Peaches concert in Hamburg

I just noticed Peaches is playing a concert in Hamburg a week before i'm flying to Paris for a month in May..... wonder if i can convince Jodie to fly to Germany for a few days first  :)


If you haven't spent an hour on YouTube watching some of her video clips you haven't experienced true androgynous raunch.


Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Awsome video editing of this Muppets version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aGTNS13SDU oh Miss Piggy you tramp.

Cablevision's remote DVR finally deployed

I noticed this morning in www.ShellyPalmerMedia.com

Cablevision is finally slated to roll out Remote Storage DVR service. The cable provider will make the set-top-box free DVR available in April, with plans to make it available to all customers by the end of 2010. The move comes after years of regulatory scrutiny and means less entertainment center clutter for consumers.



Very cool to see this finally being launched, i'm surprised that no one else has rushed to roll something similar for other content.

At the time of this ruling i thought we would see a rush to the cloudification of content that i went out and bought the domain  http://www.cloudification.net/  thinking we would see an onslaught of companies offering to "host" our dvd's and cd's that we demonstrated we owned etc etc

With bandwidth costs falling it seems a natural but here we are in 2010 and this is just being deployed now; what happened?

Cheers,
Dean Collins
http://www.cognation.net/

Byron Bay 2004

Some photos from a fab trip to Byron Bay Blues festival in 2004 - i cant believe it's been 6 years ago next month.



Cheers,
Dean

Never Giving Up

Fred Wilson wrote an interesting article last week;

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/02/nature-vs-nurture-and-entrepreneurship.html
That threw me and I've been ruminating on his conclusion ever since. I've been working with entrepreneurs for almost 25 years now and it is ingrained in my mind that someone is either born an entrepreneur or is not.



My comment is below;

It's pretty hard to "teach" pig headedness beyond all reasonable reality.

I think most entrepreneuers give up way to early.

There is no way i could give up on www.LiveChatConcepts.com even if i wanted to - it's cost me a lost personally (not monetarily) and i think thats what seperates people who do and dont make it in any field not just in the startup space.
 
 
 
Cheers,
Dean

Neustar Clearinghouse is a scam

I woke up this peaceful sunday morning, made a quiet coffee, and within 5 minutes of catching up on Twitter had steam in my ears.

Which leads to this piece of crap recycled PR fluff

I cant believe some of the lines that are being placed into this quote in the name of serious journalism.

"which allows barcodes from any advertiser or brand to be linked to web content independently of the barcode reader or service provider being used."
What baloney.


"Direct barcodes have the URL of the associated content embedded in the code. With indirect barcodes, the URL is of an intermediate web site where the code is looked up in a database and the corresponding content URL is returned. This means that the content URL is dynamic and can be updated."
Yes folks step right up, this is what Neomedia have patented and now are demanding Patent payments in order to do and what Neustar and the carriers are setting up to demand payments from content publishers to use.


"For example, it prevents counterfeit barcodes associated with the brand being used to execute fraud or copyright infringement"
Rofl


"and it means advertisers can customize and update the content associated with a barcode"
You mean like they couldn't change the content on their own server that the URL leade to before? hmm please speak more about these amazing powers you have.


"Neustar will charge a transaction fee per scan for use of the clearinghouse".
Ah yes now i see it.....


My comment that i posted on the article if they dont get deleted were.

Neustar clearinghouse is crap, it's a scam by certain people in the industry to make money from 2D Codes under the guise of "greasing the ecosystem means this thing will move forward".

You dont need to "grease" anything.

Any camera equipped smartphone can download a QR reader, regardless of what your carrier pre-loads.

Denso Wave the inventors of QR codes do not charge patent payments for the publishing or reading of QR codes.
Any content publisher can create QR codes for free without payment to anyone, regardless of what some scam artists say.
- QR codes dont need a clearhouse.
- Consumers dont need to pay.


Reporters need to do more research than simply quoting PR baloney.






Cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net/QR

QR codes at SXSW

Going to SXSW? Then get a QR reader installed onto your handset now as QR codes are playing a bigger role this year http://sxsw.com/qrcodes


Not going to SXSW and don’t have a QR reader installed on your handset? Browse on your mobile phone to this url  http://link.me/sxsw  and it will work out for you automatically which reader is available for your handset model.

Or just visit these sites directly if you want to try a few different versions.

· iPhone: I-Nigma
· Windows Mobile: Bee Tagg
· BlackBerry: I-Nigma or BeeTagg
· Android: Google Zxing Reader
· Nokia: I-Nigma

Still don’t know what a QR code is? Then check out www.Cognation.net/QR  for a “60 second dummies guide to QR codes”.


Cheers,
Dean

Baloon Boy - Doritos advertisement

Sadly, Doritos didn't choose this commercial as one of their finalists. If you think they should run it, let them know! http://www.alecbrownstein.com

ha Ha ha Ha

Cheers,
Dean

Prezident asks - I Can Haz Cheezeburger?

Bill Clinton went back to work today 1 week after having a new stent put in to replace the quadruple heart bypass from last year.

I dont think his minders thought through his schedule very well.... his first engagement was at a forum for obese children....President Cheezeburger himself chairing a platform for obese children - LOL love you clinton but .... #fail.


Cheers,
Dean

(Digg it if you think this is funny - http://digg.com/d31JC5e )

iPad

Should Wired be charging more for iPad versions than Print?
http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/02/wired-demos-its-ipad-app-it-rocks




More functions then more revenue? why not turn this digital should be cheaper argument on it's head and actually charge for more for the interactive version?


cheers,
Dean

Update all

Really wish droid had an "Update All" button. My motoroloa droid is telling me that there are 19 updates available for the software i have installed on my phone, i appreciate i probably have more apps than most people but clicking through the Android update routine 19 times is a pita.

Is it just me? or am i missing something?


Cheers,
Dean

Our Town by Thortyn Wilder

Apparently Our Town by Thortyn Wilder  is the most produced play ever in the USA. Went to see a production at The Barrow Street Theatre last night.

I dont want to give too much away but it is an amazing use of a 'stark stage' the play is produced with seating on all three sides and played in the round and with the lighting high enough that when an actor is looking at you, they are looking directly at you

My favorite line in the whole play was about how people live their whole lives in little boxes, if you see it you'll get the irony.

Cheers,
Dean

Melissa Ferrick

Was great to see Melissa Ferrick live again last night  (saw her live about 2 years ago) - same audience mix, me and about 199 lesbians, lol at least i could see right over the top of them. I dont know why she doesn't have wider audience appeal, her rendition of Drive to close out the show was one of the raunchiest live performances i've ever seen.

The Bell House really is the middle of no where but has an amazing sound system and at least if you know people are going to make the trek out to Gowanus you know they have to be great fans so it's always a good night.

She's got a new cd coming out in March that is a collection of covers, going to have to get it as she did this cover of a Lucinda Williams track that rocked out that i had to capture some of it on my cell (though it's a bit dark).




Cheers,
Dean

P.S. went to Bar Tano to grab something to eat before hand, still the best place locally out there, had a pulled short rib burger with caramelised onions and a home made mayo/mustard sauce that made it worth the trip alone....shame about the chips though :(

www.PlaceVine.com

just stumbled acoss - http://www.placevine.com/ - no use to me but what an amazing tool for those who are in the industry.




PlaceVine - Product Placement & Branded Entertainment Company

PlaceVine is a company offering a web-based service that connects marketers and content producers to brand integration and product placement opportunities across film, television and new media.

Cheers,
Dean

My Crazy Polar Bear

This is my crazy dog Lou Lou playing on the back deck during the snow this week. She's like me, has no sense to come in out of the cold when she's having fun. She was out there for about 10 minutes just playing around.



Some more snow photos from this week are here.


Cheers,
Dean

common short code 654654

Anyone reading this know anyone from Snackable Media?

Snackable Media
350 7th Avenue, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001
telephone: 212-588-1180
http://www.snackablemedia.com/


http://www.predicto.com/


I’d like to publicly shame them for texting cell phone numbers that Predicto LLC are slamming into their sms engine using the short code 654654.

If you want to point them out to me privately please do so as I’d like to punch them in the face personally and wait for them to say STOP – which I will ignore just the way they and their premium sms servers are ignoring my text message replies.

At least Predicto LLC are smart enough to have a phone number thats outsourced to an indian call center who refuse to hand over their USA head office phone number of so i cant extend the same punch courtesy on to them.

Yes I have filed a complaint with the FTC but seeing Snackable is local here to NY someone must know them and I’d like to extend them an extra special Hello to them.


BTW as of 11th of Feb add - 77893  http://www.thefinancespot.com Financial services alerts - to the shit list. it sounds like someone in NY is selling a list of mobile numbers and is going too get arrested sooner than later.

Nirvana - Nevermind

Wow - thats just scary.

I upload a few tracks into the Music Box ---->   to remind you just how perfect this album was( I mean 'is').

I'm going to go have a bex and a lie down...I'm getting too old.


Cheers,
Dean
(P.S. lol anyone who really knows me is laughing about the too old comment right about now).



P.P.S - After i uploaded the tracks i was checking out wikipedia - actually some people are just realy really bad at maths. regardless of whether the original people stating this were referring to the release dates of the album

Please Please Me was launched in 1963 - so in 1991 when Nevermind was launched it was 28 years old.
Nevermind is now only 19 years old


Or the age of the band members,

Krist Novoselic (the oldest Nivana member b1965) will be 45 in 2010 
Ringo Starr (the oldest Beatles memeber b1940) would have been 51 in 1991


Both dates are wrong by about 10 years.Come back and post this in 10 years from now guys......

www.RT.com

Want to see some refreshingly different news on TV? You might want to check out http://www.rt.com/ (if you are in NY on Time Warner it's channel 135).

I happened to stumble across this a few weeks ago and i keep flipping back from time to time to check it out for a different point of view.

Maybe their advertisement can get across how they look at both sides.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Dean

Fire hydrants

I've probably walked past this fire hydrant 500 times and never thought about it (it's on the route that i normally take Lou Lou for walks).

So is it just me or am i the only one who is wondering....when did they stop painting fire hydrants red?

Cheers,
Dean

#SB44

oh wow the fairytale katrina recovery is coming true -
http://www.livefootballchat.com/CHurl/02-07-2010/2842/1463 #Colts #Saints

Gilt exclusive sales

I keep hearing about how "Private Sales" are the hottest new trend and that people are clamouring to rush to 'outpurchase' their friends and that Gilt is one of the hottest at the moment....supposedly because you are supposed to be "invited" by someone in the "know".

lol - but if you go and sign up on their webpage saying you want to join you get an email pretty shortly thereafter, not right away but within 2 days when i signed up.

Ok so i have been looking at the Gilt Man emails over the last few days without seeing a single thing i would buy (let alone at the designer prices) lol but today i burst out laughing and finally had to unsubscribe.

lol - i'm out of here.

Cheers,
Dean

Motorola invests in Scanbuy

"Mobile barcodes are an extremely powerful tool for consumers, businesses and wireless providers, which makes this opportunity very exciting for Motorola," said Motorola Ventures Managing Director Reese Schroeder in a statement. "The camera quality, display capability and processing power of today's smartphones, coupled with advanced network speeds, now enable consumers and the advertising community to fully take advantage of mobile barcode technology."
http://www.wirelessweek.com/News/2010/02/Business-Motorola-Invests-Scanbuy-Mobile-Content/


lol wonder if Motorola will be as thrilled with their investment in the future.


QR codes are free - dont get suckered into paying for 2d codes or 2d code patent technology.
 
 
Cheers,
Dean

DVI-I Dual Link digital and analog cables

hmmm in case you ever get stuck with some DVI-I Dual Link digital and analog cables but only a DVI-D dual link digital connector on your monitor and you're wondering....hmmm my monitor connector doesn't have a slot for the 4 extra pins i wonder if i can just bend them out of the way..... the answer is yes, yes you can  :)

http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html#Page06

Basically you need to cut or bend those 4 pins around the flat blade. The good part about it is the metal outside sheath isn't conducting anything (unlike a mic cable etc) so the pins can be bent back and touch the outside - note in the 3 cables i modified i didn't let the 4 pins touch each other - basically i leaned them back using a small flat blade screw driver and then used a bigger screw driver that was able to force a 90 degree bend where they leant against the outside sheath.

Getting the cable into the monitor is a bit of a force because the flat blade is smaller on a DVI-D connector but if you can push it on to the point that the retaining screws will tighten you're golden, just use the screws to force it in.

Hopefully google will index this post so next time someone like me gets stuck and tries to google the answer they wont have to worry so much about if they should just return the package and wait another week for the right cables to be shipped back.

Cheers,

Dean

Monday mornings

Early Monday morning walking with Lou Lou on the promenade while listening to Supla...... Is there a better way to start the week?



(btw if you liked the track i just put some more Supla into the Music Box ---->>)

Cheers,
Dean