Day and Night Diner

Day and Night Diner - Originally uploaded on flickr by stevegarfield.

Qik can now stream to Seesmic

Yay!

I wanted to be able to stream live from the street using my cellphone into Seesmic, so I made an introduction between Qik and Seesmic.

Their technical teams got together, and now, if you have an account on Seesmic, you can enter your Seesmic username/password in Qik, and choose to send your videos to Seesmic.

Very exciting development.

Congratulations to Qik and Seesmic.

Kucinich Calls for Impeachment: Offending Words

Kucinich causes House floor fuss in announcing Bush impeachment drive:

Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich caused a stink on the House of Representatives floor this morning during a speech where he announced he'll introduce articles of impeachment against President Bush on Monday, Jan. 28, the day Bush delivers his State of the Union speech.

"We already know the State of the Union," Kucinich says in his speech. "It's a lie."

Republicans objected to Kucinich's statements, and the Cleveland congressman returned to the floor a few minutes later to withdraw his "offending words."

Cross Posted from Cup O Politics.

The Center for Public Integrity: False Pretenses.

Mitt Romney, the Reporter, and Journalism

THE UPTAKE, DERAILING THE NARRATIVE: Chuck Tomlinson and Stacker Manfield comment on the exchange between Mitt Romney and Associated Press reporter Glen Johnson - and how it relates to our brand of citizen journalism.

Qik Video Conferencing :)

qik stream with cashhustleinc - Originally uploaded on flickr by stevegarfield.

Bhaskar from Qik writes:

Today I was amazed by what Steve Garfield and CashHustleInc did - live 2-way video conferencing usig Qik.

How you ask? It was ridiculously simple - now that I think about it. Steve had 2 browser windows open side-by-side one with his video stream and the other with the stream from CashHustleInc. and CashHustleInc had the same. It was amazing to watch as they started this and then invited their Twitter friends to chat and all of a sudden we we were all chatting and experiencing the video conference going on between the two.

Here at Qik HQ, we talk about the million and one uses of Qik. Well, thanks to Steve Garfield and CashHustleInc we found yet another one. Pretty darn cool!

Yay!

Bob Burman and Alec Baldwin

Bob Burman and Alec Baldwin - Originally uploaded on flickr by stevegarfield.

I saw the photo on the left of race car driver Bob Burman while looking at the amazing photos from the Library of Congress on flickr. Made me think of Alec Baldwin, star of 30 Rock.

Snow Trees at Arnold Arboretum

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Scoble Going to FastCompany.tv and Me

Robert Scoble announced on his blog where he's going next:

Why we’re going to FastCompany.tv

///The thing is that the new technology lets you PARTICIPATE with the people who are in front of the camera. You got a taste of this while I was walking around CES with a cell phone and you could ask questions WHILE I WAS FILMING LIVE. That really changes the equation a lot and that’ll be a key differentiator on FastCompany.tv. After all, if we’re talking to Fast Companies, why shouldn’t they answer YOUR questions live as well as mine?

I left him a comment:

Hey Robert congratulations!

My experience up in NH covering the primary with Qik really got me excited all over again about the PARTICIPATORY aspect of this. I love that it's one of hte things you are focusing on.

I've experimented with Mogulus and hope to try some LIVE broadcasting with it. Finding the right technical solution that works is the tricky part here. I've tried a lot of the live streaming solutions at Boston Media Makers meetings and most times there have been issues that keep the stream from working. Computer issues, configuration issues, bandwith issues... I'll be experimenting more with these technologies to find something that works for me all the time.

And finally Seesmic. Although the videos are recorded, they are live. Alive with people, and timely. On New Years Eve Carol and I had dinner with the world as we watched everyone celebrate and recorded our own toast.

2008 is going to be an exciting year.

See you in the internet and in person...

--Steve

I'd like to make a side note to Jeff Pulver. He asked me to participate in his Bucket List meme. I've been really busy so far this year and have spent some time thinking about goals for 2008. As I responded to Robert Scoble's post, those points are going to be a technology focus of mine in 2008.

My Bucket List For 2008 - Technology



1. Mobile Video Journalism - I am going to be experimenting with mobile video journalism tools like Qik that allow you to broadcast LIVE from the street. I first talked about this at a journalism conference at Harvard in 2006 and now we can make it a reality. It's very exciting. I'll be practicing Journalism By Wandering Around.



2. LIVE Participatory Broadcasts - I love the idea of two-way broadcasts that include viewers. WBZ TV in Boston started experimenting with this using a text chat. Jeff Pulver and Jonny Goldstein have been very active in this space, John Herman has also started experimenting with live improv, and Chuck Olsen has been following the campaign. I like some of the things I've seen MTV do with viewers too. I'm going to be experimenting with tools and technologies in this space to find a reliable solution.



3. The Village Square - As an investor and advisor to Seesmic, I'm excited to be working with them, enabling people to easily participate in video conversations. Since the early days of videoblogging I've been interested in subscribing to people. Seesmic is people. It'll be fun to see where this goes...

I'll be posting more Bucket Lists when I can... stay tuned.

My Macworld Keynote Predictions

Might as well get my Macworld predictions written down so we can look back at them later and laugh...



Here's what I'd like to see announced at Macworld:

1. Video Camera with WiFi and ATT service.
Combine the experience of the Nokia N95 video camera with ATT service, and include that in a video camera that has an audio in jack and a regular tripod mount. Partner with Nokia on a phone that's more video camera than phone? I guess what makes more sense is a video iPhone. Is that something too obvious to predict?

2. Ultra Portable Computer with WiFi and ATT service.
Now that we've seen the life changing results of the iPhone, let's see if some of the functionality of being able to carry around a device that's both a micro laptop and a phone can be designed into something between the iPhone and MacBook Pro.

3. HD TV with a Macintosh built in.
I predicted this a few Macworlds ago, but it didn't happen, so it's fair to predict it again. Instead of trying to attach some kind of add-on box to a TV to give it access to the internet, why not just take a Macintosh and shove it inside a TV. A partnership with Sharp would be sweet. You really don't even need the TV part anymore since it'll end up being connected to a service provider any way. So how about a 42" Cinema Display Macintosh HD TV?

QuickTime 7.3.1 Capture Problems with FCP and GL2

Just posted to Apple support boards...

I am not too happy about not being able to capture with my Canon GL2.

I sent the GL2 back to Canon and got a new Firewire interface, got a brand new MacBook Pro.

I'm running QuickTime 7.3.1 and have a chain of La Cie Firewire drives connected to the MacBook Pro.

I purchased a Belkin FireWire Express Card to relieve the system of having to capture video.

Now when I connect to Log and Capture in FCP, I have a connection at first, then the connection is lost.

I got around it by capturing with iMovie.

The open issues that I saw over on the Apple Support boards are:

1. Canon never implemented Firewire correctly?

2. The new QuickTime broke FCP log and capture with Canon GL2?

Can someone reply who is addressing each of these issues? Thanks.

PS. I have found that placing the GL2 cable as the last cable on the LaCie chain, if connected to the MacBook Pro with FW 40, Not 800, sometimes works.

Note: I have no idea about what Canon has done with the Firewire port on the GL2. I hope they answer.

ThunderSnow: Boston Noreaster

Live footage streamed to the internet of Boston's first Nor'Easter. They are calling it thundersnow since we're hearing thunder while it's snowing.

Expecting it to snow 2-4 inches per hour this morning!

I streamed this video LIVE to the web using Qik.com.

I captured this video, from the Qik.com site, off the screen using SnapZPro X, then opened it in QuickTime Pro and added the credits.

I exported it as a QuickTime movie, and then used TubeMogul to upload it to 12 sites including YouTube.

Then I posted it to Seesmic.

I also sent it in to Channel 7. :-) Had to email it in, their online submission form is broken. Oops.

More here.

Dunkin' Donuts Comfort Food

Mike Ball writes Dunkin’ and Jesus:

My Brighton Dunkin’ sign story is better than yours or theirs. It has an old lady, a plaster Christ, evictions, and a bully university.

via [ Universal Hub ]

A River of Political Twitter Tweets

Politweets - When Twitter gets political.

via [ Doc Searls: Let’s call it a twiver ]

iPhone Copy and Paste

iPhone Copy and Paste from lonelysandwich on Vimeo.

Obama Iraq War 2004

The Star pushes forward Bill Clinton's question about Obama's stand on the war in 2004 in this article, Is Obama or Clinton really for 'change'?:

"Of course, he opposed the Iraq war in 2002 when Clinton voted in favour, but he said in 2004 he wasn't sure how he would have voted had he been in the Senate."

No mention of Obama's response.

Researching the story some more to get Obama's take on it, I find that Reuters ignore's Obama's response too, Bill Clinton defends "fairy tale" remark on Obama:

Former President Bill Clinton said on Friday Barack Obama's bid to be president was no "fairy tale" and said his use of that phrase earlier in the week referred specifically to Obama's claims about his stance on the Iraq war.

The NY Times tries harder, Clintons Move to Tamp Down Criticism From Blacks About Recent Comments:

Mr. Clinton, in his radio interview, disputed any notion that he had been impugning Mr. Obama personally.

He said he was addressing a specific issue that, he believed, had not been given sufficient scrutiny: Mr. Obama’s position on Iraq and a statement by Mr. Obama in 2004 that he could not say how he would have voted on the war had he been in the Senate, though he did not believe the case for war had been made.

Mr. Clinton said the 2004 view was at odds with Mr. Obama’s position that he, unlike Mrs. Clinton, has always been against the war. “I said that story is a fairy tale,” Mr. Clinton said. “Now that doesn’t have anything to do with my respect for him as a person or his campaign. I have gone out of my way not to express any personal disrespect for him and his campaign.”

Mr. Obama’s campaign said Mr. Clinton was engaging in revisionist history about his record on the war.

It's hard to get the whole story.

Steve on Propaganda

Steve on Propaganda - Originally uploaded on flickr by stevegarfield.


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Futurama Internet Parody

There was a YouTube video here but Fox asked YouTube to remove it.

Where can you watch Futurama on line?

Journalism by Wandering Around

Jackson West writes for NewTeeVee, Online Political Video a Winner in 2008:

Steve Garfield, who scooped CNN on Duncan Hunter’s announcement that he’s still in the race with a live video feed to Qik from his Nokia-sponsored phone over an AT&T-sponsored connection, didn’t bother to get any credentials at all. “Journalism by wandering around,” he called it in a phone chat.

His live video, in turn, got edited into a piece The UpTake and pushed as a Veracifier Ground Hound segment, with the two outlets partnering to provide more coverage.

Thanks Jackson, nice report.

On election night I was watching WBZTV.com in Boston. They were broadcasting on TV38 throughout the night, with a live text chat for viewers to talk with the anchors. First time I've ever seen this in Boston. It was groundbreaking for Boston TV to have on air anchors text chatting with viewers. BZ even had a segment where the anchors read some of hte chat comments on the air.

It took a while for them to stop calling the chat room blogging, but they soon stopped, because each time they said they were blogging, the chat room corrected them.

A few improvements could be made to the BZ chat room. It could only hold about 35 people, so new rooms were created as each chat room filed up. The explanation given was that the text would scroll too fast with too many people in the chat. They actually need a longer chat window, so you can more easily scroll back to see the history.

Automatic warnings to refrain from personal comments against the anchors or candidates disturbed chat room participants since no one was attacking any one.

It was a fun and intelligent crowd.

Finally, the chat room shut down in the middle of Clinton's speech, leaving me upset that it was gone and desiring chat rooms on WBZ for all live broadcasts.

I hope WBZ found it successful. I know I did. I stayed with WBZ all night on TV and online. That's probably what they wanted.

How To: Merge Multiple RSS Feeds into One

John from BlogHarbor sends a long a tip on how to merge multiple RSS feeds into one.

John says:

You could use any of these:

http://www.rssmix.com/
http://feedjumbler.com/
http://www.feedblendr.com/

to create an aggregated RSS feed...

Primary Election Day in New Hampshire

I did some live coverage out at a polling place in Merrimack, NH today...

Here are the reports:

Merrimack, NH Polling Place


Hillary Suporter


Barack Obama Supporter


Duncan Hunter Supporter


Ant-War Protestor/John Edwards Supporter