howard’s spot

It occurred to me a few weeks ago that I hadn’t written a blog post in almost a month…

It occurred to me tonight that I hadn’t written a blog post in 2 months. Shame on me.

To be frank, I haven’t forgotten about all of you – my loyal following, but I don’t recall a time in my life when things were more hectic.

So no excuses here, just apologies for dropping the virtual ball. I fully intend to be back soon, with more on what’s been keeping me busy, keeping me up at night and keeping me going…

This is the Quote of the Day on Howardspot.com…

“More video material has been uploaded to YouTube in the past six months than has ever been aired on all major networks combined, according to cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch. About 88 percent is new and original content, most of which has been created by people formerly known as “the audience.”

Original article/mention:
Michael Wesch To Discuss “The Anthropology of YouTube” at Library of Congress

Related articles/mention:
The great disruption of social networks reaches its tipping point

Are There 5 Social Business Factors?

I’ve been pretty lucky lately. Last week, I went to the Webby Awards Gala, and last night I went to Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope Gala. Coincidentally, both were at Cipriani Wall Street, an awesome venue for any event, but even more suited to an intimate private concert by Carlos Santana.

Out front of Cipriani, they had the red carpet setup for the celebs in attendance – all representing their respective charity organizations, including Wayne Gretzky, Boomer Esiason, Dan Marino, Arnold Palmer and Rudy Giuliani. The MC was good ole Regis Philbin. Co-hosts included Jason Taylor (Miami Dolphins & yes, Dancing with the Stars) and Michael Strahan (NY Giants).

Carlos was there representing his Milagro Foundation. He played for about an hour and it looked like he and the band were having a blast. I’m sure corporate gigs aren’t the best, but it seemed that they were enjoying themselves – and they sounded awesome. The set list included Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va, Maria Maria and Smooth (not a complete list).

All said, it was a very cool evening hanging out with some of my coworkers watching Carlos jam…

Pics are here for your viewing pleasure (quality is eh, they’re from my phone)… http://www.flickr.com/photos/hlevenson/tags/carlos

Thanks (again) to my friend Madelyn Hammond at Variety Magazine – I was graciously comped 2 tix at Variety’s table to last night’s Webby Awards Gala at the famous Cipriani Wall St. in Lower Manhattan.

We were hosted at our table, most stylishly I might add, by Ed Meisner from Variety. Also at the table with us was William O’Donnell from Gorilla Spots; as well as the beautiful ladies from Embassy Row. Great conversation, good food & drink, an excellent time.

Seth Meyers of SNL fame was the host, with a night full of one-liners. Present at the awards were Stephen Colbert, Will.i.am, Ludacris and David Byrne. There was also a performance by DJ Mike Relm of Blue Man Group fame – among other things.

For those in “the know”, the Webbys only allow a five (5) word acceptance speech. This of course leads to all kinds of antics. I only regret not being able to stream video.Here’s a small collection of my Tweets from the event (ending at midnight yesterday – in reverse chrono order)…

• and so endeth my #webby stream… | about 1 hour ago from web
  
• colbert’s webby speech – “me me me me me” | about 1 hour ago from web
• colbert labelled “the democrats balls” by seth meyers at #webbys | about 1 hour ago from web
• tribal webby speech – “we’re hiring, send us resumes” | about 1 hour ago from web
• “please help me monetize this” most excellent webby speech | about 1 hour ago from web
• “fuck corp design, hire me” webby speech | about 1 hour ago from web
• “one time at band camp…” goodby webby speech | about 2 hours ago from web
• worst webby speech so far – “i admit i voted twice” by tribalddb | about 2 hours ago from web
• will.i.am – “now, we know we can” webby speech | about 3 hours ago from web
• “gov spitzer, we thank you” – webby speech from ny times | about 3 hours ago from web
• flock said “no shit, we beat facebook?”, then FB won the Peops Choice… | about 3 hours ago from web
• “who let the blogs out” – kewl webby speech | about 3 hours ago from web
• “not bad for an atheist” – best Webby speech yet! | about 4 hours ago from web
• lovin the 5 word acceptance speeches. ms. huffington said “president obama, sounds good right?” | about 4 hours ago from web

Cheers – Hjl

I’ve lurking and been playing with Plurk lately. Mostly lurking, but today I finally signed up, created my Plurk profile, and made one or two posts. What a great user interface. I’m so accustomed to Twitter, I almost wish Plurk was a Twitter mashup that could provide a visual timeline of your Twitter network…

Unfortunately for me (and Plurk), it’s a standalone application offering minimal outside integration beyond importing friends and publishing an RSS feed (except for some IM integration). The problem here, for me with my current habits, is that I’d have to discreetly stop what I’m doing, go to Plurk.com and post my message – while currently I can Twitter directly from my Netvibes homepage, from my Facebook profile, from my Friendfeed page and via mobile. I can even post Tweets automatically via Twitterfeed, which I have setup to sniff my blog & Flickr via RSS.

So my conclusion is that Plurk is a gorgeous looking application that may very well prove successful for folks entering the microblogging scene – especially considering how crappy Twitter has been performing lately. However, for those already Tweeting, the flexibility and extensibility of Twitter can’t be beat.

Just my 2 cents…

Let me preface this blog entry by saying that I am not a wine expert. I’m not a connoisseur of fine wine. I’m just a guy who knows what he likes when he tastes it.

I’m hoping to at least start a conversation with this posting. Please excuse the long preamble…

I’ve been lucky enough to have been invited to several wine tastings in recent years, thanks to my wife’s Uncle Bob. Bob is a member of a local country club here in North Jersey where they have a top notch restaurant with a great maître d’ & sommelier.

Most recently, my employer setup a wine tasting for us in the office, presented by a local North Jersey wine merchant. We had the opportunity to taste and discuss 6 wonderful wines, loosely paired with some lite fare (fruit, cheese & chocolate). Here’s the list of wines that we tried:

• Donhoff Oberhauser Leistenberg Kabinett, $32
• Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, $24
• High Point Pinot Noir, $20
• Greg Graham Syrah, $15
• Rodney Strong Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, $25
• Volpi Moscato, $14

Having been to tastings before, I expected the presenter to provide a brief education for those new to wine, explain the theme of the tasting (geography, varietal, food, etc.) and then setup each wine with a background on the maker, maybe some talk of food pairing and most importantly – what to expect from each wine…

Instead, we first got the presenter’s perspective on good quality vs. good taste. Good info. Then he continued to say that higher priced wines were better wines. This may be true, but is certainly in his best interest, since he’s a wine merchant… I’ve found from my little experience with wine, AND from most wine enthusiasts, that there are many excellent wines across the price spectrum. I haven’t even gotten to the punch line yet…

Someone in the room asked about the validity and value of wine ratings such as from Robert Parker & The Wine Advocate. The presenter went off on a tangent about how Parker’s ratings were bullshit because there’s no way a $1200 bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild can score a lower rating than a “lesser” wine. His case in point was a $15 wine that I can’t remember.

So what do all of you wine enthusiasts think? I really want your perspective on this.

Comment away…

Wow! Was pleasantly surprised this morning by an email from Michelle, blogger at bub.blicio.us that I’d won a pass to the upcoming O’Reilly conference in DC on “Graphing Social Patterns“. Was extremely excited about going, until I realized that I’d already paid for the Federated conference in NYC called “Conversational Marketing Summit“. Bummer that I can’t go to DC. but I do appreciate the opportunity and recognition for my entry.

Bub.blicio.us is a great site, published by Brian Solis, a well known blogger on Web2.0, social media, etc. “bub.blicio.us is here to help capture the excitement and insight behind everything two point oh providing a lens into the social landscape that’s energizing and shaping the new tech economy.”

The question I responded to was – “What emerging social media application or trend will have the biggest impact on mainstream society?”

My response was – “I applaud the growing use of social media in the world of non-profit and social action. I’ve seen a huge number of new “green” campaigns in social media and in non-profit fundraising applications.

Although this is not necessarily groundbreaking from a technical perspective, I feel that it can impact society in a significant way by increasing reach and awareness of important social issues; and will enable a larger number of people to participate and contribute to a given cause.”

http://bub.blicio.us/?p=965

Also, take a gander at Michelle’s sites. She’s not only in the SoMe space, but is also a wine blogger…

Michelle Lentz, Blogger

http://bub.blicio.us

http://www.wine-girl.net

http://www.writetech.net

It is a mashup of Twitter and Flickr where you can send a picture to Flickr and then it automatically updates your twitter subscribers.

“If you use Twitter & Flickr now you can show people where you are, not just tell them.”

Check it out here…

Here’s a short review…

Found a great primer on Search Engine Marketing by Morry Galonoy, principal of Lichinut & teacher at NYU/Parsons. The article is a few years old, but he provides the basics of SEM/SEO that I needed.

It also led me to the Web Producers Organization, a free resource for interactive producers & the like. It appears that the site hasn’t been updated recently, except for a few recent job listings. I hope it’s still actively maintained…

Enjoy…