If you remember "Cat's Clicks," a show hosted by Catherine Schwartz on TechTV -- which became G4 Tech TV -- then you'll catch on to "Neo-Fight.tv" an online show that compares tech products. Ben Freedman is the co-host of the show and plays opposite Tiffany Young in a debate over tech products.
In the presentation Ben explains that Neo-Fight is more than a vlog; it's an online show in the form of Rocketboom. Indeed, the program's webpage -- like Rocketboom's -- gives the video viewer a menu of viewing options from Quicktime to Bit Torrent. Moreover the show itself has one set that does not change from episode to episode. So really it's more a TV show than a video diary, with co-hosts, a standard script format that changes only with respect to the kinds of products reviewed, episode names and numbers, and even its own theme music.
I think this is the next wave of vlogs, and I don't hesitate to use the term "vlog" here because one can offer commentary on the video, and the image is presented on a website. I can see a future where the most popular sites are like Blip.tv in that they promote vlog shows in a network. I'm not prepared to write "Move over CBS, NBC,and ABC, because they've got enough content firepower to make a significant dent in the vlog industry. My only question is do they have the courage to take this leap?
A good entrepreneur should not wait for these large bureaucratic firms to figure it out; that could take forever.
On Vloggercon's first day, I was given a cool introduction to Click.tv by Lawrence Taymor who, gave me an invitation to their party later that Saturday evening. Click.tv is a website which contains a device that allows you to meld video with comments on it. It really meshes the blog's comment area with the video, in effect creating a new way of interacting with video.
It's neat in that it's an interesting content "toy" to play with and seems to imply some interesting possibilities. The only thing I find vexing is that I signed up for an account and have yet to get my confirmation email and it's now about 20 minutes later. Ouch. I'd like to embed it into my blog -- if I can get that #$$ email!
(As a side note, the party, held at what was once the home of Click.tv CEO Mike Lanza and his wife Perla. I learned that Mike's a Stanford guy, which is too bad for this Old Blue. I wonder if MIke's going to fess up to the fact that Cal did win the '82 Big Game.)
I always say that some people bring out different sides of others for whatever reason. This is certainly true with Dina Kaplan and myself. Dina's the head of Business Development for Blip.tv, the digital video distribution and sharing system I now swear by. Dina brings out the "Woody Allen" in me in much the same way as a friend of mine in Chicago..Hmm....
But that written, behind her almost constant smile is the active brain of a good business person. Always thinking and directing traffic -- in this case, the other Blip.tv staffers. Trying to determine who's best to talk to about this or that, and so on. She's perfect in her role at Blip.tv and as I said in the video, the best business people are confident women. I discovered that while growing SBS and have seen little to discourage my opinion.
As Dina explains, Blip.tv is one year old and the result of a collaboration of five friends in New York City. It's like YouTube, but has features that are vastly different than that or any other similar system. For example, my Blip.tv video posts have been automatically installed in this blog. Plus, the final video in Blip.tv is much closer to the quality of the original than is true for YouTube.
Now back to Dina.
All Dina has to do is get over seeing herself on any computer or TV screen. In the video, she looks at a computer video of her and -- like Frankenstein seeing his own reflection (I'm gonna get killed for that comparison! LOL) -- points to herself and says "that's scary." I totally disagree.
Vloggercon 2006 was held in San Francisco June 10th and 11th. Two of the organizers, Irina Slutsky of Geek Entertainment TV and Schlomo Rabinowitz, vlogger and educator, give their take on how the event was progressing to that point in time Saturday evening, June 10th
You may have noticed that some of the Vloggercon videos play in the window on the blog page and others refresh to a new page with a larger video. Well, it's the latter that I wanted. I'm using IMovie to record the video content and make clips, Quicktime to review the new clip and now Blip.tv to upload the clip to the web and SBS' blogs.
Blip.tv's vastly superior to YouTube in producing quality uploaded video. And after much experimentation, I've found a codec -- H.263 at a large format size and 30 fps frame rate updated every 24 frames per second but restricted at 6400/ kbits a second and set at 640 x 480 size. In Blip.tv this causes the new window and large video, which is what I want to have for our next set of plans in the growth of the SBS system.
I wll continue to use YouTube, but more as a distribution device for our videos and of course as a great source for video content. But Blip.tv and Dabble are great to use as standards for any vloggers web tool set.
Rocketboom At Vloggercon: Andrew Baron and Amanda Congdon Talk About Their Happy Accident
The undisputed stars of Vloggercon were Andrew Baron and Amanda Congdon, the producers of the wildly popular daily vlog called "Rocketboom." If you've not seen Rocketboom, it's worth a look. The show's a quirky view of the news and cultural topics of the day, or at times that interest them. On Vloggercon's first day, Andrew and Amanda talked about how Rocketboom came to be, what Rockeboom is from a technical standpoint, their interview style, and how Rocketboom has grown.
What I -- and some others I talked to -- took from their presentation was how it seems Andrew and Amanda plan "incrementally." For example, there's no business plan as of this writing. And their presentation itself seemed to move along in a collaborative "What do we show them next?" fashion. The result is what I call a happy accident that commands $85,000 in sponsorship revenue per week due to Rocketboom's huge audience of eyeballs.
This video only captures the first 15 minutes of their presentation. I deliberately edited it to stop where Andrew and Amanda are working to determine where they should go with the presentation. It's a great view of how they work together and why Rocketboom is successful: it's the result of a true collaboration between two people.
God wasn't ready to take Ben Roethlisberger. He's really blessed. It wasn't his time at all.
Roethlisberger's injuries only on face, should be ready for opener
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The injuries to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger were confined to his face and the Steelers are confident he should heal and be ready to play in the season opener Sept. 7 against the Miami Dolphins, sources told the Post-Gazette today.
Roethlisberger has a broken jaw, a broken nose and some injuries to his teeth but otherwise came through his motorcycle accident on Monday with nothing else but some scrapes and bruises. Published reports that detailed injuries to his knees and shoulders are untrue, sources said.
One source said that the surgery on Roethlisberger's face took so long -- seven hours -- in order to assist in a faster recovery time. Roethlisberger also should be ready to participate in training camp, although he may not play in the first preseason game Aug. 12 in Arizona.
The quarterback had seven hours of surgery yesterday afternoon and evening to repair facial fractures caused when his motorcycle struck a car on Second Avenue at the 10th Street Bridge.
After the surgery, doctors said the facial fractures were successfully repaired but they would not elaborate. They did say that there appear to be no brain, spine, chest or abdomen injuries.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
This is from the Pittsburgh Steelers Press Release on NFLMedia.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 12, 2006 Steelers President Art Rooney’s Statement Regarding Ben Roethlisberger’s Motorcycle Accident
“On behalf of everyone within the Steelers organization, I want to express my concern for Ben Roethlisberger. I am sure Ben knows that we are praying for his complete recovery. So far, we have been encouraged by the early reports from the medical team at Mercy Hospital.
“Our public relations staff will pass along any additional updates as we receive them from the hospital.”
I met the wonderful Mary Hodder at Vloggercon Saturday in a most unusual way: she was sitting at the Peralta sponsor table where I was after I returned from a video walk; poor thing was just looking for a place to park her computer. Fortunately for me, I had enough presence of mind to make her stay a comfortable one. I was rewarded with an introduction to and an account with her new product, the website "Dabble."
Dabble is a terrific web device that can download videos placed on a website just by listing that webpage's URL. The program then develops a kind of video database. It's really a cool and useful tool. How do I know this? I tried it out on my blog, Zennie's Zeitgiest and with great success. Dabble's a great system to use; check it out.
In the video Mary takes us on a brief "tour" of Dabble and tries to upload my blog; something I did later. I've got to admit, it's a gas. (I also take this time to thank Mary for turning me on to Blip.tv
I heard about this Monday on KNBR, the San Francisco Bay Area Sports Radio Channel. Ben's lucky to be alive. I'm not a motorcycle rider and reports like this one are constant reminders why. But more to the point, Ben was careless: he drove without a helmet.
This certainly puts a crimp in the Steelers' pre-season plans and upsets the balance of power in the AFC Central Division. If Ben can't make a timely recovery, the Black and Gold will have lost another field leader alongside the retirement of Jerome Bettis.
Big Ben in serious condition after motorcycle accident ESPN.com news services
PITTSBURGH -- Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger, the youngest quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl championship, broke his jaw and nose in a motorcycle crash Monday in which he was not wearing a helmet.
Roethlisberger remained in serious but stable condition after seven hours of surgery that ended at approximately 9 p.m. ET, according to Dr. Daniel Pituch, chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Mercy Hospital. His condition is not expected to change throughout the evening, Pituch said at a news conference.
"He suffered multiple facial fractures," Pituch said. "All of the fractures were successfully repaired. His brain, spine, chest and abdomen appear to be without serious injury. And there are no other confirmed injuries at this time."
The doctors declined to release further information at the family's request.
ESPN.com's John Clayton has confirmed that Roethlisberger also suffered a 9-inch laceration to the back of his head, has lost or chipped a number of teeth and has minor injuries to his knees from hitting the pavement. A plastic surgeon has been called in.
A broken jaw normally takes seven weeks to heal. It is not known how long it will take for the other injuries to heal. Pittsburgh's training camp begins in late July.
"He was talking to me before he left for the operating room," Dr. Larry Jones, chief of trauma at Mercy Hospital, said before the operation. "He's coherent. He's making sense. He knows what happened. He knows where he is. From that standpoint, he's very stable."
Roethlisberger was riding this motorcycle when he collided with an automobile in Pittsburgh on Monday morning. Roethlisberger's stepmother, Brenda, was crying as she arrived at the hospital. Roethlisberger's father and sister were also at the hospital.
Steelers coach Bill Cowher cut short his vacation to return to Pittsburgh, and arrived at the hospital shortly after 9 p.m. ET.
Steelers president Art Rooney said the team was "encouraged by the early reports from the medical team" at the hospital.
"I am sure Ben knows that we are praying for his complete recovery," he said.
Roethlisberger, 24, was not wearing a helmet, police said. He has said he likes to ride without one, a habit that once prompted a lecture from Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher.
Roethlisberger's contract does not have a specific clause regarding riding a motorcycle, Clayton confirmed.
Roethlisberger was between radio interviews and on his black 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa -- a large, racing-style bike -- and heading toward an intersection on the edge of downtown. A silver Chrysler New Yorker traveling in the opposite direction took a left turn and collided with the motorcycle, and Roethlisberger was thrown, police said.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Roethlisberger flew into the Chrysler's windshield and then hit the ground head first. Blood pooled around him on the pavement, the paper said.
The other car was driven by a 62-year-old woman, police said. They didn't immediately release her name and no charges were filed.
Witness Sandra Ford was waiting at a bus stop when she said she saw the motorcycle approach. Seconds later, she said she heard a crash, saw the motorcyclist in the air and ran toward the crash scene.
"He wasn't moving and I was afraid that he had died. ... He wasn't really speaking. He seemed dazed but he was resisting the effort to make him stay down," said Ford, who didn't realize the motorcyclist was Roethlisberger.
Police spokesman Lt. Kevin Kraus said police and homicide units were investigating the crash, something standard when there is an accident with critical injuries. Kraus would give no details on the extent of Roethlisberger's injuries or if anyone else was injured.
The accident occurred on Second Avenue near the intersection of 10th Street in Pittsburgh, around 11:30 a.m. The route is one often taken in traveling to the Steelers' facility in the Southside section of the city.
Several teammates, including backup quarterback Charlie Batch, linebacker Joey Porter and safety Mike Logan, arrived at the hospital emergency room but did not comment.
The car, which had damage to the front passenger fender, was removed and Roethlisberger's bike was loaded onto a flatbed truck. Police were detouring traffic around the crash scene as onlookers and media gathered.
One of his agents, Ryan Tollner, was en route to Pittsburgh for what was supposed to be a pre-planned trip and was to arrive later Monday.
Paint outlines puddles of oil and blood on the street where Roethlisberger collided with an automobile while riding a motorcycle on Monday. In only his second year in the NFL, Roethlisberger became the youngest quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl championship. He was 23 when he did it last February.
In May 2005, Cowher warned him about safe riding after Cleveland tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. was injured in a motorcycle accident. Winslow tore knee ligaments and was lost for the season.
Roethlisberger has said in the past that he prefers not to wear a helmet when riding his motorcycle. Roethlisberger has pointed out Pennsylvania's 35-year-old state law requiring helmets to be worn was amended in September 2003 to make helmets optional.
"He talked about being a risk-taker and I'm not really a risk-taker. I'm pretty conservative and laid back, but the big thing is to just be careful," Roethlisberger said at the time. "I'll just continue to be careful. I told him we don't ever ride alone, we always ride in a group of people, and I think it makes it even more safe."
New England quarterback Tom Brady was at a charity golf event when he found out that Roethlisberger was injured riding a motorcycle.
"You try to take some of those things and put them off for a later time in your life," Brady said, "but sometimes people want to live their lives and have fun and I think sometimes things happen like that. Hopefully, he's OK."
Roethlisberger, whose mother, Ida, died in a car accident when he was 8 years old, continued to ride after Winslow's accident and that angered Terry Bradshaw, who quarterbacked the Steelers to four Super Bowl victories during the 1970s.
Visiting the Steelers' training camp last summer, Bradshaw remarked: "Ride it when you retire."
There's no better passing game technician and teacher than Bill Walsh, architect of the great San Francisco 49ers offense of the 80s and 90s and the system that's become the standard in modern pro, college, and high school football.
Coach Walsh first developed the offense while the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals under Paul Brown, honed it while guiding the Stanford Cardinal, and built on the foundation of concepts while head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
Coach Walsh then returned to Stanford in the early 90s, using what has been called "The West Coast Offense" -- but should be referred to as "The Walsh Offense" -- to direct Stanford to a 9-3 season and a co-Pac-10 Championship in 1993.
In this video, Coach Walsh works with his star student Quarterback Joe Montana to show how to throw several kinds of passes: the three step pass without a hitch step, the crossover hitch step, slant passes and quick out passes. Look at Joe's footwork, and then look again at where and how he holds the ball before release.
After filming I looked for a seat and found one next to this brunette who turned out to be a reporter for CNET. Ha. She was talking to a balding older white guy to her left -- I was to her right -- and apparently peppering him with questions. Meanwhile Ted Tagami -- who I've known since high school and played a major role in Vloggercon -- came over to say something to her and recognized me.
Through all this, she never asked me one question -- and the guy to her left was someone she just met. The only reason I knew she worked for CNET is I asked her who she was representing. See, she had a pad and pen and was writing. At a vlogging conference, you come with a camcorder.
Regardless of my questions -- just two -- and Ted, she asked me nothing. And when I passed by her in the hallway later in the day, she turned as if to avoid me -- I kept walking. And what did I do? Nothing. Do I think she would not have done that if I were white?
Yes.
Look, after a time on Earth, you can figure out what's going on with some people. It was insulting and a great example of how racism really is a mental illness. It kept her from being a good reporter. In my view she did a terrible job. I noticed she didn't even try to interview the Rocketboom people and they're huge! A good reporter never brings their hangups and race issues into a work situation. This woman did. CNET can do better.
