The newer, shinier, and faster Mac OS X Screencasts

Yep, this video is mono…sorry

Here are the results of our last user poll and our last meeting.

Shortly a lot of things will be changing here at Mac OS X Screencasts – especially behind the scenes. So don’t expect any changes immediately.

1. Better separation of German and English Content:

Up to now the separation of our English and German videos was very poorly. English-speaking people probably never had a problem with this, but our German visitors had. They see German text, but English videos. Which is, of course, frustrating for them.
Of course we also didn’t like this implementation, until now there hasn’t been an easy solution for this problem. Soon we will change the site in a way, that Germans see German videos and a German site, while remaining a fully funtional English website with English videos.

2. Faster downloads:

We want to move our content to a new, faster, server. We already started uploading, but uploading 11GB (this is the amount of data we generated in nearly one year) takes some time. The downside of moving to a faster server is, apparently, the costs are higher, which brings us to the next point.

3. Financial support:

We were thinking about ways of monetizing Mac OS X Screencasts, although it would be awesome for me, Zettt, to have at least one day per week to make new screencasts that is unlikely to happen – especially money-wise.
So we discussed the future of Mac OS X Screencasts and we decided to remain the website and its content free. Mac OS X Screencasts began as a hobby project and will stay a hobby project, the only difference is the cost will raise.
Therefore we need you more than ever before to help us. While it’s still possible to donate money via credit card, Paypal or wire transfer. It is now also possible to Flattr us.
One new thing: We introduced banner ads in the sidebar recently. To get your ad into one of these is actually very cheap. We won’t tell you here how much it really is, but you can get in contact and we will tell you how much you have to pay for an ad.

4. New raffle system

As of now, you can earn points in order to win. 7 points in total. That means you can still comment or retweet, but your effort will be rewarded in the future. Here’s the deal:

• 1 point for a comment
  • Reason: Least amount of effort, nobody gets bothered.
  • Requirement: Read the conditions of participation.
• 2 points for a retweet
  • Reason: Someone gets bothered, therefore 2 points.
  • Requirement: Only valid using the native retweet function on Twitter and you have to follow us.
• 4 points for a blog
  • Reason: People are bothered and it’s a bit of work to write a blog.
  • Requirement: Please make sure we get your article. (Trackback!)

5. Feed shutdown

The de+en feed will be closed down on Mid of June. If you’re subscribed to this one, switch to either de or en (or both)!

Conclusion

We hope you enjoy the new upcoming changes on Mac OS X Screencasts.

One Response to “The newer, shinier, and faster Mac OS X Screencasts”

1. fellowweb says:

   05-21-2010 at 09:08 pm

   Hi,

   schön, dass Ihr/Du weitermach(s)t!

   Zu Punkt 4:

   Bisher hat mich immer gefreut, dass Mac OS X Screencasts sich nicht an den – in meinen Augen – Albereien mit Twitter und Blogbeiträge für Gewinnspiele beteiligt hat.

   Ich kann es als Mittel verstehen, um die Bekanntheit zu steigern, aber irgendwie habe ich mich immer gefreut, wenn jemand den Mut gehabt hat, über der Sache zu stehen. Denn wie Du auch schreibst, erhöht das nur den Noise. Wem Mac OS X Screencasts wirklich wichtig ist, der wird auch sonst darauf hinweisen.

   Andererseits bin ich mir nicht sicher, ob dadurch “loyalere” Leserschaft/Zuschauer/Besucher gewonnen werden oder ob das nicht den Heuschrecken-artigen Einfall (und Verschwinden) von Besuchern ausschließlich für Gewinnspiele verstärkt.

   Ich würde mich mehr freuen, wenn Mac OS X Screencasts vielleicht ein paar (mittel-)große Mac-Blogs als “Content-Partner” oder anderweitigen Kooperationspartner gewinnen würde.

   Vielleicht würde es die Kommentierung und den Austausch zu einem Screencast vereinfachen, wenn Du das Appstorm-Modell versuchst, die die Review-Artikel von dem Gewinnspiel-Artikel trennen. Dadurch werden Inhalt und Trash ganz gut voneinander separiert.

   Viel Erfolg!