At the Arizona Diamondbacks Fan Fest, 10 singers competed for the chance to sing the national anthem before a Diamondbacks home game. The first nine were women; the last one is the PA announcer at Chase Field.

Circled in red is the day pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in Arizona. Today, we ventured over to Scottsdale Stadium to see the Giants 2007 hurlers in their tune-up sessions. Of course, our #1 mission was to see Barry Zito. As this clip shows, we were not disappointed. The position players reports next week--we'll be back (as well as to other Major League camps in the area).

I have to admit, I didn't think I'd enjoy mobile videblogging (that is, shooting video and then uploading it to a blog), but I now deem it to be cool.

Thanks to my Nokia N93 (and a new account with T Mobile), I am playing around with mobile videoblogging. Right now, I am using both Vox and Juicecaster in sort of a mobile videoblogging bake-off. Vox is quite simple and is an embedded application in the camera/phone, but it posts to a Vox account I rarely use. I want to put my Vox videos here, not there. I have shot two, but they are more tests of the workflow/process. The MPEG 4 camera is great, the software is good and it's all very intuitive, but the upload seems to take an extraordinarily long time. In fact, it took me several tries to upload each video. No doubt, a T Mobile issue.

Juicecaster (see bottom right of this blog), allows me to post here. The software is an easy download (although I did something wrong in the initial settings so it always looks for a wireless LAN to connect even when I am not home.  Also, I cannot seem to figure out how to locate video files from my camera's gallery. These should be easy enough to fix. Look for videos down there soon.

I am also on the hunt for other services that allow me to do mobile videoblogging. Hopefully, they will be ones that allow me to post here.

More news from the world of consumer video.

Yesterday, I had to drive 40 minutes each way to a studio down by the airport and spend 30 seconds on CNBC talking about the impact of the Youtube ad deal. I figured it makes more sense for me to cut out the middleman and do my own “talking head” segment with opinions about media and tech news.

Over time, I assure you the lighting and sound will get better.

In today's installment, we go over Allen's run-ins with YouTube regarding his postings to the site. Before listening, note that ALL OF ALLEN'S FOOTAGE USED IN THE VIDEOS WAS PERSONALLY SHOT BY ALLEN WITH A STANDARD VIDEO CAMERA AVAILABLE IN VIRTUALLY ANY CONSUMER ELECTRONICS STORE. This was not video captured via TV-tuner card or stream ripper. The video was edited using standard editing tools available in many general-purpose consumer software packages.

After listening to Mike and Allen's drivel, consider the following: Will media companies and major "entertainment" brands e.g. Major League Baseball ever fully leverage the explosion in consumer-generated content and commentary if they continue to rely on extending copyright laws created for an analog era?

Respectfully, we say NO!

 

After living in Arizona for a number of years, we felt it was our duty to see if the expression “It’s hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk” was true.

In this installment, Mike and Allen talk about Yahoo in Google in the wake of their respective analyst/press days. 

With the first item, Allen and Mike ruminate (aloud) on what Real Networks' freshly minted patent for online streaming video will mean to the nascent online video market.

As for the second item about EMI and Skype? Beats the heck out of us.  We're going off of one press release.

It looks like the folks at Youtube are scouring the grounds and attempting to clean up the debris. The smart money says that Youtube is trying to pretty itself up for two reasons: 1) to attract advertisers and 2) make it more appealing to potential big media partners and buyers.

 

The cleanup includes mostly getting rid of copyrighted content, like clips of "Family Guy."  I say, Bravo! I say, however, do it right. My take is they are using some sort of program to eliminate things that “appear” copyrighted, but in some cases, they are casting too wide a net. In my case, Youtube nuked one of my World Baseball Classic videos; in fact, the best one of all—the one showing the final out of the championship game. It had to be a machine review of the clip; no editor could have mistaken it for something like ESPN coverage. If so, either I missed my calling as a professional cameraman (which I didn’t) or a career as a play-by-play announcer. Sure, I did call the infamous Muhlenberg College football victory at Dickinson in 1973, but it sure wouldn’t be me in line for Jon Miller’s job. And, by the way, I never received a notice from Youtube about any infraction, offering me the chance to correct its error.

 

So, Youtube (and all its competitors): I agree you need to clean up your sites. Please, do it right.

* Denotes First 'Cast using New Gear

In today's installment, Allen and Mike discuss Super Bowl 40 commericals.
This is the first 'case we've done using iChat and Garageband. While we've had an issue or two we'll discuss in subsequent 'casts (and a few "issues" with this one were the result of operator error), the creation/editing/posting work was relatively smooth.

In today's offering, Allen and Mike discuss Microsoft's refinement of its policies regarding Spaces blog content that violate "local laws." This particular case involves a Chinese journalist whose blog was removed from MSN Spaces after complaints by the Chinese government officials.

Here’s a look at The Power Paws Assistance Dogs fund-raiser. You can see those who participated in the “Walk ‘n’ Roll Dog Walk” returning from their short course. There’s the usual intermingling of dogs, dog owners and those who just plain love dogs. And if you have never seen dogs bob for apples, you are in for a treat.

The Podsafe music is “Glass of Wine” by The New Autonomous Folksingers. Sounds like something from the movie, “A Mighty Wind.”

In the past week, I have spoken to a few executives in the video hosting/community space, attempting to get deeper insight into the trends for 2006. Specifically, I am anxious to get a handle on what business models will be tried and what business models will likely work.

 

It’s clear (just look down the page) that I use vSocial as the host for my clips (although you also can download them from this blog). After talking to the execs from Revver yesterday, I decided to try out their model in which consumer creators get paid a percentage of ads that are viewed when surfers click through on their videos. So, I tried it. I added a Revver-hosted clip for an older video that’s popular (I know from Google video logs). So, I am here to report I made $1.20 yesterday on that video. Now, that’s one video—an older one at that. Am I tempted to try more? You betcha. Will the ad model that rewards consumer creators who offer up interesting clips work? Not sure, but it looks promising.

In today's installment, Allen and Mike 'cast about the evolving online video market -- a subject we'll be returning to regularly.  For today, we'll focus on Apple's iTunes vs. Google's online video offering. Will consumer-created content be a deciding factor in who owns the online video market?

I have traveled eight of the first 18 days of 2006, and it can wear you down. I wanted to share a glimpse of what a four-day trip looks like. It’s group meals, generic hotel rooms with paper-thin walls, lots of discussions (sometimes poignant), airports, waiting in line, taxi cabs and more waiting in line.

The Podsafe music is from Phillip Flathead, and it’s “The Ballad of Timothy Leary.”

If you'd like to see our thoughts (Mike and mine) on Google's new video service, click here and you can read all about it on our company's Web site.

A few additional thoughts:

*At launch, it lacks the visual elegance of Apple iTunes.

*It's not easily discernable as to what videos can be downloaded to the iPod.

*There should be some promos or freebies to whet consumers' appetites.

 

In the most recent installment, Allen and Mike talk about PC-based media-editing applications vs. web-based editing tools; AOL-Google and media overload. Oh, and we audibly cringe at the SFGiants new, but really really old, outfield.

 

In this installment, Allen and Mike discuss commerce and community, two essential forces driving the evolution of podcasting. 

We address these issues through the lens of Podshow, the well-funded venture headed by Adam Curry and Ron Bloom. 

Mike is somewhat circumspect during this discussion as some parts of the Podshow story are still under wraps. 

Interesting. This sets the stage for the AOL-Microsoft relationship in which AOL uses “Fremont” as its classified platform or a hook-up with Google in which they use Google Base. Stay tuned!

 

AOL will no longer support personal classified listings, but will instead become an aggregator. The company issued a statement in response to an article in AuctionBytes Newsflash on Wednesday that referenced an email from a partner that AOL was closing its classifieds site altogether (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m12/i14/s00).

AOL spokesperson Cindy Harvey sent a statement regarding the AOL Classifieds Marketplace: "Due to a strategic shift in direction pertaining to our Search & Directional Media plans, the AOL Classifieds Marketplace will no longer support personal classifieds listings and as of December 31st will transition into an aggregator of listings from leading industry partners."

AOL's current classifieds section, accessible at http://classifieds.aol.com, consists of a combination of personal listings from AOL members and aggregators that provide listings to AOL. Now, AOL will become a sole aggregator of listings from leading industry partners. Harvey declined to be more specific

Today's contestant is Vsocial; the company appears to be in my nexk of the woods. Great transcoding!

 

Interesting story. China is selecting MPEG-4 as its offocial IPTV coding standard. No doubt this will persaude software firms to provide better editing tools as well as a reasonable DRM standard.

 

Today, Allen and Mike return from the holdiday weekend after  extended travels to places like Phoenix Muni and the western suburbs of Chicago (Mike, that is).  What do we have to talk about? TV over the Web which is different than IPTV. Yes, yes it is different. 

Listen and see what we mean.

 

 

 

Here's another clip from the dog agility show from last week at Westworld in Scottsdale. A Japanese competitor in the Ashley Whippet Flying Disc competition puts her dog through the paces. My wife and I actually once met the Ashley Whippet; that's a story for another day.

On a sunny Saturday, we made it to the Arizona Fall League championship for the second consecutive year. Oddly, it was the same two teams as last year—Scorpions and Desert Dogs, although the players and MLB teams who made up the squads, were different. The results were the same as the Desert Dogs were the winners, this time 9-3.

 

Matt Kemp of the Dodgers was the star of the game with two home runs and Jamie Shields of the D-rays pitched seven strong innings for the win. Casey Daigle—with celeb wife Jenny Finch cheering him on—came on to pitch the ninth inning. It was a sloppy game with five errors between the two teams, a few of the errors leading to big rallies for the Dogs.

 

The game was as much about who was there as who played. In this clip, you will find Davey Johnson, former Mets manager, Braves second baseman as well as manager of Team USA Baseball, the Olympic team; the Big Bopper, Bob Watson, (former Astros star now MLB and Team USA exec) and Angels owner Arte Moreno. We saw but did not capture on video former Cardinals/A’s/Cleveland outfielder Georeg Henrdick, former White Sox exec Rollie Hemond and the father & son Garagiolas, Joe and Joe Jr.

 

Thus ends another season of Arizona Fall league. Who from this crop will vie for Rookie of the Year in ’06? Stay tuned!

 

At the dog agility event at Westworld, here's one canine competitor making his/her (?) way through the obstacle course.

After last year’s posting of pictures from the Dock Dogs event at Westworld here in Scottsdale, I was psyched to come back in 2005 at shoot video. So, on Veterans Day, we made our way to the U.S. Dog Agility Association event in which the amazing diving dogs were featured.

 

It’s a long clip, but it’s worth all six-plus minutes. The star of the show is Gabe, a flying Border Collie who is owned by and trained by Todd Bobula of Dayon, Nevada. I spoke to Todd for a minute after the event and the bond between man and dog was remarkable. The announcer said (and he might have been joking) that Gabe delivers invoices to customers’ doors for Todd as part of his business. I would not be surprised. The other star of the day is actually Gabe’s son, Bolt, who flies just like his dad. Another member of the Bobula clan handles Bolt.

 

Today was the second day of heats (or waves, as they call them) with the finals on Sunday afternoon.

 

What was once a small market of dreamers now is getting serious? I saw a post to the Videobloggers group on Yahoo! pointing me to CNET’s download.com where they are now accepting and showcasing videos, including consumer created content. Today, the site will stream content, but it says soon it will be hosting content. Are we witnessing the return of Richard Hart and CNET TV? (Just kidding)

Chicago had its cows. Toronto had its moose. New York had its taxis.San Francisco had its hearts. And...Phoenix has its guitars.

It's GuitarMania, and it's a fund-raiser for Big Brothers & Big Sisters in "the valley." We toured the largest central collection of them in Phoenix, that being in front of America West Arena and by Chase Field (formerly Bank One Ballpark). The fiberglass guitars are all very cool and are some even are made to honor celebrities such as Stevie Nicks, Alice Cooper and Wayne Gretzky . All are done in themes that range from the straighforward to the abstract. The video speaks for itself.

As more companies take to the Web to launch new musical talent (including the bands themselves), there will be an even greater need for the tools of searching, sharing and discovery.

Clear Channel Communications on Tuesday is expected to launch an online service offering hundreds of songs and music videos from new and unsigned artists as part of a larger foray onto the Web.

The largest U.S. radio conglomerate, which owns about 1,200 radio stations across the country, also has a deal with GarageBand.com, a site for new musicians, to boost access to new artists material.

At launch, the service, called NEW!, will feature nearly 100 emerging artists from music labels including Atlantic, Capitol, Columbia Warner Bros, and Def Jam, along with unsigned acts every 90 days.

About 16 featured artists will have a home video, five songs and a link to the artists' web site featured on any number of Clear Channel's local radio station web sites.

Fifty GarageBand.com artists will also have five songs, a photo and artists information on Clear Channel's sites.

Live from The Future of Music Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., Mike provides some insight into what’s on the mind of thought leaders in the area of copyright protection, legal sharing and other related topics. Joining us today is special guest Derek Slater, a student fellow with the Berkman Center, who is on a panel with Mike on Sept. 13.

 

Will UK's digital creators come out of the woodwork for this? It's going to be interesting to watch to see how UK digital media fans flock -- or don't -- to the BBC's Creative Archive license. 

Couldn't think of a better way to kick it off than announcing a contest for the best music video using the archive's video stock.

 

Wherein Allen and Mike try to understand the effect of Katrina on the NO media. Will papers make a permanent jump to all digital -- or primarily digital -- by necessity?