ForestMist

My tastes in media, like food, seem to change with time. I thought it would be fun to document what currently tickles my fancy. This will prove useful for future versions of my self but hopefully you’ll get a few links out of it too.

Audio

Boagworld
Good all around podcast for those in the web industry.

Games

World of Warcarft
For more hours than I care to admit.

Looking forward to Bayoneta, Bioshock 2 and Brutal Legend on the PS3.

Music

Luxury by Tiga

Memory Gospel by Moby

She’s Got Me Dancing by Tommy Sparks

Video

Hulu
Great for keeping up with various shows on my timetable. Yes, 3am showings of Inspector Gadget is exactly how I roll. Currently hopeful that Warehouse 13 and Defying Gravity will continue to be interesting.

Netflix
Love the Blu-ray and wide selection. Sci-fi and Comedy dominate the rental lists.

Pixel Perfect
Bert Monroy’s excellent show on Photoshop and related topics. Excellent for learning new techniques and reinforcing current skills.

TED
My late night sleep aid and all around mind stimulator. Love the fact that I can watch these on my iPhone from the comfort of bed.

Tekzilla
Patrick and Veronica do a great job of hosting this show about all things tech. The bloopers at the end of each episode are the perfect icing to an entertainly educational show.

Websites

Authentic Jobs
I visit a lot of job sites regularly but I really enjoy their layout and consistent quality of postings the best. Strong contenders include  Krop and the 37signals Job Board.

deviantART
Wonderful site for sampling a wide range of art, photography and design. I don’t think my mom would approve of some of the material but perhaps that is why I like it so much.  ;)

Twitter
I really enjoy the exercise of distilling an idea down to it’s essentials so it will remain true despite the 140 character limit. It’s a really great way to improve your writing skills.

Nice of Carsonified to post although their isn’t as much video content as I would like.

The following presentations were the best by far.

• Doing a Start Up in the Real World by David Heinemeier Hansson
  Great talk filled with real advice. No fluff. Watch it then formulate your own plan to make the world a better place.
• 14 Web App Survival Tips by Ryan Carson
  Lots of tips for the aspiring web app creator to help deal with promotion, finance and more.

I had the pleasure of attending Future of Web Apps – Miami 2009 earlier this year. It’s a wonderful experience that I highly recommend for anyone in the web industry.

The conferences are put together by nice folks at Carsonified who prove their good intentions by posting videos and slides from each show for anyone who couldn’t make it.

Here are some of my favorites from this year’s event.

• Order from Chaos: The Future of the Web by Aza Raskin
  Bit of technical problems accompany this great talk about mozilla, open source and how we are moving towards better interfaces for using the web.
• What is the Future of the Browser? by Dion Almaer & Ben Galbraith
  Great overview of the past, present and future of the web browsers. Very well paced and informative.
• Keynote by Gary Vaynerchuk
  Need motivation? Gary’s passion is infectious!
• Scaling your Tech Team by Joe Stump
  Very specific examples and advice for anyone who is interested in or already part of a growing team.

Learning is enjoyment with purpose.