11/29 Momentary interruption in service November 29, 2006
Posted by hipcast in Support Issues.1 comment so far
Today we had a momentary interruption in service due to a server restart. Everything should be back to normal and operational.
Anyone experiencing further difficulties that may have arisen from today’s downtime, please use the contact support form to submit the issue (comments on this blog are not directed to the support queue).
Support: Phone recordings not posting November 11, 2006
Posted by Eric Rice in Support Issues, Uncategorized.19 comments
Update: Everything is seemingly back to normal; we had a hiccup that was caused as a result from a recent data center move. Contact support through the Hipcast.com web site if you are still experiencing difficulties;
As an aside: iTunes can take a while to update, we’re sending pings to help speed the process if at all possible.
—
Update: Phone postings are transcoding and posting now. Next update on status of existing phone recordings that did not previously transcode….developing.
-Earlier Updates-
We are aware of the issue that some users are reporting about phone recordings not appearing in the audio list, nor posting to blogs or podcast feeds.
“Transcode Error: Unrecognized audio or video format.”
We are investigating and working on the issue.
Update on Blogger Beta compatibility November 10, 2006
Posted by Eric Rice in Uncategorized.24 comments
We’ve had a few questions about Hipcast’s incompatibility with Blogger’s beta system, and posts not appearing in a new blogspot blog.
Currently, our audio/video-to-blog system does NOT work Blogger’s new beta service (this doesn’t affect audio/video-to-podcast feeds, which do not rely on blog systems).
We are working on supporting the new Blogger, even though it’s still an invitation-based beta release.
Blogger’s new version of their service (which is still in beta, technically) requires that we connect to Google’s Account login system instead of Blogger, which means that we must recreate or overhaul our code just for them (Google).
Note: Blogger’s new beta system does not seem to be available to all users who use the old Blogger system. Contact Google for assistance with your Blogspot account.
We’ll post an update when Hipcast is updated to work with the new Blogger.
How To: Make your audio post a podcast September 15, 2006
Posted by stevegarfield in Tips, Hints, and How-tos.7 comments
I just listened to a charming podcast by Claude in Paris.
She asks in it, how does she turn the audio, posted to her blog, into a podcast?
First of all, I see that her blog automatically supports RSS 2.0 with enclosures. So she is all set with that. If she didn’t have that, I’d suggest going over to feedburner for help on setting that up.
But that’s not important right now. 
All Claude needs to do to have her audio post become a podcast is to go into Hipcast settings and change the Player Featrues to Publish MP3 Link.
That enables the RSS 2.0 feed to automatically deliver her new audio posts to subscribers.
Here are the steps:
1. Go to Hipcast and click Blogs.
2. Click Blog Preferences on the blog you want to work with.
3. Click the Audio Player Style tab.
4. Change the Player Features to Publish MP3 Link. Then click Save Preferences.
Hipcast Workbench: Audio Upload September 8, 2006
Posted by stevegarfield in Tips, Hints, and How-tos.1 comment so far
In this Hipcast Workbench I explain how to record, save and upload audio to Hipcast, and post the uploaded audio to your blog.
Discussed in this video:
Hipcast
Quicktime Pro
Audacity
Check out my Audio Upload Demonstration for tips on how to convert a QuickTime Pro created MOV file into an MP3 for uploading to Hipcast.
Note:
If you know which blog you want to post to when uploading your audio, you can specify that blog at the time of upload.
After the MP3 is transcoded to a FLASH file, it will automatically be posted to your blog.
Also, as you can see in the graphic, you can also publish directly to a feed.
Audio Upload Demonstration September 8, 2006
Posted by stevegarfield in Tips, Hints, and How-tos.1 comment so far
How to convert an MOV audio file to MP3.
There are a few extra steps you need to take prior to uploading an audio file that is created with Quicktime Pro. QuickTime Pro saves your audio file as a .mov file. Hipcast needs WAV or MP3. I use MP3.
After recording the audio file with QuickTime Pro and saving it. Here are the steps I take to convert the MOV to MP3.
1. OPEN the MP3 audio file with iTunes.
2. In the ADVANCED menu, choose CONVERT SELECTION TO MP3
3. From the FILE menu, choose SHOW SONG FILE
That gives you the file location to use when upload the audio file to Hipcast.
Here’s the result:
Audio upload of an mp3 file.
Hipcast Workbench: Your First Video Podcast August 1, 2006
Posted by stevegarfield in Tips, Hints, and How-tos.21 comments
Just as simple as making an audio podcast.
Make sure you have a webcam. Then choose record. Save it, and then choose a podcast to send it to.
It is really, really easy. You don’t have to be a technical at all, and you don’t need talent either.
I recorded this video directly to Hipcast. No saving to disk or editing requred! Easy!
Hipcast Workbench: Your First Audio Podcast August 1, 2006
Posted by stevegarfield in Tips, Hints, and How-tos.19 comments
It’s real easy to record audio with Hipcast. You don’t even have to use a computer program to do it. You record directly after logging in. It is SO easy.
This video shows you how to record audio directly up to Hipcast and post to your podcast.
Here are the steps:
1. Go to the Record Audio page.
2. Click Record.
3. Save it with a Title and Description.
4. Select a podcast you want to post to, and post by pressing Publish to Blog.
It’s so easy it’s not funny.
Hipcast Workbench: Introduction August 1, 2006
Posted by stevegarfield in Tips, Hints, and How-tos.1 comment so far
Hi. Steve Garfield here.
This brief video is the first of a series of short videos that will show you how to make audio and video podcast using hipcast.
This is an introduction.
Video: Is the Medium Still the Message? July 2, 2006
Posted by stevegarfield in Uncategorized.add a comment
The video from my session at the Media Giraffe Summit is now online:
Merging Forms: Is the Medium Still the Message? [ QuickTime ]
Includes:
Robb Montgomery, Paul Grabowitz and me, plus all the attendees.
It was an unconference done Phil Donahue style. Going through the attendees first to see who they were and what they wanted to learn helped us determine the content of the session.
Some of the things I covered were how to make a blog post and how powerful that is when combined with Google, making an audio podcast using only your cellphone, and making a video using a standard digital still camera and posting that to your blog with a few clicks. Fun stuff.
At the conclusion of the session a number of people came up to me and told me that our session was hte best one that they had attended.
I think part of the reason for that is that we included them in the session in a meaningful way and did a lot of showing vs. telling.
Thanks to Robb and Paul for working on this with me and thanks to Tish Grier for helping out.
