Nice Fish Films | Michael Sean Wright

The financial markets continue to shake. Auto-makers are on the hill shaking down lawmakers. Most of us are just plain shaken by the downward trends in the economy. Time to stop the shakes by plugging into the network of info-sharing.

I find myself glued to CNBC both on the web and on TV. I want to know the latest information coming out of Wall Street, Washington and Main Street. Staying on top of the money news helps me shake a little less. CNBC's Jim Cramer is an interesting entertainer who mixes stock analysis with anecdotal evidence. His outrage seems genuine. Now we can tap into Cramer's mad-mind even when we're away from that TV box.

Cramer's Mad Money knows the marketplace of ideas is highly social-able. The program is now updating via Twitter, beefing up their podcast offerings and even offering embeddable widgets.



By opening the info-flow, making this data portable and sharable, CNBC has made it easier for us to stay connected. Now we can all freak-out together.


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A BIG thinker once said, "When you see something that is technically sweet you go ahead and do it, and you argue about what to do with it only after you have had your technical success."

Simon Garfield of Guardian UK recently sat down with Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg and posted a rather insightful article on the phenomenon of Facebook. A sales rep tells Garfield, "Facebook can draw upon from its 100m-plus users. It knows, for example, how many people say they ate a Kellogg's breakfast cereal that morning." Simon is right to point out, "As they used to say in 1945, let's hope they use it for peaceful purposes."

People want to connect and share in an environment that empowers connection and sharing. Simple concept isn't? Facebook provided easy to use tools that streams information out to a network of friends. A few clicks and you are broadcasting your interests and news with your networked friends. I don't spend much time at Facebook, but find it a handy tool to catch up with old friends and make a few new connections. I use FriendFeed to push data into the FB network but enjoy seeing what others are sharing.

Unlike Garfield, I understand why Facebook is massively popular. As humans, we long for connection. I hope that Facebook continues to push for good. Open the data stream and encourage transparency. Information is a powerful tool. Use it wisely.

So, who was that BIG thinker wanted us to argue about what to do with 'sweet technology'? - J. Robert Oppenheimer


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This week Dr. Tony Shore of ObviousPop and I pay tribute to the great Mitch Mitchell. We visit with Tommy Nast and learn more about his new company Rock Band Entertainment. Dr. Shore gives us a review of Brian Wilson in Minneapolis. Plus, we check out new music services Awdio and The Next Big Sound.




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Today we are faced with many social-info options. Gathering interesting news items has never been easier. With a little effort, you can build a dynamic web of information based on your interests. You no longer have to follow the crowd.

Many of us start with seeding our RSS Readers with hand-picked writers, blogs and news networks that meet our personal interests. The next step is joining social-net sites that thrive on compelling conversation though info-bulletins and posts. As communities grow it can get harder to sift through noise and find the articles that matter to you. It takes some work to keep the flow of data from becoming too wide (unless that's your goal.) At first, I love seeing everything that members are sharing. I start trimming back and tuning more intently on voices that appeal to me within a couple of months of monitoring the fire hose.

FriendFeed is still my favorite gathering place for interesting discoveries and engaged conversation. After tweaking the stream through the use of various filters, FriendFeed can be an invaluable resource. I understand that I'm the only person in the world looking for exactly the same thing as me. I tend not to look at what was most popular on FriendFeed as a way of discovering new items. The most "liked" items favor funny posts. If you need a good chuckle, you really can't beat some of the hilarious pictures, memes or videos that the crowd votes for. Mona N's ESC Key post made me laugh-out loud! The humor trend of FriendFeed is geeky-techy which I'm a big fan of. I rely on the people I've chosen to follow for feeds of the most interesting items (to me.)

The top items on Digg tend to be a cross between National Enquirer and Cracked Magazine. Digg has a younger crowd and I understand that. I'm not going there to learn anything deep. I take it at face value when venturing over there. Popular social sites are not unlike talk-radio- the vast majority of listeners never call-in. Some of the hyper-active users on Digg, like talk-radio participants, lean towards conspiracy. I can't always trust the "crowd" at Digg. This is not to say that everything on Digg is outrageous. I've often been pleasantly shocked by the items that the Diggnation has made popular.

I've been a long time subscriber of the Popular Bookmarks on Delicious. Delicious users are heavy tech users, designers and researchers. I usually find something intriguing in that stack. I'm a fan of the tagging and quick-load interface of Delicious. Here are the items I've bookmarked on Delicious.

Really exciting developments are being made in the area of the Semantic Web. Services like Twine learn my interests and bring back spot-on articles. Twine is not for the faint of heart though. They are still working on load time. The first time I logged into Twine I found Twines (subject groupings) on Ontology, Astro-Physics, A.I. and Future Tech. If you're interested in Twine, a good place to start is their overview.

If you want to go even deeper with your research, new tools like DeepDyve will help you. The options to find smart info are increasing every day. I'm just glad to be living in these times where we all have access to great knowledge.

I like to mingle with many types of crowds. I gain insights from everyone. Crowds tend to be driven by people who are passionate about their interests. Get in there and mix it up a bit but know that crowds can also lead you astray. Stay focused, adjust your feeds, try different social gatherings.

If you've discovered a hidden gem or care to recommend a smart-gathering, please let me know. I'm always on the hunt for brain tingling fun.

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As we celebrate Twitter passing the One Billion Tweet mark, I want to ask you a question. Do you use the service to PUSH (send out links) or PULL (monitor and converse)? Last night I had a face-to-face conversation with a Twitter power user. He is an entrepreneur who maintains several accounts for both work and personal use. I do believe that entrepreneurs should be mindful when communicating personal opinions while doing so under their company brand. I don't assume that all who work at a company hold the same beliefs as the person at the top but it's hard to separate the two at times. However, companies should use social net tools in a personal way.

The entrepreneur I spoke with said that some of his accounts are used to PUSH stories and links out. His personal account is more of the conversation tool. I'm not sure he's realizing the full power of the Twitter Universe. All companies should be working towards building communities rather than just PUSHING info out. Mashable had a great post on How to Build Community on Twitter. The writer, Sarah Evans, points out that Twitter is best when used to build conversation. Engagement is the goal here. By definition, spraying info out without listening is spamming.

It begins with the PULL. I PULL info into my Twitter world by using global search on TweetDeck. I'm able to track conversations on a subject basis. I discover people who are talking about things I'm interested in. The next step for me is to strike up a conversation by commenting on a tweet or link. This type of action results in dynamic interaction. I've had some great conversations with people from around the world by listening first, then reaching out.

If all your doing is using Twitter to PUSH, you are missing the true revolution in micro-messaging- the conversation.

Please feel free to follow me on Twitter, if your tweets are discussions, I'll probably follow you back.

[ Related Post: Twitter Me Silly- Everything You Need to Know About Twitter ]

Photo Credit: Discovery Channel, Wild Birds Learn Foreign Languages

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Last night I had a chance to catch up on some of my favorite Podcasts. At the top of my "must listen" programs is the The Business from KCRW. Host Claude Brodesser-Akner is a veritable wealth of film knowledge and insight. If you want to know what's really going on with the biz, just tune into his show.

I've often wanted to share this program with my friends but outside of sending a link to the podcast, I didn't have the tools to evangelize- until now. KCRW has recently launched embeddable episodes of their top shows. I can only hope that NPR will adopt this approach on a wider basis.

Claude talks with The Godfather Producer, Al Ruddy about his quest to bring Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged to the big screen. Ruddy gives us a glimpse inside the mind of Rand (not easy to do!) Ruddy also reveals his own struggle with some in the Objectivist Movement.


[see post for audio]

I'm not sure we'll ever see this novel adapted (the right way) for film. The story of this journey is almost as intriguing as the book itself. I would buy a ticket to see the movie of Ruddy's Atlas Shrugged saga.

msw

For those of us who rely on social networks to feed us the latest news, tips and conversations even a little down-time can really shake up your normal routine. I depend on multiple layers of social-nets to keep me plugged into the happenings of the world. Today, I found myself at a loss, confused and a bit dazed. I realize how much I count on functioning info-tubes only when there's a brief interruption of the free-flowing data.

First, my trusted Feedly RSS Reader/ Magazine went down for awhile. Of course, I could just jump back into my gReader but I'm adjusted to the layout, features and connecting tools that Feedly provides me. Reverting back to gReader had me feeling a bit woozy- where am I? How do I get the latest news feeds to sort just the way I'm used to seeing them?

Next up on the wobble wagon was FriendFeed who experienced some down-time. The remarkably stable social aggregator didn't respond to my multiple requests for connection. What kind of a world is this?! Then TinyUrl stopped working, wakoopa wasn't updating my program usage, what next? I kept checking my net connection just to make sure I was still up and running. Within just a few moments, things started to return to normal, phweeh. I started to breath normally, pulse rate stabilizing. Endorphins still racing through my body, I realized that these little outages remind us of how reliable these new-fangled net tools are. The "uptime" of the aforementioned services are far greater than cable-tv, cellphones and even the California Power-Grid.

I have come to expect an "always-on-always-working" networld. This isn't my fault- it's the engineers, programmers and managers of these social-tools who have done such a great job with reliability, that I couldn't imagine my world without them. Maybe this was an orchestrated wake-up call by these services to remind us of how good they are at what they do.

I'm just glad things are returning to normal, or at least normal for this avid social-net user.

msw

On this weeks podcast of music and tech, Dr. Tony Shore of ObviousPop and I discuss the beta release of Songbird. As music sales continue to decline, the biz is looking for some Web 2.0 love.




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Bonus: Some free music from What Made Milwaukee Famous - Download their latest EP here

Mashable Presents 90 Essential Sites for Music and Audio

What a great week, filled with exciting new information. My mind is swirling and alive.

I can relate to "The Dude" - "You know, a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous. And uh, lotta strands to keep in my head, man. Lotta strands in old Duder's head."

Here's a rundown on the new information that has come to light-

- Change.Gov - I will be watching the ways technology is being used to improve our eGovernment. We are seeing a growing emphasis on research and development, green technologies and innovative solutions to our current dilemmas. I'm encouraged to see that we will have a Chief Technology Officer appointment soon.

- Debating A.I. - After watching an hour long discussion on the future of super-computing, I am convinced that we shouldn't try to make computers more like us. When we attempt to emulate true human interaction we end up with incomplete, faulty code. As argued by Jaron Lanier, we should be focused on clean code based on science rather than a "conscious" code. Lanier points to the horrible Clippy as an example of programmers "wasting half of their cycles on ideology" instead of solid engineering.

- Social Media, Connecting Smart Minds - Allen Stern of Center Networks captured an amazing street side speech by Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. Though his impassioned talk is riddled with expletives, Gary reminds us that conversation is the key to success. He encourages us to engage EVERYWHERE. Don't worry that the big co's aren't using the new communication tools, use that to your advantage.

- Web 2.0 Summit, Entrepreneurs on Parade - Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo! seemed a bit confused during his brutal interview at this weeks tech gathering. He states that the Y! is evolving into a platform company or an advertising tool or a starting point destination. Huh? I sure hope they pick one of those things and become truly excellent in that space. Kevin Rose of Digg echoes Vaynerchuck's admonition to actively ENGAGE in as many places as possible on the social net. If you run a company, be out front of your product. Be the champion, the one who is creating real-time conversation. View videos from the Web 2.0 Summit speakers including Jerry Yang, venture capitalist John Doerr and Lance Armstrong here.

My takeaway from all this input? Humans are amazing. We are seeing dynamic changes in the ways we connect. Each day brings new sparks to my brain, lighting up with potential. I'm glad you are here to share this journey. Let's keep the conversation flowing.

Follow me on Twitter here. Jump into the FriendFeed stream here. For regular updates, please consider subscribing to this blog here. Now go out there and be the little achievers you were meant to be!

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My expectations are high today. I awoke to a newly energized country, one filled with possibilities. The emphasis should now turn to the achievement of higher ideals. Tangible progress in the fields of science, education and intellectual gain must be our collective goals. Now is the time to reach out and inspire our fellow man with our "doings" rather than just our sayings.

Can we eradicate extreme global poverty within our lifetime? The answer is, of course, absolutely! Is it possible to put technology in the hands of every student so they might have access to more knowledge? We must! This must be the era where we raise the bar of expectations. We can not allow this moment to pass without really trying something new- something bold. I want us to elevate our hopes and dreams. Cure cancer, stop Global Warming, feed the hungry minds, it IS possible.

Big ideas are the fuel of human ingenuity. We have been blessed with the ability to invent the wheel, re-invent transportation- re-work communication tools- re-write the laws of physics- re-examine what is possible.

Paint with brighter colors, write songs with more notes, pursue the unknown. Bring forth solutions. Use this time wisely. In doing the impossible, you prove to the world that we were right for hoping that it CAN be done.

I'm interested in ideas like Dark-Matter because I want to know what holds this Universe together. I want to discover what the 80% of the missing known matter is. I want to surf around the Globe and meet my brothers and sisters who have a wealth of knowledge to teach me. I engage in new social networks to tap into the crowd of ideas.

My mind races with optimism today, perhaps we ARE the generation of realized potential.

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