There was a lot of buzz this morning about when exactly iPhone users could get the iOS 4 update via iTunes since Apple gave no time for the release today. It seems like it was made available at 10 AM PST. And yeah, I know that because I was checking with some frequency. I have a 3GS version of the iPhone, which is the last hardware version they made, before the iPhone 4 which is just being delivered this week to the early adopters.
3GS owners get most of the benefit of the new system update, with the exception of the Face Time videoconferencing feature which uses the new phone’s secondary camera. The new iMovie app will also only be available for the new hardware apparently due to intensive processor requirements. 3G users get everything else except multi-tasking, and strangely, no wallpaper configuration either. And 1st generation iPhone users are totally out of luck here.
In any case, I’ll say that my favorite thing about the new OS so far is the All Inboxes feature, which combines my work and personal email in one place. So I no longer have to poke poke poke between them. It also collates your email by thread, which is something I’m used to as a gmail user and appreciate. Folders for organizing my apps is also nice, and I like the ability to now easily set the background for my home and lock screens.
The multi-tasking functionality seems pretty cool too. I’ve played around with the interface for browsing and switching among concurrent apps. It’s a pretty slick UI, no surprise. I’m looking forward to the ability to listen to audio outside of the native iPod app while browsing email, the web, etc.
Here’s a couple good rundowns with more information about what iOS 4 is all about:
Professional bloggers are busy people. Most professional bloggers pump out anywhere from 1-20 blog posts a day! Like reporters, bloggers are mostly word-smiths with photography and video production being a secondary (or non-exisistant) skill set. Unlike reporters, bloggers aren’t typically working in a newsroom with access to staff photographers and video equipment. The lack of multimedia resources and the pure volume of blog stories creates a vacuum that a smart web marketer can fill up with eye-catching photography and video showing-off their product or organization.
Now, the only guaranteed way to get covered by a professional blogger is to have a news-worthy story appropriate for their readership. However, providing high-quality photos and video can make a huge impact on the probability of getting covered on blogs (much more than in traditional print media) and will especially impact the length, depth and quality of the posts that they write about you. Though this is true as well for traditional press, it’s a much bigger deal in the blogosphere.
Tips on Photos for Blogs:
Full color, professional photos are best.
If you can’t afford professional photos do a little reading about product photos before you try taking them yourself. A couple easy tips: Outside shots taken on a sunny day are your best bet if you don’t have access to professional lighting. Be mindful of your backgrounds and the composition of the shot.
Tips on Videos for Blogs
Drive traffic to your website by putting a slide with your website address at the end of the video with a call to action (e.g. Get free tickets to the show at MyEventWebsite.com!).
It’s not a bad idea to include your logo and/or web address in a corner of the screen throughout the video.
Post your video on a site like YouTube or Vimeo that makes it easy for you to share with the bloggers and makes it easy for them to embed the video on their blog.
Keep it short.
Tips on Providing Media to Press
Do not attach large photo or video files to your pitch email unless specifically asked to do so. The email will either get swallowed by spam filters or you’ll clog the blogger’s inbox and make them mad.
Recommended media formates:
Press Releases: PDFs
Photos: JPGs, less than 1MB
Video: Upload to YouTube or Vimeo for easy embeds
Set up a press page on your website and provide bloggers a link at the end of your pitch email (E.g. “To download press releases, photos and video visit our online press room.”)
Another method for distributing the rich media is to post the story on your own blog and direct the professional blogger to that article.
My great and talented friend, Aarti Sequeira, proves that social media can help make your dreams come true. She turned her homemade YouTube-based cooking-variety show, Aarti Paarti, into a spot on The Next Food Network Star, premiering this Sunday, June 6, at 9p/8c on the Food Network.
Aarti’s show features original how-to recipes with distinct India influences that just about anyone can make. I was fortunate to interview Aarti and learned a few things I didn’t know about her fantastic journey from laptop to living room. Enjoy!
What first inspired you to create Aarti Paarti in early 2009?
I was floundering at the time — my career in journalism had evaporated, and I hadn’t had that fire in my belly to chase it. I had just finished co-producing Sand and Sorrow, one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life; I’d had the chance to work on a story that really impacts our humanity, for a Peabody Award-winning director, narrated by George Clooney and eventually bought by HBO. How can you top that?! I tried to find more documentary work, but that was right as the economy was shrinking, so there wasn’t money or interest in doing “another Africa documentary.” Isn’t that sad?
Anyway, at that time, cooking had grown into a real passion in my life. I had completed a part-time cooking program, interned at a James Beard Award-winning restaurant (Lucques, helmed by Suzanne Goin) and realised that restaurant life was not for me. I was totally stumped about what I supposed to do with my life, and it was depressing me. Here I was, a Northwestern graduate, a former CNN employee, a documentary filmmaker… with no drive to do anything but make dinner. Finally, one day, my friend said, “You need to do a cooking show, a cool one, where there’s someone in the kitchen with you and you’re chatting through the whole cooking process.”
My husband, Brendan, ran with the idea, and within a day, had written a complete one-sheet with a solid concept for a show called “aarti paarti”, where I would be cooking for a bunch of my friends, who we’d cut away to as the food simmered or roasted — since all my friends are actors/performers, they’d be doing something amazing. We shot it one day, and we got 13 hours of footage. It was unrealistic to try to put that together into a pilot by ourselves, so months later, I got so frustrated that I just picked up the camera and shot a quick 10-minute episode myself. My husband shot the next episode and we started incorporating the variety show angle, which I just love. And the rest is history! We’ve shot over 30 episodes so far, featuring everything from a uke-strumming juggling clown to singing puppets to a belly dancer!
(I made a cameo [4:20] in this episode, which for some strange reason has more views than any other…)
What equipment/knowledge/materials does someone need to produce a show like this?
We borrow the camera, a Panasonic dvx100, an older model that still shoots beautifully, but not in HD. It’s our dream to upgrade to an HD camera — can you imagine how good the food will look in HD?! Those cameras don’t cost more than a few hundred dollars these days, but you need a good cameraman to shoot, which normally is pretty expensive. Luckily, I’m married to one! Tape is pretty cheap, $100 for a box of 64-minute tapes. We also borrow mics whenever we can, because good sound psychologically makes your visuals look better.
I edit the show on my Macbook Pro, using Final Cut Pro, which is pretty expensive but wonderful. I taught myself how to use Final Cut by using the classes at lynda.com, which is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $20 a month. Food costs are pretty low, about $50 per episode, and we get to eat it afterwards!
What advice would you pass on to someone starting their own YouTube show?
Make your show look good — get someone who can really shoot, who’s got a steady hand, who can shoot from different angles. I can’t tell you how many shows I’ve seen where the cooking show host is just facing the camera head on for the entire video. So boring! And stuffy! Make your show as fluid as possible.
Also, make sure you get close-ups of all the food and action, and capture any natural sound too — they make for nice breaks in the action, just like a little breath. And speak normally, in regular English… don’t try to be anything you aren’t. The more you try to fancy yourself up, the stiffer you’re going to come across.
How long was the show posted before it started to get attention?
At first, my videos got about 100 views, and that stayed pretty steady until I started doing videos for Goodbite.com a couple of months into it. Then the numbers rose to somewhere in the 300-400 region. I realised that when naming my videos, I had to include words/phrases that people would be searching for. For example, my samosa episode got about 1000 views, probably because people were searching for a good samosa recipe. Now that the Food Network Show is about to start, I assume I’ll get somewhere in the region of 10,000 views, fingers crossed!
Is it difficult to keep up with the schedule and come up with new ideas? What keeps you motivated?
It *is* hard to stay motivated. Toward the end of each season, I inevitably feel like I don’t have any energy or ideas left. But having your husband as your producer is good (and bad!!) for that, because he pushes me when I don’t feel like I have anything left to give. Every season, we try to have the recipes and the variety acts planned out before we start shooting, so I’m not scrambling at the last minute. But, that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes the ideas for recipes come effortlessly. Sometimes it’s much harder. Usually that’s when I’m overthinking it. And Bren is great at coming up with the variety acts.
What other social media tools/sites/channels do you use to promote the show? Are these critical to its success?
I update my Twitter and Facebook accounts when a new video is up. I also created a fan page for Aarti Paarti on Facebook, and I put the video up on that page first. And, I send out an email to over 500 people with a link to the video. Oh! And of course! I write out the recipe with a back story on my blog, aartipaarti.com.
Why did you go with YouTube over other video sites?
I wanted to put them up on ONE venue so that I wasn’t splitting viewers between sites. I much prefer the video quality and layout of Vimeo, and the cool community of artists gathered there, but I found that some people’s computers couldn’t play their high-quality videos. I also wanted to garner the most eyeballs possible, and since YouTube is still the biggest outlet for videos, I figured that when people want to see online cooking videos, they’d go to YouTube before they went to Vimeo.
How much professional cooking experience/training have you had, and is that more or less important than just getting right to the experiments?
I trained at the New School of Cooking — I find that essential in understanding the science behind cooking, so that when I want to make food with particular flavours and textures, I know how to get there. It shortens the experimentation process. My journalism training definitely helps me write on my blog and stay comfortable on camera.
How important is collaboration for your show?
I couldn’t do my show without collaboration. Full stop. My husband is just as vital to the show as I am. And I couldn’t do it without all the artists who perform on my show!
Did Aarti Paarti help you get selected by The Food Network?
Aarti Paarti gave me weekly practice at my dream job for about a year! Every week, I got a little more comfortable talking to camera, whilst preparing food, which is a little bit like rubbing your tummy whilst tapping your head. That meant, by the time I sent in my application video to the Food Network, I had gotten pretty good at letting my personality and my food style shine through. Being on camera is much harder than you think!
iOS 4 is Out! 
This post was featured in ePiphany, Astek’s Monthly Newsletter | 
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