| Thursday, 29 August 2002, 9:40 pm Tags: TechTV |
Tonight’s the last night for our old set. After the show ends, we begin crating up pieces for storage. They’ll strike the set completely early next week while we tape shows in the Tech Live studio. The show will be dark tomorrow and all next week. The programs we’re taping next week will air in October while we rehearse on the new set which is supposed to be completed by then.
The new set is much more modern, lighter and airy, and will be much easier for us to work with. I’ll miss the basement, though. I have so many fond memories here, going all the way back to our first shows in May 1998. I am trying to get a hold of Kate to get her into the studio tonight to join us for the farewell. It would be nice to have a last dance with her on the old set. It’s also the end of the line for the Screen Savers Theme and the show open. We’re shooting a new open today and tomorrow.
I’m looking at the changes with some sadness. The two shows I created on ZDTV are no longer recognizably mine, for better or for worse. I guess I should feel lucky to have had four amazing years doing this. I have no idea what the next four years hold – or how big a role I’ll have in the development of these shows – but for the time being I’m here and The Screen Savers will keep doing the best Geek TV we know how, whether we’re in the basement or not. If these walls could talk…
 (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... |
0 Comments · Print |
| Saturday, 24 August 2002, 7:08 pm Tags: Appearances |
David Lawrence is here at Gnomedex and he’s convinced me to do his radio show tonight. I’m not sure when I’ll be on but the show airs from 9-midnight Eastern all over the country. Check the Online Tonight website for a station near you.
| (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... |
0 Comments · Print |
| Saturday, 24 August 2002, 4:41 pm Tags: Appearances |
I probably should have mentioned this earlier. There will be streaming audio of the entire Gnomedex conference at gnomedex.com. It costs $20 unfortunately, but if you sign up now you’ll still be able to hear Linux Journal’s Doc Searles (who is brilliant) and Blogger’s Evan Williams (another amazing success story). I’m speaking at 3:30p Central time today.
| (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... |
0 Comments · Print |
| Friday, 23 August 2002, 5:28 pm Tags: |
Jason DeFillippo of blogrolling.com has created a list of blogs that are covering Gnomdex.
(This list is automatically updated.)
| (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... |
0 Comments · Print |
| Thursday, 22 August 2002, 5:23 pm Tags: Blogging |
I’m in the Denver airport waiting for a plane to Des Moines and have just enough time for a quick entry. I’m on my way to Gnomedex, Chris Pirillo’s Nerdstock on the Raccoon River. I’ll be giving the keynote on Saturday. I’m planning to deliver my grand opus on what’s actually going on in tech today, drawing on the history of similar revolutionary technologies like the printing press, steam engine, and radio. It’s a work in progress, but I’m beginning to think it would make the basis for a good book. There’s still time to attend the conference – it starts tomorrow at the Downtown Marriott in Des Moines. Tickets are $99 from www.gnomedex.com. Hope I’ll see you there.
This trip to Des Moines marks the last leg of my cross country vacation. In the past 10 days my family and I have driven over 2,000 miles, following the Oregon Trail backwards from California to Wyoming. We spent a few days in the shadows of the Grand Tetons at the lovely Jenny Lake Lodge. My brain doesn’t function well at high altitudes – the lodge is at 6,000 feet – but the beauty of the Tetons is spectacular. We then drove to Reno via the old Emigrant Trail through Nevada. I caught a plane this morning in Reno and returned over the same territory, taking less than an hour to rewind a journey that took the Conestoga wagons months (and our Toyota minivan days). On the plane I started reading a novel about the plague year, 1666, called Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. It’s a moving story and well worth reading. All this history has proven excellent grist for my speech. History offers excellent context and guidance for the confusing world we live in today.
I’m blogging thanks to a free wireless connection in the Denver airport. As you may know, I often open my iBook just to see if there’s any connection. Wonder of wonders, Denver is trying out free wireless in the terminal. it works great. They’re calling my plane now. See you in Des Moines!
| (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... |
0 Comments · Print |
| Friday, 9 August 2002, 4:53 pm Tags: Blogging |
I’m going to take a vacation next week. We’re driving to the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. It’s a 19 hour drive from the San Francisco Bay Area, and since that won’t be enough time for the four of us to really get to know one another, Jennifer, Abby, Henry, and I will be driving north for a day to Ashland, Oregon first. Then we’ll head out east over back roads to get to Jackson Hole sometime early next year. Er… week. We’ll be driving back the following Tuesday so I can fly to Des Moines for Gnomedex on August 23/24.
There’s nothing like a road trip to really get a family at each other’s throats. I’m planning to shoot it on video in hopes of selling the rights to MTV.
I will be offline the entire time, and since we’ve been having some trouble with trolls in Leoville in the past few months, I’ve decided to take some steps to protect the integrity of the message boards.
1. No new message board users will be approved while I’m gone. That alone should keep the troublemakers out. All our current members our great. I apologize for those new folks who have to wait the two weeks to get in, but you can read the posts without registering, and I promise to approve you the minute I get back.
2. I’ve upgraded a number of people to moderator status. They’ll have the power to delete messages and threads and ban users while I’m gone – just in case some trolls do sneak in. The new moderators are the most long term members of the Town Square and have earned my trust over more than a year of posting. You’ll notice that their names are now in red (or green if they’re assigned to patrol a particular Forum). Be nice to them – the pay is low and the work hard.
I’m also going to put someone in charge of this Blog to keep an eye on the comments.
I’ll miss you all. Have a great time while I’m gone and try not to stain the carpets.
| (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... |
0 Comments · Print |
| Thursday, 8 August 2002, 4:57 am Tags: |
I found a nice little application that lets me update the blog directly from Mac OS X. (Actually I didn’t exactly find it – it turned up, as so many great OS X apps do, on VersionTracker.com.) Kung-Log 1.2 is an open source shareware program that is much easier to use than the native Movable Type forms. It adds OS X spell checking (no more Oaklahoma for me) and built-in and configurable HTML templates. I know Live Journal and Blogger have similar applications. I’m really happy to see this one for Movable Type. Maybe I’ll even blog more now.
(Postscript: Ben and Mena list several other Windows clients that do the same thing for Movable Type, including w.bloggar for Windows and Slug. I’ll give you a report as soon as I’ve tried them.)
Speaking of nice software, I’ve just started using an excellent free boot manager called GAG. I’d been playing with FreeBSD and was unhappy with Boot Easy, the default FreeBSD boot manager. I could have installed Lilo or Grub ports, but GAG is easier to use and works with everything. You install it from floppy so it’s completely operating system independent. I’ve taken to carrying a GAG disk around with me, upgrading the boot managers on other multi-boot systems.
| (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... |
0 Comments · Print |
| Tuesday, 6 August 2002, 9:13 pm Tags: Appearances |
We pre-taped my segment with Regis and Kelly today but the show will air tommorrow, Wednesday, August 7.
I did two segments. In the first segment I showed “Beach Tech,” including:
- Sony, S2 Armband Radio. $49.95
Armband radio with TV tuner
- Creative Labs Muvo $129.95
USB memory with MP3 player
- Tanita, UV Smart $29.99.
Handheld UV Monitor
- SolveIt Marketing, UB Kool $39.95
Personal Cooler
- Casio, EXILIM – EX-S1 $300
Tiny Digital Camera
- Pentax Corp, Digibino DB100 $350
Digital CCD Binoculars
In the second segment we connected Kelly with her husband, Mark, in Australia via netcam. A very touching moment – she hadn’t seen him in two months. She even brought on the kids for him to see. Fortunately, the netcam picture was excellent and the segment went over gangbusters.
Tonight Abby and I are going to see Oklahoma on Broadway, then it’s home tomorrow in time for The Screen Savers.
| (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... |
0 Comments · Print |
-
Leo's Photos
Swag
