sMoRTy71.com

How Apple should have announced the iPad

2010-01-28T08:57:00.010-05:00

I have given Apple a lot of grief over the years. My main gripe is with their fans who think they can do no wrong. Or with the press who continues to call them the most innovative when, lately, they have been the most iterative (going from 8GB iPhones to 16GB iPhones, EDGE to 3G, etc.).

Regardless of which side of those debates you come down on, I think many can agree that Apple completely mis-marketed the iPad yesterday during the big press event. I know, I know, that's almost blasphemous. Even with all of my gripes, the one thing I have *always* given Apple credit for is how well they market their products. With the iPad, we see that even Apple makes mistakes.

So what's the problem? There were a couple of big ones for me.

1. The positioning
Jobs lead off the press event and tried to make the case that consumers are longing for a device that sits somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook that does e-mail, web browsing, photos, music, games and video better.

This leaves us all scratching our heads and asking, "If I have an iPhone and I have a MacBook Pro, why do I need an iPad?"

When you saw the iPhone, you recognized the innovation and the need it met instantly. It was the phone people had been waiting for. No one has been waiting for the iPad that Jobs gushed over yesterday.

2. The name
Because they were positioning this as a multi-purpose web device, they had to give it a generic name. Not only did they pick a generic name, they picked a name that was ridiculed around the world on Twitter for sounding like a feminine hygiene product. Ouch!

So how should they have done it?

The positioning
Whether they want to admit it or not, the iPad is taking aim at the e-reader market that is currently surging, thanks to the Amazon Kindle. Had Apple lead with the e-reader capabilities, they could have shown how primitive devices like the Kindle and nook really are.

I think it would have a clearer value proposition, gotten more positive buzz (the "Kindle killer!") and would allow the iPad to live along side iPhones and MacBooks.

The name
If they had positioned it to compete with the Kindle, they should have named it the "iRead" or "iReader." Those names work whether you are reading an e-book, a website, RSS or even e-mail (though that's a stretch).

They showed the same approach with iPhone. Sure, it is a phone, but the real innovation was in all of the other things the phone could now do (apps, true mobile web browsing, etc.).

They had the opportunity to do the same thing with the "iReader," but chose to announce a Swiss Army knife device with a generic name and no clear market. This is the biggest flop in terms of their marketing approach that I can remember.

What do you think? Is this a device that will find a niche once people get their hands on it? Would you shell out $500 for one when it launches?

An Apple tablet is still a tablet

2010-01-26T15:19:00.003-05:00

The nerds of the world, myself included, are all worked up over Apple's big product announcement slated for tomorrow afternoon (1pm EST). The consensus opinion is that we will finally see the mythical Apple tablet. Speculation is all over the map, so expect something between an iPhone and the Holy Grail. And, depending on which end of that scale the tablet ends up, expect to spend accordingly.

So, taking a step back from all of the hype for second, am I the only one who has absolutely no desire to use a tablet? This isn't my usual, tongue-in-cheek, anti-Apple ramblings. Forget the manufacturer. I have absolutely no desire to adopt the tablet form factor.

Because of the size, text input seems like it will be trickier than it needs to be. You'll have 3 choices (unless Apple unveils some sort of iMind UI) that I can think of off the top of my head:

1. Using both thumbs while holding the tablet -- similar to how you use the iPhone keyboard in landscape mode now

2. One-handed hunting and pecking while holding the tablet in the other -- similar to how some people use the iPhone keyboard in portrait mode

3. Traditional typing approach using a virtual keyboard while resting the tablet on another object -- similar to how we use laptops today, but with some annoying limitations

Am I missing one? One that would make the tablet form factor more compelling or easier to use than an iPhone or netbook or laptop? I completely expect to see something I don't expect when it comes to the interface (remember, we all knew the iPhone was coming, but we still blown away by how they implemented the UI), but I still can't see myself falling for a tablet.

Of course, if they go the e-reader route and make this a content consumption device (which would require much less text input), then maybe my objections don't really matter. Then again, if this $800-1,000 device is all about taking on the nook or Kindle, then I am definitely out. I may be a nerd, but at least I'm not a book nerd :)

Guess we'll find out tomorrow. So what's your take? Excited?

I created one of the worst domain names of the decade!

2009-12-29T16:22:00.004-05:00

Laurel Sutton, from brand name development company Catchword, posted an article on MarketingProfs.com today that included profilactic.com in a list of the 10 best and worst domain names of the decade. How awesome is that? I always say that is better to be really, really good or really, really bad than lost somewhere in the middle. Mission accomplished, profilactic.com! :)

We wanted a funny, memorable name for our site that aggregated all of your social media profiles and content (this was pre-FriendFeed). Seemed like a winner to us.

Nationwide unveils the Cartopia iPhone app

2009-12-16T12:34:00.004-05:00

After many months of hard work, our mobile team at Nationwide has unveiled their latest app for iPhone and iPod touch. Cartopia is a car shopping app that gives you access to all of the information you need to make a purchase decision. This includes vehicle history reports, total cost of ownership, pricing information, vehicle safety and more.

After entering several cars you're considering, the app will rank them based on the criteria that you value most. It's very cool.

You can get more info on our Facebook page, our website or in iTunes. Would love to hear what you think of the app.

Cartopia is our second iPhone app this year. Our first, Nationwide Mobile, was just named to Ad Age's top ten list of branded apps for 2009.

My interview about Twitter in Columbus Monthly

2009-11-25T08:48:00.010-05:00

It has been quite a week for the sMoRTy71 media juggernaut. First, the interview I did with Lindsey Miller about Yammer for Ragan.com was published on Monday. Now, the interview I did with Noah Blundo for Columbus Monthly's December 2009 issue is out in print.

Noah interviewed several people around town, including Christina Christian from the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and Debra Jasper and Betsy Hubbard from the Kiplinger Program for Public Affairs Journalism at The Ohio State University, to get a perspective on using Twitter as a business tool.

I shared what we've learned over the past 16 months of using Twitter for Nationwide.

The article isn't available online (and I haven't actually seen a paper copy of it). A colleague scanned it so that I could check it out. You can check out the B&W scanned copy here. If you have a physical copy of the magazine, you can find the story on pages 65 and 66.

While I'm not a big fan of having my photo taken, I am glad that they left my stuffed tribute to Sheldon J. Plankton in the shot :)

Talking Yammer with Ragan.com

2009-11-23T14:13:00.004-05:00

I spoke with Lindsey Miller from Ragan.com last week. She was interesting in hearing about how we're using Yammer at Nationwide. Check out her article where she highlights 4 tips for getting started with Yammer.

I'm lovin' Pogoplug

2009-11-20T15:30:00.006-05:00

Got my hands on a first-generation Pogoplug this week and wanted to share my first impressions.

First of all, if you're not familiar with Pogoplug, it is best described as a magical little box that allows you to share just about any USB hard drive over the internet. It does all of this for around $100.

Because I have way too many PCs and servers in my house with photos, video, music on them, I wanted to set up a common backup location for all of them while making all of that shared data available anywhere.

I'm using my Pogoplug to share my Drobo, which has 2TB of redundant storage, "in the cloud."

Set up was really simple. Plug the Pogoplug into a wall outlet (it looks like a big power adapter) then connect it via a USB cable to your hard drive and an ethernet cable to your router or switch. The final step is logging into the Pogoplug website to activate your device and create a web account to access your data through your browser.

Now, I can use a program like Sync Toy 2.1 from Microsoft to backup all my important files from each of my PCs to the Drobo over the network. Very handy.

It also allows me to stream music or other content to any internet-connected PC or mobile device (it has an app for iPhone). I've been using it all week to stream music to my laptop at the office.

One of my favorite features is being able to map the Pogoplug drive in Windows so you can just drag and drop files like you would with a local drive.

A second-generation Pogoplug has just been released. In addition to updating the look of the hardware, it will also add 3 more USB port so you can connect multiple USB hard drives. It retails for $129.

Articles in the 2009 TechRepublic Geek Gift Guide

2009-11-18T22:16:00.003-05:00

TechRepublic has published its annual Geek Gift Guide for 2009. As most of you know, I worked on the TR site for 9 years, so I was happy to contribute a couple of articles to this year's Guide.

I took a look at current generation game consoles as well as The Beatles: Rock Band game.

There are over 25 gifts reviewed, so check it out if you have a nerdlinger like me on your holiday shopping list.

Credibility Conversation event recap

2009-11-11T20:38:00.009-05:00

LinkedIn expert and all-around good guy Lewis Howes and I spent the morning outside Cleveland kicking off the Credibility Conversation series.

Lewis Howes, me and Ed Skimin. Photo from David Richard Photography

Ed Skimin and his brother Mike organized the event to bring social media thought leaders to share tips and case studies with community and business leaders in Lorain County.

Lewis kicked things off with a session on LinkedIn. He did a great job of drawing the audience in with a story from his days as an athlete competing in the decathlon. From there, he shared some tips for getting started (and being successful) with LinkedIn.

Photo from David Richard Photography

I followed Lewis with a session on using Twitter for business. I went over the process we used at Nationwide to get started with Twitter as well as a case study of how we used Twitter successfully to support our NASCAR Nationwide Series sponsorship.

Although we prepared our presentations separately, we ended up having a nice balance of personal and professional uses for social media.

Tom Wanek will be presenting at the December 9th event. The Credibility Conversation series closes with Chris Brogan on January 13th.

Find out more about the series at the Credibility Conversation website.

David Richard Photography captured some great photos of today's event.

My video interview with Chip Midnight

2009-11-09T20:43:00.009-05:00

Chip Midnight, one of my Nationwide colleagues, was participating in the Digital Media Creator Camp over at Ohio State last week. One of the class assignments was to capture something interesting on a Flip cam.

Not being able to find anything more interesting, Chip asked if he could learn a bit more about our social media strategy at Nationwide. He also was able to capture the origins of the sMoRTy71 username. Such an inspiring story. You'll need to watch all the way to the end to see that.

Social Media at Nationwide from Atomic Ned on Vimeo.

Chip, who shares a love of hair metal, also interviewed former White Lion and current Megadeth bassist James Lomenzo last week. Check that out here.

Big announcement: Mei-li makes 5!

2009-10-27T22:46:00.008-04:00

Got some big news in the Morton household. We've decided to add a 5th child to our family. No, this isn't a long lost love child from spring breaks of old. We've finally decided to adopt.

I say "finally" because Amy and I had planned to adopt back in 2007. We ended up getting pregnant with Maddox while we were going through the adoption classes, so things have been on hold for a couple of years.

Recently, Amy received an e-mail from an adoption agency about a little girl in China with special needs. She has a condition known as Arthrogryposis which affects the joints in her arms and legs. Arthrogryposis is treatable; however, she has not received any treatment for the disorder since she arrived at the orphanage as an infant.

Even with her disorder, she is able to walk and play and has a great personality. She also has a bit of a head start on learning to speak English.

We had never really considered an overseas adoption, but, after seeing "Lucy," (the American name they gave her at the orphanage) we felt compelled to make this happen.

We are just getting started on the paperwork, so it will still be close to 9 months before she can join our family. We are going to name her Mei-li (pronounced may-lee) which means "beautiful" in Chinese. We wanted her to have something that recognized her culture while fitting in with all of our other kids' M names :)

We can't wait to have her here and to start getting her the medical care she needs.

Although they don't know her exact birthday, she is almost 3 years old. This will put her close to Maddox's age.

We'll be adding new photos to this set on Flickr as we get them.

My review of The Beatles: Rock Band on TechRepublic

2009-10-23T20:30:00.000-04:00

Just a heads up that the review of The Beatles: Rock Band that I did for TechRepublic has been posted. Check it out and let me know what you think.

American Advertising Federation October luncheon recap

2009-10-21T10:41:00.008-04:00

I made the trip up to Cleveland yesterday morning to speak at the American Advertising Federation's October luncheon.

I was invited to co-present with David Alston, Radian6's VP of Marketing, so I jumped at the chance.

We had a good turnout (150+) and great interaction with the attendees before, during and after the event. We even had decent Twitter back channel conversations happening which is always a good sign. Also got to connect with our partners from Rosetta including Adam Cohen and Dean Skinner.

David did a great job of framing up the overall discussion and then allowing me to share what we've learned through our social media work on Twitter and Facebook at Nationwide.

Thanks again to Lisa, King and Dan at AAF-Cleveland for the invite and to all those who attended. It was a lot of fun.

FFL 09 Week 4: FTW! 126, Woodlawn Woodchucks 79

2009-10-06T08:02:00.000-04:00

When we look back on this fantasy football season, week 4 was when things all feel into place for the future Super Bowl champs (that's me, BTW).

I made a free agent pick up and switched some of my starters around. Now FTW! is a finely-tuned, football (and trash talkin') machine.

We lead the league this week with 125 total points. Had big games from Ben Roethlisberger (25 points), Steve Smith (25 points) and Pierre Thomas (18 points). Overall record improved to 3-1.

Next week, we face the 2-2 Big Times who have 3 starters on a bye. W00t!

FFL 09 Week 3: FTW! 108, Sour Mash 83

2009-09-29T07:01:00.002-04:00

After an any-given-Sunday fluke in week 2, I was able to bounce back to form in week 3 against The Sour Mash 108-83.

I benched Tom Brady for Roethlisberger, who scored 24, and reactivated Willis McGahee, who scored in the 20s for the 3rd straight week, and cruised to victory. My only miss was leaving Pierre Thomas, who had been injuried, on the bench. Thomas Jones, who started in his place, put up 2 points. Pierre put up 24.

This coming week, I move out of division play to face the 1-2 Woodlawn Woodchucks. Need to find a good 3rd wide receiver (to replace Justin Gage) and I should be in good shape for my run to the Super Bowl :)

FFL 09 Week 2: Dbags 95, FTW! 67

2009-09-22T06:57:00.002-04:00

Rough second week of Fantasy Football. There was a lot (a lot!) of trash talking leading up to my face-off with talentless, FFL rookie Mark Donohue. Expectations were high after my league-leading 124 points in Week 1 (and his 70 points).

Unfortunately, Mark's team had its "any given Sunday" moment and managed to *squeak* out a 28 point win.

My team, as a whole, didn't perform up to their averages. Tom Brady, Thomas Jones and Reggie Wayne all scored fewer than 10 points (after scoring 19 or more in Week 1). Then, there was a coaching mistake on my part. I pulled Willis McGahee at the last minute and he put up 19 points. Still wouldn't have been enough to catch Donohue's bunch of no-talent hacks, but I hate leaving points on the bench.

I hope Mark cherishes this win. I doubt he'll get many more. Now, I must set my sites squarely on Ted Laun's The Sour Mash.

FFL 09 Week 1: FTW! 124, RTC 69

2009-09-14T22:14:00.007-04:00

Just like Tom Brady and my Patriots, my fantasy team, FTW!, returned to form with a 55-point beatdown in the season opener against Brendan Jackson's former powerhouse RTC. In fact, 124 points led all teams in league.

Tom Brady, Thomas Jones and Reggie Wayne led the way with 25, 22 and 22 respectively. Also got good performances out of Willis McGahee and the Giants defense who each scored 19.

My backups were solid, too, with 3 players accounting for 44 points including my waiver pickup Ben Watson who put up 19 points.

Will have to get on the waivers to get a WR. One of my starters, Anthony Gonzalez, was injured and put up the big goose egg. His backup, Kevin Walter, is injured as well.

Of course, I am playing Mark Donohue's team next week, so 8 starters should be enough...

DirecTV HR21 + PlayOn = Awesome!

2009-09-10T19:30:00.000-04:00

This weekend, we switched back to DirecTV after a long year with cable. We had been DirecTV customers for the previous 12 years, but, for some unknown reason, we decided to give cable a shot. While our cable experience wasn't terrible, it wasn't anything special either.

With the arrival of football season and the crazy NFL Sunday Ticket promos DirecTV is running, we decided it was the right time to switch back.

One thing I wasn't expecting was just how cool the Media Share options of the DirecTV HR21-700 HD DVR would be. Out of the box, the HR21 will let you connect to your home network and pull in videos, photos and music. Nothing really groundbreaking, but still nice. What completely rocked my world, though, was the awesomeness that ensued when I installed PlayOn Media Server on my media PC.

Now, instead of your basic media sharing options, you get the ability to stream Netflix, hulu, YouTube, ESPN and CBS. I used the Netflix and hulu streaming the first night (since I had no shows on my brand new DVR) and it was great. No extra hardware to buy. No crazy DRM hassles. It just worked.

Last night, I connected my SlingCatcher in our master bedroom and will be using the HR21 to give us Netflix and hulu streaming there as well. Very cool.

Mira donated to Locks of Love again

2009-09-10T11:12:00.011-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, Amy took Mira, 5 1/2, to get her hair cut in order to donate it to Locks of Love. This is her second time donating. She got all of her hair cut off in April 2008 as well. You can see the photos from her first time here.

In addition to knowing she is helping other kids, Mira really enjoys the princess treatment she gets when she goes to the salon to donate. She especially likes getting her hair washed and styled after. She was very excited to share that they used "shampoo *and* conditioner!"

We are so proud of her willingness to help others. Hopefully someone will be able to benefit from her donation.

Mira's new 'do

You can learn more about Locks of Love here.

Happy 9th birthday, Miles!

2009-08-29T00:01:00.002-04:00

Today, our son Miles (AKA Big Miles 2000) turns 9. Happy birthday, Miles!

Where I am speaking this fall [updated 9/21/09]

2009-08-28T12:45:00.002-04:00

Was just looking at my calendar and realized that I have quite a few (for me, anyway) speaking gigs coming up over the next couple of months. Of course, let's not forget about those SXSWi sessions that still need your thumbs up vote (was that too subtle of a hint?).

Guest lecture for MBA Internet Marketing course (The Ohio State University, October 5th)

Social media panel at State Insurance Trade Association conference (Cincinnati, October 7th)

Social media in business panel (Columbus, TBD)
I will be moderating a panel for Nationwide associates that will bring in local businesses, both large and small, to share how they're using social media and what best practices are emerging for them as their social media strategies evolve.

American Advertising Federation session on social media monitoring (Cleveland, October 20)
I will be co-presenting with David Alston, Radian6's VP of Marketing, at a luncheon for the Cleveland chapter of the American Advertising Federation.

This event will be the second in a series of social media events AAF-Cleveland is doing. The first, on Facebook, will be hosted by Facebook's Sean Sullivan who we've worked with at Nationwide (and who worked at CNET at the same time I did). Highly recommend his "The Branding of Facebook" session on September 16th.

Ohio Diversity and Leadership Conference (Columbus, November 5-6)

Credibility Conversation series (Cleveland, November 11)
Ed Skimin of Emerge Inc. is putting together the Credibility Conversation series and asked me to be involved. Not exactly sure of my topic yet, but it will surely be better than Lewis Howes who is presently there on October 14th (Kidding! You should check out Lewis' session, too).

As I subtly mentioned earlier, I am also on three proposed panels for SXSWi 2010. Would love a thumbs up vote on those to help us get those panels approved. You can learn more about my SXSWi 2010 panels here.

Happy 12th birthday, Mahlon!

2009-08-18T00:01:00.001-04:00

Today, our oldest son turns 12 (although he thinks he's already 17 or 18). Happy birthday, Mahlon!

Please give my 2010 SXSWi panels a thumbs up

2009-08-17T13:30:00.001-04:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while (thanks again, mom!), you know that I rarely ask for favors. Today, however, I am going to cash in that blog karma and ask for you to vote for the 3 panels I am on for SXSWi 2010.

See, SXSWi takes panel ideas from the community. Of course, they get way more ideas than they can handle, so they also turn to the community to vote for their favorites.

I have been fortunate enough to be invited to 3 panels which I think are all going to be worthwhile. Please take a minute and check them out below. If they sound like something you'd like to see at SXSWi 2010, I would appreciate a "thumbs up" vote. If they sound like something you wouldn't like to see..., I would still appreciate a "thumbs up" vote.

1. Social Media at Fortune 100 Companies
I pitched this panel idea to my pals Jim Storer, who runs The Community Roundtable, and Scott Monty, who runs social media at a tiny Detroit company called Ford. They were able to get more folks from IBM, Dell, SAP and Microsoft. Basically, we're going to look at how large companies are using social media.

"Companies of all sizes are adopting social media and community, but large organizations have some unique challenges and opportunities. This panel will uncover best practices through stories told by social media leaders from Ford, Nationwide, IBM, Microsoft, SAP and Dell."

Vote for this panel here

2. Social ROI is Not a Four Letter Word
Aaron Strout from Powered asked me to join his colleague Kathy Warren and reps from Kodak and Coca-Cola to talk about the return on investment for social media. I think this is the big question/challenge in the industry right now, so this should be a great discussion.

"If you've ever tried tracking down a return on investment (ROI) on "social" you’ve found that it's nearly impossible to find. During this interactive discussion, listen as brand practitioners from Coke, Nationwide and Kodak talk about ways that their companies are deriving real ROI from social while providing best practices, case studies and examples of how companies can achieve this elusive ROI Holy Grail."

Vote for this panel here

3. This Isn't on the Map, Where the Hell Are We?
The third panel I was invited to features some of my favorite social media people. It is being organized by my former CNET colleague Bill Johnston and will feature Jake McKee, Sean O'Driscoll and Aaron Strout. I am really looking forward to this one.

"Social media practice and implementation is a dynamic and volatile subject that effects all functions in a company from the obvious (product, support, marketing) to the not so obvious (hr, operations). Hear from 5 seasoned social media practitioners (plus YOU!) about where we are on "the map" of social media adoption and practice, and where we are headed. The mood will be lively, the panel bright eyed and prepared, and the audience smart (and involved)."

Vote for this panel here

Chicago & Lollapalooza 2009 recap

2009-08-12T07:01:00.022-04:00

Amy and I just returned from a great, kid-free weekend in Chicago. In fact, it was the first kid-free weekend we have had in over 10 years. The last time was a road trip from Memphis to St. Louis in 1998 to see the Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest at the Kiel Center on August 8th. So when I saw that the Beastie Boys were going to be headlining the second night of Lollapalooza on... August 8th, I had to get tickets.

Of course, after getting tickets, arranging for my mom to come over and watch the kids and getting a *sweet* hotel room, the Beastie Boys were forced to cancel their show.

Amy is a whiz with a digital camera. I'm the shadowy figure on the right. Trust me.

The weekend started with a cold, rainy Friday in Chicago. We stopped by the Google office to have lunch, get a tour and play a little Rock Band. Amy and I joined Shannon and Lindsey from Google on "Eye of the Tiger" and "Livin' on a Prayer."

After leaving Google, we checked into our room at theWit before heading out to shop for the rest of the afternoon.

The most surreal stop was at the American Girl store on Michigan Avenue. Thanks to our neighbor, Mira is convinced that she needs one (or more) American Girl dolls. We're still not so sure, so we grabbed a catalog and got out while we could.

For dinner, we headed to Joe's on the corner of Grand and Rush. Highly recommended if you like steak (and a lot of it). The grilled tomatoes are also outta sight.

I topped off the steak with an Old Fashioned

Saturday, we decided to search for an old-school diner to have breakfast. We ended up at the Pittsfield Cafe which is tucked away in the lobby of the Pittsfield building (duh!) at the corner of Wabash and Washington. The food (I got the Jumping Bean omelet with hashbrowns) and service were excellent.

After lunch, we decided that more shopping was in order before heading over to Grant Park for Lollapalooza. The weather had gone from 60s and rain on Friday to 95 and sunny on Saturday, so we didn't want to get there too early (since we would be there until 10pm).

The Chicago skyline provides an awesome backdrop for Lollapalooza

Thanks to a scheduling mishap on my part, we ended up arriving at Lollapalooza around 1pm for what I thought was a 2:30pm Arctic Monkeys set. Minutes after heading in, I realized the mistake. Because we bought one-day tickets, we weren't able to leave and come back in. So, we did what we do best, we decided to shop at the various booths set up in the middle of the park.

After shopping, we discovered two things that would prove very handy as we waited for the Arctic Monkeys set: homemade ice cream and shaded hammocks. Local radio station Q101 had set up dozens of hammocks under the trees, so Amy and I stretched out, ate some ice cream and did some people watching.

In the hammock

The hammock was great for people watching

We were still able to enjoy some of the music from the nearby stages. We heard much of Ida Maria's set and some of Gomez's as well.

Eventually, we forced ourselves out of the hammock to check out Perry Farrell's DJ set on the Perry's stage. We got there a few minutes early and were able to see Prophit finishing up their set with a cover of Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade."

At 4:30, we finally got to see the Arctic Monkeys who were awesome. They sounded great and played a lot of my favorite songs including "505" which ended the set.

A clip from "A View from the Afternoon"

We were able to hear some of the Santigold set while waiting for TV on the Radio who came on at 6:30. I wasn't a huge TVOTR fan (I have "Return to Cookie Mountain," but really only listen to one track), but they put on a really good show.

A little clip from "Wolf Like Me"

We closed out the evening with the headlining set from Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I had seen them at the much smaller Lifestyle Communities Pavilion when they came to Columbus a couple of months ago and was eager to see them again in front of the much larger Lollapalooza crowd. As usual, Karen O. put on a great show.

A clip from "Zero"

After a long, hot day at Lollapalooza, we headed back to the room and crashed. We wanted to check out the club Roof on the top floor of our hotel, but we were just too wiped out.

While it was great to get away, we're not used to being away from the kids. So we packed up before noon and headed home. Depending on the bands, I would like to do it again next year. Not sure Amy feels the same way, though :)

Fantasy Football 2009 begins!

2009-07-24T18:12:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has read this blog over the years (thanks, mom!) knows that I am a Fantasy Football nut. Sure, I love football, but what brings me back year after year is something much better.

See, I started playing fantasy football while I was working at CNET. We had a league made up of developers and other web nerds who were ultra-competitive in everything we did, especially when it came to humiliating others based on their lackluster FF performance.

Even though my CNET days are behind me, I still return to fantasy football each fall with some of the guys I played with all those years to berate, degrade and verbally abuse them around our favorite virtual sports pastime.

This year, we have opened the league up a bit. We have 6 current or former CNETers, 3 Nationwiders, 1 former Yahoo!, 1 self-proclaimed "tool" (from the best radio station in Columbus), 1 Canadian Steelers fanatic and 1 startup entrepreneur who has an unhealthy obsession with yours truly.

For those who were invited to the league, but didn't sign up before it filled up, we'll miss you. To our wives and families who have to watch us act like idiots for the next 5 months, I'm sorry. And for the other 11 teams in our league, good luck playing for second place.