Internet entrepreneur, author and renowned geek Chris Pirillo was in Des Moines this weekend and we (the #dmtweetup crew) joined him for an impromptu TweetUp. I got a chance to interview Chris about how Twitter has replaced his RSS reading habits, and I asked him what Des Moines (and Iowa) can do to retain and attract creative talent.
More videos and photos of the event can be found on various Flickr photostreams.
Special thanks to Andy at East Village Books for donating the location space, free coffee and Wifi.
After Sunday’s trainwreck/debacle/revolt at the Mark Zuckerberg SXSW keynote, the Facebook founder decided to engage in a “redo” conversation today at Pangaea during a Facebook developer meetup. I learned about this spur-of-the-moment event via Robert Scoble’s Twitter feed and instantly rushed to Pangaea in a cab.
Below is a short video I captured of Zuckerberg taking the stage. Today’s conversation was good for him, especially in light of yesterday’s bizarre keynote interview. He took open Q&A from the crowd and seemed to be more comfortable, in his element, and confident in what he was saying.
Last night I recorded this quick video at the Des Moines TweetUp with my Flip Video cam. Apologies for the lack of lighting. (We were in an underground drinking establishment.) Twitter-ers in attendance were @mikesansone, @abrudtkuhl, @miketempleton, @scottatdrake, @jakekerber and myself. Looking forward to the next one!
Starting your own video blog couldn’t be easier, because you only need two things: A $125 pocket-sized Flip Video camcorder and a way to publish your content online. That’s pretty much it. (Oh, and something interesting to say.)
I’m recommending the Flip to all Lava Row clients who are engaged in blogging efforts. Sure, you’re not going to have the polish of a high-end studio production, but you will have immediacy. Today, there’s simply no reason to not have a video component on your blog.
Since my Flip arrived in the mail I’ve been toying around with various publishing tools — Seesmic (still in beta), Blip.tv and ye olde stand-by, YouTube.
Here are some pros and cons:
Seesmic - There’s been a lot of buzz and early adoption of this app among Twitter users, but I can’t get past the all-Flash interface and FLV format limitations. Converting files to FLVs before uploading is the last thing I want to waste time on.
YouTube - This is by far the most mainstream and widespread publishing tool, but the audio and video quality is still lacking. I expect it can only get better over time, especially with Google’s war chest behind the R&D.
Blip.tv - It takes longer to get your file uploaded, but the output quality is very good. (So that settles it, I’m using Blip for my first vlog post!)
I realize there are dozens of other great video-sharing apps out there — which ones have you been successful with?
