TODAY we did the soft launch of our new INQUIRER.net VDO page.

Contrary to what some people might think, our VDO service has always meant more than just, well, videos. It just so happened that online video was the most obvious “new thing” for INQUIRER.net, foreign territory for a company which has its roots in a print newspaper. What’s great and at times amusing, however, is that in a relatively short span of time, video has become one of the staples of INQUIRER.net. More and more people are coming to expect that video will be part of our coverage, and it’s even come to the point where some PR people would ask me, “When will the video interview come out?” in the same manner that they would once ask, “When is the story coming out?” or “Will you be able to use my press release?” In fact, I’ve even heard anecdotes of some people in print being asked when covering events if they’re also going to take videos.

Online video was once a novelty. Now, it’s becoming a necessity, if you want to gain a competitive advantage.

Of course, we’re just starting out and we know there’s a lot of room for improvement — and we’re addressing that. Moreover, video is a very important, but by no means the only component of our multimedia thrust. VDO is our hub for all our multimedia initiatives, including online video, blogs and podcasts — and yes, whatever new services we will launch in the months to come. I’m pretty excited over all the things that we’ll be rolling out this year, but for now I have to keep my mouth shut.

Anyway, let me leave you with this Technobabble video podcast, where Cisco Philippines country manager Luichi Robles and Cisco Systems (USA) Pte Ltd director for Asia Channel and Commercial Business Christian Hentschel give us a tour of the Cisco Network on Wheels mobile showcase, a container van featuring the latest Cisco solutions. Joseph Lee, Cisco Systems (USA) Pte Ltd director for Advanced Technologies in Asia, also demonstrates some of the solutions for the education sector.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

As we’ve been telling people inside and outside the organization time and again, we are no longer an online newspaper but have to transform ourselves into a multimedia news site. We have to move beyond just the news, and develop new content that will address different niches. The future won’t happen overnight, but it will come, whether you want it to or not, whether you’re prepared for it or not. So it’s really up to you how you deal with the inevitable.

Some might choose to worry over what tomorrow might bring. I’d rather embrace the future and take part in building something new.

THINGS have been pretty hectic lately — well, that’s been the case for pretty much the whole year, heh — and the funny thing is that next year will see the launch of even more content and services from INQUIRER.net. We’ve pretty much mapped out what we’ll be rolling out from Q1 to Q4 2008, and I just have to keep reminding myself to contain my excitement and not spill the beans.

Anyway, for now I’m happy to announce two more podcasts from INQUIRER.net. These are Technobabble, our technology podcast, and Sports Aficionado, our, well, sports podcast, heh

Episode 1 of Technobabble has me and INQUIRER.net executive editor Leo Magno interviewing Intel Microelectronics Philippines country manager Ricky Banaag, while Episode 2 features Hewlett-Packard Philippines managing director David Tan.

Meanwhile, we launched Sports Aficionado with two episodes on the “Ring of Fire” mixed martial arts competition that was held at the Araneta Coliseum, with Episode 1 featuring Kimo and Episode 2 featuring Heath Herring (and his girlfriend, pro poker player and model Lacey Jones).

Special thanks to Penmachine.com for the royalty-free music that I used for Technobabble and Sports Aficionado.

Oh, and in case you were wondering who did the voiceover for the intros and extros of the two podcasts, ahem, ahem, yup, being the multimedia editor means you have to multitask a lot, heh, from hosting to producing the podcasts heh

WE interviewed new Commission on Information and Communications Technology chairman Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III for The Newsmaker Podcast right after his first media briefing.

INQUIRER.net executive editor Leo Magno was the host while I recorded the podcast on Mikaela, my MacBook Pro, using GarageBand. Assisting us were our two reporters who also covered the media briefing, Lawrence Casiraya and Alex Villafania.

Check out the audio podcast.

We also did a vidcast for our iVDO video channel. Check it out.

Got comments and suggestions? E-mail us at newsmaker@inquirer.net

WHY just create an audio podcast when you could also offer a vidcast?

That’s just what we did with this vidcast version of The Newsmaker Podcast, INQUIRER.net’s news and current affairs podcast.

Check it out.

You may also download an iPod-ready M4V video file from here.

For more videos from INQUIRER.net and our partners, visit iVDO.

WE’VE just launched our latest podcast, The Newsmaker Podcast. Newsmaker is the news and public affairs podcast of INQUIRER.net.

In our first episode, INQUIRER.net executive editor Leo Magno (left) interviews University of the Philippines-Diliman sociology professor and Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Michael Tan discusses why students join fraternities and shares his opinion on whether fraternities should be abolished.

Be warned that the audio quality is somewhat poor, because it was one big room where you could hear the sound of the vehicles outside.

[Read the rest of this entry »]