RickyCadden.com

Join Me For Daily Google+ Hangouts

// February 5th, 2012 // No Comments » // Social Networks, technology

Ah, Google+. Social Media folks like me love to hate on Google+, mainly because we’re essentially being forced to use it, as we rely on Google for just about everything else (SEO, search, ads, etc). While I don’t know that Google+ will ever unseat Facebook as the go-to social networking service, it’s pretty clear that it’s here to stay, so we might as well all get comfortable using it, and really explore what you can and cannot do there. You can find my personal Google+ account at http://gplus.to/rcadden, and while you’re there, support me in my job and add RadioShack to your circles, too (http://gplus.to/RadioShack).

As we’re still working on a real content strategy for RadioShack’s Google+ page, I’ve been using as many features as I can for my personal account. One that I’m having trouble testing is Hangouts, mainly because you can’t test this on your own – you absolutely HAVE to have others to participate. So, here’s what I’m going to do – every weekday (Monday-Friday), I’m going to be hanging out from 1:30p-2p CST on my personal account. What I need are people to hang out with.

I’ve no idea what we’ll talk about – I can bring some of the latest phones that RadioShack has, and anything else that I’m testing at the moment, or we can just geek out over what a RadioShack conference room looks like for half an hour. The important thing is that this will be a great opportunity to A) talk ‘face to face’ with people online and B) explore the various features/capabilities of Google+ Hangouts. Fair warning, I’ll be testing various features, so I may ‘kick you out’ or mute you or something – it’s not personal, but I have to test these things out.

Hopefully you’ll stop by. I’ll start tomorrow, Monday, February 6th. Since I know I have a bunch of international friends, the time is 130p CST, which is GMT -6, I believe. Here’s a handy chart to help figure out what time that is locally for you.

Hopefully you’ll join me.

Why I Love Vimeo (And Tolerate YouTube)

// November 27th, 2011 // No Comments » // technology

I’ve been doing online videos for years – the first video on my YouTube channel was uploaded in June of 2007, and I’ve made many more than show up on my personal YouTube channel. I hosted a weekly video podcast that ran for nearly 2 years, and even today, with my job at RadioShack, I make several videos per month. Pretty much all of these videos are uploaded to YouTube, but when I want to browse and find videos for personal entertainment, I nearly always go to Vimeo to find things to watch.

YouTube is awesome, especially for getting eyeballs. It’s kind of a non-negotiable that you put your content there if you want people to see it. Unfortunately, it’s kind of a non-negotiable that you put your content there – that means it’s overloaded with all sorts of junk videos. 115 different versions of the same news clip where the announcer slips up, 20 different ‘versions’ of a band’s music video (half of them are just uploads of the music with a slideshow of photos as the ‘video’), and anything a 12-year-old could get the webcam on their computer to record. There is pretty much zero curation taking place on YouTube, and there’s pretty much zero tools to make better quality videos there (aside from 3rd party editing tools like Final Cut and such). Even Jason Toff, product manager at YouTube, acknowledged this to Mashable recently when YouTube announced a few small editing capabilities: “We noticed that a lot of people were uploading videos to YouTube that we can say are somewhat unpolished.” Somewhat unpolished is a gross understatement.

Vimeo, on the other hand, seems to be the upload destination of choice for real videographers – people making really awesome videos. People who are making the types of videos that I want to kick back with a beer and watch on the iPad (even though the iPad experience leaves much to be desired). It’s real artistic stuff, and I’m glad to have it.

Here’s a few examples of videos that I love on Vimeo:

Qik Keeps On Improving, Adds Premium Features To Android

// August 25th, 2011 // No Comments » // android, cool, Family, technology

When the whole notion of streaming live video from your phone to the Internet came around, there were basically two companies doing it – Flixwagon and Qik. Both got their start on Nokia’s Symbian-powered smartphones – in fact, I even live-streamed my wedding using Nokia N82s, the Nokia DT-22 tripod, and Flixwagon.

Unfortunately, Flixwagon is pretty much gone at this point, but Qik has continued to skyrocket in functionality and popularity. In the U.S., Qik has become the default video calling solution for most Android-powered smartphones, with even carriers such as T-Mobile and Sprint touting the app as being pre-loaded on the latest and greatest smartphones. The leap from video-streaming to video-calling has also proved to be a great move for Qik.

I use Qik on a daily basis now, especially with a new baby in the house – it’s super easy to video chat with grandparents, or with my wife when I’m away on business. There’s almost no setup required – when my mom asked about it, all I did was spell out ‘Q-I-K’ for her and 15 minutes later, she was video calling me from her Android-powered smartphone! She was able to download and install the app and get an account setup that quickly and easily.

I’m pretty jazzed for Qik, who recently announced that they have over 10 million users across all its supported platforms (iOS, Android, Symbian), and are bringing their Premium services to the Android platform, finally. Qik Premium is $4.99/month and offers unlimited video storage as well as the ability to record and send HD and 3D video (if your phone can handle it, of course). I’ll gladly sign up – more for the ability to show support to the company who keeps me visually connected with my family, but also for the extra features.

If you haven’t used Qik, I would highly recommend it. It’s brilliant, and it’s cross-platform, so Android users can easily call iOS users, and vice versa. Qik has also been purchased by Skype, so hopefully in the future we’ll see integration so that you can easily call your Skype contacts with Qik. I’m also hoping that Skype lets the Qik team build the next version of the Skype mobile application – Qik is MUCH better on a phone in terms of resources and power management.

Congrats, Qik, keep up the great work!

SCUBA Mask POV Camera Seems Cool

// August 2nd, 2011 // 1 Comment » // toys

My wife and I got SCUBA certified last year, and took a dive trip to Cozumel, Mexico (I highly recommend Scuba Club Cozumel if you’re looking – it was an awesome experience). Given this was our first open-ocean dive, we both decided to just enjoy the initial experience, rather than rent or borrow an underwater camera to try and capture to awesome beauty that is under our seas.

Even after the trip, I’m glad we made the decision. I saw a few other divers with us who had cameras, and it seemed like they were so focused on getting the picture that they couldn’t possibly have simply enjoyed the actual dive. However, when I got home, I was left trying to describe some of the awesomeness to friends and family, and came up short.

Enter the Liquid Image Wide Angle Scuba Series HD. This dive mask has a 5 megapixel camera built right into the top of the mask, and even records video at 720p, which is pretty cool. There’s an optional lights attachment for night dives or low-light situations, and the whole shebang is apparently pretty easy to use.

Photo: Spencer Higgins

Unfortunately, at around $500 for the mask and lights, it’s awfully pricey (not that SCUBA gear is cheap, by any means). When we were diving, I had actually thought something like this would be really cool, but didn’t think of the challenges, as put forth in the comments.

For starters, you can’t really get up close and personal with the wildlife with this thing. I for one am not about to stick my face too close to some of the monstrous lobsters or creepy eels that I saw on my dive. Also, the bulk of the cost is in the camera – dive masks are much cheaper. With this solution, if something were to happen to the mask part, you’re out a full $500, as opposed to the ~$50 you would normally be.

A much more useful thing to have built into your mask would of course be a sort of heads-up display. Rather than looking down at gauges on my wrist, how cool would it be if my dive time and depth was projected right there in my field of vision?

SCUBA Mask POV Camera Seems Cool

// August 2nd, 2011 // 1 Comment » // toys

My wife and I got SCUBA certified last year, and took a dive trip to Cozumel, Mexico (I highly recommend Scuba Club Cozumel if you’re looking – it was an awesome experience). Given this was our first open-ocean dive, we both decided to just enjoy the initial experience, rather than rent or borrow an underwater camera to try and capture to awesome beauty that is under our seas.

Even after the trip, I’m glad we made the decision. I saw a few other divers with us who had cameras, and it seemed like they were so focused on getting the picture that they couldn’t possibly have simply enjoyed the actual dive. However, when I got home, I was left trying to describe some of the awesomeness to friends and family, and came up short.

Enter the Liquid Image Wide Angle Scuba Series HD. This dive mask has a 5 megapixel camera built right into the top of the mask, and even records video at 720p, which is pretty cool. There’s an optional lights attachment for night dives or low-light situations, and the whole shebang is apparently pretty easy to use.

Photo: Spencer Higgins

Unfortunately, at around $500 for the mask and lights, it’s awfully pricey (not that SCUBA gear is cheap, by any means). When we were diving, I had actually thought something like this would be really cool, but didn’t think of the challenges, as put forth in the comments.

For starters, you can’t really get up close and personal with the wildlife with this thing. I for one am not about to stick my face too close to some of the monstrous lobsters or creepy eels that I saw on my dive. Also, the bulk of the cost is in the camera – dive masks are much cheaper. With this solution, if something were to happen to the mask part, you’re out a full $500, as opposed to the ~$50 you would normally be.

A much more useful thing to have built into your mask would of course be a sort of heads-up display. Rather than looking down at gauges on my wrist, how cool would it be if my dive time and depth was projected right there in my field of vision?

Modernity In The Absence Of Humanity

// July 27th, 2011 // No Comments » // cool

My friend James Whatley has a passion for snapping photos of London’s Tube stations when they’re completely empty. He contributes to a great group on Flickr called Empty Underground, and the images are awesome – scenic displays of architecture and technology completely devoid of the humans that created and built them.

Recently in L.A., a U.S. city known for its high traffic, construction crews had to shut down various bits of highway for some major renovations. This quickly became known as ‘Carmageddon‘, and gave way to some pretty cool videos shot by Ross Ching. I caught wind of this video from Om Malik, whom I’ve followed for a while. I’d highly recommend you read his personal blog, there’s good stuff there.

Anyways, similar to Empty Underground, Ross’s video is a chilling depiction of a modern city that’s completely devoid of humans. Very cool stuff, and difficult to capture, much less imagine, really.

Running on Empty from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

BTW – if you love watching online videos, but you hate the mindless dribble that permeates YouTube, I’d highly recommend you spend some time exploring Vimeo. Sure, there’s still some mindless dribble, but you’re so much more likely to stumble upon some really awesome videos. It’s so worth it.

Droid Doesn’t Do Video Streaming

// September 13th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // android

Since getting my Nexus One, I’ve been exploring various things I can do with the phone. Some, like music, are awesome experiences. Other experiences, like phontography, kinda suck. I’ve also noticed that video streaming – trying to enjoy video content streamed over either WiFi or cellular networks, is just as bad.

Sure, Android has a decent YouTube application baked right into the operating system. Unfortunately, it’s YouTube. The problem I have with YouTube is that it’s poorly managed. While that allows Google to skate around DMCA issues, it also results in a really messy site. Try searching for a music video by your favorite artist or other popular video clip. Odds are, you’ll get hundreds, if not thousands of results. Some of those results are quality copies, others might be edited (or ‘remixed’) by the uploader, might have alternative lyrics added, or will otherwise be a poor copy of the original.

Worse yet, YouTube is typically not the first choice of creative folks who are producing quality content. It’s more like the MySpace of video sharing sites – lots of junk videos by 16-year-olds who want to be video stars. YouTube also has this annoying practice of not making all their videos available through the mobile app – forcing you to choose between the app’s phone-friendly interface and the desktop site’s superior video selection.

The real quality stuff is usually found elsewhere, such as on Vimeo. Fortunately, Vimeo’s videos – including those in HD – play really well on my Nexus One. In fact, the overall experience, in my opinion, is much better than YouTube. Unfortunately, Vimeo’s ‘mobile’ site only gives access to the featured videos – if you want to browse through channels or groups or anything, you have to switch to the desktop site.

For those wondering about my aversion to ‘desktop’ sites on my phone, you can read more about why Consumers Don’t Want To Browse Desktop Websites On Their Phones.

There also seems to be a severe lack of video streaming applications for Android devices. Hulu Plus is only available on the iPhone at the moment, while the Netflix app is only on the iPad, for now. SPBtv is available, but only for off-the-wall channels – few that I’d want to watch. There’s a TV.com application, but most of its full episodes are only available over a WiFi connection – are you kidding me?

Browsing the Android market doesn’t seem to yield any independent developer making any waves, either. Surely Android is a good platform for something other than web browsing and music consumption, right? Have I missed something? Is there some super secret awesome video streaming or video playback app for my Nexus One that I’ve somehow missed out on? It’s not like Android-owners don’t have unlimited data – unless you’ve purchased an Android device from AT&T in the past month or two, in the U.S. at least, I know you have unlimited data – why can’t we use it?

Even for locally-stored videos, Brad Linder at ZatzNotFunny.com has done some explorations and only found two decent video players for the Android platform. You’ve got to be kidding me!

Droid Doesn’t Do Video Streaming

// September 13th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // android

Since getting my Nexus One, I’ve been exploring various things I can do with the phone. Some, like music, are awesome experiences. Other experiences, like phontography, kinda suck. I’ve also noticed that video streaming – trying to enjoy video content streamed over either WiFi or cellular networks, is just as bad.

Sure, Android has a decent YouTube application baked right into the operating system. Unfortunately, it’s YouTube. The problem I have with YouTube is that it’s poorly managed. While that allows Google to skate around DMCA issues, it also results in a really messy site. Try searching for a music video by your favorite artist or other popular video clip. Odds are, you’ll get hundreds, if not thousands of results. Some of those results are quality copies, others might be edited (or ‘remixed’) by the uploader, might have alternative lyrics added, or will otherwise be a poor copy of the original.

Worse yet, YouTube is typically not the first choice of creative folks who are producing quality content. It’s more like the MySpace of video sharing sites – lots of junk videos by 16-year-olds who want to be video stars. YouTube also has this annoying practice of not making all their videos available through the mobile app – forcing you to choose between the app’s phone-friendly interface and the desktop site’s superior video selection.

The real quality stuff is usually found elsewhere, such as on Vimeo. Fortunately, Vimeo’s videos – including those in HD – play really well on my Nexus One. In fact, the overall experience, in my opinion, is much better than YouTube. Unfortunately, Vimeo’s ‘mobile’ site only gives access to the featured videos – if you want to browse through channels or groups or anything, you have to switch to the desktop site.

For those wondering about my aversion to ‘desktop’ sites on my phone, you can read more about why Consumers Don’t Want To Browse Desktop Websites On Their Phones.

There also seems to be a severe lack of video streaming applications for Android devices. Hulu Plus is only available on the iPhone at the moment, while the Netflix app is only on the iPad, for now. SPBtv is available, but only for off-the-wall channels – few that I’d want to watch. There’s a TV.com application, but most of its full episodes are only available over a WiFi connection – are you kidding me?

Browsing the Android market doesn’t seem to yield any independent developer making any waves, either. Surely Android is a good platform for something other than web browsing and music consumption, right? Have I missed something? Is there some super secret awesome video streaming or video playback app for my Nexus One that I’ve somehow missed out on? It’s not like Android-owners don’t have unlimited data – unless you’ve purchased an Android device from AT&T in the past month or two, in the U.S. at least, I know you have unlimited data – why can’t we use it?

Even for locally-stored videos, Brad Linder at ZatzNotFunny.com has done some explorations and only found two decent video players for the Android platform. You’ve got to be kidding me!

I Don’t Have A TV

// November 18th, 2008 // No Comments » // cool

The only TV that I have in my house is a small 21″ tube TV, you know, the old kind with the *massive* back that makes finding a place for it a big pain. This TV is actually in my office, we don’t even have one in our livingroom, and don’t really see a big need for it. However, I watch HOURS of tv and movies. How do I do this?

It’s easy, thanks to the internet. 99% of the media that Mrs. Guru and I consume is done on our laptops, which we can easily carry from the office to the livingroom to the bedroom. While we’re also Netflix subscribers, we both utilize a number of different tools online to legally consume video.

First up, my personal favorite is Hulu. There’s not too big of a backlog on there, but new episodes of Family Guy are posted regularly, as well as King of the Hill and a bevy of TV shows that we don’t watch. Sure, there’s a few commercials here and there, but I rarely encounter any buffering.

I also recently got an invite to Boxee, and have been using it on my Ubuntu laptop (as the Windows client isn’t available yet). This media center application allows you to easily browse local media, but also internet media, such as Hulu, CBS.com, and a pocketful of other online video locations, all in one place. It’s really rather brilliant.

What’s more, when we *do* buy a new TV, I’m 100% convinced of the benefits of just plugging a spare computer into it to use as a media center, rather than a cable box with a hefty monthly fee. There’s really no need for cable subscriptions anymore, unless you watch odd shows, or just like to channel surf. Thus far, for the $14/month of our Netflix subscription and the price of high-speed internet (which I would have anyways, thanks to my job), we can consume all the TV and movies that we want, on any computer in the house. It’s really rather brilliant, and something that I’m glad to see finally happening.

This Is Why I Hate YouTube

// May 19th, 2008 // No Comments » // annoying

People ask me all the time if I saw something on YouTube. The answer is always a resounding no, I did not. I hate YouTube. It’s a horrid place, and the only reason any of my videos are on there is for the traffic. I have no shame in saying that, there’s so many people on there, any video content creator looking for the most viewers  would be daft to not put their videos on there.

I just saw this in my RSS reader. Apparently, soon games on the PS3 could allow users to record their gameplay and post the clips on YouTube, right from the console. Great, so now YouTube will be riddled with 10-15 second videos of some dude running around playing Halo. Seriously?

I hate YouTube because it’s 80% complete garbage. There are 10-15 versions of the same video, which clouds search results, and users tag their crap with ANYTHING, just to move up in keyword searches. Do it, search for ‘Nokia’ and see what all noise you get. It’s awful.

Also, there’s no ‘community’ there. There’s far too much spam for a community to exist.

(By the way, if you’re a video content creator looking for viewers, check out TubeMogul.com. It lets you upload your video to like, 10 different video services at the same time. It’s completely brilliant, and the easiest way to distribute your video. They even pull in viewer stats from each service, so you can see which ones are getting the most viewers.)