Wired

Blogging fo' reals

ARE you passionate about something? If so, what is it? Shoot me an email: thedavidbell@me.com. Matthew Cerrone's passion was the Major League Baseball, specifically the Mets. What Matthew decide to do with his passion is to write about the Mets and talk to other people who were just as passionate as he was. So in 2003 he started the blog now known as MetsBlog.com. He started it as his hobby in college. And now nine years later, MetsBlog.com is his full-time job.

Matt was working full-time for a PR company while following his passion. "I was probably spending a little too much time writing MetsBlog and not enough on my actual job, such as is the case with most bloggers," he says.

In 2006 the blog was receiving one million readers per month. This is when SportsNet New York approached him with a proposal. After the pitch and acceptance, a partnership as formed. Today, MetsBlog receives three million monthly readers and Matthew works very fervently.

So think about it, what are you passionate about? And no, I'm not saying start blogging about your passion immediately but think, if you really want something, and you want a job you would love to do for the rest of your life -- you can make it happen. If you want to see a video about what Matt's day is like: http://on.mash.to/HL180v

The Julian Assange TV show

JULIAN Assange is a name we haven't heard in a while. That's because he's been in house arrest. But while in that situation, he has filmed episodes for his upcoming TV show The World, Tomorrow, which will première in Russia on the RT Network. The show will be somewhat like Oprah, except way more intense. He will be interviewing "some of the most interesting and controversial people alive in the world today," according to a statement attached to WikiLeaks' Twitter page. Although the show is premièring on the RT Network, it's believed it will made available to us in North America shortly. Assange says the aim of the show is "to capture and present some of this revolutionary spirit to a global audience.

"My own work with WikiLeaks hasn't exactly made my life easier, but it has given us a platform to broadcast world-shifting ideas," he said. He's been making good use of his time in house arrest. He played himself on The Simpsons a few weeks back.

Apple's new HOT product

APPLE has been very fond of using the word "revolutionary" when it comes to talking about their products. It seems like the iPad was revolutionary, as well as the iPhone, iMac, iPod, and Apple TV. Yet this week, again, Apple designer Phillipe Starck has come out and said he has been working with Apple on the next revolutionary product the company will announce in the next eight months. So what could this new product be? My guess is a Siri-powered TV. Rumours have been rampant about Apple releasing a television. And creating a Siri-based TV makes sense for them, and it would be revolutionary. Imagine being able to talk to your TV: "Two and a Half Men please," "mute," all the vocal commands you could make while watching television. Talk about modern-day technology. But then again, the designer could be talking about the iPhone 5. I guess we will have to wait and find out.

Facebook acquires Instagram

I've talked about Instagram several times in this column. I've mentioned how it's my favourite application for the iPhone. Mark Zuckerberg must've absolutely loved this application because he bought it for $1 billion. I downloaded it for FREE... ha! Besides the lame jokes, on April 9, Facebook announced they would buy the photo-sharing application Instagram for that cool billion. This is Facebook's largest acquisition to date. And also keep this in mind, Facebook didn't pay in stock or anything like that -- they paid straight cash. I couldn't imagine how happy the two founders of Instagram are. Something that caught my eye is just before Instagram was bought was they released an Android version. Before, they were exclusive to the iPhone. I wonder if the Android version was the tipping point for the people at Facebook?

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 15, 2012 ??65521