It has been my pleasure to attend a number of KOMU anchorSarah Hill‘s interesting Google+newsroomHangouts since July 19, 2011. In this article, I will try to share some of my technical observations and insights. (note: For my general and business insights, you can read my previous article.)
2) Each of the nine reporters will have a notebook computer connecting to the internet via a 3G/4G data stick. And each reporter has a handheld SD/HD camera hooking up to the notebook as its camera. (note: SD or HD probably doesn’t matter here because the data will be compressed and you are transporting over 3G/4G network anyway.) (Aug 11 update: Currently, G+ Hangout doesn’t support external video cameras. I have reflect this request to G+ engineers.)
3) Any “newsroom” can probably set this up easily.
In fact, any team of volunteer citizen journalists may even be able create such a reporting setup with less trouble. All it takes is each individual citizen journalist to have a notebook computer, a fast 3G/4G data stick, and a camera. And these citizen journalists can work together depending on needs and events, etc.
4) Feed the G+ Hangout video stream out to the wider world using tools like Livestream for mass distribution.
5) Use cases: Will be quite cool to report on elections, street festivals, concerts, and live events.
Non-ideal use cases: Any major crisis, earthquakes, etc where the mobile 3G/4G networks are expected be extremely congested and overloaded. In these rare cases, old school dedicated microwave or satellite transmission will likely provide more stable transmission than overloaded mobile data networks.
Have you wondered about how Google pick thumbnails for YouTube videos you uploaded? Well, I have. it seems like pretty random and people online had different theories posted. So I spent a few minutes to finally tracked down some current info. Have a read of Google talking about “Smart Thumbnails on YouTube” to understand how Google’s algorithm seems to randomly picked thumbnails for your YouTube videos, but it actually tries to do it smartly to avoid problems its previous method lead to.
UBC = crazy awesome! Don’t believe me? Check out this video (viewed over 1 million times since Apr 8, 2011). What a creative way to showcase a school by looking at the 1000+ UBCers involved in making the video. Make sure you watch the last bit for some of the behind the scenes stuff. Great job everyone at UBC (especially director Andrew Cohen for his creative vision). [HT Doug Coupland]
“On Saturday, March 26, filming for UBC LipDub will take over campus in what is sure to be a strange assemblage of over 1000 people out to promote school spirit. “We have a whole lot of people with crazy costumes signed up,” said Andrew Cohen, the event’s organizer. “People come up to me saying, ‘Can I be a Chewbacca on rollerskates?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, that’ll be fantastic.’ I don’t need to say no to anything.”
In its purest form, a lip dub is a single-shot video in which participants lip-synch along to a song while trying to act as outlandish as possible.
The songs chosen to represent UBC are Marianas Trench’s “Celebrity Status” and Pink’s “Raise Your Glass.” Cohen feels that the latter encompasses the best parts of campus and of lip dub as a form. “It’s got a really great message. It’s about being who you are, it’s okay to be different and to enjoy what makes us different,” he said.”
P.S. I attended UC and UT, and I wish they would do something as cool & fun as UBC to promote school spirit and possibly attract students!
I wish I could be at NAB Show 2011 and attending James Cameron and Vince Pace’s NAB Show 2011 Opening Keynote to see they launched CAMERON – PACE Group.
““Our goal is to banish all the perceived and actual barriers to entry that are currently holding back producers, studios and networks from embracing their 3D future,” said James Cameron, Co-Chairman of CAMERON – PACE Group. “We are dedicated to building a global brand that is synonymous with high quality 3D and spans multiple channels, from features to episodic television, and changes the boundaries of what is understood to be 3D material.”
“CPG‘s mission is to step up industry-wide efforts to help filmmakers realize 3D’s full potential as a creative and powerful storytelling medium and accelerate the growth of the next generation of 3D solutions across all platforms,” said Vince Pace, Co-Chairman and CEO of CAMERON – PACE Group. “Through our expanded reach and new generation of 3D solutions, we will deliver a variety of creative tools including SLATE2SCREEN™ 3D production services, educational workshops for industry professionals in FUSION 3D and FUSION 3D Mobile Workflow Units that support end-to-end solutions for both the live and recorded production environments. CPG will deliver CAN DO solutions.”
““Broadcasting is the future of 3D,” Cameron said, predicting that in as few as two years, “everything will be produced in 3D” and 2D versions will be extracted from that.”
“Reacting to Final Cut’s newest incarnation — which was greeted with wildly enthusiastic applause when it was unveiled Tuesday night — Avid chairman and CEO Gary Greenfield told The Hollywood Reporter: “I think what was reiterated last night is what we have been telling our customers for a long time, that Avid is the company that wakes in the morning focused on professional workflows — professional workflows for professionals who making a living doing what they are doing. That is what Avid is about. That is the type of capabilities that Avid is going to continue to add to its products.
“Whenever Apple does something, they do it well,” he added. “No one really knows until the product is out. There were a lot of unanswered questions. But I think it just reminds people that Avid is going to wake up and serve your professional needs.””
According to MacRumors, “- Shipping in June on App Store. $299. – No mention of Final Cut Studio or Final Cut Express.” Hmm, what about the other applications? Will they get a new coat of paint or does that mean Apple Final Cut Studio is no more?
“On Tuesday, organizers of SuperMeet — which has attracted more than 1,000 guests in past years — contacted its sponsors to say that Apple had upped its participation and was exclusively taking over the presentation stage, one scheduled sponsor told The Hollywood Reporter.
Sponsors slated to participate during the Tuesday event at Bally’s are Avid, Autodesk, Blackmagic Design and Canon. THR has learned that Avid’s involvement — along with its planned guest speaker, director Kevin Smith — had been canceled.“
Wish I could be at NAB to take in James Cameron’s keynote and the reveal of the new FCP.
I am very touched by Obama’s speech, in particular the following excerpt from the speech (emphasis added).
“I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here – they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.
That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.
I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.
“3:12 p.m. update: Stewart: “You want to know why I am here — what I want from you? You have already given it to me. Your presence was what I wanted. Sanity will always be…in the eyes of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people you are, has restored mine. Thank you.”“
“Relatives of 33 miners trapped in a collapsed mine shaft far below in Chile’s Atacama Desert have been shown new video of the men in which they send greetings to the surface, show the space they are confined in and sing the Chilean national anthem.
[…] In the 45-minute video the miners are shown shirtless, most with mustaches and beards. One miner, with his helmet light illuminating the area, tours the space where the miners are holed up and describes the conditions.
Several news organizations have posted parts of the new video online. Near the start of a clip uploaded to YouTube by The Associated Press (embedded above), one miner can be seen telling the rescue workers above: “It takes courage to not leave us abandoned. We know everything you’ve been doing outside.””
It is good to see the trapped miners well and in relatively good spirit. In our age of videos and YouTube videos, it is good and important to see them well. I hope the NASAscientists and other experts can help to bring out these trapped miners as soon as possible in a safe manner.
Seriously, no matter how cool a piece of information may be, you cannot repeat it 7 times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) in seven days (see note 1) without risking your followers considering all of your tweets annoying spam! There is a line between cool/useful information and complete spam, unfortunately @phantomhispeed has crossed it again and again (knowingly or otherwise). So I have no choice but to unfollow @phantomhispeed.
You see, your Twitter followers are likely to be people who find your products exciting/interesting/worthy of attention/cool already. So why not providing them with fresh reasons/info that your products are cool without annoying them?
If managed properly, so much more can be done with the Phantom brand. And, in my opinion, there are very good potentials for Phantom to become a loved brand online.
note 1: I only looked at the last seven days but I am fairly sure that the information has likely been repeated daily because it was originally published in Feb 2010, and it is still being retweeted daily five months later in July 2010!
At the moment, @phantomhispeed is following 1,924 people and has 794 followers. If I were a betting man, I would bet a dollar that 1,100+ people has unfollowed@phantomhispeed because they just could take the spams anymore.
The man — who goes by the online handle Leroy Stick — runs the satirical BPGlobalPR Twitter account that has been chronicling the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico for the last two months.
As many said before, BP having no Twitter voice and letting its Twitter PR nightmare snowball to what it is now truly is an object lesson for any self-respecting companies to learn from.
[…] WHAT IT IS: Orcon was an unknown broadband service in the country, so to boost awareness it set out to find eight New Zealanders to record a song with punk music icon Iggy Pop. The selected musicians were connected, using Orcon’s service, to a potty-mouthed, shirtless Iggy, who is based in Miami, and they redid a version of his song “The Passenger” virtually. […]
WHY IT WON: The jury members called “Orcon & Iggy Pop” one of the best uses of celebrity they had ever seen. They also deemed it a “fantastic product demonstration” that showed the public the reliability and strength of the internet service in real time.
The twist: Boivin decided to cast his baby daughter Margaret as the star. The mini-movie has already been viewed far more than 2.6 million times.
Simard, a 3-D artist, did all the effects himself, including making the Iron Man costume, which Boivin’s daughter wears to combat evil stuffed animals.
Boivin directed the clip. The pair spent two months producing it. It cost them virtually nothing except their time, since they had all the equipment and the expertise to do it. The only money they spent was on stuffed animals and toy weapons.
Boivin and Simard did the short video just for “fun,” but also as a form of promotion, using their own equipment to film the video, do the effects and sound, and edit the production.
“It’s a way of showing what we can do together to companies who are interested in working with us,” Boivin explained.
“It has been a success for me,” said Boivin in a phone interview from Montreal.
Please note that this article serves as a placeholder for an ongoing business case study of the Southwest Airlines social media storm. Information contained here will be under constant update and revision.
***
Business case background:
Southwest Airlines was a respected brand only a few short days ago. So what had happened to the brand in less than 100 hours that caused people to say out loud that they will NEVER fly with Southwest again? Thus no LUV for Southwest Airlines.
The purpose of this business case is to look deeper into the causes leading to Southwest crashing its brand in a perfect social media storm. And how other businesses can learn from Southwest‘s mistakes.
photo credit: av8pix @ Flickr
Keywords:
Dis-Revenue per Employee, Revenue per Employee, Southwest Airlines, Twitter, Social Media, Social Network
Kempton received his undergrad degree in Computer Science (with high distinction) from University of Toronto and is well versed in social media technologies from his years of blogging experiences. His MBA degree from University of Calgary has also prepared him to deliver comprehensive insightful study/report on time and within budget. During Kempton’s undergraduate and graduate studies, he has received multiple scholarships and awards for his academic excellence.
A Business Case Study (draft / beta)
It will take some time to complete the full report so please be patient.
What Kempton plans to do is to update this report in different draft versions. And keeping it as a “draft/beta” version until it is completed.
Concluding note for now
This report will study some serious issues and topics even though the trigger of Southwest‘s troubles may seem “trivial” to some people. But let me assure you, the business implication is deep and significant.
Just so you know I can laugh at myself and the absurdity in whole mess for Southwest. Here is one of my favourite ad, it serves to remind me to be humble and always be ready to do what is needed and right (and to learn).
“Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic, streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web and discussing a unique condition with a specialist in New York. Or downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world while watching live 3-D video of a university lecture. Universal, ultra high-speed Internet access will make all this and more possible. […]
We’re planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We’ll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.”
Love this kind of experiment to push the boundary of possibilities and set higher expectations for customers thus forcing the broadband providers to up their services.And pushing city or state governments themselves and via their citizens to act. Neat.
Chief executive Steve Jobs announced the device — basically a supersized iPod Touch — on Wednesday to a crowd of Apple faithful at an event in San Francisco. The iPad is about the size of a hardcover book, half an inch thick and with a 9.7-inch multi-touch screen, similar to the iPod Touch and iPhone. The device can surf the web using its Safari browser, send emails via an on-screen QWERTY keypad, play music, videos and games, and display e-books.
The iPad is surely one cool piece of technology. Check out the promo video of Apple iPad. I can’t wait until it shows up in a local Calgary Mac store for me to touch and play with one.
Why will Apple iPad “FAIL”?
For this reporter, the biggest (yes, biggest) disappointment is the fact it doesn’t have a camera (in fact, it needs two cameras). Apple unfortunately may have underestimated how much people are attached to their camera and video camera.
It is puzzling to think why Apple decided to not put the ubiquitous little circle thingy (also known as the tiny camera lens) right on the front and back of the iPad? Was it for cost reason? Or was it a power reason? Or was it for space? If you have a theory, please help.
Unfortunately, for this reporter, iPad without cameras is a “deal breaker“. A reporter in the new digital age without a camera & video camera just doesn’t cut it any more.
Why will Apple iPad “WIN”?
You can’t really beat the US$499 price. As a brand new and innovative product from Apple, a $499 price tag may attract many iPhone users to try the iPad and expand the reach of Apple products into people’s home and office. Now, comparing to iPad, other ebook readers now look like a piece of “beep”. (smile)
The iPad will be nice to use to surf web, do emails, and watch movies, and some light applications (iWorks and Page for presentation). But it will not be a machine that can do heavy duty video editing and complex Photoshop operations, etc for sure.
Some buying advices.
If you are one of those that must have all the new gadgets to play with and to show your friends, hey, the price tag is only $499, go ahead, line up to buy it and play with it and have some fun.
But if you do care about value for money and don’t mind waiting a bit for a better iteration, then wait a few months or a year for the second or third iterations.
As always with technologies, buy what you need and can use NOW. If you buy for future needs, then you will be paying a lot more than you need now because those newer and faster technologies will be cheaper in a year or two (aka “the future”).
Here is a video news clip showing off the iPad.
***
Jan 28 Update: Good post “8 Things That Suck About the iPad“, and I agree with all eight reasons, yikes! I will add “No Multitasking” and “No HDMI Out” and “No Flash” plus “A Closed App Ecosystem” to my list.
Massive hype sometimes has a price. And looks like Apple is paying for it today.
Total Film Views on NFB.ca (Jan 2009-Jan 2010)
* 3.7 million total online film views since we launched a year ago
* 2.2 million online film views in Canada (59% of views)
* 1.5 million views International (not including Canada) on the web
* Total international views: 1.45 million views
* Total views: 3 768 628
Film Views on iPhone App (Since October 21 2009)
* 396, 190 views on iPhone in Canada
* 131, 332 views on iPhone outside Canada
* 527, 522 Total film views on iPhone
* Total number of apps downloaded: 171 271
NFB is seriously cool, keep up the great work NFB.
The most popular film in 2009 is “A Sunday at 105, (13:20) with 155,183 views“. After watching the film, I don’t think anyone can resist the charming 105 years old leading lady! Here is the synopsis of “A Sunday at 105“,
“A 105 year old Acadian agrees to be filmed one Sunday as she goes about her daily routine and ruminates on life. Filmed by her great-grandson, Aldéa Pellerin-Cormier comments wisely on politics, sex and religion. From getting ready in the morning to drinking her nightcap before bed, every moment is punctuated with a witticism or existential thought. Respectful of the old woman’s privacy, Daniel Léger’s first documentary looks at wisdom, serenity and enjoyment of life. In French with English subtitles.”
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