Highlight:
After watching the monopolistic practices of Apple and its iPod product which is factory-rigged to inconvenience customers, I can't imagine why people still purchase iPod portable music players. Apple used to be a fun company. They used to actually care about customers. Now, they're just out to control the market, reduce the compatibility of the iPod, and limit customer choice.
With all the images of "freedom" found in iPod ads, it's sobering to realize that Apple actually wants customers to be chained to the monopoly music distribution channel it controls.
Original source:
http://olympics.reuters.com/audi/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=7249174
Summary:
* An unhappy iTunes online music store customer is suing Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research), alleging the company broke antitrust laws by only allowing iTunes to work with its own music player, the iPod, freezing out competitors, court filings showed.
* Apple, which opened its online music store in April 2003 after introducing the iPod in October 2001, uses technology to ensure each digital song bought from its store only plays on the iPod.
* The suit was filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court in San Jose.
* The key to such a lawsuit would be convincing a court that a single product brand like iTunes is a market in itself separate from the rest of the online music market, according to Ernest Gellhorn, an antitrust law professor at George Mason University.
* Since rolling out the iPod, which has sold nearly 6 million units and was a top Christmas gift this past holiday season, Apple has garnered 87 percent of the market for portable digital music players, market research firm NPD Group has reported.
* "Apple has unlawfully bundled, tied, and/or leveraged its monopoly in the market for the sale of legal online digital music recordings to thwart competition in the separate market for portable hard drive digital music players, and vice-versa," the suit charged.
* Apple's online music store uses a different format for songs than Napster, Musicmatch, RealPlayer and others.
* The rivals use the MP3 format or Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) WMA format while Apple uses AAC, which it says helps thwart piracy.
* While songs saved in the AAC format can be saved in the MP3 format and played on virtually any digital music player, songs bought from the iTunes music store have an added software tag, which Apple calls FairPlay DRM, or digital rights management, added to the file that contains the song.
http://www.newstarget.com/000963.html
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Griffen Technology releases cassette deck converter for iPod
Highlight:
The Smart deck allows those with now seemingly archaic cassette players in their cars to put them to good use. It allows you to control your iPod through the forward and rewind buttons to skip songs.
Original source:
http://www.hometheatermag.com/news/100105griffin/
Summary:
* If you're one of the three people in the world - and that includes me - who don't yet have an iPod, here's yet another reason to go out and get one.
* Griffen Technology, Inc., a company that makes all sorts of very cool computer-related accessories, has announced that they're now shipping the SmartDeck Intelligent Cassette Adapter for iPod.
* Sure, the SmartDeck lets you hook up your iPod to your cassette deck.
* What sets the SmartDeck apart from all the other cassette adapters is that it allows you to use your cassette deck's forward and rewind buttons to skip songs forward or backward on your iPod.
* Likewise, the pause and stop buttons on the cassette deck do the same for the iPod - and, if you eject the SmartDeck or switch your car stereo from the cassette to the radio, the SmartDeck will automatically pause the iPod.
* Griffin says the SmartDeck includes an intelligent level control that sets optimum input levels as well as optimal volume on the iPod for the best audio quality.
* The SmartDeck works with the iPod mini, iPod Photo, 4th Generation iPod with Click Wheel, and 3rd Generation iPod with touch wheel and buttons - although the play/pause feature is not supported with the 3rd Generation iPods.
* Apple Macintosh owners can also thank Griffin for the soon-to-be-released FireWave, an external device that will bring Dolby Digital surround sound to Macs "for gaming, DVD players and iTunes."
* It's small enough to use with a laptop, gets power through its FireWire connection (no extra cables or power adapters!), and includes an extra FireWire port for daisy chaining other peripheral devices through the FireWave.
* The device's built-in Dolby virtual surround sound processing can be used to create computerized multichannel nirvana from any two-channel signal.
http://www.newstarget.com/007367.html
The Smart deck allows those with now seemingly archaic cassette players in their cars to put them to good use. It allows you to control your iPod through the forward and rewind buttons to skip songs.
Original source:
http://www.hometheatermag.com/news/100105griffin/
Summary:
* If you're one of the three people in the world - and that includes me - who don't yet have an iPod, here's yet another reason to go out and get one.
* Griffen Technology, Inc., a company that makes all sorts of very cool computer-related accessories, has announced that they're now shipping the SmartDeck Intelligent Cassette Adapter for iPod.
* Sure, the SmartDeck lets you hook up your iPod to your cassette deck.
* What sets the SmartDeck apart from all the other cassette adapters is that it allows you to use your cassette deck's forward and rewind buttons to skip songs forward or backward on your iPod.
* Likewise, the pause and stop buttons on the cassette deck do the same for the iPod - and, if you eject the SmartDeck or switch your car stereo from the cassette to the radio, the SmartDeck will automatically pause the iPod.
* Griffin says the SmartDeck includes an intelligent level control that sets optimum input levels as well as optimal volume on the iPod for the best audio quality.
* The SmartDeck works with the iPod mini, iPod Photo, 4th Generation iPod with Click Wheel, and 3rd Generation iPod with touch wheel and buttons - although the play/pause feature is not supported with the 3rd Generation iPods.
* Apple Macintosh owners can also thank Griffin for the soon-to-be-released FireWave, an external device that will bring Dolby Digital surround sound to Macs "for gaming, DVD players and iTunes."
* It's small enough to use with a laptop, gets power through its FireWire connection (no extra cables or power adapters!), and includes an extra FireWire port for daisy chaining other peripheral devices through the FireWave.
* The device's built-in Dolby virtual surround sound processing can be used to create computerized multichannel nirvana from any two-channel signal.
http://www.newstarget.com/007367.html
The iPod: A Love Story Between Man, Machine
Whenever Jason Berkowitz listens to "You're the Best" on his iPod, he recalls that 1984 summer vacation in Fort Lauderdale and seeing "The Karate Kid" for the first time. ("I thought it was the best song ever . I still kinda do and I don't care what people say," says the 29-year-old.) Whenever he listens to Zero 7's song "Destiny," which he first heard at London's Heathrow Airport four years ago, he thinks about meeting his wife, Bethany.
The thing about the iPod is, it's what you bring to it.
"It becomes an extension of you. It's like a window to your soul," says Jason Berkowitz of his iPod. When he hears "Destiny," he thinks of meeting his wife. (By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)
Who's Blogging?
Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
* Thinkings . . .
* skimble
* Espella Humanzee
"If a song represents a memory in your head, then you listen to your life's memories -- faster than a mixed CD, definitely faster than a mixed tape -- as you listen to your iPod," says the affable, fast-talking Berkowitz, a project manager for a software company, as he sits in his downtown Washington office.
"It becomes an extension of you," he says. "It's like a window to your soul."
Everywhere, at all times, it's with you, this personal narrative of who you are and what you've been. While shopping for Cocoa Puffs at Harris Teeter. While dozing off on the MARC train. While doing leg extensions at Gold's Gym. It takes you back to that first dance ("When Will I Be Loved" by Linda Ronstadt) and last dance ("I'm in You" by Peter Frampton) at your senior prom; that birthday party where you sang like Rick James so loudly ("Superfreak! Superfreak!") that the neighbors almost called the cops; that Whitney Houston breakup anthem that reminds you of you-know-who over and over again. It's an obsession, an addiction, a love affair, really, between a man and a machine.
To the iPodders around the world, the irresistible, indispensable, irreplaceable iPod is a personal memory bank.
"The iPod is a very powerful identity technology," says Sherry Turkle, director of the Initiative on Technology and the Self at MIT, where she teaches the psychology of the relationship between people and machines. The iPod, to be sure, isn't the only digital music player around, but it's without a doubt the most popular. With nearly 22 million sold, three-quarters of the U.S. market, "the iPod is just one more technology that uses the computer as the second self -- a reflection of who we are as people, a way of seeing ourselves in the mirror of the machine," she says.
Fatima Ayub, wearing a white chiffon hijab that matches her iPod's white earphones, is walking briskly on R Street in Northwest Washington on her way to work. You'd hardly ever see her, she says, without her 15-gigabyte iPod, which has more than 1,300 songs on it.
"Your taste in music is something very personal, very emotional. So when you have an iPod and you've got all your music on it, you're trying to say something about yourself," says Ayub, 22, an associate for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch and a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. She's listening to "A Perfect Sonnet" by the indie rock group Bright Eyes as she sits on a curb near 18th and R streets. Her boyfriend, Imran, learned to play that song on his guitar for her, she says, cracking a shy smile. "You're making a little collection of emotions and memories for yourself and you stick them all in this little machine and you carry it around with you wherever."
In the upcoming book "iPod, Therefore I Am," part memoir, part valentine, the English journalist Dylan Jones writes: "The big thing about the iPod, I thought, was the way in which it forces you to listen to your life in a different way."
"When I started just monotonously, relentlessly downloading and uploading my record collection onto this machine, it was only after awhile that I began to realize why it was taking me so long. It wasn't supposed to take you that long. But I started going off on these weird tangents, going backwards, to my youth, when I was 15 or 20 or 30," Jones, a 45-year-old father of two girls, says in a phone interview from his London home.
His iPod has more than 6,000 songs. "That's when I began thinking there was something bigger to this whole iPod thing. Every time I download a song to it, and every time I listened to that song, it forced me to go back somewhere where I haven't been to for a while."
Everyone who loves music -- and who doesn't? -- has hundreds, if not thousands, of records, Jones says. When was the last time you played everything in your music collection? he asks. Then Jones, in a pitch-perfect tenor, sings a few lines from "Wichita Lineman" ( "I know I need a small vacation, but it don't look like rain. . . . I am a lineman for the county, and I drive the main road, searching . . . ). It's a song he first heard when he was 12, "one of those songs that remains a secret," he says, "because it was never trendy enough."
In the middle of her typical 7:30 p.m. workout at Washington Sports Club in Clarendon, with her iPod clipped to her hot pink shorts, Kate Danser is listening to "Times Like These" by Jack Johnson, a surfer-cum-songwriter with a distinctive folksy, reggae-rock sound. Not exactly the upbeat, fast-paced, high adrenaline rush that is "Bootylicious," by the R&B group Destiny's Child. That song, in very high volume, can be heard from the iPod of a woman dressed in a matching gray halter-top and very short shorts who's doing sit-ups a few feet away. But "Times Like These," the 24-year-old Danser says, reminds her of her friend Casey, her student-teacher partner whom she met at the College of New Jersey. Casey introduced her to Jack Johnson a few years back.
"It kinda soothes me, relaxes me, calms me down," says Danser, putting her iPod back on, sitting on the leg extension station, about to do her third rep, with the Jack Johnson song and the memory of her friend Casey in the background.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601887.html
The thing about the iPod is, it's what you bring to it.
"It becomes an extension of you. It's like a window to your soul," says Jason Berkowitz of his iPod. When he hears "Destiny," he thinks of meeting his wife. (By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)
Who's Blogging?
Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
* Thinkings . . .
* skimble
* Espella Humanzee
"If a song represents a memory in your head, then you listen to your life's memories -- faster than a mixed CD, definitely faster than a mixed tape -- as you listen to your iPod," says the affable, fast-talking Berkowitz, a project manager for a software company, as he sits in his downtown Washington office.
"It becomes an extension of you," he says. "It's like a window to your soul."
Everywhere, at all times, it's with you, this personal narrative of who you are and what you've been. While shopping for Cocoa Puffs at Harris Teeter. While dozing off on the MARC train. While doing leg extensions at Gold's Gym. It takes you back to that first dance ("When Will I Be Loved" by Linda Ronstadt) and last dance ("I'm in You" by Peter Frampton) at your senior prom; that birthday party where you sang like Rick James so loudly ("Superfreak! Superfreak!") that the neighbors almost called the cops; that Whitney Houston breakup anthem that reminds you of you-know-who over and over again. It's an obsession, an addiction, a love affair, really, between a man and a machine.
To the iPodders around the world, the irresistible, indispensable, irreplaceable iPod is a personal memory bank.
"The iPod is a very powerful identity technology," says Sherry Turkle, director of the Initiative on Technology and the Self at MIT, where she teaches the psychology of the relationship between people and machines. The iPod, to be sure, isn't the only digital music player around, but it's without a doubt the most popular. With nearly 22 million sold, three-quarters of the U.S. market, "the iPod is just one more technology that uses the computer as the second self -- a reflection of who we are as people, a way of seeing ourselves in the mirror of the machine," she says.
Fatima Ayub, wearing a white chiffon hijab that matches her iPod's white earphones, is walking briskly on R Street in Northwest Washington on her way to work. You'd hardly ever see her, she says, without her 15-gigabyte iPod, which has more than 1,300 songs on it.
"Your taste in music is something very personal, very emotional. So when you have an iPod and you've got all your music on it, you're trying to say something about yourself," says Ayub, 22, an associate for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch and a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. She's listening to "A Perfect Sonnet" by the indie rock group Bright Eyes as she sits on a curb near 18th and R streets. Her boyfriend, Imran, learned to play that song on his guitar for her, she says, cracking a shy smile. "You're making a little collection of emotions and memories for yourself and you stick them all in this little machine and you carry it around with you wherever."
In the upcoming book "iPod, Therefore I Am," part memoir, part valentine, the English journalist Dylan Jones writes: "The big thing about the iPod, I thought, was the way in which it forces you to listen to your life in a different way."
"When I started just monotonously, relentlessly downloading and uploading my record collection onto this machine, it was only after awhile that I began to realize why it was taking me so long. It wasn't supposed to take you that long. But I started going off on these weird tangents, going backwards, to my youth, when I was 15 or 20 or 30," Jones, a 45-year-old father of two girls, says in a phone interview from his London home.
His iPod has more than 6,000 songs. "That's when I began thinking there was something bigger to this whole iPod thing. Every time I download a song to it, and every time I listened to that song, it forced me to go back somewhere where I haven't been to for a while."
Everyone who loves music -- and who doesn't? -- has hundreds, if not thousands, of records, Jones says. When was the last time you played everything in your music collection? he asks. Then Jones, in a pitch-perfect tenor, sings a few lines from "Wichita Lineman" ( "I know I need a small vacation, but it don't look like rain. . . . I am a lineman for the county, and I drive the main road, searching . . . ). It's a song he first heard when he was 12, "one of those songs that remains a secret," he says, "because it was never trendy enough."
In the middle of her typical 7:30 p.m. workout at Washington Sports Club in Clarendon, with her iPod clipped to her hot pink shorts, Kate Danser is listening to "Times Like These" by Jack Johnson, a surfer-cum-songwriter with a distinctive folksy, reggae-rock sound. Not exactly the upbeat, fast-paced, high adrenaline rush that is "Bootylicious," by the R&B group Destiny's Child. That song, in very high volume, can be heard from the iPod of a woman dressed in a matching gray halter-top and very short shorts who's doing sit-ups a few feet away. But "Times Like These," the 24-year-old Danser says, reminds her of her friend Casey, her student-teacher partner whom she met at the College of New Jersey. Casey introduced her to Jack Johnson a few years back.
"It kinda soothes me, relaxes me, calms me down," says Danser, putting her iPod back on, sitting on the leg extension station, about to do her third rep, with the Jack Johnson song and the memory of her friend Casey in the background.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601887.html
Friday, June 1, 2007
How to Use Advertising to Attract Top People
Job descriptions had better be well-written and convincing
Here's something you might want to consider whether you're hiring active, passive, or not-so active or not-so-passive candidates.
At some point in time, they will all read your job descriptions to decide if it's worth considering your open position. If the audience you're targeting either can't find this job easily or don't find it compelling if they do find it, you won't see as many good people as you should.
Don't be smug and assume that the candidates you're trying to hire won't read your ads. Even referred or passive candidates read your ads. Many even request them with the common retort, "Send me the job description and I'll see if I'm interested, or see if I know someone."
Since the job description is a primary marketing tool, it had better be well-written and convincing. On the business marketing side, these would be equivalent to the advertising copy, the flyer, or the product brochure.
Now, to throw another twist into the equation, these marketing documents need to reflect the different buying patterns of your audience. The copy itself needs to reflect how different groups (age, race, gender) respond to advertising. This affects the length of the ad, the media used to deliver it, and the words used.
Young people, for example, won't respond to the same message as a mid-career person — nor will they look in the same spots. Many women have different career aspirations than men, and they don't look in the same places. Diverse candidates are looking for different things than their non-minority peers, and passive candidates don't care about compensation (unless it's equity). Salespeople do. Since advertising is the front line of sourcing, you need to customize it to meet the varied needs of your target audience.
Here are some ideas to consider and things you can do right away to get started making your advertising more effective:
1. Stop using traditional job descriptions as the basis for your advertising. Not even the worst company in the country would consider using their product-specifications listing as their primary marketing copy as some HR/recruiting departments do. Online job descriptions should summarize the challenges and opportunities in the job in some type of flashy document or web page with a creative title and compelling copy. To get started, ask the hiring manager why a top person would want this job. Finish with, "What does a top person need to do to be considered successful?" Then start off your ads with the most compelling stuff.
2. Stop using a classified-ad mentality. In the olden days, newspaper classified ads didn't attract top people, except in the career journal sections. So why do we still use this old-style approach online and expect better results? The career journal section worked because it highlighted big jobs with creative ads and big titles and was read by up-and-comers on Sundays or on their rapid transit commute to work. The same concept can be applied today. The key is to target the up-and-comers, not the down-and-outers.
3. Make the job compelling. The best people take jobs based on this criteria and order: 1) the job stretch, 2) the quality of the hiring manager, 3) the quality of the team, 4) the importance of the job to the company, and 5) the compensation. Your advertising should clearly demonstrate the job stretch and importance to the company in the title and first paragraph. The up-and-comers in each group (age, race, gender, area of specialization) will decide whether to continue reading based mostly on what they read in the first 10 to 20 seconds.
4. Don't start with the part number. If your requisition number is the first thing people read after a boring title, the up-and-comers will have opted out long before they get to the really boring list of skills and requirements.
5. The first two lines are critical. Compare these two ads for a creative marketing person. Which one would be easiest to find, which one might you read, and which one would you apply to? Does one appeal more to different age groups or gender? How could you target it to a specific diversity group?
Web Creative Director: "...has an excellent opportunity for a Web Creative Director with five years of experience for our e-commerce site and other related sites. This position will be responsible for establishing creative direction for the entire..."
No Doubt U2 Can Make a Difference, So Can U2 as Our Web Creative Director: "Can you bring vibrancy and pizzazz to our lackluster suite of websites? We need someone who will push the envelope on using the latest web technology to create WOW! user experiences time after time. You'll have a team of the best designers to..."
6. Track your results. I happen to know that 12.3 percent of the people who read my last ERE article went to our website and on average read 2.8 pages each. Most of these people spent 1.9 minutes reading one of the science of recruiting articles. We used a free web analytics tool from Google to track this. You should be tracking your ad response exactly the same way.
7. Use instant messaging, podcasts and alternative communication channels. Teens, college students, and recent grads use text messaging as their primary means of communication. Everyone has an iPod. Why not have available text messages, SMS or IM versions of your open jobs or provide video or audio podcasts? Teens, college students, and recent grads use text messaging as their primary means of communication. Everyone has an iPod. Why not have available text messages, SMS or IM versions of your open jobs or provide video or audio podcasts? Perhaps a text message such as: ? GI RU CPP CLL 949-612-6300 O?
8. Use creative titles targeted to your audience. Wells Fargo had a successful campaign using "Are You a Desperate Housewife?" as an ad title to attract thirty-somethings with children to work part-time during the day. The key to good titles: Longer so they stand out, they must grab your targeted audience's attention — and being compelling, topical, and fun also helps. "Stand Up and Be Counted" might work if you're looking for an accounting supervisor. It's certainly better than "A/P Supervisor."
9. Use search engine optimization techniques. The best people don't go to job boards or to company career sites first to find new jobs. The best people sometimes look (especially on bad days) for new career opportunities — not just a job — using either Google or Yahoo! search. They'll put the word "job" in the search field along with the standard title and the location. If your jobs don't show up in the first 12 listings, you're missing out on some great talent. If your jobs do show up, are they compelling? By the way, one job board always comes up on Google every time you do this. You should post your jobs there.
10. Make it viral. If you do all of this stuff, people will refer other people to your jobs. Allow these people to forward the link via email, via cell phone, via IM, and through myspace.com, or through any other new communications device that comes along. Great ads describing great jobs that up-and-comers want to hear about delivered right to their doors are the key to hiring great people. Most companies are still marketing their jobs to the down-and-outers who are willing to knock on your door to get in. If you want to hire better people, you need to knock on their doors.
There are profound changes taking place in how companies are marketing in the B2B and consumer space. Unfortunately, HR/recruiting hasn't taken full advantage of them yet. That means you should take action now.
Caveat: Don't follow the masses unless you do it better. Better yet, do it first. Being an earlier adopter is key here. Otherwise, you'll fall into the black hole of recruiter technology, commonly referred to as the law of diminishing returns. This basically says that the more successful a recruiting technology vendor becomes, the less successful their customers become. Logic dictates that if everyone has the same tools to find the same candidates, everyone will wind up finding average candidates.
The answer then is to be an early adopter or push the envelope using the technology more creatively. If you want to win the war for talent, you'll need to do both — and then constantly update this every two to three months. This way you'll always be ahead of the pack.
Note: My next book will be on how to find, hire, and manage diverse and multi-generational teams. If you'd like to be part of this important work, email me directly (lou@adlerconcepts.com). I'm looking for a few organizations who want to challenge conventional wisdom and try out some news methods to reach a dynamic and changing audience.
Lou Adler (lou@adlerconcepts.com) is the president of The Adler Group, a training and consulting firm helping companies find and hire top talent using Performance-based Hiring(sm). He is the Amazon best-seller author of Hire With Your Head (John Wiley & Sons, 3rd Edition, 2007) and the new Nightingale-Conant audio program Talent Rules! Using Performance-based Hiring to Hire Top Talent (2007). Adler is a noted recruiting industry expert, national speaker, and columnist for a number of major recruiting Internet sites including SHRM, ERE.net, Kennedyinfo.com and ZoomInfo.com. Adler’s early career included executive and financial management positions with The Allen Group and Rockwell International. He holds an MBA from UCLA and a B.S. in Engineering from Clarkson University, New York.
http://www.ere.net/articles/db/504B579A1F694E9BAF81AD9F17747E30.asphttp://www.ere.net/articles/db/504B579A1F694E9BAF81AD9F17747E30.aspvv
Here's something you might want to consider whether you're hiring active, passive, or not-so active or not-so-passive candidates.
At some point in time, they will all read your job descriptions to decide if it's worth considering your open position. If the audience you're targeting either can't find this job easily or don't find it compelling if they do find it, you won't see as many good people as you should.
Don't be smug and assume that the candidates you're trying to hire won't read your ads. Even referred or passive candidates read your ads. Many even request them with the common retort, "Send me the job description and I'll see if I'm interested, or see if I know someone."
Since the job description is a primary marketing tool, it had better be well-written and convincing. On the business marketing side, these would be equivalent to the advertising copy, the flyer, or the product brochure.
Now, to throw another twist into the equation, these marketing documents need to reflect the different buying patterns of your audience. The copy itself needs to reflect how different groups (age, race, gender) respond to advertising. This affects the length of the ad, the media used to deliver it, and the words used.
Young people, for example, won't respond to the same message as a mid-career person — nor will they look in the same spots. Many women have different career aspirations than men, and they don't look in the same places. Diverse candidates are looking for different things than their non-minority peers, and passive candidates don't care about compensation (unless it's equity). Salespeople do. Since advertising is the front line of sourcing, you need to customize it to meet the varied needs of your target audience.
Here are some ideas to consider and things you can do right away to get started making your advertising more effective:
1. Stop using traditional job descriptions as the basis for your advertising. Not even the worst company in the country would consider using their product-specifications listing as their primary marketing copy as some HR/recruiting departments do. Online job descriptions should summarize the challenges and opportunities in the job in some type of flashy document or web page with a creative title and compelling copy. To get started, ask the hiring manager why a top person would want this job. Finish with, "What does a top person need to do to be considered successful?" Then start off your ads with the most compelling stuff.
2. Stop using a classified-ad mentality. In the olden days, newspaper classified ads didn't attract top people, except in the career journal sections. So why do we still use this old-style approach online and expect better results? The career journal section worked because it highlighted big jobs with creative ads and big titles and was read by up-and-comers on Sundays or on their rapid transit commute to work. The same concept can be applied today. The key is to target the up-and-comers, not the down-and-outers.
3. Make the job compelling. The best people take jobs based on this criteria and order: 1) the job stretch, 2) the quality of the hiring manager, 3) the quality of the team, 4) the importance of the job to the company, and 5) the compensation. Your advertising should clearly demonstrate the job stretch and importance to the company in the title and first paragraph. The up-and-comers in each group (age, race, gender, area of specialization) will decide whether to continue reading based mostly on what they read in the first 10 to 20 seconds.
4. Don't start with the part number. If your requisition number is the first thing people read after a boring title, the up-and-comers will have opted out long before they get to the really boring list of skills and requirements.
5. The first two lines are critical. Compare these two ads for a creative marketing person. Which one would be easiest to find, which one might you read, and which one would you apply to? Does one appeal more to different age groups or gender? How could you target it to a specific diversity group?
Web Creative Director: "...has an excellent opportunity for a Web Creative Director with five years of experience for our e-commerce site and other related sites. This position will be responsible for establishing creative direction for the entire..."
No Doubt U2 Can Make a Difference, So Can U2 as Our Web Creative Director: "Can you bring vibrancy and pizzazz to our lackluster suite of websites? We need someone who will push the envelope on using the latest web technology to create WOW! user experiences time after time. You'll have a team of the best designers to..."
6. Track your results. I happen to know that 12.3 percent of the people who read my last ERE article went to our website and on average read 2.8 pages each. Most of these people spent 1.9 minutes reading one of the science of recruiting articles. We used a free web analytics tool from Google to track this. You should be tracking your ad response exactly the same way.
7. Use instant messaging, podcasts and alternative communication channels. Teens, college students, and recent grads use text messaging as their primary means of communication. Everyone has an iPod. Why not have available text messages, SMS or IM versions of your open jobs or provide video or audio podcasts? Teens, college students, and recent grads use text messaging as their primary means of communication. Everyone has an iPod. Why not have available text messages, SMS or IM versions of your open jobs or provide video or audio podcasts? Perhaps a text message such as: ? GI RU CPP CLL 949-612-6300 O?
8. Use creative titles targeted to your audience. Wells Fargo had a successful campaign using "Are You a Desperate Housewife?" as an ad title to attract thirty-somethings with children to work part-time during the day. The key to good titles: Longer so they stand out, they must grab your targeted audience's attention — and being compelling, topical, and fun also helps. "Stand Up and Be Counted" might work if you're looking for an accounting supervisor. It's certainly better than "A/P Supervisor."
9. Use search engine optimization techniques. The best people don't go to job boards or to company career sites first to find new jobs. The best people sometimes look (especially on bad days) for new career opportunities — not just a job — using either Google or Yahoo! search. They'll put the word "job" in the search field along with the standard title and the location. If your jobs don't show up in the first 12 listings, you're missing out on some great talent. If your jobs do show up, are they compelling? By the way, one job board always comes up on Google every time you do this. You should post your jobs there.
10. Make it viral. If you do all of this stuff, people will refer other people to your jobs. Allow these people to forward the link via email, via cell phone, via IM, and through myspace.com, or through any other new communications device that comes along. Great ads describing great jobs that up-and-comers want to hear about delivered right to their doors are the key to hiring great people. Most companies are still marketing their jobs to the down-and-outers who are willing to knock on your door to get in. If you want to hire better people, you need to knock on their doors.
There are profound changes taking place in how companies are marketing in the B2B and consumer space. Unfortunately, HR/recruiting hasn't taken full advantage of them yet. That means you should take action now.
Caveat: Don't follow the masses unless you do it better. Better yet, do it first. Being an earlier adopter is key here. Otherwise, you'll fall into the black hole of recruiter technology, commonly referred to as the law of diminishing returns. This basically says that the more successful a recruiting technology vendor becomes, the less successful their customers become. Logic dictates that if everyone has the same tools to find the same candidates, everyone will wind up finding average candidates.
The answer then is to be an early adopter or push the envelope using the technology more creatively. If you want to win the war for talent, you'll need to do both — and then constantly update this every two to three months. This way you'll always be ahead of the pack.
Note: My next book will be on how to find, hire, and manage diverse and multi-generational teams. If you'd like to be part of this important work, email me directly (lou@adlerconcepts.com). I'm looking for a few organizations who want to challenge conventional wisdom and try out some news methods to reach a dynamic and changing audience.
Lou Adler (lou@adlerconcepts.com) is the president of The Adler Group, a training and consulting firm helping companies find and hire top talent using Performance-based Hiring(sm). He is the Amazon best-seller author of Hire With Your Head (John Wiley & Sons, 3rd Edition, 2007) and the new Nightingale-Conant audio program Talent Rules! Using Performance-based Hiring to Hire Top Talent (2007). Adler is a noted recruiting industry expert, national speaker, and columnist for a number of major recruiting Internet sites including SHRM, ERE.net, Kennedyinfo.com and ZoomInfo.com. Adler’s early career included executive and financial management positions with The Allen Group and Rockwell International. He holds an MBA from UCLA and a B.S. in Engineering from Clarkson University, New York.
http://www.ere.net/articles/db/504B579A1F694E9BAF81AD9F17747E30.asphttp://www.ere.net/articles/db/504B579A1F694E9BAF81AD9F17747E30.aspvv
Thursday, May 31, 2007
A 24/7 Tool for Learning Anywhere Anytime :: Flash card for learning
Today the whole world faces and recognises the enormous force of information streaming via TV/cable, Internet, MP3, IPOD, radio, books, magazines, newspapers, smart cell phones, and handheld devices. People live in society of access to everything via the access to web pages and information searches such as google.
So how do we combat Information Overload? The answer is we change the way the message is delivered! How do we change the message delivery system? By Chunking - that is grouping larger bodies of information into smaller, meaningful segments which has certain advantages.
This article describes flash cards in terms of transferring content to pocket-sized cards as well as access to cards by mobile phone along with making own personal mobile flash card system.
Flash cards for learning
By definition Flash Cards are fast reading, pocket sized deck of cards that enable individuals, public and private enterprises to quickly tap into the best minds on business, professional development, communications, sales and marketing and host of other important content topics in work, occupation, organisation and or business. Flash Cards change the way the message and medium is traditionally delivered to one using innovative technological mobility tools in the communication age. It provides persons or enterprises to have ready access to information or serve as a learning tool for capacity building to raise their level of competence to perform tasks.
By chunking these flash cards can provide a learning platform for content dissemination that meets the needs of institutions – individual and companies alike.
Flash card application for bringing solution to learning
Flash Cards assist knowledge workers and learners to grasp main concepts without exhausting them with extraneous details.
Key ideas and important insights are extracted from CONTENT (published books, information material etc) and placed onto pocket-sized cards with benefits of saving learning time and helping learner grasp main concepts without exhausting them with extraneous details. Flash Card application enhances the skills and capabilities of organisations to access knowledge and information easily.
Best selling books (professional, business, wealth, sales, and personal development) with approval of authors and publishers are transferred onto physical reading cards and accessed them by mobile phone/PDA platform or by computer desktop/laptop delivery with user testing capabilities.
Flash cards make it practical that content needs to be learned, retained and delivered with real time access.
Flash card specifications
Flash cards fast reading pocket sized cards are presented with font colors and on the backside of each card there are motivations and quotations, and inspiring messages.
It's packed with the actual methods, strategies and techniques needed at the workplace or study environment. It allows the users to easily pull out a different card each day to read as daily business building subject matter.
The innovative applications for Flash cards:
1. Pocket size cards printed and delivered with the capability of mobile access using PDA, desktop, laptop and mobile smart phones
2. Twenty tools for individual and/or in groups for training situation exercises within the programme
3. Library of titles (250) available depending on number 25, 100, or 250 titles.
Access to professional books enables one to quickly tap into the best minds on business, management, professional development, and communication, sales and marketing and host of other topics important in the workforce or organisation.
Each title deck contains key ideas and important insights extracted from existing book or pre set content. There is a library of over 250 books available in flash card format that can be used by trainers; incorporated into corporate and government training activities, and as an individual training tool. Each plastic card is black, red and yellow colors with face card telling the reader an important component of the book with around 28+ cards per deck.
Experts hired to develop 20 ways and exercises on how to use flash cards. Each exercise has a unique way of learning content from a book, used individually or used in organisation by grounds or instruction.
The key features and benefits of mobile applications for Flash cards
1. Portability - The ability for learners to carry flash cards with/or mobile device within a learning environment or to different learning environments with ease.
"Over 50% of all employees spend up to half of their time outside the office." Statistics from Empowering Technologies Incorporated cited by Keegan (2003)
2. Social Interactivity - Sharing and collaboration between learners.
"The role of trainer changes from transferring knowledge to individual learners to a facilitator helping learners work together in the construction of their own knowledge." (Harasim, 1990)
3. Context Sensitivity - The ability of learners to gather and respond to real or simulated data unique to the current location, environment, and time using flash card content.
"Engages learners in the learning process and provides for immediate reflection of the effect of their actions on the system as a whole." (Harasim, 1992)
4. Connectivity - Learners are always connected to a shared mobile network for the purposes of data submission, data retrieval, and communication.
Author books are now available on mobile platform with ready access on smart phones, PDA, desktop/laptop or iPOD and can be saved onto personal hard drive.
Examples of Flash card applications including mobile access
1. Education Learning - access to professional books where each deck of cards contains key ideas and important insights extracted from a best selling book that will enhance training of government and enterprise staff and trainer resources
2. Human Resource Management – mobile delivered books and content can be displayed along with types of study aides such as Checklists, Reference Tools and Self Assessments, Tests and Quizzes, Refresher Tools, In Class Pre Test Preparation, and Best Practices.
3. Communications and Training – using mobile media audio, and video with superimposing instructors on top of power point slides, documents or graphics, real live training can be reproduced and integrated into Flash cards.
4. Making own mobile flash cards
StudyCell, a company dedicated to making educational software for cell phones operates mobile flash card system which offers pre-made mobile flash card decks for studying a variety of subjects (languages, math, history, etc.), in addition to its patent pending system for creating individualised flash cards on the StudyCell Web site for download to students' cell phones. Once created, these individualised "make your own" flash cards can be shared with other students and teachers.
Flash cards can serve as a advertising or marketing tool that can be used as quick reference, reminder and reinforcement learning and operating tool or buy them for the office, co-workers – trainers and educators, and they also can be used in trade shows/exhibitions or provide clients as an important product tool as a custom message that the institution wants to deliver.
http://www.digitallearning.in/articles/article-details.asp?articleid=962&typ=Regular%20Features
So how do we combat Information Overload? The answer is we change the way the message is delivered! How do we change the message delivery system? By Chunking - that is grouping larger bodies of information into smaller, meaningful segments which has certain advantages.
This article describes flash cards in terms of transferring content to pocket-sized cards as well as access to cards by mobile phone along with making own personal mobile flash card system.
Flash cards for learning
By definition Flash Cards are fast reading, pocket sized deck of cards that enable individuals, public and private enterprises to quickly tap into the best minds on business, professional development, communications, sales and marketing and host of other important content topics in work, occupation, organisation and or business. Flash Cards change the way the message and medium is traditionally delivered to one using innovative technological mobility tools in the communication age. It provides persons or enterprises to have ready access to information or serve as a learning tool for capacity building to raise their level of competence to perform tasks.
By chunking these flash cards can provide a learning platform for content dissemination that meets the needs of institutions – individual and companies alike.
Flash card application for bringing solution to learning
Flash Cards assist knowledge workers and learners to grasp main concepts without exhausting them with extraneous details.
Key ideas and important insights are extracted from CONTENT (published books, information material etc) and placed onto pocket-sized cards with benefits of saving learning time and helping learner grasp main concepts without exhausting them with extraneous details. Flash Card application enhances the skills and capabilities of organisations to access knowledge and information easily.
Best selling books (professional, business, wealth, sales, and personal development) with approval of authors and publishers are transferred onto physical reading cards and accessed them by mobile phone/PDA platform or by computer desktop/laptop delivery with user testing capabilities.
Flash cards make it practical that content needs to be learned, retained and delivered with real time access.
Flash card specifications
Flash cards fast reading pocket sized cards are presented with font colors and on the backside of each card there are motivations and quotations, and inspiring messages.
It's packed with the actual methods, strategies and techniques needed at the workplace or study environment. It allows the users to easily pull out a different card each day to read as daily business building subject matter.
The innovative applications for Flash cards:
1. Pocket size cards printed and delivered with the capability of mobile access using PDA, desktop, laptop and mobile smart phones
2. Twenty tools for individual and/or in groups for training situation exercises within the programme
3. Library of titles (250) available depending on number 25, 100, or 250 titles.
Access to professional books enables one to quickly tap into the best minds on business, management, professional development, and communication, sales and marketing and host of other topics important in the workforce or organisation.
Each title deck contains key ideas and important insights extracted from existing book or pre set content. There is a library of over 250 books available in flash card format that can be used by trainers; incorporated into corporate and government training activities, and as an individual training tool. Each plastic card is black, red and yellow colors with face card telling the reader an important component of the book with around 28+ cards per deck.
Experts hired to develop 20 ways and exercises on how to use flash cards. Each exercise has a unique way of learning content from a book, used individually or used in organisation by grounds or instruction.
The key features and benefits of mobile applications for Flash cards
1. Portability - The ability for learners to carry flash cards with/or mobile device within a learning environment or to different learning environments with ease.
"Over 50% of all employees spend up to half of their time outside the office." Statistics from Empowering Technologies Incorporated cited by Keegan (2003)
2. Social Interactivity - Sharing and collaboration between learners.
"The role of trainer changes from transferring knowledge to individual learners to a facilitator helping learners work together in the construction of their own knowledge." (Harasim, 1990)
3. Context Sensitivity - The ability of learners to gather and respond to real or simulated data unique to the current location, environment, and time using flash card content.
"Engages learners in the learning process and provides for immediate reflection of the effect of their actions on the system as a whole." (Harasim, 1992)
4. Connectivity - Learners are always connected to a shared mobile network for the purposes of data submission, data retrieval, and communication.
Author books are now available on mobile platform with ready access on smart phones, PDA, desktop/laptop or iPOD and can be saved onto personal hard drive.
Examples of Flash card applications including mobile access
1. Education Learning - access to professional books where each deck of cards contains key ideas and important insights extracted from a best selling book that will enhance training of government and enterprise staff and trainer resources
2. Human Resource Management – mobile delivered books and content can be displayed along with types of study aides such as Checklists, Reference Tools and Self Assessments, Tests and Quizzes, Refresher Tools, In Class Pre Test Preparation, and Best Practices.
3. Communications and Training – using mobile media audio, and video with superimposing instructors on top of power point slides, documents or graphics, real live training can be reproduced and integrated into Flash cards.
4. Making own mobile flash cards
StudyCell, a company dedicated to making educational software for cell phones operates mobile flash card system which offers pre-made mobile flash card decks for studying a variety of subjects (languages, math, history, etc.), in addition to its patent pending system for creating individualised flash cards on the StudyCell Web site for download to students' cell phones. Once created, these individualised "make your own" flash cards can be shared with other students and teachers.
Flash cards can serve as a advertising or marketing tool that can be used as quick reference, reminder and reinforcement learning and operating tool or buy them for the office, co-workers – trainers and educators, and they also can be used in trade shows/exhibitions or provide clients as an important product tool as a custom message that the institution wants to deliver.
http://www.digitallearning.in/articles/article-details.asp?articleid=962&typ=Regular%20Features
The iPod's receptionist
Well the iPod is popular and every company wants to hook up with the pod, so you have options ranging from the itrip to a DJ console which synchronises with the iPod. But as they say in advertising "wait there's more". Meet the Mavizen MobiBlu. What's so special about it you ask? It looks like a regular iPod radio remote you say. Well I agree it is all that, but it's a lot more too.
In fact, the MobiBlu is what I would call the receptionist of the iPod. It takes calls from your bluetooth 2.0 enabled cellphone and forwards it through bluetooth to your iPod, so you can listen to music and switch to a meaningless conversation with just the touch of a button. Alright, here's the skinny on the MobiBlu. The package sports a clip-on remote control, a 24 inch cord that attaches to the iPod's (4G and above) and a USB adaptor for firmware updates.
All you have to do is connect the MyBlu to your iPod, pair the two by pressing the play pause and bluetooth buttons, turn on the bluetooth option on your cellphone, enter the pass code 0000 and voila...want voice dialling and you've got it. Want a Last Number Redial Option and you've got that too. Want Pamela Anderson's cellphone number, well we don't have that yet but some other features of the myblu do merit a stare, for instance a callback option through the pod for up to 9 received calls and ofcourse instant switching from the jarring music on your iPod to the more haemmoraged variety available on FM stations.
Before we scare you with the details, let's quickly round up the good points shall we. First up, the call quality on this thing is clear. The radio doesn't disappoint with its tuneful performance either, the redial option and the voice dial option work for me, since I don't have to take my mobile out again and again.
The setup is simple and requires you to have the IQ of roughly an anthropoid to operate it. And speaking of plus sizes, this piece has got some big problems on its hand. It is not battery powered, it does suck battery from the iPod though. It's FM functions are fool-proof. It doesn't display the name of the stations. It's perfect if you Pod But the price of Rs 4,490 makes it flawed.
So, what's the verdict? Well, high marks for innovativeness and usability but not for price, especially when it's available in the US for USD 90 (Rs 3,690).
http://news.moneycontrol.com/mccode/news/article/news_article.php?autono=279638
In fact, the MobiBlu is what I would call the receptionist of the iPod. It takes calls from your bluetooth 2.0 enabled cellphone and forwards it through bluetooth to your iPod, so you can listen to music and switch to a meaningless conversation with just the touch of a button. Alright, here's the skinny on the MobiBlu. The package sports a clip-on remote control, a 24 inch cord that attaches to the iPod's (4G and above) and a USB adaptor for firmware updates.
All you have to do is connect the MyBlu to your iPod, pair the two by pressing the play pause and bluetooth buttons, turn on the bluetooth option on your cellphone, enter the pass code 0000 and voila...want voice dialling and you've got it. Want a Last Number Redial Option and you've got that too. Want Pamela Anderson's cellphone number, well we don't have that yet but some other features of the myblu do merit a stare, for instance a callback option through the pod for up to 9 received calls and ofcourse instant switching from the jarring music on your iPod to the more haemmoraged variety available on FM stations.
Before we scare you with the details, let's quickly round up the good points shall we. First up, the call quality on this thing is clear. The radio doesn't disappoint with its tuneful performance either, the redial option and the voice dial option work for me, since I don't have to take my mobile out again and again.
The setup is simple and requires you to have the IQ of roughly an anthropoid to operate it. And speaking of plus sizes, this piece has got some big problems on its hand. It is not battery powered, it does suck battery from the iPod though. It's FM functions are fool-proof. It doesn't display the name of the stations. It's perfect if you Pod But the price of Rs 4,490 makes it flawed.
So, what's the verdict? Well, high marks for innovativeness and usability but not for price, especially when it's available in the US for USD 90 (Rs 3,690).
http://news.moneycontrol.com/mccode/news/article/news_article.php?autono=279638
The Ultimate Guide to Video iPod by Ian Richardson
Well, let’s see. There are so many options squeezed into one slim, 2.5” LCD screen media center that it’s going to take a lot of time going over each one of them. So let’s do take it one at a time, shall we? This guide is going to take over all the options you’ve got and how to convert absolutely anything and everything – DVDs, TiVo video, messy AVIs, muxed MPEGs and more to iPod compatible video – all within OS X. And along the way, we’ll teach you a couple of iPod tips and tricks, too!
Handling Those Nasty Scratches
When you take your iPod out of the box, your first order of business should be to protect your investment. You don’t want any of those nasty scratches from appearing on your precious media box, do you? It’s a complete eye soar and one you can completely avoid.
The good thing about this new iPod is that its design is slightly different from that of the nano, which according to most users scratch easily. The new iPod has better chassis and doubled-layered, probably to protect the LCD monitor. But if you want to make sure that your iPod doesn’t show any scratches, most users recommend plastic cases, such as The Invisible Shield. If not, you can always get the white model, instead of the black one.
What Videos Can You Play?
Let us briefly go over the kinds of videos that your new iPod can support. According to Apple’s website, the video specifications of the new iPod are the following:
• H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.
• MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec, Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.
For the newbies, this might all sound a little too confusing. What’s with all the numbers? Don’t worry because chances are you only need to remember a few of those for you to get the most out of your new iPod.
First, let’s start with H.264 video. The highest video bitrate with the H.264 codec is 768 kilobits per second. The biggest picture size for your H.264 movie is 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high, which is incidentally the exact dimension of your iPod’s screen. Your iPod can play H.364 video at framerates up to 30 frames per second. Every one of the applications that we’ll be using encodes with the Baseline Profile. Your audio needs to be encoded as AAC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, and it can be in either stereo or mono. As long as you follow all the guidelines, your movie can even be a QuickTime movie or an MPEG-4 movie file.
The other option you have is the MPEG-4 video, which supports a much higher bitrate than H.264 video – 2500 kilobits per second. Using higher bitrates will also create larger files, which means that you’ll have less space for additional songs and movies, but more segments of your favorite movie. The biggest picture size for your MPEG-4 video is 480 pixels wide by 480 pixels high – three times as many pixels than your iPod’s screen in capable of displaying. Your iPod will shrink the picture proportionally so that everything fits on the screen. Again, the iPod can play videos up to 30 frames per second and your audio and file format options are the same as H.264 video.
So Which One is Better – H.264 or MPEG-4?
Well, that’s a tough question really as each format has their ups and downs. Arguably, H.264 is preferable considering how it offers high quality and a file size that is much smaller compared to MPEG-4. When it comes to picture quality, however, both formats are comparable, especially when encoded at the higher supported video settings.
As for speed of encoding, most people agree that H.264 video takes longer than standard MPEG-4. Take for example a two-hour movie. When you convert that to iPod using H.264 codec, the process could take considerably longer (especially with QuickTime Pro’s pokey Export: Movie to iPod video option).
Where to Download Videos for Your iPod
If you’re tired ripping movies from your DVD collection or you’ve used up all your movie files in your computer, then it’s probably time for you to look for other sources of iPod compatible videos. Below are some good sites that offer iPod video files that are both free and legal!
• ChannelFrederator.com – If you like to watch short animations while taking a breather, this is the place to look in.
• PodGuide.tv – It’s not called “PodGuide” for nothing.
• Channel 101 and Channel 102 – Brilliant downloadable shows are up on offer.
• The iTunes Music Store’s podcast section – One of the best things about the new iPod is that Apple has bundled it with their updates on iTunes. Now, you can download loads of free videos from the store for your daily dose of iPod-casting.
• Apple iTunes – Sometimes you just have to go to the source of the source to find what you’re looking for.
• Archive.org – This site is great for old videos and movies.
Watch iPod Videos on Your TV
Say what?! Yep, it’s true. And for some users who prefer widescreen as opposed to pocket-TV, this is the best thing about the new iPod. Now, outputting your iPod videos to any TV is easy. Just use a special video cable (and it doesn’t even be the one sold by Apple), output it through your iPod’s headphone jack, and voila! You’re a couch potato, baby!
If you’re more interested in watching videos on your TV, you may want to go with the MPEG-4 format since it can support the bigger 480 x 480 picture size. When you encode widescreen movies and output them to a TV, the pixel limit is usually 230,400 pixels. So when these larger images are displayed on your TV, you’ll get to see all those extra pixels.
Okay So You Can Watch Videos on TV, Big Deal…What About My Other Videos?
When you download video files from the web or file sharing networks, some of these files may not be marked as iPod compatible. Does that mean you can’t play them on your iPod? Well, the good news is that it’s easy enough to find out.
Tip #1 – Open iTunes
The easiest and less time-consuming way to determine whether a video is iPod-supported or not is to simply open iTunes with your iPod connected. Afterwards, drop the video file directly into your iPod’s library. If the video is copied into your iPod, it means it’s compatible. If it’s not, then your iPod won’t be able to play it.
To copy the video to your iPod, just select Manually manage songs and playlists in the iPod tab of your iTunes preferences.
Tip #2 – Add Video to the iTunes Library
The other way of finding out if your video files are iPod compatible is to add your video to your iTunes library. Just right lick the video and select Convert Selection to iPod. You will receive an alert from iTunes on your screen, telling you if your video is already compatible. If it’s not, your movie will be converted to a compatible H.264 video for you.
We should probably mention that you don’t really need to add videos to your iTunes Library in order to add them to your iPod. Just drag and drop videos from the Finder straight onto your iPod in iTunes. Again, make sure you’ve enabled the manually manage option.
You can also add songs and videos to your iPod’s library from any computer that has iTunes. Just make sure that you’ve enabled the manually manage option in iTunes. If your iPod was originally formatted on a PC, you can add files from both PCs and Macs. However, if you have a Mac-formatted iPod, you’ll only be able to add files from other Macs.
Tip #3 – Open the file in QuickTime
Alternatively, you can also find out if your video is iPod compatible if you open the file in QuickTime. Next, Select Window: Show Movie Info. In most cases, your video should be iPod-ready if the format is H.264 or MPEG-4, the audio is ACC, and the size of your video is 320 x 240 (or smaller) for H.264 or 480 x 480 (or smaller) for MPEG-4. Also, look at the data rate and make sure it’s not over 900 kbits/sec for H.264 or 2600 kbits/sec for MPEG-4.
In most cases, the bitrate reported by QuickTime would include the video stream and the audio stream (normally 128 kbits/sec) so don’t wonder if the video is shown to have a higher bitrate.
I have a lot more information available at me website, be sure to click by and have a look.
Thanks for reading and I hope you find this information useful.
http://articles.sakshay.in/Article/14629.html
Handling Those Nasty Scratches
When you take your iPod out of the box, your first order of business should be to protect your investment. You don’t want any of those nasty scratches from appearing on your precious media box, do you? It’s a complete eye soar and one you can completely avoid.
The good thing about this new iPod is that its design is slightly different from that of the nano, which according to most users scratch easily. The new iPod has better chassis and doubled-layered, probably to protect the LCD monitor. But if you want to make sure that your iPod doesn’t show any scratches, most users recommend plastic cases, such as The Invisible Shield. If not, you can always get the white model, instead of the black one.
What Videos Can You Play?
Let us briefly go over the kinds of videos that your new iPod can support. According to Apple’s website, the video specifications of the new iPod are the following:
• H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.
• MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec, Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.
For the newbies, this might all sound a little too confusing. What’s with all the numbers? Don’t worry because chances are you only need to remember a few of those for you to get the most out of your new iPod.
First, let’s start with H.264 video. The highest video bitrate with the H.264 codec is 768 kilobits per second. The biggest picture size for your H.264 movie is 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high, which is incidentally the exact dimension of your iPod’s screen. Your iPod can play H.364 video at framerates up to 30 frames per second. Every one of the applications that we’ll be using encodes with the Baseline Profile. Your audio needs to be encoded as AAC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, and it can be in either stereo or mono. As long as you follow all the guidelines, your movie can even be a QuickTime movie or an MPEG-4 movie file.
The other option you have is the MPEG-4 video, which supports a much higher bitrate than H.264 video – 2500 kilobits per second. Using higher bitrates will also create larger files, which means that you’ll have less space for additional songs and movies, but more segments of your favorite movie. The biggest picture size for your MPEG-4 video is 480 pixels wide by 480 pixels high – three times as many pixels than your iPod’s screen in capable of displaying. Your iPod will shrink the picture proportionally so that everything fits on the screen. Again, the iPod can play videos up to 30 frames per second and your audio and file format options are the same as H.264 video.
So Which One is Better – H.264 or MPEG-4?
Well, that’s a tough question really as each format has their ups and downs. Arguably, H.264 is preferable considering how it offers high quality and a file size that is much smaller compared to MPEG-4. When it comes to picture quality, however, both formats are comparable, especially when encoded at the higher supported video settings.
As for speed of encoding, most people agree that H.264 video takes longer than standard MPEG-4. Take for example a two-hour movie. When you convert that to iPod using H.264 codec, the process could take considerably longer (especially with QuickTime Pro’s pokey Export: Movie to iPod video option).
Where to Download Videos for Your iPod
If you’re tired ripping movies from your DVD collection or you’ve used up all your movie files in your computer, then it’s probably time for you to look for other sources of iPod compatible videos. Below are some good sites that offer iPod video files that are both free and legal!
• ChannelFrederator.com – If you like to watch short animations while taking a breather, this is the place to look in.
• PodGuide.tv – It’s not called “PodGuide” for nothing.
• Channel 101 and Channel 102 – Brilliant downloadable shows are up on offer.
• The iTunes Music Store’s podcast section – One of the best things about the new iPod is that Apple has bundled it with their updates on iTunes. Now, you can download loads of free videos from the store for your daily dose of iPod-casting.
• Apple iTunes – Sometimes you just have to go to the source of the source to find what you’re looking for.
• Archive.org – This site is great for old videos and movies.
Watch iPod Videos on Your TV
Say what?! Yep, it’s true. And for some users who prefer widescreen as opposed to pocket-TV, this is the best thing about the new iPod. Now, outputting your iPod videos to any TV is easy. Just use a special video cable (and it doesn’t even be the one sold by Apple), output it through your iPod’s headphone jack, and voila! You’re a couch potato, baby!
If you’re more interested in watching videos on your TV, you may want to go with the MPEG-4 format since it can support the bigger 480 x 480 picture size. When you encode widescreen movies and output them to a TV, the pixel limit is usually 230,400 pixels. So when these larger images are displayed on your TV, you’ll get to see all those extra pixels.
Okay So You Can Watch Videos on TV, Big Deal…What About My Other Videos?
When you download video files from the web or file sharing networks, some of these files may not be marked as iPod compatible. Does that mean you can’t play them on your iPod? Well, the good news is that it’s easy enough to find out.
Tip #1 – Open iTunes
The easiest and less time-consuming way to determine whether a video is iPod-supported or not is to simply open iTunes with your iPod connected. Afterwards, drop the video file directly into your iPod’s library. If the video is copied into your iPod, it means it’s compatible. If it’s not, then your iPod won’t be able to play it.
To copy the video to your iPod, just select Manually manage songs and playlists in the iPod tab of your iTunes preferences.
Tip #2 – Add Video to the iTunes Library
The other way of finding out if your video files are iPod compatible is to add your video to your iTunes library. Just right lick the video and select Convert Selection to iPod. You will receive an alert from iTunes on your screen, telling you if your video is already compatible. If it’s not, your movie will be converted to a compatible H.264 video for you.
We should probably mention that you don’t really need to add videos to your iTunes Library in order to add them to your iPod. Just drag and drop videos from the Finder straight onto your iPod in iTunes. Again, make sure you’ve enabled the manually manage option.
You can also add songs and videos to your iPod’s library from any computer that has iTunes. Just make sure that you’ve enabled the manually manage option in iTunes. If your iPod was originally formatted on a PC, you can add files from both PCs and Macs. However, if you have a Mac-formatted iPod, you’ll only be able to add files from other Macs.
Tip #3 – Open the file in QuickTime
Alternatively, you can also find out if your video is iPod compatible if you open the file in QuickTime. Next, Select Window: Show Movie Info. In most cases, your video should be iPod-ready if the format is H.264 or MPEG-4, the audio is ACC, and the size of your video is 320 x 240 (or smaller) for H.264 or 480 x 480 (or smaller) for MPEG-4. Also, look at the data rate and make sure it’s not over 900 kbits/sec for H.264 or 2600 kbits/sec for MPEG-4.
In most cases, the bitrate reported by QuickTime would include the video stream and the audio stream (normally 128 kbits/sec) so don’t wonder if the video is shown to have a higher bitrate.
I have a lot more information available at me website, be sure to click by and have a look.
Thanks for reading and I hope you find this information useful.
http://articles.sakshay.in/Article/14629.html
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