Say “Hello” to these Pro Quality Phone Mics via PhotoJoJo
Whether you’re working on your next documentary film, recording a music video or creating your own audio-autobiography you need top quality sound.
The Mighty Mic and the Loud and Clear Lapel Mic are here to save the day and your audio woes.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
Ocenaudio Is a Free, Fast, Streamlined Audio Editor via Lifehacker
Windows/Mac/Linux: If you’re looking for a great audio editor, our favorite is Audacity. If you’re looking for something a little faster and trimmer that’s a little more approachable, Ocenaudio is worth checking out. It’s free, flexible, and cross platform, and if light editing is all you need, it gets the job done.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
Official Google Analytics App Released For iPhone via Search Engine Journal
Marketers and website owners rejoiced yesterday as an official Google Analytics app was finally released for the iPhone, two years after the app was released for Android. The iPhone app comes with everything you’d expect if you’ve ever used the Android version. Along with real-time and time-based reports, you can also use the app to view behaviors, conversions and more. An official app is a welcome alternative to the third-party apps that Google Analytics users have had to use up until this point. The official app takes full advantage of the sign-in features in Gmail, Google+ and the standard Google app for iOS. Not to mention the design matches the other Google apps for iOS.
Find more books on Google Analytics on Amazon.com
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
Google now catalogs hundreds of Chromecast apps for easier discovery via GiGAOM
Google’s Chromecast website is now listing more than 400 apps and counting that are capable of casting content to the TV screen.
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
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Part of the New Media 101/Blogging 101 series…
A quick clip from this 45 minute presentation — The Why, What and How of Blogging.
Transcript:
Why do we want to update our web sites every single day? The fact is, there are a number of reasons for that. First and foremost is, if you haven’t realized it already, most of the hits to your web site today do not come from people sitting down at their computer and typing in www.blahdeblah RETURN. If you’re like me and most people, 90% plus of the hits of the people that come to your web site come there through a search engine. Ok?
Now, search engines — Google being one of the better known ones — they have a variety of criteria of how they rank web sites in search results. One of the foremost ways they rank information is, how current is it? AND how often is is updated. Well, guess what? Blogs give you a way to feed these search engines a constant stream of new information — that’s constantly being updated. And the more you update your blogs, the more often the Google searchbot will come through your web site and check it for information.
Previously on New Media 101/Blogging 101:
Originally posted as part of the End of the Day series on My Word with Douglas E. Welch
Rosanne and I got into a short discussion about the difference between “liking” something and “sharing” something on online. There are subtle differences between services and the names they use, but the meanings and benefits of each of these actions is fairly similar. Here is a little chart I cooked up to, hopefully, make it a bit clearer.
Key: FB=Facebook, TW=Tiwtter, G+=Google Plus, P=Pinterest
Meaning: Hey, this is cool. I want to remember this, for myself, so I can come back to it later. It benefits the original poster a little, as it is figured into some popularity ratings, depending on the system, but doesn’t active share it any further.
Meaning: Not only is is the cool, but I want to share it with everyone that is following me. This is a step above the “Like” as it shares a copy to everyone who follows you on that particular service. Very important for original poster, as it spreads the content further around the social media world, hopefully getting shared again and again from different people and connections.
As you might imagine, as a content creator, the second action is the one we would like everyone to take. This doesn’t just mark the content for an individual user, but helps spread the, hopefully, good, funny, useful information further and further, generating web site traffic, advertising revenue and sales for us.
Shares directly effect the popularity, views, suggested items, traffic and sales, which is why you often hear YouTubers urging you to “Hit that Like Button, Post a Comments and Subscribe”. For someone who is making a living producing content, this is critical. Likes and Subscribers directly effects how often their videos are “Suggested” to viewers when they watch another video or at the end of a video.
Clicking Like and Share also helps you in many ways. First, when you share great content, people (and computer systems like Google and Facebook) come to see as a good source of good material in the future. They will begin to suggest your shares to more people, and in the case of Facebook, your posts will be more likely to appear in other user’s News Feeds and those New Feeds on Facebook pages. This is “Reach” number you see after each Facebook post you make. It is how many people actually saw the post, even if you have hundreds of “Friends or Followers.” Share great content, have enough people Like and Share that content and your Reach will rise.
So, as a content consumer, which by reading this blog, you are, I hope you can better see the results of your actions online. They do actually mean something to you, your friends and followers and the people producing the content you are consuming. If you like something, click that Like button. If you REALLY like something, share it with your followers — whether on Facebook, Twitter, G+, Pinterest or any other social media network. It really does help the creator gain more than just fame. It might actually put a few dollars in their pocket and help them create even more great content. It can also help you to raise your own status in your favorite online community. A win-win for everyone.
Previously on End of the Day:
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Part of the New Media 101/Blogging 101 series…
Douglas E. Welch Segment from “Toot Your Own Horn: Self-Promotion In The Digital Age”
This a clip of my segment during this talk at the WGA (Writers Guild of America West) – Toot Your Own Horn: Self-Promotion In The Digital Age
WGA Panel entitled “Toot Your Own Horn,” with Writers’ Program alum Zoanne Clack (Grey’s Anatomy), and moderated by Writers’ Program Instructor Bill Taub, offers great insight into promoting yourself as a writer.
“TOOT YOUR OWN HORN: SELF-PROMOTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE”
In these challenging times, it is imperative that writers take control of their own careers. Be proactive, “do it yourself,” especially regarding publicity and marketing. Technology has swiftly changed, providing writers with new avenues to promote themselves and their work. Have you tapped in?
A DIY panel features publicist Henri Bollinger, president of the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society, discussing personal publicity vs. when to bring on a “professional”; screen and TV writer/author/award-winning columnist W. Bruce Cameron (8 Simple Rules, A Dog’s Purpose); Zoanne Clack (Executive Producer — “Grey’s Anatomy” and former Writers’ Program student), Gregg Kilday (film editor at The Hollywood Reporter); psychotherapist Rebecca Roy (TheIndustryTherapist.com) to broach writers’ resistance to self-promotion; and independent new media consultant Douglas Welch (also a Writers’ Program instructor) addressing new media and social marketing platforms.
Panel followed by smaller hands-on breakout sessions. Moderated by Bill Taub.
Previously on New Media 101/Blogging 101:
eMotimo TB3 Review – Robotic Tripod Head and Time-lapse Movie via Digital Photography School
I’d forgotten all about my childhood dreams of achieving world domination using my very own robot army until I switched on the TB3 from eMotimo. As soon as I synched up the wireless remote and started panning and tilting this robotic tripod head, I was transformed into a grinning 8 year old boy who believed he could do anything.
I expect that the eMotimo exhibit at trade shows is usually ringed by a troupe of grinning time-lapse photography nerds like myself, who just realized they stumbled upon a truly legendary tool for photographic creativity.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
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Part of the New Media 101/Blogging 101 series…
A quick clip from this 45 minute presentation — The Why, What and How of Blogging.
Transcript:
Blogging is at its very heart, a web site, like every other web site. Google’s a web site. My web site’s a web site. You web site’s a web site. A blog is just simply one way of presenting a web site. It is a web site, but easier. That’s what I try to tell people everyone about it. The fact is, with a blog — I often describe a blog as being like a piece of boilerplate letterhead. Where, you know, you have the company name, your logo, the address, all printed, then you print on that letterhead.
A blog is very similar, but for your web site. It’s designed on a template. Its designed on all your typical information is around the outside frame and the, if you want to put something new up — you want to put new content up — you want to announce a new press release, you want to have some new piece of information there, you can easily go to one page, much like a word processor, you type or cut and paste into that site what you want, hit publish and it’s on your web site.
Previously on New Media 101/Blogging 101:
YouTube is upgrading to 60fps, adding a tip jar for donations and much more via Engadget
YouTube is about to get a whole lot better, with a slew of new features freshly announced at this year’s VidCon. Google’s video wing will soon get support for clips running at 48-and-60 frames-per-second, which should be perfect for video game footage that you’ve captured an uploaded from your PlayStation 4 or Xbox One in addition to those 1080p60 game trailers that are quickly becoming the norm. You’ll have to make sure 1080p resolution is selected to get the benefit of the higher frame-rate, naturally, and we’ve embedded a sample after the break. Customizable and, as the YouTube Creators blog post tells it, prettier-looking annotation cards as well as some new tools that your fans can use are en route, too. What are those? Well, viewers will soon be able to drop you a few bucks here and there so you don’t have to rely on ad revenue alone.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
Originally published as part of the End of the Day series for My Word with Douglas E. Welch
Today we attended a great Meetup on robotics at the same place (NTMA Training Center in Santa Fe Springs) where Joseph competed in his school BattleBots tournaments. Organizer, Richard Loehnig, brought in experienced roboticist, Dr. Jason Bardis — creator of several BattleBots for hobby and the BattleBots television show, including Dr. Inferno, Jr. It was a great talk that covered Dr. Bardis’ experience with robots from his initial hobbyist forays to helps build the robot arms for the Curiosity Mars Rover and more.
It was a great talk, but something else struck me as even more important. NTMA, Richard and Brad took great pains to stream the talk and record it for future viewing. This was a perfect example of what we should all be doing when organize, host or create great content. We had about 40 people in the room with us today, but there is a potential audience of thousands on the Internet, where this video can live on forever. Why would you NOT capture such great content? Every time I see that happen I consider it such a great waste of information and also a waste of the presenters and organizers time. It may be a one time event, but video can continue to work towards your goals 24/7 for the foreseeable future.
Brad recording and streaming today’s robotics presentation
You don’t have to go all out, like the NTMA folks did today. I counted at least 4 video cameras as well as the live stream and a high quality audio recording. If you have nothing else, use your iPhone, your iPad, your Android tablet whatever you have at hand. If you are doing video, find a way to prop up the device, so the video is as smooth as possible. For me, though, capturing the content is far more important than professional quality video. Yes, make it as easy to watch and hear as possible, but first, capture it!
For myself, I have a variety of ways of capturing content when I am out and about. I have my iPhone, of course, Rosanne’s iPad, an HD camcorder with external mice and a tripod, a still camera that also takes video, Joseph’s iPhone and even an ancient iRiver IFP audio recorder that I can press into service, if needed. I am sure you have plenty of devices in your own kit that could also be used — if you only took the time to do it.
If you are hosting an event, record it so you can share it on your own web site and social media channels and also offer it up to your speaker for their own usage. If you are speaking or presenting, always come prepared to record yourself so that you gave content to use later. In many cases, you can offer this back to your organizer so they have something to share, even if they didn’t think of recording it themselves. Set a good example and capture everything you do. Encourage others to do it, too. I know there is a lot of content I would have liked to see, if only the speaker, the musician, the presenter, the performer would have taken the time to capture it.
You can join NTMA for future robotics Meetup by joining their Meetup group at the SoCal Combat Robotics Meetup site.
Watch the entire live stream recording using the embedded video below or directly from the RobotRevo Twitch.TV Channel
Watch live video from RobotRevo on TwitchTV
Previously on End of the Day:
New Media Gear 23: Zoom iQ5B Condenser Microphone
I have used iPod and iPhone connected microphones before, so when I saw the Zoom iQ5 mentioned in MacLife magazine, I thought I would do a little more research into it. I hadn’t paid much attention when it was first released, as I didn’t have the iPhone necessary to use it. With the release of new iPhones this year, though, I will probably be upgrading.
Any quality device that can help reduce the amount of “stuff” you have to carry around is always worth look — and listen. Reviews on Amazon are good overall, although some list alternatives that they preferred. If I was doing a lot of field work, or finding myself grabbing interviews on the fly, I might consider something like this, although I need to upgrade my iPhone first as this requires the new Lightning connector.
You can find out more about the Zoom iQ5 using these links:
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
Previously on New Media Gear:
Micromuff Wind Guard via Kevin Kelly
I have made something similar by rubber banding the wind guard from my Zoom H2 over the built-in mic on my camcorder, so I know it is possible for something like this to work. Wind can still get under the guard unless you hold it just right and that could be an issue here, too. When it does work, though, it works really well, cutting out the wind noise even on a moving power boat. — Douglas
I use a small camera (Cisco Flip) to take video. It’s great for what I do, except small amounts of wind cause a lot of noise.
That’s where Micromuff helps. You have a small Velcro patch that glues to your camera, and a wind muff that attaches to the Velcro. I’ve been using MicroMuff Original for about six months, and it’s brilliant. I can hear people talking, not wind blowing.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
Wordfence Security Plugin for WordPress via The Many Faces of Mike McBride
One of the challenges of hosting your own site and using WordPress is security. As WP has gotten more and more popular, it has become a huge target for hackers of all sorts. I’ve had my own fair share of old installations getting hacked and causing problems for live sites, rogue files, brute force login attempts that create a denial of service, DOS attacks against XMLRPC, and so on over the years.
Recently, I came across a mention of a security plugin called Wordfence and decided to try it out. It scans your install for any changes made to the WordPress core, theme and plugin files by comparing them to the original from the WordPress codex.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
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Part of the New Media 101/Blogging 101 series…
A quick clip from this 45 minute presentation — The Why, What and How of Blogging.
Transcript:
Our web sites are arid fields of old information, in most cases and the reason is — it’s not your fault — it really isn’t. It’s technology’s fault. It’s people like me who can’t write — or couldn’t write — systems that allowed you update your web sites easily.
If you have to bring up Dreamweaver. If you have to bring up a web site editor program to edit your web site, guess what? You will never update your web site. (indistinct audience comment) If you have to bring up a huge program and actually edit static pages, you’re probably not going to update your web site. Simply because it is too difficult for your average person.
Previously on New Media 101/Blogging 101:
IFTTT is one of our favorite tools (and one that I’d imagine you might love as well). We use IFTTT in a number of neat ways here at Buffer, and there are loads of different options available through IFTTT for powering up your social media marketing. I thought I’d share a few of our favorites and some that might help you work smarter, too.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
Easily Take Studio Quality Smartphone Video with the iStabilizer via iPhone Hacks
There’s a lot going on out in the world. If you blink, you might miss it. That’s why the iStabilizer is so great. It helps you see everything that happens, capturing occurrences from all degrees and angles like your own personal extra set of eyes. To get shots that you could only imagine otherwise, you need the iStabilizer–and you can get it on sale right now from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
Broken Link Checker for WordPress from The Many Faces of Mike McBride
After 12 plus years of blogging, I’m sure that you can imagine that there must be a lot of links that I’ve shared that may not actually go anywhere any longer. That is true, but I never really knew how true until I grabbed a copy of the WordPress plugin Broken Link Checker.
I installed it over on my child abuse survivor blog, and out of curiosity I went ahead and let it do it’s things.
Sure enough, it found a few hundred broken links and presented them all to me in a list, like you see below.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
U.S., Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.K. in the months of July and August. Enrollment is free, and parents can sign up at AppleRSVP.com as registration opens in their region.
In the “Stories in Motion with iMovie” camp, Apple will teach young learners how to create movies on their Mac using Final Cut’s little brother. Apple says the curriculum will include storyboarding, filming, creating a soundtrack using the iPad’s unique version of GarageBand, and finally bringing the final edit together on a Mac.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
The Mozart Project ($14.99) is a book about the life and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Or is it an app? Stephen Fry calls it “a completely new kind of book”…you read it in iBooks but it acts more like an app than anything. Over 200 pages of text by leading Mozart scholars is accompanied by hours of music, videos, photo slideshows, all sorts of other goodies.
“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.
