THE WORLD STOPS BY SJSU TO TALK!

Image taken from Ryanishungry.com.

Last night Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson stopped by SJSU to talk about video-blogging. They should know a bit about it. They're pioneers in the field, working for PodTech and creating really interesting content.

Today, CEO of Adobe, Bruce Chizen, stopped by SJSU to talk about how American students (SJSU grads) can compete globally and get a job with tech companies like his. His pointers: know the technical skills that everyone else is learning (C, JAVA), and then take some internships abroad and find out how the rest of the world lives. Good advice.

Image courtesy of Axis Design Studios.

Oh ya, he also said that the browser will hopefully be taking a backseat in the future because of the work they're doing at Adobe. I asked him what he meant by this statement, and whether Adobe was hedging its bets in CS3 by integrating all the cool video goodies for vloggers like myself who traditionally use browsers to transfer content onto the web. Hedging its bets against what? Perhaps relations between Adobe and Google aren't as cozy as one might think.

Chizen replied that Adobe and Google are partners, and for now, not in direct competition. He said that he was referring to the hope that clients like Apollo will take on greater significance as they develop. Chizen jokingly described Google as Adobe's "heat shield from Microsoft".

Hmm.

On a side note, I had a brief encounter with Holly Campbell after Chizen's talk, who runs Adobe's Corporate PR. My suggestion to her was that STEM and Adobe team up, Adobe providing software and training to students, and in return, receiving great press and ideas from students/ future employees. We'll see how that turns out. Hopefully, we can make it a win-win situation for everybody.


Last bit. I promise.

Dr. Bob Sutor, VP of IBM's Open Source and Standards division, also came to SJSU to speak today. His message, "Things are changing." Sutor talked about how most companies use some Open Source code in just about everything, and how there is a shift in the way today's "post-Napster generation" sees copyright laws compared to the last generation.

"Open Source creates innovation," Sutor said. True dat. Check out the whole of Sutor's discussion here.

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,New Media, journalism,Andrew,Venegas,vlog,flash,STEM, Axis DS,Axis Design Studios,Burke Shartsis, Adobe, Bruce Chizen,Holly Campbell,Bob Sutor, IBM, Ryanne Hodson,Jay Dedman,Ryan Is Hungry

Responding to Virginia Tech

Two days after the tragic shooting, the media has begun to respond. Video from the shooting made its way to YouTube, and a flurry of responses blew across the internet.

Here's just a few links to some of the local bloggers who joined the conversation.

Shaminder Dulai: on the media.
Kyle Hansen: on the Daily's response.
Steve Sloan: on what should be done at SJSU.
Caroline Skinner: why it happened.
Richard Sim: on his concerns for the Korean community.
Mike Park: his thoughts on the shooting


Here's Wikipedia's EXCELLENT entry on the event.
and here's the Daily's article on the shooting.

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,New Media, journalism,Andrew,Venegas,vlog,
Virginia Tech,school shooting

Learn Flash at SJSU

Next week's STEM meeting will feature an intro into BASIC FLASH. Our guest teacher, Burke Shartsis of Axis Design Studios.

Burke is a bit of a pro at the whole flash thing, but don't worry, we've asked him to go over the basics from the perspective of someone who's never opened the program before.

WHAT: Intro into Flash
WHEN: 4:30 PM, Wednesday, April 18th, 2007
WHERE: The Academic Success Center (formerly Clark Library), Room 116

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,New Media, journalism,Andrew,Venegas,vlog,flash,STEM, Axis DS,
Axis Design Studios

Tunnel of Oppression Controversy

For those of you who haven't yet seen it, go see the Tunnel of Oppression at the Student Union main ballroom sometime this week.

The exhibit, while pointed, stops viewers and makes them examine some civil rights issues in the world today.

That said, I agree with what Andrew Schwartz said in today's Daily about the Palestinian room being one sided. Here's my little rant on that.

The Palestine section does a disservice to the reality of the conflict, and in fact to Palestinians and Jews alike, by not presenting a more realistically complex account, with both sides represented.

While the facts and figures shown may be accurate, they fail to examine the reasoning behind such actions as suicide attacks and the building of the wall. Ergo, they fail to explain why the conflict has lasted so long or how anything can be resolved.


I do not believe it was the intention of the group, Students for Change, to demonize Israel, as some have said, though I do believe that such one-sided depictions can easy lead to inaccurate interpretations of the conflict.

That said, I also believe Students for Change has every right to present their point of view, no matter what it may be.

Why such a long post on this story? First off, it's Genocide Awareness week. Secondly, the Tunnel of Oppression has been stirring up some controversy online.

Check out these links for a behind-the-scenes look. There's some interesting emails in there as well. (1)(2)(3)

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,New Media, journalism,Andrew,Venegas,vlog,Tunnel of Oppression,Spartan Daily,Aaron Schwartz,Tunnel of Oppression

Silence is Complacency

Last night, Paul Rusesabagina, known for his efforts in saving over 1,200 Tutsis while general manager of a hotel during the Rwandan genocide, spoke at SJSU's Morris Daily Auditorium. Rusesabagina, who was depicted by Don Cheadle in the award winning film, Hotel Rwanda, sheltered the Tutsis for over 100 days in 1992, before fleeing to Belgium with his wife and family.

His message for the night: ordinary men must do the right thing. On his heroism, Rusesabagina said, "I never decided to take the risk, someone else, maybe God, made the decision for me... what I did was our duty and our obligation." His humbling remarks speak to the weight of the lessons he teaches.

"'Never again' are the two most abused words I hear today," said Rusesabagina, responding to those who decry the barbarism of the Holocaust but do nothing to stop atrocities like those being committed in Dafur. "It is happening again today."

The speech was pointed and insightful. On the topic of US and western foreign policy, he said, "observing gets a higher salary," adding, "behind every African dictatorship is a Western superpower."

"Silence is complacency," he said. "Today is the day to stand up."

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,NewNew Media, journalism,Andrew,Venegas,vlog,Paul Rusesabagina,Rwanda

Mardi Gras in Downtown San Jose

I'll post more about it in the morning; but I have some excellent footage of the police barricades, arrests, and an incident I filmed at the 7-11 off of San Salvador & 6th St.

Stay tuned, and you'll hear from me again in the morning.

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,NewNew Media, journalism,Andrew,Venegas,vlog,j-school

Some Links to Brighten Your Day

Didn't Firefox just come out with 2.0? Here comes 3.0. At least that's the cheery news. In other news:

1.) NetVibes got hacked... figures; I just told my friends about them. There goes my rep.
2.) The Penatagon's already looking to lose before the troops even go.
3.) Kansas City is blowing up.
4.) Russia's given up on her children (Sting gulps, lamenting, "I guess they don't.")
5.) And Anna's gone (God rest her soul)...

And the world's ending...

PARENTAL ADVISORY: EXPLICIT CONTENT BELOW!!!

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,NewNew Media, journalism,Andrew,Venegas, Anna Nicole Smith,NetVibes

Wanna Change the University?

Friday, February 2nd, there will be a meeting to discuss the proposed New Media & Tech club at Pizza My Heart, right across the street from La Vic's and Jack N'the Box at 5:00PM. I hope to see everyone there.

If this time doesn't work for anyone, let me know today. I'm flexible, and really want as much participation as possible. Thanks!

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,New Media,vlog,JMC, journalism, Port 80,

Picasso at SJSU Theater

Whoever is big on theater, don't forget, Picasso runs through Saturday at the SJSU theater. Check it out. Doors open at 8pm tonight. Admission is $10. Come out, support your local starving artists, and have some fun!

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,New Media,vlog,JMC, journalism,

Your Mac Life

Burke (from Axis.ds) and I met Shawn King from Your Mac Life after Diggnation ended at the expo. Shawn invited us to the afterparty at the Great American Music Hall last night. Lots of fun - great food (excellent chocolate) - great bar (open, of course) - and lots of interesting conversation.

Oh, and did I mention that Paul Kent, IDG's World Expo VP IN CHARGE OF MACWORLD, sang in a rock/blues/funk band. Who said that geeks can't jam?
Happy Anniversary to Shawn, again. He got married at the Your Mac Life after party last year!

I'll have all my pics from the party up on flickr later today, as well as a couple videos from the conference.

Best line of the after party from Burke: "Drew... I think I'm drunk."
Best response from me: "Yes, Burke... yes you are."



San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,MacWorld,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,
,diggnation,Your Mac Life,Shawn King
,Axis Design Studios,Mackenzies Chocolates

Time Off is Over

After taking a good portion of the break off, I decided to go to MacWorld this week. WOW. If any of you missed what Jeff Han did at TED in February of last year - don't fear - Apple incorporated it into the new iPhone.



They've struck gold on this one, with a blazing 2 Mb upload speed. True, it isn't the six or nine you'd expect from your LAN, but for now, you can get directions and view video clips from friends just fine. And before anyone complains that the battery life is going to be too short to listen to your music (4 or 8 gigs worth), just know word on the grapevine says that the new (or old, if you remember them) thin, mesh batteries that used to be too slow, are now efficient enough to hold longer charges at lower heat levels then they used to be...

...that's geek talk for, "the battery life won't be much of an issue in a year or so."

Anyone at Mac wanna let me demo it for awhile?


There was plenty of other eye candy there as well, from video glasses for your ipod to iTV... I mean Apple TV, which is basically a front end media player for the masses. It's not hard to make your own Linux box to do what Apple TV does anyways, and yes, the authentication process WILL BE A TURNOFF FOR A LOT OF BUYERS who aren't interested in supporting hardware that reinforces protection for the media giants. But still, it's sleek, it's trendy, and it will at least push the markets towards complete internet based media faster.

Broadcast is soooooooooo dead.

Hey, and check out Diggnation this week. They broadcast live from the expo. Way cool. I got some pics taken with Jay, Kevin and Alex. Even Leah Culver was there; not to mention the geek architect behind it all, Daniel Burka.

And then there were the after-parties...

San Jose ,SJSU ,Soapbox Prophet ,Tech ,blog ,MacWorld,,Web 2.0,,Andrew Venegas,
,diggnation,Kevin Rose,Daniel Burka
,Leah Culver,Jay Adelson,Alex Albrecht,iphone,Apple TV,Jeff Han,TED

Exciting Times in Cookie Land

300 people there were not - it was more like thirty. Still, the Cookie Evans hug-fest was fun, if not a little wierd.

Where else are you going to engage total strangers in a hug... in fact, when else would you ever hug a total stranger. The beauty and craziness of a flash mob.

Most amusing were not the friendly strangers willing to hug a group of college-aged-kids donning fake mustaches, but the random people that acted thoroughly disgusted to be approached in such a way.

Hugs! How revolting!

One pedestrian, upon being asked if he would like a hug by a "Cookie Evans mobber", scurried, head down, along the sidewalk before crossing to the other side of the street and giving an angry glance.

I didn't know what was more odd - the mob or the man. Hmmm.

Well, the mob may be in the news tomorrow. A photojournalist was there the whole time - through the group hugs in Starbucks and Urban Outfitters to the group hugs on the street. He even got into it and wore a fake mustache himself. You can check out the pictures I took on Flickr. Video will be up on this site soon in a new, "Student content" category.

Speaking of new stuff, I've been playing around with pligg, twiki, and php nuke on my personal server. Those frameworks are definitely worth exploring, or at least familiarizing yourself with, even if you're not a programmer. The code isn't as important as the paradigm shift that they create.

Andrew Venegas , San Jose , SJSU , Soapbox Prophet ,Tech , blog , SJSU CommunityWeb 2.0,

Cookie Evans , flash mob,

Cookie Evans is Flash Mobbing Tomorrow

AGAIN, THIS IS NEITHER AN ENDORSEMENT NOR AN ADVERTISEMENT (although I just might be there to see what it's all about).

Tomorrow, there's going to be a Cookie Evans (flash mob) event @1:30pm in Santana Row in front of Borders. Check out the details here.
Wow. Someone call Rocketboom - this is just random enough to get on there. (No offense Rocketboom, we all love you. <3

Andrew Venegas , San Jose , SJSU , Soapbox Prophet ,Tech , blog , SJSU CommunityWeb 2.0,

Cookie Evans , flash mob,

Cookie Evans Loves You?

Who is Cookie Evans you may ask... and why did he rank above the famous country singer of the same name on Google? Or why is he setting up a flash mob... and why is his Press Release in Mad Lib style?!!!!

All interesting questions I've been asking myself lately.
Here's all I know. "Cookie's" from San Jose, and as he's successfully coordinated one Google Bomb already, I'm interested to see what and where this Flash Mob of 300+ people turns out to be.

Is it just me, or does the Web sometimes feel like a Bill and Ted's movie:
Ted: "Strange things are afoot at the Circle K." (and then the telephone booth falls from the sky)
And no... I am not Cookie Evans, nor do I know him. I'll put those rumors to rest right now.
Still, who is Cookie Evans?!

Andrew Venegas , San Jose , SJSU , Soapbox Prophet ,Tech , Flash Mob , Cookie Evans,blog ,Google Bomb , Web 2.0,

AP Photographers on Campus at SJSU

Associated Press photographers Marcio Sanchez and Jeff Chiu will be speaking at SJSU in DBH 133 at 6:00 PM on November 2nd for those of you that are interested.

Image by AP photographer Jeff Chiu .The event is also being put on by the NPPA (National Press Photographers Association) at SJSU. Kudos to SJSU for getting them to come. I don't think that they're even being paid to be here, so they're really just scouting for talent/engaging with students. The more people that go, the more events like this that will come. It's free, so check it out.

Andrew Venegas , San Jose , SJSU , Soapbox Prophet ,Tech , Marcio Sanchez, Jeff Chiu

Pinnacle and SJSU NPPA Class

As promised, here's the info on the free class this Saturday. It's here at SJSU (October 28th):

8:00 AM Breakfast in DBH 133.

9:00 AM DBH 222 - "Photoshop for Journalists" session, where industry insiders will critique photos on digital media brought by the students.

12:15 PM, DBH 133 - there will be a workshop on "Working with Natural Light",

2:30 PM, DBH 133 - there will be a workshop on "Using Flash Effectively".


Stop by and check it out - if nothing else, it's a great way of meeting some interesting people from the video/photo industry.

For more info, check out the SJSU NPPA website here.

Andrew Venegas , San Jose , SJSU , Soapbox Prophet ,Tech , NPPA,
flash ,