If you’ve ever created a podcast – or looked into doing so – I bet you’ll know Blue. Whether it’s the Yeti or its Nano counterpart, the company is famous for building USB microphones that make recording audio easy.
Well, Blue is expanding its ambitions. Today at CES, it announced the launch of a new XLR condenser microphone: the Ember.
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library
A charity organization is partnering with Twitch to promote promising female streamers on the platform, offering them a series of financial grants to help sustain their channels.
The 1,000 Dreams Fund launched in late 2015, and defines itself as a non-profit organization that supports the “dreams of talented young women in need by providing access to critical funding, resources and meaningful mentor relationships. Now, it’s teamed up with Twitch for the 1,000 Dreams Fund Twitch BroadcastHER Grant.
The organizations will award the grant to at least two high school or college students every semester, with funds ranging from $500 to $2,000. The grants are supposed to be used for conference travel, equipment upgrades, workshops and other tools that align with the 1,000 Dreams Fund’s mission, Twitch said in a press release.
The goal is to help illustrate the gender gap women often face in specific fields, including streaming, which is still predominantly male. A 2016 study reported that women make up 35 percent of Twitch’s streaming landscape, and there aren’t any female streamers in the current top 10 list.
YouTube launched its gaming site and app today as a competitor to industry-leader TwitchTV.
YouTube Gaming supports both live and recorded gaming video and includes a specialized web site and companion iOS and Android apps.
The web site is a bit slow today, as might be expected as everyone wants to try it out both watching and live streaming.
One small limitation I noticed with the web version is that it doesn’t appear to support streaming of videos to my Chromecast. I assumed it would have this functionality out of the box. You can select the Chromecast icon in your browser and it appears to try to send the live video, but then exits to the generic YouTube screen on the Chromecast. The YouTube Gaming App DOES support Chromecast streaming, though, so at least there is some option. I am guessing a small bug with the web version on launch day which will hopefully be quickly remedied.
I thought YouTube Gaming would automatically follow all my gaming-related YouTube Channels, but in order to follow them on YouTube Gaming I had to “Import” my subscriptions and then click though a list to add each channel. If I had hundreds of channels I was subscribed to it might get a little tedious doing this. though.
Streaming quality looks excellent for the streams I have sampled today and, even on this busy first day, buffering of video seems to be at a minimum.
When I first thought about including GenerikB in the Subscribed series today, I thought for sure that I had already linked to him for his Minecraft videos on YouTube. We have been watching — and greatly enjoying his channels for quite a while now. More recently, we have begun tuning into his live stream via Twitch.TV, too. The live stream is a different feeling, almost like watching a live show on television. You can also interact with GenerikB and other viewers in the on-going chat stream on the Twitch site.
GernerikB is a member of the Mindcrack server, whose many members we also follow and watch on a regular basis. He often collaborates with BDoubelO in the hilarious hijinks of the B Team. They work together so well, they recently launched their own Minecraft server and mod pack called “Attack of the B-Team” along with several other Minecraft YouTubers.
In the real world, GenerikB recently relocated to Sofia, Bulgaria to be near his wife’s family, so we have seen a glimpse of life in Eastern Europe with vlogs about their move and around scenic sites of the city. Since Bulgaria is about 10 ours different from Los Angeles, the live stream works well as mid-morning entertainment for us as he streams in his evening in Bulgaria.
GenerikB is a prankster, a truly funny guy, and a great entertainer. He also seems like a really nice guy, which is so important for the people I watch. I don’t need to fill my entertainment time with trolls and nasty people, so it is always great to find someone like GenerikB to keep the day light and entertaining.
Subscribed is a Careers in New Media series highlighting the Podcasts, YouTube Channels and Blogs that I follow on a daily basis. Check out this entry, and past entries, for some great New Media Content — Douglas
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.
A couple of my favorite Minecraft YouTubers are spending the weekend live streaming their gameplay for Child’s Play Charity — raising funds that provide games and toys for hospitalized youth.
