Today marks the one year anniversary of me being on Mahalo.com.

I heard about Mahalo from Leo Laporte.  He had this guy named Jason Calacanis on his show, TWiT, last year.  Jason mentioned that he started up a new company called Mahalo.com (meaning Thank You).  So, as a good Leo follower I went over to the Mahalo.com site and checked it out.  At first I was skeptical of what Jason and his Mahalo.com crew were trying to do… So, I jumped right back off.

Well, time marched on and I really didn’t do much with Mahalo.com for about a month.  Then… Jason was on TWiT again.  He mentioned that he may give away a MacBook Air for anyone who submits the most recommended links to Mahalo.com.  Well, as you may have guessed I jumped on to that train as quick as I could.  Within no time I was #1 on Mahalo.com with the most recommended links!  YAY me.  Either way, if you haven’t guessed by now, I didn’t win the MacBook Air.  Jason decided NOT to give one away.  I wasn’t to happy.  Oh well, water under the bridge.

Mahalo.com is still one of my most favorite sites and I am still a MAJOR Jason fan (I just wish he would get back on UStream.tv)…

Mahalo.com and Jason have changed my online life more than anything I have ever done on the Internet.  It has made me blog more, it has made me more social and has introduced me to a lot of good people on the web (i.e. Lon Harris, Sean Percival and many many others!!

Mahalo.com and Jason also introduced me Steve Gillmor of NewsGang and Gillmor Gang… for which I am forever grateful!

Now… Mahalo.com has gone through some major changes over the past year.  Everything from changing hosting providers to completely changing the home page.  Also, Jason has had to make drastic changes in his staff and don’t forget we lost Veronica Belmont to Tekzilla of Revison 3.  Mind you, we now have the lovely and talented Leah D’Emilio.  Yes, MahaloDaily.com had some major changes too.  Mahalo VLOGIdol was a crazy month of trying to get a new host.   Finally after much debate Leah became the new host.  Along side Lon Harris they have created some great video for the web!!

Well, that is my story for the past year… I would like to thank Jason Calacanis and his wonderful staff at Mahalo.com.  I hope the next year is just as exciting.

From : http://www.blogday.org/ so you follow them too..

BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2008
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link:
   http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2008 and a link to the BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org

1) Sean Percival is probably one of my most favorite persons to follow.  He is quite brilliant and if I still lived in CA… I would do my best not to stalk him daily

2) Jason Calacanis - as we all know Jason no longer “blogs”; however, we all know he still communicates in other ways.  I still love reading what he has to say.  I just wish he would come back

3) Chris Brogan - one word.  Brilliant!  This man is very insightful and has a good head on his shoulders.  Just read it!

4) Lon Harris - his blog is really not why I read it… it is more about the man behind the blog.  I admire Lon for him comic wit and he is just a nice guy!

5) CptObvious1031 - Mr. CptObvious1031 is one of my best friends!!  He has a twisted look on life and that is why like him so much!  Just a good read anytime you are down.

Jason Calacanis is probably the smartest human on earth!

He created a company called Mahalo.com - The Human Power Search Engine, where you can do re-search.  At this company/site, you can search for all types of information (from Paris Hotels to iPhones).  You will get a well defined - curated page with accurate links and a short (well thought out) Guide Note.

Mahalo also has an VLOG called MahaloDaily.com.  This site began right after Mahalo came on to the Internet scene.  It was hosted by Veronica Belmont.  Veronica came from CNET and she brought a ton of followers.  MahaloDaily.com did very well with her at the helm.  Veronica (as most of you may know) moved on to Tekzilla with Patrick Norton.  This was a good move to her, since she did haven’t to travel as much.

Well, as you may have guessed, Mahalo needed a new host for MahaloDaily.com…  So, about two months ago, Jason Calacanis opened up his UStream.tv account and told the Internet that he was in search of a new host for MahaloDaily.com.  Well (yes I said well again), that started a series of events that took a boat load people out to sea, dropped off about 88 of them and came back to shore where there was a bunch of happy, crazy and angry people.  What I am trying to say is… that for the past two months Jason and the Mahalo team have given the followers of Mahalo and MahaloDaily.com a very bumpy ride!

To see the happiness, craziness and angry-ness, check out these sites (make sure you read the comments):

http://mahalo.com/Mahalo_Idol

http://www.mahalodaily.com/

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jason-calacanis

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mahalo

http://www.andydesoto.com/web-culture/mahalo-vlog-idol-a-success-or-failure/
Mahalo Vlog Idol: a success or failure?
Author: Andy DeSoto

Ok… now that the history lesson is over…

So, here we are today.  After much suspense, Jason and the Mahalo team have finally picked a new host…. Leah D’Emilio  along with Lon Harris.  Also, Jason stated that Andrea Rene will stay on as a correspondent.  We wish her all the best!!

Now, if you made it this far in to the post and your not completely bored.  The next section is what I really wanted to say…

BTW… if you haven’t already figured it out, I suck at writing and I say “so”, “well” and “…” a lot.  It’s just my writing style, sorry.

Moving on… why did Jason and the Mahalo team go about picking a new host for MahaloDaily.com this way???  Well, that is a good question!  One reason (in my opinion), PEOPLE.  Jason wants people (or the P.C. thing to say is, community).  But, why?  Well, I think he will do anything to get people to come to Mahalo.  I know all of this a quite obvious and you are probably wondering why I am babbling on about it…  Well, I truly think that Jason has a good heart and he really wants to stand behind what Mahalo is trying to do… “We’re here to help.“.  I think he is community driven and doing this Mahalo VLOG Idol, The Bachelon, Episode 1 and The Mapprentice, Episode 1 were just a way to get people in the door at Mahalo.com.  Don’t get me wrong, I know producing these shows and working with people’s schedules is a nightmare.  However, all of the drama and the “who is going to be kicked off” reality show style episodes, did nothing but bring more people to Mahalo.  You know, I don’t work for Mahalo and I don’t know what type of traffic Mahalo got during this contest; however, I do know that the comments on the VLOG Idol blogs were a flurry!

I guess my point is… (yes, after making you wait this long, sorry)… Jason and the Mahalo team are on a mission and since it is to help and they need people to give that help too (and make a few dollars along the way ).  They just need to make the boat ride more fun next time and maybe they can keep it to a three hour tour instead

Mahalo

Larry

I found out about Jason Calacanis about 6 to 7 months ago from Leo Laporte’s TWiT.  I had never heard of this guy named Jason or even wanted to get know him.  I didn’t even consider myself an Entrepreneur (and I still kinda don’t).  But… there is/was something about Jason Calacanis that struck me ……. I can’t seem to find the word…. funny, odd, familiar, etc…

Anyway, Jason started up this company Mahalo - The Human Powered Search Engine (a wikipedia style website).  At first I thought it was incomplete and why would anyone come here.  I checked it out for a while and contributed a couple links and then moved on…. like most people did at first (until they get to know Jason and understand what Mahalo is all about).

So, time marched on and Jason was on TWiT again.  This time, he mentioned that he may give a new laptop to anyone that could contribute to Mahalo the most (i.e. most friends, most links recommended, most content written, etc…)   Well, I said… I can do that… and I did (RE: most recommended links). 

Well, he changed the rules and I didn’t get the laptop.  I was not happy that I didn’t get it; however, I finally realized what Jason was doing and if know him, you would understand why (watch the videos below).  Even though the laptop (or the lack there of) got me in the door at Mahalo (virtually), it is no longer my goal in dealing with Jason and Mahalo.  It has grown in to a whole new way of thinking and possibly a whole new future for me and my family.

Jason’s interpretation of business (as shown below), isn’t revolutionary, it’s just smart.  Our society/world have been brought up to just go with the flow and you will do well in life.  Well, I don’t want to think that way any more… thanks Jason! 

I want more from life… Obviously, I want a happy and healthy life for me and my family, first and foremost (and I already have it). 
I want satisfaction in my work life and I want to create something that I am proud enough to tell the whole world! 
I will obtain it!

http://www.calacanis.com/2008/05/28/entrepreneurial-insanity/

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Part 1

Entrepreneurial Insanity - Part 1

Part 2

Entrepreneurial Insanity - Part 2

Part 3

Entrepreneurial Insanity - Part 3

Part 4

Entrepreneurial Insanity - Part 4

This evening I hosted a “TalkShoe“/podcast with former VLOG Idol contestants: Lisa Brewster, Sarah Atwood and Kristina Allison. Later on in the show Jason Calacanis showed up and then Andrea Rene.

We talked about the contest and their reactions to the whole thing. Also, we heard about the viral video that Andrea Rene was making… and Jason talked about the comments and voting.

Please check it out and let me know what you think!!

ConnectedGeek Mahalo Podcast - Mahalo VLOG Idol Contestants

Yesterday Jason sent out a Tweet about a signing up for a Mailing List…

Here is the form:

Today Jason Calacanis announced that he was going to give away Dash GPS Express to a Mahalo Social User… here is the link: http://www.mahalo.com/Mahalo_Dash_GPS_Contest.

The user has 48 hours to create and submit their entry to Jason’s blog (within the comments) before tomorrow evening.

I have created my entry and added it to the comments.  It is very simple and can be used in the future at Mahalo (at least I hope it will be )

Check it out:
http://www.mahalo.com/Mahalo_Contests

As you may have read in my Google App’d it’s engine, Microsoft XP lost it’s connection and Jason was Sick (of it) - Part 2, my workstation took a major dump earlier this week.

Well, that was the second part of my week starting off with a bang!

On Sunday, when I was going to do my weekly webcast (as seen on YouTube).  I decided to do something different… UStream it and record at the same time via my channel; however, the recording failed and I basically spent 20 minutes talking to myself :(      So, now I have to wait to get my workstation back in business before I can start up again.

In the mean time, I am writing these 3 blog posts to make up for my missing webcast… that will resume next week.

Here is what I was going to talk about:

1. The Jason Nation takes off
   1. Jason Calacanis was sick this weekend and didn’t show up to speak to his fans over the weekend (via UStream)… many many folks were very sad :(    Luckily, he has a good number of followers to him to watch over him they IRC chat room to tell the fans his was not available
2. I created a new area called: http://mahalo.connectedgeek.net/ it is a Mashup of information I have collected about Mahalo and now it has a BLOG associated with it
3. In conjunction with the BLOG (#2), I created a Google Sites, it has a wiki-type of make up: http://sites.google.com/a/connectedgeek.net/my-mahalo-mashup/Home
4. A fellow IRC chatter ‘pcnerd37′, created this Unofficial Mahalo Podcast… it sounds like it going to take off: http://unofficialmahalopodcast.com/
5. As you may or may not know Veronica Belmont of Mahalo Daily is moving on bigger and better pastures… we wish her well
6. One of the Jason Nation IRC chatters got this great idea for a Jason Nation logo… here is example of one: http://www.jroller.com/shareme/entry/just_for_fun_jasonnation_logo
7. I have noticed that Mahalo is making a lot of changes (i.e. Mahalo Follow Toolbar version 3.5.10, they added a Delete Link underneath your Tags on your recommended links page, and the "Add Favorite Things" (which does not work right now.

Well, that is all I have for now… more to follow

Until then!

Mahalo

On Monday, I had an issue with Microsoft XP SP3.  I installed it on my workstation about a month ago.  It seemed to be a nice addition, since it seemed to speed things up a bit.  Now anyone knows that XP can be dog slow, especially if you have a ton a of stuff on your workstation.  Anyway, on Monday, I tried to open my Remote Desktop Connection to access one of my servers and this is the error I received! 

OMG!!  WTF!!!  RDP/MSTSC is 75% of my life… I was like, what do I do now???  Well, I did what any good IS person would do is…
1) reboot = failed
2) try and find the uninstall for RDP client = failed
3) uninstall SP3 = failed (at least for my workstation)

I did the next best thing… repair XP… well that made it worse! My network adapter got completely hosed…………GRRRRRRR

So, reluctantly, I backed up my workstation and RELOADED it

Here I am typing away on my newly reloaded workstation…

THANKS MICROSOFT!!!

Yes it happened, Google made it’s BIG Table official!

I was able to see them announce it live from qik.com, where Robert Scoble was streaming it live via his cell phone.  Check out his stream here: http://qik.com/scobleizer
Hanging out with geeks before Google’s announcement
Part I, Google introduces App Engine
Part II, Google introduces App Engine
Part III, Google introduces App Engine
Part IV, Google introduces App Engine

Run your web applications on Google’s infrastructure.
Google App Engine enables you to build web applications on the same scalable systems that power Google applications.
Check out the video

Google Campfire One - Google App Engine

According to Google, only 10,000 beta users were able to get an invitation… I got one, check it out though: http://code.google.com/appengine/