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MLB to test out new ‘Live In-Game Audio during Spring Training

“We’ve pretty much pushed the limits of video, but audio is untapped,” said Tony Petitti, the president of MLB Network.
On March 7, the network will try to take a leap in audio, televising a spring training game between the Indians and Diamondbacks in which up to six players a team will wear microphones. What they say, what they sound like while running the bases and what a batted ball sounds like will be broadcast almost live, after a short delay.
Coaches will also be wired. When they and the players step on the field, their microphones will be on.
Generally, the first, second and third basemen, the shortstop, the catcher and the center fielder will be wired.
The players’ and coaches’ microphones will be augmented by those at each base, down the base lines and along the outfield walls to a greater degree than is currently the standard.
via NY Times

Big League Stew has a 3-minute clip from test-run of this technology ran last year during Spring Training 2011.

Check it out.

It turns out that ambient sounds, rather than player conversation, are the most intriguing elements of this audio-everywhere approach. Things like the crack of the bat, a player running the bases, and the ball hitting the catcher’s mitt, stand out.

As MLB’s Advanced Media division continues to evolve, I expect we will someday have a televised broadcast pumping out surround sound that replicates the “feel” of sitting in the stadium. Then, maybe going beyond that in some way.

If you get the MLB Network catch it live on March 7 at noon (PST).

Profiles on the million dollar projects of Kickstarter

Idea Lab:

On Monday, Kickstarter saw the third project in its short history, a Web comic book, raise over $1 million.
Before that, the first two projects to cross the million dollar mark — a computer adventure game and a fetching American-made iPhone dock — did so just days prior, on February 10, and both within 24 hours of each other.
Kickstarter chronicled the amazing day on its blog.

The Million Dollar Projects

Order of the Stick – the web-comic author asked his fans to pre-order printed editions of back issues. Every pledge gets a copy of the book and higher pledges get extra goodies.

Currently raised – $1.25 million

Double Fine Adventure – game designers at Double Fine Productions asked fans to finance a new computer game and make a behind-the-scenes documentary about the process. The campaign started with a video (below) that is really, really entertaining. Each pledge receives a copy of the game, access to members-only forum, more fun videos, and higher pledges get even more exclusive content.

Currently raised – $2.09 million

Elevation Dock: the best dock for iPhone – Casey Hopkins wants to create a CNC machined (i.e. precision computer manufacturing) iPhone dock that is made-in-America, looks spectacular, and solves all the problems of docking. He presents a video to explain it all. The minimum pledge is $59 and gets you the dock (retail price will $99) and higher pledges receive extra goodies.

Currently raised – $1.46 million

Kickstarter to provide more funding for arts than NEA

Kickstarter is having an amazing year, even by the standards of other white hot Web startup companies, and more is yet to come.
(The Start-up) is on track to distribute over $150 million dollars to its users’ projects in 2012, or more than entire fiscal year 2012 budget for the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), which was $146 million.
“Our entire lifetime funding is about $150 million,” said Strickler, “But $99 million was pledged last year alone.”
via Idea Lab

Baseball Spring Training is here! – 22 Angels games will be broadcast on TV and radio

I’m excited for Angels Spring Training and the 22 televised games this March and April.

The games will also be live on AM830.

Visit Halo Nation for the press release about the games, the two bolded games are Dodgers broadcasts.

3/5 – Oakland – 12:05pm – FSW
3/6 – White Sox – 12:05pm – FSW
3/7 – Seattle – 12:05pm – FSW
3/9 – San Diego – 12:05pm – FSW
3/10 – San Francisco – 12:05pm – FSW
3/11 – Cleveland – 1:05pm – FSW
3/15 – Cincinnati – 1:05pm – FSW
3/16 – Cleveland – 1:05pm – FSW
3/17 – Milwaukee – 1:05pm – FSW
3/18 – Dodgers – 1:05pm – KCAL
3/22 – Kansas City – 1:05pm – FSW
3/24 – Texas – 1:05pm – FSW
3/25 – San Francisco – 1:05pm – FSW
3/26 – Colorado – 1:05pm – FSW
3/27 – San Francisco – 1:05pm – ESPN2
3/29 – Kansas City – 1:05pm – FSW
3/30 – Arizona – 1:05pm – FSW
3/31 – Cubs – 1:05pm – Prime Ticket

4/1 – Cubs – 1:05pm – FSW
4/2 – Dodgers – 7:05pm – FSW
4/3 – Dodgers – 7:05pm – KCAL
4/4 – Dodgers – 12:10pm – FSW

Read more about Albert Pujols record breaking deal.

Los Angeles has second most solar installations in California, behind leader San Diego

Los Angeles ranks second in the state in terms of the number of solar installations on residential, commercial and government buildings, with just over 4,000 projects installed. Los Angles is also second in the state in terms of the total amount of solar electricity generated, measured in capacity, with 36 megawatts.
“The good news is Los Angeles is closing in on San Diego’s lead as America’s #1 solar city,” said Michelle Kinman.
Every megawatt of solar power installed in the Los Angeles area prevents the emission of nearly 700 pounds of smog-forming pollution per year.
A recent report by the Solar Energy Industry Association shows that California is home to over 3,500 solar companies that employ more than 25,000 people.
In the past two years, Los Angeles has nearly tripled the amount of rooftop solar installations. From 1999 through 2009, Los Angeles installed just over 1,000 solar rooftop systems, totaling over 13 MW.
Governor Jerry Brown has called for a significant expansion of California’s rooftop solar market by putting out a vision of installing 12 gigawatts (a gigawatt is 1000 megawatts, or twelve times California’s current solar rooftop market) by 2020.
Los Angeles Unified School District at Richard E. Byrd Middle School in Sun Valley, which recently had a 362 kW solar system on a parking lot shade structure, which will save the District more than $1.6 million over the span of the 20 years and $60,000 in the first year.
via Environment California

Los Angeles is also tops in the state (and country) for water conservation.

Los Angeles is not only top in California, but also leads the nation’s large cities in water conservation. Since June 2009, when Mandatory Water Conservation took effect in the City of Los Angeles, Angelenos have saved more than 75 billion gallons – more than one-third of what Los Angeles uses in one year.
Water use in Los Angeles has fallen to 1970s levels, despite a population increase of more than 1 million. In fiscal year 2010-2011, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers used an average of 117 gallons of water per person daily – the lowest among the nine U.S. cities with populations over one million.
“Angelenos have embraced water conservation as a way of life and are not only leaders in California, but across the nation. Four years ago, critics said LA couldn’t achieve further water savings, but incentives combined with strong policies, public awareness and a strong response by our customers has led to the lowest water use by our customers ever recorded.”
“Water conservation is the best source of water supply” said Ronald Nichols, General Manager of LADWP. “These reductions in water use result in lower imports of water to Los Angeles. It saves our customers money; it reduces risk of uncertainty of availability of imported water supply sources, and is the most environmentally sustainable means to meet the total water supply needs of Angelenos.”
via Sierra Club

Los Angeles is also second in the state for solar power.

The long-term unemployed make up half of those unemployed

4 important facts about unemployment from economist Lee Ohanian:

The economy should be creating 500,000 jobs/month, instead of 200,000.
Long-term unemployed makes up half of those unemployed, and they have little or no value in our economy.
The retirement age is certainly going to rise.
Those with only a high school degree or less are not competitive in the global economy.

More than 200,000 new jobs were created in January, 2012. What do you make of the pace of job growth?
The major puzzle about the U.S. economy has been the remarkably slow job growth. The U.S. economy should be creating about 500,000 jobs per month now, given high worker productivity, the large pool of available workers and the fairly high level of corporate profits. While 200,000 jobs sounds really positive, it is only about half of what we should be seeing.
The long-term unemployed — those who have been out of work for more than six months. It seems that new jobs are going to people who have just entered the workforce or to those who were unemployed for a short time. What’s going on here?
Long-term unemployment is at a record level of nearly 50 percent of the unemployed. The market value of these workers is very low, because many simply don’t have the specific skills required to compete in today’s economy. It becomes the problem of retraining construction workers to become health care workers. It can’t be done overnight, but this process needs to move forward. Those construction jobs aren’t coming back anytime soon. Reforming unemployment insurance to include retraining funding would be useful.
What is your view on the retirement age in the U.S.? Is it too low, too high or just right?
The retirement age is now, depending on what year you were born, between 65 and 67 for full benefits. This will almost certainly rise in response to dealing with the upcoming shortfall in Social Security associated with baby boomers [more than 70 million of them ] who are now approaching retirement. The aging of the baby boom cohort will increase the share of the population who is 65 and older from its current level of 13 percent to about 19 percent of the population. This will put enormous pressure on the underfunded Social Security system — so get ready for a gradual increase in the full retirement age.
How has unemployment differentially impacted workers?
Education level is a major differentiator. Workers with high levels of education and training — those with bachelor’s degrees and beyond — have very low unemployment rates, about 4 percent. In contrast, those with no post-high-school education and very young workers have unemployment rates of more than 20 percent. The message is very clear: A good career starts with a solid education that includes training beyond high school.
Low-skilled and unskilled workers were hit very hard by the recession and continue to suffer. Is anything going to change for them?
This again points to education. Many of these unemployed have only a high school degree or never graduated from high school. These workers are, for the most part, no longer competitive in the global economy. Many may not be competitive even at current minimum wages, and some probably wouldn’t work for minimum wages. Fundamentally, they need to retrain in order to successfully re-engage in the labor market.

Wanna join the Academy Awards? Well don't be a female and pray if you're not white…

About 37 million people tuned in to the Academy Awards last year, and a great deal rides on the show’s outcome…Yet the roster of all 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a closely guarded secret.
The organization does not publish a membership list.
A Los Angeles Times study found that academy voters are markedly less diverse than the moviegoing public…Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male, The Times found. Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%.
Oscar voters have a median age of 62. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership.
Some members see it simply as a mirror of hiring patterns in Hollywood, while others say it reflects the group’s mission to recognize achievement rather than promote diversity. Many said the academy should be much more representative.
Caucasians currently make up 90% or more of every academy branch except actors, whose roster is 88% white. The academy’s executive branch is 98% white, as is its writers branch.
Men compose more than 90% of five branches. Of the academy’s 43-member board of governors, six are women; public relations executive Cheryl Boone Isaacs is the sole person of color.
“I don’t see any reason why the academy should represent the entire American population. That’s what the People’s Choice Awards are for,” said (former president of the Academy) Frank Pierson, who still serves on the board of governors. “We represent the professional filmmakers, and if that doesn’t reflect the general population, so be it.”
The 2011 (Oscar) ceremony was staged without a single black male presenter.
via LA Times – Unmasking the Academy

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