Ucast

FoxXxCast banned pt.2

2008-04-24T22:50:00.001-04:00

RaunchFoxXx BANNED from Stickam!

2008-04-24T12:42:00.001-04:00

Sanyo introduces Xacti DMX-CG9 handheld camcorder

2008-03-19T15:10:00.002-04:00

Though not quite as posh as the Xacti HD2, Sanyo's DMX-CG9 is still apt to satisfy those in no hurry to make the leap to high-def. The handheld camcorder arrives in white, black, silver and pink motifs and features a 2.5-inch flip-out LCD, 5x optical zoom lens and a 9.1-megapixel CMOS sensor that captures stills when not logging clips (640 x 480 at 60fps maximum) of everyday life in MPEG-4 AVC / H.264. You'll also find a digital image stabilizer, wind noise reduction and PictBridge compatibility, and you can load in any spare SD / SDHC card in order to stockpile footage. No word on a price just yet for this entry-level unit, but those shacked up in Japan can look for it to land in late April.

Great idea for Camera Stabilization

2008-03-01T17:34:00.002-05:00

$1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera - Lose The Tripod - video powered by Metacafe

The Mic Light..Practical Solution to a real problem

2008-01-30T00:11:00.001-05:00

The Company FloLight seems to have hit on a practical, sort of affordable solution to real world problem. Too little light for the shot you want, and a hot shoe thats already full or insufficient for your light. They've created "The Mic Light" ...Here's the specs..
Intro Special - $149

- Attaches to camera shotgun mic
- Runs for hours on 3 AA batteries
- 48 high brightness LEDs
- Pro quality 5600K LEDs
- Equivalent to 50w camera light
- Weighs just 4 ounces

The MicLight utilizes high quality professional 5600 Kelvin color balanced LED's. They are completely different than the cheap LEDs used in consumer products like flashlights, bike lights and camping lamps. These LEDs are three times brighter and offer full spectrum light with an industry standard 5600K color temperature. This results in warm skin tones without the sickly bluish wash found when using inexpensive consumer LED's

I love the way the light slides right over the boom mic on your camera, but at $149 you might have the need, and not the funds the Mic Light requires.

BBC Series to be repeated...

2008-01-24T13:53:00.000-05:00

All UGC video producers face the same dilemma. How to create a professional studio look on a shoe string home made budget? Well these guys have a huge challenge, recreating the storming of Omaha Beach, with very limited resources and they pull it off. For the video page on YouTube....

How 3 graphic designers created D-Day on a shoe string budget for the TIMEWATCH program "Bloody Omaha"...

Due to the YouTube interest in our little 'making of' vid , we have just heard they are going to repeat the full Program on BBC2 on Sunday 27th Jan at 23:20! (see video response below for trailer)
you can catch it for the following week on the new BBC iplayer. (i think its UK only at the mo... ) U.S. 'tubers keep an eye out for TIMEWATCH: BLOODY OMAHA on the Smithsonian Channel coming soon.

Watching the video all I can say is WOW! This is extremely inspiring. So much is done here with just some very basic costuming and a green screen. Of course what we don't see in this video is the probable genius of an editing job going on in a darkened room somewhere! But don't we all feel that we have that genius in us. Anyhow if you have access to BBC2 programming either here or in the UK this Sunday is your chance to see the entire show.

Overlay.tv - Can't WAIT for February 14th

2008-01-21T02:02:00.001-05:00

There are web apps and websites that offer similar services to the soon to launch Overlay.tv website but Overlay.tv seems to be offering a supremely easy to use interface and more.....

The Overlay.TV platform allows viewers to interact with online video, and enables content owners and distributors to monetize their video assets. As video streams from its original location, such as leading video sharing sites, viewers are able to opt-in to receive “overlays” which provide contextual information about the content being viewed. The overlay technology allows any image in a video to be ‘hyper-enabled’ and allows a viewer to click on the image, right in the video, and take any number of desired actions that are directly associated with the context of the image being viewed.

The overlays can be embedded in external web pages, online shops, blogs and social network profiles. The simplicity and elegance of the Overlay.TV technology means that anyone posting video content will have a tool to add contextual information directly onto the video content – no pre-roll, no post-roll, no banners, and no changes to the video at all.

Authors, content owners and e-commerce providers are able to offer advertisers a measurable return on investment for their product placements, without increasing the costs associated with video production.

“The huge uptake of online video, both professional and user-generated, has created phenomenal opportunities for advertisers and content owners seeking to monetize their assets and reach. However, the fundamental challenge of delivering the right message at the right time still exists,” said Rob Lane, President/CEO of Overlay.TV. “Some interesting attempts to infer video context have started to emerge, but none have proven to be very effective. Empowering users to determine context explicitly and giving them the tools to create their own interactions and ads are what Overlay.TV delivers. We have enabled product placement for the masses and have provided viewers with a simple way to buy what they see in online video.”

“People are struggling to monetize video on the internet and to date, none of the solutions have been overly compelling,” said Andrew Waitman, Managing Partner, Celtic House Venture Partners. “Overlay.TV has taken a complex issue and developed a solution that enables anyone to add interactivity and advertising to online video.”

I have submitted my information for notification of further developments and have sent a press inquiry to the folks at Overlay.tv to dig a little deeper. I'll keep you posted but go take a look for yourself. The site just received $4.6M in Series A financing round and will be launching its Internet video-advertising platform on February 14, 2008. The funding, from Celtic House Venture Partners, EdgeStone Capital Partners and Tech Capital Partners, will provide Overlay.TV with the resources required to successfully deploy its innovative solution. This is one to watch!

CuePrompter Free internet app for webcasters

2008-01-21T01:15:00.000-05:00

Have you ever tried reading your script from printed pages? Ever lose your place? Well if you're not using production software designed with the solo producer in mind chances are you've had to come up with some pretty creative ways to make your copy readable. If you're like me and have run out of "friends" willing to hold up cue cards and take a myriad of abuses over multiple takes then the web application CuePrompter may just be what you've been looking for.

CuePrompter allows you to enter text using cut/paste or by typing directly onto the page and then scroll that text at a speed of your choice much the way a professional teleprompter does. The application even includes nice features like mirroring if you want to use the resulting scroll as a reflection for a more live type application.

The site works with Windows based OS and functions best on IE (that's unfortunate but oh well) Go take a look and give your "friends" a break. Take 1,765 and ACTION!
www.cueprompter.com

A New Look for Stickam...

2007-12-28T15:54:00.001-05:00

Well, well, well.....The gang over at Stickam has certainly been busy. Yesterday they launched a brand new site design and for the first time they did it without the dreaded and much bitched about planned service outages that have been used in the past. This of course led to much....

bitching and complaining.

Change is ALWAYS difficult....
It was a tough night Wednesday night as the changes began to be implemented. Users found themselves suddenly forced out of live rooms and had a difficult time logging back in. Some experienced problems with their Flash players (Here's a tip DO NO update to the most recent Flash player if you are a frequent Stickam user. As of this writing there are compatibility issues) not refreshing and not playing sounds. The new interface became "live" on Thursday and the problems (and the bitching) continued with URL errors and some users were unable to log in to view their pages, or make changes to their embedded players. Today however it appears that most of the problems have been resolved. I clicked every available link and all directed me to the appropriate page, quickly. The one notable exception is the Stickam forum which is no longer part of the main navigation but can still be located through a small link on the page footers. The Forum still display a Under Maintenance.

Let's discuss the visuals.....
All in all I think I like the look. It seems to compact a lot of information into a small space and do it pretty efficiently. According to the Stickam blog.....

In an effort to better organize the current site, Stickam will be getting a major face lift tomorrow. The site will be categorized into 4 different sections.

1. Social – Everyone’s hangout
2. Show – Formerly known as the creator account
3. Music – Homepage for musicians
4. Radio – Homepage for radio stations and DJs

So current entertainers need to take a look at the new categories and make certain that they are indeed put into the proper categories. There are "application" links under the SHOW, MUSIC, RADIO tabs that will allow new users (and presumably existing users) to apply to have their shows categorized the way they want and to be eligible to be featured on the corresponding page. I think this effort will do much to settle some of the competition complaints for those users who felt they were not given opportunities to be featured.

New features....
On my first exploration it appears that the redesign is more about efficiency than it is about adding features. This is ok because Stickam has been rolling out new features at a pretty good clip as of late. They've added Live Description, Email verification, a new player, age restriction and Subscription capabilities all in the last 2 months. It's this last feature Subscription capabilities which gets a new twist with the redesign. Under each category you can now get a listing of not only the most watched shows but also the most subscribed shows. The numbers for subscribers is quite eye opening in that they are for the most part REALLY low. This may be a sign that the feature was the desire of a small number of Stickam users and isn't being adopted by the wider base.
Another nice feature is a Schedule of upcoming shows under each tab. In particular under the SHOWS heading Adam Paranoia with a daily run down of featured shows called Picks of the Day and in an attempt to begin to leverage the vast quantity of UGC (User Generated Content) from the Media Gallery it gets it own tab and videos by users who are slotted in to each category are being featured on each page!

So what's the verdict?
The same as it is with any UPDATE....wait and see. Graphically I like the look. Functionally I believe it will eventually shake things out amongst users and they will settle in to a favorite place...but I would still like to see Stickam make greater strides toward better video quality (ala BlogTV) higher customization (Whats with the MySpace "approved only photo links" only and restricted java capabilities approach it was douche-baggery when they did it and its the same here) and above all better and more reliable streaming. I know its a "you get what you pay for" thing but I would pay (and so would lots of your "Entertainers") if we could rely on the medium as a tool for connecting with new and existing audiences without lag, pixelated pictures and with the ability customize players either at the API level or with scripts.

Fix8..More like Fix it!

2007-12-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

I first heard about Fix8 early this year and thought it was a great concept. Basically you download the app and it will apply various avatars or "accessories" to your web video in real time, allowing you to become a moving talking animation in any video chat, or webcast you may be engaged in. In short my first experience with Fix8 SUCKED MAJOR!
The software was bloated and jerky. It offered ridiculous looking avatars and tired accessories. I uninstalled the software the same day I downloaded it, something I never do. I usually give a program at least a week to grow on me but this was a real stinker.

Then in June I began to see articles and even ads promoting fix8 on Stickam. The softwares site blog confirmed that a partnership had been formed, and as I generally approve of Stickam, recent rumors and complaints aside, I felt maybe it was time to give the software another go....

While the interface was much improved the software was STILL very buggy, and most of the coolest avatars shown on the site (celebutars and politicos) were not available for purchase or use! I fired off an email and got a (quick)canned response encouraging me to wait for the "newest" upgrade. Meanwhile this hog is supposed to just sit on my hard drive? NO WAY! I uninstalled...again...same day I downloaded.

So here we are again and this time fix8 is promising to "streamline" the download process and improve the interface and customization qualities of its software. All I can say is fix8 I want you to work soooooooo badly that I probably will give you one more shot, but this is your LAST CHANCE. When will these changes be made and when can I expect the product that you have been promising but failing to deliver?

Stickam rumors....

2007-12-17T16:07:00.000-05:00

Rumors are flying all around the popular video community Stickam about possible upcoming changes. Recently Stickam has begun to feature a broader combination of UGC (user generated content) and major media offerings on its front page in a new interface which is more visitor friendly. The recent addition of Google adsense and banner ads has led some users to wonder whether Stickam is getting ready for significant changes. Speculation about what those changes might be ranges from the site being "prepped for sale" to a larger internet firm to a possible roll out of a fee based, subscription type service. The service has been innovating a lot recently. New features have been popping up to the surprise, and occasionally chagrin of the most active users. It also appears that there is a new focus on policing so called "inappropriate" content on the PG-13 site. I'll keep my eye on the changes and see if I can find out more as things develop.

Magnify.net

2007-11-21T11:45:00.000-05:00

Now that the YouTube era of internet content is well under way, with video playing an ever-increasing role in everything from social networking to political elections, it's time for verticalization to usher in the next stage. Right on cue, Magnify has launched a service that helps web publishers bring subject-specific video channels to their own websites.

Launched in beta version about a year ago, Magnify features a meta-search tool that combs the web for videos matching a site's specific focus, such as aviation, soccer or college life. Users can also upload their own video content, and the resulting mix is available for sharing, rating and ranking by the community as well as integrating into playlists. Magnify provides the templates and controls publishers need each step along the way, including site design and customization; video search, uploading, storage, bandwidth and sharing; and advertising, community, statistics and network tools. The service is free to users and its business model is based on shared advertising revenue with the websites that use its service. Magnify has grown from 20 sites to more than 2,000 user-generated video channels since its launch.

The site's creators explain: "We built Magnify because we believe that everyone has a story to tell and we wanted to give you a platform to tell that story with video. We wanted to make it easy for you to get video and easy for you to share video with the people that make your site or blog so great—your members and visitors."

Magnify.net is releasing a private beta aspect that allows anyone to produce their own Vlog. The new webcam capture tool will be available as a free add-on to the Magnify channel creation platform. Magnify is sending out an open invitation to anyone interested in Vlogging as part of this kickoff too.

By enabling video and fostering increased user interaction, Magnify brings critical functionality to sites competing for attention in a rich-media Internet environment where the bar is higher every day. It also marks the next stage of the video era: general sites have had their day—now it's time for the niche, vertical contenders to take hold. Let the diversification proceed!

$5000 up for grabs for :60sec video

2007-11-21T02:53:00.000-05:00

Student loan consolidation company ScholarPoint Financial Inc will give away $5,000 to the winner of its SIC-Vids YouTube Video Blog Contest.
ScholarPoint Financial Inc., a leader in the student loan consolidation industry, announces the launch of their “SIC-Vids” YouTube video blog contest in which one participant will win $5,000 in cash.

The goal of the contest is to promote ScholarPoint’s ‘Simple, Instant, Complete’ motto that describes their unique process of student loan consolidation.

To enter, participants are challenged to create a 60 second video that embodies at least 1 of the 3 words of the ScholarPoint motto: Simple. Instant. Complete. The terms can be represented visually with text or graphics or be spoken or even sung.

Contestants will then upload the video to ScholarPoint’s YouTube contest group located at http://www.youtube.com/group/sicvids between November 5th and December 5th. The 10 videos with the most positive comments by January 5th, 2008 will then move on to the finals round where the winning video will be chosen by the ScholarPoint judging team.

“We are really excited to see the types of videos people come up with. Our goal with this contest was to give people as much creative freedom as possible when developing their videos. We want everyone to have fun with this,” says ScholarPoint CEO Chris Studer.

Though videos must be entered into the contest by December 5th, contestants have until January 5th 2008 to promote their videos to friends on Facebook, MySpace, blogs, and by email in order to rack up the most positive comments and move into the final judging round.

The winner of the YouTube video contest will be selected on January 25th, 2008 and will be mailed a check in the amount of $5,000. Full details about the ScholarPoint SIC-Vids video contest can be found at http://www.scholarpoint.com/sicvids/.

About ScholarPoint: ScholarPoint Financial, Inc. is a national online consumer lending company specializing in student loans and offering a full range of innovative education finance solutions. Loan options for students and their families include PLUS, Stafford, Consolidation and Private Loans. ScholarPoint combines industry-leading borrower benefits, best-in-class service and innovative technology. Unlike many other traditional loan sites, ScholarPoint's technology platform was designed exclusively for its website, integrating the entire process for an online experience that is simple, instant, and complete.

OMFG...and a Message to boot

2007-11-21T02:21:00.001-05:00

Webcam Max 4.1.2.2

2007-11-20T17:10:00.000-05:00

If you aren't familiar with Webcam Max then today will be a fun day for you. This is a cool little windows tool for adding a new dimension to your video webcasts. There are tons of great things that are possible with Webcam Max and if you think a bit outside the box the possibilities are truly endless.

Add videos, screen, pictures, flash and effects to virtual or real Webcam and broadcast on all messengers.

For all webcam programs (ICQ, AIM, MSN, Camfrog, Skype, Paltalk, Yahoo, ANYwebcam, Stickam...); Enable Video Play List, Photo Slides and Picture in Picture; Customize effects; Modify effects by mouse.

Compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista 32bit OS.
Version: WebcamMax 4.1.2.2

For all webcam programs no matter you have a real webcam or not, such as ICQ, AIM, MSN, Camfrog, Skype, Paltalk, Yahoo Messenger, ANYwebcam, Stickam Justin.tv, Ustream.tv, Operator11 and many more...

o Add videos, movies, flash, desktop screen, pictures, floating text to webcam.
o Add a variety of effects (Fire, Water, Mosaic, Distorting Mirrors, Smiley) over webcam.
o Enable Video Play List, Photo Slides, Picture in Picture.
o Magic Mask Effects move automatically with your head.
o Compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista 32bit OS.
o Customize Effects Properties, such as color, position, size, speed and etc.
o Webcam Video Recorder, Snap.
o Modify effects by mouse.
o Accept dropping files.
o Fast switch between virtual and real webcam.
o Share webcam in 16 programs.
o More than 1200 free effects online.

Ucast toolbar available

2007-11-20T16:59:00.000-05:00

toolbar powered by Conduit

I wanted to create a useful resource that vid-casters could use as a reference and to stay informed about opportunities for posting videos and engaging with other video creators. Thus was born the Ucast Toolbar. The toolbar is completely free and has links to all the major video communities and posting sites. There are Video Podcasts available directly inside the toolbar using the Free Internet Radio, and you can even record in one click right from your browser using your own web cam and software (the videos are saved locally to your machine and are then uploadable to your favorite service! There is isadly no version available at the moment for all you Apple folk, but IE and Firefox users why not give it a try. It comes with an uninstaller should you change your mind and is guaranteed 100% mal-ware and spam free. There is NO SIGN-UP REQUIRED! NO EMAIL, NO PASSWORD, NO STRINGS! If there's something you'ds like to see added to the toolbar (an in toolbar YouTube search and player is on the way and will appear automatically when its ready) then leave a comment and we'll do what we can. Also if you'd like your video podcast added to the readio drop the rss link to the podcast in a comment and I will make sure it is available to all users!

Welcome

2007-11-19T16:21:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome to the Ucast blog. Here we'll endeavor to provide web-casters with useful tips, software and hardware reviews and updates, and information regarding the most popular vid-casting sites on the web. If you'd like to see us cover a particular software or website please leave a comment with the website/software title and if possible a link. We'll be glad to give you a shout out and promote YOUR web-cast. Come visit us Daily for the latest in web-casting