Aaron started us off as I was late (doh!).  This is Aaron’s last week at b5media, so he’s up in Toronto.

Within a couple of minutes I showed up, usual niceness (aaaawww).

Then we had a very long civil discussion about the whole blogger relations issue.  Ground covered included:

• Basic background
• Some of the causes, including undo pressure
• Whether or not all bloggers really have the power to blacklist vs. the top tier
• Press releases - why bother emailing them?
• Better uses of our time, including social good
• Flat out building relationships

Presto Vivace’s Alice Marshall joined us for a good part of the conversation and added a lot of great colorful insights.

Silly Valley: We briefly discussed whether or not Andy Beal is right, that Google is Dying and determined the post was likely titled for SEO/link bait purposes.

Episode 19 - MP3

Aaron Update: We called Gina Trapani Rita all show. So sorry, Gina!

In addition, the theme was lost. This is ok. We are getting set to deploy a new one so while I finish that up, please be patient with the layout, structure and formatting. We’re fixing it.

~Aaron and Geoff

After beating the hot girl horse into the ground, we switch to CEOs blogging where we talk about a story I wrote over at Technosailor discussing why CEOs and Executives don’t blog better.

Episode 18 - MP3

Geoff and I discuss PodCamp DC and the video that Geoff took of Shana Glickfield. Geoff is really tackling video and trying to get really ninja-like with video. Aaron shares a video editing tip he got from Loren Feldman.

We talked a lot about the business of startups today, diving right into this 37signals post about starting a business, not a startup.

There’s also a Washington Post article that indicates that in the District, VC funding of startups is up 13.9%.

Aaron makes an analogy to BrightKite as an example of a startup calling itself as startup, not a business.

Then we rant on Stealth. Give me a fucking break. Stealth mode is the biggest cop out ever. At least give us the name of the company.

Example: Job req for a Architect for a company in stealth mode

How professional is the concept of come work with us, we expect senior level experience, etc - but we’re not going to tell you who we are…

Then we opened the phones and had a regular old party line where callers like QueenofSpain, Erin Kotecki-Vest, Jonny Goldstein and others skewered the concept even more. Great times!

Jonny promotes the fact that Geoff and I are going to be on Jonny’s Partay live tomorrow at 9pm ET. On video!

Finally, we discuss contrived transparency as it relates to the topics du jour.

Episode 17 - MP3

We are no longer on BlogTalkRadio as we talked about earlier. Our new home is at TalkShoe.

There are some logistical items to note. The show page is now at http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/18069. You do not need anything special to listen, however to participate in chat, you will need a free Talkshoe account which you can get at talkshoe.com as well as the free client download. We know, that’s a pain, but trust me it’s worth it.

We’ll, as usual, upload the archives here as well.

If you want to call in (again, you need a Talkshoe account), the info is as follows:

Phone Number: (724) 444-7444
Call ID: 18069

Talk to you soon!