Mogulus is Good, Here’s How to Make it Better

For a variety of reasons, I’ve been playing with live streaming services lately.  Each seems to have carved out their own very specific niche.  For instance, we will probably be using UStream.tv at work (101espn.com) since they have a few cameras and the viewers can switch between them with UStream.  At home (live.hellyeahbitch.com), however, I’ve grown fond of Mogulus.com for two reasons: 

1. I like the ability to cut to YouTube videos easily and the other trappings of a “real” channel.

2. It flat out runs smoother video from my crappy setup (A near death computer attached to an old DV-8 camcorder.) than any of the other services, and its not even close.  Mogulus is smooth, and everything else is like watching stop motion.

Now that my love of Mogulus is out there, I feel compelled to tell him how to make it better.  I mean, what else are you supposed to do with a blog?

1. Keyboard Shortcuts!  I would love to have a set of shortcuts to cut to the live camera, restart the Auto-Pilot mode, or bring up graphics.  When running a real show with a few guests and cameras, this would be a real help.

2. I love how you can have people stream into your show with their cameras, but you know what would be even cooler?  Having a side by side video view!  Being able to have me on one side and my virtual guest on the other would really take this “TV Channel in your browser” paradigm to the next level.

3. The ability to add custom, static (non-video) graphics for your lower third background.

4. Initially I was going to put here a wish to have a video play right before you go live, but I just realized that the real feature would be to be able to craft schedules and save them so you can play one that plays an intro video and then auto-cuts to your live camera and another that plays an “outro” video and then starts the auto pilot.  I know Mogulus has “storyboards” but I don’t think you can do this specifically with them currently.

5. Lastly, I want a way to stream in audio from a source like you can with video.  Currently you can only bring in a audio source that is attached to a video source, it would be great if you could separate the audio source from that so I can bring in a caller or even just use the microphone on one computer along with the video from another.

6. This is really just more a question, but why the hell is  your pro service so damn expensive!?  There are some great features on there, but $350/month?  Dude.  Come on.

Thanks Mogulus!

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Kristen Bell as Princess Leia

Though I appreciate the movies, I’m really not much of a Star Wars geek…I am however a Kristen Bell geek.  I’ve never seen two worlds colide with just sexy results!

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Olivia Munn Says Happy Holiday’s, Mike’s Penis Says Thanks Olivia!

G4’s Olivia Munn apparently is one of those chicks that is super hot and knows they are super hot.  Usually this is a bad thing, but she seems cool from the 1.2 times I’ve watch Attack of the Show.  So cool in fact that she got all dolled up and made these sexy holiday cards for her fat white cyber-stalkers.

Other shots from her Holiday shoot are below in the gallery.

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Jake and Amir: The Interpreters Series

Every once in a while Jake and Amir run off some multi-part series and the latest “Interperters” is pretty great:

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TV.com redesigns, Stealing3276 doesn’t like it.

TV.com launched a new redesign and of course everyone noticed that it looks just like Hulu.com.  I just think its funny that on their new front page you can see the following (as of this writing):

Click on this for the full view.

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The Gay Marriage Issue: John Stewart vs Mike Huckabee

John Stewart rocks.  Thoughts?

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A Preview of the New Shout! Bookmarklet

Here’s the preview video I’ve made (and no one’s cared to watch) about the new beta Shout! submitting bookmarklet:

 
ToastedRav.com/Shout Bookmarklet v1.1 Preview from Mike Flynn on Vimeo.

Check out Shout! and submit your stories at toastedrav.com/shout

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Today’s Ugly Ass Website: KMOX.com

For those not from St. Louis, KMOX is a really big and old new radio station.  Below is their website located at kmox.com.  Clearly they aren’t familiar with what makes a good website and thus, they are today’s Ugly Ass Website:

Click on it for the full size.

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Greg Maddux Retires

After 355 wins, putting him at 8th all-time, Greg Maddux has decided to retire.

Despite the fact that the man has pitched for the two teams at the top of my “Most Hated List” Greg Maddux has always been, and probably will always be my favorite pitcher of all time.  Why? Because every time he was on the field, he was the smartest guy there.  

Here are two great Greg Maddux stories:

The first is a quote taken from Bleed Cubby Blue, but I’ve heard this story many times before:

There are literally dozens of famous and funny anecdotes about Maddux, many having to do with his downright spooky control and his amazing ability to outthink hitters. One involves a close game in which there were runners on first and third, one out and a left handed batter due up. Braves Manager Bobby Cox came out to the mound to ask him if he wanted to intentionally walk the batter to set up a double play. “No thanks,” Maddux replied and went on to describe theexact sequence of pitches he would throw the next two batters and what they would do. As a stunned Cox watched, he did almost exactly what he had said he would (the third out was a pop up that went just fair of third while Maddux had said it would be on the foul side of 3rd).

The second is a quote from a great ESPN the Magazine story on the magic of Maddux:

[W]hen Brad Penny and Maddux were teammates on the Dodgers, during the last two months of 2006, they had a conversation one day that led Penny to reach a stunning conclusion: This guy knows my stuff better than I do. It was eerie, really, how easily Maddux dissected Penny’s repertoire and suggested ways to maximize it. Penny, figuring he’d take advantage of the situation, asked Maddux to call a game for him against the Cubs. And so, on the night of Sept. 13, Penny glanced into the dugout before every delivery and found Maddux, who signaled the next pitch by looking toward different parts of the ballpark. Penny threw seven scoreless innings with no walks and beat the Cubs 6-0. “Maddux probably won’t tell you that story,” Penny says. He’s right.

Below is some of Maddux’s old baseball cards (I love that kind of stuff):

Lastly, I will leave you a video.  Somehow after all these years and all those wins, Greg Maddux slipped by the commercial appeal that a Roger Clemens has had, but in this famous commercial Maddux and is rotation partner got themselves famous enough that even my Mom remembers it:
I present to you, “Chicks Dig the Long Ball”

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On Mike’s Screen: An IM From the Wife.

An IM from my wife Robin...just thought this was funny.

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