The nice folks at Yahoo! assisted me in uploading MPEG-4 videos to the Yammy Award contest. I still cannot upload my Surreycam video (which I think would be a winner). Not sure why.

Also, just to see how it works, I added the Amazon Honor System payment doo-dad to this page. So far, it isn't working. My wife tried to send me $1, but received an error message....

Is it surprising that incumbent media titans shunned "new media" executives at an exclusive media industry gathering? Can Microsoft catch up to Google?

Not sure I totally buy the following comment from Fox. Seems to me the use of Myspace shouldn't be limited in any way moving forward.

Boo hiss. I tried to enter the Yammy Video Search Awards, sponsored by Casio on Yahoo!. My video was rejected because it wasn’t in the “proper format.” Hello? Something wrong with MPEG4 other than the fact that it offers better video and sound quality?

Google has MPEG4 as an acceptable file format for its video uploads. Does that say something about the marketplace?

Fox Broadcasting Company has launched "Foxcasts," an RSS-based audio feed to get viewers up to speed on programs they might have missed. I don't watch much Fox programming other than Major League Baseball and the NFL, but I'll sure see how it works.

What's next? Video, of course!

Allen expounds on the possibility of a world without browsers.  Mike listens and learns.

I have mixed feelings over TV Guide’s reinvention. Even though I have not read TV guide in a few years, I have to admit: I used to collect TV Guides.

It started out in the mid-‘70s when I just kept them, and then I answered an ad in Broadcasting magazine and purchased some other darned fool's collection. The collection dated back to issue No. 1, but was not complete. I drive to Maryland to buy them for a few hundred bucks, and the collector had them strewn about his house in bags and boxes. Unlike the collection of Gourmet magazines I bought a few years prior, at least these didn’t smell from mildew.

I lugged these boxes of TV Guides around the country (east to west to southwest to west to southwest) for countless moves. Honestly, I rarely dove into the boxes to relive history or sneak a peek at some precious pop culture moment. They were, until move number 30, when I honed the collection down to the “Fall Season Premiere” issues and a few assorted others, dead weight. People have asked me over the years what they are worth…I am not sure, but not very much. Occasionally, I will look on eBay to see if anyone else collects TV Guides, and generally they are few and far between.

So, who else collects these magazines? Well, there’s (fictional) Frank Costanza, who is still upset that Elaine took his copy of the TV Guide with Al Roker on the cover. If he needs a spare, I might have one.

The videos on this site are shot in MPEG4, which is not as mysterious as it might seem. MPEG 4 is relatively newer format, but is a format being used in increasing amounts by videobloggers. The picture and sound quality is superb.

Here’s how to view the videos on this site:

1)      You can download them to your hard drive and open them either in QuickTime or Real Player.

2)      You can click on the links for the videos. You would need to have either QuickTime or Real Player as your “preferred” media player for the videos to start. They will not launch in Windows Media Player UNLESS you download and add the MEPG4 plug-in for Windows Media Player.

What does it take to get your own personal video clip on here? Hey, all you have to do is ask. Seattle Mariner’s rookie free agent Tim Auty, a 19-year-old young man from Australia, asked me what I was doing standing next to the field shooting video. Well, we talked for a while; I wrote down the address for this blog and then shot some footage of Auty as he batted against the Giants.

We definitely will make our way to Peoria Stadium to see Tim play in another Rookie League game.

Here's some news on Auty from an Australian newspaper, reporting on his play in a championship tourney:

As mentioned previously, young pro signing Tim Auty showed tremendous promise in his first Claxton Shield carnival, gaining confidence as the tournament progressed. He put the icing on the cake with another two hits in the biggest game, along with Glenn Williams who also put another two-hit game onto his highlight reel for this summer

July 23^rd will be a day Morgan Brinson won’t forget. Morgan made his pro debut as a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in a Rookie League game against the Seattle Mariners. We met Morgan’s mom at the game, and she was headed back to Canada tomorrow, so she was hoping to see her son pitch; she got her wish.

Brinson was signed as a free agent by the Giants on June 18^th, and is only 18 years old, a graduate of the B.C. Premier League, a showcase of top Canadian Baseball talent.. He showed remarkable composure despite the fact he was pitching against some good young players. Morgan’s mom stood proudly on a small raised platform behind the plate seeing her young son take his place among other budding stars.

Brinson throws hard and had decent control. He did get hit and gave up a run, but that will allow him to enter his next game with his nerves better under control. We look forward to seeing him pitch again soon…and maybe someday soon at SBC Park.

Good luck Morgan!

The Summer of Baseball goes into extra innings with a Rookie League game featuring the San Francisco Giants and the Seattle Mariners. The Giants don’t have a roster that coordinates names and numbers, so there’s a lot of asking around as to who’s pitching and batting. The starter for the Giants is Paul Lussier, who came into the game with a 1.66 ERA.

The Mariners have a complete roster online, so it was fairly simply to know who was playing. The starting pitcher (who got shelled) was new to the roster, so we’re still scrambling to figure out who he is, but we have most of the others. Notable are Tim Auty (who we will feature separately) and Andrew Hargrove, the son of Mariner’s manager Mike Hargrove.

We will also have a separate callout for young Giants pitcher Morgan Brinson, a young Canadian prospect. My wife spent some time talking to Morgan’s mom; it was Morgan’s first professional appearance, and he looked good despite giving up a few hits

Thinking back to the Atlantic League All-Star Game in Atlantic City, I have to admit the caliber of play today was better. Most of the players today are headed for AA and AAA rosters.

The last gaming system I owned by a Mattel Intellivision back in 1980 (although I do have an old handheld Game Boy). I saw someone on the plane with a Sony PSP handheld player, and it’s quite impressive. Now that it has Web-browsing capabilities and Wi-Fi access baked in, I might have to take a serious look at the thing. Sounds like one of those great day-after-Thanksgiving “doorbuster” items.

Today's MADCAST finds Allen and Mike musing about Microsoft's ability to rekindle the competitive juices to claw its way back to a leadership position in the digital media world . . .

...Wherein Allen and Mike discuss Microsoft and the challenges it faces.

Editor's note: This is a repost of an entry that was plagued by technical issues. We think those problems have been solved. Mostly...

A clip of the photo montage in Ashburn Alley that features many Phillies greats, but the one I focus on is Richie (Dick) Allen, my #1 all-time favroite Phillies player. I can still see his montser home runs over the Coke sign in left field at Connie Mack Stadium.

Vastly different than its Atlantic City counterpart. The night scene is a nice contrast to the previous "surreycam."

For the diehard Phillies fan (yours truly) nothing is as cool as the plaques commemorating the Phillies All-Century Team. The plaques are in Ashburn Alley beyond the centerfield fence--right by Chickie's & Pete's stand that sells amazing crab-fries.

Here is the famous Boardwalk in Atlantic City. Yes, the place upon which the Monopoly board is based. No, the Casinos are not on the Monopoly board, but Go to Jail is probably still relevant.

At long last, the hiatus is over. Allen's back from vacation.

In today's MADCAST, Allen and Mike engage in rampant speculation regarding NewsCorp's future after its purchase of Intermix and the company's announcement of an Internet division to handle online business for its sports, news and entertainment properties.

Why it seems like just yesterday that we were reading about Rupert Murdoch telling his fellow captains of the media industry and the Internet was changing everything...

The best mascot in all of sports--The Phillie Fanatic. The first segment is The Fanatic making a great entrance; the second is The Fanatic packing his bags to represent the Phillies at the All-Star Game.

Prior to the Atlantic League All Star Game on July 13th, sluggers from the league battled it out for the $1,000 "dinger" prize.

The final round pitted Dario Delgado of the Atlantic City Surf against Ryan Radmanovich of the Somerset Patriots. Who won? Check out the video.

Our interest in Ryan Howard dates back to Arizona Fall League. He was the slugging first baseman for the Phoenix Desert Dogs, the winners of the Fall League Championship last season. We got to meet Ryan after the game and snap quite a few pictures (which appeared in my former blog).

Howard has Jim Thome standing in his way to become the Phillies’ future first baseman. Howard hit 48 homers in the Minors last season, and has something like four in his short major league stay. He hit a laser beam homerun the game at which this at-bat is featured.

The rumor is the Phillies may trade Thome if 1) The pay part of his enormous salary to the team who winds up with him and 2) They get Big Jim to waive his no-trade clause. Clearly Thome is DH material.

Nothing against Thome (especially since the Phillies have sold something like 10 million Thome T-shirts), but Ryan Howard is not getting any younger (he’s 25) and is a future star whose time is NOW!

At last week's Atlantic League All-Star Game, held at Atlantic City Surf's Sandcastle, the individual team mascots were there in all their glory.

Here is a music clip featuring Eric D. Worthan on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The Jazz on the Beach series is to honor "Chicken Bone Beach," a time and place in Atlantic City's past when Blacks were segregated into their own area on the beach.

As part of our baseball and beach adventure, we took time out last week to visit Philadelphia's Reading Terminal. Funny, I used to walk by the Terminal countless times when I lived/worked in Philadelphia, but never took the time to explore.

Oddly, the place is wired for free Wi Fi Internet!

This is from last week's game vs The Nationals. We're on our way home, but here's a clip of Phillies organist, Paul Richardson, entertaining fans in the concourse before the game.

Every day, at 9:20 am, at Gillian's Island (get the pun), a mini golf/amusement center on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, a group of OC lifeguards go through an elaborate flag raising ceremony. Given the number of retired military in the area, and those with loved ones in the service, it's quite touching.

Today, while my wife drives our surrey on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ, I shoot video as we roll by stores, shops and other surrey riders and bikers. It's Surreycam!

One of my wife's favorite tourist icons is Lucy The Elephant. Lucy stands proudly on Atlantic Avenue in Margate, NJ. This year, Lucy had a yellow ribbon around her tail.

Past center field in Citizens Bank Park is a section called Ashburn Alley (named for former Phillies player and announer Richie Ashburn). At the far corner of the Alley is Bull's BBQ, a barbeque joint owned by former Phillies great, Greg (The Bull) Luzinski. Next to the stand, The Bull sits and gladly signs autographs. He autographed my ticket stub.

The walk from the subway at Broad and Pattison takes you through sports mecca in Philadelphia. Here's a clip that takes you through stadiums past and present in Philadelphia: The Spectrum, the Wachovia Center, Lincoln Financial Field, (the late) JFK Stadium, (the late) Veterans Stadium and Citizens Bank Park.

Here is the market in South Philadelphia where Rocky Balboa ran as he trained for his fight with Apollo Creed. Somewhere in the vicinty is where he punched the side of beef...

Toward the back of Reading Terminal (actually near the washrooms) is Al Lauer, piano virtuoso. Al plays the piano as passersby munch their way around the market.

Al's card reads "Magic in C," and looks like he's available for weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. Call him at (215) 338-6019.

Back in 1976, I worked for the summer in City Hall in Philadelphia. I even got to ride in an elevator with legendary Philadelphian (Mayor) Frank Rizzo and met Elton John when he came to town to record "Philadelphia Freedom" (named for the World Team Tennis franchise in Philadelphia).

Memory lane?

Yep, it's my hometown. Do I need a map, as the hotel concierge asked? Nope. 'Fraid not.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards is fun. Sort of like Pac Bell (oops, SBC Park) without the Bay backdrop. We loved Boog's Barbeque.

The game was great despite the fact it was played in a steady drizzle. Drizzle turned to rain, and we left after five full; a half inning later, the umps stopped the game and it's currently in a rain delay. No chance at all for finishing; the skies are dark.

Well... You have to do something while waiting for the baseball game to start. We took the water taxi to LP Steamers for lunch and enjoyed our tour of the Inner Harbor.

Camden Yards looms outside our hotel room. The Red Sox nation is here in full force. Go O's!

M2 here, coming in on three days rest to do some short relief for the "master." (He always asks me to call him that during our podcasts but I generally refuse.)

. . . So, even though Allen's not here at the moment, I think he'd agree with me that based on this story, it would appear that Morgan Freeman's film company, Revelations, and Intel are teaming up to do what any right-thinking entreprenuers should be doing right now: challenge the orthodoxy.

"Anytime, any place on any device" (their motto) and "...making content available online isn't an option, it's an imperative for the industry..." (atributed to CEO of ClickStar, the name of the new service the two entities are creating).

Difference between this and other online services, MovieLink and CinemaNow: a) the major studios are not majority owners or otherwise heavily invested in clickstar as they are with the others and b) this service is going to focus on first-run movies. In other words, they are NOT worried about goring the sacred cow known as the DVD Sales/rental market.

Wow, sounds like they might get it.

Now, if only they can get some compelling content . . .

Nothing like spending the 4th of July watching baseball. My package of three games, three cities in six days begins with an Arizona Rookie League game, with the SF Giants hosting Milwaukee Brewers.

Because I had a roster with names and numbers for the young Brew Crew, I know who was on the field: William Inman, a third round pick this year, was on the hill; Bernie Dennis III was beheind the plate. Anderson Delarosa was at bat as was late-round 2005 pick, Scott McKnight.

For the Giants, 20 year old lefthander Josue Gomez was on the mound while Nestor Rojas was behind the plate. Next game, this Thursday night @ Camden Yards!

Little does my wife know that while on vacation next week, we’ll be listening to the zillion or so podcasts I have downloaded to the "pod" using the new iTunes 4.9 software. I am on the hunt through all my jink for these cheesy portable speakers that are small yet deliver “decent” sound.