They always said the Irish have the “gift of gab’. That gift has turned into cold hard dollars for VOXPRO which has been acquired by Canadian Telus and will have 1000 employees soon in Folsom. The SF Business times reports it HERE.
Couldn’t find a graphic for pi (3.14). This protest reminds us that 37% of the residents of Silicon Valley are foreign- born.
Read about it HERE
end
Are you still on Facebook? Why? Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy that everything you purchase or clock on becomes fodder for the marketing machine? I still have an account but I only spend about five minutes a month on FB. Too annoying, too much garbage about things I don’t care about about. Why am I getting messages from Mike Pence???? I didn’t sign up for that!
The Silicon Valley Business Journal recently wrote about the data brokers that Facebook works with.
Read about it HERE.
END
Facebook is investing heavily in rural Oregon. With THREE data centers in tiny Prineville, (pop 9223) the tech giant can leverage tax deals and basically take over a small town. Do we want one here?
Read about it HERE
You guys enjoy podcasts? Our friends over at SteamGuys inform us that they are partnering with podcasting pioneers Blubrry to expand audiences for Podcasters through Internet Radio Streaming.
Here’s their announcement:
|
New Podcast2Radio functionality automatically turns podcasts into live Internet Radio stations and provides detailed analytics on growing listenership BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA, July 5, 2016 — Podcasting pioneer Blubrry has partnered with StreamGuys to enable podcasters to expand their audience and reach through internet radio streaming. Leveraging powerful tools from StreamGuys’ comprehensive software-as-a-service (SaaS) toolset, the new Podcast2Radio option lets Blubrry customers effortlessly convert podcasts into linear internet radio streams delivered to new audiences through StreamGuys’ robust, cloud-based content delivery network. This increased distribution is complemented by rich analytics and statistics from StreamGuys that enhance the ability for Blubrry users to measure and track their growing listener base. The new Podcast2Radio service provides a powerful new medium for distribution of podcasters’ already-produced content, expanding their reach to internet radio listeners across an even broader range of consumer devices and platforms. StreamGuys’ alliances with internet radio aggregation directories such as TuneIn and SHOUTcast further the field of prospective listeners, and increase the opportunities for podcasters’ content to be found. “As more content producers adopt on-demand podcast distribution, it becomes harder for podcasters to be discovered and grow their audiences,” said Jonathan Speaker, COO of StreamGuys. “With the Podcast2Radio service, podcasters can massively increase their distribution and multiply their exposure without any additional effort. We’re excited to partner with Blubrry to help their customers reach a whole new set of listeners.” “Our partnership with StreamGuys makes it exceptionally easy for customers to instantly extend their reach through internet streaming,” said Todd Cochrane, CEO of Blubrry parent company RawVoice. “StreamGuys’ robust, cloud-based infrastructure meets the high standards for reliability and scalability that our customers demand, while its extensive analytics capabilities bring additional value to our customers. As pioneers and innovators ourselves, we’re thrilled to be working with the like-minded experts at StreamGuys.” Taking advantage of the new Podcast2Radio offering will be straightforward and simple for Blubrry customers. Once users sign up for the service through the Blubrry portal, it will automatically turn their latest podcasts into a looping, continuous, linear stream through a specialized configuration of StreamGuys’ Remote Encoder Lite high-quality, multi-format encoding software. As new podcasts are added to customers’ RSS feeds, Podcast2Radio automatically adds them to the internet radio stream in place of older content, all without playlist editing or other manual user intervention. StreamGuys’ powerful analytics and statistical toolset also provides Podcast2Radio users with deep insights on audience growth. Access to StreamGuys’ SGmon live monitoring service gives podcasters granular metrics about concurrent listeners, while weekly SGreports emails provide detailed use statistics including unique listeners, geographic location, listening duration and more. Such data is invaluable to podcasters, particularly those looking to monetize their content by directly offering advertising opportunities to potential sponsors. The new Podcast2Radio capabilities will be available to Blubrry users beginning this summer. About Blubrry Blubrry is a podcasting community and directory that gives creators the power to make money, get detailed audience measurements and host their audio and video. Whether you are a media creator, advertiser or media consumer, Blubrry is your digital media interface. About StreamGuys, Inc. In business since 2000, StreamGuys is an industry-leading service provider of live and on-demand streaming, podcasting delivery, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) toolsets for enterprise-level broadcast media organizations. The company brings together the industry’s best price-to-performance ratio, a robust and reliable network, and an infinitely scalable cloud-based platform for clients of any size to process, deliver, monetize and playout professional streaming content. StreamGuys supports many of the world’s largest Podcasts, global TV and radio broadcasters, video and audio production companies, houses of worship, retail and hospitality businesses, government organizations, medical and healthcare services, and live venues for sports and entertainment. The company excels in developing and deploying technologies for business growth and revenue generation, including dynamic ad insertion, mobile streaming and detailed business and data analytics. # # # StreamGuys, Inc – info@streamguys.com – www.streamguys.com – 707.667.9479 P.O. Box 828 Arcata, California 95518 – fax 707.516.0009 |
Unfortunately these days, it seems we need to think about defending our castles, not just occupying them. Our friends in Redding, the Nerd Chicks, published this thoughtful piece recently in the Searchlight.
Their whole article is HERE.
END
The Makers Faire, a kind of SV version of our beloved Kinetic Sculpture Race, was held last weekend and, thankfully, someone took pix and shared them in Silicon Valley Business.
See the slide show HERE.
END
We got hacked. I guess it was inevitable. I didn’t even know it was happening until a friend (thanks Grace!) whom I hadn’t spoken to in years emailed me with those dreaded words: “Your site was hacked!”
The hack was affecting everyone who accessed the site though Google, not the folks who were already on the mailing list. If you went through Google, you got redirected to a Russian porno site. What I saw of it was so unappetizing I now understand why the Russian population keeps dropping. I had noticed for awhile than a large number of the new signups were from Russia. I’ll be curious to see if that continues now that the hack is fixed. It was very, very stressful but the indispensable and extremely patient Bob Morse got us through it.
Onward and upward!
END
...Because it’s not big enough, right? Read about it HERE.
END
The latest from our premiere internet player:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact:
Brian Galante
Dimension PR
(207) 494-8428
brian@dimensionpronline.com
StreamGuys Turnkey Streaming Network Elevates Online Radio Presence for Cox Media Group
SaaS platform integrates multiple cloud-based products and services to support live and on-demand streaming, targeted ad delivery, audience metrics and more for 60 stations
BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA, February 1, 2016 — StreamGuys, a pioneering content delivery network and streaming media provider, has partnered with Cox Media Group to roll out a turnkey SaaS streaming platform for live ad-supported broadcasts, on-demand podcasts, and detailed business metrics and reporting across its entire radio network.
Now live across all 60 Cox Media Group radio stations in 11 markets, StreamGuys has built a rich toolset around its robust, reliable cloud-based content management and delivery network in alignment with the broadcaster’s goals. The company’s SaaS approach cleanly and cost-efficiently integrates several recent, innovative StreamGuys SGsuite products and services into the network that enrich streaming player data, accelerate podcast creation, enhance royalty reporting, and monetize streaming initiatives.
“In StreamGuys, we have found an ideal technology partner that understands the same opportunities we see to evolve our radio products,” said Tim Clarke, senior director of digital audience, Cox Media Group. “Their infrastructure and technology, along with competitive pricing and expertise in broadcasting, gives us incredible flexibility in the management and delivery of our network-wide streaming initiatives.”
Clarke emphasizes that Cox Media Group’s key goal is “ubiquity,” and StreamGuys’ open architecture assures delivery across all web and mobile platforms to support all listener preferences. The streaming experience is further bolstered through SGPlayer, an HTML5 multimedia player that is custom-skinned for each station. SGPlayer’s rich metadata support delivers the relevant information that online audiences seek along side the audio stream, including song/artist data, album art, recently played tracks and social media links for sharing the experience with other listeners. SGplayer is also an approved Nielsen SDK player, delivering client-side analytics that offer greater insight into online listener demographics than what was possible before.
Beyond live streaming, Cox Media Group is managing its ever-growing stable of on-demand podcasts using StreamGuys’ SGrecast software. SGrecast empowers multiple operators to quickly turn linear broadcasts into Podcasts and side channels of any length, with near-immediate turnaround to consumers. Clarke notes SGrecast has been “a phenomenal success,” and is used for brief news, traffic and weather in every market; and 24/7 rebroadcasts of high-profile shows after initial airings.
StreamGuys’ advertising portfolio also allows Cox Media Group to intelligently strategize local and national online ad campaigns. In addition to local video and audio insertions, Cox Media Group integrates ads for out-of-market listeners using StreamGuys’ connectivity to AdWave, a leading ad marketplace warehouse.
“Our listeners want access to our content on demand and on the devices of their choosing; SGrecast allows us to extend the life of content beyond the live linear broadcast,” said Clarke. “We can now provide content such as news, traffic and weather in an on-demand audio format that is easily consumable in our apps and on our websites. Additionally, we can offer a more advanced level of targeting to our advertisers, giving them more meaningful opportunities to reach our collective listeners.”
The StreamGuys SaaS architecture also integrates the company’s leading business software platforms, including a custom package for enhanced royalty reporting. This allows Cox Media Group to deliver information to the RIAA and SoundExchange about when and where songs were played in an automated manner—eliminating the time-intensive manual data entry and paperwork previously associated with ensuring artists are fairly compensated. The business software package also includes SGreports for in-depth audience analytics and stream metrics; SGalerts for e-mail-based notification of performance issues network-wide; and detailed logging and reporting for ad playout and exposure.
“Cox Media Group has deployed a highly progressive streaming architecture that StreamGuys will continue to scale and evolve in partnership with their internal teams, ensuring they remain on the leading edge of digital media delivery for many years to come,” said Jason Osburn, executive vice president, StreamGuys. “We are elated to deliver a comprehensive SaaS service that, along with our turnkey support, will at once help Cox Media Group solve problems and generate new ideas to push online radio and podcasting forward.”
About StreamGuys, Inc.
In business since 2000, StreamGuys is an industry-leading service provider of live and on-demand streaming, podcasting delivery, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) toolsets for enterprise-level broadcast media organizations. The company brings together the industry’s best price-to-performance ratio, a robust and reliable network, and an infinitely scalable cloud-based platform for clients of any size to process, deliver, monetize and playout professional streaming content. StreamGuys supports many of the world’s largest Podcasts, global TV and radio broadcasters, video and audio production companies, houses of worship, retail and hospitality businesses, government organizations, medical and healthcare services, and live venues for sports and entertainment. The company excels in developing and deploying technologies for business growth and revenue generation, including dynamic ad insertion, mobile streaming and detailed business and data analytics.
# # #
StreamGuys, Inc – info@streamguys.com – www.streamguys.com – 707.667.9479
P.O. Box 828 Arcata, California 95518 – fax 707.516.0009