div|whisperer

A really slow day ended with a surprise. Six Apart is buying Pownce and shutting it down - in two weeks. I don’t normally post “breaking news” but I thought it was noteworthy because I posted about Pownce earlier and my inability to commit to the platform, even though I really liked the site

I had the opportunity to meet Leah Culver and Daniel Burka at mesh ‘08. All the best guys!

UPDATE: The Pownce blog has been updated with a goodbye post. There is a funny part, the goodbye post is powered by WordPress.

LinkedIn is spamming me. Or perhaps more accurately, LinkedIn is enabling other people to spam me without allowing me a way to opt out. I’ve been critical of LinkedIn’s recent Application launch. Those problems still remain and a few weeks later, now that people are actually using them, they’ve presented more annoying issues.

In fact the homepage spam is much, much worse than Facebook. That’s right I said it. LinkedIn’s application/group spam is far worse than Facebook. The reason is simple, in my mind: corporate underlings spend more time trying to look smart than tweens and drunken frat boys.

Here’s an example of the crap I am forced to digest with my face holes every time I log into LinkedIn. I’ve highlighted in a soft yellow colour that which is unwanted crap.

Not only am I not interested in the pre-budget possibilities, I am equally uninterested in the budget itself. The real annoyance though is that I have specifically made an effort to opt-out of receiving these “reading recommendations” from people who I am not connected to and whose only connection to me is that they too took the time to join the same group.

Below is a highlighted example of my update preferences. One would think that by turning off group updates I would stop receiving them.

Continue reading Please LinkedIn, Make It Stop

I’ll preface this post by saying that I like LinkedIn. LinkedIn is one of the social networks that I actually maintain an active profile on and monitor daily.

With that established I was profoundly disappointed with their latest foray into applications - and it’s not because I hate applications either. How could you hate applications? They’re adorable.

No, my underwhelmence (awesome fake word) is entirely because of the execution of the release. Early adopters, who looked forward to installing applications with the same intensity that virgin teenage boys look forward to the prom, rushed to the site to find:

Continue reading LinkedIn Applications Launch Underwhelming

I follow politics, particularly U.S. politics pretty avidly. I find that it is usually more entertaining than sports and features just as much ass grabbing. When respected polling organization Gallup and ForeignPolicy.com released a microsite for the results of their worldwide poll on the U.S. presidential race, aptly titled If The World Could Vote, I rushed over to see by just how large of a margin my fellow Canadians embraced that one.

I was surprised (but only mildly) that their flash-enabled world map revealed a world different than the one I had thought I lived in. Among the omissions I noticed immediately were that Canada has conquered the French Magdalen islands (finally), Newfoundland appears to have declared independence (or been kicked out of Canada) and the province of Prince Edward Island has disappeared - which I suppose was inevitable given global warming, but I’m sure nobody expected it so fast.

Honestly though, how important is geography to foreign policy anyway?

New York based Jonathan Keller has been working on a project since 1998 whereby he takes his picture every day and then puts them in fast-motion sequence to bad public domain techno music. The result is the kind of everyman, facial-hair growing, YouTube video that we are far too lazy to actually make ourselves.

The truth though is that the challenge is too great. Who among us can say that over the past ten years there hasn’t been at least one Sunday where opening our eyes was not even an option because of a mixture of Gosling’s Black Seal rum or other fantastic deliciousness? Certainly not I.

That’s all it would take to screw this whole thing up. Jonathan’s video has over 1 million views and even he is a newbie compared to the Noah K video which boasts more than 10 million views AND its own Simpsons parody.

I had a fantastic time at the New Brunswick Third Tuesday event on Tuesday and surprisingly I was sober until after the show when Liz invited me for a drink. That’s a significant oversight for me - especially considering I subtitled the event “Don’t drink alone.”

It was fantastic to see Jeff, Chris and Amber again. They did a terrific job. The reviews have been universally positive. I’m looking forward to seeing the new episode of commandN.tv that they shot in Moncton before and during the show. I’m holding out hope that the guys at Razor Creative get their Shatner shout out in the web picks.

UPDATE:

Chris and team at commandN.tv have posted the latest episode which includes a shot of me introducing the awesomeness of Stephen and Rich’s Shatner endorsement.

I look horrible. They say the camera adds ten pounds but nobody warns you that it also makes you look like you’re overdosing on prescription medication that comes with a warning about operating heavy machinery.

I’ve been helping to organize the Third Tuesday event in Moncton for September - and people keep asking me when it is being held.

Third Tuesdays are all the rage across Canada. All the cool cities are hosting them. They are essentially networking events for people in the social media world. In New Brunswick, the event rotates between Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John every month - so there is an event in Moncton once every three months (I explained that part for the people who ask questions like when the Third Tuesday event was happening).

This month we are bringing Chris Dick, AmberMac and her brother Jeff MacArthur to Moncton to give a workshop about engaging an audience online using video and other Web 2.0 tools. They’ll also be shooting an episode of their vidcast commandN.tv.

You should come out to the event. It’s, unsurprisingly (to most), on the third Tuesday of September, the 16th. Go to the semi-official web site for directions, maps, more event info, etc.

The godfather of voice overs, Don LaFontaine, passed away at sixty-eight a week and a half ago. I don’t think his impact on the movie industry will be truly felt by the rest of the world for a few months until all of the trailers he’s done recently are out of theater.

I came across a hilarious video on YouTube of Don LaFontaine, John Leader, Al Chalk, Mark Elliot, and Nick Tate - arguably Hollywood’s top five voice over actors. Definitely worth watching. There’s also a tribute video that shows what a humble man he was for a guy who transformed an industry.

In a world without Don LaFontaine - he is missed.

The reasonably cool guys over at Razor Creative have managed to score themselves an endorsement from Canada’s favourite drunken uncle, William Shatner.  Back in May Stephen and Rich made a post on their blog about a new site they’d discovered called LiveAutographs.com.

The premise unsurprisingly is that you submit your autograph request through the site, they arrange for the “celebrity” to sign it, on camera, and then they send you the autographed item and the video of the signing to certify it’s authenticity and provide the kind of keepsake that would keep two creative directors aroused erect well into their late eighties.

The message Rich and Stephen submitted:

“I love Stephen Brander and Rich Gould — and give them a big thumbs up”

Satisfied with the experience they are supposedly going to attempt more celebrity endorsements through the site shortly. My vote is for Hulk Hogan. I would pay cash for that ’stache.

For the past few weeks or so YouTube has offered the ability to switch between Standard Quality and High Quality when you’re viewing a movie on YouTube. If you watch YouTube with any regularity the constant clicking on the High Quality button has probably already become about as annoying as you might expect having the last name Gay would be throughout middle/high school.

Luckily there is a little advertised but easily accessible solution for those of us who have YouTube accounts. If you don’t have one you can easily register for a free one if you are willing to forget that your personal information will be stored by a site whose all time most popular video is a song full of pop angst by Avril Lavigne.

Here’s the 2oz way to get ‘er done:

Continue reading View High Quality YouTube Movies by Default