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Sling Studio makes multi-camera video production so damn easy

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I like making videos — it’s what I do. So when I come across a product that makes my life easier I get pretty excited and pumped about it and decide to film a review. The Sling Studio is a fun little piece of hardware that fits all the fun of a multi-camera video production into my backpack… and that is no joke. I was very impressed with all the power and efficiency that was packed into this little studio-on-the-go. I have some information and photos below, but everything you need to know about it is in the video, so prepare the popcorn, invite the family over and enjoy.

 

I fit all the hardware for a fully functional multi-cam shoot in my backpack.

Some photos of the product

[gallery ids="1518321,1518326,1518327,1518328,1518329,1518333,1518334,1518335"]

Final thoughts (in case you just want to know what I think and not watch the video):

The Sling Studio System does have some limitations, like only being able to connect up to four cameras*, and you can only record to Facebook Live and YouTube live. But the company says in the future you’ll be able to add your own custom RTMP. You also can’t add your own custom motion graphics at the moment, but can add still logo and images or use the limited graphics they have available. The lag between what you see in real life and on the iPad is very noticeable; you really have to just focus on the feed and not look or listen to the live action or it will mess you up. Also a small annoyance: If you switch between different internets the system doesn’t know and doesn’t update the info to tell you the speed of the current internet speed —  you have to manually click to update the information.

Even with those hindrances, Sling has created something that lowers the barrier to entry for full live-switched productions and it’s awesome; I mean, just being able to fit the whole thing in a backpack and set up and switch a shoot quickly, then edit it is a game changer. If you’re running a small production company, it’s going to save you time and money on post-production. The live streaming looks amazing, and is easy and clean.

A full-on Tricaster has all the bells, and we won’t be getting rid of ours anytime soon, but if you’re looking for a solid alternative to the Tricaster or to add another weapon to your production arsenal, I would definitely give the Sling Studio a go.

*Update: In my testing I only connected four cameras at most since only four streams show up on the iPad interface. But you can actually connect up to 10 cameras and switch between all of them, so the limitation is actually only up to 10 cameras which is plenty.

Video Credits

Written by: Tito Hamze
Hosted by: Tito Hamze
Filmed by: Gregory Manalo, John Murillo, Tito Hamze
Edited by: Tito Hamze

Special Thanks to Mitch Eason, Joe Seiler, Keven Hempel and Jenni Curtice for letting me shoot at her tea shop, Luna Tea.

 

 


Zeroqode will usher us into a codeless future

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Codeless development platforms are at once a blessing and a curse. If they’re complete enough to be powerful they are too difficult for beginners and if they’re simple enough for beginners they’re useless for serious work. Zeroqode, a one-stop-shop for codeless creation, aims to make the difficult easy and the easy more powerful.

Created by Levon Terteryan and Vlad Larin, the project is based on Bubble, a new codeless development framework. To understand it think of Django-like autobuilder tools connected to an easy-to-use drag and drop interface. You add functionality by dropping in Trello-like cards that perform various actions.

I worked with the team to rebuild my website in Bubble and they offered both hands-on assistance and showed me where things were going wrong. They are Bubble’s certified partners. The team is bootstrapped and exhibited at Disrupt Berlin in 2017.

[gallery ids="1585897,1585898,1585899"]

“Our business consists of 2 main components: services (no-code development) and products (templates, plugins, courses etc.),” said Larin. It’s the templates they’re pitching most at this point as the services side is a bit harder to sell. By working with non-coders to get started with Bubble they open a pathway to future collaboration.

“Our no-code templates and self-service products are helping to create and launch from 20 to 30 web products, with that number rapidly increasing in the last quarter,” said Larin.

The team sees itself as a dev-in-a-box solution. The teams’ first products are 28 simple templates for users to recreate their favorite services and to learn Bubble along the way.

“What we do costs our clients just a fraction of what they would otherwise pay to the developers,” said Larin. “Most of our no-code developers have been web designers prior to joining our team. We have trained them to work in Bubble and build complex functionality.
So now 1 person can do everything – UI/UX design + workflows + database configuration + debugging etc thus reducing the complexity of traditional development where a team of at least 5 people is usually required to build a complex web application.”

With the team’s help I was able to understand Bubble nearly completely and begin working on my redesign. The team helped considerably but their templates were very usable and very affordable. The finished app is as polished as I could make it but, seeing as I haven’t coded professionally since 2000, it seemed fine. Hosting the app on Bubble costs $14 a month.

“The goal is not to allow our users to create a copy of AirBNB or Uber but to empower them launch any product that is resembling the functions of one of the big names in the startup world, with person adding his unique feature on top of the great baseline, doing that faster and with way less costs involved,” said Larin.

The team has seen unfunded startups using their code to build MVPs and even final products. The team had been building complex and expensive products for clients but they wanted to service smaller companies. When they found Bubble they knew they could be helpful.

“The business has started growing exponentially and In under 2 years the team has grown from 1 person to 17,” said Larin. “Now we have 10+ no-code developers which in traditional development capacity would compare to around four or five times more than that.”

“The goal is to make Zeroqode for complex web apps what WordPress has become for simpler web-sites,” he said.

Check out my talk with Larin at Disrupt Berlin.

Simple Fleshes Out Its Online Banking Service With Mobile Check Depositing

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From the outset, online banking startup Simple has been focused on supplanting the brick-and-mortar banks in its users' lives, but they haven't always been equipped to handle every little transaction that comes up. Case in point -- what happens when someone cuts you a check (after all, the holidays are right around the corner)?

Well, that's no longer the case. According to a post on the official Simple blog, users are now able to deposit money from those pesky pieces of paper just by taking a photo with the company's iOS app.

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Online Banking Service Simple Now Has An Android App, Designed From The Ground Up

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Since launch, online banking provider Simple has sought to provide an alternative to traditional banking services. It’s done that with built-in data visualization and a beautiful and intuitive mobile apps. Now it’s on Android, with a native app designed for Google’s mobile operating system. That will greatly expand the number of potential users for the startup’s alternative banking service.

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Why Simple Is Better Than Your Bank, Both Online And On Mobile Devices

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Most banks are notoriously bad at online, and especially mobile, experiences. Some don't have mobile apps at all, and those that do exist typically aren't that good. That's why the folks at Portland, Ore.-based startup Simple think they can make banking better, with new ways of keeping track of your money.

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Online Banking Startup Simple Finally Makes It Easier To Move Money Into Your Account

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Online banking startup Simple has made some serious strides since it opened up to the public last year, but there's one thing the service has just never been that great at: transferring money from one bank account to another. According to a post on the official Simple blog, those days are finally over -- users can link their Simple accounts to existing bank accounts to move their money around.

Frankly, it's about time.

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Braintree Expands Venmo Touch, Partners With Online Banking Startup Simple For One-Touch Mobile Payments

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Braintree, the Chicago-based payments gateway that’s now processing over $10 billion in payments annually, including those for startups like  Uber, Fab, Hailo, Airbnb, Rovio and others, is today expanding on last summer’s acquisition of payments service Venmo through a new partnership with online banking platform Simple. The banking provider will integrate with Venmo Touch, a service that […]

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Simple’s MoneyDrop Will Soon Let Users Transfer Funds Using Bluetooth

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Things seem to have been moving rather smoothly for the folks at online banking startup Simple. They've spent the last year fleshing out their mobile apps with some much-needed features, and added some 25,000 customers to their ranks since July. Now the team is looking to add yet another feature to the fold in the coming months: Simple-to-Simple fund transfers.

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How T-Mobile’s New Mobile Banking Service Compares With Simple And Amex Serve

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T-Mobile today announced its intentions to get into the business of providing banking services to its wireless customers, and any others who want an alternative to traditional banking accounts. The new platform will compete with, and also potentially boost, other, less-known mobile banking services, like those provided by a banking startup called Simple, for example, or Amex's Serve.

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Banking Startup Simple Acquired For $117M, Will Continue To Operate Separately

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Banking startup Simple has been acquired, the company announced today. The acquiring company, BBVA, is a 150-year old financial services corporation that operates in a number of markets, and a leading player in the Spanish market, as well as one of the top 15 banks in the U.S. and a strategic investor in banks in […]

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The Secret Bubble

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There are a couple of kinds of ‘bubbles’ that we talk about in tech. The most prominent is the ‘money bubble’, which posits that companies and investors are riding a wave of faux optimism when it comes to the worth of technology. This is the other kind.

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Online Banking Service Simple Just Made Bank Transfers Faster

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Simple, the online banking service acquired by BBVA earlier this year, had an overall goal of addressing the various pain points found at traditional banks, like minimum balance requirements, fees, overdraft charges, and more. Today, the company is making another improvement as it’s introducing a way to speed up bank transfers between Simple and accounts you hold at […]

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Months After Its “Upgrade,” Simple’s Online Bank Is Still Broken

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Simple is no longer "simple." Nearly two months after an upgrade to its systems and infrastructure, online banking service Simple is still recovering from a series of glitches that have affected every aspect of money management from bill payments to being able to see a correct available balance to refund delays, credits appearing as debits, and much more.

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An Apple Watch In Middle America

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Okay, it’s technically not “middle” America, geographically speaking, but it is a small chunk of suburbia on the outskirts of an even smaller urban center. A place where people don’t rush right out and buy the latest new gadget simply because it exists. Where people don’t even notice your upgraded Dick Tracy-style Apple Watch wristwear, […]

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Simple Issues Bank Startup Mondo Cease And Desist Over Alleged Use Of “Safe To Spend” Trademark

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Simple, the U.S. banking startup now owned by BBVA after it was acquired in early 2014, seems to have forgotten what it's like to be a fledgling upstart already.

The company's lawyers have sent yet-to-launch U.K. bank Mondo a 'cease and desist' over its alleged infringement of the trademark "safe to spend.

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Online Bank Simple Ditches All Fees

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When the online banking service Simple got started, one of its promises to customers was that it would eliminate many of the excessive fees that traditional banks charge while also offering an improved and mobile-optimized banking experience. However, while Simple certainly did away with a number of the most common banking fees – like maintenance […]

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Simple rolls out shared bank accounts that work for anyone, including roommates

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Online banking service Simple is today rolling out a new product: shared accounts. However, unlike joint checking accounts typically shared by spouses, Simple’s shared accounts work differently. They allow customers to maintain their own accounts, but quickly fund then switch over to shared accounts to collaborate with each other on financial planning by tracking shared expenses, setting […]

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Simple’s new kind of shared bank account targets unmarried partners, roommates & more

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Online banking service Simple today is launching a new type of banking product aimed at a younger generation of customers who want to be able to collaborate on finances with others, but aren’t in the market for traditional joint checking accounts, like those typically used by married spouses. The company’s new Shared bank accounts let customers […]

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Simple is closing some customer bank accounts, and users are mad as hell

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Simple, the online banking service that promised to be a better alternative to big banks like Chase or Citibank, is falling short of some users' expectations. This time, it comes as a result of the sudden and surprising notice customers received alerting them that their accounts would be closed next month.

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Sling Studio makes multi-camera video production so damn easy

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Tito Hamze gives an in-depth review of the Sling Studio, a multi-camera production studio that turns your existing cameras wireless and makes your phones into cameras with the ability to control everything from an iPad as a switcher. It’s the most portable multi-cam setup I’ve ever used -- and it’s awesome!

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