nicefishfilms

Could There Be a Bigger Issue Than The Open Net?

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 16:40:59 -0800

Do you want the future to be controlled by the fine folks at the cable company? How about losing your rights to info to the Gov't? The following video gives a good overview of what's at stake. The big co's have a commercial interest in preventing us from accessing the net / content in the open. We can make a difference - but only if we care about the free flow of information.

Filed Under: Couldn't be more important.

msw

more: Save The Internet

The New Dial Tone

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:49:09 -0700

I enjoy watching things change. Visting the BlowWorld Expo with Marc Ostrick was pretty darn exciting. We are seeing the great democratization of info flow. We are banding together to find the tools that help us express.

Thank you for watching and sharing our mini documentary.

Click To Play

More information about the film can be found at eGuiders

msw

Scoble Gets a Science Lesson - Hollywood Style VIDEO

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:50:36 -0700

Upon hearing that Building 43's Robert Scoble was visiting the Southland, we immediately thought of arranging a sit-down at the National Academy's Science and Entertainment Exchange. The Exchange is the ultimate Rolodex for Directors and Producers seeking to connect with top scientists. The organization strives to bring science into the everyday conversation through the mediums of film and television.

Camera and Editing: Rocky Barbanica

msw

Time Launches Online Video Pages

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:08:12 -0700

So what does a classic news brand do to compete in the streaming world? For Time Magazine, the answer to the grow or go equation is to launch a new video service complete with classic and current news features. First published in 1923, the magazine is countering declining ad sales for the print version with a play into the digital field. The site is well done with plenty of social options for sharing including the ubiquitous Twitter and Facebook tools.

The classic videos are sure to be popular as Time has plenty of archives to keep you busy for a few decades. Impressive HD versions are available and they are smart to include links to their official YouTube channel.

msw

EveryBlock Goes to MSNBC

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:44:07 -0700

Ten Months ago I predicted that the future is local. Today EveryBlock has announced that they have been acquired by MSNBC.

The neighborhood data rich site EveryBlock is an interesting play for MSNBC as it puts a focus on what people are actually interested in- their world. Billed as a microlocal site, EveryBlock has only been active for a year and a half but in that short time built a strong network of data points.

As stated on their blog, EveryBlock will remain intact (would be nice if FriendFeed follows suit) and continue to operate from Chicago.

msw

The Original Mad Man - Clark Gable

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:11:51 -0700

Tonight, AMC kicks off Season Three of Mad Men but you have to go back to the 40's to get the first glimpse of a Mad Man in action. In 1947 MGM released The Hucksters with Clark Gable and Deborah Kerr, a look inside the steamy underbelly of the advertising world. Gable plays Vic Norman, a war vet struggling with the moral quandary of an advertising pitchman. It's a world complete with style, hard drinking and romantic pursuits.

Unfortunately, the film is not available on any of the streaming services like Hulu or Sling and hasn't been released on DVD yet. I found a link on YouTube for the film (in 13 parts) that you can watch here.

The art of advertising is the fine line between clever and offensive. Vic warns his boss that someday, 'we just might get sick of it all and turn off our radios.' -

Play

If you're a fan of Mad Men, do yourself a favor and seek out The Hucksters for a look back at the Ad World of the 40's.

AMC has gone social with their promotion of the new season - 'Mad Men Yourself'

Mad Men - Michael

msw

Thinking Out Loud - The FriendFeed Sell-Off Fall-Out

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:29:48 -0700

Along our curious path we have the occasion to converse with some really BIG thinkers. Thinking Out Loud is the stream from some of these encounters.

The news of the FriendFeed acquisition by Facebook has created strong reactions by the FriendFeed Community. We explore the story with some of the biggest users and supporters of the real-time service. Included in this conversation is Robert Scoble, Louis Gray, Bwana, Michelle Greer and Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins.

Play Show

To subscribe via iTunes - click here
Want the show via RSS? click here

msw

FriendFeed Accepts Facebook Friend Request - What Now?

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:06:05 -0700

I'm a firm supporter, user, evangelist of FriendFeed and today they got called up to the 'Majors.' FriendFeed Co-Founder Bret Taylor confirmed the TechCrunch report of the Facebook acquisition in a blog post:

The FriendFeed team is extremely excited to become a part of the talented Facebook team. We've always been great admirers of Facebook, and our companies share a common vision. Now we have the opportunity to bring many of the innovations we've developed at FriendFeed to Facebook's 250 million users around the world and to work alongside Facebook's passionate engineers to create even more ways for you to easily share with your friends online.

I see this a giant win for innovation- others are not so sure. Since the world 'gets' Facebook it seems that another major player in social net would have to fight hard with a ton of money to try and catch up with FB. By joining forces you possibly get a testing/ proving ground - FriendFeed is behind some of the best innovations in the real-time web. Do you enjoy the real-time updates from your friends? A FriendFeed first. Like the 'like' feature in Facebook? That was a FriendFeed innovation.

What does this mean for the service and for the users?

For right now- not much. Wild speculation on my part here but ... before rolling out a huge change to FaceBook, doesn't it make sense to let the community of early adopters, techies and uber-geeks test out features first on FriendFeed? One of the most applauded services of FriendFeed is the open API and strong relationship with the developer community - Facebook has a tremendous value to be gained here if they let the FriendFeed team take the lead here.

You can track the reaction in real-time in several conversation threads on FriendFeed:

Scoble is talking about the deal here Within minutes of the announcement, Scoble gathered the folks from Facebook and Friend feed and recorded this conversation His in-depth collected thoughts here

Bret Taylor's thread here

Thomas Hawk (where I first saw the news) has his thread here

Louis Gray who was moderated a panel with Bret Taylor just last week has this to say "This relationship? It's complicated."

TechCrunch has posted more details of the deal here
To my fellow FriendFeeders - the sky isn't falling, the sky is the limit. Stay cool, take pride that the service you helped bring to the limelight is all grown up and ready for prime-time!

I will continue to add links and sources to this developing story as the week progresses.

msw

Mind Spinning Augmented Reality - Video

Sun, 9 Aug 2009 22:01:42 -0700

Wikipedia defines Augmented Reality as; a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time. The term is believed to have been coined in 1990 by Thomas Caudell, an employee of Boeing at the time. A.R. for me, is an extension of the creative process - going beyond the limitations of the here and now. It's the imagination on display.

The artist, programmer, conceptual-ist, Julian Oliver started to experiment with A.R. in 2007 using a tiny plastic box as an interface for his spatial memory game levelHead. Oliver has recently released an updated video demo of the program -

Julian makes it all seem so simple- "I used OpenSceneGraph for the rendering/scenegraph, ARToolKitPlus for the tracking, Blender for the art and wrote around 3000 lines of C++ code providing (very) basic physics, user notifications, a trigger system, tilt interaction, assets and event management."

msw

My Birthday Wish Granted - A Trip to The Palomar Observatory

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:20:11 -0700

We're headed to the Palomar Observatory today. The story of the vision and struggle of George Ellery Hale to bring forth this wonder of discovery resonates deeply with me. George Hale dreamed of looking beyond what anyone else could have imagined. He was nearly driven mad by the quest to make this a reality.

From Hale's giant window into the Universe at Mt. Wilson, Edwin Huble discovered a moving Universe. He peered into The Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson and found there were multiple Universes at a time that it was believed that our Milky Way was the only one.

The dedication to science and his unending quest for knowledge nearly drove Hale to the brink. He persisted, and his gift to humanity is nearly incalculably rich. Hale wrote a letter to The Rockefeller Foundation in 1928 seeking funds to build the Palomar;

"No method of advancing science is so productive as the development of new and more powerful instruments and methods of research. A larger telescope would not only furnish the necessary gain in light space-penetration and photographic resolving power, but permit the application of ideas and devices derived chiefly from the recent fundamental advances in physics and chemistry."

I will bring back some film from our outing today but you can dive deeper by watching this excellent PBS Special - "The Journey to Palomar"

msw

Paul McCartney Plays The Ed Sullivan Theater - Letterman Style - Mini Concert VIDEO

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:01:02 -0700

Paul McCartney playing on top of the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater- pure joy. Letterman seemed taken back to a place of wonder during his interview. Seeing the crowd on Broadway gathered together to take it all in just makes me feel hopeful.

Enjoy the mini-concert set not shown during the broadcast-

Set List:
Coming Up
Band on the Run
Let Me Roll It
Helter Skelter
Back in the USSR

A SocialNet perspective- It's refreshing to see CBS offer this as an embeddable video and I'm impressed with the live Facebook chat integration on their page. The Late Show site features a running blog of the show but the majority of the show clips are hosted on CBS's Hulu like site.

msw

A Documentary About Documentary Filmmaking - Full Film

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:25:21 -0700

Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary

Turning the camera on 40 Documentarians to explore the history, craft and ethics of Documentary Filmmaking.

Director: Ferrari Pepita
Presented by: The National Film Board of Canada

Take it all in then roll.

msw

Opera - The Final Frontier?

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 11:21:30 -0700

Mention Opera to me and I respond like a puppy hearing a strange sound- tilt of the head and a puzzled look. I know there is something magnificent there, the staging, the story the complete artistry. Recently our long-time friend, former radio diva, Lori Lewis approached us with a series idea revolving around Opera. I love a mystery and we decided to take it to the next level by shooting a teaser. The idea is to bring Opera to everyone in an environment that is welcoming and friendly. Lori had a vision to bring together friends, interesting people gathered around the dinner table. Our goal is to celebrate the BIG idea behind living life full voice.

Welcome to the journey.

everyday Opera Follow the updates on Twitter

Teaser:

The response is exciting, a gathering of the most respected names in Opera, Science and fans of great food coming together to make everyday Opera happen.

msw

140conf Video Showdown - News and Social Media

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:02:33 -0700

Robert Scoble moderates this excellent panel on the changing 'pace' of news gathering and distribution in a Social Media World.

Ann Curry (@AnnCurry) - News Anchor on NBC's Today Show and host of Dateline NBC Rick Sanchez (@ricksanchezcnn) - Host of the 3PM weekday edition of CNN Newsroom Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) Ryan Osborn (@todayshow) - Producer, NBC Today Show

The event held last week in New York was organized by Jeff Pulver.

Prt. 2:

msw

- Special Note - Scoble will be the special guest tonight on Peter Himmelman's Furious World tonight at 7pm PDT - watch live

Thinking Out Loud - Iran techRising

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:53:52 -0700

Along our curious path we have the occasion to converse with some really BIG thinkers. Thinking Out Loud is the raw stream from some of these encounters.

On this SPECIAL edition: Part Two of our ongoing coverage of the rising in Iran. Technology is empowering the global voices striving for change. We're joined by Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins and Kyle Brady to discuss tech's impact on this emerging and developing situation.

Rizzn has an excellent piece on The Inquisitr "The Diminishing Role of Government in the Social Media Age."

You can track the Iran Elections on Twazzup.

Play Show

msw

A Bright Spark - Jazz and Poetry at The White House - Video

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:30:03 -0700

We know that music has the power to heal, stimulate our imaginations and bring us closer together. Recently President Obama and The First Lady invited Poets and Jazz Artists to fill the room with BIG ideas. I could not be more encouraged that they invited the world to witness the power of Jazz.

The President quoted Louis Armstrong: "What we play is life."

More video of The First Lady on Jazz:

Washington Post has the details.

msw