Disqus - Latest Comments for Eric Rice

Re: http://www.rev2.org/2005/10/26/will-videoegg-be-the-audioblog-for-video/

Eric Rice — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 05:09:09 -0000

Actually, I'll go a step further and say that Audioblog's probably the Audioblog for video since we've done it for a year.... podcast for video tools being refined now, a name change-heh, and yeah, cross-platform. We're mostly Mac people. ;-) Thanks for the good words.

Re: The blogging bitch-slap-fest continues

Eric Rice — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 00:09:41 -0000

I wonder what's the best way to say, "Valleywag needs to grow a set and talk some real shit and TechCrunch needs to expand beyond hippies making software that will be acquired, vaporized or forgotten and repeated in 3.4 years."

Oh well hm, nevermind. /smirk

Re: Second Life: virtually a real business

Eric Rice — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:16:38 -0000

I'm noticing a huge gap between the informed and uninformed. And while people spend lots of time talking about SL hype or unhype and all that, there are armies of people doing real work, completely in line with the same fundamentals and ideals that are embraced with democratization and low barriers to entry of blogging, podcasting, and vlogging. Are people who are getting paid $20,000 USD gazing at the converstion rate of the Linden exchange? Maybe, but they are getting work done. And why are we seeing this trend of strawman closed-mindedness. It's been well documented that some Serious Stuff is being done in SL, yet someone goes to a mind numbing casino on accident and WELP THERE IT IS, SL IN A NUTSHELL. It's boggling. Seriously.

And Valleywag of all things, needs to figure out if they want to be a real tabloid or some respected tech pub, cuz right now, they are screwing up both counts.

Re: Robert: Disclose that bag of pretzels too

Eric Rice — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 20:04:36 -0000

Class warfare, totally. You tell people broke that they can be paid to blog, "zomg sign me up!"... and then when you go on about transparency and disclosure, they laugh at you and repeat, "sign me up!"

We don't like this. It's against The Rules.

Re: PayPerPost: a Web 2.0 witch-hunt

Eric Rice — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:11:56 -0000

Go tell this story to a broke-ass myspacer.

I want to hear what poor people have to say.

I don't want to hear what the crazy uncles have to say. I love the crazy uncles. They need to go out for a pipe and let the kids have a breather.

And I'm thinking that the conversation might be different.

Cuz we are certainly scared of our crazy uncles. They give us wedgies and noogies and make us feel embarassed.

Re: Twitter THIS!

Eric Rice — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:05:43 -0000

Outside of a conference and social space, it's kinda silly. However, I've found it to be extremely helpful during the conference, much like ever-changing iChat status messages have been in previous years. It's passive presence. I was lost, found people, and didn't have to worry about not having phone numbers or whatnot.

But going back home, I'll see little use. Time will tell.

Re: http://laughingsquid.com/barcamp-second-life/

Eric Rice — Fri, 19 May 2006 12:16:24 -0000

Well as the motherly person running around making sure things were getting done, I was so bummed that we *didn't* have Barcamp t-shirts. And then, my wife (my Real Life Wife heh) volunteered to do a presentation on file formats, templates and textures and her session was gettinge everyone (newbies as well) to MAKE THEIR OWN.

And on another note, well, I do have a couple Red Bull machines (which is a copyright violation, sure, but look at the workflow: celebrating the brand!), so if you show up, I'll kick down for SuperHappyAvCamp. ;-)

Re: Gwyn, you’re too smart | Baba Sucks

Eric Rice — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 18:25:33 -0000

God, I am such a Gwen fanboy. She's brilliant.

Re: Oh, Vivox? Doesn’t that give you cancer?

Eric Rice — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:39:49 -0000

You forgot Griefer Sympathizers and Apologists. /smirk

Re: For Love of IRC | Baba Sucks

Eric Rice — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 03:14:33 -0000

IRC has always been the definitive place for the authentic, true, and genuine voice of the masses. -- God dammit Baba, the little comment editor has the buttons to format bold, italic and underline, but not sarcasm. People are gonna think I think that! AUUUUGGGH. I will not bring up arguing on the internet. I will not bring up arguing on the internet. I will not bring up arguing on the internet. I will not bring up---- Fuck it, kill a kitten already. I'm spent.

Re: I Lied… I’m Doing IT! :-)

Eric Rice — Fri, 15 Oct 2004 21:00:19 -0000

Now that was a good voiceover, although I have an arsenal of 4 year olds myself ;-)

Keep it up, man!

Re: Licensing Music for Podcasting

Eric Rice — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 21:06:28 -0000

Joe, feel free to give me a holler if you want help with podcasting as I do it regularly and have that special involvement with Audioblog.com ;-)

Re: 2006/10/16/does-secondlife-need-a-reuters-office/

Eric Rice — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:44:35 -0000

Sure, since I think it's a conceptaul gateway to the entire video game industry, which has one of those more-money-than-god things going on.... :-)

Re: 2007/03/18/youtube-video-awards/

Eric Rice — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:56:54 -0000

I agree with the commenter who noted the 1.0-ness of awards shows. Podcasters went through this (heck, the whole top-10 idea is so silly comparing things that have nothing to do with each other) so it was inevitable to happen to video.

Now if we could get the communities to stop thinking their own selves are the end-all, be-all of the definition of the word, whatever the word may be.

Re: Second Life characters in other games?

Eric Rice — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 17:40:53 -0000

Actually, Spin Martin and his various story-siblings, exist in many other worlds/platforms (with a special exception to WoW).

I don't make a distinction with the Spin avatar, other than Spin might work at place A and have contacts there, Spin might live at place B and have contacts there; with many mutual contacts throughout. He's built the same (Spin is part real/part designed, but we can extrapolate existence.

Re: Second Life characters in other games?

Eric Rice — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 17:49:13 -0000

One more thing, do we need a single social network? Or portal? It's like being on AIM or Skype, using Google, and Flickr, all different companies with their own systems. Google has Google Groups and yet so does Yahoo... I have to be where my community is, because the overhead is too high to migrate not just me, but the whole crew. It's easier to stay put.

I see people raving about Google Reader, and yet, I'm a bit lazy to have to do anything to budge my newsreading experience (even if it is the best thing since the Internets. I dunno.)

Re: #30: Eric Rice is banging on the window

Eric Rice — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 02:53:27 -0000

Isn't the weather so niiiiiiice here in the valley? Heh. Thanks for the book, dude.

Re: Merry Christmas!

Eric Rice — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 23:11:29 -0000

Merry Christmas dude. I gave my mom an aggregator for Xmas. Heh.

Re: Eric Rice goes virtual for New Years

Eric Rice — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 16:16:03 -0000

Yeah we're pinging them about getting an island for Slackstreet as a fully functional R&D/Backlot/Studio/Commerce/Party center. My home (and night club) is on the 16,000 sq m. in Palulop. Someone please buy that 22,000 sq m of Myrtle land pleeeeease.

On a side note, you can podcast from your Audioblog.com account and have it show up as a music stream in SL. There's a few more steps involved, but totally doable. Why you'd want to do it? Not sure. Because we can, I guess. ;-)

Re: Eric Rice goes virtual for New Years

Eric Rice — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 22:11:05 -0000

Probably the same thing that happens when we're in IRC or on AIM or whatnot. So, to be safe, Happy New Year in advance.

Re: Introducing Scobleizer, Inc. in Second Life

Eric Rice — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 21:45:34 -0000

You shoulda seen the money raised in Second Life for Hurricane Katrina. And the uses for disaster preparedness training by building scale models of oh, I dunno, YOUR town. Rapid prototyping with 3D software that is democratic in nature like blogging. Hmmm, never can tell. /smirk.

BTW, I just bought Nino's building, although we've talked briefly. He made 20 real dollars off me for that tower. ;-) Economics! Holy Crap!

Re: Introducing Scobleizer, Inc. in Second Life

Eric Rice — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 10:55:40 -0000

On the other hand, one thing I'm finding is that I want to spend *more* time outside to capture media. One member of the Spin Martin posse and I strolled around the streets of Seattle friggin *admiring* architecture and park design. From being more designer-y than game-y, I found a new appreciation of the boring ol' stuff around me.

And then of course, I wanted to go log in and build what I saw, but hey, we don't fault a painter for making a sunset on canvas based on the real thing do we? How dare you put pretty pictures in your house! ;-) I kid because I love.

Re: Introducing Scobleizer, Inc. in Second Life

Eric Rice — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 22:32:20 -0000

Okay so if a waste of time makes money, is it still a waste of time? BRB. Bank lurk. ;-)

Re: First day in Second Life

Eric Rice — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 13:50:35 -0000

It's interesting, as someone who invested in part of a server (a sim: Slackstreet), I've found that two barriers to entry are system requirements and yes, it's difficult at first to get familiar with the notion that you can walk and fly. Some folks who are gamer-ish can move no probs, others take a few days (like me, I'm not one who would refer to self as 'gamer')... I have found though that, like most things, with friends or acquaintances around to help, it eases the frustration. There's not much difference in virtual or physical life at that point. :-)

Re: Living virtually

Eric Rice — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 18:57:19 -0000

Interesting you bring up the conference angle. One of the things Slackstreet is bringing online is a) another island adjacent to the current one and b) a conference center (named after Audioblog's new name, Hipcast), designed specifically as a rich media, virtual, place-for-rent for virtual conferences. There's already been plenty of interest in virtual tradeshows and it seems that the waiting list is starting to grow already. Don't forget about those hybrid real-life/virtual life concerts that are happening (like the one in Philly/SL this weekend)... Wonder what the Podcast Hotel will look like. ;-)

I'm so confused, But apparently, it's working out in the end. ;-)

Re: Second Life +is+ an OS

Eric Rice — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 18:11:56 -0000

A quick point and quick rant:

One of the things that's funny is how decentralized it actually is. I'm idle and hidden most of the time now and buried by IMs.

I dunno if it's really an OS inside of an OS, since when you take the 3D out, and you have an application that people would laugh at you if you said you were gonna make:
http://blog.ericrice.com/blog/_archives/2006/3/...

WHAT? A social-netowrk-collaborative-organization-2.0-frickin wiki-type-sociaD. If someone was to say they were making this AND that people would pay for and earn money from, Tech Crunch, and the rest of the blogosphere would be poo pooing it or celebrating it, the former I think. I mean our behavior is so predictable that I bet if this gets Digg'd or Slashdotted, we can prolly write the snarky comments ourselves and save everyone the work. We're predictable like that.

The only interesting element to the mix is that SL is in 3D, something that enables some functionality lacking in other areas. My downtown area is lame, and the redevelopment agency can't make a good downtown plan to save their lives... Robert's *son* could do a better job, and oh btw, the big point there is that he CAN do this. And set up shop. And make money if he wants. But there's a more persistence of presence... being idle or blowing someone off is a little bit tougher than in IM or e-mail, or even conference calls.

And naturally, easiest strawman is seeing 'the game-y-ness' of it. When I'm in Second Life, I'm actually doing the same stuff I do in Real Life. It's another channel, another place where me and my peeps Get Shit Done, while everyone else is getting older and resisting change.

It's the human OS, on another platform, with a steady stream of bug reports...And *then* you die.

Re: I missed the first virtual BarCamp

Eric Rice — Sun, 21 May 2006 04:34:13 -0000

Heh well, can't apologize for cleanliness, but I am fascinated that the issue of schwag was handled by my wife, whose presentation was 'how to make your own schwag' using the tools available in SL. Dang, even in the virtual space we want schwag! Okay, so shall it be done--- by the participants (and btw, I don't think she'd ever go to a real barcamp, but I talked her into presenting, heh)

Here's the quick re-cap and list of sessions that happened.
http://blog.ericrice.com/blog/_archives/2006/5/...

I was most fascinated by Second411.com... You go to the Second411 store in a virtual space, grab a box, and put that box in your store. It then acts as a conduit to a web search engine...allow your mind to transcend secondlife for a minute.

In some weird API thing, we are making calls to check inventory inside of a virtual place. Now think of the XBOX team, XBOX live, and hmmm, can I bust out my mobile phone to quickly see how my team is doing on my 360? Can I get a short clip of what conquests have happened? Is this a WoW thing? Is this a democratization of gaming worlds?

I don't have the answers. But phase one was about: the spirit and workflow of Second Life resembles that of blogging/podcasting/vlogging. Phase two: the disruption of video gaming in a few years; exploratory interactive entertainment in a space we comfortably exist (yes you can be a master gamer and not computer literate)

There's a pattern here.

And oh, one more thing. Our virtual record label might become a real one. Splain how that happens? :-)

Re: Calling Seattle startups

Eric Rice — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 18:48:21 -0000

Dang dude, give me too much credit, why don'tcha. I'm just a content guy. If the content gathers an audience, you make money at it. Period. This ain't rocket science..heh.

Don't fall into the Valley trap of treating the newest shiny thing as gospel. Trust me, I'm a native here, and I've seen it for years. Nerds. VCs. Marketing types. We are oh-so smart and important... it's the air.

All of the whizbang shiny stuff that pops up-- you have to learn, learn fast, and treat it like mundane reflex--make Second Life, podcasting, blogging, and vlogging as routine as merging on the freeway. Even then, some people don't go with the flow well. And others do it fine.

To borrow a quote from a book, all you gotta do is just condense fact from the vapor of nuance.

Now, about that show idea? ;-)

Re: Calling Seattle startups

Eric Rice — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 05:13:59 -0000

Heh, Morgan, thanks for the technical analysis of the stuff that my blog provider's templates and HTML that Photoshop cranks out automatically. If we as web publishers don't know better (or in my case, too lazy to care), we'll use the mainstream tools.

And that's what they give us. Heh.

Re: Peter says podcasting is inefficient

Eric Rice — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 11:24:09 -0000

La la la let's play the medium-is-not-the-content game boys and girls, yes that's right! Okay, your challenge........ rewrite all the posts and comments and snarky, by doing the following things...........ready? GO!

Replace 'podcast' with 'radio'; replace 'videoblog' with TV; replace 'blogs' with newspaper.....

Hi, hello, what up, zOMG. You watch stuff, you listen to stuff, you read stuff. And you do one or all of those where it makes sense or convenient. But i think that might be too obvious.

/end ridiculously patronizing, sarcastic, yet, insightful comment.

Re: Peter says podcasting is inefficient

Eric Rice — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 19:34:41 -0000

Haha, so Chris Coulter hates *everything*. Ring ring, It's not the clue phone it's Time Life. They have a new 37 disc DVD set about the nuanced behavior of various molecules of dirt particles on Venus. Which, btw, if you saw that series LAST time they released the 25 DVD set, you'd know that Venus has direct historical connection to the Renaissance, and the origins of Latin derivativity in most common nomenclature in Chemistry.

I dunno, I could be wrong. ;-)

Re: I’m a Second Life Lawbreaker

Eric Rice — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 14:34:25 -0000

This is not a Linden issue. It's COPA. (Child Online Protection Act)
You don't have to like it, it's just the way it is. This ain't rocket science.

The main grid is for people 18 and up.
The teen grid is for people 13-18.

Aren't we all like smart math and programmer types? It's quite binary.
Doesn't mean we have to like it.
It's the rules.

20 GOTO 10
30 END

Re: Eric Rice and me riff on the future of media

Eric Rice — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:21:11 -0000

Go to Paris. Drink Wine. Fall Down Drunk!. Viva! ;-)

Re: Eric Rice and me riff on the future of media

Eric Rice — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:33:30 -0000

And who makes the audio tours? Some Big Official Smart Media Company or, like everyday people?

Congratulations, Chris! You have just provided the correct, predictable textbook all-techies-do-this-trolly-kinda snark to question #17!

"[inser name of something here] isn't new, it's been around since [insert obviously longer period of time longer than current market readiness]. What about [insert examples that are obvious here] ?

I'll bet we'll see at least four comments here dissing podcasting cuz podcasting isn't latex gloss paint.

Re: To videoblog or not to videoblog

Eric Rice — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 08:09:12 -0000

Hey, glad to see this conversation pop up for the 90 millionth time. Anyway, like we haven't been doing things with video cameras for years now. Oh no, see, now that it's in the nerd sphere, we have to be trendy and predictable and diss it. Debate it.

If you wanna be famous and use this technology to be a bad-ass, hollywood-ista, then for chrissake, just DO IT and follow the rules and spend the money and learn the skills.

If you wanna do something personal and true, screw the rules-- it can look like ass for all anyone cares.

It's a one-two punch. If you can do both, well then you deserve to get paid and can stop reading blogs all the way to the bank.

Just sayin'. Now I'm going back into my crankhole.

Re: Dependencies holding up the ScobleShow

Eric Rice — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 03:23:51 -0000

Interesting to be on the other end of the spectrum.

"I really do live for the future, because when I'm eating a box of candy, I can't wait to taste the last piece." -Andy Warhol

Good luck, man.

Re: Will Apple sue PodTech.net? (My employer)

Eric Rice — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 04:45:36 -0000

I dunno, my show celebrates five years this October.

Was a show then. Is a show now.(and it passes the mom test which 99% of the retard words we make up will never do.)

The end.

Re: ScobleShow post mortem (wow, Ask blog search rocks!)

Eric Rice — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 05:18:35 -0000

Scratch off anyone from that list who has too much media exposure or has gotten enough interviews, me included.

Then start from that new list and add some more unknowns (of course the textbook snark people will be all, waaah who is this person and why should I care?'

Re: Sun Microsystems hosts virtual press conference

Eric Rice — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 05:23:24 -0000

Actually, live streaming audio was available for far more than the physical space. But then again, don't most venues have limits?

Now I guess we should ponder the Darkstar project... wonder what that might mean for not only Second Life, but our brethren in World of Warcraft. Or PS3. Or Wii. Or...

...Xbox 360 Live.. hmmmmm.

John Gage wasn't just there doing a dog and pony btw, he was paying attention to people. He was interactive. He addresed people by name. Chris is a gamer. And Philip is a given.

Now you gotta wonder what happens when you start doing math. All this stuff going on in a virtual-world-that-no-one-groks-that's-not-a-game. A sandbox. An MMO. A social network. Economies. Intellectual Property ownership. Streaming media. On-demand media.

Then there's that little thing called the video game industry, that little world of all media, interactive media, cutting through every demographic.

Billions of dollars.

Imagine if every networked game on every platform, mobile or otherwise, console or desktop, had what I described above as a wingman.

Play Halo or Build Halo. Do both.
Hang out in Madden and watch the game. Grab some Adidas, play some ball.
Go to a safehouse in Grand Theft Auto, listen to some live music.

Interesting the 'platform' or 'operating system' analogies that fly around when people try and deconstruct Second Life. For me, it's the concept that mirrors how we reacted to people saying 'we produce, you consume'. We didn't like from publishing. Or Radio. Or Television.

We started blogging. We started podcasting. We started videoblogging. Because we had enough. It's *our* turn, now.

Is gaming any different? Some might say it's too early to tell. But I'm thinkin'...

...yeah.

Re: Sun Microsystems hosts virtual press conference

Eric Rice — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 10:56:45 -0000

Tao, I actually got a lot of good nerdy details from the interview he did with CNET afterwards, where (IIRC) you can use pretty much any flavor of development. I'll be waiting to re-read that, even though I'm not developer type.

Re: My thoughts about Zune vs. iPod

Eric Rice — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 22:30:04 -0000

I have a sneaky suspicion in my gut that it won't be someone making a music device that will win this battle. We're looking too narrow at the player-only feature first.

A hunch, is all.

Re: How to get your company on TechCrunch

Eric Rice — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 03:13:40 -0000

Funny how the blogosphere and all the cutting edge stuff we are allegedly doing is evolving into the same old game that's always been played?

Kinda sad. But meh, reality.

Re: $50 + blender + YouTube = huge marketing success

Eric Rice — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 20:22:54 -0000

I can't believe I'm posting a first-ish post on this, heh, but I found this a few weeks ago, not through YouTube, but through their actual site Will It Blend? is a corporate vlog. A great one.

Something to note that even corporate videos, plainly marked, are being put into the category of user-supplied content; advertising it seems, is part of our pop culture that we celebrate, especially when the entire content is the ad-- and entertaining.

Re: Know where Scoble is at every single minute of the day

Eric Rice — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 20:41:00 -0000

Ever wonder who's watching?

Watching.

Re: Your Second Sex Life

Eric Rice — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 11:48:00 -0000

This is true Robert, Patrick isn't allowed on the main grid after he's 13, only the teen grid. Rules for 13+.

Things you might not know:
Some very innovative teens are working on fascinating commerce bridges between grids, complete with support from their parents-- I had a great conversation with a teen and his parent on the street in San Francisco-- nothing was violated in the TOS.

Also, there are plenty who believe that segregation of ages makes little sense-- especially in the context of online gaming spaces. Joi Ito is one; I'm another. I don't see limitations in other places.. It's 13 and up. And yeah the .Mac commenter had a point.

The productive thing might be to evangelize and drive change instead of throwing in the towel.

Not taking 'no' for an answer? Isn't that why we blog or podcast or vlog?

Re: Watch out, the world is changing…

Eric Rice — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:01:49 -0000

I think I'm alone in thinking that Microsoft vs Apple comes down to the battle between the XBOX and the iPod, two things that at first glance, have nothing to do with each other...... then again, why would these two things even compete if they are two different things? I think it's much deeper. It's a heart and soul battle.

Those devices aren't viewed as computers, and I'm willing to bet that the installation process and 'tech phobia' is much different than that of the computer. Where much different = hardly present.

And the mobility folks will point out how phones aren't computers. (Even though under the hood it's all computers, but this isn't about tech, it's about lifestyle and experience-- that thing that makes the iPod win. It's not about tech. It's all the ethereal stuff).

Re: Niall sends Microsoft team a porn message

Eric Rice — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 21:25:33 -0000

Heh, well it certainly raises the awareness of respecting licensing, eh? It was sophomoric, effective, and funny. Got the press, too.

Tomorrow will be a new thing.

Re: Help a San Jose Mercury News columnist blog

Eric Rice — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:52:52 -0000

Focus outside the blogosphere too, for the people who have never heard of Technorati or Techmeme. The world *does* actually exist outside of RSS feeds.

Re: Wii have a problem…

Eric Rice — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 02:27:00 -0000

Watching YouTube vids of people playing the Wii--- there's gonna be some thrown out arms and legs. I remember playing a 3D-kick-and-punch-the-air arcade version of Tekken 3. I about died. Knowing how to fight is one thing, faking it is another, and also-- not making a hit-- is bound to confuse the body.

How are you supposed to re-condition yourself *not* to let go of the Wiimote if you are fake-bowling?

I think it's far from over. Meanwhile, about that web interface..........

Re: I love my satellite radio

Eric Rice — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 01:20:47 -0000

I *adore* XM. Good lineup, strong signals, no Podshow.

And, it drives me to buy music on iTunes, if I hadn't already played it rights-cleared on my pre-hiatus show. So yeah.

And Gizmodo might say everyone they know hates it, but that might be the problem with our inner circles. Outside, a whole lotta people *love* it, XM or Sirius. It's even faster than the iPod and one-click access to every music out there.

It's nice to be surprised, otherwise, we're becoming our own personal little Clear Channels, playing our same stuff over and over and over again on rotation. xD

Re: PodTech moves on Ryanne and Jay

Eric Rice — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 13:11:55 -0000

So wait, Om's a content guy and he asks how a content company makes money?

Come ON people, _content_ makes money, always has, always will, and it's not always with advertising. Techies hate this kinda talk. Sometimes, content doesn't even care about tech.

But anyway, I've bitched about that one for too long.

Nice acquisition, PT. Good job Jay & Ryanne.

Re: Seagate’s CEO apologizes for porn comments

Eric Rice — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 13:12:40 -0000

Ha, well you ever work in the retail tech biz? Ask someone browsing the HD aisle how big of a hard drive they need (BIG, HUGE), then ask them, 'is this for video or images?' and watch the nervous mumbled explanation about yes, they use it for all sorts of stuff.

"Stuff" /smirk

I'm so buying Seagate now.

Re: One thing I hope dies in 2007

Eric Rice — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 14:34:40 -0000

It's kinda funny how old some of those memes were, just outside of the tech blogosphere. These thing are HUGE in ordinary parts of the Interweb.

It's okay, the unwashed masses will rinse off with a little water. ;)

Re: 2007 Scoblecars

Eric Rice — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 01:49:58 -0000

I find it quite amusing that out of the cars we own (Honda Odyssey minivan, Jaguar S-series, and Chevy Colorado), I like my truck the best. That on-star, the XM Radio, and yes, I actually like NOT having leather seats. The Honda has leather, heated, the Jag does not. And DVD systems for the kids in the van amusingly put the minivan about the Jag.

Yet I keep coming back to my truck. It retailed for 28K, I walked with it for 24K, same model year.

Tim's comment is interesting, since I think 60K is my personal cutoff. There's only one car worth 100K, most everything you can get for 60-80, you can probably find for 40-60.

Volkswagen had the funniest, they had a 70,000 luxury car: The Phaeton. If I'm gonna spend 70 on a car, it's gonna be a Mercedes, and NOT a v-dub. Not just for brand, but the quality of MBZ is untouchable (yeah yeah your taxis, our luxury cars).

And yes, outside of some big cities (SF bloggers are all up in MUNI, I can think of like 2 that have cars), we hate public transport. We love our cars, and barely carpool.

Now we can talk about spending 20K on a car and adding 60K worth of technology and zazz to it, but I'm thinking this is the wrong crowd to get drooly over car culture.

I'll be in my garage if anyone needs me. :-)

Re: 2007 Scoblecars

Eric Rice — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 01:55:48 -0000

Also, I remember reading some story or post someone made about how 'oh, well Google employees would _never_ be seen in a Mercedes convertible!' and all I could think of is how amazing that statement was since MBZ I think is the best of the best of the best. Would they have held that if they had something as bad-ass as an Apple on four wheels raging down the freeway? Dunno. I can't believe that techies are THAT kumbaya.

Gimme a $100k+ Mercedes SL AMG roadster any day of the week, and I'll see you at the finish line, alive, on time, and in style. :P

Re: Welcome from Forbes, but…

Eric Rice — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:28:04 -0000

More people probably know about Lonely Girl than the rest of the list, if you were to, say, poll a wide swath of people who are not aware of what RSS is, ie., not-tech-blogosphere-people.

Re: Big gadget sites don’t link to blogs (I went overboard, read updates)

Eric Rice — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 21:01:27 -0000

So naturally, and I say this with love, the prom queens are fighting AND it is in parallel to the meme that we should ditch terms like 'social media' we can all be JUST LIKE THE MEDIA. Haw.

The tech blogosphere is getting funnier the older it gets. Until the funny runs out and we have that little old man smell in our feeds. Crikey, I need a drink.

Re: Pissing off the blogosphere…

Eric Rice — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 05:13:57 -0000

/me chuckles.

Re: Scoble’s a shill … more details

Eric Rice — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:01:38 -0000

Heh, you could run for office now, cuz you got the raging hordes.

This is why I feel much value in the idea writing snide comments ahead of time, providing the list as a service for your blog commenters. So they don't have to.

You should make that a test case. Write a blog post, close the comments, but you write all the comments, good and bad. Use different names, use the textbook answers.

Ahhh to be jaded by it all.

Re: Scoble’s a shill … more details

Eric Rice — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:03:48 -0000

Oh and on Valleywag: More Bat Boy, plz.

Re: Another definition of “Second Life”

Eric Rice — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 21:21:13 -0000

I always get a kick seeing a ridiculously huge brand at a conference, having a sign up for sign's sake. Google or Yahoo sponsoring something, like we don't know who they are. Duh, it's money.

Amusingly, Microsoft does this better-- I see more product-focused banners at conferences to promote a certain thing, than the token 'here's our banner' crap that Google and Yahoo pull.

Re: Kind compliments about ScobleShow (why don’t historical videos get watched?)

Eric Rice — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 14:57:03 -0000

Awesome, #8 nailed it.

Youtube vs. PBS, that's the space between-- it's ever-so bizarre. Doesn't actually surprise me that it didn't get comments. It's high level content. Ever see the comments on YouTube? Utter crap. But hey, it's a traffic giver and traffic = money and wow lookie where we are again!

The wider the appeal, the bigger the audience, and the more you'll see the 'woodwork effect'... this is a partial flaw I find when hearing about 'the conversation'-- believe me, I'm working on a show that I know will be raged on. Why? Cuz we have keyboards, that's why-- well, if we're in the mood to. Heh.

Never be afraid to do something again, even if someone did it before. That's another myth for another day. :-)

Re: Kind compliments about ScobleShow (why don’t historical videos get watched?)

Eric Rice — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 15:04:20 -0000

BTW, I never have time to watch long videos, but I watch a lot of TV, especially when doing something away from the computer- like folding laundry.

The longer flash videos broke, shorter ones worked fine. I watched all of Matt Kelly's videos on the Nintendo Wii, right from the Podtech homepage.

*hopes this doesn't turn the thread into this long vs short video debate*

Re: Eric Rice starts new “virtual world/gaming” show for PodTech

Eric Rice — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:17:33 -0000

Actually, no not virtual worlds. Gaming. Specifically, gaming culture. Virtual worlds are just a tiny part of that.

Difference. ;-)

Re: Damn, I should charge to speak…

Eric Rice — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:31:48 -0000

Heh, this is a hot topic for sure... speaking is a huge industry, and it's a good deal of work to get to the point where you are able to charge some decent money, after showing up at every conference on your own dime, doing endless panels, maybe getting airfaire, hotel and eventually gratis.

Then of course, it's asking for this in a particular industry where free stuff generally doesn't pay-- you can't be afraid of asking that. It's *your* choice if you want to do it for free or not. I tend not to charge for local stuff, since it helps the local economy and I tend to not need travel and hotel handled. Certain cases are good for pro-bono, but it's tough to separate pro-bono from 'we have no budget at all'.

The other related space is conducting workshops and seminars, something that's kind of terrifying for someone interested in this offering this type of service--- we just know you'll get bitched at by the unconference crowd. I still maintain while I do appreciate the roundtable everyone-is-equal model, there are cases where I want to sit down, shut up, listen, and learn.

Glad you're talking about it, because having to whisper about this with others over the years is kinda a drag.

Re: Satellite Radio Consolidates

Eric Rice — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:05:17 -0000

It's like hardware-powered HBO and Showtime devices. There's stuff I want on both... at least now it's more friendly for me the consumer. Glad I never purchased both.

Re: Satellite Radio Consolidates

Eric Rice — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:05:55 -0000

Also, XM is on DirecTV, so I can get the stuff in the house on the home theater. Yay!

Re: Doc Searls says Scoble is full of it about “social media”

Eric Rice — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:32:21 -0000

Gawd already, go out and make some, whatever the hell you call it.

Change term based on who you talk to--- there's no single definition. The faster you can explain a concept to someone and the faster they get it, the better.

On the yahoo list the terms 'vlog' vs 'podcast' are up for debate for the 2472897428397489213471987th time.

Math is hard.

Re: Doc Searls says Scoble is full of it about “social media”

Eric Rice — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:34:22 -0000

Actually, arguing about terms seems like such a big media issue.

Hold a meeting about this.

Lots of them.

LOTS OF MEETINGS.

Maybe you'll find the term.

Then you can sell it to us in Powerpoint. With pretty graphs.

Just sayin'.

Re: Ning 2.0 launches: build your own social network

Eric Rice — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:20:07 -0000

I just got hosed by Ning and I'm pissed off, so read this before you get all excited when signing up: http://www.ericrice.com/blog/?p=390

Grr.

Re: Ning 2.0 launches: build your own social network

Eric Rice — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:27:33 -0000

Update, I got a comment from Gina @ Ning here http://www.ericrice.com/blog/?p=390#comment-24411

Hopefully, I can get my account deleted so I can start over.

I appreciate the feedback.

Re: Joost … deleted instantly here

Eric Rice — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:12:59 -0000

I was more concerned with the new UI, not the full screen UI. Software isn't just on the desktop, your iPod, XBOX and other things have full UIs.

I can't agree here, I think it's tech superiority kicking in.

Betcha moms and dads will love it. They can't accidentally do other things.

Re: Announcing Vloggies Show at SXSW

Eric Rice — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:53:36 -0000

People playing video games don't have the same tech drama that Windows or Mac users have. When was the last time you heard someone saying they went XBOX literate or iPod literate?

Anyway enough about that, is there going to be a Vloggies award show at SXSW?

Re: Joost … deleted instantly here

Eric Rice — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:01:49 -0000

Joost might be the first to get large format stuff to my home theater.

I didn't pay 50,000 bucks to watch postage stamps in flash. If Joost can be the one to change that, fine.

I'm a tech guy too, but we're outnumbered by normal guys. We as tech bloggers should focus on them as our prime directive.

Re: Joost … deleted instantly here

Eric Rice — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:48:32 -0000

Hey check it, Joost has an RSS reader in it, I was skimming this post about Joost on Joost. meta!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericrice/407943934/

Re: Announcing Vloggies Show at SXSW

Eric Rice — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 03:55:46 -0000

Did they really put panels back to back? I'm on the panel when 3d Models Meet Business Models... I have to look at the schedule. Yarg, I hate being on a panel upagainst a panel I want to go to. Heh.

Re: YouTube copies Vloggies

Eric Rice — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:07:04 -0000

Why do I get the feeling 'vloggies' != anything from YouTube, and now this is the same, but reciprocal? Argh.

Video is video, doesn't matter who does it, where it lives, what they call it, or if they even believe they are part of a movement. I see no difference.

Merge thinking, not divide it!

Re: Apple TV rocks

Eric Rice — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 14:16:22 -0000

I wanted to buy one for my dad for his birthday, but, widescreen only. He has a nice tube television that is 4:3 and it *might* work. Bad.

I'm a geek, I have an XBOX, a media center, and maybe an Apple TV. I *could* but probably *won't* ever use the XBOX for anything other than gaming.

At least Apple has that ipod-for-TV spin, but if we can't stream, not sure how that plays out.

Then again, DirecTV/DISH (which people have has a built in recorder) is a tough competitor. Getting dozens of components could be annoying, yet we'll do it.

We can look at the Apple TV in isolation all day long-- that's what geeks do so well-- but we might miss how the world works outside of our sphere.

Re: Taking the week off

Eric Rice — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:58:16 -0000

When Amanda Congdon and Rocketboom split, the vibe of conversation on the USA Today blog was light years away from various topic/industry blogs. YouTube/digg/and others are part of a wider culture.

Do you think it's easy for me to start a show on *gaming* ffs? I'm walking into the widespread culture of life. It's a lion's den.

What baffles me is why she was targeted (it's wrong no matter who targets it), over people who do cause people to have an axe to grind. It's horrible and not a surprise overall and I fully expect it to get worse.

Re: Taking the week off

Eric Rice — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:59:55 -0000

Er, she= Kathy, not Amanda. That was the most disorganized comment.

We've had 'the conversation' at home regarding this.

Re: Taking the week off

Eric Rice — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:00:54 -0000

Whoa, hold on, did I read this right about Digg's owners and such? So then what, go after all the blog sites too, and forum owners?

Be consistent if you passionately agree with that, across the board, is all.

Re: Another lame idea or next “million dollar pixel” site? Or both?

Eric Rice — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:00:26 -0000

Valleywag is gonna have a field day with this one. Tony Walsh from Clickable Culture wrote briefly about it in October 2006 and is convinced they are going to get sued into the ground. Time will tell.

Re: Another lame idea or next “million dollar pixel” site? Or both?

Eric Rice — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:43:33 -0000

Not to beat people with a dead horse, but the 'I don't get owning virtual blah blah blah' thing has run its course.

When you pay 60 bucks for an XBOX video game, aside from the disc, you are buying something virtual.

You aren't *really* a warrior on a battlefield in the year 2142, juuuuust in case that part might have fallen off the radar.

But back to Weblo, I wouldn't think it's anything like Second Life or Sim City at all, instead, it's more like, "domain registration site calls their stuff virtual world". And by that argument, everyone from Verisign to GoDaddy allows you to HAVE A HOME ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY with _their_ virtual worlds.

Comedy gold. I

Re: Twitter friend dies in tragic car wreck

Eric Rice — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 03:21:44 -0000

I haven't written about this yet, but will. Jesse was a good pal, in SL and also Twitter. It's also surreal being the last @ he posted. Re-reading his Tweets puts me between tears and laughter. And standing at his memorial that someone built in Second Life, trying to figure out what to place there, is just, weird and different.

Ironic, the kind of different angle on 'getting a first life' since that's the single thing that makes this hurt so bad.

Re: Blogger and Podcaster magazine now up

Eric Rice — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 21:20:40 -0000

Holy crap, the ads actually MAKE NOISE. Remember in the olden days when everyone used to say that the way you could read WIRED magazine was glue together the ad pages and you could stomach it? The ads weren't audio-enhanced.

I'm kinda creeped out.

Re: Blogger and Podcaster magazine now up

Eric Rice — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 21:21:11 -0000

Also, RSS?

Re: The $10,000 Gnomedex

Eric Rice — Mon, 07 May 2007 12:11:21 -0000

Could be worse, you could have 2 conferences at the same time both run by friends. I have to choose. I also have to choose based on good for industry and good for career.

RE: 10K speaking gig. Babies cost money dude, they will cost you time later on. Friends understand that.

Your friends will also understand if you are engaged of something that furthers progress for all of us, them included.

I have to weigh Pixelodeon against Gnomedex-- they are at the same time. One conference is in a new area in a new place, where there will be very very new faces in a very very new space-- where lots can be taught and learned; the other conference, while valuable socially, is lots of the usual suspects and questionable impact vs. lessons to be learned. Gotta choose, it sucks but meh, that's the life.

These things run way deeper than on the surface. Besides, we have uStream. heh

Re: The $10,000 Gnomedex

Eric Rice — Mon, 07 May 2007 12:26:46 -0000

I was just alerted that Gnomedex is now in August, so there's no overlap between the two. http://gnomedex.com and http://pixelodeonfest.com

Re: Second Life hitting child porn problems?

Eric Rice — Wed, 09 May 2007 03:17:52 -0000

There are a few things going on:

1. The open letter of angry residents didn't seem to get any responses that had been heard before. (Also, Linden needs help business blogging-- turning off comments randomly is not cool. Residents are pissed.)

2. The age-verification thing is terrifying to almost an EFF level. Linden Lab is sending the verification thing outside to a company run by Aristotle.com. SL's oldest tabloid, the Herald, did some awesome digging into it. This ain't your typical 'ohnoes email spam sharing' thing. And, with 50% of the users being non-American? Eesh.

3. I'm against the age verification thing like I'm against the separate grids-- but that's an issue that is so deep beyond the politically correct 'save the children' campaigns which is a) a real concern and b) a political strawman (who is gonna disagree with protecting little Bobby? Exactly. it's easy win). Hasn't research been done showing that it's not the 'adult content' but predatory behavior that's the problem online, SL or otherwise? The implementation is a technological and administrivial nightmare. Just wow.

And for the teens that are on the main grid (even people like our dearly departed jmalthus, who was a code and social media prodigy in the making), they aren't actually sitting back and laughing at the idiot grownups having cartoon sex? It's an American thing. It appeals to our fat asses in our SUVs. Seriously. You can market and PR to it and make money off it with your eyes closed.

4. I'm always amused at the stories of sex in SL regardless of its seriousness or grossness-- the horrible pedophilia thing being an example-- since the place is so free-money driven and dance-clubbish. Sex sells and atrocious sex stories sell even more. No, not suprised at all that it exists. So it makes perfect sense that Linden Lab has to regulate-- pushing them further and further away from being a common carrier.

I want my own SL server software, because at the end of the day, for ME, it's Twitter 3D. I can make things in 3D and my friends hang (you know, the real ones). This is of course, uninteresting to the standard textbook driven idiot trolls (See: "I dont have time for a first life" or "I don't Get It" or "More like Get a Life" hurrrr, it's funny the first 1000 times, kthxbye, you are no longer clever, digg'rs)

Will all of this proceed? Probably. Interestingly, as SL is the only dog on the block, far far ahead of its many existing and up and coming competitors, people are kind of locked in, like all good social media services are. This kind of thing would never fly on Twitter, Wordpress, Flickr or pick-your-rounded-cornr site du jour.

But hey, at the end of the day, we learned new things, continued to network, and continued to tackle the barriers of 'no son, you aren't allowed to try and build video games.'

The hell I say! :)

Re: Second Life hitting child porn problems?

Eric Rice — Wed, 09 May 2007 03:50:26 -0000

Prokofy, I question the issue of 'laissez-faire' in the internet era. Do you regulate or do you not regulate? Do you take a hands-off approach to data or do you monitor it all and take liability.

(this does kinda circle around to the Kathy Sierra/deceny in blogs/should comments and chats be 100% moderated, etc)

Re: Second Life 101 with James Au, Linden Labs embedded reporter

Eric Rice — Sat, 19 May 2007 04:01:58 -0000

Can we go ahead and post all the textbook crap we KNOW we'll hear?

1. More like 'get a life'
2. I don't have time for a first life
3. Clay Shirky playing with Excel spreadsheets again and not social issues
4. I don't get Second Life
5. Insert something about gaming here
6. Child Porn
7. Gazillion damn dollars being spent via corps
8. BTW, Microsoft and the Visual Studio thing is KICKING MUCH ASS IN SL
9. More like 'get a life' oh wait I said that already haw haw haw it was funny the first 9842309482098 times.

Okay, wtf did I forget? Cuz really, I wanna save everyone the bandwidth.

10. There are other Second Life competitors out there, also. Some of them are better and worse. But, see #1 if this worries you.

Re: Second Life 101 with James Au, Linden Labs embedded reporter

Eric Rice — Sat, 19 May 2007 04:02:32 -0000

Ah, crap I'm logged in as Spin, not Eric Rice. So, ericrice.com it is.

Hiiii.

Re: Second Life 101 with James Au, Linden Labs embedded reporter

Eric Rice — Sat, 19 May 2007 05:01:48 -0000

Damn, wordpress ate my long snark post :/

Re: Second Life 101 with James Au, Linden Labs embedded reporter

Eric Rice — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:10:37 -0000

But in the meantime, people are saying my world is reminding them of Half-Life 2 and various titles from XBOX 360.

Given where I've been in blogging, podcasting, vlogging, etc... what could be my potential opportunities in the game space...?

Life waits for no one.