lot clearer as to where you got the content from than just posting a graphic with no real indication where the content came from.


3. Don't use graphics that I am hosting on my site on your site.
If you want to use my graphics, make a copy and host them yourself. Linking directly to my graphic costs me money. Also, you are resizing the large graphic to a smaller size. Might as well resize it yourself.

Other things:
1. Here's the post I'm talkign about:

links for 2005-07-15 Grassroots the Movie : Howa...

Submitted by media feed on Sat, 07/16/2005 - 8:27pm.
links for 2005-07-15
I hope that someone from NashvilleNews gets to see this and improves the site.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

links for 2005-07-17

New-decentralized-distributed-think

Jeff Jarvis writes, Made for the distributed world:
"In new-decentralized-distributed-think, you recognize that people will write about what they want to write about where they want to write about it and if you're smart, you'll find ways to take advantage of all that great information and aggregate it and and aggregate audience around it, sending traffic out to all those writers on the edge because readers know they can come to you find find it all.

This is a model for the future of media. There is tons of great stuff to be had out there; it's impossible to find and keep up with it all; search won't do the trick; tags and feeds will help. The key is not to collect the content and traffic -- the old, centralized media way -- but instead to collect enough information about that good stuff to help people find it when they want and to help support the people who create it all."

Why do I videoblog? Part I - The Long Tail

I post video on my blog for a number of reasons.

One of the most important is my mom.

You know how mom's like to hear from their kids?

My mom likes to get phone calls to hear what I'm doing.

Well, she used to like getting regular phone calls.

Now she likes to see regular video blog posts.


Yup.

Check out what I was doing over the past few weeks.

Last week I was at Macworld and made a bunch of videos about it:


David Pogue Interview, Macworld Boston 2005, Geek My Ride II: Macworld, Drive+Play, H2O Playlist.

Before that my wife and I made hamburgers on the grill and worked on my front porch:


The Carol and Steve Show: Episode 28 - Burgers and Beans, Part 2, The Carol and Steve Show: Episode 27 - Burgers and Beans, Part 1, The Carol and Steve Show: Episode 29 - The Porch, Part 1.

And before that I went out to Seattle for a conference:


Gnomedex: Seattle 2005, Video: Gnomedex - Exciting People, Video: Gnomedex - Bay Auditorium.

My videos told her the story of my life much better than I could ever do over the phone. She reads my text blog, listens to my podcasts, but videos are the thing she likes the most.

There is no way that I could ever give her the full story of what I've been doing and experiencing by talking on the phone. Even if I talked to her for 24 hours straight!

Video tells the story best... for my mom.

Check out: The Long Tail

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Blogger, TypePad, Blogware, Wordpress?

Time to check: Are you using the right blogging tool?
Yup!

Display Amazon Ads on your site

AzAdz - Because Simplicity is the Key:
"Fast, FREE and Easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display Amazon unobtrusive product ads on their website's content pages and earn money. "
via [ Problogger ] by way of [ Scoble ]

flower


flower by stevegarfield, uploaded from flickr.

It's a cool looking flower in our garden

links for 2005-07-16

Videoblogging is like paper

Raymond Kristiansen writes about videoblogging, Yahoo! Groups : videoblogging Messages : Message 17139 of 17141:
"Videoblogging is a medium, like paper. You can use the paper to write your personal journal, or you can write constitutions for countries on it. You can write with only the intended audience of yourself, or you can write on it and put it in a bottle and place it on the ocean."

Casting posts

Castpost: Broadcast Your Video & Audio Clips.

I'm trying it out.

They can automatically post a video to your blog, or produce HTML that you can copy and paste, like I've done here.

via [ unmediated ]

Not to be confused with videoblogcast.

Video: Billy West


ign.com has a great interview monologue with Billy West [ Video ] .
Great news everyone, they're making a Futurama movie!

Watch this video and hear about Billy's sad beginnings as a drunk and druggie. He's turning that sad story into a TV show with ugly puppets and calling it Billy Bastard.

Notes about this video.
1. They call it a video blog, but it's not since it's not a video in a blog.
2. It's best to turn off autofocus when shooting someone sitting in a chair.
3. If Billy west had a true video blog, with an RSS 2.0 feed, I'd subscribe.

BilllyWest.com - Official Site.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Vlogs I Watch

Here are some of the vlogs I watch.
links for 2005-07-15

Swordfish

US CODE: Title 50,??426. Definitions: "covert agent".

ecto supports titles in Blogger

I just downloaded the new ecto and see that Blogger made a change where ecto can now post to Blogger with titles.

Yay!

Kula support forum (ecto, 1001) :: View topic - Title Behavior:
"Blogger has switched their API. The old API didn't allow for titles, the new one does. To switch, follow these directions:

1. launch ecto if it wasn't already running
2. open the Account Manager (Windows->Accounts from the menu)
3. if you already had a Blogger account, select it from the list and press the 'Edit' toolbar icon, otherwise press the 'Add' toolbar icon
4. set the 'Access Point:' field to 'https://www.blogger.com/atom/' and the 'System:' to 'Atom'
5. save your edit or let the configuration process finish
6. close the account manager
7. open the Entries and Drafts list (Window->Entries & Drafts->Bring To Front)
8. press the Refresh button in the bottom left of this window to retrieve a list of recent entries from your Blogger account (if it doesn't already happen automatically)

This'll let you post with titles."

Look for the red one

Ronni Bennett, long time car-less NYC resident is moving to Maine and had to rent a car to get around.


She writes about her experience in Auto Inconvenience:
"In all these decades, I have ignored cars so completely that when a rental agent asks what kind I want, my answer is “red” so I have a slight chance of finding it in a parking lot. Aside from VW bugs, they all look alike to me – Beemer or Toyota - much to the chagrin of friends who, over the years, have wanted me to be impressed with their increasingly upscale or “cool” purchases."
Sounds like a red New Beetle is the car for you!

Unusual Soups for the Soul

Bill Shein of Reason Gone Mad has some Unusual Soups for the Soul including "'A Thin, Flavorless Tofu Broth for the Vegetarian Soul'"

Check out the rest.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Video: David Pogue Interview


Steve Garfield's Video Blog: David Pogue Interview
Here's my laugh a minute interview with David Pogue, NY Times columnist and author of 'Mac OS X The Missing Manual'."
links for 2005-07-14

Video: Macworld Boston 2005


Steve Garfield's Video Blog: Macworld Boston 2005:
"I walked the Macworld Boston 2005 show floor looking for interesting people to talk with."

Man Cleans Freezer, Film at 11

Wired News: Man Cleans Freezer, Film at 11:
"Fortunately, many vloggers are eager to bring more voices (and faces) to the vlogging party. Vloggers frequently comment on one another's videos and offer advice and feedback. Freevlog provides a helpful tutorial -- complete with step-by-step video instructions, natch. We've summarized some of Freevlog's tips."
I'm compiling a list of paid video blogging services too over at FeeVlog.com.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Where in the world are the vloggers?


Refer to the World Vlog Map to see where the video bloggers are.

My Date With Drew - 30 days - $1,100 - 1 date

My Date With Drew: In Theatres August 5th.

Are you the guy in the BBS Documentary?

So this guy walks up to me at Macworld and says, "Are you the guy in the BBS Documentary? I was watching it last night and saw you."

Yeah. That's me.

Blogging + Video = Vlogging



Katie Dean writes for Wired, Blogging + Video = Vlogging:
Some vlog content is even making the leap to television. Akimbo offers its subscribers the ability to subscribe to several vlogs, in addition to its other video-on-demand programs.

"In the same list as CNN and the BBC is Steve Garfield's Video Blog. Everything is equal," said Steve Garfield, who runs his own vlog and put together a vlog reality show with his wife called The Carol and Steve Show. "It's so exciting."

Garfield said that companies could also use vlogs to assist customers. For instance, a recent Carol and Steve Show featured the couple grilling burgers. Steve said he received several notes from inexperienced grillmeisters who planned to save the video and use it as a grilling guide.

"I'm like, hello? Hello? Weber?" Garfield said.

"As more and more people figure out how do put video on the web, you'll get a lot more stories bubbling up," Garfield said.
Thanks Katie!

This is a great article on vlogging.

You got it all right.

You captured the flavor of what's going on.

We've seen a lot of articles on vlogging recently and your article has done the best job in capturing the excitement and personalities behind what is going on and also gave people a glimpse of what they can expect in the future.

Wired News: The Vlog World's Greatest Hits

David Cohn writes Wired News: The Vlog World's Greatest Hits:
"Vlogs, the video-infused offspring of blogs, allow anyone to star in their own television show, from news satire to silly sitcom situations, from political commentary to outright zaniness. There are hundreds of vlogs out there, and more launch every day. Here are some of our favorites:

"
Thanks David!

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Audio: Inside Mac Radio


Digital Production Buzz.

Digital Production Buzz AUDIO (buzz_05_07_12.m4a) [ m4a ] recorded live from Macworld Boston 2005.
Live from MacWorld Expo Boston. Michael Oh - TechSuperpowers; Melissa Logan - La Cie; Steve Garfield - "Geek my Ride"; Daniel Berube and Jonathan Goldman - Woods Hole Film Festival.
In this interview with Philip Hodgetts I talk about podcasting, videoblogging, ourmedia.org, freevlog.org, Akimbo, Broadcast Machine and the democratization of video distribution.

My part starts about 21 minutes in...

Video: Geek My Ride II: Macworld


Steve Garfield's Video Blog: Geek My Ride II: Macworld.
I edited this from the backseat of the Lexus and uploaded it from the show floor.

Be an Extra

So I met this guy in a bar tonight and he asked me if I wanted to be an extra in Overture - The Movie:
Extras Needed

SHOOT DATE:
July 14 (6pm to 9pm)

CHECK IN LOCATION:
Lenox Hotel, Lobby at 5:30pm.

SHOOT LOCATION:
Lenox Hotel, Dome Room (2nd Floor)

DRESS CODE:
As the scene we are shooting is for a character who is putting on a fundraiser for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops we require that you dress
to impress. (Please dress as if you are going to a wedding)
It's not for a movie that will play in a movie theatre, but you'll get a $50 gift certificate to any of the restaurants at the Lenox Hotel for doing it.

You might even learn something about movie making.

Video: The Porch, Part 1


Steve Garfield's Video Blog: The Carol and Steve Show: Episode 29 - The Porch, Part 1

Prudential Center Parking


Prudential Center Parking by stevegarfield, uploaded from flickr.

You can't drive into the garage in front of the Pru anymore from Boylston Street.

Even though the sign says to go through the traffic light, don't do that.

Take your first right into the new parking entrance.

And even though it says $20 for EVENT PARKING, that really means that it's going to cost $29, since you won't be going in or leaving within their restricted timeframes.

Popcast


Popcast - Open Access Internet TV.

Can you guys check this out and report back?

I'm off to Macworld for the day.

H2O Playlist


Steve Garfield's Video Blog: H2O Playlist

Video: Drive+Play


Steve Garfield's Video Blog: Drive+Play.