Two upcoming AlwaysOn events

AlwaysOn from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Here's a 90-second interview with Amanda Corfman, program director for AlwaysOn, conducted at Streaming Media West in San Jose on Thursday. Amanda discusses two upcoming AlwaysOn events:

• BreakOut 2008 - Where artists go digital, Nov. 3-5, 2008, at the  Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills. (With the presidential election Nov. 4, I'll pass.)

• Venture Summit, a VC-focused event on Dec. 2-3 in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

Watch video in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia
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Mixx: launch your own social network

Mixx: personalized social media from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

I've been hearing about Mixx.com for some time and a few days ago had the chance to chat with Chris McGill, founder and CEO of the site. Mixx is a platform that enables any organization or person to launch a social media site at no cost and with no technological savvy.

The site has had 8.1 million unique visitors over the past five months — not bad for a young startup. At the TechCrunch50 conference earlier this month Chris spoke with me about the site, how it differs from other social networks and where it goes from here.

Watch the video in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia
Watch the video in Flash on Vimeo

If you prefer audio only, here's a 16-minute podcast that Nick O'Neill of SocialTimes did with Chris last month.

Cross-posted to SocialMedia.biz.

An interview with Ustream

Ustream from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Here's a 4-minute interview I did with Casey Georgeson of Ustream during last week's TechCrunch50 conference. Ustream has taken off in a big way over the past year, providing live video streaming services to the big boys (like the Republican National Convention) as well as individual bloggers. If you're not familiar with them, check them out at ustream.tv.

Watch video in original H.264 QuickTime at 480 pixels on Ourmedia
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Created with Final Cut Express.

Cross-posted to SocialMedia.biz.

Interview with the founder of Delver

Delver: a social search engine from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

I conducted a number of interviews at TechCrunch50 last week. One of the most intriguing was with Liad Agmon, CEO and co-founder of Delver.com. He and PR rep Paula Gould discussed the new social search engine, which has some very interesting features you won't find on other search engines, such as restaurant and hotel recommendations by your network of friends. I'll definitely be using Delver.

By the way, I recently bought Final Cut Express and this is my first video in Final Cut rather than iMovie. Jason Blalock helped me get this far; I hope to get better in the coming months.

Watch video in H.264 QuickTime at original 480 pixel width
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Cross-posted to SocialMedia.biz.

Blonde 2.0 on the tech and social media sectors

Blonde 2.0 from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

For me, the highlight of the TechCrunch50 conference last week was spending three days with Ayelet Noff, aka Blonde 2.0, who's become a dear friend since we met in person in Israel for the first time in April. In this 9-minute video interview, conducted last Wednesday, Ayelet talks about the tech and social media scenes in Israel and Silicon Valley.

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Support nonprofits with Causecast

Support nonprofits with Causecast from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Here's a 6-minute video interview I conducted with Ryan Scott, founder and CEO of Causecast, on the day of its launch, Sept. 10, 2008, just after Scott's presentation at TechCrunch50. 

As the site's About page says, Causecast empowers people who want to make change. It's a platform and social network where media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose. Jennifer Lopez, Kanye West, Matthew Modene and Jenny McCarthy are among the Hollywood celebrities that have pitched in on behalf of a cause for the Santa Monica-based outfit.

Good stuff. I'll be keeping an eye on its progress over the coming months.

Watch the video in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia
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Cross-posted to SocialMedia.biz.

An Arab Israeli's remarkable journey

Finally had a chance to edit and upload two videos from our Silicon Valley blogger trip to Israel in April.

A visit to a Bedouin Arab home from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

A visit to a Bedouin Arab home

Here's a 3 minute 45 second chat with Muhammad Khaldi in Khawalid, a Bedouin Arab village in northern Israel, and his son Ishmael Khaldi, who is the deputy consul of the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest in San Francisco.

We had the talk during a visit to the Khaldi home by a group of 10 Innovation Israel bloggers from the San Francisco Bay Area. Both Ishmael and Deborah Schultz interpret Muhammad's remarks from Arabic into English.

Watch the video in H.264 on Ourmedia
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An Arab Israeli's journey from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

An Arab Israeli's journey

Here's a 13-minute video capturing a story by Ishmael Khaldi, who is the deputy consul of the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest in San Francisco, during a trip to his home in Khawalid, a Bedouin Arab village in northern Israel. Ishmael recounts his first visit to the United States when he came to New York with no place to stay.

Ish chatted with a group of 10 bloggers from the San Francisco Bay Area during a weeklong trip to Israel in April 2008.

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A taste of TechCrunch50

One of the coolest folks I met on Day 2 of the TechCrunch50 conference was Meghan Asha, founder of NonSociety and a self-described "geekette." Check out the personality-driven tech-glam recommendation site NonSociety.com and her lifecast there.

Meghan gives a nice 4-minute summary of highlights at TechCrunch50, the second annual technology conference put on by Michael Arrington and Jason Calacanis, and cites the favorite tech startups she's seen so far. 

Watch video in H.264 (QuickTime) on Ourmedia
Watch video in Flash on Viddler (embedded above)

Vimeo has been screwing up uploads for the past 48 hours.

The state of online privacy

Here's a 7-minute video interview I did with Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, about the state of online privacy and the challenges citizens face today with regard to both the government and corporations. Conducted at the Aspen Institute in August 2008.

Also watch video in H.264 on Ourmedia.

Cross-posted to SocialMedia.biz.