Tech & Misc Ramblings…

1. Youtube has become the defacto innovation killer in the video space. Unfortunately for the industry, if Youtube doesn’t adopt it, it doesn’t exist. Its MicroSoft Windows circa late 80’s, early 90’s all over again.

2. I just booted Firefox to the curb on my PC and replaced it with Chrome (Yes I see the irony of killing Youtube above and pushing Google Chrome). I got tired of Firefox slowing my computer to a crawl or freezing it completely. Chrome is fast. Of course its far from perfect. If it doesnt get support for RSS feeds very, VERY quickly I may be forced to reconsider IE and its new version 

3.  For all its faults, I am still hooked on my Sidekick. Nothing beats the keyboard. I have tried every other mobile out there and I can still type at least 2x as fast with far fewer mistakes on my trusty Sidekick

4. If the fact that the internet is not ever discussed as being integral, or even part of the solution to our current economic woes isn’t proof that it has become nothing more than a valuable utility, I don’t know what is.

5. NBA Live 09 is becoming a management tool in the NBA.  

6. I bought and tried a Kindle, it didn’t work the way I do. Gave it to my wife and she loves it.

7. Its sad, but every major tech magazine that I grew up on is gone PC Week, Byte and now PC Mag among many, many others. It used to be fun to go to the bookstore to see if there were any new magazines. At last week’s CES the magazine racks were empty. Nothing besides the daily. Big time Bummer.

8. I’ve increased the number of magazine and newspaper subscriptions I get. Its a matter of principle. I want to see them survive.  Should I go Nascar and get a jacket with the logos of their advertisers ?  On the topic of newspapers. Once they all declare chapter 11, they can get their cost structures in place to support far lower readership levels. At that point, probably less than 5 years and working from a low revenue base, we will be  talking  about the renaisance of the newspaper business. It wont ever reach pre internet levels, but it will be considered a “new growth business”.  

9.  If you havent tried our Icerocket Big Buzz feature, do it. Its a one page chronological summary of everything thats being said about anything.  Its addictive and the RSS feed works (except in my Chrome of course) .

Here are some samples Techmeme, Steelers, Youtube, Erin Burnett,

 
   
HDNET - Icerocket Buzz Search
Big Buzz 1 – 50 of 1,000 results for HDNET
RSS Results RSS
Auto refresh
off
1 minute
3 minutes
5 minutes
Blogs
4 h Affliction’s Jay Hieron vs. Jason High fight to air on Friday’s “Inside MMA” ·  installment of “Inside MMA” on HDNet. The fight was originally slated 
4 h Affliction’s Jay Hieron vs. Jason High fight to air on Friday’s … ·  in its entirety on Friday’s new installment of “Inside MMA” on HDNet. br 
4 h HDNet to Broadcast 2009 College Basketball Invitational · Sixteen NCAA teams to compete LIVE on HDNet HDNet and The Gazelle 
10 h BS With Honor #34 (Part 1) ·  and fortunately, Brian remembers that we should talk about the HDNet deal. 
11 h Free NWA TV ·  just signed a TV deal with HDNet. Yay for an indie getting a TV deal. Boo 
13 h HDNet.Fights.Sudden.Impact.HDTV.XviD-KYR ·  HDNet Fights: Sudden Impact genre: MMA rel. date: 01/27/09 format 
15 h La 1º fecha de TH publica para el 2009! · HDnet: Tokio Hotel live from Hollywood (The Avalon) – full concert 
15 h More On ROH’s TV Deal, D-Lo In ROH, ECW Arena · Details on Ring of Honor’s new television show on HDNet .. Plus – D 
15 h Major Backstage Update On ROH’s New TV Deal Inside, More ·  with cable network HDNet to air a new weekly 1-hour show. Ring of Honor’s 
15 h Get to Know Chad Corvin of the XFC · ] right now,” said Prisco, whose XFC promotion airs nationwide on HDNet 
Twitter

6 m mattrix633@lil_lana it was HDNET. I haven’t seen it on since. I don’t think their touring though:( · Reply View

7 h vinod_c: Watched Davos coverage- Wen and Putin’s Keynotes. Saw for first time Glengarry Glen Ross on HDNET. What movie! Alec Balwdwin’s 10 minutes! · Reply View

9 h candicemarie24: Watching Third Eye Blind concert on Hdnet channel. Matt DVRed it hehe good music! · Reply View

10 h curtis_mattHdnet– high def concerts remind me of our church, how cool is that! Rockin to matchbox 20! · Reply View

11 h afarnham@michellegreer there is also the fact that he is heavily invested in the HDNET television network. His interests lay in tv survival · Reply View

11 h storageio@storageio On HDNet, Glenn Gary Glenn Ross – ABC, Coffee is for closers… · Reply View

11 h timelliott: Watching the big lebowski on hdnet… What a great movie… Jeff was robbed of an oscar here… · Reply View

12 h AGKnowles: Lebowski on hdnet movies is a tremendous find. · Reply View

12 h shivvy: is watching “The Big Lebowski” for the millionth time on HDNet Movies. “He thinks the carpet pissers did this?” · Reply View

12 h Pillionaire: @HDNet love dan rather reports, watch it whenever I see it on · Reply View

FriendFeed

4 h Sport news · Armata UltraHDNet to Broadcast 2009 College Basketball Invitational · View

7 h davos – Twit · Robert Scoble: Watched Davos coverage- Wen and Putin’s Keynotes. Saw for first time Glengarry Glen Ross on HDNET. What … · View

22 h Wired@Home.com / Published … · David WardHDNet Fights signs up with Ring of Honor wrestling · View

22 h Engadget HD · BwanaHDNet Fights signs up with Ring of Honor wrestling · View

1 d MMAjunkie.com Articles · PeterHDNet Fights Video Vault: Jordan Radev vs. Rafael Rodriguez at M-1 · View

2 d Bloody Elbow · (jeff)isageek: Florida’s XFC Signs Broadcast Deal with HDNet · View

2 d mma – Google News · Art Peterson: XFC announces multi-year television deal with HDNet – ifight365.com · View

2 d EcuaLucha · Mauro: Ring of Honor y HDNet firman contrato · View

2 d MMAjunkie.com Articles · Peter: Xtreme Fighting Championships inks multi-year broadcast deal with HDNet · View

3 d Facebook · JT: Justin Watching OAR on HDNet. I like their show. Plus they don’t wear girl pants. That got to count for … · View

Video
         
News

1 h International play impacts MLS schedule · A league spokesman said discussions are ongoing for telecasts on HDNet, which has broadcast games the …

3 h Soccer | Crew: Schmid’s return to town won’t come until October · Former broadcast partner HDNet might also pick up MLS games this season….

4 h Affliction’s Jay Hieron vs. Jason High fight to air on Friday’s  · 24 event’s HDNet-televised preliminary card. However, …

8 h MLS Unveils 2009 Regular Season Schedule · MLS is in discussions with HDNet to continue broadcasting games on the first all-high definition …

9 h HDNet To Carry College Basketball Tourney · by David Goetzl, 6 hours ago HDNet has reached a deal to air a third college basketball …

10 h Studios Acquire Titles at Sundance · Magnolia previously has participated in the “superrelease” phenomenon whereby films are released theatrically, online …

10 h The HDNet Concert Series Checks Into ‘Tokio Hotel’ · WHAT: The HDNet Concert series presents “Tokio Hotel Live from Avalon …

11 h The Hamilton Ave Journal 01.29.09: Volume 2 – Issue 71 · Meanwhile, ROH officially signed a deal HDNet. Although HDNet is not …

12 h Bud Withers One more college basketball tournament? Why not? · The CBI announced a TV deal with HD Net to do 11 of its games, while the CollegeInsider….

17 h Steven Soderbergh, film revolutionary ·  Experience,” we’re going to do a window of on-demand with a slightly different version before it opens …

Images
Tara Parker Pope, Health Reporter, Blogger, The New York Times Dan Rather, Managing Editor, News Anchor, Dan Rather Reports Andrew Ross Sorkin, Assistant Business Finance Editor, The New York Times Saul Hansell, Blog and Technology Editor, The New York Times The Ultimate Trailer Show GFX Package Cat and Bird as Friends Me and Ken Shamrock Cyrillo Padhillo vs. Jesse Jones Bryan Caraway vs. Alvin Cacdac Cyrillo Padhillo

54 thoughts on “Tech & Misc Ramblings…

  1. Mark – might want to give Slimbrowser a shot (in response to your browser woes).

    Comment by Brian -

  2. Personally, I think youtube is going down the tubes like myspace did. Everyone got on board and the quality of the site slowly diminished.

    Comment by Position Clicks -

  3. Good Day Mark! I’m with a Marketing Research company located in Frisco, Texas and noticed in the Dalas Morning News that you had some interest in discussing Acquisition Research with a full-service Marketing company. I would like the opportunity to set-up an In-Person meeting with you with my boss Ed Trachier, OnTarget Parners, Co-Founder and CEO in the next two week. You can reach me at 214-244-9100. Thanks in advance and look forward to hearing back from you.

    PS My son Jason Gentry knows you and has enjoyed sitting near you at the games. Haa

    Rehards,
    James Gentry
    Marerick Fan

    Comment by James Gentry -

  4. Did you leave your Mac? FF doesn’t make either of my Mac’s even break a sweat, and you always have the Safari option. I can’t imagine anyone who gives a damn about the Internet going back to IE.

    Comment by Joe -

  5. Hey Mark, in your NBA Live dynasty who’s on the Mavs?

    Comment by Jay -

  6. RE: 2

    firefox slowdown could just be a flash issue (as it was for me):

    “Flashblock” addon should help:
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433

    While youre at it check out the scary powerful “ad-block plus”:
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

    good luck

    Comment by mike -

  7. Mark, have you considered the Opera browser? It has plenty of support and I find it much faster than others.

    Comment by عالم عجيب -

  8. I wouldn’t agree about YouTube. I work really tightly in that category and that’s not what I’m seeing at all. What’s killing the innovation is the same thing that’s also creating #4 on this list.

    @Kris, no offense but when I hear somebody say that, it reminds me of how unfamiliar people are about what the web is and what it is here to do. Print media isn’t going to die so much as it’s going to change. The industry is badly struggling with adapting and adopting to the IP platform – it doesn’t have to be this way. We should want to help it, because we’re talking about jobs and a huge part of the market that will cause pain for everybody if it did go away. Don’t see it as “print” or “online” but as information – media – and understand that its distribution channel is shifting. That’s it. It will be a very long time before any blog can become what Conde Nast is in the market. In my opinion, we need to help that industry better adapt.

    The paddleboat was replaced with the steam engine but one factor stayed the same: it was still a boat. Just my .2

    Comment by patricia -

  9. I am feeling the same way on Firefox as well. I like chrome a lot and it does run much faster but it causes problems with some hardware (scrolling on some mice) and others you mentioned. I too find myself drawn back to IE time and time again. The full screen is sexier, pages seem to load faster and the only thing I ever thought it lacked to Firefox was tabs which they implemented not too long ago.
    I just wish Microsoft was more aggressive in the web services space. Maybe they will make pull something out of their ass soon.

    Comment by Capitalist Cookbook -

  10. NBA Live (and the other EA sports games) are interesting as management and scouting toold. The NBA Live game itself is actually quite poor. NBA 2K9 is a much better gaming experience, but as far as using it as a management tool, I wonder how long until GMs around the league have an XBox in their office for ummm….scouting purposes. 🙂

    Comment by Scott -

  11. Hey Mark would like to offer up my fav computer mag, (although I surprised you don’t already read it). http://www.maximumpc.com/ Was Boot Magazine in the ‘90s, they post most articles on line now also.

    Comment by Odaecom -

  12. regarding nba live 09 as a management tool, they added this feature called “Dynamic DNA”. It basically makes use of statistics like how often a player would drive left/right and shoot from which spots. These stats are used to break down ho wa player scores. These stats are also updated after each game i believe. youtube that feature you will see how you can have say… with these 5 spurs players on court in a defensive set, and with dirk holding the ball at the top of the key, how likely will he be able to score and how?

    Comment by nao921 -

  13. At a quick glance Ice Rocket Big Buzz looks like a consumer version of what Meltwater offers companies.

    See meltwater.com.
    The guy behind that has an incredible story. Supposedely all cash business, 40 offices worldwide…

    Comment by Zach Weisman -

  14. Is it just me or does anybody else think that the quality behind Youtube videos is getting worse and worse. They say they offer a higher quality stream but it’s still pretty low compared to other sites like Vimeo.

    Comment by Jordan Thompson -

  15. Pingback: Two Questions re: The Internet | Darren Herman

  16. You were up late with lots of educational ramblings. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and passion. You keep us all thinking and growing. The world is a better place because of you. The Mavs played great in Philly too. Just had a tough time in Boston. It’s always great to see them play.

    Comment by Diana -

  17. Mark –

    Just want to echo some of the previous comments and hear more about your comment that “5. NBA Live 09 is becoming a management tool in the NBA.”

    Thanks!

    Comment by Matt K -

  18. Pingback: Monitor Trends with Icerocket Big Buzz Search | Dot Connector

  19. I’m surprised more people haven’t reacted to your tip about Icerocket Big Buzz search – it’s amazing! I lead an internet marketing team and we’re always looking for new ways to monitor trends online. Icerocket just nailed it.

    Why doesn’t Google have a similar search feature? Maybe they’re too busy trying to define the “ideal” search result instead of just saying “here, this is what people are saying about that topic you just searched on.” Google Blogs search doesn’t even come close to this.

    Great find, Mark.

    Comment by Regis -

  20. Pingback: Sports Video Games Are Too Real! - Nerds on Sports

  21. Safari has the best RSS reader.

    But I am a Chrome user (hotmail doesn’t work in Chrome), but moved all my RSS feeds to google/reader.

    That way I get to them on any internet connection via any browser.

    Comment by PSC -

  22. Nice post, I definitely can see the value of this idea. Icerocket is kick ass by the way.

    Comment by sportsbettingchamp -

  23. I disagree about newspapers and print in general. This industry will die. Its just a matter of time. I’m willing to cede that it may be 20 years, but its a matter of time. The digital revolution is just starting. Just as paper checks are a thing of the past (remember the last time you paid for dinner with one of those?), I think we will see paper publications dwindle and disappear.

    Comment by Kris -

  24. re/ those old tech magazines, pretty sure i remember a weekly column in Computer Reseller News by a guy named Cuban. think he was a lowly LAN guy at the time. cheers!

    Comment by scott miller -

  25. I totally agree with you about Chrome and Firefox. Although, both are far more superior than the latest version of IE, which in my humble opinion, sucks!

    Comment by Dani -

  26. Although I’m not Cuban, I would put a guess out there how Live impact NBA management. The first thing you need to understand is that Live has AI that was built into that is based of the real players tendencies. You can watch a Demo at YouTube.

    With real life AI on all players, Live can be used as a Simulation Game (Simulating seasons or individual games 1000’s of times) predicting team and individual performance. If the NBA is using it, I assume the technology has produced moderately accurate results in creating a range of expectations. Live allows its users to put players on new teams and see how both the team and player respond, meaning that teams can run projections on impacts of potential moves.

    Cuban should be grinning ear to ear with the success of NBA LIVE 09 in becoming a tool of NBA management. The company behind the AI proclaims you to be an investor. Perhaps the company will become if not already the Google/ESPN of its industry. Who knows maybe in the near future the technology usage will grow to the point where college coaches will be able to use it for recruiting high school athletes.

    EA’s NBA Live is as close most of us, self proclaimed GM gurus, will ever be to managing an NBA roster. Live 09 is a large step beyond fantasy basketball.

    Comment by Daniel -

  27. Hey Mark. Lots of speculation and thought there but one thing you mentioned is a no brainer. NASCAR,NASCAR,NASCAR. It has not reached its apex in profit yet by a long shot. I used to think some of my friends were crazy watching it back when there were just highlights on t.v. When bootleggers sons and grandsons were still doing it. With your money dude its a sure shot. The owners of cars have teams of cars now. The drivers are forming thier own teams when they stop racing, if the can afford it. Now that the Cubs are no longer an interest you should check out some of the numbers on that sport. Just remember me and get me some free tickets when you cash in. Thanks for the thoughts.

    Comment by Frankie from Lawnside -

  28. Like some of the others here, I’d be very interested in hearing more about your thoughts on #5 – how NBA ’09 is becoming a management tool. Have you found this to be true as of this year, or have you been using earlier versions of the game in the same way? Have you heard this from other front office personnel around the league? In what way is it truly a tool? Gaming has certainly immersed itself within a number of different elements of our culture – from sports to music to movies, and even to business and government. I’d really like to hear your insight on the evolution of gaming from entertainment to entertainment + valued resource. Thanks.

    Comment by Matt -

  29. Pingback: Tech & Misc Ramblings | Betting Odds - Graffiti Wall

  30. Ok, Mark, I’ve given you grief regarding the JR Smith issue and harrased you about the reason for not buying the Cubs so I now extend an olive branch. I have to give you big props. You’ve earned them. This IceRocket is very good. I am confident that I will use it extensively in the future. Well done.

    Comment by Buck Naked -

  31. How is Live’09 being used as a management tool in The League? Please tell.

    Comment by Dano -

  32. Mark, have you considered the Opera browser? It has plenty of support and I find it much faster than others.

    Comment by Penny -

  33. Cool idea with IceRocket. I still don’t like Chrome enough to switch
    though from Firefox.

    Comment by Dave -

  34. MC,
    2 things:
    1. Chrome is great. I haven’t tested this out though, but it may be the solution to your RSS issue:
    http://www.feeds.ramisp.org/

    2. The Mavs played a great game last night. Even though it was against one of NBA’s worst teams, they still looked alot better and seem to be clicking…especially when Kidd is the one taking care of the ball.

    Here’s the info on that RSS link:
    “On the web page http://www.feeds.ramisp.org, there are two bookmarklets available: “View RSS Feed” and Auto-Detect RSS.” Drag each of these bookmarklets to Chrome’s bookmark bar. Then, whenever you’re on a page that has an RSS feed, you just have to hit the “Auto-Detect RSS” button. This will take you to a page where the feed is displayed along with several auto-subscription links up at the top. Alternately, you can just hit “view RSS feed,” if you want to see the RSS feed in the browser, but this option didn’t always work in our tests.

    One of the problems with the ramisp.org bookmarklets, though, is the limited choice of RSS readers they offer underneath the “Subscribe Now!” section. Currently, you have the option to subscribe using Google, Pageflakes, My Yahoo!, and Netvibes. Although that covers many of the popular readers, there are still several that were left out.” source- http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/finally_-_get_rss_support_for_google_chrome.php

    Comment by David -

  35. I’m surprised that Firefox affects your system so badly. Did you have
    the latest version?
    I agree on newspapers. We’ll always need the printed word. They should stop being free on the internet.

    From MC> Yep. on pc and mac, it has problems on both

    Comment by Scott Plocharczyk -

  36. “NBA Live 09 is becoming a management tool in the NBA.” That’s awesome! Are you going to start recruiting the top gamers?

    Speaking of the internet’s importance, Obama meeting with some tech heavyweights is a good sign: http://truemors.nowpublic.com/?p=36261

    Comment by dirtyball -

  37. > If it doesnt get support for RSS feeds very, VERY quickly I
    > may be forced to reconsider IE and its new version

    Have you tried Google Reader? I’ve found it to be a more efficient
    way to read RSS feeds than any browser-specific feed reader.

    Comment by Ted -

  38. #2 I use all the browsers, each for their own specific qualities. firefox is good for the plugins, especially seo related stuff. chrome is fast, good with video, and flash based crap. IE is pretty much the workhorse for me though, it not really good for anything specific but its ok for everything.
    i have to say though, i am worried about the number of new browsers gaining popularity from a programming standpoint. i am constantly having to check browser after browser to make sure what i create renders correctly in X browser. i even starting to get a lot of traffic from people using play stations os, not to mention mobile devices o plenty.

    Comment by Shawn Shepherd -

  39. i’d be interested to see more of your thoughts on #5

    Comment by J Lindy -

  40. Hi Mark,

    Thanks for pointing the obvious, Google is the new Microsoft, albeit worse.

    Have you seen any innovation in search in the last 10 years? Thanks to godaddy, with all word combinations registered as domain names, we have to use search to go to a new website. We can’t guess a website name, or afford to spell it wrong, we might end up in a malware site. Ofcourse, Google exploits this to show you an advertisement.

    You have documented the video space very well, I don’t need to add more.

    Mark, there are many bright engineers willing to offer a solution, but they can’t get any funding from the Friends and Family network of Silicon Valley VCs. Why don’t you invest a few millions and encourage innovation?

    It’s time someone liberates the internet from Google…

    -Anonymous Coward.

    Comment by AC2 -

  41. Just my opinion, but I use Google Reader to aggregate my RSS feeds (or view them individuallly if I prefer). I bet it works well in Chrome… although I’m still a Firefox user with the same concerns about speed.

    G

    Comment by Gary -

  42. Agree with you 100% on the Sidekick. I have the LX, and frankly, the UX is atrocious, but the hardware is really well built, and I could write a PhD thesis on that keyboard.

    I would argue the internet has ALREADY proven integral to solving our economic (and sundry other) woes, via its instrumental role in the election of President Obama. As it grows, the web will lay waste to gov’t inefficiencies and bullshit the same way it has for business–it will save the world whether we like it or not!

    Comment by Tom_Fishman -

  43. What happened to your MacBook Air?

    From MC> Its still my road warrior

    Comment by Tom -

  44. Please stop whining about YouTube. They’re subsidizing the video hosting costs for more than half the internet. If they want to keep providing such a valuable service for us ofr free, please let them. If at any time, they start actually abusing their market share, people will switch somewhere else for their video watching needs. We know, without a doubt, there will be a steady stream of up and comers trying to take down the top dog.

    Comment by Mike -

  45. I would love to hear more about NBA Live 09 as a management tool. Thanks for the thoughts, keep up the good work, Mark!

    Comment by Mike M -

  46. I don’t understand Chrome not working with RSS… Just use google reader to consume RSS… It’s super fast in Chrome

    Comment by Adam Carson -

  47. Hey Mark – I switched to chrome a few months ago because firefox is too bulky and slows down my laptop. Why not just using something like Google Reader for RSS? Google does a great job with the product.

    YC.

    Comment by yosaif -

  48. Wouldn’t a Google product nudge you into using another Google product — like Google Reader — for RSS feeds? Is there no integration yet between the two?

    Comment by Dave -

  49. Mark,

    Re: #4, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Given your blogging platform, why don’t you get the discussion started right here on blogmaverick? I would like to see some innovative ideas that you must have in mind.

    LB

    Comment by L. Birdsey -

  50. Sidekick? Really? Hmmm, maybe I need to take a closer look, I hate the touch screen on my Tilt.

    Comment by BillFitz -

  51. my google reader works fine in chrome.

    Comment by steveintex -

  52. So glad you introduced me to Icerocket.com. I’ve been looking for a long
    time for something like that. Does it use Google’s API for searching
    through blogs? Or does it have its own crawler?

    From MC>Its own crawler

    Comment by Trent -

  53. Big Buzz does a great job. A search for “PaperSports,” which is, unfortunately, not a huge site, returns highly relevant results.

    On Chrome: I love it, but I can’t give up Firefox until there is an Adblock for Chrome, like that will ever happen.

    Comment by Rod Yancy -

  54. Mark,

    I absolutely agree as to the magazines.

    I think about Malcomb Gladwell and his thoughts on magazines vice “instant” news sources. He rightly points out that mags have the opportunity to ruminate over something and dive deeper than most other outlests: thus providing more information (and less data.

    While I geek: i am also a reader.

    TJ

    Comment by Terry Johnson -

Comments are closed.