Category Archives: Technology

5 Awesome Things You Can Do With Google Cardboard

Google Cardboard turns your smartphone into a full-on virtual reality device without the high price tag. It’s made out of exactly what you’d expect, but its pieces come together to hold your smartphone in front of your face for use with VR apps.

RELATED: The 17 Coolest Things We Saw at CES

With your phone acting as the display and your homemade headset holding it in the right place, Google Cardboard presents itself as a lower-impact Oculus Rift. There are a variety of Cardboard-style headsets available for purchase from the official Google Cardboard website. Some are fancier than others, but you can expect to pay $20–$30 for your own. (May we recommend the Star Wars-themed Cardboard?) After punching out the pieces and putting it all together, there are a number of apps to use that respond to head motions, immersing the wearer in a virtual reality landscape. These apps feature a designated “Works With Google Cardboard” logo so you know that they are specialized.

The Cardboard-compatible apps are cataloged on this page of the Google Play store, and they run the gamut. Titans of Space is a virtual reality tour of our solar system and outer space. A game called WAA! immerses you in a field of asteroids. Sisters presents itself as a terrifying ghost story game, and for the more utility-minded, an app called Tilt Brush Gallery lets you view sketches in 3D. This only scratches the surface, but they all serve the same purpose: to transport the app’s user to some place that is otherwise completely impossible to get to. With that in mind, here are five cool things you can do with Google Cardboard.

RELATED: Virtual Reality Check

Take 360-degree photos and send them to friends.

The camera in your smartphone is all you need to generate an immersive virtual reality-style photograph that someone can pan and scan through from their own Cardboard setup. Google’s proprietary photo app will stitch together the many photos required to make an entirely 360-degree experience, and it will even record live audio from the scene you’re capturing.

Read the paper in an entirely new way.

The NYT VR app provides users with news stories in virtual reality format “every month or so.” Content is one of the most obvious things to be reinvented by virtual reality technology, and the New York Times is one of the first media companies to get serious about being ready to have serious offerings when VR proliferates.

Disappear inside virtual game worlds.

Whether you’re investigating the spooky scenes of Insidious Chapter 3 or falling out of the sky in Caaaaardboard!, Cardboard can embed you in a daydream escape fantasy taking place on your smartphone screen. Just don’t let your boss catch you using it at work.

Explore the real world.

Browsing Google Street View through virtual reality goggles is sure to be nostalgic or adventurous depending on where you decide to “go.” Tour your old hometown, or brave the freezing temps of Antarctica from the comfort of your current home. An app called Orbulus zooms in on destinations of note, allowing you to explore everything from the Sydney Opera House to Paris at night.

Watch regular media in a new way.

An app called VR Cinema renders your stored video into split-screen format compatible for VR hardware, like Cardboard.

Instagram Marketing: Is It Right For Your Business?

Is Instagram Marketing Right for Your Business?

For years, Facebook and Twitter have been the standard go-to’s for social media marketing. However, over the last few years there has been a palpable change in the digital landscape. The demographics of social media sites are starting to shift as new platforms begin to emerge. And as Facebook and Twitter invest more heavily in paid advertising, businesses are having a more difficult time getting organic exposure on these sites. All of this is leading many businesses to wonder if they should start casting their digital marketing nets a little wider. (Spoiler alert: most of them should.)

In a particularly telling sign of the times, in September 2015 Instagram surpassed Twitter in number of users, making it the second most used social media platform behind Facebook. Those kinds of numbers are hard to ignore and this stunning growth is part of the reason that people are starting to eye Instagram as the next great place to market their business. So how do you know if it’s right for you?

Instagram Marketing: Why It’s Awesome

While we’re firm believers that there’s no one-size-fits all answer when it comes to social media marketing, there are a few general rules of thumb that you can use to decide if Instagram is a good fit for your business. But first, let’s take look at a quick rundown of what makes Instagram marketing so great.

1. The Future is Mobile — and so is Instagram.

For years now the growing importance of mobile has been at the top of the list for every forecast of marketing trends — and we’ve finally reached the tipping point. As of 2015, not only is the time spent on mobile media (51%) significantly higher than that of desktop (42%), but there are now nearly twice as many mobile-only users (19.1%) as there are desktop only users (10.8%). Mobile is no longer just a growing a trend. It has become the primary way that Internet users are accessing online content.

This gives Instagram marketing a huge advantage over its top three competitors, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Unlike the other major social media platforms, Instagram was originally conceived as an app. Although the other social media heavyweights have invested heavily in their mobile apps, it’s difficult (if not impossible) for a platform that was originally created for desktop to have an app that functions as seamlessly and intuitively as a platform that is native to mobile. Just a quick side-by-side comparison of any of the major social media apps compared to the Instagram app makes this point abundantly clear. While other apps struggle with endless updates to more elegantly integrate multiple pages and menus, Instagram’s simple, stripped-down interface makes it easy and intuitive for mobile users.

Now that mobile is the primary digital media being used by consumers, it’s likely that emerging social media platforms will be mobile natives as well. While Instagram is perfectly positioned to take on that new competition, the platforms that were originally conceived for desktops are going to feel increasing pressure. In short, if you’re looking to invest in a social media strategy that will continue to have an impact over the long-term, Instagram should be a part of that strategy.

Instagram Marketing Mobile

2. Your posts are more likely to be seen.

The great thing about Instagram marketing is that as you gain followers you know that they are actually following you. While Facebook and Twitter give users the ability to prevent posts from certain accounts from showing up their feeds, Instagram has no such functionality. If a user doesn’t want to see your content anymore, they have to unfollow you. This means that you can be sure that your content will appear in 100% of your followers feeds, greatly increasing the chances that they will actually see it.

Ensuring that your posts are being seen has become particularly difficult on Facebook. Not only does Facebook allow users to have a high degree of control over the content that appears in their NewsFeed, but the Facebook algorithm automatically curates each profile’s NewsFeed based on their connections and interactions. This means that if your followers don’t immediately and consistently engage with your content, chances are they will stop seeing it.

To make things more difficult for marketers and business owners, as Facebook increasingly invests in its advertising services, business pages are finding it more and more difficult to reach their followers organically (i.e. for free). While Instagram has introduced ads on the platform, thus far there has been no indication that they intend to treat the content posted by business profiles any differently than they have in the past, making Instagram marketing still your best bet for getting your content in front of your audience.

3. Instagram leads the pack for engagement.

It’s not enough to just be sharing your content — it needs to make an impact. Shares, likes, RTs, and +1’s are all indicators of how engaged your audience is with your content. The more you have your follower’s attention, the more opportunities there are to get your message out, build brand awareness, and engage in some killer PR. If leveraged correctly, these social signals can even pack a serious SEO punch. That’s why engagement is the Holy Grail of social media marketing.

Instagram’s clean, streamlined interface, judicious incorporation of ads, and focus on visual content creates an intimate atmosphere that is optimal for social sharing. So it’s no wonder why, when it comes to engagement, Instagram is the industry leader. While the exact numbers can be hard to quantify, estimates suggest that Instagram users are 58 times more likely to like, comment, or share a brand’s post than Facebook users and 120 times more likely than Twitter users. Those numbers are huge and they can make an equally huge difference for your business.

Instagram Marketing Engagement

4. Businesses can brand themselves through visual storytelling.

Have you ever heard of an elevator pitch? The general idea is this: you’re the CEO of a startup or a salesperson trying to drum up new business and all of sudden you find yourself in an elevator with exactly the investor or the contact that you’d like to do business with. Basically, you have 30 to 90 seconds to tell this person what your company does and why they should want to work with you and you have to do it in a way that is interesting and compelling enough that the elevator ride ends with you getting a meeting and not an uncomfortable brush off. It’s as tricky as it sounds.

It’s also a great analogy for building your audience online, only instead of an investor you’re pitching Internet users and instead of 90 seconds you have 2 — maybe. This is where the visual storytelling aspects of Instagram marketing become a huge advantage. They say a picture is worth 1000 words and they’re right. You could probably sum up why the company you work for is so cool in 1000 words, but no one would stick around to read it. Or you could post a picture of your latest rooftop office party or your “workation” in Mexico and tell the same story in an instant.

How to Know If Your Business Should Be On Instagram

So you get that Instagram is awesome, but you’re still not sold on the idea that it’s right for your business. The truth is that despite the many advantages of Instagram marketing, it still doesn’t necessarily make sense for every business. Here’s a few rules of thumb that can help you know if it’s time for your business to take the plunge:

Your target audience is young. Approximately 90% of Instagram’s 400 million users are under the age of 35. Compare this to Twitter (where 55% of users are over 35) and Facebook (where 65% of users are over 35). The truth is that it doesn’t matter how great your product and your message are if you aren’t using the right channels to reach your audience. Trying to connect with young people on Facebook is like trying to text someone with a fax machine — it’s just not going to work.

Your product is visually compellingInstagram marketing is all about visuals. Maybe you’re a travel agency that books luxury vacations or maybe you’re a company that builds sweet custom bikes. Whoever you are, if you are selling something that people are going to want to see, you need to be on Instagram.

Your competitors are on Instagram. If you haven’t yet, you should definitely check to see if your competitors are doing Instagram marketing. Even if you still think at this point that Instagram isn’t right for your business, if your competitors are already there and developing a following, chances are that they know something you don’t. Poke around in their profiles and try to figure out what it is, then get to work building a better version in your own profile.

If you think you can tell a visual story about your business — or you are trying to target a younger audience — Instagram needs to be part of your social media marketing strategy.

Are you ready to take the plunge with Instagram market, but looking to outsource social media? We’ve got a couple of pricing guides you might be interested in, both for professional social media marketing tools and small business social media marketing.

RIP Internet Explorer (1995-2015). We Knew Ye All Too Well

Microsoft Internet Explorer, a browser familiar to many and loved by few, passed away today after a long illness. It was 19 years old.

Bowing to the inevitable, Microsoft admitted today that it had decided to remove IE from life support. (IE will, however, continue to receive tech support through at least 2016.) IE is survived by Windows, Office, and the Microsoft Mouse.

RIP Internet Explorer (1995-2015). We Knew Ye All Too Well

Photo: YouTube

At its height, Internet Explorer — known unaffectionately as IE — dominated the Internet like no other software, accounting for 95 percent of all website visits. In recent times, however, IE’s popularity waned, thanks to the rise of powerful rivals and a long string of security mishaps. But even at the time of IE’s death, one in four Web surfers were using it as their browser of choice.

Microsoft marketing chief Chris Capossela says it was a heart-wrenching decision for all concerned.

“Many of us here on the Redmond campus loved IE. Yes, he was a cad and a scoundrel and a bit of a loose cannon, and the end got mighty ugly, but he was one of me own kind,” Capossela said, inexplicably breaking into a heavy Irish brogue.*

*This didn’t actually happen.

The early years

Internet Explorer 1.0 started life as a rebranded version of Spyglass Mosaic, itself based loosely on a browser developed by Marc Andreessen when he worked at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. It emerged into the world on Aug. 16, 1995.

By then, Andreessen already had his own commercial version of NCSA Mosaic, called Netscape. Like brothers separated at birth, the two browsers became intense rivals over the next four years. When Netscape introduced JavaScript, Microsoft countered with Cascading Style Sheets. Both companies continually upped the ante, creating the most intense head-to-head competition ever seen in the technology world.

Then matters threatened to turn violent. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates’s vow to “crush” Netscape formed a key piece of evidence in the Department of Justice’s 1998 antitrust suit against Microsoft. Fearing for its life, Netscape chose to enter the witness protection program, becoming part of AOL in 1999. It has not been seen since.

Rise and fall

For years, IE’s domination of the browser market remained unchallenged, and the pace of browser innovation ground to a halt. But IE’s meteoric rise was matched by an equally precipitous fall.

In 2004, a new rival emerged: Firefox. Based on code created by the old Netscape team, it was the first browser to pose a credible threat to IE. Four years later, Google released Chrome, another nimble alternative for Web surfers. Both free browsers slowly began to eat away at IE’s market share.

Then the security scandals hit. In 2006, researchers identified hundreds of vulnerabilities that could allow rogue websites to steal information or take control of users’ computers. PC World magazine named IE 6 the eighth-worst product of all time and “the least secure software on the planet.” In 2008, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) recommended turning off the ActiveX controls inside IE because of security concerns. In August 2014, CERT told users to ditch IE entirely until it was patched.

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Photo: ZDNet

There were regulatory battles as well. To comply with a European Union antitrust ruling, Microsoft was forced to release a version of Windows without IE in June 2009. Those loading Windows 7 were able to choose from among a dozen browser alternatives. The browser ballot program concluded last December.

The final days

By this time, IE had plummeted from a commanding lead to a distant second or third place in the browser market, lagging well behind Chrome in nearly every survey. Even reports showing that IE 10 was actually more secure than its browser rivals could not forestall the inevitable.

If not universally mourned, IE will be long remembered for its many contributions to browser technology as well as for bringing Web surfing to the masses.

In lieu of flowers, Microsoft requests well-wishers to please support Project Spartan, the new and allegedly much-improved browser set to debut in Windows 10 later this year.

Why & How You Should Integrate Online & Offline Marketing

Use online marketing to improve the effectiveness of offline ads. by Peter Roseler 

It’s important for business owners and marketers to avoid the trap of binary thinking. Often, advice to business owners is given in black and white terms. For example, some study will show that email marketing is better than direct mail marketing or a business guru will write about why business owners should only use internet marketing. However, reality is rarely so simple. The truth is, most businesses will need a combination of multiple marketing strategies and tactics to maximize the potential of their advertising and marketing. This article will show why and how business owners should integrate their online and offline marketing campaigns.

Internet Marketing and Television
Though television advertising and marketing were unrivaled ways to reach consumers for decades, the growth of internet video demands a change in tactics from marketers. A business owner that only uses TV ads to reach their target audience may be surprised to learn that many members of their target audience watch far less TV than they think.

According to some estimates, 84 percent of internet users worldwide watch videos online. More than half of millennials watch TV shows on a tablet, desktop computer, or smartphone. Recently, comScore reported that nearly half of households with three or more people subscribe to Netflix. The report also found that 17 percent of millennials watch no original TV series on traditional TV sets. And that Americans aged 18-34 are 77 percent more likely than average to live in households that have never had pay TV.

These statistics show marketers can’t depend on TV ads to be catch all advertising channel it was in the past. In fact, no form of advertising medium is anymore. In order to reach modern audiences, need to integrate internet marketing tactics to reach more of their target audience. For example, millennials watch more YouTube than any network or cable channel. So using banner or video ads on YouTube is an effective way to reach people who don’t watch as much TV programming as others. Similarly, advertising on social media can help business owners reach targeted audiences with their marketing message.

Internet Marketing and Radio
Though it’s one of the oldest forms of mass media still in use, radio remains a useful and profitable tool for marketers. According to a recent study from Nielsen, 59 percent of US music listeners listen to traditional or online radio. Even in the digital age, there are advantages radio gives that are difficult to duplicate digitally. For example, radio remains the best way to reach consumers as they commute. Which makes radio marketing a great way to reach local consumers with relevant ads. This has been borne out by recent data. In a different study, Nielsen reported that radio ads drive 5.8 percent of US retail sales. Keep in mind that more ad dollars are spent on TV, internet, and print ads than on radio ads, so 5.8 percent represents a pretty good return on investment. Put another way, each dollar of radio ad spend generates an average sales return of $6.

Internet radio exists, but it’s not as widely used as traditional radio. Even among millennials, traditional radio is extremely popular. According to one report, 70 percent of Americans ages 18-34 listen to network radio each week. Additionally, about 71 percent of them have annual household incomes over $75,000. Internet radio apps are used a lot, but they aren’t pulling these kinds of number yet. This gap will likely shrink with time and it illustrates why marketers need to integrate their campaigns.

Running ads entirely on radio will give marketers a good portion of the local commuter audience, but a growing number of people will get their morning music and news from an app. Using banner ads that are available on generic apps or the specific audio and visual apps possible on internet radio apps helps to ensure that marketers reach a larger percentage of their target audience. .

Internet Marketing and Print Media
Newspaper and magazines have suffered a lot due to rise of internet technology. While some commentators are quick to declare print media dead and that our grandkids will consider a physical newspaper as strange as a scroll of papyrus, the truth is that there remains a value to print media that digital sources can’t completely replace. According to Harris Interactive, 69 percent of US adults trust their local newspapers. This trust in the medium can translate into action. According to Nielsen, 54 percent of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from a newspaper or magazine ad. Even national businesses recognize the usefulness of print media for local advertising. About 43 percent of national businesses use newspapers for local promotions.

Integrating internet marketing with print media is relatively simple. This can be as simple as including websites and email addresses in print ads or including print coupons for specials that are available online. Just because people use the internet doesn’t mean they don’t use of the sources for infromation A study from Shop.org also found that 63 percent of US internet users have used a coupon from a newspaper or magazine. It also helps to include traditional media sources when distributing press releases, instead of solely relying on online distribution. Though it’s easy to get a press released published somewhere online, if the intended audience is local, it’s beneficial to get the news, product, or event covered by the local news media as well. As the Nielsen study showed, people would be more receptive of the information, which can help when introducing a new product line or brand.

The growth of various forms of media have created an environment where there is no longer a catchall form of marketing that will reach every audience, not even the internet. In order for business owners to get the maximum reach and effectiveness of their marketing tactics, they will need to use an integrated campaign. Merging online and offline marketing strategies in the ways mentioned above, is a good way for businesses to increase revenue.

The Awesome Power of Mobile Devices for Local Marketing!

by Peter Roesler

Understanding consumer behavior is an important part of marketing. The way business owner see and expect from consumer behavior is shown by their actions. These beliefs about consumer behavior are normally based hearsay and intuition, since small business owners usually lack the resources need for large-scale consumer expectations survey. A new study from the Local Search Association does a lot of the heavy lifting by showing how consumers use their mobile devices.  This article will review some of the major takeaways from this study and how marketers can use them.

The information comes from a collaboration between Burke, Inc. and the Local Search Association based on 2013 statistics from their annual “Local Media Tracking Study,” The study analyzed the reach of various local media sources across computer/laptop, mobile phone/smartphone and netbook/tablet.

The study is based on interviews with 8,000 U.S. adults conducted online and by phone. The Local Search Association recently released infographics that highlight data that shows more consumers turn to mobile devices when seeking, discovering or considering local business information.

The main takeaway for marketers from this information is that mobile marketing is becoming the prefered channel for many consumers who would once have used desktops and laptops to learn about and engage with companies. This means that mobile marketing isn’t bringing in entirely new customers by reaching people who were previously unreachable. The growth in mobile device usage correlates with a decline in desktop and laptop usage.

To illustrate, the percentage of people using computers and laptops for searching for local products and services dropped from 80 percent to 73 percent between 2012 and 2013. On the other hand,le mobile device usage increased from 25 percent to 34 percent and netbook/tablet usage rose from 6 percent to 11 percent.

It also important to note that desktops are still the most preferred source for looking up information. However, the clear trend is that desktop computing is becoming less important as mobile marketing grows. Also, searches through mobile devices are more likely to lead to a sale. Searches from mobile devices were more than 20 percent more likely to result in a local purchase. According to the research, 78 percent of mobile phone searches led to a local purchase, compared to 61 percent for desktops and laptops.

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One of the reasons mobile marketing is becoming so important relates to the technology involved. While there are certainly new technology for TV and radio advertising, mobile devices offer the greatest advantage to marketers.

“As customer touchpoints expand, retailers continue to investigate other ways to diversify their marketing spend, including budgeting for increased spend for text advertisements, display ads, social, and attribution models,” said Shop.org Executive Director Vicki Cantrell.

Cantrell’s comments fit in with another takeaway from the Local Search Association study. The study found that why search was easily the most popular reason people were drawn to a retailer, there were a lot of marketing options that each brought in a significant amount of business to a company. Mobile marketing can easily be integrated with these other tactics so business owners can offer coupons, use email marketing, promote content on social media and more.

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This research shows why mobile marketing is so important to small and local business. When looking at long-term trends, it’s clear that mobile devices will become more important than desktops and laptops in the future. Also, the best way to reach a large number of consumers is to a use a diversified marketing strategy. Mobile marketing can help with this because these devices can be used as platforms for email, social and content marketing.

Forget Ultra HD: 8K is closer than you think

Sure just when I was going to purchase a 4K Camera I read this….

Enjoy this article by Steve May  – Why Japanese broadcaster NHK believes Ultra HD is just a stepping stone to bigger and better things….

2014 is fast shaping up to be the year of eight million pixels. Full HD, now ubiquitous on TVs at every price point and served up by more than 60 channels, finally has something to look up to. 4K resolution displays, built for those with really deep pockets, are finally becoming a reality. January’s International CES was a galvanising launch pad for these next-generation screens.

But 4K’s time in the spotlight could prove short-lived. An upstart upgrade is already impatiently waiting in the wings, and at least one major broadcaster believes it makes more sense to skip 4K altogether.

Pixel warfare

After 3D and Smart connectivity, everyone is talking about pixels again. Indeed, competition to drive resolution up is breaking out on display platforms large and small. For TV makers this buzz can’t come soon enough. Next-generation displays put business-saving value back into the marketplace. All the industry has to do is work out a way to sell them.

Shawn DuBravac, director of research for the Consumer Electronics Association, concedes that ‘4K is not really a product that’s applicable to everyone,’ but is optimistic that ‘consumers seeking a very rich visual experience… will want to make that move upwards as quickly as possible.’

A stumbling block to the 4K roll-out is the lack of native content. In the short term there’s been a 4K upgrade to the PS3’s PlayMemories Studio software, which makes it a lot more convenient to view still images at 3,840 X 2,160. A longer term solution involves the recently rubber-stamped new HEVC (for High Efficiency Video Coding) codec. Designed as the long-term replacement for H.264, HEVC will almost certainly be employed when SES begins a 4K Astra test satellite channel (probably this year or next), and is the obvious choice for the next evolution of the Blu-ray standard (if studios give it their blessing).

Equally hampering development has been the lack of a 4K HDMI output standard. While high-speed HDMI cables can take 4K in their stride, the HDMI interface at the source end has been inconveniently ignored. Atushi Matsui, one of the leading engineers at Panasonic responsible for the brand’s prosumer HDC-Z10000 3D camcorder, which employs a 4K pixel-shifted image sensor, says development of native 4K consumer products has been hampered because of this hiccup.

8K dawning

But even as the world’s biggest TV makers work out how best to package 4K, Japanese state broadcaster NHK has been talking up its replacement. 8K Super Hi Vision offers an image 16 x more detailed than HD. At 33 megapixels it inflates the envelope of human visual acuity, and then pops it with a loud bang.

Dr Keiichi Kubota, NHK’s Executive DG of Engineering (below), told HCC that progress with 8K has been so rapid that they’ve now decided to leapfrog 4K as a transmission standard altogether: ‘It took two decades to take hi-def from the lab to public demos. We’ve made the same progress with Super Hi-Vision in half the time,’ he says. ‘Our experts have set a target date of 2020 for experimental broadcasts, but there’s the possibility of bringing this forward. We want to begin as soon as possible.’

The ETA of Super Hi Vision actually hangs on Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Should the city win, then NHK will bring wide-scale trials forward to 2016.

Dr Kubota concedes that panel makers have to move to 4K as a business imperative in the meantime, but says firmly that ‘NHK has no plans 
to use 4K. We will move directly to an 8K system.’ 
The engineering chief insists it makes little financial sense to begin an expensive 4K upgrade of broadcast infrastructure when 8K is so near. ‘It would mean another big investment, and we can’t afford to do that. So we’ve decided not to take a step-by-step approach. Will go directly to 8K.’

NHK, in conjunction with the BBC, used the London Olympic Games as a field trial for 8K, and the resulting footage astonished all those who saw it, including us. NHK describes the technology as uniquely immersive. ‘This kind of advanced system gives us an unrivalled sense of presence,’ says Kubota. ‘It enables a viewing experience that is as close to reality as possible.’ Primitive cultures once believed that a camera could capture the soul in an image. 8K actually does.

NHK has been developing Super Hi Vision since the mid-nineties. ‘At that time we had just started digital HD broadcasting [in Japan],’ I’m told. ‘Our scientists were wondering what to do next…’

First-generation Super Hi Vision ‘cameras’ were essentially movable equipment racks tethered to 
a lens. ‘Our crew used the original 80kg Super Hi-Vision camera to film a mother and her child playing in the back yard of our laboratory,’ he reveals. ‘Since then we’ve made crucial advances.’ Today, the latest Hitachi 8K shooter weighs a mere 4kg and can be shoulder mounted for use much like any other piece of pro video gear.

Dr Kubota admits not all broadcasters are as keen as NHK to pursue 8K, but he says there is solid interest from the BBC, Italian broadcaster RAI and the big American networks. Just as with 4K, it’s the HEVC codec which is central to getting 8K out of the R&D ghetto. Indeed, the man from NHK says that HEVC is so efficient it will even allow 8K to be streamed across the internet, which could change everything.

Even so, he maintains that there will be the need for an 8K turbo-charged disc format to accompany it. ‘NHK may predominantly be a broadcaster,’ he says, ‘but our subsidiary company sells Blu-ray discs of NHK programmes. I’m sure the same thing will happen with the Super Hi Vision system. We will produce 8k programmes for broadcasting over terrestrial and satellite channels and our subsidiary will make an 8K disc version for home use.’

Dr Kubota also reveals that the system’s expansive 22.2 sound system (below) is being adapted for home use. ‘Our audio expert is working on that right now,’ he continues. ‘22.2 speakers is too much in the living room, so we’re working out how to reduce the number of speakers, but retain almost the same effect – we’re developing a new type of down-mixing technology.’ He adds that even a 7.1 physical speaker deployment may be unnecessary: ‘We’re thinking 5.1 or even less…’

Still frame sequence shot in raw 8K bounced to 4K to You Tube. Blow this up and it still looks spectacular, almost like it’s computer generated!


Don’t forget to use 2160 4k = setting!

BASIC 3 POINT LIGHTING FOR VIDEO & FILM

Poorly lit scenes can leave your project looking flat and lifeless. But if you can get the lighting right, it will help establish a tone, and bring the depth and texture to your footage. In this segment, we talk about the basics of 3 and 4-point lighting including key lights, fill lights, backlights and set lights. Plus, some insight into hard light and soft light, and high key and low key lighting styles. Knowing the fundamentals of basic lighting setups can help breathe life into bland scene.

Creating the Film Noire Look (High and Low Key Lighting)

Color Temperature and Lighting

Gels and Diffusion: Everything You Should Know

Creating online awareness with video slide shows and HD Templates!

Video is still the most popular media that is viewed on the internet. Giving that everyone is turning to online video…. a good video is the most effective way to educate the user about your product or help promote your business. This video slide show produced by Kelsey Media Productions features a variety of Valentine’s Day Cupcakes from Nancy The Cupcake Lady located in Bellmore, New York.

We recommend our custom templates to clients because it’s fast and easy to add professional, customizable motion graphics to a project. These high quality Animated HD Video Templates can help build awareness to your business, products and services. The custom template samples from our website can be included in your production. Our HD Templates can utilize Video Footage, Content, Photo Stills, your selected Music and company logo. Your completed video production can be viewed on your Website, Blog, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook used within a Presentation or added to a television spot. In addition to being a great marketing tool these animated templates are visually stunning and professional.

Are you looking to add some excitement to your products, services or business – then give us a call at 781.365.4800 or visit Kelsey Media Productions!

Businesses looking to design a new website this is a must!

Our responsive web designs work effectively across all Pc and mobile devices.

One Website, Many Devices

Kelsey Media Productions is now offering – Responsive Websites! What is a Responsive Website? In simple terms, a responsive web design uses “media queries” to figure out what resolution of device it’s being served on. Flexible images and fluid grids then size correctly to fit the screen. One of the most appealing aspects of responsive web design is that a responsive website can provide a great user-experience across many devices and screen sizes. This is an important characteristic, since it is impossible to anticipate all the devices and screen sizes searchers will use to access your site. A site that works well regardless of these variables will provide a better and more consistent user-experience than a separate mobile site that is designed for a specific device and screen size.

Let’s take the following example. Someone searches for a product on their smartphone during a lunch break at work. They find a site that has the product they’re looking for, and decide to continue researching this product on the same site when they get home. Except, when they get home, they will use their desktop instead of their smartphone.

If the site in this example is responsive, this person will have a positive user-experience when transitioning from mobile to desktop because they will view the same site on their desktop as they did on their smartphone. On the other hand, if the site is a dedicated mobile site, this person will become frustrated with the fact that they have to locate the desktop version of the site, and find the product all over again.

Easier to Manage

Having a separate desktop and mobile site requires having separate SEO campaigns. Managing one site and one SEO campaign is far easier than managing two sites and two SEO campaigns. This is a key advantage a responsive website has over a separate mobile site.

That being said, there are benefits to having a mobile-specific SEO strategy, such as optimizing for keywords that are more likely to be searched when someone is on their smartphone.

For example, someone performing a mobile search for a local restaurant may be more inclined to use the word “nearby” in their search query. However, a separate mobile site is not a requirement for a mobile SEO strategy, and there’s no reason why mobile-specific keywords can’t be incorporated into a responsive design site as well.

Conclusion

Responsive web design is recommended by Google, it allows one website to provide a great user-experience across many devices and screen sizes, and it also makes managing your SEO strategy easier. For these reasons, responsive web design is the best option for your mobile SEO strategy.

The benefits are obvious: You build a website once and it works seamlessly across thousands of different screens. Given the rapid adoption of tablets and smartphones — and the fact that users currently seem to prefer finding businesses, restaurants and reading their news on the mobile web rather than in apps — I think it’s inevitable that responsive design is taking off. For business owners, it offers the simplest way to reach customers across multiple devices. For users, it ensures a great experience on every screen. For quality results, contact us or call 781.365.4800 for your free consultation or check out some of our responsive web site projects at Kelsey Media Productions.

Multi-viewpoint robotic camera system creates real ‘bullet time’ slow motion replays.


This multi-viewpoint robotic camera system, under development by NHK, links the motion of eight sub-cameras to that of an individual camera, so that all the cameras film the same moving object.

“Using this system, you can create the effect of stopping time, and moving the viewpoint all around the subject.”

“Previous methods used a fixed camera, so they could only capture subjects moving in a narrow or limited space. But this multi-viewpoint robot camera system can film dynamically moving sports, or subjects at lots of locations in an extensive space.”

Each robot camera has two motors, for pan and tilt. The cameras also share lens data, so they can zoom in unison.

“Pictures taken with robot cameras inevitably have discrepancies in direction control. So simply switching between them doesn’t give smooth pictures. To solve that problem, we’ve brought in a computer, which redoes the direction control virtually. Image processing is done, to virtually orient the cameras in the direction of the subject, making it possible to switch between the cameras.”

“Pictures from this system can be sent out about one minute after filming is finished. First of all, we intend to use this for live sports broadcasting. We’d like to make it easy to understand what’s happening, by providing multi-viewpoint pictures instead of the current slow-motion replay.”

This multi-viewpoint robotic camera system can also be used as an image capture system for integral 3D TV, under development by NHK. By generating integral 3D video from multiple-viewpoint footage, 3D video of sports events will be viewable on integral 3D TV.