Jeremy Jay - A Place Where We Could Go

After a single and an EP, L.A. based singer-songwriter Jeremy Jay rolls out his literate and occasionally haunting debut LP.

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Lemuria - Get Better

The debut LP from the Buffalo, New York trio harkens us back to the mid-90s heyday of indie-rock. And its a nice trip down memory lane.

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The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead

It’s been a long, uncertain road for Portland, Or duo the Helio Sequence. Subsequently this album helps fuel one of the nicest music stories of the year.

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Porter Wagoner - Wagonmaster

For those of you who don’t know, Porter Wagoner was a country music icon and legend. A Country Music Hall of Famer no less who sold countless records and reached the homes of millions of people as the host of the syndicated Porter Wagoner Show from 1960 until 1981. Perhaps more easily recognized [...]

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A Telemundo Independence Day

Telemundo is playing the movie Independence Day in Spanish. Isn’t that ironic, or possibly unexpected? That on July 4th, the U.S. Independence Day, Telemundo is playing a movie of the same title in Spanish. Of course they are owned by the same network that owns NBC and the USA Network (NBC Universal), so maybe it is irony on the part of the network programming directors. They also apparently serve programming to the U.S. primarily, which I did not realize. I thought they were more global.

At least the History Channel has been playing shows all day about the American Revolution. Good stuff. And lets hope the NBC fireworks tonight do better than last year, when I wrote here about how the camera was focused on the people watching the show and that is not what anyone cares to see. That’s like a slap in the face for those of us watching from home.

Interview with Randy Morin on Rmail

I interviewed Randy Charles Morin about Rmail and his recent sale of Rmail. I also asked him for tips to give someone thinking of starting their own business.

How did you get the idea for Rmail?

I didn’t. I was using existing RSS to email solutions for my own blogs, but these solutions were unreliable and usually didn’t work at all. So, I wrote a webpage on kbcafe.com called Rmail that would service my blogs. I didn’t preclude other people using it for their own blogs. And other bloggers started using it.

How have things changed from that initial idea?

Rmail eventually turned from a webpage to a website as more and more users needed it. I’ve added tons of features, but the core purpose remains the same; turn RSS into emails.

You wrote on February 8th 2007 that Rmail reached 50,000 users. How has that growth been driven?

The growth has been mostly word-of-mouth. I’ve never spent much time marketing the idea.

What is your big announcement today?

I sold the website to NBC.

Why sell the company now?

NBC is much more capable of turning Rmail into a success via its marketing engine.

What were the challenges of running it all by yourself?

There were big challenges. Scaling an application and dealing with all the legalities was very difficult.

What will your role be under the new ownership?

I will continue to run the Rmail website for now and transfer it to NBCs servers in time.

How will things change at Rmail?

With some money behind it, the sky is the limit.

How do you plan to continue Rmail’s growth?

This is now NBC’s game plan, not mine.

And lastly, do you have any tips for someone starting their own business?

Let’s start by saying that 95% of Americans and Canadians don’t know what an honest days work is. Most people reading this will likely say they are part of the 5% that do. Those people should ask themselves a simple question. Do you honestly work 40 or more hours per week? Remove lunch. Remove water-cooler downtime. Remove all breaks. Remove personal phone calls. Remove solitaire. If you are part of that 5%, then do it. But don’t quit your day job. Do it part-time until you can pay the bills.

How NBC Ruined the 4th of July

If you watched NBC’s coverage of the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular then you noticed their ridiculous camera work. Instead of focusing one camera on the entire action they awkwardly switched from camera to camera, often missing the fireworks completely. And they focused entirely too much on the people watching. Do I want to see hundreds of people staring in rapture at the fireworks? No, I want to see the explosions.

They even missed some spectacular fireworks by focusing at the audience, and I just wished I could make them turn the camera so I could see the fireworks. That’s what the viewers care about. Unfortunately I don’t have that kind of power. One particularly amazing part started with what looked like Iraqi tracer fire criss-crossing through the sky. It was amazing, but I missed the beginning due to the camera being on the audience.

Congratulations to NBC on messing up a national event with their ridiculous efforts to remake the show. This isn’t a movie. I don’t need to be held in suspense, confused at the camera trickery. Do your simple job of broadcasting the fireworks and not pissing me off.