The Gadget Report
Just in time for CES, I’ve launched a new Gadget News show called The Gadget Report at GadgetReport.TV. I’m using the first couple episodes to work out my workflow and attempt to get it up to speed by Monday.
There are a couple major challenges I have being on camera. So far, my biggest problem is bringing enough energy to my presentation. My natural speaking voice is very soft. I kick it up when I talk to strangers. I have to kick it up even more when I talk through a camera. It’s a matter of practice. I’ll get there quick enough. The other challenge for me is a tendency to talk with my hands. People found it distracting on episode 1, especially since my hands don’t necessarily relate to what I’m saying. 
In episode 2, which I’m editing now, I calm my hands. It turns out, though, there is some degree of correlation between how much my hands move and the amount of energy I put in my voice. It will be interesting to see if anyone notices that.
When you watch the first episode, I hope you’ll be reminded of the spirit and humor of GeekBrief.TV, and I hope you’ll get a sense of where I’m going with the show. I’m starting with a look back at some of my favorite gadgets, in different categories, from the last year. Tomorrow, I’ll start covering CES remotely the way we did with GeekBrief.TV.
I’m a pretty harsh self-critic, and I have to read the advice Ira Glass from This American Life gives to creatives from time to time …
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” -Ira Glass
Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.
The first few episodes of The Gadget Report will have flaws, but they’ll give you a taste of what I’ve imagined. It will take a bit of time to work out a workflow that isn’t interminable. I like making extremely produced shows. That takes a lot of time. Episode 1 took at least 20 hours to post-produce. I’m building template elements that are already helping me speed things up. My goal is for it to take six hours from writing to upload. It may take months to get to that point. I expect to release an episode approximately every other day.
If you haven’t seen the first episode of GadgetReport.TV, please watch it now and help me spread the word. Subscribe and give thumbs up at Youtube, and then subscribe in iTunes once it’s available there as a podcast later this week! I appreciate you giving it a shot and need your help in matchmaking the show with the audience that will enjoy it!
The script and transparent .png files of gadgets I cover will be available at GadgetReport.TV / episode number, so for example the script and images for episode 1 of The Gadget Report is at GadgetReport.TV/1.
Read MoreA Temporary Thing
Being married to Luria was all I ever wanted in life. It was the thing I prayed for in bed when I was nine-years-old. I wanted to be married to a beautiful, smart, sweet girl. I’m not sure what I believe about God anymore, but Luria turned out to be an answered prayer. I loved her, love her and will always love her.
I worked on things to fit what she said where her dreams. Modeling didn’t work because that business is just weird. She groked it and that business doesn’t like girl who grok it. We then started writing a book. Harry Potter was taking off and we started writing a book set in New Orleans with a flood threat that skidded to a halt with Katrina. My next thing was podcasting inspired by Dawn and Drew. The Crappy Christian Show quickly evolved from Luria and me getting drunk and talking into a mic into a ministry type thing to share the idea that God may love gay people just as they are, without any expectation they change. I didn’t want to be in ministry and Luria certainly didn’t.
Steve Jobs announced the first iPod that played video and I worked to make that iPod play GeekBrief.TV. That worked well. We started making money. Mevio was a great partner. Luria wanted more, and people in her life convinced her she was the character I wrote every day. Her belief that she was Cali Lewis grew into an argument that led her to leave our marriage.
I still want to be writing tech news as Cali Lewis and producing GeekBrief.TV. I don’t get that as an option, and I’ve come close to launching alternative visions. I almost released a gadget show yesterday.
Here’s the deal though … I don’t want to work on a next thing that is anything but temporary. My heart can’t currently believe in long term. I want to work, but I’m not ready to say, “This is the thing that replaces Cali Lewis and GeekBrief.TV for me.” Even my dreams for Bacon.TV in partnership with Wright Brand Bacon isn’t that powerful!
The Mayans predicted the world ends at the end of 2012. Obviously, that’s silly just like when that preacher dude did it twice in 2011. But you know what? So what! What will happen if I live this year like it’s not only my last year, but yours? That’s what I’m going to do.
Tomorrow I launch a temporary thing I can believe in and I think it will inspire you to do something better than you planned to do in 2012. It isn’t serious because I’m not ready to be serious. It’s just about fun.
I’ve lost my life goal of being married to a beautiful, smart, and kind girl. I’m not making that kind of goal again. To make it through. I want to live as though it’s not only my last year but yours too.
Read MoreLeaving GoDaddy
I stopped registering domain names with GoDaddy.com long ago.
GoDaddy was a huge part of GeekBrief.TV’s revenue. It wasn’t sponsorship. It was commission. We made money when people registered a domain name using promo code GB1, GB2, or GB3. Enough GeekBrief.TV viewers were using that code that we were making $10,000 a month in commissions. GoDaddy wanted to change our promo codes because so many people were using them. That pissed us off and we told Bob Parsons, “thanks, but no thanks.” We worked hard to brand those codes and we were not willing to give up the power of our back catalog to loose money. We were only willing to continue to work with GoDaddy.com if they were willing to continue to work with GeekBrief.TV
We stopped promoting them, and I started a search for a new domain name registrar. The one I picked and the one I recommend is Name.com
I won’t support GoDaddy.com because I believe Bob Parsons is a bad man for a simple reason. Supporting SOPA matters to me a whole lot less than the fact he shot an elephant. Any person who shoots an elephant is a murderer. It’s not the same as shooting a deer or a pig. If you think I’m wrong, do some research. Elephants mourn their dead in a way other animals don’t. Anyone who would shoot an elephant isn’t worthy of my business.
I’m not a PETA person, either. I love hunters. I’ve got elk and deer meat in my freezer now. Shooting deer or elk for food is not anything like shooting an elephant to prove to yourself that you have a penis.
There are lots of alternatives to GoDaddy.com. I’ve chosen Name.com and I’ve loved the experience working with them. I sincerely apologize to those of you who registered domain names with GoDaddy.com because of GeekBrief.TV. We misjudged them and I’m sorry.
Hidden Radio and Bluetooth Speaker
Early in the days of GeekBrief.TV, when we had quit the day job to produce the show full-time, I had a need that wasn’t being met by any available technology. I used the show to lobby for wireless speakers that could be placed around a house or an apartment so whatever podcast I played in iTunes would fill the place.
I designed this cube inspired by Tivoli Audio’s Model One as the form factor I wanted.
And then when Griffin Technologies had their Evolve wireless speakers ready, they invited us to preview them at their HQ in Nashville.
We learned about the problems engineers had to overcome to make wireless work without lag and asynchronicity. Those issues have been conquered and now wireless speakers work great. My favorite wireless speaker technology is made by Soundcast. Good stuff.
Industrial Designers, John Van Den Nieuwenhuizen and Vitor Santa Maria have surpassed a goal on Kickstarter to manufacture a gorgeously designed Bluetooth wireless speaker and radio where the whole top is a giant volume knob. About the size of a giant coffee mug, the hidden speaker has a rechargeable battery providing 30-hours of streaming audio.
