I spoke at the TabTimes conference in February, but I also spoke at one in November in New York. The February video will be up soon but in the meantime I wanted to share some highlights from the November conference. Also, we are exploring some things to do with video for our readers here at Tech.pinions. I happen to own fancy video equipment, so we are interested in ways we can use video to add some new dynamic elements for our readers. So please share any thoughts in the comments section.
Speaking of Tablets
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Desktops and laptops over-served the market. Love that part. Exactly right.
I read Guy Kawasaki’s top ten list of what he likes about Android, as he moves to advise/consult for Motorola, and all I could see as I read that was a list from someone who came up with computing in the 80s, and 90s. This was not from someone who is coming up with computing primarily through smartphones and tablets. As much as I love Guy, this does not bode well for the success of that relationship.
Now, Guy is no dummy, but I think he needs to hear you speak on the topic.
Joe
Yep. Joe, any feedback on what more we can do with video? I have been thinking about doing more short form video analysis. Tim and I sit in the same building most of the week so I’ve toyed with the idea of him and I do some short video or fireside chat stuff on subjects. Any thoughts on that or other things we could do with video? Or maybe everyone just prefers reading. I don’t know but I wanted to throw it out there.
Short video with you and Tim sounds interesting. If it’s not too difficult, try it and see what happens.
BTW the video of you in this post looks like it’s distorted (stretched too far) vertically. Is it?
Possible yes. The actual youtube links are not that square. I just inserted the embed code but perhaps I did something wrong. I haven’t really tried much with that.
What more do you want to do on video? What is it about video that you think will convey something that writing or audio don’t?
I think short conversation style is probably a good way to get your feet wet. I usually bypass podcasts, even if I am interested in the topic. Most of them are too long. Sometimes they are too many clicks away. Just put them in the body of the page where they are mentioned, as you did the videos here.
Writing is interruptible and portable. Audio allows me to do other things while I listen. Video requires my full attention as long as it is more than a talking head Sometimes, even then, as long as the speaker is personable, that may be OK. You are personable. Guy Kawasaki is personable even as he said the same thing over and over again. John Gruber, as much as I like his writing, I can’t bear to listen to him or see him speak.
Just some thoughts,
Joe
Great insights. An intriguing notion is the thought that we don’t need to homogenously adopt one or two platforms. Right now we have to buy one device per platform, will this change?
Yes that is exactly it. I don’t think we will go back to a homogenous computing paradigm. The cloud as sync will make it possible for us to use many devices for a sequential process. This is happening today and will only get more engrained into how we use multi-screns,
Love it, I would watch the full video presentation.
Thanks, the full video from the February event should be up soon and I’ll link to that. I’d love to know what else our readers think we can do with video? Would video analysis of stuff be interesting? More interesting than podcast?
Any feedback is appreciated from our readers.
Ben, nice to see you present some of the ideas we have been reading here on Tech.pinions. Here’s some feedback on the possibilities of incorporating more media on the website.
I am geared to be reading when I go about my web surfing. Perhaps this is just because of being what I’m used to. But to watch the videos I had to get my headphones so I could hear and my wife wouldn’t be annoyed. I think therefore a full video presentation has one set of expectations and a mix has another. I think that NYT piece on that avalanche was exemplary of how video and text can be mixed. But then you either have someone really gifted who can pull this off or you hire an expensive team.
Live and video presentations are special skills. Do you really want to get good at them? It seems rare that someone masters both written and video presentations. It is possible your growing skill of written insights would be weakened by what might be a distraction to your gifts. And it may be that the door you open here may be what really takes off. Way too early for people on this side of the monitor to say which. If your want to increase your video presentations here you might want to do something like Toastmasters and a video podcast with Dan Benjamin.
Very thoughtful analysis and feedback, Kyrke. Thank you for contributing to the discussion.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ve been thinking about all these point. I’m still not sure I’ve landed anywhere but I think there is something to video that could be valuable. We have some new models we will be experimenting with here so it may fit into one of those.
I do quite a bit of public speaking and I actually think I am better at it than writing, but this outlet is certainly more geared for reading than listening. But I’d like to experiment with some angles for video and see if it resonates. If not there is no harm in trying 🙂
One example to learn from, one who does both video/live presentations and text well, is Horace Dedieu of Asymco. Note how he does different things with these, as well as his podcasts.
Thanks Mayson. I’ve thought about some of the Horace does also. I went to his conference here in the Bay Area and it gave me some ideas as well. We will be experimenting so all feedback will be welcome.