Video 44

Just completed the upload of a video introducing Outlook Web Access. As usual you can view it on our hosted YouTube site at http://www.youtube.com/saturnalliance.

I’ve tried a few more fancy additions using Camtasia which hopefully makes the video more professional. I must admit that when I view it the resolution seems poor (is that just me?). It may have something to do with the bulk video uploader I use. Basically, you upload a video once to the site and then you can upload from there to multiple video hosting sites, including YouTube. It must undergo some sort of conversion process when it gets uploaded from the bulk site to YouTube. Nobody seems to have complained as yet so I will assume that it is just me. Even if they did I think I would still use the bulk uploading site since it allow me to not only upload to a whole swag of sites but also track statistics, which is really handy to know what is being viewed. If someone really wants a better quality file then I’m happy to make that available (be warned, it is >50MB!). So simply contact me (robert@saturnalliance.com.au) to arrange.

Take a look and let me know what you think, just remember that I am still limited to creating videos of not more than 10 minutes. This is a YouTube imposed limit and the only way that I can get that upgraded is to have lots and lots (I mean thousands) of subscribers it appears. So tell everyone you know to subscribe so I can get the account upgraded and add more content.

In plain English

Everyone knows the cliche “A picture is worth a thousand word” right? So maybe moving pictures are worth a hundred times this? In so many cases today I find that it is much easier if someone shows me what they are talking about rather than either me reading about it or trying to work it out myself. This was my idea behind my YouTube on line videos.

Clearly I am not the only person who has been thinking along these lines. One of the best examples are videos created by The Common Craft Show which can also be found on YouTube. They videos are an excellent example of how to get a concept across in a very short space of time. I love the way they use drawings and cut outs to convey the ideas, it really must take them a while to do this but the end result is great!

So if you are looking to understand things like Blogs, Wikis, Twitter, Social networking and the like have a look at the Common Craft Show videos.

80,000 views and beyond

Well this week my YouTube videos have exceeded 80,000 total views. Quite a milestone I think. In all honesty, when I started doing them almost 2 years ago I did it mainly for client reference. It is much easier to point a customer to a video on how to reboot an SBS 2003 server than it is to send them a document or try and explain it over the phone. Since video files are typically large and it is better if they are also streamed I decided that hosting them on YouTube was the optimal option since there was no infrastructure cost and they would always be available and delivered quickly to all customers.

Before long I was starting to receive emails and comments on YouTube that other people were not only watching the videos but that they also found them useful! Wow, the Internet is an amazing place I thought. Inspired by this feedback I created more videos that I though would be of benefit. As the number of videos I uploaded started to grow I began to keep track of their weekly performance via the KPI webpart on my public Sharepoint site (http://supportweb.ciaops.net.au). Each week I track figures like total views, average views, subscribers and so on. Each week I am pleased to say that all these KPI’s have been increasing. Although I doubt they will continue on this path in the long run, it does provide some confirmation that people are benefiting in some way from what is produced.

So now it is on towards the 100,000 views mark. Unfortunately, YouTube currently has a limitation of only 10 minutes and thus it is becoming harder and harder to squeeze content into this time frame. I did apply to YouTube to have this limit increased but they said that what I present doesn’t meet their criteria to warrant an upgrade. My guess is that I need thousand’s of subscribers not hundreds. I know there are other mediums that allow videos of greater length but at the moment YouTube is the premier portal for video broadcasting technology so I’ll stay there. Hopefully, one day I’ll be able to uploads of greater length allowing me to add deeper content and detail on what I present but for the moment I do what I can in the time frame provided.

So to all those who have subscribed and all those that continue to watch what I have produced – thank you.

Video 42 – Wireless security

I’ve just uploaded Video 42 to YouTube. To view it simply click here.

In this video I’ve focused on why implementing Wireless Security is important. All it takes is a single opening for someone to potentially gain complete access to your network and Internet. The video concludes with some recommendation about how to make sure your Wireless Network is kept secure.

Video 41 – Configuring SBS monitoring

Our latest video is now available as always on YouTube. You’ll find it by clicking here. This video focuses on configuring monitoring on Small Business Server 2003, which will email health reports and alerts from your server. Sure, it isn’t that hard to configure but many people don’t even know that this feature is available.

As always, we are trying to improve the quality and professionalism of what we provide but that is hard without any revenue for our efforts. As such we can only continue to offer these videos whenever we get some free time. Initially we thought that perhaps asking for a donation from viewers would provide at least some low level of assistance. However, to date we have been very disappointed with the response (thanks to those that did donate – the small number of you – we really appreciate it). We are not asking for hundreds of dollars, AUD $5-$10 from people would really go a long way if enough people saw fit to donate.

So in light of this poor response we have opted to now provide a set of show notes on each video we do for a minimum of AUD$5 donation. The show notes will cover what the video covers but also provide some more advanced information about the topic at hand. We hope that perhaps this enticement will encourage people to support the work that we do by helping us fund our planned improvements. You can find a list of these by clicking here.

A century of subscribers

Well, no sooner did I say that my YouTube video subscribers were approaching 100 than it has blasted past the mark! (well by at least 1, but hey it’s still triple figures). It must have been that last video I did on restoring Exchange emails that did the trick.

The next target is to reach 100,000 views which is still a ways off (given that it is only approaching 60,000) now. However, it is pleasing to see that the number of views is increasing by about 2,500 a week. Obviously, if I put more videos up then there will be more views and the quicker I’ll get to my 100,000 target.

As I have said previously, it is getting tough to squeeze stuff into the ten minute YouTube enforced limit. The only other option is to start splitting them into Part 1, Part 2, etc which I would prefer to avoid if I could. I know there are other video hosting sites out there ( video.google.com ) for one that doesn’t have these limits but of course YouTube is by far the most popular. anyway, I’ll be giving that some consideration as I plan my next video presentation.

Roll on 100,000 views.

Video 40 now available

Yes, I have uploaded a new video to YouTube. This one covers the basics of restoring emails into Exchange Server using the Exchange Recovery Group. It is fast becoming a case that the maximum 10 minutes that YouTube allows for videos is proving very restrictive. Many subjects I am now covering can’t really been given justice in 10 minutes and perhaps the only option is to start breaking them into multiple parts. You’ll notice a few editing cuts I had to make to get the production under the 10 minute limit. I know that other “more commercial” YouTube users have videos of > 10 minutes does anyone out there know how I can get access to this as well with significant additional cost? If so please let me know.

You’ll find the latest video directly on YouTube by clicking here, otherwise visit the Support Web Video library for the complete list of all the videos I have created.

I am also heartened by the fact that the numbers of subscribers to my videos is approaching 100 (98 and counting). I would have never thought that anyone would continue to be interested by the content I create but then the Internet is an amazing place isn’t it? To all those subscribers I just wish to again say thank you and to let you know that you are the main reason that I do keep dong these videos. As always if you want to see me cover a specific topic or technology please let me know so I can schedule it into the upcoming production (just a a good movie/tv producer would say eh?).

Enjoy.

More than 50,000 views

Wow, what can I say? The YouTube videos that I have created how now surpassed a total of 50,000 views since I uploaded the first video. For those that have watched the videos, I thank you, for those who have provided feedback and comments, I also thank you but I would especially like to thank all those people who have chosen to actually subscribe to my channel (which you can find at http://www.youtube.com/saturnalliance). The next target that I would like to achieve with the videos is 100 subscribers. The current count is about 85 and rising.

Once again to anyone who has taken the time to view the videos I thank you very much. Roll on 100,000 views!