Jeff Maurone

Readings from today

Rove shows up in today's WSJ.

Joe Klein on why Obama is winning (I haven't read yet, but I do like Klein).

Kristof and the American brand abroad.

The changing definition of home ownership in America.

"Throw in a Bradley Effect of even a point or two on top of that, and a few more costly Biden gaffes, and I don’t think Virginia is necessarily out of reach."

"Even though I was paid to do it, I didn’t feel comfortable."

"In another, a convict plots the seduction of his prison psychotherapist."

Onexposure

I've been fiddling with 1x.com for the past few weeks. Onexposure is a response to sites like Flickr that accept hordes of photos without precondition. When you submit a photo to 1x.com, it goes through a screening process in which members vote to publish or not to publish. A final screener then makes the call and your photo ends up among the few published on the site or is rejected. If your photo is rejected, you have the opportunity to publish the photo to an album of rejected photos that become open to critique by other members.

You can find my 1x.com profile here. Thus far I've submitted four photos to the site; two were rejected and two were published. It's been an interesting experience, though a bit unsurprising as most criticism followed trends I've seen for these photos on Flickr. Nonetheless, there is some great artwork worth perusing published on Onexposure.

Back to basics

Again, I've switched things up. While I liked the wide format a bunch, I did find myself, from time to time, wanting to say things on this blog that I really couldn't post (text just looked terrible in that layout). So I've moved all of the photo posts over to my photoblog, to which you can also subscribe via RSS (please do!). And now, back on this blog, we have the old narrow format.

Photoblogging for a change

Have you seen Boston.com's The Big Picture? If you haven't, you must. The Big Picture is a beautifully-done photoblog that's getting a bunch of well-deserved press attention. There's much to be said for what happens to a photo after presenting it in a much larger way.

I've realized that lately I've shared umpteen more photos than I have words on jeffmaurone.com. And so it goes. Welcome to the new format. I edited my MovableType templates and widened this page to accommodate images that are one thousand pixels wide. Let's see where this takes us. I expect to include my own shots as well as shots taken by others that are licensed under CreativeCommons.

Ambivalence about Iraq

The Democrats swung to power in 2006 with what was, almost literally a mandate to do something about Iraq. The sentiment of the electorate in November 2006 was at an all-time low toward our ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan but, more specifically, Iraq. We all cheered as Pelosi through bills across W's desk with withdrawal timetables knowing a veto was likely. But ultimately that mandate came back as bankrupt as, in the interest of expediency, Democrats passed bills in support of business-as-usual in Iraq.

Fast forward to the months leading up to the 2008 election. We now have more troops in Iraq than we did in 2006, with the slightly inconvenient truth that the "surge" worked, markedly reducing crime rates. If Obama is elected, will it be the same mandate from 2006? No, but the sentiment remains anything but ambitious.

Not so fast, electorate. The reality is that no matter who we elect in the fall, accelerated withdrawal will remain a fantasy. That's why I adored Friedman's bit earlier this week, "Iraq: Still Inscrutable."

Photo composition, take two

Let's try another photo gallery. This time, a composition of nine shots I have taken in and around Seattle over the past month. I tried to devise the most cliched name possible. How successful was I? Seattle Moments.

Immersive photo galleries

I have been searching for a way to exert more control over how blog readers consume photos. On Flickr I'm dumping higher-quality shots from the Nikon as well as smartphone shots from the HTC and so I end up with a fragmented experience: clean photography interspersed with "hey look" shots out of my phone. Trying to view individual albums through the Flickr photostream or even the slideshow isn't exactly what I want. I want to be able to put together a number of photos, shrink-wrap them as an "experience" about a particular subject or concept and point you at them.

Here's my test gallery experience. I shared these photos already on this blog. These were from the war relocation camp at Manzanar in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas. If you already saw those, the shots shouldn't be too exciting, but you should see what I'm going for with an immersive photo experience.

The details

For the geeks, I've used AutoViewer to wire together this experience. I have a single SWF binary for all galleries and then compose lightweight XML files defining audio, photos, captions and sequence specific for each gallery experience. I'd highly recommend AutoViewer.

Twitter killed my blog

That photo needs top-billing commentary. Bill Stimpson, a photographer sharing his work on Flickr has done this fantastic set. In it, he redoes a number of classic photos using Lego figures and parts. He links to the original shot, shows his setup for the shot and, best of all, exposes everything under a Creative Commons license. That means I can post one of his shots here (above), attribute it to him and not break laws. It's so rare to see someone producing work of this quality and using CC. Cheers to open intellectual property rights. He's even been selling economically-priced prints of these shots. This is the most creative piece of art I've seen in, well, a while. The set, a growing work, is worth a perusal.

But back to the subject of this post. I used to hate Twitter. In its early days, its founders trumpeted it as a tool to answer the question, "What are you doing right now?" I riposted that I don't really care what you're doing right now. But Twitter's evolved into a micro-blogging platform and when I come across articles or content worth sharing, I post it there. And so I find less and less need to post medium-form content here. This isn't just me, either; I feel I read posts like this weekly.

Startup demo lab coming up next week

The last event in our spring season at Venture Lab is coming up next week. We've selected a handful of interesting startups operating in and around Seattle to present a series of production demos. Below is the official marketing text and you can register here.

Thursday, June 5th, 2008
6:00 to 8:00pm
Doors open @ 5:30

"Startup Demo - Spring 2008"
One Union Square Boardroom
600 University St., First Level
(Lower lobby, 6th Avenue level, behind the escalator)
Seattle, WA 98101

For years, the Venture Lab team has brought in outside speakers and industry leaders to share insight and wisdom with our attendees.  During that time, we’ve been able to meet our attendees and marvel at the cool ideas and companies they are building.  For our Startup Demo - Spring 2008, we’re turning the stage over to them, the entrepreneurs.

Our Startup Demo - Spring 2008 will feature six early stage startups from the Seattle area demonstrating their new products and services to the audience.  The products vary from enterprise software to renewable power generation.  

If you’re interested in getting an early look at what could be the next big thing or you’re an entrepreneur that would like to see what your peers are up to, please join us at the Startup Demo - Spring 2008 event. 

In addition to their demo, presenters will discuss:

• How they built the product
• How the team funded the product development & how long it took
• What outside resources were leveraged
• Why the company was created in the first place

Judges:

John Cook – Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Brier Dudley – The Seattle Times
Paul Bialek – General Partner – Frazier Technology Ventures
Enrique Godreau III – Managing Director – Voyager Capital
Nathan McDonald – Director – Keiretsu Forum
Rebecca Lovell – Program Director – Alliance of Angels

Presenters:

DiagnosisPlus: Has developed personalized, visually based web software for patients and healthcare providers for the screening, prevention, and management of chronic diseases.

Hydrovolts: Has developed small in-stream hydrokinetic turbines that make renewable power from fast-flowing currents in irrigation canals, constructed waterways, rivers and tidal channels. 

InterviewStudio.com: Has developed a bleeding edge software platform offering the newest and quickest way to screen job applicants.  

ForWord Input: Has developed a patented software text input system for stylus- or finger-based touch-screen devices that allows the user to input text at speeds exceeding 40 to 50 words per minute. (SwypeTM)

Ameritocracy: Has developed a social networking site for verifying “factualness” of statements made by media, business, and government. 

Snowflake ITM: Has developed a hosted enterprise platform that dramatically simplifies and improves the way today’s dynamic organizations manage people and tasks.

...

Above picture I took in Pioneer Square. It's cliché, I know it. Enjoy! [Link]

There's gold in them thar...

Next up is a set of shots I took in Rhyolite, Nevada. Rhyolite, according to Wikipedia, "is a ghost town in Nye County, Nevada, United States. It is located in the Bullfrog Hills, about 3.8 miles west of the town of Beatty, near the eastern edge of Death Valley."

"Gold was discovered in the area by Shorty Harris and E.L. Cross on August 4, 1904. Their 'Bullfrog strike' gave rise to a number of gold rush towns that drew prospectors and speculators from surrounding towns such as Goldfield and Tonopah. Rhyolite, named for the deposits of the rock which contained much of the gold, would become the largest of these settlements."

"By 1907, the town had electricity with an estimated population of 3,500 to 10,000."

"Production began to slow down by 1908 and the mine and mill were closed in 1911. By 1910 only an estimated 675 people remained in Rhyolite."

"The lights and power were turned off in 1916. By 1919, the post office had closed and the town was abandoned."

You can find the full set here, on Flickr. Enjoy!