Sometimes you rush off to a new thing and forget about what you left behind.

Which is another way to say that if you’re looking to see what Scribe* is doing, point your browsers this way

It’s coming. And we all know it.

For the last several months, Microsoft has been touting it’s “Media Center” PC’s. A platform through which people will be able to dispose of both their traditional television and their cable bill (well, we can only HOPE that we’ll be able to get rid of the cable bill.) Thereby, enveloping their entertainment needs on one see-all do-all box.
Two months ago, Apple “officially” announced what is now known as “Apple TV”. Allowing users to stream media – virtually ANY media – from their home computers to their television wirelessly. Who needs a library of DVD’s when you can buy your movies on iTunes and be able to stream it to your home television? Didn’t finish the movie before your big dinner date? Transfer it to your iPhone and finish it on the train. It’s that simple. Literally.

So we know that, with this new technology, a transformation in the way we look at entertainment is bound to happen. But who is really planning for it?

ABC, NBC and CBS are all making various deals or creating proprietary websites where limited amounts of their content can be made viewable via the internet. However most of the time, it isn’t downloadable, its plastered with ads, and constant reported trouble with users and bugs in the interface.

Their effort, is all fine, well and good to start perhaps, but will the big corporations and broadcasters really be able to grasp the potential of the new market; combining social networking with traditional video-based entertainment?

Why have a video on an ad filled website when you can have a sponsor based videos covering an on-line social community? Why give the content limits when this new area of portable, stream-able, downloadable entertainment is at our fingertips?

ScribeMeida.Org has begun to explore this new territory and realize the potential for the next generation of entertainment possibilities.

Creating content on subjects ranging from Web 2.0, to Foreign Policy. A nitch has been carved out of a world currently overpopulated by 2 minute ‘Jackass’ videos and virally spread advertisements.

Concentrating on content for those in the professional space, and those in the public that “just want more information,” ScribeMedia produces 20 – 45 minute “Web Television” shows that propose to rase public interest though the mantra of intellectually passionate content for all.

Picking up speed producing content for groups like The London Review of Books and The Producers Guild of America. ScribeMedia delved into creating our own brand of informational entertainment, bringing thought leaders from around the business world, into our studio, to produce shows like War Reporters and Health In 30.

Proving that the link between on-line entertainment and television entertainment was inevitable, ScribeMedia has had the particular pleasure of having one of our programs released on Turner’s Healthy Living Channel, The Avian Flu: From Stuffy Nose To Pandemic, which brought to light the still highly-dangerous nature of this disease. Recently, Avian flu has perhaps become best known (or unknown as it may seem) as a forgotten story, plastered all over every newspaper and news story just last year, only to have this “impending crisis” dropped by the major media outlets in the name of higher ratings.

The simple boiled down truth of the matter is, the next generation of entertainment is right around the corner, and in the end, it will be companies with a vision like that of ScribeMedia.Org – endeavoring to bring the populace digital media that is both easily accessible and engagingly entertaining – left standing.
We need to think outside of the box that has become the center of every person’s home over the last fifty years.

The next generation is coming. And we all know it…

-Jason Kichline

As we work with large corporations and organizations, we’ve needed to integrate ScribeStudio into existing portals and Learning Management Systems.

Thanks to the likes of the American Trucking Association’s Highway Watch program, Medline Industries and their Medline University, that’s now under our belt and with it, many now can enjoy seamless access to programs authored and published on ScribeStudio.

As the learning platform for the Department of Homeland Security’s Highway Watch program, tens of thousands of transportation professionals will now be able to pursue highway safety training.

Next time you see a trucker, do the “honk honk pull pull” and tell him that ScribeStudio sent you!

We can now turn on, off or customize various elements within your published Learning Sites, such as navigation bars, labels, access to community features such as Message Boards, ScribeLive Web conferencing, the file Library, and the default Table of Contents.

Like internationalization / language localization, this is something we can work on with you, so be sure to let us know what we can do for you.

CTT is one of the largest IT training organizations in Latin America and they needed their published Learning Sites in Spanish. All of it, that includes automated messages, navigational elements and feedback.

A Canadian company is training sales reps at major retailers to sell the new Sony PS3. They need their published sites in French.

Now they are.

If you need language localization, contact us and we’ll get you on your way.

Feel a little guilty suddenly pulling the plug on your Users and Learners whose time in your Program has run out?

We now send a deactivation notice 2 days before their registration expires, giving them an opportunity to get going and hopefully saving you both the pangs of guilt and the drudgery of support requests.

We’ve added two more options to “Program Settings” that add an extra sheen to an already shiny feature set: emailing your Learners with a “success email” once they’ve completed a Program, and only requiring your Learners to complete those lessons that contain tests – for the smarty pants folks who want to skip over the informational lessons and test out.

Adding Program Completion was a big step for us – thanks to a special project for the State of Oregon we have added the ability for you to set both minimum and maximum times as well as passing score requirements.

That means that it’s now easier than ever to author, publish, and manage training (and similar) Programs for gaining Continuing Education Units where there are specific time and score criteria to meet in order to fulfill the certification requirements.

Go to your Studio’s CourseBuilder and select “Program Settings” to begin the joy.

We’re often asks questions about what to use, how to use it, when to use it and how to do it. We run new media bootcamps to get people going. But we’re also inclined to shoot people emails.

Here are some questions from a New Jersey newspaper that’s trying to start in on providing audio and video on their site.

The basic question is: what should we outfit our reporters with?

It was nice talking with you today. As I mentioned, I am putting together a wish list of tech tools for our paper’s new tech team.

My list will include things like dual monitors and faster PCs. I have ideas about other items, but am especially keen to ask other journalists what gear they find indispensable.

Like everyone else, we have limited resources, so the key is finding the right stuff at reasonable prices.

So true. So let’s get going with some gear.

Can you recommend: A decent portable video recorder, suitable for video blogging, reliable but not too pricey.

We use Focus Enhancements Firestore camera to hard drive recorders. They’re great.

Easy, fast and reliable video editing software

Depends what you’re looking to do so I’d need more information. The standard is Final Cut Pro and once you learn how to use it you wouldn’t want to use anything else.

If you just need to chop clips, iMovie if you’re on a Mac (more on Mac’s below since I think from your email your on a laptop PC). iMovie’s free (with a Mac), Final Cut’s not.

A portable digital audio recorder suitable for podcast interviews.

A few options: Marantz PM660, M-Audio Microtrack 24/96, and the Fostex FR-2 Field Memory Recorder.

I’d go with the Marantz if your reporters are covering events where they need to plug into a soundboard. It’s bigger than the M-Audio, but also more flexible. If you just need to do interviews, the M-Audio is fine.

My brother reviews them all here.

Portable mic (if needed)

Yes, you need a mic. The cheap and easy is a Shure.

It’s used by bands and reporters around the world.

However, you may want to get a directional/shotgun mic, it really depends on the what you’re recording, and the environment you’re recording in. The Shure I recommend above is omnidirectional so it picks up sound from everywhere.

Directional/Shotgun mics “let you “aim to a sound with out all the external ambience filtering in.

The BBC offers a good primer

I keep looking for the digital Swiss Army knife: A small digital camera that produces decent quality video and audio, too. So far, haven’t found the perfect compromise.

Panasonic and Sony both offer good prosumer small camcorders.

A laptop that combines power, light weight and affordability. (I love my old 3-lb Thinkpad T20—light yet rugged. But it lacks horsepower for multimedia apps.)

Get Macs. They now run on Intel chips meaning that you have all the Mac software which is the standard for audio/video editing but you can also install Windows on it if that’s what you need/use in newsroom.

The best system for staying in touch from the road. I have tried BlackBerrys, Treos and the Motorola Q. I’m not keen on the Microsoft system in the Q. BlackBerry’s email handling is the gold standard, and I am a longtime fan of Palm’s ease-of-use… The Sidekick is pretty cool, but TMobile’s service isn’t as good as Verizon’s. Another option might be subscribing to Verizon’s EVDO service, so we could just log on via laptops in our travels. Any preferences here?

I’m not a phone jockey but use the Treo. I have the 650 and have seen the 700 which is better. Better still would be something with larger keys because if you’re trying to write notes on the fly, bigger will better (even if it’s not as sexy).

Have you ever had success using portable keyboards with Palms, or other handhelds, to eliminate lugging laptops on the road?

When I was reporting in Saudi Arabia one of my colleagues used a foldup keyboard with his Palm. Worked like a charm. But, if you’re doing all the audio/video stuff above, you’ll need your computer.

An optimal hi-def system. From time to time we will be testing gaming consoles, HD players, etc. I am wondering if a hi-def projector makes more sense, or whether we should find a bargain LCD or plasma monitor.

I’d go with the hi-def projector but that’s more personal preference. In our studio we have a Samsung 40+” LCD which is great.

I also am pondering how to make an argument for buying the new gaming consoles. Probably a hard sell, but might as well shoot high, right?

Always shoot high. Don’t know what you won’t get unless you ask.

Hope this helps.

We made a driveby at the Andover Newton Theological Seminary last week after capturing The Ajax Experience up in Boston.

We stopped in to shoot a quirky dialog between the national leaders of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).

Quirky because unless you’re deep into all things religion in America you wouldn’t know why this is/was a historic. But great because these folk know how to have spirited fun.

This is me captured on camera by Sasha.

Looks like the guy in the background thinks I’m crazy, which, after a few 14-hour days at the Ajax conference, I think I might have been.

S’anyways: the big dialog will be up at ScribeMedia.org in the morning, and for those looking for Ajax, we’ll have the keynotes up over there as well by the end of next week.

we filmed an interview Michael did last night in our NYC video production studio with Helga Landauer, who recently made a documentary film on the life and times of 20th century Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. the documentary is called Journey of Shostakovich and has already been shown in the Louvre in Paris to a packed house and can be seen at Carnegie Hall in NYC in November 11th. not bad.

it was an interesting interview and we’ll put the video online in the next few days on the ScribeMedia.org web site, which is fast becoming home to some amazing online videos in on a variety of topics, from politics to health, fashion, foreign policy, music, arts & entertainment, design, new media, e-learning, religion and just about anything else that we film and find interesting.

typically, we film events for customers and turn them into online video, so that they can increase the reach of their audience. some people can actually come to an event. many can watch online from home. mostly conference organizers, industry associations and companies that want to reach more people. this often has us travelling to conference venues in New York, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, etc. customers can either make the online video available for free to maximize exposure or password protect it and charge people for access using the ScribeStudio toolkit.

customers also come into our New York studio to produce live video webcasts (using ScribeLive), or on-demand online video, but we’re also producing video in our New York studio for ourselves, hence the interview with Helga Landauer. i worked the video mixer this time, sasha and jason were on camera and michael was behind the desk, putting that columbia journalism school degree to work.

if you need to rent out a studio in new york, complete with all the gear and crew, feel free to give us a shout…212-353-0022.

what i want to start to push is company executives coming into our studio to have us film them and then put the video online, on their corporate web site, as marketing collateral. a video of the CEO talking about who they are and what they do is, in my mind, more effective than lots of marketing copy.

or a sit down interview case study with the actual customer. in that case, maybe the ceo or director of sales and marketing would get on camera with a customer to walk through a case study together. we’d put the video online in a nice flash player that our customer could embed right on their home page.

peter