Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

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!

It’s not the newest news, being about two weeks old, but it’s fascinating.

Scientific Blogging reports on the St. Andrews Air (STAIR) Battery, which has the potential to smooth out the delivery of electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar, removing the peaks and valleys that happen when the wind dies or the sun sets. Read the report here.

The battery uses oxygen from the air to help it do its work, giving it a smaller footprint than other batteries, which are completely self-contained. There’s a neat diagram at the link.

An excerpt is below the fold.

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Ashton hit 1 million - he was the first - on Twitter. Oprah is at 83,000. CNN, Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, Barack Obama and Shaq are those who make the top list of Twitter Followed profiles.

It seems Twitter is getting us closer to people we see on Radio, TV and Movies. You can find out what someone is doing from wherever you and they are. You can use your computer, phone, mobile device or mental telepathy - if you have an API written for it.

Then there is the chance that you might reply to @aplusk. Then you can say “Ashton talked back to me.” Well, maybe it’s his assistant who’s job it is to watch the twitter account. Even though Ashton is following 73, he can see all the @ replies.

There are those who are trying to find a way to get more followers. The best way would be if you did get a @ reply from Ashton. Really - it’s true: I have seen where I would @ a person, they would @ me back and I saw my followers jump up. And, No - it’s not all spammers and “Qwitters” (People that unfollow you after so many days hoping you will follow them).

Think about it - It’s like if you went to California, ran into Ashton and he said “Hey! Let’s go to Element and have a drink”. You walk up to the door and Ashton shakes hands with the security in the front, then says “Hey, this guy’s with me”. You then walk in without your name being on the guest list. All of a sudden you have people looking at you.

OK, I sensationalized the Twitter experience a little more than usual. But the same result is true. You have a few people going “I wonder what @geekazine is like…”

Now don’t expect to start @aplusk on every twitter he sends. It might get him to block you. It might get your account suspended by Twitter.

Twitter is a great tool to get your name across. If it wasn’t for the social Microblogger, I wouldn’t have met a lot of the people in my profession. I still have a lot to go. Maybe I’ll hit 1 million followers. I suppose I would need to create a million twitter accounts to do that….

BTW - twitter me @geekazine

According to Bloomberg and several other sources, EBay is planning to spin off Skype with an IPO. Read the story here.

Apparently, Skype has never quite fit in with EBay. Here’s an excerpt:

“The only problem with Skype is it’s part of EBay,” said Jeff Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. “It’s a marriage made in hell. They will make more money from spinning it out than they ever could by keeping it.”

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“No one gets left behind! No one gets left behind! Outstanding soldier!” Frank (Steve Carell) – Little Miss Sunshine (20th Century Fox – 2006)

There are slightly more than six billion people on the planet.Not everyone is connected as those folks in the Silicon Valley areas of the world.We have about 15 +/- percent of the adults who work on systems/devices, creating stuff, collaborating, sharing content/information and even blend the devices into their social networks and entertain.

They buy newer/better/more devices every 3-6 months.

Then we have another 15 +/- percent who use the basic mobile device applications – email, phone, photo/video exchange, use the web for productivity and creativity.They upgrade or add devices every 6-12 months.

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The Guardian reports that Honda has unveiled a robot that can be controlled by the thoughts of an operator wearing a special helmet. Read the full story and see a picture here.

The control module, if that’s the right word, appears to be slightly larger that a large washing machine, not counting the area where the operator sits. I have no doubt that it will rapidly shrink into something more portable.

An exerpt:

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