blog.bagaki.com

I am very excited to launch the new “play” section of bagaki.TV. Stop over to the site and check it out. Try everything on the page and see what happens. As you know this is a work in progress so things will keep changing a bit, but this is the look for now. We are most excited about our new flash player option that allows users to watch our content right through their browser. You will notice a small button on the bottom next to the volume, this is the full screen button. Give it a press and enjoy bagaki.TV in full screen, high-res goodness.

And don’t think we would launch a new site without some new content, so make damn sure to watch our new short film “The Passenger”. If you want to re-visit some of the production shots, head over to this page.

Don’t forget too if you use iTunes, Democracy, or any other RSS based video player you can subscribe to our HD Quicktime feed and have all of our content delivered to you as soon as we put it online.

I wanted to post this entire piece because I think it is very important and worth reading. I looks at a few of the major questions at hand with video on the web and internet tv.

THE FUTURE OF ONLINE VIDEO

Openness Matters. RSS Can Help.
by Nicholas Reville, September 14, 2006

I want to convince you that if you care about open standards, open source, deep linking, and all the other things that make the internet wonderful, you should care about where video online is headed.

We are living at a moment when media is converging rapidly onto the internet. Will television move online in an open and accessible way? Or will it remain centralized and controlled by a few large corporations? So far, things aren’t looking good.
1: The Two Key Questions

This essay started as an email to Mike Hudack at Blip.tv. Blip is an excellent video blogging / video hosting service. My goal was to convince Mike that they should feature RSS subscribe buttons more prominently on their site and that they should explicitly encourage their viewers to watch videos via RSS feeds. Of course, I would be especially pleased if Blip promoted watching RSS with Democracy Player (which is developed by my organization, the Participatory Culture Foundation), but any support for video RSS is good. Good for my organization and, I believe, good for the future of media.

As I was writing to Mike, I realized that there were a lot more people that I wanted to say this to, so I decided to turn the letter into a public essay. I’ll start with the two questions that I think will define the future of video online:

QUESTION 1: Will internet video viewing be primarily web-page based or will it be primarily RSS based?

QUESTION 2: Will internet video be centralized in huge services like YouTube or Google Video, or will it be more broadly distributed (like blogs and web pages are), with huge (youtube), big (blip), medium (rocketboom), and small (average video bloggers on their own site) players?

These are not entirely distinct questions, and that’s a central message of this essay. If video online is mostly web-based (question 1), the biggest centralized services have huge advantages (question 2). If centralized services win, many of the wonderful things that can come from TV meeting the internet will evaporate.
2: Are We Moving in the Wrong Direction?

So far, the answers to both of these questions have gone mostly in what I believe is the ‘wrong’ direction: towards two huge centralized services (YouTube and Google Video) and towards browser-based viewing.

That’s not to say that video RSS isn’t doing well. It is. We’ve seen the number of channels in the Democracy Channel Guide increase 6 fold in the past year and channels are getting created faster and faster every day. But there’s big and then there’s BIG. YouTube is gigantic in a way that video RSS doesn’t approach right now.

YouTube doesn’t need defending, but I want to to be clear about exactly where my concerns are focused. As a service and a universe, YouTube is amazing. It has become a visual search engine of human experiences. So far, YouTube has done more to democratize video online than my organization or any of the companies, organizations, and advocates that are working for open-access and open-standards.

But –and this is crucial– YouTube is spending money like crazy. At some point, they’ll need to make it all back. I’m nervous about how they will do that. Do YouTube executives have any option other than to hold viewers and creators hostage to ads on videos?

Furthermore, I worry that the near-monopoly strength of YouTube’s network effect is dragging along people who don’t actually want to use the service– “If my video isn’t on YouTube, how will anyone find it??” In the social networking domain, MySpace is the best example of this un-resistable social pressure in action– how many web 2.0 gurus cringe everyday when they try to login and update their MySpace page? MySpace, by the way, is trying to be the next YouTube (if you’re looking for a real dystopia for online video, it’s that).

The network effect of online video services doesn’t just endanger creators and viewers, it also stifles competition. Smaller web video services that don’t have YouTube’s network effect will become backwaters.
3: Put Viewers at the Center, Not Companies

How do you avoid a world where YouTube is the arbiter of all video content? You do it by centering the video experience around viewers rather than around video hosting companies. That’s not what the venture capitalists want, but blogs aren’t what they wanted either (they wanted web portals).

Putting viewers at the center means giving everyone who wants to watch video a homebase where they can access videos from any hosting service or website. For miscellaneous videos, like the ones that have made YouTube so popular, this means a search engine that gives results from any service and let’s you watch what you find without jumping around from site to site.

For more serious videos– stuff that’s produced by known creators on a regular basis (like a daily or weekly show)– the best homebase is an RSS aggregator. The can be a desktop application (like the one we make) or a web-based aggregator. The important thing is that viewers can pull together video from anywhere on the web.

This separation of hosting services and viewing services is crucial: viewers could care less where the video is hosted, as long as they can watch it. A separation leaves publishers free to choose the hosting service that fits their needs best. If they like the elegant user interfaces of Blip or Vimeo, they go there. If they like the opportunity to earn money with Revver, they go there. If they want to offer ultra-high resolution video, they might host torrents on MoveDigital. Or maybe they want to control their videos even more closely and host them on their own website (as Rocketboom appears to do). With RSS, publishers can be in control.

All that said, I understand why services like Blip have been reluctant to push feeds. Websites are the bread and butter of most internet companies and page views are next to godliness. Promoting your RSS feeds is counter-intuitive: why would you encourage users to leave your website? You should, because small services can’t and won’t beat YouTube and Google and MySpace at the web game. Those companies are too big, too well funded, and have hired too many talented people that will continue to improve their service. You are better off getting your viewers to subscribe to your content while you have them. In this way, video RSS lets hosting services innovate to attract publishers.

This is not strictly an either / or choice. Smaller hosting services and individual video creators can start pushing video RSS while still offering a great user experience on the web. In the long run, however, video RSS will be the key to success for small and mid-sized hosting companies.

Here’s one more way to look at it: most viewers will go to YouTube if they are just looking for something to watch. It makes sense– YouTube has the most stuff. So when you, a video hosting service, do happen to get a viewer on your site (because they followed a blog link or someone emailed them a video) you want to try to keep them connected, even if you don’t expect them to spontaneously come back to your website. Getting them to subscribe to a feed is the best way to do that.
4: How You Can Make the Future of Television Open and Awesome

If you cringe at the thought of online video becoming a ‘walled garden’ like MySpace is or dial-up AOL was and YouTube wants to be, start pushing things in the right direction it.

Viewers: try a video RSS application like Democracy Player or FireANT. Both have BitTorrent support, can show high-resolution video, and have built-in video search. This isn’t just good medicine, it’s honestly the best online video experience you can find.

Creators: no matter where you host your content, encourage your users to subscribe to your video RSS feed. That way, they don’t have to remember to check your website, they’ll get your stuff delivered right to their desktop– you’ve got them for good. Serious video creators need rss because it lets them connect directly with their audience.

Hosting Companies: create RSS feeds for everything (users, tags, popular videos, etc). Put RSS subscribe buttons prominently on every page and explain to your viewers what it means and why they would enjoy watching with a video application.

Advocates: video online has had a 2nd rate reputation with the tech elite. It seems a little trashy and has tended to appeal to the lowest common denominator. But that’s changing. Truly excellent video channels are popping-up. Don’t forget that television is the most important mass medium in our culture– when you talk about open-source, open-standards, Firefox, net-neutrality, xhtml/css, blogosphere and netroots, you should also be talking about video over RSS.

Nicholas Reville is Executive Director of the Participatory Culture Foundation, which makes the Democracy Platform. Contact: nicholas-at-pculture.org. For more, read the Democracy Blog.

What’s nicer than cooking your significant other a wonderful dinner? Serving it with organic baby greens and Gurt’s world famous home-made croûtons that’s what.

I tell ya, this rendering business is for the birds. I have spent a good portion of the last three weeks of my existence finding the best way to compress and process a multitude of files and formats. Needless to say all is not in vain. bagaki.TV seems to be growing, and that is always good. There are TONS of words flying around about new content and programming, which does consequentially mean more encoding and rendering. But, thats something I’m willing to live with.

On an unrelated note, our latest efforts to produce a direct-mail marketing campaign have come to fruition. Start watching your mailboxes next week this week for your package.

Start watching bagaki.TV again for something real nice. We’ve got a lot in the chute, I’ve got Gurtimer working round the clock churning this stuff out. AAAaaaahhhh-haa-haa-haaaaa [evil laugh]

I just wanted to take a quick poll to see how readers of this site would react to a drastic change in the appearance of the blog. We are considering dropping the three column style for something more streamlined. We have been playing with several different designs ranging from slightly different to a completely new site.

We see several flaws with the current layout and would like to address them. We are looking to be more efficient with our design without becoming cluttered or gaudy. We are looking to refine how users browse the site and hope to do so without alienating current readers. Without our loyal reader base, you, we have nothing, and that is something a redesign can’t fix.

THIS JUST IN….

a reliable source tells us that the lovable, funable website kevinsemlak.com has been hacked. This news comes on the cusp of what looked to be a updated version release. A screen cap from the site (shown above) was sent to us through a anonymous email with the following text:

i challenge you to a duet kevinsemlak.com, one you cannot resist.

No more information is available at this time and it appears that the site is still vandalized. As more information becomes available we will be the first to bring it to you.

My sincere respect for the hard working staff at kevinsemlak.com. I can only hope this doesn’t impact their 2.0 launch.

Mr Bagaki
website dictator, sympathizer

We’ve relaunched bagaki.TV, this time with TWO ways to watch. Browse through our videos or channel surf. We’ve added new content, we’re adding more content all the time. Check it out again for the first time.

Click on the image for more info

I am pretty excited about the technology involved with this device. I was just watching Steve Jobs at MacWorld give his presentation of their new technology for the year and this thing is slick. Unfortunately Apple partnered with Cingular to bring the phone to market. I refuse to use Cingular because they are AT&T, and frankly I will not support such a monopolistic evil empire. And the prices are bit steep. (4GB = $499 with 2yr contract, 8GB = $599 with 2yr contract) I guess fashion has its price.

You know what I just noticed this phone is missing is a calendar function, and the ability to sync with my calendaring program. Maybe this is a hidden feature or something not discussed on Apple’s website. Give me full syncing with my calendar and I might be interested. Although what is it like to type on. The keyboard on my blackberry is easy (once you get used to it) so maybe the touchscreen is the same once you get the hang of it.

You know you have reached ultimate fame when you can be found being impersonated on the internet. While we are not sure if this guy is a fan of Michael or is making fun of him, we are sure that this kinda Michael McDonald publicity is always welcome. If it wasn’t for the sweet sounds that flow from his “touched-by-GOD” vocal chords, I don’t know how I would fall asleep at night.

After months of promises and toil bagaki.TV is finally up. You can check out our site and see what we are up to. We have a flashy new logo! Well, we’re working on it. Check for major improvements early 2007! (Including navigation that WORKS)

We are playing with different ad mechanisms and such, but nothing obtrusive or unavoidable. The nice thing is that you can always skip the ad. We are playing with ads at the end of the features too, again making them avoidable. (Although we doubt you are going to want to miss them [wink])

Drop us some feedback, we love to hear what you have on your mind.

During the next few days we hope everyone is safe and careful when they are traveling. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, there are a lot of crazy people all over and on the roads so be careful. The very last thing I want to hear come next week is that one of my cherished readers is no longer with us because s/he got into a knife fight with a kitten, the AIDS kitten, while going to the grocery store for lunch meat.

From everyone here at bagaki.com, we wish you a safe and happy holiday.

Mr Bagaki
Happy About 2006
Even Happier About 2007

In a weird twist of events this past week, Gurt T Luhrman, part-time blogger and self-help enthusiast, was formally charged today with not paying attention to celebrities lives. This stunning news comes just 3 or 5 days after musical bravado Lionel Richie’s daughter Nicole was charged for driving under the influence.

Rail-thin reality TV star Nicole Richie was charged last night with driving under the influence of drugs after she was seen going against traffic on a Southern California freeway, police said.

Now here is what Luhrman said that put him in the hot waters of the blogosphere

Too bad she didn’t go off an overpass! Stupid over-indulgent, silver-spooned American

It was just then that Gurt realized he too was an American, but by then it was too late. The tabloids as well as the blogging community picked up on his comments and suggested he be whipped by a large rubber phallus. The joke is on them. Gurt can take a phallus in the face all day long, its the pistol whippings that make him cower.

In an unfortunate series of events this week, Gurt T Luhrman introduced long time friend and enemy Kevin Semlak to his father Lurl at his upscale condo in Playa del Carmen, Mexico during a week long tour of Mexican nightlife. During their meeting, Kevin was polite and courteous as Gurt hassled his father, commenting on his “sex robe” and adjusting Lurl’s atomic clock. After their acquaintance, Kevin began spouting quips to the fact that Lurl seemed awfully like Chef Boyardee. From the mustache and facial characteristics, to the observation that Lurl lives on nothing but canned and microwavable food, specifically Beefaroni. The jig is up Lurl, I’ve sent the chopper to get you out of there, grab what you need and head for the Hampton’s.