Getting Free Videos Delivered Like Pizza

Eric Rice writes The RSS is like pizza thing v.2: Participatory vs. Not:

Sometimes, I don't want to participate. I want someone just to give me content. Let me sit my narrow little ass on the couch on veg out to MTV. Yes. And why do I spend so much time dealing with the playlists that are fed to me by some program director at XM Radio? Maybe it's because it's a one-click interface. My iPod is bulging at the seams with podcasts.... my hard drives are overflowing with videoblogs, video podcasts, etc.

Sometimes, I want to be entertained. Sometimes, I want to experience something outside of my content zone. Sometimes, I want to BE INSIDE a walled garden."

I replied:

Yeah.

I have my subscriptions in Bloglines, FireAnt, Akimbo, TiVo, and believe me, that's a lot of content to watch.

I've also got iPodderX downloading some podcasts.

I want to listen to and watch all that stuff.

But there aren't enough hours in the day to comsume all this media.

I'm trying to help, by compiling my favorite video blog posts in Vlog Soup, but last week most of the content was from my favorite vloggers.

Their content is great and it was the best of the most recent videos I had watched, but some viewers want to see other stuff.

They want to order off the menu.

So do I.

I've got to work now at finding other content that isn't on the menu.

It's like when we were on vacation last week, I didn't have a TiVo. So I sat in front of the TV and surfed. Haven't done that in a very long time. Usually we just sit down and watch what's in our Now Playing queue on TiVo.

Guess what? I found some fun TV shows, namely the Food Channel, that I really liked.

So I totally get your point.

Bloglines and Pizza

Here is Andrew Baron's valuable collection of personal/rocketboom feeds.

I can't even keep up with my Bloglines feeds.

Now I find this treasure trove of linky goodness.

Independent News

Independent World Television.

Podcast: Red Sox Final Game

Carol and Steve hook up a microphone and record their thoughts during the final inning of the October 7th, 2005 Red Sox game in this special:

Carol and Steve Red Sox Podcast [ mp3 ]

Evolution

500.000,000 years in 50 seconds flat by Guinness beer.

Mmm... evolution.
via [ Rocketboom ]

Wikipedia deleted me

I am nobody.

The Wikipedians have decided to delete me.

Here's their discussion:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Steve Garfield - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"If one day Steve achieves some sort of national prominence then he can have a Wikipedia entry."

Stupid Wikipedia.

Best 100 Blogs

CNET News.com's Blog 100:

"With more than 14 million blogs in existence and another 80,000 being created each day, how is a person supposed to find the ones worth reading?"

CNET news.com has it's list of 100 blogs that you should be reading.

Since I read most of my blogs with a newsreader, it's kinds fun to click on blogs from their list and see online clips of blog posts.

Their interface allows you to jump around, while still being able to get back where you started to continue searching their list of 100 blogs.

The other thing I like on there is the river of news on the front page, where they display a list on the right hand side of highlights from the top 100 blogs.

The only thing I'd suggest is that they add my blogs to the list.

Attributes of a classic Web 2.0 company

Seth's Blog: Tim O'reilly on Web 2.0.

A few points I like:
Play
Granular addressability of content
Small pieces loosely joined

This is wrong: Bank of America

Click for larger image of entry area.

Bank of America allows you to transfer money to other Bank of America Accounts. That's a good thing.

But, it's not intuitive.

I tried entering my ATM card number in the entry field three times and finally figured out that despite the bold instructions, they only really want you to enter the last eight digits.

That is a poor user interface. If they only want the last eight digits, that's what they should ask for.

Like this:

Your ATM or Check Card Information

As an additional safeguard, we ask that you provide the last eight digits of your ATM or Check Card number in order to set up a transfer account.

* LAST EIGHT DIGITS of your ATM or Check Card Number: [........]
(Please enter in one of the following
formats:
xxxx xxxx, xxxx-xxxx, or xxxxxxxx)

Update:
The Bank of America responds to an email that I sent them regarding the above, with a Turning Test.

My guess, it's a computer response since they do not address the subject of my email, a suggestion to improve the user interface.

The bank's poor excuse for customer service is in the comments.

Free Online Video Clips

Amanda Watlington presented Search Engine Optimization at last night's Berkman Thursday meeting.

It was very helpful to learn how the search engines choose which sites to list in what order.

I've got to make sure that people know that Steve Garfield's Video Blog offers free online video clips and that FeeVlog gives you resources to help you learn how to video blog.

TRIVIA QUESTION:
Which site comes up first when you key in "click here" in a Google Search?

My Video Blog Enters the Top 10

Frankwatching adds Steve Garfield's Video Blog to his Top 10 Feeds for fun list.

Thanks Frank. It's an honor to be included in the list with my hero Dilbert.

Rocketboom's vlog toolkit

Rocketboom Online Video Tool List.

Video: Vlog Soup: Episode 5

Steve Garfield's Video Blog: Vlog Soup: Episode 5:

"In this edition of Vlog Soup, your video tour around the vlogosphere, we visit some old friends and some new ones."

Shopgirl is the new Garden State

Shopgirl -- The Official Movie Website

Video Search Engine

Truveo Video Search

Vlogmap New

VlogMap Adds Feed Of Recently Added Vlogs.

SupaCam No Audio Fix

VideoHelp.com Forum Archive - DV6 Supacam and avi's:

"I bought the same Supacam DV6 at MacWorld Boston and experienced the same problem with no sound. I searched all of the forums and VersionTracker trying to find tools to convert the .AVI file so that the sound would work. Finally discovered a tool that works.

DivX WMA Converter

This tool takes the original .AVI file from the camera and 'fixes' the sound, saving the result in a 'fixed' .AVI file. You can then open the 'fixed' .AVI file in QT Pro 7 and play it and the audio now plays correctly with the video. "

Visit Web 2.0

The Vicarious Web 2.0 Conference: Day One.

Finnish scifi parody

Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning.

What's new online?

Users of reddit submit content to the site, which other people read and rank.

Bird-human-human. That's bad.

Feral Scholar: Bird Flu - Possible Catastrophe:

"Fifty-four human deaths don’t sound many. In fact, bird flu has so far proved very poor at spreading to humans. Almost all of those who died had been in close daily contact with infected chickens and ducks.

But that may change. Viruses constantly mutate. Already H5N1 has mutated into a form that can pass from bird to human. Next it may mutate again into a form that can pass from human to human.

If it does, the scenario is terrifying. A new and deadly flu epidemic would break out. It would spread around the world in a matter of weeks. No-one would have any natural resistance to the virus.

Tens, perhaps hundreds of millions would be hospitalised. Anywhere between two and fifty million people could die.

The world is overdue for a new “flu pandemic”. Many scientists now say it is not a matter of if, but when. No one has died in China from this latest outbreak. But that is no reason to feel reassured."

Upcoming Boston Area Bloggie Events

Here's a recap of events that you might be interested in. It's a busy couple of weeks. The Harvard meeting conflicts with the Lowell meeting. I'm planning on hitting each of these events except for Lowell as I've already made plans to go to Harvard.

Hope to see you at one or more of these events.

Tonight - Wednesday night 10/5/05:

THE TEXTFILES.COM RUMSPRINGA

Wednesday, October 5th, 2005
News Restaurant, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 7:30pm - ?

The idea is simple: assemble, in real life, some of the people who use the textfiles.com site or its related sites (bbsdocumentary.com and all the *.textfiles.com sub-sites). Have it in a really nice place, in a function room set aside for the occasion. Let the chips fall where they may, conversation-wise, but have on the agenda a couple of short (30 minutes or less) speeches about interesting subjects for people to enjoy while having a drink or eating. Treat people with respect, and get treated with respect. Meet, learn, gain some insight, have some fun.
---
Thursday night 10/6/05:

Blogger meeting at Harvard:

Every Thursday evening we have meetings for weblog-writers at 7PM at Berkman Center, 1587 Mass Ave, Cambridge MA.

This week: Amanda Watlington on blogs and search engines and stuff.
---
Thursday night 10/6/05:

"Meet the Vloggers - Lowell"

6-8 p.m.
Lowell Telecommunications
235 Market Street
Lowell, MA

Vloggers intersect with Lowell Telecommunications public access television folks who've agreed to critique our introduction to videoblogging presentation. At 9 pm, we walk to nearby 119 Gallery where local mediamakers will VJ their videoworks.
---
Sunday night 10/9/05:

"Meet the Vloggers" Cambridge, MA 10/9/05 - 6 p.m.
6B Chester Street
Cambridge, MA

Pleased and proud to announce the inaugural instance of the Cambridge, MA Meet the Vloggers / Vlogger Meetup event.

Serra and Mike of http://headsoff.blogspot.com host.

In association with Road Node 101.
---
Wednesday night 10/12/05:

Monthly NE Podcasters meet-up. It will be held Wednesday, October 12 at John Harvard's in Shoppers World in Framingham, 7pm to 9pm. Podcasters and listeners are welcome to attend.

Live Internet Television

The ManiaTV! Network actually plays music videos and has live DJ's that you can chat with.

Watch actors discuss the news

NewzViewz has a panel of actors that talk about the stories of the day, every day in front of a green screen then on a panel.

The new nickel has no 5

Change for Change: No 5 in Five Cents.

Six Apart Status: Degraded

Six Apart Status Weblog:

"10.04.2005
TypePad Blogs

Some sites are currently displaying a Not Found error. We are working on this currently."

They are working on it.

Brightcove Emerges

Giving video producers a channel to their audience - International Herald Tribune has Saul Hansell's The New York Times article:

"'We are trying to create a new kind of online media distribution business that has the scale of Google, an Amazon or an eBay,' Allaire said. That may be a bit of bravado, but BrightCove has impressed some big companies, including Viacom, which is experimenting with its service.

'BrightCove is coming to the market at just the right time,' said Josh Bernoff, a Forrester Research analyst. 'Look at what Google has done to the world of Web pages - bloggers and others make money by having Google put ads on their sites. BrightCove may be able to do the same for video programming.'"

Wednesday - NY Times, Thursday - Web 2.0

Examples of Brightcove enabled sites:
StrandVenice.com - A new web based episodic show by the creator of the Blair Witch Project.

Oxygen - Oh! Baby

Coming soon:
Steve Garfield powered by Brightcove.

Carol and Steve in Austria's Wienerin

Another interview request just came in.

This time from Waltraud Hable, editor at Wienerin, Austria´s largest women's magazine, for a two-pager on video blogs, featuring Rocketboom and some vlogs, that are updated on a regular basis.

They are going to feature The Carol and Steve Show.

Since it'll all be in German, here are the questions and my answers:

1. How much time do you guys spend on your show per week (there´s shooting, there´s editing, there´s probably brainstorming what to do next...)?

Shooting takes place while we are doing the usual things we do on the weekend so we don't count that as work.

Editing usually takes a few hours.

2. What are the reactions of your family/co-workers/aquaintances?

My mother loves the Carol and Steve Show. She emails me when an episode doesn't go up on Monday wanting to know what's wrong.

Friends who are internet savvy like the show while there are some others who don't care.

3. Do people in the Boston area recognize you when they see you in the streets? (I guess you guys attracted a lot of attention in local media ...?)

We have been recognized a few times. Twice in local restaurants and once in an Apple Computer store. it was pretty exciting to be recognized and the people were really nice about it.

It makes me think that it could happen, not just in Boston, but anywhere in the world.

4. Are you afraid to give out to much private information over the net? (People see how you live, how your apartment looks like, what car you drive?) If no, were you afraid in the very beginning of your show that you could lose your privacy?

Putting yourself out there on the net is a big decision. In the end, what I've come to realize that by putting ourselves out there, we've gotten tens times as much back.

After each episode I get lots of comments and emails.

Connections are being made across the miles. I consider some of the people that I've met through The show to be close friends now. Some even have their own husband and wife shows.

At Home With The Honey's with Chuck and Lori

Cleaning the freezer - Clint and Mel Sharp

Living with Fallas from Los Angeles

Travelvlog
A good example of a well edited video blog from a couple showing their travels:


Video allows us to make a personal connection. It really does make the world a smaller place.

5. Did you get more active in your free time, since you know: there´s a show to do, we gotta go out, experience something...?

For the most part no. What you see is the things that we normally would do. What taking video does is enhance our experience. With the video camera we might explore further or meet more people.

6. do you sometimes catch yourself acting differently on camera, like that you developed a "show-character" and a "private character?"

Not at all. There are no 'show-characters'. This is real reality TV. From the start that's what we wanted to do.

7. What do you regard to be too private to put on the show?

That's private. ;-)

8. Do you ever fight regarding the show (i. e. it can get quite stressful to produce it on time, sometimes one isn´t in the mood for having a camera in his/her face...)?

We never fight. In 18 years of marriage we've never had a fight.

Hello Germany!

You get Akimbo, I get iPod

Hello friends.

I just got this email asking me to tell you about a special from Akimbo. Check it out. If you decide to get one, please include my email address so I get an iPod Shuffe.



Thanks.

1. Tell a friend about Akimbo and when he or she purchases the Akimbo Player and service you'll receive an Apple iPod Shuffle (512MB)*.

2. To protect your friends privacy, copy and paste the below text in an email to your friend. Make sure you include the link below.

Because I care about your TV enjoyment, I'm sending you this special friend-of-Akimbo discount: Get 50% off the price of the Akimbo Player (the set-top box that stores your shows), and three months of the Akimbo Service* for FREE. If this isn't incentive enough, Akimbo will also give you a 30-day money-back guarantee.

What is Akimbo? Akimbo is the first and largest video-on-demand service that delivers programs over your broadband Internet connection directly to your TV set. Is that cool, or what? Akimbo features well-known channels like A&E, National Geographic, BBC, Turner Classic Movies, and the Food Network, as well as channels you just can't get on cable or satellite, like IFILM (short films, music videos and movie trailers), GolfSpan (golf tips), Moviebear (short and foreign films) and Pan-O-Rama (Caribbean music and travelogs) all on demand.

What's with the generosity? Glad I pretended you asked. Besides having someone to talk to about all the great shows on Akimbo, if you purchase the Akimbo Player** in this special deal, I get an iPod Shuffle (512MB). You know how much I want one. And you can get it for me, free, just by enhancing your own enjoyment of media while staying on the cutting edge of technology. But, hey, no peer pressure! It's all good!

So look into Akimbo! And when you purchase the Player, make sure you enter promo code RAF05 and my email address on the order form. If you don't enter my email address I don't get my good friend gift. And you do NOT want to see me mad!

Looking forward to discussing the great lineup of unique on-demand shows on Akimbo!

Click here for more information

If the link above doesn't work, just enter the following URL in a new web browser window: http://www.akimbo.com/landing_refer.html

* Akimbo Service: premium services are not included.
** Akimbo Player: must be activated for 30 days to before gift can be redeemed.

3. Your friend will be asked to enter your email address at the time of purchase so you can receive credit.

Note: My email adress for this promotion -

4. Your friend must enter promo code RAF05 to receive the Akimbo Player for the Refer-a-Friend special offer of $99.99.

5. You’ll receive your special THANK YOU gift (an Apple iPod Shuffle (512MB) after your friend activates the Akimbo Service* for 30 days.

*The Akimbo Player and Akimbo Service must be activated for 30 days.

The New Rocketboom Theme

Here's the full version of the new Rocketboom.com theme, composed by Andrew Baron:

New Rocketboom Theme - 10c6.MP3 (audio/mpeg Object) [ mp3 ]

Menino vs. Hennigan on TV again, and again, and again

The voters deserve to hear Mayor Menino debate Maura Hennigan.

It's not going to happen.

WGBH is going to run the Town Meeting again for those of you who missed it the first time. Thank you WGBH for doing this.

Here are the details from an email I just received from Regina Daley at WGBH:

Dear Steve,

Many thanks for including a link to the Pod and Web casts of the broadcast in your 10/1 blog entry. I thought you and your readers might also like to know that WGBH is offering several encore presentations of the broadcast to maximize access in the community:

Sunday, October 9 at 2pm and 7pm on WGBH World (Comcast 209)
Monday, October 10 at 7pm on WGBH 2
Monday, October 10 at 11pm on WGBH World
Tuesday, October 11 at 12midnight on WGBH 2 (late Monday night, early Tuesday morning)
Tuesday, October 11 at 5am and 11am on WGBH World

It also will air again on:

Tuesday, November 1 (a week prior to the election) at 7-8pm on WGBH 2.

Thank you so much,
--
Regina Daley
Promotion Assistant
Media Relations
WGBH
617-300-5318
regina_daley]at[wgbh.org

Tools, Tools, Tools, Tools, Flickr Tools

Quick Online Tips: The Great Flickr Tools Collection.

mixOmatic a podcast at podOmatic

podOmatic podcast portal: Make it, get it, go.

Citizen Media that KQED likes

KQED features Online On Demand Media.

Why were the streets sedate?

Streets calm after win, playoff clinch
Heavy security blankets Fenway
By Suzanne Smalley and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff | October 3, 2005

Under a glorious autumn sun, a well-behaved Fenway crowd yesterday celebrated the Red Sox playoff-clinching win over the New York Yankees, the streets around the ballpark kept sedate and orderly by a massive police presence.

Are Suzanne and Raja assuming that police presence kept the streets orderly?

Bush chooses Dratch for Supreme Court

All I could think of when Bush announced his choice for Supreme Court was Rachel Dratch.

Waiting expectantly for Saturday night.

Chronicle of a tragedy

Operation Eden:

"A personal chronicle of what hurricane Katrina
has done to my poor proud people."

via [ Buzzmachine ]

Sunday Morning Intelligent Talk Show

Watch Dr. Paul Myers discuss Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design on evolvetv.tv.

Best-Reviewed Reviews Ever

Gelf Magazine: 2005's Best-Reviewed Steve Carell Movie

Sunday Morning: Duncan Black interviews Dr Paul Myers

Steve Garfield's Video Blog: evolvetv.tv: The Issue - Show 2 Preview:

On Sunday October 2nd Duncan Black interviews Dr Paul Myers on the ongoing effort to inject religious dogma into our children's science classes.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Menino vs. Hennigan

Town Meeting replay: Menino vs. Hennigan.

Maura just called and asked me to watch.

Where is The Digital Wave Taking Us?

A podcast of the panel discussion XWhaves: Where is The Digital Wave Taking Us? from the Woods Hole Film Festival, recorded by the WGBH Forum Network, on Monday August 1, 2005:

Xwhaves, a new component of the Woods Hole Film Festival, offers filmmakers an opportunity to reflect on the impact of new technological developments on the shape and nature of filmmaking. Join members of the new media revolution in an active, open discussion of citizen journalism, personal media, video blogging and the convergence of digital storytelling methods with a new era of novel, inexpensive worldwide distribution and other aspects of the ever-changing landscape of how content gets delivered."

Jonathan Wells, executive producer, Investigative Unit, WFXT
Bob Lyons, director, radio and new media initiatives, WGBH
Sam Weisman, television director, filmmaker
Steve Garfield, correspondent, RocketBoom.com
Chuck Olsen, documentary filmmaker
Tony Khan, moderator, host, producer, WGBH Radio

This session gets off to a good start when one of the organizers, Dan Berube asks, "Steve, do you know where Chuck is?"

Direct mp3 download.

Mentioned in this podcast:
Steve Garfield's Video Blog: Army Birthday
Chuck Olsen's Blogumentary
Josh Leo - Scottish Highlands Video
FreeVlog

WordPress.com

I'm testing out the new WordPress.com. This differs from the version that you upload and install on your own host, WordPress.org.

It's sweet.

So far I've seen that it has a few features that Blogger does not.

- Categories
- Static Pages
- Statistics
- Comment moderation
- Blogrolls
- Post password protection

Working with WordPress.com feels fluid. If you'd like to try it out, go to WordPress.com and ask for an invite.

Mirror + Chest + Cat

Mirror + Chest + Cat by Eric Rice, uploaded from flickr.

Eric Rice goes Wabi-sabi.

Find good stuff with filters

Loomia.

Find-A-Human

Find-A-Human -- Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Phone System Shortcuts (USA)
via [ Rocketboom ]

Angry Steve

Chris Ritke of 49Media

Bre Pettis interviews Chris Ritke of 49Media.

I enjoyed watching this video.

Chris also talks about his recording equipment at the end of the interview:

iriver ifp899
Sony Ecm-ds70p

The Standard Report

Got an interview request from The Standard Report about my video blog.

Here are their questions and my answers:

Name of video blog:

Steve Garfield's Video Blog

Where are you located?

Boston

What made you start vlogging?

I've been blogging since 1997 and on January 1, 2004 I decided to make a New Years resolution to figure out how to easlily combine video and blogging.

People had been posting video to the web for a long time, but including it in a blog post hadn't really been done.

Do you have a job outside of this video venture?

No.

How do you post/edit/ create your vlog?

I record video using either a Canon S400 or GL/2. I edit my videos using Final Cut Pro.

What blogs do you visit/what inspires you?

I use a program called FireAnt which aggregates and automatically delivers new videos to me each day. I subscribe to 201 video bloggers. They all inspire me. Some by sharing personal stories in a creative way and others by artistically presenting something visually which in turn evokes an emotional response.

How does your personality tie in to your vlog?

My vlog is me and I am my vlog. The two can not be separated.

What are the top three things that a person should think of before starting a vlog?

The top three things to consider, after deciding to make a commitment to regularly posting are.

1. How to record video
- You can record video using the video features of a lot of digital still cameras, or use a digital video camera.

2. How to edit
- There are many ways to edit video, if you even want to edit. Some people just record video clips on a cell phone and post them directly to the web. If editing, Windows PC's come with Windows Media Maker and Macs come with iMovie. QuickTime Pro also allows rudimantary editing.

3. Where to host
- You can choose to host your video on a free or paid service. My site FeeVlog, http://feevlog.com , lays out a lot of the options.

Do you have any pictures that I could use for the article?

Yes. You can use any pictures from http://stevegarfield.blogs.com

Or this:
http://homepage.mac.com/stevegarfield/.Pictures/steve_points.jpg

Watch My Yahoo!

This is interesting. If you subscribe to this site with My Yahoo!, it embeds a little TV with a link to the video from my earlier post.

Steve Garfield - My Autobiography

Wikipedia doesn't want people writing their own entries about themselves. They call it vanity. Why can't those that make history write it?

Who better to get the facts straight?

Maybe back in the old days you needed 'writers' to interview people in order to publish their stories on paper.

Not any more.

In case the Wikipedians decide to delete my entry, I've posted it here.

Steve Garfield - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Steve Garfield is a United States-born non-celebrity, best known for his stint from 1997 to 1999 as a producer and wacky sidekick on the Karlson and McKenzie radio show. Since the mid 1990s, he has been active on the Internet. Garfield hand-coded his own blog from November 18, 1997 to April 1, 1999 as a daily update for Karlson and McKenzie radio show listeners. Garfield was the first paid BloggerPro account user and has been updating his weblog, Off On A Tangent, daily since November 9, 2000.

Garfield was born in Lynn, MA, but lived in Peabody from 1988 to 2000. There he got his first break in video broadcasting as the host and producer of the live weekly pop-music/video/call-in public access television program Steve's Show. He also hosted radio programs for colleges in the area including Amherst College, Salem State College, Smith College and Boston College, where he still fills in regularly.

In 1984 Garfield was one of the founding members of The Boston Computer Society's Macintosh User Group. He was its meeting coordinator, recruiting and scheduling guest presenters for its monthly meetings. Steve's work with BCS*Mac, along with other volunteers, led to the group eventually becoming the largest Macintosh user group in the world.

In 1995, Garfield became a presenter for WGBH's annual televised auction. While volunteering for WGBH, he produced and wrote scripts for over 100 video segments for the 2001 auction.

In April of 2002, Garfield began experimenting with putting moving images on the net consisting of still images set to music. In July of 2002, Garfield purchased a Canon GL/2 and the road to producing videos was opened. On July 24, 2002, Garfield put his first video up on the web, the now-forgotten 'Inside a trashcan.'

In January of 2003, Garfield discovered Sonrenson Squeeze at MacWorld San Francisco and wrote up a How To on his blog, for video editors using Final Cut Pro, who wanted to get their video on the web. He was also a key figure at BloggerCon 2002/3, held at Harvard Law School.

On January 1, 2004, Garfield made a New Year resolution to make putting video on the web easier, and documented it with a new video blog, and his video post, '2004: The Year of the Videoblog.'

On July 25, 2004, Garfield made his first video blog report from the Democratic Convention in Boston with the post, 'Here's my first DNC Video Report'

On November 14, 2004, Garfield created his first blog post with video as an enclosure in an RSS 2.0 feed.

On January 22, 2005, the first vloggercon was held in NYC. Garfield helped co-ordinate this free conference, which was the first face-to-face meeting of videobloggers.

On February 3, 2005, Garfield posted what we believe to be the first video blog post from a United States elected politician, Boston City Councillor John Tobin.

On May 27, 2005, Steve Garfield's Video Blog and The Carol and Steve Show joined Akimbo’s Growing Library of Programming.

On July 8th, 2005, Garfield co-ordinates and hosts the first Meet the Vloggers gathering at the Apple SoHo Store in NYC."

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

It works that way now

While walking the quaint streets of Nantucket I was approached by a reporter from The Inquirer and Mirror.

She wanted to know of I'd be willing to answer a question about the Red Sox. Sure. Not a problem.

Then I took out my camera to shoot some video of her.

I asked her to read me back the quote that I had just given her.

She says: "No, It doesn't work that way."

Sorry. Now it does. We are the media, not just you.

So she read back the quote, but it turns out that she didn't have it all. She was missing the end of what I had said.

Hmm. What would have happend if I hadn't turned the camera on her and asked her to repeat my quote. What would have been printed in the paper? Half a quote?

For the record, here's my cliche ridden quote:

"If the Red Sox dig deep and pull together like baseball teams that are destined for greatness, they're gonna win the series this weekend, and go on to the World Series."

I'll be getting a copy of the paper later today to see what got printed. ;-)

View this video clip on Vimeo.

UPDATE:
My answer to the question: The Red Sox will win this weekend's series against the Yankees if...


I'm a journalist. ;-)

Try the scallops and the BioAstin

We had a wonderful time last night at The Pearl restaurant in Nantucket.

The bartender, a former hockey player, was very entertaining. He could explain the all the items on the menu in such a way that you'd want to order everything off the menu.

We ended up splitting the Sautéed Day Boat Jumbo Sea Scallops,
Japanese Buckwheat Risotto with Edamame, Soy-Mirin Broth
Braised Baby Bok Choy & Mushroom Tempura, and got a side order of Shelled Soybeans with Indonesian Soy Butter.

In addition, we got a lot of stories, which made the dinner quite entertaining. At one point the bartender handed off a bottle of BioAstin (astaxanthin) to another patron. We overheard them talking about how BioAstin is a natural product that relieves joint pain. The bartender has personal experience with this product having taken it for four years to relieve his knee pain. It's produced in Hawaii by Cyanotech. He is so excited about BioAstin that when he was in Hawaii, he visited the factory, and a friend who has experienced the effects first hand has invested in the company.

This is one of those stock tips from a bartender that deserves more research.

Have you hear about BioAstin or used it? I'd like to try it and I'm sure that my mom would too.

You can buy BioAstin through Amazon.com:

Upload yor video dot com

Download.com Video is now accepting your videos. They'll check them out to make sure they adhere to their guidelines and if they're not popular they'll be deleted.

"...we may remove material that is rarely or never viewed. Successful videos may be hosted indefinitely, though this is always at the discretion of our editors."

Free has it's price.

"I'll do it, but only if you'll help me do it"

PledgeBank.com offers ways for people to volunteer, give money, or contribute with other people. Tom Steinberg, the Director of MySociety, explains:

"The way it works is simple. You create a pledge which has the basic format 'I'll do something, but only if other people will pledge to do the same thing'. For example, if you'd always want to organise a street party you could organise a pledge which said 'I'll hold a street party, but only if three people who live in my street will help me to run it.' If you are a parent you could say that 'I will help run an after hours sports club but only if 5 other parents will commit one evening a week to doing it '. If you are in a band you could say 'I'll hold a gig but only if 40 people will come along'."

Watching the Red Sox (on Vimeo)

Watching the Red Sox (on Vimeo) by stevegarfield, uploaded from flickr.

View this video clip on Vimeo

Running around

COME TO THE RUMSPRINGA:

"The idea is simple: assemble, in real life, some of the people who use the textfiles.com site or its related sites (bbsdocumentary.com and all the *.textfiles.com sub-sites). Have it in a really nice place, in a function room set aside for the occasion. Let the chips fall where they may, conversation-wise, but have on the agenda a couple of short (30 minutes or less) speeches about interesting subjects for people to enjoy while having a drink or eating. Treat people with respect, and get treated with respect. Meet, learn, gain some insight, have some fun."

Sounds interesting.

Picture Perfect Nantucket

Picture Perfect Nantucket by stevegarfield, uploaded from flickr.

Stevie Nicks - Free Music

Stevie Nicks was just on the Today Show explaining how she dropped off iPods loaded with music to hospitalized Iraq war veterans.

She loaded the iPods with her own music and tons of music from her daughter's niece's computer.

Hmm.

I'm note sure record companies would be happy about this.

Katie, Matt and Al just stood there smiling.

If I was there I'd have asked her about the legalities of giving away all that music for free.

I believe in social science

Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side':

"... belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems."

Amen to that!

Online museums

boingboing has a post about online museums.


It reminded me that I have an online pinback button museum.

City of Boston Primary Election Results

Election Results.

Mobile Computing

Mobile Computing by stevegarfield, uploaded from flickr.

Ahh... what a life.

Hello, it's me, Ed Flynn

Phone rings.

Me: Hello.

Ed Flynn: Hi, this is Ed Flynn, candidate for Boston City Council ...

Me: Click

Hello Again

Phone rings.

Me: Hello.

Sam Yoon: Hi, this is Sam Yoon, and ...

Me: Click

Hello

Phone rings.

Me: Hello.

Patricia White: Hi, this is Patricia White, and ...

Me: Click

13th Annual Lupus Walk

I am writing to ask you to sponsor my participation in the 13th Annual Lupus Walk on the Charles to benefit the Lupus Foundation of New England. Making an online contribution is easy! Just click on this link

Your donation will help fund the important work of the Lupus Foundation of New England: supporting those living with lupus and their caregivers; educational and awareness programs, and funding of progressive medical research. Thank you, in advance, for supporting this cause. Your involvement does make a difference.

That's Not Right: Boston Water and Sewer

I just went to set up automatic payments over at the Boston Water and Sewer website.

Can't be done. D'oh.

Isn't it 2005?

One of the things I hate most is having to pay monthly bills by hand. It's invasive. I prefer to have everything done automatically.

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission allows you to pay your bills with CheckFree. CheckFree? Who uses that?

PayPal I could understand, but CheckFree? Please.

They want you to set up a new account with CheckFree in order to log on EACH MONTH to pay your water and sewer bill.

Hello?

My electric and gas bills are deducted automatically. Can you guys get on the bandwagon here?

In the meantime I went over to my Bank of America online account to pay this current bill online.

So to do that you've got to add a payee.

Search for Boston Water and Sewer... nothing comes up.

Brilliant.

I searched one more time and figured out that it's stored on the Bank of America site as Boston Water & Sewer. Lame.

Kelly Clarkson

I just added 'word verification' to comments on this blog because of spam comments like this:

I really liked the info on your site about Kelly Clarkson - nice work. I've just started my own Kelly Clarkson Secrets blog and would really appreciate you stopping by

Spam, Spam, Spam...

I hate blog comment spam.

Thank you for your help is stamping out blog comment spam.

A Boston Wine

In today's Boston Globe the editorial writers make sense by asking the Consumer protection Committee to protect consumers over special interests.

Wine online - The Boston Globe:

"The message to the Legislature ought to be simple and direct: If consumers can buy books, clothing, fruit, and all manner of things over the Internet and by mail, they ought to be able to buy wine. "

Let's get this going.

Bill #3386
Bill #3399
Bill #3407
Bill #3414

STATE SENATOR MICHAEL W. MORRISSEY
State House
Room 413-D
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1494
Fax: (617) 722-1055


Here's my fax:

To:
STATE SENATOR MICHAEL W. MORRISSEY
State House
Room 413-D
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1494
Fax: (617) 722-1055

From:
Steve Garfield


Dear Senator Morrissey,
I read last week's Globe article about trying to restrict wine delivery to Massachusetts, and now they wrote an editorial about it saying that you are looking out for the wine industry over consumers.

They can take care of themselves.

The Supreme Court ruled on this already with protections for sales to minors.

PLEASE do not restrict wine sales over the internet to Massachusetts.

I visited a lovely winery in CA and they just delivered a wine to me via World Ship Net. It costs me something like $20 extra in shipping AND it takes a month longer to get here. So they can already send wine to Mass through intermediaries BUT it costs me a heck of a lot more and takes a month longer to ship.

Just let them ship directly to me. PLEASE.

Thanks,
--Steve Garfield

Please comment on this post with actions that you have taken on this issue. Thanks.

Shanah Tovah

Shofar Idol.

Evolution Schmevolution

onegoodmove: Daily Show, Evolution Day I.

Get out now

Why we Have to get the Troops Out of Iraq:

Basically, if all the US military in Iraq is capable of is operations like Fallujah and Tal Afar, then they really need to get out of the country quick before they drive the whole country, and the region, into chaos.

Even as they are chasing after shadows in dusty border towns, the US military is allowing much of Baghdad to fall into the hands of the guerrillas.

Not your mother's Sunday morning TV

Cole on the Middle East | evolvetv.tv.
Juan Cole and Markos Moulitsas Discuss the Middle East.

MR. MARKOS MOULITSAS: So now we look at the shifting alliances and, and conflicts in Iraq, and it’s – you almost need a who’s-who book to figure out who is with who and who is against who and it probably changes weekly and monthly. Can you give us an overlay if that’s possible, a fairly brief overlay of what the main players are and where they stand?

DR. JUAN COLE: Well we now have a situation in Iraq where I think political parties are fairly important. And of course the personalities that lead them are as well. And so there are a finite number of the political personalities that one could speak about, to know the lay of the land. And the parties also have some class and regional bases, so one can differentiate amongst them.

If you start with the, the Shiites in the south. You have the movement headed by Muqtada al-Sadr, which is a ghetto movement. It’s a movement of poor young people mainly in desperate poverty in urban areas. I once compared Muqtada Sadr to Tupac Shakur, with his sermons being a kind of rap. And the gangs element also being rather important. And that’s what, when we talk about the Mahdi Army or the Shiite militia, Muqtada Sadr, you’re just talking about urban youth gangs with guns. That’s all it is. It’s nothing different from Crypts and Bloods.

MR. MARKOS MOULITSAS: Is it really generational? I mean it’s very young?

DR. JUAN COLE: It’s very young.

Piano Factory

inmanstories.com:

"Chelsea, New York
Your opportunity to own a rare piece of New York architectural history awaits you. This historic landmark building was home to The Sohmer Piano Company for over 100 years, and has recently undergone a sumptuous renovation."

Sweet.

OneWebDay

Susan Crawford blog :: OneWebDay:

"Just as we have an Earth Day to celebrate and focus on the health of the Earth, we need a day to celebrate the health and diversity of the internet and our interactions online. OneWebDay, planned for Sept. 22 of every year, will provide a chance to do that."

via [ Berkman News ]

Hot Cover

Check out the cover of the new Rolling Stone:

"Little Girl Lost: Evangeline Lilly is the ultimate desert-island fantasy"

After speaking with the Media Literacy class at UMass/Boston and meeting with Holland from Cultural Farming, I've been forming a more critical eye, when it comes to consuming images that are being thrust at me daily.

There are a lot of them.

Sometimes it just takes words to craft an image.

I meet Lilly in the parking lot of an airfield on Oahu's north shore; she wants to go for a glider ride. Lilly is wearing a white shirt and white shorts. She'd be the perfect tennis-player pinup, except for the smudges on her arms: "dirt" makeup from the show that doesn't wash off easily.

"Want to go for a swim?" she says, and spontaneously strips off her clothes, revealing a green bikini and an extremely well-toned body that looks even better in person than on TV.

Experience the X appeal

KSSX | Power to the Playlist.

Understanding the images streaming into our brains

Media nipple - rethinking visual exploitation in a mediated world.

Fiji Responds

Fiji Water responds to the recent Globe article comparing bottled waters:

Dear Mr. Garfield,

Thank you for being a loyal FIJI Water drinker and for bringing your concerns about the recent story in the Boston Globe to us. Rest assured that we were not in direct contact with the reporter and believe that important information and perspective is not reflected in this story.
The story focused on comparing ozone-infused tap water to bottled water. In doing so, the Globe conducted lab tests including a comparison of levels of heterotrophic plate count (HPC). What is not clear in the story is that HPC is naturally occurring and that natural water, like FIJI Water, will typically have a higher level because it is not chemically treated. There has never been an association of any particular HPC concentration with a health risk. The suggestion that elevated levels would be due to an issue at the bottling plant is unfounded. The higher levels are normal because of the water’s natural origins and are not harmful.

FIJI Water is naturally pure and refreshing water. [We agree with you that FIJI Water is the best water in the world.]

FIJI Water is bottled at its source on the Fijian island of Viti Levu, through a hermetically sealed delivery system free of human contact at our state-of-the-art bottling facility where our filling equipment is thoroughly cleaned on a regular schedule several times each week.. No contaminant, pathogen or material harmful to public health has ever been detected in FIJI Water.

FIJI Water goes through rigorous internal and external testing to ensure the water you are drinking retains its natural purity and, of course, is safe to drink. FIJI Water complies with all regulatory requirements in the jurisdictions in which it is sold. Our primary consultant for water testing is MWH laboratories, a world leader in water quality testing.

FIJI Water is committed to stringent safe water practices. The water and all processes used to bottle and distribute it are carefully designed to protect its natural purity so that we may bring the very best water to our customers.

We hope this addresses any questions produced by this story. FIJI Water drinkers want the very best and with FIJI Water, this is what you are getting.

Sincerely,

FIJI Water Customer Service

FEMA and the buses of New Orleans

Daily Kos: FEMA subcontracting and the buses of New Orleans.

Did you get the memeorandum?

Dave Winer passes this along from Scoble: tech.memeorandum.

Looks interesting.