Slashdot Mirror
Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to SlashdotTV! (Video)
You may have noticed that we've posted quite a few original videos on Slashdot in the past few months. Rather than being the work of a few rogue editors with newly-acquired Christmas cameras, this was part of the groundwork for a new site we're launching today. SlashdotTV, found at http://tv.slashdot.org, will let you easily find and watch all of our videos in one convenient location. In addition to Slashdot content, you also can watch videos from our sister sites, SourceForge and ThinkGeek. The site is brand new, and we're interested in hearing your feedback -- what you think about it, and what kind of videos you'd like to see. Currently, you can embed our videos on your own site or show them to your friends with our share feature. Commenting is coming soon. Check back often for new videos, and keep watching!
Timothy checks out Ubuntu TV
Timothy Gets a MakerBot Replicator Demo at CES
Timothy Lord Checks Out Keyboards & Tech At CES
Timothy Lord @ Metrix Create:Space in Seattle
Timothy Lord Checks Out Steve Jackson Games' Latest
what you think about it, and what kind of videos you'd like to see
We want more videos were timothy checks out and looks at things!
Are you sure this isn't intended as an April Fools article?
Stop doing the videos in Flash. It's a proprietary wrapper usable on a decreasing number of platforms. Better formats for video already exist. If you want old, then go with MPEG. If you want new, go with WebM. Either way, you'll both reach a larger audience and future-proof your work.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
This is about 12 years too late.
I think that having a new tv.slashdot.org is completely fine and even a little cool. However, my preference is that these videos should only be posted to that site, and not to "regular" Slashdot. Or at least provide a standard tag or category which we can filter out if we choose. We know where to go if we want to watch videos - the TV icon at the top (nice job on that btw, it was immediately obvious to me what that new icon signified even before reading this article). Otherwise, I'm just looking for text blurbs and snarky/humorous user comments, sometimes with optional videos behind the summary's links. Maybe we can just get the story summary text, with a link below the summary that says "Check out the video over on Slashdot TV!"?
Oh, transcripts for all videos on the TV site would be helpful for many as well.
I actually don't like video content on the web; for a variety of reasons, but the primary one is that the audio from the video would give me away at work.
I mean, I hope this works out and is the revenue generator you hope it is, but as I think many of us are viewing the site from work, I don't know how popular a destination it's going to be.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
I find text to be 10x faster to process than watching a video. Text is easier to skim, it's easier to search, a page of text can explain something in more detail and more precisely than 10 minutes of video, and it probably takes up 1000x less space/bandwidth, etc. When I watch video documentation it feels like everything is in slow motion compared to reading. As a bonus, text is also usable by people with visual and/or sound impairments, when using the right equipment.
Resorting to video is like the equivalent of GUI operating systems versus command-line: it's easier to do in some ways (just sit in front of a camera), and sometimes it's the better way to go (so feel free to experiment with new ways of doing things), but often you can be vastly more efficient with the old way of doing things. Personally, I've skipped every video that has been posted on slashdot in the last few months. I'd rather read the comments. Considering the extra time and effort it takes to set up a video shoot and process it afterwards, and the extra bandwidth to deliver it, I'll be surprised if it pays off. But keep experimenting. It's healthy.
I think that may just be in the pipeline ;)
For now, here's the Transcript for this video.
-----
Title: Welcome to SlashdotTV
Description: Welcoe to SlashdotTV, the / dedicated channel for all video on / Slashdot. This new site lets you / easily browse and watch videos / based on a number of criteria, / including title, subject keywords, / popularity, and those handpicked / by the site's dedicated editors.
[00:00] <TITLE>
The SlashdotTV logo bar slides down from the top of the screen over a background that shows the SlashdotTV page, and "Welcome to TV.Slashdot.org" fades into the bar.
[00:01] Timothy>
Introducing SlashdotTV, where we get up-close and personal [...]
[00:03] <TITLE>
Various shots from interviews quickly pass by at this time.
[00:03] Timothy>
[...] or drop in via video chat with interesting people from all parts of the tech spectrum;
[00:09] Timothy>
From hobbyists [...]
[00:10] <TITLE>
A shot from the Qu8ke interview video is shown in which a 'hobby' rocket is launched.
[00:14] <TITLE>
Various shots from interviews quickly pass by again.
[00:14] Timothy>
[...] to entrepreneurs to project leaders - and sometimes, all three at once.
[00:18] <TITLE>
The shot at this time is of Chris Qiu with the his name and title "Senior Architect/Lead Developer for the Trove Insight Solution" displayed in the bottom.
[00:18] Timothy>
There's also a corner for sponsored videos, which means supported by advertisers.
[00:22] <TITLE>
Shots of the SlashdotTV webpage pass by, relating to the spoken words.
[00:22] Timothy>
You can explore our current categories or search for videos by keyword.
[00:26] Timothy>
You can comment on videos right from the Slashdot page, or watch or re-watch them at any time from this page.
[00:32] Timothy>
We're looking for good ideas of what should make the cut.
So please help us shape Slashdot's future with your suggestions, [...]
[00:37] <TITLE>
The shot changes to that of several pinball machines.
[00:37] Timothy>
[...] and keep watching for more.
At this risk of sounding like a troll, or maybe just a fuddy-duddy: I think there are more important things for Slashdot to work on than adding new features.
There are a lot of bugs and limitations on the site. The last time Slashdot posted one of their "Hey, look what we did!" stories there were a lot of good positive often-repeated suggestions - many of which were ignored. Unicode support was moderated to 5 many times in that story. Instead we get achievements, idle, and Slashdot TV. Unicode support, working & faster preview, better comments section, etc. were top suggestions that have been ignored for years. Maybe I'm biased: I use Slashdot because it is entirely text based so this feature doesn't excite me terribly. Nonetheless, I think priorities need to be straightened here.
You need to seek psychiatric help.
This is not a joke. I am not aiming to get a +2 Funny, nor am I insulting or trolling you. You seriously need to get some professional medical attention.