Apple just announced the release date for OS X 10.5, Leopard, and guess what? It’s right in the middle of Podcamp Boston.

I have a lot to say about this, but let’s keep it brief instead: Don’t let this company, the one that took a cash-grab at podcasting, bring the hype into our community event.

Yes, we’ve been waiting forever, and yes, it’ll have great new features, but please. So many people have worked hard to make this event huge and successful– so, I beg of all of you, during this weekend, let’s talk about us, and what we can do, not them. Ok?

Filed by Julien at 4:16 pm under strategy
5 Comments

Three parts, each more disturbing than the last. This is the kind of movie whose concepts it’s impossible to explain to people without looking like a crackpot… but like this, they make sense. (Feel free to skip the 5 minute introductory sequence.)

(Hat tip: Marko)

Filed by Julien at 12:01 am under strategy
4 Comments

If you’re irritated about the way influencers seem to be jumping from one web app to another, you aren’t alone. Dave Slusher just renounced ‘the search for the newer and shinier,’ and I suspect many others will follow after Facebook becomes passé.

What Dave doesn’t realize is that it is in the nature of early influencers’ attention to be transitory. The reason they jump from one app to another is precisely because they are early influencers, and people pay attention to them precisely because they try things before anyone else.

In fact, I could even go so far as to say that, if they stop trying the new and shiny, attention to them will dwindle.

What Slusher has done (by unsubscribing) is exercise the power he does have, which is attention. If attention is what causes these web apps to become popular, it is also the thing that causes early influencers power to expand– attention is the very nature of power on the web.

So if you’re waiting for your web app to get picked up by Scoble, Arrington, or anyone else, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Even if you are the new Facebook, it is in their very nature to drop the old as the new and shiny comes along.

It happens in Hollywood, it happens in electronics, and it happens on the web. One day, you and your app, your weblog, or your podcast, will be over.

Start working on your next thing NOW.

Filed by Julien at 6:52 pm under strategy, business, trends, podcasting
6 Comments

In Quebec everyone needs to speak French– so when an ad for a job appears, it says “French skills required.” It’s a given.

Those that move to Toronto, though, something happens to them. Suddenly, everyone goes “this guy’s French is AMAZING! We have to hire this guy!”

You’ve become the specialist.

New Media is like Quebec. You need to know it all– do the Twitter, the Facebook, the blogging, the videos– all of those, just to swim. But when you finally get out, and see the world, they love you. :)

If you just want to be a podcaster, forever, you’re playing the wrong game. Nobody cares here. Be a podcaster, then get the hell out, and watch what happens. Show the world what you can do– you’ll be amazed at the results.

Filed by Julien at 12:23 am under strategy
3 Comments

We may talk like revolutionaries, but we still worship our old masters at the end of the day. Prove this to yourself– next time you meet a podcaster, tell them your show is on the radio, and watch their stance on your work change dramatically.

Being syndicated on Sirius changed my life, but not in the way you’d expect. Adam mentioned my show every Friday, which raised my profile immensely. Every new media fanboy I told the Sirius thing to suddenly thought I was huge. In all that time, I met two people with Sirius receivers.

Once you examine the whole picture, you can’t help but notice the cracks. Satellite radio is hemorrhaging money, audience, and credibility, yet we still put them on pedestals. The ROI of podcasting may not be proven, but the competition’s is, and iTunes is now the 3rd largest retailer in the US, with nowhere to go but up.

It’s about time we stopped looking up to people in radio, and started treating them like the dinosaurs they are. Our position may not look strong today, but as the pile of content producers gets bigger, it pushes us to the top. All we have to do is keep our balance once we get there.

Filed by Julien at 12:56 pm under strategy, trends
9 Comments