Formula Photographic - Action, Adventure, and Automotive Photography & Video

Rocketboom Goes Boom (temporarily)

Amanda Congdon has left Rocketboom, and by the looks of the message on the Rocketboom website, it was a messy breakup.  There will be a new host starting Monday, July 10th.

Google Maps for Blackberry!

My Blackberry just got infinitely more useful this past week.  Google is now offering Google Maps for mobile phones for FREE!  I've already used it a ton on my blackberry to find shops, driving directions, etc.   Link: Google Maps.

Why Podcasting?

This is why I've started on the road to podcasting... Rocketboom gets 300,000 visits a day and earns $85,000 USD per week, people are quitting their "day" jobs to podcast full time, and internet geek hero Robert Scoble just left his post at Microsoft to join startup, PodTech.

Link: Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger

No more long-distance charges!

This is amazing.  Skype has announced that all calls originating in Canada or the US to other North American numbers are now FREE!  You can call any Canadian or US phone number (including cells) using SkypeOut for no charge.  Except for having to sit at your computer while you call someone, I've found that the quality of Skype calls is no different from a regular phone.

Link: Free calls on Skype

Upcoming.org

There's a new site building steam that could turn out to be really cool.  It's not earth-shattering or anything...just a smart, simple site called Upcoming.org where people can find out what's on in their area, and subscribe to the RSS feed or create a "button" and use it on their site.  Beyondrobson is using it on their site (among others) and I just put one in the column on the right.  For my calendar I'm just picking and choosing events that appeal to me (and hopefully my friends).  If you have an event, or know of a cool happening that's not on upcoming.org - get over there and add it!  With everyone's collaboration, this could turn out to be the "one-stop what's on guide" we've been looking for.

Fluid Ideas

So, I've been tossing around a business idea for the past month or so, and I've been trying to develop the ideas and brainstorms into a clearly stated concept.  It has bounced from being a one-stop Vancouver arts and entertainment listings site, to a full-on music and arts multimedia magazine site.  I finally got to meet Kris Krug today, and I bounced the ideas off him for feedback and to get an idea of what's possible with the new web technologies.  It occurred to me while I was trying to explain the concept to him that, in fact, I didn't have a clear picture myself of what was going to make my idea bigger and better than what's already out there.  Sure, there is the video content and the more comprehensive event listings, and several other things I had worked on...but he brought up some ideas and points that made me re-evaluate where the idea should go.  It's great to have other thinkers to help put things in perspective and offer input.

I had a brainstorm for another cool product invention today...but you'll have to wait till later to hear about that!