This documentary is our first major project for ‘07, and we’re aiming for a theatrical release to then go to cable/DVD. The feature will be about the rise of Apple (from the tough early years to now) and the people who helped make it a success and have formed a community around it. Our crew will be heading to MacWorld, and we thought filming Adam’s party would enhance our narrative.
I can assure you that this will be a straight forward documentary, not a “Borat”-style ambush. Our company has insurance and I am attaching a location agreement that we use for everyone’s protection. Regarding permission to film patrons, employees, etc., we have releases that we can have people sign and it may be worth considering putting up a notice in the entry that will alert people to the filming that will be taking place. We obviously want to minimize any adverse impact that this will have on your business (it shouldn’t have any) and we will work with you to ensure that this happens.

They contacted me because my DailyTechTalk Macworld party was in its 3rd year and they wanted to talk to me about Macworld. Pretty cool, right? Well we did an interview that Wednesday morning at The Moscone Center and that night they interviewed me and Laura and did an interview with the world famous Violet Blue. I never knew this film would be showcased at Macworld Expo in 2009 to a crowd of over 200 people and then sold on DVD for thousands of people to watch over and over. Naturally, I’m pretty excited to be there for this and I hope you’ll be there too. My post is here and you can watch the screening if you have a Macworld badge. It’s as simple as that. You can find out more about the movie on their website. Below is a slideshow of photos that Laura took while they were interviewing me.

1. I am not paid by Podango or Liana for my help
2. I never intended to benefit from this venture financially
3. I never mislead or lied about anything when I was handling this crisis.

However, as the weekend unfolded, I came under fire from people both on stage and behind the scenes. This blog post will be about my effort to fulfill a wish from a friend and the fire I came under as a result. Less than 24 hours after hearing that the studio space Liana was President of would be closing down I pleaded for that not to happen and for options. Doug of Podango gave me a few options and I went with the route of collecting contracts from commercial entities that wanted to use the space but that was an uphill battle and did not equal results.

I spoke to Liana while she was in the hospital about a donation or charity kind of plan and she disapproved. Liana did not want handouts or donations. She did however say that if we offered people something of value in exchange for their donations, that would be acceptable. I envisioned the title, “charter member” for those who donate and that we make the space a place for independent filmmakers, audio engineers who are still in school and podcasters to come and create great content in a relaxed environment. She loved it and we chatted briefly about forming a not-for-profit organization and how being involved with our neighbor, the SF School of Digital Filmmaking would be a great in to market this space.

I went with it and built out the infrastructure across the web. I called Liana Saturday afternoon around 6PM and said that I was going to move forward with a telethon and she said, “ok let’s do it.” and she graciously thanked me for my help and for everyone’s help. I later learned Melissa, a friend of Liana and member of Girls Gone Geek, had also spoken to Liana and received the same approval regarding an Internet Telethon. With that, we moved forward beginning at 6:30PM PST via Ustream.TV.

After 2 hours, we had gathered nearly $1,000 in donations. We were telling people to not donate and instead help spread the word about the studio space so we could also find potential corporate sponsors for our space to help cover most costs. The whole time I continued to say that Liana asked for this and that I was not asking for money and only doing this to help out a friend. Unfortunately, this statement is what caused the most problems. By making the benefit sound like Liana’s health and wellbeing and saving the studio were one in the same, I came under fire by parties that thought it was fishy and completely amiss from what should be the focus and that was Liana’s speedy recovery and her health.

Either way, I continued my campaign and by 5PM (22 hours later) on Sunday we had reached $2,000 dollars in donations. I might also add that these donations were more like pledges. I couldn’t touch the funds that you sent and in order to approve them I had to attach a bank account to the Paypal account to even accept the money so the donations would sit in a form of escrow and would be easily refunded if our plan didn’t work.

It was shortly after we broke $2200 dollars in pledges that I saw a tweet from Scott Bourne, a close friend of Liana’s, that she had been taken to The ICU and her condition was serious. At this moment, things changed. This entire rally that was now at hour 23 had to change the course. The request Liana had given to me that she wanted the studio to stay alive was still in my mind but her illness was worsening and I had some decisions to make.

At this time, our rally to save the studio because Liana asked us to became a rally to save Liana and the studio. We didn’t properly identify the needs of this effort and confusion hit and that’s when people began to ask what we were actually asking money for? The mob mentality broke and it was me against the world. Those that had been with me since hour one (which started on Friday by the way when I heard the studio would be closed) understood that I was simply fulfilling a request from my friend but others saw this as something totally different and each person interpreted things differently.

I took a step back, gathered my thoughts and let some individuals who had donated take over the room. I went home since I had not been home in two days and checked in to the room. My friend Kolin was fending off a mob of people talking about the future of their donations and the studio, I saw Leo Laporte tweeting about the separation of the studios and Liana’s wellness and I noticed that my efforts were noble but were not delivered properly and the confusing that ensued was not reversible.

At the same time, getting in contact with the CEO of the film school to discuss the price of taking over the lease was impossible on the weekend and that discussion was a key aspect in moving forward with buying the equipment from Podango and taking over the space as an independent studio. Since negotiations weren’t happening and the clock was ticking I had to communicate with those in support of the studio’s success and fulfilling Liana’s request to keep it alive. The issue is with Liana’s current condition, the studio would certainly not be on her mind. The clock was running out for us and we couldn’t move forward with any negotiations without her. With her wellness as my top priority, I made a tough decision to go against her wishes and scrap the contribution and fundraiser efforts.

I knew that people were behind this because of Liana and because they believed in Liana’s idea of having a community co-working studio but I visited the idea that if we ask each donor if they’d like a refund or have their money go to Liana I received some criticism from people saying that if I did that, even asking people what they wanted to do meant that I had misleaded everyone (including donors) and that I would be a liar for a crook. At the same time, more people were getting suspicious with Liana’s recent move to ICU, the chances of reviving the studios in time were getting slim so I decided the following:

1. Announce that we were ending the fundraising event on the web and Ustream.TV
2. Returning every penny to every single contributor (which has been completed)
3. Letting everyone know to send your full support and well-wishes to Liana and not the studio. Liana needs our prayers right now and we need to focus our good thoughts to her recovery.

My effort to fulfill Liana’s wish and save the studio was a failure. My 48 hour journey was nearly successful but at the end of the day, my friend’s health comes first and I must admit that when I ended the telethon at 6PM, I sat in front of the camera and told everyone that we had missed the point and that this had gone on too far. Liana needed our support right now and we’re trying to save a building. The diggs, tweets and links / donations needs to stop and we need to move forward with focusing on Liana’s recovery and not the saving of this space. I walked away and, yes, this grown man cried. I sobbed over my friend because for the first time in my life, I realized that I had a friend that wasn’t well and I was afraid. I’ve never had a friend like Liana and I was wrong the whole time for not focusing more on her than some building. The money has been refunded and I will now focus all efforts on Liana’s health.

I want to send out a huge thanks to everyone who supported us throughout this 48 hour sleep-deprived journey. I met some amazing people who are not greedy and care only for other people. I’ve spoken to over 500 people via phone, email, IM, Twitter and chat room over the past 2 days and everyone is in full support of Liana and their donation was for a studio that was operated by Liana. In their minds, it was a package deal and the space couldn’t exist without her. I feel that I have made the right decision. I hope I have and I owe so much to the people that supported me this weekend. I’m now shedding tears of joy knowing that there are some truly amazing people in this world. Thank you. We raised $2,645 dollars in contributions. I’m astonished and in awe. This concludes hour 42 of no sleep.

Now please drop Liana a line and let’s wish her a speedy recovery.

I don’t know if she’s going to be ok. Her personal life was private although she was a very active member of the social media and San Francisco tech community. Me and Laura happily considered her our best friend. The recent events are so unfortunate that Laura and I will be going down to visit her. I’ve always wanted to go to LA but not on these conditions.

Here’s the problem with this situation. I worked for her part time as an assistant. She operated a Podcasting studio here in SoMa, San Francisco called Podango. She was over the day to day activities of the studio as the sole employee and I helped out. Well, she’s been missing for all of these days. We’ve lost every contract and we are 17 days behind on paying bills. I’ve spoken to the CEO of the company in Utah and here’s the deal. He’s going to close the studios on Monday and liquidate the nearly 50 thousand dollars in audio equipment. I pleaded with him and he told me that if I can get 4 grand in contracts for the space for this month then we can save the studio.

This is my friend’s livelihood and a place where our friends come to produce awesome content. We’re a proud member of the new media community by sponsoring events, taking part in barcamps and letting people use the space for free when they’re getting started. Our bread & butter is corporate contracts and now those are all gone. I have until Sunday to make this a reality and I think it’s a job that’s bigger than I am.

I’m begging for your help. Please contact me at adam@dailytechtalk.com and I’ll send your our fees for renting the space. If you live in the bay area and know someone that needs the space then I can even give them a first month’s discount but we need people here and we have to break even. I’m not making any money from this. We just have to save the studio because it would break my friend’s heart and she’s too sick with an unknown illness. I can’t even contact her right now so i’m doing all of this for her. THANKS!

You can contact me a few ways:
Email: adam@dailytechtalk.com
Twitter: adamjackson

Here are some of Liana’s social network spaces:
Friendfeed
blog
Flickr
Twitter1
Twitter2
Upcoming
Flickr photos tagged with lianalehua

[UPDATED]
I’m sending this email to friends. Feel free to pass it on.

Please forward this if you can and hopefully we can get the business going in her absence. Thank you!

Here is a photo slideshow of our space:

[UPDATED 2X]
I’d like to clarify something in order to clear up things that I said earlier over Twitter and on Mashable.

If anyone reading this wants to see this podcasting studio continue as a community facility, then maybe there’s a chance we can raise the cash to acquire the assets and pay the rent.

My primary responsibility right now is my day job(s) and those are more important than blogging. There are about 4-10 posts that have been in my head for the past 2 weeks and I just don’t have time to write them. Actually, this weekend is a good time for that so stay tuned.

My podcast is recorded and just needs to be edited so I’m pretty sure you’ll be seeing that over the weekend.

I think we’ve decided on a venue for the Macworld 2009 party and we’re accepting sponsorships. Don’t be afraid but sponsorships start at $500 and every bit of sponsor money goes into prizes and food for the party. Seriously, it’s going to be an awesome party.

My last project has taken a backseat lately due all of this going on and I hope that my partner isn’t too upset with me. He knows that I’m busy and hopefully will forgive me.

This week was a little slow but Tuesday night, I started getting a cold. By Wednesday, my body ached, nose was dripping and the fever set in. It’s funny because I also had some foot problems and my top wisdom teet started coming in. It’s Friday morning and I’m just completely helpless. I’m still doing my work from home but am not feeling well at all so hopefully most of this will be behind me and I can catch up on projects over the weekend including some blogging and podcasting for DTT. There is also a lot of Macworld questions in my inbox that must be replied to.

Basically, I’m busy but I haven’t let you down yet. Thanks everyone for subscribing to the RSS feed and showing some support.

I was 1st on Google a long time ago when I ran MyPersonalGetaway but when I switched the name to DailyTechTalk back in July of 2006, my page rank hit the bottom and I had to start from scratch. My status as Adam Jackson that had been built up since 2003 was totally scrapped.

I’ve been the number one adamjackson on Google for a while but I was always 2nd for Adam Jackson. It’s nice to be on top again.

Hello adamjackson1984,

We at MacNN Forums would like to wish you a happy birthday today!

Thanks for all of the support. Sorry the DTT blogging hasn’t been as consistent as it has been for the last 5 years . I think that everyone deserves a little blog.

Boy was I wrong.

If you head over to the Apple Discussion Forums, you’ll find a few threads with people complaining about the issue. Luckily, most of them are getting their iPhone 3G’s replaced free of charge. I’m really glad to hear that Apple is replacing the units and not just saying that we’re out of luck or up the proverbial creek.

My iPhone 3G hasn’t crack yet (knock on wood) but I do feel a little better knowing that Apple will most likely replace it in the event of said cracking. Just an aside, I need to drive up to the Jacksonville Apple Store and get my MacBook’s palm rest replaced. Similar to the iPhone 3G cracking, Apple has found the palm rest cracking to be a common issue and will replace it free of charge.

What one must come to terms with when purchasing the newest toy is that you will experience problems. The new gadget will have bugs, defects, and might overall stress you out.

Has anyone had problems with their 3G cracking? What are your big issues with Apple’s new golden boy?

Gerard “iGerard” Massey is a guest blogger from Gainesville, Florida. You can read more from iGerard over at his website iGerardFTW or follow him on Twitter.

I’m left-handed so naturally, I’m expected to have bad handwriting and look like a weirdo if asked to write anything down. I never surpassed that issue. I still write sideways and can’t write on a straight line. In 2nd grade, I got my first computer and began typing all homework assignments on it. My typing speed increased but it was around 4th grade that my writing improvement stopped dead. Then, in 8th grade (high school) when essays and page long assignments become standard, I saved up and purchased an Apple iBook.

I was chosen in my high school to lead the student notebook initiative and helped setup a school-wide Airport wireless network, network printers in each hallway and deployed iBooks for teachers. from 8th grade to graduation, every assignment, note taking session and even some tests were performed digitally by me, printed off in the classroom and handed to the teacher. I did very well in school and graduated with honors. After that, I got a job at Apple Computer in retail and from there started working for a midsized IT company. I skipped college and relied on dozens of seminars and IT certifications for job advancement. I felt confident I wouldn’t need college and so far, that’s been the case.

Fast forward to today and the only time I use a pen is to sign my name. When I’m asked to write more than just my John Hancock, the result is scary to everyone in the vicinity. Today, I was writing roughly 3 sentences on a piece of paper and my hand cramped up despite not really squeezing the pen too hard.

I was writing signs for our garage sale a couple of months ago and I was writing “s” and “d” backward on the piece of paper. The “J” in Jackson was backward and what was written, was hardly legible.
It’s sad. I blame myself for isolating myself to writing strictly on computers since I was a child. Laura does most of the writing for me and she’s understanding of my “problem” but it’s an issue that I must correct for my own sanity. I’ll be taking a writing class and will begin practicing my ABCs again soon. There has to be more people out there that are having the same problems and I can’t be the only one in this situation. You can laugh but this is completely serious. I had to get that off my chest.

Luckily, Zivity is hosting an awesome Batman party tonight from 9:30-2AM. It’s invite only so I don’t know if giving out the address is fair. Afterward, it’s off to a late night breakfast and then Dark Knight at 3:30AM! I hope it’s worth staying up nearly all night for.

Sorry to hold it back from you.

The 16GB and 8GB iPhones are both within warranty. My 16GB was purchased back in April and Laura’s 8GB was purchased last September. They both include all of the original extras.

The MacBook Pro is a 15″ 2.33GHz Core2Duo model
I’ve upgrade the ram to 3 gigabytes and I’ve had a 7200 RPM 200GB hard drive installed. It comes with a few bags and a few extras.

Bid if you’re interested.
MacBook Pro @ eBay
16GB iPhone @ eBay
8GB iPhone @ eBay

Follow me on Twitter

Mood: Happy. Steve composed another open letter regarding iPhone’s early adopters. Apple is working on a plan to offer all customers that purchased an iPhone prior to the price drop a 100 dollar credit at Apple’s retail and online stores. I welcome this and I’ll be purchasing an iPod Classic with this extra rebate. Thank you Apple for listening!

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/

With this said, I haven�t yet decided on a domain name. The owner of adamjackson.com will not accept any amount of money and simply states that the domain is not for sale. It�s sad that I don�t own my name online. Of the domains I own, Adamjacksonlive.com is reserved for podcasts and vidcasts and an �About Me� page. I purchased resoluteopinion.com about 3 years ago and that�s currently the best candidate for this blog without having to buy an additional domain. If you guys find any domains that you think are suitable, please send me an email (don�t post it in the comments). The other reason why I want to start this new blog is because I need Wordpress experience. I�ve been using Pmachine Pro and Expression Engine for years but the current industry standard is Wordpress and I need to learn everything I can about it.

One last thing. I will resume the production of our podcasts, Adam Jackson Live & DailyTechTalk Live this week. I should be ashamed to have let these two productions grow as stale as they have. I�ve let adult distractions get in the way and am losing a great deal of my professionalism as a result. Apologies all around and I�m glad to see that you all are still subscribing.

Wish me luck. I recently deleted my LiveJournal account so it�s time to put my personal thoughts into writing. I�ll keep you updated.

I’m now ranked #100 on Twitterholic. This is not an overall in the top 100 category but top 100 in Twittering. Some people, like Dave Winer, has only updated a hundred times but has 7 thousand followers and this makes him number 1 on Twitterholic.

There are different rankings and with 2,925 updates I’m number 100. I created my account on March 20th so that means and average of 29 posts per day. That’s a lot. I’m averaging about 40 posts on the weekdays so that’s about right. My record is what I set today which is almost 100 in a day. Anyway, I only have 170 followers and almost 200 friends that I actively follow. I’m just glad that I’m in the top 100. I can only go up from here.

http://www.twitterholic.com/top100/updates/

Last night I moved into the 96th spot.

That statement is something that I would find on an IRC or perhaps a personal blog. I have taken some steps to avoid this kind of unprofessional ism when publishing DailyTechTalk. The first thing is that I have a Twitter account (http://twitter.com/adamjackson) which fields many of those random thoughts and I am not concerned when the posts are full of typos. I also produce Adam Jackson Live which is a companion to our DailyTechTalk Live series. AJ live is me in an unscripted way where I just talk about whatever is on my mind and leave grammar, clear thought processes and a politically correct attitude at the door.

Both of these outlets give me a chance to be professional and unprofessional but it still saddens me when I see a site that gets triple the amount of visitors per week but occasionally throws up a post like, “my mom told me I can’t get another iPod this year since i already got one last year so sorry for not being able to publish the review of that new DLO case. I’ll try to save up and get one but I might need to get as summer job.”

http://flickr.com/photos/adamjackson/favorites/

FREAKIN SMART WATER GOING TO THE PEOPLE WAITING IN LINE!

Darn you Steve! I spend thousands a year on Smart Water and you give it out for free. I’m categorizing this as “Personal” cause it is.