Technology is awesome. It gives us ways to share our thoughts with lots of people very easily and cheaply. However, I’ve realized over the last few years that documenting events in your life can be really time consuming.

My Mom recently asked me why there hasn’t been any activity over at Emma’s website lately? I didn’t have a good answer except to say that I’d been busy. It was a cop-out and I immediately felt bad about it. After all, my family is 3000 miles away from me and the only thing they ask from me is to send some pictures from my iPhone and put up the occassional video on Emma’s website. Too much to ask? I think not.

This got me thinking about how I’m going to cover this week’s SXSW Interactive conference. For those of you that follow my professional career, you know that I shoot a video program called Relevantly Speaking for MediaTrust.

I travel all over the U.S and shoot anywhere from 10-15 interviews per event with industry leaders and other interesting people. During this trip to Austin, I’m changing my content strategy a bit. Instead of spending 4 days hauling around a massive production rig, I’m traveling lighter and doing more blog posts, attending more sessions and shooting more diary style videos. That said, I’ve been researching the best way to bring professional timely content to the masses.

It’s starts off easy enough – how hard is it to shoot a 3 minute daily video clip from Austin and publish it on the company’s blog? In theory, not hard at all. Then I started to remember events I’d tried approach with in the past. I’d shoot it on the large production setup, then break that rig down, head back to the hotel and proceed to pull the content off the flash media – or in the old days, the tape. From there I’d have to edit it and add titles. Then it all had to be exported and encoded. For those that have never worked with HD video, it takes anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours to encode and export a 3 minute video clip, depending on the speed and robustness of your laptop. Just when you think that ride on the Pain Train is over, you realize that uploading that finished clip to a content delivery network (the place that video and audio files are stored and optimized for consumption) takes another 30 minutes to 4 hours depending on how bad the hotel’s internet connection is. Keep in mind I travel to mostly tech events where everyone else in that hotel is using that same connection, so it’s usually really slow.

At this point, what started out as quick 3 minute daily update has turned into 7-8 hour project. That’s just not a good use of my time or the company’s dollars that they spent to send me there. So, I’ve spent the last two weeks researching an alternative approach.

Because this is a daily-update-diary-sort-of-thing, most people expect it to be more raw and I’m hoping that brings a bit of forgiveness around the rough edges. I’ve looked using a Flip HD and uploading directly to YouTube and I’ve tried using my Sanyo Xacti, skipping the editing and just uploading the raw content to Blip.tv (our usual content service). In the end, I think I’m going to use the only camera that I carry around me with every day – my iPhone.

In good light, the iPhone actually shoots pretty decent video. I’ve also added a unit from OWLE that adds a wide angle adapter to the lens and a better quality microphone. From there, I’m able to edit the video in an iPhone app called Reel Director. This means that I can keep everything on the phone and that the “post-production” process takes minutes instead of hours.

Once I’m done editing the video diary, I have a bunch of services I can choose to upload to. After much research, I’ve chosen Qik. In addition to their great functionality and clean video player design, they also offer the option for me to stream live video from my phone should any sort of breaking event occur that warrants coverage. To top it off, I can have Qik publish a link to my video across my social networks automatically including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

All told, the whole process of shooting a daily diary this way should take me less than hour. Obviously, things will go wrong and I could run into snags, especially if AT&T can’t handle the crush of iPhone users attending SXSW as in year’s past.

Is this the best approach? For all you video enthusiasts, what would you do?

“He’s an alligator: all mouth, no ears.”

I heard that expression recently and I thought it was so visual and so dead-on in the description of a person we were discussing. It refers to somebody that is so focused on speaking, that they seldom listen. I bet you deal with people like this all the time – maybe at work? Maybe at home?

Or worse, are you an alligator?

Technology and social media has given us great channels for sharing ideas and furthering our knowledge base on every subject under the sun. Yet, so many people seem to use it as a megaphone instead of a listening device. Whenever I start a dialogue with someone about the usefulness of something like Twitter, they usually say “how can I use it to get my message out?” I mean, sure, social media is great for that. But, it’s also great for listening to what people have to say about you and your brand. Still, so many people feel like they have to control the message.

Sometimes I run into people that just don’t care about what others have to say. They see social media as pedestal and they’re only interested in one-way communication. There’s a certain social media figure that has risen to micro-celebrity over the last 18 months. He has a book out and he’s appeared on CNN and other mainstream media outlets. He uses all the buzzwords like “engagement” and “conversation,” but at the end of the day, all the evidence I see in his use of social media points to him being a big fat alligator: all talk, no ears.

We’ve all seen evidence of the alligator mentality in our political system right now. It isn’t about solving problems and doing the work of the people, it’s about posturing and making sure you slip in the right soundbite right along party lines. There’s very little listening going on.

Corporate America is another place this runs rampant. So many companies are unwilling or unable to listen more and talk less – or, as Chris Brogan calls it “grow bigger ears.” One company that has surprised me recently is Toyota. Despite the mess they find themselves in, they are actually being proactive and listening to the conversation about their brand. They are responding to the various sentiment in a thoughtful way. You can see a recent article I wrote about it HERE.

Besides the Everglades, where do you see alligators? I’d love to get your perspective in the comments.

I’m sitting in the back seat of Kim’s car as I write this. Emma is asleep next to me – I guess the soothing sounds of “Metallica Lullabies” was too much for her.

Mia is in the front seat getting pet by Kim as she drives – Kim’s driving, not Mia.

We’re on our way to San Luis Obispo, CA to celebrate Easter with Kim’s family. I’m looking forward to putting Emma’s Easter dress on her. It was a gift from Nana and Grandpa (my Dad and Stepmom). I’m also looking forward to watching Em run around the backyard hunting for eggs. This is such a great age. I want to soak it all in.

It’s a beautiful California day and I plan to make the most of it with family and a few cold beers. Happy Easter to you – if you celebrate it.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Talk soon.

The wait is over. I will go back to doing weekly shows starting next Tuesday, January 20th. Even though the look and feel of the website has changed, the radio show will be pretty familiar. Now that I’ve had two months to regroup and build up plenty of sarcasm, I should be able to hit the ground running without any problems. Brian will be returning to the fold with the Mighty Minute and we’ll start the year picking apart popular culture and flushing out stories about people’s bizarre antics from around the world.

In the meantime, here is your homework:

1. Send along any stories you find this week that you think I should cover
2. Leave a message on the voicemail line – 323.285.5219 (under 60 seconds)
3. Pre-order your t-shirt now!
4. Make sure you RSS reader is ready to go. The show show be up by 7:00 PM PT.

Looking forward to talk to you all next week!

This Thursday Brian, Manny and I head to Las Vegas. I will be there next week for Affiliate Summit, and we figured we’d tack a few days on the front end and have a “guy’s weekend.” We’ll be getting there on Thursday afternoon and they’ll be departing on Sunday morning as I get ready for my conference.

In addition to the great meals, gambling, nightlife, and what is sure to be lots of freely flowing liquor, we’re all bringing camera gear and are hoping to create a sort of video/photo documentary of the trip. I’m actually looking forward to us all working on this together. Now we just have to block off enough time away from the decadence to shoot it.

If you’ll be in Vegas this weekend, please email at TheAmericanClicheATgmailDOTcom and let us buy you a drink.

After some intense traveling, I’m finally back in my usual routine in Santa Barbara. In fact, I’m sitting in my office 100 steps from State Street on a beautiful day as I write this. I’ve been pondering the last year and, what can I say, life is good. I’ve had a tremendous amount of blessings this year – the biggest of which is my daughter, Emma. It is amazing to think that she’s nearly a year old.

Many of you followed our travel adventures around Christmas on Twitter and Facebook. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a stressful time. Fortunately, after the initial shittiness of being stuck in Newark, NJ overnight and having our bags lost for three days, we enjoyed a great stint with family.

For those that are interested, I produced a video of Emma’s first Christmas called “The Five Days of Christmas.” The project had two purposes. First, the event is something we wanted to have to look back on when E gets older. Second, I had just started playing with my new Canon 5D Mark II and I needed to field test it where I’d be allowed to makes mistakes, rather than f’ing up important professional work. I think it came out pretty well considering (a) the lighting conditions were awful most of the time and (b) I have never used a professional still camera in my life before last week.

Anyway, I hope you all have happy new year! I look forward to our weekly chats starting back up in early ‘09. We’ll talk soon.

This morning I had an appointment at the DMV in Santa Barbara. I had never received my registration decal that I had paid for two months ago, and instead of them just putting a new one in the mail, I had to go through a whole process of lines, attitude and endless forms. I posted about it on Facebook and it immediately started a discussion.

My friend Manny even went as far as to say:

“Food for thought: experiences at the DMV and Post Office are one of the arguments against socialized medicine. Can you imagine trying to get in to see a doctor under those conditions? I have a feeling it wouldn’t be much different- and I support universal health care…”

Whoa. Wait. Hold the phone. You simply cannot compare the DMV or the Post Office with what healthcare coverage for everyone might be like. First off, we have no frame of reference because we’ve never had universal healthcare in this country and second, you’re talking about professions that are night day.

Generally, people that go to work in the medical profession do so because they want to help people. They invest a large portion of their lives studying things like biology and chemistry and eventually they head off to medical or nursing school. Beyond the sacrifices it takes to learn the medical profession, you spend an exorbitant amount of money on school and training. In short, you don’t get into the medical field because it’s “easy.”

Don’t get me wrong, there are scores of good people that work at the Post Office and I’m sure (although I’ve never personally met one) at the DMV. But, let’s be realistic here – how many people go to “DMV School” or “Postal Academy?” My guess is that the vast majority of the people that occupy these jobs do so because it is a form of income. It probably wasn’t their goal in life from an early age.

Comparing the DMV and the USPS to what universal health coverage *might* be like simply because they would be under some sort of government oversight is just silly and short-sighted. Schools are publicly controlled as well, are you comparing teachers to DMV employees? No, because teaching is another profession that you generally don’t happen into by accident. You have a passion for it.

Agree? Disagree? Let’s chat in the comments.

UPDATE: Another Facebook discussion has started.

Well, we did it. This is the new site. Whatcha think? Again, special thanks to Christopher Smith and Brian Brodeur for pulling this off for me. I really had very little to do with it all.

So, what’s the plan from here? Next Tuesday, December 16th, I’m planning to do a Holiday show. Get back on a saddle slowly – a little talk, some holiday music, a funny story or two. Then we’ll fully relaunch immediately in the new year.

I’m already getting emails from people asking for stickers. We’re working on getting them made ASAP and hope to have them ready to ship out in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, send your requests and put “STICKERS” in the subject line and we’ll send them out when they’re done.

As far as T-shirts, we’re approaching that bit differently. We’re going to take pre-orders. So, anyone in the U.S. that donates $25 to the show will get a free shirt. If you live outside the U.S., please add an additional $15 for shipping charges. Make sure we have your correct mailing address and shirt size when you donate. The shirts will be designer quality American Apparel shirts. I actually won’t be making any real money on the shirts. By the time you factor in the price of the shirt, the cost of the mailer, and the shipping, I’ll just about be breaking even. This is more about getting you a cool shirt! Get your donations in soon though, we’ll be placing the t-shirt order on February 1st with the sizes we have based on the donations we receive. After that, you’ll have to wait another 6 month or so until we do another run.

It’s good to be back!

I can’t tell you guys how jazzed I am right now. I have been working with Brian and Christopher over the last few weeks on the new design concept for American Cliche. Not only did we have to think about the look and feel of the website, but we had to think about how that branding would translate into video intros and watermarks. Additionally, it was important to me to add a new layer of interaction to show. I have said this a million times before, but the interaction I have with you guys is what makes this all worthwhile. I have constantly been thinking about how we could make that a bigger part of the American Cliche experience. Well, I think we have something very cool. It was actually Christopher’s idea, and as he says “This is some Superhero shit!” That’s why he’s a design genius I guess. Stay tuned for details.

Anyway, we’re getting close to the site mock-up being complete. My hope is that in the next week, we’ll finish the final layout and be ready to launch the week of December 15th. From there, I’m hoping to get back on the horse and do a holiday radio show. We’ll be in full swing by the time the new year rolls around.

Anyway, I wanted to check in and say hello. Today has been an exciting day for me. Seeing the new graphic elements and seeing the site start to come together has re-energized me!

Look forward to talk to you all soon.

I thought you guys would dig this interview we shot this past weekend. The Director of Strategy at Skype talks about the future of HD Video Chat and what they have planned for the iPhone.