gdp's Comments

Scott Granneman's Classes : Photosharing - comparing Flickr, Photobucket and Zooomr

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:45:04 +0000

I guess that makes you my driver's ed instructor, doesn't it? And thanks.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Jon Udell on Del.icio.us and tagging

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:05:56 +0000

A little too fast for me. He was zipping around between personal buckets and global buckets too quickly for me to follow very well. But his point at the end about the evolution of language is an intriguing one.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Fifteen Things I Learned on del.icio.us

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:49:01 +0000

I'm not seeing much for Wash U School of Medicine yet when I search delicious. I guess we're not on the radar of social bookmarkers yet.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Even tastier del.icio.us

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:39:14 +0000

I feel like I need Geritol or something--just can't quite wrap my brain around social bookmarking, but I'm gonna try. Signed up for a membership and added the plug-in to Firefox. The qualm I have going in is that the new sites I visit in an average week are typically remarkable, interesting, or relevant only in a very transitory fashion--stuff you share on Facebook to give your friends a chuckle and have forgotten by the time the next morning rolls around. Social bookmarking makes me feel like I just don't "get around" anymore.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Video, YouTube, and the UCLA Taser Story

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:28:04 +0000

I agree. Did you hear about the ten-year-old Australian tantrum thrower whose mother asked a cop to taze her--and the cop did as she requested? There's got to be some way to get the message through: this ain't a behavior modification tool.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Assignments for 9-15 November 2009

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:07:05 +0000

I dunno. I guess I've been cautioned for so long to be suspicious of \"spyware\" that installing a program specifically for the purpose of letting an internet site watch me do something seemed foolhardy. But \"Genius\" on iTunes is already doing that, right?

I set up the laptop at the office Christmas party, and asked last.fm to play Christmas music. Went fine for the first three or four songs, then suddenly I noticed that it was playing Iron Butterfly: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (or however that's spelled). Perhaps I've never listened to the lyrics closely enough, but somehow that doesn't strike me as a Christmas song. I turned it off and put in Bob Dylan's new Christmas CD.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Stark Images, Uploaded to the World

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 22:34:09 +0000

What on Earth could CNN have meant with its disclaimer "unverified video"? Were they worried it was CGI? Or that it came from another country racked with pro-democracy protests at the same time?

Scott Granneman's Classes : Video, YouTube, and the UCLA Taser Story

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 22:27:03 +0000

Wow, what a horror show. It's shocking that videos like this or the "don't taze me, bro" video haven't generated more backlash against the widespread abuse of tasers--they're not cattle prods, to be used routinely for behavior modification when someone's being uncooperative. There is a risk of death, serious injury and permanent disability from exposure to the kinds of voltage supplied by tasers, and they're only supposed to be used when someone's in imminent danger of harm. We don't need to see what was going on--if this kid was on the floor, as is implied by the repeated demands that he stand up, then he wasn't in a position to harm anyone.

Scott Granneman's Classes : A Comcast Technician Sleeping on my Couch

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 22:08:34 +0000

I'm with you Scott and Kathy--I sympathize with the service tech. Who wouldn't fall asleep if you're regularly put on hold for an hour? Who knows what the poor guy was juggling--multiple jobs, single parenthood? Falling asleep in an inappropriate location is not an indication that you're lazy or stupid--it's an indication that you're sleep-deprived.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Videos that Put YouTube.com on the Map

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 21:45:04 +0000

Evolution of the Dance now has a sequel, Evolution of the Dance 2. Not quite as funny or popular as the first, but still worth a watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inLBPVG8oEU It's astonishing how fast these things can spread. I was just reposting a link to a Muppet version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody a few weeks ago, saw at least one friend repost my repost, and now the video has, in its various incarnations, had in excess of 10 million views. I wonder if multiple repostings are pulling down viewing numbers nowadays? Search for Evolution of the Dance (posted 3 years ago) and you only get one straight link (other links include the sequel and an Optimus Prime version), but if you search for Susan Boyle (more recent), and you get multiple links to the same segment of her premiere on Britain's Got Talent (in addition to other, newer segments).

Scott Granneman's Classes : You Tube vs. Boob Tube

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 04:16:30 +0000

Call me old-fashioned, but outside of the occasional Muppet video post to YouTube or the passing phenomena like "Evolution of Dance" or Susan-what's-her-name (Boyle? the "I dreamed a dream" lady on Britain's Got Talent), if I'm looking for video entertainment online, I'm much more likely to pass YouTube by and go to Netflix or Hulu for professionally produced content. I don't have time to be a diamond miner prospecting in the vast, dark coal chute that is YouTube. I don't know how well Hulu is doing, but as a Hulu watcher it was interesting to note this quote: ‘There may be a user out there who likes a 30-second preroll,’ says Tod Sacerdoti of POSTroller. ‘If you find one, have him give me a call.’ I don't mind the preroll on Hulu. I can't say I like it, sure, but I put up with it for vintage Land of the Lost episodes or the latest Simpsons episode.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Every Minute, Just About A Days Worth Of Video Is Now Uploaded To YouTube

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 03:52:22 +0000

It's an impressive upload figure to be sure, but how much of it is watchable or interesting? And doesn't Google have to pay for bandwidth coming in just as much as it does going out? If so, I'd be looking to monetize the intake initially, not the output. At least until that intake figure went down. Maybe they could offer input providers royalties on downloads if they eventually charged download fees. Does it make me a cynic if I see YouTube as a glass 99.9995 percent full of unwatchable nonsense?

Scott Granneman's Classes : Google and YouTube Now Serving 10 Billion Videos Per Month

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 23:25:52 +0000

I wonder if we're going to read about the question of the economic viability of YouTube. The cost for the bandwidth for all those videos watched adds up to a pretty big figure. I was reading an article earlier this year on--I think--Slate that questioned whether sites like YouTube and Facebook have an economically viable business model. The thrust of the article was that while advertising dollars are finite, our appetite for downloading and uploading content online at sites like these has yet to show any such constraints.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Your Guide To Music On The Web – Part 1

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 23:17:01 +0000

I agree with Rebecca--I'm a little overwhelmed! I will give Amie a try--I've been a pretty regular indie music listener. And making folks vote with their wallets is one of the finest ways in the world to make sure they consider their choices carefully. Might take a look around Jamendo as well--you never know when music accessible via a creative commons license might come in handy. Just hit a frustrating but curious and temporary wall in Pandora: was trying to find some music in the vein of early Crash Test Dummies albums, skipped the first song because I owned it (it was CTDummies, of course), disliked the second song, from Counting Crows, which stopped the song and moved the player to another CTD song I owned and wanted to skip. But I was told that I couldn't because Pandora's "music license limits the number of times we can allow a user to skip a song." I wonder what the thinking was behind that licensing limitation?

Scott Granneman's Classes : Top 10 Facebook Applications for Music Lovers

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 22:49:16 +0000

I'll give the Pandora app a try and the Music Challenge app sounds like fun too. In searching for Pandora on FB, I noticed that a few of my friends are just starting to discover Pandora.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Assignments for 9-15 November 2009

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 22:30:45 +0000

Hmm, now that I've noticed the scrobbler taking up space in my system tray in the upper right corner of my Mac, and tried Pandora and been more impressed with its much more direct path to creating personalized internet radio stations, I'm thinking I might give the scrobbler and last.fm the heave-ho and stick to Pandora.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Sorry, there’s no easy way of putting this: Lala Sucks

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 22:26:30 +0000

Yes, the "no ads" aspect seems to come up in a majority of the positive press notices that Lala features on its site.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Pandora Usage Stats Prove It’s iPhone’s Killer App

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 22:15:20 +0000

BTW: If Pandora has a "small army of musicians" categorizing music according to various aspects, is it still a web 2.0 app? Do listener likes and dislikes get factored into musical associations on a service-wide basis, or just at the personal level?

Scott Granneman's Classes : Pandora Usage Stats Prove It’s iPhone’s Killer App

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 21:59:20 +0000

So, has the question of ads versus a service fee not been resolved yet? I don't see anything on the Roku channel store listing that would indicate either way, and I don't have an iPhone, so I suppose it's a moot point for me until I get a Roku, but I'm still curious.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Pandora tutorials

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 21:49:48 +0000

Nice tutorials. I love this "personalized radio station" feature! Radio with a "next track please!" button. There's such a big difference between actually hearing these potential matches to your listening tastes in full vs. getting a list of them that you can click on to hear 30-second samples from (i.e., the Genius way). I like the fact that Pandora gets straight to the point and has you creating personalized radio stations right off the bat as opposed to filling out your library or installing a scrobbler.