I find this interesting...

Courtesy the Economist

We have a long way to go...

Boys And Girls Club of Central Oregon

We finished this yesterday to be used at this mornings breakfast. If you haven't heard they have been in a bit of a financial crunch of late. This is an extremely valuable part of our community and we support their efforts.

The HD/SD Dilema- Can it get more confusing.

Do you produce in HD?

A question I think I have had once. I said yes because if we have to deliver in HD I will and can. We do not have an HD camera, but there are plenty of people I know that do. The dilemma is that as I am walking the floor of NAB there is no clear direction for HD. The manufacturers have their flavors and then you have to figure out which flavor you like.

I was at one of those manufacturers parties last night and got the opportunity to sit next to a DP (Director of Photography) who shoots for Dateline, 60 Minutes, and CNN. His dilemma is that each of his clients, the networks, are asking for different flavors also. One of the clients even said that they would only accept packages shot on one of the most expensive solutions out there. Needless to say he is not liking the option of having to have different cameras for each of the flavors.

In Bend we are greeted with a different dilemma. As I wright this I believe that neither of the HD stations, KTVZ or KOHD, do not offer HD playback of content i.e. commercials other than news. I know that they say they are HD, but that is only during their news and the packages that play back during those.

So what are we to do. We will support HD production because it is the next step, but most of the projects we do will not be delivered in HD because the only way is through brodcast or on blueray. With broadcast it does not exist currently in our market and there are not enough blueray players right now.

What can you get for free?

Chris Anderson has a great comment on his blog this morning regarding free. He talks about the Oprah touch on Suze Orman's "Women & Money". Oprah announced this last week that people should go check out the free download. Well a lot of people did. Did sales suffer? Nope. In fact Chris was able to graph the sales that came out of it on Amazon and it looks like it is now the #1 seller. As Chris says Oprah + Free = Blockbuster. I would agree. So what can I give away for free?

Facebook

So something happened the other day. I actually clicked on an ad inside of Facebook. The ad took me to Jack Myers dot com. Why would I post this. Well this is actually the first time I have clicked on a link and taken action. I have not purchased a product, but instead have added it to my news feeds. Today this story came across. What is interesting about this is how production has changed and also it shows how important product placement is for advertising. Give it a read it is pretty quick.

What we all should strive for!

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Our new promotional page...

So we are now on Facebook. Come check out our new page and become one of our fans.

Fear

Fear is standing in your own way.
Fear is not allowing yourself to be successful.
Fear is not willing to take the next step.
Fear is not willing to hang on for a wild ride.

I am done with fear!

Think I Posted This Before but...

I think it should be repeated. Marketing has changed and this shows how it has.

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Event Tomorrow

So we are helping produce this event tomorrow. Check out the press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 4, 2007

CONTACT: Beverly Lucas, Bend Bike N Sport, 322-8814,
beverly@bendbikensport.com

TOP PROFESSIONAL CYCLISTS CONVERGE ON TOWER THEATRE FOR “TRAIL TO TOUR” PANEL DISCUSSION ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21
Event benefits Central Oregon Velo Youth Development Program, which helps introduce the region’s youth to cycling programs and benefits

(BEND, Ore.)—They spend the majority of the year traveling across the country and around the globe for bike races, but for similar reasons they all choose to call Bend home. And now, Bendites have a rare opportunity to hear firsthand what motivates these elite riders to compete, what they do to maintain top form, what their plans are for 2008 and why they choose to live and train in Bend.

Scheduled for Friday, December 21 at 7pm at the Tower Theatre, the “Trail to Tour” event features an informal talk show panel discussion with some of cycling’s biggest names who also happen to be Bend residents, including Chris Horner, Carl Decker, Adam Craig, Chrissy Ruitter and Megan Elliott. The panel will be moderated by Anthony McCrossan, head commentator for the internationally-renown London-based Cycling TV, the world’s largest broadband cycling television company who will simulcast the event globally on www.cycling.tv.

Admission to the “Trail to Tour” event is $10 for adults and $5 for kids age 12 and under, with proceeds benefiting Central Oregon Velo’s Youth Development Program. Doors open at 6pm, and the forum begins at 7pm. Admission includes a complimentary beer for attendees age 21 and over courtesy of Bend Brewing Company, or a complimentary soda. Tickets can be purchased at the Tower Theater box office, online at www.towertheatre.org, or at Bend Bike N Sport.

Admission also includes a chance to win a number of door prizes, including a cruiser bike courtesy of Felt Bicycles, autographed cycling jerseys, equipment and apparel.

The “Trail to Tour” panel discussion is presented by Central Oregon Velo, Bend Bike N Sport, Racecenter Northwest, the Bend Visitor & Convention Bureau, Bend Memorial Clinic, Lowes Commercial Properties and Cycling TV. For more information visit www.bendbikensport.com or call 322-8814.


We are producing the simulcast. Will post the link when they have it. Nice international event.

Do you like Google Maps for Mobile?

So you must check this out!



I just installed this and I am really going to enjoy this!

AVID... Why do we care

So this came across in onve of my news feed today (Click on the title if you want to read the entire press release).

Avid Announces Major Shift in 2008 Strategy in Response to Customer Feedback

The press release goes on to say that they will be refocusing with the direct result being their customers. They also stated that they will NOT have a NAB booth. Now I know this bores a few of my readers, but I think it is interesting to note that they have chosen to not have a booth. While I am sure this is expensive the last time I was at NAB there were a lot of people around the booth and I think that there will be a few potential clients deciding on going the Final Cut or Premiere route. Also of interest is the focus on the customer.

Customer focus is where we should all be. Focus on what your clients think and need. Can you provide it then provide it otherwise move on and suggest someone that can do it for them.

What are your thoughts on this?

A great picture

I am really liking this one! Excellent look from Lance Hardy Photography. This was taken this weekend at the Central Oregon Women's Expo. Thanks Lance!

Uh OH!!!!!!!!

You ever wonder what would happen if you lost your hard drive? Well last night as I was geeking out and installing my software for my new slingbox I got the spinning wait wheel on my Mac. This has happened from time to time and I waited, and waited. I tried to force quit an could not. Well no worries just power off and everything should be good. Turned back on and was greeted with a horrible clicking noise. I waited and was greeted with a screen that had a folder with a question mark in it. Huh?! Well after doing a few other things there is a strong belief that the drive may be dead. Yes dead. It will be going to the local authorized dealer here in town in the AM in hopes that the Apple Care I purchased will take care of it I hope, but my thoughts are that everything on the drive is now gone. So the message to the masses, always back up. I believe that I will recover fairly quickly as most of my project files are stored on externals. Maybe it is time to upgrade to Leapord and make sure I always am upgrading.

Early adopter pains?

Okay a better title probably should have been my struggles with T-Mobile since last Friday, but in fairness to them I am going to give them a chance. The problem since Friday has been repeated all circuits are busy errors on our phones. I say all because we have a total of 5 lines with them. Yes we pay a small fortune as 2 of them have full service including BlackBerry Enterprise. The phone staff has been courteous and I have now filed 2 trouble tickets with them. Last nights tech stated to me "well it sounds like we just don't have capacity" and this really got me going. What do I pay for? Is T-Mobile really at capacity here in Bend? Wouldn't you think that they may have seen this coming in one of the fastest growing cities in Oregon? Okay my rant is done for now...

To blog or not to blog....

Well we are frantically working on the final details of BendFilm which is this coming weekend. Al things look good for another great festival. In addition we are preparing a very special edition on Let's Make a Space to premiere this week. In this edition it is a competition to be Central Oregon's Next Design star. What is exciting about this is in one day we shot 5 designers going to a total of 7 locations. This was don in conjunction with Central Oregon Cable Advertising and some videographers from there. look for a sampling in the coming days.

Hanging on for dear life...

So as I notice the posts growing fewer and fewer between. I have come to realize that it is a reflection of how much production we are doing. I am excited, but at the same time it is hard to keep up. We are right at that spot where we really should hire someone, but at the same time maybe I can do it all. Tough spot.

Few more thoughts:
So on Sunday I celebrate my one year with the most incredible woman. She is truly my world and keeps the business as well as our lives pushing forward. With out her I really don't believe we would have gone through the growth that we have in the past year.

Let's Make a Space:
Have you seen it? What are your thoughts? I am looking for some people that have seen it and can give me their opinion. Look for a couple of more shows in the next few weeks being posted.

Here it is!

Here is the first Let's Make a Space show!

Okay I love it when us geeks poke fun a ourselves.

Unicel to be purchased

So it would look like a bit of consolidation is happening for us here in Bend in regards to Unicel.

The interesting thing is currently T-Mobile is "borrowing" time on those Unicel towers. I am wondering if Verizon has the same relationship?