Rappers Hit Up Tech Conferences Too

It should come as no surprise that tech is a part of the game too.  I'm sure you've heard, as have I, that CD album sales are down and that the giant music labels are trying to fight against a roaring tide that seeks to upend the old business models. The web has and continues to level the playing field.  And rappers are discovering this.  In this guest lecture at Stanford (part of Standford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar), artists Quincy Jones III and Chamillionaire lay it down for us.  The web is changing how we communicate, how new fans are reached, and how street cred for products is measured.  It's all about community.  The current rage of social networks fuels this type of economy. Those who are on top of the game stand to make greater strides into reaching fans than those shunning the tech.  In this talk, Chamillionaire mentions how he was clowned for using the internet back in the day for promoting his indy songs.  But his early adoption kicked back some serious ROI. Both Quincy and Chamillionaire are staying on top of the game by embracing tech, hitting up tech conferences, and incorporating the cutting edge into their respective strategies.  Check it out here:



NOTE: If the above doesn't play (seems like there might not be a video feed), click through to the site here, and click on "Download" to get the MP3 file.  You can also find it on iTunes and subscribe to Stanford's podcast.

New GChat Mobile Icon?

I was logged into GMail and noticed on my GChat side bar the appearance of a new icon... a mobile phone!  I've pointed it out in the image on the left.  It hadn't appeared before today and I turned on the "robots" icon lab feature a few days ago.  So this is probably new!  And pretty kool.  I wonder if it is drawing from GMail's contact management, or from Google Voice.  If you hover over this contact, an option to SMS appears.  Pretty neat.

Gmail and Safari 4 beta issue

Just a quick post. Some of you out there may be using the brand spanking new Safari 4 beta. It is SWEEEEEEEEET by the way. And by sweet, I mean fast. Anyway, if you are using Google Gears with Gmail for offline access, you may experience problems with Safari 4 (on a Mac at least). What you will see when you attempt to log in is a beautiful blank page. Yes, blank and staring at you. If you run the Web Inspector, you will see that an error is occurring on load. The error is:

TypeError: Result of expression 'mc().create' [undefined] is not a function.

I've had numerous problems with offline Gmail on Safari (on a Mac) even before the beta. So I thought it might have something to do with it.

The (Workaround) Fix : Disable Gmail from Google Gears

1. Click on the "Safari" menu item on the menu bar
2. Select "Google Gears Settings..."
3. Click on the "Denied" radio button for everything Gmail related
4. Voila

All done! Now if you need offline access to Gmail, this solution will not work for you. Apple (or Google) needs to actually resolve the issue so that offline Gmail is functional.

How to Launch Web Inspector

1. If you see the "Develop" menu item, skip to step 6
2. Click on the "Safari" menu item on the menu bar
3. Select "Preferences..."
4. Click on the "Advanced" tab
5. Make sure the checkbox next to "Show Develop menu in menu bar" is activated
6. Click on the "Develop" menu item on the menu bar
7. Select "Show Web Inspector"