Disney's 2010 Promotion

From witnessing it my own eye’s, this years Disney promotion (Celebrate Your Birthday) has been a resounding success.  Granted, this summer wasn’t as busy as in past years but overall, the attendance has been consistent throughout the year.  Normally quiet Tuesdays have been packed.

So, what is up for 2010?  What’s the new promotion from Disney?  In there own words:

GIVE A DAY – GET A DAY

BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2010, when you sign up here to volunteer a day of service with a participating organization
(and your service is completed and verified) you’ll get one day admission to a Walt Disney World® or Disneyland®
theme park, FREE! We want to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service.

Sign up now to receive reminders and exciting updates about the “Give a Day. Get a Disney day.”
program by clicking on “Get Email Updates” above.

To find out more and to sign up go to GIVE A DAY – GET A DAY

Disney's 2010 Promotion

From witnessing it my own eye’s, this years Disney promotion (Celebrate Your Birthday) has been a resounding success.  Granted, this summer wasn’t as busy as in past years but overall, the attendance has been consistent throughout the year.  Normally quiet Tuesdays have been packed.

So, what is up for 2010?  What’s the new promotion from Disney?  In there own words:

GIVE A DAY – GET A DAY

BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2010, when you sign up here to volunteer a day of service with a participating organization
(and your service is completed and verified) you’ll get one day admission to a Walt Disney World® or Disneyland®
theme park, FREE! We want to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service.

Sign up now to receive reminders and exciting updates about the “Give a Day. Get a Disney day.”
program by clicking on “Get Email Updates” above.

To find out more and to sign up go to GIVE A DAY – GET A DAY

Disney’s 2010 Promotion

From witnessing it my own eye’s, this years Disney promotion (Celebrate Your Birthday) has been a resounding success.  Granted, this summer wasn’t as busy as in past years but overall, the attendance has been consistent throughout the year.  Normally quiet Tuesdays have been packed.

So, what is up for 2010?  What’s the new promotion from Disney?  In there own words:

GIVE A DAY – GET A DAY

BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2010, when you sign up here to volunteer a day of service with a participating organization
(and your service is completed and verified) you’ll get one day admission to a Walt Disney World® or Disneyland®
theme park, FREE! We want to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service.

Sign up now to receive reminders and exciting updates about the “Give a Day. Get a Disney day.”
program by clicking on “Get Email Updates” above.

To find out more and to sign up go to GIVE A DAY – GET A DAY

Real World Gear: Dynamic Microphones For Live Applications

Vocal microphones are most entertainers’ and engineers’ introduction to sound systems, their first point of contact and the first piece of equipment that they purchase and carry with them.

The vocal quality is of paramount importance in most sung music, and the easiest way to improve it is often to change vocal mics.

Dynamic mics use the same principle as a loudspeaker, except in reverse. A diaphragm attached to an induction coil is positioned in a magnetic field. Sound moving the diaphragm creates electromagnetic induction resulting in an electrical current current. The geometry of sound entering the front, sides and rear of the capsule determines its sensitivity to sounds arriving from different angles.

Microphones are described by their pickup pattern.

A microphone equally sensitive to sound from any direction is called omni-directional. This type is less desirable in live sound unless they’re positioned extremely close to the intended sound source and able to favor it to the exclusion of other sounds.

Common examples are miniature lavalier condenser mics used as “body mics” for voice or close contact with acoustic instruments, a subject for a future Real World Gear. An omni-directional mic has equal response to sound from all directions, and its polar plot is a round sphere. [read]

6 Tips For Better Night Photos With A Point And Shoot Camera

Like a lot of photographers, I carry a camera around just about everywhere I go.  But it’s not always my preferred DSLR as the bulk and weight often preclude easy travel, especially if I’m just heading to the store.

A Point & Shoot (P&S) camera, however, easily slips into my pocket or resides peacefully in the glove box of my truck.  With years of service, it has become invaluable in capturing special memories and spur of the moment shots.

On a recent business trip to San Francisco, with my trusty P&S in my pocket and the DLSRs moping around back at home, wondering why I had forsaken them, I was bitten with by the photography bug.  I’m guessing most of you know this feeling.  Some of you are bitten every day.  But for some of us that don’t have a specific project or trip in mind, the photography bug doesn’t pay a daily visit.  Inspiration in us all comes and goes, like the tides.  When the bug does bite, though, a camera must be acquired, STAT!

For me the bite happened at night as I walked the streets of the Financial District.  With only my P&S along for the ride, I’d like to share some trips I have found handy in pushing a small camera to an often large task; night photos without a tripod.  In this case, I’ll limit it to a city landscape.

Read more: http://digital-photography-school.com/6-tips-for-better-night-photos-with-a-point-and-shoot-camera#ixzz0Sb3SydXF

Famed Producer Greg Ladanyi Dies After Freak Accident

Producer and engineer Greg Ladanyi, known for his work with Jackson Browne, Fleetwood Mac, Don Henley and Toto.

Producer and artist manager Greg Ladanyi, whose company oversaw the careers of groups like Type O Negative, passed away this morning after sustaining a severe head trauma while on tour with one of his acts in Greece.

Ladanyi, 57, was in the country touring with Anna Vissi, whose Greek album Apagorevmeno was his latest completed project. Before Vissi’s Friday night show in Cyprus, the producer slipped and fell off of a ramp leading up to the stage, striking his head.

He was immediately rushed to the hospital where he remained in critical condition over the weekend.

Although Vissi went on to perform the show, various reports in the Greek press say she’s taking Ladanyi’s death hard because the two were extremely close.

Ladanyi’s name is familiar to many as the man who helmed hit albums for a variety of artist in the ’70’s and ’80s, including Jackson Browne (six albums, including “Running on Empty,” “Hold Out,” and “Lawyers in Love”), Toto (four albums, including “Toto IV”), Don Henley (three albums, including “Building the Perfect Beast”), Fleetwood Mac (“Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits,” “Behind the Mask”), The Church (“Starfish”), Jeff Healey (“See the Light”) and Jaguares (“Bajo el Azul de Tu Misterio”). He was working with Vissi to put the finishing touches on an English album at the time of his death.

The producer’s efforts netted him a Grammy Award in 1982 for “Toto IV,” as well as a nomination for Producer of the Year for Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer” and a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Jaguares “Best Rock Album.”

Besides Vissi (who was a contestant in the 2006 Eurovision song contest), Ladanyi’s company Maple Jam Music also managed a number of well known artists, including Hollywood Undead, Mothers Anthem and Taryn Manning.

Maple Jam was founded in 2004 as a multi-platform company that could work with artists to develop their careers on several levels. A statement from the company says it will “continue to move forward, keeping Greg Ladanyi’s legacy alive.”

Details on a private memorial service are forthcoming.

– Jim Otey: Pollstar.com

Netflix Everywhere: Sorry Cable, You're History

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has a vision— every movie ever made on every screen everywhere. Illustration: Tom Muller

It had taken the better part of a decade, but Reed Hastings was finally ready to unveil the device he thought would upend the entertainment industry. The gadget looked as unassuming as the original iPod—a sleek black box, about the size of a paperback novel, with a few jacks in back—and Hastings, CEO of Netflix, believed its impact would be just as massive. Called the Netflix Player, it would allow most of his company’s regular DVD-by-mail subscribers to stream unlimited movies and TV shows from Netflix’s library directly to their television—at no extra charge.

The potential was enormous: Although Netflix initially could offer only about 10,000 titles, Hastings planned to one day deliver the entire recorded output of Hollywood, instantly and in high definition, to any screen, anywhere. Like many tech romantics, he had harbored visions of using the Internet to rout around cable companies and network programmers for years. Even back when he formed Netflix in 1997, Hastings predicted a day when he would deliver video over the Net rather than through the mail. (There was a reason he called the company Netflix and not, say, DVDs by Mail.) Now, in mid-December 2007, the launch of the player was just weeks away. Promotional ads were being shot, and internal beta testers were thrilled.

But Hastings wasn’t celebrating. Instead, he felt queasy. For weeks, he had tried to ignore the nagging doubts he had about the Netflix Player. Consumers’ living rooms were already full of gadgets—from DVD players to set-top boxes. Was a dedicated Netflix device really the best way to bring about his video-on-demand revolution? So on a Friday morning, he asked the six members of his senior management team to meet him in the amphitheater in Netflix’s Los Gatos offices, near San Jose. He leaned up against the stage and asked the unthinkable: Should he kill the player? [read]

Netflix Everywhere: Sorry Cable, You're History

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has a vision— every movie ever made on every screen everywhere. Illustration: Tom Muller

It had taken the better part of a decade, but Reed Hastings was finally ready to unveil the device he thought would upend the entertainment industry. The gadget looked as unassuming as the original iPod—a sleek black box, about the size of a paperback novel, with a few jacks in back—and Hastings, CEO of Netflix, believed its impact would be just as massive. Called the Netflix Player, it would allow most of his company’s regular DVD-by-mail subscribers to stream unlimited movies and TV shows from Netflix’s library directly to their television—at no extra charge.

The potential was enormous: Although Netflix initially could offer only about 10,000 titles, Hastings planned to one day deliver the entire recorded output of Hollywood, instantly and in high definition, to any screen, anywhere. Like many tech romantics, he had harbored visions of using the Internet to rout around cable companies and network programmers for years. Even back when he formed Netflix in 1997, Hastings predicted a day when he would deliver video over the Net rather than through the mail. (There was a reason he called the company Netflix and not, say, DVDs by Mail.) Now, in mid-December 2007, the launch of the player was just weeks away. Promotional ads were being shot, and internal beta testers were thrilled.

But Hastings wasn’t celebrating. Instead, he felt queasy. For weeks, he had tried to ignore the nagging doubts he had about the Netflix Player. Consumers’ living rooms were already full of gadgets—from DVD players to set-top boxes. Was a dedicated Netflix device really the best way to bring about his video-on-demand revolution? So on a Friday morning, he asked the six members of his senior management team to meet him in the amphitheater in Netflix’s Los Gatos offices, near San Jose. He leaned up against the stage and asked the unthinkable: Should he kill the player? [read]

Netflix Everywhere: Sorry Cable, You’re History

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has a vision— every movie ever made on every screen everywhere. Illustration: Tom Muller

It had taken the better part of a decade, but Reed Hastings was finally ready to unveil the device he thought would upend the entertainment industry. The gadget looked as unassuming as the original iPod—a sleek black box, about the size of a paperback novel, with a few jacks in back—and Hastings, CEO of Netflix, believed its impact would be just as massive. Called the Netflix Player, it would allow most of his company’s regular DVD-by-mail subscribers to stream unlimited movies and TV shows from Netflix’s library directly to their television—at no extra charge.

The potential was enormous: Although Netflix initially could offer only about 10,000 titles, Hastings planned to one day deliver the entire recorded output of Hollywood, instantly and in high definition, to any screen, anywhere. Like many tech romantics, he had harbored visions of using the Internet to rout around cable companies and network programmers for years. Even back when he formed Netflix in 1997, Hastings predicted a day when he would deliver video over the Net rather than through the mail. (There was a reason he called the company Netflix and not, say, DVDs by Mail.) Now, in mid-December 2007, the launch of the player was just weeks away. Promotional ads were being shot, and internal beta testers were thrilled.

But Hastings wasn’t celebrating. Instead, he felt queasy. For weeks, he had tried to ignore the nagging doubts he had about the Netflix Player. Consumers’ living rooms were already full of gadgets—from DVD players to set-top boxes. Was a dedicated Netflix device really the best way to bring about his video-on-demand revolution? So on a Friday morning, he asked the six members of his senior management team to meet him in the amphitheater in Netflix’s Los Gatos offices, near San Jose. He leaned up against the stage and asked the unthinkable: Should he kill the player? [read]

If Craigslist cost $1: Seth Godin

Source: Seth Godin

Some things are better when they’re not free.

If Craigslist charged a dollar for every listing, what would happen?

Well, the number of bogus listings and repetitive listings would plummet, making the site far easier to use.

The number of scam artists using the site would go down, because it’s more difficult to be anonymous when money changes hands.

The revenue of the site would soar, which means that the people running the site could get (far) richer, or fund digital journalism or change the economy of an emerging nation.

Money creates a sort of friction. In the digital economy, magical things can happen when there is no friction. You can scale to infinity. On the other hand, sometimes you want friction.

If you lead a group that allows anyone to join, for free, your group might be large, but it’s not tight, it’s not organized to make important change. Commitment slows things down in the short run, but ultimately aligns interests.

Source: Seth Godin