I have been staying tuned to the constant news of an economic bust where people are losing homes, jobs, and retirement savings. In my city, there is a definite squeeze where costs are being cut to try and avoid some job losses. In some cases, it isn’t because of a lack of revenue; it’s to save money for a nuclear winter in the event that money is not available in the future. It’s a mode that many businesses are operating under, and from my radar, it’s most visible in the tech sector.

While I don’t pay attention to tech blogs like I use to, I still hear about the effects of the down economy on tech companies, primarily Silicon Valley startups, via my regular tech podcasts. One company that was recently affected was Revision3, a new media company that focuses on IPTV shows. On October 27, Revision3’s CEO, Jim Louderback, announced show cuts and layoffs, which included axing popSiren, Internet Superstar, and Pixel Perfect. Later, the GigaOm Show and The Revision3 Gazette were also canceled from Revision3’s lineup after the original blog post. Revision3 also ended its distribution deals with Wine Library TV and EPIC FU and laid off approximately 10 of their staff, which included popular hosts Sarah Lane and Martin Sargent. This wasn’t a surprising move to me since many startups are announcing cuts. What also wasn’t surprising was the comments left by Revision3 “fans” on the blog post and message boards. (more…)

I’m sure you’ve noticed the lack of blog posts recently here at WriteTilt.com. I haven’t posted because I’ve been too busy to do so. My lack of posts is quite simple: lack of commitment and desire.

I have fallen victim to these issues before in the past. For three straight years, I blogged very consistently, pretty much on a weekly basis. Back then, blogging was new to me, and I loved the idea of free-form communication on the web without restraints. There was a time when I thought I’d never stop blogging but I did. I didn’t feel as committed to blogging every week and that I was forcing myself to write about something just to post and appease my readers. However, forcing words just for my audience felt false because I just wasn’t feeling it the way I once did. The shiny luster of blogging had worn off, and I also felt burned out. So I took a hiatus and eventually decided to shut my first blog down about two months later.

For approximately one year, I didn’t blog before I got the itch to return. I resurfaced under this domain and took a different approach to blogging from my previous one. I wrote whenever I felt like I wanted to write and tried not to fall under pressure to post every day or even every week. I succeeded and actually thought I could survive the blogosphere, possibly for good. Then Twitter happened.

I love Twitter – when it isn’t failing of course – and used the micro-blogging tool as an “ad hoc service” to blogging here at WriteTilt.com. When I first started using Twitter, I dismissed the tool as a blogging replacement. And of course, you can’t say as much with 140 characters as you can with a blog. However, an odd thing happened to me. As I used Twitter more, my desire and commitment to blogging slowly diminished. I found that I liked the idea of expressing myself in small spurts throughout the day rather than sitting down and thinking about a topic to expand upon in a blog post. Still, I didn’t think that long-form blogging was dead…until I heard a recent Net@Night episode. (more…)

Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback finally put the last nail in the coffin for the IPTV’s latest effort, Social Brew. If you don’t know what Social Brew was, it was a show dedicated to covering social networks on a weekly basis such as Twitter, Zune Social, Facebook, etc. When the show debuted, I wondered how anyone could possibly sustain a weekly show on social networks, so I decided to see for myself by subscribing to it via Zune Marketplace. From episode one, I had a feeling that Social Brew was doomed for failure.

Non-compelling and/or Mismatched Hosts

Social Brew’s main host was Irene McGee of Real World Seattle fame. I thought it was an odd choice from the beginning, but I definitely felt it wasn’t the wisest of choices after watching episode one. One thing I noticed about McGee was that she seemed uncomfortable and nervous on camera. She talked – a whole lot – with her hands, which I spent more time watching (in annoyance) than listening to what she was saying. She also had an irritating tendency to ramble, make things about her, and take over the conversion, which she did improve upon in future episodes. I know some viewers also held the “Stephen incident” against her, which turned into a minor controversy on Rev3’s forums. I’m also aware that some people just didn’t think she had enough “geek cred” to host the show, but it wasn’t as if she was hosting Systm, people. Personally, I found that McGee, aside from the other annoyances, just wasn’t interesting as a host and lacked the “it” factor.

I can say the same for co-hosts Johnny Hwin and Neha Tiwari (who was actually good on Tekzilla). While I felt they were better hosts than McGee, I found them mostly boring whenever they were on camera. They primarily lacked a “spark” whenever they were discussing topics for their segments, which made me wonder if they really liked what they were doing. The only exception was Moujon Z. whose personality stood out and whose comic relief was the best thing about the show; however, I felt that in some ways, she didn’t belong on Social Brew. Moujon was the extreme opposite among all of her co-hosts, which made it even more obvious that she was neon pink and everyone else was just beige in terms of on-screen personality. (more…)

The following video is a funny sketch of what Facebook would be like in the real world. Even though I am not on Facebook, I’m familiar enough with the site (via podcasts and tech news) to relate to this.

YouTube Video Link: 

[Thanks to Shawnz for sharing this.]

Once again, rumors abound over the possible sale of Digg. If you follow what’s happening in technology startups, then you’re aware that this type of rumor concerning Digg crops up every few months Unlike those previous rumors, there is the appearance that this particular rumor has more credence than others…according to Michael Arrington.

Whether Digg is for sale or is on the verge of being acquired doesn’t really matter that much to me. I login to my Digg account periodically, but more often than not, months will go by before I visit the site. The site just isn’t as compelling for me as it once was; however, the same can’t be said for thousands of other users. Some are threatening an outright revolt. They are threatening to leave Digg (especially if Microsoft is the buyer) and jump ship to another competitor (Reddit, Propeller, etc.) if Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose “sells out and cashes out.” Have any of these Digg users speaking out against the alleged sale considered that Adelson and Rose are ready to move on to something else? Did they think Rose started Digg as a gathering place for fanboys to congregate? Last time I checked, Digg is not a non-profit; it’s a for-profit business. Anyone who goes into business may want to work for themselves and/or do something they’re passionate about, but they also want to make money.

Frankly, I don’t care what they do. It’s their business (literally), and they can do what they want with it. However, many Digg users don’t feel the same. They believe they “own” the site by providing content, and that if they whine enough, Digg will cave as they have done before. This sense of “entitlement and ownership” around Digg (or any other service) is the problem with the whole “wisdom of the crowds” philosophy. It’s a good idea in theory, but it’s a bad idea in practice.