Quick and Dirty Sharing
Friday, April 11, 2008
Tip of the hat to Adam for this one. Drop.io is a super-simple way to share photos, videos, audio files, PDF's, etc. There is no account to create, security is limited to a single access password if you like, and the site that you create (ie. http://www.drop.io/treocast) can be set to expire using a whole list of time limits.
You start with 100megs of storage and can upgrade that to 1gig for $10. Not only do you get the easy sharing, blog, etc, but they also set you up with an email address for mobile posts, a phone number for call-on posts (ala Utterz), and even conference call and fax numbers.
This is perfect for any temporary groups that might want to share media, such as my kids tee-ball team; we all want to share those photos this season but don't need a permanent account somewhere that will live on beyond this season. Uploading is super simple from the site, and you can even embed an upload widget on other sites.
posted by Russell @ 6:23 AM,
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Why Jericho will die... again.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Ken Fisher posted an article on ars tecnnica about the fan uprising that convinced CBS to bring back the series Jericho that they'd originally decided to cancel. This cross between The Day After and an ABC After School Special wasn't a bad show, but it wasn't great either. The only reason I watched it was because it was on the DVR, or I was able to get it at my desk streaming late at night while I was working. (Twice I wanted to take episodes with me and therefore bought them from iTunes.)
The (first) death of Jericho though is blamed on me. Well, on my behavior anyway. In the article Ken talks about CBS blaming DVR's and the internet for the poor ratings of the show. Brad Beyer was quoted from another interview saying:
The biggest problem with our show is that so many people were watching it on the Internet or Tivo (which doesn't count toward Nielsen ratings), so I think the fans are now aware to watch it when it's onThe president of CBS Entertainment was also quoted, saying:
if fans want the show to live, they need to watch the broadcast because that's how the money gets made. Stressing that live viewing is "of primary importance," Tassler said that "We want them to watch on Wednesday at 8 o'clock... and we need them to recruit new viewers who are going to watch the broadcast.Perhaps they actually believe this, or they think we're so stupid that we will. The fact is, times have changed. Network execs have got to either learn to think outside the
Labels: jericho, media, network television
posted by Russell @ 3:13 PM,
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The Truth Can Hurt
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
In the earliest days of podcasting, most newcomers to the space would comment about the chatter. Specifically, how self-gratifying and boring it was. One of the most notable detractors at the time was Dvorak. (Of course, that only lasted until he started podcasting himself.)
Valleywag today reports on a very snarky review of Podtech's content:
Videobloggers interviewing OTHER videobloggers. What fun. Bloggers interviewing other bloggers. Bloggers interviewing videobloggers. Videobloggers interviewing bloggers. Tech party people interviewing other tech party people. When no one left to interview, interview others interviewing you. The incestuous fun never ends.ouch.
Podtech seems focused on producing media for the "early adopters" and
"insiders." From someone on the inside, it does seem rather incestuous - an echo chamber. What they need to consider is how this content will be thought of by people outside the loop who don't know who all the bloggers are, who just got a MySpace account, and started using Flickr when Yahoo made them switch, who found 'podcasting' because it came embedded on their new MP3 player... those are the people that are going to find this (whether its Podtech or some other niche content) very refreshing.Labels: content, media, podcast, podcasting, podtech, valleywag
posted by Russell @ 8:52 PM,
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NBC Opens Up, a Little
Monday, April 16, 2007
I read tonight that NBC has revamped their streaming site and added some "social network" tools including the ability to share NBC videos on blogs, upload and share your own videos, receive recommendations based on profile, and many more.
I went and checked it out. It wasn't readily obvious how to share NBC video, etc. but I didn't have a lot of time to really play with it (should I need a lot of time on a good site?). Regardless, its nice to see one of the major media companies becoming a bit more "social" - the question now is: is their idea of "sharing" the same as those of YouTube user's? For that I'll have to play some more.
posted by Russell @ 8:57 PM,
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Was Podshow Down This Morning?
Thursday, March 29, 2007
I'd certainly like to think so, because the alternative just kind of pisses me off a little. I went to the site early this morning and was greeted not with the normal front page and menu choices, but with a message instead:
"We interrupted your Podshow and BTPodshow social media experience for a taste of thePLUS, a combination of killer content from the Podshow+ Network and live and unedited* programming where you can expect the unexpected."Huh? Are they actually telling me that I cannot access any content right now because they want me to watch their commercial, and only their commercial? There was no mention of when they would allow me access (it is say 'shortly' and they are back to normal now) but to me that's an issue.
I don't mind being shown a screen like this while being transferred to the main page - sites do that all the time - but to actually lock users out of a system just to show an ad? A very odd model indeed.
* that sure looks edited to me
posted by Russell @ 5:10 AM,
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Rocketboom May Charge for Shows
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Marketwatch has an article today on the state of Rocketboom, and perhaps the world of on-line, "user generated" media. I stopped watching Rocketboom regularly many months ago, and only check it out when I hear that there is something particularly interesting to me. But I know that they still have a large following and are considered by many to be a pioneer in "new media/user generated content" space.As large as their audience is though, apparently its not large enough to satisfy advertisers. According to the article 200,000 downloads a show (seven days a week) is just not enough penetration to make it interesting for advertisers. So what's an internet show to do? Charge for content... maybe.
It's certainly risky. As Andrew Baron put it in the interview: "If we had 5% of our audience paying $5 a month that would be $50,000." The meaningful word here is "if". Getting people to shell out $5/month for anything is hard. Just because they are watching your free, usually enjoyable show now doesn't mean that it's worth $5 a month to them.
Once people start paying, then you have to contend with all the concerns paying customers have: server issues, your whole team home with a hangover, that last episode kinda sucked...the usual Web 2.0 media issues. For something that is free to all, these are easily overlooked, but once people pay money for a product they expect to get their money's worth.
If Rocketboom starts charging for content, what will they do when people start uploading it to YouTube or Pickle? Will the pioneers of the space end up sending "take down" notices to the very community sites that helped make them a success?
Now, don't get me wrong. I think there is a huge opportunity for people to make money charging for their content. Personally I buy quite a number of television shows from iTunes (I also watch a lot for free from ABC). Others have been successful at it before, and more will come. The question is, at what point do we stop saying "user generated" New Media and Mainstream Old Media... and just call it "media"?
Labels: media, rocketboom
posted by Russell @ 1:43 PM,
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New Media/Old Media
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Sometimes it doesn't really matter. Ed Brandon has been a Houston fixture for as long as I can remember. He is the only weatherman my grandfather would watch and he's just always been around. So now he is retiring. The interesting thing is, he's announced it on the blog of fellow-Houstonian and media fixture Mike McGuff.
Just interesting...
Labels: blogs, houston, media, mike mcguff
posted by Russell @ 8:05 PM,
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Admitting infringement ...
Friday, March 23, 2007
It seems some are not as smitten with the recent user-created political ad "Vote Different". The fact is, fixyourthinking is seems to be absolutely correct - this seems like infringement (using "seems" a lot because I'm no attorney).
Labels: copyright, media, youtube
posted by Russell @ 9:21 AM,
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"Vote Different" on Fox News
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Here's a brief segment where Sean Hannity talks about the recent "Vote Different" ad and recognizes the impact of social media on the upcoming election.
Labels: election2008, fox news, media, obama, youtube
posted by Russell @ 11:17 PM,
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Podcast Audience Surges
clipped from www.podcastingnews.comPodcasting Audience Up 18% Since Last Year
The audience for podcasts has grown 18% in the last year, according to an upcoming report from Edison Media Research. Awareness of podcasting has grown even more, jumping from 22% in 2006 to 37% in 2007.
The audience for podcasts is up by 18% from a year ago. In 2006, 11% of those surveyed listened to audio podcasts; in 2007, the number was 13%, about 18% growth. This figure looks like it may be the most controversial info in the report. At Marketwatch, for example, Frank Barnako is calling this anemic growth. While faster growth would be great for podcasters, a lot of industries would kill for 18% growth.
Podcast awareness has exploded in the last year, growing from 22% to 37%.
49% female, 51% male.
All ages. The survey found more listeners 55+ than in the 18-24 age group.
Wired - spending more than 50% more time online.
More than twice as likely to own an iPod or other portable media player.
 |  |
Labels: media, podcast, Podcast Ready
posted by Russell @ 10:52 PM,
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What are the odds?
Monday, January 08, 2007
Original spooky audio program from Podshow:
Original spooky video program from the Horror Channel:
Is there some special meaning for the name that I am not aware of?
Labels: media
posted by Russell @ 10:22 AM,
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It's a start...
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Thank you Mike McGuff for the heads up on this one...
It seems that the music industry might be coming around to podcasting. Sony is licensing one company the rights to a few songs for a promotional podcast they've created for one of their clients. Hey... it's a start.
posted by Russell @ 2:28 AM,
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Newspapers and Podcasting
Monday, February 20, 2006
Steve Outing seems to think that newspapers are going to jump into the podcast (audio and video) world with both feet… and very soon. Personally, I am not so sure.
Don’t get me wrong, I would love for the Houston media (the Chronicle as well as the local radio and television stations) to jump right in. But unlike the radio and television stations, the newspapers aren’t geared for audio and video content. We’re talking about a whole new production process, expertise, and systems.
Sure, podcasting is easy. But “podcasting” only describes the method by which the content is delivered. Creating the content, producing it well, and keeping it compelling – those are very difficult things.
Labels: houston chronicle, media
posted by Russell @ 11:55 PM,
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"Old School Aggregators" in the Age of Blogs
Sunday, February 19, 2006
When someone asks me what is an RSS aggregator, I sometimes ask them if they know what a newspaper is. Newspapers are in a sense "old school" aggregators. Let's face it, there have been days when a good 30% of the articles in the front section of my local home town newspaper are from "the wire" - and once in a while that percentage is far greater. Heck, even a lot of newspaper blogs today do little more than link to articles from other sites to fill their pages.
So I tell people if it helps, think of an aggregator as your own personal newspaper, and RSS feeds as sources of information much like the Associated Press (who, by the way, has their own RSS feeds available).
Now comes Blogburst. BlogBurst aims to unite local bloggers with local newspapers. I'd heard about this a little while back, but I really didn't pay attention until I just learned that our very own Houston Chronicle will be participating.
The thought being, that the newspaper's on-line site would syndicate content from local bloggers, giving them far greater exposure than they would get otherwise. According to their site, bloggers gain by getting:
- Visibility and exposure on major news and portal sites
- Traffic through attribution and links back to your blog
- Authority and credibility within your topic area
- New readers who wouldn't normally find out about your blog
- The opportunity to take your blog to the next level
Notice that "getting paid" is no where on this list. As a matter of fact, later on that page they specifically state that the blogger's feed must be "ad free." They also state that the feed must be "full text" which is interesting since our own local paper has stated out right that they don't make their feeds "full text" for fear of losing ad revenue. But I digress...
Its a very intriguing concept to me. Regardless of why the newspapers might consider doing such a thing (and I don't know why because, although BlogBurst spells it all out for the bloggers, they don't say anything on their site regarding what the publisher's would get) its a unique experiment in "citizen journalism" at the very least. Who knows? If it works out well, perhaps the local radio and television stations might do something similar with local audio and video podcasts. It's not like the content isn't already out there...
Whether is will work or not remains to be seen. There are a lot of unanswered questions. For instance:
- Is there a track for getting the content creators (bloggers) paid?
- Will the newspaper be generating (ad) revenue from the listed content?
- How much control/ownership will the blogger have over their work (content, display on the newspaper's site, types of ads placed on the page if there are any)
These are just a few questions that popped into my mind, and the answer to these (and many more) I think will ultimately determine if this experiment is successful.
Labels: houston chronicle, media
posted by Russell @ 1:20 PM,
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