Houzz.com is one of my main sources for new thoughts on home and garden these days. I originally thought of it only as a way of finding home furnishing and design ideas, but I quickly discovered it also contains a huge amount of gardening and landscaping content, too. If you follow my social media accounts, you will find I am often sharing articles from Houzz.com. Sometimes these articles are about the design of a garden — both landscape and hardscape. At other times, there are great review articles of a particular type of plant or plants for specific uses and locations. This is one of the few sites where I subscribe to both the RSS feed and the Houzz.com Email Newsletter so I am sure to never miss a great article.
Houzz.com also has companion iPhone/iPad and Android apps for your mobile devices.
What are some of your favorite Subscriptions? Share them here in the comments!
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 seems I am bouncing between my food subscriptions and my gaming subscriptions lately in this series. I guess that shows where my viewing preferences lie. The two categories are almost diametrically opposed and yet I enjoy them both deeply.
Total Biscuit lives up to his nickname of ” The Cynical Brit” in his reviews, let’s play videos and commentary. I think I like him so much because he is not afraid to be honest, sometimes brutally so. Of course, the British accent helps to make the, sometimes harsh, medicine go down. He engages in such honesty, though, to help make sure gamers have the best experiences possible with the games they buy, avoid the lousy ones and tell you when even a highly reviewed game is lacking in a few areas (witness his recent review of Bioshock Infinite.
Total Biscuit has a variety of regularly scheduled shows including the WTF is… series, which introduces you to new games on the market, The Content Patch, with gaming news and information. his lifestreams and his Starcraft II commentary of professional and amateur matches of that online game.
As always, my son introduced me to Total Biscuit and after watching a few episodes I subscribed on YouTube so all his shows appear in my daily newsfeed.
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
I posted this to Facebook and Twitter earlier, but wanted to include it here on the blog, too.
Camera Rec: Looking for HD cam with external mic input that records to SD Card. High consumer to low prosumer. Any thoughts?
I have some upcoming projects that call for an upgrade in my video camera equipment (and lights and microphones, etc), so I wanted to reach out to all of you to see what recommendations you might have. One of my main needs is some sort of external audio input for lavaliere and shotgun mics.
So far, I have received one recommendation over on Faceboook. I will add others as they come in. Be sure to chime in on the other recommendations if you have some further information or comments.
Here is a quick tip on how to revert to a previous version of a WordPress Post or Page. You won’t need this option very often, but when you need it, it will be critical. This tip works with both WordPress.com and self-hosted installs of WordPress.
This recording from BarCampLA-3 is a great introduction to podcasting, so I wanted to re-release it for those who may have missed it when it first appeared. I talk about recording, web hosting and podcast hosting, RSS feeds and more.
I saw an announcement today from Flipboard, that their latest version for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) now allowed users to curate their own magazines and make them available for other Flipboard users. This is accomplished through the a new content curation and search system in the app or via a web bookmarklet.
A complete description of this new feature can be found in this blog post on the Flipboard site:
To test out the new features, I created magazines for each of my blogs and loaded the last several posts into them. Here are some screenshots from the iPhone version of the Flipboard app.
To use the Flipboard +FlipIt (Add to Magazine) bookmarklet, you first drag the bookmarklet to your Bookmark Bar. Then load up the blog post or web page you wish to add to the magazine and click the bookmarklet. The screen below then allows you to create a new magazine, select an existing magazine and also share it to various social media sites.
One complaint on the publisher side is that Flipboard users cannot easily discover and add these new magazines to their Flipboard. They must do a search on the name or author of the magazine and then add it from there. I think a one-touch solution would be better for both the publisher and the end user.
New Media Gear 017: Blue Microphones Icicle XLR to USB Mic Converter/Mic Preamp
This is another piece of podcasting and audio recording gear that I have seen mentioned numerous times. It has been around for a while but could still be an interesting piece of gear for new podcasters.
The Blue Icicle allows you to convert any standard XLR connected microphone into a USB microphone that can be plugged directly into your computer. This a great way of providing some flexibility in where and how you use your microphones. It also allows you to start off with the more standard XLR mics so that you don’t have to upgrade from a USB only mic as your podcasting work grows.
Subscribed is my 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
Lots of great New Media advice to be had here on Tod’s site. Blog posts on improving how to you set up and use YouTube, blogs, podcasts and more. It is always a pleasure to find Tod’s content in my RSS stream.
Recent blog posts:
The Secret of the Red-Bold Email
CBC Radio “Real Life Chronicles” Shows
Switching from WordPress.com to the Self-Hosted WordPress
YouTube’s Secret Link That Will Boost Your Channel Subscribers
FromTod’s web site…
“Tod Maffin is one of North America’s leading digital marketing experts, specializing in viral and ROI-based campaigns for sectors from human resources to real estate to education.
Maffin, president of engageQ digital, is one of the country’s go-to commentators on the impact of accelerated technological change and innovation on the business and economic environment and can speak to every aspect of technology and resulting implications for the world in which we live.“
“In computing, a web widget is a software widget for the web. It’s a small application with limited functionality that can be installed and executed within a web page by an end user. A widget has the role of a transient or auxiliary application, meaning that it just occupies a portion of a webpage and does something useful with information fetched from other websites and displayed in place. Other terms used to describe web widgets include:[citation needed] portlet, web part, gadget, badge, module, webjit, capsule, snippet, mini and flake. Widgets are typically created in DHTML, JavaScript, or Adobe Flash.
Widgets often take the form of on-screen device (clocks, event countdowns, auction-tickers, stock market tickers, flight arrival information, daily weather etc.).” — Wikipedia.org
Widgets are an important part of any web site these days. Myself alone I use widgets of some sort on nearly any page of my blogs or web site. I use them to link to Amazon books, cookbooks from Cookbook Cafe, show off my Twitter follower, Facebook or Google+ follower numbers and much more. Widgets allow anyone, regardless of their prowess with HTML, include high-end (and very useful features) on their web sites without having to write their own programs.
YouTube videos which are embedded in blogs and web sites are another great use for a “widget.” Bloggers need only copy the provided code from YouTube and then paste that code into their pages or blog post. These “embeds” allow the easy spreading of content while still rewarding the original content creator.
When sharing YouTube videos, we often just link to the entire video and let people decide what they want to watch. While this is fine for short videos, sometimes we would rather refer people to just a specific portion of a much longer video. Perhaps we are highlighting a quote, tip or idea.
YouTube provides some basic tools for specifying a start time when linking or embedding a video, but with the addition of a few parameters to the video URL, you can direct viewers to a very specific segment.
For example, if you are linking or embedding a video, you will see these options on the YouTube page:
If you check the checkbox, you can either enter in a time, or the time will be taken from the point where you are currently viewing in the video.
This results in a URL in the form of: http://youtu.be/E-GekEZOwLQ?t=11m54s . The video will start playing at this point and continue unit the end.
If you want want to specify both a start and end time, then you will need to add a few different parameters to the YouTube URL.
This could link people to the appropriate video, launch it full screen and start playing at the appropriate spot when they click Play.
To embed a video in your blog or web page which does the same thing, you can include the start and end parameters in the standard YouTube iframe embed code.
First, copy the standard embed code from the YouTube video page:
Then add the start and end parameters, so that the code looks like this:
While making these embeds of specific video section does require adding a little information to the standard embed, it should be straightforward enough for anyone to accomplish.
Do you have further questions about YouTube linking and embedding? Add your questions and comments below and I will add additional information.
New Media Gear 016: Peter Lythgoe of Zzipp and Co. Podcast from Weymouth, UK (Part 3 of 3)
Peter is the producer and host of the Zzipp and Co. Podcast and uses a variety of equipment in producing his shows. He was kind enough to break out his equipment in 3 parts, including hist audio studio equipment, his video interview equipment and the equipment for the video studio he is currently building. Since her has so much equipment to share, I will present his New Media Gear in 3 parts, too. This posts details Peter’s studio equipment.
New Media Gear 015: Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone
I first heard about this microphone from Richard Cleveland over at Naked Ape Productions during one of his Podcast U panel discussions. I mentioned this microphone to my personal friend, Michael Lawshe, who is an expert in all things audio (and multi-Emmy Award winner) and he happened to drop one by when we met for dinner last night.
The microphone package include the mic itself, a mic clip and small plastic mic stand, an XLR microphone cable and a USB cable. As you might notice from the cables included, the ATR2100-USB, has a special feature which I have not seen in many other microphones. Instead of being a USB-only mic like the Blue Snowball or Rode Podcaster, the ATR2100 includes connections and electronics so it can be used either as a USB microphone connected directly to your computer with out a mixing board or as a standard dynamic microphone connected via XLR to a mixer.
This dual connectivity makes this a great mic for those who are just getting started in podcasting or other audio recording and yet allows them to step up to a mixing board and other equipment while still using the same microphone. Additionally, when recording with USB-only microphones, real time monitoring of your recording can be a problem due to the USB induced processing delay. The ATR2100-USB works around this issue by including a headphone jack directly on the microphone itself, so you can easily monitor in real time even when connected via USB. Other USB microphones have included this much needed feature in the past, such as the Rode Podcaster, and it is great to see other manufacturers alleviating the monitoring issue with their designs. I know for myself that it is very important to be able to monitor myself as I record. It helps me to catch mumbled words, overly fast speech and poor pronunciations which I might not notice otherwise.
As a demonstration, I have recorded this blog post as an audio podcast, too, so you can hear the microphone in a real world situation using both the USB and XLR modes.
Everything up to here has been recored using the USB connection on the ATR2100. Now I will switch to the XLR connection using my small mixing board.
As with any handheld mic, shock isolation js important. You don’t want to pick up any noise from your hand on the microphone itself. This is often where many less expensive microphones and recorders with built-in mic fail greatly. As you can hear, I am moving the microphone around in my hand and while it is picking up a bit of noise, if you hold the mic firmly you might not notice it at all. The included plastic mic clip and tabletop mic stand is enough for most beginners to get started, although most would probably want to move up to a more robust, metal, stand fairly quickly.
Unfortunately, the headphone level form the microphone was at a very low level for my own personal tastes. I would prefer much more volume when recording and playing back what I have recorded. The mic has a headphone volume control, but it did not seem to the effect the output volume much at all. Instead the volume control seemed to be trying to change the overall volume on my Macintosh.
The recording level was quite good even when placed on a desktop at some distance from my mouth. If you want more input level, of course, you can move closer to the mic although then you would want to use a pop filter cut down on the popping sounds of consonants and plosives like P’s and B’s. In this podcast I have used the mic at a fairly close proximity and included the use of a pop filter.
Based on my short time with the microphone, and recommendations from others, I would consider this a great microphone for its price. Amazon currently lists it for around $40 US. I have been impressed with the overall recording quality even here in this rough demonstration. I haven’t taken any time to really adjust the microphone in any way, but simply plugged it in, adjusted the recording level and made this recording using Apple’s GarageBand software.
If you’d like more information on the ATR2100-USB, you can find links not the web site as part of this blog post. Visit DouglasEWelch.com/newmedia/ to find them.
Handheld dynamic microphone with USB digital output and XLR analog output
USB output connects to your computer for digital recording, while the XLR output connects with your sound system conventional microphone input for use in live performance
Smooth, extended frequency response ideally suited for podcasting, home studio recording, field recording, voiceover, and on-stage use
Built-in headphone jack allows you to directly monitor your microphone output without audible delay
Cardioid polar pattern reduces pickup of unwanted sounds from the sides and rear
Dynamic Microphone With Usb Digital Output & Xlr Analog Output
Usb Output Connects To Computer For Digital Recording, While The Xlr Output Connects With Sound System’S Conventional Microphone Input For Use In Live Performance
Built-In Headphone Jack With Volume Control
If you have any questions about Peter’s podcasting equipment, please drop them in the comments or in the Facebook Podcasting Community.
While I have linked to some much more technical descriptions of noise floor below, for me (and I assume the average new media producer) the noise floor is the base level of noise in your recording environment. For me, this includes ambient wind noise outside my windows, the hiss of the pilot light on my gas fireplace, fans on my computers and probably a thousand other small noise sources I don’t even notice on a daily basis. All of these combined create my “noise floor”.
The noise floor is the overall hiss or buzz you hear in your recordings and in some worst scenario cases, it can almost overwhelm the “signal” you are trying to record i.e. your voice, your music, etc. The noise floor is also an issue when you find that you have recorded at too low a level and try to raise the overall volume of the recording to an acceptable level. Unfortunately, raising the overall level also amplifies the noise that was recorded beneath your voice or music. In the worst case, this noise will be so overwhelming that you will not be able to use the recording at all. Yet another reason to insure that you are recording at an optimal level when producing your audio or video podcasts.
You always want to try and reduce your ambient noise as much as possible, but without a professionally designed recording studio, there will be limits on how much noise you can prevent, so careful management of recording levels is a must.
New Media Gear 014: Peter Lythgoe of Zzipp and Co. Podcast from Weymouth, UK (Part 2 of 3)
Peter is the producer and host of the Zzipp and Co. Podcast and uses a variety of equipment in producing his shows. He was kind enough to break out his equipment in 3 parts, including hist audio studio equipment, his video interview equipment and the equipment for the video studio he is currently building. Since her has so much equipment to share, I will present his New Media Gear in 3 parts, too. This posts details Peter’s video equipment.
WordPress is a widely used blogging and content management system developed by the WordPress Foundation. WordPress can be used in two configurations. First, users can use the free WordPress.com, which is a hosted version of the WordPress software. This means that their blog resides on WordPress.com servers and is typically accessed via a Url similar to XYZ.wordpress.com. This hosted system is robust and constantly updated, but users cannot embed certain content in their blog posts or sidebar (such as web widgets that use the <IFRAME> method of embedding. Commonly used services like YouTube can be embedded using a special WordPress code in blog posts. Users also cannot install any “plugins” that extend the functionality of WordPress or custom Themes to alter the look and feel of their site.
Users can also decide to install the full version of WordPress to run directly on their web site — called a “self-noted installation.” This requires a web hosting account that supports a LAMP environment (Linux, Apache, MySQL, php) as these are the underlying technologies used by the WordPress software. Once installed, self-hosted installations of WordPress can be configured in nearly any way, allow for the installation of WordPress plugins and themes, including the creation of their own plugins and themes, if desired. Many web hosting companies offer an Easy Install option as part of their services which installs WordPress and creates all the necessary MySql databases for you.
New Media Gear 013: Charles McFall, Co-host “Success Freaks”
Since its inception in 2011, The Other Side of LIVE! (TOSOL) has lived up to its hype as a comedic motivational talk show. A two-year Podcast Award nominee, TOSOL entertains & edifies with its hosts’ captivating sense of humor and positive, thought-provoking content. With the show’s theme of “helping others be awesome,” TOSOL covers everything from branding your passion to dealing with death to surviving bullies. TOSOL’s R. Mordant Mahon & Charles McFall succeed in giving both mind & spirit something to chew on while putting enough laughter in your heart to make you smile out loud.
New Media Gear 012: Peter Lythgoe of Zzipp and Co. Podcast from Weymouth, UK (Part 1 of 3)
Peter is the producer and host of the Zzipp and Co. Podcast and uses a variety of equipment in producing his shows. He was kind enough to break out his equipment in 3 parts, including hist audio studio equipment, his video interview equipment and the equipment for the video studio he is currently building. Since her has so much equipment to share, I will present his New Media Gear in 3 parts, too. This post will start with Peter’s audio equipment.
Pages are a fairly recent addition to the Facebook features, but I think they were a natural — and important progression — in the service once it opened up to business use as well as the typical “friending” of individuals. Pages allow anyone to setup — what I describe as — a public facing account on Facebook. Before pages, if a business of any size wanted to connect with customers and interested people, they had to make everyone a “friend.” The trouble being, though, that in order to let these friends see your status updates and other content, you were also forced to see all of their status updates. This could quickly render most Facebook feeds useless as they were filled with other, non-related information from customers and other friends.
Pages allow you to contain the business-related discussions to an area outside of your own personal Facebook Timeline, allowing you follow those people and other Pages that are most important to you, without polluting your Timeline and making it unusable. Pages also allow people to add themselves (Like) your page without any further action on your part. They can also leave a page any time they desire. This helps to cut down on the amount of administration you have to do, especially if you were “friending” each person individually.
Pages also allow you to appoint multiple administrators for a page so that various members of a group can perform page tasks like moderating, banning spammers and posting new content from their own Facebook accounts instead of having to use one Facebook login shared among a group.
