My first three-way

Ichat_conf2Been doing more and more iChatting since getting the MacBook. Starting to take it for granted. Today we did our first three-way chat, just to see a) if we could and b) how it works. [a: yes, b: easy]

David works from his home in Springfield, MO. Roger’s office is on the other side of our building. I selected both of them in my “buddies list” and hit the video button. As they accepted the invite, they showed up in facing windows on my desktop. And that’s it. We chatted for a few minutes, marveling at how falling-off-a-log simple it was.

I mean, this is how shit is supposed to work, folks. I remember oohing about this to one of our IT folks last year, who responded: “You can video conference on the PC, too. You just have to get the ports configured correctly.”

Order of the Fez #9: Phil Powell

Phil100_2We’ve had something of a member explosion this week over at the Order of the Fez. Hmm, let’s make that “membership” explosion. Phil Powell is Fez #9 (Last of the Single Digits) and hails from the UK. Like Howlin’ Hobbit (Fez #8), Phil is a ukuleleist, and shares my appreciation for the Laurel and Hardy. Welcome, Phil.

Order of the Fez #8: Howlin’ Hobbit

Hobbit100The ranks of the secret (some would say cult-like) Order of the Fez have swollen to eight with the induction  of Howlin’ Hobbit:

“Attached you will find a picture of me performing at The Pink Door in Seattle’s fabulous Pike Place Market. This was several years ago and I was part of the Lucky Devil Girly Show, a burlesque troupe.”

How could we refuse the application of someone that had been part of the Lucky Devil Girly Show? No way. Don’t miss the link to Howlin’s music.

Newspapers doing radio (and TV)

I just listened an interview that Mark Ramsey did with a couple of guys from the San Diego Union-Tribune (runs 17 min). Twenty minutes ago I’d have described Ron James and Marc Balanky as newspapers guys. Now, I’ll call them media guys.

And they’re gearing up to do what we used to call radio (and, eventually, TV). A couple of things they said jumped out at me:

"We have a newsroom that works 24 hours a day" and "…we have more than 300 reporters."

I flashed on all the empty or near-empty radio newsrooms out there. These guys are serious as a heart attack and I’d be damned worried if I were "just" a radio station in that market. On the other hand, if you aren’t already well down the road to being more than just a radio station, don’t sweat it. Squeeze what you can from old Bossie and remember the good times.

CBS Radio is putting “60 Minutes” on iTunes

CBS Radio News is making the entire program available as an audio podcast free on iTunes, CBSNews.com and CBS Radio News affiliate websites.  An audio-only version of “60 Minutes” has been offered for radio syndication for years.  And some audio and video segments have been posted online.  But this is the first time the entire weekly show will be downloadable.  Executive producer Jeff Fager says the show is “perfect for this kind of audio podcasting because its relied on “solid storytelling, with or without the pictures.” [Inside Radio]

This American Life: Poker Pros

“Ira travels to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, gets hooked, and tries to figure out what it would mean if he ditched his job in radio to become a professional card player. What he learns: a professional gambler can suffer two heartbreaking losses back-to-back, costing him over $100,000, and moments later, at the casino bar, calculate the million-to-one odds of his unlikely losses…in his head.”

By all means, go to the This American Life website and listen to the program there. (26 minutes)  As always, this is brilliant story telling, but it’s a must-listen for anyone that ever thought they’d like to play cards for a living.

“Things we were told about online that were wrong.”

Steve Safran at Lost Remote takes a look back at some of the responses to his suggestions regarding the web. These bring back a lot of memories:

  • Nobody will break news on their site before the story airs
  • Newspapers won’t put much news online because it will cannibalize sales
  • Nobody will buy web advertising
  • Only young people use the web, and they don’t want news
  • The bubble has burst – there’s no future in the web now
  • There is no need to hire a web-only salesperson
  • News websites will never “blog” or have anything to do with blogging
  • Social networking tools don’t belong on news sites
  • The networks will never send programming directly to the audience and ignore the locals
  • People won’t watch video online because the quality is not high enough
  • People won’t watch video on an iPod because the picture is not big enough
  • Viewers won’t upload video and pictures because it’s too hard to do