There is an old Vulcan proverb “Only Nixon could go to China.” Nixon in China-Overture

by Tris Hussey on March 13, 2010 · 2 comments

in The Arts

It’s not often you can start off a post about opera with a quote from Star Trek. Since the opportunity was there, I just had to take it. Regardless, it’s opening night for Vancouver Opera’s production of Nixon in China, which is the Canadian première of the opera (take that Toronto and COC!). This production is a rarity in the opera world because this is a brand new production that Vancouver Opera commissioned for this premiere. Meaning sets, costumes, everything is new. Putting on a new production is a tremendously [...]

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DreamHost offers Status.net as a 1-click install. Great step towards distributed micromessaging

by Tris Hussey on March 12, 2010 · 6 comments

in Internet Life, Lifestreaming, Social Media, Technology, Web 2.0

I’m a pretty heavy Twitter user but I have long argued that we need the equivalent of SMTP/POP for micromessaging as we have for email. I know Twitter is great and has a great ecosystem going, but it can’t last forever. Sure a lot of us have gmail addresses, but we can still send/receive email from people who are on gmail. Right now we don’t have that ability, really, with micromessaging/Twitter. It’s a closed box.
Early on in the whole micromessaging frenzy Status.net out of Montreal developed an open-source server for [...]

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Catch my crash-course in podcasting at F5 Expo

by Tris Hussey on March 11, 2010 · 0 comments

in Talks, Teaching

I got an email from Lindsay yesterday to ask if I wanted to get 15-20 workshop on podcasting at the F5 Expo next month. Hmm, let me think about that for a moment…
Hellz yeah!
So, it’s all set now, I’m giving a few (2-3) short podcasting workshops on the show floor during the F5 Expo—Podcasting 101 | F5 Expo—which kinda reminds me, why don’t I podcast as much as I want to…
Hmm, gotta change that.
Anyway, I love talking about podcasts and video blogging (I like talking about video blogging, doing it, [...]

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Is it the medium, the message, or both? Deconstructing a communication failure

by Tris Hussey March 10, 2010 Internet Life

We had a bit of a tempest in a teacup over here in Vancouver yesterday afternoon-evening over comments on an upcoming Third Tuesday Meetup Event. What I find far more interesting than the discussion, which was certainly interesting, is the whole medium-message question-quandary. Here is a good segment from a post about the events of yesterday:
But it wasn’t to be. Despite Kris Krug’s solo attempt to build a bridge to a positive outcome, things hit a dead end with an organizer’s post:
Tobias: This has become tiresome. If you’d like to [...]

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Want to help me warp, er, teach young minds tonight at BCIT?

by Tris Hussey March 10, 2010 Teaching

I’m in a bit of a bind with tonight’s (final) class that I teach at BCIT—I need a guest speaker! Robert Scales was going to be the capper for this term (and I couldn’t have thought of a better one, since he went to BCIT), but he is still recovering from a terrible car accident week before last.
Here are the pertinent details…
The class is called “Trendsetters” and is a seminar-style class (discussion, not lecture) where I bring in cool people from the community who are doing cutting edge and interesting [...]

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What are the best WordPress sites? Putting the community in my WordPress community chapter.

by Tris Hussey March 9, 2010 Books

The final chapter of Using WordPress is all about the WordPress community. We all know that the WordPress community is fantastic. The forums, email lists, IRC, WordCamps, everything shows the strength of the WordPress ecosystem.
I can’t think of a better way to really show off the community than to ask the community for suggestions of great WordPress sites.
Yep, the last chapter of my book is going wrap up with a community-assisted section.
Please leave your suggestions for your favourite WordPress sites (not running WordPress, but talking about WordPress) in the comments [...]

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Appearances can be deceiving-Things I’ve learned about WordPress 3.0

by Tris Hussey March 7, 2010 Books

Did you hear that sound? That low, thunking kind of sound? Yeah that’s the sound of a writer working on a book about WordPress banging their head against a wall (or desk). In case you didn’t know, book publishing timelines are rather long. Not as long as say, Microsoft OS releases, but typically longer than the release schedule for WordPress. Using WordPress is slated to be release in July (feel free to pre-order now), and in case you hadn’t looked at a calendar it’s March and my first draft of [...]

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Automattic’s Sphere of Influence is Going Beyond WordPress

by Tris Hussey March 4, 2010 Social Media

Automattic scooped up another very talented person recently. Ian Stewart of ThemeShaper and creator of the Thematic theme framework has joined Automattic as a Theme Wrangler. Sure big news for Ian, but why should this be something we all take note of? Because more and more Automattic is making slow and steady moves to become a company that could rival Google, Microsoft, or Apple in its importance to how we use computers and the Internet. See I read more into this short statement than just “I’m going to be working [...]

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Hide in the office (or work at home) and get more done

by Tris Hussey March 4, 2010 Books

I’m not a huge fan of working in offices anymore. Not only am I rather out of practice (only one year in the past 10 have I gone into an “office” everyday), but I find them one of the biggest anti-workplaces I know. I enjoy writing and working in a coffee shop more than an office. Why?
People.
In an office there are people (well, duh), but because there are people you have to abide by standard social norms. If someone calls your name, not responding is considered rather rude. Never answering [...]

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WordPress-powered Blogs Poised to Own Google Search Results

by Tris Hussey March 4, 2010 Blogging

There were two semi-related bits of news yesterday that have the potential to give WordPress-powered blogs even more of an edge in Google search rankings. Two small changes that are going to change how we find and use information, and it all comes down to one word: PubSubHubbub (PuSH).
First we got word that all 10.5 million WordPress.com blogs would support not only RSSCloud but also PuSH. That’s a lot of blog content there. Enough to make a serious difference on its own. At the same time Automattic released the PuSHPress [...]

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Is there a perfect blog editor? Does anyone care if there is?

by Tris Hussey March 3, 2010 Blogging

Very soon after I started blogging, I started using a blog editor to power up my blogging (and prevent the “aiiigghhh I lost my connection and my post!!!!” which was very common at conferences, still is actually). In those days I was using Qumana for the most part, which makes sense since I was a part of the company and helping guide the growth of the app.
For its time, Qumana was a fantastic blogging app. It was almost perfect (I was always pushing for more and better refinement), but Qumana [...]

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