WPCandy in Review: November 2010

Is it December already? Time flies when you’re having fun, I suppose. That means it’s time to take a look back at November, in a feature we lovingly call WPCandy in Review.

We want to give you some insight into how the gears are turning at WPCandy, what direction we’re headed, and what worked and didn’t work for us.

This was another positive month. Let’s take a look.

November 2010 statistics

Our numbers aren’t what matters most to us, not by a long shot. But we have a few numbers to share, so let’s do that! The follow table shows October’s numbers first, then November’s numbers, so you can see the change month-over-month.

We’re happy to see an increase, primarily in new people checking out the site.

Our analytics graph for November 2010.

A look at last month’s goals

As a reminder, our goals last month were:

• We plan to cross 50,000 unique visitors next month.
• We plan to cross 7,000 RSS subscribers next month.
• We plan to reach 750 themes in Theme Finder.

We reached the first goal, which was a growth in traffic by about 20%. We didn’t quite cross the RSS goal (see the chart above) but we’re getting closer. And Theme Finder is floating around 600 themes, so that one we didn’t quite hit either.

But we did do some other really neat stuff this last month:

• We launched the WPCandy iPhone app.
• We increased the rate of WPCandy theme and plugin reviews.
• Our community interaction increased, from around 200 reader comments in October to over 500 in November.

I’d say WPCandy is growing!

New goals this month

So where do we go next? A few new ones this month:

• We plan to cross 60,000 unique visitors in December.
• We plan to cross 7,000 RSS subscribers (but really this month).
• We plan to reach 700 themes in Theme Finder.
• We plan to see 600 or more reader comments, increasing reader engagement.

Can we do it? We shall see. Should we have other goals as well? You tell us.

How you can help

But we want your help too. We have a couple of projects going on right now that you can jump in on and help with.

We have the WPCandy iPhone app with its reverse launch deal right now. Anyone who purchases the app now will definitely show their support of this site.

We are also running the WordPress Users Survey right now (just started December 1st) and would love your help spreading the word on that. If you haven’t taken that survey yet, you definitely should!

Finally, how do you think we can improve WPCandy this month?

T-Mobile Teams Up With YouTube Celebrity Merton For Awesome Branded Viral Video Ad

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Google Boost Local Search Ads Could Help Boost Video Traffic

Last week, Google quietly rolled out a new kind of search ad—called Google Boost.  Boost is intended to be used for locally-focused businesses that want an easy, pain-free way to get some added exposure when local searches are performed. Currently, Boost is in beta, and is only available to customers in three U.S. cities:  San [...]

Video Tops P2P Filesharing Traffic: Cisco

Content providers may have finally found a way to battle peer-to-peer file sharing: by making their content easily available online. That’s one possible takeaway from Cisco’s latest Visual Networking Index, which found that video now accounts for more than one-quarter of all network traffic worldwide. That means video is now the largest portion of all data that runs across the Internet, topping peer-to-peer traffic for the first time.

Video traffic, which includes streaming, Flash video and streaming via peer-to-peer technology, made up 26 percent of data traffic worldwide, according to Cisco, compared with the 25 percent of traffic made up of P2P file-sharing. That’s a dramatic reversal from last year, when P2P accounted for 38 percent of worldwide data traffic. It’s not that P2P usage is shrinking, but that video consumption is growing that much faster.

Not just that, but video makes up one-third of all data traffic delivered from the top 50 websites globally, and Cisco says video sites dominate the top 100 websites by traffic volume worldwide. The trend is particularly strong in North America, where 60 percent of the top 100 sites are either video or gaming sites.

That said, while P2P traffic tends to be fairly flat throughout the day, video traffic is extremely volatile. Online video traffic hits its peak between the hours of 9:00 pm and midnight worldwide, when it makes up around 28-29 percent of total data traffic. According to the report:

“Online video’s volatility (defined as the spread of traffic volume during the course of the day) is 51 percent higher than that of file sharing. The peak video hour is 91 percent higher than the average video hour, while the peak file sharing hour is 64 percent higher than the average file sharing hour.”

Finally, while Adobe likes to boast that some 75 percent of all web video is Flash-based, consumption numbers tell a different story, according to Cisco. It found that of the 26 percent share of traffic belonging to online video, only 7 percent is Flash video. Another 10.5 percent is streaming video; 5 percent is streaming video via P2P technologies; 3.6 percent is audio and video over HTTP; and 0.28 percent is made up of video downloads.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user comedy_nose.

Related content on GigaOM Pro: (subscription required)

• How Online Video Is Shaping the Next Round of Retrans Fights
• Cord-cutting? Hold the Phone
• Pay-TV’s Ala Carte Tipping Point

Do iPhone or Android Users Watch More Video? (And Other Video Trends)

Mobile video optimization firm Bytemobile has just released its most recent “Mobile Minute Metrics” report, a look at wireless users’ video consumption trends and behavior based on metrics from a cross-section of nearly 2 billion Bytemobile customers in 58 countries around the world.

According to the new report, which focuses on Q3 2010 mobile traffic, mobile operators are seeing “unprecedented” levels of mobile data traffic, an increase heavily impacted by increased demand for video. Some interesting stats were revealed, too – like whether it’s Android or iPhone users who watch more video, what sites get the most views and more.

Sponsor

Bytemobile found that, on a per-user average, it’s iPhone users generating the most video traffic. 42% of total data traffic generated by the iPhone is video, while only 32% on Android is video.

The most popular and most watched videos are still those coming from user-generated content sites like YouTube and Google Video, which account for 48% of total network video traffic. The second-largest category of video is adult content, accounting for 30% of total traffic. Combined, these two categories – user-gen and adult – make up nearly 80% of total video traffic.

As in last quarter, users are still opting for lower-quality videos (240p) to minimize stalling and other bandwidth-related issues. HD video is currently requested a third less often than low-res video, but generates a similar amount of data traffic – 31% compared with 39%. This means that even a small increase in HD video consumption leads to a significantly greater increase in network traffic load, the report notes.

Not surprisingly, when network speeds increase, video traffic also increases. Case in point: Right now, wireless networks with slower end-to-end speeds only see an average of 39% of their total data traffic as video-generated, while faster networks see nearly 60%.

Video viewing peak hours are now no longer daytime, but evening – a shift that indicates a transition from business usage to residential, entertainment-based usage, says Bytemobile. Mobile data usage, however, occurs during all waking hours (9 a.m. to midnight), with traffic patterns that reflect the number of users on the network at any given time.

Discuss

ASR 9000 Delivers Non-stop Video Experience. Cisco so Confident We Show It Live

End users require the network to be up at all times with no service disruption. Multimedia content must be delivered in a non-stop fashion. If TV viewers miss the goal during the world cup, they will not understand. The critical element of ASR 9000 that we demonstrate live is its high availability. Miercom, an independent testing company, recently proved that the ASR 9000 delivers a non-stop video experience. When they removed a Route Switch Processor from an active ASR 9000, traffic continued to flow as if nothing had happened – no video interruptions whatsoever. See cisco.com and sign-up for your demo.

Author: CiscoSP360
Duration: 100
Published: 2010-09-16 21:36:09
ASR 9000 Delivers Non-stop Video Experience. Cisco so Confident We Show It Live

‘Highly disruptive’ startup offers live TV on the Internet for $5 a month

If you’ve been chewing antacids because you’ve been worried about over-the-top video cannibalizing your IPTV business as you slowly develop a TV Everywhere strategy as a defense, it may be time to pop a Lunesta because ivi–a new “online cable system”–may keep you up at night, too.

The Seattle-based start-up, which describes itself as “highly disruptive,” is launching a live Web feed of more than three dozen broadcast channels, including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and Telemundo to Macs, Windows and Linux computers. It says it will feed to mobile devices, including the iPad soon. ivi claims it already has more content than Hulu, and will be adding more channels over time, and it will maintain an a la carte option as well. The platform is available via a downloadable app for $4.99 a month after a free 30-day trial. Want DVR functionality? It’s yours for an extra 99 cents a month.

CEO and founder Todd Weaver says the company is taking dead aim at the cable industry, which, he says, “has spent countless millions of dollars on so-called ‘TV Everywhere’ solutions in a blind effort to prop-up outdated technology and business models.”

“ivi empowers its users to experience ‘TV Anywhere’, offering them major broadcast channels delivered live to their laptop or desktop, anywhere on the planet,” he said. “Whether eventually integrated into Google TV, Apple TV, or meshed with an existing platform’s digital strategy, ivi makes the set-top-box and any ‘Web to TV’ products obsolete. Instead of attempting to bring the Web to the TV, ivi intuitively brings TV to the Web.”

At the moment, the company has no contracts with any broadcasters, but ivi claims it doesn’t need to, since it’s an online cable system and, as long as it pays fees to the U.S. Copyright Office–which get disbursed to the broadcasters–it’s covered. Although Weaver says it’s not inconceivable that the company will face some legal challenges.

Trust me, were I a pay-TV operator, I’d look for a way to slow this train down before it gets moving too fast.

A trial of the ivi player is pretty impressive, although you’ll need to be satisfied with a low- to standard-definition signal. There’s an option for HD, but I could never get it to work (my connection from home was a little slow this morning). Frankly, that didn’t bother me much as I watched the news and traffic and weather on Good Morning America, The Early Show, and Today over coffee. Even an aging Robert Plant looked pretty good in LD. The bulk of the channels available currently are affiliates from Seattle and New York; but that’s good news for me as I assume I’ll be able to watch the Giants games instead of the Lions.

The channel guide is straight-forward and easy to navigate, something cable operators could take a cue from, although the listings, strangely, stopped at 3 p.m. today, but that may just be a matter of start-up jitters. Speaking of which… there weren’t any. No jitters, no buffering.

The cable industry lost 711,000 customers in the second quarter, its worst performance ever. Some of it, no doubt, was due to the economy’s continued sputtering in much of the country, some of it due to a continued increase in the price of cable services, and some of it–albeit a tiny portion–was due to cord cutters going over the top.

Weaver says ivi can offer the industry a helping hand by bringing cord-cutters back into the fold with a different model.

“Recognizing the fate of the landline telephone and the digital debacle experienced by the music industry, ivi offers the broadcast and cable industries innovation they do not have time to build. Consumer-friendly features like a la carte are built in the ivi technology and are available as a turn-key solution to shift cord-cutting losses into online paid views for content owners, offering consumers the choice they have long demanded, with a compelling solution to a multi-billion dollar problem,” he said. “Forcing consumers to pay for undesired content did not work for the music industry, and it is equally unsustainable for the cable and satellite industries. There is no incentive to fight us, when they should simply join us.”

Weaver says ivi is a solution… maybe, but it’s also a heck of a threat to an industry already looking for ways to stop the bleeding. What do you think?-Jim

Get Started

Getting started with a multimedia and video package from BoonJack Media is simple and easy, hey it’s not just a slogan that’s how we do it. The real magic happens on our Partner Portal, the first screen shot below is the homepage listing all of the areas in the portal. We’ll start by clicking on the “Place An Order” icon.

This is step 1 on the ordering screen, you’ll want to select a product or service category first. The default category is our Multimedia packages, we’re going to select the “Marketing Expert” package, hey it says best value… sweet!

Moving on to step 2, we’re going to select a Domain for our multimedia package. There are three choices, 1) purchase a domain directly from us 2) Transfer a domain you already own to use with your multimedia package 3) Use a domain you own and change the domain nameservers to point to your multimedia account. We going to register a new domain cause that’s how we roll, and hey look – mysupercoolhdvideowebsite.com is available… awesome!

On Step 3 you can configure any options or domain addons for your multimedia package  and the payment terms, then click on “Update Your Cart” to continue.

Here’s step 3 (continued), we bought extras for our supercoolhdvideowebsite.com domain. Hey we know it could be considered excessive, but we just can’t help splurging!

On step 4 you can configure your domain extras and set your Nameservers (optional) for your domain. We are going to use the default anonymous Nameservers provided for free, because we dig our privacy. Confirm the order looks OK, then click “Checkout” or you can continue shopping and stuff your cart full of goodies.

On Step 5 fill in your account details and information. We recommend choosing a strong password and using a security question, better to safe as Mom always says.

Step 5 (continued), use your account details for your domain contact or enter a any new details here. Select your payment service either Authorize.Net or PayPal, both are excellent and accept all major credit and bank debit cards. Add any notes or other information to send to us, most people just type something in here like, “You All Are Awesome!” or similar. Read through our legal stuff, click agree to our terms and conditions, then activate your account!

That’s it you’re ready to deliver HD multimedia and video at unheard of speeds! Go ahead and access your client area dashboard now.

Your complete package details and instructions for your new multimedia website package will be emailed to you. We highly recommend saving this welcome email, but if you don’t it’s no problem. In your client area Dashboard, every email we send to you is saved and archived appropriately under “My Emails”.

Here’s some more screen shots below of the client area called “Your Dashboard” which is the one stop, one access point where you can completely manage every service under your multimedia account. Put quite simply, it rocks!

Client area  “Your Dashboard” continued… you’ve complete control with easy one-click logins to access all of your server account administration services.

Want more? No problem, just create your free account here and fill in your information, then browse around the Partner Portal with full access! BTW we provide that cool “Your Dashboard” page for free accounts too.

Below are all the screen shots you can click to view larger images, use the >> located at the bottom right to cycle through.

About

What we provide

BoonJack Media is a full service website hosting provider which specializes in Hi-Def or HD video and multimedia platforms.

There are many companies today which provide website hosting. Most offer some level of video and multimedia support too, however none can or will support HD video or multimedia playback adequately.

What makes BoonJack Media unique is our focus on delivering a fast and satisfactory user experience regardless of the content. HD quality video and multimedia is extremely popular for many practical business uses and we’ve built our servers around this demand. We provide full website services with all of HD video multimedia packages, and at an affordable price to meet any budget.

Most website hosting providers primary focus is marketing their website hosting services, while supporting video and multimedia is merely lip service. Most hosting simply fails to meet the online demands of today’s memory hungry apps, not to mention HD video or multimedia. Basically resulting in lost opportunities with higher bounce rates for their clients.

Why?

The short answer, there is a strong need for a HD video and multimedia system which does not require expensive streaming to deliver a fast viewing experience. We also wanted to provide a complete, easy to use all-in-one website platform, including hosting services under one administration and management GUI (graphical user interface).

Today’s HD video and multimedia service providers has a huge gap in the overall quality, and speed of delivery today among companies offering this type of service. There are a lot of traditional video hosting companies and services out there, but when you take a look at the HD video hosting options, the choices become quite narrowed and display performance is poor.

Most of the “Better” providers offering HD and video hosting fall flat when it comes to speed of delivery, or require a streaming server. The streaming server hosting costs, compared to standard video hosting, can quickly become inconceivable for the majority of businesses with digital content.

These video hosting companies don’t offer website hosting services either, so it’s not uncommon for companies to have multiple logins, and accounts for their website services. This can be hard to manage, a nightmare juggling all the different account login names and passwords. For someone to put together tracking and analysis, or just to make a simple change on one account might affect your other services too. Managing your website definitely doesn’t have to be this difficult, we kept it simple by providing one simple administration interface, with easy one-click access to all services.

Whats under the hood?

Server Technology: We have built and developed a server architecture from scratch specifically for HD multimedia and video delivery with a focus on a high speed viewing experience for the majority of viewers, browsers, PC types, and ISP bandwidth variations from broadband to mobile. We’ve dubbed the servers as a “Cloud X Hosting” build, with varying versions and configurations which can be integrated into any existing system from Windows to Mac and various Unix/Linux systems. A wide variety of major libraries and coding are supported and pre-configured with dependencies already resolved.

High Speed Delivery: We run wide open and have the pedal to the metal 24/7. We don’t throttle bandwidth or allocate memory per account, all of our servers and accounts serve content on a first come first server basis, and burst unlimited memory on demand.

All Content is served upfront with high RPM solid state hard drives running 1TB per server with dual-raid with daily dual backups on and off site. Our servers are configured per account with 256MB for PHP apps, 1GB file management transfer as standard. Our database architecture is configured for large file handling, MySQL and PostGresSQL are fully supported and we run the latest version of PHPMyAdmin configured with all options.

The result is a very fast content delivery server that can easily handle large HD video and multimedia files without the need for streaming. If video or media streaming is required, we have pre-built PHP scripts available for free which can be easily implemented into the display system.

No Streaming Required: We also wanted to support media streaming, but without using RTMP. We felt PHP 5 was refined and powerful enough to support streaming. It’s more compatible, less restrictive, and is more cost effective compared to RTMP streaming. Hard and Soft costs of HD (or standard) video management on medium to large platforms can be trimmed by 10X and content delivery performance boosts of 15-20% without bandwidth or memory increases.

If video or media streaming is required for playback, we have pre-built PHP scripts available for free which can be easily implemented into the display system.

If RTMP Streaming is something you need or require, no problem. All of our video multimedia website hosting and server packages can easily integrate with any of the major RTMP systems, like: Wowza, Red 5, Flash Streaming Server, Sorenson, Akamai, Mediacore, and many other popular streaming servers.

No CDN Required: Our system doesn’t require or need a CDN for insuring fast content delivery across geography, an added cost savings benefit we pass on to you. Content delivery networks are great if you need it, most HD or standard video systems recommend or include CDN services for free. Which is usually because their service isn’t strong enough alone to delivery a decent across the board geographic viewing experience.

If you would need or require a CDN service, it’s no problem. All of our video multimedia website hosting and server packages can easily integrate with any CDN, like: SimpleCDN, Amazon Cloudfront, Limelight, Sorenson, and many other popular content delivery networks.

Encoding Included: All our packages included video and media encoding directly from your server account, so there is no need for a separate encoding service. We use FFMPEG, Mencoder, Xvid, x264 and can encode and deliver video in any major format for PC and mobile playback including: AVI, FLV, MP4, 3GP, OGG, F4V, MOV, VP8, and more.

For audio encoding we use FAAC and LAME, and support all major audio codecs including: MP3, WAV, MP4, and many more. MP3 Id3 and exif meta tags are also included and supported for audio and video.

If there’s is a certain rare or exclusive video or audio codec you need no problem, we can provide a player or containers to support it, or simply add the format engines and libraries for you.

Full Website Platform: Full website services with a complete Administration GUI system, very large list of features and options are included in all of the packages we offer. This doesn’t mean that you would need to drop you current website host to purchase one of our multimedia packages. The full website service platform is simply there as an option, like gravy on your mashed potatoes.

Our multimedia packaging and pricing covers all levels and needs for any business looking to deliver fast, high quality HD video and multimedia, and can be simply integrated into your current website hosting system.

You can use the full website services platform to manage all of your websites or not, the choice is yours. If you can’t find a package you like or want to custom build your own, no problem. We offer a “Custom Package Builder” you can utilize to roll your own multimedia package for as little as $4 a month.

High Performance For All: All of our multimedia packages and any “Custom Package Builds” deliver the same high speed HD video and multimedia content performance, regardless of the package level or price. Most HD or standard video companies limit or restrict the speed or delivery performance based upon the level or price of the package you purchase.

We don’t, in fact the only difference between all of our packages and pricing is the amount of storage and bandwidth needed, they all have and include the same features and options too.

For instance our “Marketing Expert” package priced at $9 per month with 1 GB of storage and bandwidth delivers the same high speed HD video and multimedia performance that our top level package does, known appropriately as “The Bigtime” package.

Flexible Monthly Service: Our packages and pricing are simply month to month, with no contract commitment or requirement. You can cancel at anytime, or upgrade, downgrade at any time easily through your administration GUI, known as the Partner Portal. Automated billing is handled through the portal too, with your choice of PayPal or Authorize.Net which accept all major credit or bank debit cards.

White Labeled: We understand the need for businesses to privately utilize services online, and we’ve went to great lengths to ensure complete anonymity for our clients. Competition is fierce, every little edge matters today, co-branding with a service provider negates any competitive advantage and drastically inhibits growth in

sales of your customer base or offerings.

All of our packages are “completely” white labeled or private, with your branding only.

Which simply means BoonJack Media is not related to your website or multimedia package on any front-end, back-end, or website display, period.

We anonymously support our clients, and provide free anonymous nameservers registered privately offshore, or you can use your own. Your HD video and multimedia is delivered directly from your server account and website as well, unlike most video hosting providers which provide you a link to your video from their server to include on your website.

Open Source: BoonJack Media’s platform was built with and around open source architecture and software. We could have went with licensed, proprietary systems and software, but this would mean much higher costs for our clients, and a restrictive environment for our service offerings which we could not guarantee anonymously or white label.

You have complete control to add any service or software to your account desired, change the code, add any branding, or integrate into any other service or system too.

Support and Knowledge: We offer full support for every account, and provide an easy to use support ticketing system built into your administration GUI’s email system for quick and efficient communication with our team of experts standing by. Our Knowledgebase includes a wide range of tutorials both written and videos, step by step instructions, and help icons are just a click away conveniently provided throughout the entire platform.

I think that about cover’s the overview of our services, and why we’re a great choice for you to deliver HD video and multimedia for your business. If you have any other questions just drop us a line, we’ll be glad to help.

Really Fast HD Video?

Yeah we think so, but see for yourself HD Video Examples.

You can also view more examples of HD video and Hi-Def music on our demo sites, or our portfolio for some live action. The video titles have the types of video format parameters listed, check it out here.

If you have existing content on other video websites like; Youtube, Google, Dailymotion, Yahoo, Vimeo, Revver, Vzaar, BitsOnTheRun, Facebook, or any others you need transferred, no problem. Our platform supports easy integration, and video embeds for your website. If you are interested in moving or archiving all of your video content, we can help there too.

Where Can I Learn More or Get Started?

You can learn more on our Getting Started page which provides a guide for signing-up, with some cool screen shots too.

What Else Do You People Offer?

We provide full web development solutions for existing or customized platforms and systems, graphic and flash design services, video and audio solutions. We also provide consulting solutions for a wide variety of online services. If you have a project big or small, we can help!

Here’s our portfolio from some of our clients that don’t mind if we show off work we’ve done for them.

We specialize of course in multimedia and video systems, software, and platforms, but we have a lot of experience with the latest online technology in general. It’s a nature of the beast sort of thing, call it a prerequisite from building and developing multimedia website platforms.

Give us a shout, we’d be glad to help in whatever way we can. We’re a hard working team, straight shooters and will provide solid answers with efficient, affordable, high performance technology solutions to get the job done right.

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