Freyburg.com

Jim Munroe's "Infest Wisely" interview at the Vancity Theatre

Author and filmmaker Jim Munroe was in Vancouver on September 23rd for Vidfest, a digital/new media conference. He was here to show Infest Wisely, a "lo fi sci fi" movie that replaces expensive special effects with ideas, and yelling crew members with collaboration between seven teams to create one feature film. On a personal note, I tried to cut this with Final Cut Pro at first, but then I realized I was unnecessarily adding B-Roll and other holdovers from my TV editing days, when all anyone really wants is to hear what Jim has to say. So I dipped into iMovie and got this video done in about an hour. While I'm going to stick with FCP for documentaries and shorts, iMovie would seem to be the way to go for fast videoblogging.

Click To Play

Radio Free Skaro #51 - The Podcast of Blood

Despite Chris (the "Third Guy") being set upon by some sort of throat ailment, the RFS crew set forth and valiantly commentated on "The Family of Blood," the second part of Paul Cornell's season 3 magnum opus and a corking bit of Who into the bargain. We also miraculously rescued 14 minutes of news from the doldrums of between-season uneventfulness. (feed, web, direct download)

The Lab with Leo party at the Alibi Room

Last night I had a chance to finally meet Leo Laporte at a party at the Alibi Room commemorating 100 episodes of "The Lab with Leo" on TechTV Canada. I was a bit of a dilettante viewer in the glory days of the now-defunct TechTV, but once Leo started the TWIT podcast network, I quickly became a huge fan of his work, especially This Week in Tech and Macbreak Weekly. It was nice to tell him his efforts inspired me to start Radio Free Skaro, which Steven and I had discussed but never really gotten around to doing for a full year before we started (which makes it doubly strange that we're closing in on our 50th episode next week.)

I also got to meet Victor Lucas, who created the Electric Playground and who is the driving force behind The Lab with Leo. I spent many a Saturday morning watching what at the time was the only show about video games worth a damn (the 1up Show and their various audio podcasts being worthy contenders nowadays), so it was neat to thank the guy for his efforts.

I didn't bring a camera, but others took my picture, so I'll post those later. Meantime, here's some thoughts from other people at the party.

The Internet's "black holes"

Reporters Without Borders has put together a great map that shows not only the insane amount of internet connections spanning the globe but also the countries where internet access is rare, restricted just plain non-existent, referred to as "black holes."... More...

Vint Cerf's Internet predictions

Vint Cerf, one of the inventors of the Internet, predicts television is about to hit its "iPod moment" and will soon be primarily downloaded for later viewing. I can personally attest to live TV taking a backseat to downloaded content... More...

Newspapers pwned by Internet

This should come to a shock to no-one, but the steady diet of news available online is weakening the power of the once mighty newspaper. I agree with the author of this Slate column, who says by the time he... More...

Radio Free Skaro #47 - Mehvolution of the Daleks

The episode under fire in our commentary may be nothing to write home about, but this week's episode of Radio Free Skaro was indeed special in that it included Chris Burgess, our perennial silent partner and Fifth Beatle. Chris threw... More...

I'm at Barcamp Vancouver 2007....

...nerding it up. Lots of my A/V club brethren are here at Barcamp Vancouver 2007 giving talks and enlightening each other as to the mysteries of social media, Web 2.0, and assorted whatnot. More later.... More...

Radio Free Skaro #46 - Daleks in Meh-hattan

Warren and Steven tear into what was definitely the lowlight of the season, Daleks in Manhattan, which had all the potential for greatness but failed to live up to its promise every step of the way. At least it gave... More...

The worst job in new media

There was a time in my distant past when I was a Master Control Operator for several Canadian national broadcast networks. Despite the grandiose sounding title, it was thankless drudgework which consisted mostly of making sure "Caillou" kept broadcasting through... More...

Radio Free Skaro #45 - Gridlock commentary and other sundry bits

One of our favorites from Season Three goes under the microscope as Warren and Steven subject "Gridlock" to their witty, nay brilliant commentary. We also veered off into a few other topics off the top, including "Life on Mars" (which... More...

Silicon Valley millionaires don't feel rich..

...to which I say, "boo frickin' hoo." But judge for yourself if Silicon Valley's minted middle-class has it rough.... More...

How music escapes the labels

Ever wondered how music gets out of the recording studio and into the hands of downloaders months ahead of an album's release? Here's how.... More...

Dvorak on Bubble 2.0

John C. Dvorak, everyone's favorite former Mac-hating curmudgeon, is declaring the impending Web 2.0 crash the "worst yet." I can't say I disagree with him, though it seems the sums of money being flung around like so much monkey dung... More...

Internet TV gets professional

Well, that's a debatable point, as a lot of net.tv is just someone talking with a bluescreen background, which reminds me more of the glory years of cable TV (which I am somewhat familiar with, having worked at an Edmonton... More...

Trying to explain gold-farming to someone from 1977

I'd wager that's an almost impossible (hypothetical) state of affairs, but sci-fi author Charlie Stross gives it his best shot.... More...

Blogs celebrate 10 years

The Wall Street Journal takes some time out from heavy tycoon coverage to remind us that blogs are now 10 years old. For some reason they ask the likes of geriatric wordsmith Tom Wolfe what he thinks about blogs, but... More...

The net, circa 1994 (without Sandra Bullock, thankfully)

While I would have preferred a guided tour of the ancient Web 0.5 via Wang Laboritories, this video from DEC brings back a rush of memories of surfing the web on my old Pentium 90 chugging along using Windows 95.... More...

Second Life meets Google Earth

Result: Metaverse. I 'm not entirely sure Second Life is the coming of the long-vaunted 3-d Internet universe science fiction writers scribbled about in the 80's and 90's, but it is an interesting proof of concept to see the real... More...

Microsoft Expressions party at Canvas Lounge...the video

As promised, here's the video I whipped up for the Microsoft Expressions event. You can watch it on this page, or on my blip.tv page. Click To Play... More...

Microsoft Expression event at Canvas Lounge

I got invited to a Microsoft event last Thursday introducing Microsoft Expression to Vancouver's tech community. Though I'm a big tech-head, I was there more because of my blogging and PR background, and I was also able to suggest a... More...

America, founded on piracy

At least, that's one of the many observations of noted free-speech iconoclast Cory Doctorow in an article in Information Week that covers the copyright wars, intellectual property squabbles, and how DRM and litigation-happy entertainment companies are holding back the U.S.... More...

Todbits.tv hits the net

Tod Maffin, blogger, CBC technologist and radio guy extraordinaire, has a new online TV show called Todbits.tv, where he gives out live tech advice, in addition to profiling movers and shakers in the Canadian technology scene. What I really like... More...

Computers are the new Wall St. tycoons

Which, really, is as it should be. Computers don't order expensive booze in high-end restaurants while loudly making asses of themselves, nor do they show up on the cover of Forbes smoking cigars and looking smug. But in all seriousness,... More...

Google's Final Days

Robert X. Cringley can sometimes prognosticate in ways that make you think he's gone off his meds, but his latest column on the company that'll take over from Google as Lord of the Internet is a good solid read. His... More...

Web 2.0 bubbles over

One of my favorite parts of the TWIT podcast is John C. Dvorak, the crankasaurus who injects a needed dose of realism and "yeah, right" into the proceedings whenever people get a little too utopian about the future of the... More...

Idiots with cameras

Blogging gave everyone with access to a computer the chance to express their opinion. Some people chose to use this newfound power to record every mundane detail of their lives in excruciating detail. With the rise of online video, this... More...

Internet killed the video clerk

With the advent of the Internet, the number of slacker tastemakers at the local artsy video store who sneer at your choice of rental is rapidly shrinking. The net isn't the only factor to blame; the article I linked to... More...