An excellent summary of the current and future DSLR / Video capable cameras, plus a comments about the new micro 4/3's standard. - Jeff P. Henderson via Bookmarklet
If micro 4/3s ever hit the market, and if I can eke as much quality out of them as I can squeeze out of my D300, that'll be a game changer for me. - Cecily Walker
I think the D90 is just a tiny step in what we'll see in the future. There's no AF (for video), you can only record up to 5 minutes, etc... It's all just the beginning. Wondering if Nikon timed that release to be just a day after the 50D, which for me currently is more of a 40D MkII... But I'll wait for the images (especially at high ISO) until I judge it :) - Holger Eilhard
Holger, I wonder about the 5 minute limit. Was that set because CF cards can't sustain a video write-rate for a long period of time (given the varying speeds of CF cards), and Nikon has to buffer the video while writing it to the card? Perhaps there's a reason for the limit. And it's quite probable that Nikon and Canon are playing games with the timing of the press releases. Major competitors usually do that. - Raoul Pop
Didn't DEMO adjust their dates to match the TechCrunch50? - darnell
Darnell: I might be wrong, but DEMO was set to run first. Then TC50 picked the same dates. If I were running DEMO I would have done anything to have different dates than TC50. The head-to-head competition isn't going to turn out well for them. - Robert Scoble
that doesn't make much sense to me - DEMO is supposed to move its dates because TC50 couldn't find another time to run its conference? DEMO announced its dates long before TC. I think TC should have switched to a different date once they noticed this, but instead, everybody is stuck in Kindergarten and in the end the companies suffer because nobody can cover that many start-ups in that little time. I don't care about the conferences, but making the companies suffer because of this is stupid. - Frederic
Frederic: TC50 picked the same dates to attack DEMO. They are taking DEMO's best companies away from it because of this strategic decision to go head-to-head. If I were running DEMO I would have fought back and picked dates a week earlier. That would really have messed with TC50. TechCrunch is forcing entrepreneurs to pick and is winning based on the strength of its blog. It's not kindergarten. This is a direct attack on DEMO and TC50 is winning in the marketplace big time based on my conversations. - Robert Scoble
I dunno...sounds like Kindergarten to me as well. - Andru Edwards
Andru: I don't remember millions of dollars of business as well as control of the high tech PR industry happening in Kindergarten, but you might have attended a bit more high-level school than I did. ;-) - Robert Scoble
I just mean the whole, oh they picked these dates, so we should pick the same dates to attack them, that will get us some PR! And we can make the companies choose! I mean seriously, why try to tear each other down instead of build each other up? That's what I'm all about at least. ;) - Andru Edwards
BTW - Im sure both events will be fantastic. I just mean the behind-the-scenes garbage. - Andru Edwards
but TC seems to want dominance, and building up the competition doesn't provide that. it's not *nice*, certainly, but (correct me if i'm wrong, because i really don't know much about these things) i don't think business is a *nice* sport. - idnan
Andru: it's easy. By making companies choose you position yourself. TC50 is going to be the winner at this game. Idnan is right. Business is akin to war and you've gotta think like that or be squished. Anyone remember Bill Gates? Mona: I'll be at Gnomedex tomorrow evening. - Robert Scoble
Yeah, I'm at Gnomedex, Mona ;) Anyway, I get what you are saying Robert, but it seems so...so Valleywaggish. Business doesn't always have to be war. Like I said, you can tear each other down, or you can build each other up. There can be winners in both business models. Want an example of a businessman who I dont think tears others down? Look up a dude named Robert Scoble. - Andru Edwards
Andru: being nice has gotten me a long ways in life, but then I don't have the world's tech PR firms wrapped around my finger at the moment like Arrington does. He didn't get that by being nice. - Robert Scoble
Robert: do you think that a week would have made a difference? Startups would still have had to choose. I think that TC is doing a good job creating a startup-friendly environment (good coaching, no fee for the startups and inviting a lot of VCs). DEMO needs to do more than changing the date, they need to re-invent themselves. - Edwin Khodabakchian
Edwin: a week would have made a HUGE difference, yes. First of all, the press and VCs wouldn't have had to choose. Which would have made the entrepreneur's choices much more even. Second of all it would have doubled the PR available. Right now, how many companies are really going to get any oxygen on that week? I'd guess five. From both conferences. If they were a week apart that would have been double. - Robert Scoble
Robert: good points. you are right. It would have not solved all the demo problems but it would have gotten them a huge boost on the VC and PR side. Question: if you were DEMO, what else would you have done to get a couple of the better start-ups? - Edwin Khodabakchian
Edwin: had a bigger prize. Had a guarantee of funding, or a guarantee of PR (like Walt Mossberg saying he'll write a column about the winner). But DEMO messed up by not understanding the growing power of blogs and social media earlier. They should have gotten on that much earlier and joined in the conversation. Even now I don't see anyone from Demo really making a presence here or on Twitter or on Facebook. - Robert Scoble
That lack of visibility is why I go with TC50. Since my future is in this community I'm far more likely to support the one with the majority of visibility here. - Robert Scoble
TC50 seems to be a better event overall. It has the backing of better sponsors and the backing of the best startup blog there is. For these reason I don't think there is anything Demo can do to combat this affront by TC50 - Andrew Fielding
Makes sense. Hopefully someone at DEMO or someone who cares about DEMO is looking at the situation in a more nimble way (or they will when TechCrunch wins that first head to head). - Edwin Khodabakchian
Robert: you made a good point on situation and DEMO should've listen to you. If this conversation made available in your blog and also covered by tech media, you help TC by reducing the negative opinion echos of TC as Tyrant. :-) - Pico Seno
As I said, I don´t care which conference reigns supreme in the end - but for the sake of the companies presenting at these events, I think TC should just have picked a date a week or two later (or earlier) - at least most of us bloggers would have had a chance to somewhat keep up with all the new stuff. But why blame DEMO? It was TC that moved in on their date. - Frederic
I'm surprised at how many people commenting don't get that a) TC50 chose the date as a direct challenge, which they are winning, in order to achieve dominance in that arena, b) Robert is merely suggesting that DEMO could've foiled that easily by moving their dates but instead are losing b/c they took a 'we don't have to move we were scheduled first' attitude, c) this is business, not socialistic benevolence - TC didn't get where they are by being the guys who made everyone else feel okay about themselves... - Lucretia Pruitt
Look - you *can* get ahead by being nice. Scoble has a definite conflict of interests here in his commentary (as do I, and it'll reflect in my next sentence)... you know who else got ahead by being nice and not going to war with everyone? Pete Cashmore. We're not number one in everything, but I know a lot of folks in our business that might switch places with us if they had the chance. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
I thought Cashmore just went to parties? - Leather Donut
Competition makes everybody stronger...but it reminds me of high school, when the insecure people would attack other people so they would feel better about themselves...not too be touchy feely, but wouldn't TC have done better for everybody by just being themselves and giving Demo the space to be successful...it is strangely insulting and short term. It should be about creating an environment by which the industry (whatever that is) grows together. - Jamie Ginsberg
Mark Hopkins: generally i think Pete is a super-nice guy too, and i have other friends who blog at Mashable... HOWever, there are several bloggers out there (not just Arrington) who think Mashable re-hashes other posts w/o linking or attribution... some might call that war. your take? - dave mcclure
I take it then, from this little tidbit thatn the Seagate logo on Scobleizer will soon be changed to a TechCrunch one? Let's all be honest here... the majority of the companies that come out of any launch even (yes, even DEMO) will have about the same effect as launching the Titanic. Only because TC scheduled on top of DEMO, all the companies will get even less attention. The dumbest thing any start-up can do is launch in this mess this fall. - Cyndy
Cyndy: it might be dumb to me and you but several really great new companies are coming out at TC50 and several pretty good new companies are coming out at Demo that I've seen. Agree with you, though, if your goals are PR it's going to be hard to break through at either of these shows. - Robert Scoble
And I'm not paid by TC50 nor do I have any financial consideration for talking about them or being on their panel. Seagate sponsors me and I appreciate that very much because it lets me do a range of things outside of Silicon Valley (we're heading to Seattle tonight and Berlin tomorrow). - Robert Scoble
@dave: my 'take' is we always attribute. it's our editorial policy (and I should know, as an editor). any time we don't link or attribute to another blog means we received the tip or story from our editorial inbox. that's been the policy since long before I came on board. some may disagree with the methods we used in the past on *how* we attribute, and that method was updated many months ago (we ridded ourselves of the [via] link in favor of in-line linking). - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
Cyndy: I think that's well off. There's so many investors and influential individuals at these events that getting a few of them on board or interested is worth their time. A few will get the PR boost too, but that's not always the goal...This week isn't a mess. Hell, the competition is going to shine a bigger spotlight on both conferences, especially TC50, since it will win. - Ben Parr
@leather: before pete was a rock-star, he was a blogger. :-) - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
@robert: I understand you're not paid by TC, but you're on the judging panel, chosen by Mike, presumably. That doesn't make you particularly impartial in the TC50 v Demo debate. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
scoble - not sure how you can declare TC the winner when neither conference has announced companies yet, much less occurred.. Seems to me the best way to pick a "winner" is to wait for the conferences to actually take place. Attendees and press at both events can make their own determinations - Carla Thompson via fftogo
Robert your reasoning makes my head hurt. TC50 picked the same dates "to attack DEMO," so DEMO should have changed their dates? If DEMO had moved their dates up to avoid a conflict, isn't TC50's next logical move to change their dates again to force a conflict? I understand it's business, but there *is* a difference between a fair fight and attempted murder, between healthy competition and global thermonuclear war, between being tough and being a complete asshole. If TC50 is as wonderful as you say it is, surely a few days difference doesn't determine whether it lives or dies. - Karim
How can you expect someone with a limited intellect like Scoble to put together a rational argument? - Leather Donut
"Early stage venture firm Y Combinator, which has funded over a 102 young startups, has “open sourced” the legal documents that they provide to their startups to use as they seek additional funding. The documents were created with their law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati" - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet
Paul Graham is doing a terrific job. FEw days ago, for thr first time, they published a document showing what kind of startup ideas they particularly look for, and now this!!! Cool. - Hayk Hakobyan
" to not forget why you started blogging in the first place" Excellent advice. It is easy to forget this at times. Thanks Louis. - Michael Pardee
very well said Louis - if you have nothing to write about because you didn't have a great idea or because nothing interesting happened, then just don't write. The hardest thing about being a paid blogger is having to come up with interesting things to write about every day (but my threshold for amusement is pretty low, so that typically isn't a problem :) - Frederic
Well written...I was wondering when you were going to write something on this :) - Justin Korn
@Justin, one part of relaxing is knowing you don't have to write about every meme either. I was going to let this one go, but decided to pile on this evening. - Louis Gray
blogging is like golf - its a challenge and reward for the individual. you don't play or write to keep up or pass others, it really is a very personal experience. trying to do it as a competition is the best way to lose your way, lose your passion, lose your audience... - Morgan
I have kept a schedule (not on purpose) for the most part, but haven't posted in a while. I was starting to get that anxious feeling, like when I miss a workout. I realize that I don't expect something new every day from my favorite blogs. I like the quality, not the quantity.
This is just what I needed to see today, Louis. Thanks. :) - Rahsheen(isSoAwesome)
Somehow this feeling to meet the quota is a built-in feature of blogs. Think of the calendar that highlights and links the days where you have posted an entry, think of the reverse chronological order of blogs - if you're pausing, the topmost content will start to age -, think of all those measurement systems that we use. All those things make it hard to persuade oneself that nobody's keeping score. - Benedikt Koehler
From what I can see inside every blogger is a gamer yearning to be free. And everybody keeps score :D - Earl E Morningwood
True say Louis. I haven't posted in probably a week, for various reasons, but I'm not fretting over it. - Shey
I'm at the moment posting photos to break the silence between rants. Which is the point of a blog, no? Wish I could get my hands on the FF widget Sconle has on his blog. It would bring FF and my blogging closer together. - Roberto Bonini
All very good reasons. I can't live without my Freemind maps. Whether its planning code or even just problem solving. Its a lot more intuitive than trying to use Planner (or MS Project) to plan something, and can then be easily translated across to Project software if you need it to. Its especially good for defining your own workflow and strategies as well. - Stephen Cropp
I've been trying out mind maps every now and then but still haven't been convinced. What exactly is it about mind maps that make you more productive or efficient? - Benedikt Koehler
I've started to doodle mind maps instead of notes for meetings and it certainly makes more sense to me when I return to the notes - Andy Britcliffe via twhirl
What are the best programs to Mind map? - Toby Graham
I use FreeMind. Open source and multiplatform. - The Doctor via twhirl
They need to get smarter first. MindMeister gets close with the nodes you can click on to search for pages related to the node. I want to create a mindmap and have it suck in my bookmarks related to each node on the map via tags. That way I can just build the map, have the research I have done before come to me and then move on from there. - Stephan Miller via twhirl
Anyone remember "The Brain"? So much promise - but it didn't quite work. Mindjet is a really good but doesn't integrate well enough into my todo / project managment solution. - Soulhuntre
Mindmapping is a useful construct. We used it with the major scenarios of our last software release and -- with MMPro and a TFS Plugin -- exported them directly into Microsoft Team System. Cool. - Robert W. Anderson via twhirl
it is still not as good as the mind itself, only an approximation - Gregory Lent
Any good web-based Mind Mapping solutions? Ultimately I'd like an Evernote for Mind Mapping which would run everywhere. - Al Degutis via twhirl
I would lose my mind without mindjet mindmanager - adolfo foronda
As I mentioned early --I'm a mindmapper junkie...and doing it collaboratively via mindmeister in real time has been great with clients. - Leif Hansen
Al: www.mindmeister.com :) (multiple user updating real time, one touch Skype, jottable notes via 1. “My Geistesblitzes” = widget (Windows and Mac compatible) 2. SMS (Twitter) or 3. e-mail plus moticons, smilies, and tons of visuals galore. Once complied, the map can be exported and shared in various ways; which for a free service is phenomenal, plus the data can be exported in multiple ways.. I blogged about it here -> http://bit.ly/1EdpIG) - Mona N.
"The Franklin Park Conservatory is ready to shed light -- times 7,000 -- on its landmark greenhouse.
During a public gathering Friday, artist James Turrell will give an old building a new perspective with a permanent installation that will keep the Palm House glowing colorfully from dusk to dawn daily.
"We're revealing the extra personality of the building at night," Turrell said recently during a break from programming the computer-controlled display.
In effect, he said, the Victorian-era glass building on E. Broad Street will assume a new persona after the sun sets." - RAPatton via Bookmarklet
My sister was married there, sans lightshow - RAPatton
When we were in New York in December we stayed at the New York Athletic Club on Central Park South. We spent a lot of time up on the roof. It was super cold with snow on it but had great views overlooking Central Park. http://www.flickr.com/photos/t... - Mrsth
I like the wide open spaces too. Even if I worked in NY I would probably live in jersey (gulp). For this kind of money, imagine the deck/patio you could have! - Alex
lol @ nyc being a "shit hole." right. real astute comment there, guy - Cee Bee
enjoyed the piece greatly ... accessibility & trust are where the margin resides ... value add will correspond to accountable bandwidth use ... bandwidth as currency ... - Scott Moskowitz
after long couple of days being in this kind of company made me feel really good, thanks Hao :-) - Dobromir Hadzhiev
Kind of late to the party here (it's been a busy week) but just caught up with your post, Hao. Thanks for including me on the list! The appreciation is mutual. :) - Lindsay Donaghe
Just saw this - thanks for including me - and the feeling is definitely mutual! - Steve Isaacs
I just saw this too. Thanks Hao! Made me smile. - Yolanda
Hao, I feel truly honored to be in this group. It made me smile, too. - Harvey Simmons
Good list! Someday people might like me too. :-) - JMS
great list .. even though Im not on it ... - fotographic
This is an amazing list- a guide to some great feeds! And a pantheon to which I aspire! - Abby Martin
Glad to be of service. The list could use an update. I've subscribed to many new awesome people, and I know I missed some friends, too. Just so many cool people here... - Hao Chen
Can you share what it did? Maybe I can incorporate something like it in SocialToo if it makes sense. - Jesse Stay
It would automatically grab my latest post, put "New Blog Post:" the title and the URL (TinyURL). You can see several examples in my Twitter stream. It's also used by Michael Arrington at http://www.twitter.com/techcru.... - Louis Gray
I was using Twitterfeed, too. I'm told Alex King's Twitter Tools kills autocomplete on the tags window, but I've used it before and thought it was quite solid. I'm about to test it on WP 2.5 and 2.6. Twitter Updater is not working for me on 2.5, though I've not gone troubleshooting. Here are some others: http://tinyurl.com/10twit - Chris Baskind
That's a great feature to add to SocialToo - I'll start looking into it. - Jesse Stay via twhirl
Louis, I tried out Alex King's Twitter Tools last night. Worked well on WP 2.5. You might want to adjust the Tweet prefix by editing line 75 of twitter-tools.php. I'm going to deploy this one on three sites and drop Twitterfeed. - Chris Baskind via NoiseRiver
For those that have asked for invites recently - Mark Krynsky
Is Mesh any good? Does it live up to the hype? - Sally Church
live mesh is like the crap version of dropbox - Tyler Gillies
It's a crap version of a great product Microsoft already owns, FolderShare. Granted they're trying to build a platform for networked apps around it, but so far it's a far cry from anything useful. - Evan Sims
I switched to this from FolderShare. With files stored on the server, it doesn't require synced computers to be on at the same time. I would probably go back to FolderShare if they implemented this. - Ryan Snook
"Geophysicist Phil Chapman, the first Australian to become an astronaut with NASA, said pictures from the US Solar and Heliospheric Observatory also show that there are currently no spots on the sun. He also noted that the world cooled quickly between January last year and January this year, by about 0.7C.
"This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record, and it puts us back to where we were in 1930," Dr Chapman noted in The Australian today." - RAPatton
Thanks for sharing, this was totally new information to myself. - Daniel Schildt
Phil Plait from BadAstronomy.com talks about sunspots, climate change, and the fallacious link between the two: http://www.badastronomy.com/ba... Changes in sunspots would only contribute to a 0.2 degree temperature change. - Mark Trapp
“Tomorrow a Microsoft team is meeting to start planning Office 15. Keep in mind that Office 14 hasn't shipped yet and probably won't for another year.”
and i haven't even tinkered with v13 yet - DAVE ID
somehow , I don't feel as excited about Microsoft releases as I did a year ago - Sanat Gersappa
they probably will pat themselves on the back for being visionary and forward thinking for initiating the meetings now.. - sedgewick
I tell you folks? Use a text editor (vim), and LaTeX, use awk and sed :) - directeur
Prescription for FAIL. Why would they start on a newer version that follows one that hasn't been tested out with the general public. - Tsega Dinka
They better answer three attacks on their business: 1. Free/cheap office clones and/or new services supported by advertising. 2.Mobile. 3. Collaborative services like Adobe'sBuzzword. - Robert Scoble
How many Offices do we need? I am still using Office 2000! KISS - Igor The Troll
Sounds very old-school when considering Google Docs - Joakim Hilj
There isn't a v13. Microsoft is apparently jumping from v12 (Office 2007) to v14. Some kind of superstition? - Michel Bechelani
yeah. Microsoft is superstitious. Most American elevators don't stop at 13th floor either. - Robert Scoble
I mean c'on is part of every big product life cycle. u guys cannot expect for them to have 14 done before starting 15... with the amount of work ahead they have to make it to all that scoble list... no wonder they are starting this early. - Gilbert Corrales
funny part though is that microsoft will be playing catch after been the one at front in some fronts for office productivity and collaboration ;) - Gilbert Corrales
I'll ask an obvious, and often asked question, but I'll ask it: Why BUY MS Office when one can use Openoffice for free? - directeur
Directeur. 1.) most people have never heard of Openoffice, 2.) 99% of enterprises will not deploy it (which contributes back to most people having never heard of it). - Robert Seidman
you want to design your next product based on lessons from customer experiences with the previous release. Harder when the previous product has only hit the UE labs, not RTM. I wonder what features and design concerns made it into 14, and which ones are left over for 15. And where they think the market will be in 2010-2012. What will Google Docs/Office, Apple's web office, and MS Live Office look like in 2 years, 4 years? - Phil Wolff via Alert Thingy
Robert: You're right, but I mean people who have influence should advocate alternate opensource solutions too... at least if they're not affiliated with MS - directeur
Are they feeling the dent of Google Docs, though? Is anybody? - l0ckergn0me
Chris, how often does someone send you a google docs link as an e-mail attachment? I've never gotten one. - Robert Seidman
@Robert Seidman I use it when I need my recipients to collaborate back, if not I just attach a file... but again here is where I see a big change comming along the lines. getting people to collaborate. -
