Category Archives: Innovation

Streamguys Takes it Further

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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.

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StreamGuys, Inc – info@streamguys.com – www.streamguys.com – 707.667.9479
P.O. Box 828 Arcata, California 95518 – fax 707.516.0009

 

Are You Ready For Drones in Your Driveway??

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Amazon has announced huge changes in its Sacramento-area delivery scheme while, simultaneously, Walmart has applied to the FAA for permission to test home delivery by drones and Google is joining in.  

Are we ready for this? Will a drone be able to tell the difference  between a screened patio and open space? Who will be the first to get beaned , or lose an eye, to an errant drone? We do live in interesting times.

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StreamGuys Launches New Oceania Service

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contact:
Brian Galante
Dimension PR
(207) 494-8428
brian@dimensionpronline.com

StreamGuys Launches Oceania Service in Alignment with Regional Business Growth

Strategic move will reduce streaming costs and network congestion for consumers of local content from NZME and other broadcasters through a regional point-of-presence

BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA, October 22, 2015 — StreamGuys, a pioneering content delivery network and streaming media provider, has launched a new service to benefit its growing roster of broadcasters and their listeners across the Oceania region of the Asia-Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand and other surrounding islands. The new regional service will further strengthen StreamGuys’ overall Asia-Pacific strategy, which includes a Tokyo point of presence that services broadcasters in Japan, the Philippines and other northern Asia-Pacific countries.

Importantly, the Oceania service provides an overall better user experience for local residents, since the content is being consumed from a local point of presence (POP). Most Australia and New Zealand consumers are bound by metered accounts from ISPs, and international connectivity often becomes a bottleneck when consuming content delivered from overseas. This is a side effect of the higher expense of international bandwidth in comparison to local connectivity.

Up until recently, consumers streaming content from broadcasters in the Oceania region, including New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), were served by StreamGuys’ data centers in Tokyo, Amsterdam or Chicago.

“Having the ability to serve content from within New Zealand greatly improves the end user experience, as consumers don’t have to use international transit to consume streaming content,” said Eduardo Martinez, director of technology, StreamGuys. “This move ensures that local listeners are not penalized for consuming content over congested international links, while getting the same exceptional quality of service from StreamGuys at a much closer point-of-presence.”

Wayne Sleeman, iHeartRadio NZ technical lead for NZME, adds that his online audiences get a great user experience as a result of the streams being delivered from the regional StreamGuys point-of-presence. StreamGuys is the exclusive content delivery network for NZME’s mobile streaming, and supports 74 online and mobile streams today.

“StreamGuys has supported our needs as a broadcaster moving beyond terrestrial-only deliver for the past several years, and continues to add new services and capacity to grow with us,” said Sleeman. “The establishment of a local point-of-presence confirms their commitment to our business model by helping us keep costs low for our regional online and mobile listeners.”

The new service, available today, offers plenty of capacity for other broadcasters in the region, and integrates the latest high-end, cloud-based streaming equipment. This includes virtualized servers to minimize hardware and maintenance; and software-defined transcoding equipment to accommodate multiple streaming formats. The flexible infrastructure offers high availability for quick deployments, and scalable streaming options based on changing broadcast dynamics.

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.

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NEW FUND AT HAF ESTABLISHED TO AID WOMEN IN TECH

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From the Humboldt Area Foundation:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2015
Contact: Courtney Haraldson
Humboldt Area Foundation
(707) 442-2993
courtneyh@hafoundation.org

New Fund Established at Humboldt Area Foundation to Support Women in Technology

BAYSIDE,CA- StreamGuys, a leading international streaming media company based in Bayside, CA has established a new fund with Humboldt Area Foundation. The Women in Technology Fund was created to encourage young women in high school to pursue online training in the field of computer technology.

The mission of the fund is to engage and encourage stronger diversification in the field of computer technologies, and to focus young minds on the current and future job demand of many companies in the Humboldt County area. Jonathan Speaker, Jason Osburn and Kiriki Delany have made it a priority to help establish and grow the technology field in the local area to bring higher paying jobs, family and home ownership to the community. Their hope is to expand this fund in the future in response to need.

This is an annual award for students in grades 9-12 and nominations can be made by high school teachers and staff through the Humboldt Area Foundation. Recipients of this award will be encouraged to use the funding to take additional online courses in technology.

For more information about the Humboldt Area Foundation or this particular fund please visit the Humboldt Area Foundation online at hafoundation.org or call (707) 442-2993.

Humboldt Area Foundation is the community foundation of and for the citizens of the Redwood, Trinity, and Wild Rivers Region. Vera Vietor established the Humboldt Area Foundation in 1972 with $2.4 million. Since then, more than $67 million in grants and scholarships have been awarded. Humboldt Area Foundation promotes and encourages generosity, leadership and inclusion to strengthen our communities.

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Courtney Haraldson
Communications Manager
Humboldt Area Foundation
363 Indianola Rd. Bayside, CA 95524
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T | 707.267.9911
F | 707.442.9702
W | hafoundation.org

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Tidbits and Gossip August 19 2015

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One thing leads to another: I called the Kyoto Restaurant because I saw one of these liquor license notices in the window and wondered if they had changed hands.  Not so, said Jenny Masaki,  wife of owner Eric Masaki.   The liquor license transfer came about because Eric has been hired as a Deputy Sheriff and was only pinned a day or so ago. A corporate “split” was necessitated because law enforcement personnel are prohibited by law from selling booze. Good luck in your new assignment, Deputy Masaki!

The Cutten Inn is still in a holding pattern.  No less a personage than the owner’s brother gave us the word on when the Inn will be open again: “Sometime”.

I apparently don’t get  out enough or I wouldn’t be the last person on earth to know that The Works, our hallowed indy record store, has left its digs on “C” Street and is now located at 434 Second Street. They have less space but lots more visibility.  Bandon hasn’t thrown a grand opening party yet but let’s keep asking. The old space on “C” Street was taken over by neighboring Mantova’s Two Street Music.

I signed up for Newsmax by mistake- and it’s been enlightening. One of the out-of-town papers I read is showing a lot of Trump ads and when I clicked on a poll I somehow ended up with a trial subscription. I’ll be bailing soon because most of their “news” is about health matters and topics of interest to the elderly. I had expected a lot of right-wing politics,  not so much the alzheimers-and-diabetes  ads. I guess they know their market.

The ONLY fast-food chain that I would cheerfully welcome into Humboldt County,       Chick-fil-A, is opening a new store today in Rancho Cordova at 2234 Sunrise Boulevard. The closest CFA fix remains the Santa Rosa store at 1452 Mendocino Avenue. Ave. For those of us who are truly addicted, there are days when we have to stop ourselves from hitting the road in  pursuit of the Magic Sandwich. To go from the sublime to the ridiculous, I’m even having pangs for KFC lately.  We are truly a chick-deprived community.

CNBC’s latest series, “Make Me A Millionaire Inventor” is an oddball show, to judge from its first episode. They followed two inventors through the initial pitch.  The first was a woman from an events-planning background whose invention was a kind of chocolate fountain but instead of chocolate, it showers down cascades of marinara sauce! I didn’t find it appetizing at all;  it reminded me of chainsaw massacres and Edgar Allen Poe, but maybe some one will find it charming.  The contraption kept breaking down, since marinara sauce is much thicker than chocolate, fountain chocolate anyway.  Maybe they should try alfredo sauce.  The other invention was a device to be worn by athletes which signals when one is in danger of sustaining a concussion. The two Silicon Valley types who pitched this came away with some seed money and a lot of compliments and encouragement from the investor. THEIR  invention didn’t remind anyone of a slasher movie.  Continues Wednesdays at 7pm, repeats at 10pm, on CNBC, Suddenlink Channel 51.  I’m in.

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Art Bell Is Back- and Riding StreamGuys

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“Dark Matter Digital Network, a burgeoning online radio network focused on science, paranormal and related topical radio shows, has selected StreamGuys to provide all content delivery network (CDN) and streaming services for its programming, including dynamic ad insertion.” according to a press release from StreamGuys.

It continues, “The appointment of StreamGuys as the network’s exclusive CDN and streaming partner coincides with paranormal radio legend Art Bell’s return to broadcasting. Mr. Bell’s new Midnight in the Desert program premieres this week, airing weeknights on Dark Matter Digital Network at 12 midnight ET.”

(Calls to KINS and to BiCoastal Media,  formerly the local outlet for Bell’s late night show, established that they currently have no plans to carry his new show but a barrage of phone calls could perhaps change their minds.  Bell fans are vociferous in their devotion. KXL in Portland, 101.1 FM, is carrying the broadcasts as are KNYE in Pahrump NV,  95.1 FM and four SoCal stations. Does anyone besides Art Bell really live in Pahrump NV?)

Here is an interview from RadioLink.  

More from the release:

“Keith Rowland, owner of Dark Matter Digital Network and a longtime webmaster and engineer for Art Bell, has gradually built a live talent roster since launching the network in 2013. With the return of Art Bell and the addition of The Other Side of Midnight, a new show from Richard C. Hoagland airing immediately after Midnight in the Desert, Rowland sought to offload the growing responsibilities that come with a busier live streaming schedule—and a quickly growing audience.

A recommendation from TuneIn, the popular stream aggregator that will carry Midnight in the Desert via its mobile app, brought StreamGuys into the picture. StreamGuys quickly established a robust, cloud- based streaming architecture that can quickly scale up or down to accommodate audience sizes from show to show, along with redundant mp3 and AAC+ streams to accommodate most media players. Rowland also signed on for StreamGuys’ dynamic ad insertion service, ensuring a simple path to stream monetization without the burden of managing ad schedules and delivery.”

“StreamGuys developed a strong combination of hardware and streaming infrastructure that covered everything from dynamic user numbers to ad delivery,” said Rowland. “They built a redundant server backbone to handle thousands of connections seamlessly, with automatic failover to backup systems as needed. It’s an intelligent configuration that can determine which server and data center location is best equipped to handle each connection.  And the ad insertion service happens entirely server-side, which means we simply have to send a toe down the audio chain to trigger ads. They do all the heavy lifting, which removes the headaches of manual ad management from the client side.”

The monetization angle is especially important for Dark Matter Digital Network as a quickly growing streaming network. While 22 over-the-air radio stations in North America have signed on to pick up Midnight in the Desert from a relay stream, Rowland emphasizes that his operation is primarily an internet streaming network—a vision that he sees quickly gaining momentum.

“Increasingly, broadcasters who leave the corporate market recognize independent internet streaming as the next logical step,” said Rowland. “Even when Art Bell was on terrestrial and later satellite radio, more listeners were switching to a concurrent internet stream with each passing week. This was the next natural step for Art, and it’s exactly where we want to be as Dark Matter Digital Network. We can control everything we do, and streaming is a more exacting technology when it comes to financials. We understand our demographics, we know our audience numbers and we can monetize everything easily compared to the surveys and averages of terrestrial radio. StreamGuys is helping us achieve our monetization goals.”

About StreamGuys, Inc.

In business since 2000, StreamGuys is an industry-leading service provider of live and on-demand streaming, podcasting delivery, and 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.

Finally, here is an interview with The Man himself from Dark Matter, including a link for those who wish to sign up for Midnight in the Desert.  Enjoy!

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Alibaba’s Mega IPO; The Analects of Jack

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PART ONE: Imagine there were a company that offered on-line shopping, business-to-business sales, online payments, wholesale trade and cloud computing- in other words a combination of eBay and Amazon that is actually bigger than eBay and Amazon combined.  Welcome to Alibaba.

Started by a schoolteacher named Jack Ma on his kitchen table in Hangzhou in 1999,  the company, now based in Hong Kong,  is about to launch what may be the biggest initial public offering in history, one which could easily surpass Facebook’s fumbled IPO of $16B in 2012. Why will be the biggest  beneficiary? Yahoo, which owns 24% of Alibaba and will probably use the infusion of cash from the IPO to continue its buying spree of smaller tech companies. To give you an idea of the scale,  Alibaba processes  $248B in retail sales yearly.  Here’s a description from the Mercury News:

‘”Nearly 8% of all Chinese online shopping goes through Alibaba sites; on Singles Day last year, a popular holiday in China for online shopping, the site processed $5.8B in in purchases. By comparison, eBay’s total sales on its online marketplace for all of 2013 were $6.8B.”

Alibaba is also moving into mobile commerce in a big way, investing in American companies like  Mountain View -based Tango Me and in Lyft, the San Francisco -based ride sharing  app,  while attempting to consolidate its position amidst its nearest rivals, Baidu and TenCant, which is already rolling out its own IPO. (Google and eBay have departed the China market).  Alibaba’s  IPO was scheduled for August 8 (eighth day, eighth month- the Chinese like “8”s) but may be delayed due to last-minute glitches involving SEC approval of some of their subs which are based in the Cayman Islands.  Ma, who is worth over $8B, has stepped down as CEO but remains as Chair of the 21.000 employee firm and is devoting his time to a charitable trust. 

It’s a global economy for sure, and becoming more so every day.  Wonder how long it will be before we start seeing Singles’ Day promotions? That ‘s too good an idea to skip.

PART TWO: The Analects of Jack. The early history of Alibaba is set forth in a documentary and a book (Alibaba, by Liu and Avery, 2009) which describes how at one time in the early days, Ma was  literally kidnapped and held hostage in a Malibu mansion at gunpoint until he talked his captor into going into business with him).  Ma only got into college on his third entrance exam but his English major has definitely been put to good use in the following phrases which were compiled by American City Business Journals from various interviews and an appearance on Charley Rose that I’m sorry I missed. Here’s a sampling.

Why he likes small businesses and tries to help them through Alibaba: “I’ve seen people make a fortune by catching shrimps, but I’ve never seen anyone make a fortune by catching sharks and whales. It’s like Forrest Gump.”

On putting customers first:  “It’s customers No, 1, employees, two, and shareholders, three.  It’s the customer who pay us the money, it’s the employees who drive the vision,  and it’s the shareholders who when the financial crisis comes, these people ran away. My customers and my people stayed.”

On technology:  “I know nothing about technology.  I use the computer to browse the Internet and receive email. That’s it.”

On developing a business:  “If you want to be a great company, think about what social problem you could solve.”

 On money and Alibaba’s large cash reserves:  “When you try to solve problems with money, that is when your real problems start. A company’s assets are like a country’s armed forces.You cannot use it lightly, but if you ever need to mobilize it, you must win.”

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Aviation Update July 2014

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Don’t read this if you’re looking for good news for airline passengers. A friend of the blog compiled the following links which show that no matter how bad it gets, there’s always room for worse.

1.  You’ve noticed the carriers imposing more and more fees along with the regular airline fares? Try 1200% in the past seven years, like from $2.4 B in fees in 2007 to $31.5 B in 2013.  More carriers are counted in the later figures but the fees are all coming from the same source: you. 60% of these fees are from the sale of frequent flyer points, 25% for baggage fees, the rest from such services as early boarding and extra-leg-room seating fees. Here, courtesy of Yahoo Finance is a full accounting.

2. I’m sure you’ve heard by now that TSA is also raising its fees. The current fee is $2.50 for non stop and $5 for a connecting flight. The new rate is $5.60 per flight with any connecting longer than four hours counting as a separate flight. That may not sound like much but it adds up, especially when you miss your connection due to delays  leaving  ACV and end up with a ten-hour layover at O’Hare. Here is an account from USA Today.

3. The impact of the war in Ukraine and its spinoffs will be enormous and it is probably too early to assess. The route changes resulting from the war are coming at a time when fuel prices are at an all-time high. When the carriers are squeezed, guess who they’ll pass the increase onto?  The Hindu Business Line newsletter carried an analysis but the link is no longer available. Time moves quickly in the Middle East. 

LOCAL UPDATE: The  Airport Advisory committee did not have its meeting as scheduled yesterday for lack of a quorum but Emily Jacobs reported that there was “some” interest in serving ACV demonstrated by other carriers at the confab in Edmonton. Someone reported that Santa Rosa is improving its runways in anticipation of DIRECT FLIGHTS TO HAWAII.  Wouldn’t  that be great? Yes, it would.  

Umpqua- the Not-So-Little Bank that Could

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I tend to think of Umpqua as a small, local bank but it’s not.  Since the early 90’s it has grown from six branches to 364,  including those that were acquired from Sterling Bank in April of this year. They have 5000 employees in branches in Washington, Oregon, California , Nevada and Utah and are looking to open more, while consolidating for efficiency.

How do they distinguish themselves from all the other banks and credit unions seeking your money? By a folksy approach that includes including displays of local products in its branches, and handing out chocolates with each cash withdrawal. Each Umpqua branch has a telephone direct to Ray Davis, the president,  whose approach to growing the bank has been to build a $22B bank while still operating small.

Umpqua has four branches in Humboldt now but has announced that 27 branches will be closed before the end of the year- 13 in Washington and seven each in Oregon and California. No specifics available yet, but Umpqua has attracted the attention of no less a news source than the Economist. That’s bigtime.  

I usually deal with credit unions, with the exception of my mortgage with NVB, so I have no experience as an Umpqua customer. Do you deal with them?  What have been your experiences?  We’d love to hear from you.