Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

You can Patent Podcasting?

It was an interesting week. The one thing that just seemed to be the strangest is that a company called VoloMedia decided to put a patent on Podcasting. While we’re all still trying to wrap our heads around it, I can see how this can happen. I remember years ago I heard of patent cases all around of people who didn’t really invent something clean up because there was no document on it.

Of course, the more famous story goes to the girl who invented that clip to store your sunglasses on your car’s visor. The story goes she used Bobby-pins to invent the clip. Someone else saw the idea and made an adjustment, then patented it for their own. The end result is that girl lost out on millions of $$

Yeah, this is not no visor clip and we are no little girls. Nonetheless, this is why you claim for intellectual property. You never know who might just come by to capitalize on it.

Podcast Recorder Up – Podcast Recorder Down.

I thought I had resolved my podcast recording problems, but when I went to do the show earlier in the week, they came back. It was frustrating, but I think I know what the issue is. I have a machine with 2 SATA drives that are striped for cache storage. They offer speed of caching my recordings. I thought one of them went bad, therefore I took it down to 1 drive. Now I think the SATA controller bus is bad. I run checks on the drives and they come out with no errors – but they still crash the machine if I use them.

Video Recording is Tough

I am not replacing that machine just yet because I may be cascading machines. The reason why? Well I also need to work on putting together a machine for Video production. The one I was using is just not going to cut it. To spend 4-5 hours on one-10 minute clip is not productive. The worst part is I got done with the video and reviewed it – only to find that the audio is not in sync with the video! ACK!

This is an interesting road to go down, but I am working on it. What would be great is if WebcamMax had an option to go above 640 x 480 on recording video. They don’t. I do have a copy of ArcSoft I got with my camera. Not too keen on using it, for it doesn’t record in a native format my video mixing program will allow. That means conversion before I can edit. Not fun.

What? The Website AGAIN!?!

This week I had more issues with the website. On Wednesday I upgraded to Wordpress 2.8.2. I thought the upgrade was fine, but when I went to post a new article on Friday, I noticed none of the AJAX was working. After a couple hours of deduction (because some functionality doesn’t work at all when AJAX is off, like disabling all plugins), I found the problem – a plug-in. What was interesting is I was planning to get rid of that plug-in anyway. This sealed the deal.

Local Community TV

If anyone is from the Madison area, you might know about WYOU, a local community TV station. They are faced with a new concern – broadcasting with out a community budget. The city gave this station $140k a year for production, but this year is the last they will get it simply because of economic times.

I was asked to come in with local music magazine CEO Rokker (Maximum Ink) to try and figure out what can be done in the social media realm to monitize, but stay commercial free. It’s an daunting and interesting task, but I think we threw some ideas their way and maybe this will work for all.

Long Weekend

It seems the next 3 weekends will be filled with trips and gigs. Therefore weekend production will be sparse. I still have to round up my notes for Week in Tech History. I should just record the month and be done with it for now. Yet I feel some sense of need to record only 7 at a time. I guess I feel then I am up on all the history.

Binghoo

The majority of the second half of the week was involved in watching the Microsoft – Yahoo love connection. I personally think this is a great thing for both companies and I am curious as to what Yahoo is going to do next. Although I believe that this might be a door-hold for Microsoft to seal the deal and buy out Yahoo within 2 years. I have noted that this is something Microsoft has wanted to do for a few years now, so I think that they won’t just stop because they have search engine control of Yahoo.

If Yahoo doesn’t show a promising line by next year – Expect Microhoo to be born. It will definitely speed up the process of putting Bing on Yahoo search engines…

Shout out to Andy, Todd

Both Andy McCaskey and Todd Cochrane had family issues. I have worked with both exclusively in the last year and want to give props to both for all their work they have done in the new media space. Andy has been hit hardest as he did not run his show all week. It is a great Technical podcast that runs daily – This should be required listening to all in the tech field. I know I take the 15 minutes to listen in on all the news Andy delivers.

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Well, off to a show. We’ll talk next week.

Wait. I have to check my Facebook. No Messages? OK. Here I go.

iPhone Week 2

I sat down with a friend last night who also got one of the new 3GS Models. We went back and forth on what we liked and didn’t. He had a lot of paid apps, while I haven’t purchased a single one. I am taking my time and make sure that I am not paying 99 cents for something I am going to delete tomorrow.

I did play with a great little app from Master Card. It was quick and easy to use and worked phenomenally on the phone. But I think that it all is shadowed from the other functionality of the phone. Facebook and Twitter – As well as email – seems to be consuming the time.

Don’t get me wrong. I still believe a phone is made for calling someone. It is nice that I can do other things, too.

One thing that I miss though is the emulator I had on my 8125. I could put the phone on my computer screen and use the keyboard and mouse to do more work. I would love to see the same for the new phone. That, and the ability to keep the screen on longer than a minute while plugged in.

However, check out the video I created on Wed. I think it’s a pretty good quality:

Summer of Podcasts Contest

It’s now week 3 and the contest is still going. Yay! I’ve been talking to a couple more people and I think we have a few more prizes by the end of the month. The Podcast Carnivale is set for August 9th. We are looking for Podcasters to get online and talk. at 3 PM CST, we have the TechPodcasts Roundtable and at 6 PM CST we give away a lot of prizes. Gonna be a pretty cool day.

Workin on the site again

I was playing with some new software in hopes to add to the site. Also have been working on the next iteration in the “azine” line. When all falls into place, I should be able to move ahead to make everything a lot easier to do.

Podcast Rig

The Podcast Rig had some problems on Sunday. I couldn’t record “Week in tech History”, so I pointed to an episode from last year. Made me think if I am going in the right direction with this segment – after all, it’s been going for over a year now. It’s time to evolve.

Video is Tough

The studio is about 95% done. Lighting becomes critical in the creating of the video. But I am confident that the right mixture of light is there and will be testing it out next week.

The post-production, however, was tougher than before. It really makes me think about upgrading the computer, which I don’t have the funds for right now. Therefore, I have another plan which means double the production time. I am also banking on the fact that I now have a template in place as so it wont be as frustrating.

But I did have someone say to me – “Dude, you have a green screen in your basement?” Yes, I do.

It’s only the Sciatic

I had a rude awakening last week. My Sciatic Nerve flared up. Yep, I said Sciatic. I come to realize that since loosing the Gym membership (had to make some hard choices, you know) I haven’t been doing much physical activity besides playing music. Therefore, I am going to start working out again, which should be fun, and get me back on track.  That is, if I can stand…

Bad Weather

As a musician, weather can hamper your plans. This weekend was grey and cold. I lost a few shows because of it. It sucks, but it also gave me time to work on other things. That, and play with the iPhone some more…

I Can’t tell you

There is some big news that I cannot tell you. But just keep your eyes peeled as I am working on something that will help out the site.

That’s it for this week. Back to the grind, if I can stand up….

On August 9th from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM CST, we will have the live event called “Podcast Carnivale“. During this event, we will talk to tech podcasters about different items. At 3 PM CST – Andy, Todd and Techpodcasts Network will hold a special TPN Roundtable. Finally, at 6 PM CST – we will be giving away all the prizes in the Summer of Podcasts contest.

If you would like to participate, all you have to do is let me know and I will sign you up. geekazine at gmail dot com.

Event: Podcast Carnivale
Why: Event to talk with Tech Podcasters, giveaways and more.
When: August 9th from 12:00 to 18:00 (6 PM) CST
Who: All that entered in the Summer of Podcasts Contest
Special: TPN Roundtable at 3 PM CST
Special: Drawing for “Summer of Podcasts” Contest at 6 PM CST

Were gonna be short on Ramblings since it’s another fun filled weekend.

Happy Independence Day

I am writing this on July 4th, so I shall say it. If you are not in the US, shoot off some fireworks anyway. It’s fun – unless you are in a country that doesn’t make it fun, then just read on.

We spent the majority of last night blowing stuff up. I can say that I enjoyed the night a lot. Being with friends and just relaxing to the warm sound of BANG! POP! BOOM!

Tonight, we play in the Dells, and although that’s fun too, it’s a different group.

Summer of Podcasts Contest is Underway

Wednesday marked the start of the Summer of Podcasts contest. PC Mac Smackdown, Simon Sez IT and Bageltech News are the first show to listen to. Collect the codeword, then go to Podcastmadness.com and enter it in.

New Studio

I worked in the initial videos from the new studio this week. Still have a little work to do. Nonetheless, the new studio will have a lot of great advantages to it. I am looking forward to this new opportunity.

Starting Back up the LIVE SHOW?

It’s been a few months since the last episode of the Geekazine LIVE show was aired. I think it’s time to bring it back.

Problems in Banking

If you use Paypal, it can be great for money transfers. However, it can also become a nightmare. Especially if something goes wrong. I am not going to talk too much more about it right now, simply because there are still things pending out there. Nonetheless, I did have some issues this week.

Blogworld – New Media Expo

Started getting prepared for this show in October. A lot to plan – flight, hotel, show, which shorts I am going to pack, etc.  I will definitely be there. Even if I have to sleep in the alley by the convention center.

That’s all for now. It was a slow week. Next week will be chuck full of goodness, so stay tuned.

Busy Week
Thanks for coming to the site. We had another great week – busy week. It was a lot of fun and really productive.

Post – HPTF

Of course, we went to Vegas the week before to cover the HP Technology Forum Expo. Andy McCaskey, Kara Karsten and myself were working hard with interviews, product reviews and more. This week was planning to get some of the videos out to you. So far, we’ve posted the HP POD video on Friday and have a lot more coming soon.

Summer of Podcasts – Podcast Carnivale

This is what really took up the majority of the week. The last month I have been working hard in getting prizes together. Now it’s time to put a contest together. That is where the Summer of Podcasts comes in. Each week, Podcasters will be giving out codewords during their shows. We will be giving away a USB wireless VGA from IOGEAR (See the video below), a WebAround Web privacy screen and a lot more. The best part is a lot of prizes are from the Podcasters themselves. Caffination is giving some Coffee, Bageltech News gave a NYC canvas print, Bwana.org is giving Team Fortress 2 for PC and a T-Shirt, SDRNews is giving a MagicJack, Techpodcasts (Geek News Central) is giving an iPod Touch: there is a lot more.

Wednesday, July 1st is when the contest starts. Check out the site before hand to which shows are giving codewords for the week.

Bands

It’s summertime, so the band ramps up in it’s playing. It’s all well and good – I enjoy taking the trips and playing the gigs. This last weekend I played 3 shows and it wasn’t even Sunday. This afternoon is one more show. Next week is just about the same.

Interview

This last week, I was interviewed on the Isthmus – a local tabloid – style paper in the Madison area. The interview will be out next week, when that happens, I will post it.

PC/Mac Smackdown

Had lunch with Cal last Wednesday. He said – “Hey, why don’t you come on the show”. I said “Sure, why not?”. Therefore, I was on the PC / Mac Smackdown with Cal Davis and Rachel Baker.

Windows 7

Pre-Orders of Windows 7 means a significant discount. I have Windows 7 RC on my Dell D600 and really like how it works. What is even more interesting – Windows 7 works a lot better on that machine than when I put on Ubuntu 9.04. Ubuntu would lag when I was working – and I mean REALLY Lag. I would litterally select something, count to 5, then watch it execute.

I am really impressed with this OS, so I am excited this is coming out.

MJ, FF and EM AND BM

It was a sad week for a lot of people. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson took the Trifecta this week as all three passed. Ed McMahon was the sidekick of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, Farrah Fawcett was the poster girl of the 70’s and of course, Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. While I was never a big MJ fan, I do appreciate his music and also how he let Weird Al Yankovic to make fun of his music.

I remember when I first heard “Eat it” 0n the radio. While I never listened to “Bad”, I did have the “Even Worse” album which featured “Fat”.

*Update – Just as I published this, the Internet found out that Billy Mays – the Oxy Clean promoter (as well as Mighty Putty, Big City Sliders, Kaboom and a lot more) was found dead at his  home. He was 50. I guess it’s more than a Trifecta…

Studio

This week was a lot of work with the studio. Only problem – I can’t find my staple gun. I had it, then it dissapeared. I am not sure where it went. AUGH!

Still, the new studio is doing well. I am hoping to record the first video there by Mid-week. My bedroom is getting cluttered with PC stuff and that needs to head down to the Dungeon. The door to that room is the main reason why I call it the Dungeon.

Looking at Phones

I have to admit, I have been looking at the iPhone 3GS. The one thing I like is I have fatter fingers. I was able to use the screen a lot better than with the 3G. For instance, when I hit the “N”, on the 3G, I would always miss and hit the “M”. However, with the 3GS, I have not done anything different and seem to be hitting the “N” key and actually getting an “N”.

I still have some tests to go. I am also looking at the Palm Pre, but in order to do that, I would have to switch to Sprint, which I don’t know if I am ready to do. Android is a possibility, but I really don’t want the G1. I am waiting for the Lenovo version.

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That’s pretty much it this week. Keep watching the site for more info on the contest. Of course if you want to give a prize for the contest, let me know.

Day Off - Sort of
A late Ramblings this week as I decided to stay offline last week. It was a long week and I was playing all weekend. It has been a while since I last took more than 24 hours off a computer, so that is a big feat for me.

HP Tech Forum

I had a fun time talking and working with Andy McCaskey and Kara Karsten with SDRNews. We had such a blast. We also put forward the mobile interview booth rig. We call it the “MacGyver” rig. Nonetheless, it was connected to uStream and we were able to conduct a few interviews for the event. Check out all the info on the Twitter log at #HPTF.

Great to meet some new bloggers: Shane Pitman of Neowin, John Obeto of AbsoluteWindows. We had a great week along with Halley, Tom, Calvin and Rebecca from HP and Buzzcorps.

Fryes at Vegas

Also got to go to Vegas again. While we didn’t run around town as much as with CES (everything was contained in Mandalay Bay), we did venture out to go to Fryes. It’s actually my first time at Fryes and I was pretty impressed. Of course, it was Vegas, so the store has a big slot machine up in it’s store front and stacks of coins as barrier posts. The inside was very big and complete. Andy had to get a new scratch drive since the one he brought died. We got what we needed and headed back to the safe Mandalay Bay

Mandalay Bay

Wow. This is a city contained in a building. That is, if you have the money for it. My room – which I call the “Bob Newhart” room – was decked with all the amenities. TV in the bedroom and the bathroom. You can connect an external device easily and be watching a movie while soaking in the tub.

The casino area was always hoppin. There were bands both on the “Sushi Pop” and “House of Blues” stages. Restaurants all over the building. A small walk and you are at “theHotel”. They even have their own beach – where we watched the Beach Boys play a set. Well, it was a short set for me, since I had a flight to catch.

Podcast on the show floor

I had the unique opportunity to record the show from the HPTF Expo floor. It was great because I didn’t have to set up a rig, do a show, rip it down and go to another area to post. I would also like to thank Simon Calder for helping out with the show notes so I could focus on other things.

What I got out of the show

Of course, there were a lot of things I have learned from this event. I have run server rooms before, but I was a little out of touch with the current technologies. FCoE was the big one I learned about. Also building a server is a lot different than before. Greener, more powerful and reliability were the best parts.

The Keynotes were just amazing. Learning about how these big companies are working on green technologies is amazing. Dr. Michio Kaku and his views for the future were amazing. A “Smart toilet” is definitely something to get excited about.

The Weekend

I got back to Madison at 8 AM on Friday. It was a long trip (5 hours, turned into 7 due to timezone changes). What was worse was on the trip back, I was not really impressed with the airline I flew. The one thing I noticed is they were not really friendly.

An example: We flew through a couple storm fronts during the trip. Most airlines would say “This is the Captain. We are seeing some turbulance, so please remain in your seats and buckle your belts. Thank you.”

The airline I was on? Well: “Please buckle your seatbelts”.

The airline also had screens drop from above. While I would normally invite this, I was in a evening flight. I had difficulties sleeping when something like a video monitor is playing. Of course, I didn’t pack my sleeping mask. Therefore, I was stuck watching “Confessions of a Shopoholic”. While other people loved this movie, I didn’t find it as interesting.

I got home around 9 AM, in which I proceeded to collapse on the bed for a couple hours. Woke up, caught up on some work I missed during the week, then headed off to play a show. Since it was out of town, I had to pack for another night away from home.

Band Gigs

Saturday was a day of playing. We played a friends graduation, then it was up to the Dells for our regular show at the Baja bar. There were 4 different Bachelorette parties that night and they were not in the Baja at the same time. As one party left, the next one showed up. Crazy.

New Guitar

While we were in transit to the Graduation party, we stopped at a local music store. There, I found a used Acoustic / Electric guitar. I picked it up as a spare for future shows. It needs some work to it, but not much to make it ready to play out.

Lazy Sunday? Not.

Of course, the day started out with this post. A quick breakfast, then it’s getting things ready for the week. Have to work on “Week in Tech History”, then I have to figure out how to put together the new video studio. Lots of soundproofing to do.

I suppose I should get to it. Thanks again to everyone for a great week. How do you top that?

Viva Las Vegas

In 36 hours I will be back in a city I said I would never go to. Las Vegas. Years ago, I was opposed to gambling. We had a local casino and every time I would step foot in, I would be barraged with “Ding Ding Ding” noises that would irritate me to no end.

That has changed.

Not that I am an excessive gambler, but I have realized that if you are going to start a new business, you are taking a gamble. You put down more money than you can afford and you let it ride. If you are a smart gambler, you know when to move your chips, but nonetheless, they will still be on the table.

I started pulling the slots on a business model about 10 years ago. Crazy ideas on the web. My first Website was “Toonzed” featuring “Cybeeks” – a daily online comic about 2 IT professionals that lived together. It ran for a year and a half.

I did a whole bunch of music stuff in between 2002-2009, including my other current website – WIBands – a place for musicians to talk shop. It was mostly a forum with aspiration for more, but still in the works.

The big jump was when I started doing Geekazine and the podcasts within. I was podcasting prior with “Independant Music Podcast”. That ran for a small while on a monthly basis. I thought with Geekazine, I could take a better gamble and get more out of it.

So far, it’s been a year and a half and I am happy with the results. I have aligned myself with some great people and we help each other out in many ways. With sites like Dorkazine and TVazine upon the portal, I have been able to really ramp up the viewership. Sportazine will be the next in the portal and will be coming up shortly.

So I have been gambling for a while. So why not go to Vegas?

Understand, the two times I went, it wasn’t to gamble in a literal fashion. It was to gamble in a business fashion. In January I went with Todd Cochrane and Andy McCaskey to cover CES with the Techpodcast network. This time it’s with Andy and Kara Karsten to cover the HP Buzzcorps Expo 2009 -  Soon to be called “Ivy world”. They ran contests like “31 Days of the Dragon”, where they gave away thousands in prizes.

We will be putting down video for the week, along with the infamous Backchannel action. I have the camera all ready to go and can’t wait to get going.

So that is my Gamble. I might just play the tables for a bit, too. You never know…

The New Diggs

As you may have remembered, I was totally under the gun when my last lease was up. I held out a few days and it payed off as I found a new place with some great additions. It has this room in the corner of the basement that will be perfect for the Video production. It’s a bit boomy – 4 walls of concrete do that. But it will also be great for when I set up a green screen and produce some higher quality video.

iPhone App?

I have been talking with a few people about an idea for an iPhone app. I feel it will have a good showing and with 2.1 million opportunities to download it, I think that this app may be on at least 3% of the expected 40 million iPhone sales. That would be a potential of 2 million.

I have a developer in toe, but need an investor to cover costs. It is a low overhead, but one I cannot scrape together. I will post more info on Vator when I get a chance.

Where did that come from?

I found out about some cash I had that I didn’t expect. Only problem is it’s in a 401K from a previous job. If I did move it, it would take 120 days to do. I’ll have to figure out what to do. It would be nice to borrow from it so I can get some new equipment, but I am not sure how to go about doing that.

Congrats Sunspot

Sunspot, the band I have hilighted in my latest videos, just put out a new album called “Singularity” I haven’t heard the whole album yet, but I have heard some songs in live shows. If you get a chance, download it.

Win the Epson Artisan 700

Monday is the Quickcast “Week in Tech History” where we will talk about the third step in the Summer of Geekazine contest #1. Don’t worry. It’s actually really simple. And you can get a great printer with WiFi capabilities.

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That’s all for now. Now it’s time to roll the dice and head out to Vegas. Keep an eye on TVazine for some quick videos next week!

Geekazine has been working with different vendors since inception in 2007. With Podcasts being part of the Techpodcast network, the video had a uncertainty to it.

That all has changed as we are now working with Mevio to produce Geekazine video content within. In preparation, we have launched TVazine.com – the official website for all Geekazine video.

Within the next couple weeks we will be ramp up video content. We will be producing more video reviews, interviews, and backchannel content to show what it’s like at each event.

Mevio hosts great shows like geekbrief.tv, Cranky Geeks, Mevio Tech (with Sumi Das) and other hosts of Mevio Men, Mevio Women and Mevio Music.

The official press release:

Fitchburg, WI 5-26-09: Geekazine has been known for their views in technology. The Geekazine Podcast and Geekazine Quickcast (including ‘Week in Tech History’) have been in production since 2007.

Now, Geekazine has partnered with Mevio – www.mevio.com – to host all their video content. Reviews, interviews, how-to and much more in a video content will be hosted over at Mevio.

To help bring more people to the Video side, TVazine has been created. www.tvazine.com. This will direct you to all the great content Geekazine offers.

“We expect some great things with Mevio taking care of video content” says Jeffrey Powers – CEO of Geekazine. “We have been working hard building up a visual side of the podcast. With the partnership and the new website to direct viewers, we feel stronger than ever.”

Other sites on the Geekazine Network include: Dorkazine – www.dorkazine.com and now TVazine – www.tvazine.com

Press Release: Geekazine joins Mevio; Launches TVazine.com

Just got done playing Bratfest – a weekend of music and sausage to raise money for various charities. All the bands donate their time and our band was no different. We had a lot of fun and it was officially our first big stage show of the season.

I am packing. Moving to a new place – TBD. Yep, in 5 days I have to be moved out of my place. The finalization on the new diggs is not set, but these things work themselves out. Podcasts will go on as scheduled and so should ‘Week in Tech History’.

The video is getting a new home. http://www.tvazine.com is where you can get all the Geekazine Video. We have signed up with Mevio to host all our video. Once I get new digs, we will be putting up a lot more. TVazine is the newest part of the Geekazine portal. And there is still one more new site coming real soon!

That’s it for now. I had a lull between Holiday shows, so I thought I would put this out. For all that celebrate, have a safe Memorial Day weekend and we’ll see you when you get back from the cookout. Eat Brats!

Well, this week I started getting everything in order. The packing is going pretty well as I did almost nothing yet… Kidding. I packed away all the promotional and review items, then started getting all the computer stuff straightened out.

However, it’s tough to pack computers when new ones are coming in. It’s a startup side project that I am working on where we are looking for older – yet still useful computers. We need older P4’s at least 1.8 Ghz in speed if you have any lying around. Dell machines preferred because of their ability to turn on at certain times.

Otherwise, it’s been a pretty laid back week. Podcast went well. Been talking to a new sponsor that could bring more to the video section. If you haven’t checked it out, I recreated the Duke Nukem character on Bitstrips. I did a full video demonstration and shortened it to 7 minutes for easy watching. Backing music is by a band called “Sunspot”, friends of mine that do “Punk Arena Rock”.

Last week we kept running into server issues. I am hoping we fixed all the errors, but I am still keeping an eye on things. If all is well, then we will be working on a new site in the portal. It will be exciting to see this site come up for I will have nothing to do with it after it’s creation.

If you want to blog about something, let me know. I’ll put you into the portal.

We are going to run a contest in June – keep your eyes and ears peeled for more information.

That’s all for now. Hope you have a great week and we’ll see you for the Week in Tech History on Monday.

For those who don’t know, tonight I am going to the Madison Area Music Awards. I was nominated for 3 awards including cover band of the year, country song of the year (which was weird) and Unique song of the year (a remix of a song by another artist). It’s pretty exciting that I was nominated on all 3 areas – 2 of them I had expectation on .

While I’ve been waiting for tonight, I had some interesting issues come up with the site. In PHP land, if there is a issue, it will create a ‘core’ file. That file might have 0 kb or megs of info. I had over 300 of them on the site.

To counter, I cleared out the offending ones, made sure all updates were solid, backed up and cleaned content and wrote a CRON job to tell me if this happens again. Take THAT, PHP.

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