Lukey Luke- stunt rider, urban cowboy and latte drinker.

ThomasrDotOrg media services is pleased to announce that effective November 1st 2010, we have been contracted to provide management, media and media training services for stunt rider “Lukey” Luke Follacchio.

Principal Tom Reynolds: “Lukey is not just a great rider- and he is one of Australia’s best- but he’s also a brilliant talent off the bike. He’s an affable, charming marketer’s dream. I think we’ll work together really well.”

Luke: “I’ve known Tom from his time with the Australian Superbikes and he’s given me advice and guidance from that time til today when we felt it was a good time to make it formal. I’m looking to really step it up in the next while and look at not just my shows but how I present to potential event organisers, sponsors and the public alike.”

Lukey Luke is sponsored by Triumph, Draggin Jeans, One Stop Project Solutions, Hart & Huntington, Shift, Ogio, Super StreetBike Magazine and Osiris.
Lukey on Twitter and Facebook

I’m beginning to think that maybe this is the way things are and will continue to be.

While this presents a wonderful opportunity to the technically literate, it actually makes their (and by inference my) working life an occasional hell. As an account manager in digital, I have had to deal with so many people client side who have no idea yet talk (and repeatedly email) like they do.

A small sample:

• “But that should not take six hours. Let’s say two?”
• “I know we don’t have an SLA, but I want that done today!”
• “We need to have a document online for staff, but they can’t print or save it”
• “We need the database search to then search inside the PDF itself”
• “Pursuing social media is a sign you’re out of ideas”

The last one was not a client, but a boss.

These are just a few of the many I can think of right now. I used to say with pride that the role of a digital account manager is part advisor, part kindergarten teacher.

And while kindergarten teaching is a worthy and marvellous profession- it’s not what I signed on to do at my various account management roles. In my discussions with prospective clients, I always emphasized how important the client side contact would be. It seems I failed in this regard to get across not so much how important their gatekeeper role would be but rather how important growing their knowledge would be.

So when I was offered the opportunity to jump out of the cesspool of ignorance that is digital account management, I took it.

Recently I received a call from a very clever agency run by a very clever gal and they asked if I would be interested in an Account Manager role with “a boutique agency” (read: small). As an occasionally sensible man, I would normally say yes just to check out what’s what. But in this circumstance I had no hesitation in saying “no thanks” as I really could not stomach the idea of explaining why a customised Open Source CMS was not actually “free”.
Since this rather short sighted and foolish refusal to even consider a role in Digital Account Management, my mind has turned to thoughts of a digital and strategic utopia and the answer has become quite clear; we need geeks to jump the fence and go client side. We need experts in digital strategy, digital brief writing, user experience, social media and digital ROI to take the plunge.

While having a digital expert client side ought to produce results, there’s also the issue of how management handle this “champion of the digital” on their side of the fence. Maybe we’ve just moved the arguments about digital from client v agency to an internal shit fight.

At dmg I’ve been fortunate enough to work with people who either get it or if they struggle then they are prepared to learn and place their faith in my judgement.

Now I’m not blowing smoke just because I’m on contract and keen to continue, but rather I’m seeing the potential of having a digital champion on board. For companies who outsource their digital work (dmg have internal assets as well as some outsource), the agility and rapport between like minded digital people means you don’t just work on making a project happen- you can focus on making it awesome.

And for a huge number of web based projects- from viral to social and plain ol’ e-comm- the difference between serviceable and brilliant is the ability to spend a lot of time and thought on that last 10% of polish and awesome making. Unsure?

Check most Australian web projects and you’ll see what I see- close but no cigar.

So I went to the Chadstone Telstra shop and bought it- with 6 gig as it was coming into F1 and Rally rounds back to back. There were concerns (noted below)- such as the paperwork I had to sign (dealer Kurt S: “That’s the form for all new accounts- pre and post paid”) and the fact that the prepaid software I was using did not show me usage and remaining usage. But it all worked just fine. Coverage wonderful, speeds ludicrous and it was frankly the perfect purchase.

The inability to see my data usage was annoying. The button that was suppose to show me said usage was not working (aka “greyed out”) and that worried me as I did not want to run out when streaming an event or sending out a presser etc. I reached out:

My first tweet for help!

Then I got a bill. That was weird after all, I had paid a lot for the product plus the extra 6 gig. A simple mistake surely?

So I rang Telstra, then  Tweeted some more and it’s never been sorted out. The bills were being zero balanced, but I wanted it fixed.

No action still

After some months waiting for the situation to be put right, I have now lost my rag with Telstra. I just got off the phone with a woman who I told “take ownership of this” after she, like many more before her, wanted to palm me off once again. She asked me my story again and wanted to send me off to pre paid data. Then she said “You need to go to the shop.”

Chadstone T-Store is 45 minutes away and I am not going anywhere to fix their mistake! How is getting me to fix their error an incentive for Telstra and Telstra staff to try? Without consequences for failure there can only be inaction.

I had already sent them an email as follows:

There was a fundamental error with the way this was provisioned from the start.

I bought a pre paid USB data service. I paid for 6 gig in advance. I received a bill out of the blue and was told that an error had been made by some and told that it was no an error by others. Here’s the issue – The software I have to run it (screenshot attached) is for prepaid services.

The interface for my USB 3G stick

• You can ONLY buy this product (Sierra 301) as a prepaid device. See: http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/prepaid-wireless/get-started/index.htm There it is- I have attached back and front pics for you.
• I keep getting bills for post paid when I did not sign up for post paid.

When I bought it at the Chadstone Telstra shop the sales guy made me fill out a form. I noted: “This is for post paid” and he said “it’s the same form, we just need your details.” There was NO indication what data post paid plan I was on on my “contract” as I did not sign a contract. I am prepaid.

You had a deal at the time to get 6 gig prepaid at reduced rate  but it was something like $60 for 6 gig introductory. I paid $150 for the prepaid USB + $60. $210 or thereabouts.

The only reservation I had at the time was that he made me use a different SIM (I still have the old one) to the one that came with the stick.

It would appear that an honest error was made, or a deliberate deceit to make me go to post paid when I clearly asked for pre paid. I could not access (through the software) my current usage- to work out how much I had used/had left. This was not sorted to my satisfaction at all. The software does not show what I have used- the button for that is not functional/greyed out.

Scott from your dept is across this, but has been unable to sort it out.  He has zero balanced my account previously in recognition of this issue, but no long term fix has been found. I am not calling prepaid, post paid or anyone to sort this. It’s not my mistake.

What I want

• To be on prepaid as I requested originally and multiple times since.
• 6 gig provisioned onto the account with 90 days expiry as originally requested and as a show of goodwill.
• To get on with it.
• If this requires me to visit a store, get a new SIM or jump through more hoops I will do it. (note: I will not do that anymore- they have messed me around too much AND cut me off)

What I don’t want:

• Another bill
• Another bill reminder
• Another month to go by with no action from Telstra
• Any interruption to my service-(note: it has been cut off and I am off to Rally SA in two days) I am in Darwin this weekend for the V8s and we use the USB key to stream live coverage. If you cannot fix this with a flick of the switch, then we need to work out a time to do it as I work nearly every weekend streaming live coverage from motorsport events.
• Any fee associated with fixing your error.

Regards
Tom

Today the service was cut off. I am so over Telstra at the moment.

Here’s the Twitter Direct Message stream (bottom up!)

Check out how long it has taken.

This isn’t social media failure, its just failure.

I am going to talk about Telstra tonight on the ABC in the context of the NBN. Telstra are set to switch off their copper network and throw their lot in with the NBN roll out. Renai LeMay says this will “seal Telstra’s doom” as the deal will:

…transform the fundamental nature of Telstra’s business, changing it from an engineering company which primarily builds and operates telecommunications networks into a retail service provider focused on delivering the best customer service and value-add products in Australia’s telco sector.

As he points out- this is not what Telstra does.

In the end all Telstra will be able to do is offer bundles: NBN based products, Next G products and IPTV/Cable TV all rolled up into one exorbitant price. They will then need to back that with good customer service.

And based on my experience, their wireless broadband after sales service is not going to save them. Perhaps they are doomed‽

And he’s how The Onion did it a few months back:

Astronauts Suffer Agonizing, High-Pitched Death After Helium Leak

Who did it better?

This is your last chance to join what will be the most useful off bike training you will do all year. While the workshop is in principle a media training event covering Radio, TV, Print and Web, we will also cover sponsorship, public behaviour and fan interaction and more. This workshop will complete you as a rider, team member or team principle.

We are pleased to announce two additional trainers who have joined the lineup:

Dieter Kahsnitz is a star of multi media. Owner of 50 Kaliber Films, by day he makes corporate videos, TV Commercials and the like. On weekends, at night and during his lunch hour he’s the host of “The C-Word” video podcast and award winning community TV show. He manages BSB racer Josh Brookes, hosts MotoGP events and knows how to make every media post a winner. Dieter will be conducting interviews with all attendees, who will then be provided with a DVD of the footage for any purpose.

Marscelle Tully has written more press releases than there have been races in the world. While that may not make sense, Marscelle talks sense. She will show you how to structure a press release if you’re going DIY. If you have a PR staff member/helper/trained monkey, Marscelle will take you through how you can make their life easier (ie tolerable) and how to make the most of the written word.

Already we have announced:

Tom Reynolds is the principal of ThomasrDotOrg Media Services and will lead the media workshop training day. Tom has worked in marketing, PR, advertising, web technology and the media for over ten years. He has worked for (or continues to ply his trade with): Australian Superbike Championship, Australian Rally Championship, Radio 3AW , Radio SEN, ABC Sydney, Holden Race Team, Grand Prix Corporation as well as hosting many events and media calls.

Jay Mueller. Radio MMM Melbourne Breakfast Senior Producer.
Long time producer of top rating breakfast show on 3AW, last year Jay made the jump to MMM to take the senior producer role on Eddie McGuire’s new brekky show “The Hot Breakfast“. Jay will be going through what he finds works on radio. He will explain how to prepare for your interview with people who know nothing about you or your sport. He will also address how to get yourself on radio and what producers (the gate keepers!) are looking for when they decide to put someone to air.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/event.php?eid=254690579194&ref=mf
Map: http://bit.ly/aeqkZM

Total cost $135 includes digital copies of your portrait shoot plus a short HD video interview with **you**.
Bookings essential and numbers will be limited email: training AT thomasr.org to secure your spot!

This event presents all attendees with training in the following areas:

• Television presenting. How to professionally present your team, sport, sponsors and self. What to avoid (did someone say “wearing sunglasses?”)
• Radio interviews. Whether in studio or in person, you’ll learn how to hit your key points and make it appear you think on your feet like a seasoned pro.
• Press conferences. Pre or post race, it doesn’t matter. You’ll learn how to get your message across, how to prepare and how to react in this pressure filled environment. If you can get a reaction (preferably a laugh) out of a room of tired, jaded journos, you’ll soon be a star.
• Social media. Website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and beyond. How a professional racer can make the most of this exciting, but occasionally problematic environment. Watch out for the YouTube Video Of Embarassment For Life.

All attendees will also have the opportunity to have professional portrait photos taken of them in their team uniforms included in the price.

Team/vehicle photos by prior arrangement at additional cost.

Our media trainers are being announced as we get closer to the event (see bottom). All are currently working at the highest level in their chosen media stream, or at least in a field that they’ve found themselves stuck in.

Total cost $135 includes digital copies of your portrait shoot plus a short HD video interview with **you**.

Bookings essential and numbers will be limited email: training@thomasr.org to secure your spot!

Presenters (more to be announced in due course):

Tom Reynolds is the principal of ThomasrDotOrg Media Services and will lead the media workshop training day. Tom has worked in marketing, PR, advertising, web technology and the media for over ten years. He has worked for (or continues to ply his trade with): Australian Superbike Championship, Australian Rally Championship, Radio 3AW , Radio SEN, Holden Race Team, Grand Prix Corporation as well as hosting many events and media calls.

Jay Mueller. Radio MMM Melbourne Breakfast Senior Producer.
Long time producer of top rating breakfast show on 3AW, last year Jay made the jump to MMM to take the senior producer role on Eddie McGuire’s new brekky show “The Hot Breakfast“.
Jay will be going through what he finds works on radio. He will explain how to prepare for your interview with people who know nothing about you or your sport.
He will also address how to get yourself on radio and what producers (the gate keepers!) are looking for when they decide to put someone to air.

I’ll be responsible for the key areas of ARC media relations and PR. I will be writing press releases across many aspects of ARC activity- from pre thru post event as well as stories on the teams, characters and places the ARC visits.

As well as the written word, I will also be hosting press conferences across all event weekends and interviewing drivers for web and TV. Some of these will be available live on the ARC website. Between rounds I will be writing press releases for teams and drivers and augmenting the written word with HD video interviews, podcasts and photos.

I’m genuinely excited to be involved with the peak rally series in Australia. I’ve already had some involvement in the past with Neal Bates, Coral Taylor, Simon & Sue Evans as well as Scott Pedder. So far all have been very welcoming and it’s clear this is a tight knit and professional paddock. It’s my job to ensure the public get to see and feel just how exciting rallying is.

My first event with the ARC will be round one in Tasmania from the 26th – 28th February.

Many thanks to Paul Mullan from Black Magic and ARC Director Scott Pedder for helping make this possible.

You’ll hear from me soon! In the meantime check out http://www.rally.com.au/

—ENDS–

For more information, contact: Tom Reynolds. ph 0409 964 549 email: thomasr@thomasr.org twitter: thomasrdotorg

I’ve been damn busy!

Australian Superbikes

Shawn Giles and Koby Abberton head out

I accepted a job offer from Yarrive Konsky of IEG, the new oranisers and promoters of the Australian Superbike series. My job description is pretty loose, though it could be summed up thusly: “Get editorial press coverage, do special events and get the punters along”.

My first and major project has been a two seater ride program- not too dissimilar to Ducati (exclusively) does in MotoGP. Our club is slightly less exclusive- currently we have bikes from Woodstock Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki.

Steve Pizzati on air with Steve Price and Josh Dowling on 2UE.

Overall I was very pleased with the pillion rides at Eastern Creek. We received some great coverage after getting the Abberton brothers on board. Friday is my main focus- this gives us a chance to hit the Saturday papers and Friday websites.

At Eastern Creek one of the support classes for Australian Superbikes was the Aussie Racing Cars. I personally invited Steve Pizzati from Top Gear Australia along to race and he repaid the favour by going on Steve Price’s 2UE show twice. But where we owed him the most was his wonderful kindness in rolling the car 2 1/2 times and hitting most of the major daily papers in the process. Taking one fo the team- literally. Thanks man.

To step up our coverage, I have not only planned website and press release changes, but I have a few other ideas that I think will position our motorsport back in its rightful place as second only to V8 Supercars.

Details: www.asbk.com.au

Twitter: @asbk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AustralianSuperbikes

Twitter pic posted from the second podium of the day for HRT.

HSV/HRT
I’ve been helping Holden Special Vehicles and Holden Racing Team (more specifically Walkinshaw Racing) establish and grow a social media presence. Sarah W from HSV has been a great student of social media and with the genuine backing of senior HSV management, we’ve really set HSV/HRT apart from the “others”. I set up many Twitter and Facebook Fan accounts (some Twitter accounts simply to prevent squatting) and have advised them at every step about ways to grow the fan base and how and what to Tweet. We have rewarded fans (sent out signed prizes when we hit 1000 Facebook fans) and kept up the conversationand replies- especially on race weekends.

Speaking of race weekends, at the recent Sandown event I joined in the Tweet festival from inside the Walkinshaw pit- a fantastic insiders view.

A more ambitious social media program is envisaged in the future.

Twitter: @holden_racing, @HSV_news, @BundyRedRacing

Facebook: HRT HSV Bundaberg Red Racing

Thomasr and Fiona Mackintosh from Draggin Jeans- Fed Sqr, 2007.

Draggin Jeans
Having briefed in SharpSushi, their new site will be launching shortly. Fiona and Kris from Draggin and Adam and Kere from SharpSushi have collaborated really well. I did my part early on, offering a few ideas, but they have all  really taken up the running. The new site will offer a brilliant online experience, grow their very loyal fan base even more and have a conversion rate that I think will suprise even those inolved.

With new products, new designs, a new website, a new marketing manager and a more aggressive marketing approach, Draggin look good to go in the next year and beyond.

My involvement of late has take the form of some marketing strategy ideas with specific refence to Twitter and the “What is change?” concept. I also set up the fan page.

Beyond web, I am also going to do some “other” work for Draggin’, but for now this must remain a secret!

Web(new one launching soon): www.dragginjeans.net

Twitter: @dragginjeans

Facebook: DragginJeansAustralia

Josh Brookes

Superbike star and current British Superbike series racer Josh Brookes has recently come on board as a web/marketing client. He’s a great talent, though frankly having a very mixed year. I have written an all encompassing web strategy document that I am going to execute on (in collaboration with 50 Kaliber and SharpSushi), along with maintaining his social media presence and offering advice as we go.

Twitter: @joshbrookes

Facebook: JoshBrookes

SharpSushi

As one of the two web agencies I like to deal with, Adam and Kere- directors of SharpSushi- are two of the nicest and more importantly most switched on web people I have had the pleasure in dealing with. I have provided general web strategy and ideas for one specific client (whatcanyoudo.com.au) as well as general web strategy and social media ideas here and there. Eventually they will be building my own new site.

Eventually.

Web: www.sharpsushi.com

Igloo- Digital Strategy Agency

As the best mid sized (though growing so fast they may have gone past that stage) web agency in the country, Igloo can rightfully claim to have grown from a leading design agency into a leading strategy/all round agency.

Some months ago I assisted them as part of their pitch for the Mazda account, providing strategy ideas and on the ground assistance for their pitch. I also wrote a post for their blog site outlining my thoughts on social media with specific reference to the automotive market.

They subsequently won the Mazda account.

Since then I have been busy with my many other gigs, though I am really keen to get back to the Pelaco building and work on some fun stuff with Andy, Tony and the team.

Web: www.igloo.com.au

CarAdvice

Until a few months ago I was hosting a podcast for CarAdvice, Australia’s number one independent editorial site. While it was fun while it lasted, they have gone through a number of changes- from new offices, staff and a new CEO. It was agreed that the podcasts will go on hold for the rest of the year. While I was disappointed at the time, I’m hopeful we can work something out in the future.

Radio 3AW.

It’s hardly a suprise when I tell you I was cut from the Neil Mitchell show weekday lineup for 2009. Once the other 11am-12pm guests were cut, I suspected I was in strife- either they would move me to a new timeslot, or I would fall over utterly. At the time I received a very nice call from Program Director Clark Forbes telling me that I was still a required player for their F1 and MotoGP coverage as well as my summer sessions with Tom Elliott- a segment I really enjoy. Tom’s a terriffic bloke and a really good broadcaster. Summer will be fun!

The C-Word Vodcast

The irrepressible and likeable Dieter Kahsnitz has re invigorated his community TV award winning program as a 5 minute vodcast. At present the episodes are older ones recut for vodcast purposes. Shortly, we collectively head into a new era of the C-Word, with new concepts, segments and some really fun stuff. Stay tuned for that.

Web: www.cword.tv

Grand Prix Corporation

For the last few years I have been hosting the riders parade with Dieter at Federation Square. We’re shaping up to do it all again this year- though with a few extras thanks to my connections within Australian Superbikes.

As well as the Fed Square gig, We’ve also been asked to host a meet ‘n greet/panel show at the Island on the Friday night in the camp ground. This promises to be an cracking good night, so we’re rightly pumped about it. The whole weekend is going to absolutely rock, so book your tickets, do what you gotta do to be at Phillip Island this year.

So that’s me in a nut shell at the moment- busy, but still looking for more to fill my days with…

How it all works.

• The whole shebang hangs off RSS. Without the RSS feeds from the content services, then it would all be manual- a total nightmare.
• TwitterFeed is a brilliant service (I have donated) and is the hub I use for content processing into Twitter.
• Thomasr.org posts are checked every three hours and then posted into Twitter as “Blog Post”. The RSS feed automatically shoots into Facebook as a “Facebook Note”. Facebook only allows one RSS feed. It’s tempting to process all the feeds into Feedburner and then feed the whole lot into Facebook- but that’s untenable and Facebook Spam (FBS).
• Flickr pics also go into TwitterFeed, but are processed slightly differently. As I have varying degrees of Flickr use- occasional pics from BrightKite as well as whole car/bike sets that can number 50+ pics per car, I use the TwitterFeed feature to limit the RSS checking to once a day and 2 posts at any one time. FBS reduction right there.
• I use BrightKite mostly on my iPhone as it can post pics to Flickr (and importantly geo tag them) and send onto Twitter as well. If I’m not using BK for pics, then it works well as a Twitter client and I use it when I want to tell everyone where I am (especially for public event hosting and similar).
• My YouTube channel videos update once a day and one video to TwitterFeed. No need for updates more often than that as I have never posted more than one video a day and I doubt I ever will!
• My 3AW blog posts are rare, but also update via RSS. This is a once a day thing and one post gets sent to Twitter.
• My CarAdvice and BikeAdvice posts do not have an unique RSS feed. I think if I got to the bottom of Yahoo Pipes, I think I could feed the raw RSS into Yahoo pipes and filter it so only the podcasts and my articles make it to TwitterFeed. In the meantime, I write up a blog post pointing to the article and that starts off the Thomasr.org chain of events and that suits me for now as it gives my all-important paid work a double dose on Facebook and a single run on Twitter.
• Two services for links I use are my Del.icio.us and Google Reader shared items and these feed into Twitter almost on the spot, though I do limit them to a maximum of 3 at a time.
• All that done, the tweets start to automatically appear on Twitter itself.
• My Twitter feed goes straight into FriendFeed, which also aggregates my YouTube and Blog posts independently but is smart enough (something Scoble says a lot about FF) not to double up.
• FriendFeed then sends all aggregated (And not doubled up) content to Facebook via a Facebook app.

That last point is no longer true, but it’s important to note that it was once the case. The problem now at Facebook is not one of double ups, but rather over saturation. Every single Tweet goes to Facebook. Per my previous post, I took my own advice and I’m not letting Tweets set as FB status, but it is appearing in all my friends timelines. Not all are happy:

Quite. I had a feeling this was the case, but as you can’t really see when you are creating “noise” on a friend’s Facebook page, I just kept going. (Not to be rude, but the more friends you have on FB, the less spammy my FB timeline appears as I am woven into the general fabric of Facebook)

Ok So what’s this all mean?
The Web 2.oh services are evolving and so too are the users. In fact it’s user expectation and user demands that are driving me- I think not so much about what can be done, but what’s best for my readers/followers/friends. So I turned off the feed into Facebook. But I do need some sort of feed into Facebook as it is a content cul de sac (Content goes in, doesn’t come out) and is very important as my friend base on Facebook increases.

So I’m going to set up a Feedburner account and aggregate most content apart from Twitter posts into Facebook as notes. It’s not a huge amount and certain services like Flickr will now be handled by a Facebook App instead of FriendFeed.

Where’s the conversation?
This is super critical. Corvida’s post on ReadWriteWeb was very clear and I believe it.

While there’s no formula for success, there are three keys to a killer web service: search, aggregation, and conversation.

So search is taken care of and I nearly have the aggregation situation about right. But it’s conversation, the third and possibly most compelling element- where will that happen?

Thoughts on conversation:

• Not on my blog as it stands. I generate a fair few followers and readers, but few comments. I’m not that sort of blogger.
• On places of content origin. That’s a mixed bag. YouTube- you have to be kidding. Flickr- very occasional. BrightKite- rare. on 3AW, CarAdvice and BikeAdvice a lot of good commenting takes place and should stay there as these sites are focussed on conversation.
• On Twitter. That tends to be short: “Good post” “nice pic” etc. Not really conversation, though it can be. Twitter conversations can be intense and real time, but also tend to disappear into the Twitter ether due to the non semantic nature of Twitter.
• FriendFeed. I don’t think so right now. Scoble may be right and FF might go mainstream, but that’s going to take a while and meantime FF is silent.
• Conversations on my content. Absolutely. So much so, that I have resolved to do two things: employ Facebook Connect on my new blog comments area and open up my friends list to Scoble-esque proportions.

So there’s a bit to do and of course it’s ongoing.

And it obsesses me.

• Changing over from Blogger to WordPress. Thanks Blogger, but it’s time. Yes, there will be teething/transfer issues, but I feel WordPress offers features and plugins that Blogger just can’t match. It also means I am not beholden to Blogger. WordPress could run my site for the next 20 years.
• The site landing page will offer content rather than my current “just freakin’ links” page.
• On occasions I will offer a podcast featuring off-topic content developed for CarAdvice podcasts. The WP Plugins will service this new content offering.
• Changing over my GoDaddy accounts to use WP has been a pain at times. The Power of Twitter assisted the process when I bitched about GoDaddy’s terribly messy website. They replied. In the I called their tech support and found out to host WP on windows you need IIS7 and I was on IIS6. Find that on the website if you can…?
• I hardly use any bandwidth or cloud space as allocated by GoDaddy, so offering podcasts won’t cost me anything more.
• I’m finally working out how to get my content to syndicate elsewhere- not from a tech perspective, but from a social perspective. I recently turned off FriendFeed to Facebook as I was almost spamming FB people.

The new site will go into beta shortly and fully launch in a matter of weeks.

Thanks to Lord Hayden for the early designs.