VIDDIX for Multimedia Video

VIDDIX looks pretty nifty if you’re doing lots of video and want to tie in a presentation.

Check out the demo video here:

VIDDIX – Demo VIDDIX

I’ll be testing it out later today and try to grab a screencast.

Disqus Trackbacks

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Yay!

Our long international blogging conundrum is over.

Disqus FTW!

Disqus Blog » New: Enable Support for Trackbacks in Disqus: “Go to the Configure tab and scroll down to General Settings. Check the box and let it do its thing. This is our support for standard Trackbacks. More fun Linkback implementations still to come.”

However, this only works for the JS plugin, not the API plugin. Sorry, Jangro (seriously, head over to Jangro’s blog to see why that matters to some).

Spore is Brilliant

We talked about Spore on GeekCast today because the Spore Creature Creator was released.

How will you create the universe?

With Spore you can nurture your creature through five stages of evolution: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space. Or if you prefer, spend as much time as you like making creatures, vehicles, buildings and spaceships with Spore’s unique Creator tools.

CREATE Your Universe from Microscopic to Macrocosmic – From tide pool amoebas to thriving civilizations to intergalactic starships, everything is in your hands.

EVOLVE Your Creature through Five Stages – It’s survival of the funnest as your choices reverberate through generations and ultimately decide the fate of your civilization.

EXPLORE your world and beyond – Will you rule, or will your beloved planet be blasted to smithereens by a superior alien race?

SHARE with the World – Everything you make is shared with other players and vice versa, providing tons of cool creatures to meet and new places to visit.

So, I spent some time creating a creature tonight (just a few mins, I promise). First impressions is that this is going to be a wildly successful hit. Why? Incredible game design/feel and incredibly smart marketing. We’re talking original Doom style viral stuff that is going to make this game a runaway.

You can grab pictures, avatars and videos of your creature as you go through the game. There’s even an “upload to YouTube” function right in the game. Brilliant. You can see a short vid I did of my creature above as an example. And there’s even a dedicated site called SporeVote integrated into the game for fan votes on their favorite created creatures.

On your harddrive, everything is kept nicely in a folder that is created within the Documents section (on a Mac… not sure how that works on PCs):

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All in all, I’m highly impressed. Of course, this is going to be a big “time waster” but isn’t that what all games are for? I can’t tell you how much time I “wasted” on Sim City (who shares its creator with Spore), but I look back on fondness at those times.

Can’t wait until the full game is released in September.

GeekCast 23: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

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This most recent episode of GeekCast is the best we’ve done.

We spend a great deal of time talking about the ABW and Performance Marketing Alliance controversy and our own frustrations with how things are playing out.

GeekCast 23: Can’t We All Just Get Along? : GeekCast.fm: “The show kicked off with discussion around the ABestWeb forum thread on the Performance Marketing Alliance initiative and whether or not affiliate marketing as an industry is being helped or hindered by the organization and whether or not some of the comments there were helpful to the industry as well. This theme comes around at the end of the show. So, make sure to listen to the whole thing for the proper context.”

Be sure to listen to this one if you’re interested in the industry organization movement.

There’s lots of other good stuff in the 80 minute podcast as well (you can find the whole description on the GeekCast page as well as link to the streaming player).

And here’s the mp3 for your downloading pleasure

AffiliateClassroomLive in Boston

I’ll be leading a workshop on social networking stuff for affiliate managers at the AffiliateClassroomLive event the Saturday before Affiliate Summit in Boston this August:

affiliateclassroomlive.com | Home: “Join us for a half-day workshop dedicated to Affiliate Managers. In the past, our LIVE Affiliate Manager Workshops have taken place over a full day and have been comprised mainly of presentations.”

And here’s the description of my session (no, I didn’t write this or refer to myself as an extraordinaire!):

Web 2.0 Practical, Successful Applications for Affiliate Managers
Sam Harrelson
Web 2.0 extraordinaire, Sam Harrelson, will talk to you about the various community networking platforms, applications and systems. He’ll discuss how affiliate managers can apply Web 2.0 techniques to their jobs for more effective affiliate recruitment, communication and motivation.

Lots of good people leading workshops like Trisha Fawver, Peter Figueredo, Heather Paulson, Lisa Riolo, Brad Waller and Lee Gientke.

I promise mine will be interesting, so stop by if you’re in town that Saturday.

Android News

I’m a fan of Apple in general, but I’m holding out for Google’s Android initiative before I move away from my BlackBerry (rather than going with the Android 3G).

This is mostly because I’m a fan of the open platform and open source approach to software and hardware. Plus, Google has so much of my data in their cloud because of my usage of their web products.

Just wanted to let everyone here know that the best blog I’ve found for Android updates is a blog called AndroidGuys.

Good stuff if you’re into the mobile side of things.

Russert

As I head into my first Father’s Day as an actual father, the news of Tim Russert’s passing hit me like a ton of bricks for a number of reasons.

First, I love politics. I love the art of politics and the science of politics and the religion of politics. Russert was, to many of us, the priest of politics. Sunday mornings without him on Meet the Press will never be the same for me.

Second, I love Meet the Press and its format. I have religiously watched the show for years (even in college when Sunday mornings at 9am came way too early most weekends). After I watch, I download the audio and listen again to the show throughout the week:

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It was a daily ritual that will be tough to perform without Russert.

Third, Russert loved what he did. You could see it on his face and it was inspiring to see someone so happy, fulfilled and challenged by their job.

Lastly, Russert is leaving behind a close family. Russert’s passing makes me take pause as this being my first Father’s Day with a child.

As professionals, we have a lot to learn from Russert’s example. Love your family, love what you do and seek to build bridges and find understanding instead of following the path of least resistance which normally resides on the plateau of negativity and greed.

NASCAR TV on Ustream

I’m not sure how happy the Speed Channel and networks that broadcast NASCAR races would be about this. But until they start streaming the races in a similar format to MLB.tv, this is a nifty Ustream workaround for those of us stuck in offices during qualifying or races:

http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/133638Online Video provided by Ustream

Pay attention networks… people want to do things like watch NASCAR races or football games or soccer games. Hulu is excellent for dramas and sitcoms, but there’s huge opportunity here for content producers in the sports and live events content creation business!

Buying Links: Good or Bad?

At the https://www.fusionquest.com/cgi-bin/main/hotlinks.cgi?aflt=afc1&client=affsumAffiliate Summit West this year, one of the most talked about moments was the back-and-forth between SEO expert Wil Reynolds and Jason Calacanis during Wil’s session.

Here’s Wil’s take:

Well the BIG topic – buying links to help boost your SEO rankings, let me say again…if you properly analyze your landscape you can determine if you may or may not need to buy links. If you do, you should buy ones that are actually on GOOD sites – while producing great content is the ideal, you may have to prime the pump a bit with a few strategic bought links. This is an advanced tactic, if you don’t understand what makes a good vs. bad link, don’t buy one!

As you can imagine, Jason was not too supportive of the link buying tactic and has called out Google and SEO’ers many times over the issue (and created a company to combat the problem he sees in search today).

And thanks to the power of the interwebs, you have the chance to see the throw down (not really) between Wil and Jason (or head over to YouTube to see the annotations that Wil has added to the video… they don’t carry over to embeds):

The video also shows why you should be going to the https://www.fusionquest.com/cgi-bin/main/hotlinks.cgi?aflt=afc1&client=affsumAffiliate Summit in Boston this August. Unlike many of the shows I go to, there is both real substance and real discussions that go on during the sessions. This is just a taste of that.