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!

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.

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.”

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

With the launch of our 13th weekly show (popSiren), along with our two daily showlets (Tekzilla Daily and Lil’ Internet Superstar), we’re pumping out more than eight hours of quality entertainment and information each week.

For those of you out there watching it all, I love you to death, but you can stop reading now. This announcement is not for you. But for everyone else who might have one or two favorite programs, and always wanted to watch more, I’m happy to announce a cool new feature here at Revision3.

It’s called “Best of..” and it’s our very own collection of the best clips from each of our shows. Every day we’ll be selecting the choicest segments from the previous day’s releases, and putting them into a special place here at Revision3.com. Even better, you can also subscribe to our Best Of just as if it were an actual show. That way you’ll automatically get our best clips delivered to your PC, your AppleTV, your Zune, or really anywhere.

There’s always something cool and new in our Best Of.. area here on the web, so make sure you stop back every day. And if you find something you really like, then watch the whole show. And don’t forget to subscribe to the ones that really catch your fancy, then you’ll never miss a single episode.

– Jim Louderback

At Revision3, we believe that you should be able to watch our great programming on any device, anywhere, at any time. Today I’m proud to announce that we’ve finally delivered on the promise: you can now watch our shows on your mobile phone, along with iPods, Zunes, computers and TVs.

Through our landmark deal with Transpera, not only can you stream and download shows (network and device permitting), you can share them with a friend’s phone too.

While, our new mobile site works with every mobile provider, it may not work with every phone. Most smartphones and the iPhone are supported. You’ll also need some sort of high-speed data plan, because we are talking video, after all.

Head here for more details on our new mobilized Transpera site. If you want to check it out yourself, point your phone to http://m.revision3.com/.

Just a few words on Transpera: This is a very cool company. They are really breaking new ground in mobile deliver of video, and we couldn’t have found a better partner to mobilize Revision3 video. Enjoy the service, and let us know how it works for you. Remember that we’re just at the beginning of the mobile video revolution, so you might see a hiccup or two here and there.

– Jim Louderback

Revision3 is proud to announce that we’re on the ballot for SXSW’s People Choice Awards! And since it’s the “People’s Choice” that means that YOU get to pick who wins!

We’d be honored if you took the time to go and vote - just head over to the SXSW People’s Choice Awards page and enter your e-mail address. SXSW will then send you your pass phrase, go back to the site and then you can vote! It’s really easy and takes like 2 minutes total.

When you’re voting, don’t forget about how much you adore Revision3 and all our shows. *Nudge*Nudge*Wink*Wink*

Best of luck to everyone else on the ballot and we can’t wait to see who wins!

thanks.
- Ron Richards

The hits just keep coming here at Revision3! I’m excited to announce another new feature, long in the making.

It’s our very first “live” feed, and it’ll ensure that there’s always something to watch.
What’s actually on? Alas, it’s not a live stream of Sarah Lane’s desk, or David Randolph’s shop. Nor is it Martin with one of those cheesy head-mounted cameras (although he begged for one). Nope, it’s a real, live feed of Revision3 programming, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

That’s right, any time, day or night, you can simply click on our “Live” button and let us do the programming for you. Sit back and be surprised and amazed by one of our 11 (soon to be 12) great shows. It’s the perfect antidote to the On-Demand world of web video. You don’t have to do anything – just set it and forget it.

I can think of a hundred ways to take advantage of our new live program loop, and here are just a few:

Leave it on all day on the job while cranking out that busywork for the boss.

Too tired to decide what to watch at night? Leave our live feed on and be surprised by the latest from Martin, Patrick, Kevin and Alex.

Cranky baby? The soothing tones of our Revision3 programs will have her sleeping in no time.

Driving cross country? With a laptop and EVDO card, we’re better than radio (but perhaps illegal in some states).

Bored in class? Tune out the teacher with our always on loop.

There are lots more fun ways to use our new live programming loop – leave your ideas in the comments below, and we’ll highlight some of the best suggestions on one of our programs.

But wait, I forgot the best part. You don’t have to watch alone. That’s because we’ve added an always-on chat stream to the live stream. That’s right, you can watch what’s on RIGHT NOW with your friends, and other Revision3 fans from around the world. Who knows, maybe one of your favorite Revision3 stars will stop by and say hi too!

So stop by, see what’s on, and then chat about it (or anything that’s on your mind) 24 hours a day. Powered by Meebo, our Revision3 chat room turns viewing our shows into an interactive, community experience!

Now, with Revision3, you’re never alone! And expect even more “live” stuff to come in the future!

Post your own ideas about how to use our new live loop, or just leave a comment about how you like our new service, in the comments below!

It’s been less than a week since the new Revision3.com site went live and it’s been an exciting time. We’ve received tons of feedback from our audience and we really appreciate it all, both good and bad! We want to thank those of you who have taken the time to congratulate and compliment us on our new home on the Internet, your comments really keep us going. As for the criticisms and complaints, thank you too! Your comments have pointed out to us what we need to work on and how we can improve the site.

With that said, I’m happy to announce that we’ve got some more changes to the site that I’m sure many of you will appreciate:

• Homepage - We’ve updated our homepage with some tweaking of the design and added a section, “Just Released” which highlights the latest releases from Revision3, as well as a dedicated page with our episodes in chronological order of release. So now, you can stay on top of our shows as they are released!
• Speed and Optimization - This one is a little less obvious, but we’re constantly working on the site’s code, image sizes and on our servers to keep the site running quick and responsive. We received a huge response from our new site launch, which led to increased traffic and more folks on our already vibrant forums, which is great, but also led to the site being a bit slower than everyone would like. Trust me, we get just as frustrated as you do. But we’re working on it and you should already be noticing the speed of site becoming less and less of an issue. Our IT guys are working overtime on this, so we ask that you continue to be patient.

Like I said, it’s been exciting and it should continue to be. We’re working our collective butts off to make the best website for you, our audience to enjoy. So check out our new features and stay tuned for more as we’ll be rolling them out on a steady basis. And as always, please feel free to leave your comments and let us know what you like and dislike. We are listening and appreciate the feedback!

- Ron Richards

We’ve got a lot going on today at Revision3!

Our big news? Today we launched a brand new update to Revision3.com. Our new site look has been under development for more than five months, and includes a number of new features, capabilities and styles.

Let’s start with the look itself. With a complete site redesign, our site is easier on the eyes, more organized, and each show has its own destination sub-site, with its own distinct look and feel. Our new home page is anchored by a rotating module that highlights shows, events and other key happenings at Revision3. We’ve also made it easier for you to find our shows, and try out new shows and episodes you might have missed.

These new show sub-sites are actually full-blown destination sites themselves. Inside you’ll find individual pages for each episode, more pages for daily episodes (where they exist), detailed pages for each host, and much more. We’re also highlighting news and notes for each show, ensuring you never miss any details for all your favorite Revision3 shows and hosts.

And once you find a show you like, why not subscribe to it, or share it with a friend. We’ve made that easier as well, with a big “Subscribe” button in the upper left hand side of every page inside each show’s subsite. We’ve also laid out all the subscription options in one place, and made it easier to embed a show on your blog or MySpace account too.

Oh, and what about watching your favorite shows? Sure you can subscribe and download, but we’ve improved our streaming capabilities as well. Over the last month we’ve worked closely with our streaming CDN, BitGravity, to improve performance and response time, and to integrate in a larger player. Now you can see all your favorite episodes in a new 555×337 window – that’s big!

Another part of the Revision3 site you may not have paid much attention to, our strong and active community, now takes center stage as well. We’ve integrated in forum comments everywhere on the site, from the home page to show pages and even down onto episode pages. Now you can easily read comments and post your own — about Revision3’s shows, or whatever’s on your mind.

But if you want to post, you’ll have to become a member. It’s easier than ever, though, and once you’ve logged in the site changes in subtle but important ways. First, your own comments will be appearing in our community pages for all the shows. Second, you can create and upload your own favorite avatar image that follows you around. And there’s much more to come, including new customization options, chatting options and much more. And when you become a member, don’t worry – we’ll never sell your name, nor never send you anything you haven’t asked for. But I encourage you to check the box that enables us to send you Revision3 updates – you’ll be first in line for our new email update, along with updates on new features and more. You can do all that on your own personal Account page.

Speaking of members, that leads me to our second big piece of news. For the last year or so we’ve made early release of Diggnation a part of our paid membership program. But just as Woodstock became a free concert, as of today those gates are down. Everyone will now receive Diggnation at the same time. So for everyone who’s been waiting mournfully for 24 hours, or heading over to other sites to get Diggnation early, your long national nightmare is over! Diggnation, free for all, on Fridays at 7pm (eastern).

The new Revision3 website is a thing of beauty. And our amazing web development and tech team, including Ron Richards, Stephanie Chu, Jeff Rizzo, Mark Rebec, Chuck Siu, and Brendan White have put together a fantastic site – with many more cool features and capabilities to come. So make sure to keep coming back and checking here at our blog for updates and announcements of new functionality. Enjoy the site, check it out, and feel free to leave any questions, suggestions, brickbats or kudos here in the comments.

- Jim Louderback
CEO, Revision3