The wines that earn recognition in the Seattle Wine Awards must achieve tasting panel consensus where they earn one of the following awards ~ Double Gold, Gold, Silver and Bronze Grand Awards of Excellence in their respective price/wine categories. The wines that do not receive a Medal of Excellence, earn our Vintner’s Honor ~ Outstanding Washington Wine Award. This means we recognize the Washington wines that are truly outstanding! Our experienced Tasting Panel employs a modified 20-point system to score each wine. Wines are reviewed in flights that reflect the same price and varietal. Each wine is tasted and considered on the following criteria: Color / Aroma / Flavor & Palate / Balance / Finish / Overall Impression.
Creating a “Real-Time” Event
Christopher Chan the Seattle Wine Award’s Executive Director wanted to take the event to the next level and leverage all of the latest technology and social media strategies to differentiate the event from other wine tasting events. I suggested to create a new type of real-time events team and processes to rapidly create a social network and digital content that could spread virally through the network. Within three months of the project we had built a Twitter list that was almost twice as large as the Washington Wine Commission’s Twitter account. This is significant as they have a $6+ million dollar promotional budget and full-time staff.
The Seattle Wine Awards was unique because it was the first wine event that offered participants a complete new media package that included content production from live HD video streaming to professional photography tied to social media syndication. We also assisted with"wiring up” the Washington wine industry by providing the first time anyone has coordinated the industry by helping the wine makers setup their first Twitter accounts and basic social media operations. Without Twitter accounts we could not mention the wine makers in our real-time event conversations. One winemaker was shocked when he received a phone call from a new customer that learned about his wines via a link posted to Twitter.
Digital Brand Infrastructure
The first project was to capture and brand the Seattle Wine Awards off-website properties such as the @wineawards Twitter channel. Each of the web properties were custom branded and customized using search engine optimization techniques. NExt we built the Seattle Wine Awards social media team was to create an out reach program to connect with local wine influencers. The team was made up of people with different levels of technology background and social media experience. First we scanned the social web using a number of analytics tools to identify influential wine bloggers, sommeliers and people active in the Washington wine community. Next we hosted meetings to build our team relationships and structure how the team would operate at the Seattle Wine Awards. We setup the #wineawards official event hashtag to work with the rest of our branded sites like @wineawards on Twitter and branded YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/wineawards .
Web: http://www.seattlewineawards.com/
Twitter: http://www.wineawards.
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/wineawards
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/wineawards
Pre-Event Social Media Campaign
Six weeks before the 2010 Seattle Wine Awards we created three wine tasting tweetups where we released a sneak peek look at a few of the 2010 Seattle Wine Awards Winners. Christopher Chan, the Seattle Wine Awards invited our social media team to pre-taste the top Seattle Wine Award Winners paired with the host restaurants cuisine specialities. This provided a double win by generating buzz for both the Seattle Wine Awards and local area restaurant and their sommelier. This campaign generated a number of re-tweets and social media buzz that generated event ticket sales and even press mentions.
Seattle Wine Awards - On Location Day of Show
Operating a real-time event is an intense endeavor as all systems must function in parallel from coordination of the real-time media studios to making sure the venue’s bandwidth is working under heavy loads. The team we built was first class and this made the event run fairly smoothly considering that we had to shoot photos and videos of 80+ wine makers in a half a day.
Real-Time Photo Studio
For the second year we worked with two of Washington’s leading photographers Richard Brown and Stephen Brashier. Richard and his assistant setup a photo studio complete with branded backdrop in a side room at the event. Then we coordinated wine makers to shoot both personal profile and wine bottle shots. This provided both personal brand building for the wine makers and per bottle branding for each of their award winning wines.
The photos were processed with borders, posted to Flickr and then syndicated across Twitter and Facebook. The wine makers were instructed to leverage the photos on their website and blogs using structured search engine optimization tagging to drive traffic to their ecommerce operations.
Stephen Brasher focused on shooting the event and worked with our social media team to post photos to Flickr, Facebook and Twitter. We backfilled the Press and Bloggers with professional level photography. Photography is the primary digital asset on the social web, thus it is critical to have an A+ photography team to deliver both quality with rapid turnaround.
Search Engine Optimized HD Video Interviews
We setup “Studio A” to shoot 3min wine maker interviews. Wine makers signed up for their interview session and were invited to complementary hair and make up as a way to build their confidence for the video shoots. Each video was shot with multiple camera angles with close up bottle shots and lower thirds, then syndicated using search engine optimization techniques. Over sixty plus videos were produced and provided the wine makers with an additional exposure opportunity to highlight their award winning wines.
Live HD Video Streaming
We setup a live streaming video channel on uStream.TV to create a window on the web for people to peer into the event. This provided the wine makers with an additional channel to reach potential customers live during the event. The videos were also saved and syndicated with search engine optimization techniques. Colin Christianson volunteered his time to help shoot videos along with Greg Young to stream videos. Typically I will pull in smart people to work events “on demand” so we collaborate with gear, technology and ideas.
Mobile Social Media Team - Photos & Tweets
At the event the Seattle Wine Awards social media team used their cellphones to capture images of the wine makers and bottle art. Next, they posted the photos with short tasting notes to Twitter with our official hashtag #wineawards. This created a very quick and efficient mobile method to create and syndicate content at the event.
Portable WiFi Hotspots
Most event venues provide limited internet bandwidth and are not setup for our bandwidth needs. To resolve this issue I created a partnership with Clearwire to sponsor the event’s bandwidth by proving us with the new Clearspots 4G WIFI Modems. Then I instructed our wine blogger / twitter team to pair up and share the Clearspots. This worked well because the Clearspots are portable and were placed in the pockets of each team cluster, thus providing a very portable bandwidth solution.
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The event was sponsored by my friend Paul Martini and BDO http://www.bdo.com a global accounting firm with a first class operation.
]]>Web: http://www.Groupon.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/groupon
Andrew Mason on Twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewmason
Growth: Adding 100 new employees per month!
About: “Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses. We send the deals to thousands of subscribers in our free daily email, and we send the businesses a ton of new customers. That’s the Groupon magic.”
Groupon is one of the super hot internet companies that performed what is known in the industry as a “Pivot” as they changed their core business model when they tested the idea of a group coupon. When the idea stuck they went “all in” and build a billion dollar enterprise in an amazingly short amount of time. Goupon tapped the new viral social media layer of the internet that has exploded in the past four years. One friend with a natural health store posted a Groupon and gained 250+ customers from one deal.
Around the globe the Groupon business model has been knocked off from China to Brazil. Dozen’s of variants are now competing in the same place. Even Facebook and other large sites are creating their own version of hyper-local, coupon + viral social media syndication offerings.
Interview with Andrew Mason, Co-Founder and CEO, Groupon.com
I had the pleasure to meet Groupon’s CEO and Co-founder Andrew Mason at DEMO Fall 2010 in Silicon Valley this past September. The interview starts off a little cold as we were just coming off of lunch and a 24 hour burn operating with minimal sleep, leading DEMO’s social media team.
Later in the interview I get to ask how does a hyper growth CEO maintain sanity while working so many hours under huge pressure? The answer is you do not take vacations or even weekends off as every day off puts you back a day or more. That is the general idea for entrepreneurship - work very hard and compress your work career into an intense time-frame with no time to enjoy live. Then gamble and pray for luck so you have a lucrative exit and may relax in style.
It is amazing that these billion dollar internet deals still take place more than a decade after the internet gold rush in the late 1990’s.
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“The Internet has transformed consumers’ lives and how they experience entertainment, information and brands,” said Randall Rothenberg, President & CEO, IAB. “Marketers have embraced digital media because that’s where they can engage with their consumers. This vibrant, innovative industry is creating jobs and contributing to the growth of the U.S. economy.”
Source: IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report/PwC (http://www.iab.net)
What is Happening?
Traditionally it has been hard for big ad agencies who control massive budgets to efficiently reach mass consumer audiences with simple to execute internet advertising buys. This is because the internet has created a fragmented digital media landscape where the best inventory is sold out and the market is so fragmented it is very time consuming to build a mass market campaign with reach. The market is consolidating as niche blogs such as TechCrunch are being acquired by larger players like AOL making mass media buys easier. In addition, the internet is growing fast in developing nations across multiple devices such as smart phones and new iPad tablet variants.
Media Ad Spent vs. Ad Spend Still out of Whack!
Morgan Stanley’s, Mary Meeker reports today at the Web 2.0 Summit that there is still a large imbalance on Media Time Spent versus Ad Spend for internet versus traditional media. The slide below shows that this is a $50 Billion global opportunity.
The Media Time Spent Shift to Mobile Video is Massive
We are now in the center of a massive paradigm shift from a “dumb phone” world to a “smart multimedia connect phone” world. The new array of smart phones is being driven by Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms. The new phones have bright, HD level, screens that are also growing in size. This is driving a hugh shift to mobile internet video consumption.
Why is this Important & How to Leverage the New Mobile Video Landscape?
This media shift is important because your customer’s attention is shifting to internet and mobile with a large uptake in video consumption. Thus, it is time to take action. Make sure you have both an iPhone and Android phone to “view” your website from the customer’s prospective.
Does your website have easy to view videos on the most important pages such as the main page, services and about us pages?
Note that Apple iPhones do not support Flash Video so it may be wise to leverage YouTube for hosting your videos or other that work on the iPhone. There are a number of video production, syndication, SEO and analytics strategies to employ. I will follow up with a few in future blog posts. Contact me if you need help with your strategy.
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About Washington Technology Industry Association’s TECH NW 2010
Web: http://www.washingtontechnology.org
Event: http://www.washingtontechnology.org/TechNW/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watechnology
Follow: http://www.twitter.com/wtia
TechNW is a meeting of the brightest minds and most innovative technology companies in the Northwest. It is the region’s high profile, must-attend forum for learning, business development, and networking. By fostering intellectual and creative interaction among industry leaders, TechNW provides critical insights into the future of ever-evolving tech sectors, many that originated and continue to thrive right here in our backyard.
A powerhouse of technology innovation, the Northwest attracts entrepreneurs, investors and service providers who are passionate about cutting edge technologies and the new business models they enable. At the hub of the region’s unique entrepreneurial ecosystem, Washington has produced global tech giants in software, web services, gaming, mobile communications and cutting edge devices.
Here is a video playlist from the event:
Guests in this playlist:
Robert Wachter, WTIA Marketing & Communications Manager | Ed Kimm Wowrack | Gary S. Flood, CEO ReliOn | Rob Adams, leader of Cisco’s Corporate Development Group | David Giuliani CEO and Co-Founder, Pacific Bioscience Laboratories
A few highlight videos from the playlist:
Alex Tokman - CEO, Microvision | WTIA TECHNW
Interview with Rob Adams, leader of Cisco’s Corporate Development Group, Discussing M&A
X-Prize Challenge Gas Electric Car Winner from Western Washington University
X Prize Electric Gas Car Winner from Western Washington University
Mobile Technology
Cutting Edge Consumer Devices
Cloud Computing
Consumer Internet
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BlackRapid.com - Photography Camera Slings with Smart Design
Twitter: @BlackRapid / @StudioRNews
Facebook: BlackRapid / StudioRNews
Web: http://www.BlackRapid.com / http://www.StudioRNews.com
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TedxSeattle Discussion
February, 5th, 5:30pm-8pm
Rat and Raven (http://www.ratandraven.com), University District.
5260 University Way NE Seattle, WA 98105 - 206 524 3166
Complementary, No Registration Required.
Street parking up there on the Ave is free and available at that time. Happy hour specials include $2 off the entire menu (bar food, mostly standard with some twists); $3 wells, $3 domestic drafts and $4 imports (and $2 PBR if that is to your taste). We have reserved the *upstairs deck* (covered year-round and heated.
As part of this discussion, I will present ideas for filming, streaming and live synthing the event using an integrated internet dashboard approach. We will be looking for student volunteers to learn about this approach and work on the TEDxSeattle event. If all goes well, we will pitch this work to the main TED based on our efforts here. This presentation will go on around 6:00pm .
About TED - Technology, Entertainment, Design.
We are building the TEDxSeattle New Media Team working with UW MCDM faculty, students and the public to create a real-time events system. Join us to learn more and visit http://www.ted.com and http://www.tedxseattle.com to better understand the history and philosophy of TED - Technology, Entertainment & Design.
About Real-Time Event Synthing
At the TedxSeattle event I will host a short demo and brainstorming session focused on what I have coined “Real-Time Event Synthing”. Click here to launch a very basic demo with an internet dashboard that is pulling information about keyword “Tim Reha” across Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube Videos, Photos and even a click-to-call Skype channel.
Today, we are in a hyper-convergence point where a number of innovations are taking place from HD video chipsets that encode H.264 video in real-time to new consumer media consumption devices such as Apple’s iPad. These converging technologies and social adoption will drive the future of real-time events production.
In the past, events were typically one-to-many communicaiton affairs with a finite group of people who fit into a conference center. I always thought this was odd because there could be 100,000 people interested in an event’s topic that can only host 250 guests because of a finite space. Events in the past have also typically one-way without a coordinated back-channel for information from the event guests. With the advent of Twitter’s webservices and integration with uStream.TV we now have an effective internet global broadcast system and backchannel communication system that is in the form of an RSS feed. Lastly, events in the past were not captured or streamed live in HD due to limited broadband penetration and video streaming web services.
Over the years I have worked at or attended major events from the Future in Review to my own Venture All Stars events. I have always thought the “note taking” process at the event was archaic and not very “social” tapping the greater knowledge of the group. The idea of group notes and automated artificial intelligent internet spiders / robots seemed like a next step in event production innovation.
Imagine you are at an event with your laptop and a new iPad tablet. On the tablet you have the real-time TEDxSeattle event dashboard with different tabs that correspond to each speaker and section of the event. This provides you with multimedia content, social media conversations and deep information across hundreds of real-time information sources. It is like a real-time, continually updated multimedia notebook for an event.
A real-time time event synthing team that works like “real-time multimedia disc jockeys” (RTDJs) to build data feeds, annotate websites, setup new event data tabs and more. Much of the event information is synthesized into the dashboard in advance of an event. Then during the event, the team focuses on adding new data gleaned from audience questions, speaker points via annotated screen captures, tagging live photo streams and more.
Every participant both in the room and viewing remotely via internet teleconference is also part of the real-time event synthing team. We leverage the use of unique hashtags such as #TEDxSeattle to create search queries across web services. Guests are instructed to “tag” their photos, videos, Tweets and other information using the official hashtag. Then our real-time events team is able to pull the tagged information and post it to the real-time event dashboard.
The big is idea is that a huge amount of data and back channel “social” content is purified, tagged, categorized and pulled to the dashboard and updated in real-time. After the event participants will view a continued thread of multimedia information related to the event and further social media conversations.
Background
I am an old-school DJ and music remix artist that also live video djs “VJs” to create a combined audio and visual performance. In addition, I help as a catalyst for the Northwest Audiovisualists Group (NWAV) where we share ideas for live multimedia performances by leveraging creativity and technology.
The act of mixing multiple multimedia sources in real-time is where my core DNA and inspiration for “event synthing” comes from.
For my Venture All Stars events, the objective was to leverage media in new ways to highlight our Venture All Star companies, members and sponsors. In 2004, I rented the Chateau Ste Michelle winery for our NASDAQ sponsored awards event. At this time Podcasting was emerging, so we setup a “radio style” recording studio at one area of the event. Our CEO’s and sponsors loved to have the chance to tell their stories. Then I worked with a partner Eyeplay.TV to build the Venture All Stars TV studio in the Chateau Ste Michele’s Barrel Room. Lastly, we hired a professional photographer to capture hundreds of high quality photos. The big idea here was to capture all types of rich media—videos, photos and audio podcasts and then distributed the media via our website, email newsleter and blog. The rich media also was turned into our sponsorship package for the next year’s event.
In 2007 I worked as the new media advisor for the Future in Review known as “FiRE” a top technology conference. For the Future in Review I setup an array of social media and web service accounts for everything from photos to live uStream.TV video streaming. My task was also to create Future in Review TV our own private label media channel recorded at the event.
At the IABC’s 2009 Social Media / Web 2.0 Summit I had the pleasure to work with the event organizer to setup a number of social media accounts, live stream channel and on-site video studio. We created an event instruction sheet to coordinate guests to tag their event posts on Twitter, etc. using a hashtag #iabcseattle . This event was good test to use “social media tagging” that is fundamental to event synthing.
Last year at Searchfest 2009, Oregon, I observed Amber Case, known as “caseorganic” using Skitch to annotate website screen captures. She was also using Yahoo Pipes in concert with Netvibes dasboards to create and view “purified” data feeds. I have played around with Yahoo Pipes and Netvibes before but not in the hyper-fast fluid manner that Amber was rocking the keyboard. She literally had worn out the paint on her Macbook.
At the 2009 Seattle Wine Awards, I set up the real-time events team with live video stream, HD video recording studio, Twitter team, Bloggers / Press, social media accounts, Netvibes Dashboard, Yahoo Pipes and more. I set up a real-time media room at Seattle’s historic Rainier club where the event was hosted.
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This month we hosted the NW Audiovisualist’s (NWAV.org) monthly event in Portland, Oregon to highlight creativity and technology. Below is a summary of the event to spark new ideas that tie into the above notions social + real-time intereractive media.
I believe that we are in a massive cycle of convergence that will re-create the notion of “social media”. Today, social media is more about “social” than “media” because the media production tools are still somewhat fragmented, expensive and hard to integrate quickly. This next year we will see this rapidly change with the launch of the Apple iPad and downward pricing pressure on multimedia laptops, Pico Projectors, HD video cameras and other converging technologies.
Soon we will start to see collaborative music and media production across social networks in real-time. WiMAX wireless broadband penetration and increased broadband over cable and fiber will add velocity to the new “social + digital interactive media” convergence. Multi-Touch screens, computer vision, gestural inputs via FLIR thermal sensors and other sensors will collide to create new interactive media experiences. These technologies will then enable a new level “Augmented Reality” experiences that will merge the digital world with the real world and create a new generation of business models.
Visit http://www.modestudios.com/#/home and click the bottom right link “Interactive Installations” to better understand what is possible today.
Northwest Audiovisualist’s, January 2010 Portland Event - Multi-touch Extravaganza Meetup
NWAV.org is a group working to perpetuate a grass-roots movement that educates and inspires a new wave of synergy across computer, music and visual technology. Currently, we are connecting the NW new media and audio-visualist community from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver B.C. .
Visit: http://www.nwav.org for events and information
Follow: http://www.twitter.com/nwav
Friend up: Facebook Fan Page
NWAV Event Photos
Second Story Installations
Thomas Wester from Second Story will share details on how they built the Market Data Mirrors using OpenGL and the Body Collective using VVVV.
“Integrated into the architecture of the Bank of America Tower trade floor elevator bank, the Market Data Mirrors interact with live data feeds and visualize financial information on a mirrored surface. These dynamic 3-D visualizations bring form, color, and motion to live market data in an intelligent and elegant manner, allowing viewers to quickly grasp current data and market trends over time. The different data sets—indexes, commodities, rates, and currencies—are realized in colorful patterns and shapes on different planes, each taking their turn on the stage communicating their value, volume, and historical trajectory.”
Christian Bannister Demonstrated his Multi-Touch Sound Storm AV Cutup System Subcycle Labs
Chris demonstrated his multitouch audio cutup system. As you will see in the videos and photos below the system looks space-age and demonstrates what is possible by blending various technologies together to create a new concept in audio visual music synthesis.
multi-touch the storm - interactive sound visuals - subcycle labs from christian bannister on Vimeo.
This type of experimentation is a great way to explore new paradigm shifting “experiences” that merge music production and visual synthesis. I am sure that if you put a traditional piano and Christian’s Multi-Touch system next to each other in a mall, that 99.9% of the people would gravitate to the multi-touch system. I can imagine tying this system to a performance recording system that then syndicates across the social sphere.
We have yet to even “scratch the surface” of what people will create with the new Apple iPad using multi-touch audio and visuals. The business implications are global and may re-shape how music is created in the future. Now you see that the NWAV.org group is not a bunch of “ravers” playing with electronic music and visuals. The group is made up of cutting edge experts, creatives, musicians and visualists who are working to spread knowledge how to merge technology with creativity.
Brandon Thompson aka Middleman
Brandon demoed a few a songs and answered questions on building and running a one-man show. In his demonstration we watch both music and audio working in sync to create a new performance experience. This is the future of real “music television” or “music videos” because CPU and GPU speeds allow us to mix music and visuals in parallel.
The experience as a performer and spectator is a whole lot more exciting and fun when our eyes are connected to our ears. This is why huge global acts like U2 and Nine Inch Nails merge the two mediums at rock concerts.
Brandon’s system leverages - Ableton Live, VDMX, Quartz Composer, Molar and a Monome music interface.
NWAV Seattle Events History
In 2007 I hosted the first “New Media Synergy” underground media event at my loft space in Pioneer Square. The idea was to create a non-corporate type of technology gathering that explores new media technology. From my standpoint most of the best new technology ideas bubble up from the underground, thus Seattle was in need of a place to gather without the typical business crowd mix where everyone is trying to sell you something.
The next year in 2008 I connected with Bryant Place via the multi-touch music interface company called Jazz Mutant, famous for their space-age looking Lemur touch-interface product. Bands such as Daft Punk use the Lemur for live music shows because of it’s progressive multi-touch design. A few month’s later, Bryant connected me up with Surya Buchwald, known for is creation of Los Angeles Audio Visualists group (LAVA). Surya moved to Portland, Oregon, and started NWAV to bring LAVA style networking and events to the Northwest region. Shortly after his move to Portland, we connected online and then collaborated to create the first Seattle NWAV event (and follow up events) with a number of video dj “VJ” friends in Seattle like T.J. Davis, Scobot, Bob Bonniol, Jacob Stone among others. This is how our NWAV Seattle group started as a grass roots effort. I want to add that Surya Buchwald is one of the most down to earth and nicest people I have ever met. He is very open and shares his technology, ideas and secrets.
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Electric transportation is moving rapidly into the future with new battery technology moving forward quickly. This year it was time to investigate the latest in “Electric Motorcycle Technology”, so I contacted Brammo, an Ashland, Oregon based company. A few years ago I was in contact with Brammo’s CEO/Chairman Craig Bramscher, whom I recall was the U.S.A. importer for a very fast sports car called the Ariel Atom that does 0-60 in 2.3 seconds. At the time Craig said he had something in development but could not tell me what it was at the time. I always wondered what he had in the lab?
This past weekend I finally found out what Craig had “in the lab”—the Brammo Enertia Electric Motorcycle. My buddy Dave Lipshin and contacted Dave Murray, the Portland based technician for Brammo Inc. Dave said to meet us at the Best Buy just outside of Portland where the Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle is for sale today! You may think it is odd to sell a $7,995.00 electric motorcycle at Best Buy, but as Dave Murray explained “this is more like a laptop than a gas powered motorcycle”.
We the filled out paperwork to test ride the Brammo Enertia, deemed to be the first production electric motorcycle made right here in the U.S.A. . I am really excited about the electric transportation industry and for startups who are making products right here in the U.S.A. If we put a few billon dollars into innovative startups like Brammo, instead of into (enter your favorite government waste program here) then we would create a sustainable industry and new jobs.
Brammo Electric Motorcycle Video Time Codes:
0:00-2:00 - Questions about the Brammo Enertia Electric Motorcycle
2:00-4:00 - Brammo Enertia Battery Technology Information
4:00-6:00 - Pre-Ride Brammo Enertia Motorcycle Operation Overview
6:00-9:48 - Brammo Enertia Test Ride and First Impressions
Brammo Enertia Electric Motorcycle Overview
Web: http://www.brammo.com
Tweets: http://www.twitter.com/Brammosays
Facebook: Friend up Brammo on Facebook
Specs: http://www.brammo.com/learn/#specifications
Environmental: http://www.brammo.com/green/
General information from the Brammo Website:
“The beginning to be environmentally friendly. At just $7,995 the Enertia makes it easy to save money and the environment. Here are some of the ways that BRAMMO and the Enertia keep the world clean:
- 100% electrical motor; no gasoline, motor oil, or other petrochemicals
- Manufactured in the United States with 100% clean energy
- Uses recycled materials in many components
- Production requires less than 10% of the material resources needed for an average car
- The Enertia powercycle can be recycled
-The Enertia’s Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are very safe and do not contain any heavy metals
- The Enertia’s batteries can be recycled for many other uses
- BRAMMO is a 100% clean technology company
Tim Reha’s Notes:
A number of my friends try to compare electric motorcycles to gas motorcycles and seem not to “get” what the mission of these electric vehicles are all about.
This is a commuter electric motorcycle to get you from Point A to Point B safely, at low cost, with low maintenance. Males tend to want to whip out their private parts and puff out their chests when discussing technology and vehicles. Most in-city commutes are less than 40 miles per day, much less in fact. Thus, the Brammo Enertia fits within the acceptable commuter sweet spot. The Brammo Enertia, from my first impression, was designed for quality and safety. The build, fit and finish are rock solid, actually even better than I expected. Even better—this electric motorcycle is surprisingly quick and performs in the rain like a champ. I like the idea of not having to warm up a motorcycle and pray that it starts in the morning - problems I have always had with other gas motorcycles.
I have owned dirt bikes and street bikes for over 25 years and enjoyed the cafe-racer design with some feel of a motorcross-turned street bike. Support these entrepreneurial efforts as they are the only way we will get the U.S.A. back on track. When I say this I mean, give companies like Brammo your feed back and have an open mind to the new electric vehicles. They are a lot of fun, quite, recyclable, low operational cost and low maintenance. In the next decade we will see nano-technology increase the power to size ratio for batteries. Thus, the cost and range of electric motorcycles will drastically improve. Today, you have the chance to own a totally viable commuter motorcycle that is fun for a decent price if you look at the overall cost of ownership, fuel and maintenance picture. Do yourself a favor and contact Brammo for a test ride to see the future for yourself today.
A special thank you to Dave Murray our knowledgeable and fun Brammo Portland technician. We had a lot of fun!
Please comment below if you want to have Brammo setup a Test Ride Day here in Seattle in February or March 2010. I will contact them and put together an event if you put an effort to spread the word and invite your friends.
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This year I caught back up with John as he was the host for the WTIA 2010 Predictions event (I produce WTIA TV). A few weeks later at the DEMO Innovation Meet-up in Seattle, John and I decided to shot an impromptu video interview with VC and angel investor guests. Since we both travel in the same circles John invited me to collaborate to shoot TechFlash’s 1st Anniversary Party and Trival Challenge.
For the project, it was clear that TechFlash needed a birthday gift. I created a new “corporate imaging package for TechFlash that included custom branded motion graphics package with sound effects. This was used for the intros and outtros for each video. At the event Colin Christianson and I setup both a live stream and HD video studio used to interview guests at the even to tell their stories and the 2010 Outlook.
TechFlash HDTV Videos
2009 TechFlash Holiday Party & Birthday Bash
TechFlash at 2009 DEMO Innovation Meetup
TechFlash TV Corporate Imaging Production
Custom motion graphics and sound effect complement the TechFlash brand image and are used as digital building blocks to create TechFlash HDTV shows.
TechFlash TV Live Streams
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I had a great time working with John Cook to create HD Video for the DEMO Innovation Meetup in Seattle. Here is the video.
John Cook from Tech Flash interviews Andy Sack, Founder’s Co-op and Bill McAleer: Managing Director, Voyager Capital at the 2009 DEMO Innovation Seattle Meetup.
The DEMO Experience: http://www.demo.com
DEMO Conference Format: The feel you get when you enter the ballroom at DEMO is unlike any other conference. Each company is given just six minutes on the DEMO stage to truly demonstrate how their product will change the world. No PowerPoint or flashy corporate presentations allowed. Just the founders and the technologies many are staking their careers on it doesnt get any more straightforward and fast paced than that.
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The event speakers include: John Cook, TechFlash / Puget Sound Business Journal, Bill Bryant, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Glenn Kellman, President & CEO, Redfin, Kelly Smith, Founding Partner, Curious Office, Greg Gottesman Managing Director, Madrona Venture Group.
The guest VC’s were asked “How would you invest $2 million in one company next year in 2010?
Interview with Cliff Monlux, Founder and Managing Partner, Ramp Equity Partners, LLC.
Cliff Monlux, Ramp Equity Partners, LLC Founder and Managing Partner has had over 25 years experience founding, growing, and selling market leading technology companies. His experience covers private, venture backed and public companies across a broad spectrum of software, Internet, and new media. Most recently he was a founder of Paradigm Technology Partners, a corporate development and M&A consulting firm. His clients include companies in markets from enterprise software to media technologies including: Docusign, eNom, Demand Media, and PassAlong Networks. In 2006 Cliff was involved in 5 M&A and financing events valued at over $140,000,000, including the launch of Demand Media with former MySpace CEO Richard Rosenblatt.
Photos from the event
Blog posts covering the event
Todd Bishop, TechFlash Blog - Predictions 2010: The future of Twitter, Google, everything else
Brier Dudley’s Blog - WTIA predictions for 2010: Twitter bashing, Google at $720, MSFT to $40
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According to the recent Forrester Research Report “The Forrester Wave™: US Online Video Platforms, Q4 2009 “, It is predicted that by 2013 the number of video streams will double. Today, 71% of the US online audience watches video on the Internet.
Update: 84.4% of U.S. Internet users watched at least one online video in October and the average person watched 10.8 hours of video
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world with Google Sites surpassing 10 Billion Video Views in August. TEN BILLION VIDEO VIEWS!
Update: Comscore announces nearly 28B Videos Viewed in October!
YouTube just a few weeks ago announced that full 1080P HD video uploads will be available on the service shortly. Think about that, a full HD 1080P video, hosted for free on YouTube. This points to convergence between your home’s HDTV and online video is about to reach a major inflection point.
Other notable findings from August 2009 include:
- The top video ad networks in terms of their actual delivered reach were: Tremor Media Video Network (19.5 percent penetration of all online video viewers), BrightRoll Video Network (16.2 percent penetration), and BroadbandEnterprises.com (14.8 percent penetration).
- 81.6 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
- The average online video viewer watched 582 minutes of video, or 9.7 hours.
- 120.5 million viewers watched nearly 10 billion videos on YouTube.com (82.6 videos per viewer).
- 44.9 million viewers watched 340 million videos on MySpace.com (7.6 videos per viewer).
- The average Hulu viewer watched 12.7 videos, totaling 1 hour and 17 minutes of videos per viewer.
- The duration of the average online video was 3.7 minutes.
Social Media Video
The rise of social media has created an additional channel for direct to consumer video syndication. Often videos are “re-tweeted” on Twitter and “Liked” on Facebook providing for additional viral spread for online videos across the social networks. Facebook has quickly become the 3rd largest video distribution platform and offers HD 720P video hosting for free. Many smart marketers are creating video centric Facebook Pages tied to direct response offers, contests and other direct-to-consumer communications that drive sales and brand loyalty.
“Time spent viewing video on social networking sites increased 98 percent year-over-year, from 503.8 million minutes in October 2008 to 999.4 million minutes in October 2009, according to Nielsen. In conjunction, the number of online video streams viewed on social networking and blog sites increased 45 percent year-over-year, from 240.8 million streams in October 2008 to 349.5 million in October 2009.”
Mobile Video
New mobile devices like the iPhone and 3G data services expand the video reach to mobile devices. A properly formatted short video loaded to an iPhone is a great networking tool to better describe “what you do” when you meet new contacts at events. I tested a fashion show video on a mobile device a years ago and both men and women in my test group loved to watch the videos on the mobile device. Mobile screen resolutions and fast graphics processing units (GPU’s) on mobile devices are raplidly turning smart phones into portable 1080P VCRs that may connect directly to your TV.
Internet Video in the Home
Intel has developed HD WiFi HDMI chips that are being used to create a wireless video mesh network in the home and office. This means that in the near future most TVs will be native HD WiFi enabled, thus eliminating the need to hard-wire your TV sets to connect to HD over broadband services such a Hulu and YouTube HD channels. Bit Torrents for video files already surpass audio files and companies like Boxee provide a “new way to enjoy entertainment on your TV and PC”.
Streaming Video
The Nielsen Company reported on September 15, 2009 that overall online video year-over-year, unique viewers, total streams, streams per viewer and time per viewer were up, led by a 41 percent growth in total streams.
Video streaming services such as uStream.tv and LiveStream offer both free and premium offerings. Video streaming is a super method to reach new customers anywhere in the world where there is a broadband connection. Many smart companies are extending the reach for their business events my merging live streaming with social media communications to serve as a back channel. Both uStream and Live Stream integrate Twitter and Facebook into their interfaces creating a back-channel for two way communication. Thus, video has changed from a one-way communication medium into a two-way communication medium when packaged with social media chat.
The main problem we face today with streaming is proper bandwidth at event facilities such as hotels. Often they charge an outrageous rate for a dedicated broadband connection. Livestream has innovated by creating a streaming backpack module that has a number of wireless modems that connect to a “brain” that fits in a small backpack. They featured this technology at New York Fashion Week. New compression techniques and the rise of broadband technology will eliminate the current bottle necks for live streaming. In fact, mobile phones today can live stream using Qik.
Often I will live stream events using uStream and use the system’s recording feature to save the video to on-demand. Their API also connects to YouTube, thus you may stream video live and then save to both uStream and YouTube.
Video SEO
All major search engines from Google to Bing feature video search and also highlight videos in their main indexes. This further compounds the value of video and creates additional touch points to reach audiences off of your main website.
New Video Technology & Platforms
Companies like Ooyala founded by ex-Google employees, have developed and end-to-end offering that has advanced monetization and analytics tools. These include new video capabilities such as clickable video regions tied to metadata that will add a new paradigm to ecommerce shopping online. TubeMogul provides a video syndication system for consumer focused video syndication sites like YouTube and Vimeo, complete with analytics.
Video Analytics
Ooyala, Brightcove and WISTA among others including YouTube now provide various data points to measure video consumption, embeds and even geo-targeting data by region. On the high-end, Autonomy’s Virage technology eliminates the traditionally manual and costly operations to process and analyze information by performing these functions automatically and in real-time. Currently, most video platforms have manual entry for adding meta-data, a time consuming but required process.
Video Analytics allow you to measure and optimize both video production and video syndication. We already know that short 1-3min videos work best because people have short attention spans. But this is quickly changing as people now watch longer form video if the content is engaging and distributed at night after dinner when people are in the comfort of their own homes.
Corporate Video
Video is a perfect medium for training and education for internal employees, partners and clients. Complex information is often better communicated by mixing video with motion graphics than with text. Seattle’s F5 Networks has created a YouTube and partner channel called “Dev Central” http://devcentral.f5.com/ that features both video and audio podcasts. F5’s Technical Marketing Manager, Peter Silva, has created an entire community around F5 products and services by leveraging new media and collaboration. Thus, there are as many benefits to create videos for internal communications as there are for direct to consumer video strategies.
Private Label Media and Video
Major brands such as Red Bull have embraced the notion of private label media and basically create their own internet TV channels tied to branded events as a way to reach their customers around the globe. Companies today have the power to become the media as consumers are comfortable with brands becoming a reliable source of information and entertainment.
In fact, Red Bull creates so much private label media video that they sell it to other marketers who need footage for commercials and online media projects. Just look at the integration of video into the Red Bull USA website and you will see that video and rich media are pervasive and penetrate across sports, music and entertainment.
Red Bull even pushes video further in their “augmented reality” powered the Red Bull Bulletin Magazine. Articles with augmented reality markers are held up to your computer’s web camera. Then the augmented reality system maps videos to areas on the magazine. The magazine is available as a printable PDF, thus Red Bull leverages broadband to deliver both a print magazine and HD web videos.
Private label media is also a smart play for non-consumer brands with less than visually compelling topics.
Booz and Company just released a smart new white paper entitled “The Promise of Private label Media” which is worth reading if you are charged with your companies sales and marketing strategy.
Corporate Video Production Studios
I predict that we will see the rise in corporate video and audio production studios for mid-size companies because the price points for gear and ROI are now in the sweet spot. I created a short list of gear needed to create quality HD Video studio. The costs range from $5K to $10K depending on how many camera angels you want. This is a very small price to pay when you look at a company’s overall marketing budget, training and internal communications budget.
What gear and staff is required for a corporate video production studio?
- Mac or PC Tower
- Video Editing Software like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premier
- Video Capture Cards
- One or Two HD Video Cameras
- H.264 Compression Card
- Video Mixer (optional for two camera angles)
- Three Point Video Light System
- Wireless Microphones
- Backdrop
Internal video production is a time consuming process that is quickly being streamlined using new technology. For example, Matrox has a new video compression card that will take a 5min HD video rendering time from 2+ hours down to 5 minutes. The current missing link is inexpensive HD Video Mixers. Currently HD video mixers that switch between two cameras and add logos and titles cost around $10K. There are other “gap” solutions such as running two Black Magic Intensity cards in a Mac Pro Tower but these are currently no optimal.
A smart way to start to develop your video strategy is to use an outsourced video production company to help you produce content. Set up a video shoot day and record a series of short format web videos to maximized your ROI.
Summary
The above technology, consumer uptake and statistics plainly reveal that all companies need a video strategy. It is time to build your video strategy and use rapid iterations to learn what works and how to best engage your audience. If you do not make the move today then you increase your risk profile every day as your competitors move quickly a head using one of the most powerful communications mediums of all time.
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About Tim Jenkins
Tim co-founded Point B in 1995. He has worked on a wide spectrum of projects for clients in numerous industries, including telecommunications, distribution, healthcare and insurance. Today, Tim provides overall direction to the development of Point B’s people, culture and brand. His earlier career included serving as director of information technology for Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center (Seattle) and as a manager at Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) in its Seattle office. Tim holds a BA in Economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Washington and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Chicago. He loves to spend his free time skiing with his family and coaching youth sports.
About Point B
Point B consultants are entirely dedicated to our clients’ success through the power of project leadership. Since the firm was founded in 1995, we’ve created a culture that attracts the best and brightest project leaders with proven track records—then gives them the resources and support to do what they do best: get business results for our clients. Point B consultants are based in Seattle, Portland, Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. From aggressive start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, clients choose Point B for our ability to step into any level or role in a mission-critical project and lead it to success.
Point B Articles:
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