Month: July 2005

No opportunity for podcasting business?

Post ImageFrom David Carr in today’s New York Times:

For the time being, podcasting is a cipher, a technology that seems to further threaten established media’s stranglehold on public consciousness, but offers little opportunity in the way of a real actual business. Big media are aggressively attempting to get their arms around the next big thing. But it remains elusive, a medium that is viral and uncontrollable by nature, and that does not threaten to become a business any time soon.

I’m going to have to respectfully disagree David! How do you explain Audible’s announcement regarding podcasting at Gnomedex? Or the new release of iTunes, focused on podcasting? Or even Adam Curry’s growing PodShow? There is a massive amount of opportunity for business with podcasting.

Read: New York Times

Ta-da Lists

Post ImageGot lots of stuff to keep track of? Of course you do, you’re a busy person, just like the rest of us. How do you keep track of the things you need to get done? If you’re like me, you probably write stuff down then go and lose that piece of paper. Happens all the time. But not anymore!

Lately I’ve been using Ta-da Lists, mainly because we’ve been using it’s big brother Basecamp at Paramagnus and liking it. Here’s what you can do with Ta-da Lists:

  • Keep track of all the little things you need to get done
  • Make lists for other people (co-workers, friends, family)
  • Share lists with the world (“My favorite movies of 2004”)
  • Subscribe to your lists in RSS so you’re always on track

It’s a great application, and it’s free! You just can’t go wrong. I especially like that my lists are on the web, so I can get to them from any computer. And the interface is simple, fast, and effective. If you’re looking for a better way to keep yourself organized, definitely check out Ta-da Lists.

Read: Ta-da Lists

Purple Cow

Post ImageOne of the items we got in our Gnomedex goodie-bags was a book! Yes, a real book. I thought it was a pretty cool idea for swag, to give away books. Anyway, the book was Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow”:

Cows, after you’ve seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though…now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable.

You’re either a Purple Cow or you’re not. You’re either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.

The above quoted text is taken from the book’s description. Unfortunately, now that you’ve read that little paragraph, you don’t need to read the book, because that’s about all it says. Seth spends 160 pages explaining just what a purple cow is.

Yes, I thought the book was interesting. No, I didn’t find it that useful. I mean, of course marketing is going to be easier when you start with a great product, that’s common sense isn’t it? The fact that Seth wrapped it up into a concept with a funky name doesn’t change that. There are dozens of other books out there that preach the same thing.

The book does have a few positives though. It’s a very quick read, so it won’t take up a lot of your time if you do decide to read it. And Seth has written the book in such a way that the read is stimulating, not boring. Still, I think there are better books to spend your money on.

Read: Seth Godin

Why I refuse to sign the Live 8 List

Post ImageI refuse to add my name to the Live 8 List to be presented to the leaders of the G8 at the summit on July 6th. My reason is quite simple: pouring endless amounts of money into Africa is, in my opinion, a huge waste.

Live 8 has three steps for the G8 leaders to follow:

  1. double the aid sent to the world’s poorest countries,
  2. fully cancel their debts,
  3. change the trade laws so that they can build their own future.

The only one of these points I agree with is #2 – I am entirely in favor of forgiving debts owed by the nations of Africa, and of any “third world” nation for that matter. As for the other two points, I just don’t agree.

Mr. Geldoff is quick to point out that 20 years after Live Aid, the African continent is no better off. Billions and billions of dollars have already flowed into Africa, and yet things have not improved. I don’t think the way to solve a problem is to throw more money at it.

Why not spend billions of dollars at home? Drastically decrease the cost of post secondary education at home. Improve the availability of health care at home. Get people off the streets at home. There are many reasons to spend that huge amount of money at home first.

As for changing the trade laws – that’s just not necessary. Take an International Economics course, and then tell me if you still think we need to change the trade laws. What we really need to do is increase the level of education in poor countries, not make it easier for them to trade with nothing.

A common argument for giving so much money to Africa is that if we narrow the gap between first world and third world, everyone will benefit. Why is it then, that whenever I hear that argument I am left waiting for some evidence or facts to back it up?

The fact that you can get some celebrities up on stage, or in a commercial, or on a website, and millions of people will blindly do whatever you want them to is a big problem, don’t you think? I wonder how many people who have signed the list actually thought about it before doing so. More likely, they signed the list because their favorite musical stars were a part of the big concerts, not because they think that signing will make a big difference. I don’t think it’s too hard for anyone who spends more than five minutes thinking about it to see that pledging money is not enough. The world’s poorest nations need a lot more than money to improve from their current situation.

Ask everyone who signs the list if they would personally contribute to the billions of dollars going into Africa. I am willing to bet the number of people who say yes would be quite low. Or ask if they’d be willing to go to Africa, not to tour the poor nations, but to dig wells, build schools and hospitals, to do the things that really need to be done. I bet even fewer people would say yes.

To think that we can be “the generation that made poverty history” is extremely arrogant and short-sighted. Throughout history, there has always been poverty, even if it has been more visible at certain times than others. Throwing a bunch of money into a growing problem isn’t going to change that.

Read: Live 8

It's all about perspective

When pondering something, it’s usually a good idea to get some varying perspectives, so that you can make a better decision. According to Inge, my perspective is carnal:

You can look that word up, if you’re unsure of the definition. And now, I’ll return to the darkside.

Why typing skills are important…

Post ImageI still haven’t decided if this story should make me laugh, or make me question the firm the poor woman worked for:

A Taiwan stock trader mistakenly bought $251 million worth of shares with a misstroke of her computer keyboard, meaning her company is looking at a paper loss of more than $12 million and she is looking for a new job.

Okay, on the one hand, the woman made a mistake. On the other hand, the computer systems were brand new, and there is no mention of whether she was given proper training or not. Maybe she was just thrown into using the new system? Who knows.

I can also see why she’d be fired – the company lost money. Or did they? Here’s what one executive for the firm said:

“However, with a good outlook for stocks in the second half, there are no plans to sell the shares in the near term.”

Profiting from an employee’s mistake – now that’s making the most of the situation.

Read: CNET News.com

Death in the celebrity age

Post ImageIn a recent post, Jason Kottke (who by the way, blogs for a living) raised a very interesting question, one that I had not pondered before:

Are you worried about the future glut of obituaries in national newspapers? Because I sure am. Think about it: because of our networked world and mass media, there are so many more nationally known people than there were 30, 40, or 50 years ago.

I had never really thought about that before, but I suppose it’s true. I know far more people who are considered “celebrities” than my great grandparents probably did back in their day. Jason goes on:

Frankly, I don’t know how we’re all going to handle this. Chances are in 15-20 years, someone famous whose work you enjoyed or whom you admired or who had a huge influence on who you are as a person will die each day…and probably even more than one a day. And that’s just you…many other famous people will have died that day who mean something to other people. Will we all just be in a constant state of mourning?

No, I don’t think we will. I mean, just because someone famous dies, doesn’t mean that there are millions of people who will mourn for that person. Indeed, just as celebrities enter our lives out of no where, I see no reason they cannot exit the same way. Take for example, Luther Vandross. He died at the age of 54 on Friday, and yet for most people, it’s just another news item. This is a man who released 14 albums and had each one reach platinum or multi-platinum status. Millions of people included him as a part of their lives. And yet, millions of people are not mourning. If four other people with similar levels of fame died today, would the world be any sadder? I doubt it.

Basically, there is only one Pope and personally, I think the mourning done for the Pope was extravagant, to say the least. There will always be those people who have reached a certain “celebrity” status that will be mourned by many people, but I think they will remain rare, no matter how many famous people we have.

Thinking a bit further, shouldn’t we expect the number of “celebrities” to normalize? I mean, if so many people are getting famous now, you’d think that in 15 years, it would be harder to be considered “famous”, and thus there would be less famous people.

Read: Jason Kottke

Happy Canada Day!

Post ImageHappy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians and blue-state-residents! While my day wasn’t as interesting as Megan’s I’m sure (she’s in Ottawa), it wasn’t bad. I just got back from watching the fireworks, and while they certainly were nothing to write home about, they were better than previous years. I especially like how they ended with a barrage of red and white sparkly ones, looked very good. Sure didn’t last that long though. On the other hand, it could have been pouring with rain, so I suppose I should be happy we got any fireworks at all!

Earlier today I was in Millwoods, volunteering with Students For Literacy. It was really quite funny actually! Imagine a nice green park, with a small amusement park across the road, and food, face painting, bubbles, games, hay rides, music, and toys everywhere inside the park. Then imagine a small tent dedicated to reading. Where would you go if you were a little kid? Exactly. Needless to say, we weren’t that busy, but it was still fun. The kids that did come seemed more interested in making their own story than reading, which was just as well!

Afterward, Sharon and I went for dinner and coffee. We decided to go to BP’s, and because of the wait, we sat in the lounge which as of today is by law, smoke free! To us it smelled kind of like they used some powerful cleaner last night to try and get rid of the smoke smell. And then we went to Starbucks. Very un-Canadian I suppose, but I just can’t resist a Caramel Macchiato.

In other news, Happy Birthday to Jenn (heifer!). Oh, and did you see that Google Canada replaced the first “o” with a maple leaf? I’d say that was great, but they could have done more – you can bet that Google.com will be more dressed up in three days time.

Podbot in Podcasting News

Post ImageThe folks over at Podcasting News were at Gnomedex last week, and they were kind enough to post a little something about our robot:

Podbot is built around a tablet pc with WiFi connectivity, allowing it to be remote-controlled wirelessly. Podbot runs a piece of software called Podcast Wizard. The software, combined with the custom hardware, makes it possible to remotely control and record podcasts, save them to Podbot’s hard drive, and upload them to a web server.

They’ve got a really nice write-up, so check it out. If you’re interesting in checking out the Podbot, it may be making an appearance at the Podcast Hotel in September – with a few upgrades of course.

Read: Podcasting News