tech
Time To Update You
If you haven’t heard yet through the social network grape-vine(s), I’m co-hosting a new podcast with three friends I met on the internet called Generation Tech. The team is comprised of yours truly, Matsie, Matt, and Mike. We gather on skype each week to record our thoughts and feelings about the tech world today and it’s implications on our lives, all the while talking trash. It’s truly a remarkable endeavor and it’s been nothing but a blast these past few episodes. Granted, we’re only coming up on our fourth episode, but don’t let that deter you. Get in on the ground floor and check us out. We also write articles throughout the week and spend copious amounts of time on twitter, friendfeed and facebook. (Add us, please….or else)
I’m also working on various writing projects and generally keeping as busy as I possibly can. Don’t really want to spoil anything or give away too much too early, but I think there is some promising content coming your way. Anyway, that’s really all I have for you this evening. Before I go, here’s a song that’s been running through my head all night. Ciao.
Weighing In On Rev3 Changes
Big news today in the world of New Media. Revision3 decided today to cut back some of it’s shows as well as a few of it’s employees to persevere through this economic downturn. While I’m saddened that such talented people are out of work, I’m not too terribly disappointed that some of these shows are no longer a part of the Rev3 lineup. Of course, I’m referring to Internet Superstar, Pixel Perfect, and Pop Siren.
Internet Superstar. A lot of problems exist with this show, in my opinion, and they all seem to stem from Martin Sargeant’s very first show with Rev3, Infected. I gave that show a chance when it first aired, and just didn’t get it. I understood what was supposed to be funny about it, but I lost interest about ten minutes into the first episode. I also couldn’t get through episode two, or episode three, and stopped completely ten seconds into the fourth episode. It was the kind of humor that I don’t subscribe to, and the lack of focus for the show only served to piss me off.
When Web Drifter came into the fray, things changed for me. The show had Martin Sargeant in his element: out and about with all the “weird” internet people he could find. It was a promising concept, and as the series progressed, it started to take a form that I really enjoyed.
And then it was dropped for Internet Superstar (or Infected 2.0: Where’s Joey?). Despite being more focused in scope than infected, it just couldn’t make up it’s mind about where it wanted to go. This was quite evident when the full length version of the show got cut down to just it’s daily “bytes” only. Really, how much longer could this show have gone on anyway? Personally, I think cutting this show down was a wise choice, and should have happened even before this economy crunch occurred.
Pixel Perfect. I really liked this show, but as it continued, I noticed that it just didn’t really fit into the Rev3 lineup. Maybe I’m the only one who thinks that, but there was a definite vibe that this show was kind of outside the core content that Rev3 was producing.
Pop Siren. Now here’s a show with promise and a lack of vision at the same time. I remember watching it a few times between the older (longer) version and the updated version. It lost a lot in the translation, and it only showed me that like Internet Superstar, it just wasn’t finding it’s place in the core lineup. A shame, because I was definitely into it for awhile there.
All in all, it’s a shame to see these shows go. Wine Library TV and EPIC FU will of course find their footing again, considering they were established before Rev3. I can only hope that the talented people from these dropped shows will find their next big thing and give it their all. Best of luck to everyone!
An Old Video, But Good One
Found this older video by perusing a family member’s blog archives. Every time I’ve come across TED I’ve always been engaged on so many levels. Seriously. Good stuff. I agree with a lot of what Sir Ken Robinson says here. Our education needs to be rethought. Funny that I’m thinking about this more now that my education is winding down.
Instant (hard) On
Was poking around on Valleywag and noticed a small piece about Microsoft probing it’s users in regards to an “instant on” feature for their computers. The question asked if they would be willing to part with a majority of features of the Windows OS for an 8 second boot time. I don’t know about you all, but I’m wondering why this has to be so “gosh darn” complicated.
It’s this simple: All the current instant-on solutions involve packing the computer with a flash memory chip, one that contains a downsized operating system.
Why can’t they just figure out a better way to manage resources and not load all of them on startup? Granted, I’m asking these questions as someone who doesn’t know a lot about “OS startups,” but as a simple consumer I have to wonder if things aren’t just arbitrarily complicated. Any light shed on this for me would be super.
Chrome Dome
Didn’t really notice that Google was making their own foray into the browser market until I read this over at Dvorak’s blog. Shame on me for living under a rock, and double shame on me for not noticing that one of my favorite comic artists had drawn it. Oh well, I can’t be everywhere at once. My thoughts on this new browser can pretty much be summed up in a noise: “meh.” Also, was it THAT much more expensive to get ahold of a design team to make the browser look, you know…nifty? Don’t get me wrong. It seems cool. But considering I’m using 5 very competent browsers at the moment with no significant problems, I’m just not all that impressed.
You Can Never Have Just One
This article from Valleywag goes commando on Scoble and makes an interesting point that internet buzz is too random to make bloggers useful in advertising a brand. Or at least, any one blogger. I guess a question I have is why does this makes bloggers a “waste of money?” Not much of a post on my part, but it’s something that’s got me really curious now.