Daniel Delaney from VendrTV was kind enough to invite me on the show, and I was thrilled to be able to try Spencer On The Go, a French food truck that patrols the SoMa district of San Francisco.

Now, I’ve become somewhat more adventurous in my eating habits in the past few years, but I’ve never tried escargot before. It did not go well. However, everything else we sampled was delicious, albeit guilt-inducing.

VendrTV is great, and they’ve found a nice niche by focusing on the very-trendy food carts and trucks that are showing up in major cities all over the country. Also check out his episodes with Gary Vaynerchuk and Dave Morin, who visited my favorite coffee spot in San Francisco, Blue Bottle!

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Revision3 (where we produce Tekzilla) just announced a new show called AppJudgment, which also covers BlackBerry, Android and Palm Pre applications alongside the more familiar iPhone apps. Here’s the most recent episode:

My friends Scott Johnson and Eric Skyhawk have also launched a new podcast called AppSlappy, which is quickly making it’s way up the iTunes charts. They cover what’s new in the App Store, hot deals of the week, and also give us their take on what apps they’ve been using lately.

Last but not least, Sean Bonner (along with a huge cast of well-known names in new media) is hosting a new show called iPhun. It’s honest, quick-paced, and sarcastically funny in the best way. They also have more in-depth written reviews on the blog, so check that out as well.

On a slightly different note, fellow Emerson alum Jared DiDomenico has a music project called Nuclear O’ Reilly with his friend Brad Naprixas, and they created their new album entirely on the iPhone application Beatmaker (iTunes link) by Intua Software. It’s called, very appropriately, Phoning It In. Worth a listen just to hear how much effort went into it, but it’s pretty damn catchy as well. Here’s their “making of” video:

As applications (and the iPhone itself) become more advanced, users will continue to find new ways to be creative with them. Time for me to go download some new ones!

Related posts:

1. Talking iPhone 3G S on CNN.com
2. A little iPhone organization would be nice
3. Apple in the handheld gaming world

Yay! Tekzilla came in as one of iTunes Best of 2008 (iTunes store link here) for Podcast picks in the classic video category! Other pals that took the prize include:

2008 Audio
gdgt weekly

2008 Video
ill doctrine
Scam School
Project Lore

Classic Audio
TWiT
MacCast
Coverville
Buzz Out Loud

Classic Video
Ask A Ninja
Wine Library TV
GeekBrief
Diggnation
MAKE: Magazine

Congrats to everyone!!

Related posts:

1. New Media Expo in Vegas, baby! Yeah!
2. Culture of the Apps

I was listening to the gdgt roundtable this morning, and they started talking about the iPhone / iPod Touch as a gaming device. Josh Topolsky insisted that Apple was trying to drink Sony and Nintendo’s milkshakes, while Ryan said that Apple is just going for the “value add” of having games.

This got me thinking about my iPhone and the experiences I’ve had using it as a handheld gaming device, especially compared with the Nintendo DS and the PSP. Granted, gaming on my phone has not been my number one priority, but I’ve download a few decent ones: Spore Origins, Tris (which I believe is now unavailable) and Tap Tap Revenge. But at the end of the day, was it more fun for me to play games on my iPhone than if I’d brought along the DS or PSP? Well, no, not especially. Was it more convenient to not have to carry a second device? Of course. Yet the overall experience quality is still going to be better on a standalone gaming platform. I just wonder if people really care all that much about having the absolute best experience… maybe they just don’t need it.

This brings me to another point on the podcast: do mainstream users really care about the nit-pickings of technologists when it comes to their buying decisions? Yes, there can definitely be a trickle effect of opinion that can sway people (“Oh, I’ve heard this phone is very buggy, I’m going to wait for the next version”). But what about mainstream gamers? Are games on the iPod/iPhone ever going to effect the number of handheld devices being purchased, and the amount they’re used? Is it just a nice added benefit to the phone, or a major selling point?

Developers are cranking out some beautiful looking games for the App Store, and I’m sure they’re enjoying the direct-to-buyer system (that is, if their app makes it through the approval process), but I wonder what other frequent gamers are thinking.

Do you think people will eventually buy the iPod or iPhone with the primary function of being their gaming device?

Image courtesy of Apple.com

Related posts:

1. Culture of the Apps
2. A little iPhone organization would be nice
3. The iPhone app organizer I would love to see

Wow, an Austin Powers reference? Really? And I thought I was above that…

Anyhow, next week I’ll be at the New Media Expo in Las Vegas, primarily to give a workshop with my esteemed colleague Tom Merritt (of Buzz Out Loud, Real Deal, East Meets West, The Sword and Laser, and CNET TV fame). Holy crap, Tom, you’re on a lot of stuff! Our workshop is entitled “Developing an Engaged Community (a.k.a. Don’t Feed the Trolls)”:

You want an engaged community. You want your audience to interact with your show and help spread the word. Then you get flamed. Then your feedback is filled with trolls. What do you do? Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt have dealt with the best and worst of the online community and share their experiences and specific tips and tricks for dealing with a passionate audience. They’ll tell you how to reward the good convert the bad and avoid the purely evil. You’ll come away from this workshop armed with knowledge on how to make your community a better place for you and your listeners to grow your show.

If you’re going to be there, the workshop is at 10:30AM on Thursday. But that’s not the only reason I’m heading to Vegas! There are a few great parties on Friday night that you should check out, like the Revision3 Meet-Up at the Double Down Saloon from 6-8PM (with me, Zadi Diaz and other Rev3 peeps), and then the Coverville 500 party at Bally’s at 7PM (presumably until whenever we feel like it).

I’m really excited to meet some of the podcasters that I’ve always admired, like Brian Ibbot from Coverville and Scott Johnson from The Instance and Extralife Radio (is Randy Deluxe going to be there? I don’t even know!). Should be a great time, hope to see some of you there!

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Sunday: This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte, Steve Gillmore, John C. Dvorak and Patrick Norton. We talked about all sorts of news, including SXSW (and Twitter, natch) as well as some unfounded rumors involving Revision3. Which leads us to…

Tuesday: Tekzilla! I love guest hosting this show, mostly because it means I get to hang out with Patrick and Roger all afternoon.

Thursday: The Instance Episode #100! I was honored and delighted to be on the 100th episode of my favorite podcast. Scott and Randy had folks on air that have made appearances or recorded special pieces for the show over the last 100 episodes, so it was like a big homecoming.

Friday: I went down to CNET for an in-studio recording of Buzz Out Loud. It was nice to be back in the BOL chair, even if I let Tom run the production side of things (it’s been a while, I’d probably break it). They live stream on ustream.tv now too, so I was able to record it. Not too exciting to watch us talk, I bet, but you get to see me chug some coffee.

And on Monday and Wednesday I recorded upcoming episodes of Mahalo Daily, so it was quite a full week.

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It’s pretty low-tech right now, but we hope to bring more audience discussion into it soon, by either using a TalkShoe talkcast or by using Yahoo! Live (which may have been the cause of the strange audio hissing from this week’s episode…). We even have some swag to give away on the next episode! If it sounds like something you’d enjoy, you can subscribe here.

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But the best part about the show was taking live calls from listeners via Talkshoe. This was my first time using their interface, and I think they’re definitely on the right track. It reminds me a lot of Stickam and Ustream, except without all the pesky video. Yes, sometimes it’s nice to not have to deal with video, it’s true. Users interact with the host over chat, phone, VoIP or not at all (just listening). The host can queue up questions and bring them into the discussion at will.

The chat interface could use a little improvement, but I heard from someone over Twitter that they’re planning on implementing an IRC-based chat interface sometime in the future. Despite that (and it’s a small issue — I got used to it after a couple of minutes) I really enjoyed the experience. I didn’t even mind downloading their small app, which usually drives me crazy.

I love that there are new services enabling podcasters to really engage with their audience. My favorite part of podcasting is interacting with users, whether it be via forums, emails, social networks, etc. Now we have to figure out how to do a live Mahalo Daily, and we’ll be all set!

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It’s a proud day for me to see Mahalo Daily featured in the iTunes video podcasting slide, especially considering we’re sharing the space with EPIC-FU and Wallstrip, and my alma mater Crave. Well, I just wanted to gloat a little, since the team has been working so hard on the show, and I’m happy that we’re getting such positive feedback.

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Crave this past week was a ton of fun to make. I’m trying to change the format of the show from what it used to be (a few gadgets, white background, etc) to be more about using the gadgets that we talk about on Crave in a fun way. Let me know if you like this kind of episode better (see also: The raver T-shirt experiment) than how we used to do them.

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It was a lot of fun, although my Skype kept giving out and dropping me. Maybe I need to make some kind of sacrifice to the Comcast gods in order to get a stable connection these days.

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I’ll be recording the show at 7PM PST, and I’ll also be on my Stickam (see widget to your right in my sidebar) live during the recording. So will Scott, and it should be a lot of fun! I’m excited, and also strangely nervous.

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Of course I picked “Nerd,” what would you expect? I can’t wait to get him in the mail. Unfortunately, Len has closed up shop for a while, but when he starts drawing them again make sure you get in early!

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Speaking of podcasting, I’ll be shooting a video TWiT at Zeum (at the Moscone Center) here in SF on Friday afternoon. It’s not going to be open to the general public, but look for the video on TWiT.tv next week. Also, Ryan and I will be recording our first podcast together this weekend! We have a name, but you’ll just have to wait and see. It’s more for our amusement than anything else, so don’t expect it to be as formulaic as BOL or as detail-oriented as the Engadget podcast. Well, maybe Ryan will still be as detail-oriented, but he’s just smart like that.

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And speaking of video podcasts, Crave is now available on YouTube from CNET TV! You can find Road Warrior and Buzz Report there as well.

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Also, on Wednesday I’m appearing on Attack of the Show! If you get G4, make sure you watch The Loop. I’m excited!

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This first episode was definitely all about figuring how we wanted the show be, and so the next one will be a lot better (improved set, as well). Hope you like it!

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