after nearly a year, i'm proud to present my new company's private beta: ffwd.com "pronounced FastForward" blog.ffwd.com ffwd is not a social network! it's a brand new site where you can easily discover and share all the best videos from all over the web. try it out today... here is the official press release: ffwd launches private beta
Founder of revolutionary social music service (iLike) sets sights on video November 13, 2007 -- NewTeeVee Live, San Francisco 7:30AM PST, November 14, 2007 Recently funded San Francisco startup, ffwd (pronounced "fast forward"), started accepting applications today from potential beta users. The beta program will begin on November 30th, 2007 with 2,500 users and last for at least 6 months. The announcement was made at NewTeeVee Live and the instructions for applicants were posted at www.ffwd.com. All beta users will have access to a full-featured version of the service and will be invited to give feedback on the following components of the product roadmap: * Online, cable and broadcast content syndication (millions of channels) * Tracking favorite videos of friends across multiple social networks * Pushing recommendations to your TV or mobile device Select users will also be invited to preview features "in the labs" and participate in the product planning process. Patrick Koppula, former co-founder/COO of iLike & GarageBand.com and now CEO of ffwd, will be available throughout the day at NewTeeVee Live to discuss the program. Please email press@ffwd.com or call 415.873.3881 to schedule an interview. For more information: http://www.ffwd.com

Finally, a podcast for my band Otaku that features new, old, rare and just plain weird tracks. http://www.planetotaku.com/podcast.html The first volume features an old favorite, a Beck remix, an Orb remix, as well as many more. I'll probably be putting together new ones every 2-3 weeks as I have a lot of material to go through.

Check out what I'm lisening to.

I'm not one for commando "sneak around" games but I have to admit that the Syphon Filter game for the PSP is right below SSX for my top psp game. The story mode is pretty long with 7 missions each broken up into sections. But what really has my addicted are is the mission mode and trying to get 100% of all the goals. Well, I thought I was going to have more to say but the creative muse has left the building. So that's it. Syphon Filter is great fun. Get it. Oh yeah, did I mention that the new sonic youth record is great? And don't miss out on the new Tool. Simply phenomenal. Very metal.

Sonic Youth are old. There is no denying that. And many will say that their best is far behind them (Damn, did "Daydream Nation" really come out in 1988??? Am I really that old???) and I actually agreed after listening to their last album "Sonic Nurse." Talk about a turd. That album sucked. The tour for that album sucked. And so I had given in to the fact that my Sonic Youth fascination was over and dead. Fast forward to this weekend: As I was perusing my secret (and cheap) Russian MP3 site i discovered "Rather Ripped" a new SY record. I had no idea they were even working on anything though I had been seeing live dates for them popu p recently. Anyways, given the price I paid and the fact that it is Sonic Youth, I decided to give the new album a shot. And boy, did they ever come back with a vengence. Now don't expect the noise and shrieks of their 80's albums. SY has made it pretty clear that they over that in so far as their formal releases are concerned (their indie releases still blast walls of noise). But what they have done is create an album that is easily their best since Washing Machine. Lots of great grooves. Lots of great vocals. And lots of great songs. I don't have to time to go track by track through the album but if you are a SY fan I would recommend picking this up. It's sure to not disappoint. In fact, I know that my buddy NOELMO probably had serious reservations about the album when I first told him about it. But he has been converted. And when NOELMO is converted, there really is nothing more to say. "Rather Ripped" is exactly what I needed. A great SY record which has re-energized my fandom of all SY. And now I have a reason to continue my string of 15 years of seeing SY live.

Awww, how i miss the good ol' early 1990's when electronica was new and refreshing. And the Orb was the king!!! Last friday i went to bimbo's in SF to see the orb for what was hopefully going to be my "show of the year." Uh...that didn't happen. What did happen was they decided they were a band that played house and kept the beat going non-stop. While i do like that type of music, when i go to see the orb i expect one thing: Sick dubbed out trippyness. And that was severly lacking. I think they played 2 or 3 old songs (and by old i mean nothing from the last two albums) and even those tracks were disappointing. Nothing worse than hearing "Little Fluffy Clouds" as a horrible house song. Ugh. All in all very disappointing.

Ah, it's finally over. What a crazy week this has been. I launched a new partner code base for our feeds which went about as well as can be expected. But now that it's live and running smoothly, the feeds are going to be much more stable and our partners will be much more happy. I'm meeting with my landlord tomorrow. She seems to think that having one's house overrun with ants isn't cause for alarm. She didn't take to kindly to my fiancee and myself calling the xterminators ourselves. We know our tenants right though dammit!!! Better recognize!!! Lots of good listenings today including: Sacred Reich: The American Way Steve Reich: Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint Jesus Jones: Liquidizer and of course lots and lots of Phish. Never enough...it's never enough... Have a great weekend all!!! Best Wishes, Lobot

"Today was a good day...I didn't have to use my AK" -- Ice Cube Man, Ice sure knows what he is talking about. Today is a good day. The rain has stopped, though it's still far too cold outside. But as long as the sun is out I'm happy. I've finished the user tracking RSS feeds and have a new rss-only machine ready to launch. Hopefully in the next few weeks the users of GameSpot.com will be able to view their updated games, updated unions, updated friends blogs, and updated friends reviews without having to come to the site and view their profile. We are currently in BETA testing for this but it's looking good so far. It will be interesting to see how many people actually utilize this new feature. Keep checking back here for an announcement when this goes live. I'm heading out to Chico, CA tonight. My future family-in-law is throwing an engagement party for my fiancee and myself. Now I know that it never sounds exciting to hang with the family-in-law. But you've never met my finacee's family. They are insane, totally mellow, and very very cool. I lucked out on that one. Rumors abound about Phish coming back to play Halloween 2006 at the Philly Spectrum. And it's coming from some pretty reliable sources. I'm not holding my breathe (well, not too much) but still keeping my ears peeled for more info. My musical recommendations this time wil focus on psychedelic/doom/sludge metal. These albums are all fantastic and not to be missed. Ufomammut - Snailking YOB - The Illusion Of Motion Jesu - Jesu High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings OM - Variations On A Theme There is a great comedy show coming up that I highly recommend. And it's a benefit show for 826 Valencia too boot. So you know your money is going somewhere good. My favorite comedian, Patton Oswalt, will be joined by Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, and others. NoelMo is hitting this up as well. And if he is hitting it up you know it's going to be off the HOOK!!! Don't miss it.

Been listening to this German instrumental post-rock band called 35007. Fantastic album that i procured from StonerRock.com and it's by far the best album I've heard this year. A lot of it reminds me of SubArachnoid Space or Kinski, but at other times it's more like The F'in Champs. It's not available domestically nor have i seen it for download anywhere. But it needs to be released here. Next on the playlist is Boris's new album "Pink." This band is fantastic and they get little to no play in the States (they are from Japan). This album is BEGGING for a proper stateside release though as its the most solid all around effort that I've heard from Boris. The first track is slab of showgazer noise that takes me back to 1992. Tracks 2 and 3 drop all sublties and go straight for your heart. Just crunching brutal riffs. I could go on and on but...well...I don't want to. Just check this album out. You can find it in San Fran at Aquarius Records or online at StonerRock.com Finally, i need to do a shout out to NoelM for introducing me to "Jesus's Blood Never Failed Me Yet." A homeless guy singing that line over and over again for 25 minutes? With orchestra over the top? And a little Tom Waits thrown in too? Fantastic!!! It made my fiancee sick to the stomach. I think that says it all. Phish rulez. Don't forget it.

Finally got the RSS feeds for tracking my game updates, friend's blog, etc stable. Need to give them some testing and see what kinda of bandwidth dynamic RSS feeds take but all in all, it's looking good for putting this one into production. Got tickets to see The Orb at Bimbo's next month. Can't even remember the last time they were out here. Maybe 2002? Hope this show is as good as that one. They are also playing an all night even down in SoCal but it's undecided yet whether i'll attend that. Vallejo, CA is very very boring. Lobot is not very happy with that. Wedding planning continues. The big obstacle now is the DJ: Who to get and what to play. I'm looking into getting DJ Romanowski who spins great downtempo, funk, rare groove, and trip hop. He spun at the wedding of my friend and it was great. Hopefully he is available, willing and able. Trey played with Phil and Friends last night in New York. Trey + Ex-GD Members = Good