My company gave me a Flip Mino HD video camera. There is no way I would ever buy one myself. If I wanted a video camera, I would have gone with a handheld camcorder. However, now that I have it, I think it is great and I value the Flip Mino HD form factor. It’s an awesome gift.
I don’t have any videos to share yet. Mostly because I have had a hard time trying to figure out how to import the Flip’s video in Cinelerra. The issue, it turns out, is that the audio format doesn’t seem to work. There must be something mucked up with the version of AAC that the Flip uses, because Cinelerra really garbles it up.
After many hours of experimentation, I figured out how to get it to work. You have to use avidemux to export out the audio (no changes to video which is h.264) as AAC/FAAC.
Hopefully this will save someone else a few hours of experimentation. I hope to post a YouTube video soon.
Bash.org has always been one of my favorite time-wasting websites. You can add fmylife.com to that list. Of course Twittering is so popular now that even George Stephanopolous is twittering (and conducting interviews on Twitter.)
I’ve probably already lost the reader by now. The long form seems like it is dying. With RSS, often you don’t have to read the article to know the news. You can click down if you want the details. Twitter enables the short form to be interactive.
I know this isn’t new. Hemingway was probably the guy to invent the ultra-short form. Technology is speeding along the spread of this format.
Microcontent is awesome because it allows you to “scan the headlines” for all aspects of your life. Because it is just a little bit longer than the usual headline, it may give you a little bit more color with less of a time investment.
I follow the Boston Police on Twitter. This is a perfect example of just needing the headline. It’s timely and relevant news, but I rarely need the full story. It’s available if I want it. And I can interact with the police this way.
On a side note, my friend Kyle got mugged in Charlestown on Friday night. It turns out that the suspects went on to stab someone, and I found it through twitter and the long-form blog. I think that as this technology becomes pervasive, it could change the way law enforcement is done. I am digressing.
I think the popularity of twitter, mylife, bash, etc. are indicators that this is becoming its own category of entertainment/art, similar to short films. Microcontent will rule, atleast for a while.
Both are referring to the work by Israeli-born musician Kutiman. Merlin says it so much better than I can when he says:
Unsolicited tip for media company c-levels: if your reaction to this crate of magic is “Hm. I wonder how we’d go about suing someone who ‘did this’ with our IP?” instead of, “Holy crap, clearly, this is the freaking future of entertainment,” it’s probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page.
The video they are referring is below. All of Kutiman’s video tracks can be found here.
This sort of sampling, remixing, reissuing in new form was rampant in the 90s (sans video) before everyone got sued.
BTW, I found this through Kelly Murphy who is an awesome illustrator.
The company plans to team its Sam’s Club division with Dell for computers and eClinicalWorks, a fast-growing private company, for software. Wal-Mart says its package deal of hardware, software, installation, maintenance and training will make the technology more accessible and affordable, undercutting rival health information technology suppliers by as much as half.
After reading deeper into the article, there are three things that strike my interest. The first is that really they are teaming with a hardware vendor to provide low-cost equipment. This really is not that far away from their core business model, but worth mentioning. Secondly, it is the Sam’s Club division, and not the Stores division, that is taking the lead.
Lastly, and most importantly, they are providing a package of software and services. This means that really Wal-Mart is getting into the IT services game, which is a completely different business model. I’m curious to see how much of this work will actually be carried out by Dell or eClinicialWorks.
I am a CNBC junkie. Or I was until recently. I started realizing that they have been mixing more and more conservative viewpoints. The topic is covered thoroughly by the NYTimes here.
In recent weeks some have perceived the network to be leading the campaign against President Obama’s economic agenda. Mr. Cramer, who calls himself a lifelong Democrat, said last week that the administration’s agenda was “destroying the life savings of millions of Americans.” One week earlier Mr. Kudlow declared that Mr. Obama was “declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private equity and venture capital funds.”
The liberal establishment has started firing back. DailyKOS is accusing Jim Cramer and CNBC of manipulating stocks. It’s the same story that has been promoted by Patrick Byrne (CEO of Overstock) who was once considered a nutjob and now probably feeling a little bit vindicated. *
Personally, I think that CNBC might really be shorting the news. They’ve become so pessimistic because their pessimism has attracted a lot of viewers, probably from the right side of the spectrum. Check out the following screenshot from CNBC today. The market rises 5% and their top stories are all about the economy falling apart.
And by the way, if you were wondering where the Daily Show’s takedown of CNBC is, it’s right here:
