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Petentials Reviewed by Amber and Leo June 8, 2008

Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Site News, Markteting, Podcasts, Links, Reviews, Web Sites, Entrepreneurship, itunes, Petentials, Social Networking , 4 comments

Best of the Net Hooray for Google Alerts, and my media habits. A few days ago, I got an email from the google (now with a new and un-improved favicon…blech). This email linked to a blog post that linked to a podcast, and that was exciting.

The blogger was Kym Huynh, one of the hosts of a brand-new podcast called Best of the Net. In their first episode, The Google Bar, the topic was Pets, and the first story was Petentials, which is just amazing.

Then as I’m listening to some of my weekly podcasts, I noticed something even more amazing.

Net @ Night Every week, Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte sit down to talk about the latest happenings on the Internet. A few weeks ago, they were complaining about not having any guests, so they solicited the audience to email in if they had a web startup. Being the faithful listener that I am, I had to tell them about Petentials. I really thought they’d have thousands of suggestions like this every week, so I didn’t exactly expect to hear anything too soon, but…

I was listening to this week’s Net @ Night, “Tiffany Roll”, and when Amber got to the letters, I heard her say “This week’s letter is from Ryan Price in Orlando…”

Excuse me?

…and then they talked about Petentials for the next several minutes. I stopped right where I was standing and smiled the biggest smile. Right after that I called Darren and told him the good news.

Let’s keep the good vibes going - I know lots of you folks out there have podcasts and blogs - how would you like to feature a new social network that has been covered by Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur? Yeah, I thought so…!

Listen to net@night 55: Tiffany Roll (RSS, iTunes)
Listen to Best of the Net 1: The Google Bar (RSS, iTunes)

Looking at the dates that these were released, I almost wonder if the Best of the Net show heard about us via the live stream that Amber and Leo do over at TwitLive.TV while they are taping the show. If so, that makes for a great follow-up to my previous post.

BarCampOrlando IZEA Geekout Party April 7, 2008

Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Podcasts, Orlando, Links, Events, Video, Beer, floridacreatives, Entrepreneurship, photos, Contributors, OrlandoScene, BarCamp, Social Media Events , 1 comment so far


BarCampOrlando April 2008 IZEA Party, originally uploaded by hyperlinkguerrilla.

This was how I spend 90% of the time at the IZEA GeekOut Party - talking to Tara Lamberson and Dan Kinchen about a Central Florida Tech Association, or something like it.

Thanks to Ted Murphy for throwing the party - we hope to see you on the 21st for Florida Creatives. Also thanks to Adam Teece for hosting the podcasts.


Also appearing in this video: Ted Murphy, Gregg Pollack and a widdle baby
See more videos by Adam at the GeekOut

The 80/20 Rule and Win-Win-Win March 21, 2008

Posted by Ryan in : Markteting, Podcasts, Links, Quotes, Video, Trends, Entrepreneurship, open source, Love , 2 comments

Gary Vaynerchuk talks about a secret that he thinks is at the core of much of his success.

Reposted from: The 80/20 Business rule…..heck Life - my 2 minute take on life

Many folks who were at Future of Web Apps in Miami had nice things to say about Gary V’s talk. I’ve also seen some other really nice videos by this guy on the web, and probably bookmarked them on my Ma.gnolia - check the RSS or link over there to check my bookmarks.

I can’t say that Gary has all these ideas himself, and he does credit Kathy Sierra and Tara Hunt at the beginning of his video (google those people if you don’t know who we’re talking about).

Right, I don’t think all his ideas are too super-original, but he has a very large and very rabid audience, and he understands how he got them, and he also presents it in a very down-to-earth manner. There is no barrier to entry for Gary unless you’re afraid of spelling his name or people from New York.

I also like how he tells us not to channel Calacanis (or whoever), but just to be ourselves and do it really well and look out for other people.

If you look at your seemingly selfless (my brother would say altruistic) efforts in the ways you are benefiting yourself, the other person and those around you (or you, your partners in business and the community, or you, your fellow artists and the people who enjoy your art), you’re going to have not only success, but a great feeling about how you got there.

Win-Win is not enough, you have to look for Win3. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, true, but if you paid attention in physics, there is always a release of heat or some byproduct of the reaction. If you can find the way to set up a reaction with a happy byproduct, everyone wins.

Take Hydrogen Fuel Cells. They last longer, they’re sustainable to produce (I think), and the waste product is water. The customers are happy because of the small powerful battery, the business should be happy because they’re not working with a limited supply of something like oil, and the people of the world should be happy because there isn’t a battery rotting in the ground.

Open source is the same. When everyone is giving 80%, expecting 20%, the products are amazing, the community is healthy and the users of the products are happy. Win-Win-Win.

I can see this especially given my new situation with Petentials. We have all been giving so much for so long, but it’s getting so easy to do things now, our vision is getting really razor-sharp, we’re having a napalm-like burst of awesome ideas, and we can see the next plateau.

Things are just going really well right now. I have my complaints, but if there was nothing to reach for, I think I would lock myself in my apartment and curl up in a ball for lack of something to do. I am addicted to this stuff, and I’m starting to see the rewards.

Steve Jobs Never Finished College, Speaks at Graduation January 27, 2008

Posted by Ryan in : Career, Links, Video, Trends, Entrepreneurship, Storytelling, Twitter , 2 comments

via johl’s ramen soup

Several of my teachers at UCF used to say “Fail early and often”. Failing early and often requires you to stay hungry and foolish like the back of the Whole Earth Catalog said. Both statements belong someplace where you can see them, like in your cubicle or near the door to your house. Maybe that’s a good use for the “Hello, Dolly” plugin that comes with every Wordpress install. Now you can share those quotes with yourself and your blog readers. Also check out @iheartquotes on twitter. I think I found that because of Alex’s fun and useful Twitterholic.

Also about the video:
As always, Steve has prepared every moment of this presentation to the exact second when people will clap and he takes a sip from his water. I also really like how they show the graduates who have no respect for what they’re wearing at all, because it’s just gotten ridiculous to wear a gown to a party anymore, and they know it. The final message “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” is not how I would put it, but if you know what’s behind it, then it works.

Johl (whose tumbalog I nabbed this from) is friends with Johannes from monochrom, and I’ll believe those kids are all hungry and foolish, and they’ve certainly found what they love to do.

New Year’s Reflection January 7, 2008

Posted by Ryan in : Site News, Podcasts, Orlando, Liberatr, Web Sites, floridacreatives, Entrepreneurship, Contributors, PodCamp , 1 comment so far

Last night, I talked to (more like was interviewed by) Stephen McKenney Steck, the President Emeritus of the local PBS and NPR affiliates here in town. He was very interested in what I’ve done and what I’m doing, and he asked me several times to send him links to everything I talked about. While composing the email, I noticed a pattern. I would talk about the project and then I felt compelled to say “but this is what it’s really supposed to accomplish”. This gets me thinking…

It’s no secret that I’m making most of my bread and butter working for a local startup, but there’s a catch: I can’t keep myself stocked too well with bread and butter this month. This is no slight to Darren, Michael and Kia, it just happens that I need to find some additional sources of income.

I actually had a decent amount of inquiry about my person and my skills pre-holidays, but then the holidays happened and I don’t know the status of any of these requests. I’m thinking it’s time for a little of Plan A, a lot of Plan B. More on Plan B in the future, I promise.

For now, here’s how I described my past work to Mr. Public Broadcasting Himself:

Florida Creatives Happy Hour

The Florida Creatives is a networking group that meets every Third Monday of the month in downtown Orlando. I was inspired to form this group by several usergroups and meetups I’ve participated in the past - we meet in bars, because the best friendships and conversations are often had in the hallways after an event or in the bar across the street. In addition to our standalone after-work events, we’ve also hosted Happy Hours after the Enzian Film Slam and the Orlando Fringe Festival. I’d really like to have a program that lets us get in touch with students, both college and high school, and a long-term goal would be to have a summer camp for High School students to encourage them to pursue creative careers and programs of study.
Our Email Announcement List

Blogging Fringe

A community site built around the Orlando Fringe Festival. The Fringe is arguably the best 2 weeks of the year in Orlando, and I thought it deserved a fan site. I always try to get multiple people involved in writing reviews, posting updates or making videos, and in 2007 we were given the “Fringe of the Fringe” Award, which is exactly what we try to be. I was always hoping that my work on this website would get me some paying jobs, but artists don’t have any money, so it’s mostly a labor of love.

Ryan Price vs. the Media

My personal blog. I talk about media, technology, local happenings and whatever is on my mind.

Orlando Scene TV

The evolution of the Blogging Fringe concept, applied to Central Florida, with the caveat that all the posts would be video-centric, and another collaboration-heavy project. My friend Rebekah Lane is an actress, so she and I produce most of the videos together. We have also had other contributors, each with varying degrees of acting and production experience. I had always hoped this could be an open channel for anyone to submit video, and I hope we can get to that point as a city some day.

Pop Means Cuddle

A show “just for fun” I record with my friend Marc. He runs a music and media review site, and we get some music and interviews with musicians, and we’ve also interviewed the creators of an Internet TV show. So far, it appears we have a little Internet and a little music, which makes lots of sense if you look at the two people who host the show

Liberatr.net

This is the home of any podcast or blog I have produced myself, and those of a few friends. Many of the shows are co-hosted by friends, and 4 of them were produced solely by other authors, while I provided technical support. I had hoped that by having multiple “channels” we could attract a larger audience and become more attractive to advertisers. Now I am seeing the podcasts and blogs as a great way to support a larger content network and vice versa.

I realize as I read these descriptions back to myself that I always state a goal that is very far in the future or very much unrealized. I don’t doubt that if I could quit my job and apply 40+ hours a week to any one of these projects, I could reach said goals.

I have now come up with an even bigger, better project that is a real sink or swim scenario. I must either quit my job and start making money at this idea or decide that I’m still not ready and continue freelancing and consulting for a few years until I come up with another crazy scheme. I suppose this is the same dilemma all entrepreneurs face. The real kicker is the fact that there’s no easy answer to this question: When do you take the plunge?

I can’t agree more… enjoy what you’ve got November 9, 2007

Posted by Ryan in : Video, Entrepreneurship, Graphics, Teaching, Storytelling , 2 comments

What a Week! August 31, 2007

Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Site News, Career, Blogging, Podcasts, Orlando, Cervo, Links, Drupal, Events, Coworking, Wikipedia, Trends, Earth, Liberatr, Web Sites, floridacreatives, Entrepreneurship, Teaching , add a comment

Exciting stuff, and I’m sure there’s more, like new podcasts with awesome interviews and awesome Internet TV too. There must be more getting tangled up in all the excitement. If you’d like to hear more about any of these endeavors, I’d be happy to chat. There are a dozen ways to contact me mentioned on my blog, so just pick one.

Blogbait for Dan Rua August 10, 2007

Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Career, Blogging, Orlando, Links, Events, Trends, floridacreatives, Entrepreneurship , 1 comment so far

If you don’t know Dan Rua, know that he is a Venture Capitalist who invested in PayPerPost, an Orlando-based business. He’s a Managing Partner of Inflexion Partners, “Florida’s Venture Fund”, and a part-time blogger. In addition to geeky stuff, he also posts about biotech and UF/Gainesville (his alma mater) quite often.

In light of John Rife’s blog today about Central Florida’s Early-stage Venture Needs, I got to thinking about how we can further encourage such an event. I’d like to nominate Dan to be on the planning committee for the first Florida Creatives Summit, which I would love to happen some time in the next 6-9 months, sooner if possible. He should definitely attend a Florida Creatives Happy Hour like the one on August 20th or Sept 17th. I’ll accept BarCamp Orlando or BlogOrlando as well. Mostly, I’d like to speak to a real live VC guy from Florida.

Dan, I’d just like to have you as a contact more than over MyBlogLog. How’s that sound?

Here are some events we’re holding in the near future, but they happen each 3rd week of the month.

likemind.orl
Friday, August 17th
8:00 - 11:00 AM
B & S Daily Market
47 E Robinson St
Orlando, FL

Florida Creatives Happy Hour
Monday, August 20th
6:00 - 9:00 PM
Crooked Bayou
50 E Central Blvd
Orlando, FL

I’m 25 Today!! July 18, 2007

Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Site News, Career, Podcasts, Orlando, Music, Events, Video, Trends, Travel, Mr. A for Effort, Entrepreneurship, London , 2 comments

One birthday regret: I weigh more than 10 times my age. Hopefully this will be the last birthday I will ever have to say that.

If Digg is Mob Mentality, Pownce is a Clique June 30, 2007

Posted by Ryan in : Tech, News, Career, Markteting, Orlando, Links, Quotes, Reviews, Trends, MySpace, Web Sites, Mr. A for Effort, Entrepreneurship, Facebook , 1 comment so far

I recently posted a comment on Mashable I’d like to share with you, my subscribers. The post was Rise of the Rose Bashers? and it pointed out people who have never used Kevin Rose & company’s new IM/filesharing service, Pownce.

At the moment, one of the most popular stories on Digg is entitled: “Kevin Rose & Pownce Get Pwned by Uncov“, in which potshots are taken at Rose and Pownce. Further insults are piled on by the Diggers.

The digg audience is almost entirely made up of followers, not leaders. That’s actually the business model for the whole damned site! It’s not a big surprise to me that a service that allows for individuality and groups and privacy would not appeal to the “me too” crowd. Digg users don’t like being told they can’t do something - they’re spoiled in that way. That’s why the HD-DVD code was such a big deal, and the comments changes too. If one person has a contrary idea and they can be persuaded, the Diggers will glom on so they can be “cool”. This is how pop/anti-pop culture works.

If this doesn’t apply to you personally, great. Generalities are not ultimatums. There is a sliding scale, I’ll be the first person to admit to that.

Pownce (without having used it) seems like a “friends only” type of service - it will end up having a completely different audience because the service is fundamentally different. You’re not sharing with the world, but custom groups. This is Facebook vs. MySpace. One is for friends, one is for the public. The type of audience you see on these sites is very different. A service that gave you the best of both worlds was LiveJournal, with friends only, private and public posts, as well as custom groups. This is just that idea with a focus on IM and file sharing.

I think Digg has proven over its 3? years of existence that it’s not going anywhere - actually, I wish they’d exapnd the service to include geographic categories - like countries, states, metropolitan areas - Outside.in is currently my choice for that kind of stuff, and Ma.gnolia could be if we could get some people using the service. I think that’s the big thing with any of these Web 2.0 ideas - if nobody participates, it doesn’t matter how good your service is. I’m working on a social networking site, and I’m planning to make my own local content offering, so I now see that you not only need to convince one group of users but that group ans several of their friends. This is the real trick. How do we do that?