Don't get me wrong, I think Vimeo has ever right to clean-up huge files which are hardly used. I have a pro account on Vimeo and have been pleased with their upload speeds - better than Youtube.
From vimeo....
Starting August 1st, basic accounts' original source files will be stored for one week from the upload date, after which they will be removed. Of course the converted Vimeo video will always be there in the Vimeo player, ready to be watched again and again, anywhere you choose to embed or share it. We will also still provide a download link so people can save the converted file to their computer (in MP4 format).
This new one-week policy applies to all basic accounts' videos uploaded from this point onwards. For videos that were uploaded before this blog post, those original files will be available until August 1st, to give you some time to download them if you need to. After August 1st, those files will also be removed.
For Plus users nothing will change: we're going to continue hosting your original video source files for both your existing videos and any new videos you upload. We appreciate your support, and we want to continue improving the Plus service, not limit it. If you choose not to renew your Plus service, we'll keep your original videos for one month past the end of your subscription to give you time to download your videos or decide if you want to renew. Additionally, if a basic user upgrades to Plus within the one week window after they upload a video, that original file will be kept as long as they are a Plus member.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Michael Jackson replaces Stalin in Prague
There used to be a statue of Stalin in the communist period. Joe beamed across the river from a hillside park on the North shore across the bridge and into the historic centre of Prague. The statue was removed and replaced with a sort of metronome. I climbed the 254 stairs to the top to find a skateboard park and what appears to be a sort of shrine to the late Michael Jackson. An English language broadcast by Radio Prague in May 2005 gives the background to the Stalin Statue and its rather macabre connection with death.
Tourists come here today, not only for the breathtaking view but to see the large ticking metronome, which was erected here in 1991. But for the local residents this spot holds a darker memory - little do the tourists around here know that exactly fifty years ago, at this very site, some six hundred men and women were working around the clock to create the world's biggest monument ever to honour the Soviet Communist party chief Josef Stalin.
The 50-metre high massive statue of the finest marble was proudly unveiled by Czechoslovakia's Communist regime on May 1, 1955. For seven years the residents of Prague had the Soviet leader follow their every move from the hill above. The 17,000 tonne statue - Stalin's jacket button alone, decorated with a hammer and sickle, of course, was half a metre wide - featured the Soviet leader in front of a line of workers - jokingly called the "Fronta na maso" or "meat queue" by Prague residents, as this was a time when they were a daily part of life in the city.
There are some dark legends associated with the statue. Its creator, Otakar Svec committed suicide a day before the unveiling. The man who posed for him as Stalin - an electrician from the Barrandov film studios, failed to shake off his nickname "Stalin", took to drink, and died three years later. And, the vast statue's glory days were short-lived. Stalin's reign was denounced by the new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, and the statue was destroyed just seven years later, on Moscow's orders in 1962.
Too heavy to be displaced, it was blown to pieces with 800 kg of explosives and 1,650 detonators. Some witnesses claim the party chief was decapitated immediately after the first explosion, his head rolling into the river waters below. Before the remnants of the monument were stored, they were loaded on a truck and paraded in front of cheering crowds that gathered to celebrate the event in the streets of Prague's Old Town. Was it just a coincidence or a bad omen that less than a year later, the driver of the truck died in an accident?
Sunday, July 12, 2009
iCav
BBC English Regions has been using an Internet Content aquisition vehicle. Its has been on trial on BBC Lincolnshire. Its basically an office with editing facilities on board that can be operated by a single journalist.
Cookies Ice Cream
This Italian Ice Cream looks a bit strange at a Moscow shopping centre near the Kremlin
Kremlin Chimes from Saviour (Spasskaya ) Tower (Frolovskaya).
I have listened to these bells for years in the days of Radio Moscow World Service. But I didn't realise until now that the chimes have always been built by Dutchmen.
On April, 16, 1658, according to the decree of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich, the tower was renamed Spasskaya after the Vernicle Icon placed over the gate facing Red Square. The icon itself has not survived. Russian architect Bazhen Ogurtsov (Cucumber) and English clockmaster Christopher Galloway supervised the construction of the marquee.
The first clock on the Spasskaya Tower was installed by Galloway's team. In 1707, a Dutch musical carillion chime was sent to Moscow on the order of Tsar Peter the Great. That lasted a century. Ivan Butenop and his brother Nicholas, Moscow merchants of Dutch origin, founded in Moscow in 1830 a mechanical workshop manufacturing farm machinery, fire-fighting hoses and tower clocks. From 1851 to 1852 the Butenop Brothers fully reconstructed the Kremlin chimes inside the Tower of the Savior in Moscow. For the following 15 years the Butenop Brothers mechanical establishment took care of the proper operation of the mechanism of the chimes and the firm's craftsman wound them.
On April, 16, 1658, according to the decree of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich, the tower was renamed Spasskaya after the Vernicle Icon placed over the gate facing Red Square. The icon itself has not survived. Russian architect Bazhen Ogurtsov (Cucumber) and English clockmaster Christopher Galloway supervised the construction of the marquee.
The first clock on the Spasskaya Tower was installed by Galloway's team. In 1707, a Dutch musical carillion chime was sent to Moscow on the order of Tsar Peter the Great. That lasted a century. Ivan Butenop and his brother Nicholas, Moscow merchants of Dutch origin, founded in Moscow in 1830 a mechanical workshop manufacturing farm machinery, fire-fighting hoses and tower clocks. From 1851 to 1852 the Butenop Brothers fully reconstructed the Kremlin chimes inside the Tower of the Savior in Moscow. For the following 15 years the Butenop Brothers mechanical establishment took care of the proper operation of the mechanism of the chimes and the firm's craftsman wound them.
More Students Celebrating
Students celebrate the end of the school year in a big way in Denmark. Like hiring a cattle truck to drive through town singing and drinking. Occasionally some fall off.
Leo Laporte in Moscow, Russia
Not quite, but it did look like the chief TWIT there for a second on a sign very near the Kremlin. Compare this with www.premiereradio.com/.../621_show_portrait.jpg Snapped this on a very wet Sunday in Moscow.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Check for Penguins in Copenhagen
Great exhibition of wierd signs in Copenhagen city centre. Organised by contributing editor to Lonely Planet. These are real, no photoshopping. It was cleverly organised so that toursist were allowed to take photos of the signs - and many also bought the book with plenty more inside. Organised by Kilroytravels.com in Copenhagen.
Nearly abandoned Revox
An old Studer Revox is tucked under a desk at DR just incase they need to load an old audio tape into their Dalet editing system. Which isn't that often.
Bill Belly in action
These are solar powered garbage containers that use sunlight to compress the trash, and therefore need emptying far less frequently. They reckon an average trash bin costs 30,000 Euro to service during its lifetime.
The Bridge at DR, Byen
Inspiring use of daylight in the design of the new broadcast complex at Danish public broadcasting. Seems that the odd pane of glass fell out in the early stages, but that's been fixed now.
Radio Tivoli by the toilets
Outside the main toilets at Tivoli amusement park in central Copenhagen. I note this radio is analogue not digital! Will it be converted before digital switch-off in 2015?
Broadband Bus
One day we will laugh at these prices. They're in Danish Kroner by the way. Check your currency on www.xe.com
Danish Public Broadcasting's new Concert Hall
It's finished. Too bad I couldn't see inside on this trip. Apparently still some acoustic teething troubles and bits of the organ were put in the wrong way round. But, when all is said and done, they have built one of the most amazing concert halls in the world. I also love the way they use daylight in the adjoining broadcast complex.
Light in Copenhagen
There's a great exhibition on city lighting at the Danish Design Centre opposite Tivoli at the moment. Includes some interesting thoughts by light designers about why they don't illuminate buildings the way they do in Amsterdam or Paris. Didn't realise that both the Netherlands and Belgium are one of the worst light polluters in the world. Belgium has lit every inch of motorway and the Dutch have all these greenhouses. If the light is leaking upwards then it is not being used efficiently.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Signposts to Editorial Guidlines
In the past, the BBC has made copies of its Editorial Guidelines for Journalists available during training sessions in other countries. Now that they've set up a journalism training school, they have opened up their training to different sectors too with projects like the 21st Century Classroom.
The news agency Reuters has also been training journalists from the press in developing countries though its non-profit arm. They have now released their guide to good journalistic practice here in the spirit of improving standards. It's definitely food for thought. I think many broadcasters would do well by leafing through, especially the section on standards and values. They are too often "void when inconvenient".
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Walk Backwards for Michael
I like this idea from Belgian radio station Studio Brussel. It is an eternal moonwalk involving listeners...Just for fun. Nice tribute....
Friday, July 03, 2009
Emerging from Research Project
Boy....June turned a bit into a blur with travels to St Petersburg, Moscow, Copenhagen and Prague. Variable connectivity has meant I have put the blog on hold until I get back to the Netherlands. But I am snapping photos and shooting video like crazy. Will be writing more in July when I am back.
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