For anyone out there that does podcasts or has experience with them what do you use to produce them? Also would you be interested in a Whitespace podcast at all? Hell, is there anything in particular you would like for me to talk about here on Whitespace?
I apologize for the lack of updates this month, but being in Austin, the hospital and Key West over the last two weeks kind of puts a dent in my posting schedule.
For the podcasting I have a G5 and iSight so I don’t know if that helps you out with your answers at all. For all the Windows readers out there don’t forget to mention what PC users can use.
*Note: I only left my room about four times my entire time in Austin this year due to illness so my thoughts are only based on the few experiences that I had with people. I am going back to the hospital, but I know I will forget to write this if I don’t do it now so hopefully it all sounds decent.
Last year at SXSW seemed to be the year of the superstar. Flickr was rumored to have been bought out, everyone was drooling over every word that left Fried’s mouth and generally there was a divide between the elite and the followers. This year was a lot different. There didn’t seem to be that star attraction because everyone is really getting into their own things this year. Last year was talk and this year seems to be all walk.
You couldn’t drool over every word Fried said this year in his keynote because, well, he has been saying the same shit for the past year anyways. Okay, my bad, it isn’t shit because less is more” makes sense in a lot of cases, but I was really hoping for some new insight. The Craig Newmark keynote was another rehash of what I have read in the past from websites and magazine articles about him.
Last year I bitched about the panels and said that this year I probably wouldn’t even go to any. Well after talking to people it seems next year they will be doing the same thing, which sucks. It sucks because I want to like the panels. I want to learn something new or at the very least be entertained. Last year when I vented I took a step back and thought that maybe it was just my arrogance and general assholiness that caused such resentment towards the panels, but how much have you seen written about the panels this year in comparison to year’s past? Again keep in mind that I missed 95% of SXSW so I am going on what people are telling me.
This is the transition year. Between this entry and next year’s SXSW a star or maybe a couple will develop where they will become the must-hear speakers next year. If you are one of them try your best to be entertaining. A good way to help people learn is to keep them interested and that doesn’t mean rinse, wash, repeat all your blog entries from the year before.
You can kind of see this happening in the design blog community. There isn’t a consensus site that everyone says you must go read. Sure we all have our favorites, but there isn’t that one star anymore. Maybe we don’t need a star, but I’m surprised to see that no one has taken advantage of this opportunity to really make a name for themself. I suppose a couple years ago there wasn’t money to be made so blogging was much easier and now that people are starting to cashout that simply leaves less time for blogging.
If you attended SXSW this year I hope you enjoyed your time and if I didn’t get to meet you I apologize and if I did meet you and seemed generally out of it I apologize for that as well.
If you walked away from your job right now would you be proud of what you have done? There have been many different times in my life where I have had to walk away from something and many of those times I wasn’t satisfied with how I was leaving things. I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago with 9rules and how I would feel if I decided to walk away from it to help it grow in new directions and realized that there is so much more that can be done with it, but I could leave knowing that I am proud of what we have accomplished.
That’s a damn good feeling. Can you say the same thing about your job? Can you say the same thing about a client that you had to drop early?
I’m thinking of all those companies that started something, but didn’t leave any legacy but that of failure and I’m not sure I could walk away from a situation like that. Of course there are times you have to realize there is nothing more that could be done so you have to leave things alone.
And no, 9rules is not in that phase or even close to it so don’t get any crazy thoughts.
Friday I leave for Austin to attend SXSW. I will be talking to a lot of people because people like to ask the naked guy questions and I find that it’s better to answer those questions than ignore them. In any case for those of you who can’t go or are too scared to ask your web celebs certain questions I figure you can just tell me and I will ask them.
Here is a list of questions I have for people.
- Bowman: Okay man, I know you used to be the superstar designer and you probably still have skills, but do you find having hot women swarm all over you and your constant dating habits has taken away from your design skills? You don’t blog anymore so I am just trying to keep up with these kind of things. Oh and are you gonna man up and drink with me again?
- Zeldman: Admit it, marriage life blows compared to those web design NY orgies, right?
- Fried: A while ago you had a girl in Chicago that left. I can’t remember how long ago that was, but it was some time ago. You still sweating that chick or does your millionaire status allow you more freedom to pick and choose who you want?
- Molly: Who is the hottest person in the web game now besides me? Okay you can say me if that’s your only answer.
- Calacanis: Do you wish you were as tall as me or as poor as me? Sorry man, you can only pick one.
- Random 9rules Members: Man you look nothing like your forum avatar, what up with that?
- Austin Police: Officer, did you know I run the 9rules Network and how many people I could get to blog about you right now if you don’t remove these cuffs?
- Random girl at bar: You know what my technorati rank is baby? Do you?
All very, very lame, but for some reason those are the questions that make people think. So what do you need me to ask and to who? Really I have no shame so don’t worry.
Sorry everyone. I have a backlog of entries to catch up on, but first I wanted to point you to an entry I wrote on Oreo CEO last week about the diversity of our team. I think this can be applied to any workplace and to also any career skills you might have. Specialize in something, but also make sure to keep a big toolbox at your disposal.
Man that was a fun entry to write.
