Tag Archives: youtube

Audio, Casey Neistat, Microphones, Podcast

JOBY and Casey Neistat Raise the Volume with the Ultimate Creator Contest that Showcases the Wavo PRO Mic

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JOBY, the go-to brand for content creator gear, announces its collaboration with the multimillion-subscriber YouTube personality and vlogging godfather, Casey Neistat, to shine a light on the JOBY Wavo PRO shotgun microphone. The new go-to, on-camera mic built for storytellers, filmmakers and expert content creators combines broadcast-level audio performance with superior voice intelligibility.

JOBY, being a brand that stands for creators, teamed up with world-renowned content creator Casey Neistat to launch the contest of a lifetime. The competition gives the next generation of storytellers around the globe the chance to achieve their dream of becoming the next top creator, thanks to the top prize being not only the chance to co-create a video with the one and only Neistat but to have it featured on his YouTube channel.

During the contest, running from September 15th to October 17th across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and India, JOBY and Casey will invite the community to share their most creative and original video ever realized. The mechanics to participate are designed to reflect JOBY’s iconic simplicity: just a few simple steps to great creator possibility!

  • Step 1: Creators simply fill out a form on the contest landing page or JOBY social media channels
  • Step 2: Submit a link to their most creative and original video ever created
  • Step 3: Follow @JOBYinc on Instagram to stay up to date.
  • Step 4: Win endless prizes and the chance to co-create with Neistat

The top 5 winners will celebrate with an all-inclusive trip to a secret location in the United States for the ultimate creator experience: working alongside Casey to create a video with Wavo PRO and all its features. The video will be featured on Neistat’s YouTube page on November 23rd, reaching his current 12.4 million subscribers. To further connect creators with JOBY products, the next best 95 creators will win $100K worth of products and discounts to help them upgrade their content creation.

However, the prizes don’t stop there: together with the 100 winners that will be announced on October 28th, JOBY will extract an additional four bonus winners for five consecutive Wednesdays, starting September 19th, for weekly prizes in order to help creators to level up their content right away.

As a brand, JOBY has always supported creators in uplifting their creativity thanks to the development of quality products that simplify workflow, make delivering content easy and ensure fun along the way. JOBY’s ‘born by listening to creators’ mantra, developed in the 2020 Song of Us Campaign, was equally leveraged in the newest JOBY Wavo mic lineup, enabling JOBY to further connect with its global community.

Rock your audio with Casey and Wavo Pro
Rock your audio with Casey and Wavo Pro

The flagship product of the JOBY Wavo lineup, released in January 2022, Wavo PRO, is the ultimate professional on-camera microphone for creators and filmmakers. The new audio range provides creators like Neistat with crisper and clearer sound for pro-level content.

The Wavo PRO is packed with features like Active Noise Reduction for clearer sound, built-in LEDs that monitor battery and audio levels in real-time, a second built-in mi input and more. The Wavo PRO is designed to equip creators like Neistat with top-notch quality gear for amazing content. Through the contest, JOBY aims to reach a wider creator audience, helping to uplift their content creator potential.

Beyond the flagship Wavo PRO, JOBY has microphones that can be used in a variety of scenarios by all creators – whether just starting out or already established.

  • The Wavo PRO DS is the perfect companion for those just starting out.  This shotgun microphone shares most of the pro-grade components of the flagship Wavo PRO, but is designed to deliver high-quality audio with a more streamlined user experience.
  • The Wavo AIR is an ‘instant-pairing’ wireless microphone kit designed for creators who need freedom in front of the camera. From food vloggers to virtual fitness instructors, Wavo AIR is perfect for delivering tight, broadcast-quality sound – even at a distance.
  • Wavo POD is JOBY’s large-diaphragm, USB condenser microphone for audio streamers. The mic is designed for the everyday podcaster or game streamer, featuring the versatility of both cardioid and omnidirectional pickup patterns with 24bit/48kHz high-res sampling rates.
  • The Wavo Lav PRO is a pro-grade lavalier mic designed for big sound with a small footprint. The Wavo Lav PRO introduces a high-quality lavalier microphone with discreet capsule dimensions and sound fit for the Wavo PRO.
  • More microphones are set to come this year, so stay tuned!

To learn more about the competition and JOBY check out the campaign, now live.

Apps, Social Media, TikTok, YouTube

How You Can Use Technology For A Business Advantage

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If you are a business owner with products or services to proffer, you need a way to get your information “out there” for the masses of potential consumers to engage with and experience. Enter technology. There are a variety of ways to work with and use technology to your continued advantage.

App

Everybody seems to have a mobile phone. They are practically extensions of oneself at this point. You use your phone for shopping on all levels, ordering food, purchasing tickets, research, and entertainment, and the list goes endlessly on. This is why you need to engage with a professional company for mobile application development. 

Can you imagine seeing your company as an app on a smartphone? Consider the endless ways you can meet your customers’ needs and meet them where they are at that moment. When they need something, they press the tile and the world which is your company opens up for them to engage with.

If you think that creating an app is a daunting prospect, think again. A team of developers will meet with you to discuss your ideas and gain knowledge of your company. If you already have a website in place, they will use that as a building block in the creation process. Next, they will create a bespoke solution that will grab your app users’ attention and keep them coming back for more.

Social Media

The term social media has different connotations for different groups. While the distinctive platforms connect people socially on a personal level, they can be masterful tools to wield to create a professional online presence.

Create company accounts on a variety of social media platforms for maximum exposure. You can use Instagram to create curated stories about your company and any social programs you and your employees support. Show your followers who you are and what you stand for. Make videos on TikTok showing how your product functions in different settings. Craft expert videos for YouTube showing tutorials and guides for how to use your products. Use Twitter to keep your followers up-to-date on the latest product releases or offer teaser tweets for upcoming events.

Here is a quick overview of how to use social media to help your business.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_8nZDN7nJS4

Dedicated Employee

An actual human employee is certainly not part of the technical equation; however, if you notice an increase in digital traffic across apps, websites, and social media platforms, it may behove you to designate an employee to monitor these. Having either a full-time focus on these areas or adding it as part of a current employees’ job description will prove beneficial.  

When your company can respond to comments, whether they are positive or negative, and answer questions about your products or services, that immediate attention to social media will show the world that you care enough about their thoughts and concerns to be attentive and respond. If a dissatisfied customer posts something negative, or even an honest review that does not reflect well for you, your employee can acknowledge their issue and offer to remedy it. 

This is all done in the public eye and reflects transparency. All of this effort further advertises and promotes your company. Today, consumers want to know more than the product they are purchasing. They want to know the values and ethics of the company behind the product.

BBC Radio Suffolk, Gadget Man, Matt Porter, Netflix, Podcast, Technology, The Gadget Man

Gadget Man – Episode 122 – Are We Influenced By Movies And Media?

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Last week, I spoke with James Hazell on BBC Radio Suffolk about the new film classifications and how they can be applied to online video streaming sites.

I also discussed YouTube’s ban on videos that contain or encourage dangerous pranks that endanger people or could cause harm to people copying them.

BBFC Ratings
BBFC has revised it’s classifications

Following a public consultancy of more than 10,000 people, the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) has now revised its classifications to make it more consistent across platforms, including online services.

David Austin, Chief Executive Officer at the BBFC, said: “Over the last five years the way we consume film and video has changed beyond all recognition. That’s why it’s so important that there is consistency between what people watch on and offline.  The research shows that parents and teenagers want us to give them the information and guidance that they need to view what’s right for them.

We’re here to listen to what people want, which is why they trust our age ratings.  So it’s encouraging to know that we’ve been classifying content in line with what people want and expect when it comes to difficult themes around credible real life scenarios. We also know that people are more comfortable with issues such as action violence, if it’s in a way that they are expecting – such as a Bond or Bourne film. We are updating our standards around depictions of sexual violence and very strong sex references to reflect changes in public attitudes.”

Image Credit: Netflix
A scene from Bird Box – Image Credit: Netflix

In discussing YouTube enforcing rules banning videos which either put people in danger or promoted acts which might lead people copying those acts to either suffer harm or place others in danger, we discussed recent movies such as the Netflix production; Birdbox which led some people to challenge others to go about day-to-day activities whilst blindfolded and may have led a driver in the US to become involved in a motor vehicle accident.

Trinity and Neo from The Matrix
Trinity and Neo from The Matrix – Image Credit: The Wachowskis / Silver Pictures / Warner Bros

On a lighter note, I owned up to buying a pair of ‘Neo from the Matrix’ inspired sunglasses and my continuing search for ‘The Dude’s Cardigan’ from The Big Lebowski.

The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski – Image Credit: The Coen Brothers / Working Title Films

You can listen in to the stream, by clicking on the play button above, or you can subscribe to The Gadget Man podcast using the links above listen in via iTunes, Tune-in, Google Podcasts and more! Don’t forget to show your support by ‘liking’, ‘sharing’ and ‘subscribing’.

Matt
The Gadget Man
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Gadget Man, Google, Streaming, Technology, Video Review, YouTube

YouTube dumps monetisation of video for millions of creators

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I’ve just received an email from YouTube. It informs me and millions of others, that we are being dumped from their advertising program. This apparently is to stop ‘spammers, impersonators and other “bad actors”‘ from making money from their ‘eco-system’.

**UPDATE** 21 Feb 2018

YouTube have emailed again today to confirm the cessation of advertising revenue. The rollout of these changes was documented by Ken Heron on his YouTube channel where advertising was removed from his videos according to his dashboard. Ken meets with YouTube’s new rules and should in fact continue to receive monetisation.

Ken Heron’s YouTube video relating to this change is below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXUMv_9b8HQ

YouTube’s most recent letter confirming removal of monetisation is below. Whilst my Youtube video’s are in no way Studio Quality, they are not Spammy, Impersonating anyone or re-uploading video (unless where permission is giving such as SpaceX).

YouTube Confirms Removal of Monetisation
YouTube Confirms Removal of Monetisation

In reality, they are removing the ability for non-professionals to make any kind of money from their advertising platform (I can tell you it is a very small amount).

Big Hitters such as MKBHD and Casey Neistat will continue to reap the rewards of monetisation
Big Hitters such as MKBHD and Casey Neistat will continue to reap the rewards of monetisation leaving the less fortunate ‘potless’.

Simply put, people such as Casey Neistat, Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) and other extremely successful ‘YouTubers’ will continue to rake in millions in advertising revenue, whilst the less fortunate will lose all forms of income from this platform.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with being paid for high quality content, successful YouTube creators also earn massive amounts of revenue from advertising and affiliate links. Basically they continue to get the best of all worlds, whilst the less fortunate get completely cut off.

The Gadget Man YouTube Channel
The Gadget Man YouTube Channel

In all honesty my videos on YouTube make a pittance through advertising, however I also have a Patreon channel. This is a 3rd party channel which many YouTubers current use to make a sensible living through their hard work. If you feel somewhat inclined to support The Gadget Man site and Youtube channel, you can use Patreon to do this. Not only will this help encourage me to produce more content, it will also help towards buying better equipment to produce content.

YouTube is owned by Google who’s corporate code of conduct is Don’t Be Evil.

With this in mind, I would appreciate your support by subscribing to my Patreon channel for as little at $2 per month https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?c=335884

Statement from YouTube 17/01/2018

“2017 marked a tough year for many of you, with several issues affecting our community and the revenue earned from advertising through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). Despite those issues more creators than ever are earning a living on YouTube, with the number of channels making over six figures up over 40% year-over-year. In 2018, a major focus for everyone at YouTube is protecting our creator ecosystem and ensuring your revenue is more stable.

As Susan mentioned in December, we’re making changes to address the issues that affected our community in 2017 so we can prevent bad actors from harming the inspiring and original creators around the world who make their living on YouTube. A big part of that effort will be strengthening our requirements for monetization so spammers, impersonators, and other bad actors can’t hurt our ecosystem or take advantage of you, while continuing to reward those who make our platform great.

Back in April of 2017, we set a YPP eligibility requirement of 10,000 lifetime views. While that threshold provided more information to determine whether a channel followed our community guidelines and policies, it’s been clear over the last few months that we need a higher standard.

Starting today we’re changing the eligibility requirement for monetization to 4,000 hours of watchtime within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. We’ve arrived at these new thresholds after thorough analysis and conversations with creators like you. They will allow us to significantly improve our ability to identify creators who contribute positively to the community and help drive more ad revenue to them (and away from bad actors). These higher standards will also help us prevent potentially inappropriate videos from monetizing which can hurt revenue for everyone.

On February 20th, 2018, we’ll also implement this threshold across existing channels on the platform, to allow for a 30 day grace period. On that date, channels with fewer than 1,000 subs or 4,000 watch hours will no longer be able to earn money on YouTube. When they reach 1,000 subs and 4,000 watch hours they will be automatically re-evaluated under strict criteria to ensure they comply with our policies. New channels will need to apply, and their application will be evaluated when they hit these milestones.

Though these changes will affect a significant number of channels, 99% of those affected were making less than $100 per year in the last year, with 90% earning less than $2.50 in the last month. Any of the channels who no longer meet this threshold will be paid what they’ve already earned based on our AdSense policies. After thoughtful consideration, we believe these are necessary compromises to protect our community.

Of course, size alone is not enough to determine whether a channel is suitable for monetization, so we’ll continue to use signals like community strikes, spam, and other abuse flags to ensure we’re protecting our creator community from bad actors. As we continue to protect our platform from abuse, we want to remind all of you to follow YouTube’s Community Guidelines, Monetization Basics & Policies, Terms of Service, and Google AdSense program policies, as violating any of these may lead to removal from the YouTube Partner Program.

While this change will tackle the potential abuse of a large but disparate group of smaller channels, we also know that the bad action of a single, large channel can also have an impact on the community and how advertisers view YouTube. We’ll be working to schedule conversations with our creators in the months ahead so we can hear your thoughts and ideas and what more we can do to tackle that challenge.

One of YouTube’s core values is to provide anyone the opportunity to earn money from a thriving channel, and while our policies will evolve over time, our commitment to that value remains. Those of you who want more details around this change, or haven’t yet reached this new 4,000 hour/1,000 subscriber threshold can continue to benefit from our Creator Academy, our Help Center, and all the resources on the Creator Site to grow your channels.

Even though 2017 was a challenging year, thanks to creators like you, it was full of the moments that make YouTube such a special place. Creators large and small, established and emerging, transformed their talent and originality into videos that captivated over a billion people around the world. They made us laugh, taught us about our world and warmed our hearts. We’re confident the steps we’re taking today will help protect and grow our inspiring community well into the future.

Neal Mohan, Chief Product Officer and Robert Kyncl, Chief Business Officer”

Bluetooth, Pens, Technology, The Gadget Man, Video Review, Wearables

The Gadget Man – Episode 100 – Cross Peerless Trackr Pen LIVE VIDEO review

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Welcome to the 100th Episode of The Gadget Man, this time I set myself a very big task of LIVE STREAMING a technology review of the brand new Cross Peerless Trackr Pen. I hope you enjoy it below. The review itself starts at about 2 minutes in!

A few weeks back I was invited to London to attend the launch of the new Cross Peerless Trackr, the worlds first trackable pen.

Cross have been making writing instruments since 1846, so it was a pleasant surprise to see an established traditional brand embracing technology without losing what makes the company appealing.

The pen has Bluetooth technology carefully embedded inside it which works alongside what’s called ‘Crowd GPS’. This means that if you are unfortunate enough to misplace you pen or worse have it stolen, a league of other Trackr users immediately start helping your reunite your prized pen.  When a person running the Trackr app comes within up to 30 metres of your pen, they detect it and immediately an anonymous message is sent to you informing your of it’s current position.

Upon receiving the notification, you can then go to that location and using the app on your own phone, you cause the pen to light up and sound an alarm to give you an indication of it’s exact position, after a little bit of searching or discussion with it’s new temporary owner, the pen can be returned to you.

Conversely, the pen itself can be used to locate your phone, so if you are hunting around the house in the morning for your mobile, simply hold down the button on the side of the pen and your phone will start ringing!

The pen itself comes in a very nice presentation box along with instructions for pairing and using the pen, spare batteries, a nice suede case sleeve for the pen and your guarantee from Cross.

Once taken out of the box, the pen feels just weighty enough to feel comfortable and writes smoothly. As a pen on it’s own, it was nice and of course the ‘techie’ addition of the tracking appealed to me too. You should bear in mind that the crowd GPS functionality requires a ‘crowd’, so losing it in the middle of a deserted field isn’t going to help. Saying that, most towns have a large number of Trackr users and Central London was packed with them. You can even see how many people use Trackr by visiting their website.

If you are looking for a high end pen for meetings or a nice birthday or anniversary gift for someone, look no further than the Cross Peerless Trackr 125 Pen, available from all good pen shops for around £212.00.

Thanks to Rachel and Dan at Small Man Media and of course Cross for their kind invitation.

 

Cameras, Review, Technology, Wearables

Kodak PixPro SP360 4K Unveiled at IFA

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Earlier in the year, we reviewed the Kodak PixPro SP360, we thought it was a superb camera capable of recording YouTube compatible 360 movies, so we’re really pleased that Kodak have announced an upgraded SP360 which is now capable of recording in 4K.

The original SP360 was capable of capturing video in up to 1440×1440 HD, this video was then unwrapped to product scrollable 360 video which could be uploaded to YouTube and viewed interactively.

There has been a great deal of excitement concerning the KODAK PIXPRO SP360 Action Camera and it’s been popular in the tech press and TV, this has placed Kodak at the forefront of this technology.

Kodak SP360-4K
Kodak SP360-4K

The SP360 4k Camera captures 360-degree field of view in multiple directions via its dome shaped lens design and can be panned not only 360-degrees horizontally, but also up and down with a host of different vantage points and views for playback post capture.

At the official press launch, Mariame Cisse, Marketing Manager of JK Imaging Ltd said “The KODAK PIXPRO SP360-4K revolutionize video recording and how you see and experience the World All Around You. This is the next step to Evolution for 360 degrees Cameras. You can now create the most pristine videos and photos in 4K and Direct and Act your own Virtual Reality movie”.

SP 360 4K – Features

  • 12 megapixels, BSICMOS sensor
  • Fixed focus lens (F.2.8) that takes 360° spherical images
  • Viewing options: Dome (235°), Front, Global (360°), Ring, Segment (180° front and 180°rear) or Panorama mode
  • High speed videos 1280 x 720 (120fps); plays back with normal 50fps speed.
  • 4K HD videos in 2028 x 2028 (50fps)
  • Dimensions/weight: 46.5 x 50 x 53 mm/121 g

The KODAK PIXPRO SP360-4K will be sold with varying accessory bundles depending on geographical region. It will be available in October this year in Europe. For more information, please visit: kodakpixpro.com/SP360

Hopefully we will have a chance to try out the new features soon including the live broadcast features.

Gadget Man, Review, Technology

Star Wars Episode VII Teaser Trailers, Spoofs and Lens Flare

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Like many, we are really looking forward to the next trilogy of Star Wars movies coming our way, starting in December 2015 with Episode VII The Force Awakens.

Apple iPhone 6 64GB GoldThe new trilogy is being directed by J.J. Abrams, who is famous for adding plentiful lens flare into his movies. There’s been much  discussion on Twitter and Facebook about whether the new Star Wars movies will inherit this trait along with maintaining the visible style of the previous ‘Hexalogy’.

Right up to the release of the teaser last week YouTube became  awash with fan made versions, some good and some bad, we’ve added a selection of the above, including the official version with added lens flare and George Lucas’ ‘Special Edition’.

If you have found some Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens teasers that you think should be added to the list, include them in a comment below!!

Enjoy

The Official ‘Teaser’

The ‘Lens Flare’ Edition

The George Lucas ‘Special Edition’

The ‘Lego’ Edition

Finally, a fake version….