11-02-2012, 01:29 PM
Technology, working to make my life easier.
I did an interview with a European RnB star today. And boy did it go well.
We'd been emailing back and forth about how and when to do this. Originally, I thought I would just send a bunch of questions via email. But then she asked me when was I going to Skype her for a video chat? Skype, of course. How fun to actually talk to somebody rather than go through the email rigamarole? This was going to be easy.
But when I looked for ways to record the Skype call I found nothing that was suitable. I tried using some movie screen capture software that I had but only succeeded in crashing my computer twice. It only happens right after I hit record. No problem. If I invited the European pop star to a Google+ Hangout, Google would automatically record it for me. Problem solved.
I emailed, asking if we could switch from Skype to Google. There was a little hesitation but she seemed agreeable. I set the time as 6:30 pm Europe time for our interview.
I got myself ready. I read her bio. I checked Wikipedia. I listened to some of her music. I wrote up my exhaustive list of questions. In moments. I was going to find out about her favorite tree.
I'm getting ready. I'm reviewing. I'm going back over our email exchange and oh son of a bitch and crap. I have told her we would meet in the Google Hangout at 6pm not 6:30. Sigh. I immediately send off emails apologizing for my stupidity etc etc and hope she is still there for the interview. I can't find her in the Hangout. I wait. I wait.
For some reason, I check to make sure I have the right time in Belgium. I was going by the information that she gave me that they were nine hours ahead. But things get tricky around Daylight Saving Time. And wouldn't you know it, it was only 5:30 in Belgium. I was saved. I sent off more emails saying I was bad at math.
I start the Hangout anew at the proper time to no response. I wait. I wait.
After about twenty minutes when I figure she has long since given up in disgust and gone off to live her life, I get an email from her saying she is trying to get in the Google hangout but can't find it. She is at a friend's house and is trying to do the Hangout from there using his gmail account. I send out more emails. Still no luck. We keep looking. I send emails to the man's gmail account after I eventually find it. But nothing.
I decide to go to the fall back position. I tell her I will just call her on Skype. I tried to do that when I couldn't find her in the Hangout but there was no answer there, either. I'll just record everything on my little voice recorder.
I try Skype again. It rings. She answers. Joy to the world. Except there is no picture on either end. I realize that Google Hangouts is interfering with the Skype call. I hang up on Skype so we can both log out of the Google Hangout.
We login in to no picture on either end. We log out and in several times on Skype until I can see her picture at last. In attempt to get my picture to work I log out again and reboot the computer. Still no Skype picture. We agree to conduct the interview with me just seeing her picture and she gets to see my black screen.
It was a great interview. It lasted almost an hour. I learned many things about the European pop star but never got conclusive evidence about her favorite tree.
We logged off. I breathed my sigh of relief and loaded my SD card into the computer so I could immediately get the interview saved to the hard drive.
Yeah . . . . I recorded about ten seconds of white noise before it cut off.
I did an interview with a European RnB star today. And boy did it go well.
We'd been emailing back and forth about how and when to do this. Originally, I thought I would just send a bunch of questions via email. But then she asked me when was I going to Skype her for a video chat? Skype, of course. How fun to actually talk to somebody rather than go through the email rigamarole? This was going to be easy.
But when I looked for ways to record the Skype call I found nothing that was suitable. I tried using some movie screen capture software that I had but only succeeded in crashing my computer twice. It only happens right after I hit record. No problem. If I invited the European pop star to a Google+ Hangout, Google would automatically record it for me. Problem solved.
I emailed, asking if we could switch from Skype to Google. There was a little hesitation but she seemed agreeable. I set the time as 6:30 pm Europe time for our interview.
I got myself ready. I read her bio. I checked Wikipedia. I listened to some of her music. I wrote up my exhaustive list of questions. In moments. I was going to find out about her favorite tree.
I'm getting ready. I'm reviewing. I'm going back over our email exchange and oh son of a bitch and crap. I have told her we would meet in the Google Hangout at 6pm not 6:30. Sigh. I immediately send off emails apologizing for my stupidity etc etc and hope she is still there for the interview. I can't find her in the Hangout. I wait. I wait.
For some reason, I check to make sure I have the right time in Belgium. I was going by the information that she gave me that they were nine hours ahead. But things get tricky around Daylight Saving Time. And wouldn't you know it, it was only 5:30 in Belgium. I was saved. I sent off more emails saying I was bad at math.
I start the Hangout anew at the proper time to no response. I wait. I wait.
After about twenty minutes when I figure she has long since given up in disgust and gone off to live her life, I get an email from her saying she is trying to get in the Google hangout but can't find it. She is at a friend's house and is trying to do the Hangout from there using his gmail account. I send out more emails. Still no luck. We keep looking. I send emails to the man's gmail account after I eventually find it. But nothing.
I decide to go to the fall back position. I tell her I will just call her on Skype. I tried to do that when I couldn't find her in the Hangout but there was no answer there, either. I'll just record everything on my little voice recorder.
I try Skype again. It rings. She answers. Joy to the world. Except there is no picture on either end. I realize that Google Hangouts is interfering with the Skype call. I hang up on Skype so we can both log out of the Google Hangout.
We login in to no picture on either end. We log out and in several times on Skype until I can see her picture at last. In attempt to get my picture to work I log out again and reboot the computer. Still no Skype picture. We agree to conduct the interview with me just seeing her picture and she gets to see my black screen.
It was a great interview. It lasted almost an hour. I learned many things about the European pop star but never got conclusive evidence about her favorite tree.
We logged off. I breathed my sigh of relief and loaded my SD card into the computer so I could immediately get the interview saved to the hard drive.
Yeah . . . . I recorded about ten seconds of white noise before it cut off.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit
