Tightrope Media Systems

Announcing Carousel 5.2.6: New Weather!

Carousel 5.2.6 has been officially released!

To those of you who have been patiently waiting for your weather bulletins and crawls to update, your wait is over! Carousel now retrieves weather data via WeatherBug rather than the National Weather Service FTP site. Gone are the days of battling the firewall to open the FTP ports, as access to firewall-friendly HTTP port 80 is the only requirement.

We tried to keep the user-interface changes as minimal as possible, so if you knew how to use weather bulletins before, you know how to use them now. The only big difference is that you now use a ZIP code instead of selecting your State and County. We'll automatically find the closest WeatherBug station to your location and use it as your weather data source.

Weather crawls have another bigger change, namely that you can now specify the exact format of your weather crawl. The Carousel manual has been updated accordingly, so check it out.

Finally, the number of data fields you have access to has increased dramatically. Here is a partial list of the available data fields:

• #City# = Saint Paul
• #Country# = USA
• #Currently# = Cloudy
• #DewPoint# = 51
• #ElevationFullString# = 922ft
• #GustWindFullString# = 27mph NNW at 8:01 AM
• #HumidityFullString# = 66%
• #PressureFullString# = 29.71"
• #RainMonth# = 2.32
• #RainYear# = 5.58
• #State# = MN
• #TemperatureFullString# = 63°F
• #WindFullString# = 3mph NNW
• #outlook# = Tuesday: Mostly cloudy. Scattered sprinkles. Highs 65 to 70. Northwest winds around 15 mph. Wednesday: Partly cloudy in the morning then clearing. Highs around 75. North winds around 10 mph. Thursday: Mostly sunny. Highs around 80. North winds 5 mph.

We've been working incredibly hard on this, and we sincerely thank everyone for their patience while it was under development.

To request this update, please email our support team at support@trms.com. In your email, please include:

• Your name and organization
• Your current version of Carousel (How do I know what version I have?)
• If you haven't yet filled out a customer registration form, please head over to http://www.trms.com/registration and fill one out.

To see the full release notes for this version, please see our forum post.

Thanks!

Announcing Carousel 5.2.5

Today we’re excited to announce the release of Carousel 5.2.5!

This release contains several usability and stability improvements. Specifically, touching on the Clone Tool, Interactive, Display Engine, and the updating of RSS, web picture and clock bulletins. Check out the release notes for the nitty-gritty.

To request this update, please email our support team at support@trms.com. In your email, please include:

• Your name and organization
• Your current version of Carousel (How do I know what version I have?)
• If you haven't yet filled out a customer registration form, please head over to http://www.trms.com/registration and fill one out.

To see the full release notes for this version, please see our forum post.

Thanks!

New Cablecast Release: 4.8.3

Today we're happy to announce the release of Cablecast 4.8.3.

A few highlights:

• The SX and VOD servers are better about memory and thread management, particularly when there are a lot of shows to transcode to VOD.
• Projects area of WebUI now works again.
• Various minor fixes to web service, X-list, public site, and block copy

You can find the full release notes on our forum.

As always, to request this update, please email our support team at support@trms.com. In your email, please include the following items:

• Your name and organization.
• Your current version of Cablecast.
• If you haven't yet filled out a customer registration form, please head over to http://www.trms.com/registration and fill one out.

TRMS at MinneDemo

Join the TRMS development team for a night of cool tech and free beer at MinneDemo, the Twin Cities' premier technology demo and networking event, this Thursday, May 7th at 7pm.

We'll be one of the ten presenters this time around, and we'll be giving a demonstration of Zeplay (PDF), our new instant replay video server for live sports events. We're really proud of this product, and can't wait to see what the tech community in Minnesota thinks!

We'll also be showing off some Carousel Digital Signage in the main lobby areas, featuring presenter spotlights, event sponsors, and the schedule for the evening. Thanks to our our outstanding TRMS Creative department for providing the beautiful channel design.

Important info:

• Date: Thursday, May 7
• Time: Demos start at 7pm, networking before and after.
• Location: Intermedia Arts 2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408 (map)
• Attendees: All are welcome! Please RSVP

As of this posting, there are only 74 (free) tickets remaining, so sign up now before the event sells out! RSVP at http://minnedemo.eventbrite.com/

We'd love to see you there!

Tightrope Training, May 20th, in Burlington, VT

Tightrope Media Systems has scheduled a day of training in Burlington Vermont, for the day immediately prior to the ACM Northeast Conference. The conference is on May 21 and 22 in Burlington, and Tightrope Training will be held on Wednesday, May 20th, starting at 9AM at the Hilton Burlington Hotel.

We will hold advanced training from 9AM to 3PM, and general training from 3PM to 5PM. The general training session is suitable for new owners of Cablecast systems as well as for those who are evaluating Cablecast systems. Advanced training will cover such topics as exporting QuickTime and H.264 files to play back on Cablecast SX servers, integrating VOD and streaming into your Cablecast automation system, block copy, using zones in Carousel, etc. For the advanced training, feel free to suggest topics that you'd like to see covered.

In order to help defray the costs of the advanced training, there will be a registration fee of $25. The registration fee will help defray the cost of lunch and coffee breaks, which will be provided by us. There is no registration fee for the beginning training that starts at 3PM.

To register, for additional information, or to suggest advanced training topics, please use this signup form.

And if you are going to Burlington for Advanced Tightrope Training, and you are not registered for the ACM Northeast regional conference, please visit the Alliance for Community Media Northeast web site or download the conference brochure(PDF) and see what they have to offer. It looks like a great conference.

We hope to see you there!

Spring '09 Channels from Tightrope Creative

Tightrope Creative has added 5 new channel designs to the online store. "Boardroom", "Clinic" and "Scholastic", all 16x9 horizontal channels, are designed for corporations / organizations, medical facilities and school systems, respectively. Organizations in community media will enjoy a new channel, "Wave", which has been created in the 4x3 aspect ratio, and is ideal for displaying schedule data and community announcements. Lastly, a new vertically oriented channel, "Plaza", was designed with malls and shopping plazas in mind.

Visit the store to view the new Spring '09 catalog.

Boardroom

Clinic

Scholastic

Wave

Plaza

New Cablecast 4.8 Guide

The user manual for Cablecast has been recently updated! Weighing in at 317 pages, Cablecast: The Manual includes all of the information needed to get the most out of your Cablecast system, including:

• Theory on how Cablecast works
• Suggestions for how Cablecast can integrate with your work flow
• Planning and executing the setup of a Cablecast system
• Using the basics of Cablecast
• Using Cablecast's reporting and X-List features
• VOD and SX-LIVE setup
• much, much more!

Even if you have used Cablecast for years, you'll want to download a copy of this guide! You are sure to find something that will make your work even easier!

To get your copy, simply visit: www.trms.com/community/documentation

Bedford, NH Scores Points With SX-Live and DSK

Bill Jennings has been a Friend of Tightrope since the very beginning. It was especially gratifying to get an email from him about his experiences with his new SX-Live streaming server.

"...also, we'll be ordering another streaming video server. The one that we've had installed for our government channel has been well received," Bill said. "Councilors, commission members as well as committee members are using the streaming server to watch live meetings that they can't make on their computers.  What some of them have been doing is watching the meetings via their computers at the same time they're in contact via speaker phone."

He goes on to say that the Chairman will often watch the meeting live from Washington DC. When it came time to approve his next expansion for the station, there was no discussion: APPROVED!

The ability to crawl text over his channel, with the use of Cablecast's DSK feature, has been extremely valuable, as well. When severe weather hit, Bill worked with the city's staff to keep their citizins up to date.

"Power was lost by many homes in Bedford and New Hampshire for a week," said Bill. When power returned, "...and as folks came back on line and tuned into BCTV, they saw emergency data running via the cable cast crawls and alert bulletins. Coleen and I were in constant contact with the town's emergency management team (Fire Chief and Police Chief) who constantly were putting out updated information via the station. This does not happen without Tightrope systems. I just wanted you to know how great it worked."

Thanks for the note, Bill! It's great to hear these stories from our customers. It gives us the sense that we're making a difference and it's not just technology that we're providing. We're making real tools that are helping people with real challenges!

TRMS Sponsors Local Twin Cities Tech Events

One of the (many!) things I enjoy about working at Tightrope is the fact that we're located in the Twin Cities; home of the Twins, the Guthrie Theater, the Mall of America, and, although perhaps not as well known, home to an incredible technology community.

Today I'm happy to share that TRMS is doing its part to encourage this community by sponsoring two events: MinneDemo and The Overnight Website Challenge

MinneDemo

MinneDemo is a technology demo and networking event that is held a few times a year in Minneapolis. Local software technologists are given an opportunity to demo their projects to the tech community.

The rules are simple: 10 presentations, exactly 7 minutes each, and no powerpoint! You must present real working software.

The presentations include all manner of software: web, desktop, mobile, SaaS/cloud, etc. Basically anything that will captivate an auditorium full of entrepreneurs, tech journalists, developers, business leaders, and fellow nerds. :)

After the presentations, everyone gathers together to share ideas, stories, problems, solutions, and perhaps a beer or two.

Several TRMS staffers attended the previous MinneDemo, and we had an absolute blast. Seeing all the cool stuff that fellow Minnesotans were working on, combined with meeting so many like-minded tech-heads was an invigorating experience. Listening to passionate people talk about the things they love to do is truly energizing.

Since we here at Tightrope are also incredibly passionate about software, we knew we had to be a part of this wonderful event. To that end, we'll be helping to sponsor the venue and free beverages before and after the presentations.

If you'll be in the Twin Cities on February 6th, why not attend? It's free! Come on by, meet some great people, and have a beer on us. :)

The organizers do ask, however, that you please RSVP first. At the time of this posting, there were only about 45 seats left, so if you're interested, sign up now!

F1 Overnight Website Challenge

The Overnight Website Challenge is a competition to see who can build the best website for a deserving non-profit organization... in 24 hours. From the Challenge website:

One part nerd Olympics, one part community service project and one part race-against-the-clock — Sierra Bravo’s Overnight Website Challenge will partner deserving Minnesota non-profits with teams of talented web developers for 24 hours of fun collaboration culminating in a fully operational website for each participating non-profit.

And here's the kicker: The teams won't know which non-profit they're partnered with until the morning of the competition!

It's really an amazing event. Last year, it was calculated that over 2,100 hours were donated by the teams of web professionals, which adds up to a real-world market value of over a quarter million dollars of web development time donated to non-profits.

This year, I jumped at the chance to join the Ruby.mn team, and Tightrope will be sponsoring our team with T-shirts and by donating a full year's worth of website hosting for the team and the non-profit organization we are paired with.

I can't wait to get started. (Note to Andy and JJ: I might need to take a day off to recover from lack of sleep!)

More to Come

We're just thrilled to be a part of these tech-related events in the Twin Cities, and have our sights set on more in the future. Stay tuned to the blog to learn more about how Tightrope is staying involved with our community.

-John Reilly

Announcing Carousel 5.2.3

We are proud to announce the release of Carousel 5.2.3!

This release contains resolutions to some conditional bugs, seemly occurring only sometimes, under a full moon, in certain time zones. Obviously I'm kidding, but honestly these pests are our favorite to squish, release, and dare I say forget. Among this special breed were the analog clock and DisplayEngine crashing errors, which have now been put to rest. Also, the audio and video sync drift, along with the Ad Astra/EDS integration has been resolved.

Thanks to Tightrope Creative, Carousel 5.2.3 contains new templates for dynamic bulletins. They have also created fresh backgrounds and templates for standard bulletins, which should be included in your download (after downloading, you'll need to upload the new media packages into Carousel).

To request this update, please email our support team at support@trms.com. In your email, please include:

• Your name and organization
• Your current version of Carousel (How do I know what version I have?)
• If you haven't yet filled out a customer registration form, please head over to http://www.trms.com/registration and fill one out.

To see the full release notes for this version, please see our forum post. Thanks!