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I just received confirmation that the Writers Guild will be hosting us for our May meeting on May 27, 2009 @ 7 pm. The Writers Guild is located on Fairfax and 3rd.

Here is the initial PR info for the event:

“From Camera to YouTube” – A New Media Workshop presented by New Media Interchange

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 – 7 pm
“From Camera to YouTube” will show you the process of creating any New Media project from initial recording to final placement on YouTube (or other video sharing site).
We will demonstrate different types of cameras and their unique pros and cons, discuss audio recording and microphones, editing software, and online services designed to host, share and distribute your new media projects to the world.
“From Camera to YouTube” is designed to give you the information you need to start creating New Media projects today. Bring your most pressing questions.
You’ll also get a opportunity to hear how the Writers Guild is addressing New Media and its unique challenges for writers.
New Media Interchange is a free group dedicated to bringing the power of New Media to everyone. You can find more information on our web site at http://newmediainterchange.com and our community/discussion site, http://community.newmediainterchange.com.

I spent about 4 hours of Friday waiting to drop off some of my electronic junk at an event here in Minnesota.  An event held locally by Materials Processing Corporation of Eagan held an event at the Mall of America offering free recycling of used electronics. 

I loaded up my truck with a number of items that I wanted to recycle, headed down to the Mall of America to wait in line to have my stuff recycled.  From the news reports of the previous day, I knew it would be a little while, I waited for over an hour and a half.  I was not anywhere near the event.  It looked like I was going to have to wait for a few hours, but that was ok with me.  I got in line at 9:45 AM.  The event was canceled and closed at 11:30.  All people in line were sent home.  The event was to run for three days and it ended early on the second day.

Here is one news story on the event from Fox 9 News

On the one hand, I think it was a great service that the above company provided, but on the other hand, their poor planning wasted a large number of peoples time, gas, energy and willingness to do good.

Should the company be held responsible to those people that made the effort?  I know I will think twice about recommending the company to my clients. 

If you know of any good recycling comanies that offer low cost or free electronics recycling, I would be very interested to hear about them.  I need someone new for my recommendations and my personal equipment.

InfoWorld is reporting today that Microsoft is acknowledging they pushed a “secret” update to every XP and Vista user.  If you are like me and have your windows update set to let you know when an update is ready and not install them until you are ready, then you had this update pushed onto your computer with out it asking.  I knew something was a little strange when both my XP and Vista machines had rebooted during the night and were waiting for me to log in in the morning. 

 The good news is that the “secret” updates were patches to Windows Update and Microsoft Update.

 For more information about the update check out the InfoWorld article at:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/09/13/Microsoft-says-secret-updates-were-for-Windows-Update-itself_1.html