Rob Safuto Lifestream

It’s Time For Clean Energy Companies To Deliver

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:43:15 -0800

During his Presidential campaign President Barack Obama pledged, “…to transform our entire economy – from our cars and our fuels to our factories and our buildings.” In the last few months President Obama’s administration has made good on that pledge by unlocking billions of dollars in government coffers to benefit companies developing clean energy technologies in a wide variety of industries via stimulus grants and Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantees. In fact, the DOE has looked more like the Treasury Department in recent months. Since the beginning of October the DOE has awarded well over $5 billion.

The dollars are flowing to companies large and small. Automotive start ups like Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, companies with little track record and no profits to speak of, have scored nearly $1 billion combined in guaranteed loans. Meanwhile established car companies like Ford and Nissan have been granted $5.9 billion and $1.6 billion respectively to further development of electric vehicles. That’s in addition to the government’s purchase of General Motors at a cost of tens of billions of dollars.

Outside the auto industry we’ve seen companies such as Solyndra, a solar power start up based in Silicon Valley that qualified earlier this year for a $535 million DOE loan guarantee. Prior to the loan guarantee Solyndra had been funded to the tune of $800 million in private venture capital financing. At the beginning of September the DOE also announced over $500 million in grants given mostly to large wind power developers. Since then many large utilities across the country have benefited from over $3 billion in smart grid stimulus awards. More recently the DOE has announced more than $600 million for energy storage projects.

If you look at the entire list of what has been funded so far you’ll see that no technology has been left behind. Electric vehicles, solar, wind, smart grid, geothermal, energy efficiency, energy storage and carbon capture have all received funding. Thus one of the biggest obstacles to the development of new clean energy technologies has been removed. The collapse of the credit markets and oil prices dried up the investment pot. But the U.S. government has stepped in to fill the vacuum. So companies now have access to the capital they need to develop better batteries, construct manufacturing plants, research future technologies and much more.

With the financing obstacle removed for many companies, the only thing that’s left for companies to do now is to deliver on their promises. Electric car manufacturers have promised affordable vehicles that eliminate (or greatly reduce) the need for gasoline use in day-to-day transportation. Solar producers have promised gigawatts of solar facilities across the deserts of the southwest and rooftops across America. Wind power developers have promised clean, reliable, emission free electricity with very low impact to the environment. Smart grid companies have promised a new age of energy information technologies that will virtually eliminate blackouts and give consumers unprecedented control over their energy use and costs. Geothermal developers have promised a vast supply of emission free, uninterrupted baseload power from deep below the surface of the earth. On top of all the promises we’ve heard many times over the past decades there is also the promise of millions of “green jobs” as a result of a new clean energy economy.

The billions of dollars in play right now may only represent a down payment on future possibilities for clean energy development in the United States. Results are important though. If you have an investor who throws in a million dollars most of the time they want to see some progress before they commit more money. In this case the investors are the American people who’ve heard promises about the benefits of affordable electric vehicles and solar technology for decades. If public support for new energy investment erodes in 2010, politicians, especially ones up for re-election, will get the message and adjust their influence accordingly. That’s why it’s so important that clean energy companies show that they can produce the technologies they have promised, with the benefits that they have promised, at a cost that the majority of the public can afford.

Help keep ShopSavvy free!

(author unknown) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:16:57 -0800

Shared by Robert Safuto
Asking for free advertising can't hurt but real businesses should be willing to pay to take up space on people's websites. In short, begging is rarely an effective business model.

We decided long ago to offer ShopSavvy to users for free. There are a million business models and ours depends on having lots of users. It is HARD to convince a lot of folks to download your app – much less use it regularly. If you have a blog or website and can spare a few pixels we would love it if you could put one of these badges on your site. Just link to http://bit.ly/shopsavvyiphone and we are in business (I have asked our folks to add the badge on this site). The badges are located here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmuse/sets/72157622875134326/ They look like this in various sizes:

A Turkey Of A Season

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:27:14 -0800

Happy Thanksgiving Mets fans! 2009 sucked but we can dream better things for 2010, can't we? As fans I think we still have a few things to be thankful for though. I list them here in the hopes that they plant the seeds for great things next season. These are in no particular order.

David Wright - He had an off year in 2009 but still managed to hit .307, drive in 72 runs and score 88 runs. His numbers will improve in 2010. David is still only 27 and we're lucky to have him on the Mets.
Johan Santana - Johan started the season very strong but faltered as injuries got the best of him. He still finished 13-9 with a 3.13 ERA and the Mets always had a chance to win when he pitched. He's a legit #1 starter on any team. Johan will be 31 at the start of next season and he's got a lot left in him. He'll bounce back from the injuries and pitch great next season.
Jose Reyes - Jose played for barely a quarter of the season in 2009. Ravaged by injuries he eventually had successful surgery and will be ready for the start of next season. Jose will still be only 26 years old when next season starts. He has been one of the most exciting players in the game over the last few years. Even at 90% he'll be a better influence on the team than any other shortstop in the league. Jose will turn it around in 2010.
Keith Hernandez - He doesn't play the field anymore but Keith is one of the reason I like to watch Mets games on SNY. Even blowout losses are more interesting when Keith is in the booth. He's also a good reminder of the glory days of '86!
Citi Field - I have my gripes about the place and I'm not alone. Still, the place is brand spanking new, it has great concessions and fun for the family. When the Mets get back to winning it will be a much more fun place to be. Even better, it sounds like the Wilpons are listening to fans and giving Mets history more of a presence in 2010. It's about time!

What are you thankful for as far as the Mets are concerned?

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Moving The Blog

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:33:19 -0800

I’m still not sure which is more difficult, moving house or moving blog? Both take up a lot of time. Both require a lot of patience. Moving the blog didn’t kill my back though so I guess moving house is still more difficult.

In any case, I’ve moved the location of the Awakened Voice blog from here to http://awakenedvoice.com/blog. I have imported all of the posts and comments from here to there. If you’re subscribed to the blog feed at http://blog.awakenedvoice.com/feed then you’ll want to switch to http://awakenedvoice.com/blog/feed. If you’re subscribed via FeedBurner you need not do anything.

Why did I move the blog? While seeking to simplify management of the content I create I decided that a subdomain was un-necessary. The main Awakened Voice site is built on Drupal and I can do everything I need to do with that so this simplifies things for me. So instead of having to maintain two locations I only have to maintain one. Hopefully that means more time for creating better content.

You should also take note that I have started a new Twitter account located at http://twitter.com/awakened_voice. I get quite a lot of people following me because I sometimes update on tech and web stuff and I wanted to have a channel on Twitter that separates personal updates from updates related to technology. I think that once you find a voice on a particular platform one of the next steps should be to evaluate whether another channel with a specific target can better serve those who are following you. So if you’re most interested about what I’m saying or sharing in the area of technology, web development and social media then please follow me there.

Managing News

(author unknown) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:04:33 -0800

Managing News is a robust news and data aggregation engine with pluggable visualization and workflow tools. It is built with over 30 open source projects and powered by Drupal.

Unions Hard at Work

(author unknown) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:35:53 -0800

Shared by Robert Safuto
Forget about "jobs that can't be exported." Now we've got jobs that can't be taken by local Boy Scouts.

Seventeen-year-old Kevin Anderson worked for 250 hours to clear a walking and biking path in an Allentown, PA park.

He did it because he’d noticed there were a few missing connections to the trail, forcing people to walk on a busy road. He took on the project to earn an Eagle Scout badge.

Such efforts by volunteers are one of the better parts of America. Unfortunately in America, there are also union bullies like Nick Balzano, President of the local SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, who say kids like Kevin take their jobs -- and that can't stand. Balzano threatened to file a grievance against the city for allowing the scout to clear the path.

"We'll be looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who did the trails," Balzano told the council...

Balzano said "there's to be no volunteers." No one except union members may pick up a hoe or shovel, plant a flower or clear a walking path.

Once the threat was made, the union boss showed he had a generous side.

Balzano ... might cut the city a break.

"We are probably going to let this one go," Balzano said.

It’s a shame that we've empowered municipal unions to the point that they can threaten their employers -- that's you, the taxpayer -- if citizens volunteer. Union officials should spend less time stopping others' work and more time, well, working.

Gore has no clue – a few million degrees here and there and pretty soon we’re talking about real temperature « Watts Up With That?

(author unknown) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:10:30 -0800

Shared by Robert Safuto
To be fair I should point out that Mr. Gore was only off the mark on the temperature at 2KM beneath the surface by 1.99 million degrees.

This is mind blowing ignorance on the part of Al Gore. Gore in an 11/12/09 interview on NBC’s tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, speaking on geothermal energy, champion of slide show science, can’t even get the temperature of earth’s mantle right, claiming “several million degrees” at “2 kilometers or so down”. Oh, and the “crust of the earth is hot” too.

[VIDEO] Installing Drupal 6 on Cloud Sites | Chad Keck DOT Com

(author unknown) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:10:03 -0800

A quick video tutorial demonstrating an installation of Drupal 6 on the Rackspace Cloud Sites platform with some basic performance tweaks.

Let The Healing Begin

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:54:18 -0800

I think we can now get on with the business at hand. The Yankees won the series. At least the Phillies lost, right? There's only one thing that the Mets can do to answer. And that's put together a really solid squad in the offseason by addressing the most critical needs like first base, left field, a quality starter and a setup man. The bottom line is that the Mets won't get it done in 2010 without some key additions. So it's time for Omar Minaya to get to work. Otherwise that stadium is going to be a ghost town next year.

Looking on the bright side I think that the Mets were vindicated on two major decisions they made in 2010.

Not signing Pedro Martinez. He didn't look good for the Phillies in the playoffs. Yes' he's really done.
Trading Billy Wagner. The Mets weren't going anywhere anyway so they might as well get something for Wagner who would've been a free agent anyway. Wagner didn't help the Red Sox get past the Yankees and couldn't have done anything to help the Mets.

So the reboot starts now. Your thoughts?

I'll leave you with a video that harkens back to happier times earlier in 2009 when the possibilities were endless.

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Squarespace iPhone App Preview

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:34:52 -0800

Squarespace released their iPhone App yesterday. The application allows site administrators to manage (post, edit, upload photos) their blogs and view statistics. Future versions of the app will have comment management features.

The New Website

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:51:24 -0700

I am in the process of moving the site over to http://www.robertsafuto.com. Head on over to see what's going on there and bookmark that site for future reference.

Hosted Web System Comparison

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:27:58 -0700

Over the last few weeks I’ve been evaluating several different hosted web systems. These systems are “all in one” website solutions that are that are offered as a service. That means you don’t need to purchase separate hosting or download any files to make it work. You just need a browser, time to build your site and content to add to the site. I focused on four services: Squarespace, WordPress, Ning and TypePad. Although I have personally built sites using the first three services in the list I have not built one on TypePad. So to be fair I focused on comparing the features offered rather than trying to comparing things like performance, ease of use and other factors.

All of the systems offer a wide variety of features and options as you will see in the embedded Google Doc below. The one common thread across all of the systems is that they do not support Google Friend Connect or Facebook Connect for authentication or account creation. The Google and Facebook Connect features are potentially valuable features because they allow sites to establish the identity of the visitor without the visitor having to create yet another account. The definition for each of the features listed is offered in a separate sheet which you can access by looking at the entire document which is public for viewing.

Which one of these systems should you use? It depends on the ultimate purpose of your site. Ning offers very strong features if you want to build a social network with community generated content. WordPress and TypePad are strong tools for those seeking to create a single or multi-author blog. Squarespace offers features that allow you to build a personal or corporate website that includes an integrated blog and photo gallery.

Business & Technology | 6 loans in 6 years: How one woman lost her home | Seattle Times Newspaper

(author unknown) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:46:45 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
This is a sad story line that we've seen play out many times in recent years. Here's what gets me about it. The woman initially took out a $500K loan to give the money to her son who then stuck her with it by not making payments. And Washington Mutual is the villain here? What about her son?

She was forced to sell after six Washington Mutual mortgage loans in six years stripped much of the equity from her nearly million-dollar home. She got them all from the same loan officer at WaMu's home-loan center at Northgate, loans that were far too complex for a stroke survivor to understand.

Three Tweets for the Web

(author unknown) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:26:20 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
I dunno. I'm a bit sick of seeing people texting and driving. I always wonder who they will eventually hit and how bad the injuries will be. People seem to have less of an attention span in meetings too. You're a minute into a presentation and inevitable some people are looking down and tapping away on Blackberries or iPhones.

The arrival of virtually every new cultural medium has been greeted with the charge that it truncates attention spans and represents the beginning of cultural collapse—the novel (in the 18th century), the comic book, rock ‘n’ roll, television, and now the Web. In fact, there has never been a golden age of all-wise, all-attentive readers. But that’s not to say that nothing has changed. The mass migration of intellectual activity from print to the Web has brought one important development: We have begun paying more attention to information. Overall, that’s a big plus for the new world order.

Tax Credit Abuse and the Four-Year-Old Home Buyer

(author unknown) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:18:03 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
I knew that stuff like this would happen.

The $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit may have been used by tens of thousands of people who weren’t supposed to receive it, an Internal Revenue Service watchdog official told a Congressional hearing on Thursday.

Russell George, who serves as the inspector general for tax administration, detailed potential fraud and abuse of the tax credit in testimony Thursday. The hearing comes as real-estate industry lobbyists work overtime to get Congress to extend the tax credit, which is due to expire at the end of November and which is credited with boosting home sales by 150,000 to 400,000, according to various economists’ estimates.

To encourage non-homeowners to buy homes, the credit is limited to those who haven’t owned a home in the past three years. But many cases of abuse appear to be designed by those trying to get around that restriction. Among Mr. George’s findings:

Some 580 filers under 18 years of age had claimed almost $4 million in first-time home-buyer credits, including one that was just 4 years old. “Contract law generally exempts children under the age of 18 from being bound by the terms of a contract,” Mr. George said in written testimony. “Therefore, it is unlikely that these taxpayers would have entered into an arm’s-length transaction for the purchase of a home.”
Some 74,000 tax credit claims worth $500 million came from taxpayers who had indications of prior home ownership within the preceding three years.
Another 19,300 tax returns in 2008 were filed claiming the credit for a home that had not yet been purchased. Those credits totaled more than $139 million.

Between January and September, the IRS said it has processed claims from more than 1.5 million individuals or families who have purchased homes. But there’s considerable debate among economists over how many of those purchases would have been made without the tax credit.

Despite “clear evidence” that the tax credit had boosted sales, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said on Tuesday that the administration hadn’t decided whether to support an extension yet given the high cost of the tax credit. While the credit’s expiration could have negative implications for the market, he said he didn’t think a “catastrophic decline” would result if the credit were allowed to expire on Nov. 30.

I’d be interested in speaking with you sometime. Is there a number at which I might be able to reach you?

Thanks,

Nick

Nick Timiraos

The Wall Street Journal

212-416-2346

Reyes Surgery A Success

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:56:11 -0700

Last week Jose Reyes had surgery on one of his precious wheels.

"Mets shortstop Jose Reyes underwent successful surgery to eliminate scar tissues in his right leg Thursday morning in Dallas. Reyes should be fully recovered and ready to participate in all activities in training camp in February."

Reyes undergoes successful surgery - MLB.com

Yay, successful surgery. I am still a little skeptical though. I don't know if Reyes will be at 90-95% speed next year or slower than that. I think the Mets should hedge and look to add someone who has good speed in the off season. Speed never slumps after all. What do you think about Reyes' return next year?

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Hurricane Katrina Victims Have Standing To Sue Over Global Warming - Law Blog - WSJ

(author unknown) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:36:33 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
Very soon we'll be talking about tort reform in the energy space. Yes, frivolous lawsuits blaming energy companies for the damage that results from hurricanes will increase everyone's energy costs and generally make the U.S. less competitive. Companies faced with such lawsuits will initially raise their prices to cover the lawsuit expenses and over the long term they will take their business (and the jobs, healthcare, retirement, etc.) elsewhere.

For years, leading plaintiffs’ lawyers have promised a legal assault on industrial America for contributing to global warming.

When Big Returns Aren't That Big at SmartMoney.com

(author unknown) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:02:33 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
Gains in the U.S. stock markets are partially offset by the falling value of the dollar and increasing commodity prices. One very key quote in the article is, "The point is that having more dollars isn't the same as having more wealth."

From May through October of 2008, Zimbabwean stocks skyrocketed, shooting from 72,000 to almost 400,000 by early November as measured by the S&P/International Finance Zimbabwe Index. For intrepid investors with a world bent, it would appear to be an attractive return of roughly 5,300%.

Squarespace Preview

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:42:28 -0700

I spent about ten minutes walking through some of the features of the Squarespace service which I’m trying out. Squarespace allows users who are reasonably comfortable with the web, but aren’t programmers, to build unique and feature rich websites. Squarespace’s competitors are services like WordPress.com and Ning.com that let you get started building a site very quickly. While Ning and WordPress start out free, Squarespace starts at $8 a month. I don’t consider that a bad thing. Paid services usually translate into more security, better performance and much less risk that the company will make some silly change to its features in the name of revenue.

What You Really Need Is A Web-System

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:01:51 -0700

I’ve been sketching out some ideas lately aimed at redefining what it means to maintain your own presence on the World Wide Web. Until a few years ago a web presence for many consisted of a series of web pages that were built primarily offline and then uploaded to an empty space on a web server that you purchased from a web hosting company. Over the last few years there have been some great technological advancements with the development of database driven content management systems and the introduction of services that offer access via application programming interfaces or APIs. Expectations have changed with respect to the delivery of rich media such as audio, video and high resolution photos. Websites that offered up rich media were the exception since costs for hosting and delivery of such media were prohibitive to the average website owner. That’s not the case today. If you want to offer up the best web experience to your visitors then you must offer a rich, vibrant experience that goes beyond links to download media.

I get messages from a lot of people telling me that they’re launching a site and asking for advice. My perception is that many times people decide that they want a web presence, choose a platform, start building, then decide on their features in that order. Given the array of tools and options available today I think that’s the wrong order. Here’s what I think the order for developing a website should be.

Decide on the ultimate goal of the site
Decide on the feature list that you would like to have at launch
Review currently available tools and platforms and match them up with your feature list
Choose a base platform and associated services
Start building

This is the process that results in the development of a web-system instead of merely a website. I’ve made some notes that provide more detail on what I think are the basic components of an effective web system and shared them below. I hope to be able to find some time to develop a matrix that outlines the different platforms and services available to meet these needs. The upshot is that these requirements really turn the service traditionally offered as web hosting on its head because you need to start out with a lot more than an empty space in order to make this happen in a reasonable time frame. I think that we’ll continue to see a trend towards hosted services such as Ning, WordPress.com and SquareSpace because they offer a more integrated solution that allows the web-system owner to focus on content and community growth rather than technology.

Key Components of the Web-System

Mobile device support – When a user visits on a mobile device the site recognizes a mobile device and formats the page appropriately. Also allows people to conveniently publish via mobile devices.

Community Building – Allows people to sign up for user accounts and set up profiles that establish identity and interests.

Community integration – Integrates with the site’s community whether the community is based on the site or based on another site like Facebook, Twitter, Google or other sites that allow users to manage profiles and offer APIs to access those profiles.

Aggregation - Captures and displays related information published on other sites, including discussions that occur about you on other sites.

Content publishing – Publishes and delivers text, images, audio and video.

Content syndication – Automatically distributes content in commonly used formats (e.g. RSS, iTunes RSS, Email, Widgets) to allow for the widest distribution possible.

Content sharing – Offers tools that make it very simple for visitors to save and/or share content on other sites or with other people.

Reliable Performance – Is highly available and adapts to the level of demand on the system to ensure consistently good performance for visitors.

Commerce Support – Allows the system owners to sell digital content like subscriptions or media downloads for immediate delivery to the customer.

Feedback – Allows users to submit feedback on content via comment fields and contact forms.

Analytics – Provides administrator with analytics on site traffic and activity such as visitors, content views, content downloads and number of site members.

Ohio.com - PUCO, governor call on FirstEnergy to postpone light bulb program

(author unknown) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:52:10 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
Talk about bleeding ratepayers. FirstEnergy was going to charge $0.60 per month for three years which would come to about $21 for two bulbs worth considerably less than that at a retail store.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio told FirstEnergy Wednesday to postpone a program to distribute compact fluorescent light bulbs and charge its customers.

Caterpillar layoffs will affect 106 | jconline.com | Journal and Courier

(author unknown) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:53:00 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
More layoffs from Caterpillar. Weren't they supposed to start hiring again once the stimulus package was enacted into law?

Caterpillar officials on Tuesday announced another round of layoffs that will start next month at the Lafayette plant.

Avenue A closes, a victim of the economy - Table Hopping - Steve Barnes - Restaurants and Dining Blog - timesunion.com - Albany NY

(author unknown) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:08:06 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
A victim of a local stimulus project? The owner states in the article that they shut down because, "The combination of slower business over the past six months as a result of the financial crisis and a marked decline during the ongoing construction on Delaware Avenue prompted Tiu to pull the plug..."

Avenue A, the Albany restaurant justly famous for its five-cheese macaroni and cheese as well as for chef Un-Hui Filomeno’s dishes from her native Korea, served its final meal Saturday night. The majority owner, Ronan Tiu, decided the business was no longer economically viable, Jose Filomeno, the chef’s son and the restaurant’s general manager, tells me.

Re: Create a Lifestream in Less than a Minute with Ident Engine

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:12:34 -0700

This rocks. Can't wait to integrate it into one of my own sites.

Online Audio Editor - Aviary.com's Myna

(author unknown) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:48:59 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
I just discovered this and it looks like a pretty worthwhile tool for creating and editing simple audio podcasts.

Use Myna to remix music tracks and audio clips. Apply sound effects and record your own voice or instruments!

Bake Sales Are Banned in New York Schools - NYTimes.com

(author unknown) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:58:10 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
This is insane. Emblematic of the times we live in. Big brother is hell bent on "saving" us from ourselves. Certain things the general public needs protection from. But carrot cake?

There shall be no cupcakes. No chocolate cake and no carrot cake. According to New York City’s latest regulations, not even zucchini bread makes the cut.

MP3 Audio Player

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:51:14 -0700

In this lesson I show you how to present uploaded mp3 audio files in a flash player using the MP3 Player module.

Note: Click the 'full screen' icon (to the left of the volume control) in order to watch online at full 1024x768 resolution.

The Wait Til Next Year Cast

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:50:29 -0700

Amazin Moments #100

A postmortem on the 2009 season. Some discussion about what the Mets can do in the offseason. A call from a listener to the new comment line.

There is a new call in number that you can try if you want to leave a message for airing in the next podcast. Listen in to hear the number.

Download MP3 File

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New York Mets Podcast #100

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:31:40 -0700

A postmortem on the 2009 season. Some discussion about what the Mets can do in the offseason. A call from a listener to the new comment line.

There is a new call in number that you can try if you want to leave a message for airing in the next podcast. Listen in to hear the number.

Get social with new embeddable badges and widgets plus a new Facebook Application. You can now add the podcast (and play it too) on Facebook.

Join our social network, I Heart Mets, where you can find the podcast, lots of Mets news, blogs and more.

Sheepshead Bay

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:20:02 -0700

Last weekend when we were down in the city the family and I took a ride to Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn for some fish at Randazzo’s Clam Bar. Sheepshead Bay is a little neighborhood on the south side of Brooklyn, just to the east of Coney Island. When I was a kid we used to go there for dinner and we’d walk along the water at the Sheepshead Bay Pier and watch the fishing boats getting ready to go out for the evening. This time we saw that they have a couple of party boats that go out at night for those who want to have some fun out on the water.

Video

Map

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Re: Robert Safuto | Jackman & Craig -- Can You Hear Us Now?

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:13:19 -0700

My wife and I saw The Boy From Oz with Hugh Jackman on Broadway a few years ago. He had some good fun then with a few people who had seats down in the front and entered after the curtain had gone up.

Price of Mets' tickets to be cut

Tom Singer — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:31:00 -0700

The price of all 2010 season tickets for in Citi Field is being cut by the Mets, who also announced on Thursday that there will not be an increase in the price of any ticket.

Microsoft Security Essentials – new anti-virus software free for genuine Windows users!

(author unknown) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:53:29 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
This bad news for the many companies who offer subscription anti-virus software packages. I can't think of a good reason to keep paying $29.99 a year to keep the current program I'm using at home.

Today, we announced a new reason to own genuine Windows software - free high-quality consumer anti-virus and anti-malware software from Microsoft! Available for use on genuine Windows PCs at no cost, Microsoft Security Essentials is an anti-malware service that helps protect consumers against viruses, spyware and other malware.

Microsoft Security Essentials is available in 8 languages across the 19 countries shown below, using it requires no registration, there are no trial conversions or renewals required to stay up to date with the latest version and it is available for download directly from Microsoft now at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/.

Australia	Austria	Belgium	Brazil
Canada	France	Germany	Ireland
Israel	Italy	Japan	Mexico
Netherlands	New Zealand	Singapore	Spain
Switzerland	United Kingdom	United States

During installation, you’ll be asked to validate Windows running on your PC to make sure that it’s genuine. As with all of our validation technology Microsoft doesn’t use any information collected during validation about the copy of Windows that is installed or the PC it is installed on to identify or contact the owner or user.

If a copy of Windows fails validation during setup then the screen below will be shown and the user will be offered an easy way to purchase genuine Windows directly from Microsoft.

Once installed, Microsoft Security Essentials provides you with real-time protection that runs quietly in the background, enabling you to continue using your PC without constant interruptions. And since it never expires and is updated automatically, you can feel safer knowing that your genuine Windows-based PC will be better protected by the latest advancements in security technology.

I’ve been using MSE on a few PCs for the last number of months and here’s what I love about it so far:

MSE is independently certified by West Coast Labs – that makes me feel good about relying on it
MSE uses the same core engine as Microsoft’s enterprise-class AV/AM products and is backed by Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center which makes me feel even better
When it does find something that doesn’t belong it enables you to clean or remove it quickly and easily rather than loading a big heavyweight app.
It’s free!

Click here to read the official press release or download Microsoft Security Essentials now.

Enhanced Geothermal May Have To Wait

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:47:18 -0700

About a year ago we mentioned that Google was investing in an enhanced geothermal energy company called AltaRock Energy. In fact, both Google and the U.S. Department of Energy made significant investments in AltaRock’s plan to drill deep into dry but hot caverns in Northern California in a bid to, “…create an EGS reservoir that will drill below the permeable zone, stimulate in the contained zone with infrastructure in place, and increase power production.” In short, they wanted to drill several thousand feet deep, fill the hole with water then use the resulting steam to power a turbine that would create electricity. And while the beginning of the project was announced with great fanfare the end didn’t get nearly as much attention from Google or the DOE.

On September 2nd of this year the New York Times published a story titled, Energy Company Calls Halt to Drilling Project. The main reason the project was halted was due to the fact that AltaRock was unable to drill a sufficient hole, only going down about 800 feet from their starting point of 3,200 feet. In order to move forward the NY Times story states that the drilling needed to reach 12,000 feet. Concerns about the project were already inflated at the time of the shutdown due to the fact that a similar effort in Switzerland had been blamed for an earthquake.

At the time of the original announcement we had our doubts about the viability of the project.

EGS may be indeed be a viable clean energy generation technology. It is also a very a risky and expensive technology that yields its share of negative environmental impacts.

Unfortunately it appears that our instincts were correct. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in power generation. If you want to extract power from the earth the earth makes you pay a heavy price. In this case the price seems to have been too high for AltaRock, their investors and the State of California. AltaRock Energy indicated in their official press release that they continue to seek out other enhanced geothermal projects.

We are continuing with the development of our EGS technology and are currently evaluating a number of alternative well locations, at the Geysers and elsewhere for demonstrating this technology.

Dykstra Pawns His 1986 World Series Ring

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:06:26 -0700

What a crying shame. A Japanese camera crew happened to be in a Los Angeles pawn shop when Lenny Dykstra showed up to pawn a number of his rings including the one from the '86 World Series. Check out the video for yourself.

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Palm Abandons Windows Mobile - Gearlog

(author unknown) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:33:26 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
I think we're going to be seeing a lot of innovation in the mobile OS space of the next year. Microsoft knows they're in trouble and need to step it up. Palm needs to continue innovating to keep the company afloat. And Apple will have to keep coming up with new tricks to prevent bleeding market share. It's all good for mobile device users.

Palm formally said they're dropping Windows Mobile as a platform for their smartphones. Read more on gearlog.com.

Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis

(author unknown) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:29:30 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
Arctic sea ice extent continued to increase this summer relative to the past two years. The current extent is about 20% greater than at the same time in 2007.

Year-round analysis of Arctic sea ice conditions, together with daily sea ice images and additional information.

2009.9.Butterfly Kite

(author unknown) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:38:27 -0700

Shared by Robert Safuto
I believe that I was on the other end of this kite.

2009.9.Butterfly Kite, originally uploaded by jdl2005.

She said “You’re amazing!” the first moment we got the kite into the air.

A Twinkle Of Light During An Awful Season

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:34:17 -0700

I'm not going to make too much of it since the Mets are long done for the season. But I think David Wright showed today (2 homers, 6 RBI) that he's still got it. Here's a guy who was alone in the lineup with the rest of the real muscle out for months. His power seemed greatly diminished this season. Then he gets hit in the head with a fastball. It has been a really tough year for David. For a moment today I was reminded of what might have been and what could be next year if Reyes, Beltran and a power hitting first baseman to be named later can stay healthy throughout the season.

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Image Gallery Enhancements

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 09:05:53 -0700

This lesson shows you how to enhance the image gallery created in the previous lesson using Thickbox, Media RSS and Views Slideshow.

The premium version of this lesson is encoded at the full 1024x768 resolution as originally recorded.

A New Day, A New Low

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:38:16 -0700

The Mets have sunk to a new low with their loss to the Phillies this afternoon. I think at this point it is safe to say that the bottom has officially dropped out from under the 2009 Mets. I hoped for a bounce back after an amazing (not in a good way) loss to the Phillies on Sunday. Unassisted triple play to kill a rally anyone? If you're going to lose you might as well make history, right? Seriously, at 11 games uner .500, 16.5 games out of the division and 13.5 games out of the wild card we all know that this season is essentially over for the Mets. Actually, I'm already ready to get over it. We haven't seen Jose Reyes since I don't know when. Delgado and Beltran who? Maine is a state isn't it? And though David Wright has been out for only a few games it seems like he's been gone longer than that.

Given the above miseries I have a question. How would you like to see the Mets play out the 2009 season. Should our injured stars attempt comebacks or rest and get 100% for next year? Should Jerry Manuel put more youngsters in the lineup and say goodbye to grizzled vets like Tatis and Sheffield? Should the Bobby Parnell experiment continue? What do you think? I don't think its too early to start talking 2010 either. Should the Mets try to keep Carlos Delgado? Who plays left field in 2010? What pitcher, if any, should the Mets add to the starting rotation? Oh there's a lot to talk about.

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Beaning David Wright

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:17:08 -0700

Every day I think we can't have a lower point in the season and then David Wright gets beaned by Matt Cain. Wright has been diagnosed with a concussion and is out indefinitely. Remember that a concusion cost Ryan Church a good portion of the 2008 season. I'm steaming mad and at the same time crushed. Johan Santana did the right thing by retaliating. You cannot let that kind of a play go unanswered. What really needs to happen involves Matt Cain though. He will step up to the plate against the Mets again, if not this season then next. Whoever is pitching during that game cannot forget what happened to David Wright.

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Public Library Fall Preview

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:24:53 -0700

If you’ve listened to New York Minute #46 you know that I’m a fan of the New York Public Library, whose main branch is located at the corner of 5th Avenue and 41st St. It’s a great place to visit to see some great architecture and enjoy a variety of exhibits which are all free to the public.

The publicity team at the library dropped me a line recently to let me know what’s happening at the library during the fall season. They’ve got some interesting things going on including unique exhibits, discussions with artists, special film screenings, events for kids and more. What follows is a list of some of the more interesting events coming up for the fall season. Take note that some of the events take place at locations other than the main library.

Mapping New York’s Shoreline, 1609 – 2009
September 25, 2009–June 26, 2010
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
(Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street)

Mapping New York’s Shoreline, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s arrival in New York Harbor, features a stunning array of maps, atlases, books, journals, broadsides, manuscripts, prints, and photographs drawn primarily from the Library’s Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, augmented by items from other New York Public Library collections.

Lincoln Center: Celebrating 50 Years
October 15, 2009–January 16, 2010
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
(40 Lincoln Center Plaza)

Lincoln Center: Celebrating 50 Years investigates the complex and symbiotic relationship between Lincoln Center and New York City over the course of a half century and the key role Lincoln Center has played in New York’s development as an international cultural capital. It is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the evolution and influence of America’s first performing arts center, and features some 400 historic and contemporary objects including photographs, ephemera, correspondence, costumes, set pieces, props, and video recordings representing all 12 of the resident organizations.

Science, Industry and Business Library
Thursday, September 10, 5:30 p.m.
“Self-Recruiter® Changing the Rules: Lecture Series:Organizing & Managing Your Job Search”
In this presentation by author and career coach John Crant, you’ll learn how to plan, set goals, and manage your job search.

Big Jeff Halloween Routine
Saturday, October 31, 3 p.m.
Children’s Center at 42nd Street, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, Manhattan

A spooky fun way to celebrate this most playful and imaginative time! Come on out and Boogie with the Boogieman, get turned into a toad by a Mean Old Witch, and sing along with the Jack-O-Lantern Blues. Recommended for ages 3 to 8 years old with parent/caregiver.

These are just a few of the many events coming up at libraries across the city. You can keep tabs on all the happenings at city libraries at http://www.nypl.org/calendar.

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The Parnell Era

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:56:49 -0700

Has the Bobby Parnell era begun? The New York Post reports:

"Bobby Parnell served notice last night that there might be at least one good reason to watch this floundering bunch over the season's final seven weeks: Parnell himself."

Parnell's Gem Offers Glimmer of Hope for Mets

I'm not one to go ga-ga over a single good start by a guy who proved to be a shaky reliever and got rocked in his first start just a week ago. But hey, when the team is down any ray of light looks a bit more promising than it might be. It would be great if Bobby Parnell could really handle starting pitcher duties in a manner similar to his performance last night.

So if Bobby Parnell can indeed start the 2010 Mets pitching rotation could look like this.

Johan Santana
John Maine
Mike Pelfrey
Olver Perez
Bobby Parnell

That's a pretty good looking starting five. A lot of assumptions get fed into that list. John Maine has to be healthy. Mike Pelfrey needs to have his confidence back. Oliver Perez needs to be a little less like the wild Oliver Perez. And then there's Parnell.

There's still a month and a half left in the season so we should get a chance to have a couple of more looks at Bobby Parnell as a starter. At the very least its a good reason to keep an eye on the team even though they're just about out of it at this point.

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Re: Enough with shortened URLs (Scripting News)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:12:29 -0700

Actually I did ignore (unintentionally) the last sentence of the comment. That's my bad. I did not know that the Twitter cut off was 30 characters. Even so, I think that Twitter should give their users the option to not shorten URLs (of any length) if users don't want them to be shortened.

Re: Enough with shortened URLs (Scripting News)

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:59:05 -0700

I frequently use Twitter. And Twitter auto-shortens URLs using Bit.ly. It's a fact. In fact, just to make sure I just posted a Tweet from the Twitter web interface that you can see here.

http://twitter.com/robsafuto/status/3297898104

That tweet was less than 140 characters and included the original url http://blogs.reuters.com/small-business/2009/08... which was automatically shortened by Twitter to a bit.ly link.

Re: MyStream Open Source Lifestreaming App Released Written for ASP.NET 4

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:15:56 -0700

Amplifeeder looks good but there is absolutely no way I'm going back to developing websites using Microsoft servers. For me, it's the LAMP stack or the highway.

Re: Enough with shortened URLs (Scripting News)

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 06:07:45 -0700

The fact that Twitter forces shortened URLs on users is reason enough to limit use of the service to communication that doesn't have much value. How about a little choice for users? The character limit is 140. Fine. But I should have the option of all 140 characters being used in a url. Instead Twitter shortens urls automatically using Bit.ly. Dave is right. Enough. If the people who publish the content want to make short, pretty urls available to visitors then they should do that. But other services should not get to decide to make the link shorter to satisfy some arbitrary standard created to suit the particular service.

Re: DocStoc Launches an iTunes for Documents

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:28:41 -0700

I don't see how what DocStoc has launched compares in any way to iTunes. iTunes is a downloadable application that includes a store, but also offers local media management, access to iPhone apps, podcast subscription and all sorts of multimedia content. In contrast, the DocStoc store is totally web based and only offers access to a single type of media. In the post you back off from the declarative statement in the title by stating that, "DocStore is looking to be an iTunes for documents..." So its not iTunes for documents but it wants to be? Either way it doesn't make sense. A comparison to eBay would be much more appropriate. eBay is the most well known trusted exchange for buyers and sellers on the web.

Google Voice As A Tool For Podcasters

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:34:05 -0700

I recently got an account with Google Voice and right off the bat I was stuck figuring out exactly how to use it properly since I really didn’t want to confuse my friends and family by giving them yet another number for me. Then I had the idea of easing into it by using my new number as a comment line for one of my podcasts. I used to utilize a service called K7.net for this purpose. Unfortunately for me the K7.net service gave my number to someone else after a certain period of inactivity. At that point I abandoned the idea of the comment line.

Google Voice has some pretty nice features that make the comment line feasible again. All messages are encoded to mp3 files which can easily be integrated in future podcast recordings. There’s an embed code for audio messages as well so individual messages can be strategically placed on a website. Finally, there’s also a call widget feature that allows you to put a “click to call” button on your website.

You could also use Google Voice as a mobile podcast recorder if you call your own number from a cell phone and record a message for later use in an audio show. The quality won’t be that great but it will likely get the job done. One thing I’m not sure of is if there is a time limit on voicemail messages.

Given all the other nice features of Google Voice, like automatic transcription of messages and multiple customizable voicemail messages to name a couple, I can’t see a downside for podcasters who want to have an official show phone number that doesn’t clash with their existing home or cell phone numbers. Did I mention that Google Voice is free too?

Update: Google Voice help says that voice mail messages may be up to three minutes long.

Re: Scoble, your blog still loves you (Scripting News)

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:54:03 -0700

I agree. Who knows. A few years down the road the founders of FriendFeed may start something else and they'd be in a better position if their old fans felt good about how FriendFeed ended.

Re: Scoble, your blog still loves you (Scripting News)

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:05:02 -0700

What's lost in the whole discussion about FriendFeed selling off to Facebook is the fact that it is very likely that FriendFeed had to sell to Facebook because they weren't competitive and didn't have good revenue prospects. That situation existed in spite of Scoble's freelance evangelism for the service. So I think it's wrong to attribute the sale to the hard work of Robert Scoble. Had Scoble been more successful at bringing users to the service then Friendfeed wouldn't had had to sell. This is a separate issue from the question of whether or not Scoble should have worked so hard for FriendFeed in the first place. My answer is, "No." As far as I know FriendFeed never promised Robert any monetary compensation in return for his activity on the service so they don't owe him a dime.

Re: My Thoughts on the Current State of FriendFeed

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:18:15 -0700

My gut feeling is that FriendFeed is done. Facebook will inherit the best ideas and features and fold them into their site. I think it's better that way since I believe that just about everyone who was on FriendFeed is on Facebook anyway. I also think that the FriendFeed leadership sold because they had to. FriendFeed didn't appear to have any revenue generating possibilities. And they've been getting squeezed by both Google (via recent Google Reader enhancements) and Facebook in terms of functionality. Now that the team is with Facebook they can focus on developing their ideas without having to worry about competing with Google.

The Sinking Feeling Cast

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:50:06 -0700

Amazin Moments #99

Recapping the horrible events of the last two months for the Mets. Ugh!

Multiple injuries to key players including Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and John Maine.
Trades! Ramon Castro traded to White Sox upon the return of Brian Schneider. Ryan Church gets moved to Atlanta in exchange for Jeff Francouer.
Omar Minaya not making big trades but making waves with the firing of Tony Bernazard and the calling out of NY Daily News writer Adam Rubin.
My impressions from my very first visit to Citi Field.

There is a new call in number that you can try if you want to leave a message for airing in the next podcast. Listen in to hear the number.

Download MP3 File

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New York Mets Podcast #99

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:46:44 -0700

Recapping the horrible events of the last two months for the Mets. Ugh!

Multiple injuries to key players including Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and John Maine.
Trades! Ramon Castro traded to White Sox upon the return of Brian Schneider. Ryan Church gets moved to Atlanta in exchange for Jeff Francouer.
Omar Minaya not making big trades but making waves with the firing of Tony Bernazard and the calling out of NY Daily News writer Adam Rubin.
My impressions from my very first visit to Citi Field.

There is a new call in number that you can try if you want to leave a message for airing in the next podcast. Listen in to hear the number.

Get social with new embeddable badges and widgets plus a new Facebook Application. You can now add the podcast (and play it too) on Facebook.

Join our social network, I Heart Mets, where you can find the podcast, lots of Mets news, blogs and more.

Mets - Diamondbacks Series Discussion

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:52:13 -0700

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Mets vs. Diamondbacks | August 10th - August 12th, 2009

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Mets - Padres Series Discussion

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:15:23 -0700

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Mets vs. Padres | August 6th - August 9th, 2009

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Mets - Cardinals Series Discussion

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:04:16 -0700

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Cardinals vs. Mets | August 4th - August 5th, 2009

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Weekend In The City With Kids

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:03:04 -0700

I recently returned from an extended weekend in New York City with my wife and our two children. It’s the first time we’ve had two little ones (age 1 and 4) with us and I have to say it was quite a challenge. Everything needed to be timed just right and we needed to carry along extra gear to make sure the kids were comfortable and happy throughout the day. We also did a lot less than we could have done without the children since we made time for naps and cut days short when they were tired and hungry. Here is a short synopsis of the trip.

Day 1 – Rockaway Beach

Rockaway Beach is exactly as I remember it from my days as a youth in Queens. There’s not much going on there except the boardwalk, the beach and the ocean. That’s fine with me. You’ll find many more locals than tourists at Rockaway. We went to Beach 108 St. which is usually quieter than 116 St. which is the last subway stop. The area in between 108th and 116th is even quieter since it’s further from the best parking and the subway stops. Lifeguards are on duty from 10AM – 6PM. When we were there two lifeguards (one in the chair and one at the edge of the surf) patrolled each stretch of beach. It’s important to note that the currents at Rockaway can be dangerous so it’s best to supervise kids very closely. Current aside the water was nice. I did some bodysurfing and we played with the kids at the edge of the surf. We drove to the beach and I think that’s the preferred mode of transport with the kids because you can leave and get comfortable much quicker than if you take public transportation.

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Day 1 – Evening
My Mom was kind enough to sit with the kids for the evening so my wife and I could have an adult night out. We walked around the West Village, grabbed a beer at WXOU Radio Bar then dinner at our favorite Brazilian restaurant Casa on Bedford Street. Casa is very small, but has a nice elegant feel to it. We love the food and always have a caipirihna or three. The one thing I noticed when walking around the village is that there are more closed storefronts than usual. Several restaurants that we used to go to are closed. There are still many great places to visit though. It’s also worth noting that Bleecker Street between 10th St. and Hudson St. has gotten much more upscale with several high end clothing and shoe stores. We capped off the evening with a stroll up Bleecker to Rocco’s Pastry Shop. My wife had assorted cookies and I inhaled a fresh cannoli. We also spotted TV actor Nicholas Tuturro in Rocco’s enjoying some sweets with his family.

Day 2 – Top of the Rock / Grand Central Terminal
Top of the Rock is one of those sights I’ve talked alot about but never actually visited. It’s a series of observation decks at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (aka 30 Rock) that was closed for many years and re-opened several years ago. Top of the Rock is notable because you get a great perspective on the Empire State Building and also have a great view of Central Park. You can book times in advance so we did that on the website. Kids under 6 are free so that was very helpful for our budget. Once you’re up at the top there are three different levels and you can enjoy the view from indoors as well as outdoors. The elevator ride up to the 67th floor is pretty unique and the kids loved it. We brought a two-person stroller everywhere and there were elevators that allow you to take the stroller to any level. There are also bathrooms up there so kids potty emergencies aren’t a problem. One interesting note about departing. The elevator down dropped us off below street level so we had to find an elevator (there are more escalators than elevators) to go one level up so we could exit with the stroller.

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We continued on the meet a friend for lunch at Grand Central Terminal. My older daughter loved the giant main hall. The ceiling is worth a look for astronomy buffs (my daughter loves stars) since the constellations are depicted on the ceiling of the terminal. I think that Grand Central is a great stop if you have kids because it’s free, there is plenty of room for strollers, lots of food options and there are bathrooms. The Transit Museum Annex is also worth stopping in on because they have some unique transit oriented souvenirs (like subway map rain boots and umbrellas) plus a few small transit exhibits.

Day 3 – Staten Island Ferry / Battery Park
My daughter was excited to get a look at the Statue of Liberty up close so we headed to Lower Manhattan for our final outing of the trip. We decided to skip going directly to the statue in order to avoid long lines. Going right to the Statue of Liberty and seeing her from very close up is well worth the wait. But we also knew that the kids might not hold up well on a hot day in a large crowd of people. It was a good choice because when we got down in that area the line to get on the ferry to the statue was very long. Instead we hopped on the Staten Island Ferry for free and caught a glimpse from the harbor. When we got to Staten Island instead of rushing to get the ferry to come back (which departs almost the same time as you arrive) we stayed an extra 30 minutes and enjoyed the view of Manhattan in the distance. There’s a nice outdoor deck area where you can grab a bench and admire the harbor. It’s important to note that when getting on the ferry you want to make a beeline to the side of the ferry that faces the statue if you want to get the best view. There is an upper level where you can go up to as well but that wasn’t an option for us since it wasn’t stroller accessible.

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With the time we saved not waiting to get on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty we strolled around Battery Park and Wagner Park which is just to the west of Battery Park and hugs New York Harbor and the Hudson River. We were treated to an impromptu modern dance performance which we stumbled upon while walking along. Here’s something else that’s important to know. There are public bathrooms in Battery Park that had very long lines. If you walk further west to the outdoor restaurant called Gigino you will find bathrooms there that get less traffic and may be a bit cleaner. Plus there’s a great patch of grass there where you can admire the harbor view.

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Getting Around With Kids
Having a car was very helpful for us during our trips since we were staying outside of Manhattan. If you’re in Manhattan and traveling with kids then the subway is the best mode of transport for long distances. A sturdy stroller is invaluable if your children are very young. I saw lots of people with flimsy travel strollers. I think the streets are a little too rough and the pace a little too fast to bring a cheap stroller. We have a travel stroller that we’ve gone to other cities with but those are places where there is less walking, the streets are better paved and the pace is slower. So I say bring the full on stroller for the kids if at all possible. If you are driving in then prepare to pay for parking. If you can find an easy parking spot on the street then go for it. But rather than driving in circles for hours it’s best to bite the bullet and spring for a parking garage. This can cost anywhere from $20 to $50 per day. Most places have early bird specials on weekdays where you get a much reduced rate if you arrive before 10AM. You can use http://nyc.bestparking.com/ to research locations of lots and find lots that have special deals going.

Are We Done Yet?

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:38:50 -0700

The news that Jose Reyes suffered another setback has tempered the optimism I was feeling after the Mets won five in a row earlier this week. Add that news to two straight losses, no trade deadline activity and the uncertainty around the return of John Maine and Carlos Beltran and I think you can see why a Mets fan would be down in the dumps. The situation leads me to believe that even the Mets brass believe that the Mets are done with the 2009 season. Why rush Reyes back? Why trade prospects for talent on a temporary basis? I think those are the questions that the Mets brass have asked themselves and the fans have gotten the answers. The answers seem to be that the Mets won't take any risks and that we'll come back healthy and get 'em next year. What do you think?

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Mets - Diamondbacks Series Discussion

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:19:28 -0700

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Diamondbacks vs. Mets | July 31st - August 3rd, 2009

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Mets - Rockies Series Discussion

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:56:32 -0700

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Rockies vs. Mets | July 27th - July 30th, 2009

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Lessons For Young Entrepreneurs

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:03:05 -0700

There was a time not so long ago when the conventional wisdom in the world of tech revolved around youth above all else. If you look back a decade to the dot-com bubble you’ll see many companies whose management philosophy revolved largely around the belief that youth and inexperience were a key ingredient required for a successful tech startup. We now know that this philosophy was extremely flawed. Age and experience do count for something when running a business. And anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

Fast forward to this week when I decided, for better or worse, weigh in on a very small controversy about a site called Teens In Tech. Teens In Tech is a WordPress MU powered group blog started by a teenager named Daniel Brusilovsky. I knew about Teens In Tech because it has received coverage on TechCrunch. Teens In Tech, according to TechCrunch, is a “startup…with a board of advisers that includes Robert Scoble and Loic Le Meur.” Some pretty heavy hitters there as far as advisors go. More recently Daniel announced the addition of a person named Louis Gray to his Board of Advisors. So we’ve got a startup covered by TechCrunch, a heavy hitting Board of Advisors and a young man with big dreams for his company. Could be a recipe for great success…or not. I took a look at it when I first heard about the site and I wasn’t impressed. It was a standard WordPress MU install with very little content. Then I forgot about it.

In any case a blog post surfaced this week on a site called Net News Daily indicating that Teens In Tech had been hacked revealing in the process that activity on the site was quite anemic with something like 400 users, 150 of which didn’t appear to be active. The writer of the article thought that didn’t square with Daniel’s assertion of “10,000 regular subscribers” to Teens In Tech on a YouTube video interview. I took a stroll over to the Teens In Tech site to see what was up and really didn’t like what I saw. As I perused the site I noticed the lack of content, an “advertise with us” banner that links to the home page and just a general lack of community. Knowing that it was up to a 15-year old to maintain the site I could understand it. I was 15 once, trying all sorts of things with the limited computer technology that was available then. But then again I didn’t call myself a CEO and I didn’t have a board of advisors made up of the top Silicon Valley tech bloggers. I wondered what role the advisors played in the current state of the site.

I wondered if the advisors were actually advising young Daniel on the ways to do things right on the web. I wondered if such advice was being dispensed whether or not Daniel was listening. Or perhaps he hasn’t had the time to bring the site up to speed. I know how that goes since I run a couple of active communities, plus produce blogs and podcasts myself. Then again I don’t call myself a CEO. And I haven’t recently announced the acquisition of YouthBloggers.net and the launch of Teens In Tech Networks. I was dumbfounded by the lack of substance at almost every turn. Daniel was involved with the Teens In Tech Conference in early 2009 which appeared to go off quite well. But I couldn’t find anything new. Media companies (with a CEO, CFO and Board of Advisors), you would imagine, should be producing media on a pretty regular basis. Something did not appear right to me.

All the hoopla about a media network, a 15-year old CEO, a Board of Advisors, TechCrunch coverage, etc. didn’t really amount to much. The signal to noise ratio is very poor here…just like a thousand other web “startups” that claim to be companies that are really glorified hobbies. There’s nothing wrong with a kid having a hobby or wanting to be a tech entrepreneur but it seems to me that this isn’t the right way to do it. If you’re going to call yourself a CEO then you should have a legitimate, transparent and substantial organization beneath you. If you’re going to call yourself a media network then I should be able to find plenty of media produced by that network without a whole lot of effort. I’m sorry but I can’t find the media save for a personal Twitter account and a Facebook group with 14 members. Daniel does produce a podcast called Apple Universe Podcast but that isn’t even linked from the Teens In Tech site. The podcast appears to be the most professional thing he has going on a regular basis. Why isn’t that out front?

I think there are a lot of mistakes being made in this situation. It appears to me that a premium is being put on creating the illusion of a grande media network instead of building something organically. For all the hype there is little substance. That’s not a good thing. I’ll take one well produced podcast over a media network with no media any day of the week. All these websites, announcements, titles don’t amount to a hill of beans unless you are regularly producing quality content and building solid community. If it hasn’t happened already then Daniel’s advisors need to step up and get that point across. The habits and attitude that Daniel (and all young entrepreneurs) develop in their teenage years will either doom them or set them up for success. Unfortunately many of the habits of the Silicon Valley Twitterati are poor ones. They are focused on getting attention and hard selling goods that don’t live up to their promises. Do one thing well. Be modest. Focus. Engage one person at a time to build a solid community. Then you can start talking about building a media empire.

These types of lessons tend not to go over so well in the place I like to call Silly-con Valley. There’s too much hard sell and not enough substance out there. And it’s easy to get caught in the tractor beam with all the press events, conferences, parties and the money you hear about on the tech blogs. Too many people are chasing something that doesn’t exist instead of building something meaningful. So while I think that Daniel and other young entrepreneurs are talented I also caution not to fall into the smoke and mirrors marketing culture of startup land. Because for every YouTube there are a thousand PodTechs.

Some have suggested that I don’t have the authority to mete out advice about what is right or wrong with a web based media network? After all I’m not part of that culture. That’s the problem with the startup crowd though. They think they know everything because they’re friends with a guy who used to work for a company that got a post on TechCrunch last year. I’ve done plenty in the world of online media. The people who I have helped know what I’ve done. My podcasts have been downloaded more than 1.6 million times. Marriott reached out to me because they noticed my Red Room Chronicles blog, which was one of the first (it may have been the first) blogs ever to focus on a single hotel chain. Shortly thereafter Marriott Chairman Bill Marriott launched his own blog. I worked with Todd Cochrane and RawVoice for a year helping with marketing podcasts and building community. During that time I produced an event called Blubrry Jam to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. I manage a pair of active online communites, I Heart Mets (a social sports site) and Learn By The Drop (a Drupal learning site). I’m also currently working my way towards a Masters of Business Administration. I could go on but this post is getting too long.

Young people are smart. They know a lot but they still need help. Let’s show ‘em how to do it right.

I know what’s coming after this post goes up. I’ve talked about how the blogging culture works before. If Infantry Basic Training, Officer Candidate School and life inside a tank didn’t break me then some blogger in a shoebox apartment in San Francisco sure won’t.

1.6 Million Downloads

nobody@flickr.com (rsafuto) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:03:27 -0700

rsafuto posted a photo:

My podcast download stats from Libsyn as of July 2009.

St. Lukes Schoolyard

nobody@flickr.com (rsafuto) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:05:35 -0700

rsafuto posted a photo:

Photo taken from the window of my (old) apartment on Hudson Street in Manhattan.

Passing Cars

nobody@flickr.com (rsafuto) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:05:31 -0700

rsafuto posted a photo:

Photo taken from the window of my (old) apartment on Hudson Street in Manhattan.

Hudson View

nobody@flickr.com (rsafuto) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:00:43 -0700

rsafuto posted a photo: