Chris Sacca's 'What is left?'

12 STDs of Xmas or My Brother is My Hero

When I was nine years old, my mom borrowed the first VHS video camera I had ever seen from her University and brought it home for my brother and I to experiment. Within hours we assumed roles that would carry us through the rest of our lives. The nerdy older brother directing the collaboration and working behind the lens, while the eerily talented and good looking younger brother hammed it up for the camera.

We spent countless days filming myriad little movies (I have since learned to call them 'projects'). From Karatepiece Theatre (think Alistair Cooke meets Jackie Chan) to Larry is Loose (a precursor to Scary Movie) and Escape from Awfulwitz (almost got me expelled from junior high), Brian could always be counted on to bring some laughs and beauty to my hastily executed productions. We had no editing equipment in those days, so each take was do-or-die and our Crayola marker title sequences were the first bit shot. Somehow they all turned out to be sidesplitting.

Nothing makes me happier than to fast forward more than twenty years from those days filming in the yellow light of the basement and see my brother still cracking people up. Very few of us are fortunate enough, or as is often the case, determined enough, to have the opportunity to pursue as a career that which we truly do best, and that which we enjoy most. It has not been an easy path for Brian. Working shit jobs while acting for no pay and performing stand-up to frightfully challenging audiences, my brother has busted his ass in this quirky little business forever. Yet, this year, without a doubt, things have taken off for Brian.

As I have mentioned before, his comedic duo Pete and Brian has been selling out Pete and Brian's One Man Show on both coasts. Then came the writing gigs, new management deals, some big name ad projects. Plus, one huge announcement that I will let him tell you about himself. All told, 2006 has been breakthrough from Brian and I couldn't be more excited for him as 2007 is shaping up to be even better.

For now, just kick back and enjoy these holiday greetings from Pete and Brian as they regale you with the 12 STDs of Christmas.

Motoblog: Padmasree Warrior

I wanted to take a moment to welcome one of the sharpest and most disruptive minds I know to the blogosphere. Padmasree Warrior's resume and accomplishments speak volumes and place her among the most powerful technologists in the world.

However, what I respect most about Padma is her ability to reduce the most complex challenges to digestible chunks and her straight-shooting panache along the way. I have been fortunate enough to know Padma for a couple of years now and you can always be assured of a feisty debate if she is in the room.

In that light, I am delighted that she has started her blog Bits at the Edge. Her posts so far are full of insight and wit, and I am sure we have just scratched the surface. I will be staying tuned.

Why I Twitter

I really enjoy the idea behind Google's Dodgeball product, an SMS-based service that lets users tell their friends (and strangers) where they are. I think a lot about location based services, and I see Dodgeball as a catalyst for the inclusion of location data into a social network.

Despite that, Dodgeball never quite caught on for me and my group of friends. I used to think it was because I wasn't young enough, or because I was not part of the SMS generation. However, I soon realized that I just didn't care that much about broadcasting my physical location to anyone, whether my friend or not. In fact, as much as I like have a public voice, I tend to be pretty private about where I am at any given time. (Though, I certainly think there are many people who are quite the opposite of me.)

Thus, when Twitter launched a few months ago, I initially resisted using it. Nevertheless, my eyes were opened when I saw how my friend Eric Case had used Twitter to stay in touch while traveling through Africa. No Internet connectivity for email or blogging? No problem. Case merely sent SMS messages detailing his adventures to Twitter and they were broadcast to all of us who are his Twitter friends.

Put simply, Twitter enables the wide broadcast of anything one can fit into a text message. I tend to think of it as microblogging - blogging a sentence or two. A mobile and completely spontaneous and immediate channel for expressing the widest range of thoughts and experiences. Learn something startling? Deep thought shared with you? Need to vent a little? Anointed yourself the Fashion Police? Jam it into your phone or Blackberry and, instantly, your friends are all apprised. Twitter also serves as an archive of your messages, a chronology of all of these occurrences that can be shared and linked.

I think the beauty of Twitter lies in how it doesn't preordain how it should be used. Rather than tell users what to message or what problem Twitter is solving, Twitter instead just offers a powerful platform then leaves the door wide open and the users themselves evolve its application. I think that is smart.

Go here to try it for yourself and then you can find my profile here so we can keep in touch.