Steve Rosenbaum has been working with User-Generated Content since he created MTV UNfiltered in 1995. Since then, he's been in and out of
mainstream media, producing films for HBO, A&E, National Geographic,
CNN, and Discovery. Now, as the founder and CEO of Magnify.net, runs a platform company that allows Publishers, Brands, and Web communities to build and manage web video communities. You can follow him on Twitter at :http://twitter.com/magnify

Blog Entries by Steve Rosenbaum

How a Comcast Boss's Father Foretold the NBC Deal

Posted December 7, 2009 | 12:19 PM (EST)


It's easy to look at Comcast from the outside and see a big cable company. From that perspective, cable guys -- who were always called by broadcasters "pole climbers," not in a nice way -- could be seen as the dumb money in the NBC/Comcast deal.

But a closer look...

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Reality TV Goes Too Far

3 Comments | Posted November 30, 2009 | 09:47 AM (EST)


The White House Gate Crashers - The Unnamed Co-conspirators

I've been reading and re-reading the story of the "crashers"  and all of the related stories about Reality TV.

Something just isn't right.

While the couple is described as auditioning for a Bravo TV series, and Bravo goes...

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Happy Digital Thanksgiving

1 Comments | Posted November 24, 2009 | 09:01 AM (EST)


Each year, the milestone moments remind me that things are changing fast, and digital is emerging as the new way we learn, share and engage the world around us. Now, Thanksgiving may seem like the least likely of the Digital Holidays. After all, for Christmas we've been tracking Santa on...
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Media: The Day Everything Changed

4 Comments | Posted November 17, 2009 | 02:41 PM (EST)


  Every now and then, if you're very fortunate, you get to witness the "changing of the guard." The shift from one way of doing things to another. From old to new.

For the past three days I watched as old media handed over the reins to new --...

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Curation, Crowd Sourcing, and Sexy Aliens

Posted November 15, 2009 | 02:53 PM (EST)


You may have noticed that lots of the folks that make media for a living are pretty unhappy these days.

If you listen to Craig Newmark, the king of digital classifieds and the namesake of the now ubiquitous Craigslist – the newspaper folks he’s talked to don’t blame him...

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Augmented Reality: Here to Stay

9 Comments | Posted October 21, 2009 | 04:56 PM (EST)


There's a new phrase around town -- "Augmented Reality."

For a period of time, Virtual Reality (VR) was the hot new thing. Folks could create avatars, pretend to be other people, and buy and sell 'virtual' goods. You know, fake stuff.

But alas, for most of us, there...

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The Bankrupt Terrorist

Posted September 28, 2009 | 05:05 PM (EST)


The media reports of the plot being hatched by Najibullah Zazi offer tantalizing glimpses into his life,  his movements,  and his motivations.   

And while the proximity of his arrest to 9/11 makes it hard to engage the story as anything other than another terrorist plot, the story that...

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The Day The New York Times Stopped Coming

9 Comments | Posted September 16, 2009 | 03:26 PM (EST)


So, Saturday was an average day. A plain ordinary morning. I went to the door, and it wasn't there. The Times was missing.

My first thought: a neighbor had taken it. That used to happen when the guy who walked naked in front of his apartment...

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I've Got My 9/11 Story. What's Yours?

41 Comments | Posted September 11, 2009 | 07:30 AM (EST)


For the past eight years, the most important story regarding 9/11 has been locked away, hidden, out of sight.  Today is the time to open that drawer and take that story out and share it with the world.  That most important story is your story.

I am going...

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Health Care Ponzi Scheme

10 Comments | Posted August 23, 2009 | 05:46 PM (EST)


If you want to know if an airline is in bad shape, listen to the flight attendants when they're on break over by the bathroom/kitchen area near the back of the plane.  Better yet, look in the eyes of the counter staff. They know just how bad things are.

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Technology's Unintended Consequences

1 Comments | Posted August 19, 2009 | 07:53 PM (EST)


Three random news stories in the past week connected for me in a moment of clarity - and with a bit of trepidation.

First, the terrible helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft crash that killed nine over the Hudson.

Then, a seemingly unrelated taxicab accident that took the life of a small...

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Confessions Of A Roller-Coaster Addict

Posted August 12, 2009 | 11:28 AM (EST)


Kids like Roller-coasters -- they're biologically wired for the moment where your stomach hangs in the air. Between the gruesome clickity click up the hill, and the 'ugh' as you head down -- well, you probably remember.

Most adults get to a place where they try and avoid the high...

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Obama's Summer Vacation

Posted August 2, 2009 | 07:14 PM (EST)


First, let me just say that I was one of those folks who counted the number of vacation days that George Bush took. It made me crazy that he was playing golf as we were going to war. So I've been pleased to see Barack Obama pushing hard to get...

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My Digital Birthday

2 Comments | Posted July 17, 2009 | 08:02 AM (EST)


So, today is my birthday :) Thank you, always fun to have a day celebrate all things me one day a year. But this year for the first time -- I'm having a Digital Birthday.

Now I've had some unusual birthdays before this one. In fact, my 6th birthday...

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Government 2.0 Rocks the Volunteer World

3 Comments | Posted July 14, 2009 | 09:28 AM (EST)


If you've ever volunteered in a soup kitchen, or spent a Sunday helping a community group get a local baseball field ready for the season, then you know how good it feels to lend a hand.

The problem, as it turns out, is that finding the places that need you...

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Painting Times Square Red - ????

2 Comments | Posted July 11, 2009 | 11:30 AM (EST)


So, as you probably know I've been a big fan of the changes happening in the city. I think that the shift from cars to mixed use streets with larger side walks, protected bike lanes, and open space is a great thing.

But, this one has me totally stumped.

Red?...

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Retail For Rent on Manhattan's West Side

1 Comments | Posted July 5, 2009 | 01:01 PM (EST)


Because New York is a vertical city - you don't get to see much of what's going above the first floor. So as you walk down Broadway - past the restaurants, and food markets, and odd mix of brand name coffee shops, jewelry, and woman's lingerie shops - it's easy...

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4th of July Fireworks VIDEO in NYC

Posted July 5, 2009 | 09:58 AM (EST)


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Is Broadband a Civil Right?

22 Comments | Posted June 29, 2009 | 09:49 PM (EST)


There are some moments when you can feel the conversation change -- and the world tilt from right to left.

Today was one of those days.

It began early at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City. The PdF as it's known, is now in it's 6th year --...

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New York Throws Michael Jackson a Dance Party

4 Comments | Posted June 29, 2009 | 03:35 PM (EST)


It's hard to explain how people feel about Michael Jackson - but one thing is pretty clear, New York is mid way throwing a New Orleans style wake for The King of Pop.

If you have any doubt about the depth of feelings for Jackson, just check out this totally...

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