A chat with the chairman of Intel

The highlight of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for me was the sitdown that the Intel Insiders had with Intel chairman and former CEO Craig Barrett. (Disclosure: I'm a member of the Intel Insiders.)

At CES the next day, Barrett gave a keynote in which he announced a wide-ranging new initiative by Intel to support the philanthropic micro-lending efforts of Kiva.org and the nonprofit charity Save the Children all across the globe.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, Intel has been steadily reaching out across the U.S. border to advance education and literacy around the world. Barrett mentions the Intel Teach program to put technology in the classroom, which is especially popular overseas. He also discusses the larger role that technology companies — Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM (and Google, though he doesn't name them) — are playing in the evolving field of corporate social responsibility.

Two quick quotes from Barrett:

• "Technology is not the answer. Technology is one of the tools you can use. The really important thing in education is that you have good teachers." Without quality teachers, all the technology in the world won't help.

• He told a story about schoolchildren in a rural village in India whose highlight of the week comes on Tuesdays, when a bus carrying a mobile computer station arrives. It's had a significant impact on reducing truancy and dropout rates in rural India. "When you see that, you say, Wow."

A week after we met with Barrett, he announced that he will step down in May — after 35 years with the company, seven of them as the CEO and almost almost four as chair. See the Intel release and the GigaOm story.

A 20something's take on social networks and news

Lauren on social media & modern news from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Here's one of a series of interviews I'm doing on social media and the future of news and journalism. Those in the news business, and journalism educators, can learn a lot from Lauren of San Francisco, who sat down with me last month to discuss how she uses social networks and how she and her 20something friends are getting their news today. Young people's media habits are rapidly changing and traditional media organizations haven't kept pace.

Watch video in Flash on Vimeo (7 minutes, embedded above)

A sitdown with the CEO of Ford

From JD Lasica on Vimeo.

At the Ultimate Bloggers Dinner on the opening night of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 7, Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Company, took out time to sit down with a few bloggers for a live Webcast, a couple of cell phone interviews, and the interview above, which I captured with a Canon HV20 hi-def camcorder.

Chris Heuer of AdHocnium (and the Social Media Club) and I interviewed Mulally about how Ford is using social media to drive innovation and transformation inside the company. Chris and I both found Mulally to be incredibly personable and knowledgeable about the social forces swirling through the economy.

The video is 10 minutes long and a bit noisy because we didn't have a lavalier mic, but you can hear Mulally throughout.

Watch in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia (or download it)
Watch in Flash on Vimeo (embedded above)

Bonus: Flickr photo set of Mulally (at bottom) and others at CES.

Cross-posted to Socialmedia.biz.

Xeni Jardin on BoingBoing

Xeni Jardin from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Xeni Jardin, one of the hosts of the hugely successful site BoingBoing.net ("a directory of wonderful things"), talks about boingboing.tv and the evolution from the site's early days to its push into online video in this 6-minute interview conducted at the Web 2.0 Summit.

For those who don't know Xeni, her site offers this nickel tour: "Xeni Jardin is a tech culture journalist. She is co-editor of the award winning blog Boing Boing, and executive producer + host of the daily internet video program Boing Boing tv.  She contributes to television, radio, and print venues including Wired and NPR, and likes to float in spaceships."

I've long admired Xeni, her colleagues Cory, Mark, David and John, and her correspondent/citizen journalism dispatches on NPR, so I couldn't pass up the chance at lunchtime to pull her aside and get a quick update on BoingBoing's commercial success (seven- (or eight-?) figure online revenues in this economy? wow). Don't miss the Starbucks product placement at the end.

The noise throughout the hallway was loud, and outside was not a better option, so I hope to lobby for some quieter quarters at next year's event. Meantime, I hope to get through my backlog of videos by Jan. 3.

Watch video in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia at larger size
Watch video in Flash on Vimeo (embedded above)

Cross-posted to Socialmedia.biz.

Von Iva

The Von Iva interview from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

At the last Macworld Expo Culture Catch Salon, I bumped into the drummer of Von Iva, a San Francisco band that hit the big time this weekend with the release of Jim Carrey's new movie, Yes Man.

I hadn't heard of Von Iva until then, but Kelly Harris was down-to-earth and sweet and I stuck around for the group's set — great stuff! Here's one of their music videos on YouTube, with Jillian Iva singing "Not Hot to Trot."

In this  5 1/2-minute video interview, Kelly talks about the four songs they wrote for the film. (I don't know if they all made it into the final cut; I believe the group makes a couple of appearances under a fictitious name.) She also discusses the band's plans to tour.

Great to see the group heading toward even greater success. (You can see band members Jillian Iva Meador, Becky Kupersmith and Kelly Harris credited in the movie's cast here.)

Watch or download video in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia
Watch video in Flash on Vimeo (embedded above)

A chat with the founders of JibJab

The creators of JibJab from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

You know JibJab, right? The wildly popular online animation site has been around since 1999 but became a global phenomenon with their 2004 animated hit This Land, which spoofed the campaigns of John Kerry and George W. Bush. The short has been streamed more than 80 million times. 

The brothers Spiridellis — Evan, the head art guy, and Gregg, CEO guy — spoke at The Conversation, a gathering of filmmakers and new media types at the Pacific Film Institute in Berkeley in October. I snagged them for 5 minutes afterward before they had to run off for another appointment (which is why we had no choice but to live with the noise in the background).

In the clip, Gregg and Evan talk about how their business has evolved over the past nine years, what business models are working for them, and how their use of social media propels the site forward.

After trying about 20 business models, Gregg said, they found that their best business model was "working around social expression content," with a mix of subscriber-based premium content and some free, ad-supported digital content.

Web 1.0 was about ecards, Gregg says, but now it's about personalized cards that you become a character in and that you can share or post to your own site. "We've had 13 million heads loaded and put into our movies. People will pay for content that they can use to express themselves in their digital lives. They won't pay to watch a 2-minute funny video."

This holiday season you can upload your image to JibJab and put the image onto gifts, holiday e-cards, mouse pads, mugs and knickknacks.

But the most interesting thing about JibJab we'll be watching in the years ahead is how they use the power of social media to create relationships with their users and empower them to become co-creators. 

Watch or download video in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia
Watch video in Flash on Vimeo

Cross-posted to socialmedia.biz .

A chat with the founder of Samasource

Samasource from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

I finally have time to get to my backlog of video interviews, after changing jobs earlier this month.

Here's a 4-minute interview with Leila Chirayath, founder and CEO of Samasource, a nonprofit social enterprise in Silicon Valley that that connects small and mid-size businesses with individuals and firms in the developing world that can perform outsourcing work (such as data entry) in a socially responsible way.

They now have pilot programs in Kenya, Nepal and rural India, and their goal, as their website says, is "to catalyze sustainable economic development and poverty alleviation by creating a thriving, active market for socially responsible outsourcing to developing regions."

The interview was conducted on a very windy day at the recent Craigslist Nonprofit Bootcamp in San Mateo, Calif. (though I do need to get a fabric microphone cover). I caught up with Leila a few minutes before her jam-packed talk. As Leila says, there's a lot of misinformation in the media about outsourcing, and Samasource can help you sort through the best options.

Watch or download video in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia
Watch video in Flash on Vimeo

Cross-posted to socialmedia.biz .

Interview with president of micro-lender Kiva

Kiva from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Here's a 4 1/2-minute interview with Premal Shah, president of the nonprofit microfinance lender Kiva.org, conducted at the Craigslist Nonprofit Bootcamp in San Mateo, Calif.

Premal discusses not just Kiva but other online services that are of great help to nonprofits, including myc4, microplace, prosper.com, Google Checkout, techsoup and Salesforce's program for nonprofits.

Kiva has become one of my favorite sites, performing a spectacularly valuable service on a global scale. Check them out and consider supporting a small business or entrepreneur in the developing world with a $25 loan.

Watch video in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia at larger size
Watch video in Flash on Vimeo

Ideablob awards monthly $10,000 prizes

Ideablob from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Here's a 4-minute interview I did with Darren Sudman, VP of Innovation for Advanta Bank Corp., who oversees its Ideablob program. The project gives out $10,000 a month to the best business ideas.

eBay Giving Works

eBay Giving Works from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Here's a 9-minute conversation I had earlier this month with Kristin Cunningham, general manager of eBay's Giving Works program, about how you can help nonprofits through your purchases on eBay (and how nonprofits can help themselves). Giving Works is about to celebrate its 5th birthday this coming Wednesday, Nov. 5, and has raised $150 million for charitable causes on eBay. These folks rock!

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

Cross-posted to SocialMedia.biz.