Remote access and web-conferencing comapny Citrix Online introduced an all-in-one screen recording, editing and sharing service today at emerging technology conference DEMO. Citrix’s GoView is designed to allow users to create and share “recorded content” (like screen captures) online, extending the reach and possibilities for presentation.

The product’s creators say that GoView is the “first product available to enable recording, editing and content sharing in one service.”

“Our customers told us they wanted an easy way to create, edit and distribute screen recordings of their content with audio,” said Brett Caine, general manager, Citrix Online. “GoView empowers everyone… to create, edit and stream presentations, webcasts, tutorials and other material to their audiences, anywhere at any time.”

“Because GoView is so simple to use, anyone will be able to easily create, record and share their screen content,” said Chris Shipley, executive producer of DEMO. “A good example is the classic PowerPoint, which is challenging for most people to present without verbal commentary. GoView’s makes it simple to add and edit audio and then widely share content, without complications or complexities.”

Citrix’s promotional material explains that, with a three-step process users can:

• “Record: With one click, users can begin recording at full resolution with audio.
• “Edit: By trimming out mistakes and annotating sections, users can polish presentations.
• “Share: Users can instantly share the recording from the GoView website to an unlimited audience, without needing to upload or convert the content to a different format. All content is stored on Citrix Online servers so there are no bandwidth issues or other distribution hassles.”

GoView is the latest in Citrix Online’s suite of Web-based access and collaboration services. Other offerings include: Citrix GoToMeeting, for conducting online meetings; Citrix GoToWebinar, for large-scale web events; the new Citrix GoToAssist Express, a remote-support service that for small businesses to provide online technical support to their clients, and Citrix GoToAssist Corporate, the company’s “flagship support solution,” for larger (corporate) teams.

GoView is in currently in beta and “free to use for anyone.” Prospective users can sign up for an account here, or get more information about the service here.

Publishers Weekly magazine reports today what may be the first offer of its kind from traditional publishing. Book publisher Thomas Nelson has launched “NelsonFree,” a program which gives readers their content in several different formats – as a hardcover book, an e-book, and an audiobook, all for the purchase price of a single volume.

Thomas Nelson is the world’s largest Christian book publisher, specializing in Bibles, inspirational works, and “conference faith events for women and teen girls.”

The first book to reach the marketplace as NelsonFree offerings are Scott McKain’s Collapse of Distinction: Stand Out and Move Up While Your Competition Fails, and Michael Franzese’s I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse: Insider Business Tips from a Former Mob Boss. The two books go on sale later in March, with ten more books to be released in this format throughout the rest of 2009.

Says Lynn Andriani in Publishers Weekly:

Once readers purchase a book with the NelsonFree logo, they are directed to a Web site where they register and answer a security question. They then can download an audio MP3 file and several types of e-book files, including EPub, MobiPocket and PDF. Joel Miller, v-p and publisher, business and culture, said Nelson currently has plans to release a dozen format-free books in this and related categories, and will monitor consumer response to determine whether or not it adds more titles. He also said Nelson will not raise the price of hardcovers in the NelsonFree program. “I only see the price going up if a particular project has unique added expenses in producing the audio and digital books.”

This is a welcome gesture from a publishing house. It pleasantly flies in the face of Amazon’s recent announcement that they are disabling the new Kindle’s text-to-speech functionality for some titles (so as not to negatively impact those book’s audiobook sales).

Podcast fiction enthusiasts are no strangers to the idea of receiving their books in multiple formats, many of which are free. Pioneering podcasters J.C. Hutchins, Philippa Ballentine, Mur Lafferty, Tee Morris, and Scott Sigler have been distributing their fiction in serialized (free) podcast form for many years now. These authors give their readers the advantage of advance access to their stories via their podcasts, and also generate future (paper) book sales among their dedicated audience.

Take a look at our interview with podcast author Scott Sigler, in which he says of the future of publishing:

A lot of what’s coming is the kind of things like I and the other podcast novelists are doing, or the people over at Podiobooks.com are doing, which is just give it away. Give the audience a chance to get to know you as a content creator, and as a performer, and know whether they like your stories. Then, once the audience develops that relationship and that affinity for you, then they’ll go out and buy your books, knowing that it’s going to be money well spent. They know what they’re going to get. So you’re allowing people to try it before you buy it.

And the other thing that’s really going to come into play heavily is story extensions and expansions. You’ve got your core story, which will be in the hardcover book. You’ll probably be having to give that away as a podcast, just to compete. But then there’s a lot of other things you can do. You can do the “back story” of your characters. You can do all kinds of background information. You can combine the extra podcast content with wiki content, with links to websites. The book sort of becomes the “gem in the tiara of entertainment,” if you will, instead of just the whole crown all by itself.

We are eager to see whether more traditional publishing companies will follow Thomas Nelson’s lead, and begin making their titles available in multiple formats, to accommodate readers’ (and listeners’) interest in audio and e-reader books.

Thanks to Philippa Ballentine for pointing out this news.

Photo: “On The Platform, Reading,” by moriza

The latest episode of the Association for Downloadable Media (ADM)’s “Get The Download” podcast series is worth taking time to listen. The program covers much of the nuts and bolts of finding advertisers or sponsorships to monetize your Internet video creations.

Interviewer Cathy Brooks of Other Than That (late of video creation site Seesmic) talks with video expert Tim Street. Tim is the creator of French Maid TV (which he describes as “videos that explain how to do something in a PG-13, Benny Hill kind of way”). FMTV was an early viral video podcast standout. Street brings to the table extensive experience in the old-media TV realm, as well as trailblazing work in Internet video, and he writes and lectures widely on the subject.

In the midst of an economic downturn that sees nearly every industry struggling, Street remarks that he is busier than usual. Deals that used to take six to twelve months to hammer out are closing much faster. “People see a huge opportunity to reach more customers for less money than with [traditional] TV [advertising].”

“Internet is better at motivating people to do something, over a long period of time, over the long tail,” Street explains. The ad-supported content is out there for the long haul, there are many more opportunities for viewers or listeners to take in your message. “But to get butts in [movie] streets this Friday night, TV is still advertisers’ best resource.” Internet video creators need to promote the value of their content from that perspective.

Producers of Intneret video also need to rethink their expectations of advertisers, and become conversant in the language of that industry, Street says. “Creative producers of video want someone to tap them on the head, pay them to go be brilliant.”

“Creative people seem to still think ‘sales‘ is a dirty word,” Street continues, “but ‘pitch‘ (as in ‘pitch an idea‘) seems okay to them. Pitch is the same thing as sales: you’re pitching your show to prospective advertisers!”

Video producers need to look at negotiating advertising deals “from the business side of the equation. You need to engage advertisers’ emotions, to want to buy your content.”

“The advertisers are now the network. The advertisers are now the studio,” Street claims. “You need to pitch your show to advertisers, to sponsors, to brand managers. You need to educate them about how your videos can be useful to their brands.”

Online content producers need to understand the language of advertising, the unique terminology of the industry, Street insists. Producers also need to look to the “nuts and bolts” of entering into talks with sponsors, with “pitch tools” to get the word out about your video, including:

• A media kit
• Sales video – “pitch” video, if you will
• Numbers – track your numbers, how many hits, where your views are
• Demographics – do a viewer survey, so you know your audience demographic.

Cathy Brooks’ interview with Street also covers copyright issues, working with ad agencies, and other pertinent subjects, whether you work in audio, video, or even (gasp) prose. The link to the interview is here, and the complete “Get the Download” podcast series feed is here.

[flickrvideo]http://www.flickr.com/photos/synthesizers/2569011419/in/set-72157605546285198/[/flickrvideo]

Photo-sharing mega-site Flickr has opened up to all Flickr users video uploads. In addition, paying “Pro” members of Flickr will now be able to upload high-def videos that everyone can watch in HD.

Also announced today, Flickr users can submit their video creation to be part of the recently debuted Flickr Clock timeline view, which gives viewers the perspective of seeing a cross-section of what’s happening, all over, at a single point in time.

Flickr originally added the video capabilities last April, but only paying “Pro” level members could upload their (30 sec or less) video clips. Now all users can upload video, although “free” members are limited to two videos per month.

“All of this video goodness is powered by our friends at the Yahoo! Video Platform team, and has been double-platformitized for the Flickr API,” reads the Flickr staff blog. For more information on the nuts and bolts of how the new video upload and HD capabilities work, technical stuff is discussed here.

As illustration, above, we have a short video we shot of volunteers on sandbagging brigade on Court Avenue in Des Moines, during the awful flooding in June 2008.

Independent video-sharing site Dailymotion today announced a distribution agreement with online video service Hulu.

The agreement with Hulu will give Dailymotion’s audience access to an additional 40,000 “premium” videos from Hulu’s extensive online video library, including full-length episodes from major television studios, full-length feature films from major film studios, as well as news and other content from more than 130 content providers.

The additional Hulu videos distributed on Dailymotion will be organized into thematic channels alongside Dailymotion’s library of professional and independently-produced content. Using tools available on the Dailymotion site, viewers will also be able to program Hulu content into their own channels and playlists, and share it with other viewers.

Dailymotion is a video hosting service website, based in Paris, France. Since last month, the site can support video content that can play at 720p on an HD set. About 15,000 new videos (of up to 20 min each) are uploaded to the site every day.

Hulu, which is owned by NBC Universal and News Corp., offers streaming video of TV shows and movies made possible with commercial support. Hulu videos, which are streamed in Flash format, are currently offered only to users in the United States. Some TV shows and movies are now also offered in high-definition.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has recently upgraded its podcast resources for small business owners. The SBA is an independent federal government agency which works to “aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation.”

The SBA podcasts introduce small business topics, and provide business information and advice for entrepreneurs (and for people considering starting their own business). Recent topics include Financing A Business, Getting Your Small Business Ready for Tax Season and a helpful Checklist for Starting a New Business. Upcoming podcasts will detail ideas for staying afloat in a slowing economy, incorporating “green” business practices, and developing your business plan.

The podcasts are “bite-sized” (ten minutes or less), with interviews from experts in government, industry and business. The SBA pledges that it will be adding additional feeds every month on additional small business topics. Podcasts and additional small business resources can be accessed online here. The feed for the podcast series is here.

photo: wili_hybrid

Alesis Product Specialist Rob Bachi runs through the features of the iMultiMix 16 USB, a 16-channel USB mixer that features a built-in iPod dock for your iPod.

The mixer’s iPod integration could be a nice feature for people doing podcasting. Alesis has smaller versions of the iMultiMix available, too, with fewer channels.

If you’ve used the iMultiMix, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Econsultancy has published an interesting post that looks Adam Carolla’s podcast, and at how podcasting and new media are changing the game for entertainers and media personalities:

With his podcast, Carolla runs the show. He controls operations, can set his own direction without approval from higher-ups and has almost no limitations on what deals he makes. Even if he eventually expands and monetizes but never makes anywhere near what CBS was paying him, those things have their own value.

Media companies need to take heed. To keep top talent around, they have to realize that they’re competing with the internet. Their best entertainers and personalities have already made their fortunes; control (both creative and commercial) is going to be more valuable to some of them than an extra $5-10m.

From Radiohead’s distribution experiment to Will Ferrell’s Funny or Die to Adam Carolla’s podcast, it’s clear that entertainers and media personalities are getting hip to the power the internet provides them with. It’s now up to the media companies to decide whether they’re going to come along for the ride or fight tooth and nail for an old way of doing business that’s clearly not nearly as appealing.

As mainstream entertainers find success with new media, it promises to radically change things.

Bigger names coming into podcasting and Internet video will drive larger audiences, but could also shift attention from indie, user generated content to more mainstream fare.

Do you think podcasting is headed for the mainstream? If so, will indie podcasters be coming along for the ride?

Image: Foraggio Fotographic

Check out artist, composer & producer Brian Eno‘s predictions for The Future Of Television, from 1991:

Future TV will be made with
simple equipment
unqualified people
small budgets
and bad taste

Adjust your set as much as you like

Sounds a lot like YouTube, doesn’t it?

How do you think he did on his predictions?

Image: watz

It looks like the Adam Carolla Podcast may do to radio what Nine Inch Nails did to the music industry – make it irrelevant.

On Friday, February 20th, Adam Carolla’s radio show left the airwaves, as part of a format switch.

On Monday, Corolla introduced his new podcast.

Within 24 hours, Carolla had a hit:

I’m overwhelmed by your response to the podcast. In less than 24 hours, the first podcast was downloaded over a quarter of a million times, which is awesome.

This means that we’ll be able move along faster in terms of getting this project up into a new gear, and getting a little more production, more guests, and everything you guys deserve. I’m grateful to have such fantastic fans, and honored at this response.

By the end of the first week of the Adam Corolla Podcast, downloads exceeded the 1 million mark.

Last year, Nine Inch Nails turned the music industry on its head by releasing two free albums onto the Internet and then going on to have both a hit record and tour. In doing so, NIN showed that bands could have hit albums and successful tours without the support of the music industry.

With over a million views in the first week, the Adam Carolla Podcast shows that broadcasters can have hit shows without the support of radio.

To subscribe to the Adam Carolla podcast, add the podcast via iTunes, or add this podcast feed URL to your podcast client:
www://carollaradio.com/feed/

via RyanSpoon