Revision3 Blog: systm tag

Systm + David Calkins = More Mayhem, Completed Projects

We’ve been searching for a new full time cohost for Systm for what seems like forever. In a perfect world, we’d have found somebody months ago. Instead, we found somebody perfect for the job… it just took us a while to find them. Meet David Calkins, robotics expert, RoboGames founder, occasional pyromanic and the new cohost of Systm.

Lest you think David is just another pretty face, we’ll skip past his experience teaching classes on how to build your own R2D2 droid at events like Comic-Con to his experience as a Lecturer of Computer & Electrical Engineering at SFSU.

To say that David loves robots and robotics (and all the various disciplines required to make them work, from programming controllers and milling metal to the terminal search for better battery tech you can actually afford to buy) is a gross understatement.

Forget about his combat and Cocktail Robots... to advance the art of robotics David founded RoboGames, the world’s largest open robot competition (It’s in the Guinness Book of World Records) The annual event has a stellar reputation for bringing contestants together from around the world to compete in dozens of events. The real focus, though, underlying the competition, is cross pollinating ideas across the all too specialized fields of robot development. (OK, the robot combat is of epic intensity, and well worth watching… think 504 robots in 58 events, the video is sick)

Then there’s his work in advancing robotics in education, working with local high schools, NASA, and, of course, as the president of the Robotics Society of America, which works especially well with Systm: David’s not only used to sorting out tech puzzles, but explaining them to other folks.

Did I mention R2D2 earlier? David molded the plastic to build his own Stormtrooper armor. Chances are he takes his nerdly obsessions a tad farther than you: there were Stormtroopers at his wedding. Think I’m kidding? It made BoingBoing I won’t get into where it was held.

So join me in welcoming David Calkins to Systm… this should be fun!

In the bad old days, if you want to get a show on TV you had to head to Hollywood, suck up to guys with more pinky rings than sense, and pimp yourself out for years before getting your dream on the air.

The alternative? Local access cable. Party on Wayne.

But the internet has changed all that. Now anyone with a dollar and a dream (and a video camera) can create entertaining, compelling and fascinating content - and then post it for all the world to see. Alas, just because you put it up doesn’t mean you’ll build an audience.

That’s where we come in. Our Revision3 shows have proven that all kinds of concepts, shows and hosts can build big audiences. But there are way more shows than even we can bring through Revision3’s destination site. But we want to help the next crop of talented show producers develop their skills and find and audience. So today we’re launching Revision3 Beta, our farm team of up and coming shows.

This is not just another user-generated video site. Not anyone can become a Revision3 Beta show. We’re going to be hand picking a small group of shows with promise, and then we’ll be launching them inside our new Revision3 beta destination site - and then helping them to develop. Who’s leading the way here? None other than the internet’s Martin Sargent, who along with being an amazingly creative show host and producer is gifted at spotting and nurturing creative talent.

Got a show you’ve been slaving over? Head over to Revision3 Beta and upload it for Martin to look at. Even if we don’t pick it up for Revision3 Beta, he’ll spend some time giving you feedback and helping you craft the next best thing.

What sort of shows will you find on Revision3 Beta? We’re not saying yet - but we’ve got a half-dozen cool new shows lined up that we’ll be launching in mid September, right on the Revision3 Beta site.

Oh, and one last shout out to the great folks at Viddler, one of our favorite online video destinations. Revision3 Beta is powered by Viddler, which will make it simple to create, upload, watch and promote our new lineup of shows.

So if you’ve got a great show, upload it to Revision3 Beta today. And look for our mid-September launch of the first crop of what we’re confident will become the next big things in Internet Television.

Jim Louderback

We’ve had a few complications with our DIY projector, and unfortunately we won’t be able to bring you the episode on time. We’ll be posting updates in the forums, but it will be done by the end of the week. We apologize for the delay, and thank you for your patience.

Want to see something cool? Head over to our brand new Revision3 channel on YouTube.

It’s one small step for YouTube, one giant leap for Revision3! Now everything we produce is available on YouTube - and our channel is absolutely one of the best looking destinations inside the giant video site.

Read all about it in our Revision3 / YouTube press release, if you want more details. But now you can enjoy our revolutionary programs anywhere YouTube is served.

— Jim Louderback

This truly is an epic announcement. I’m overjoyed to say that the amazingly entertaining, cool and ground-breaking show Epic Fu is now a part of the Revision3 lineup.

You can read all about it in our Revision3 Epic Fu press release. But let me just add a few more comments.

First, if you’ve never seen Epic Fu, you are in for a BIG treat. The show is wonderfully produced, full of great information about the web and modern culture, and so fast paced, even the Taz the hyperactive Tasmanian Devil would love it.

Second, host Zadi Diaz is a legitimate force on the internet. She’s developed an amazingly strong and loyal fan base, and via their innovative social network, Epic Fu has created an awesome on-line community, called MIX that extends the experience of the show out in virtually every direction. I’m excited to both bring Revision3’s core audience into that community, and to learn from them as we extend and enhance the communities around our other shows.

Finally, producer Steve and Zadi are some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. Someone said to me recently that the truly talented are the most humble and real, and that obnoxiously over the top egotists are comparatively lacking in the talent department. If that’s true, Steve and Zadi are prime examples. They are genuine, real, talented and wonderful to work with. I encourage you to watch, download and subscribe. I know you’ll quickly become a passionate Epic Fu fan… just like me!

San Francisco, CA — Revision3 Corporation, the TV Network for the Internet generation, has announced today that they will be participating in breakthrough experiments to do science and other cool stuff.

“Here at Revision3, we have always taken a keen interest in science, and all the great stuff it’s given us over the years- everything from these cool computers we use for making our videos, to its vaunted ability to blind Thomas Dolby,” says Revision3 CTO Jeff Rizzo. “We wanted to find a way to give back to a scientific community that has given us so much occasionally-useful crap.”

When the technical department of Revision3 heard of the groundbreaking research of the Brain Information Group of the Kansai Advanced Research Center in Japan into the effects of wearing perception-altering goggles for extended periods of time, Rizzo knew that they had an opportunity to contribute to Science. “Since we have videos, people have to see them in order to view, and by altering our videos, we’ve altered people’s perception of these videos. We can clearly do good science, except for the whole part about having degrees, and laboratories, and scientific training. This science thing is neat!” Look around the Revision3 Website today, particularly the videos, for clues how you can participate.

What does the future hold for this new “Science and Stuff” initiative at the pioneering company? Rizzo says, “The Koreans have some pretty advanced glow-in-the-dark cat technology that we could conceivably extend to provide some interesting mods for Systm, for example. The world is our oyster, and we at Revision3 have never let little things like training or talent stand in the way of getting what we want.”

In the old days, BR (Before Revision3), there was just one prime time. Every night Ma, Pa and the kids would huddle around the communal Philco, eagerly awaiting the latest Father Knows Best, Laugh-In and The Screen Savers.

These days, though, 24-hour availability of programs from Revision3, YouTube, Blip, Transpera and others have turned Prime Time into Every Time. Even so, we’re starting to see some interesting spikes in viewership during certain parts of the day. Evening remains strong, but two new “prime times” have emerged.

The first one? Noon to 2pm during the week. It’s obvious in retrospect; clearly there are a lot of videos being consumed during extended lunch breaks around the world. Here at Revision3 we’re particularly excited about lunch-time viewing – so much so, that today we’re changing our show release schedule to coincide with this new prime time.

We used to release new episodes of your favorite shows at 1pm, 4pm and 7pm eastern. But that meant many of you missed those new episodes during your lunch break. Not any more! Today we’re advancing that schedule by an hour. That means east-coast based fans of Internet Superstar and Tekzilla, for example, can now watch those shows the day they they debut, during lunch at noon – on Wednesday and Friday respectively.

Totally Rad Show, Digg Reel and popSiren on the west coast are now similarly blessed. And for all your Diggnation fans that just can’t wait – you’ll get it an hour earlier on Friday too (except, perhaps, this week, given the vagaries of transmitting huge files from Amsterdam).

You can see our brand new Revision3 show schedule right here! Happy lunching.

Oh, what about that second prime time? This one pertains mostly to young men, and happens on the weekends between about midnight and 4am. I’ll hazard no guesses as to what they’re watching, but suffice it to say that Revision3, at least, will not be pandering to that particular video need.

We are very excited to announce that starting today, Revision3 shows are available on Blip.tv! Blip.tv is one of the true pioneers in the web 2.0 world–tremendously supportive of the independent video community, and constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries of the possibilities of broadband video. We are so proud to be a partner of Blip, check out all your favorite Revision3 shows and let us know what you think!

- Damon Berger

Hey, I’m Damon Berger, the Director of Business Development here at Revision3, and this is the first blog post of many I will write talking about all of the different ways that you can watch Revision3 shows. Our biggest goal is to put the power in your hands, giving you as many options as possible for you to experience your favorite Revision3 shows. We’re all about spreading the love..in a totally disease-free kind of way.

We are very excited to announce the latest and greatest way to watch Revision3–the downloadable Miro player! By clicking here you can download the Revision3 Miro player, which automatically downloads all your Revision3 shows and keeps you up to date every time a new episode or show is released. It even comes with the coolest desktop icon ever made. Check it out and let us know what you think!

- Damon Berger

We can’t believe it has been a year, but, indeed, 52 weeks ago, Alex, Dan, Steve, and I congregated in Steve’s garage to record the very first Totally Rad Show. Since then, every week we’ve met to hang out and discuss the raddest stuff we could find on the topics of movies, video games, TV, and comics.

We’ve had laughter, arguments, and a fair amount of sweat - but the best part of all has been the audience feedback. So to celebrate our first anniversary, we thought the raddest thing we could do would be to reach out to you, the fans, and ask you to vote for your favorite moments from the last year. So we did.

And you responded with much more than that. Many of you pitched in to help (producer) Steve put together an incredible retrospective on the show, and a few of you even demanded we return the favor and look back at all of Steve’s visual contributions, too. Episode 52 is out now and I am proud to say that it is as much yours as it is ours.

You, our audience, provide us with backgrounds and material every week; this episode takes that interactivity one step further. It’s a truly interactive version of TRS, one that’s only possible on the internet, here at Revision3. So thank you for all your help and support this first year - and here’s to many more to come.

Oh, and if you’ve never given TRS a try, this is the perfect episode to do so. Why not watch episode #52, see some of our favorite moments of the year, and drop into the forum to let us know what you think? Even better, take advantage of our free subscription option, via iTunes, Miro, the Zune or other feed readers, and get TRS delivered to you every Tuesday, as soon as fresh episodes are available.

– Jeff Cannata