SmugMug gave me a preview of its new photosharing site that’ll turn on on Friday. They swore me to secrecy. But one thing they did to me is brand a new term into my head: mugnormous. You’ll see what that means when you hear about their new site, but wow. For my cameras they compared their site to a bunch of others and all I can think about is “I’m switching my images to Smugmug.”

Oh, and they have a little fun party on Friday at their headquarters to celebrate their fifth anniversary.

One last thing. This is a weird company. First of all, they are profitable. Second of all they don’t accept advertising. Third of all, they let dogs hang out. Fourth of all they’ve never taken (or needed) any investment. Fifth of all they are growing at a good clip (getting mugnormous, even). Sixth they charge their customers to use their service. Seventh, there’s a photo of one of the founders riding a motorcycle almost naked.

Who let this company survive in Silicon Valley? Heh! Certainly an antidote to that bubble video — here’s Smugmug’s co-founder Don MacAskill as he, and his team watch that video for the first time.

It’s always great meeting companies that break the rules and succeed. Mugnormous indeed.

Oh, and they have a little tool that lets you quickly move your images from other photo sharing sites onto SmugMug. What do they call it? Smugglr. This company has a mugnormous sense of humor, so refreshing to see.

I just attended an AMD press conference virtually. It was really boring for a few minutes. Lots of PowerPoint slides. Stuff that bores me to tears.

But then they did two things.

1. They turned on a video camera in their offices so we could see the people on the other side of the call (and the very cool new laptop technology they were showing off).
2. They took us off mute and asked “any questions?”

Now THAT is how you get press and blogger types to pay attention to a press call! I said to myself “damn, what a difference between a professional PR team at a huge old-school company and the one that Facebook has.”

It’s amazing that a processor company gets how to use video (the camera was handheld by one of the participants, which accentuated its authenticity. No expensive camera crew. No makeup. No lights. No controlling PR team trying to make sure that only “nice” questions get asked. Just some geeks in an office showing off the new laptop technology they had developed).

Damn, CES is starting to look interesting (this was a call to show off stuff that’ll be demoed at CES and to give the press a little preview). Brandee Barker (she runs PR for Facebook), you should go over to AMD and study how they did it. Kudos AMD!

It’s just totally amazing to me how badly Facebook is handling the PR around its new Beacon system.

This story is NOT going away. Even if this particular story goes away, there’s a bad taste in our mouths because Facebook tried to do something that clearly wasn’t for the users. When David Weinberger, one of the authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto, says that you have a real PR problem.

Yet when I look at TechMeme I don’t see ONE SINGLE INTERVIEW that Mark Zuckerberg, or top executives at Facebook, have given ANYONE.

Hell, don’t like me or other bloggers? Then give a press conference with professional press.

ANYTHING would be better than the way that Facebook is handling this.

This is what happens when a startup gets a controlling PR belief system. Steve Jobs can pull that off. Not many companies can.

Facebook’s PR machinery is hiding its head in the sand and hoping this story goes away.

Hint: it’s not.

Do the press conference. Admit you screwed up. Take your shots. Look into the camera and say you’re sorry.

Crisis PR hint: don’t answer company bashing with text messages. Do it in video and with live events. Have the CEO do it.

Or don’t. It’s your reputation, not mine that’s at stake here.

Or, maybe, Zuckerberg is about to get fired from his CEO job? That’s the gesture that’s being communicated to the world by not appearing in person and doing a press conference.

It’s amazing to see how fast Zuckerberg’s stock is falling in the conversation networks I’m hanging out in.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

If you like playing with electronics you’ll WANT one of these.

Introducing BugLabs.net’s BUG. Here’s BugLabs’ founder/CEO Peter Semmelhack and marketing guy Jeremy Toeman showing off the devices ind epth.

I filmed three videos there yesterday. If you want to get an idea of what BUG can do, this should about cover it.

Video one, introduction.
Video two, final shipping plastic.
Video three, open hardware.

If you’re a geek you MUST WATCH this series of videos.

By the way, these were filmed with my cell phone, a Nokia N95 (I wasn’t planning on running into Peter, so didn’t have my professional camera with me).

…who thought I belonged on this panel discussion tonight of smart media people who’ve done a lot more in their careers than me?

My prediction? There will be another new iPhone in 2008 and it will have a video camera and an open SDK.

Yeah, I’m not taking too many risks there am I? Heheh.

It’ll be interesting to see what kinds of predictions this panel, which includes journalists from BusinessWeek, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, makes. PodTech is filming it, so will have the video up in the next few days.

My other prediction? That I’ll be the stupidest one on this panel. I’ll try to keep up.

Dave Winer said something deep this morning:

“Are you interested in understanding Disqus? You’ll get one brief piece in TechCrunch on their launch day, but if you find a blogger who uses it, you can really understand how it works, because they will know, and because the publishing tools are now distributed and free, you’ll find out what they think. That’s what’s changed.”

I’ve been looking at my blogging lately and there’s a lot of hidden stuff in Dave’s post today.

It’s why I do my link blog and focus on blogs who actually USE or show me HOW TO USE stuff. Yeah, I put news up there too but lately that’s started falling short for me. I put it there mostly to be complete and make sure I have a database of the best news articles out there too. But the stuff I really like? Is when there’s no intermediary between the product designer/developer/manufacturer and you.

It’s why I like video so much. Especially the long-form unedited type I usually do. Why? Other than my stupid laugh there’s nothing between my subject and you. This is why I hate even being on camera. I’d rather start a conversation and let them demonstrate their stuff straight to you. If I could find a way to make it even more two-way where YOU could have a conversation with them that’d make it very interesting. I’m looking deeply at streaming video to do just that.

It’s also why I like reading blogs — about 800 every evening — and why I like doing my link blog. Through it I can share some surprises that I found. No algorithm like the ones that run TechMeme can find the good little stuff. The user’s point of view.

Regarding Amazon’s Book Reader? I put tons of hands-on reports from the press conference today onto my link blog. I thought about writing a post but I decided against it until I have one in my hands. If that means I don’t get on TechMeme, that’s just fine. It’s time we got back to a user’s Web.

This is an Apple ad:

Done by Apple. More on that later.

So, last night I was out to dinner with a bunch of smart people. Folks who run their own companies. Folks who have helped many companies get started. Tech companies.

Of course people started talking about my Apple problems. Everyone at the table is a Macintosh user. What was fun is that at one point people started telling me about the problems they have had with their Macs. Many with far more serious problems than I have had.

I tried to turn on my video camera. They all instantly shut up and said “no video.”

Why not?

I dug a little more. It was because they all blamed themselves for the problems of their Macs and I think they also bought into the “Apple cult” which says that if you use a Mac you must be cool. Heck, look at that ad again. Who is cool? Not the PC user.

Now THAT is “brand promise.”

We believe Apple’s marketing so deeply that we aren’t willing to question it.

And then there’s something else. Apple has an ARMY of people who are anonymous who will come and call you every name in the book. I know. They hit yesterday here. I deleted them all, but, dozens, if not hundreds, of comments calling me every name in the book.

They hit over on Andy Beal’s site too. He got tired and just closed the comment thread over there.

The common thing about most of these comments is that it’s MY FAULT that my Apple machine is having trouble.

See, on my Windows machine I’m willing to accept this. After all, I know that Microsoft can’t really test every combination of hardware out there. My Windows machines can take dozens, if not hundreds, of different video cards, sound cards, hard drives, memory configurations, etc. The thing is on my Mac I didn’t load any third-party RAM — Apple’s brand promise is that you never will need to open your box to customize it. Heck, the iPhone goes further. You CAN’T customize it and if you try you have to “break” into it. I’ve never opened the box, or tried to do some weird stuff. I’m even pretty protective about what I load on this system. Why? Cause my world has moved to the Internet and browser-based apps. No need to install tons of software like I used to on my Windows boxes.

I watch that video over and over again and I get really pissed.

Pissed enough to say “screw you Apple” all over again.

Some of you (hi Fake Steve Jobs) misunderstood my point about Apple PR’s not wanting to give me free or loaner hardware. See, I know Apple sends free or loaner hardware to certain journalists. But only those it deems “important.” Steven Levy. Walt Mossberg. Those types. They got iPhones two weeks before those of us who were “unimportant” could BUY them in the stores.

The point isn’t that I want free (er loaned) hardware. It’s that Apple uses that free hardware to MANUFACTURE the “myth” of Apple as being great, and good, and “cool.” Also, if these guys want to get more free or loaner Apple hardware before the rest of us they need to make sure not to point out too many flaws in it. Yeah, they can point out a few, but they know they got picked because they generally write pro-Apple stuff. It’s a reason why I don’t want free stuff and why I waited in line to be among the first in the Valley to have my own iPhone.

Again. Brand promise of Apple. Only those who will give Apple a fair shake will get the goods. When Fake Steve Jobs says I’ll never get invited to another Apple press conference again he isn’t too far from the truth! Retribution is a bitch.

UPDATE: That’s not totally fair on my part. I know these journalists will report when they are sent something that doesn’t do what it promises. I need to correct this post. The journalists don’t get free products that they get to keep (most of the times). They do send them back. I’m sorry to the journalists who I made this point about. Walt Mossberg has an ethics statement where he talks about this.

UPDATE 2: Ryan Block, who writes for Engadget, has a good set of replies to my claims above.

It’s the brand promise of Apple. You will have to BUY your Apple after those “famous journalists” get to use one for free for two weeks and you vil like it. Oh, and you’ll beg to be let into a Steve Jobs keynote because you vil want to sit at the feet of Jobs and drool on the floor like the idiot blogger you are.

Just remember the brand promise of Apple, OK?

1. If your machine behaves badly it’s your fault.
2. Any idiot can use an Apple machine (that’s what they tell you before you buy one) but if your machine crashes then you must be a “genius” to fix it (they have bars at stores now where you can “borrow” a genius, but only after waiting in line — my son twice has been turned away from genius bars because they were too busy and was told to “come back tomorrow at 10 a.m.”). Oh, and if you are having problems at 10 p.m., and dare tell people on your blog about your problems you’ll get tons of abuse back “how DARE you be an Apple user and not know you needed to flash your PRAM.” Translation: any idiot can use a Mac, but not really.
3. If you dare complain about the brand promise you’ll get pounced on by hoardes of annonymous astroturfing Apple FanBois.
4. If you don’t get the brand promise of Apple don’t attempt to point out that the ads are ridiculous. Instead, just leave the cult and go back to using that “inferior” machine you used to use.
5. Check out my new Mac, with its cool brushed metal surface and the light-up Apple logo.
6. If you use an Apple machine you will be as cool as Kevin Rose.

Baratunde has it right when he says “I hate the smugness of Apple.”

Oh, and to the guy who says I’m a Microsoft shill. You better check your facts there. Over the past year I’ve spent more than $10,000 on Apple products of MY OWN MONEY and if you include the machines I’ve bought for PodTech, I’ve spent more than $20,000. Not to mention my son and I spent two days in line waiting for our iPhones. Now if THAT is what you call “shilling for Microsoft” I wonder what “shilling for Apple would look like?”

I guess I just am not cool enough to like my Mac. I’m back on my Sony Vaio, which has never crashed the way my Mac did the other night. It also never has needed to have its memory and graphics controller replaced the way my Mac did. And its USB ports work, unlike those on my son’s computer. But it decidedly isn’t cool.

It doesn’t come with the brand promise of Apple.

Oh, and back to that ad at the top of my blog? Have you ever met the PR guy for Microsoft? That’s Frank Shaw. A really nice guy. He even has a blog (idiot! — Apple hires all the “cool” PR people and they never will do a blog) Who does PR for Apple? Katie Cotton. She’s a LOT closer to the PR lady in that video above, which is TOTALLY ironic — watch this video again and compare to the ad above. Brilliant marketing.

Last night I was on a fun game show yesterday at the NewTeeVee conference, with a bunch of people who’ve created some of my favorite media sites. Aside: the conference was a lot better than I expected, congrats to Om and Liz Gannes for a great show. Andy Plesser took some video behind the scenes. Here’s the shows that were on stage yesterday during the game show: Break a Leg. Mahalo Daily. Goodnight Burbank. Wallstrip. Epic-FU. Justin.tv. Galacticast. Diggnation. Geek Entertainment TV.

What’s in common with all these?

They are all cheap baaaahhhhssssttttaaaardddds. Er, cheap shows to produce. I mean really, one show is two guys who drink beer while talking about what’s on Digg.com.

After reading through my feeds I realize that this trend continues even outside of these shows.

What’s hot on the feeds today? This video:

It’s done by a writer for the daily show talking about the Hollywood writer’s strike. Notice something? No studio. No expensive talent. No expensive camera. No expensive lights. No expensive microphones or makeup artists.

But it’s freaking attention grabbing and very viral.

Let’s keep going on our tour of fun cheap videos.

One of my favorite songs is Daft Punk’s Harder Bodies Faster Stronger.

Notice something? Cheap to create! A pen. An idea. A cheap camera. Two girls (who really are great in this video). Some music.

Let’s keep going. iLike’s Ali Partovi had a fun time with U2’s Bono. They filmed this little video. It’s going supernova. No cost media. Ali’s not a video guy. Oh, someday I’ll tell you about when he had to take away a tape I made at the recent iLike party. But only if you buy me a beer.

Anyway, let’s bring this all around. Read/Write Web talks about how the VC’s don’t see a way to make money in this business.

I think we’re all stupid if we think we can’t make money in this industry. Maybe we’re focusing too much on building expensive studios, buying expensive cameras, and all that. I’m as guilty as anyone here, but I look back at my best shows and they are pretty inexpensive to create too.

Heck, go back and watch the first video in this series again. And again. Until you get it.

There’s money in being a cheap video baaahhhhssstttaaarrrrdddd! :-)

Oh, and James Cridland you didn’t need to point out that Veronica Belmont’s videos are “so, so much better” than mine are.

Tell me something I don’t know! :-)

Mogulus is a new streaming video network which has a ton of cool new features (uses multiple cameras and isn’t grainy like Ustream or Justin.tv). One problem, though, it’s been an unsatisfactory performance on my machine. It takes a TON of processor cycles. I’m getting lots of skips, especially when I use Google Reader on my XP box running Firefox.

But it’s pretty interesting to watch. The chat looks OK, but Kyte.tv’s chat is a lot nicer to look at.

I like this trend of not having to go to conferences, though. I’ll be at NewTeeVee this afternoon. See you then!

Scoble’s wrong. At least that’s what a good number of commenters say on my post yesterday.

On Sunday night I was being interviewed by Guy Kawasaki at the Stanford Publishing Course. Lots of famous publishers in the audience, including Scott Karp, who captured a few minutes with his video camera, and I told them this is why I like online media: it’s two way.

In old media if you see an idiot on TV you can’t effectively yell back. Today you can and I think that’s freaking awesome.

How do I know I really was wrong? Christopher Coulter agreed with me in those comments. He never agrees with me so I MUST have been wrong! :-)