On the 4th of November 2008, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States of America. Something similarly epic happened to me as well on the 4th. I received two boxes from Apple. Two boxes, one containing my iPod Nano (as part of a deal), my Apple Care Package and Office 08. And one containing my new Macbook.
Naturally I had to unbox it and being the geek that I am from Tech65, here’s my Macbook Unboxing video. More pictures and my comments after the jump
It was a rise unequaled in the 21st century. A rise that can only be described as almost perfect. Obama will not be everything to everyone. He will not bring world peace today, or a cure to aids, or maybe not even the kind of epic change we all expect. But here he is. The first African-American POTUS. A young man with multi-cultural, multi-racial and ultimately global hopes pinned on him.
He has galvanised nations, he has given hope to those out there who believe that America is not embodied by unilateralism, not embodied by fear, racism or empty promises. He has truly brought change we can believe in. Yes, They did. Let’s see this sign as positive, and as something worth celebrating and as something worth supporting. Congratulations President-Elect Obama. Now get to work!
In this blogpost, I will look at some of the issues surrounding podcasting in general. As I was not able to participate in the discussion at Podcamp, let me present my take, one that unfortunately has always been occasionally unpopular at Tech65 but one that I feel compelled to make.
I think we need more ambition. We need to charge up the scene to such an extent that it is normal for podcasting to be part of the average person’s media consumption. We need the scope and the scale to move forward in a bigger way. This necessarily means obtaining income. This necessarily means losing SOME of the “indie” flavor. But stop for a moment and consider Geekbrief.tv and Totally Rad Show as examples. They are shows with extremely strong indie flavor. Extremely. But they run for profit (nice profit too from what Cali Lewis seems to get), and their hosts ENJOY running it and ENJOY presenting their viewpoints and opinions. Why can’t it be the same for Singapore and its podcasts? I think as presenters we need to have more faith in the people, and not assume that just people the people are silent it means they don’t care. They do! They must care, if not why would they be listening in the first place. They do get it. We must be there to help facilitate this process and maybe even learn from it.
Further to that point, with regards to ambition and the ambit of educating and giving useful content. I think the ambition must always be above all else entertainment. NOT education. I know this is apostasy. But consider, consider the notion of being INTERESTED in something as Melvin (I think from his voice) so cleverly pointed out, the comparison with radio. Would you rather be talked at about something that interests you, or to be entertained and at the same time learn something. I think Tech65 has done a good job at this so far, but we have not yet had the time or inclination or worse, the response to consider the topics of conversation. And I am proud that the team has expanded to include more viewpoints and more ideas. But let this be the first of many steps, one which must include innovation and above all the resources to move forward.
I would also like the address the issue of not pushing harder and not trying to expand more because of lack of experience. As you can probably tell from the language of this post, I’m throughly inspired by the American elections and the question of experience has come up so many times. The thing is, when has it been an accurate predictor of good performance? When has experience indicated success or failure! It’s a fallacy to assume you cannot succeed on your first try. I believe that its entirely possible that you can and will succeed with the right determination and god-willing the right kind of circumstances presented to you. I don’t pretend to know all the answers but I don’t need to because I know that we will learn as time goes by. This is the lesson to be learnt by the next American president, and its the same lesson that we must learn. Tech65 is our baby, and I don’t want it to forever stay in the house and not go out because the rain may fall and it may fall sick. The rain must fall and you will learn from that and make this baby stronger!
It is most unfortunate that I cannot present any ideas as to obtaining said resources but who knows, maybe this post will help generate some ideas. I am disappointed however, that it has been so difficult to move forward with the notion of learning whilst being entertained. It’s difficult, not because of failings on the part of the podcasters, but what I feel is apathy on the part of the listener. What is to be done? That is the question that must be answered for the next chapter in Tech65’s history
Tech65 at its core however, has had a very conservative methodolgy when it came to promoting and getting the word out. With good reason! Ambition and the Reality seldom go hand in hand, and in our case, with our shortage of resources and our need to rely almost solely on word of mouth, this has always been our “growth strategy”. This, however cannot be feasible in the long run. Without revenue streams, and without expansion there’ll always be a cap to the audience that can be generated. And yes we can stay small and we can forever continue doing what we’ve always been doing with our H4, and our laptops. But this is not the way we see ourselves! Inherently, Tech65 is GEARED for growth, we HAVE the contacts! We HAVE the support, and most importantly we HAVE the passion! We MUST have a bigger audience to accomplish our goals of getting the word out and reaching the people!
The thing I would like above all else for Tech65, is not only that we can find ourselves growing but at the same time this can become more than just a hobby. It’d be pleasant to keep it simple and keep it as it is. But change comes whether we like it or not.
Change is good! Change is renewing and change can inspire. So let it inspire us to aspire to greater things! Let it inspire us to create something that interests Joe Six-Pack, Tan Ah Hock and his Grandmother! Its easy to say let’s take it easy and let’s just leave things as it is. I am compelled to believe that we must move forward. Let’s make it easier. Let’s make it more entertaining. Let’s make it smarter. Let’s make it less discursive and more engaging. Let’s jumpstart this podcast once again, and give it something more. Yes after all’s said and done this may be the only product we EVER end up having. WHO CARES! Let’s make it the best damn thing we’ve ever done. Success begets success! We can grow from strength to strength and with all that the future holds, who knows what we can be up to!
I understand that after all I’ve said, this can be taken as a diatribe by a guy who’s “left”. But no, I believe that friends don’t always need to agree with what someone else says, and I always try to understand and incorporate varied viewpoints into my viewpoints however strongly I may hold them. But I don’t want to think that these points made are totally unrealistic! I want, nay need any of you out there reading to tell me what you think, tell me how you want our Tech65 to be, let us learn from each other and we can make this podcast grow from strength to strength!
Well it was reported in the guardian newspaper that Mamma Mia is the “biggest grossing UK film” and the article that accompanied it had this air of shock that despite critical panning it still managed to make so much money. My argument shall but this is precisely the kind of time that people will want to have light hearted and mindless delights. No one wants to feel down when the world around seems to be falling apart and this is what I suspect is the appeal of Mamma Mia. Well, that and the spectacle of Pierce Brosnan prancing around must tickle someone’s sense of humour. I know it’ll tickle mine.
Quantum of Solace opening tmr and I’m catching it!!
Shopping in the UK has been an interesting experience. In many ways its a much more liberating experience as the availablilty of Maestro here makes the use of debit cards almost ubiquitous and so so so so easy to throw away your money, at the same time it has also made it impossible to avoid the exorbitant exchange rate and so on. But here today I’ll give you a quick look at some of the really interesting things I’ve bought thus far.
I got the casserole and the DVDs off Amazon, the rest I got @ Cheshire Oaks with the rest of the SingSoc people @ Warwick.
A pair of shoes from Timberland for 60 Pound 
A pair of shoes from Puma for 4 Pound (HEHEHEH!) 
A jacket and T-Shirt from Fred Perry 30 Pound all told 
Tonnes of Chocolate from Cadbury’s
A shallow casserole from Le Creuset 12 Pound 
Seasons 1-7 of the West Wing for 49 Pound ( You can get FRIENDS for 50 pound)
Oh and a SECRET thing I can’t talk about until it arrives. But you’ll see why soon enough!
I feels good to mee pok for a while. So yeah here I am talking about my shopping purchases.
