LIVE?

You are probably thinking, "Hummmmm, will we get nothing but TdF coverage from RCVman blog over the next three weeks?" Well, as tempting as this is, and as much media as comes out of the tour, we have a larger responsibility to you, the loyal and well rounded VBA. With this in mind, todays post covers a lot of ground, so hang on, here we go:

Robert McNamera is to Donald Rumsfeld what the Dalai Llama is to Bernard Madoff.
If you haven't already, please add The Fog of War http://www.sonyclassics.com/fogofwar/ to your Netflix queue.

WWGD (What Would Google Do) by Jeff Jarvis continues to amaze and inspire. Gems such as this (page 93): "Beta" is Googles way of never having to say they're sorry. It is also Googles way of saying, "There are mistakes here and so please help us find them and improve the product. Tell us what you want it to be, Thanks." Most established companies would consider releasing unfinished products to market criminal: You can't produce a product that's not perfect-and not even done- or it will hurt the brand, right? Not if you make mistakes well. "Innovation, not instant perfect perfection," was Google VP Marissa Mayer's advice to Stanford students.

Goggle this book and buy it (natch). http://www.slideshare.net/jeffjarvis/wwgd-the-powerpoint

The Fourth of July is to Christmas what Wal-Mart is to Costco.

I was asked to take down the Bad Boyz YouTube clip (that had over 2K views in a week and was part of an on-line discussion that garnered another 3K) because it had created a bit of controversy. It asked some hard questions and opened a Pandora's box of debate. It planted seeds however and I continue to feel that posting the truth (as sometimes only video can) will make us better, more attentive and prepared to handle difficult situations, be them in races or in real life. What YOU gonna do?

Speaking of posting the truth, we have a unique opportunity with which I would very much appreciate some feedback. Technology, innovation and circumstance has provided us with opportunity to combine HD video, shot live in the pack on race day, with constantly changing GPS data and interactive software to produce the Real Course Videos. With that as back-story, here is the latest beta-opp: We can go live.

So now, today, we have come full circle. The coverage from the 2009 Tour de France is absolutely amazing, both live and produced. RacerMate Inc. http://www.computrainer.com/rm_inc/IRCVideos.htm with the release of Ironman Canada has hit the current nadir of the RCV model. What next? We could very easily continue to shoot IM and 70.3 events until they are all available as RCVs or we could innovate, expand, test, try, develop, push. Therefore the question du jour is:

DO YOU SEE VALUE IN AN RCV "LIVE" FEED? And further, would you pay to see an hour, 90 minutes, or 56 miles of actual races, road, tri or simply tours and great rides, broadcast live from the RCVman camera as he searches for truth, justice and the metaphorical Milky Way?

Hummmmmmm