This was a story that was out on Techcrunch before the long holiday season but nonetheless it’s something that ties in all the recent tech news that’s taking up much virtual ink lately.
So is this all just too much for all us consumers to ponder? One of the biggest factors for me would be just how interchanagable all this geeky stuff is? What if the google app store has a kick ass app that just isn’t offered in the itunes app store? Most likely the app developer will create several versions that will be compatible to every major wireless device. The problem comes in when you are ready to upgrade, change services, service plans, etc. Will we have to repurchase all our favorite apps? Will it be a big factor in our committments to our phone, carrier, plans, etc?
Come to think of it, still at it’s infancy, it’s already getting to be a huge pain in the ass, no?
I gotta make sense of all this later in the month. There’s a grand slam tournament still going on that’s far more interesting to this tennis geek.
As reported by several sources including Yahoo here, Google enters the browser market with the Tuesday beta release of their very own browser Chrome.
Alongside it’s development of word processing and spreadsheet software, it’s dominance in search and general abilities to do whatever it really wants to, this may be yet another blow that Microsoft must not only endure but overcome.
Kinda looks like Opera
Ironically, between the PR drummings their OS Vista software has been receiving against the Mac OS, it’s continued third banana status in search behind Google and Yahoo, Microsoft finds itself from the penthouse to the outhouse as the perennial underdogs.
The obvious issue now is whether Google can make such a huge dent in an already highly competitive browser market what with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari out there with such an established base.
But I guess if anyone could rock it, it would be the global goliath of the silicon valley.
No doubt the geek patrol will be all over this all week.
First finding the story in Engadget it certainly looks like all the involved companies are working fast to get this one out and running into the marketplace.
I’m sure all you tech geeks (myself included) have read or heard more than a few recent stories of Apple’s continuous stumbles in the media from their iphone ills to their mobile me troubles to even accidentally publishing Steve Jobs’ obituary! So it makes not only great sense to launch something new so close to the holiday season but also an added timing bonus for competing with the wildly popular Mac when they seem to not be the “Apple” in everyone’s eye anymore.
The man of a thousand and one voices (and that’s probably a modest number), Keith Ferguson is someone who was born to perform.
Inspired by an uncanny early knack for getting into trouble (where so many great performers got their starts), Keith would often mimic his own cousins’ voices, saying inappropriate things to unknowing adults.
Those pitch perfect “voice-matching” skills would later prove to be quite an asset in the voice over world as Keith is widely considered one of the very few go-to clutch performers whenever producers would need talent to voice-match celebrities for games, films, toys, etc.
However, beyond merely voicematching some of your favorite celebrities, Keith has an even larger array of original voices that has propelled him to the pinnacle of the voice-over world. From the lead character of “Bloo” in Nickelodeon’s Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends to the character “Kaim” in the global hit video game “Lost Odyssey”, and too many others in between, Keith Ferguson is a highly skilled and sought voice actor who has only begun to scratch the surface of his potential with an even brighter future ahead.
Just check out Keith’s website and you’ll get a very small taste of the smorgasboard of voices Keith is so quietly famous for.
Special thanks to Keith for taking the time to participate in this interview.
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Keith Ferguson as “Han Solo” in Robot Chicken
cap) How did you get introduced to the voice over industry?
kf) The short answer is I was discovered by one of my current agents, Pat Brady, in a voice over workshop I took after landing some vo work in a talk show that I actually used to work on as a staff member. Wait… that was actually the long answer.
cap) How long have you been in the voice over industry?
kf) About eight years so far.
cap) What would you attribute most to your voice over success?
kf) Hmm, hard to say. Definitely my representation is a strong factor. I’d say the reason I have a career is because of Pat Brady. She’s been relentless in championing my vo skills since the very beginning and has always made my capabilities known to those that had no other reason to be aware of me.</blockquote>
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Keith Ferguson plays two different racing announcers for Vitamin Water
cap) How long did it take you to land your first voice over job?
kf)Well, I suppose it was more of a lucky fluke, but I booked my first audition. As a matter of fact, Ms. Pat Brady got me the audition before I even officially signed with her the day I first went in to meet with her. I worked the following week. Now ask me how long my second vo job took.
cap) What was your first job you earned that really got you noticed in the voice over community?
kf) I’d have to say the role of Blooregard Q. Kazoo on “Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends” on Cartoon Network. I’d been working in the industry for about three years with a comfortable rate of increasing success, including a brief and exciting website series with vo veteran, Rob Paulsen (Pinky of “Pinky and the Brain”). But then when I booked Foster’s it was like, “Whoa, where’d this guy come from?!”
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Keith Ferguson as “Bloo” in Nickelodeon’s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends
cap) Finish the following statement: “One thing you might not know about voice over is…”
kf) It can be great physical exercise. Especially with bigger characters or almost 80 percent of video games. When finishing a session one can be so covered in sweat that one feels like they just ran a 10k.
cap) Do you feel that the industry has changed since you first started in the business? How?
kf) The gaming industry has exploded since I first started. It was already going at a pretty good pace, but now it’s on par with the film industry and sometimes surpasses it.
cap) What’s your favorite part of the job?
kf) The work itself. Feeling myself vocally slip into the skin of so many different characters is invigorating. It takes me so many places in my mind, giving me a rich world of countless perspectives from the real to the surreal.
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Keith Ferguson plays “Friend Owl” in Walt Disney’s Bambi II
cap) What’s your least favorite part of the job?
kf) I’m not sure. I really do enjoy my work.
cap) Finish the following sentence: “If it wasn’t for voice over, I’d probably…”
kf) …be trying to get into voice over. That or being some kind of psychologist. Or seeing one.
cap) If you were just entering the voice over industry now, would you do anything different?
kf) I’d establish my website much sooner, and be better about getting copies of everything I booked from the very start.
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Keith Ferguson as Steven Wright in Family Guy
cap) With several automated online based marketplaces opening up in the voice over industry like voices.com, voice123.com, etc., do you think this changes the playing field in terms of competition, agent value, barrier to entry in the field?
kf) Hard for me to say. I have heard that some casting directors do go directly to sites sometimes before going to agencies to audition. My agency happens to get an immense amount of audition copy in town, so for me, the effect may be different than for others. Also, there still will always be the need for the negotiator. Some performers have that inclination as well, but there will always be those who want to focus on the art form more than deal brokerage, myself included. I imagine that vo websites might open up opportunities of discovery for those not yet known. But then again, there is always high value in having a third party who’s industry-established, be it an agent or a manager, vouch for your ability and professionalism. My sense is that hearing someone say, “Trust me, this person’s really good,” carries more weight than merely hearing, “Trust me, I’M really good.”
cap) Do you have any voice over tips you’d like to share?
kf) Read aloud everyday. And in different ways, from emotional intent to vocal quality. Take a workshop. Then, take a workshop with agents when you feel really competitive. Have fun in the booth, unless it’s a really dark and serious project. Then just have fun between the takes. ;^)
cap) When you’re not working, how do you typically spend your time?
kf) Watching movies, running or cycling, hanging out with friends, and lavishing inappropriate amounts of affection on my cat.
cap) Complete the following sentence: “I wish…”
kf) I had discovered voice over even earlier in my life.
Adding to my recent tech woes (should I or should I not buy an iphone) comes the news about a new line of ipods launching in early September and now this post about the Android finally making it’s fourth quarter 2008 debut.
The pros:
1) T-Mobile. I love T-mobile’s service. It’s reasonably priced, the service has rarely let me down, customer service has always been dependable and it’s convenient for me.
2) Hopefully they’ll fix a lot of the “issues” that Mac has been receiving regarding their 2nd generation 3G iphone. The slow 3G on the iphone, the plethora of dropped calls, the low life of the battery, the screw ups with the launch of Apple’s MobileMe, etc. Apple stumbled hard quite a few times these last few months and the door is wide open for someone else to bring them back down to reality. Perhaps Google and T-Mobile can do it. Yes, this is just pure hopefulness on my part but everyone needs to dream right?
3) The Android could be the N’Sync to the iphone’s Backstreet Boys. Damn, that sounds way more fey than I ever thought it would. But you get the point.
4) Be a rebel. These iphone carrying bragging little shits who can’t stop checking shit on their iphones are some of the most annoying little shits in the world. “Hold on a sec bro, let me check that on my phone…”, “Hey, my iphone is also a lightsaber…”, “Hey, my iphone just gave me a happy ending…”.
The Cons:
1) I’m sorta OCD about certain things. If I buy a season of DVD’s for a show, I need to buy the future seasons. If I have a Sony TV, I need to get a Sony DVD player and a Sony game system. If I have a burrito for lunch, I need those damn chips and salsa. So since I have a Mac Powerbook Pro, I feel this need to keep things consistent. This is actually a bigger deal for me than I would like to admit.
2) Those design folks over at Mac do know how to make our gizmos look so sleek and cool! I’m not the biggest fan of the android design above. It looks like a sidekick f’d an iphone and this is what they produced.
3) I’m just giving up being just another iphone sheep to being just another google sheep.
So now, what then?
Basically, I’m going to wait until the end of the year to make my final decision.
Kind of a fizzle of an ending there.
(beat; crickets)
Shit, I’ve bored myself out just writing this post.
Many believe that when the “prosumer” digital video cameras landed into the excited hands of the mainstream audience that that would usher in the new era of filmmakers / videomakers / videographers / etc.
That hasn’t happened yet.
We can go into the numerous specifics of why that is:
1) Traditional auteurs / filmmakers still latch onto sing the praises of film.
2) The mostly young directors-in-training are still developing their skills.
3) Because of this recent surge in cheaper technology, somehow these folks have forgotten the basics to develop their abilities to tell stories.
4) I’ll really have to expound more on this later (I’m getting pissed just thinking about it here).
Criticizing modern wave filmmaking isn’t the point of this post.
Beyond the Canon XL series, the Panasonic DVX series and the Sony Cine Alta comes the newest darling of the pro level, cheaper and comparable to film geek gadget for the cinephiles could just very well be: The Red Digital Camera.
Founded by billionaire founder of Oakley (yes, those Oakleys) Jim Jannard, The Red Digital Camera promises to finally shut the gap between celluloid and digital in terms of aesthetics and depth that film has provided for 100 years.
If you’re like me, you might be in one form of iphone limbo or other. I am just starting year two of my two year mobile contract with T-Mobile, I’m very happy with my Dragon-Engraved Motorola Razr (minus the dying battery issue after the 12 month period) and it’s services. Because most of my day I’m in front of a fully wired computer and my current mobile contract sitch I don’t find myself yet at the point where I need to have a fully mobile 3G phone ala the mac iphone (besides, there are plenty of people out there who can’t stop showing off their lame ass lightsaber app on their iphone to me… fey).
Then recently all this news regarding google’s 3G enabled android began to build up steam once again and it made me 1) glad I didn’t commit to the iphone yet and 2) gave me more excuses to embrace the “wait and see” approach.
Now comes this week’s addition to my mental hell about all this which are these rumors from Digg’s Kevin Rose sharing his knowledge and information on the new line of ipods that are on the verge of making a huge splash in the next month.
I have an old ass ipod. During the early 2000’s it seemed like Apple was literally unveiling a bigger, cooler, smaller version of the ipod every other day. After playing the “wait and see” game for several months, the big 40 gig photo ipod with the click wheel came out to the market and I quickly purchased one. At the time I didn’t think that it could get any better than this. I have a HUGE CD collection and this ipod would still have all the room to carry all my music plus have like 10 gigs left for photos. The only next stage would probably be video but that won’t be for at least a year or two right? Screw it. I’m getting the ipod photo.
I think it was like the next month (at least that’s what it felt like to me at the time) Apple unveiled the ipod video. I went in too early again.
Now with the potential of a newly revamped ipod touch on the horizon, I may have the opportunity to get the best of all worlds. All the benefits of the iphone without the monthly fees, hassles, BS (the fact that AT&T is the only licensed US carrier still bugs me). Plus Apple is expected to lower the price on top of it? Sounds like a no brainer to me.
With my luck though I’m sure the day after I buy the new ipod touch, Apple will be like: “yo, check this shit out. new apple ipod teleportation! with the help of google earth and maps, you can now use apple’s gps technology and teleport yourself anywhere in the world! $299″.
The World is Flat and You Better Get With The Times
I read (and was floored by) The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman a while back but couldn’t fathom how to write a post about something that is so big and fundamentally pivotal and necessary knowledge to find success in the modern global landscape. Then I realized that that is exactly what the book is for and about.
If you want to understand why oil (and life overall) has gotten so expensive so quickly… if you’re curious as to exactly how and when we went from hiring travel agents to priceline and expedia… if you want to know how some smart kid in India is answering all your technical questions about your Los Angeles based PC… if you wonder how we came from the encyclopedia Brittanica to Wikipedia, cable to youtube and Hulu, libraries to Google, Blockbuster to Netflix, iTunes and Pandora… if you want to know what is really the purpose and business model of UPS (those dudes in the brown shorts aren’t just about delivering packages. They are doing so much more)… if you want to know how you are actually working for Southwest airlines right now… if you want to get a grasp of where the next level of this hyper speed innovations are potentially headed… and so so so so much more.
You need to read this book.
And to all the readers born after the Reagan administration: This shit is mad important, yo!
First, let me share this audio clip from one of Friedman’s speaking engagements to whet your palette.
Though I had heard much about Friedman and this book in particular before, this was the catalyst that made me order the book on Amazon and devour the information in a few days. Then let it sink in and go over all my highlights at various time to make it stick.
Friedman lists out all the factors that contributed to the connected world we live in now:
Beginning at the fall of the Berlin Wall, to the day Netscape went public, to outsourcing, to insourcing, to the sudden awakening to the global network of potential employees (your job could be taken by someone who lives halfway around the world who has more qualifications and is cheaper. Plus they no longer even have to move to do your work!), to all the “technical steroids” that continue to speed up the innovations and workflows even further, The World is Flat is an extremely well researched and well communicated book that I just can’t stop lauding (in case you couldn’t tell).
I know it’s maddening right now. So many changes so fast. And just when you think you’ve got a grasp on one thing, another thousand pop up to change everything you’ve killed yourself to learn.
Yes, you can pay people to know this for you. But I’m perpetually curious with a voracious appetite to learn as much on my own as I can. It’s a blessing. But mostly it’s a curse.
I would consider this book almost a prerequisite to entering your adulthood. The best minds in our country are already hip to this. We all should be. Don’t be left out.
I said earlier that I didn’t know exactly how I was going to write a post about this book. I think I just ended up writing an expanded headline. And in doing so I’m hoping that some of you will stop wondering about why our wallets are getting lighter, our homes are losing value, food is costing more, etc. and start informing yourself of the factors behind it.
The World is Flat doesn’t try to answer all these questions directly but it does give you all the fundamental changes that occurred and continues to happen in the world so we get a better grasp as to how we got here and where we’re headed.
I Tivo NBC Nightly News every night. Recently a couple of friends suggested that I start to watch BBC World News as well to get a more comprehensive report on what’s going on out there.
Initially I figured that I was just doubling up on the same overall headlines with different “local” news that was sprinkled in to fill in between the major headlines of day.
Boy was I wrong! And to a disturbing amount.
In the two months since I started to Tivo both NBC and BBC, I realized just how sheltered and limited our own national news coverage is.
With the Beijing Olympics only a couple of days away, don’t you think this is news that we as United States citizens should probably be informed of?
What’s going on out there in national network news in the states?
I’m sure that the US news networks are run and operated by people far smarter than me but this doesn’t look good at all. I mean for all the hoopla over the restrictions the Chinese government places on their people and media content, this doesn’t look all that different.
If there is anyone out there who can shed some light on this, I’m all ears.
By the way, both of those days when those aforementioned headlines lead the BBC Newscast, I think Brian Williams started out one night with the heatwave in Texas and something about skin cancer respectively. Now don’t get me wrong. I believe that both of these national headlines are very important too but why lead with these stories when there was two friggin’ explosions (terrorist related) not too far away from where the world has sent their top athletes to represent their respective countries?
I recently finished reading Pete Sampras’ incredible memoir “A Champion’s Mind” and among all cool “inside” stories, candid commentaries and awesome accomplishments, the one thing that it reminded me of (that which I sorely miss) is the unparalleled depth of United States tennis champions we had back in the day.
Sampras, Agassi, Courier, McEnroe… all multi grand slam champions of the same era. Shit, even ‘Lil Michael Chang managed to pick up a Grand Slam trophy winning the ‘89 French Open.
... United States Tennis Now.
Now who do we have? James Blake, the Bryan Brothers, some dude named Mardy, another jabroni guy named Robby… wasn’t there a dude named Taylor something there too for a while? Does anyone know whatever happened to Taylor something? Apparently he was a solid serve and volleyer back in the early 2000’s. Now I think he’s applying to be Britney Spears’ kids’ “Manny”.
Then there is the guy who was supposed to lead this new generation of The United States Tennis Army… a guy by the name of Andy Roddick.
One US Open title in 2003 later and he’s already been succumbed to third tier status now basically in a heated battle to stay in the top ten, unsure if he’ll even qualify for the year end Masters Championships now.
Are these guys just banging hot chicks and updating their facebook pages now? Have we raised a nation filled too much with “Coach’s Award” recipients? You know what title that is right? The award given to the “Lucas” of the team. So I ask you this:
WHAT THE FUDGE IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!
Roddick is going to be 26 later this month. Blake is going to be 29 at the end of the year. The rest of these other guys are pretty much a notch above a solid club player. We’re running out of time. Soon. And where the heck are the up and coming players?
All I hear about the next generation of tennis players are guys like Andy Murray(British), Novak Djokovic(Serbian), Rafael Nadal(Spanish), Gael Monfils(French), Richard Gasquet(also French). I guess among other things in the world, with tech, service, products, etc. the world of tennis has entered the flat world as well. Except for the fact that tennis has always been a global sport. It’s one of the unique and endearing characteristics of this sport that I love. Not only is it common to understand and root for players not of your own country, it’s very much accepted and lauded to do so. In many ways tennis is still very ahead of it’s time for this very reason.
But this certainly doesn’t make Americans like myself not want and yearn for a homegrown champion. In fact it damn near shines a spotlight on it’s absence! For all the criticism Sampras received during his peak position at the top of the mountain, nothing would make me happier than to see this quiet tennis machine take the court with his 85 square inch Original Wilson Pro Staff stick and run these other guys around like a school of monks stuck in a room with Paris Hilton. Shit Sampras, give me one more scissor kick overhead smash, dog! One more running forehand for old times sake!
I’m proud of Roddick for winning the 2003 Open. I’m proud that James Blake came back from a broken friggin’ neck to get back to the top ten of the tennis rankings. I’m proud that the Bryans won every major doubles title imaginable. But I can’t help but think that there is something really disturbing going on here where all our caudling, ego stroking, “coach’s awards”, celebutard idolizing, mediocre talent embracing culture is really hurting us as a whole.
More importantly, it’s only getting worse as evidenced by the utter lack of updates on a younger generation of up and coming tennis phenoms being raisied in The States. I don’t think it’s just mere coincidence that the overall lack of tennis coverage in the States (mainly because of our refusal to embrace anything that we don’t currently dominate) is further hurting the long term issues we’ll really be facing when the Blakes and Roddicks hit their retirement years. That’s just a couple of years away, folks!
And most importantly, it’s messing with my rights to brag about a homegrown tennis champion. And this bums me out more than that time they sent Ashley Simpson on stage with the wrong tape cued up to “sing” for her (acid reflux = no talent).
Yes, this has been the era of Federer. This is looking like it’s going to transition to the era of Nadal.
Posted by cap
Posted by cap
Posted by cap
