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Photos and Video from South Padre

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 00:05:55 +0000

My family went down to South Padre Island this week before the official beginning of summer vacation season and the island is swamped with drunk and sunburned college students. We were going to be there for the whole week but had to cut the trip short because of a death in the family. Nonetheless we had plenty of fun and sun during the few days we were there. Check out the video below to see numerous pictures of me not smiling.

I created the video in less than 10 minutes using Animoto.com, a great service that lets you put your photos and videos clips into a great compelling video with music. I love Animoto and wish I shot more photos so that I could use it more. It makes the watching peoples boring vacation slide shows and super 8 film a thing of the past.

How to Install a Hitch on a Jeep Liberty [video]

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:04:18 +0000

Cheap and easy way to add a hitch to you car in less than an hour and for only around $200.

Photos and Video from South Padre

Squirrel Attacking our Bird Feeder

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:35:43 +0000

Video of a squirrel hanging upside down and going to town on what birdseed was left in the bird feeder in our backyard.

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Conan Speaks about NBC and the Future

admin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:49:53 +0000

Part of the multiply million dollar deal that Conan made with NBC in the whole late nigh shakeup debacle included a stipulation that Conan couldn’t talk to the media or appear on other talkshows, but that ends on May 1st. The first interview that Conan is giving is to 60 Minutes Steve Kroft. Kroft was a guest back on the old Late Night Show in 2001.

I can’t wait to see what Conan has to say. I don’t think that there will be anything earth shattering or the least bit racy as that would probably offend the normal viewers of 60 Minutes. I really want to see the day when Conan goes on Letterman in what will hopefully be an hour long Leno shit fest.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

(The Wrap)

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Put This On Episode 2: Shoes

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:40:19 +0000

This second, much longed for, episode of the great show from the minds of Adam Lisagor and Jesse Thorn is out today. Put this On is a show aimed at educating men about clothing and providing them advice on how to properly dress themselves.

Put This On, Episode 2: Shoes from Put This On on Vimeo.

Free Music Podcast Ep. 5: Hope Anchor, Tin Soldier

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:29:38 +0000

Hope Anchor

(Hope Anchor RI on Myspace)

Tin Soldier

Free music for professional licensing

(Tin Soldier on Myspace)

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Free Music Podcast Ep. 4: Sons of the Pioneers, Can’t Stop the Daggers

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:13:27 +0000

Sons of the Pioneers

(Sons of The Pioneers on CMT.com)

Can’t Stop The Daggers

Free music for professional licensing(Can’t Stop the Daggers on Myspace)

Foursquare & Gowalla Need City Managers

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:16:27 +0000

It has been almost a year since geolocation services like Fourspare and Gowalla came into the iPhones of nerds (myself included) that made the annual pilgrimage to Austin Texas for South by Southwest Interactive. The Austin based Gowalla had a significant marketing presence at last year’s conference while Foursquare was stronger out of the gate, being the must have app for SXSWers looking for the hot parties and the who’s who’s of the tech world each night and filling out their badge sashes with the all-night benders that are a SXSW staple. Gowalla picked up steam throughout last year, and now many people (myself and most of my friends) use both apps whenever they remember to check-in somewhere.

My main complaint is as the use of these services have grown the quality of the location data has greatly decreased, especially in Foursquare, in my experience. When I’m looking for the restaurant I’m eating at, I see all these other completely useless to me locations, like “The Batcave”, and people listing their homes on Foursquare and Gowalla. In addition to the overall validity of the locations themselves, there is a lack of important and really useful information about locations that people add. The teacher in me wants to complain about people’s pure laziness in not using proper caps when typing the name of a location, but more important information like the actual street address and phone number are rarely added. I think that in addition to badges or trinkets that people collect, that these services should also incentivize users to take the time and add more information about the locations that they visit.

This geolocation data is another layer in the virtual world to help us navigate the real world and quality, reliable information is important for users and the services themselves if they are going to continue to thrive. Much like cities in the real world have city managers, so to do the virtual cities that we create need some management and curation. I think/hope in future releases of Foursquare and Gowalla that they will incorporate some sort of recommendation engine that would recommend new places for you to try based on where you and your friends go often; maybe this could be a source of revenue as for example the recommendation engine suggests trying the new Mexican restaurant down the street and the restaurant contracts with the geolocation service and offers you a free appetizer coupon on your phone.

Businesses are starting to see the potential uses of geolocation apps like Foursqare and Gowalla as some places offer discount or freebies for people who become the mayor of their place as a way to reward frequent customers, though it often seems like the mayors of locations are more and more an employee that checks in every time they come to work, which kinda ruins the “game” for everyone else. With Gowalla and Foursquare coming out with APIs, allowing other developers to access their data, the quality of that data will become more important.

Buddypress 1.2 Comes Out

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:39:33 +0000

Buddypress is a great plugin (and to say it’s just a plugin is to demean it somewhat) that was originally built for WordPress Mu installations, but the new version 1.2 now works with standard WordPress installations as well. I’ve used Buddypress to build a site I started called PodcasterTech.com and really like the community functionality and built-in forum feature.

With the update to 1.2 also a new default Buddypress theme is released, and I immediately switched over. The new default theme was exactly the look I was going for when I installed Buddypress and tried to squeeze out of the old default theme. The new version is also easier to install and increases the social interaction features with greater support in the activity pane. It incorporates some twitter like features like @username support.

Download it and try for yourself at Buddypress.org

Weatherman freaks out about the Snowpocalypse a.k.a. “Snowmageddon”

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:08:43 +0000

Jim Kosek, a meteorologist that works for AccuWeather.com, an online weather website, reached YouTube fame with his recent report about the impending Snowpocalypse that hit the Baltimore and D.C. area last week. While doing some research on Kosek I came across the second video about Jim Kosek, and apparently it is a common occurence for Kosek it get psyched about the weather. There even is a Jim Kosek fan club on Facebook.com (link) with more than 1,000 fans. There was even a piece on Kosek in the Washington Post this weekend about Kosek and his antics. (link)

Enjoy some of these other classic Kosek weather casts.

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Apple Tablet Revelations

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:50:18 +0000

photo credit: mattbuchanan

Keeping in line with the biblical metaphor started with the release of the iPhone that some people called the Jesus Phone, the new Apple iPad was unveiled today in a worldwide simultaneous nerdgasm followed by softly weeping and feelings of regret. Chiropractors around the world rejoiced as hundreds of thousands of nerd’s heads all cocked to the left much like a dog when you call it’s name as Steve Jobs reveled that iPad was the blessed name of his new creation.

So to me it seems that there are two camps of thought on the iPad. There is the its just a big iPhone and then they begin a sting of maxi pad and tampon jokes and then there is the camp that sees the potential uses for the iPad and are somewhat disappointed that it didn’t have all the features that people like Jason Calacanis purported it to have, but are still setting aside the at least 500 bucks for the iPad. I am somewhere in the middle; I can see how the iPad almost destroys the rest of the ebook device market, and I’m more excited to see what developers do with the larger interface and I will be waiting for future releases to see what new features that Apple might add.

I think a big market for the iPad is in doctor’s offices where doctors already living the Apple lifestlye will want to move their office to Apple as long as developers are there with the software side of the solution. Also there are the possible uses in education but that will have to wait for a later post.

The Jesus Tablet

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:31:59 +0000

Tomorrow is the day that like Moses, Steve Jobs comes down from the mountain and unveils the next great thing from Apple that will change our lives and the way that we interact with media and the internet. McGraw-Hill’s CEO Harold McGraw while being interviewed by CNBC, confirmed that they were working with Apple to bring their e-book materials to the Apple tablet.

This brings an interesting angle hinting at possible markets for the new tablet like device. Some other bloggers have brought up the potential uses for such a e-book like device to hopefully make a huge dent in the textbook market, hopefully lowering prices. Apple already has a stranglehold in higher education as the glowing apple logo lights lecture halls around the world and iPhones are almost required materials for learning. Another potential market for the Apple tablet device is in healthcare, where PC tablets have seen fairly wide adoption and I think the right hardware with thoughtout software could be a huge success in the healthcare industry with the greater push toward electronic medical records.

Everything is mere speculation and hopes made with fingers crossed with little more than 12 hours till the big reveal, but I had to join in on the Apple speculation fun.

Apple Tablet Revelations

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-24

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:08:00 +0000

Video from 2004 of Leno announcing Conan taking over the Tonight Show. A Must See. http://bit.ly/7nbGZ2 #
Check this video out — Match Game PFT Perriwinkle ramp up.MOV http://youtu.be/2oO9qBGgSNY #
The new Spoon album is on Amazon for $3.99 today. http://bit.ly/7ZAicd #
Dallas: seeing some pretty severe storms rolling through, drive home safe everybody. #
I just unlocked the "Explorer" badge on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/7T91W7 #
Pro: Weather is great to be outside today. Con: means that I have to clean out the garage today. #
Follow Friday: @rossluippold A friend of mine and a soon to be former Conan Intern. #
Owle Bubo Review: For Hardcore iPhone Videographers http://gizmodo.com/5454169/ #
#plan Videocamp Austin (CMB Building UT Campus, Studio 4B Austin TX ) Sat, Feb 27, 2010, 10am-4:00pm http://plancast.com/a/cvn #
"Ken Burns" documentary on The Late Night War http://bit.ly/795Xlt #
Just sneezed so loud I heard it echo #
[video] Eclectic Method- The Best and Worst of 2009 http://bit.ly/7XbbqA #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-17

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 01:08:00 +0000

Need recommendations for a good book to learn Drupal. #
Inklet trackpad tablet app for MacBook is Wacom's worst nightmare: http://bit.ly/7gsWCr (via @engadget) #
@webhues Thanks for your recommendations in reply to webhues #
#plan DFW WordPress Meetup at Art Institute of Dallas, Saturday, January 30, 2010, 4:00pm http://plancast.com/a/6n6 #
Go #teamconan #
I bet Comcast is wishing they would of held off on the NBC purchase till this late night stuff is solved & save a couple billion dollars. #
. @woot weighs in on the NBC late night kerfuffle and supports #teamconan http://woot.com #
Building a Lego Router, A.K.A what I'm doing this weekend http://gizmodo.com/5447561/ #
@joshmccormack Well, just graduated; been using WordPress for a long time & I want to try Drupal in reply to joshmccormack #
Sara Bareilles song about MTV's Jersey Shore. [Video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TONS7-q_65I #
Support Team Conan O'Brien, add a #twibbon to your avatar now! – http://bit.ly/5dEe51 #
RT @alltop Charting your morning caffeine kick – Holy Kaw! http://tinyurl.com/yafot6h #
@got80s There is an update on their status site, but my sites are running fine (fingers crossed) http://status.rackspacecloud.com/ in reply to got80s #
DIY camera dolly for under $30 http://bit.ly/4ulD0m #
Finding that I need a backup UPS for my UPS when the first one fails. #
There was a time when I could respect Dick Ebersol for what he's done at NBC; that time has ended. #
Job Hunt Update: I've had one phone interview so far but not much else. #
Would love some feedback on my Resume if you have a second to look it over. http://ceevee.com/zachscott #
@EMACAdvise thanks, I do that in reply to EMACAdvise #
RT @zap2it Conan O'Brien deal: NBC reportedly paying out $30 million http://ow.ly/1n6rVD #
Finally getting around to taking down the Christmas decorations. #
Don't tell WordPress, but I've been cheating on her with Drupal. http://yfrog.com/4i7uej #
I'm at Chili's – Carrollton (2624 N Josey, Trinity Mills, Carrollton). http://4sq.com/8Qxd72 #
I just became the mayor of Chili's – Carrollton on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/8Qxd72 #

Thoughts about the new WordPress 2.9 Update

admin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:59:51 +0000

Yesterday WordPress released an early Christmas present for all us bloggers with the update to 2.9. The update is mostly chocked full of bug fixes and improvements to the wordpress code. Below is a breakdown.

1. It’s faster: Although not a listed improvement, many users, including myself, are seeing that sites are running faster with the 2.9 upgrade.

2. Built in Image Editor: WordPress now includes a basic image editor including crop, edit, flip, rotate and scale images all available through the media library and when uploading/inserting images into posts.

3. Batch plugin updating: Now more updating each individual plugin site wide, under tools, in the update tab, a new option to update all plugins at once makes managing multiple sites more easy and the updater checks to make sure the plugin updates are compatible with your version of WordPress.

4. Oembed support: no more embed codes for inserting videos. Just paste the url for the video on its own line inside your post and the video will automatically be embedded. Currently all the major players like Youtube are supported with more providers coming.

5. Sitewide Trashcan: No more accidentaly deleted posts or comments; the new trashcan saves the posts for thirty days.

Below is a WordPress video highlighting some of the new features.

Tegan and Sara "Hell"

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:42:40 +0000

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Happy Holidays

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:27:07 +0000

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The Internet and Stupid people.

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:46:22 +0000

Below is a post I wrote for discussion in my Mass Media and Behavior class about Stupidity and the Internet.

The topic of stupidity and its suspected growth has become a topic for conversation in the culture. Movies like Idiocracy and the documentary titled “Stupidity” have investigated the roots and imagined the possible future world of idiots. I think what lies at the root of the issue is a lack of critical thinking about our lives and the world around us.

In Idiocracy, Mike Judge shows us his vision of the future we’re headed for as people become mindless zombies and are beholden to the large corporations that infiltrated the government. I personally would enjoy having a Brawndo-esk energy beverage piped into my home, but not replacing water as in the movie.

I hate to go on a education bashing rant as I aspire to become a teacher, but I feel that there is a lack of using critical thinking skills as a way to examine the world. In school we are taught the scientific method as a way to test our hypothesis about a science experiment but that valuable analytical process isn’t applied to other arenas.

Everything we’ve learned and discuss in class involves looking beyond the first glance and analyzing the issues and motives of the people who bring us the news and entertainment.

I think the internet and the growth of new media can lessen the brain drain of TV with the larger variety of content the reaches targeted audiences and engages audiences better. Certainly spending countless hours watching cat videos on YouTube isn’t going to expands one’s horizons, but it is the interaction through the internet that engages people. A recent study from the University of Stiriling showed that avid facebook users had an increase in working memory capacity versus control and social networking and youtube study participants.

It was in colleges where the internet was born and raised and academia as a whole has a vested interest in seeing knowledge spread and the internet not become a vast wasteland. Most teachers dislike Wikipedia, but I see that as a missed opportunity for academia to open the gates spread the knowledge for the betterment of society. Projects like MIT’s open course ware are all about sharing the mountain of accumulated knowledge. Sir Isaac Newton was famously quoted as saying “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” He was referencing the great minds that had come before him and their learning making his discoveries possible, and I think that the internet can be a tool to help others jump up on our backs and see farther.

Newspapers and the Internet Today

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:21:13 +0000

Below is a post I wrote for discussion in my Mass Media and Behavior class about newspapers and their role in the digital age.

Newspapers like other old media formats has had to find ways to coexist and continue to be profitable in the digital age. The subscription and classified revenue models that newspapers subsisted on for decades is in rapid decline as subscriptions continue to drop because more and more people are getting their news from internet and TV.

With the growth of ebay and craigslist the money that newspapers would get from classifieds ads has been drastically decreasing as well as more and more advertisers are finding better success and higher engagement with internet advertising putting more strain on newspapers.

Today it was announced that the New York Post is going to close its bureaus in New York, Chicago and Las Angeles; another strike for newspapers. With the growth of the internet the number of news outlets has grown and the pace that information travels is something that Gutenberg could have never guessed. Even now the 24 hour news networks are having trouble keeping up with breaking news and more and more people are using twitter where breaking news can travel the globe in seconds. MSNBC has recognized this shift and partnered with a leading twitter account, “BreakingNews”, to share content and assets with each other.

The way that people access the news has also changed, RSS readers and search engines are huge sources for new content and News Corp has recognized an opportunity to profit. News Corp signed a deal with Microsoft and their new search product Bing.com that will give Bing exclusive access to indexing News Corp content. News Corp has been vocal in their opinion that search engines should be paying newspapers for access to their content and the deal with Microsoft told to be worth one hundred million dollars could be the first in a wave of print publications that begin to limit access to their content. Several newspapers have tried subscription models with minimal degrees of success.

There has been a rash of newspapers going out of business or consolidating, reducing competition and consumer choice in print, but blogging more a viable reality than ever. It’s odd, colleges are reporting an increase in the number of journalism majors yet regular jobs in the media are on the decline. There is a twitter account called “themediaisdying” all about reporting the painful death of old media. The opportunity is for journalists to dive deep into topics that interest them and they can become their own boss. A battle that has yet to be tried out in the courts is in matters of freedom of the press, where reporters need to keep secret their sources and the court system will someday have to create the water test of what nowadays can be counted as the press.

Jason Segel performs with The Swell Season

admin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:50:06 +0000

Jason Segel gets on stage with “The Swell Season” and performs an original song at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, Nov 18, 2009

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The Music Industry

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:51:12 +0000

The below is a rant I wrote for a school discussion topic for my mass media behavior class and I thought I would post it here too.

The digital revolution and the growth of the internet has vastly changed the music business with the availability of cheap multiple track recording software, and the sharing and social networks the internet has made possible. I think that the idea of “making it” has drastically changed in the past fifteen years. I am reminded of the movie, Airheads, where the protagonists take hostage of a radio station in attempts to get their demo tape aired and get a recording contract. The idea that today any artist would be signed by only listening to their demo tape is laughable as well as the idea that signing the record contract would make the artist rich.

The digital age and file sharing has greatly hurt record companies and radio stations, but has been used by artists new and old to grow and strengthen their fan bases. For artists, selling records is no longer where the majority of their money comes in from, it’s from touring and merchandise, and ancillary revenue streams that come from being a star. The business of selling 20 dollar CDs as been replaced with 99 cent download singles and 3.99 dollar ring-tones; for too long record companies and the RIAA fought to protect their old business model instead of innovating and embarrassing new technology. They thought for too long that using DRM would force people to purchase their licensed digital goods, but often forced consumers to other places to find music.

Radio stations too are fighting to protect their long held business models in the new landscape of audio options that consumers have as the number of devices that listeners increases. With satellite radio, iPods, CDs, and internet radio, and others there is no lack of choices in audio entertainment where terrestrial radio once dominated. Video killed the radio star and the internet killed the radio station; radio stations can no longer charge their outlandish CPM rates with declining listener-ship and cheaper, more effective targeted advertising that is available on the internet. Radio ownership deregulation reduced the variety in programing and the days where DJs had actual influence on which songs get played are long gone. Clear Channel has national syndicated programming that airs across the country reducing costs and jobs; this also gives them huge sway with record companies that are trying to get their music played.

A topic that wasn’t covered in either side is the consolidation of music venues and ticketing agencies and the impact that has on newer artists. Earlier this year, Live Nation and Ticketmaster announced a proposed merger worth 2.5 billion dollars that would merge the largest ticket seller and largest venue/concert promoter. Luckily the merger has been meet with some vocal opposition, mainly in the UK as the merger would almost certainly create a monopoly on first rate concerts and shows. Already large music acts like Michael Jackson and Madonna sign deals with Live Nation because they no longer need the support of a record company to get their music out there, but the problem is for newer and indie acts that can be locked out of Live Nation venues. The merger could mean higher ticket prices and could almost eliminate the secondary ticket market.

Christmas tree at the galleria

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:47:57 +0000

Posted via web from zachscott’s posterous

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Twitter Updates for 2009-11-13

admin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Listening to Radiohead and upgrading WordPress sites to 2.8.6 #
Watching Merlin Mann on stage on at Phoenix Wordcamp. Live video link: http://bit.ly/4hsopL #
The people who focus on # of followers were the kids in school that wanted everyone to sign their yearbook. #
A Dr. Horiible's Sing A-long Blog prequel. http://vimeo.com/7537771 #

Twitter Updates for 2009-11-12

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Microsoft Patents The Sudo Command http://gizmodo.com/5402796 #microsoft #microsoftsudopatent #
I wish there was a shop vac attachment that I could use to get the snot out of my head. #
Zombies vs. Vampires is the new Ninjas vs. Pirates #
RT @TechCrunch Incsub Launches WP Plugins; App Store For WordPress Plugins http://bit.ly/yQ967 #
RT @TechCrunch Sales Guy v. Web Dude, Parts 2-4. Oh, Yeah. http://bit.ly/1pSO53 #
A trip into the secret, online 'cloud' – http://bit.ly/BZpZq #cnn #
Pearl Jam / Austin City Limits TV Taping / Time Lapse Video http://bit.ly/dDUKB #

Twitter Updates for 2009-11-11

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 +0000

RT @mashable GO: Google Launches Its Own Programming Language http://bit.ly/5Atdj #
Mullenweg: 10 blogs to make you think – http://bit.ly/42ESwr #cnn #
RT @zap2it 'Scrubs': Get a good look at the new class of '09 – From Inside the Box – Zap2it http://bit.ly/3IVh3B #
RT @TechCrunch Current TV Staff Suffer A “Major Bloodbath” As 80 Employees Lose Their Jobs http://bit.ly/4cfCB5 #

Videofest this weekend

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:32:22 +0000

Last night was the beginning of for the 22nd annual Videofest. The four day event is held at the Angelika Film Center Dallas. Below is the schedule of films/events that I am planning on attending, but that will most likely change. Hope to see you there.

Friday, November 6th
7:00 PM	click to rate	Legend Of The Dot Race – Chuck Morgan Talk \| 90 min.	Angelika – Screen 1	x remove
10:00 PM	click to rate	R.E.M : This is not a show Documentary \| 60 min.	Angelika – Screen 1	x remove
Saturday, November 7th
12:00 PM	click to rate	The Name of God Jon Racinskas \| Narrative Fiction \| 103 min.	Angelika – Screen 2	x remove
1:00 PM	click to rate	Student Animation Showcase Animation \| 45 min.	Angelika – Screen 1	x remove
1:45 PM	click to rate	London International Awards Advertising \| 143 min.	Angelika – Screen 1	x remove
2:45 PM	click to rate	The Gruen Transfer Mark Fitzgerald \| TV Entertainment Show \| 30 min.	Angelika – Screen 1	x remove
3:15 PM	click to rate	24hr Film Race Winners 24hr race \| 90 min. plays with… Pixelvision 1: Landdolphins Pixelvision 2: Digital Death Pixelvision 3: Team Swine Futurevision 1: Shoot or Die Futurevision 2: Siloencer Films Futurevision 3: View Finder Productions Auteur 1: Elephant & Castle Productions Auteur 2: Blocknaw Productions Auteur 3: Original Dub Master Guerilla 1: Monochromatic Productions Guerilla 2: Curtis Needs a Ride Guerilla 3: GuD Films \| director Hollywood 1: Brownian Motion (tie) Hollywood 1: Whispering Eye (tie) Hollywood 2: Palatia Motion Picture Group	Angelika – Screen 2	x remove
7:00 PM	click to rate	Writing with Pictures: The Emerging Art of The Video Essay 90 min.	Angelika – Screen 1	x remove
10:15 PM	click to rate	Psychoville BBC \| TV Show \| 45 min.	Angelika – Screen 1	x remove
Sunday, November 8th
12:00 PM	click to rate	Click Play: One Billion Times a Day Event \| 60 min.	Angelika – Screen 2	x remove
4:15 PM	click to rate	Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth Kier-La Janisse \| Documentary	Angelika – Video Café	x remove
6:15 PM	click to rate	Reporter Eric Metzgar \| Documentary \| 90 min.	Angelika – Screen 1	x remove
8:00 PM	click to rate	Texas Show Short \| 64 min. plays with… Love Bug \| Kat Candler Change \| Ya’ke smith Cold calls \| Jack Daniel Stanley Dig Deep \| Mark Birnbaum, Manny Mendoza Jimmy Kuehnle’s Big Red and Walking Fish \| Mark Walley, Angela Guerra 2009 Lambs \| Stephen Huff 2009 Sleet/Snow \| Daniel Laabs Western Brothers’ Adventure Story Weight of the World \| Jenny Goddard Trash Day \| Sam Lerma Unbelievable 4 \| Sukwon Shin Uprush \| Kim Hall	Angelika – Screen 1	x remove

It's just easier to be Fox News

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:55:58 +0000

As I try to blog more and more I find it harder to be accuate in the information that I use in my writings. There is always at least one Wikipedia tab open that I keep switching over to. I keep checking if I’m using a word in the right context or to find information that backs up a point that I want to make, and these often leads me down a myriad of rat holes at 2am looking up DSM-IV codes on wikipedia which then leads me to searching the long list of disorders, looking at each to make sure that I’m not crazy.

It seems that it would just be a whole lot easier if I just ranted on and on about topics and make up facts along the way, journalism be dammed. Just a thought.

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Put This On

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:35:31 +0000

Put This On, Episode 1: Denim from Put This On on Vimeo.

The first episode of “Put This On,” a video podcast that comes from two “Monsters of Podcasting” Jesse Thorn (host of “The Sound of Young America” & “Jordan, Jesse, Go”) and Adam Lisagor (member of the “You Look Nice Today” podcast) made it’s web debut today. Put This On is a change from the normal tech based talk that often comes to mind when talking about podcasts. Put this On also is different in how it got started, they used Kickstarter.com to help raise funds to get the podcast project started. Kickstarter.com is a site that touts itself as ” A New Way to Fund Ideas and Endeavours” and provides a place for those with an idea and the willingness to to the footwork to gain funds to get started. Many of the Kickstarter.com projects come from artists wanting to make a book, record a new album, and other projects of the like. Thorn and Lisagor were able to use Kickstarter.com in a way to test the virtual waters to see if their idea for Put this One would work and to attract sponsors and gain the startup cash to get the series started right.

Thorn and Lisagor were looking for $1,500 to start “Put this On,” and within days of announcing their intentions and using twitter to get the word out quickly exceeded their initial goal and at the end of the funding round had pledges from people and businesses in total of more than $3,900. In full disclosure, I was one of the backers pitching in a couple of bucks to the cause. Most of the donnors pledged fifty dollars or less while Metafilter.com (a longtime sponsor of Thorn’s other podcasts) stepped up with $1,500 in return for a post-roll advertisment by Thorn and Lisagor that airs at the end of each episode.

The production value of “Put this On” is excellent and should serve as an example for anyone who wants to start a video podcast and really shows that online video has grown up to take on old media. Certainly, anyone who has ever worn jeans or ever will should check out the first episode of “Put this On.” I think the use of Kickstarter.com is an interesting development in the world of podcasting. It is a twist on the donation model that many podcasters have tried, but with varying degrees of success. Not only do the donnors have the enjoyment of seeing the project come into reality, but they also feel a sense of ownership as they were there on the ground floor, getting the project started. It will be interesting to see what Jesse Thorn and Adam Lisagor come up with in future episodes of “Put this On” as they attempt to educate people on how to dress like grownups. I will admit that I could use the advice as there was a period in middle school where I wore sweatpants everyday, and despite what Michael Jordan’s hanes commercials would lead you to believe, sweatpants will not help your jump shot or help you in the ladies department either.

Revision3 Launches an Online Sitcom

admin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:03:14 +0000

At the end of this week’s Diggnation (episode 221) Kevin and Alex show a trailer for a new show Revision3 that is launching on October 7th. The show, Web Zeroes, is a departure from the normal variety and current events programs that make up the rest of the Rev3 lineup. The show is centered around three best friends living in Houston, TX that aspire to become internet superstars. Check out the trailer below.

Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog on the Emmys

admin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:08:57 +0000

Last week Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog made news winning the first Emmy for a show that never aired on TV. This was just another in the line of firsts that Dr. Horrible’s has blazed since it debuted on the net last year and became a run-away success, showing that the internet TV business model could be profitable. Last night Dr. Horrible broke into the Emmy broadcast in a skit that poked fun at the advancing new media early day technological problems. Some on twitter found the skit in poor taste, but think it is just cute as the old media is trying to combat new media and we will see who will have the last laugh as more and more of our entertainment is found online.

Where did all my followers go?

admin — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:14:46 +0000

Many twitterers awoke Friday morning to find that they had a significant drop in the number of people following them. On Thursday, twitter admins pushed several changes through the system to help identify and clean out spam accounts as well as clear up some lingering database issues that reported incorrect data for some users. I, myself, saw a drop of more that 60 followers following the recent change. As one might imagine, the sudden and drastic change in follower count alarmed and angered many users. I feel these users don’t really “get” twitter and are fixated on increasing the number of followers they have, but I feel they are really missing out on what twitter can offer to those who engage in the community and provide useful content.

photo credit: playerx

Having been a twitter user since January 2007, I can regale new users of a time when there was free access to the public time-line, and the top users were almost exclusively the nerd famous, with the top user with the most followers switching back and forth between Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose. Those times are now just a distant memory as twitter has become infiltrated by spammers and self branded social media experts. Not long after twitter integrated the trending topics section into the main site design, did those topics become the opponent’s flag in a online capture the flag game where spammers latched on to twitter and spew forth their wares in attempts to gain the recognition of being on the trending topics list. Trending topics is a whole other issue as its usefulness has decreased and doesn’t give any back story as to why something is a trending topic. When you click on a trending topic in hopes to find out why it is a trending topic, you are bombarded with dozens of users tweeting out that same question as well as an alarming amount of users that send out tweets just listing all the trending topics in hopes that someone will click and follow them.

Fighting spam is something that twitter has to be very proactive in if they are not turn into a myspace of friendster. If twitter were a comedy club, spammers would be hecklers shouting out nonsense in attempts to get attention. The spammers feel they have a right to be there, but are ruining the show for everyone else that came to the show. To the people dismayed at their loss of their fake followers, I say get evolved, and engage users; if you provide value to people they will follow you. The true value of twitter is in the conversation.

Wordcamp Dallas this Weekend

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:08:09 +0000

This weekend is the second year for Wordcamp Dallas. The two day event is being held at the UT Dallas School of Management. I didn’t go last year and I signed up months ago and have been counting the days till the geekout event this weekend. I really like the power that WordPress gives me to mange my content and I use WordPress on most of my sites. I think it will be a great opportunity to meet with other geeks and since its at UTD its my home turf. It will be a great networking oportunity (even though I really hate the “N” word) and hope to learn some things to help step up my game. I’ll be blogging and twittering a lot this weekend, so let me appologize right now.

Wordcamp Dallas

New Year's Resolutions

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:41:47 +0000

It may by April, but with a quarter of this year already behind me I have a better idea and a better chance of keeping with my New Year’s Resolutions. More of a todo list than normal resolutions.

(in no particular order)

1. Start my own business
2. Loose weight
3. Start video podcast
4. Graduate college
5. Pay down credit card debt
6. Learn to play the guitar. (real kind, not just the rockband kind)
7. Brew my own beer
8. Apply to grad school

Gary Vaynerchuk's SXSW 09 Keynote

admin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:14:49 +0000

It’s been almost a week since I left the awesomeness that is SXSW Interactive. In that time I have been trying to put together my plan and get focused on what are going to be the one or two projects that I tackle and and get off my ass and make a real effort in making something happen. This was my first year going to SXSW and for me on of the highlights was Gary Vaynerchuk’s keynote session. I’m getting on the Hustle 2.0 bandwagon and Gary’s session was really inspiring and game changing. It’s great to see someone that really gets it and wants to genuinely help others in the space. Embedded is the session, the video isn’t great but just hearing it gives you a real sense of the energy of the room.

Check out:

www.garyvaynerchuk.com winelibrary.tv

A scientific view of America's Economic problems and a way out

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:24:00 +0000

At this years TED Juan Eriquez gave a great talk analyzing what caused the problems that we are facing today in the economy and how we can be headed on the right track back to a growing and strong economy (remember those days). I agree with and take heart his theory that how we can create the new economic growth is to invest into science and children. The previous administration has set back America’s bio-tech efforts by almost a decade with his banning of federal funding for stem cell research. In Eriquez’s talk he urged the well to do venture capitalist types that gravitate to events like TED to invest into these growing technologies like biotechnology and robotics.

PepSuber

admin — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:34:54 +0000

As part of Pepsi’s new re branding campaign and super bowl promotion, Pepsi teamed up with Saturday Night Live to produce 3 Pepsi themed commercials that aired during last night’s broadcast. There is an unofficial pepsuber twitter account for Pepsi fans. There was some outrage from people that SNL sold out, but I think that it is the kind of interesting innovative marketing promotions that advertisers need to think of in order to stay competitive in the down market. The Pepsuber ads are just one part of Pepsi’s whole super bowl weekend ad push called Refresh Everything. They are also doing the Pepsi smash concert and there is the Will Arnett hosted Refresh the Super Bowl Party online at YouTube, where they produced short clips and invite people to upload videos of their own Super Bowl parties. All three SNL ads are posted below and the Refresh Super Bowl Party ad too.

http://www.refresheverything.com http://youtube.com/pepsi

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Kingsley's New Trick

admin — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 04:05:49 +0000

Kingsley’s New Trick from Zach Scott on Vimeo.

Put This On Episode 2: Shoes

Free as in Beer?

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:59:35 +0000

With Macworld and CES going on this week, I’ve been looking forward to this year’s SXSW. This will be my first SXSW and I’m really looking forward to getting to see some of the panels and all the going ons at SXSW. Last year a lot of new media and social networking start-ups have been hit hard and even the big technology blue chips like Microsoft have had to announce layoffs. This brings me to my point. In these troubled times (take a drink) companies that normally throw huge parties during south by southwest are expected to drastically cut their budgets or not throw parties at all. This, I find to be very sad. At a time when people throughout the tech sector face layoffs, we need free beer. It will be a true travesty of epic proportions that any nerd find themselves walking down sixth street sober. Without the social lubricating elixir of free beer and an open bar, the code monkeys of the world will curl up in their shells like a armadillo along side a dusty country road. I urge tech compaines to keep the beer flowing, if not for us but for the future of the web.

Fun in Chicago

admin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:57:19 +0000

I got back from spending almost a week in Chicago visiting my sister over thanksgiving. In my normal nerd fashion we spent most of the trip going to different museums in Chicago. The Museum of Science and Industry is a must see and takes a whole day to see everything. Upgrade from general admission to see the Smart Home (cool to see a lot of different green technologies come together) and take the tour of the U-505 (worth the extra 5 bucks.) We also went to the Field Museum, made me think of “Night at the Museum” but they have some cool exhibits and there is Sue, the fully intact t-rex on display.

The Lincoln park zoo is a great free thing to do in Chicago. This time of year they do “Zoo Lights” where the zoo is light up for the holidays and there ice sculptures and other fun for the kids. We took a bus tour that went all around the city and drops you off at the John Hancock building. The only way to see everything in the city and gets you as close as possible to see Obama’s house and you learn a little history and travel into parts of Chicago you wouldn’t want to go by yourself. ( just a little weird to be on a tour bus, a the driver says “to your right you will see one of the housing projects that the south side of Chicago is so famous for.”) All and all a good trip and I got to see some snow before heading back to Texas.

Mardi Gras Run

Thoughts on the Revision 3 programming changes

admin — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 03:29:20 +0000

It’s been two weeks since Revision 3 announces changes to its programming lineup. I personally have been missing Internet Superstar and Pop Siren. Sarah Lane, Martin Sergent, and Jay Speiden were among some of the first people hired by Revision 3 and helps formed the company in its beginning days. Rev 3 CEO Jim Louderbeck cited a weak economy and problems finding an audience with the shows Rev 3 canceled and ended distribution deals with on October 27th.

In the days following the announcement they was a strong out lash by loyal viewers angered over the death of their favorite shows on the Rev 3 network. There have been rumors about a “consulting” deal with Martin Seargent in efforts to silence some of the firestorm waged by the angered viewers but nothing has been officially announced by Rev 3.

This brings up an interesting thought about the difference between new media networks like Revision 3 and the big TV networks. In the Revision 3 network all the shows work together and there is cross promotion across the network within the shows themselves. In the old media ways, the cast of Heroes and Chuck don’t share office space like they do at Revision 3. There is a stronger family feel at Rev 3, many of the shows share the same staff and there is an all for one vibe. This makes it harder when the company feels that cuts have to be made as it did when it took this defensive action to cut shows and staff in order to better help the company weather the rough seas of the weak economy and looming recession.

Martin and Sarah are scheduled to appear on tomorrow’s TWIT. Leo has mentioned several times that he would like to hire Sarah and maybe something will be officially announced on the show.

Web video advertising in the down market

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 06:57:09 +0000

In this down market and the outlook that it will stay like this and probably get worse better it gets better advertisers are looking to the web for innovative ways to reach consumers. It is harder and harder for advertisers to justify the large costs of network television ad campaigns and are turning to the web to reach their consumers.

In the so called “long tale” smaller online media producers are able to provide ad opportunities to very niche markets that advertisers spend huge amounts of ad dollars in attempts to reach. Its the alpha consumers that are the first ones in lines to buy the iPhone and it is those same consumers that are plugged into web video and new media. These consumers react to large corporations like comcast attempts to use social networking to improve customer service. Web video advertising comes in different forms and most likely in the pre or post roll ad where a normal TV ad is just inserted into a completed video and then distributed. More and more advertisers are dipping their toes into new media and are finding success with new and innovative ad campaigns targeted to niche markets.

Makerfaire Video

admin — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 02:36:00 +0000

Here’s the quickly thrown together video I made of some of the cools things at Makerfaire. Quality isn’t that great and I shoot it on a Flip Ultra. Nonetheless enjoy.

Blogging is Hard

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:41:33 +0000

Is it just me or is blogging hard. I mean in the sense of keeping up and actually writing interesting content on a regular basis. I find myself having a lot of good ideas that I want to write about but then when I am in front of the keyboard with some spare time not one single descent idea comes to mind. Some would say that writing is like a muscle and you have to constantly use it to keep it in shape. Here’s to trying to blog more often.

No related posts.

Makerfaire this weekend

admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:58:02 +0000

This weekend is the second annual Makerfaire Austin at the Travis county fair grounds. I went last year and really liked seeing everything and whole community of Makers there. This years Makerfaire in Austin promises to be even bigger and better than last year. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the robogames competition and the eppy birds. Last year I spent most of the day walking around and visiting booths, but this year I want to go to some of the sessions.

Big Changes

admin — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:59:33 +0000

There have been a lot of big changes going on in my life. I got a new job and I am headed back to college in a couple of weeks. I am getting back into programming and have spent the past few days working on servers and refreshing my programming skills. Right now I’m installing xcode tools on my iMac so I can try doing some coco apps. I have been to Fry’s twice in the past two days needing to pick up parts and books on PHP and Facebook programming. Back to the grindstone.

No related posts.

Twitter Withdrawl

admin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:45:18 +0000

I have been going through some twitter withdrawl lately with the downtime and loss of IM intergration as Twitter goes through some scalability issues as the micro blogging service becomes more and more popular with people. I like to use Twitter through GTalk on my blackberry because I don’t have the cost of using SMS on the phone. But with the rapid growth this feature has been turned off leaving me to only use Twitter through the web interface or twitterrific on my MacBook. One of two things will happen: 1. Twitter comes back to full service 2. I buy iPhone 3G (just another reason why)

Also, tommorrow is the release of Firefox 3 and their attempt to break the record for the most downloaded program in one day. I have been using RC 2 and 3 and have really like the improvements in speed and I haven’t noticed the memory leak problems that I have had in the past with Firefox 2. Go to http://spreadfirefox.com to join in the fun.

The month of Baseball

admin — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:28:51 +0000

This weekend begins the month of baseball. A time when almost every weekend I have tickets to at least one game. Next weekend I’m going to the new QT Park in Grand Prairie to see the AirHogs. I also have tickets to several Frisco RoughRiders games and one of my favorite events the Heroes game on June 28th. I enjoyed going to the Heroes Celebrity Home Run Derby and Game last year and really look forward to the game this year.

Last night kicked off with a game at the Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco to see the perennially great Frisco RoughRiders square off against the Corpus Christi Hooks in the third game of this home series. It was a great game and a close one all the way till the end. Not even into the third inning when the Hooks manager and one of their infielders got tossed from the game.

Game one down and five more to go.

Thoughts on iPhone 3G

admin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:55:42 +0000

After checking my email on the blackberry and finding that CNN was reporting that Apple did announce the 3G iPhone, I rushed to much to my dismay that the new iPhone isn’t coming out until July 11th. At first look I was ready to buy with the faster 3G network and much lighter price, but there are a couple of things that I really thought that this iPhone would have.

The biggest thing that I would have like to see in this new iPhone is a video camera. There is a lot of good things the Nokia’s are able to do with services like QIK. It seems like the ability to do video and upload it with the iPhone would be great for mobile journalism. I’ve been a crackberry user for years and am really torn between getting the new blackberry bold or the new iPhone when they come out. Maybe I’ll get both

Twitter Withdrawl

Planning my trip to Seattle

admin — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:58:51 +0000

I have been working the past several days on planning our trip to Seattle and I can’t wait. I already bought the airline tickets and have our hotel reservation made and I’m trying to use gCal to plan out everything in our schedule. I working on some stuff so that I can be blogging while out and about seattle and keep in touch with the folks who haven’t really gotten into the whole social networking thing. Come on April 4th.

No related posts.

Travel Woes

admin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:17:24 +0000

So this weekend we were going to fly to Ohio to see family and leave my Dad so he could spend some time with his mom. Needless to say, we never got there. The snow that we had here thursday went there friday and caused alot of problems. We left and made it to columbus but never landed, just circled around until almost running out of fuel and having to divert to Detroit. American airlines then took all the luggage off the plane and quickly lost it. I had to scramble to reschedule everything and return to Dallas to try Saturday to get to Columbus on the dreaded flight 460. Saturday we get to the airport and 10 minutes after we check-in they cancel the flight. After one hour and three minutes on the phone with AA customer support I was able to get a refund for our tickets since they weren’t willing to reschedule the tickets for a time that works for us only the next day. I understand that it isn’t AA fault that the weather interfered with our flight but I shouldn’t be forced to take a flight days later when I can’t get off work or pay hundreds of dollars in fees to reschedule the tickets. AA is in the service industry and needs to remember what good customer service is about.

No related posts.

Vanlooser CaSucks

admin — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:03:48 +0000

Tuesday night Summer (my sister) and I went to the Stars game at the AAC. I haven’t gone to a Stars game since they were still playing at Reunion so I was really excited when I got some tickets for Christmas. Costco had a Stars package on sale where you got two tickets valued up to 70 dollars and a program all for less than 100 dollars. These were great seats. I have never got the chance to sit down on the plaza level so this was a whole new experience. We sat in row T in the corner at the goal line.

The game was something that you would expect to see in the playoffs not the regular season. Regulation time ended tied up at 2 forcing overtime. After the 5 minute overtime period the score was still tied forcing the shootout. In the first round the Stars scored and the Canucks answered. Not until the sixth round did the Stars score again leaving it up to the Canucks to answer. Go Stars

Mardi Gras Run

admin — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:38:18 +0000

Last Saturday Summer and I volunteered at the Mardi Gras Run benefiting Captain Hopes Kids a North Texas non-profit organization committed to helping fill the needs of homeless children in North Texas. Captain Hopes Kids helps through providing resources to its 42 member homeless service providers. Each week Captain Hopes Kids distributes more than 5,000 diapers as well as many other essentials. Summer and I went down to volunteer and help out. We helped put up some banners and then went out to assist as some of the coveted “course monitors” whose main purpose was cheering on the runners and making sure they all were going the right way. I soon found out that my cheering skills need some honing as “we got spirit, yes we do, we got spirit, how bout you?” grew very tiresome.

How does one improve with my awesome cheer skills such as sporatic clapping and the occasional half hearted “whoo?” I’ll tell you how, buy Netflix’n all of the “Bring it On” DVD’s. Yes that’s right, Hollywood found it in their infinite wisedom to create not one, not two, but three sequels to the box office money machine “Bring it On” franchise. I wait with bells on and baited breath for the day a fifth film makes its straight to Dvd.

But I digress, the Mardi Gras Run benefits a great charity, Captain Hope’s Kids and the Mardi Gras parade that follows is even bigger with this year being the first for MystiQal the namesake for the big party in victory plaza. MystiQal is just another in the line of big events in the victory development that gives people another reason to go downtown. I definitaly had a good time volunteering at the Mardi Gras Run and look forward to next year.

No related posts.

Lessons I learned from Guitar Hero and Rockband

admin — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:21:55 +0000

So following CES and the whole downfall of HD DVD with the announcement of Warner choice of Blu-ray in the high def disc battle I had to buy a PS3 and jump on the blu-ray bandwagon. I like my HD DVD player but there have been some deal breaking titles like the Simpson’s movie and “live free or die hard” that have been only on blu-ray. The PS3 is great and when I’m not watching movies or playing games I have the Folding at home program running which is blazingly fast on the cell processor in the PS3, it way out paces my duo core dell server.

So being the proud owner of a PS3 and an Amazon Prime customer I had to purchase Guitar Hero 3. It took me a couple hours to get down how to play and get past my cramping left hand. I finished the game on easy after three days leaving the huger of guitar stardom that could only be satisfied with Rockband. My sick guitar skills are humbled by my constant sucking playing drums on rockband. For a white guy I have some rhythm but I lack the very basic skills to finish even the easiest song on rockband. Perhaps my rock skills will increase if I get some gloves with the fingers cut off and a mullet wig.

Is it Christmas yet?

admin — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 04:55:17 +0000

I’m not sure why I’m excited for Christmas this year, whether it is the fact that I have no idea what I’m getting or the prospect of getting up at 4:30 am and going to work and collecting some double overtime but I’m excited for Christmas to get here. All of my Christmas is done and I’m waiting on the last of the Amazon.com gift wrapped stuff to show up on Monday. Aside from the stuff that I bought through amazon and shucked out the 3.99 for gift wrapping(well worth it in my mind) everything else is just sitting around waiting to be hastily wrapped after I get home from work on Monday just to be ripped open mere minutes later.

Christmas tree at the galleria

iTouch Update

admin — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:22:34 +0000

After almost a week with my I new ipod touch I have really fallen in love with it. It is a great way to watch video podcast and half hour shows.