What leaves when your employees leave?

I left more than a gig of email at Microsoft. And that was after deleting all the crud out of it. What knowledge was in there? Tons of stuff about Channel 9 that would have been awesome for someone to use to learn about how things get onto Channel 9 and how it evolved. Gone. Deleted.

Jeffrey Treem talks about this on his blog “Inside the Cubicle.”

I hope this is the last job where I have to throw away knowledge when I leave.

I’ll probably open an internal blog and see if I can get all the good stuff outside of email and onto the intranet so that if I get hit by a bus someone can step in and learn everything I was doing in email and continue.

How much stuff did I delete from Microsoft? Well, all sorts of emails from people all over the company. All sorts of resources (I got lots of emails from coworkers saying things like “get the latest build of Vista from XXXXX server.” Those kinds of things don’t seem important, but I’m missing them already.)

Getting moved to Gmail

Mark Cuban said it first: the Internet is boring. But working at a startup isn’t.

But, working at a little startup after working at two of the world’s biggest companies (I worked at NEC, which had twice as many employees as Microsoft had before moving to NEC) it’s interesting joining one of the worlds’ smallest companies.

Patrick sort of nailed it when we walked in and said “Microsoft is bigger.” That was before he realized that Podtech only occupied about 2,000 square feet in the middle of one of USVP’s plush offices (he kept thinking that Podtech occupied the whole complex we were in, not just one small office). Podtech is in incubation space right now. Basically we have a couple of more months to find offices before they kick us out of the nest to see if we can survive on our own.

Oh, but talking about this stuff is making the natives, er, at least the skeptics, restless. Hey, Skeptic, didn’t ya hear that the Internet is boring?

Oh, anyway, one thing that’s different? This is the first time in years that my corporate email is not on Exchange. Turns out Podtech is hosting all of its email on Gmail and all of its calendars on Google Calendar. It’ll be interesting to see what moving over is like.

What else is different about a startup? Too fast growth. We are already out of places to sit and work. That took me back to my first job after college, at Fawcette Technical Publications, where we had people working on the table that also held our coffee machine.

Anyway, I’m wiped out. The day, the 13-hour drive (we got in at 2 a.m.), and another long drive to drop Patrick off at his mom’s tonight have wiped me out.

One thing that Irina already tapped me into is San Francisco’s strong social scene (there’s a raft of things this weekend to attend). She showed me how Upcoming.org lists all the coolest stuff. Like the ValleySwag Hoedown. This company has made a whole business out of getting people the latest swag.

OK, now I’ve heard everything. So long from the boring Internet!

Update: Maryam wrote about her first day’s impressions too.

Go to lunch, get blogged, buy company, huh, whoa!

Hey, we go to lunch with some interesting people and it causes news to break out.

Whew, lucky that Valleywag is too busy covering all the Rocketboom news.

Yeah, it’s true, Geek Entertainment TV is joining PodTech. How did we get them to join? We’re buying them their own camera (they were doing their work on a borrowed camera). We’re doing a Fry’s trip tomorrow.

Irina and Eddie are lots of fun. Irina grew up in Moscow and has an amazing set of family stories.

Having lots of fun, will tell some more first-day stories later.

Arrived at Podtech, new Rocketboom out

We were speeding down freeway 280 on the way to PodTech’s offices when the phone rang.

“Hello this is Georg from Austria.”

Wild.

But after chitchatting for a minute he blurted out “did you see the new Rocketboom? I love it!”

A group of us at PodTech just watched it and it’s quite good! I say get rid of that Andrew guy, though. He obviously isn’t doing much, just cowering under a desk. Heheh.

What a welcome to PodTech, though. Thanks Georg! Oh, when we were driving up Stanford’s Student Body President (who is interning at Podtech) welcomed us to Podtech.

This morning, who woke us up? Tom Raftery from Ireland. We are so blessed to have friends from all over the world.

Now the work begins!

Hello from the road

Maryam’s driving. She just guided her BMW through Roseburg, Oregon (we started late today, still have seven hours of driving ahead of us). We enjoy getting calls on the road. Hugh Macleod just called from England. Seems Armani is going after Savile Row and that has him in a tizzy. I wouldn’t worry too much. Folks who have $3,000 to spend on a suit don’t want a brand name. They want something far more personalized than that. At least if I had $3,000 for a suit (I’m a long way from that status) that’s what I’d look for. I wouldn’t want anyone wearing a suit that looked like mine.

Feel free to call us. It keeps us awake and we learn something. I wish I had my recording system setup, though. It would have been fun to record these calls on the road. My cell phone is always on my blog. 425-205-1921.

Four little links say volumes at Dell site

I think we should institute a two-week moratorium against saying anything bad about a new corporate blog. Dell already shows that they understand the power of a link. Their post this morning tells me it’s not old-school “push a message out” time but that they are watching and learning.

Dell does have its problems. It’s getting squeezed on the high end by Apple and on the low end by the Chinese. And they have earned a reputation for inconsistent customer service (I’ve always been treated well by Dell, I had two of their computers under my desk at Microsoft).

One thing that Dell should make a bigger deal about is their new HD laptops. Apple doesn’t do full 1080i resolution. Dell has a laptop that does and I started seeing a few of those spring up around Microsoft before I left. The screen is stunning.

It’s unfortunate, though, that their case design is so uninspired. Apple will continue winning high-end sales not because of their features or price but simply because they put together a total package that is simply sexier than what Dell is offering.

Dell is blowing it by not featuring HD resolution on its home user laptop page. I know quite a few people who want the best resolution laptop possible (software developers, for instance, CRAVE real estate).

In fact, you can’t even find the laptop with the wide-screen HD resolution unless you click on their small business page.

Now, I have $2,500 burning a hole in my wallet. I’m gonna wait to see if Apple comes out with a laptop that supports full 1080i resolution at its developer conference in August. If not, I’m gonna buy a Dell, uninspired case design and poor marketing nonetheless.

And why can’t I get that super dooper screen with Media Center on it? Or, am I just missing the “right” page?

I’m imagining watching Lost episodes in the car on my new super dooper Dell high res wide screen display! I’m amazed that Dell isn’t making a big deal about this because this is something that Dell can do that Apple can’t do (yet).

Oh, and Dell, why do I need to go to Lenovo or Motion or Gateway for a Tablet PC?

Update: Wikipedia has an explanation of WUXGA screen resolutions and why that matters for HD video. That page also links to a variety of manufacturers that make WUXGA screens.

Gartner asks James not to link? WTF?

James Governor got a cease and desist letter asking him to remove a link to Gartner’s Web site. If that’s true, how lame.

One for my son

Patrick, if you haven’t figured it out yet, is a total Steve Jobs love child. He always is pointing out those new Apple ads.

So, you can be sure I’ll show him this spoof of those ads this morning. Contains some adult language. Nothing a 12-year-old hasn’t heard on a playground somewhere, though.

We’ll be leaving soon, got my GPS and my EVDO card all ready for the trip. Streets and Trips 2006 is pretty sweet, by the way. Definitely cool things to have on a road trip.

Update: Patrick didn’t think these were funny. Heheh. New ways to torture your 12-year-old.

3,000 new subscribers

According to Wordpress.com I had 23,335 subscribers on 6/11/2006. Today it is reporting that I have 26,547.

Welcome! Quitting a job got me more readers than I expected. I thought you’d all unsubscribe after I left Microsoft. Hmmm. Not sure I’d recommend this as a way to get more traffic.

We’ll all take a trip together in the morning as Patrick, Maryam, and I drive from Seattle to Silicon Valley. Can we make it the entire way in one day?

Dell joins the bloggy Web

Oh, oh, this is becoming a trend. A human being on Dell’s Web site? Calling Jeff Jarvis, calling Jeff Jarvis! Oh, he already chimed in. Steve Rubel did too and says the same thing.

What did I tell Nestle when someone asked “how do you start?”

Listen. Listen. Listen. Er. Technorati. Technorati. Technorati.

Link to your enemies. It takes away their karmic power.

I told Quixtar to link to everyone who says that Quixtar sucks. There are QUITE A FEW!

Why do that? Well, it takes away our power to poke at your negative spots if you openly admit them. That turns throwing rocks through your front window into a boring exercise.

By the way, I agree with Andy Lark that we should be nicer to new companies that try the bloggy Web. At least give them a couple of weeks to get settled into their new homes before we start lobbing rocks through their front windows. Of course, I doubt anyone will listen to me because these companies came into the bloggy Web so late that the mob isn’t gonna automatically be nice the way they were to me three years ago.

Shel Holtz noticed that they got inspiration from Channel 9. Very honored, thanks!

The next Web is the human Web

I just did a speaking gig at Microsoft. Spoke to Nestle executives from around the world. Nice group of folks. Asked some interesting questions. Couldn’t believe that they could actually watch what everyone around the world would say about Nestle. Yes, I introduced them to Technorati!

It was the last of my Microsoft responsibilities. A freebee for Mr. Gates! Heheh.

Then off to dinner where I met the technical staff from Quixtar. Again, wonderful people. Smart, interesting, not anything like what the stereotype of a multi-level marketing company employee is. At least in my mind (a friend got me into Quixtar about 15 years ago and I just couldn’t take to it).

Now, what is the Web these companies are gearing up for? Yes, you’d be right if you guessed a bloggy Web. A Web with real people talking about real stuff on it. Not a manufactured site that has no life. No soul.

Why? Cause they are seeing that what they are doing now isn’t working. People aren’t engaging with their company the way they want. They aren’t getting the Google page rank they want (or the MSN or the Yahoo rank either).

They see that their advertising dollars are bringing them less and less and they are seeing that a new word-of-mouth network has been built that’ll get stories from 15 small conversations to around-the-world newspaper, TV, and magazine coverage in 36 hours and they are scared!

Quick, do a little project with me. Visit the home pages of Nestle and Quixtar.

Without clicking anywhere find me a real human being. Not one made out of a stock photo agency.

You don’t need to look. There aren’t any. Not to mention that you can’t talk to a real human being. And I don’t see anything on those two pages that I’d like to link to. Which means they won’t get high search engine rankings no matter how many SEO firms they pay.

Which is like throwing money down the toilet. If you met THE PEOPLE behind these companies I think you’d be far more likely to listen to what they have to say. Or sell. And they ARE experts on their business. It’s a damn shame that they aren’t allowed to talk with us on their Web sites.

When I speak I’m just telling audiences about what Dave Winer and Dori Smith showed me six years ago — really blogs haven’t changed a whole lot since then. There’s no reason to bring up OPML or Second Life or AJAX, or Trackbacks or the latest thing that Wordpress or Six Apart are showing off. They are still discovering that there’s value in simply encouraging their people to talk with their customers.

Until all the big companies get to the place where they understand the power in that then I guess there’s no reason to talk about anything else. Which, Dave, probably explains why I get invited to speak at Next Web conferences. I’m willing to talk about what you did in 2001.

Translation: we’re not ready for the next Web. The world is still catching up to the last Web. The 2001 Web.

But, I’m ready to learn something new. The audiences are catching up. Next year 2001 will really seem like 2001.

Hopefully in 2007 I can sit in the audience again and let the real gurus take the stage.

Oh, one other thing. Where are the freaking women? They are doing the most interesting blogging. One of the Nestle members said “no one in my country is doing blogging.” I said “bull.” And told them about Global Voices Online where there are bloggers from nearly every country around the world. Get Rebecca McKinnon to speak (she was one of those behind the Global Voices blog). She’s doing more important stuff than I am.

Or, at least get Mena Trott to speak. Six Apart is about to launch a new blogging initiative that at least deserves a speech or two.

I guess this is why BlogHer is doing so well. They are doing the next Web over there. Why aren’t any of their speakers at the Next Web conference?

Wordpress conference August 5th

Damn, I’ll be in Montana playing around with a group of geeks there. In the meantime Matt Mullenweg just announced the first Wordpress conference.

Online wordprocessor updated, but does it have a chance at survival?

I still think that small companies are swimming upstream here. If I was a normal user, not a geek, why would I use anything that didn’t come from Yahoo, Google, or Microsoft?

I just wouldn’t trust that it’ll stick around for very long.

Gaining trust for a small company is going to be very hard.

That said, the new version of Zoho Writer is very nice.

What do you think? Does Zoho have a chance now that Google has started coming into the Web Office market?

HDTV will make soccer a lot more popular in America

Watching the World Cup on HDTV made it a completely different (and much more enjoyable) game.

Doc and James are talking about why soccer isn’t popular with Americans.

I think that over the next five years you’ll see that change pretty dramatically. Why?

HDTV.

It simply makes the game much more enjoyable for a few reasons.

1) The interesting part of soccer is the strategy off of the ball. For instance, you often can’t see, on normal TV, how the defense is trying to catch the offense off side (unless they replay it after a flag) but on wide-screen HDTV you can see that quite well even if the ball is being played from mid-field. Also, you can see off ball how defenders are matching up, or on corner-kicks you could see a much wider swath of the field.
2) For me I remember watching Pele as a kid (he visited the San Jose Earthquakes). What impressed me about him was his footwork and his trademark scissor kicks. On HDTV I can see the footwork of the players. On normal TV their feet are too blurry to see any of that.
3) The sound. I don’t know why, but it’s better on HDTV. One time during the penalty kicks our HDTV signal went away for some reason so we clicked back to regular NTSC feed of the game. The sound was flat and tinny. This makes the game much more real and immersive. Feels like you’re there.
4) The advertising. On HDTV they can put ads along the sides of the screen, or the top. The scoreboard was often sponsored by Adidas, for instance. On regular TV this form of advertising just isn’t as good and interfers with your enjoyment of the game. On HDTV it seems a lot nicer. In fact, what sucked about most of the advertising? It wasn’t in HD!! Lame.

Yeah, a higher scoring game would be interesting, but I don’t think that’s really what Americans are missing.

Oh, and congrats to Italy (and France). Except for a headbutt late in the game, wonderful game.

Flash on Firefox 2.0 beta hangs my machine

Oh, Mike Chambers over at Adobe has some fun at my expense. So, I thought I’d give Flash another try on Firefox. This time with Firefox 2.0 beta 1 release candidate that just came out. So far the License for Flash has hung my machine for more than five minutes. Here’s what my screen looks like.

This isn’t a good experience folks.

Regarding 1.0? Yeah, I finally did load it but it took a half dozen clicks and the EULA is pages long with language that normal people can’t understand (does anyone really read those things anyway?). If I was a normal person instead of a tech geek I’d say “screw this” and hit the back button.

But, I’m sure that I’ll get 60 more comments about how I’m an idiot instead of an engineer from Adobe saying “we got rid of the stupid EULA” or someone from the Firefox team saying “we just included Flash with our browser to make it easier on users (which would require Adobe to give up some of its rights, I guess).”

And, yes, since Mike made the point WMV really pisses me off on the Mac too which is why at Podtech I will try to not use it if at all possible.

Video comment plugin for Wordpress

I can’t wait to get to PodTech and start playing around with Wordpress (it runs its site on Wordpress). I just saw this plugin that lets you do video comments. That’s cool.

Chris Pirillo is always showing me new Wordpress Plugins. If you’re a Wordpress’er, what’s your favorite?

Make magazine visits Microsoft

Cool video over on On10.net: Phillip Torrone, editor of Make Magazine, came to Microsoft a couple weeks back and On10 put the video up.

Microsoft’s #1 blogger? Major Nelson?

Larry Hryb was by here earlier. You might know him as Major Nelson, he’s a program director on Xbox Live. He was telling me his numbers. His podcast alone is getting downloaded as often as Rocketboom was (in the neighborhood of 300,000 times per show).

And his blog’s traffic is way higher than mine. He says he’s getting 300 to 500 comments a day too. Whew!!!

I don’t know of anyone at Microsoft who has more traffic.

I guess a few people have purchased Xbox’s in the past year, huh?

Garage sale powered by Craigs List (and signs)

Well, the garage sale has gone very well. Lots of fun, not really all that profitable but then it was mostly aimed at getting rid of junk so we wouldn’t need to move it.

The red couch still hasn’t sold, but we have a few bites. Larry Hryb of the Xbox Live team was by here earlier to sit on it one last time. Of course he had to check out my HDTV. “Nice,” he said.

Anyway, I’ve learned a few things about Garage Sales.

First, make good signage. About six out of 10 people I asked said they came just because of the signs.

Second, advertise on Craigs’ List. Three out of 10 said they came that way. I’d also recommend Microsoft’s Expo site.

The rest came cause of the blog.

Other best practices? Furniture doesn’t sell well cause it’s hard to haul that stuff home. Best sellers? Toys, bikes, appliances, old AV equipment went fastest.

Most potential buyers just drove by in their cars, so make your best stuff easily viewable from the street. That got them to stop or turn around.

Leave room for bargaining, everyone loves to drive down your prices.

Have some free stuff. I had Channel 9 guys for the kids, that got everyone in a good mood.

Get your neighbors in on the act. That helped get people to stop cause there was more stuff to look at.

Have bags, if people’s hands are full they stop buying.

Have plenty of change.

Oh, and Patrick made about $20 selling lemonade and cookies. Not a bad way to earn some extra iTunes money.

One other thing. You might think that only geeks read Craig’s List. You’d be wrong. Almost everyone who mentioned Craigs List was a non-geek and included several senior citizens.

Maybe I should just trade the Red Couch to this guy for a paperclip!

For sale: one red couch

Yes, we’re selling the infamous Red Couch, among other things, at a garage sale that starts tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. at our house. 14414 86th PL NE Bothell, WA 98011.

This couch is infamous cause it was used on stage at Gnomedex last year and has had famous and interesting people like David Allen sitting on it.

Photo credit to Dylan Greene.

Yeah, I guess I should list this on Edgeio which is the cool way for bloggers to sell their stuff.

Oh, and feel free to drop by. Patrick is selling Lemonade and Cookies.