Wired Magazing Goes Tablet

Wired Magazine announced that it will create a tablet-friendly digital version of it’s popular magazine.

Yet another reason why I can’t wait for the Apple iPad to start shipping. I expect most major magazines to catch on and start creating this kind of rich browsing experience. At this size, resolution, and portability, even ads will look cool.

The big question here is how well the iPad will play with Flash. That could put a damper on the fun level of rich media magazines. If Flash doesn’t happen on the iPad, that could be a tough tablet to swallow.

Related Links
* The Wired Tablet App: A Video Demonstration (Wired.com)

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iPhone as a Promotion Machine

I love promoting awesome people, great causes, events, and organizations/businesses that are doing interesting things. My favorite tech tool to help me do this is the Apple iPhone 3Gs.

There’s a reason the iPhone 3Gs is such a hot seller, it is a mobile promotion machine. I use it to check email on the road or at home when away from my laptop. I use it to take pictures that I post to my Twitter and Facebook status feeds and to various blogs. The built in video allows me to post to my YouTube Channel, post via email to my Posterous account, send short videos via 12seconds.tv, and to live stream using Qik.com and UStream. With this single tool, I can immediately share what’s going on with my life or at an event.

Here’s an example of how I used my iPhone for shameless self-promotion. A couple of months back, I noticed Nancy Rodriguez’s Twitter update where she mentioned that she and the crew from Q1047, the local Hip-Hop and R&B station, where going to be live broadcasting from a nearby McDonald’s. It was around 7am so I grabbed a fast shower then zoomed over to McDees. I had chatted with Nancy before via Twitter so it was great meeting her and the rest of the Rico and Mambo show. I took a couple of photos of them in action, posted the pictures to Twitpic and Twitter, spoke to Nancy, then headed back to go home.

Now, I’ve been listening to Q1047 since I moved to Ventura County and it’s my favorite station. So I was glad to post pictures and tweet about them on Twitter. But as I headed back to the car I realized that I could have plugged my new online blogging course. So I decided to grow a sack and went back to ask Nancy to send a shoutout to my BuildYourFanBase.com readers and she kindly did so.

Fifteen minutes after I left the live broadcast, I had uploaded the video shoutout to YouTube and had already tweeted out a link to my blog post on the event. Minutes later Nancy retweeted the link and gave my blog and new blog class an on-air shoutout.

Now that’s promotion at the speed of light!

Do you have any other mobile promotion tech tools that you swear by?

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How To Create and Resize A Custom YouTube Player

YouTube allows you to create a custom video player but the process doesn’t include an easy way to set the player size. I’ll show you how to do both.

Create the custom player
You can create a custom player by logging into your YouTube account then selecting “Account” link next to your user name at the top right of the page.

Account link on YouTube

From the Account page, click on the “Custom Video Players” link under the “More” column.

Click on the Create Custom Player button, add the player name and description, select the layout, then select the video(s) you want to include. If you want to create a player for only one video or for a specific group then you can save what you have at this point and create a Playlist with those videos. Otherwise, select the video(s) that you want to include in this player.

Click on the “Select” button once you selected the videos(s) to include in the player.

Once things look good, click on the “Generate Code” button then you’ll see the Embed Code box with the HTML code in it.

YouTube Custom Player Edit

At the time of this post, the default player size is 416 by 337 pixels. You probably noticed that the Create a Custom Player process never allowed you to set the player size. I’ll show you how to edit the code so you can get the right player size.

Edit the Embed Code
Copy the Embed Code and paste it into a Notepad or Text file for now. Now, we’re going to change four parts of that code, the two “width” and two “height” parameters which are both 416 by 337 respectively.

To avoid strenuous math at this point, I included a data table that has the width and height at different percentages of the original player size. So if you want the player to be around 300 pixels wide, you’ll need to set the height to be around 240 pixels, based on the chart below.

Player Parameters
Width Height Percentage
125 101 30
146 118 35
166 135 40
187 152 45
208 169 50
250 202 60
270 219 65
291 236 70
312 253 75
354 286 85
374 303 90
395 320 95
416 337 100
437 354 105
458 371 110
478 388 115
499 404 120
520 421 125
541 438 130
562 455 135
582 472 140
603 489 145
624 506 150

Final Steps
Now that you have the desired width and height, change those values in the Embed Code then add the entire code to your blog. If it doesn’t fit correctly, revisit the table above and find a combination that works for you.

You just learned how to create and resize a custom YouTube Player!

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The Easiest Way to Create a Multimedia Video From Your iPhone – Animoto

Animoto iPhone App
Animoto, the video creation company, has an iPhone application that allows you to create a video out of pictures on your iPhone. The iPhone version requires at least five images and an audio selection from the Animoto library then you are all ready to create the new video.

The iPhone application gives you the option of creating a 30-second or a Full-Length video. The 30-second video is free but does not allow you to include video snippets or post it to YouTube. I didn’t try the Full-Length video so I’m not sure if those features do show up there.

Unfortunately, the video you create on the iPhone does not show up on the regular Animoto.com web site under your account. They have a message saying that developers are hard at work on that.

Besides these minor limitations, the free Animoto iPhone app is easy to use and makes a great dynamic video.

Some great uses:

1) Great for photographers who want another way of presenting their photos

2) Realtors could snap a few pictures, add music, and create a great video for a home listing -ON LOCATION

3) Great for sharing pics from any event. You’ll be able to share something much sooner than by uploading and tagging pictures via Flickr

4) Mix in pictures of a loved one and a message then send it to them for their birthday. A nice surprise!

5) Great quick way to share the happenings at a political rally to keep people engaged.

The following video was created using the iPhone application and pictures I took on my trip to Denver. I used the “share” feature, emailed the resulting link to my email address, ran the video then used the embed code to place it on this post. Enjoy!


If you like this post you should totally either subscribe to the RSS feed, sign up for the email version, or leave me a juicy Comment below.

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How to Add Your 12seconds.tv Stream to iTunes

This is so awesome! You can submit your 12seconds.tv stream and have it show up as a video podcast in the iTunes directory.

Submitting my 12seconds.tv stream to iTunes never occurred to me until I went to check for iPhone app updates via my desktop iTunes. I did a search, saw the three flavors of 12seconds apps, then noticed some 12seconds feeds. Wow!

View of a iTunes search over 12seconds.tv

This year, the name of the game is Own Your Stuff.
In this case, by creating a Podcast out of a 12seconds.tv, users can repurpose and redistribute the content that they have created. And the best part is you get to tell folks that you have an iTunes Podcast.

So let’s get to the good stuff and describe the process to get things listed.

  1. Go to the Apple iTunes “Making a Podcast” page and review the process.

  2. Test your feed. Open iTunes, under the “Advanced” menu, select “Subscribe to Podcast” then enter your 12seconds.tv feed and click “OK.” Your feed will look like http://12seconds.tv/channel/jesseluna/feed, but you will substitute your username instead of “jesseluna.” Doing this should bring up your latest 12seconds update.

  3. Submit your podcast. Open iTunes, click on the Podcasts tab or main link. You’ll see a “Podcast Quick Links” section on the top right hand side. Click on “Submit a Podcast.” It will take you to the “Submit Podcasts to the iTunes Directory” view.

  4. Note: Before you continue you need to have an iTunes account and be logged into iTunes.

  5. BEFORE YOU SUBMIT THE FEED, make sure your avatar is the one you want to show up in the directory. I submitted before double-checking that and when I went in to change my avatar in 12seconds, I found that the change did not cascade through to the iTunes store.

  6. Submit the feed by entering the feed URL and clicking on the “Continue” button. You may be prompted to log into iTunes.

  7. If there are no errors, you will receive confirmation that the feed is being reviewed and you will receive an email. It took 24 hours to receive the confirmation that the feed was approved and for it to be accessible from the iTunes directory.


This worked for me the first time so that bodes well for other efforts.

Follow Up:

  1. Add me as a friend on 12seconds.tv

  2. Leave a Comment if you have questions or use the FormSpring “Ask Jesse” box on the right of this page to leave an anonymous question.

  3. Once your feed is set up, come back and tell us about it so we can check it out

  4. Subscribe to my 12seconds Podcast (opens iTunes)

  5. Make sure to keep your 12seconds.tv account updated or iTunes will remove your feed from the directory. Update at least every 3 days.

You just learned how to add your 12seconds.tv video stream to the iTunes Podcast directory!

If you liked this blog post, please subscribe via RSS or via email (see top right of page).

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How To Make Tamales [Video]

The only thing better than fresh tamales during the holiday season is family. This explains why making tamales with family is such a joyful treat.

I also see my Twitter friends as an extension of my family so I was glad to share my enthusiasm, tweets, and a picture as I made the tamales. When people ask me how to build a “fan base” on Twitter, I always tell them to tweet about things they love (as in food, family, social causes,..), not what you think others want you tweet about.

I feel as though I made this video with my Twitter buds as they sent me replies, questions, and stayed up with me late last night while I finished editing and posting the video.

I appreciate all your help and I wish you were nearby so we could share the actual meal.

Enjoy the video!

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