A while ago I had mentioned that I would be starting a video podcast that functions as technical classes for homeschool students. I had also mentioned that I would go all in if I did it. Well, I went all in. My office has been converted to a video podcaster's paradise. Last weekend I was able to get the mixer, compressor, gate, Audio interface, green screen, dynamic mics, cameras, lighting and sound dispersion panels installed in my studio. My hosts (Tanner and Stori) both have a JD now and are learning about them by going through the LMS curriculum that was developed. We will start some "test" shows on Thursday evenings which will help the hosts to be more comfortable in front of the camera and allow them to get really comfortable with the robots and the technology behind the video podcast. The podcasts will be live so you will get to see all of the fun if you want to
On another project, I have been working with a group in the middle of nowhere Texas that is setting up a ranch for people who have aged out of the foster care system in Texas. Next week I will be setting up their firewall, NAS, domain server, some workstations, network and such. They will be using the class mentioned above for their students to teach them about robotics on the EZ-Robot platform. I want to do a show from the ranch but the logistics could make that difficult.
I will post the links to the video podcast streams later. We will be streaming on Youtube and Twitch. We also will have the RTMP feed available to be viewed directly. We have a mumble room and IRC channel that I will publish also. These allow participation in the discussion that is happening and in the show. Along with that, 662-4ROBOT1 is a direct phone number into the show, and Skype is also available. If you want to check out our early tests, I will post the links later. The official start is on May 6th 2017. We will be broadcasting from our booth at a Homeschool show in Oklahoma City.
I want to also do a show on Saturdays on more generic topics but all relating to technology. Nicholas (my son) will be teaching an Intro to Programming class. The next semester we will move up to intermediate programming and robotics classes.
SM@RT Club is the Patreon support page for the classes. I still have some work to do on it, but it is there at least.
I guess I still need to clean up some cables...
Pond5 is where I got the templates for Adobe After Effects. pond5
Also, thanks for the info on the email. I like controlling all of the domain including the DNS stuff so I think I will stick with what I have. It opens things up for me so that I can do a lot without someone else's stuff getting in the way.
On the ranch, that would be really cool. My grandson has autism and something like this would be cool for him as he got older.
On the homeschool front - Check out Our Site. It is geared toward providing technical classes for homeschool students.
Thanks for the encouragement. We are doing some pretty cool things. This week on the live stream (Thursday night at 6:30 PM CST) I will be going over the EZ-Robot platform with the hosts and in-studio student. We did a little bit of this last week but will do a lot more this week.
Also, just a quick thanks to Ron for all of the time he spent with me trying to get volumes under control the other day. Hopefully it will be evident that we worked on this quite a bit Monday morning.
Due to some scheduling difficulties, Stori (one of the hosts) wont be able to make it for the show tomorrow. We will do a test show with Tanner and I as hosts tomorrow and the one as Stori and I on Friday evening. This is good for us to test our ability to adapt and adjust. Its a also why I wanted multiple hosts.
I will cover a lot of intro stuff.
The SSL cert got put into the site, and artwork is being worked on that will be used for the website and other marketing material.
Anyway, test live streams will happen 2 days this week, Thursday and Friday from 6:30 pm CST until 8:30 pm CST.
Can i suggest making the schedule a priority on the website? took me a bit to find where it was. Maybe also shortening the homepage message to something more concise and adding the schedule there as well. Here's some suggestions...
No need to have a title "ABout Sm@rtClub" on teh home page when the logo is right there. The user knows where they are
Home page
Schedule
Thanks for the feedback DJ. I think I like it and will ponder on it when I am a bit more awake today.
Technology Today will be starting up this Saturday, 03/11/2017 at 9 AM CST. This will be a weekly show discussing tech topics and how they affect you. I anticipate that the show will run for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
In this show we will briefly discuss how the show is setup and how users can participate News from NASA A Discussion on Cell Phones and Security A new project that I am working on using an IOTiny
We have all of the technical issues worked out and things are progressing well. We won't be streaming Thursday night's Intro to Robotics classes until May 6th, but will still be recording for the hosts to see what they need to work on and to continue to get more experience.
This will be the official kickoff show for Technology today. Swing by and check us out at Technology Today's page
I decided to add a new section called "On the Horizon" to the Technology Today show. This weeks "On the Horizon" segment will be discussing some new things that could possibly be coming to the Amazon Echo that make it even a better option for embedding into a robot platform.
News from NASA A Discussion on Cell Phones and Security A new project that I am working on using an IOTiny Rumors about the Echo and Google home
Tune in Saturday morning at 9AM CST if you want to participate in the show. The best way to do so is to go to our Technology Today's page.
Because it is the first show, we will only have participation via IRC. You can participate by using the IRC chat window on the Technology Today page. This keeps everything in one nice, neat location. Flash does need to be installed in order to see the video from this page. You can also view the live stream on youtube at some funky number or on Twitch at the CochranRobotics channel.
As shows go on, we will add in the other participation avenues. I will probably add in one type of participation channel a month or so, so that I can get pretty comfortable with what I have in the show.
After the show is complete, I will add in all of the show notes (on Twitch and YouTube) and provide links to the topics that are discussed and what others are saying about them on the internet.
I am looking for people who would like to be guests via skype on upcomming shows. I think that this would be a decent way to show off some of the work that people have done here. If you want to be a guest, please contact me at the email address that is in my profile.
Hi David,
Great job on Technology Today's first show. Great coverage of the information discussed. I look forward to more shows.
Ron