Tech Trends | At Home with Tech

June 29, 2014

Best Ways to Archive Your Edited Videos

Don’t let a future alien race be the first to enjoy those summer family videos you just shot. It’s your job to archive your digital content properly so your family gets a chance to watch them.

I’ve been trying to manage some stress lately. You see, I haven’t had enough time to edit all those video clips of my four-year-old son I’ve been shooting.

I thought I had the solution when I developed a methodology on how to organize and edit my growing trove of QuickTime files.

Then, I realized my approach possessed a flaw that couldn’t address the problem of an unstoppable backlog of captured video moments.

So I allowed myself to release a few of my classic clips in mostly raw form.
Otherwise, these videos would quickly become dated by fresher news from the frontlines of parenthood.

Problem solved…

Until an At Home with Tech reader pointed out I had ignored one important detail. He was stuck on the issue of distribution.
He asks-

“But how to share the videos? I am trying to figure out an approach to deal with years of clips and wondering if my project should be a DVD, an online archive, or a project that just lives on my hard drive? And should it be a single video file for each year or a menu driven interface…? Any thoughts?”

Sharing Your Videos Should be Easy
Step 8 of my Beginner’s Guide to Editing Your Camera’s Video Clips attacks the basic question of how to share your videos:

Simply upload your video to places like Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo.
You can also email your digital clips as long as they’re small enough.
Otherwise you’ll have to compress them before hitting send.
(Nobody wants to receive a 100 MB email.)

I think the larger question is what percentage of your family videos should you be forwarding out to your world?

100%?
Certainly not!

Less is More
No child is so cute to justify sending multiple clips out to family and friends each week. That’s a crazy overload.

Everyone is absolutely inundated with data these days.
Email in-boxes are out of control.
We simply don’t have the time to consume it all.
So whatever you do, don’t over share your multimedia.

You’re going to have to leave some perfectly wonderful content on your own cutting-room floor.

And where are you supposed to put all that great video you shouldn’t share with anyone? Well, you and your immediate family will always have it archived to enjoy at home for years to come…

Now, we’ve arrived at the center of the reader’s question.

Two Copies are Better than One
Of course, you’ve got to save all those clips or edited videos somewhere.
By default, they’re already on your computer’s hard drive.
Or perhaps they live on that external hard drive connected to your computer.
(I’ve assumed you’ve moved them beyond their nascent stage on your camera’s SD card.)

One copy of one amazing family video on one hard drive equals one disaster in the making.

You do know that your hard drive will fail, right? It’s just a matter of time. These inscrutable boxes don’t last forever. That’s why you’re supposed to back up your content to multiple locations. It’s a ‘101-level’ digital-management strategy.

So your priceless video absolutely needs to be copied onto two or even three hard drives.

Put Your Life in the Cloud
And what happens if some natural disaster should strike your home, wiping out all your technology and associate bits and bytes?
(I know you don’t want to think about such things.)

An online archive should protect you, unless the calamity has a more global reach…
(Then, you’ve got bigger problems.)

So assuming an ongoing supply of electricity…
Yes, cloud storage is definitely a good way to go.
I use CrashPlan, but there are a variety of other great options to choose between.

What’s a DVD?
It’s sad to say, but the DVD is yesterday’s technology.
You really shouldn’t be relying on it anymore as a way to archive your content.

The higher quality of Blu-ray Discs is clearly more appropriate for your HD workflow. But that technology never really replaced DVDs as a consumer-friendly archiving tool.
So that’s not your solution, unless you wanted to invest some serious dollars.

Even if you stubbornly stick to your DVDs, they’re eventually going to turn into drink coasters anyway. And if yours don’t, DVD players will eventually only exist in museums.
(or in Cade Yeager’s Optimus Prime-friendly workshop)

You really need to walk away from your DVD-based archiving workflow…

Married to Your Multimedia
So where does all this naysaying leave us?
Yes, we’re back to keeping your precious videos alive…

On your computer’s hard drive
On an external drive
Or in the cloud

And you’ll need to give some ongoing love to the health of your collection over the years to come. That means having to continue to transfer your content as you upgrade/replace your computer and drives.

It’s a life-long commitment…

Don’t Over Simplify
The reader ponders the possibility of editing a giant video together to cover an entire year.

Good idea?

Well, a single video file designed to represent twelve months in the life of your family would be huge.
(Your computer won’t be happy.)

And who’s really going to have the time to watch an overblown multi-hour family epic?
(You’re no Michael Bay.)

Plus it would be a real pain always having to scrub through so much content to find the best moments.
(Unless your scenes are as tight as a Vine video.)

I recommend organizing your family videos to cover shorter time spans…

Either by month or season
(“Our Summer Fun 2014”)
Or by event
(“July 4th Family Party”)

Trust me… the “Less is More” rule will rarely let you down.

Spielberg was Right
Finally, organize your videos into annual folders.
It’s okay to keep it simple at this level.
(Your future self will thank you!)

But remember, throwing hundreds of unnamed, unedited videos into one folder marked ‘2014’ isn’t going to cut it.
You may be successful at preserving their existence over the decades using the above archiving strategies, but those precious moments hidden amongst the hours of often-unremarkable footage will effectively be buried forever.

Someone (or something) may one day find your magic family memories, but it will likely be the result of a future alien or android archeological dig studying humanity.
(Steven Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” might be more prescient than you’d think! Remember, beings of the future can fix anything, even your ancient, busted hard drive.)

I imagine you’d prefer it if someone else closer to home in this century enjoyed the best content of your digital archive before all that goes down.

Don’t panic. There’s still time.
But you’d better get to work!

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June 22, 2014

I’d Like to Connect with You on LinkedIn

If you use LinkedIn, there are a few roadblocks to avoid. And remember, your profile represents you to the rest of the world. Feeling the pressure? Good. It’s time to get to work!

Successfully cultivating your connections on LinkedIn is as key to maintaining a strong professional network as an organized Rolodex once was.
(Remember those?)

You’ve just got to follow a few common-sense rules…

Your Digital Clone
If you’re not already… you should really join with the LinkedIn ecosystem.

Yes I know some otherwise reasonable and successful people who shun social networking sites and are consciously absent from places like LinkedIn and Facebook.

But doesn’t it feel a little strange when you opt out of a major tool that people use to interact with each other?

It would be like not having a cell phone.
Or a landline a couple generations back.
Or the postal service before that…

These days, I think everyone needs an online presence.
Otherwise, at some level, do you even exist…?
(If you get Googled, and nothing comes up, one may wonder if you live in the Twilight Zone.)

No, you don’t necessarily need your own website, but the sad reality is you no longer get to make your first impression in person.
Your digital self has that honor…

Today, you can instantly look up a name on LinkedIn, view a photo and digest an entire career.
That’s much more than anyone needs to glean a first impression!

And if you’re the kind of person who’s focused on nailing that first firm handshake at a meeting, don’t bother. The whole room probably knows more about you than your local bartender.

Your 24/7 Resume
If you haven’t figured this out yet, your LinkedIn profile effectively functions as your resume.
Whether that’s your intention or not, it is.

No, it shouldn’t be as detailed as your actual resume, but LinkedIn is where someone will often turn to check out your background.

So if you happen to be applying for a job, know that your LinkedIn profile has a strong chance of being viewed by the hiring manager before the resume.doc you uploaded gets opened.

A Numbers Game
Are you somehow better off if you have 300 connections, as opposed to 23?
What does a big number say about you?
Well, it shouldn’t say anything… other than you’re a strong networker.
But it doesn’t stop there.

I think the conceptual jump is the more people you’re connected with on LinkedIn, the more successful you are. Or at least it suggests all those people have enjoyed working with you.
Why else would they have agreed to connect in the first place?
(Why else, indeed…!)

Well… a healthy-sized network wields its own power.

By association, your network brings you closer to a much larger universe… all those people your contacts are connected with….your 2nd-degree connections.

Some of those folks you might already know…
Others, probably not.

It’s weird to say, but for that population of strangers with two degrees of separation from you, a low-grade familiarity is already present.
This irrational sense of connection exists just because you both know someone in common.

Who Should Be a Connection?
Once upon a time, I thought you should only connect with the colleagues you work with throughout your week. The ones you know really well.

Eventually, I expanded this strict rule to include people I’ve enjoyed working with on a specific engagement.
I figured you don’t need years to determine if someone is ‘worthy’ as a LinkedIn connection.

Then I had to decide what to do with invitations from people I’ve only met, but not worked with. That seemed like a stretch… but then I realized that it was a reasonable networking tactic.
If you decide it serves your larger networking goals, and so does the other person… where’s the harm in that?
(You’re both consenting adults.)

And there’s all those 2nd-degree strangers you already kind of know, but don’t.

If You’re an Outsider, Don’t Act Like a Stranger
But every so often, and more recently of late…
I get invitations from complete strangers.
(at least six degrees of separation!)

They typically work in the same industry… so I figure it’s some sort of
cold-calling technique. I don’t think I’ve ever accepted one of these requests.

And I’d absolutely never accept one that uses LinkedIn’s default invite phrase-
“I’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn.”

Those eight words reek of ‘robotness!’

Come on… At least introduce yourself and say something interesting that might encourage me to connect with a complete unknown. Just using the default wording says you don’t think I’m worth any extra effort other than clicking on my name.

Thanks.
But no thanks…

Remember Me?
And that same philosophy applies when you’re trying to connect with someone you know, but it’s not a slam-dunk they’ll accept.

A prime example is when it’s more of a reconnection moment… when you haven’t been in touch with that person for years, and suddenly you send them a LinkedIn invite out of the blue.

Say something. Anything!
Don’t be so lethargic as to let the default hello represent you.

The Nirvana of 500+
Do you marvel at those people who’ve joined the 500+ Connections club, and you wonder, “How does someone do that?”

If it’s a list of 400 people you can’t easily remember, then what have you really accomplished?

I think properly crossing the 500+ connections threshold simply reflects an organic and ongoing effort.

Over the years of your career, keep paying attention to new colleagues and others you want to have in your network.

Invite them as a LinkedIn connection as soon as you’ve completed some great project together.
(And remember, they’ll be inviting you too!)

Don’t just think of LinkedIn when you’re looking for a new job.
Building out your list of connections is a career-long process.

Protect Those Connections!
If you’ve made the wise decision to create a strong professional network, you’ve also got to nurture and protect it.
That’s another reason to not connect with someone you don’t know.

You probably don’t want some stranger to suddenly have access to the rest of your 1st-degree network.
Sure, you can turn off that functionality in your LinkedIn settings, but shutting off access to your other associates may annoy some of your other connections.

What?!
Do I mean to say your LinkedIn contacts don’t only love you for who you are… but they also may covet your connections…?

Yes… I’m sure for some, you’re viewed as a package deal.
That’s how networking works…
So deal with it!

Pace Yourself
I really see no downside to using LinkedIn as long as your paying attention to the quality of your connections.

Just be sure to treat your LinkedIn exercise like a marathon…not a sprint.

And don’t act like a robot!

June 1, 2014

How to Get Your Digital Download of “Frozen”

This disc shouldn’t greet you when you open up your new “Frozen Collector’s Edition” case. If there aren’t eleven alphanumeric characters slipped into the insert tab, you can’t get the digital download. But there is another way…

A few weeks back, my four-year-old son spontaneously started singing the Oscar winning, hit song “Let it Go” from the Disney movie blockbuster “Frozen.”

It was a something of a curiosity, because he’d not seen the movie.
(He must have heard the music somewhere.)

So I downloaded the peppy tune in iTunes while he was in the other room and conducted a little experiment…

I began playing it loud enough for him to hear, and sure enough, I heard him begin to sing along…

“Let it go…! Let it go…”

Yep… he really liked that song.

So I decided to buy the whole movie for him.
It felt like an obvious next step.
Plus, it won the Oscar for best animated feature film and
has become the top-grossing animated film in box office history.

(All that said, I was still a little concerned about “Frozen’s” PG rating.
Though I figured… hey, it’s Disney.
Plus, I’d screen it myself first…)

He hadn’t seen it when it came out in the theaters last year, because he wasn’t quite old enough yet to hit the movie multiplex.
(We’ll probably ease into that multimedia milestone with him later this year.)

Say “Yay!” for Digital Downloads
I still like buying Blu-ray Discs that also provide a digital download option from iTunes. That gives me lots of flexibility in choosing how I (we) watch the flick, and I’m willing to pay a little more for the packaged deal.

The problem is the movie studios are making it increasingly difficult to ‘own’ your digital copy and house the file within the confines of your physical kingdom.

Instead, they’d much prefer you park it in their ‘cloud.’
So they’ve developed their own cloud-based streaming services like UltraViolet.

I ran into this problem a while back when I was looking to buy
“The Dark Knight Returns.”

I didn’t want to open up a whole new complicated relationship with UltraViolet.
I just wanted to have “The Dark Night Returns” in iTunes and be done with it…

(I eventually abandoned my quest for a disc and just downloaded the movie on iTunes.)

Supersize My Movie
But when shopping for “Frozen” on Amazon, I noticed deep in the small print a vague ‘mention’ of iTunes as a download option.

I scoured the photo of the Blu-ray Disc box and saw no mention of UltraViolet.
(though there is ‘Disney Movies Anywhere’)

So I figured Disney hadn’t gone completely over to the Dark Side, even though they now totally own it.

So I took a chance…
I bought the “Frozen Collector’s Edition” on Amazon for 25 bucks.
Not such a great bargain… but at least it contained the Blu-ray Disc, a DVD, plus the coveted digital copy…

The file would also come in handy for pre-screening in bits and pieces while on the go.
(Not sure I would have 102 minutes to commit to this task all at once)

Where’s my Digital Copy of “Frozen?”
“Frozen” arrived in its non-descript Amazon brown box, and I eagerly slit it open, ready to extract the magic of Disney from the corporeal disc into my iTunes library.

Next, I snapped open the plastic case….

Inside, I saw an insert promoting the wonders of DisneyMovieRewards.com and how to get the original motion picture soundtrack for only $7 with the attached Magic Code.
(Okay… a little ‘upselling’… nothing wrong with that.)

I kept looking.
But it was not there.

There was no code for the digital download!
That insert was missing.

What?!
(That’s a real bummer.)

Hey, Disney…
How did that little detail get missed?!
For me, that’s as bad as forgetting to put the disc in the case!

Let it go?
NO WAY…!!

In Search of the Missing Code
You’re supposed to go to Disney’s Digital Copy Plus site to redeem your code.
So I figured there must be a help section somewhere.
And indeed I found an email address to send along my complaint and a specific page documenting what I needed to provide to receive a replacement code.
(I guess I’m not the first to encounter this problem.)

And believe me…It was no small task finding all the requested numbers tattooed all over the box and disc.
Here’s what you need to provide to legitimize your request for a code:

6-digit stock number
-Disc artwork number
-UPC number

So I wrote down all the digits, checked it all twice and sent off my cry for help to Disney…

“We are Happy to Assist You”
The next day I received what seemed to be an automated response.
“Thank You For Contacting Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment!”
The email was so perky, I half-expected Mickey Mouse to jump out of my screen…

But buried deep in Disney’s message were eleven random alphanumeric characters.

That was it!
MY CODE!!

But my joy was tempered by the next paragraph:

“Since Digital Copy activation codes are subject to expiration, we highly suggest using the above code as soon as possible.”

Understood.
Disney has giveth.
And Disney may taketh away…

I took the warning to heart.
No dillydallying…

Enter the Code
So I copied and pasted the code into the yellow box and waited.
I watched the next URL seemingly struggle to load.
It was as if I had activated some massive back-end protection protocol to ensure I was not scamming Disney.
I thought I sensed a black ops chopper hovering overhead and a thermal scan permeating the room.
(No, it was just the cat purring in the corner.)

But I had the code.
Disney gave me the code!!
This should be straightforward, right?

Guess what?
It was.

The next page finally loaded…
“Success! Your code has been redeemed.”

I was then directed to iTunes and “Frozen” began to download.
(deep sigh)

Don’t Let It Go!
The freeze had ended.
Order was restored in the Lester household.
(though nobody else really knew there was a problem)

And it was finally time to watch the movie!

I will say as annoyed I was with having to go through this unnecessary dance, Disney was pretty quick to resolve the problem.

And coincidentally, the closing lyrics to “Let It Go” seem a fitting end to today’s adventure at home with tech…

“Here I stand
In the light of day
Let the storm rage on…”

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Category: Tech Trends

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