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Relevantly Speaking

Relevantly Speaking

Benjamin Zander at Pop!Tech 2008 - The possibilities are abundantDecember 10 2008

A very special thanks to Garr Reynolds for featuring this TED presentation today. I would love to have Benjamin Zander as an instructor, or a mentor. This morning, during coffee, when I usually catch up on the things that have already happened, I spent the 20 minutes or so learning about the things that MIGHT happen. I was so inspired by how he worked with his student to break apart music for Cello and actually begin to look at the parts, and place between the notes, and the connections between not only the pieces and the parts and the spaces, but connections those things have to each other AND to the audience. Benjamin also included the connection to the artist, a 15 year old talent named Nicholi, and inspired him to change his interaction with the music as well.

I am sure you will all take away a different nugget or two of wisdom, or inspiration or whatever… but I am so fully inspired to look at those parts of the whole, the spaces between the notes, and see if I can not add a different sense of beauty, of perspective, or of interpretation with the new work I am doing (more on that later).

I also hope to bring you a review of Benjamin’s book,

RS #32 - Guy Kawasaki of AlltopDecember 2 2008

When you talk about innovation, there are very few people in that space more influential than Guy Kawasaki. In addition to his storied career as an Apple Fellow and a Venture Capitalist, Guy currently finds himself as the Co-Founder of Alltop, an online magazine rack. Christopher Smith and I sat down with him a couple of months ago in Santa Barbara to talk about the state of advertising, affiliate marketing, and his TiVo.

As an aside, there is a funny story about how this interview came about. First, you have to understand the type of person that Christopher is (Think of Hank Moody as a Creative Director instead of an author and you have it about right). That said, we’re staying at the Fess Parker Resort in Santa Barbara. It just so happens that Commission Junction has their yearly gathering going on where Guy is the Keynote Speaker. The night before his speech he Tweets that he’s arrived at Fess Parker and that he’s in the Presidential Suite. Wasting no time, Christopher calls the front desk and asks to be connected to “Mr. Kawasaki in the Presidential Suite.” After a moment of awkwardness, Guy suddenly finds the humor in how the event unfolded and after a brief chat, he agrees to do an interview with us.

Still believe that social networking is not a

RS #31 - Bhaskar Roy of QikNovember 25 2008

When you think about how much technology has changed the way we view media, it’s staggering. Who would have imagined, even 10 years ago, that the technology would exist today to stream live video from your mobile phone to a potential audience of millions of people around the world? Qik is the company that is leading that revolution. Christopher Smith and I  caught up with Co-Founder, Bhaskar Roy, at the Play Conference in Berkeley to chat about jailbreaking your iPhone, using Qik as your family camcorder and more.

Download or Watch in Quicktime: iPod | Hi-Definition

RS #30 - Julien Decot of SkypeNovember 18 2008

This past Saturday we trucked on over to UC Berkeley to the Haas School to attend the Play Conference. One of the interesting people we got a chance to talk to was Julien Decot, the Director of Strategy for Skype. We asked him about when we could expect an iPhone Application, what their plans were for HD video chat, and his reaction to Google entering the video chat space.

Download or Watch in Quicktime: iPod | Hi-Definition

RS #29 - Rory Murray of Ripple6November 11 2008

During our recent New York trip, Christopher Smith & I visited the offices of Ripple6. We chatted with Rory Murray, Senior Vice President of Business Development, about the success Ripple6 is having working with brands like Pampers. Over the next few months, you’ll start to hear the terms “social insight” and “social marketing.” Listen as Rory explains what it means and why it’s important.

Download or Watch in Quicktime: iPod | Hi-Definition