Hi

Well I can't believe that this time last month I was panicking about the website launch and trying to get things ready in time, it's been quite a month, 4500 unique hits more than I would have expected, in fact I had no idea how many people if any would visit the site. So a month on and some new things to bring to the site, the first is podcasting, I'm quite excited by this new media outlet as I can have total freedom on how and what I decide to broadcast. The next new item is the story I wrote for Avid Access magazine, the comments I have had so far have been very positive so intend to expand on this later with the making of.. This will be a less technical read. Finally tomorrow is the first release of eNews the online newsletter which is set to start automatic distribution at midday, first time I have done it so hopefully it will work. Let's hope tomorrow I am writing about a successful email blast rather than me scratching my head.

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Hi

Well the article I wrote a while ago for the Avid user magazine called "Access" has finally hit the streets today and it looks great. It's funny when you read something back a few weeks later it always reads a little different but this one reads better than I remember so I am very pleased.

If you would like to read the article click here

Hi

Well it's been quite a productive day today, firstly I was up early recording my first podcast, nothing of real note just the welcome message I had mentioned before. That was mixed and added to the podcast feed ready for the 1st October. Secondly I have been writing and constructing the eNews template for eNews@richardhingley.com the monthly newsletter, The thing with most of this work is that next month it will be so much easier as I have the template ready to go.

Another late night and I must get on with some music soon as I am itching to get back to it.

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Hi

I've actually had the weekend off, well nearly, as you may have read in the forum or the previous blog entries I have found a colour problem with the site when viewed on older CRT monitors, this made the background look yellow rather than beige, anyway I have spent a few hours updating the colour so hopefully this problem shouldn't arise again. I still need to adjust the border gradient which I will do over the next few days. If you still see the yellow anywhere then please let me know by logging onto the forum.

Tomorrow I will be recording my first podcast ready for the 1st October. This first podcast is just really a welcome and the second is the story so far interview. Then after that who knows.... I may have to write a script, but then again it is me we are talking about.

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Hi

Just over a week until podcasting@richardhingley.com is unleashed to the world, I still get amazed by technology sometimes to think that I can record something that can be transported around the world instantly and put onto mobile devices to be played whenever the listener wants. I wonder 110 years on whether Marconi would approve of the evolution of his invention he called radiotelegraphy, well you can't stop progress can you, besides I'm still not sure whether Podcasting will be the end of Radio - At least maybe not by my podcasts, but then again let's wait and see what happens in one weeks time.

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Hi

Well I've been out today being a tourist in my own city, always the one for looking at possible locations for pictures and video locations, I was in Greenwich and just had to take this photo, so as you might expect this will be re-visited with a guitar in hand and a video camera at the ready, watch this space.

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Hi

Well after all the excitement of Amsterdam it's back to London and back to some other creative things, eNews the online newsletter that I want to send out each month needs to be written and designed, also the new look home page that I will design that will hopefully be an easier layout for visitors to jump quickly to main features in the site. This has been a requested from a few visitors to the site - Thanks for the feedback keep it coming.

On the subject of feedback I would love people to start using the forum, it's easy to post topics and answer some of the questions I have posed, don't be afraid sign up :-)

Anyway it's late and I should really get some sleep

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Hi

Well last nights activities have caused quite a stir, the response from people has been great, so much so that the hits on the site have gone mad, it just shows that people like to look at a guy making fool out of himself for art!.. :-).

Anyway back to what Holland is also famous for, as you can see from the picture, more shooting today with a windmill in the background, before anyone writes in no I wasn't wearing clogs ok!!.

Back to London tomorrow so it's "tot ziens" from Amsterdam

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Hi

Hello from Amsterdam again, as I mentioned in the previous post I was going to try and get some footage shot for the traveling man video, the storyboard for this is quite simple, essentially wherever I find myself traveling and the city or place has a recognizable monument or attraction then I film myself playing the guitar with it in the background. Eventually I will edit it all together to get a seamless montage of world places with me jumping around.

So what is Amsterdam famous for?, Canals, Diamonds, Coffee shops and of course the red-light district. So with a little bit of imagination and planning I found myself in a window in the heart of the red light district strumming my guitar, it was probably one of the most surreal and at the same time hysterically funny situations I have ever found myself in.

So imagine there you are walking through the red light district looking at the girls in the windows planning a bit of window shopping and stumbling across some guy playing a guitar in a window with the girl standing there and watching, the stunned looks and the funny comments were absolutely priceless.

definitely a picture for any scrapbook, look out for snippets of the video coming soon

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Hi

The podcasting is starting to take shape, I'm adding my feed onto lots of directories to make it easy for people to find, I'm quite excited about the prospect of podcasting, it gives me so much scope for getting in touch with people directly and of course to showcase the songs. I'm unsure on how many podcasts a month I will probably at first just do one show a month to link in with the news letters.

On a different note as you know I'm in Amsterdam at the moment and I'm going to try and get some footage for the "traveling man" video as I have mentioned in previous posts, well I have an idea that if it comes off will be just great for the video, so watch this space, if it works you'll be the first to know.

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Welkom

Greetings from sunny Amsterdam, Well the weather's nice but I'm frustrated again trying to get the Podcasts working from the site, I thought I had it but some issues still need resolving. The problem seems to be coverting a blog entry like this to except audio information linked to it, the Podcast readers seem to be rejecting it which is very frustrating, The intention is to add monthly news audio items as well as the usual news letters. I'll keep plugging away and I'm sure i'll get it sorted.

I hopefully will get the opportunity during the week to shoot some more footage for the travelling man video like I did in Cape Town.

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Hi

It's travel time again and this time it's Amsterdam for a week, I will be working at a trade show called IBC a broadcast trade show, It's great to be able to see all the broadcast innovations in one place but it's hard work. I'm sure I will find time to add some more video elements for the "traveling man" video and of course some more blog entries.

I have still been fine tuning the lyrics to embrace yourself and working on the members section which I will add to the website soon.

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Hi

Well after the hectic last few weeks with the website creation it was nice to get back to some music, I have been meaning to write some lyrics for a track called Embrace Yourself for a while now. It's funny sometimes words are difficult to come by or they just flow as they did today, here's a little snippet

This beautiful world, we should take control
And your destiny is in all our hands
Take all control, empower yourself
And believe in what is right not wrong

Chorus 1

When you hear the silence, embrace yourself
When you feel the silence, embrace yourself

Not all finished yet but it's a start.

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Hi

So hands up who recognizes this logo?, any guesses?, well it's a podcast logo, ok so who knows what is a podcast is?, well a podcast is being able to upload a radio style broadcast to a website like the iTunes music store and then allow listeners to subscribe to the podcast feed to download to their i-pod or similar portable music player. When a new episode is uploaded to the store or host the new programme can be automatically added to the listeners i-pod. Ok so why am I talking about this?, well richardhingley.com will soon have a podcast facility available for audio news items, interviews and of music examples. So at the moment I'm just investigating how to set up a podcasting facility for the site, if you have an ipod or similar then watch this space.

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Hi

A few people have asked me what actually happened on the site when it counted down to "0" for the launch. Well it was very exciting if you like that kind of thing :-). As you can see from the pic the clock turned to the words "Let's Rock and Roll" and then after 30 seconds the new link was added letting you go to the intro and to the home page, well I just couldn't afford fireworks!.

The change of navigation in the forum is proving a little bit tricky but I will persevere and see what I can do.

Time for a bit of a rest over the weekend, well or maybe i'll do some other things on the site.

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Hi

I'm nervous now writing my exploits for all to read, anyway, thanks to everyone who has sent in kind messages of support for me and my endeavors. Mostly the response has been extremely positive and already some good feedback has come in. A few of you have asked about the the intro and maybe it should be taken away soon. This Intro will be on the site for around a month or so just to introduce it for first time viewers, so if you want to get right to it I have added a skip intro link on the first page so you can go direct to the home page, that is exactly the sort of feedback I'm looking for. Also It has been noted that when you log in to the forum the site navigation is lost and it is difficult to get out of the forum. I am aware of this and I'm looking at how to change this, the problem is that the forum is a 3rd party plugin code and it's pretty tricky to get to all the code to customize properly, well it is for a code novice like me. So the forum will be probably out of action for a day or so until I rectify that issue. Keep all the comments coming and thanks again.

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Hello Everybody

Wherever you are in the world and what ever the time it is for you, Welcome! and thank you for your patience while this site has been under construction, it's been quite a journey getting this website to launch on time. If you read the last month of blog entries you'll realize it's been a real rollercoaster of a ride.

So here we are and I'm talking to people at last rather than typing to myself and imagining I was a visitor, it is going to be fascinating for me to get some feedback from people who visit the site, A great side to the internet is that you really don't know who is visiting and where in the world they are, so for that I have added an international welcome section with the major languages on there.

Finally there are a naturally a few thank you's but here and now is not the place, but you all know who you are, Thank you for your help and guidance. So please enjoy the site and as I always say and sign off with

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Hi

Why is it that when you are really busy time flies and you wish that you had more time, equally why is it that sometimes an hour can seem like an eternity?. Unfortunately for me I wish it was the latter. Less than an hour to go and still some broken links to fix and then upload the final link in the jigsaw, the new home page which will allow complete access to the site. No rest for the tired, see you soon world.

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Hi

There's only 10 hours to go and it's late and I'm very tired, I have managed to get the RSS news feeds from the site working OK but there still seems a lot to do, some things will just not get finished now, like the publishing section in the music category. It will have to be done another time. So time for a few hours rest and then back to it early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, actually today - bring it on!

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