New KenMorico.com Launched With HTML 5 Video

Posted on June 6, 2010 by Ken Morico

Experimental and personal – that’s the new KenMorico.com site. Coinciding with Apple’s HTML 5 push, I am launching the new site after several weeks of research, experimenting, and video production. The new site aims to be the most personal on the Web – a deep background of my experience, photos and videos of me, and my unique writing style highlight the site. It’s black and white presentation and audio-less videos transport users to a different era.

Oftentimes, personal Web sites and portfolio sites are shallow. A cartoon image of someone’s face and a photo or screenshot of their work. By viewing the videos and engaging with the content you get a sense of me – as a REAL person. It’s very hard to do on the Web and I think I’ve got it nailed down.

The site is fully powered by HTML 5 and javascript. There is no Flash present. I hope to add personalized audio clips and quotes to further enhance the personal connection made over the Web. Please visit KenMorico.com and let me know your thoughts. Long live HTML 5, experimentation, and the future.

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How I Created a Podcast Studio for Less Than $150

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Ken Morico
K.Mo's Podcast Studio

K.Mo's Podcast Studio

So you want to reach an unlimited audience, have complete control of a broadcast, and get free promotion? Time to Podcast! Podcasts are a natural extension of blogs. They are just another medium to spout your commentary, music, and interviews. If you’re interested in podcasting, I’ll explain why now is the best time to get started.

Hardware has never been cheaper and software has never been more intuitive. Studio-quality microphones are now just about $100. Apple has refined audio making software to the point where mere novices can produce professional-quality results via their GarageBand software. It’s even designed to create podcasts.

Here’s how I created my podcast studio:

Other items I already had included Sony Studio Headphones
and a Mac with Garageband. The Samson G Track microphone gives me the studio-quality recording sound, and the Griffin SmartTalk extension enables me to use my podcast studio to make interviews possible in really high-quality. That’s because cellphones now are digital, and routing the audio through the built-in mixer of the G Track allows very little noise to enter the audio via its USB interface. Tom Keene uses this method a lot for interviewing faraway economists on his Bloomberg Radio shows. I remember being awestruck when I interviewed Bill Rock in his studio space in his home. Bill Rock is an announcer and video producer. He announced for NBC and now for Sirius XM. His studio is crammed with mixers and video/audio equipment. I just have a desk.

audio_equipThere are a lot of resources on the Web to help get you started with podcasting. Apple shows you how to make a podcast here. O’Reilly has an article about proper microphone usage and other tips. Of course, with all the help and easy-to-install hardware, there’s gotta be a rub. Here it is: posting a podcast is not easy. You need your own Web host, you need to edit XML files, which will be unfamiliar to many, and there is a lot of work that goes into producing a podcast. You need intro music, outro music, topics to talk about, guests (or music), editing time, and you need to promote it. Apple does help you out here though. If your podcast is interesting and good enough, they will feature your podcast on iTunes – for FREE. This is how I found a lot of great podcasts including the DJ Cruze Podcast and Adam Carolla Podcast.

In all, it’s a lot of work, but it’s an exciting hobby. With some time and creativity you can produce the type of show you always wanted to hear – your own.

Audio Commentary

Click the play button below to listen…

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More Users, More Money, More Facebook

Posted on September 21, 2009 by Ken Morico

moneyIt’s a milestone for Web, Web 2.0, and the digital revolution. Facebook is now cashflow positive. Some people might think with Facebook now reporting 300 million users, it would seem impossible not to make money given the size of the user base. It might seem cheap to host a Web site, but given the infrastructure need to operate a site with 300 million users, it seems a feat to now be cashflow positive after five and a half years.

So you might think, “Hey, I’ve got a Web site, it’s not expensive to run one of those.” To run something like Facebook you need hundreds of servers, backup servers, networking equipment, engineers, lawyers, media people, PR people, a warehouse for servers, backup generators, and the list goes on. As Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder, mentions, “the ratio of Facebook users to Facebook engineers makes it so that every engineer here is responsible for more than one million users. It’s hard to have an impact like that anywhere else.” I attribute the efficiency to the PHP language and open source databases like MySQL that Facebook utilizes.

Facebook is NOT using Microsoft tools or software. However, Microsoft owns a significant portion of Facebook. In fact, owning a portion of Facebook, I believe, will be their best business decision yet. Why? Growing competition from Apple, a downturn in the economy, the threat of the upcoming Google Chrome operating system, and the growing popularity of open source software.

Okay, so Facebook is running smoothly and bringing in money, what’s in store for us now and why is it important that Facebook makes money? Facebook is Web 2.0. It represents everything Web 2.0 does well. It connects people via the Web in a social way, it easily enables sharing of information, photos, videos, and ideas. Facebook pioneers new technologies like the Facebook iPhone Application, Facebook Applications, Facebook Connect, iPhoto integration, and software code to handle 300 million users and do so with speed. With Facebook staying in business, we are likely to see their vision of a unified login come to the Web – something Microsoft tried and failed at implementing. With a unified login, everything on the Web gets easier, including posting comments on this blog, shopping carts, digital IDs, and the like. The Web needs pioneers, and they need a reason to keep innovating. Finally, Web 2.0 can represent the age where the Web makes money.

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