Commanding Chaos for Coworking, Open Source and Creative Communities

Finally Using My French Press for Coffee

Tue, 10/24/2006 - 20:17 -- rprice

Really, this blog post is an experiment to see how many Gevalia Coffee ads I pull and how much comment spam I get by tomorrow, but just for fun:
French Presses
Wikipedia answers the age-old question: What is a French Press?

I used my French Press (Webster Flea Market, $4) for the first time today and I must say I am pleased. Now I have one method of obtaining hot water for all my beverages, and that's the tea pot. Instead of having to load grounds in the Mr. Coffee, measure out the water, wash the carafe, load the beans in the filter, pour the water, all that junk, I just have one vessel for my coffee, and one way to heat it. My roommate has been talking about getting a single-cup or pod coffee maker like a Senseo, but I remembered my French Press and I must say I like it. Now I'm not wasting money on a fancy machine.

If you are in town, come over and I'll make you a cup. Decaf or regular? I even have hazelnut CoffeeMate in the fridge.

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Films Films Films

Mon, 10/23/2006 - 23:11 -- rprice

This past weekend was the first ever Orlando Film Festival... in case you missed it, and it's likely you did. The people who put this thing together are well-known and respected in the Florida film community. I got a chance to sit down with the programming team, Brian Quain and Michael King. You may recognize Brian as the inventor of a phenomenon only known as "The Game". Michael is known mostly in Orlando for his Writing-Producing-Acting role in his film The Way Back Home.

Go get the Podcast at Make it Short, part of Liberatr.net if you are interested. About 11 minutes. Just use your right mouse button and download it like a good kid, or subscribe.

I found out tonight while watching Vision TV's Behind the Indie Camera with Ralph Clemente that The Way Back Home was produced largely at Valencia... Good to know. A bit pretentious to interview people from a film you were in on your own show, but who doesn't want to be proud of the institution they have put years of blood, sweat and tears into? If I ever get braggy about my projects, let me know.

Also on the film front is local startup Caféshorts. This is the sort of thing you have to see to believe, and now I believe. Brett Jaffe, a local writer/producer and FSU alum, got the idea to help bars and restaurants get some extra patrons on their slow nights by supplying 4 or so short films and (I think) sharing profits that come in from reservations - the reservations are key. They take 10-15 minute breaks to give people time to talk, order another drink, and eat their food with the lights turned on, then they get on to the next film. Pretty simple.

Halfway through we were presented with a comment card. According to the Caféshorts site:

96% of patrons surveyed indicated they want to attend the next caféshorts night and 100% indicated they would bring someone new next time to introduce them to caféshorts

It's true. In fact, I invited friends before my first screening because I knew the programming and the venue would be above average. I hear rumors about places you might be seeing Caféshorts nights soon, but I'm sure I'm not allowed to say...

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‘Add to Netvibes’ bookmarklet « thought.less.ness

Wed, 10/18/2006 - 09:26 -- rprice

Update: With the release of Firefox v2.0 this week, you can now customize your feed subscription engine. Netvibes is not one of the choices, but this post on the Netvibes blog shows you how to set it up.

I have ben on the lookout for a Firefox plugin for Netvibes lately - simple things like adding a feed to my page (and being able to choose the tab perhaps?), especially installing something in the context menu (read: right-click menu) to help me click on a link and add that URI to my dashboard. Sadly, I don't think such a thing exists. Instead, I found a ‘Add to Netvibes’ bookmarklet -- pretty cool.

This is a service provided by netvibes that examines all the feed links on a page and gives you a list of subscription options. If you have a Netvibes account, you'll be asked to log in. All of my blogs also have a handy "+Netvibes" chicklet as well.

Add to Netvibes
Just click and drag this link up into your bookmarks toolbar and you're all set!

Results of the Netvibes Bookmarklet

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Judy's Book: SlickDeals + Digg + Local

Fri, 10/13/2006 - 06:16 -- rprice

Judy's Book: SlickDeals + Digg
Judy's Book has relaunched as "The place for smart shoppers". What originally started as a site for reviewing local restaurants and businesses has grown over time to be a corkboard for deals both locally and online. Users can leave comments on deals much like they could with reviews, and a digg-style voting is now a prominent feature.

They said they made the change because of user feedback, so I guess they are doing a good job. I just wonder if the deal-finding space really needs much more competition.

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Being Spaces (Coworking) & Brand Spaces (Pop-Up Marketing)

Thu, 10/12/2006 - 20:23 -- rprice

Thanks to Sull on the Coworking mailing list for posting this article. Very cool.

BEING SPACES & BRAND SPACES

The article defines "Being Space"...

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined 'The Third Place' in his 1990 book 'The Great Good Place', and described it as a celebration of the places where people can regularly go to take it easy and commune with friends, neighbours, and whoever else shows up.

...and "Brand Space"...

BRAND SPACE, a space that capitalises—in the broadest sense of the word—on consumer expectations set in motion by BEING SPACES? Think literally accommodating consumers outside the home and office, becoming a relevant and useful part of their daily lives, offering them surprise, discovery, empathy, transformation. A place to lounge, hang out, try things out, work, or relax. Or all of this at once?

...and proceeds to give real-world examples of each. Both types of space are trying to create a "home away from home" or "office away from work" feeling -- the main difference being that the brand space is explicitly trying to sell you something.

Sadly, San Fransisco Coworking and the dozens of others around the world (check the wiki, we're hoping to get a space in downtown Orlando soon) have been left out of the article as far as I can tell. Other projects like SIGGRAPH's annual Guerilla Studio at their annual convention are also worth mentioning. Spaces that allow consumers and professionals to sample products, get advice from experts, or just get some hands-on time in a non-stressful situation like a showroom. The attitude behind these spaces is a very "open-door, come-as-you-are" feel. Presentations are (if they even exist) solution-driven, instead of focusing on features or competitor's offerings (at least they should be). The idea is to get people to come back, tell their friends, share experiences, and think for themselves.

At least that's how I see it. I am of the opinion that you can't convince everyone of everything. I am also the type of guy who feels less inclined to make a decision when I feel like I am not being allowed to gather all the information first. I didn't get an iPod until I figured out my brother's first. I don't subscribe to any magazines, although I spent several months buying them, "auditioning" the publications. I would also like to try out products (especially the ones that cost thousands of dollars) before I commit.

...but showrooms are intimidating, and even kids with black apple t-shirts don't always stop to listen to what I am asking them.

This may end up being a two-part post, as I have barely gotten into the Third Spaces idea.

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Chad and Steve... YouTube's Kings?

Tue, 10/10/2006 - 21:57 -- rprice

Everyone knows Google bought YouTube for billions in stock, but what sort of announcement has YouTube made to the public?

A Message from Chad and Steve

Chad and Steve from YouTube

One feature of the site is the ability to leave video comments, and this guy seems to have something to say about the deal.

Re: A Message from Chad and Steve

I also want to say that posting these videos was a hell of a process, and I don't want to do it very often. I decided to just post links instead, because it broke my blog's layout.

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A very fun feature of LinkedIn

Mon, 10/09/2006 - 23:41 -- rprice

LinkedIn's Page just for Ryan Price

A bit like ClaimID, I suppose, but less explicit. gather all the profiles we know named Ryan Price so you can browse by city and job title. Now there are a lot more guys named Ryan Price than even I thought (and that's just on LinkedIn).

At least I'm currently the number 2 Ryan Price. Someday...

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Screencast about Screen Grab Software iShowU

Mon, 10/09/2006 - 12:18 -- rprice

My first screencast ever, made with $20 shareware app iShowU and free sound capture application Soundflower. You can record directly to H.264 and a slough of other codecs, but I recorded to Apple Animation, which made a ~ 600MB file, which I compressed with Quicktime Pro down to 60MB.

Instructr - 00 - iShowU
Screen Capture using iShowU

I also registered a new domain, about which I will reveal more later.

Photos by Flickr

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SimpleStar's PhotoShow Makes Internet TV Real

Sun, 10/08/2006 - 22:28 -- rprice

Finally, an interactive, on-demand customized service. For some reason, it is only available in Hawaii and only on Time Warner, but it is awesome (if it does what it says it does). Good show.

TechCrunch: Broadcast Photos to Cable TV

...users can click a button and, once approved, add it to a local cable channel. This channel is menu driven - when viewers go to the site they can scroll through various topical categories and find slide shows that people have published to the channel. There’s no privacy for these shows...

'nuff said. The YouTube generation will have no trouble at all latching on to this idea, and companies will love the free PR they get from posting conference pics and community outreach stuff. Time to read the Terms and Conditions with a fine-toothed comb.

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Looking for Work

Thu, 10/05/2006 - 10:56 -- rprice

To all of my, oh, three readers out there, be it known that I am now out of a paying gig. The circumstances of how I got in to this situation are meant to be kept undisclosed, but let's just say I'm not too broken up by it. Time to move on and move up... I hope.

The first question to ask would be "What are your strengths?" Why would someone want to hire me? And for myself, What am I looking for?

  • Event Blogging/Netcasting/Videoblogging
  • Product Development (primarily web software)
  • User Interface/User Experience Design and Consulting
  • PHP and MySQL, I am learning Drupal and Rails
  • HTML/CSS/JavaScript/AJAX - Web Standards, baby
  • More details at My Emurse Page
  • Old samples of Video, Motion Graphics, 3D, Compositing here
  • I am also developing a few projects of my own I'd like to see funded so I don't have to work for someone else. Email me or leave a comment for more info.

I live in East Orlando in the general vicinity of the airport, about 20 minutes away from Downtown, Winter Park and UCF. I am no stranger to commuting or telecommuting, but drives longer than 45 minutes aren't my idea of a fun morning.

What would be most welcome is something part-time so I can keep my eye on my other spinning plates and still have time to breathe every now and again.

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