Live Streaming the Ig Nobel Prize Webcast

Submitted by Lisa on September 28, 2011 - 14:58

Ig Nobel Program BillElemental is excited to find itself among the friends of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony this year. For those not familiar with the annual Ig Nobel event, this is not your run of the mill awards ceremony.

The Ig Nobel prizes recognize scientific achievements that make people both laugh and think. According to the highly entertaining program bill, "The Igs are intended to spur public curiosity and interest in science and other fields of endeavor." In addition to the awarding of ten prizes for improbable scientific achievement that give one a moment of pause, the evening features Nobel Laureates, flying paper airplanes and a mini-opera in five acts.

The ceremony is put on by the Annals of Improbable Research, an organization dedicated to humorous dissemination of scientific discovery led by AIRhead in Chief @MarcAbrahams, and will be held at the Sanders Theatre at Harvard University on Thursday, September 29, 2011. Live streaming coverage begins at 7:30pm ET. Discussion on Twitter is already well underway.

The technical team bringing the ceremony to an online audience elected to use Elemental Live to stream the event this year. After trying and testing several different encoders, the group found Elemental Live to be the best option for their application. Easy integration into an existing workflow has given the folks behind the scenes time to focus on what really matters: high production values and reaching a larger online audience than ever before. During the event, Elemental Live will capture a live HD feed and send multiple bit rate streams to YouTube (where the ceremony is a featured live event this week) and embedded websites of over 20 major media organizations from around the world.

A performance of Tom Lehrer's song, "The Elements" will figure prominently in this year's Ig Nobel prize ceremony. Although "demonstrably the finest song about chemistry ever written by a mathematician," we at Elemental like to think of it as a fortuitous sign as Improbable Research prepares to put Elemental gear to work in support of its live webcast tomorrow. To all who tune in, enjoy the show (and those fabulous HD streams).

Elemental’s Growth Recognized by the Oregon Entrepreneurial Community

Submitted by Lisa on September 22, 2011 - 17:18

Elemental was proud and humbled to bring home two Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards from the OEN award ceremony held last night at the Portland Hilton. We were honored first as the winner in the Working Capital Stage Company category and again when Elemental’s CEO, Sam Blackman, was recognized in the Individual Achievement category for his leadership in guiding the remarkable growth and success of the company he co-founded five years ago. 

Sam Blackman

In Sam's words, “we are proud of the growth our company has achieved over the past year and of the positive contribution we’ve made to our state’s economic development. At the same time, we believe our progress thus far is just the foundation and the real work of building a great firm is just beginning. We are more excited than ever by the opportunities we anticipate in the coming months and years, and it’s an honor to garner such strong support from the Oregon entrepreneurial community.”   

Congratulations to all the Tom Holce Award winners and finalists and thank you to the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network for this recognition, which is particularly meaningful as Elemental strives to restore luster to the video cluster established in our region by pioneers like Tektronix, InFocus, Planar, Pixelworks and Rentrak. With continued growth and hard work, a commitment to excellence and strong community support, Elemental hopes to keep the cluster shining brightly for years to come.

Elemental Goes for a Wheelie

Submitted by alisa on September 19, 2011 - 12:12

Elemental fosters a culture where environmental care and community involvement are core values. Not only do we recycle, compost, host company volunteer opportunities and supply employees with bike parking, transit passes and zipcar memberships, we take it a step further and incorporate sustainable best practices into our product offerings as well. It’s no wonder Elemental is being recognized for its efforts with none other than … a Wheelie?

Yes, a wheelie, but not that kind. This wheelie is of a whole different caliber. We’re talking about a Wheelie Award at the Bus Project’s upcoming red carpet event!

The Bus Project is a 10-year old local organization dedicated to supporting grass-roots democracy and other related good causes, right here in the state of Oregon. As the name suggests, the project maintains an actual bus used for trips to drive nonpartisan volunteer canvasses throughout the region.

Every two years, The Bus Project hosts the Wheelies, a benefit and awards show that celebrates the individuals, organizations and businesses of Oregon. Wheelies awards are given to those that do right for the greater good of Oregon. This year, the Wheelies will be held on October 10 at the Gerding Theater in the Portland Armory.

Elemental finds itself in good company as a nominee in the High-Road Business category. This award honors an Oregon business that keeps things green, looks out for its workers and attempts to find innovative solutions to big challenges and problems facing the world today. Online voting is live now through October 7. Winners are solely determined by public opinion and all comers are welcome, so please take a moment to support Elemental and cast your vote now!

IBC 2011 - It's a Wrap

Submitted by Lisa on September 13, 2011 - 09:18

IBC logoWe’re winding down at IBC today. What a show! The multi-screen experience was the pervasive theme at the RAI this year. And Elemental’s booth was abuzz with excitement. Only a few short months since our initial launch in the EMEA region, the Elemental team is humbled by the attention we received at this year’s event.

What became clear to us throughout the show was the passion our customers have for their business and how Elemental’s solutions and support are a key ingredient in their successful evolution to multi-screen video delivery. Customers and prospects alike stopped by to discuss the opportunities they see in new media and the challenges they know Elemental is best positioned to help them address.  

But, most of all, we saw customers grateful to put a name to a face, thank us for our tireless support of their high profile projects, and give us further encouragement as we continue to put them at the center of all we do. The two-way, unfiltered, and passionate feedback experienced at IBC serves as a great motivator for us. So here’s to continued success: to our partners, to our customers, and to all things multi-screen.

Gearing up for IBC 2011 @elementaltech

Submitted by Lisa on September 2, 2011 - 09:05

IBC is quickly approaching and Elemental is preparing to exhibit and present at this key industry event, held each September in Amsterdam. We are bringing our complete product lineup to this year’s show to demonstrate the industry’s foremost adaptive bit rate multi-screen video delivery.

On the show floor, Elemental will provide an exclusive look at features and applications geared toward content programmers, solution providers and broadcasters. Demonstration highlights include live video streaming with ad insertion and programmable image overlay. We’re particularly excited to show attendees dynamically changing graphics in a live output stream – and integrating Twitter to do it!

Visitors to Elemental’s stand at IBC can live tweet using a variety of hashtags (#IBC11, #multiscreen, #elemental) and see Elemental Live burn that image into its output stream within mere seconds! Come see your live tweets at Elemental’s stand in a terrific demonstration of image overlay that can be used in real-world applications for video branding, tracking and spoiling.

You can find Elemental in Hall 7, Stand 7.H37. Visit us to find out why customers like deltatre in the UK, TF1 in France and QVC in Italy are using full-featured solutions from Elemental for a variety of live and on-demand streaming video applications. Better yet, schedule a meeting with Elemental to learn how Elemental can help deliver any video to any screen, at any time – all at once. If you plan to attend IBC, be our guest and register here for a free 5-day pass (select Elemental, use passcode 16606).