Episode 15: Loren Feldman, Sphere and Distributed Comments

Kicking off Episode 15 with an announcement that Aaron is one of April’s sexiest geeks.

Then we got into the show with a discussion surrounding the AOL acquisition of Sphere. Sphere provides a widget that pulls related content from around the web. Aaron doesn’t like AOL so, on principle, he removed the Sphere widget when this announcement was made.

Then, a long discussion about Loren Feldman and his puppet disparaging of Shel Israel (oops, Shel Israel) with sock puppets.

Aaron notes that Loren creates conversation in his own way and he has a whole body of work for context. Geoff frames the opposing view around the concept of “shock jock” - probably a fitting analogy. Aaron notes that shock jocks are effective. One way or another, Shel benefits in the end. Aaron also notes that Loren has done the same thing to Jason Calacanis and to this day, Calacanis and Feldman are good friends.

Caller Jim Turner calls in for Macbook Pro advice. /methinks he called the wrong show but we gave him Flip4Mac hat tip nonetheless. ;-)

Jim weighs in on Loren, as well. Agrees to the shock jock analogy, but doesn’t take offense. He groks the message Loren sends.

From chat, a users asks, “If I’m in business and reading Twitter, why should I engage Loren in business?”

Aaron admits that he wishes Loren would take a stab at him. He also wants to be on Valleywag. Sado-masochist, apparently.

Announcing, also, that we will be doing a live 45 minute recording of District of Corruption (Episode 16) at Podcamp DC. We will be on Blog Talk Radio at 3pm ET on Saturday, April 19. There will be no Tuesday show next week.

Caller Phil Bundy calls in to say hi.

Aaron rants about distributed content, a story that many people are talking about including Brian Solis. Content is increasingly distributed. Get over it!

Episode 15 - MP3

Episode #13: Lots of DC Events coming, Aaron’s move to Download Squad and Is Scoble really Listening?

Geoff is in Vegas right now at CTIA. He’s planning on launching a personal blog where he can talk about things like his horrific taxi experience in Vegas today.

Then we talked about the D Ring’s coverage of Destroyermen, an awesomely transparent blog from a Navy Destroyer where it shows life on a Destroyer. While it’s unclear if this blog has passed the DoD sniff test, we do applaud the transparency and would like to tell DoD that this exactly what we need to see out of the government and in this case the military. It should be encouraged and not smacked down.

We then talked about my new gig at Download Squad. Grant is heading over to Fast Company and I’ll be taking over. Grant then calls in to congratulate me. Likewise, Grant… congratulations and thanks for the opportunity! And Shel’s show needs some help!

Shashi calls in to offer his review of Social Matchbox and congratulate me on the new gig.

Grant Robertson, the former chief editor at Download Squad, calls in to congratulate me on the new job. Christina Warren will be the first one I fire on Grant’s recommendation.

Aaron drops the requisite curse word.

We talk about events like Tech Cocktail DC, Gnomedex, DC PHP, New Comm Forum in Sonoma in California.

Google’s April Fools joke.

Quick review of Refresh DC from this past week.

Silly Valley was all about Scoble’s post on Twitter and how having more Twitter followers does NOT mean more listening.

Update: The whole moving to Download Squad bit was an April Fools joke - and the jokes on you. ;-)

Episode 13 - MP3