AudioShocker

My friend Cole just got an iPad. It's pretty neat. We quote Phil Dunphy ruthlessly everytime we pick it up. We've affectionally named it 'game changer' and flight control is a mezmerizing game. And for all you comics fanatics - even the Marvel app is pretty spiffy. It lets you view comics panel by panel or in full view.

Of course, the first thing I did when I got my hands on the game changer was to fire up audioshocker.com, and some other websites under the AS umbrella. Here is what I found:

nealshyam.com - looking good in the neighborhood (pure html)
stoutandporter.com - not bad baby. (WP, custom theme)
nickmarino.net - hot tranny mess (WP, customized theme)
audioshocker.com - 50% functional. (WP, customized theme)

75% of these sites run WP, and that alone should qualify them to run fairly well on the iPad - and they do. You can definitely navigate, view posts, read the main page, etc. However, without Flash the AudioShocker page is robbed of its most critical, longest running, and eponymous feature: the podcast!

I did a bit of searching for flash alternative mp3 players - and you know what - there really isn't a comprehensive alternative. The main 1pixel out player we use is simply fantastic, but that's clearly a no go. Next, up was the JW player we used to have in the sidebar. Again, no go. How about these newfangled HTML5 elements? The entire world is up in arms about streaming video from Hulu / Netflix, so clearly there must be a simple solution for audio, right? Wrong.

While there are a few javascript based options that use the new HTML5  audio tags, it just raises the latent format war between webkit browsers and Firefox. This article at html5doctor sums it up:

The most significant issue is the cross-browser implementation, where lack of a common supported audio format among browsers causes complications. If developers want to take full advantage of all browsers that support HTML 5 audio, they’ll need to create both MP3 and Ogg (and in Opera’s case, WAV) versions of the audio file they want to stream!

Funny isn't it? I usually bash Flash for being a waste of bandwidth and a crutch for lazy web designers, but perhaps I should revise my statements. Flash is still terrible for plenty of reasons, but it does allow coders to effectively write out browser incompatibility problems. I have never had to worry about the podcast player not working on someone's computer. Further, I challenge anyone to tell me, with a straight face, that they use ogg files.

There is no way on earth I am going to create (actually, there is no way Nick is going to create) three separate audio files, post them to the page using some hacked together css/html that prioritizes/uses fallbacks to trick your browser into playing the correct audio. That goes against everything the Internet stands for (easy info sharing).

Nope. WWC, Adobe, Mozilla, WebKit -- get your shit together! Either standardize rendering engines to recognize multiple formats in the audio tag, or offload all of the necessary hackery to a simple js library. I want to make the AS website HTML5 compliant as soon as possible, and this is holding me up.

I've rewritten this article about 4 times now, and I've decided to incorporate everything from the last three drafts into one.

A. I spent Saturday morning meeting noted writer Ved Mehta at his UES residence. I also met former PM of India, Inder Gujral's son and grandson. BTW, the tea was great as was the coffeecake. It was like basking in the bright sunny rays of the Indian Diaspora. And what was casting those rays you might ask? Perhaps it was master painter M F Husain's rendering of Mehta's two daughters. (My mom and sister are big Husain fans, the dude is crazy awesome. They'd kill for a MFH original). It was a rather pleasant morning. I apologize for all the namedropping, but I am continually impressed by the company my dad keeps.

B. Speaking of writers, JD Salinger died last week. I find it hard to empathize with the Twittards though, because I *gasp* never read Catcher In The Rye, nor do I feel moved to do so now. I did however see Igby Goes Down, and I am comfortable with that experience and the funny joke Kieran Culkin makes about my alma mater, Choate Rosemary Hall.

C. Groundhog Day is tomorrow, and I'll be damned if that little bastard isn't going to crap all over us with another six weeks of winter. Obviously, I'm getting a little sick of Punxsutawney P. How come he can't just pretend to not see it - or how about this: LOOK UP!? That furball has the most famous shadow ever to slank around Pennsylvania. Bill Murray should be furious that we've learned nothing from all this endless repetition. I mean come on, you KNOW he's going to see his shadow and then we'll all end up using it as an excuse for our seasonal depression.

D. There is a new ice cream spot near my place called Holey Cream, that serves a homemade donut ice cream sammich. Take a minute to comprehend that and then RUN to 9th Ave in Hell's Kitchen for your own.

E. And most importantly, Nick and I decided that the AudioShocker is going to start running ads on the site (and potentially the feed) in the near future. I know I know I know. But here's the thing, this website costs us money and we'd like to make a small fraction of that money back. We haven't picked out a formal ad scheme yet, but we are working on a rate card and we'd love to have your business. Ads will likely run in the sidebar and will be as unobtrusive as possible. Additionally, we are accepting sponsorship offers for the main Tuesday podcast. If you are interested, please email neal, nick, or audio @audioshocker.com.

To the fans, I PROMISE, ads will never change what we are about: music, movies, comics. Why? Because, media is kind of our thing. Podcasts will always be recorded in verite. Pete's columns will remain late, lame, and halfassed. Justique will continue to  put Nick in weird positions and make background noises. Nick will work even harder to find new JCVD movies. And I will never stop hating flash/vocoders.

Thanks and have a great week!

Are you an MBA student? Are you into Film, TV, Sports, Music, or Media & Entertainment in general? Are you even remotely close to NYC? If you said yes, than you MUST register for and attend the 2010 MBA Media and Entertainment Conference, February 26th at NYU.

The conference brings together the nation's top MBA students as well as media, entertainment, and related companies. The purpose is to foster informative dialogue about the film, print, music, television, sports, and publishing industries. Last year's attendance reached a record 600 MBA students. The keynote speakers this year are Philippe Dauman, CEO of Viacom and Janet Robinson, CEO of the New York Times.

I am organizing a panel on business development / Creating sustainable franchises and have secured several heavyweight panelists. I'd tell you all about them, but you'll just have to come to the panel. I can say that my panelists represent a certain popular TV show, a major player in comics, a giant in the live entertainment industry, and an extremely popular video game series.

And that is just mine. From venture capital to mobile media, talent management to corporate strategy, we are doing it all.

Want to know about the other 14 panels? Check it out the full list here with descriptions.

There is no press at the event, so the AS Crew won't be representing. But, as one of the organizers from NYU, I am ordering all Tristate (hell, we have kids from France coming) students to attend. Registration opens on Thursday the 28th, and it will sell out.