To get a sense of how TWiT has grown please check out this first video meant to share the “over the top” podcasting set-up that Leo had in his post-Tech-TV studio:

Following is one of the better Behind-the-Scenes videos of the TWiT cottage (hosted by Mostly Lisa, Lisa Bentley certainly doesn’t hurt). In the TWiT Cottage era Leo’s studio operations expanded from the upstairs office to the whole building (including the original upstairs office):

So… now that TWiT is now a full-on “network” of over 20 podcasts, they’ve completely outgrown the cottage and are about to move into their own building…

Sources:

• Systm 4 – Inside TWiT Studio(s): The Upstair Version, http://youtu.be/cX74k1v2ZVU retrieved 7/7/2011
• Mostly Lisa’s Tour of the TWiT Cottage, http://youtu.be/k_Z-ybl0CtE retrieved 7/7/2011
• TWiT-TV Studios Tour Under Construction, http://youtu.be/TJlkXbaHGmk retrieved 7/7/2011
• How Leo Laporte Builds a Media Empire and a Tour of His Future Studio, http://youtu.be/vokM_qFpMTI retrieved 7/7/2011

“Let me know how you like the ipad. It looks like a jumbo iphone to me ,”

So on April 1st many of the A-List reviewers released their reviews of the iPad. WSJ’s Walt Mosberg mused, Apple iPad Review: Laptop Killer? Pretty Close. NY Times columnist David Pogue doubled downed his review for the geeks and the non-geeks. One of the best video reviews I’ve seen was by Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Andy Ihnatko (see below).

My take? I’m tired of the jumbo iPod/iTouch jokes. I’m tired of the netbook comparisons. This is what I know, everyone complained about netbooks after they came out because they had very slow processors. My own experience with the OLPC was that it was unusable because it was too difficult to do anything more than view one non-flash webpage at a time. And we all remember how many people loved the tiny little unusable keyboards. Yes, the netbooks are cheap, but if it’s unusable than cheap don’t matter. Yes, things have improved, so if that’s what you want, go get one and stop hating on those who aren’t interested in your crippled Windows 7 wannbe. From what I’ve seen, Apple recognizes that slow won’t go and they’ve made sure that the interface is snappy and extremely responsive to user interaction (translation: they put a fast processor in there to get the job done).

Here’s the second thing that I’ve noticed: it’s not about the hardware. As much as the hardware is going to rock, if that’s all you’re focus on, than you are completely missing the boat. Have we not learned the lesson of the Palm Pre? That device was the brain-child of more than a few former Apple-geniuses who put into the Pre all of the elements the Jobs nixed in the iPhone like multi-tasking, slide-out keyboard, etc. So where’s the CES darling of 2009? MIA and quickly heading to DOA, I believe.

Anyway, what the designers of the Pre failed to recognize (and all of the iPhone- and iPad-cloners) is that it’s not enough to do the same thing only a little better. The game-changing factor of the iPad is going to be it’s utter transparency in bringing to the user whatever media experience the user might want whether it’s books, music, TV shows, games, podcasts, or movies. No configurations, no setting up, not even the mere five inches of space between the user and the screen that a keyboard might occupy. And if you want to jot some notes down, or browse the web, or send an email, it’s just a single Home button push away. This is also where the iPad may be most vulnerable: if they don’t get the books, games, movies or TV shows that people want to watch than it’ll be game over. The iPad isn’t about the device. It’s about what the device will invisibly connect you to.

The clones can have memory slots and completely configurable desktops, and every geejaw under the sun, but if the user has to hunt down where to get ones TV shows or install anything to make the videos run, forget it. There will be dozens of devices running some form of the Android OS, or Windows and most definitely Linux and the propeller-heads will make them work (after hours of cruising through user groups and forums looking for drivers, and tips), but that’s not the market or experience that Apple is going for. Pick it up, swipe the screen to turn it on, pick what you want to watch, listen to or create and go about doing that thing. It’s not a big iPod/iTouch any more than a Harley is just a big bicycle. Yes, the bicycle may be better for you and way cheaper but you’re a moron if all you see is a difference in size.

For me I’m really looking forward to writing these blog posts and grading my students’ work on my iPad. It can’t come soon enough (I ordered the 3g model, so I have several more weeks to wait. Damn).

Sources:

Doritos iPad Parody. http://www.fastcompany.com/1580533/doritos-mega-chip-parody-comes-in-apple-flavor?partner=homepage_newsletter retrieved on 4/1/2010

Neofonie announces WePad 11.6-inch Android slate By Joseph L. Flatley. http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/20/neofonie-announces-wepad-11-6-inch-android-slate/ retrieved on 4/1/2010

Youtube video: MacBreak Weekly 188: iPad Revealed! by TWiT. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty6Hjs0NpDs retrieved on 4/1/2010.

Leo Laporte crowd surfing while live streaming @ Diggnation from Jeremy Johnstone on Vimeo.

Here’s the version taken from leo’s streaming camera:

Not to be out-done by Laporte, Diggnation hosts Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht also crowd-surfed the audience with Rose jumping face first.

Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht crowd surfing from Jeremy Johnstone on Vimeo.

Sources:
Vimeo: Leo Laporte crowd surfing while live streaming @ Diggnation by Jeremy Johnston. http://www.vimeo.com/10150010 retrieved on 3/15/2010.

YouTube: Leo Laporte Crowd Surfing at Diggnation SXSW 2010 by TWiT. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODDxiTExRRg retrieved on 3/15/2010.

Vimeo: Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht crowd surfing by Jeremy Johnston. http://www.vimeo.com/10162147 retrieved on 3/15/2010.

I’ve been watching Leo since the early ZD-TV days. It feels like it was early Internet, but it really wasn’t. Here was a guy and a show that was part of this tech world that I was a part of, that no one else understood. So for their last podcast for 2009, TWiT 228, they got a bit nostalgic (and funny). Good times. This was not the case several weeks ago when Leo and John C. Dvorak made fun of the NASA Tweet-up and totally forgot about what Twitter really means. Basically they took the low road and made jokes about what the hell are you going to say in 140 characters except, “I just peed in my diaper.” Twitter isn’t about the 140 characters or what one has for lunch. It’s about the community and connections that happen over time. So, sometime Leo gets it, and other times he goes for the cheap shot. Surprise, he’s human.

It is a bit strange to feel a connection with an Internet personality (who was a Cable-TV personality from a small network before that) and then discover that there’s a whole community of weirdos like me who work in tech. Following is a short documentary featuring Leo talking about the moment we’re at right now where it’s possible for a small media company can compete with giant corporations and get their message out without all the filters imposed in the past. It’s about the individual and the community and the message. It’s not about 140-characters.

Bonus video: Here’s a video circa 1996 during which Leo Laporte predicts the future. Given next week’s Apple announcement, Leo’s talk about the power of the Newton in 1996 might be all the more interesting:

Sources:
* YouTube video: TWiT 228: The TWiT Of The Decade posted by TWiT. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaq_FoA8jmo retrieved on 1/19/2010
* The Spark Series, Part 3: OPEN by Michael Sean Wright and Marc Ostrick. http://www.eguiders.com/exclusive/the-spark-series-part-3-open retrieved on 1/19/2010
* Of Mouse and Man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzIV8BxlaQs retrieved on 1/19/2010

image by Caroline McCarthy/CNET

Year-Two in NYC w/ Dan, correspondent for Leo Laporte’s TWIT network:

Year-One in NYC w/ Shawn King from Your Mac Life:

For blow-by-blow, multi-city reporting on iPhone Launch Day, version 3 check out CNET’s Live blog: iPhone 3G S launch day coverage. Also check out CNET’s Photos: iPhone 3G S launch day

Technorati Tags: Internet, leolaporte, musicvideo, podcasts, twit, video, youtube

Several weeks before, after one of his weekend radio shows Laporte was speaking to his assistant and his chat-room audience and he criticized Revision3 for not going far enough in their shows and for just duplicating the TV-esque formula that they had all worked on when they all worked together at Tech-TV.

Check out my next article when I’ll share more on why Laporte thinks Revision3 is blowing it and his plan to be the Internet (TWIT) King. jbb

Music: Divine Intervention from the album “Girlfriend” by Matthew Sweet

Click here for more on Geoff Smith, also check out his other videos at http://youtube.com/user/ringtonefeeder

Technorati Tags: Internet, leolaporte, media, podcasts, twit, video, videopodcast, youtube

To that end, I just saw this video on Cali Lewis‘ Geek Brief podcasts and she said that when she showed it to some family members they suddenly understood it and started to Twitter. If only …. The following is from the folks at the CommonCraft show at www.commoncraft.com.

BTW, I’m jbb on twitter and you can catch my little 140 character witticisms at http://twitter.com/jbb

Music: If It Makes You Happy (Featuring Chrissie Hynde) from the album “Live From Central Park” by Sheryl Crow

Technorati Tags: calilewis, family, kids, media, podcasts, twit, twitter, videopodcast, work

I loved the part with the homeless guy leaning on a computer with the sign, “Will work for computer parts.” I pray that’s not a future vision of moi. Yikes. jbb

OMG, even though it’s a bit clunkier than School Loop, I have been absolutely loving that I can create assignments, the students can open them, and then click a “reply” link and type in their response without having to navigate dropped boxes and worrying about whether I was looking at a current version of the assignment, etc. They also have something called “Spots” where one can set up more traditional web-pages to post one’s syllabus and assignments and that sort of thing. It completely eliminates the need to have a separate public webpage. My spot is “Mr. B’s Tech Lab – Room 700,” which is definitely still under-construction. There are some posting limitations (for example, one graphical image per page…), but on the whole I give Digication an A+. Only problem is that I have a lot of student work that I have to work my way through. Damn, this thing really helps shorten the workflow from student work to posting to grading. JBB