ENTR200-tv is up and running

This past Thursday 8/27/09 in my Purdue Intro to Entrepreneurship & Innovation classes [ENTR200] we broke the champagne bottle on the use of Ustream to stream live, as in Internet TV, student team presentations. The purpose of this blog entry is to document what’s involved in such streaming effort.

Link: The world can view the archived presentations [and live when we’re streaming them] here: www.ustream.tv/channel/entr200-tv.

Equipment: I tested several PC-based laptops during the summer and none of them would support streaming without flaw. A MacBook Pro [BestBuy $1199] however, does so without a hitch so that’s what we’re using. It is an off-the-shelf newest [Jun 09] version, with memory bumped up to 8 Gigs [two 4gig sticks, about $275 per]. We run Safari 4 as a browser to access Ustream.

The newest MacBooks don’t have a microphone port, so we’re running a USB-mic  adapter available straight from Apple for about $30.00 [I bought ours at the Indy Apple store].

The camera we’re using is a Canon GL-2 [about $1200 eBay over a year ago] that actually gained its fame in the porn industry as the “go to” camera. We’re using the firewire/1394 port to output video directly to the MacBook. Herein lies another glitch. The newest MacBook doesn’t have the typical 4-pin 1394 port; instead, it has the newer 8-pin firewire port. So we’re running a six foot adapter cable [about $10.00], 8-pin to 4-pin firewire from the MacBook to the camera.

Lastly, we’re running a audio-technica ATR6550 shotgun microphone [about $60.00 internet] mounted on the hotshoe of the Canon GL2 and interfaced via a common 6’ 3.5mm extension cable [$3.99 Lafayette Electronics] to the iMic adapter. The mike worked well in Krannert G2 from the row directly in front of the presentation screen. Not so good from about the fourth row back in MJIS1001, although several of the student presenters spoke very softly. For MJIS1001, we may switch to a “Shack” conference mike [$39.95]placed just in front of the presenters.

All in all, the system looks like it will meet my needs, which is to provide students direct feedback on their presentations so they can “be the best they can be.” My thanks to Mike Cassidy, fellow ENTR200 lecturer for helping me thrash the system configuration over the summer break, and to graduate student Jason Ford for his camera work. Up next is integration of CamTwist. Hank

Oglers & Ogling: Who’s Looking @ Whom & Why?

Ogle is defined as: 1. To stare at. or 2. To stare at impertinently, flirtatiously, or amorously. We know this is a favorite pastime of men [and even presidents], but what do we really know about this phenomena and further, how could students of marketing and entrepreneurship profit from this knowledge? Turns out, this has been researched with interesting results summarized below:

“Men will spend almost one year of their lives ogling women, while women will spend nearly the same amount of time deciding what clothes to wear on various occasions, according to several recent publicity surveys conducted in the UK by OnePoll.

• While the majority of men and women feel flattered at being gazed at, men are more likely to enjoy it. 19% say it makes them feel happy, compared with just 9% of women.
• 16% of women say being watched makes them uncomfortable, while 20% say it embarrasses them.
• More than 40% of women say they first look at a man’s eyes, while the same amount of men say they look at a woman’s body.
• More than half of total respondents have been left red-faced after being caught eyeing someone.
• One third of total respondents have ended up arguing with their significant other about their ogling, and one in ten have split up with a partner because of it.
• 35% of respondents have started a relationship with someone they eyed-up.
• More than one-third would miss being able to admire the opposite sex if they couldn’t see, while another 71% would miss their partner’s face.
• 61% are worried about their eyesight fading. “

Bottom line, if you Ogle, there’s almost a 2/3 chance you may need glasses. Hank