I have shut down my personal blog at thingsiloveandhate2.blogspot.com and moved it to Yahoo! 360--an invite only space. If you want to share in my commentary (as well as photos) at that site, shoot me an email at: allen_weiner@yahoo.com

As promised/threatened, here's a post-game recap of today's Arizona Diamondbacks-San Francisco Giants game at Scottsdale Stadium.

In order to not infuriate MLB.com, we have only one game highlight. Instead, Mike and I focus on our typical chatter. 

Prior to today's Spring Training game featuring the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants at Scottsdale Stadium, Thom and Mark entertain the fans with their pre-game warm-up.

Is MLB extending its reach or overreaching?

League faces balancing act between delivering content and maintaining value for rights holders

This headline from a leading sports business publication. How timely. Yesterday, I was talking with the parents of Seattle Mariners prospect, Greg Dobbs. Greg’s dad told me that he is not allowed to bring his home video camera into an MLB game and shoot video. Can you believe that? After all the years of supporting their son—driving him to practices, nurturing him through a near-career-ending injury—Greg’s folks cannot take video of their son playing in a major league game? Is that nuts, or what?

We talked about this issue for a while. Greg’s dad (sorry, I don’t know his first name), told me that with my camera, I’ll never be stopped from taking videos at the game. The camera is small and inconspicuous. When video cameras are popular add-ons to mobile phones, it will be an unstoppable force.

Note to MLB: The fan is not the enemy. Allow the fan to take his or her video camera into the game. No one is interested in stealing away the broadcast rights from ESPN. Fans, like me, want to shoot clips of the game and…well…be fans and share those clips (with their own fan comments) with other fans. That’s it…nothing more.

MLB must embrace its fans. If you’re looking for a positive PR move that takes the sting out of the BALCO controversy, allow the fans to shoot videos of their favorite players, stadiums, concession stands, speed pitch games, beer vendor, etc… Put a section on MLB.com for fans to share their videos.

The game is about the fans. At least it used to be.

We have been in the process of doing a major housecleaning. Taking on the guise of being merciless anti-Pat Racks--applying the theory if you haven’t seen it or used it in six months, it’s toast—I decided to chuck our Yellow Pages ®. We have seven or eight Yellow Pages of various flavors and now they’re headed to the Scottsdale Recycling center. Will they be turned into something more useful? I’d say that’s a near mortal lock.

As someone who always was a YP true believer, I expunged them because they no longer have value. The Web has kicked them to the curb because:

1. Online, listings can be updated regularly
2. Online, there is an endless supply of ancillary information that could be put with each listing—current promos and specials, holiday hours, new ownership…
3. Online you can search
4. Online you can share something you find with someone else
5. Online you can embed driving instructions and a map

And so on…

I bid my friends goodbye. They are going to a better place—maybe they will be reincarnated as something cool like confetti to be tossed at Barry Bonds for his victory celebration when he breaks Aaron’s homerun record.

I was a guest this morning on Biz Radio 1320 in Houston. We talked about search and other related topics. It was big fun. Makes me miss my days on the radio.

As with everyone else who takes Podcasting seriously, I am stuck on the issue of recording phone calls. I tell anyone who will listen that I think the content of our MADCasts is good but the sound quality stinks. (To be polite). As someone who has worked in talk radio, I have a vision or (sound-vision) that my Podcast should sound like a good talk radio program where the host and callers don’t sound like they are in the same studio. The callers should sound like callers.

I have tried all the Radio Shack ® devices and you hear what my results have been. Some people have suggested using Skype, but the VoIP client will sound like two people in the same room.

So, yesterday I was listening to a great Podcast at www.eatfeed.com . The food show had a phone interview with Bill Niman (of Niman Ranch. the only meat our family will eat) and it sounded great. I emailed Anne Bramley for her scoop on how she did such a clean Podcast and she recommended Skype Out (which allows you to call people who have a land line connection). The net result is a recording that sounds like a recoding. Note: Skype Out is not free, but quite cheap.

I will be experimenting with it shortly. Also, a few guests likely to appear on the MADCast (once I resolve the recording issues)  in the coming weeks: New media impresario Eric Rice and Tucows’ resident head of innovation, Ross Rader.

Stay tuned.

No games yet available as Podcasts, but the NBA gets it by offering highlights via RSS (in MP3 format). I’ll bet anyone that MLB.com offers some sort of Podcast this year—probably highlights of your favorite team’s games.

Radio giant attunedto Web for ads boost

John Edwards has started a Podcast. He gets it. It's a simple 'cast done at his kitchen table. Will every future candidate have a Podcast to facilitate interaction with the voters? No, just the smart ones.

Here’s something for anyone who doubts the viability of citizen journalism I wrote and posted this same story Monday night (see below) within one hour of the close of this event. The Scottsdale section of The Arizona Republic ran this today, more than 24 hours after my story posted.

I have said it before—newspapers will have to do more with less. They must embrace citizen journalisms or face them as competitors in the marketplace.

Yahoo! announced that it will expand its mail storage capacity to 1 GB per free Yahoo! Mail user. So, stop and think… what does this mean. You guessed it, Yahoo! and others will be using their email services as delivery channels for rich media—music, movies, TV programs, films… The inbox will be—pardon the metaphor—like receiving DVDs in your physical mailbox. Add an overlay of search and RSS capabilities and you can use your mailbox as a gathering and management point for all of your rich media needs.

Certainly, the other freemail services will follow suit.  I think Google already offers a monster-sized inbox, but the service is not totally public. We'll stay tuned.

Three of the top newspaper groups—Gannett, Tribune and Knight Ridder—have purchased a controlling interest in one of my favorite new media companies, Topix.Net. Topix offers granular, consumer-controlled news and infiormation searches which are far more powerful than anything offered by the leading Web Portals. Actually, AOL (not to mention Ask Jeeves and Citysearch) has a deal in place with Topix, which is one of the reasons I picked AOL as someone to watch over the course of the rest of the year.

Topix has worked with The New York Times in creating a custom news profile for the newspaper company. Will Topix be enough to help newspapers out of their current mess of declining circulation and dwindling mindshare? Not sure, but it sure is a step in the right direction.

Side note: It's ironic or perhaps foreshadowing that Topix has deals with both Ask Jeeves and Citysearch (owned by IAC). Makes you wonder.

Today, I go it alone sans Mike while he enjoys his sabbatical. I look at five hot trends for the remainder of 2005:

The future of AOL

Google looking at new business models

Extending IM platforms

Newspapers are not dead yet

IPTV

You can wait for tomorrow's Arizona Republic or tonight's TV news, or...

Barry Bonds is 52 home runs shy of Henry Aaron’s all-time record. I cannot help but wonder what would happen if I was lucky enough to be in the park when he broke the record and I captured the at-bat on video. Would MLB.Com be able to stop me from putting it on this site for all to see—for free!

Something to think about.

An amazing win-win deal that has the potential to be marketing moving. IAC has lots of high-profile content (Expedia, Match.com, Citysearch) and Ask Jeeves has a growing platform for search and content managament.

Here is a link to the News Analysis I wrote on the issue.

The story below is from CBS Marketwatch. The folks quoted as well as the insight provided is very shortsighted. All you need to do is look at what Viacom is contemplating to see the point. Big media is on the way out. The first wave will hit news and information with others (rich media mos notably) to follow. Power will not be in size—power will be in impact as well as the ability to reach key connectors who forage for news, information and commentary and share those findings with others in their “network.” Individuals will be the powerful media companies of the future. Just look at the platforms, such as Yahoo! 360, being built to facilitate viral sharing of information (and later music, movies, TV programs). I am not saying The New York Times, CNN, etc.. will not matter. I am saying that if they do not develop the tools to allow key foragers to find their content, manage that content and share that content, they will be toast.

Major media companies have the most influential Web sites, according to the founder of Technorati, which tracks the popularity and content of almost 8 million Web logs. David Sifry issued an analysis this morning showing that BoingBoing.net is the blog that has achieved the most attention and influence on the Web when measured by the number of people who link to it. Technorati considers linking a proxy for attention and influence. "The most influential media sites are still the well-funded sites like The New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN," he said. However, a lot of bloggers are gaining currency. "BoingBoing and Instapundit are highly influential, especially among technology and political thought leaders, and sites like Gizmodo are seeing as much influence as mainstream media sites like MTV.com," Sifry concluded. Technorati's analysis.

By now, you have figured out my wife and I are big Huston Street fans. Today, he showed that even without his best stuff, he can be effective. He pitched two innings and gave up a homerun to Damien Miller, but got out of a jam in the seventh with two men in scoring position. Street never lost his cool and showed he has the heart to go with that great arm.

Young Prince Fielder, the son of former slugger Cecil Fielder, is a large man with a quick bat. Here the Milwaukee Brewer firstbaseman of the future hits a single off of our hero, A's rookie pitcher Huston Street.

After the actual race, the Sausages climb through the stands and hobnob with the fans.

Is there a future for consumer-created content or is it mere folly? Also, how does Yahoo! 360, the company's new community-based content-sharing platform, fit into this scheme.

Live from Maryvale Park, the Spring Training home of the Milwaukee Brewers, the 7th Inning Sausage Races. It's just like the ones at Miller Park, but without visiting players swatting at the Sausages with their bats.

This clip shows the races as described by the PA announcer.

This from Paidcontent.Org. Sports fans' interest in minor league sports--especially baseball--will drive many future media opportunities. For example, I have been a huge fan of Arizona Fall League baseball for many seasons. It's a league that features the top up and coming stars of the game (including most Rookies of the Year). Offering those games (September-November) would not only be a nice revenue-geneator (we can leave business models aside for now), but offer sports-hungry fans some great additional content.

The Ontario Hockey League and Interactive Netcasting Systems Inc. have started a three-year program to stream thousands of hours of OHL hockey. Games are free for the rest of this regular season with PPV playoffs at $8.95 a game. No details yet on packages for next season. Some 60 percent of the games will be broadcast-quality regional OHL broadcasts; the remainder will use a "scout feed" combining visuals from the press box camera and the live audio from a team radio broadcast. The service will go beyond live games, providing highlights and game clips for consumers and hockey professionals

A tour of some of the more interesting spots in Grand Central Station. A guest appearance by Denise Garcia, a work colleague who really knows the interactive ad market.

Editor's note: The file is a HUGE download.

One of the nice touches at Grand Central Station is the Music Under New York performers. Here we see a virtuoso violinist performing his craft. Such artists are given license by the city to perform (for donations) at fixed spots throughout the city.

I had read about the Chelsea Market (located in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York), so I wandered down early today. Food TV Network is located in the building, which I take to be a former warehouse or garment building. The main floor is food and food-related businesses. Also, it appears it’s where they tape the show “Emeril Live” with Emeril Lagasse.

Production note: because I strung together four separate segments, I had to convert my MPEG 4 files to MPEG2 to edit. Therefore, the final product is not as crisp as the native MPEG4. I can only hope someone wakes up to the need for MPEG4 editing for consumer content creators.

This is for fans of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." The current cast, on Broadway, includes a CYE character, Richard Kind (he plays Larry David's cousin). A touch of irony.

It’s been a long time since I have listened to Howard Stern live on the radio (K-Rock, 93.3 NYC). Definitely, the first time since he signed his satellite radio deal. He’s supposed to have Jose Canseco on later today, but right now he’s talking to some Playmate, and Howard is doing his best to test the limits of over-the-air FM radio content. Clearly, he’s setting up his listeners for what might be to come once he’s on Pay Radio, but that’s whole appeal of Stern—walking to the ledge or edge of titillation and allowing the listener to take his or her imagination the next few, final steps. Stern merely spewing epithets and acting like a peephole observer will not be funny or sexy or interesting. I guarantee it.

Stern even had a tantrum aimed at Tom, his General Manager. Tom had some word bleeped and Stern went into a fit. It was, as if to say, “If you listen to me on satellite radio, my words will not be bleeped.”

Stern’s missing the boat. If he was to Podcast the show, he’d be in total control of his material and would have instant global distribution. Heck, at the same time he could even do a Videoblog of the show. Can’t you imagine advertisers lining up?

It’s been something like 90 days into my media creation project chronicled on this Website. I am quite pleased with what’s I’ve done so far, but have some other tasks on the immediate horizon.

Podcasts: I must figure out the means to record phone calls for ‘Casts so they have decent audio quality. Mike and my MADCasts have god content, but the audio quality sucks. AGB did not intend for phone calls to be recorded. Because of duplexing issues, one voice sounds louder than the other. I actually have a solution and presented the idea last week to the CEO of a service provider firm. He thought it was cool and is working to build a prototype. I hope to soon announce the solution.

V-blogs: Here’s an issue that's out of my hands. I need a SW package that can edit MPEG-4 on Windows. My sense is that those nice people at Adobe are working on that capability; since more MPEG-4 cameras are soon to hit the market, that functionality will be crucial. Today, only Mac folks can do a decent job of editing MPEG-4.

TV program: This is somewhat dependent on the issue above. In order for me to create a 15 minute program, I will need to edit segments together. I have the idea in hand and actually somewhat storyboarded. If no SW solution comes forward, I may have to convert files, convert back…you get the picture.

There are some projects I am working on using some new SW tools such as Amplify, Grouper, etc… The results of those should be forthcoming.

I am off to NYC on business. My camera will be along for the ride. I am hoping to have time to do a few short clips between business meetings. I have a new tool essential for traveling V-blogs—a 12 in one card reader. I will simply pluck the SD card out of my Xacti and move the files to my laptop. I also added my Adobe editing SW if I feel the urge to get creative.

What happens when a lifestyle retailer displaces traditional record labels? Do you want extra foam with that song?

You create something on a blog (music, pictures, video, etc...) and next thing you know it's all over the Web. Is that cool or not?

I have seen the future. The future is ANT. ANT, up til today, has been available only on the Mac platform. I signed up for, and got, a pre-release beta version. Whoa. I stopped dead in my tracks and now see what everyone on the Mac platform has seen. ANT is the network TV killer as it allows you to subscribe (via RSS) to and view videoblog feeds. It takes little imagination to see where this will lead. I don’t know I can use ANT asynchronously yet, but if I can, all those Media Center products will face some serious issues.

I’ll write more about this as I kick the tires. I’ll say it again—Whoa!

Oakland A's relief pitcher Huston Street, who we have followed since his play in Arizona Fall League, pitched a masterful fourth inning against the Giants today. His path to becoming the closer has one major obstacle--Octavio Dotel. Dotel came in and blew the Giants away in the fifth inning. Nothing like an embarrassment of riches.

How lucky can you get? There, seated in a booth over my shoulder was Dan Patrick. He was doing his radio show, but because there was no "ESPN" banner, only a few people saw him. Here's a clip of Dan.