On the YouTube.com/Lollapalooza channel, there will be feeds from the four stages, and, according to the YouTube blog, the webcast will last for the entirety of the festival. YouTube is even getting in on the celebration a little earlier by featuring some of the bands that will be appearing at Grant Park:

…we’ve been featuring video premieres from some of the biggest names playing the festival/webcast. On Monday, the Foo Fighters unveiled their affecting “Garage Tour” short film, which follows the band as they play intimate shows in people’s garages across the country. (Warning: the first vignette might make you cry.) Today, we feature headliners My Morning Jacket. We’ll have more premieres from bands playing the webcast through the week; keep checking back to youtube.com/music.

YouTube’s Lollapalooza page features the bands that will take part in the YouTube webcast, and judging by the list, it shouldn’t disappoint, even if you can see these performances in person. Included in the list are bands like the Foo Fighters, The Cars, Ween, My Morning Jacket, and Coldplay.

Here’s a screenshot of YouTube’s list of participating bands:

With that in mind, you can always curl up with your favorite device and live vicariously through YouTube’s Lollapalooza webcast. The fun starts this Friday at 1:30 pm, Central time. The first act to be shown will be The Vaccines. Simply navigate to the page in question and enjoy the show. Don’t forget your lighters.

I thought it might be a nice idea to expand on the tidbits in the article for the benefit of interested readers. Dana spent a lot of time talking about the ways in which the camera can make you look foolish in a webcast, and it’s all true. If you really want to present a polished and professional image to your audience, you need some specialized training and a fair amount of practice in camera techniques. These are quite different from stage presentation tips. How many times per minute should you blink? How do you keep yourself properly framed in the shot? What do you do with your hands? How do you work with a script or notes when speaking to the audience? What types of clothing work for the camera and which ones give you problems (hint… narrow stripes are a no-no!).

Having a checklist of camera tricks isn’t enough either. Just as with any other kind of learned skill, it takes practice to get comfortable. At first you will find it difficult to concentrate on all the technical pointers and on your content (which still takes priority, in case you thought I was dismissing it in favor of technique). It’s like learning to drive a stick shift… You can spend so much time worrying about balancing the clutch and gas that you forget where you are trying to get to.

But as Dana illustrates in her examples, video is not your only potential source of embarrassment. You can run into trouble by not thinking through what your audience may be able to see or hear during your web conference. Even though you know that you should turn off the sound on your computer, it’s easy to overlook in the last minute rush to get everything ready for the start of your session. I use a checklist to make sure I’m not overlooking simple and obvious things. In the same way that a pilot manually checks off the same items he has gone through on thousands of previous flights, I check that my second phone line is disconnected, that my instant messenger is disabled, that my cell phone is turned off, that my email is shut down, and so on. I also make sure I know exactly which steps I need to do in order to get my audio and web recording going. Is my audio line set up to mute the audience and allow all the speakers to be heard?

One of my favorite embarrassing things to see on a web conference is when the presenter shares his or her desktop to show off a software demo and the display background is set to a silly or personal picture. Or there are icons all over the desktop for computer games. You can be blind to the way your computer screen looks because you see it every day. But think about the impression it gives to your business audience. Clean up those spare icons… You can move them to a folder and then pull them back to the desktop after your presentation.

This is going to get way too long, so I’ll just summarize my main tips by saying that you should take nothing for granted, think about what the audience will see and hear, practice and test everything ahead of time, and make a checklist to ensure you don’t overlook anything.

Oh… And don’t forget the value in getting professional assistance if you need it!

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The offending content? In a medley combining the song "Daughter" with Pink Floyd’s classic "Another Brick in the Wall," lead singer Eddie Vedder altered the lyrics to challenge President George W. Bush:

"George Bush, leave this world alone. George Bush find yourself another home."

No matter your politics, you’d be hard pressed to find an American that wouldn’t support, at least, Vedder’s right to say that – unless you look somewhere deep inside the AT&T headquarters, where the Patriot Act and the National Security Agency are frequent visitors.

Not that that had anything to do with those lyrics not making it over the so-called "live" webcast. AT&T says it was an accident – sort of.
In numerous early sources (this story is about to blow, by the way), an AT&T spokesperson said one of their webcast editors, in an overzealous attempt to police foul language, goofed.

In a statement to Om Malik:

“The editing of the Pearl Jam performance on Sunday night was not intended, but rather a mistake by one of the webcast editors. We have policies in place with respect to editing excessive profanity, but AT&T does not edit or censor performances. We have that policy in place because the blue room is not age-restricted.
We regret the mistake and are trying to work with the band to post the song in its entirety.”

Does political commentary fall under the umbrella of "profanity," then?

Not according to Tiffany Nels, who is quoted in the Chicago Tribune:

"We think it was just a little overzealous. It’s not our policy to edit political commentary."

Policy or not, it happened, and somebody’s probably fired, as this is about to cause a heap of trouble for AT&T.

The band itself broke the news via a release on their website, and they’re not happy about it:

This, of course, troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media.

AT&T’s actions strike at the heart of the public’s concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media.

Aspects of censorship, consolidation, and preferential treatment of the internet are now being debated under the umbrella of "NetNeutrality."

Worse for AT&T, they effectively used former CEO Ed Whiteacre’s words against him, quoting one of many times the company’s messages haven’t matched its actions:

"Any provider that blocks access to content is inviting customers to find another provider." (Marguerite Reardon, Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: March 21, 2006, 2:23 PM PST).

But as the band notes, not even choice of another provider is really true. Even if you did go with another provider, guess who owns the backbone, and who, ultimately, controls access? We suppose this is another example of the "healthy" competition that exists in the telco industry.

SaveTheInternet.com, which has now signed 1.5 million supporters to the support of Net Neutrality, says this AT&T already playing gatekeeper in the absence of neutral assurances:

The moral of this story is never trust AT&T at their word. The company acts in bad faith toward the public interest and will do whatever it can get away with to pad it’s bottom line — including sacrificing the freedoms its users have to choose where they go, what they watch and whom they listen to online.

It is also a glimpse of a future poorly controlled by the Federal Communications Commission, which tends to favor the telecom giant, and which tends to support, under the lead of Chairman Martin, more censorship and speech regulation, even on subscription television channels.

The only line of defense, then, is Congress, who we hope, at least in this matter, won’t severely disappoint us…their track record notwithstanding.

On a lighter note, check out this interpretation of Pearl Jam’s famous non-lyrical "Yellow Ledbetter." Maybe there’s nothing in it that AT&T can object to.

DC To Webcasters: Drop Dead

If the SaveNetRadio coalition had hopes a Democratic majority might help it stave off a crippling royalty increase, they can probably pack those hopes in a sack, add a couple of bricks, and drop it into the Potomac.

BusinessWeek said the result of a recent House Small Business Committee hearing resulted in only an affirmation of Congress’ inertia on the issue. Congress isn’t going to get involved.

Two Democratic Representatives from New York, Nydia Velazquez and Yvette Clarke, commented on their lack of action in the report. Velazquez doesn’t "Congress would be the best type of vehicle to resolve this type of issue.:

Clarke hasn’t heard "what the win-win is" with the issue. Gosh, Congressperson, haven’t you ever heard of a compromise?

A number of Representatives have backed a bill, referred to as the Internet Radio Equality Act, and a similar measure is making the rounds of the Senate. Negotiations may still bear fruit, too.

"We might now be at the beginning of real negotiations with SoundExchange," Ian Rogers, general manager of Yahoo Music, said in the report. He commented on the issue of webcast royalties this week, saying, "the new royalty rates are higher than the revenues anyone can hope to make from related advertising."

As far as Internet users are concerned, it’s been a crummy week. The FTC shrugged at net neutrality in counseling a wait and see attitude to legislation for it. Congress wants nothing to do with the webcasting royalties issue.

At least it was a bipartisan non-effort.

More on the webcast after this announcement:

^{Chris Rose, two-time MLB All-Star Rob Dibble and FSN reporter Charissa Thompson follow the 2007 All-Stars as they board a fleet of Chevy Silverados and Impalas at San Francisco’s famous Pier 32 and arrive in front of AT&T Park for interviews conducted near the Willie Mays statue.  FSN’s MLB ALL-STAR GAME RED CARPET SPECIAL PRESENTED BY CHEVROLET also features contributions from special guests including Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith and Harmon Killebrew.}

Oh yeah, and eat more hotdogs. Now back to the article.

Co-produced FoxSports.com (actually, it’s MSN.FoxSports.com, for maximum cross-mojonation) and MLB.com, fans can access a two-hour pre-game webcast beginning at 5 PM ET. In addition to warm-ups and batting practices, the webcast will feature on-field interviews with players and coaches, analysis of the season’s first half and live coverage of the official All-Star team photo shoot.

Oooooh. A photo shoot.

Be right back:

^{When it’s time for the evening’s main event, MLB on FOX’s Emmy Award-winning broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and analyst Tim McCarver call the action live from the nation’s most picturesque ballpark.  Jeanne Zelasko and analysts Kevin Kennedy and Eric Karros host pre- and post-game coverage. MLB on FOX’s Ken Rosenthal and Jose Mota serve as in-game reporters, and Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder and FOX Sports player analyst Eric Byrnes also contributes to the broadcast.}

This year’s All-Star Game pits the American and National Leagues against each other for the 78th year, with the American League looking to stretch their winning streak to eleven years running.

The pre-game webcast represents the ever-increasing convergence of television and the World Wide Web, as broadcasters and advertisers seek to maximize and retain audiences for advertisers.

Oh yeah, and sell more hotdogs.

Software Engineer Ben Gomes talked about PageRank:

Kerry Rodden talked about usability testing:

and the various Google search products were also discussed.

Danny lists links to live blogging of the event from TechCrunch and AppScout.

While there were hints by a few blogs that have been talking about Searchology day that an announcement of some sort would be made, my “in and out” viewing of the web cast did not catch anything in particular. However, if something of note was presented, I’m sure Search Engine Land will cover it.

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I will provide a detailed update about the event shortly after it happens for those that want a good summary. Until then we can only speculate on what software pieces will be included in Adobe Creative Suite 3. Although Adobe is having the event on March 27th, CS3 will not be available until later this spring. Hopefully they will be announcing the exact date during the event also.

Adobe has also released a teaser video in the UK about what’s in the box. Here is the Adobe video link and the web site here.

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It’s a rather high level introduction to the topic, going all the way back to the differences between a webcast and a collaborative web conference.

Forrester interviewed 13 vendors for the report: Accordent Technoloies, Adobe Systems, Avacast, Interactive Video Technologies (IVT), Media Publisher, ON24, Online Video Service, Reflect Systems, Sonic Foundry, Streamlogics, TalkPoint Communications, Vcall, and Vodium.

The report costs $380 if you don’t already have a Forrester contract covering this research area. It is 13 pages long. I obviously can’t go into too much detail about the content, as I would be violating copyright and giving away information they are selling. A lot of the content concerns definitions and basic background, such as a simplified example of what a webcast interface might look like to a viewer. That seems like something you could get pretty quickly by simply attending any random webcast promoted on the Internet!

The report goes into more detail on the subject of hosted versus on-premise installed software for producing webcasts, but doesn’t get into the nitty gritty of associated costs and technical considerations when going the on-premise route. There are some large matrix tables of features and services offered by various technology vendors.

Interestingly (and refreshingly), Forrester offers a money-back guarantee on the order page. If you are not completely satisfied with your research document for any reason, you can return it for a full refund within three weeks of your online purchase. That’s risky business practice for a product that can be read for the information value and then returned with no loss to the customer, but it shows good integrity by Forreseter.

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With a background in software development and marketing, Ken has been producing and delivering business webinars since 1999. His background in public speaking, radio, stage acting, and training has given him a unique perspective on what it takes to create a compelling and effective presentation. Currently Ken offers consulting services through his company Webinar Success (www.wsuccess.com).

Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg’s “Lazy Sunday” SNL Digital Short spread like wildfire across the Internet following it’s debut on the show, becoming one of the most downloaded videos of the year. Why not parlay the success of cult digital shorts and classic SNL skits into a mobile content deal?

The deal between NBC Universal, Broadway Video Entertainment, and Cingular Wireless provides all of the hilarious sketches and shorts from America’s longest running television comedy to Cingular customers. The collaboration also marks the first time that SNL content can be viewed from a mobile device.

According to Cingular representatives, mobile access to Saturday Night Live content, including video clips from classic and current episodes, as well as original material produced especially for the mobile screen will be available to Cingular Video subscribers.

Customers who are true blue fans of SNL can download and purchase themed ringtones, such as the SNL theme song, memorable quotes, and graphics from both current and classic seasons.

The deal comes soon after the announcement by NBC Universal chief digital officer, George Kliavkoff, that SNL dress rehearsals would be aired via webcast.

“For more than 30 years, SNL has entertained television audiences throughout the world with some of the most memorable comedic sketches Now, with the introduction of Saturday Night Live Mobile, Cingular becomes the first wireless carrier to deliver classic and current SNL shorts, as well as newly produced original content, to the mobile stage-exclusively for the enjoyment of our customers,” said John Burbank, vice president of marketing at Cingular Wireless.

Cingular Video subscribers will also have access to over 100 video shorts, ranging in duration of 2-3 minutes each, from current and classic SNL episodes, as well as some original shorts produced solely for Cingular Video. Shorts from the current season will appear on Cingular Video the day after the Saturday night premiere, according to representatives.

Representatives from all involved parties are extremely optimistic about the possibility for growth in the mobile market with this landmark deal, and hope to have future collaborations with other highly reputable franchises.

“This is a landmark deal for NBC Universal and Cingular, said Ron Lamprecht, Vice President, New Media, NBC Universal Television Networks Distribution. “This agreement will allow consumers to watch NBC’s Emmy Award- winning late-night comedy showcase, SNL, in a way that’s convenient for them. NBC Universal is committed to providing our customers with content on a variety of platforms to meet their needs.”

SNL has won 18 Emmy awards in it’s 32 seasons and has been nominated for 80, all while launching some of the most famous names ever in entertainment.

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Autmn Davis is a staff writer for WebProNews covering ebusiness and technology.

The 1975 debut of NBC’s Saturday Night Live was named number four on VH-1/Entertainment Weekly list of Greatest Rock & Roll Moments on Television; why not receive similar success with internet broadcasting?

Reuters reports that NBC Universal chief digital officer, George Kliavkoff, made it publicly known at the Digital Entertainment Media & Marketing Excellence conference at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles on Wednesday, that he had an interest in airing the Friday night dry-runs of SNL via webcast.

“Sometimes it’s a lot more interesting than the show,” Kliavkoff said jokingly of the rehearsals at NBC headquarters. “It’s something we watch on the cameras at 30 Rock.”

SNL, which premiered October 11, 1975, is broadcast live from NBC’s Studio 8H in New York City’s Rockefeller Center, according to the official site. The program is a production of Broadway Video in association with SNL Studios, with Lorne Michaels as the executive producer.

SNL has won 18 Emmy awards in it’s 32 seasons and has been nominated for 80, all while launching some of the most famous names ever in entertainment.

Kliavkoff came to SNL from MLB.com, where he was in charge of digital media affairs.

For the Major League Baseball website, Kliavkoff created packages of streaming games and statistics, which brought in a reported $195 million in the last year; proving that even America’s oldest past time can be innovative.

Kliavkoff’s previous success and forward digital thinking, combined with Saturday Night Live’s post as an American institution, the potential for webcasts of rehearsals is great.

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Autmn Davis is a staff writer for WebProNews covering ebusiness and technology.