I got a few interesting Qik videos at the SXSW conference.
Here we visit AMD’s hotel room to get a look at their new chipset that enables $500 PCs that can properly display Vista’s UI and let you play video games with decent quality. That’s a real breakthrough on price/performance due to integrating ATI’s graphic acceleration technology in with AMD’s processor.
iLike’s CEO, Ali Partovi, told me about a deal they made with R.E.M. to distribute their new album that comes out on March 24 for free.
I visited the exhibit hall, and got a few videos.
1. Make Magazine. Phillip Torrone is one of my heros, he is the most creative person I know.
2. MyXer. Mobile content house.
3. Empressr, a cool online multimedia tool/service.
4. AdaptiveBlue, a toolbar that lets you shortcut search.
5. Scenechronize, a production management tool for movie/video companies.
Earlier in the week I caught up with Kyte.tv’s CEO and got a good look at their new video streaming and video distribution system. I’ll be testing that against Qik soon and will write that up when I have a good chance to test the two systems out against each other (I use Qik from my cell phone to bring you these videos). Unfortunately the connection kept going down, so we split that video up into five pieces. Here they are: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V.
Finally, Twitter star, Jim Long. Known as @newmediajim on Twitter. Why is he a star? Because he has an interesting job: he’s a cameraman for NBC in President Bush’s press pool. Why is he interesting? Because on his Twitter account he gives us details behind the scenes about what it’s like to cover the President.
Using Qik is still an experiment, by the way. Some people like these, others hate them (I film them with my cell phone, so sometimes the video dies right in the middle of an interview and often the audio or video quality isn’t that good. Plus I need a good 3G or WiFi connection to make them work in the first place). But I find I get a much different kind of interview with the cell phone than I do with our bigger pro cameras, so I’ll keep doing them. Would love feedback about how to make them better for you.
Scobleizer 
Robert, I really like the Qik videos. One thing, though, is it would really help me to always have a little meta data for each one, so people can judge if they want to watch. A meaningful title would be enough.
I know that you put titles on many of your Qik videos, but there are also quite a few that have a title of “Untitled”. Seeing “Untitled” makes me less likely to watch the video.
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Robert, I really like the Qik videos. One thing, though, is it would really help me to always have a little meta data for each one, so people can judge if they want to watch. A meaningful title would be enough.
I know that you put titles on many of your Qik videos, but there are also quite a few that have a title of “Untitled”. Seeing “Untitled” makes me less likely to watch the video.
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I’m so jealous. I was hoping to be at SXSW this year, but not luck. Thanks for keeping us updated with great posts.
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I’m so jealous. I was hoping to be at SXSW this year, but not luck. Thanks for keeping us updated with great posts.
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Jim Long is awesome! I have so much respect for him! He’s a pillar of the DC tech community. Great interview Robert.
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Jim Long is awesome! I have so much respect for him! He’s a pillar of the DC tech community. Great interview Robert.
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Hi Robert,
I also like the Qik videos. One thing I would say is that, simply due to the quality issue – shaky camera and audio sometimes not being the best – I would prefer them to be shorter. I think, sometimes, you are still approaching these interviews in terms of “the big camera”.
Snappier, punchier little vignettes of opinion I think would work a lot better.
Just my 2p worth (I’m Scottish. We don’t do cents here! 😉 )
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Hi Robert,
I also like the Qik videos. One thing I would say is that, simply due to the quality issue – shaky camera and audio sometimes not being the best – I would prefer them to be shorter. I think, sometimes, you are still approaching these interviews in terms of “the big camera”.
Snappier, punchier little vignettes of opinion I think would work a lot better.
Just my 2p worth (I’m Scottish. We don’t do cents here! 😉 )
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Hi Robert: I like your Qik videos as well. I know you’re trying to work on the audio/video quality. If they could somehow be made sharper, that would be great. Thanks for streaming from SXSW BTW!!!
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Hi Robert: I like your Qik videos as well. I know you’re trying to work on the audio/video quality. If they could somehow be made sharper, that would be great. Thanks for streaming from SXSW BTW!!!
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As you know I really don’t care for the Qik videos (mostly they seem to waste my time) — but the latest tactic (not sure if it is a new feature or not) where your twitter posts actually include some subject information is an improvement.
But I do agree it is likely possible to get a different kind of video/interview using the cell phone because of its “invisibility”. Hopefully the technology of the phones, network will improve so the usefulness of the strategy also improves.
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As you know I really don’t care for the Qik videos (mostly they seem to waste my time) — but the latest tactic (not sure if it is a new feature or not) where your twitter posts actually include some subject information is an improvement.
But I do agree it is likely possible to get a different kind of video/interview using the cell phone because of its “invisibility”. Hopefully the technology of the phones, network will improve so the usefulness of the strategy also improves.
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Robert — Although Qik is still an experiment, there is nothing else like it. Kyte announced live streaming, but thats nothing like Qik does it 🙂
Keep on Qikking!
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Robert — Although Qik is still an experiment, there is nothing else like it. Kyte announced live streaming, but thats nothing like Qik does it 🙂
Keep on Qikking!
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Honestly, I think the Qik videos are much better for things like, say, the Mark Zuckerberg mulligan at Pangea where it’s on the fly, not for an actual “interview.”
When I talk to someone it’s either off the cuff with the voice recorder or sit down with the table microphone into the laptop or GarageBand. Sometimes I’ll use BlogTalkRadio. To me, having the camera between me and the subject makes it about the camera and not the conversation, and I think interviews flow better when they are conversations between equals.
Having someone else take the video while you talk to someone? You’ll probably get more natural results and better answers that way.
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Honestly, I think the Qik videos are much better for things like, say, the Mark Zuckerberg mulligan at Pangea where it’s on the fly, not for an actual “interview.”
When I talk to someone it’s either off the cuff with the voice recorder or sit down with the table microphone into the laptop or GarageBand. Sometimes I’ll use BlogTalkRadio. To me, having the camera between me and the subject makes it about the camera and not the conversation, and I think interviews flow better when they are conversations between equals.
Having someone else take the video while you talk to someone? You’ll probably get more natural results and better answers that way.
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Qik is easier for you, more painful for us: no thought to questions, long dull sections, and poor audio and video quality.
Doing research, preparing a series of questions, editing the results to include the important answers, and capturing the interview in high quality audio and video is very hard work for you, but would make the resulting video much more interesting and valuable to us.
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Qik is easier for you, more painful for us: no thought to questions, long dull sections, and poor audio and video quality.
Doing research, preparing a series of questions, editing the results to include the important answers, and capturing the interview in high quality audio and video is very hard work for you, but would make the resulting video much more interesting and valuable to us.
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Robert, and what cell phone do you use for interview recording? I mean what resolution (in Mpx) has phone’s camera?
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Robert, and what cell phone do you use for interview recording? I mean what resolution (in Mpx) has phone’s camera?
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It just occured to me that Qik is a spy’s delight. When I was a kid, all spies (in the movies) had those tiny little cameras that they would use for photographing all sorts of stuff, documents mostly. Then they had the pressing problem of getting the film back to base – which is generally where they fell down. These days, they would just open up their phone and let it stream back – end of. No-one could find the film and destroy it. I might take up a career in industrial espionage!
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It just occured to me that Qik is a spy’s delight. When I was a kid, all spies (in the movies) had those tiny little cameras that they would use for photographing all sorts of stuff, documents mostly. Then they had the pressing problem of getting the film back to base – which is generally where they fell down. These days, they would just open up their phone and let it stream back – end of. No-one could find the film and destroy it. I might take up a career in industrial espionage!
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clem: it’s pretty clear to you that you have no clue about what I’m doing with Qik. I doubt you even watched a single video.
Robert: I’m using a Nokia N95.
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clem: it’s pretty clear to you that you have no clue about what I’m doing with Qik. I doubt you even watched a single video.
Robert: I’m using a Nokia N95.
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Robert, What a BLAST meeting you Rocky, Shel and EVERYONE else at SXSW. Thanks for the shout out! As you can imagine, I’ve been spending my evenings adding new Twitter friends. 😉
I’ve found that audio is sort of the weak link on the N95, so we’ve both learned to work the camera mic pretty close. Noisy environments obviously make that tougher. To me, the game changer of the Qik platform is that it lets the audience participate via chat. That is beyond evolutionary.
Oh and that little spy camera that Ivan Pope was talking about is called a minox.
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Robert, What a BLAST meeting you Rocky, Shel and EVERYONE else at SXSW. Thanks for the shout out! As you can imagine, I’ve been spending my evenings adding new Twitter friends. 😉
I’ve found that audio is sort of the weak link on the N95, so we’ve both learned to work the camera mic pretty close. Noisy environments obviously make that tougher. To me, the game changer of the Qik platform is that it lets the audience participate via chat. That is beyond evolutionary.
Oh and that little spy camera that Ivan Pope was talking about is called a minox.
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robert: What is pretty clear is that YOU haven’t watched much of it.
If you don’t want feedback, don’t ask.
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robert: What is pretty clear is that YOU haven’t watched much of it.
If you don’t want feedback, don’t ask.
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Clem: well, OK, then you’ll want to watch our edited shows at ScobleizerTV, which are professionally shot on expensive HD cameras.
Qik videos let me get you different kinds of video.
For instance, here’s Guy Kawasaki in the airport tonight talking about his new service. That question WAS prepared. http://qik.com/video/36369
Here’s R.E.M.’s lead singer talking about why he likes the Internet. Very short, and prepared question: http://qik.com/video/35841
Here’s executives at Rackspace talking about their unique corporate culture. http://qik.com/video/35737
In all three cases, the quality is good enough to watch and learn something from. The player on all three starts immediately here. Not sure if you have a slower connection or something else that keeps Flash videos from playing.
Here’s one of the guys who invented the Intel chip: http://qik.com/video/35706
Qik videos let me get content up much faster and much cheaper, plus you get to participate during the filming of the video.
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Clem: well, OK, then you’ll want to watch our edited shows at ScobleizerTV, which are professionally shot on expensive HD cameras.
Qik videos let me get you different kinds of video.
For instance, here’s Guy Kawasaki in the airport tonight talking about his new service. That question WAS prepared. http://qik.com/video/36369
Here’s R.E.M.’s lead singer talking about why he likes the Internet. Very short, and prepared question: http://qik.com/video/35841
Here’s executives at Rackspace talking about their unique corporate culture. http://qik.com/video/35737
In all three cases, the quality is good enough to watch and learn something from. The player on all three starts immediately here. Not sure if you have a slower connection or something else that keeps Flash videos from playing.
Here’s one of the guys who invented the Intel chip: http://qik.com/video/35706
Qik videos let me get content up much faster and much cheaper, plus you get to participate during the filming of the video.
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Just a random sample: 37327, 35843, 35701, 34133… No prep, no editing, poor quality. Painful to watch.
There way more videos like these, than like the examples you provided.
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Just a random sample: 37327, 35843, 35701, 34133… No prep, no editing, poor quality. Painful to watch.
There way more videos like these, than like the examples you provided.
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Hi Robert, Whoa it was soooo cool hangin’ out w/you at the Flyin’ Saucer in San Antonio last Thursday night. What a blast!
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Hi Robert, Whoa it was soooo cool hangin’ out w/you at the Flyin’ Saucer in San Antonio last Thursday night. What a blast!
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