Nanatar: My Grandmother the Avatar

My 89 year old grandmother called me this morning and left a message. GotVoice promptly e-mailed me an MP3 file of the message and then I made an avatar out of it.

March 29, 2007 in It's My Life | Comments (2) | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend

links for 2007-03-29

forumup.us :: Create Forum free Forums

(tags: forums myoddcast)

March 29, 2007 | Comments (0) | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend

Shhh... The Big Secret About Oddcast Avatars

It's not really about the avatar. No one really cares about the avatar... well, not about a functionless avatar anyway. No matter how good a little fake picture of you might look, 3D, 2D, blinking, jumping, etc..., if all it does is represent you, like a digital placeholder, it's value is going to be a little limited. (See my sidebar if you disagree.)

It's the voice.

Ooooooooh.... controversial. :)

People have been asking me a lot how an avatar product is supposed to make money and why anyone should care.

Well if I think of us purely as an avatar play, I think I'd seriously struggle to answer that question.

Yet, no one ever asks that question about voice applications.... and I like to think of us as more of a communication platform... a cute, dressable communication platform that you can make bald if you want to.

Now, when I think of voice on the web... it's just about the most boring visual experience I can think of. (And the web is supposed to be visual, right?) Ever watch an iTunes song play? You can just watch the little timer bar count down and that stupid little diamond inch its way across the tube.... or, for a truly riveting experience, you can use the Visualizer, in case you want to know what it's like to play iTunes while tripping on acid.

I mean, seriously what's that supposed to be?

Voice is a powerful medium. It invokes an emotional response and has been doing so for years... you know... with that phone thing that people hold so near and dear and pay 100 bucks a month for. And I don't think it's a half step to video either... I don't think we're going to one day replace all our voice calls with video calls, lest we wind up calling each other from the bathroom wall Spaceballs style.

But, on the web, it needs a visual... a compelling visual that resonates with the viewer and representative of something, but at the same time whose creation doesn't represent a serious barrier to usage.

Enter the avatar.... the speaking avatar.

Imagine a poker game online. All you see is a table and cards... players are represented by text.

Not so interesting.

Ok, so instead of text... how about life action webcam video.

Um... yeah... right... kind of complicated... and... well, I don't think you really want to see exactly who you're playing online at 3AM. Nor do I think they always want you to see them.

So you throw in voice... Voice is cool, b/c then SouthrnBoy32 now has a bit of a drawl to him, and now your game has character... except... it doesn't really have character.. it has disembodied voices emanating from the abyss. Sort of weird and uncentered.

But with a talking character, you visually center and give context to voice. So, its really avatar wrapped voice, not a voice enabled avatar.

So when I think of places I'd like to integrate Voki into, I think of all of the places I'd love to add and enchance voice communication... my fantasy league message board, invitations and cards, chat, mobile services.

So, if I don't always get excited about virtual worlds conferences, it's because I'm actually a voice guy first, avatar guy second.

PS... This post wasn't meant to be self serving... it was meant to explain why I get excited about what I do and what we're going to offer.

March 29, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Comments (3) | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend

nextBrooklyn!

So Tim Marman and I are attempting to singlehandedly shift the NYC startup scene to the outer boroughs and now we've got the help of Adam Quirk, who has graciously agreed to host a Brooklyn gathering of tech and digital media folks at his loft.

So if you have a startup in Williamsburg, Downtown Brooklyn, Park Slope, Bay Ridge, or my own place of origin, Bensonhurst... or if you're a Brooklyn resident, come say hello! RSVP Only!

March 28, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Comments (0) | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend

links for 2007-03-28

Web Services Coming To Twitter

(tags: api mobile twitter)
Amazon.com: Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society: Books: David Sloan Wilson

(tags: books)
Finding Parking Spots Easily Comes at a Price - The Everything Guide to Cars -- New York Magazine

Ooh... I like this... I'd pay for a spot in front of my house. :)

(tags: parking nyc)
Nerdy Shirts :: The Most Awesome Shirts in the World (Funny T-shirts, Funny shirts, Vintage Shirts, Vintage T-Shirts)

(tags: nintendo tshirts)

March 28, 2007 | Comments (0) | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend

The Times Square Shuttle Combine

One of my favorite things to do in the city is to enter the Times Square subway station on 42nd between 7th and Broadway and sprint to the waiting Shuttle train. On Tuesdays, I leave the office at 5:20 so I can catch the 5:35 Metro North Train to Fordham to teach class. Crossing from the bottom of the escalators to the Shuttle involves slipping through the fast moving crosscurrent of people exiting the back of the train. It makes me feel like a running back... not a power back, because I can't just plow through these people, but more like Barry Sanders...bobbing, weaving, highstepping... :)

You cannot stop me, you can only hope to contain me.

March 27, 2007 in It's My Life | Comments (0) | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend

Twitter the OS and TwitterSquatting

Obsessive SXSW Twittering aside, I've been thinking a lot about what the "big picture" is there, and today I got a big clue.

For those of you who don't know... Twitter is service that provides an identity layer above texting and a single gateway by which to communicate with friends over SMS. It also extends to the web and IM.

So, I'm ceonyc on Twitter... just like I am everywhere else. If you were my friend, I'd get your texts anytime you texted to 40404.

And if you wanted to directly message me, you'd text "d ceonyc" so it knows to go directly to me... again to 40404.

Well, the site has APIs and RSS feeds, but today they took a really big step. By allowing the "d" function to be part of the API code, they're allowing services to plugin to the system sort of the same way people are trying to use IM bots. The big (and useful) difference is that when I'm sitting on IM, I'm usually at my desktop and don't need a bot's help. But with Twitter, when I'm on my phone, I can just send a note like "d weather 11209" and get my current weather if someone sets up such a service.

So, what we've got is a simple protocol, a controllable identity layer that allows me to control who reaches me, when, where, etc., and a leverageable API... one that businesses can take advantage of to build real services. I mean, who's really going to remember the shortcodes of every business on the planet that wants to be mobile... but if all you need to know is 40404 and a screename, I think you'll see an explosion in Twitter services.

Boy, there's a dream BizDev job...

I think if you wanted to just charge commercial entities to use the service, there's your business model. If there aren't VCs all over this thing, not because all the geeky bloggers use it, but because of its potential to make SMS a real business platform, then they're missing the big picture. What I hope they don't do is raise some ridiculous number like 10 million dollars and try to do everything too fast too quickly.

Evan, I think you've got something. Go raise 2 million to get the servers to operate much faster, hire some more dev folks, and keep plugging away!

You know what's amusing... there's already TwitterSquatting going on. The sports, news, weather, find, local, and where screenames are all taken... empty, but taken.

Now if I could only "bundle" my friends and have each bundle have its own individual settings to be turned on and turned off with one felt swoop, that would be fantastic.

March 27, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Comments (2) | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend

Non Illegitimi Carborundum

There isn't much more to be said about the nasty comments and threats Kathy Sierra has been receiving.

Idiots. That's what they are...

But I do want to add one thing, though, that hasn't really been discussed...and that's the fact that Kathy Sierra isn't the first person to go through these kind of cyber attacks... she's just the most prominent, and I hope that creates a larger conversation about this kind of stuff.

There are many teens that go through this kind of thing everyday.... Cyberbullying is a major problem... and its roots are so deep in or society that its hard to see how something like this will ever go away.

Why do people do these kinds of things?

Because it's easy.... it's easier than aspiring and succeeding to become something great.

That's really what our culture is about, isn't it? Instead of focusing on some celebrity's positive contribution to society... or everyday people, we point and laugh at the ones who slip up, or criticize the ones we disagree with. It's all about taking down the people who make it to the top.

It's the reason why people who aspire to elected office are pretty much an adversely selected group and all the really great, qualified people succeed quietly in the private sector.

It's the reason why no one wants to be the first one to raise their hand in our classrooms.... and why all the students rush to sit in the back. Our best minds keep their mouths shut in fear of being brought down by idiots.

I think the worst thing anyone could do is let them win. Of course, that's easy for me to say... I've never received a death threat.

But, if inner city NYC public school teachers stayed home everytime they got threatened, they'd probably never show to work... and they prob don't make half the money or get half the support of most prominent folks who receive threats.

At the end of the day, everyone's got to make their own decision on their own safety, but if you're considering holding back your thoughts and public conversation, please don't. I don't want to see the best voices drowned out by idiots.

March 27, 2007 in Random Stuff | Comments (2) | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend