Sunday, February 24, 2008

Pghbloggers Blogfest 13 - Blog it, 'Cast it!

Hey, folks. Did the PghBlogggers Blogfest 13 at Finnegan's Wake in Pittsburgh's Northside this past Friday evening. A wet, slushy, sleety, blowy evening in Pittsburgh did nothing to dampen the spirits of the various bloggers and podcasters who showed up. A few of the cast:

Susan Courtad, of the One-Woman Show blog;
Dawn Papuga of Lyrique Tragedy Reviews;
Jim & Amy Shireman - Jim does Sportocracy podcast on Talkshoe;
Elwin Green of the Post-Gazette;
Karamagi Rujumba of the Post-Gazette;
Dayvoe of Two Political Junkies;
Bob from Masters of Gilligan;
Father Spoon;
Norm Heulsman of the new Strom Huelsman podcast;
Sickpuppy and Father Spoon of the Should I Drink That brewcast;
Cynthia and Brother Anthony Closkey of Big Big Design;
Mike Woycheck of Have a Good Sandwich blog;
...and many others.

Why weren't you there? Oh, yeah, the snow. :-)
check out Pghbloggers.org for future events...and start blogging!

..alex.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Blogging - You Either Are or You're Not

After a bit of blogging and podcasting hiatus, I read these two uber-perceptive statements by, or through, Jeremiah Owyang:

1st, Jeremiah links to Seth Godin's blog post in which Seth says that blogging is fun, and done, because it's something he "gets" to do, rather than has to do. This is a hugely important statement and realization.

2nd, in Jeremiah's blog post about CEO blogging, he states that the only exit strategy from blogging is simply to stop. To stop means perhaps, like the podfade, that the lack of interest, time or impetus, or some blend of the three, has impeded the act of communicating through blogging. In any case, this is disheartening to any readers you've picked up...and presents a loss to the world of another stream of an author's consciousness transcribed.

I twittered this morning for the first time in days...well, for the first time in over a week. Why the stop? Who cares? The point is to pick up again and continue.

Frodo didn't carry the ring because he had to. He carried the ring because he could. And, he cared.

..Alex.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Testing Seesmic and Ustream.tv this morning

I'm testing streaming video via Seesmic and Ustream.tv this morning, with bionicle and lego building episodes with my son. I've read/viewed/heard that Seesmic is to video as Twitter is to blogging...but hadn't yet put that to the test. This morning I see that it forces production to about 5 or 6 minutes max. I made no alterations to original settings, so I don't know if that's expandable...but with my current content, that's not a big deal. Ustream.tv I believe has a different limitation...but also is more about streaming longer shows & content than just short bursts, as is Seesmic's specialty.

Below is an embedded video from Ustream.tv. Go to Seesmic and search on "alexlandefeld" for the 5 short vids posted there this morning.

..alex.


Sunday, January 27th, 2008


Alternatively, link here for this morning's recording, and here for the Ustream show

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Minute Tech 066 - pre-production iMovie video

I record the Minute Tech podcast via iMovie. This is the first time I've exported the recording to an uploadable format - not quite as pretty as the post-production audio file...but it's the real mccoy...er...macrae. And, yes, I read from the transcript. :-) I find that I throw in too many ums and ah's otherwise, which really pumps up edit time. A goal is to get beyond transcript talking!

..alex.

Minute Tech 066: How Do You Organize Information? Databases.

- HBO's got milk and India's going orbital;
- How do you organize information? Databases.
- Seesmic is setting itself apart by micro-vlogging.

Go to the Minute Tech iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

Interstitial music by Apple & Bre Pettis

Show Transcript

..Alex.


"Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji"

Friday, January 25, 2008

1st week at Elliance, Inc.

Okay, folks, this has been my first week as a Customer Support Specialist at Elliance.com, a web development, strategy, SEM/SEO & SaaS company in Pittsburgh. While the week has been very awesome in terms of learning new things, doing new things, meeting a great team of people...I also have not been putting out Minute Tech episodes!

But that's fine - we all adapt to new environments, new stimuli, etc.

One big event I attended this week: the preliminary meeting about Podcamp Pittsburgh 3. More on that and other things shortly.

..alex.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Minute Tech 065: How Do You Organize Information? Computers.

- Batteries Get A Charge Out of Silicon Nano-wires;
- How do you organize information? Computers.
- and, Stephen Hawking's Popular Book Moves Forward in Time.

Go to the Minute Tech iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

Interstitial music by Apple & Bre Pettis

Show Transcript

..Alex.

"Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji"