MWGblog

As most of you know, social media works. By way of FaceBook I had a fraternity brother contact me a few weeks ago. I hadn’t heard from Doug, our Pledge Class President, in 18 years, but (and I’m paraphrasing) he said, “Geoghegan, I found something that belongs to you, I think you’ll get a kick out of it, what’s your mailing address?” I was glad to hear from Doug, but admit to being curious what he had.

Today via mail I received my ΦΔΘ (Phi Delta Theta) pledge black book. Pretty cool! I don’t think I am giving any fraternity secrets away by saying as a pledge we were required to have this book with us at all times with a separate page for every active member with their name and phone number. During our pledge period we had to get a required number of signatures. Of course they all wrote personal notes. I had fun today reading my book and tripping down memory lane. Good way to round out a terrific year. Thanks Doug!

Without coming out and saying it in plain English, Podango has basically said get your stuff off our servers ’cause we are going under… When the President of an Internet startup says “we are encouraging you to begin taking all necessary steps to secure your data or begin moving to another hosting provider” you can read the writing on the wall. Looks like bankruptcy. Two years ago, people railed against me for my “Podcasting Is Dead” presentation. I’m not sure how many more examples I need to point to until folks realize - I was dead on. You are in the media business, forget “podcasting” - that is so 2005.

I think this also says something about the “network of shows” model Podango and several other startups were counting on. Grouping together unrelated shows in order to sell advertising across all of them simply doesn’t work. Aside from the fact that none of these companies has a dedicated sales team (something every successful content company has from day one), advertisers simply don’t see value in using a shotgun method to reach their target market. Besides, wasn’t reaching a super-targeted audience exactly what new media promised in the first place? Slapping an old business model on new media was destined to fail.

Podango was started by some great folks, primarily Lee and Doug, both stand up guys. In fact I sold technology to them a few years back. No one takes joy in situations like this, it is a tough spot. They are smart guys and will weather the storm. Look for them on the backside. I expect they’ll be back.

So who’s next? Anyone heard from Mevio (Podshow) lately?

Nicholas, Jack and William visit Santa.

I remember sitting in high school thinking someday I’ll be 40. Funny how quickly it creeps up on you.

Clearing off my hard drive. I found this.

I put this on my Amazon S3 because the Iowa IPTV site was slow. Here is the original link.

The news hit this morning that the New Media Expo (Formally the Podcast and New Media Expo) has been sold to BlogWorld. Congratulations to Tim! Good timing in my estimation. Now what to do with all that audio we own from the last few years’ events…

As many of you know who follow me on Twitter, my blog has been a bit quiet as I was going through the Orange County Sheriff’s Academy to become a Reserve Deputy Sheriff (see Fun with Pepper Spray.) This is the culmination of a three year goal I have had. I’ve been active with the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team for a few years and this just completed the circle. Two of my sons, Nick and Will, took center stage as my Badge Pinners. This shot is just prior to the evening’s graduation ceremony.

I’m a big fan of my Amazon Kindle. When browsing the Kindle store last night I discovered that my first book is now available on Kindle. If you’re looking for a podcasting book that is Kindle friendly might I suggest Podcast Solutions - Kindle Edition.

I’m intrigued by the new film JCVD. It was a hit at Cannes and has received surprisingly good reviews. It is opening in extremely limited release this week, but luckily it is coming to one of my local theaters. I hardly ever go to a theater anymore, but I’m going to make an exception for this one on Friday - who knows when it will be out on DVD.

Once you’ve written a book or two you can’t help but wander by the section where they should be when browsing in a book store. Sure if you’ve written a NY Times bestseller you know they have it, but when it comes to technology books you’re always curious. I grabbed this shot yesterday with my iPhone at a local Borders. Not a bad selection of podcasting books. It is always nice to see when they carry both of mine.

Looking to spice up your weekend? I did it by taking an eyeful of Oleoresin Capsicum (better known as pepper spray) as part of my Reserve Sheriff Training. Since anytime you use this stuff, there is a good chance some will blow back on you, it is important to know how it will effect you and exactly what it feels like. The really bad burning only lasts about 20 minutes, after 45 minutes or so most people are able to take care of themselves again, though the skin continues to burn to varying degrees for the next few hours. Luckily, I turn out to be one of the people who recovers pretty quickly - glad I got that gene! It only took me minute or two to be able to get my eyes open again. Though it still really burns, once you can get your eyes open it helps tremendously in starting the recovery process. Oh, and take it from me, it burns way more than you can ever imagine!

You can see in the shot above as my eye closes as a reaction to the first part of the stream as it hit my eye dead on. Garrett, my partner in the exercise, is next up to get an eyeful.

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Like last year, the Santa Ana winds have kicked up and it appears my neighborhood, or at least the one next to us, is on fire. Living in California near the beach has its advantages…

I grabbed these shots today:

Nothing legitimizes New Media like a good old-fashioned court battle. Unfortunately, it would seem that this one is more about sour grapes (and previous competitive issues) than anything else. Regardless, it’s official; two Essex County, New Jersey Videographers are now in a legal battle over their respective Wedding focused podcast efforts.

I’ll let you decide for yourself what is really going on after reading the original Star-Ledger story. Full disclosure: I have been involved in plenty of media stories that prove the rule that the media are generally only half right/accurate.

One thing all court cases need is expert witnesses. It is clear from this “spat” that both parties are in need. Feel free to contact me. As one of the true podcast pioneers involved from the very beginning I have the expertise they require. Though, I can also name 10 different ideas I developed that they have both infringed upon. Heck, maybe I should sue them both! Did they list “Podcast” as the genre in iTunes – I won’t bore you with the details but that was my hard fought public battle back in the very early podcast days. Many of us worked countless hours to develop this medium. We were working to build a platform for all to share, not something to parse into ownership segments. Unless I am missing something, it is sad that two wedding videographers will possibly set a precedent. Perhaps an Amicus Brief is appropriate? One thing that amazes me – a podcast effort that is not yet making money, is suing other financially unstable podcast entity. That tells me it is personal. Am I missing something?