Friends and family have been sending me links to Beer Menus. It is a great mashup of beer and google maps technology. The only shame at this point is that it is limited to only New York City. But you have to start somewhere and for all the bars it's a great place to focus the idea, work out the bugs, then move to a larger scale. I suspect keeping the lists current as they scale will be the issue. There is a lot of data and updates necessary. In time I could see bars keeping a RSS list of beers that auto-updates their personal listing and while the technology exists I suspect it's still a few years from becoming common place. It's a site worth watching as a beer geek to see how it progresses, it certainly will be a handy tool in urban areas.

It's not really news that I have been increasing my beer blogging lately and minimizing the other topics. To that end you may already noticed changes in the site, more of a new look is on the way. First off as I had mentioned Bear Droppings while a funny joke hadn't really reflected the site so a new name is selected Geistbear Brewing Blog at Geistbearbrewing.com. It still points to this subdomain, but I now have my own url. I picked Geistbear because frankly it's an online name I have gone by for a long time and it's unique to me. Look forward to more beer, homebrewing and related content in the future.

Let's talk about some beer.

it means I must be willing to go to Phoenix. Normally with the pending trip down the mountain, I'd be rounding up bloggers for a blogorama or heading to DracoVista studio. But not this time, nope this time it will be to checkout Podcamp AZ. A number of friends will be there and it looks like an interesting and unique 'unconference' or so goes the lingo. So if you have time of Saturday stop by and give it a chance yourself.

I realized I listen to too many podcasts. It's not an issue of being able to catch up with all the content, but rather I find myself with live television and audio streaming wanting to click back and catch little segments I might have missed. Something I do with podcasts all the time. I want to control the horizontal and vertical. Control over my listening and viewing content it's not an option to me anymore it's something I want always...and I suspect I am not alone.

PS - Never got around to getting a Tivo or some form of DVR, but I suspect it's only a matter of time now...

A few years back I worked for an Industry Trade Association. Frankly while I wasn't always happy at the time it was one of the best jobs I have ever had and had a lot of freedom generally. I had a great boss and learned a lot about DC politics from an 'Off the Hill' perspective. But I also learned a great deal about the way trade association politics work.

First rule of Trade Association politics is never take a public stand that directly conflicts with members. In fact, it is in part of the reason of growth of the DC trade association industry. Because when a conflict issue comes to a head between two large businesses and they are both of one association they want to take action and it won't. So they and their allies develop a new trade association to take action on the subject. Incidental I have noticed while the United Nations is not thought of as a Trade Association it fits the rules of them to a shameful degree, but that is another topic for another day.

Sadly National Association of Broadcasters of America broke the rule recently as observed by this post on Boing Boing. The only rationalization I can give is NPR and PBS dues may be very minor in comparison to other media. Frankly a point worth researching and I may add as post notes. But by breaking this rule the President and Board of National Association of Broadcasters of America will be seen as untrustworthy in DC political circles for a long, let me clarify LONG, time to come. There are basic rules to DC politics any gain over broadcast treaty internationally may cost them untold in beltway politics for a very long time. This was the dumbest move I may have ever seen in Association politics and will cost them allies in every other fight they currently have.

So to Broadcasters I say enjoy your pyrrhic victory of policy today, because it may well be mainstream media's last.

Every time Microsoft starts to do things to make then seem less evil, then almost compulsively seem to find some way to take a couple steps back. I saw it with my own dealings on the issue of privacy a few years back and now they seem to be at it again. Lately Hugh's Blue Monster campaign began to make progress that put a more human face on the company. Then Microsoft's Brad Smith and Horacio Gutierrez put the company two steps back.

I know there are people there, but honestly when see stunts like this you have to wonder if the people who have taken Hugh's message to heart have any power inside the company.

As Doc notes "If Microsoft were as smart ... it would engage the free and open source world. It would build on top of it, rather than fight it. Alas, it has given its customers a much bigger reason not to buy Microsoft stuff than not to use free and open source stuff."

Some days I think they want move beyond their evil reputation they have built up and others, like today, I wonder if they have learned anything at all.

Hugh goes to Seattle and Gates declares old advertising over the next week, coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

More seriously I doubt Bill made the statements just because of Hugh's trip but it does seem that Mircosoft is trying to move into a more interactive media and recognizing limitations of the old. Have to watch, wait and see what it means.

I listen to a lot of podcasts, if they have a sponsor I try to support those sponsors and on a more rare occasion I'll give the show some cash. But here is one thing I have noticed thus far, I have never gotten a thank you. Not once. I have sent money to various shows over the last two years so it's no one specific that I am targeting in this statement. I am not expecting a grand ornate response but even a mass bulk, "you donated to my show and thanks for the support" wouldn't be much to ask for? I bring beer to Wingin It and I get a "Thomas thanks for the beer" on the air, but if I sent a show $20 you might think they could send out a quick note of thanks. As an example I bring beer to Wingin It and I get a "Thomas thanks for the beer" on the air which is perfect. If I take the time out of my day to send a show some money the same should apply.

I know people are busy, but if I think a show is worth sending my hard earned cash to a simple thanks will go a long way towards getting a future donation. Just a thought.

After thought - My comments aren't directed at any one show. I think I could have phrased the last sentence of the first paragraph better, but I'll let it stand.

After After thought - I don't like the way I phrased things so I'll change it, but leave the originial striked out.

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

That is all...

Twittervision is probably the biggest time suck I have seen online in a long time. After watching for 5 minutes you can't help but think "this is the biggest waste of time I have ever seen" and almost at the same time "this site is so fracking cool". Eavesdropping on the tech literate in the 21st Century and they are waiting to tell you their thoughts. The slice of life all around the globe mashup is very cool and probably addictive. If Evo hadn't warned me to have time to waste when I looked at it, I'd be plotting his demise right now, but since he warned me I'll forgive him. Have a half hour to waste check it out, if you don't don't bother.

I have been pondering of late about if there is enough of a market for being an online customer service geek, so here is the idea for the job. You get paid to read and participate in online communities by a firm(s).

To start as an example from my homebrewing hobby, Company X makes a brand new homebrewing widget. I get paid by the visit MoreBeer, Brewing Network and other beer related boards looking for comments daily. If there is a customer service issue, I login into the company’s network to get the background information on the sale. Call the appropriate person who worked on the issue and try to find a point of compromising and lend a human voice to the issue. There would be travel and training by the company to know their products, locations, and day to day operations, but afterwards perhaps only a regular reports and the occasional meeting.

Now obviously you would have to have a very structured billing arrangement. At minimum you might make just a retainer for keeping your eyes open, but then during a
busy time you might be at near full-time working to resolve issues or help answer questions. An online help desk if you will.

There would be times when someone would be slow and just do the necessary work but then no other billable hours. Yes I can see that you would have to keep track of your hours fairly regularly so that you can properly bill, heck Evo mentioned something like this internal monitoring with Twitter, you might just twitter your daily visits on a special account for work purposes.

So what would the busy times be like for one if one of my companies were a homebrew wine or cider related early fall would get very busy during picking season and likewise the holidays and month or two afterwards would probably get rather busy.

I could see someone like this participating of being on retainer for upwards of 4 to 5 small to medium size business clients but that beyond that one person would be stretched too thin. If the client was large enough I could see the person hired could be doing this full-time, but I suspect anyone with that large of business would be unlikely to be so web savy unless they have been through a case of Dell Hell.

Speaking of which none of this is really that much of
an original concept if you have read Cluetrain, Gaping
void, Gonzo Marketing, or Jeff Jarvis’ blog the last few years. It’s more about putting these discussions into practice.

When I say participate, I don’t me a corporate shill promoting the new latest and greatest product. Might you occasional post on something new and interesting a
community may like sure, but no press releases or anything so frankly boring. In a homebrewers example talk about what your brewing, help people with problems, laugh and joke with friends. But join the ongoing conversation and get to be known as some of a stand up reputation who can help with a problem about the company or product is needed.

Last and certainly not least I think it has to be a topic you love and have interest in. If I were paid by a car company to do this I doubt I’d last 3 months. I just wouldn’t care, but products related to homebrewing beer as example is something I think I would really enjoy.

Are such jobs coming one day soon I wouldn't doubt it, but not today. If any companies think today is that day and are willing to give serious talk about customer service web geek send me an email, let’s talk.

Been playing with Twitter the last week or two. A short blog with almost IM like functionality. You can post from IM, website, or cellphone/SMS. Most people I have noticed who try it and are vocal on the web don't think much of the application yet, 'what exactly is this tool for' they ask. I think it will have definite purpose and use though the best is probably a few years off.

For now here is what it is good for...

Live event coverage - For example Tao of Poker does live blogging during poker tournaments or during a live news event, it's a tool where live first person blogging could bring distant events to life. If Twitter has a downside in such reporting it's the short message length which means more complex stories may have to wait for other media methods.

Movie Reviews - Evo has been exploring this functionality

The mini-blog/social angle that Evo comments on is definitely the part that will be the majority use short term, but I suspect the live event coverage in the future is where Twitter will really start to shine. Only time will tell.

My account http://twitter.com/Geistbear