Mastering New Media :: Jason Van Orden

Yesterday Apple sent out an email with important information for those who publish content through the iTunes music store. To make your videos look great on Apple TV, here’s what you need to know.

Render Your Videos at a Resolution of
at least 640×480 (or 640×360)

If your resolution isn’t high enough, there’s a good chance your videos won’t get watched on Apple TV. Even iPods and iPhones support higher resolutions now. If you have been encoding at 320×240, consider increasing to 640×480 or 640×360 depending on your aspect ratio. One of the easiest ways to do this is using QuickTime Pro (only $29) which has a Movie to iPod preset.

This will increase the file size. If you’re worried about the files being to big leading to large bandwidth bills and longer download times, try reducing the bit rate and frame rate. You may be able to greatly reduce the file size while not sacrificing too much quality.

You can also use higher resolutions for Apple TV, but it’s a good idea to check the specifications on this page (which is always an excellent reference for publishers) to use what bit rates are allowed.

Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions about publishing for the Apple TV.

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Recently I posted that my wife and I were moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Well we’ve finally arrived and are starting to feel settled in. It’s time to bring my blog and podcast silence to the end. Thank you for your patience (if I can be so presumptuous to assume that anyone noticed my absence).

I want to say thank you to the dozens of people who emailed me with well-wishes for this new adventure in our life. It’s cool to feel connected to so many people through social media. In addition, I’ve had several people from Buenos Aires who listen to my podcasts who emailed me to meet up. That is a pretty amazing phenomenon to me.

I’ve had a number of people express interest as to why we chose to move abroad and specifically to Buenos Aires. So I wanted to post some information about our decision and how podcasting and internet business helped get us here.

Ever since Melanie and I got married we’ve wanted to live abroad. Employment, our previous rock band or school have always determined where we’ve lived until now (Salt Lake City followed by Manhattan).

When Melanie finished grad school last Spring, the possibilities were wide open to us. We had nothing tying us to NYC (other than friends and a bit of family of course). Even though we love NYC, now is the ideal time to live abroad since we still don’t have kids.

The main reason I got into internet business (and then more specifically podcasting) is because I can do it from anywhere. As long as I have an internet connection, I can create and publish online content. I can can connect with my community and work with my students/clients. This kind of freedom is a key element for me to have to feel fulfilled in life.

I always encourage people to decide what they need for fulfillment and to pursue it. One of my life pursuits is to provide information and encouragement to help others achieve their life vision.

In the spirit of freedom of location, we started looking for a place to live abroad. Our first choice was Paris since I have lived their before and Melanie wants to learn French. Unfortunately the current conversion rates for the euro put a damper on that. We wanted to live in a country where the US dollar would go a long ways allowing us to really enjoy the experience there.

Reading the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss planted the bug in my ear about Buenos Aires, Argentina. We started our research and quickly realized why Tim likes it so much. In the end we chose Buenos Aires for several reasons.

1. We have a brother-in-law from Buenos Aires whose parents still live here.
2. We have a few Spanish speakers in our extended families now and thought it would be useful to learn the language.
3. Argentina is just a great country with lots of interesting things: plains, mountain, a city much like Paris, rain forests, huge waterfalls, etc.
4. Buenos Aires fits the urban lifestyle that we prefer right now.
5. The USD goes a long way here. Last weekend I had the best steak I’ve ever had for $8 USD. The subway is 30 cents USD per ride! Granted, this kind of currency leveraging requires that you have a means of making money in US dollars or something of equal or greater value. Internet business and my podcasts allow for that.
6. It has only snowed here once in the last 90 years.

We’ll see where things take us next. We plan to be here for the next several months, then I will be back in the U.S. for the New Media Expo in August (gotta see all my podcast buddies ;).

The move here tool a lot more time and energy that expected, but it has been an incredible experience so far. You can expect more content from me on a regular basis now that we are settled. Stay tuned for more soon.

Have you lived abroad? Where did you live? Where should Melanie and I live next?

Photo Credit: Crisfer

You’ve probably noticed that there has been a bit of silence on my blog and podcast. Well, I’ve been feverishly getting ready for a big move…to Buenos Aires. My wife and I are off for a new adventure in Argentina for at least six months. The preparations have consumed me much more than I expected. We leave tonight.

I plan on continuing my podcasts, blogs, courses, etc. while living down there. I also plan to be back in the U.S. for the New Media Expo.

I’ll post more of an update on this and get back in action on my content creation early next week after we arrive. The preparations have consumed me much more than I expected.

Talk to you soon.

Photo Credit:

Over the weekend Podango sent out an email to their users stating that the official switch of the GigaVox system to their own servers was going to take place. Sadly, the notice came about 24 hours before the switch. I’d hoped to have time to offer more tips and guidance on the matter BEFORE the switch, but time didn’t allow. Here are a few pointers for those of you who still have questions or just haven’t gotten around to making the necessary changes.

The server switch is part of the acquisition of the Gigavox Audio Lite technology by Podango. It affects anyone who has been using the GigaVox Audio Lite system (now Podango Show Builder Lite) to publish their podcast. Until you make these changes, none of your GigaVox Audio/Podango Show Builder Lite published episodes will download or play.

There are three things you need to do.

1. Download the New Uploader

The first step is straight-forward. Download and install the new Podango version of the uploader. Don’t forget to uninstall the GigaVox Media Uploader.

2. Change Your Login Bookmark

From now on you will go to http://cms.podango.com rather than http://cms.gigvox.com to login to your admin. Change your bookmark or whatever it is you use to go to the control panel. Your username and password are still the same.

3. Update Your URLs

This part is the trickiest. You need to make sure that any URLs in your podcast/feed/blog no longer point to GigaVox servers. How you do this depends on which of three methods you use to publish. Find the one below that matches your case.

Scenario 1: If You Use SmartDelivery

SmartDelivery is the part of the Show Builder system that automatically updates all your archives if you change an ad or your show script. If you don’t remember whether you are using SmartDelivery, login at cms.podango.com and go to Configuration > Hosting/Delivery. Look to see if you have checked the box next to Use SmartDelivery.

If so, then you need to change the URL for any MP3 that has been published through the GigaVox system. Inside your feed, blog post or PodPress you need change every URL that contains media.gigavox.net to use media.podango.net instead. The example given by Podango is that http://media.gigavox.net/R/561/2134/33121.mp3 would become http://media.podango.net/R/561/2134/33121.mp3.

If you have a lot of MP3 URLs that use GigaVox, this could be a tedious process. That’s where the Jesus Geek blog comes to the rescue of WordPress users with this video. He shows you how to do a quick search and replace in your WordPress database to instantly change all your URLs.

He method uses two easy plugins. The first is to backup your database before making changes. I use the database backup plugin on a regular basis anyway and so should you. Second, he points you to the Search and Replace plugin that does the heavy lifting. Follow his video tutorial and you’ll be able to make the switch under five minutes.

Scenario 2: If You Use CNAME

If you don’t know what CNAME means, then you aren’t using it and can skip this section. The CNAME setting can be seen in the image above. This allows you to use something like media.podcastingunderground.com in place of media.gigavox.net so that your MP3 URL is branded to your own site.

To set this up you would have gone into your hosting admin or talked to your hosting support to set up a type of forwarding. In my case I set up media.podcastingunderground.com to point to media.gigavox.net. To make the switch I just had to go back in and set it up to point to media.podango.net. Once you make that one CNAME switch, you’re done.

Scenario 3: If You Don’t Use SmartDelivery or CNAME

In this case you should already being using MP3 URLs that link to your own site/server. You don’t have to change a thing. Although, I would encourage you to look into using SmartDelivery since this is the real power of the Show Builder.

A Final Word for Podango (Just a Quick Gripe)

I have a request for Podango. The next time there’s a big change, please give us more notice than a day. The email went out Thursday night. The server switch happened just over 24 hours later. There’s a good chance that many customers didn’t see the email until later on Friday or even until the weekend.

Making these changes takes time. Even in my case where it was a simple CNAME switch, it still took 24 hours for the forward to propagate 100%. I had a day of down time for several episodes while waiting for the change to take hold. Not only that, I have more than just my own podcast to attend to. I have many students and clients to help, too.

So, next time can we please have a month’s notice? Then maybe I could have posted these tips and offered help before rather than after the fact. In the end, I love the flexibility and time-savings that this system offers me and it’s worth the trouble. But there’s a bit of feedback from a user.

If you have any questions or comments about the switch please post them below.