I just watched the new Amanda-less Rocketboom 2.0. Wow. Producer Andrew Michael Baron handled the tricky transition oh so deftly.

Amanda's replacement host came on wearing a catcher's mask and chest protector and proceeded to take a bunch of tomatoes in the puss. Once the public pillorying was done she gave a link to Amanda's blog (gracious and brilliant) and moved on to the best episode in a long time.

The new host, Joanne Colan (Colan rhymes with Joanne), is fantastic: Very natural on camera, wry, and obviously intelligent. Network television could learn a lot from how this was handled.

I didn't take sides in the war of words after Amanda's firing/quitting and while I'm generally on the side of talent in things like this, Andrew clearly has come out on top. Rocketboom is better than ever.

The queen is dead. Long live the Queen.

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AI and VR expert, Jaron Lanier, has written an interesting critique of Wikipedia and the hive mind for Edge. The article is noteworthy and thought provoking, but even more interesting are the responses from the likes of Wikipedia creator, Jimmy Wales, Kevin Kelly, and the always insightful Cory Doctorow.

Cory writes that collectivism isn't the issue. Wikipedia is about decentralizing the control of information:

If you need to convince a gatekeeper that your contribution is worthy before you're allowed to make it, you'd better hope the gatekeeper has superhuman prescience. (Gatekeepers don't have superhuman prescience.) Historically, the best way to keep the important things rolling off the lines is to reduce the barriers to entry. Important things are a fraction of all things, and therefore, the more things you have, the more important things you'll have.

As usual, Cory hits the nail on the head. This is the perfect response to those who say there are "too many podcasts" or the Internet is "too huge." The point of Wikipedia is that there is no gatekeeper. Don't confuse it with Britannica; it's a miracle all on its own.

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Ted is porting over the last bit of data from the old TWiT.tv site right now - I'm closing off comments now so we don't lose anything. We're tweaking the Flash player. The painters are putting the last touches on the color scheme. If all goes well I'll be flipping the switch tonight and the new TWiT.tv will be born. Expect some wet paint and stuck doors, but I think it should go pretty smoothly. I'll be very interested to hear what you think. If I can keep my eyes open I'll flip the switch at 1a Pacific.

[UPDATE:] Well I threw Ted a curve, and my "little" request turns out to require significant re-plumbing. To the guy who emailed me that the last 10% of the redesign would take 90% of the time, you were right. To the folks who said not to announce anything, you were right, too! To the rest of you, sorry for the premature expostulation. We should have it up for you later today. I hope.

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I wonder what archeologists will think when they find this in my midden heap?

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Sean Carruthers has done it again. He snapped a bunch of great pictures with his Olympus Evolt at our last week of taping of Call for Help in Toronto. In the two to the right, Amber clobbers me with a canoe paddle as part of a promo for our Outdoor Special. She's such a prankster.

You can see all of Sean's photos from the shoot week on his Flickr site.

By the way, when I say "last week" I mean the previous week. There are many more to come. I've just agreed to another year of shows through September 2007.

Call for Help is seen on G4TechTV in Canada (check your cable or satellite provider) and on the HOW-TO Channel in Australia. US fans can download the show for 99¢ an episode from Google Video. We're working on putting all 400 Canadian episodes online.

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I got this in my email this morning. Should I be worried??

Subject: Your Computer It Is In Ouer Base Of Dates

Dear Sir,

From your Ip Adress was found at ouer server was made inegality from your computer.
Please send as your Ip and User Acounts.

Example : Ip Adress -- (64.105.196.234).
User Acounts -- (Administrator,Quest....).
Password -- (Your password....).

After you sent this dates ouer operators will acces your computer to fiind out what was the reason was make the inegality. After you sent the dates in time at 2 weeks since we recived your dates will no`t access your computer. After we remake this problem you will change your pasword (at list 8 characters).

Your dates please send at ouer institut or in ouer email adress is : www.admin-ip-adress@hotmail.com

In caz you will no`t send the dates ouer team from intervention will came at your home and will you take your computer for probes and it is the risk to be panegement whit jail. Please don`t make more dificult this situation.

Thank you for understanding.

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I'm walking all over town looking for a mailbox to stick my Netflix movies in and every one is marked with the message above. The US Post Office is removing all the mailboxes in my neighborhood because they're under-utilized. I have to go all the way to the Post Office itself.

Is this happening all over or is it just Petaluma?

Happy Independence Day. Where do we dump the tea?

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I've had a blog since 2001 but I have never been able to post to it regularly. Maybe that's because I have so many other places to be heard. Maybe it's because I'm just not a blogger. I keep trying new blog software, partly for research, partly because I love shiny new things, but I never seem to stick with it. I'm sure I'll stop posting here soon. Mena says she planned Vox to make people want to blog again. So far, it's working, Mena.

Personal blogs have always felt like observational comedy without the punchlines:  A Jerry Seinfeld routine performed by Henry Kissinger.

I've never liked slice of life fiction for the same reason. Give me a story arc or humor or something I can use, at least. My wife loves that kind of writing. Maybe it's a gender thing.

The blogs I read are either funny, useful, or insightful. And there just aren't that many of those. And this isn't one of them either. If I do have anything funny, or useful, or insightful to say I save it for the paying gigs. There's little enough of that to waste.

In his Wired News "Exit Interview" Scoble says he was reading 1500 feeds a day. I can't imagine a worse fate. Frankly it sounds like he has a personal problem. (I'm kidding. I'm a kidder. I've known Robert for 15 years so I can kid.) I'm just glad he's cutting back now. Robert, I'll do my bit by making sure there's nothing to read here. You may safely move along.

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