May, 2010
Kodak zi8 vs Flip Mino
Has The Kodak Zi8 Stolen the HD “point and shoot” Crown from Flip?
Both camcorders, the Kodak Zi8 and the Flip Mino, have been meticulously designed to garner the advancing market of easy to use and exceptionally portable camcorders with built in abilities that make sharing the videos on the computer and loading them up to the popular social networking sites markedly easy. Let’s do a quick digital video camera review of these two products.
Flip and Kodak are both justifiably proud of their own product lines, and make it easy to find lots of information online. Of course, one of the most influential attributes to everyone is the cost, and you will see that they at exactly the same price point, $100 or around £75-£90. So far they’re even.
One noticable characteristic between these two is that the Kodak Zi8 HD
Kodak zi8 has the edge on memory and sound upgrade
However, and this is substantial the Kodak depends on the use of SD/SDHC memory cards to generate it’s storage capabilities. The Flip Mino leaves you no room for upgrade. The Kodak zi8 digital video camera can manage up to a 32 GB card for those who want to go all out. What does that mean? Up to ten hours of video recording ! That’s a huge plus for Kodak.
One of the things that is similar between them is they both have a very handy built in USB swing-out arm, so you don’t need camera specific cables. You can just pull out the arm and plug it directly into your computer and start sharing. Down with cable clutter! A tie.
Both come with video and picture editing software, but only the Zi8 has HD capable video recording, and a HDMI output on the camera itself to affix directly to your HDTV for immediate review. Kodak wins.
The capability to add an external sound mic also tips the balance in the favour of the zi8. If you want to do a swift interview and don’t want to travel heavy, the ability to clip an external mic or even hook up a beachteck adapter is a generous addition to the electronics for a camera of this price range.
But beyond this, it largely isn’t much of a competition. The Flip Mino, and even it’s big brother the FlipHD, which costs significantly more, can’t compare to the benefits and quality of the Kodak. For the same price, you get a much augmented view screen, built-in image balance, full blown 1080 pixel HD video, and the reliability that comes with the Kodak name.
Kodak zi8 vs Flip: The Verdict
Final result: the race between these two products is not remotely close at present– the Kodak Zi8 HD
The Five Minute PR Plan Part Two | PR tips
by Keith Thompson MA, CMIPR, PG Cert
My name’s Keith Thompson and a warm welcome to my blog regarding PR tips at Effective Media. In the first article we looked at how businesses should look at PR as something they do already and simply need to focus it a bit more. So let’s first look at the benefits of this.
- Firstly being media savvy doesn’t just affect sales, it can also have an impact and branding and reputation both offline and online.
- Secondly search engines like press releases, video content and also photographs (properly tagged) too
So we’ve already ticked two major boxes here and we’re still not causing any great hole in the working day. So far all I have proposed is that you find and add one journalist per day, one from a local paper, one from a trade mag and so on for the next couple of weeks so that you build a database of contacts.
Now all we need to do is learn how to write a press release and here it is:-
Type 1: Paper press releases to be released physically by fax or snail mail.
1) Don’t for get your logo at the top. Sounds like an obvious one that doesn’t it? Well not really. It’s amazing how many companies still send news releases out without one.
2) Keep your language simple and to the point without being flowery. Don’t use five words when one will do e.g. “It is possible for customers to” “they can”
3) Beginners should use the three paragraph format on one side of A4 although there are longer versions. Let’s stick to the three paragraph version in this article.
4) Formatting: News Release at the top. To the left indicate when the press release is available from (avoid embargos like the plague). 1.5 space the text and single space the “Note to Editors” Include your immediate contact details here. Leave wide margins for notes.
5) Headline should be boldened, relevant and keyword biased. Attempts to be witty wil almost certainly be met with yawns. They do the jokes! “You can get slim by thinking about it says psychologist.”
6) First paragraph: Tell the whole story and nothing but the story. Who? What? When? Where? Which? Why? e.g. “You can put on muscle tone just by thinking about exercise according to a report by a top psychologist, Dr Tim Jones at a conference in New York today.
7) Second paragraph reinforces the story and might include a quote e.g. “Dr. Jones was speaking at the International Psychology Conference where he delivered his findings from experiments on 26 office workers.”
Third paragraph will be a call to action or invitation (this is your chance to sell your location) e.g. ” Dr Jones has his own webinar on the subject and wil be inviting readers to ask him questions this Wednesday at www.drtimjonesinc.com….”
9) End the press release with ENDS so that you don’t run the risk of any of your private contact details being published to the world.
10) Include a “note to editors” if you are inviting them to a photocall or other press event online or locally. perhaps you might wish to inform them that there are photographs available. Don’t forget to proofread and grammar check. Sometimes crucial phone numbers and website addresses can be typed in wrongly.
Type 2: email
As above except:-
4) Use normal text based emails single spaced. If you want to use HTML, check with the publisher first. In fact you should never spam editors with unsolicited emails anyway. You wil soon find out how they want your email by having a conversation with them preferably by phone or at least an advance email. Mass submitter software is not recommended for press releases.
If you are still nervous about writing your own press releases or content, we do offer a copywriting service here at Effective Media and Effective Publicity which is cheaper than you think. Please feel free to contact me for details at keith@effective-media.co.uk If not read on and we can see if we can provide the knowledge and skills you need to follow the Five Minute PR Plan.
In part three I will show you to shoot a video news release and also compose a picture which will dramatically enhance both the quantity and quality of coverage you receive both online and offline. Picture stories rule. find out why in the next installment.
‘The Article Profit Formula’ by John Taylor PhD
Review of The Article Profit Formula by John Taylor PhD
Terms of reference: The author is not an affiliate of this product
The offer: John Taylor is offering a $17 re-launch via certain forums but this is likely to increase to $27. It consists of a download of the book plus four writing bonuses which are referred to as a surprise bonus after purchase.
Target audience: Anyone with an interest on making money via the highly effective but equally misunderstood concept of article marketing.
Review: The ebook arrived promptly through 7 Day Deals and I was able to access the product immediately. 30 minutes later I understood the concept and felt that the $17 was money well spent. Compared to a $17 I might have spent in a bookshop – which is not a bad way of assessing an ebook’s added value- I felt that I learned more in the 12 pages offered than much of the time I have spent ploughing through the endless debates about article spinning. On that vexed subject, and without giving the content away, John Taylor is not advocating the concept of spinning. Content is most definitely king but it’s king at vital areas of the internet and at logical stages.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the reviewer will be following the route of righteousness over the next couple of weeks. So check back for updates. But suffice to say that the formula led me to a sigh of relief that quality and not quantity will discern the wheat from the chaff in the coming months when article sites and big G clean up the spun copy. No disrespect to those who spin where it makes money, but it’s of benefit to all of us if informative and well researched copy can win over in the longer term.
Bottom Line: I thought I could write an article or two but I have never really known how to make it widely accessbile to my target audience. John’s book is an informative, concise read which has that wondrous ‘Eureka!’ feel to it. The best methods are usually the simplest ones and The Article Profit Formula fits into that category. Thanks for telling us like it is, Dr. Taylor.
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