The Next Chapter

I promised you last time I'd talk about what's next for me, so here's what I've been thinking lately. The end of The Lab did two things (besides killing a pretty heft chunk of my income): it gave me one week a month with nothing to do, and it eliminated my only regular television exposure. Thanks to Amber, and some work she's passing my way, I think I'll be able to mostly replace the income - phew - and I'm sure I can find something to do with the extra time (like make sure all the TWiT shows come out weekly from now on). But what about TV? Our minor experiments in doing video versions of TWiT have convinced me that audio is the more popular medium. TWiT audio gets many times more downloads than video. That makes sense to me, since people have more time to listen to audio than they do to sit down and watch video. But there's something about video that captures people's attention. I'll go one step further, there's something about live video that's very compelling for both viewers and hosts. I've missed live TV ever since TechTV went under four years ago, and I've been looking for some way to get that excitement back. If you've been watching the impromptu live streams of the Tech Guy radio show, you know they're very popular and I have a lot of fun doing them. (Tune in TWiT Live Saturday and Sunday from 2-5p Eastern.) So much fun that I've expanded the live broadcasts to include some of the netcast tapings including TWiT. We run an IRC chat room at irc.dslextreme.com #techguy during the video and the interactivity adds so much on both sides. I've also been watching what Chris Pirillo has been doing on Ustream and Robert Scoble on Qik, and I have come to believe there's significant interest in live streaming video. Towards the end of last year I learned that the downstairs offices in our building would soon be vacant. I've always coveted this space. We're in a quaint old cottage built by a lumber baron at the turn of the century. He paneled the entire downstairs in redwood and it's gorgeous. We don't really need the space - right now TWiT is just Dane and me - but I leased it anyway, three days before Rogers cancelled the show. I wasn't sure what I'd do with the extra space at the time, but my plan now is to turn it into a streaming video studio. Here's a quick video tour of the new TWiT Offices. (Yes that's my Emmy on the mantle - I'm not a complete TV newbie!)

To begin with we're going to stream everything we do at TWiT, including the production of all our shows, live and interactive. To that end we're adding considerable bandwidth: a T1 line and a cable modem to our existing DSL connectivity. We'll Skype over one, stream over another, and reserve the third for surfing, uploads, etc. I've also started furnishing the office with antiques - I don't want this to look like any TV show you've ever seen before - and we're adding lights, cameras, microphones, and computers for video production. We hope everything will be in place and we can begin streaming daily by the end of April. Don't worry - the existing TWiT shows will still be available as audio downloads, but soon you'll be able to watch them being made and interact with them live. Some of the shows may begin to offer video versions, in addition to the existing audio versions. I expect we'll be sending two to four hours of live video out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday - with five or six hours on the weekends, including the Tech Guy behind the scenes. And in a month or so I plan to expand the Saturday programming to include a live show, tentatively called TWiT Live, which will be our first official video podcast. We're still working out how this will be done, but I'm modeling it on the Tom Green show. I think what he's doing is ground-breaking. Of course it will be entirely tech focused and feature many of the TWiT regulars you already know along with any tech celebrities we can lure to Petaluma with promises of food and wine. I'm not interested in duplicating existing television models - I want to deconstruct TV and get to something more direct, more intimate, and much more two-way. I haven't really looked at the business model for this, but fortunately, between my day jobs, existing TWiT advertising (thank you Audible, Astaro, and FIT!), and your generous donations through TWiT.tv we have the money to get this thing off the ground and, I believe, keep it going indefinitely. As Dvorak has always said, and I believe, a business model will emerge. My goal has never been to build an empire, or even a business. I just want to be able to make a living doing what I love: talking about technology with a community of engaged and intelligent people, and perhaps, along the way, to help people understand how to better use technology in their own lives. So I hope you'll join me in this grand experiment. It's only possible because of the large and active TWiT community. Your feedback and participation is all it takes to keep us going. I'm excited about where TWiT is going and I thank you for your support through all these changes. Here's to the next chapter - I think it's the most exciting yet.

Love It Or Hate It? - TWiT 134

There have been numerous comments about TWiT 134: Pave The Cowpaths on our private donors forum, most of them critical of the subject matter, one of our guests, an irrelevant discussion about audio issues in the middle, and my recommendation of a book by Orson Scott Card. Here's the response I posted on the forum. I wanted to post it here, too, to give you all a chance to comment.

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I knew some of you would hate the show - and some of you would love it (far more lovers on Twitter and Pownce than here, not surprisingly). Unlike mainstream media, I don't make programming decisions based on what "most people" will like. That's the strength of this new medium - it's not ratings driven, it's idea driven. Sometimes TWiT isn't going to match your expectations. There are people who want it to be a TechTV Alumni fest, others who want it to be a tech news roundtable. It will be those sometimes, but I program TWiT as a show that reflects the most interesting and important issues in tech, as I see them. I don't mean to sound defensive here - I just want you to understand what I'm aiming for. The beauty of the new Internet media is that there's something for everybody. My shows are always going to reflect my interests. That's why I make 'em! If you share my interests, you'll enjoy (or at least appreciate) what I'm creating. If not, there are lots of other people doing really great programming, too. You have so many choices these days - let a million flowers bloom! I thought Winer was great - very, very insightful. If you can't get past his voice, listen to his ideas. Twitter et al. are new net memes that are as interesting, and I think, as significant, as RSS, but like RSS I don't expect everyone to get it right away. Dave is one of the few people I know who understand this stuff at a very deep level. As for the praise for Orson Scott Card - I love his work; I hate his politics. But that's no reason not to read or recommend him. I read many, many authors whose politics I abhor. If Card's homophobia or neanderthal agenda crept into his novels I'd not recommend him, but I can't think of a single incident where they have. If you can, please let me know and I'll stop recommending him. I do apologize for not editing out the audio issues talk - that was just an oversight. I certainly didn't mean to leave it in. I agree it wastes your time - very sorry.

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Let's use the ratings system for this post to reflect your rating for the show. Thanks!

We're Still Alive

Thanks to Chris Grant at Joystiq for recording this on his Sanyo Xacti HD1000. We're getting the band back together tonight for TWiT 133.

TWiT Update

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