“The web is growing so incredibly fast — it’s so dynamic and has so many new tools. Keeping up with the web and figuring out how to use it in a practical way for businesses is difficult. We see businesses struggling to understand and implement the latest social media tools and technology: “How do I use Twitter? How do I use Facebook? Do I need to develop an iPhone app? What technology am I not using that could help grow my business?” These questions are just the beginning, and that’s why building43 came to be.

Much of the technology blogosphere is focused on news — what’s the latest? That’s where many people spend their time.

At building43, we spend our time focusing on what those new developments mean to you. We go in-depth, and discuss the practical implications and the ways your business can apply the technology.

We’ve designed building43 to bring together thought leaders in a variety of disciplines and organizations, from entrepreneurs to those responsible for the latest technologies. They will share knowledge, experiences and advice on how you can use these cool new tools and apps to make your business more successful.”

I’m a fan of Robert’s various evangelism journeys since he helped shaping Channel9, Microsoft’s often underrated video blogging site.

Downloading building43 video content

What I particularly liked about Channel9 was the option to download the videos to my computer.

I’m a frequent traveler and love to watch longer running shows offline. I could not find an obvious downloading option on the site itself and didn’t want to go for third party tools to grab low quality Flash video, so I asked Robert about it.

As it turns out, there are in fact a couple of options for a hassle-free  download of building43 videos.

• blip.tv offers direct download links. You’ve got to click on an episode’s permalink, select the format and scroll down to the end of any comments, where you’ll find the download link. blip.tv provides you with the high-quality source files.
• building43 videos are also available as an iTunes video podcast subscription.
• For those of you running Miro, there’s a Miro subscription, too.

I’ve downloaded all of the available shows and am looking forward to enjoying Robert’s interviews on my next lengthy train trip.

I’ve noticed that occasionally the FriendFeed application stopped working. Not entirely, but it stopped publishing FriendFeed posts to my Wall.

This is not officially documented but what did the trick for me is to explicitly  (re-) grant offline access to the FriendFeed application. In case you are experiencing similar issues, try doing the same by visiting this application setting page while being logged into Facebook.