This is now home to the blog archives... the current stuff is here.

Please adjust your links to http://ericrice.com. Thanks :-)

PayPerPost is the hot new meme of "zOMG this is teh ebil" around the blogs this weekend. I am back home in Silicon Valley after attending Gnomedex, so haven't had enough time to investigate.

Since my commenting system on this blog is wack, I'm going to be switching the RSS feed to point to the new blog here.

After a couple phone calls and some, you know, reading, I'll write more. And hey! Maybe next week, we can talk about PayPerJPGBannerAdUploadButPutItOnTheSideBarPost.

Update Over on the other blog, I added a bunch of conceptual math questions and such about the issue... Can't form an opinion unless we go down some different paths.

Yay, Linden Lab gave some demos and Q&A at lunch. Some people are getting it. Others do not. Now, it's time to fast forward a year and see who is still left. And who will have started new Warcraft-type games. And who will be making new entertainment brands?

It now gets interesting. ;-)

Conferences are always great places to get new ideas, meet new people, and hopefully learn things. Naturally, being a bit on the jaded and cranky side, I've learned more from what people aren't saying. And of course, plenty I've disagreed with.

And yet, one of the best sessions I've attended so far at Gnomedex, came out of left field. One of the smartest people in the room comes from a place you might not expect: Warner Brothers Records. His name is Ethan Kaplan.

Naturally, I've been able to work with WB in the past, being the first podcaster to play authorized music from a major label. And I have given them credit in the past for, while being naturally big, with lots of layers of management and legal people and old-timers, tend to make good efforts into exploring new media.

Ethan Kaplan took the stage--a seasoned, mixed-media industry type--and talked about fan interaction and technologies. Periodically self-deprecating (the bullseye target on his shirt was amusing), he delivered a quite compelling lecture/conversation. I think another reason why his session resonated so much, is I tend to take a similar 'moderate' role. It's my observation that he is working within the infrastructure that exists, while living a great deal in the space most of us in the new media space are in.

Some of the notes from others (they took better notes than me): bullet points link, project (drupal) link, Q&A link, cory doctorow comparison link)

I was able to spend more time talking with Ethan later, and he's one of the folks that-gets it- and knows that there are two sides to every story. If the other big entertainment companies get people like Ethan, then they become contenders. For now, it's Warners' game and everyone's got to play catchup.

Photo by Scott Beale, Laughingsquid.com

A mortgage broker from southern california asked a question and later retorted with the best response. "You have ego overcoming ego here"

And that is the biggest smackdown yet, cuz it's true. And if you heard the stream or were there, you know exactly what the deal is. The Blogosphere is EGO.

Update: The person was Janet from Planet Janet \o/

Download: TechnO, Canada by Torley! Torley.com

Days after Telephia's report that found 65 percent of mobile gaming revenue is driven by females, another report, this one from Parks Associates, says women represent 59 percent of all U.S. mobile gamers.

Women dominate mobile gaming -- Parks Associates Release

Blubrry.com launched today and podcasting networks for listeners and podcasters, just got all growed up. ;-)

It's the most insane idea ever. Taking a character built on actual, real time experiences, out of the virtual space, to establish himself in the real world space. You know Lara. You know Max.

And soon, you'll meet Spin.

Brought to you by Hipcast and PodcasterNews.com.... soon, everyone will learn how to podcast. ;-)

The gaming lounge. It's loaded with Xbox 360s and big-ass Alienware systems and big-ass wide panel plasmas and LCDs. And it's quiet, and not really filled. Interestingly enough, the second chapter in my Second Life story flies in the face of "Second Life is Not A Game" .... and it's not. But what if it was made into it? Or what if it was used to make one? And back to gaming, is there a cultural disconnect between the bloggerati and gamers?

Go back to SL. DIY culture. Fast forward about five years. Intellectual Property ownership on an Xbox Life platform?

And why is the first thing we think of when we utter the words 'mobility' or 'mobile phones' always involve 100% game play, instead of incremental and ancillary services to take parts of that digital life on the road? Inventory Management... parsing data... getting updates on our social networks.... with a scaled down window into our world. Perhaps?

Foreshadowing: Don't forget the role of music in games.

I guess you need to find me at Gnomedex to know what that means, huh?

Update: ok, maybe a hint: what if you combined every type of media, distribution, the internets, the wikis, the metaverses, and about four business models? ;-)

It doesn't matter what the medium. If you want to win, do everything. Write some words, speak into a microphone, and stand in front of a camera. And think of all the formats that it might show up--- in the car, on the television, on the iPod, on CD, on a mobile phone. Watch your buzzwords. And know that you have little restrictions any more. And then get paid.

We. Are. Democracy.

Time to party, our show's turning FIVE, and we'd never thought we'd be in the music scene, with Tower and Slackstreet Music. We're on iPods, MP3 players, and mobile phones all over the place. To pay that forward, we're going to start featuring our band friends over on MySpace, and doing our best to pimp local shows. Know a band? send 'em over!

(If you haven't, add us to MySpace. :D

The virtual-based Multiverse Records, in an effort to expand its growth and innovation, is becoming part of a new music division of Slackstreet Entertainment and will be re-introduced as Slackstreet Music, spanning not only the virtual space of performances and promotion and sales, but also to crossover into the physical space and evolve into a real-world music entity that hopes to redefine the structure of the record label and services industry to put more power and ownership into the hands of the artists and bands.

So, instead of doing long posts, I'll throw out some one-liners. Cuz there's a lot brewing. And I'm at Gnomedex, the tech conference in Seattle.

IODA's Promonet (the engine used to power the music selections we use on the Eric Rice Show), continues to forge ahead in providing podsafe (in English: Rights Cleared) music for podcasters, bloggers, and internet radio. Continuing to dominate, this news comes out about IODA and Harry Fox.

The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) has recently finalized a digital download agreement with the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA). The move will allow IODA to broaden its portfolio of services to member labels. Among the benefits, IODA founder and CEO Kevin Arnold pointed to minimized business administration concerns for client labels, something that would allow them to "keep their focus on making great music". San Francisco-based IODA distributes content for a number of labels and artists across various digital storefronts.

Article Link - IODA Promonet - Eric Rice Show on TowerPod

This weekend, I'm whipping out a big mixing bowl and throwing in the blog, the podcast, and the videoblog into a single spot. The RSS feeds will remain the same, and the new URL will be ericrice.com/blog. Archives will remain in the old spot here.

It's time to start from zero again.

I saw this one coming, and will be interesting to see what 2007 holds for her. Some of you have no idea who Brookers is, and some of you do. ;-) I'm not going to link to anything but the variety article. Link Go Brookers!

Wow. NBC + YouTube. Time to re-work the biz plans. /smirk