Pero en la época en la que tenemos servicios de “streaming” en todos lados, ¿por qué me molesté a tener un servidor de música?

Estas son las cinco razones principales:

1. Tengo muchos CDs que he comprado desde los 90. Incluyen bastantes soundtracks que no están disponibles en los servicios de streaming.

2. La calidad de audio de los CDs es mejor que la de los servicios de streaming tipo lossy. Este punto es debatidle y depende del equipo en el que se reproduce el audio. En general si tienes un buen par de audífonos y un DAC portátil, la diferencia es perceptible.

3. Tener tu propia colección de música evita que alguna de tus canciones favoritas desaparezca por cambios en el licenciamiento. Seguramente han visto que las películas entran y salen de servicios como Netflix. Pasa lo mismo con la música. Un día puedes estar escuchando uno de tus álbumes favoritos y al día siguiente ha desaparecido. Tener el CD físico y rippeado a tu disco duro evita este problema.

4. A todos nos gusta coleccionar algo, y coleccionar música es bastante común. Esto es más común si comenzaste a coleccionar antes de la llegada de los servicios de streaming.

5. Algunas veces los meta datos de la música en servicios de streaming están... mal. Tener tu música copiada, te permite escoger los nombres, portadas, intérpretes tal y como tú quieras. Y muchas veces esa es la versión correcta. Un poco de TOC no lastima a nadie... ¿verdad?

En fin. Estas son las razones para dedicar tiempo a crear una biblioteca (audioteca) personal. No descarten a los servicios de streaming todavía. Más adelante veremos cómo se integran con todo lo demás.

-1-


Fuck, another corridor. Where am I?



I mean, a few minutes ago I was in the lobby of the hotel, laughing with a few other friends about the shenanigans normal to a convention. I told everyone I was going upstairs to my room to get my wallet. Now I’m here, wherever the fuck “here” is.


From early on I decided to avoid the hotel’s elevators. It’s a big building and having close to a thousand furries inside clogged each elevator car. It could take between 10 to 15 minutes just to get to your floor.


Luckily, my room is on the fourth floor. That means I can take the emergency stairs to and from my floor, cutting a long wait down to a couple of minutes. That is, until now…


I turn around yet another corner, just to be met with some chairs piled against a wall and more locked doors. It’s funny how these service areas are bigger than you would expect; it seems like they wouldn’t fit inside the confines of the structure that holds them. This realization doesn’t make things easier though; I am lost, inside this fucking hotel.


I can still hear the faint sounds of the convention nearby. People talking, music, a playful scream… all this makes the situation even more unnerving. Where the fuck am I?


My senses tingle. After all, being a wolf had to account for something. It’s like my ears can hear something I can’t really identify, making the hair on the back on my neck stand. I mustn’t get nervous… I must keep walking and remain calm. Surely someone should come looking for me, or I’ll run into someone from the hotel staff who can help.


The thing is, the situation is getting weirder by the moment.


Another corner. This time I turn slowly, almost afraid of what I could find on the other side.


What am I? Some kind of pup? Come on, get a hold of yourself. This is a normal hotel, stop thinking that you’re in some kind of weird movie, wolf.


A new corridor. The fluorescent lights are failing on this one, they flicker and buzz constantly. It makes it a little hard to see into the corridor.


What to do? Turn back? Retrace my steps? Follow my nose out of here? I am getting nervous despite myself. This is getting out of hand.


I decide to walk into the corridor, this new and unexplored weirdness. Suddenly, I am startled by the loud buzz from my phone. I take it out and read a message:


“Dude where are you? We’re hungry!”


At least I still have a signal. I lean against one of the walls and quickly type a response back: “You won’t believe this. I’m lost inside the service area!” I pocket my phone and keep walking into the corridor. My phone buzzes again:


“Stop fucking around. If you want some time alone with that fox, just say so. We’re leaving for dinner.” Damn.


I look for my friend’s contact and hit the call button. I press the cellphone to my ear, waiting for it to ring, but I get the no connection tones. I hit -end- on the screen and call back. Another pause, same result. I decide to turn back and head back up the corridor I came from, just a few meters away.


I can hear my steps quickening. I look at my phone as I walk, paying attention to the bars that indicate signal strength. It’s funny, it reads full signal. Why can’t I make a fucking call then?


I reach the beginning of the corridor and stop. I press -call- on the screen and wait. My eyes grow a little bigger when the signal meter changes to -no service- “Shit!” I whisper to myself. I decide to stop this madness and retrace my steps as best I can.


I look at my phone every few meters. The signal is dead. I start walking faster, I can hear my feet hitting the concrete floor as I run up another corridor. I almost drop my phone when it starts ringing.


“Hello?! Hello?!” I look at the screen and see one of my friend’s name’s on it. 



“Hello? Can you hear me?” Nothing. I start walking again, phone pressed to my ear. I hear some static, as if the signal is trying to get through.


“Hey! Wolf? Where are you? Aren’t you coming to dinner?” It’s the fox, he sounds a little annoyed.


“Fox! I need help, I don’t know where I am!” I start looking around, like I can see the signal from my phone and get out of here by following it.


“Come on dude, I still have all of the special brownies we’re going to share. How come you’re lost?”


“I clipped out of bounds!” I’m using gamespeak now. I don’t even notice.


“You what? Come on, are you coming or not?” He sounds annoyed, like someone who thinks a stupid prank has gone for too long.


“I… I used the emergency stairs. I must’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere…”


“For fucks sake, wolf. Stop playing games.” I hear a faint buzzing on my phone, as if the signal is going to drop soon…


“Fox! Tell someone from the hotel staff! I… I’m getting scared!” More noises. The signal is dropping.


“Wolf? Wolf! Can you hear…” The line clicks dead. I look at the phone and see -no signal- again. Fuck!


I stare at my phone for a few more seconds, hoping to see the meter change. Nothing happens. I lower the phone and look up the corridor, and start walking, barely noticing that the fluorescent lights in this corridor are starting to flicker.


Some corridors away, a steel door guards the entrance. The “Authorized Personnel Only” sign on it is a little skewed. As if by it’s own accord, it starts to close, slowly, but steadily. With a small -click- it latches closed, sealing the rest of the hotel from what is within.


A wolf just became an unwilling resident of the space between spaces…

La semana pasada lanzamos el primer episodio de nuestro #podcast: La Filmoteca Furry.

Ahora podrás escuchar todos los episodios en tu plataforma de podcasts favorita:

• Anchor
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Spotify
• Overcast
• Breaker
• Pocket Casts

¡Ya no hay pretexto para no venir a platicar de cine con nosotros!

En mi post anterior platicamos de las consideraciones que debes tener antes de diseñar una #presentación y de las presentaciones que sirven para persuadir.

Ahora toca el turno de las presentaciones para informar.

Presentación para informar

Cuando quieres que alguien se entere de algo, debes usar una presentación para informar.

El formato es muy similar al que vimos en la presentación para persuadir, pero la información que deberás cubrir es diferente:

1. Contexto o gancho: empieza con un problema, estadística o con una imagen dramática. Debe ser lo suficientemente fuerte para captar la atención de la audiencia.

2. Agenda: lista claramente los temas que vas a tratar a lo largo de tu presentación.

3. Temas: deberás tener un slide por cada tema que hayas listado en tu agenda. Cada tema debe ser respaldado por datos, estadísticas, una imagen o una historia relevante. Repite este paso por cada tema de la agenda.

4. Resumen: vuelve a listar los temas de los que hablaste y los puntos más importantes de cada uno.

5. Siguientes pasos: ahora que tu audiencia conoce lo que quieres y por qué es importante, debes listar claramente los siguientes pasos para implementar tus recomendaciones.

Hay que responder tres preguntas básicas: ¿quién lo hará? ¿Qué hará? ¿Cuándo lo hará? Deberás dejar clara la responsabilidad en cada paso y asegurar que las cosas van a pasar. Aunque necesites aprobación, la audiencia debe saber que pensaste lo suficiente en la ejecución.

¿Qué sigue? Ahora hay que diseñar el contenido... de eso hablaremos en el siguiente post.

Este post contiene información que se explica en el libro Simply Said de Jay Sullivan

A lo mejor seguiste los consejos que te platiqué en mi post anterior y ya estás más tranquilo antes de iniciar tu #presentación, pero...¿ y el contenido?

¿Cómo debo transmitir el mensaje que elegí?

¿Qué información es importante?

¿Cómo demonios la estructuro?

No saber cómo atacar estas preguntas puede volver a dejarte en el inicio: asustado y con muchas dudas.

Veamos cómo armar una presentación:

1. De regreso al inicio: vale la pena repasar el punto fundamental de cualquier presentación: tu audiencia, para qué están ahí y qué información quieres que se lleven al salir de tu plática. Debes tener muy claro todo esto.

2. Decide el objetivo principal de tu presentación: ¿Vas a persuadir a tu audiencia e influenciar que hagan algo (o te compren algo)? O, ¿solo quieres informar sobre el estado de algún proyecto o actividad? Esta elección dicta la estructura de tu presentación.

3. Elige uno de los dos tipos de presentación y sigue la estructura.

Hablemos primero de las presentaciones para persuadir a tu audiencia.

Presentación para persuadir

En este tipo de presentaciones el objeto es que la audiencia haga algo al salir de la plática. Algunos TED Talks que hablan de activismo son muy claros en lo que quieren que hagas: dona a la causa, toma agua, etc.

En general estas presentaciones tienen la siguiente estructura:

1. Contexto o gancho: empieza con un problema, estadística o con una imagen dramática. Debe ser lo suficientemente fuerte para captar la atención de la audiencia.

2. Recomendación: ¿cómo planeas solucionar el problema anterior? Debe ser breve, específica y memorable.

3. Lista los beneficios de tu recomendación: todos los beneficios deben ser de alguno de estos tipos: tiempo, dinero o sentimientos.

4. Prueba cada uno de los beneficios anteriores: ahora repasa cada beneficio de la lista anterior y sé específico con el valor que tienen. Puede usar estadísticas o datos importantes, una imagen o una historia. Repite este punto por cada beneficio que hayas listado.

5. Da un resumen: al final, vuelve a decir tu recomendación y cada uno de sus beneficios. Con esto ayudas a que tu audiencia los recuerde.

6. Siguientes pasos: sé claro con lo que quieras que haga tu audiencia. ¿Tienen que visitar un sitio? ¿Darle like a alguna página? ¿Mandar un correo? Entre más específica la acción, mejor.

Hablaré de la presentación informativa en la siguiente entrada.

Este post contiene información que se explica en el libro Simply Said de Jay Sullivan

En estos días, he estado preparando mi #presentación para #Confuror.

Inevitablemente vienen los nervios y empezar a pensar en todo lo que puede salir mal.

Aunque mucho de esto se puede solucionar preparándose para dar la plática, nunca están de mas estos tres consejos para dar una buena presentación:

1. Piensa en la audiencia: la plática no es para ti, es para tu audiencia. Es importante que tengas bien identificadas tres cosas importantes: ¿Quién estará presente? ¿Por qué están ahí? ¿Qué necesitan? Responde estas tres preguntas lo más específico que puedas. Así podrás diseñar un mensaje que conecte mejor con tu audiencia.

2. Justo antes de empezar a hablar, re-enfoca tu cerebro: tu cerebro te puede jugar rudo antes de que tomes el micrófono. Pueden venir sentimientos de ¿y qué tal que fallo? Seguramente no les importa nada de lo que voy a decir..., etc. Es importante que te convenzas de que la audiencia no es tu enemigo y que no te comerán vivo. Recuerda que la presentación no es para ti sino para la audiencia ayuda a enfocar tu cerebro y a evitar este sentimiento.

3. Haz contacto visual mientras hablas: lo más normal es no ver a alguien en específico cuando estás haciendo una presentación. Lo malo de no hacerlo es que entonces te enfocas en tus slides, en tus notas, o lo peor... en el piso. Intenta hacer contacto directo a los ojos de una persona en específico por lo menos mientras hablas sobre alguno de los puntos de tu plática (por lo regular la duración de una frase). Al final tu audiencia no te está escuchando como conjunto; le estás hablando a cada una de las personas presentes.

Estos tres consejos parecen simples, pero son difíciles de implementar. A lo mejor tienes que practicar tres o cuatro veces antes de que sean algo natural en la manera que hablas.

Lo importante es probar y mejorar con cada presentación que des.

Con información de este artículo del Harvard Business Review.

Imagen de cabecera por lograstudio en pixabay

Soy fan de coleccionar soundtracks. Esta foto es del primero que me regalaron en los 80.

Es el LP con la música de Los Caza Fantasmas, una de las películas que más me gustaba en aquella época. Desgraciadamente no tengo la cuenta del número de reproducciones de este disco, pero han de ser bastantes.

Curiosamente es el único LP que tengo en CD y ahora en formato digital. Vaya que ha evolucionado con el tiempo.

La idea es simple: junta a dos furries fanáticos del cine para platicar de películas.

Hablaremos de las películas que se han convertido en clásicas y los estrenos actuales (sí, hasta de los remakes live action de Disney...)

Con algunas secciones especiales y un formato de plática, mas que de crítica, queremos que compartas con nosotros nuestras experiencias al ver películas y por qué se han convertido en nuestras favoritas.

Acompáñanos en este nuevo #podcast. Lo puedes descargar en la plataforma que utilices. También nos puedes mandar un mensaje de voz a través de la aplicación de Anchor, disponible para iOS y Android.

Tus guías en esta aventura en el cine serán @loven_brand y @stormwulf, además de algunos invitados especiales.

¡Te esperamos!

5:00:00 PM

It had been a long day. If there was something Wulf Bauer hated was paperwork, and lately it had all been about paperwork.

But still Bauer hoped that it would stay that way. As senior field agent on CTU, the only time he saw action was when something went terribly wrong.

He also had to admit it was a different agency now. Lots of new faces: young, handsome, intelligent and willing to serve had arrived at CTU. It was difficult to get used to it. Sometimes he felt as a piece of the inventory. He was something that was supposed to be in CTU because he knew nothing else.

5:10:05 PM

Bauer suddenly realized he'd been looking at the same performance report for the past 10 minutes. It belonged to one of the new field agents that had transferred from Pacific City's CTU office just a few days ago. Bauer felt puzzled by this kid. Why had he transferred to Central City? He had experience in electronics and tactical countermeasures. Not much field experience but that was expected of a cub his age.

Bauer smiled to himself: “I bet calling 20 somethings 'cubs' is one of the signs of old age after all.” He closed the file and swiveled on his chair, only to find the “cub” right behind his station.

“Still trying to decide if I'm the right fit for your unit, sir?” Wearing his usual black clothes, Streak stood there. Ears perked and tail wagging slowly. He had a causal demeanor that irritated Bauer sometimes. Still, he could see potential in this handsome young black wolf.

“You know I'm supposed to give my final evaluation of your file to Buchanan today, Streak.” Bauer locked his screen and stood before the younger wolf. Streak was short for a wolf, and that was something Bauer found slightly amusing. Bauer started walking towards Buchanan's office, Streak tagging along.

“So what is it going to be Wulf? Did I pass your test? Am I part of Central City's CTU elite unit?”

“I don't know where you got your intel, Streak. This unit has been offline for two years. We're hardly 'elite' anymore.” They were walking down the dimly lit corridors of CTU, Bauer nodding hello to different agents as they passed them.

Streak wouldn't give up so easily, “After saving the city from that terrorist attack two years ago, your unit is considered elite, no matter what you say, Wulf”

“I think you need to review the case files. We were very close to losing half the city to terrorists. CTU was under attack at one point. We even had a few casualties right in this office.” The memory of that event made Bauer's side hurt. He had been shot by the leader of the terrorist group during the attack on CTU. He'd lost someone close to him that day as well.

“I didn't mean to be disrespectful, sir. I just wanted to let you know it's an honor to be even considered for this position.” Streak's ears were down and his walking was a little stiffer. Bauer could smell his nervousness. He couldn't help but smile. He had been a cub once, after all.

“How's the server upgrade going?” Bauer decided to change subjects. The memory of the incident still made him uncomfortable, and he didn't want a potential team member to notice it.

Streak's ears shot up, “Servers are almost ready. We're expecting to bring the new OS online tomorrow. I've been helping Lee load the initial variables. Satellite uplinks are ready too.”

It wasn't a surprise to hear Streak had been working with Lee on the servers. Those two became fast friends, and they did talk the same language when the subject was technology. There was also something else going on, but Bauer wasn't going to bring it up right now.

“Good, I've heard the new voice recognition software is impressive. Did you get the DoD uplink ready too?”

“Yep, everything's ready for a test run tomorrow. Are you going to be present for the initial boot up?”

“I wouldn't miss it. It's not everyday that we get something as state of the art as this new system. If it lives to the expectations, we won't even have to be out on the field anymore.”

“Where's the fun in that, Wulf? Nothing like having a good set of paws and a nose on the case!” Of course Streak still wanted the thrill of the hunt. As for Bauer, he was looking forward to quieter times.

They had reached Buchanan's office, Bauer standing just outside the door. He put his paw to the handle and started to push before stopping and looking back at Streak. The young wolf was wagging his tail again, imagining himself part of Bauer's unit.

“I guess you should head over to Operations. Buchanan's going to want to check the servers when we're done here.”

“Yes, sir!” his tail waging some more, Streak turned on his heels and walked briskly towards the open area where Operations was set up.

Smiling, Bauer pushed the door and walked into Buchanan's office.

5:15:20 PM

It was called the Lion's Den. Buchanan's office was a dimly lit space with sparse furniture. At the desk, a lion sat, hence the name for the office. He was looking at something on his computer screen.

Padding quietly, Bauer entered the office “Sir, I finished the personnel review. Do you want to go over the details now?”

Buchanan looked up from his screen and smiled a toothy grin.“Fresh meat for the grinder. Sure, let's look at them.” Bauer took a seat opposite the lion at the desk. He slid his PAD over to him.

“I think these new agents will do O.K. They do need to be briefed on the specific procedures of our branch, though.” Somehow Buchanan always made Bauer a little uneasy. The wolf always attempted to explain this as a simple species difference. His boss was a lion after all.

They spent the next 45 minutes going over personnel reviews. A lot of training sessions had to be planned for each new team member. Bauer was supposed to oversee most of them. It was his job to get this particular branch of CTU up and running again. The wolf was secretly confident about the new software being installed on the servers. It promised to take a lot of work out of his paws.

Little did they know about the danger brewing somewhere else.

5:45:15 PM

His computer dinged. A familiar sound in his office. You get used to the sales once you come up with one of the most popular games of any mobile platform.

He slid his chair over to the monitor. Another thousand downloads in the past two days. He smiled and thought about all the data he needed to process. In the age of social media, you had a lot of information to process. He spent most of his days gathering information and applying complex algorithms to it. The relationships between seemingly unrelated variables were amazing. The world was interconnected in ways most people only dreamed about. It was his job to come up with creative ways to use the data.

He clicked a button on his screen. The information changed and he looked at the data gathered by his game today. It was going to take some time, but he was sure the solution was there somewhere. All he needed to do was wait. At the rate his players were generating data, it would take a few more hours. After that the world would meet his creation.

It's funny how danger comes out of where you least expect it. A seemingly simple game was providing him data points, half-lives and reaction times. All this would take years to study in a laboratory. It would take a lot of computing power to simulate all this data, but thanks to the Internet and smartphones, he had an army. An army of players willing to beat the game. Little did they know where or how their data was used. As long as they kept playing, he would have all the simulations he needed.

He opened one of his simulations. It was essentially the same game his users were frantically playing, but his version contained algorithms that simulated reality a lot closer. With them, he could predict reaction times, size and scope of military and civilian response teams, doctor's decision making trees, government procedures... He basically ran a small virtual world inside his computer. Everything he needed to make his creation better.

He pressed a few keys and imputed the latest batch of information. The simulation ran for 15 minutes. The screen began to flash with decisions and moves simulated by the computer. By pooling Twitter accounts, Facebook statuses, news, and other sources of public information, the computer was now able to predict how government officials and agencies would react.

The computer beeped and showed a big red number: 92%. Good but he knew he could do better. Still it was good enough to launch phase one of his plan. Smiling, he opened a new terminal window and started typing commands into it.

It was time the world realized how connected everything really was.

5:59:59 PM