In my latest presentation, I wanted to share some of the things I figured out when I started doing hardcore video production at work. (Not p0rn) We had several fits and starts to get video incorporated into our projects, and finally one day it broke loose into every project using video in one way or another. Video for CDs and DVDs, websites, mobile applications, and even on game systems like the Wii. Fun stuff, but there was a trial by fire learning curve.

Here are some of the basics that I think will help anyone just starting with video. Let me know what you think, and if you saw the presentation, give me a critique on that as well. I enjoy public speaking, but know I need to get better at it. Even teaching a weekly game design class doesn’t prepare me for standing in front of a big group who expects to hear something interesting.

Remember when your parents got either a new Super 8 film camera or maybe a video camera (depending on how old you are)? There was always that day when all the kids were put to bed earlier than usual and mom said stay in bed, and if you need a drink of water, go get it yourself. And don’t come downstairs.

The difference between then and now is pretty simple. Distribution. It used to be that you needed to have a huge studio that produced films that appealed to a wide audience just to make enough money to continue production. Film was (and is) expensive, and few people could waste that money on something noone would pay to see. Even if you did spend the money on production, then you would have to spend even more to get that film in a theater for people to see. Not many had the cash to do it.

Now and into the future, full motion graphics (including film, video, and animation) are everywhere. With every device getting a full color viewer and a live internet connection, if you don’t have your sights on creating visual content, you are way behind.

Which open the door the the traditional *low budget* productions: P0rn, instructional videos, and horror flicks. Jump in and create something. For work or for play, get your feet wet now. YouTube is already getting saturated with stuff, and some of it sucks. But how can you avoid making the same old shit that everyone else makes? Here are some tips.

Humans love stories. We love to be engaged and entertained. Even the dullest subject can be made into something interesting. Tell a story. This is the most important thing. Tell a story. Read this again. Tell a story. Find a message that you want to deliver. If you do this well, you can actually create reuseable pieces that can work for several different productions, saving time, money, and making you look awesome.

You may know everything in the world about your subject, but are you a writer? Do you know how to craft words and phrases that connect with people in their emotional and intellectual soul? Probably not. Don’t feel bad, most people can’t do it. Find someone who can, and work WITH them. Give them the points that you want to make and let them work their craft. You are probably too close to the material to make a clear statement. No offense intended, but get out of the way. The more you tweak it, the more it will suck.

Again, get out of the way of your message. Real actors control their voice, body, and gestures to add to the message they are delivering. Michael Caine does a great demonstration of how much meaning you can deliver by not blinking. Find someone who is an actor and allow them to do their thing. Respect them and pay them well. It will be money well spent.

When you actually get into production, there will be sounds, and every sound that gets on your recording becomes part of your message, whether you want it or not. Keep in mind, even the absence of sound counts as a sound, and can effect your message, too. Odd, right? Watch The Jetsons Movie. There are very few background sounds, and the entire film has a creepiness to it that is hard to place. All major productions have people who fill in all the needed background sounds that we associate with different situations. Either use the sound that you have, or control the environment that you are in. Either way, try to use it to your advantage. Also, find a microphone that serves your needs. If you don’t know what you need, ask someone. Call me and I’ll help you work it out.

Not, you, but your camera. It is just a tool. Don’t be a slave to what your camera can do. Learn how to use every setting on your camera. Don’t open the box on the first day of shooting and expect to shoot your opus. Figure out what it can do, and then use what it can do to tell your story in the best way. This goes for all you equipment, too. You are not an operator for the tools, they are your tools. Learn how to use them. Be a craftsman/craftswoman.

Just like the sound, everything that gets into the frame becomes part of your message, whether you intend it or not. Watch the entire frame, not just your subject. If you can’t control what’s in the frame and it is distracting from your message, tighten the shot, change the angle, shoot some place else, do something different. If you have no control of it, use it to your advantage. Figure out a way to make it work with your story. It’s not always easy, but it makes a difference.

If you want total control of the scene, you can go to a green screen setup. This is totally possible and within reach of *low budget* productions these days. Put your message in front of a green screen and you can do what ever you want in the background. It’s not as difficult as it seems. Keep in mind, it is a lot of extra work, and if you can get what you need shooting live, I highly recommend it.

Why green screen? Technically, it doesn’t have to be. It’s just that the bright green is one of the pure properties of light that isn’t as common of a color in our world. You can use a bright blue also, especially if you are shooting a person with blonde hair. Works better. You could probably use any color with today’s technology, but these are the ones that have proved easiest over the years. Why fix what isn’t broken?

Another thing to consider is your time. Time is money is especially true in the video production world. If you search for video studios, you’ll get lots of places with giant lighting systems, cyclorama (cyc) walls, and multiple backgrounds at your disposal. That’s all great if you have the budget, but if you don’t, search for boutique video and photography studios. Some photo studios have cyc walls set up that you just need to paint yourself. Creative agencies like ManMade Media have a full green screen setup at a fraction of the cost of a giant video studio. They use if for themselves, but when it is open, you can use it too. Plus, you get their expertise to draw on as well. Good deal. (Ask for Marcin, and tell him Bugfrog sent ya.) The point is, look around for options. Sometimes all you really need is a big empty warehouse space, so why rent a studio for 5 times the price?

If you do an internet search, you’ll get all kinds of recommendations for paints and fabrics that you “absolutely” need to get a good key on your subject. But the truth is, it doesn’t need to be perfect unless you are at George Lucas’ level. Chromakey green paint is $50 a gallon, but Behr S-G-430 Sparkling Apple Green is just about the same color for about $14/gal. and it will give you a great key with decent lighting. Chromakey green foam backed fabric – $16 a  yard. Bright green or blue fabric from a fabric store is about $6 a yard, and gets a similar job done. If you are not using  a system that is specifically designed to key off of Chromakey green or blue, you don’t need the expensive stuff. Just make sure your background color is even and smooth, and you should be fine.

When you go to light your scene, there really is nothing special to it. Just use normal photographic 3 point lighting on your subject. The place that trips people up is they try to light the whole scene as one scene, and end up with too much light. Think of it as 2 scenes, the forground or subject, and the background. If you can light the background and get closer to a silhouette of your subject, you are off to a good start. Try to keep shadows of your subject off your background, too. Many people flood the entire scene with light trying to blow out the background. What actually happens is the light reflects and spills all over the subject’s edges, making it harder to get a good key, and sucking tons of energy and blowing fuses.

Speaking of lights, you can easily go out and spend thousands of dollars on an excellent indie video studio lighting kit. It will absolutely get the job done. But you don’t need to. If you are not shooting a lot of fast motion footage on a high frame rate, you can use cheap florescent shop lights from a hardware store. $20 a fixture. Buy some broom handle clamps to screw into the back, and  you have a very cheap and flexible light that you can clamp onto just about any pipe, photo stand, table leg or lay on the floor. As an added bonus, these lights pull a ton less power, meaning you won’t be blowing fuses in the building every 10 minutes, possibly shutting down the computer lab in the office next door. Not that I am familiar with this. Really. Plus, studio lights use very specific and expensive bulbs and fuses that are a pain to find and replace. Avoid it. You can get florescents that match the lights where ever you are shooting for $20 for 10 these days. Hardware stores are your friend.

Sometimes you’ll have a full body shot that you will key out. Take a look. You will be wasting about 2/3 of your available pixels on either side of your subject. Turn the camera on it’s side and reclaim a good portion of those pixels and put them to use. Once you pull your key, noone will see what aspect ratio your footage was shot at, and you’ll get  a much cleaner shot. Give it a try.

For a low budget green screen, fast motion can cause lots of problems. If your footage has a blurry edge, it is going to be really tough to pull a clean key. You don’t have to be a statue, but fast and jerky movements should be minimized, or done on  a section that isn’t going to get keyed out, like an arm moving across a body. The outside edges where subject meets green is where we are concerned.

Once you get your video shot, you are going to have to deliver it from somewhere, and video takes a lot of memory. If you are storing on a CD or DVD or streaming through the internet, video files are huge and you are going to either need a lot of space, or a giant pipe do deliver it. CDs and DVDs have finite space. Find a balance between how much you want to compress and how good you want it too look. I advise you keep it looking better whenever possible, and keep the audio quality high. People tend to forgive bad video if the soundtrack is clean. Strange but true.

Fortunately, there are lots of service sites that can help out with the internet delivery. Some people will tell you that you need to buy software like Flash Media Server and learn how to run it. Not true. You don’t have to host it on your own server and risk taking down your entire site. Keep your site on your server, link to video files on a remote server, and everyone is happy. Influxis is one that I have been using and works great. There are others with different strengths and weaknesses. Send me a message and I can send you a list to get you started in your research.

The point is video files are demanding, and you need to consider how it will be delivered before you start production. If you are doing little how to videos, YouTube could be the perfect solution.

Any computer dealer will have their favorite tool to use for video production, probably on the main system they sell. It’s what they are familiar with, so they will say it’s the best. The truth is, any platform has the tools to do just about anything. What you need to do is really think about what you want to do now, and in 3 years when you better be buying a new computer anyway. You want a system and a software that will let you learn, grow, and most importantly, complete projects. You don’t get anywhere if you don’t make something. I seen people buy a full blown Mac setup with Final Cut Studio, and when they get it home, they are so overwhelmed, they can never figure out how to use anything but the most basic features. That’s a waste. There are lots of cheap and free tools out there. Get on the net and ask people what they have done with their software, and more importantly, see what they have done. If they aren’t making videos, what can they know about what tools to use?

This could be the most important thing to remember. Get signed releases from actors, musicians, extras, locations, just about everything. File them in a big yellow folder. Nothing hurts as much as having to tell Hollywood that you can’t find a release from your star actor, and therefore can’t sell your movie to them. Even if you never intend to do anything with your film, get a release. It’s easier when they are there with you than 3 years later when you can’t remember where you found the guy.  If you use music that you didn’t make, get a release. If you shoot in a recognizable place, get a permit. If you have a scene with people in the background, make sure you get their OK to be in your production. The legal issues are complex, but if you go in planning to get permission, things will be a lot easier in the long run.

Finally, figure out what you want to do, and then ask for advice on how to accomplish it. Even if you just ask a video professional to lunch to pick his/her brain. It will save you so much time and struggle in the long run that it will be worth it. There are tons of instructors, studios, students, and professionals that can give you guidance. Just be sure to have an idea of what you want to accomplish and try to ask specific questions. If you have no idea where to start, call me. I don’t know all the answers, but I can push you in the right direction towards someone who might.

Most importantly, make something. Shoot as much as you can. Even if it’s crap, shoot it, cut it, and put it up. You’ll learn what works and what doesn’t much faster.

Break a leg.

I miss Rio too. Poe is great, but the crapping is wearing on me. Poe is needier that Rio for sure, but Rio was 2 when we got her, and Poe is 6 months younger, and about 50% bigger. He will mellow more as he gets older. At least we hope so.

The plan when I got the app was that I would be able to be more flexible and post more often. That hasn’t happened yet, really. Especially with an app that wouldn’t connect to the blog. Odd. But a common problem, at least for me with this app. Hopefully we are past that, and can start fresh. So without further adieu:

The dog exploded all over the floor today. 3 times. 3 completely independent events, each one consisting of a large amount of liquid crap. Really. Didn’t know he could hold that much. Fascinating really. At one point I thought Gene Wilder was going to fall out of there. I’d feel bad for the guy  if he showed any sort of remorse about the whole thing (the dog, not Gene – I’d certainly feel bad for Gene if he fell out of a dogs butt). “Foodman, look how I covered the entire room except for the path you walk to feed me! Aren’t I special? What?”

I’m pretty sure he keeps getting giardia  from the day camp he goes to, but I can’t be sure. Yet. There’s got to be a way to find the source. Need to switch some things around to find out. When the weather warms up, they go play in the pool, and I think he drinks and gets infected again. Poor shit spraying bastard. You know the old saying: Hate the shit, love the shitter. Cleaning the kitchen floor, again, at 10pm isn’t really my idea of a cool evening. I currently smell like bleach (need to kill the giardia) but the floor is clean. The finish on the hardwoods is wearing away at a phenomenal pace, too.

But let’s look on the bright side. The floor is clean (now). He’s generally a good dog. I understand more of what the Untouchable Caste has to deal with daily. He doesn’t do it on the rug anymore. I have a purpose in my life, a challenge to overcome, and new opportunities will arise. And I get to see what the world looks like at 2am and 4:30am when he wakes me up to go out every night.

If anybody can recommend a day camp for dogs, I’m all ears. Or an iPhone app that cleans up liquid poop.

ps. I wanted this post to be funnier, but I have been cleaning shit for the last 2 hours. Badbanana doesn’t have to clean shit up.

WANTED: Extras and Featured Extras
for the FEATURE FILM -”Carolina Blue”

Please RSVP at 303-629-8331 or extras@altavilleproductions.com

Altaville Productions is looking for EXTRAS and FEATURED EXTRAS for the feature length film, “Carolina Blue,” now in production. Come be a part of a professional film in Denver!

We’ve already shot more than thirty days of footage for “Carolina Blue” and are nearing completion. You can see stills from scenes we’ve already shot at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carolina-Blue/213087833163?ref=ts.

DATE/TIME: WEDNESDAY, Feb 10, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. (Most extras will be there ONLY until Noon, and those wanting to be Featured Extras will be needed until 2 PM)

SCENE: A concert in a beautiful, upscale theatre.

Attire…
(If you don’t have this attire, please let us know and come anyway!)
MEN: dress shirt, OR tie and jacket (if you have them).
WOMEN: formal attire, 1950’s to 1970’s style evening gown or cocktail dress preferred. Dark blouse and slacks will also work, or anything you would wear to a night at an upscale theatre.

LOCATION: Mayan Theatre, 110 Broadway, Denver (1st and Broadway) Parking available at the former Big Lots (just half block south on Broadway) and the Mayan parking lot on Lincoln

NOTE: Also need extras for a rock club scene for a shoot in late FEB, which takes place in the 1970’s. Let us know if you are interested in being an extra in this scene as well, and we’ll let you know when we have a shoot date set!

Food and snacks will be provided!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Basically, if someone is looking for information, Streetview could be a great way to get it to them. This could be useful if what you are looking for is connected to the location, like the movie example. If you want to know what movie is playing at the theater near the mall, sure.

But this example fails when someone is searching for a movie and not the theater. This search isn’t location based, it eventually gets to a location, but by that point, you already know what movies are there.

Even with this slight catch, there could be a lot of potential here for ads and revenue. The owner of a billboard could buy the Google Streetview ad space so that when anyone views it, it says “Your ad here, call me.” In real life, the billboard is leased by another paying customer, but in the virtual world, it can be entirely different. Think of the ads that run behind the batters during the World Series games. Those ads can be one thing in real life, but on broadcast TV, they are entirely different. Outdoor advertising agencies could do their self promos in virtual space, delivering discounts, promos, and premiums upgrade offers directly to the people that will be looking at the space. On this line, all types of real estate possibilities exist.

So what does Google know about how Streetview is used? How do we use it? We all looked at our house and neighborhood a few times. We all looked up an address of some business we were trying to find and checked to see where the actual door was or how much parking they have, right? It would be interesting to see where the hottest places in Streetview are located. That would give a great indication of how useful this could be.

Where could more active marketing work into this? Could physical therapy companies put ads on the side of virtual hospitals? Could rehab centers put ads on the billboards outside virtual bars? Why not? What connections would be effective? Will every location on Streetview end up looking like the commercial district of downtown Tokyo? And will downtown Tokyo billboards sell a premium offer that includes placement in all virtual views? Political ads could go all over any signage on landmarks around Washington DC tourist spots. Even better, a national political party decides where they will have their next convention, buys up all the virtual ad space around it, and then announces their convention location. Groups interested in attending will be looking at the street view to help them plan their connection to the event. Man, this could get fun!

How far away are we from NBA stars leasing out the space on their forehead and bicep for virtual replacement on internet feeds of the game? Crazy? So were automobiles.

This all leads us to the augmented reality world in a big way. Soon, we will see what someone has paid for us to see, instead of what was there for the photo (but how trustworthy was that photo in the first place?). Hopefully for the short term, Google will put these ads as a layer we can disable if we so choose.

Final thought: all the above is simply about the basic uses of this, but Google is sneaky sometimes. Are there other ways they could apply this? What’s the purpose that isn’t so obvious?

One Translation: Interactive billboards that are huge, grab attention, and all without cluttering up the landscape. Magical things can happen here. Throw in some PaperVision and you’ve got some cool possibilities.

I love the direction this is going. James and I presented about QR at Ignite a while back, and it is great to see things still happening. It doesn’t happen that much in the US because…um…well…maybe we’re too lazy to hold our phones up that high? Not sure why.

Direct Link if the embed fails — http://go.bugfrog.com/2y

N Building from Alexander Reeder on Vimeo.

From the creators who need a shout out on this one. I pulled the following from here, and I hope they don’t get pissed. Most of it is in Japanese which I don’t read very well. I mean, I can read it of course, but I just don’t understand any of the words that I am reading because I don’t speak Japanese.

Here is our latest project, in which we as Qosmo.inc tried to “augment” additional information upon a physical artifact, namely a building, with new digital media technology empowered by iPhone.

N Building is a commercial structure located near Tachikawa station amidst a shopping district. Being a commercial building signs or billboards are typically attached to its facade which we feel undermines the structures’ identity. As a solution we thought to use a QR Code (two-dimensional bar code) as the facade itself. By reading the QR Code with your mobile device you will be taken to a site which includes up to date shop information. In this manner we envision a cityscape unhindered by ubiquitous signage and also an improvement to the quality and accuracy of the information itself.

December 15th, 2009 we held an opening which included the limited release of an iPhone application made specifically for N Building.

If a QR Code is static, what could we do with a dynamic device like the iPhone? Our proposed vision of the future is one where the facade of the building disappears, showing those inside who want to be seen. As you press on the characters their comments made on online appear in speech bubbles. You can also browse shop information, make reservations and download coupons. Rather than broadly tagging, we display information specific to the building in a manner in which the virtual (iPhone) serves to enhance the physical (N Building). Our goal is to provide an incentive to visit the space and a virtual connection to space without necessarily being present.

The building is detected in real time by its shape (for an example, see video). Characters are then superimposed over the live video. Twitter feed comments are located via GPS tagging. Store information, reservations and other infrastructure is part of the iPhone application. The iPhone application is not for sale in the iTunes App Store, but is available to interested parties on request. While N Building’s QR code provides a subtle yet important queue to users to take out and use their mobile devices, Qosmo, Inc. is available to implement a similar system for structures without QR Codes or any markers.

If you are interested in this project, please feel free to contact us:

They understood. The world, life, love. Everything flowed.

Teach me. I said. I search, drift, haunted.

They replied. I don’t understand. I don’t know.

Prove myself, I thought.

I worked. Every day, I worked. I achieved. I moved. I shook. I conquered. I proved.

I returned. I asked. Teach me.

I don’t understand.

I pleaded. Teach me! You understand. Teach me. I begged.

I don’t know.

Teach me!
I screamed. I smashed. I destroyed.

I cried, alone.

I slept. forever.

I dreamed something. overthere. behind. one side. the other. always there. beyond. i followed. I walked. I ran.

it danced. drifted. jumped. twirled.

I chased. i lept. dove. flew! so close!

I stopped. someone grabbed me.

pleading.

teach me.

That’s not the way this is supposed to feel. This should be hopeful. A new year, new steps towards something. Batteries recharged and ready to go. Something inspiring that puts heat under the griddle. Wait a minute. Spark, recharging, inspiration. Where is that for me? What brings that energy? Right now, I have no idea. I look at my review post from last year and can’t find that spark, either. All the places that I fell short show the same thing. Just didn’t get the gumption up to get it done, and more surprisingly to me, I’m not too pissed about it. Ah, hold on there, cowboy. It seems the sparks are there, but keeping them going and moving has been the weak point. Putting energy into that spark to feed it. Now that I think back, this is important.

This year I need to figure out how to get recharged. Find an input of energy to replace what goes out. (Disclaimer: I am extremely lucky and very fortunate and thankful. I’m not complaining, I just need to figure this out. Just because my life isn’t a horror show that would make a movie of the week script doesn’t mean I can’t get depressed.) My son is at the age where he wants all my time and energy. I can’t deny that. In a few years, he probably won’t even want to hang out with me. My wife is doing great things with her full time career and her second and third part-time careers, and I fully support those too. I miss her, but I want her to find her happiness. The dog is a year old and wants to play with me as soon as I get home from work until he passes out. He spends 3 days all alone all day every week. Then there’s all the other stuff like PTA that has been a minimal return task since 1897 when it was created. Work has fallen into a minimal return state. Extended family: energy vampires. So all this pulls and pulls and pulls out energy, but where does it come back? What fills the reservoir back up? You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been there, too. We all get there. I’ve been here too long. Way too long.

So enough of the woe is me bullshit. This year, the one goal is to find out how to recharge my batteries. If I can do that, I’ll improve the rest of my life, and then I can really give something special to the people around me. See? You can benefit from this, too. It’s a win-win.

Towards this one goal, I’m going to try lots of different stuff.

1. Re-ignite date night with Aimee – we need to get back to having recharge time together.
2. Be the role model for Declan.
3. Exercise twice a week – This is supposedly good for depression.
4. Write or draw 3 times a week – I like to do it, so I should. Do it with the goal of doing it well. You may be exposed to some of this.
5. Train Poe better – When he is comfortable, he is much less demanding, and he’ll be able to come out more, keeping him happy. Cycle of joy.
6. Finish JoyTo.Us and LinkChop.com – I’ve been letting my part drag too long. Just finish it.
7. Learn AS3, CSS, 3D, Unity and all that work stuff. Learn it well so that I am proud of what I do, not so it is just good enough.
8. Avoid the stuff that annoys me. Politics, sorry. You waste my time. I’ll pay attention and vote, but I don’t want to talk about you any more. You attract uninformed morons. Entertainment gossip. You suck. Go film yourself. News in general, I am giving you notice. More often that not, you are useless and irrelevant. I don’t need that.
9. Find more people that inspire. Hunt them down. Work to be worthy to hang out nearby. Then take that inspiration and pass it along. Inspire others.
10. Travel. Travel. Travel. See other places. Go camping. Weekend getaways with the family. Overnights to anywhere. Just go. And travel light.
11. Get more inputs – Movies, art galleries, books, stuff that makes me think. Search through Facebook, Twitter, and friends to find the good information, and ditch the stuff that just sucks time.
12. Find good music. Search it out. It makes me happy. When Indie 101.5 was running, life was better. Find that source again, and be willing to pay for it. Support the artists that provide it.
13. Create a cycle. Take inputs, filter them, and push it back out as something. Anything. I am not stagnant pool. Let things flow through.

So that’s the plan. I’m hopeful.

If you’ve read this far, let me know what you think. Change is in the air, and it smells funny.

2009 Resolution To-Do list That Was.

1. Actively do things to create happiness in my life. Penguin put up a post about survival that resonated with me considering the past 39 years or so. A desire for comfort and a passive outlook have been barriers that need to be removed. Thanks for clarifying. Identifying the enemy makes it a better target.
   • Some progress here, but I don’t feel I can give a half point, so zero.
2. Plan and have more date nights with Aimee. We need more good time together instead of just serving the various masters we are slaves to. The passive outlook plays here. I need to actively create the time we need to spend together. Once a month for starters.
   • We both are trying, but this has still been a challenge. Half point.
3. Be the person that I want my son to grow up to be. Not angry, passive, and bitter. If I can’t do it for myself, I need to set the example for him. I don’t care what he does in life, I just want to make sure he has the tools to explore, discover, set, and achieve his own goals.
   • Strangely enough, I think I can take a point on this. I’m not done yet, and I’ve slipped a few times,  but I think I’ve made some huge improvements here, and actively keep this in my mind all the time. Allowing him to teach me about the world is allowing me to guide him at the same time. It’s strange and difficult, but social.
4. Be the friend I want to be and want to have. In 2008 I didn’t make enough time for friends and was usually tired and useless when I did. Friends are hugely important to me and I need to make sure they know that.
   • Half point. This year was better, but my friends deserve better than that.
5. Get electronically organized. I’m working with at least 3 blogs, 6 email addresses, Google Apps, iGoogle, Exchange Servers, iCal, Mobile phones, iPod Touch, Paper notebooks, a Laptop, at least 2 main Desktop computers, school computers, you get the idea. This is far less than other people who do a great job of being organized. How to get a handle on this, I’m not quite sure. Suggestions welcome.
   • I’m making progress here. Organizing and eliminating seems to help. iPhone and a MobileMe account is helping, but still not 100%. I keep watching things like BusyCal and Google for better solutions. Still work to do though. Half point.
6. Build at least 2 fully functioning sites with Je. (Obviously, Je’s feelings on this are important, and I actually hope we can do more, but I don’t want to scare anyone.) MyLinkChop and hopefully PickTheWeather will get done. This is totally possible, and I’ll be pissed at myself if I don’t get there.
   • MyLinkChop is moving along, and actually expanding out to include JoyTo.Us and MyMiddle.Name. We are close, I just need to get my part done. James has an Android app built for LinkChop. Gotta be more like James, and not let him down. Half point.
7. An extension of the previous one, meet out regularly with Je. We seem to be able to develop good ideas together and it is fun. Hopefully I won’t be a complete lazy pain in his ass.
   • Full point! We’ve been doing this and getting things done. Somewhat less done on my side, but doing something.
8. Don’t be a complete lazy pain in the ass. It seems easier for me to react to the energy of the people around me than to generate my own energy and motivation. That needs to change (passive outlook again?)Half point for being a partial lazy pain in the ass.
   • Getting better, but still get sucked up and overwhelmed by daily crap. Gotta figure out a way to break this cycle. Half point.
9. Plan out at least 3 more ideas for sites and/or projects to do beyond ones that actually get built. Plan them extensively, not just a brain fart. I have lots of ideas for animations, scripts, stories, games, etc. Make them happen. Don’t settle for ideas.
   • Half point. Evernote is a great thing. I can note down stuff all the time and I do. Now I just need to expand on them and fill them out. Again, technology is helping with this.
10. Build a game in Unity. This is great software that I know I could do some awesome things with. Lets do it.
    • 100% fail. Have ideas though.
11. Learn AS3 and become a kick ass flash guy. Even if work never moves an inch, I need to do this.
    • Half point. Making some progress, but not nearly enough.
12. Learn more Maya and 3d. Build things. Don’t talk about it. Build it.Fail on the Maya, and 3D hasn’t progressed too much.
    • Zero.
13. Learn to network and talk comfortably with other people I don’t know. I really suck at this. Bad. I think being able to talk to other humans without alcohol involved would be helpful.
    • Half point. Actually getting into social situations would help.
14. More public speaking. At least 3 public speaking opportunities. This is in addition to if I teach the game class again.
    • Didn’t quite make it, I think I did 2 this year. Half point.
15. Drink less alcohol. Long ago for many years I drank to numb and dull my senses to be able to handle the world around me. I don’t want to do that anymore. I’ll need to find a different way to deal, but I can put that energy elsewhere.
    • Half point.
16. Travel. Make at least 3 trips this year, anywhere. Also, ultralight travel. Less stuff, more opportunity.
    • Half point. Aimee planned a great trip to Ireland this year, and we had a great time in Winter Park over Spring Break. Was there another? I can’t remember.
17. Train Poe. He’s going to be HUGE and he needs to be well behaved. It takes time and energy. I can do it.
    • Poe is getting better. He still runs off to see other dogs sometimes. But I think that is mostly because I don’t give him enough time. Lots of treats helps. Point.
18. Paint the house. Inside and the trim outside. It needs it. Get it done. It shouldn’t take more than a hard week or 2.
    • Fail.

8.5 points total

Out of an 18 possible, not the best if you look at the numbers. But I’m not looking at it that way. This is a journey, and progress is the key. I’m getting geared up for next year! What’s going to be on the new list? Only the Shadow knows!

Could we deduce information about the current users of IE 6? Is there a demo profile that we could generate? I’ve seen lots of reasons people may still have it (company policy, old machine, afraid to upgrade, whatever), but what does this do to the way they use the internet? Is their expectation and dependency on the net different than users who have the most modern stuff?

Another question: How do we get a good overall stat on browser version usage? Tech sites are going to draw an audience that has more up to date browsers. A knitting site may not (not sure, you knitters don’t flame me, just comment and let me know). Google has theirs, but do they report the stats (that they used to tell us) on the google search page, or on the gmail page? Yahoo and Google may a lot of users who maybe come there just because they have nothing else to look at, so their users could be skewed the other way.

It’s a fun question to wrestle with if you don’t have a site yet. If you have a site, look at your stats (find out how to get stats) and see, and then make your decision on what to support. The main point: Stats are a pain in the ass, but a lot of fun.