Web 2.0 Expo is a waste of time

There was a time, not took long ago, when this blogger was excited to attend Web 2.0 Expo. Now, having just reviewed the website for this year, over and over again, I can't find anything of interest to me.

Plus, in the interest of full disclosure, I asked for a press pass two years ago and was rebuffed rather rudely by Tim O'Reilly and his people. After that, and with the ever-growing tech world melding more with entertainment, there were other conferences and events to attend, so I did not care.

Moreover, now that my video-blog reach is much greater, I'm in better position to deliver a message to an audience, and I just plain don't give a you-know-what, I don't care about Web 2.0 Expo for another reason: it's so, well, Web 2.0 Expo. Here we are again with the mother of all "Let me dictate to you from a high platform" conferences that's not about real time interaction. That should be the focus. Where's Mark Cuban when you need him?



What I like about Jeff Pulver's 140 Conference concept is that it's based on talk and real time interaction. And in the interest of full disclosure, I've not yet attended one of his conferences but a lot of my friends and associates have, and from the massive number of tweets I've received, I feel like I was at the New York Conference, even as I was in NYC for the 2010 NFL Draft. Props to Jeff.

Plus, Jeff Pulver is a cool guy.  This I can say from personal experience.

So that's why I'm just not excited about Web 2.0 Expo and will not even spend a dime or ask for any kind of pass this year. It's an old formula and reeks of a kind of selectivity that makes me ask "Who the heck are you to tell me..." in this case, about the "Power of Platforms."

What's really awful is that after being really interesting Web 2.0 Expo has settled into the same tired pattern that repeats itself again and again: someone talking to you about Facebook and Social Media without us talking about how all of this impacts media and about what new platforms are out there.

In other words the innovation climate once a part of Web 2.0 Expo is just gone. Moreover, O'Reilly Media shows that it doesn't really know what it's doing here by using "certain" platforms and not as many as possible. For example, the Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco webpage has just one video platform, and that's Blip.tv. I love Blip.tv, but No YouTube or Vimeo, and no Tubemogul? Thats crazy!

Using Tubemogul would automatically mean Web 2.0 Expo videos were on many different video platforms and not just one. "Power of Platforms?" Right. Sure. Okay.

And that's what really bugs me about Tim O'Reilly's approach: the overwhelming need to select "who gets in" and "what is used" which runs counter to the social media best practice of having a "mark" in every platform territory not just to get the message out, but also to block the chance some mean person will set up their own Web 2.0 Expo video channel on some place Tim and his people overlooked because it didn't matter to them or they just didn't know about it.

Like, er, YouTube. While O'Reilly Media has its own channel, you'd think they'd have one for Web 2.0 right? Well as of this writing, no they don't. Check the YouTube search for Web 2.0 Expo now (this could change after the release of this blog) and we find O'Reilly Media and a bunch of totally boring videos; no Web 2.0 Expo channel.

And no video-bloggers running around capturing cool stuff. Like, my video from the Reddit party in 2007:



Trouble is Reddit was new then and is still very relevant, but not to O'Reilly Media, which doesn't even use Reddit on its website. (There's that selectivity crap again.) Where's the party for the next great startup? I guess I'll have to wait for TechCrunch's next event.

Stay tuned.

NYC Times Square car bomb scare: who did it?

This blogger just returned from New York and The 2010 NFL Draft, and given that a week ago Saturday Times Square, next to Radio City Music Hall, was bustling and teaming with people on a warm spring night, it's shocking to learn that Times Square's shut down by a car with a bomb in it.

It happened at between 6 and 6:30 PM EST Saturday and was a Nissan Pathfinder that was parked on West 45th Street near 7th Avenue according to Gothamist.com. A T-shirt vendor who was not named and who was a Vietnam Veteran told NYPD mounted police officer, Wade Rattagan that a SUV's motor was running with its hazzard lights flashing.

CNN interviewed another man,Hamid Boubain, who was standing not less than "15 feet" from the SUV when he told a friend "Yo yo look at this!" and said that police came onto the scene 15 minutes later to clear everyone out of the area.

Eventually, Times Square and most of Midtown Manhattan was a ghost town with patrons evacuated from restaurants or told to stay in theater playhouses until further notice. Police cleared an area from 45th to 48th Streets and between 6th and 8th Avenue, according to The New York Times.

Then New York Police used a robot to go in and enter the vehicle. Inside were "three propane tanks, two filled five-gallon gas containers, two clocks with batteries, consumer-grade fireworks and a locked metal box that resembled a gun locker" according to CNN.

The SUV itself was unidentified. The license plate came from another car and police contacted that person who told them they'd taken the original car with the plate to a junk yard. The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) was removed. It was a deliberate but unsuccessful attempt to terrorize New York City.

The question is "who did it?" No one knows. There were claims that someone ran from the car, but those were unfounded. The attempt was compared to the bombing in Glasgow, but that was in 2007.

Stay tuned.

Time Square Bomb Scare post by Suzannah B. Troy

First and foremost highest praise for the NYPD for their response and handling of what appears to be some kind of crude amateurish bomb that could have  harmed innocent people if it had gone off.    A t-shirt vendor heard some suspicious noises and alerted police and highest praise for a civilian coming forward.

Here in NYC we have signs in the subways and else where always alerting us if we see something suspicious to alert the NYPD and in this case someone did just that and helped prevent would could have been a terrible tragedy.

I am signed up on the Notify NY program with the City of New York so I get a text messages and emails alerting me but it gave no details, just police activity and that the area was closed off.  The t-shirt vendor alerted police at 6:30 but I got my text, May 2 at 12:50AM, still I am glad to get it and glad Notify NY is up and working.

 I wrote Commissioner Kelly asking if the NYPD could actually have a more extended notification system than this, that alerts New Yorkers about crimes that could help us to be even safer and give info if the NYPD need help catching a criminal by texting the people a description.  I am critical of the mayor for denying us a referendum and pushing a reckless tsunami of development but as far as 311 which needs work in terms of the city actually solving problems rather than answering calls and Notifying NY,the ideas are good, both need work.

Also here in NYC the 911 system has been overhauled,  called the UCT Dispatch System  and there are major problems especially alerting the FDNY and EMS  that still need addressing but last night all was good and every system worked as it should thank goodness!!!

Today thankfully we have a happy ending.  The NYPD are going to find the person responsible I am sure and that person will be spending some quality time in jail.  Thank goodness no one was hurt and many people that were there so see Broadway shows got first hand New York City Street Theatre for free.






Here is video from The New York Post.

Again highest praise for the NYPD.  Also for anyone interested here is a YouTube made by the NYPD about their amazing Bomb Squad check it out.   Personally, I have to say I am in awe.  I also got to speak to one of these officers and asked him some questions including about his gorgeous dog w/ a badge, a four legged NYPD officer which was "a bomb" - as in a good and wonderful experience for me.  Here is the slang dictionary for bomb being cool! http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/bomb,+the

If you have seen the Oscar awarding winning film Hurt Locker than you will recognize the safety clothing these brave officers wear so watch this YouTube!

Also for NYPD buffs -- Do you know who created The Bomb Squad? 

I have been told that Lt.  Joseph (Giuseppi) Petrosino created The Bomb Squad and he did so because he was fighting the Black Hand who were setting off explosives here in NYC.  

I found this comment posted to back up what I was told by an NYPD officer after 9-11 and also what I have read in the internet.

Lt. Petrosino's memory lives on in infamy. He was responsible for forming the NYPD Bomb Squad along with being the leader of the "Italian Squad". Lt. Petrosino went after "The Black Hand" and early form of the "Mafia" as we know it today. He stood for all that is good about Italian-American's and gave his life defending his belief. I have had the privilege to meet and work with his Granddaughter who is director of Bishop Kearney high school in Brooklyn's 66 Pct. May we never forget his ultimate sacrifice. God Bless.

— Det. John D'Onofrio

Lt. Joseph (Giuseppi) Petrosino was the 1st NYPD officer to die in the line of duty abroad.  Here is a YouTube where I take you on a short tour of a special exhibition at the NY Police Museum honoring Lt. Petrosino.   An Italian film maker is making a new film about him but there are have been others including a Hollywood film starring  Ernest Borgnine playing Lt. Petrosino called "Pay or Die".

In this YouTube I show you an NYPD pin I was given with Lt. Petrosino's badge number.  I treasure this pin and I thought I lost in Grand Central Station.  The pin had fallen in to my bag and a kind man got on his hands and knees along with me to help find the back of the pin which he did as many people busily past us.

White House Correspondents Dinner 2010 - Obama bests Leno

The 2010 White House Correspondents Dinner is history. It was the second one for President Barack Obama, and while he wasn't quite as funny as in 2009, he was funnier than Jay Leno. Reportedly, Joe Biden was even funnier than President Obama, but this blogger missed Biden's turn at the podium.

Would Conan have been funnier?

That aside, it's clear Obama enjoys the White House Correspondents Dinner, and comes with some pretty good material. For example there was the joke about Politico and how it has a centuries long history of spinning the news (Politico goes back to 2005.) Or there was the one about how Joe Biden talked him into coming to the dinner, saying "Mr. President. This is a big bleeping deal," in reference to Biden's on-mic F-bomb after the Health Care Reform Bill was passed.

In all Obama was just plain funnier than Jay Leno. It seemed Leno was searching for the one punch line that would get him going, but he remained stuck in the mud.

What did you think? Would Conan O'Brien have been funnier?

Stay tuned.

Thousands in Oakland protest Arizona immigration law and proposed federal reform (OaklandSeen.com)

The annual May Day march in Oakland began at the Fruitvale BART drew an energized crowd that grew to over 3,000 by early afternoon. Filipino Advocates for Justice Executive Director Lillian Galedo was a featured speaker facing a crowd who gathered under the slogan, "We are all Arizona". On stage, organizers invited City Councilmembers Jean Quan and Jane Brunner to announce their proposal for a city boycott of Arizona and Arizona-based businesses. (The full City Council will consider the proposal this Tuesday at a 5:30 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza.)

But talk soon turned to national immigration reform issues. Lillian Galedo addressed the congressional immigration reform proposal introduced late last week, which emphasizes enforcement over legalization. A move, Galedo said, "basically puts legalization on hold". According to an article in today's Washington Post, the proposal takes a Republican "secure the border" approach. Galedo added, "its not what we wanted in immigration reform."

It's too early to tell what impact the boycotts and protests in the streets in Oakland, San Francisco and across the country will have on the Arizona state law or the national reform debate. But what is certain is that the numbers out on the street for May Day demonstrate the loud and insistent demand for fair immigration law. Catherine Tactaquin, Executive Director of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights was impressed by the size of the Oakland crowd, "It was much bigger than the organizers expected, par for the course nationally!"

Aimee Allison is the publisher/founder of OaklandSeen.com.

Conan O'Brien blasts NBC and Jay Leno: Conan got $30 million

Lost in all of the argument and coverage of the now celebrated spat between Conan O'Brien, NBC and Jay Leno is one sobering fact: Conan O'Brien got $30 million. Repeat: Conan O'Brien got $30 million from NBC.

This blogger loves Conan O'Brien and definitely feels for how he was treated by NBC, but the bottom line for me was reading that NBC paid Conan and his staff large buyout money. That comes in the middle of a jobless economic recovery with double-digit unemployment rates in many counties in America and an overall rate that's a hair below 10 percent.

There are scores of people who would be happy with a $1 million buyout or a $10,000 one for that matter. For Conan O'Brien to go on CBS 60 Minutes all sad faced and boo-hooing is itself a bad move. Sure, it makes for great gossip and it certainly helps my blogging work. But for Conan it would do some initial good, then a bit of bad.

The "bit of bad" will come when people who aren't "into" the story realize that Conan got $30 million. If he wanted to he could retire on that money, assuming Conan's not racked up a lot of huge bills. Most people anywhere in the World would be happy with a fraction of that money.

Entertainment is a cut-throat business, especially at that level. If you're not smart enough to leverage New Media as a "balancer" you're subject to the whims of whatever Tom, Dick, Harry, or Jay Leno comes along. Conan had to know that.

From what I read Conan didn't want to move to 12 midnight. But what if he did? What if Conan had taken that spot, let Jay come back to 11:30 PM, then watch Jay tank? It may very well have been that NBC would have moved Conan right back to that spot.

But that didn't happen. Conan wanted things his way, and so a butting of heads happened. But it also appears that NBC and Conan just didn't get along. I wonder if some of that had to do with Conan's need to feel "needed" even though he reached the zenith of success? Let's face it. Conan's version of The Tonight Show didn't feel like, well, The Tonight Show. It felt more like Conan's old show. That's not what NBC wanted anyway.

But NBC saw Conan's value and paid him accordingly. They gave him start-up money to, well, start his own show.

$30 million. Nice.

Conan's going to be just fine. It's the rest of the World I'm worried about.

Rock the Casbah.

@ConanOBrien blasts NBC and Jay Leno on CBS 60 Minutes (video)

Conan O'Brien talks about the NBC's The Tonight Show and Jay Leno scandal with Steve Kroft of CBS 60 Minutes. The full segment airs tomorrow (Sunday) night on 60 Minutes at 7 PM EST and PST.

This excerpt clip reveals a Conan O'Brien still obviously pained by the ouster from The Tonight Show after just six months on the job and at the hands of Jay Leno, who pushed Conan out after Jay's 10 PM NBC program failed.

Here's the video:



What happened in what some have called "The Late Shift Two" was that when Jay Leno wanted to return to late-night television, Jeff Gaspin, NBC's head of entertainment, asked Conan to move back to his midnight slot to make room for a 30-minute show for Jay. Conan reportedly said no according to The New York Times.

The result was a nasty public argument that drew in everyone from David Letterman to this blogger, and even Howard Stern sidekick Artie Lange, who warned Conan about moving to LA.

Jay Leno didn't make it any better by issuing his "State of The Network" speech saying "Don't blame Conan:"



But David Letterman's take was classic:



Now, Conan O'Brien will get his own 11 PM show on TBS as George Lopez agreed to move his show to midnight.

In an obvious blast at Jay Leno, Conan said "If I had surrendered The Tonight Show and handed it over publicly to someone else, then I would not have come back six months later. But that's me. You know? Everyone's got their own, you know, way of doing things."

Asked if NBC had handled things differently, Conan O'Brien said the relationship between he and NBC had become so toxic it was time for a split.

Kentucky Derby odds and payout - Lookin At Lucky favorite

Lookin At Lucky 

The 2010 Kentucky Derby is today and post time is 6:24 PM ESI. As of this writing, Lookin At Lucky is still the favorite to win, even with the poor post position it has. As I wrote on Friday, considering the post position issues and the odds, it's better to pick any of the 50-1 horses where you would get a bigger payout.

So with that, how much would you earn if you bet $100? DocSports.com has the answer in this list of what such a bet on each horse in today's Kentucky Derby would pay:

Lookin At Lucky +450
Sidneys Candy +700
Awesome Act +900
Ice Box +1000
Super Saver +1000
Devil May Care +1200
Dublin +1200
Mission Impazible +1200
American Lion +1200
Jackson Bend +1200
Paddy Oprado +1600
Line of David +2000
Stately Victor +2000
Nobles Promise +2000
Conveyance +2200
Deans Kitten +3300
Discreetly Mine +3300
Make Music For Me +3500
Homeboykris +4000
Backtalk +5000

The favorite is Lookin at Lucky at $450; the highest is Backtalk at $5,000. Again, Dean's Kitten, Make Music for Me, Paddy O'Prado, Backtalk, and Homeboykris are the horses with 50-1 odds. But if I had to pick one of these horses, it would be Dean's Kitten. For one thing, it's odds changed from 50-1 to 40-1 just today. Moreover, in its last two races it placed 1st and 2nd.

Whatever the case, this is going to be an exciting Kentucky Derby.

Rock the Casbah!

Tylenol Recall 2010 impacts Children’s Tylenol - hotline number given

The Internet is abuzz with the news of the latest Tylenol recall, but the lead title on many blogs and newssites is wrong. It's Children’s Tylenol that's being recalled, not "Tylenol Recall 2010." According to The New York Times, Johnson & Johneson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit voluntarily recalled Children’s Tylenol from shelves, according to The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Saturday.

You should stop using the following: Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl. Some of them may have an ingredient that may not meet FDA testing guidelines. This is, in part, what the McNeil Consumer Healthcare press release reads:

McNeil Consumer Healthcare is initiating this voluntary recall because some of these products may not meet required quality standards. This recall is not being undertaken on the basis of adverse medical events. However, as a precautionary measure, parents and caregivers should not administer these products to their children. Some of the products included in the recall may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than is specified; others may contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements; and others may contain tiny particles. While the potential for serious medical events is remote, the company advises consumers who have purchased these recalled products to discontinue use.

McNeil offers a phone number for consumers to call: 1-888-222-6036 and on Monday through Friday 8 AM to 10 PM EST and Saturday and Sunday 9 AM to 5 PM EST. You can also visit the website www.mcneilproductrecall.com.

St. Vincent's Hospital shocker + the anger! posted by Suzannah B. Troy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XBtpawY_3Q

Above is Yetta Kurland who almost beat city council speaker Christine Quinn who like Mike Bloomberg barely won her seat back the way mayor Mike Bloomberg spent the most obscene amount of money ever in NYC history, close to 110 million dollars for the most humiliating win and tainted because the people of New Yorker were denied a referendum!


Well Yetta Kurland, a Civil Rights lawyer and community activist is going strong and full out for the community as is she had won the city council seat and this short YouTube above gives you some insight in the fact St. Vincent's may be closing but it is not a closed case!







This YouTube is called "St. Vincent's Shocker. A nurse gives an extremely moving and rousing speech.
She calls for a revolution. She says you people need a revolution downtown. She conjurs up the 1960's!!!  
This is a very rousing speech and I agree. We need to tell the politicians this is just not good enough!!!!

I think of Peter Finch in Network! "I am as mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!"

The speaker speaks up about the concerns that nurses may not get their pensions, that some 
nurses had checks that bounced and more shocking details that are red flags.
Someone yells out Enron. Some now unemployed and tried to apply unemployment and were denied.
The nurse calls out for a Federal Investigation. Please watch this you.





Dr. David Kaufman explains why we need an emergency room and he points out too many people
use the emergency room for non-emergencies. He doesn't mention that many people do so 
because they have no health insurance.
By the way St. Vincent's never turned anyone away according to what I was told.




These YouTubes are deeply moving and I hope you will watch them.
"The St. Vincent's Shocker" is a must see.
Very shocking and I do hope a Federal Investigation does happen! 
Even more I wish for a late in the 9th Inning miracle that the hospital is re-opened but
for now it looks like a dead issue and I don't know what the
people of the neighborhood will do! We need this hospital bailed out more than any bank!

Two massive disasters Eco-disaster and Economic post by Suzannah B. Troy NYC

This newest terrible oil spill is an eco-diaster beyond what people maybe understanding and it is heartbreaking but also here in NY,  the budgetary crisis is devastating as well and we maybe moving from a recession to a depression.    The oil spill is worse because entire populations of sea life maybe obliterated but both are nightmares as far as I am concerned and should never have happened.

The economic crisis  here and for the country is not being  addressed effectively and I am sure it will have world wide tremors but here in NY Albany's politicos can't get it through their thick skull how actually devastating this economic crisis is and refuse to work together to close the budget crisis.  President Obama did inherit a disaster but here in NY it has been more the making of Albany and City Hall and they are not doing anything effectively to address the problem.  Most New Yorkers see politicians as corrupt fat cats...not all but many.

We also have an accidental governor who is not a strong leader or one with integrity who should have resigned quite a while ago and I am guessing he spends a lot of time on the phone with his defense attorney because of all the scandals, at least 3 significant ones that make him an even more ineffectual leader if that was possible.

Both the eco-diaster -- this massive oil spill and this economic disaster are hard to wrap one's mind around.  The nature disaster is a travesty beyond words and comprehension but this economic disaster means even more people lay-offed and more pay-cuts, more closings, quality of life here in NYC continuing to spiral downward.  I continue to ask is City Council unvoting themselves a raise.

Here is my YouTube from Oct. 13, 2008 Gloomy Bloomy News Sub-Zero Trickledown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnkhunOHe6g

How did I know this and the mayor seemed not to know this and he made promises and brokered deals to win or steal his third term which would further bankrupt NYC as he gave away or spent over a hundred million dollars with sub-zero trickle down.  Mike Bloomberg is also in big trouble with his spending close to a million dollars that he  can't account for to buy his third term and this is being investigated by an appointee of Cy Vance's as well as Mike Bloomberg's association and continue loyalty to Steve Rattner who has essentially been blamed for anything and all things corrupt with Quadrangle and the pension fund scandals.  Of course Rattner says he is innocent although his own firm, Quadrangle disavowed him and of course Rattner will just pay some hefty fine by real peoples' standards but small change for him and no jail time or even a guilty plea.  In the US if you are rich, a celebrity, a politico or well connected you get to plead no contest.  

All this spells disasters that will be affecting people and the eco-diaster the planet for a long time.

NYC Beats Back at Arizona post by Suzannah B. Troy

Thousands of workers and immigrants demanding FULL RIGHTS NOW and people supporting equal rights, human rights and standing up to what they feel is racism showed up at Union Square to protest Arizona's stance on immigrants as well as attend the the 6th Annual May Day March starting at Union Square which was jammed packed with protestors and all with shoppers at the Farmers Market so I took photos of protest walking through the market as well a very brief clip of just how crowded the protest is and it is going very strong even as I post this.

I was sent an email from the organizers that also used facebook and the attendance was very strong and people of all ages including parents with small children holding flags.

Protestors walking thru the Farmers Market and believe me this photo and the others give you no idea of just how crowded the area was and is and also how hot it is today!


New York is overwhelming liberal and there were no counter-protestors in site just shoppers buying lilacs and fresh fruits in contrast to the many immigrant workers that showed up with their family members and lots of supporters.