is blogging dead?

John Calacanis (ceo omahalo) recently gave up on blogging and is moving back to email http://www.calacanis.com/2008/07/11/official-announcement-regarding-my-retirement-from-blogging/. He is writing more of a newsletter with a limited distribution (I'm fortunate to have signed on before he capped the distribution list). Not sure if that is a good move but it got me thinking.

Email is still very central to my activities. I have my email with me at all times and tie it in to my social activities. For example, I use it to register to blogs so that I get updates in my email (easier than rss reader). I get key facebook info, some twitter activities and so on. Email is still a radically untapped social utility and for many of us includes a huge number of contacts and most of our communications. You could easily build a social graph out of email by mapping out interactions and then organizing emails by importance rather than time. For example, an email from someone I interact with often is more important than newsletter I signed up to.

I am imagining a new breed of communication tools anchored around email but that aggregate all your activities both outbound and inbound. On the outbound side, you pick who and what receives your message. That could include emailing friends, facebook status, twitter, friendfeed and so on. On the inbound side, you get messagaes regarding all major social activities but they come in automatically segmented and organized so that you don't end up with a ridiculous stream of emails.My business stuff here, my social stuff there, my blogs stuff over there.

I could even interact with the originating service by replying to an email. For example, I get an email telling me a friend left me a facebook message. If I want to reply, I have to go to facebook, log in and punch in the reply. This a major annoyance, especially if you're on a mobile device. It would be much easier if I could just reply to the email and the new email S/W automatically generates a facebook reply message for me. Another example: you the loyal reader get one of my inspiring blogs in your email because you registered (if you haven't, look to the right and register your email). You want to leave a comment but would have to go to the actual blog, go to comments and so on. Why can't you just leave a comment by replying to the email? Very simple! What if all of you could blog your thoughts without having to register to an actual blog service and go through the learning curve. Someone could easily build an email based blogging system.

I'm not going to build this ... Got enough cool things on my plate ... But I sure hope someone does. I suspect google is doing this or will eventually. They have all the right pieces (gmail, blogger, igoogle, google reader, orkut, opensocial and android to deal with mobile aspect). They have figured out how to make money from free email by including relevant sponsored links in gmail. Plus, their mission is to organize the world's information ... It would be great if they could start with mine.

Cheers,

Allan

O'Canada, our home and native land

Patriotism is a curious and sometimes contradictory thing for me. As a Canadian, I'm proud of what this country stands for. On the other hand, I was born in Romania lived in France and have traveled extensively. I feel at home in Paris, Barcelona, Corsica (I'm sure I have had a past life here), Quebec City and so on with each location connecting with me in a slightly different way.

I feel more a citizen of the world than anything else so allegiance to one country is a bit strange. Nevertheless, this country has been incredibly good to me. I arrived as a skinny little immigrant and have built a great life here. I met my wife at Quebec High School many many years ago, became and engineer, have three wonderful kids, have had some success in business and generally enjoy this country tremendously. Never once did I not feel welcome here. So I wear this country's flag proudly, try to contribute as much as I can and will hopefully do something to pull the world a bit closer together.

In the meantime, please check out a beautiful song by my oldest daughter (she didn't write it btw).

A big dream, a big mission: THEM = US

I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart pumping and brain full of thoughts and couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to document a big dream I've been having for the last couple of months.

Many people are calling for entrepreneurs to start launching companies that solve real problems.

For example, Fred Wilson's "Am I Bored With “Web 2.0”? http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2008/06/am-i-bored-with.html

or

Umair Haque's multiple blogs at http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/ .

So I'm going to share a dream that I've had that was in large part inspired by Pangea Day www.pangeaday.org, an event that took place on May 10th of this year, as well as my children as I watch them play on-line.

As some of you may know, I'm the co-founder of favequest, a company that is building a social video platform. We have a first stab at an app running in facebook http://apps.facebook.com/favequest/ and we're working on a branded one for a media company as part of revenue generation plan. Our platform is meant to create communities centered around video.

So what does this have to do with the big dream? My big dream is to use media (primarily video) to connect kids across the world to each other and their planet. I'm talking about creating a safe place for kids in the range of 6-12 where they can find content specifically for them and interact with other kids across the world. Ideally the content is created by other kids but it can also be professional content like National Geographic that kids can watch, share and talk about. The content itself doesn't matter as long as it is remarkable enough for kids to want to talk about it and learn about their world.

Why do I think this can make a big impact? Pangea Day was a good example of the use of film to connect people across the world. It was a day during which my family, friends and I learned about life in other parts of the world. Reacting to the story about a war child, one of my girls actually said ... I didn't know there was a war going on!! What better way for her to understand this than the media created by another kid living through this. Much more powerful than CNN.

The key point though is not the learning for the sake of knowledge ... it is the realization that people across the world all have the same needs and desires, whether you are a kid or an adult. It is a realization that we are all the same no matter what colour and where we live.

A realization that THEM = US leads to empathy and hopefully caring which can leads to action. If people don't care, nothing happens.

This realization can be incredibly powerful. It has caused things like "Combatants for Peace" http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=73 . This incredible documentary was filmed by the organizer of Pangea Day about Israeli and Palestinian former soldiers that denounced violence and instead sit around the table to talk and seek an end to the conflict.

Without worrying too much right now about the details and many roadblocks ... imagine that our kids got engaged with each other across the world. Imagine having Pangea Day every day with our your kids at the center. Imagine what these kids would grow up to be and how they could impact our world?

I think this is a dream worth chasing ... and I can't do it alone. I've spoken to people like Tom Williams (CEO of GiveMeaning.com), the founder of Club Penguin, David Usher (the singer http://www.davidusher.com/) and many others. This will happen!

Please comment or email me, find me on facebook or twitter (@isfan) and tell me what you think about this and what you want to do to help.

Cheers,

Allan
PS. As I finish this blog, it is 6:14am and my eight year old walks in to the office and boots up the computer to go on webkinz ... ironic

Success is about perseverance ... plain and simple

I really truly believe success is about perseverance. Sure you need some decent brains, a good team, being in the right place at the right time, some luck and so on. It clearly takes a lot to be successful as an individual or as a business.

But ultimately, it is about not giving up, believing in yourself and just continuing to push hard even in the face of adversity. My parents managed to get out of Romania even with two young kids in tow and not a penny to their name. They made a great life for their family eventually bringing us to Canada. My wife launched her own graphic design business straight out of school and has been running it very successfully for many years. You just have to decide you are going for it no matter how hard it is.

And now, my oldest daughter reminds us of this in spades. We were at her elementary graduation this morning. It was a beautiful affair in the brand new church in Stittsville and all the kids looked great. The place was packed with lots of proud family. They called up several kids for awards and although we were hoping she would get something, we knew the odds were not great.

She has struggled with ADHD every since she was little but we have refused to drug her. She has a beautiful sparkling personality and an amazing imagination that we don't want to snuff out. It is a gift even it makes school very difficult. So she has to work harder ... everything takes twice as long to do as her peers and she meets with a tutor every week on top of us staying on her case (especially her mother who doesn't let up thankfully ... just like my mother who would study with me late into the night). Her marks have steadily improved with all the hard work to such a degree that she won a medal for having the most improved scholastic achievement. It is a big deal and the lesson learned is even more important than anything else she may have learned in school ... don't give ... don't give up ... don't give up!

Cheers,

Allan

favequest to take over the world

In due time.

I promised a couple of blogs ago that I would tell you a bit more about where we are headed here at favequest. So why did I then get into twitter on my last post? I've realized that, although some people have heard the name, they don't know what it is and why they should care. This also goes for major brands and publishers (i.e. Media companies). There is just so much going on in the social space that it is nearly impossible to keep up. It is really wild out there to put it mildly. Twitter, friend feed, openid, data portability, friend connect, open social and on and on.

Media companies,major brands, sports franchises are extremely busy doing what they do ... Create content, promotion and advertising. They often just don't have the time, resources and the background to keep up with all this stuff on a daily basis and then capitalize on it.

And yet, people are spending more and more of their time in social networks, communicating with each other, watching youtube, reading blogs and so on. People want to be in control of their time, what they consume and what they do with the content. This is extremely clear. I personally consume about ten times more media on my laptop or smartphone (which is what I'm using to write this blog) than tv or print.

Our mission at favequest is therefore to build a bridge between media companies and consumers. We will do this by giving the publishers the tools (essentially a new video platform) to reach consumers where they hang out. They hand us an RSS feed of all the content they want to make available and we do everything else. Consumers benefit because they can get at great relevant content on their terms, finally breaking down the walled garden. They will be able to create their own channels and shows which get filled automatically by our engine making their experience truly personal. They will even be able to embed the portal into their blogs. Imagine being able to create you own CNN news portal, or have a place to follow just the sports and teams you are interested in. That's the idea.

Because we'll be hanging out in all the major social networks and utilities, you'll be able to reach all of your friends on your terms. You want to share a channel you created with friends on MySpace, Facebook, the people that follow you on twitter, have it show up in Friend Feed and your Facebook news feed? Go right ahead ... a one click experience.

Ok ... so I have told you a bit more about the "why" and not that much about "how". That will come.

In the meantime, we're about to launch our latest facebook video app and we'll be making this one public. Let me know if you want to get in on the beta test list. We've also started working on a branded facebook app for a great media company in the sports space. More on that later.

why twitter is better than facebook

Ok ... so that is not completely true. I enjoy both but I have found twitter surprisingly powerful. The two features I enjoy most on facebook are the picture and status updates. I find those two apps give the best sense for who an individual is. Twitter does a great job of both of those features without a pile of other garbage.

Twitter is like facebook status updates on steroids. Message are limited to 140 characters and allow you to very quickly send messages to a group of people that follow you. You can use it from a computer using many different programs. I use Twhirl which is a light desktop app based on Adobe Air. There's also a facebook app. When I send something on twitter, it shows up in my facebook status. You can also receive and send tweets from a mobile device.

If you've ever seen a friend's facebook status and would like to reply to it ... and can't ... well ... you can do that in twitter. You can even send pictures using twitpic.

What I find cool is the stuff that people are building on top of twitter (which is extremely open). For example, a venture capital guy in NYC called Fred Wilson kicked off "lyric of the day". When you hear a lyric that you like, you post a message with @lotd at the front and everyone that follows @lotd gets the lyric. Pretty cool but just an early example.

I follow a few people on twitter and I have found that it is a much better way to get to know people than facebook. If you are looking for a way to connect to others and have others connect with you, you might want to give twitter a try. Of course , the issue is that you have to get your friends on twitter first and right now it is mostly used by propeller heads but that will change. So go ahead ... sign up. I'm @isfan.

Cheers,

Allan

Pangea Day ... why such a big deal?

Hey Everyone,

As some of you may have heard, I'm hosting a major event at my place for Pangea Day this coming Saturday May 10 (pls arrive at 1:30 so we're ready for 2pm start). People sometimes look at me like I have a third eye. What the heck is Pangea Day? I try to explain and some get it while others go blank.

If you really want to get the lowdown, go to http://www.pangeaday.org/ and flip through the site to see what it is all about. Here is a quote from the site:

"The Pangea Day Mission & Purpose

Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.

Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film."

As an individual, I've always believed in people's equality and treat people as such, no matter what background, education level, skin color or gender. I also have a propensity to organize big parties to bring people together. I hope to connect with people individually and learn from them (a bit selfish), share stories and have fun. I also hope that people that come to these events connect with each other and Pangea Day is an especially good opportunity to do that since there will be lots to talk about.

I truly and deeply believe the world becomes a better place when people get to know and understand each other. This leads to compassion. From wikipedia:

"Compassion is an understanding of the emotional state of another or oneself. Not to be confused with empathy, compassion is often combined with a desire to alleviate or reduce the suffering of another or to show special kindness to those who suffer. However, compassion may lead an individual to feel empathy with another person."

Compassion can lead to action because if you are truly compassionate, you do not have the choice but to act. Someone else's suffering is your own suffering.

What does this have to do with FaveQuest? Like the Pangea Day events and films, my secret dream and goal is for FaveQuest to connect people, have them share and collaborate and thereby make the world a smaller place. We will use the platform ourselves and make it available to others to achieve this. Of course, we're shooting to build a thriving business and I believe we will but there is something bigger in it for me.

I hope you come out to our event or catch Pangea Day elsewhere.

PS. I'll be twittering during our event. You can follow me on Twitter ... I'm @isfan.

social video

In case you are new to this blog, the easiest way to get updates is to register your email on the right and you'll get updates in your email inbox automatically.

Favequest is playing in the 'social video' space and I thought it would be worthwhile to explain what that means to me. It might give you a sense for why we are building what we are building.

I have to come to realize that I get a much bigger kick out of media when I have a chance to use that media to interact with others. I write this blog to interact with you, even if people don't leave comments. I run into many of you through my travels and the blog often comes up which helps connect us. Why does that matter? I think it matters because the only way for us to evolve is to understand each other and work together to achieve greater things. This is one reason I'm supporting Pangea day http://www.pangeaday.org/index.php in a big way (reminder about event at my place on May 10 at 1:30). We're all much too isolated and busy living our lives to care or worry about others and that simply must change.

Why did I start this train?

One way media like tv is feeling increasingly empty to me. I only watch it occasionally when I'm relaxing with my wife but would NEVER just sit down to watch anything on tv. It feels like having dinner alone in a strange town or traveling and seeing something exciting and having no one to share it with. It's like watching a hockey game alone in the basement vs being with friends and screaming together. Enough with the analogies, I hope you get the idea.

Just watching video on-line is also empty if all I can do is watch it in isolation. Let me share with others, tell them what I think, have them do the same and start a conversation (can't really do that on YouTube). Let me discover exciting topics and meet new people with whom I can exchange ideas and create action. Let me reconnect with my Romanian friends and family all over the world by collaborating and sharing on Romanian topics.

I'm willing to bet a lot of money (done) and my reputation (done) that there are many others like me. If I'm the only one, were kinda screwed ... But I don't think so.

So we are building a platform that is totally about social interaction around video. So you should ask .... why does this matter? What are you really trying to do? What's the big picture? If you know me, you know there's always a big picture even it doesn't seem like it.

Look for the next blog for answers to some of these questions.

Cheers,

Allan

the fans are the most powerful distribution points

The title of this blog was pulled out of context from Fred Wilson's recent post about some major things going on in the world of music http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2008/04/something-impor.html . Sorry Fred. I think this is true on a much larger scale than just music. The signs are absolutely everywhere. It is pretty wild actually from my vantage point.

People ... i.e. you and I, are increasingly powering the new economy. Some of the most successful and revolutionary things in recent years are powered by people in some way. People create and/or distribute content and messages on their own ... often with no clear incentive. Even google, though powered by complex algorithms, is ultimately powered by people they got the word out (ever see a google ad?)

Canvas & Paint Brush
The internet has connected us and some smart people gave us canvas and paint brushes so we could create and/or share. MySpace started out as an empty canvas which allowed people to express themselves and feel important. Similarly for youtube, facebook, blogger, digg, hypemachine, flickr, texting, twitter ... heck ... even email, still the most powerful (and undervalued) social utility. There are so many ways for people to communicate and express themselves that this will lead to a new economy. It is not possible for it not to.

Word of Mouth
It used to be that a brand could reach millions of people and become successful purely through advertising on tv. No more. Even pure advertising online (banners ...), though easier to track, is ultimately doomed. I've never seen an add for google, or twitter or facebook. I heard about these from friends and others I respect. The beauty in all of this is that people are willing to carry your message ... you "just" need to create something worth talking about and give them the tools to get the message out(and some incentives like fun & notoriety... don't hurt).

We Canadians have always been good at building things to help people communicate .... perhaps because the population is spread out. Basic communication is now ubiquitous & and is increasingly moving to a more complex level which is pretty exciting and I'm so glad to be part of it.

Cheers,

Allan

PS. Check out Umair Haque's blogs at http://www.bubblegeneration.com/ and http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/2008/03/the_future_is_goople.html for some much deeper and insightful discussion. I've had the good fortune to chat with Umair on a couple of occasions and rarely will you meet someone with such a deep insight.

favequest at a turning point

I've run into a few of you here and there and you've been asking me wassup with the blog? You know, typical "really busy with three kids, launching a company, raising money, closing deals with customers, producing an online hockey show, trying to show up at the gym once in while ...". Other than that, pretty bored.

FaveQuest is now getting near an important turning point. We are now in advanced discussions with a great customer that I would love to work with. Ours to lose basically at this point and we're all very happy and excited. Must execute.

We're also in advanced discussion for some funding that would allow us to grow the team, execute on some important things that have had to stay on the back burner (opensocial, improved algorithms, some magical tools) and expand our customer base. One of the potential funders is in California so it is a long shot. I had to postpone our family Disney World vacation to fly out to Palo Alto ... kids weren't too impressed + it cost me $2000 to change all the flights. Hope it was worth it ... but hey ... if you don't play, you don't win. Check out the rental car (sweet talked lady at Budget to give me that one for the same prices as Nissan Altima!). Sweet ride.


All good stuff but this also changes the dynamic. We're going to lose a bit of freedom but we're on the right path. Tougher than I thought.

Hello, my name is Old Media and I'm an Adaholic

I attended the AlwaysOn OnMedia conference in NYC last week and took part in the CEO Showcase, a six minutes of fame for FaveQuest. I haven't seen the video yet (how long does it take to put a freaking video online!!). I could have sucked it in to Adobe Premiere Pro, put some cool effects, added some music and have it up on line in less than an hour! As soon as I get my hands on it I'll share it with you if it doesn't suck too much.

I went there primarily to connect with more people in the media and advertising industries as well as investors in the space. I also paid very close attention to what media companies were saying regarding the things they worry about, where they think they are weak and what they may be doing about it. I feel it was worth my time though the price tag was a bit steep.

I came away realizing even more than I did before that the whole old media market is a mess and that they have no clue what to do about it but at least they seem to be admitting it more now. Will they make the transition? Many won't but some, like Newscorp, will flourish. We need to tie ourselves to the winners.

They are asking themselves all the tough questions and at least some seem to have willingness to try new things which bodes very well for us. Should they just concentrate on creating or acquiring great content? Should they become a platform and bring whatever content people want to see, even if that includes content they didn't create themselves? It also became very clear that many executives in the media space wish they were software companies so that they could create the environments and platforms that are kicking their ass for the attention of the people they are trying to connect with. At least that's what they seem to be saying. Good for companies like us and others ... they need us.

Even though this is an industry in serious turmoil in my opinion, ironically the conference was held at the very posh Mandarin New York. Conference people had a great deal to stay at the hotel ... $650/night. What a bargain! Needless to say, I didn't get a room there. I stayed where ever William Shatner told me to ... (via Priceline). The Wellington on 7th avenue. Ten minute walk, king sized bed, hot water, free wireless internet, no roaches, Starbucks across the street. $140/night.

I think there's another problem lurking. An overwhelming number of the start-ups that are getting attention are those that are finding innovative ways to put more ads in front of people. Is that what we really need? More banners and interruptions? Hello, my name is Old Media and I'm an Adaholic.

I'm very happy that our company is talking to media companies and organizations that I think will make that transition. I truly think we can help them ... no kidding. There are other companies that I came across that I thin also get it. In my next post, I'll give you some examples of some companies that I think are doing great work by focusing on the users (i.e. you and I). I'll also tell you why I think FaveQuest is doing the right things.

If interested for more on the topic of old media, check out the following post by Marc Andreesen. He is putting The New York Times on deathwatch.
http://blog.pmarca.com/2008/02/inaugurating-th.html

Cheers,

Allan

favequest nasty hockey show -episode 1

Hey Everyone,

Episode 1 is now done and posted. You can watch it below or click on the link below to watch it on blip.tv where you can view it in full screen.

http://favequestnastyhockeyshow.blip.tv

Note that you may have to click

As one would expect with a first show, you run into a few hitches. First there was a UFC event that started at 3pm and ended at about 5:15 so we had to wait for that to finish. There were tons of kids there for the kickoff and the last fight got extremely bloody. It seems the forehead bleeds a lot. It reminds of the time my daughter cracked her eyebrow on the boards in our backyard hockey rink .... boy did that bleed. Couple of stitches later she was all good.

Then I had to sprint around Centrum mall to find the right firewire cable to record the video straight to my laptop to save time . None at Future Shop ... seems it was a popular item lately and they sold out (&$&*%!!!!) so I sprinted to Best Buy, found one and we were all good ... got it there in time to finish the setup before the end of the UFC blood bath.

With the late start we weren't able to edit the film in time to post the final cut before the 7pm game start so we decided to wait till today to do that. I think we'll likely do that form the next few shows since getting the video edited and encoded that quickly won't happen until we shorten the show and start editing as we are shooting ... basically recording live and shipping immediately.

I broke the video into three parts to make the encoding easier. I'll try to get the whole thing posted as well.

Intro to Show


Part I Of Live Discussion


Part II of Live Discussion

announcing the FaveQuest Nasty Hockey Show

Hey Everyone,

Check out the first taping of FaveQuest Nasty Hockey Show tonight at Philthy McNasty's in Kanata near the AMC theater at 4:30. Check back here at about 6pm for the edited version of the show.

Also go to www.favequest.com to see our facebook app and click the "try it" to add the app to your facebook profile.

top ten startup songs

So it's 1:44am and I'm tired from working on a crazy way too big financial spreadsheet for FaveQuest and decided to play with the FaveQuest app on facebook instead ... way more fun. I decided to write a quick blog post about the songs I think about as a start-up founder. Either they inspire me and get me going and the reflect the a bummed out mood after too many hard knocks and bad news. I listen to some of these when I go running to get pumped or I'll pick up the guitar and try to play one of them, especially Yesterday.

Instead of writing about them, I figured I would find the videos and embed them. So here we go. You might note a recurring theme:). If you get this via email, you may have to click on the blog and go to the website to see the videos depending on your email client:

If I Had a Million Dollars by Bare Naked Ladies



Money by Pink Floyd



Money by "The Flying Lizards"



Money for Nothing by Dire Straits



Yesterday - by The Beatles



Lose Yourself - Eminem

A few lyrics "If you had one shot, one opportunity. To seize everything you ever wanted. One Moment. Would you capture it or let it slip" .... "



Pain by Three Days Grace



Ladies and Gentlemen by Saliva



Working Class Hero by John Lennon



Time to go to bed. I'll let you pick the tenth.