Labels

Categories: Food | Travel | Beer | Wine | Boston | Humor | TV | Tech | Pop Culture | Politics | Golf | Video | Photo | Auto
Sponsored: Samsung | Cadillac | Volt | GMC | AT&T | Gear List: Cameras, Lights, Microphones, etc.
More: SteveGarfield.com | Steve Garfield's Video Blog (archived 6/19/2013)
“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.” | Mastodon

Monday, June 29, 2009

Michael Jackson's Last Rehearsal Was Taped

USA Today reports,
"Wednesday's rehearsal was videotaped, but it's unclear whether Jackson's performance will be made public, such as through the sale of a DVD."

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Michael Jackson Staples Center Rehearsal Video 6/24/09

From The Boston Globe article Probe of Jackson's death focuses on his physician this morning, I noticed this section:
"Randy Phillips, the chief executive of AEG Live, the concert promoter mounting the London shows... attended Jackson’s rehearsal at Staples Center on Wednesday night, when the entertainer was on stage for about three hours before leaving at 12:30 a.m.

He was dancing as well or better than the 20-year-old dancers we surrounded him with,’’ the promoter said. “He was riveting. I thought we were home free. I thought this was going to be the greatest live show ever produced. He looked great.’’"
Was the rehearsal filmed for review? Where's the video?

The State of Now at The 140 Characters Conference: Video Twitter



Best introduction ever, Jeffrey Hayzlett, "I know Stephen through Jimmy Fallon and I was up in Jimmy's office a few weeks ago and Jimmy and I were talking and he was talking about someone he likes to follow and he mentioned Stephen."

Here's the Video Twitter panel I was on at Jeff Pulver's 140 Character Conference.

Christian Payne (@Documentally)
Jeffrey Hayzlett (@JeffreyHayzlett) - CMO, Kodak
Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield)
Sukhjit Ghag (@sukhjit)

This was a great panel. I enjoyed it.

The whole conference was great.

At one point I went out in the hallway and there was just a handful of people out there. Unlike SXSW where the conference is about the hallways, the 140 Conference was about the sessions. Lots of new information, very interesting topics, and a broad range of people.

It was like film, interactive and music all rolled into one, plus with all the sessions being in one room, on one track, you knew you weren't missing anything by staying in the session.

Great job Jeff.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Boston's Haymarket

Filmed on an Apple iPhone 3GS and streamed live via Qik. Qik then archives the video and sends a copy to YouTube.

Boston's Holocaust Memorial

Filmed on an Apple iPhone 3GS and streamed live via Qik. Qik then archives the video and sends a copy yo YouTube.

1st iPhone 3GS Qik Videos

I got a pre-release of Qik for the iPhone 3GS. Here are my 1st videos, streaming over WiFi:



5:31



Second video, also 5:31. Making waffles. Video ends with "Yikes!" Tripod fell over.



1:12 Determining if iPhone is shutting off on me, or going to sleep. Video ends with "Whoa! OMG!" Tripod fell over again.



7:31 "It is focusing on the waffles, Wow!"



1:54 Testing auto-focus again.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Nantucket: Driving a Smart Car Day 2

The day on Nantucket started off foggy, which to a photographer means, let's get out there and shoot some photos.

Nantucket Harbor

I took a walk to the Brant Point Lighthouse. It's always fun to try and get a unique shot. This is one of the standard angles.

Brant Point Lighthouse, Nantucket

Here's a more creative shot.

Brant Point Lighthouse and Sea Shells

All these photos were taken with the Apple iPhone 3GS. It now has selective focus so you can create shots that have depth of field. For this shot, I placed the iPhone on the beach and pressed my finger on the shells in the foreground to focus there. Fun shot!

Here's a movie where you can hear the fog horn and see the beach:



This next shot is of Sankaty Lighthouse. I used the selective focus again on these dasies.

Sankaty Lighthouse, Nantucket

This is my favorite shot of the day.

It was a sunny day on nantucket so we put the top down on the Smart car. If goes down with the press of a button. Very nice.

Mission #1: Siasconset

Here we are in Siasconset.

Next we drove to Madaket beach.

Here we are driving:



Here's the beach:

Mission #2: Madaket Beach

The water was freezing. I know because all the kids who were running into the ocean were screaming!

Surfside Beach Club: Nantucket

More driving:



That's the Surfside Beach Club. A nice place for dinner.

While sitting out in the sun I got a tweet from RD Sahl of @NECN and he wanted me to send in a photo of the sun. Here's one of two I sent.

Sunny Nantucket

Then I got a tweet from RD and Tim Kelley wanting to know what time I took the photo. Um, guys, you just asked me to take a photo. So the time I emailed it to you is the time I took it within a minute or two.

They used the photos on the 7 PM news.

Next we met a great group of Nantucket people at the first Nantucket Tweetup. It was held at currentVintage, an eclectic clothing, accessories and wine store right in town.

Nantucket Tweetup

Nantucket Tweetup

Nantucket Tweetup

Nantucket Tweetup

Nantucket Tweetup

Nantucket Tweetup

After the tweetup we had dinner at the two weeks old TOWN restaurant. It's got a very varied and interesting menu.

Town: Nantucket

It's a nice place. Try it.

We ended the night at the White Elephant bar. I had a Cisco Brewers Moor Porter.

Cisco Brewers Moor Porter

So good!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Jason Jones Interviews me for The Daily Show

Jason Jones Interviews me for The Daily Show

Jason Jones: Behind the Veil - Ayatollah You So
Jason Jones plays "Jihad Walking" in Iran and America to find out which country knows more about the other.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jason Jones: Behind the Veil - Ayatollah You So
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorJason Jones in Iran


Jason Jones stopped me in Times Square and interviewed me for The Daily Show. It was fun.

The first question he asked was, "What's your name?"

I replied, "Steve Garfield from SteveGarfield.com."

Jones said, "Nice plug, it's not getting on."

Of course they don't show me getting many of the other questions right. I talked about the Supreme Leader, the distinction between the people of Iran in their government, the colors of the flag and more.

After the interview, Jones said, "You're too smart for TV."

Great report by Jason Jones. I'm a fan.

The World According to Twitter!

The World According to Twitter!

I'm an official micro-co-author of David Pogue's book “The World According to Twitter!”

My infamous tweets:
The World According to Twitter!

You can pre-order now:

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Smart Car Movement

Carol and I rented a Smart car on Nantucket and challenged ourselves to missions, just like my friends in the Ford Fiesta Movement.

Here's what we did:

Smart Car Movement

Mission #1: Surfside Beach

Smart Car Movement: Mission #1

Mission #2: Cisco Brewery Tasting



Smart Car Movement: Mission 2

Mission #3: Nantucket Vineyards Wine Tasting



Smart Car Movement: Mission 3

Mission #4: Wauwinet

Smart Car Movement: Mission 4

It was a great day!

Video blogger Steve Garfield on social media and education

I was interviewed by @documentally and @barnstormed at @jeffpulver's #140conf in New York City last week. This was a great interview and I had a lot of fun doing it. I also interviewed @documentally about the recording equipment he used. I'll be posting that later.

Gale Force Winds Nantucket

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Matisyahu - One Day

I Got a Flip Clock for my iPhone: No More Blinking Cursor

I replaced my Comcast DVR with a new TiVo HD system. I also got a Home Theatre System as part of the Panasonic Living in HD program.

No Time Left For Us
Unlike the Comcast DVR, or even old VCR's for that matter, the TiVo does not display the time, and the Panasonic receiver displays "Cable/Sat", which Carol refers to as Cable/Saturday.

Cable/Sat - No Time Display

The Solution - Flip Clock
Larva Labs - Flip Clock.


This is great. It's just like an old alarm clock that I had as a kid. It's 99 cents in the iTunes App Store.

I tried to find a similar solution for one of my S60 devices, but couldn't.

The Apple App store makes it so easy. I just paid for and downloaded this app directly from the iPhone over WiFi.

Now I've found a use for my 1st Gen iPhone. ;-)

11:44 No More Blinking Cursor

Friday, June 19, 2009

iPhone 3G S Campanula


iPhone 3G S: Speaker Test with Dancing



Testing out the iPhone 3G S speakers. Music courtesy Tatu covering The Smiths How Soon is Now.

How Soon Is Now?

iPhone 3G S Video Tests

iPhone 3G S Test with Tripod and Light



iPhone 3G S Horizontal Test with Lighting and Tripod



iPhone 3G S Ear Bud Microphone Test from my laundry room

First iPhone 3GS Video

Here's a video I shot with the new iPhone 3G S and uploaded directly to YouTube from the phone.

Sweet!

What do you think?



Update:

First iPhone 3GS Video to YouTube (Original File) on blip.tv

Portsmouth, NH Gaslight Tweetup Photo Slideshow

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Web catalog copy and keywords

Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business by Steve Garfield

Just got a copy of the web catalog copy and keywords for my book, Get Seen: Online Video Secrets.

If you have any suggestions for improvement, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks!

Here you go:

Get Seen
Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business

Steve Garfield
9780470525463
The era of online video has arrived—make it work for your business
In 2008, the world of online video exploded. Hollywood got into the game, professional actors and writers joined in, and independent producers looked to find their niche. Now, companies are wide awake to the opportunities for product and brand promotion as well as customer engagement. So how do you want to fit into the new online video universe?
The must-have guide from the “Paul Revere of video blogging,” Get Seen offers a quick and complete toolkit to get you up to speed on the latest that online video and related media have to offer.
Examines success stories of companies using online video
Presents a series of plans and tools businesses can follow as they expand onto the social web
Provides clear direction on how to record, edit, and export videos, where to post them, how to build a community around their content, and how to increase views by going viral
If you’re ready to take full advantage of online video’s many benefits, Get Seen is the one resource you need.

Keywords: online video, online video marketing, social web, social marketing, social web marketing, online social marketing, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 marketing, facebook marketing, myspace marketing, hulu, youtube, daily motion, google video, viral video, going viral

Leave a comment here or at the Get Seen forum on NING, or on Facebook.

Thanks!

I'm Hosting the Mashable Lounge on Friday with Pete Cashmore

0808_Yoono_070

Big News! I'm co-hosting the Mashable Lounge on Friday at 9PM with Pete Cashmore. @mashable.

It's going to be as much fun as this:

0808_Yoono_068

Probably even more so.

There's video involved, with chat.

Mark your calendar!

Whoa! Iran blocking internet and media broadcasts

Gary Vaynerchuk Gives Jimmy Fallon a Wine Lesson



From Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

I liked how they played the game of secretly tasting an $8 vs an $80 wine. I'd like to play this game too, but I don't usually buy $80 wines.

At the end Gary and Jimmy cpmpare warm vs. cold white wine.

Interesting.

What's your favorite Red or White Wine?

Where did Obama learn to swat flies?



From Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Speaking This Morning at Jeff Pulver's 140 Characters Conference



I'm speaking at Day 2 of Jeff Pulver's 140 Characters Conference in NYC this morning about twitter: Video at 9:50 AM:

Christian Payne (@Documentally)
Jeffrey Hayzlett (@JeffreyHayzlett) - CMO, Kodak
Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield)
Sukhjit Ghag (@sukhjit)

The sessions are very short to keep them interesting and to allow as many people as possible to talk.

Here's a link to some tests I've been doing with video twitter: How To Add Video To Twitter.

Watch me and @Documentally on twitter for a link to a live stream if we can get one going during our session.

The session will be recorded and posted too.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Robert Scoble's FriendFeed Post on Iran

Twitter TV: Twitter and Facebook Users to Star on New MTV Show



Yo! MTV Twitters with Alexa Chung:
On Monday “It’s On With Alexa Chung” will replace the recently canceled “TRL” as MTV’s live daytime show, one that producers say will integrate Twitter and Facebook to an extraordinary degree, taking viewer interaction “to a new level, making them the stars of the program.”

Any television show, of course, can promote its Twitter account and ask viewers to sign up for Facebook updates. And many networks, like CNN and E!, have incorporated social networking into their programming. But MTV wants — and perhaps needs — to wrap itself in the social Web more organically. To this end Twitter commentary will be featured regularly on the screen, home viewers will be able to submit video questions for celebrities on the show, and stars of viral videos will be shown in regular segments. MTV and Facebook are joining together to sell ads on the show and the Web.
This sounds like a step in the right direction for including people formerly known as the audience in a TV show. TRL used to have a wall of screens with viewers who could go live on the show. CNN is bringing in viewers in their Blogger Bunch segments.

I'll be anxious to see how interactive this is. Are the twitter users on this show actually going to be the stars, or just pieces of content?

It's a challenge to produce an entertaining TV show and allow for the inclusion of the audience as presenters. I think a level of trust has to be built up for this to work on TV, but there's an opportunity for a more free flowing twitter-like live environment to exist on the web.

Video twitter.

We haven't seen this on TV.

The idea of video twitter means that the broadcaster will have to give away some level of control.

I've been testing this out recently with a number of video twitter web chat solutions.


Image courtesy: TinyChat

In my tests on TinyChat I've recognized that the people participating in the video chat are all equal. It's not a democracy either because there's no voting and no one is in charge. Much like twitter the video twitter sessions I've started have been free flowing.

In a recent test, I had the video chat up in a window and started paying partial attention. The chat kept going, and I read some email and visited some web sites. I was listening to the chat stream but not fully focusing on it, being able to jump back in when I wanted.

Mashable has been experimenting with TinyChat too and is going live with it's version next week called The Mashable Lounge. In thier version, an early look indicates that each chat will be based on a topic and hosted by selected Mashable staff members with a text chat area for viewers to particpate.

I think that the idea of video twitter is something that is going to evolve over time. Right now it's fun to experiemnt with it and it will be interesting to see how web and tv shows incorporate the idea of video twitter.

Follow me and Get Seen on twitter to be alerted to future video twitter chats, or chat amongst yourselves.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Latest: Tehran Streets


Latest: Tehran Streets


Iran election. Riot in tehran streets after election day - 13/06/09

(Minnie Riperton) Loving You - Sungha Jung

Sungha plays 'Loving You' arranged by Kotaro Oshio.



Sungha channel on YouTube. He says,
Hi, I'm Sungha Jung from South Korea. My dream is to become a professional acoustic fingerstyle guitarist.

I had been watching my dad play the guitar for awhile before I finally jumped on it myself three years ago. I turned twelve in September, 2008.


More Than Words - Extreme:


Friday, June 12, 2009

Twitter Ruined Charles Trippy's Life!

Follow CharlesTrippy on twitter.

Follow stevegarfield on twitter.

Go to a twitter conference.

How To Add Video to Twitter



I'm excited to be going to Jeff Pulver's 140 Character conference in NYC next week.

I'll be on a panel about twitter video on Wednesday with:

Christian Payne (@Documentally)
Jeffrey Hayzlett (@JeffreyHayzlett) - CMO, Kodak
Sukhjit Ghag (@sukhjit)

Here's the full 140 Conference schedule.

Video on Twitter
Video coming to twitter reminds me of when video came to blogging. It's really not that different.

What you are doing is adding video to a twitter post, just like adding video to a blog post.

Keep in mind: You can record video anywhere and just post a link to it in twitter. It's not hard.

The fun part about it is seeing all the ways that developers are trying to make it seamless.

I've been evaluating many of the twitter video solutions and am looking forward to discussing them at the conference.

YouTube
Big news from yesterday, YouTube now integrates directly with twitter, so that when you post a video on YouTube, a twitter post can automatically be sent.

Here's my first video, recorded via the web, directly to YouTube:



Uploads will be posted to your connected services after they have finished processing, which might take a little while.

YouTube auto tweeted this:
I uploaded a YouTube video -- YouTube to Twitter - Webcam Recorded Video http://bit.ly/v7Gd0

You can set this up from your YouTube Video Upload Page. Let me know if you get this working.

Note: I've been trying to get this working but you've got to log in with a Google username and that's confusing things. Not sure why YouTube is requiring me to use a Google sign on to integrate twtitter. It would seem simpler to just ask me for to autorize YouTube to post to twitter like many other sites do.

Update: I got it working. You've got to log out of YouTube, then log in to Google, then go to YouTube and log in with your Google username/password, then log in with your YouTube username/password, then click on twitter to authorise YouTube to post to twitter, or something like that. Way too confusing.


Qik
I've been using Qik from my Nokia N95-3 to automatically send a message to notify my twitter followers that I'm streaming live. That's been running for a long time.

Here are some of my initial tests of services that integrate directly with twitter. These are tweets that the video services sent out:


Hello from 12 Seconds on 12seconds.tv

12seconds - Hello from 12 Seconds http://tiny12.tv/S62KG


Seesmic Needs More Cowbell!... http://see.fm/51A6ppTdXv


Trying out twitvid.io http://twitvid.io/abJ4


Watch my video on twitvid http://twitvid.com/5E39B

yfrog - test 1:
Recorded to yfrog via tweetie Mac application http://yfrog.us/0vfu5z
Oops. [ An error occured during video conversion, please try again later or upload another video ]

yfrog - test 2:


Testing the tweetie mac desktop app with yfrog video integration http://yfrog.us/7hukoz

Note: When using the tweetie Mac app, you can't preview your yfrog video before saving. It's fast though.

Mobatalk Test 1:
MobaTalk which failed to let me upload using Safari 4. I'm waiting to hear back on where the video was recorded locally to be able to upload it. Most of these services use a flash recorder that records over the internet. MobaTalk records locally giving you a higher quality video.

Mobatalk Test 2:

Testing Mobatalk. Nice quality.... http://8lnk.com/t/469

This test used Firefox.

There are lots more video twitter services to test too.

What are your favorite ways to integrate video with twitter?

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Digital Transition-Programming a DTV set top box



Greg Harper shows you how to set up your Digital Converter box.

Scanning for your available local channels, using the program guide, watching additional channels, and setting the time.

Great info.

Digital Transition - Connecting a DTV set top box



Greg Harper unboxes a Digital TV Convertor Box and shows you how to hook it up to your tv.

Note: If you have an existing roof antena, you can use that antenna with the new Digital TV convertor box.

Time Cover Story: How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live (in 140 characters of less)



Read the TIME story online

Backstory about the TIME piece and the cover

Follow Steven Johnson on twitter:
twitter.com/stevenbjohnson

Follow the discussion on twitter:
search.twitter.com/search?q=timetwitter

Mass Innovation Nights at the Museum of Industry & Innovation



More photos here.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Massachusetts: Don't Tax My Beer!

LOST Dharma Beer

Just got this from my friends at Harpoon Brewery:
This is a special message for all Massachusetts Friends of Harpoon

There is a very important political discussion taking place on Beacon Hill that will affect all of us. As lawmakers finalize the fiscal year 2010 budget, they have unexpectedly included a new 6.25% tax on alcohol. This is the result of the combination of raising the sales tax from 5% to 6.25% and of applying the sales tax to alcohol for the first time.

Keep in mind that while beer is not currently subject to sales tax in Massachusetts, it is subject to both state and federal excise taxes, corporate taxes, and other fees totaling on average about 37% of the retail price of a case of beer. That's $8.88 in a $25.00 case of beer. Do you want to pay an additional 6.25% at the cash register? Didn't think so.

What can YOU do?
Call or email your State Representative and Senator. You can use this link to find contact information for your legislators. Please tell them to oppose the application of the 6.25% sales tax to beer. This discussion is going on NOW. Please contact them NOW. We are all facing economic challenges right now. The last thing we need is to pay more for one of life's true remaining simple pleasures: enjoying a cold Harpoon on a warm summer afternoon!
Don't Tax My Beer!

Monday, June 08, 2009

Tonys Video Highlights: Brett Michaels and Neil Patrick Harris

Neil Patrick Harris closed out the Tonys with an amazing song, highlighting the night. He was a fun host.



Here's a clip of the Rock of Ages opening number featuring Poisin. Brett Michaels stays on stage too long and gets nailed by the backdrop hitting him in the head.



I got this up right away by recording it on Qik, which then autoposted to YouTube.

Best musical numbers were Billy Elliot, West Side Story and Jersey Boys.

I loved chatting with people on twitter during the broadcast.

What did you think about the Tonys?

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Boston Media Makers This Morning at 10:00 AM


Join us at:

Doyle’s Cafe
3484 Washington Street
Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA, 02130

Visit Boston Media Makers for more info.