Managing the Gray – Positive Advice That Everyone Can Use to Succeed

Earlier this week, I was given a personal walk through of the all new Overlay.TV and I was quite impressed. We’ve seen this concept in video tried before. To sum it up, as you watch a video any item in it could be tagged so that you could click on it and get more information and even buy that product. Not sure why this has never taken off before, but I’m thinking this time it might.

What makes Overlay.TV different is that anyone can tag any video. It does not touch the original uploaded file. It can pull a video from most of the major video services (Brightcove is one I asked about which is coming) or from an uploaded movie file on your own server and then people can place overlays on the video highlighting products and services.

In the demo we pulled in a video of a trumpet player from YouTube and tagged his t-shirt to go to Amazon to buy a similar one. Anyone can take any video and place overlays on it. The process is quick, easy and powerful. The options on if the overlay is just a simple hot sport or actually a mini pop up is up to the user. Adding product information is done via a bookmarklet that allows for one click copy and past of descriptions, prices and other needed information from any web site.

I can see some big potential for this from lots of different angles. Brands (especially retail ones) will be adding overlays to their viral videos. Bands can link out to their CDs and equipment sponsors. Fans can take anything they are in love with and create their own overlays and then embed it all on their blogs and Facebook profiles.

Some people might freak since this could be viewed as changing a video, but it is not. It is just putting a screen over the video and allowing for people to link items in it. I’m interested to see the community nature of this and also how companies can leverage it on their own sites. I’m also interested to see if this gets popular if performance will degrade and if items won’t seamlessly sync up.

Take a moment and check it out when you have a moment. To get a feel for what I’m talking about they’ve made this throw back infomercial as well:

Posted in Cool Tools, New Media | Comments(6)

I’ve been keeping an eye on Zoho for a while. They are doing a lot of the same things Google is trying to do through Google Apps. A completely online working environment. The perfect thing for all the new media nomads out there.

Biggest difference though is that Zoho has an off line feature. I can sync everything to my desktop (using Google Gears of all things *grin*) and work completely off line and then sync up the next time I connect. THAT is the key thing.

Then this morning I find out about Zoho Business and my grin got even bigger!

It is going to come in two flavors – Free & Pro. Some features will include:

• Company level Admin Console
• Domain Management (for pointing your domains to Zoho Apps)
• Centralized User and Group Management
• Single Sign-on across several Zoho Apps
• Zoho Apps include Writer, Sheet, Show, Wiki, Notebook, Email, Cal, Tasks, Planner, Viewer, Chat etc.
• Customization Options
• Multiple levels of Security including SSL
• Remote Backup
• Telephone Support and more.

I love all of this and think it is a huge step forward. I’m wondering how long until Yahoo or Microsoft try to buy them so that they can directly compete with Google. Heck, if Apple made a play at them things would get REALLY interesting, but I don’t think it’s the market they are in right now.

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Video content on the web comes in every shape, size and quality and the hardest thing is finding a particular clip or subject matter. Lots of people are playing with different ways to search through the massive amount of content, but no one has gotten it quite right.

Earlier this week I was shown a BETA of VeZoom which looks pretty cool.

I put in some searches for words that I knew there was content out there for (some of which I had made) and I was curious if it would actually find it and surprisingly it did quite well at pulling back results. I like that I can set up alerts and such to find tags of information I’m interested in. I didn’t see an RSS feed for this, but it might be there. It should be there!

Maybe I like it because they kept the vowels and didn’t do anything silly with that. I’ll be happy when that trend is over.

I’m going to play around with this some more, but wanted to let you know about it since the best way to test is to have more people check it out and play with it.

Posted in Cool Tools, Video | Comments(1)

I love any tool that helps build a community and helps me connect with people. Twitter has become a very active tool in my superhero belt. Every day I can check in at any time and see what people are up to and what is sparking their interest. It’s my #1 way I discover hot new videos, links to important articles and even breaking news from time to time.

Here is a picture of the people I follow that I took the other day.

Now, I have more people following me then I follow. I’ve talked about this before and the reason is that I only follow people who:

1. I know personally
2. I have some sort of connection with
3. That post continual good links, content and other pieces of information that I want to know about
4. Is someone that I want to see what they are using Twitter for

But, when I look at this picture of little avatars faces pop out at me. I recognize them. I know them. It makes me wonder what they are up to and the great thing is that I can find out.

Twitter can be time consuming. Many times I won’t leave it up while I do other things because it distracts me. I will pop in every so often and see what is up. I don’t worry about missing things. If it is truly important then someone will either direct message me, use the @cc_chapman prefix so I see it in my replies tab (a huge thanks for that one twitter!) or drop me an e-mail. The fire hose of information that I miss I don’t worry about. If I miss a link that is really cool you can bet I’ll see it somewhere else later in the day from another Twitter or on someone’s blog.

Between Bloglines and Twitter I get all the information I need in one day.It’s a constant stream of information that I can consume and react to when I need to. I like the passive approach very much.

I also love that I can throw out a question like I did the other night of “what is the best desktop cooling stand option for my MacBook Pro” and within minutes get tons of answers to the question. Sure, I was out using Google looking for the same answer, but I like real world recommendations better when I can get them. I also love that I can passively “watch” the Red Sox game through their Twitter as well.

The concept behind Twitter, Jaiku and all the other applications like this is a powerful one and I’m looking forward

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Earlier this week I put out a call looking for input on if I should get a MacBook or a MacBook Pro. For some reason Apple.com doesn’t this this is valuable information and don’t do a good job outside of spec sheets to give you input on the difference in the machines. But, YOU the users of the computers stepped up and gave me objective and passionate answers in both directions. I love that about the new media playground. We all love doing show and tell.

So today I had a great lunch and then walked into the Apple Store and pointed at one and said “I would like one of those!” The very cute lady informed me that they only had it in the most basic of configurations. Blargh. No impulse buy for me.

They almost lost the sale completely. I got home miffed that they only have a few configurations when you boil it down and the fact that they don’t even stock some different set ups makes no sense. That question of “should I get this or not” entered in my head. It wasn’t until I lost a document I was working on for reasons I still don’t know I said screw it and ordered it.

What Apple (and every other brand out there) needs to pay attention to is that I didn’t make this decision based on any marketing they had done anywhere. I didn’t make it based on the information they provide on their website. I made the decision by interacting with the brands consumers in real time via blogs, Twitter and IM. THAT is where the real power lies. If you provide your consumers with a good product and allow them to talk about and share with others they will. Don’t ever stifle that conversation ever.

So, now I have to sit and wait for my new shiny toy to arrive. I’m now going to reach out and ask they same community what software and other goodies I need to get. I know there are many goodies out there!

Final Score? MacBook Pro with 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 GB RAM, 160 GB HD and Aperture installed

Posted in Community, Cool Tools, New Media | Comments(11)

I’m not a huge audio head, but I do pay attention when new hand held portable equipment comes out since people are always asking me for recommendations. So yesterday when I first read on Engadget about the new Samson Zoom H2 I had to check it out.

What I like about this is that it’s much smaller then the Zoom H4 that lots of people have been raving about lately. I never liked the look and size of that one, but this one is pretty sweet.

I have an Edirol R-09 that I love the quality of, but it’s way to fragile and thus I’ve been thinking about getting something else. This looks a lot sturdier, but I’ll have to wait to actually check one out. Anyone from Samson reading who wants to send me one to play with and report back? I’m always open to trying out new gadgets as long as companies are ok with honest and open feedback on my blog and podcast.

If you have tried one of these out please let me know your thoughts because the specs are right. I haven’t found a price anywhere yet so who knows. Guess I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.

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I was recently introduced to the Chuck Fletcher, the guy behind Mologogo which via the locator on your mobile phone can share with friends where you are in the world.

Today he told me about the addition of Twitter support.

This takes the whole concept of finding Waldo to a whole new level. I wonder how long it will be before I can play Where in the World is Jeff Pulver? *laugh*

Posted in Cool Tools, New Media | Comments(0)

I’m not going to get creative and make this look like a dictionary entry. I thought about it, but it’s too early in the morning to be that creative. *grin*

I keep getting asked “what is Twitter like?” or “is Twitter the new blogging?”

Twitter is Twitter. Yes it feels sort of like a chat room sometimes. Other times it’s more like a global watercooler that we are all hanging around. Sometimes it’s direct communications with others that the world can watch. Finally it’s just something to brain dump into multiple times a day.

My Twitters are all over the map. A mix of sharing information, micro blogging, talking with the community and sharing my brand with people. I love that people can ask questions and I can answer. Likewise I LOVE putting out a question and getting answers back almost immediately. That’s cool!

I’ve already seen some interesting things happening inside of twitter. Discovered accounts that I can tell are setting up for some unique mixes of word of mouth marketing and viral pseudo ARGs almost.  It’s going to be fun to watch as it evolves.

One thing to know about my personal Twitter habits is that I write a lot more to it then I do read it. In the morning and the evenings it turns into a passive chat room for me where I’ll be pretty active. The key is that I can participate when I want. I like that. Because I don’t always read if you want to get a response from me a Direct Message or an e-mail is still the best way. Depending on a question or comment on Twitter is dangerous I think right now. People are watching, but it’s easy to miss.

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Twitter has been a lot of fun to play with lately, but I’m trying to think beyond the personal community building applications of it. What I mean is that with so many people getting notices on their phones, in gTalk and on the web there are going to be people who use it in ways that no one has ever imagined.

Maybe it’s all the fresh air from the beautiful day here in Boston, but I was just wondering about this and came up with some ideas. Please share your ideas in the comments because I know I only thought up a few in the last few minutes.

• Politics
  Who will be the first political candidate for 2008 who uses it to keep everyone updated on where they are and what they are up to. This could be huge. And as I’m writing this someone told me that John Edwards has an account, but having one and actually using it are two different things.
• Storytelling
  How come no one is telling a story yet? This could be almost anything. Sure, it forces the creativity with such a small number of characters to post, but it could become a whole new form. I’m betting the really good writers would view it as a new challenge
• Celebrities
  Does anyone remember when Zach Braff was blogging from the set of Garden State on his Blackberry? I do and I remember how cool it was to just get the feeling of being there. Twitter could open this up even more. How many rabid fans wouldn’t want to know all the little details about what their favorite people were up to?
• Erotica
  This fits right in with the storytelling idea, but I broke it out separately because there are obvious unique opportunities here. No, I’m not talking about Porn flooding in. I’m talking about true erotic or sexually orientated conversations that the voyeur in people could peer into naturally via a service like this. It’s ripe for the plucking so to speak.
• News
  I’ve seen the BBC and Google News already leveraging this but obviously there is more potential. Crucial that it be timely though. I’ve already seen delays in both of these and not sure why. Twitter is all about timely information about what is going on.
• Sports
  If the Miami Dolphins had a Twitter account for the latest news I’d be subscribed to it in a heart beat. Why can’t I subscribe to a March Madness one that just pushes out the final scores of all the games?

I know these are only a few, but they are the ones that popped into my head. I have a feeling I’ll pop more into the comments as they come to mind.

I also know that any of these could be seeded with marketing and pr information as well. My only advice to companies about doing this is to be very careful and be very selective on when, how and why you do this? If it turns into nothing but a channel of border line spam then no one will want to listen. This is true for any channel in new media.

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I just discovered another take on the world of tagging, posting and all around sharing what you dig on the net called Clipmarks.

My clips can be found here. Just playing around to check out the possibilities. I like that it’s just a plug in and interacts with my blogs and such. Some quirky things with the interface, but i know those will be worked out as time goes on.

Another cool tool to watch. I know I’ll be playing with it more. Still waiting for the killer app that integrates everything into one massive interactive new media playground. Yeah, I may be waiting for a while I know.

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Everyone knows that Flickr is a great community of photos. You can find photos of everything under the sun. I’ve been fan of it for a long time and now I’m seeing it grow into something even more then just photos.

We all read blogs and communicate through them with posts and comments. Each of us has a set of blogs that we frequent and when they are those of friends, full blown conversations can happen in them. I have conversations that span blog comments, instant messages and e-mails. Now though they’ve moved into Flickr.

Earlier today I saw a picture Chris Brogan posted on the way to a book store. I left a comment asking what he was buying. I would have never planned to go back and see the answer, but then I saw a picture posted tonight called Answering C.C.

Amazing that a simple photo upload site has grown into another form of social network that is still as simple as always, but still something so much more.

Earlier this week I came up with the idea for SlackerShots.com and now this. What’s next?

I love this world of new media. LOVE IT!!

Posted in Cool Tools, Rambles | Comments(2)

This new year just got a whole lot more interesting when I got a BETA invite from The Venice Project.

I’m already very impressed and I can see huge potential from this. I’m very curious where they are thinking of taking it from here because I can already see some very good marketing angles, ties into lots of other technology and an almost take over of my desktop if they were to add some features.

This is certainly going to be a shift in the way I consume content. The fact that this is so young and already so powerful excites all the senses.

Stay tuned. I am!

Posted in Cool Tools, Video | Comments(3)

It takes quite a bit to get me overly excited these days, but having just spent a good chunk of time customizing my new Wallop page I’ve got to tell you that I’m impressed.

Yes, this is yet another social networking site. Just what the world needs right?

But, there is something different about this one. I told it about my RSS feed and it not only imported the blog entries, but it detected the photos and added them to my photos library on the site as well instantly. Now if it only detected my podcast links and put those into my music (which should be renamed “audio”) collection as well.

I don’t see anything for video just yet, but you’ve got to assume that it’s coming along with some sort of events/calendar to interact with your network.

The interface is slick and functional. Usually you only get one of those out of a site, but in this case you get both.

I already sent out the invites that it allowed me to use. It didn’t have a counter so I didn’t realize it was limited.

It’s going to be interesting to see how and if this grows. It certainly has a ton of potential

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I get asked this question all the time and the honest answer is that I don’t know. *grin* Sure, I find lots of them and explore whenever possible, but I don’t create landmarks everwhere to return later. That’s part of the fun of exploring.

But, I got thinking about this and wanted a way to share places of interest with other people. Some I might work with. Others just might be friends looking for new places to visit.

Thanks to a cool new tool called BlogHUD this is going to be easy to do.

Koz Farina has developed this tool that you wear in Second Life. Anytime I find something of interest that I want to blog about I just type a command and my blog entry and it posts it to Cleon Goff’s BlogHUD. Not only does it post what I typed up, but it embeds a SLurl on the fly and integrates with the map so that you can easily visit. On top of this it’s even got a feed if you want it.

It’s still in BETA and I haven’t been using it as much as I should, but now I will be much more often. This combined with things like my SL Stats watch and the social networking is emerging.

Posted in Blogging, Cool Tools, second life | Comments(2)

I’ve got a new laptop. It’s all shiny and new and thus has no software on it. I realized this last night as I needed to take an idea out of my head and type it up. What to do?

I instantly thought of Writely as the perfect solution, but it’s not an open BETA yet so I had to find an alternative. Google pointed me towards Zoho Writer so I gave it a try.

It boils down to an online word processor which is exactly what I needed. Nothing to install. No footprint. Just fire up a web browser from anywhere in the world and I can write. It was exactly what I needed at that moment in time.

I love that in todays world I can realize I need a piece of software and discover that someone has created it. That makes me happy. VERY happy.

Oh, so what was it that I had to write down? That you’ll have to wait and hear about later.

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Today AOL and PodShow are announcing a new service called PodShowPRO. (Press release)

I got a sneak peek at it and I think it’s a big step in the right direction. The fact that this will allow business users, academics and other organizations create, share and discover podcasts is a great step forward.

I’m not sure if this is the end all solution (only time will tell on that one), but any tool that lowers the boundaries to get into, create and listen to podcasting is good in my book.

My understanding is that this is going to be directly integrated into the newly announced AIM Pro, so not only will it give people the ability to create and publish podcasts, but based on what I’ve seen it appears that content from appropriate independent producers will also be suggested to users if they desire this feature. This is what has me most excited because it enhances the discovery of appropriate podcasts that business professionals might never discover, but they now will.

Just thinking about this from an employment standpoint has me jazzed as well. A business could create a private channel for their company or even a section of that company that employees would subscribe to. Communication could flow on this channel from the most minor of conversations to major announcements from the CEO or President.

I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet and the proof is always in the pudding, but i’m excited about the possibilities and I look forward to trying it out.

Posted in Cool Tools, New Media | Comments(3)

So I just set up an onXiam profile.

A sort of one stop shop for me to tell you all the different places you can find me online. It’s a very simple concept and it’s all because of this photo that I checked it out.

All it seems to be missing is a “friends” feature and then you’ve got something going on.

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I’m lucky enough to be a BETA tester for this very cool new tool called BlogHUD that allows me from within Second Life to blog to a site that shows both where I am as I blog it and also what I have to say.

Great way to see where I’ve been in SL and what I’ve liked enough to BlogHUD about it.

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This show’s PodShow+ site is now up and live. Going to be interesting to see how people use this system. It’s a very different and yet familiar approach all at once.

My personal page is also up there. Be sure to connect if you swing by to check it all out.

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I got a lot of requests for the portable recorder I use. Here it is:

Edirol R-09 24-Bit Wave/MP3 Recorder

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