nicefishfilms

I am, by default, a loyalist. My friends have been with me on this journey through the best and not so bright times. Even those who occasionally fall out have a place around my campfire anytime they wish. When I began blogging back before the iPod, BluRay, Facebook and WordPress I decided on using NucleusCMS. We've had some fun times together but it is time to make the move on over to WP. I love watching code grow and blossom, fork off into unexpected directions to be applied in ways we couldn't have imagined. This is innovation, this is the promise of open source.

This blog space will remain intact, but the new home is simply nicefishfilms.com We've made our main site fully iPhone and Android compatible, installed some robust plugins for our films and photo's. Hope you enjoy the clean layout. I'll be moving the RSS feeds over to the main site so if you've already subscribed, worry not, we'll keep feeding.

If you've landed here for the first time, please make a note that all new posts and developments will be at nicefishfilms.com I'll be porting some of the past posts from the last few years as they serve as a pretty neat trail guide of our journey so far.

Thank you for reading, subscribing and being so supportive over the years, here's to a new souped up ride!

msw

Watch live video from The Cube LIVE from Austin on Justin.tv

follow us on Twitter for updates and visit the pitchengine page for details.

Thanks to TexasCoworking, NewTek Powered, Justin.tv

Marc Ostrick and I are going to CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow. CES is miles of companies showcasing anything and everything for our wired experience. From TV's to in-car electronics, one can get lost in all of the options but we have to stay focused. We are filming with Robert Scoble with the specific task of building his live streaming studio. We've done our research, looking for the cutting edge gear that will give us the look and speed we require. Our shopping list continues to shift with each new press release announcing the unveiling of new gear at CES. A moving target rich with possibilities. This is the year of streaming video and we need to select the gear that will grow with us.

We're attempting to build out this studio within a budget frame work that is within reach of podcasters. The switch from audio to quality video streaming can be tricky especially when considering the migration to viewing web content via TV. The top live independent studio is of course, TWiTtv but for most of us, that level of investment is not feasible. Beyond a simple 'studio-in-a-box' concept, we're looking for gear that builds outward and is scalable.

We're examining our camera options with a mix of pro-sumer and HD webcams and those options are expanding rapidly. Of particular note is Sykpe's announcement of HD streaming. The tight integration of Skype with TV monitoring might have an impact on our broadcasts almost immediately.

Beyond our camera needs, we are selecting mics, switches, cables, mounts and software for the studio. In the past, CES seemed to be a glimpse towards the gear of the next year, but we're looking for the tech that is going to power us now. The process of selecting the gear and set-up will be filmed and streamed so we can go through this experience together. We're starting with an empty space and filling it with the ideas and tech from the miles of options at CES. We look forward to sharing this journey with you.

msw

It's now 20-10, time to get serious about progress. Time to see some real results in the effort to once and for all end extreme poverty for all mankind. I've spent years working with and monitoring some incredible NGO's and feel a great momentum in the right direction. The idea of Social Innovation, once foreign to most, is becoming a standard practice within my network of professional colleagues and friends. Every week we're reading of successes within ORG's that didn't even exist a few years ago. Did you see that Charity Water grew over 40% in a tough economy and raised more than $8.5 million for water projects and operations? How about The Millennium Development Goals Report from the UN that those living in extreme poverty dropped by a quarter from 1990 - 2005? Chances are, you're not aware of the progress being made in the fight for a better life around the globe. We are far from done but within striking distance. That's why I'm proposing a different way of looking at extreme problems facing Mankind. Perhaps it's time to adopt a new way of digesting the data, creating a score card and seeing this fight as a battle between two teams. Team 1 is Team mKind — all of us. The opposition is the forces that if left unchecked will run us out of existence.

We seem to comprehend sport scores pretty well. We understand that when it's Third with 5 yards to go you adjust the play. I think it's time that we put up the score, the push towards the goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015. In searching for this comprehensive data, I've come up short. Are we afraid if we showed the progress this will cause us to decrease the sense of urgency? I'd like to think that if we put this in a different perspective we can cause those on the sidelines to join a winning team. If you knew that your efforts, time and money wasn't getting lost in a losing cause you'd keep the pressure on, right? What if we stopped thinking of this as a part-time initiative and made it the way we live?

A whole new generation is coming up through the ranks thinking about, acting and innovating the ways we approach the issue of extreme poverty. It's time to visualize the goal. This is where I need your help. Do you receive updates from your causes? I'd like to put as much information into a data base and link them to scoreboard for all to see. Are you aware of any global info tracking services that contain data sets like the one I'm talking about? Please send me the links.

I'm committing to reaching out at least once a month to the large network of blogs, media and producers to highlight progress we're making. I want us to put the data up for all to see— we can, we must win this (and we're getting closer.)



Today we have more tech, more funding, more concentrated actions by a widening group of really big-thinkers fighting this good fight. Let's see where we are, let's push this to the goal line. Far from a rah rah chant, I want to see us move down the field and share the playbook. Time to measure where we're at this time.

So I'm calling out to all the smart nodes— feed me data when you come across it. Push for progress reports and help us visualize it better.

msw

Do you want the future to be controlled by the fine folks at the cable company? How about losing your rights to info to the Gov't? The following video gives a good overview of what's at stake. The big co's have a commercial interest in preventing us from accessing the net / content in the open. We can make a difference - but only if we care about the free flow of information.



Filed Under: Couldn't be more important.

msw

more: Save The Internet

Wikipedia defines Augmented Reality as; a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time. The term is believed to have been coined in 1990 by Thomas Caudell, an employee of Boeing at the time. A.R. for me, is an extension of the creative process - going beyond the limitations of the here and now. It's the imagination on display.

The artist, programmer, conceptual-ist, Julian Oliver started to experiment with A.R. in 2007 using a tiny plastic box as an interface for his spatial memory game levelHead. Oliver has recently released an updated video demo of the program -



Julian makes it all seem so simple- "I used OpenSceneGraph for the rendering/scenegraph, ARToolKitPlus for the tracking, Blender for the art and wrote around 3000 lines of C++ code providing (very) basic physics, user notifications, a trigger system, tilt interaction, assets and event management."


msw

Robert Scoble moderates this excellent panel on the changing 'pace' of news gathering and distribution in a Social Media World.



Ann Curry (@AnnCurry) - News Anchor on NBC's Today Show and host of Dateline NBC Rick Sanchez (@ricksanchezcnn) - Host of the 3PM weekday edition of CNN Newsroom Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) Ryan Osborn (@todayshow) - Producer, NBC Today Show

The event held last week in New York was organized by Jeff Pulver.

Prt. 2:



msw

- Special Note - Scoble will be the special guest tonight on Peter Himmelman's Furious World tonight at 7pm PDT - watch live

Along our curious path we have the occasion to converse with some really BIG thinkers. Thinking Out Loud is the raw stream from some of these encounters.

On this SPECIAL edition: Part Two of our ongoing coverage of the rising in Iran. Technology is empowering the global voices striving for change. We're joined by Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins and Kyle Brady to discuss tech's impact on this emerging and developing situation.

Rizzn has an excellent piece on The Inquisitr "The Diminishing Role of Government in the Social Media Age."

You can track the Iran Elections on Twazzup.










msw

Along our curious path we have the occasion to converse with some really BIG thinkers. Thinking Out Loud is the raw stream from some of these encounters.

On this SPECIAL edition: The trending issue today on Twitter is #CNN Fails. We're joined by Robert Scoble of Building43, Cyril Mutran co-founder of Twazzup and Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins to discuss the rise of real-time news. The lack of coverage by the US News Networks regarding the Iranian election and fall-out was just stunning and showed the complete failure of old media to cover breaking events like the real-time web.

You can track the Iran Elections on Twazzup or wait a lifetime for tv news networks to catch up.







More resources: Huffington Post Live Blog, "Real-Time Criticism Over CNN Coverage" - NYT,

Twitter Streams Break Iran News Dam

Rizzn has a report that their seems to be an attempt to censor YouTube videos as well - read here

Monday UPDATE: We sent a Twitter message to @ricksanchezcnn and he responded on the air that they did the best they could but news is now a 'collective pursuit.' Rick seems to understand the uproar but I wonder if he realizes that CNN had a real opportunity to mine the 'collective' voices demanding news as it was breaking. To his credit, Sanchez covered the story fully, even showing the grim images coming out of Iran. He even focused on the importance of the SocialNet in getting the story out.




msw

My heart grieves today. The act of hate today at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in DC... [story]

Most days i try to diminish the twisted evil voices spreading terrorism of ignorance and hate. As writers we strive to bring works that provide an antidote to destruction. As artists we try to paint stories that give voice to the ones who others try to silence. As technologists we develop the code that is to bring us closer to one another.

It is hard for me to find the understanding that a man could spend a life filled with hate. He wrote in the open of his belief that his race was supreme. How do we find a way to love through hate? How do we bring light to those who dwell in darkness? WE stand together, say enough- act as a unit of love or we sink.

Tonight the U.S. Holocaust Museum was to hold the premier of Anne and Emmet written by Janet Langhart Cohen. The play is an imagined conversation between two teenagers who were cut down by hate - Anne Frank and Emmett Till. The Cohens were there at the time of the shooting, they interacted with Stephen Tyrone Johns, the security guard killed today. They spoke in depth of their feelings about what happened with Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Mrs. Langhart Cohen said something that i will never forget - "Years from now there will be those who say that this shooting never happened." She spoke of those who deny the tragic realities of the violence of hate.

What are we to do?

We are to Love. Love when it doesn't seem to matter. It always matters. We write, we sing, we gather and find what makes us human - each other.

We are to write and expose darkness. We are to remember those who suffer when we ignore their cry for help.

We are to educate our young ones that the result of hate is death.

Years ago we did a song that spoke of the great loss of Medgar Evans. The song is called 'The Longest Day in Mrs. Evans' Life' It took 30 years to bring the person who cut him down to justice.






I encourage you to listen to a first hand account of hate from Peter Himmelman - Untitled

We are the change we want to be.

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it- always." Gandhi

"We must remain vigilant against all forms of prejudice" President Obama


msw