Abstruse, I Am

My preferences over at AmigoFish were described as ‘abstruse’ (difficult to comprehend) the other day.

Good word and much nicer than, say, ‘hyper-critical’.

In an effort to provide some clarity, here are a few notes on what I’m looking for in (video) podcast-land.

Podcasts in General

  • Enthusiasm and constructiveness.
  • 2-3 people having an intelligent conversation (no panels).
  • Big, deep, timeless conversations, rather than time-sensitive reactions.
  • Interesting-ness. I’m looking to think about things in new ways.
  • Independent publishers – repurposed audio/video is cut right out (On the Media is the sole exception).

Video-specific

  • Low production values (I don’t want it to feel like television)
  • Delivered as .mpg or something I can easily convert to .mpg – because, ironically – I want these on my Tivo.
  • Actually using the video channel, not just audio with pictures.

If you’ve got a podcast you think I’d like, add it to my Backlog channel at GigaDial.

Thanks, and by the way, abstruse has nothing to do with “overbese”.

Maybe It’s a Sign

I’m writing this from a panel discussion for Twin Cities artists on building out a music career. An hour and 15 minutes into it, a question from the audience started out:

“We haven’t talked a lot about making records…”

I chuckled.

Aside from the bits about making sure you’ve correctly setup a small business – the rest of the conversation seemed very backwards-looking. I don’t see a difference between trying to make a living podcasting and make a living as a musician, same for writers/journalists/reporters and bloggers, video too.

I don’t see it. I’ve said that before.

So, what’s a budding creative mind to do? Get a day job?

What’s a “day job”?

Northern Exposure is Identity

We’re working through Season 3: Disc 5 of Northern Exposure (specifically My Sister, My Mother). In it, we find a nameless baby, Adam riding a roller coaster of emotions, and Shelly’s mom pretending to be her sister.

Add these story-lines to the series’ general fish-outta-water-ness and there’s a lot of identity theory – Jewish or otherwise.

Hollywood Video in the Local Supermarket

Ran up to the local Cub Foods for a last minute dinner item this evening and snapped the above photo of the new Hollywood Video Express Kiosk over in a part of the store I never go to (Sturgeon’s Revelation frequently comes to mind while I’m grocery shopping).

I found two things interesting about this moment.

  1. Hollywood Video still exists – and enough to launch A New Thing
  2. Someone was using it

If I wasn’t in a hurry (why hasn’t Cub installed self-checkout?) and wasn’t already a Netflix subscriber, I might have stopped to check it out.

Small MacBook Pro Joys

After living with a 17″ MacBook Pro for a couple weeks, there’s a couple things I’ve been pleasantly surprised with:

  1. MagSafe magnetic power connector
    Connecting the power cord takes far less precise alignment than before. Get the connector near the socket and it’s magnetically pulled in. Small joys.
  2. Horizontal scrolling trackpad
    No, I probably won’t be complaining about horizontal scrolling anymore…probably be encouraging it because it’s just so dang much fun.

Advice to Web Developers: Forget the Password

This weekend while wandering down the aisles of our local Super Target, we found a dinner table and a side board we though would go great in our living/dining room. After checking out, a couple of teenage boys wheeled the still flat-packed pieces to our awaiting PT Cruiser.

Now, after flattening the inside of the car, both pieces fit. Though either Jen or myself wouldn’t. We kindly asked the boys if they could hold the pieces until I returned.

Sure.

After dropping Jen and the little man home, I returned to pick up the furniture – now in the Customer Service area.

“I’m here for those pieces.”

“Do you have the receipt?”

“No.”

We chatted for a bit, trying confirm that the pieces were in-fact mine and paid for sans receipt.

I told her we couldn’t take them before, because we couldn’t get them both in the car.

She called over the same teenage boy and off we went.

One of my bigger irritations these days is with the number of passwords I need to remember to try out the latest browser-based Web2dotOhGodNo beta.

Frequently, there’s no real need for a specific web service to require registration of a unique identity, let alone I’ve already generated a pile of them elsewhere (can’t I use one of those?).

Sometimes, my browser will pre-populate the login/pass – that’s great while at the same time completely defeating the purpose of security. Security and identity are separate concepts, though security may confirm identity, there are other ways.

Point is the two concepts are mixed up so much there’s an inherent security problem.
The more passwords I create, use, manage, and remember on a regular basis, the greater the chance I’ll use something like “1234” and the whole ecosystem becomes insecure.

I’m using Apple’s Keychain Access to store passwords both me and my browser have since forgotten. Passwords for trials that have expired and services that no longer exist. Thing is, I’m far less likely to click ‘forgot password’ than I am to never return (Who knew Friendster was still around?).

Forget the password, it’s a security risk for customers and a barriers-to-entry for providers.

ELSEWHERE:

“Some teens chew through IM handles like candy; their nicks are things like “o-so-funny” rather than the first name, last name standard that seems to pervade professional worlds. It’s not seen as something to build an extensive identity around, but something to use to talk to friends in the moment.” – Dana Boyd

Trackbacks – A Better Reason to Not Have Comments

Seth Godin’s been getting some heat for not allowing comments on his blog posts (despite trackbacks being turned on.

Seth’s reason is something about not having time to respond to and “curate” each an every comment. Eh. Sure. But there’s a better reason. One consistent with Seth’s position and the fact that trackbacks, as I mentioned earlier, are turned on.

Comments (blog responses hosted on the original blog) don’t allow the comment-author to take ownership and responsibility for their statements. They can start a fire and leave, sticking the blog author with the mess to clean up.

Trackbacks on the other hand have all the benefits of comments without the drive-by issue. The pre-requisite being – the commenter needs a blog themselves. Not a terribly high obstacle these days. Plus, the comment is then presented to another group of readers – in addition to the readers of the original blog (i.e. readers of Godin’s blog see this and readers of the Work Better), thereby connecting communities via conversation.

Last November, 37Signals pulled comments from their popular Signal vs Noise blog. In my response posted at MNteractive, I used Seth Godin’s use of trackbacks as an example for 37Signals to follow.

To repeat myself here:

“[Trackbacks distribute] the conversation across many blogs rather than the hoisting the entire comment burden on the original blogger. Trackbacks eliminate the risk that one anonymous commenter will control the comment thread.”

Godin has no obligation to publish anyone’s views on his blog. Not even his own.

ELSEWHERE:
27 March 2007

“This is why I have no trouble whatsoever deleting anonymous comments. Identity matters. If people don’t feel the need to be held personally accountable for their words, I don’t want to talk to them.” – Hugh MacLeod

06 Nov 2007

“…unless you let me know what was up with deleting my comments.” – Steve Borsch

Dave Winer’s never been a big fan of comments on his blog. He doesn’t believe they’re necessary for something to be defined as a blog or for a conversation to occur. Steve’s complaint on his own blog proves that.