Entries from the 'Video' category
PunchMuch picture messaging: Fail?
PunchMuch, a digital TV channel driven off of interactive elements like viewers texting the station to vote for videos, is teaming up with Toronto’s MyThum Interactive to create North Aerica’s first mobile picture messaging service for broadcast TV. Viewers will now be able to send their pictures to air, along with traditional texting.
Though CTV (owners of PunchMuch) refer to these steps as “leading the way in viewer controlled, lean-foward interactive television”, one has ton wonder why a teen wouldn’t just go to Youtube or other video services and not bother with a clumsy interface mashing two fairly incompatible technologies together. Television isn’t very well suited to interactivity in the first place, and music videos are increasingly becoming an irrelevant marketing tool in a world where OK GO gets millions of hits online from a clever, low-budget music video they created themselves.
Videographers turn Blogs into Bucks
Gillian Shaw of the Vancouver Sun took in Reachd’s Video Training seminar yesterday and it sounds like she’s a video convert.
Ian Watt has never had any video training. He just got his first video camera for Christmas. But now he is the star of his own business video, transforming his blog into a live show in which he tours Vancouver dispensing advice, hitting real estate hot buttons, winning over fans and enraging critics.
On Tuesday, Watt was in a class of 20 aspiring Cecil B. DeMilles at a sold out session run by Reachd.com, a Vancouver training company launched by Stephen Jagger and Mike Stephenson, who also founded the real estate Web hosting and design site Ubertor.
Fourteen of the attendees were real estate agents and the rest represented a cross-section, including from the legal, recruiting and marketing professions. For a $200 fee, participants got the afternoon training session, plus a $150 Flip Ultra videocamera that takes up to an hour of video and plugs straight into a computer to download.
This first 20-spot session sold-out quickly but they’ve added a 2nd workshop on May 28th and set aside a free seat (and Flip camera) for a lucky Techvibes reader. Only eight people have entered the contest so far - so if you’re interested, be sure to enter now and we’ll pick a winner and announce it here on the blog on May 22nd.
Win a Flip Camera (and learn how to use it)
The Guys over at Vancouver SEO training shop Reachd are keen on video and it looks like their clients are too. Using Vancouver Realtor Ian Watt and New Jersey Wine merchant Gary Vaynerchuk (the Nightline video below is worth a watch) as business-building video success stories, Reachd is running workshops and they’re selling out fast. The $150 Flip Camera that is included in the $200 registration fee could have something to do with that.
Their first 20-spot session on May 13th is sold-out but they’ve added a 2nd workshop on May 28th and set aside a free seat (and video camera) for a Techvibes reader. You’ve got two weeks to comment on this post and tell us what you’d use the camera for and why you deserve the seat. We’ll pick a winner and announce it here on the blog on May 22nd.
Mediascrape Aggregates News, Funding
Quebec-based Mediascrape, a video news aggregator which rebroadcasts news conferences and other feeds from around the world, received over $3 million in funding last week from Canadian venture firm Paradigm Capital.
Mediascrape’s innovative business model helps traditional broadcasters monetize their existing content by distributing it throughout the world, and in the process let users tune into broadcasts by region. Mediascrape also adds functionality by transcribing reports into English and integrating map functionality. Future plans include letting the users at raw video feeds so they can transcribe and edit them. This will presumably add scalability to Mediascrape, though it remains to be seen what other benefits opening the feeds bring to the users themselves.
VIDFEST gets Wired with Chris Anderson
New Media BC announced today that Chris Anderson - Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine - will deliver the keynote speech at VIDFEST 2008. It sounds like Nexon North America was instrumental in making it possible.
Chris Anderson, considered one of the most insightful thinkers on the new economy of “free”, will address the audience on the model of “giving it away” as a key business strategy for generating revenue. His thoughts on this business model align closely with the new concept of “free-to-play” currently being pioneered in the online game world by Nexon.
VIDFEST programme, registration, passes and ticket information available online with early bird passes available until May 1st.
Rouxbe Partners with HarperCollins
Vancouver’s instructional cooking video up-start Rouxbe announced a partnership today that will see them provide video support for HarperCollins Canada’s newest book - Anita Stewart’s Canada. Anita Stewart’s Canada is the definitive cookbook about our country, featuring homegrown ingredients used locally and seasonally in home kitchens.
Imagine a cookbook that comes with video support, a discussion forum, a step-by-step Rouxbe recipe breakdown, and an online cooking school. Who would have ever thought. Starting April 26, 2008, all this becomes a reality.
Sounds like a great fit for Rouxbe and the start of what could be a multi-cookbook deal.
PEER 1 Nabs Four Tellys
I just heard from PEER 1 that they will be picking up four Telly Awards this June for two of their videos - episode one of Growing Pains and their Customer Profile on Plentyoffish. The Tellys honor the very best in local, regional, and cable television and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the web. There were over 14,000 entries submitted in various categories this year from 50 states and 5 continents.
Episode 2 & 3 of Growing Pains will be released on May 1st along with the launch of PEER 1’s new $10,000 Grand Prize Giveaway.To enter the contest, they’re asking people to upload a short film describing their web hosting growing pains, funny situations in running their online business and/or difficulties in getting their start-up off the ground. Videos will be judged on creativity and originality. The winner will receive a $10,000 and their video will be used in future PEER 1 online advertising. Not bad.
On a side note, PEER 1 continues to step up their marketing efforts with the Headline Sponsorship of GigaOM’s Structure 08 event on June 25th, 2008 in San Francisco. Nice work Rajan.
Penguins & Proverbs via Video Contests
Vancouver Film School and YouTube
Vancouver Film School (VFS) and YouTube announced a unique online scholarship competition today called What Matters to You. People from around the world will have the opportunity to share their film, animation, or creative pitch in a 3-minute video to win a full-tuition scholarship.
Artists from the 19 regions where YouTube has local sites will be eligible to submit their original videos from March 18th to May 9th. VFS will then narrow the field to 10 finalists and between May 20th and May 27th, the YouTube community will vote to pick 3 winners. On May 30th, the winners will be announced and will receive scholarships to VFS worth from $17,000 up to $52,750.
Launched in October 2006, the VFS YouTube Channel has over 18,000 subscribers and is the most subscribed school Channel on YouTube. The three scholarship recipients chosen by the YouTube community will be able to attend any of the 14 entertainment arts programs VFS offers.
Strutta comes out of stealth: a different kind of “video game”
We’re posting live from the Strutta private alpha launch party at their offices in Gastown, Vancouver. The launch beards have been shaved and the Strutta team is ready to take the metaphorical curtain off their web creation as they show it off for the first time today to a select group of bloggers and local web company folk.
For a stealth startup, the Strutta team has not stayed out of the spotlight. Granted, when you’re moving up from Silicon Valley and starting your third internet company, like Strutta founder Danny Robinson was, your actions aren’t going to go unnoticed anyhow. From hosting and sponsoring the three Launch Party events, organizing a Free Geek hardware recycling drive, up to co-presenting Videoblogging 101 at Northern Voice last weekend, they’ve done a good job of letting everyone know who they are, and that they were working on something really cool. Their glossy color bar logo and the frequent YouTube postings of office antics gave enough of a hint: something with video. But they couldn’t tell us yet. So now, after months of secrecy, I’m pleased to be able to answer the question they’ve teased us with: What is Strutta?
Strutta is an arena, a platform for video competitions, called “games”. A game is created with a theme, such as “Best George W. Bush Impression” or “Best Surprise Wedding Dance”. Users can submit videos for that theme, watch others, and vote which they think is the best. A key rule is that a user must submit their own video: either they appear in it or are holding the camera. A broad set of categories makes space for almost any video. Leaderboards and graphs provide comprehensive statistics. I was impressed with the clean and functional interface design. Users can start using the site right away and register later.
The site incorporates Web 2.0 features well: videos can be recording from within a browser, uploaded, and embedded from YouTube. Contacts can be added from Facebook and LinkedIn. Its built on Drupal, and powered by Amazon’s EC2 and S3 services, ready to scale.
Overall, I’m impressed: the concept is well fleshed out and accessible. I think Strutta will be enjoyable for viewers and contributers alike. Many people already post videos on YouTube in the spirit of ego, and Strutta provides a context for the competition. It is only open by invite only right now, more invites will be coming in week. If you want to get on the invite list, sign up on Strutta’s home page, or watch Techvibes for details.
