Revised:

I am leaving Usream.TV as soon as possible. Large in part due to what happened during a live sponsored event on ustream when they started without warning pushing large advertisements into the content stream.

I did not opt into having ads jammed into my viewers face. It was ridiculous. The ads where completely inappropriate for our audience.

I would have gladly payed for a premium service to not have ads forced n my viewers. But now that they have done this without warning I am finished with them they have burned a bridge here.

This could not come at a worse time as I was planning on holding the Podcast Awards ceremony on their service. I will be looking at alternatives today and tomorrow. Mogulus is one possibility but their encoding is not as good as Ustream.

The way they initiated this is wrong. No warning nothing. I understand a company has to make money just give us a heads up that this is going to start. 

Sad to think that they would not consider asking people to pay for premium accounts before doing this.

Not only that but the moderator over on their forums closed the discussion when I asked to how to turn advertising off, apparently they are getting some heat over this.

I have been chatting with some of their biggest streamed shows and they are pulling the plug on them as well.

Update: It should be noted that I am not against a company making money after all they have to keep the lights on. What I do take issue with is that the ads that are being pushed into the streaming content multiple times over the course of a hour and taking up nearly 1/2 of the screen real estate. The ads popped up so many times in that the viewers where annoyed. When the viewers get annoyed they leave.

When Blip.TV came out with a pro service I gladly payed the $100.00 a year for faster encoding and the ability to have my own branded player without a watermark. They got paid and I got some cool new features. I am sure Ustream.TV is having trouble determining what is a fair value to charge for a pro-service but for many of us our viewer experience if important enough to pay for. If I were a betting man I bet the ads in those overlays do not pay that much. I bet what i would be willing to pay is more than they would ever make in this type of advertising.

Feast your eyes on the gear, that one lucky listener of the Geek News Central Podcast is going to win! Fedex guy asked me if these where Christmas presents my reply was yes to one very lucky person.

There are 50 sites giving away the same exact package. So be sure to visit the other sites in this promotion. The 50 sites participating in the HP Magic Giveaway will have giveaway contest from November 28th to Dec 22^nd.

I will announce the date for our contest in the next few days. I will also be linking to the specific sites during their promotions so that you can participate in each of the programs.

Compelling new research from several universities is suggesting that naps can boost your memory. Our busy, 24/7 world keeps most of us from getting the sleep we need, and even worse, aging, sleep apnea, or just being a parent can rob you of consistent all-night sleeping that repairs your memory in the slow-wave sleep cycle. It turns out that it is not really the length of sleep that is important, but the quality of sleep that matters. Good sleep is better than long fragmented sleeping.

One study taught a group of subjects two-character Chinese words over a several hour period. At the end of that time, half of the group was allowed a 90-minute nap. Afterwards, the entire group was tested using Chinese words they had not learned in the previous learning session. Those who had a nap were able to infer certain characteristics from the characters they learned and actually did well on the tests, while the non-sleeping group failed.

During slow-wave sleep, the hypothalamus is working to repair memory centers that have been used extensively during awake time. This repair process is important in overall memory retention and mental processing.

I'm a huge fan of naps. Because I am a mother with children ranging in age from 6 to 18, I am often awakened in the night. I also suffer from intermittent chronic insomnia that comes in cycles throughout the year. I definitely have fractured sleep patterns. But on the weekends, at least one day, I take a 90 to 120 minute nap in mid-afternoon. I find it critical to do so, but have never been able to explain why.

Turns out that that nap boosts a special type of memory that allows us to see the big picture and gets us creative in solving problems. I have always known I do my best writing on Sunday nights when I've had my two-hour nap. Now I know why.

Susabelle's Prescription: Go take a nap!

Our biggest giveaway ever is now underway. Geek News Central and 49 other sites will each be giving away $6000.00 dollars in HP Prizes. This site along with the 49 others will be giving you a chance to win during the HP Magic Giveaway!

The list of prizes are impressive. The chances to win are many. But the most important factor for this contest is that you listen to this coming Friday’s edition of the Geek News Central Podcast for the details on how you can win.

Here are the list of prizes that I will give away to one lucky winner.

• HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC
• HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC
• HP MediaSmart Connect
• HP Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC
• HP Mini 1000 (with XP)
• HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO
• HP 564 Photo Value Pak
• Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007

This is a great opportunity for a single listener of my podcast to win the prize package of the year. More details to follow here shortly.

Notice: This contest is sponsored by Hewlett Packard!

Over the last few days, more information has come out about the teen suicide viewed by hundreds of people on Justin.tv. The situation is sad, and was likely avoidable, but I'm going to resist blaming the people watching on the internet for letting it happen.

The young man in question, Abraham Biggs, was obviously troubled, and had more than once threatened to commit suicide, both in his real life and in his online activities. He had even attempted suicide at least twice, but had been stopped both times. The only people who knew for sure what Abraham was going through was his his own family and those that surrounded him in real life.

While it is tragic that this had to happen with an audience, much of the audience in question had heard the same threats from Abraham in the past, and did not believe he was serious about actually committing suicide. When he took pills, his viewers didn't know if it was a handful of relatively harmless tylenol, or something much more sinister. Since there had been such a game of "the boy who cried wolf" about Abraham's activities over the previous 2 years, it is not really all that surprising that people watching his live feed did not believe he was actually going to go through with his threat.

To blame those watching from afar is to misplace our anger. Those who had the most interest and knowledge about Abraham's condition were his own family and close real-life friends. Even they did not realize how serious Abraham was, or he wouldn't have ended up committing suicide in front of hundreds of strangers who only had their online experiences with him as background material.

I agree that it is tragic, and that Abraham should have received the help he needed when he needed it. But to blame an Internet audience pushes it too far, in my opinion. How many times are we hoaxed on the Internet every day, by all manner of pranksters with all manner of intentions? How many articles do we read in any given day that are not accurate? Most of us take the Internet with the proverbial grain of salt; it is only as real as we allow it to be, and most of us don't give it a whole lot of reality in the total scheme of things.

I feel badly for Abraham's family, and his close real-life friends, who now have to grieve this incredible loss. I'm sure the people that were watching, now that they know Abraham went through with his threat, are suffering as well. But to blame anyone in this case is misplaced. Abraham was responsible for his own behavior, and the final blame for his activities have to fall on him and him alone.

All that being said, if someone threatens suicide, please believe them and get them the help they need. There are Life Crisis and Suicide Hotlines all over the United States, and if you have a friend, coworker, acquaintance, or family member who expresses thoughts of suicide, then do your best to attempt to get them help in the quickest way possible. You could save their life.

Folks you are going to want to pay attention to Geek News Central over the next 3–4 days as we have a promotion that is forthcoming that is simply going to blow you away.

If you are not subscribed to my Podcast you will need to listen to win. How to win the multiple thousands of dollars in prizes will be announced on the show. One very lucky listener anywhere in the world is going to win a fantastic prize. I cannot wait to reveal what we will be giving away.

Oh and there is a special twist to this as well that we will reveal in the next 3–4 days. Someone is going to have an amazing Christmas!

Well for some unknown reason in the middle of my live recording tonight my Tricaster died. Will be calling tech support in the morning to find out what the procedure is.

I can only shudder to think if this had happened during the 24hr Podcast or the Podcast Awards. I am not a happy camper at the moment.

Update RMA Issued by Newtek and the box is Fedex Overnight to San Antonio. The folks there have been nice enough to do a rush repair. Hopefully it is back in my hands next week.

The 24hr Podcast has been postponed. This afternoon my grandfather of 99 years passed away. I will be traveling to Michigan to attend the funeral. While I understand the disappointment of not being able to do the event this Saturday and Sunday I am sure you all understand.

My plan is to do the event the weekend of December 20 and 21st which will match the exact weekend we did the event last year.

Todd Cochrane

For the second year in a row, I will be hosting the 24hr Podcast which is a non stop event that will cover podcasting, technology, new media, podcast advertising and a host of other topics.

This years event kicks off on Saturday Dec 20^th at 11am EST and finishes up 24hrs later! This years event is to raise money for disabled veterans. We have a goal to raise $3000.00 this year. Last years event was highly successful

During the 24hr Podcast, I have a number of slots open for podcasters to come in share their stories and talk about their podcasts. Last year nearly 30 segments were recorded that have been downloaded and listened to over 600,000 times.

If you would like to be considered for a segment on the 24hr Podcast where you will join Todd for the event drop him a email at geeknews@gmail.com with the subject 24Hr Podcast and tell him about yourself and your show.

Members of Blubrry, Tech Podcasts and Podcaster News always get priority placement. Be aware spots are filling up fast.

Nearly two week ago I received a set of glasses from Gunnar Optiks that are being touted by the company as being digital performance eyewear. Which as you use them is supposed to relieve a lot of the effects many of us get by sitting in front of the computer for hours at a time.

Testing eyewear can be a very subjective thing so I wanted to really see if I could determine if the glasses were having a positive effect on my eyes over the course of two weeks. My strategy included wearing them for three days straight while sitting at the computer then not wear them for three days.

I kept a log of typical things that happen to me after a day of sitting at the computer. Primarily headaches, dry eyes etc. What I have concluded in my not so super scientific manner is that I had fewer headaches and that my eyes seemed to not be as dry and itchy.

I did notice that while glasses were tinted, that the things seemed just a fraction sharper which was the thing that surprised me the most. The eyewear retails between $90.00 and $190.00 and while I may have been skeptical in the beginning I do think today that this company is on to something. The team behind the product come from the sports eyewear industry.

Here is my advice, if you are suffering from headaches and eye fatigue from setting in front of a PC all day this is a product at least worth checking out. I look forward to hearing others experience with this product.

Please note that I am not making any medical claims, I am only relaying my perspective from wearing these glasses a total of about 7 days over a two week period.