On a personal note…

If you follow me on Twitter, then you likely know about this already. But while I was vacationing in the midwest with my family, someone broke into my house and stole my Mac Pro, two displays, and a printer. The police fingerprinted several places in our home, so who knows? Maybe they’ll catch the thief.

Anyway, the story is getting some attention on the local news because there’s a chance the criminals knew we were gone because I twittered about my family’s trip. The media is very interested in Twitter right now.

Of course, the burglary may also be a random crime — which unfortunately is becoming more common in my neighborhood.

Do I plan on quitting my use of Twitter? No.

Will I be more cautious about what I tweet? Yes, certainly.

I’ll update this post with links to news stories as I discover them.

Here’s one from 3TV: http://bit.ly/RlJ67
Here’s the one from ABC14 (embedded above): http://bit.ly/QdLXj
Here’s the one from 12 News.

To wish you all happy holidays, my family made this video!

I hope this season is wonderful for all of you!

Click here to watch the video.

Noell and I have never been this excited. In two weeks we’re going to be full time producers of online video. Izzy Video has consistently grown over the years, but I’ve only been able to work on it in my spare time. I believe that by pursuing it full time, I should be able to develop it into what I really envision it to be: a rich resource for beginning and intermediate video makers (Experts hang around too, but they usually already know everything I do).

Is it nerve-wracking? Of course it is, because it’s such a huge risk. I’m the sole provider for a family of five, so there’s certainly a lot of risk. But we’re both still fairly young. If we’re going to take some risk, now is the time to do it. Besides, it’s what we really WANT to do, so why not see if it’s possible?

And this brings me to how you benefit from the risk I’m taking. Because I need to maximize cash flow to help ease the transition from my day job’s steady weekly paycheck — to zero guarantee, I’m
posting a coupon code for 20% off an Izzy Video Premium Subscription. If you’re not currently a Premium Subscriber, you can use this coupon code to get a nice discount. If you are already a premium subscriber, then you have a couple options: You can use it to get a discount off a renewal, or you can forward this information to a friend with an interest in video, and they’ll immediately have an
additional way in which they will benefit from knowing you.

Here’s the coupon code for 20% off an Izzy Video Premium Subscription:

20B42

New Subscribers: Here’s where you go to use it, http://www.izzyvideo.com/membership

Current Premium Subscribers: Renew with a discount here, http://members.izzyvideo.com

Thanks for the support as always, and please wish us good luck as we pursue this exciting direction!

All the best,
Izzy

*By the way, the coupon is only good for six more days (through the 28th), so please act fast if you’re interested!

** Update **

Several people have asked me about renewing. If you’re already a premium subscriber, and you decide to renew to take advantage of the discount, then I will manually extend your subscription. So if you’ve only been subscribed for two weeks, and you want to extend a year, then I will extend your subscription by an additional year.

Also, you’re free to spread the coupon code to anyone you would like! It only helps us spread the word, and it gets your friends a nice discount!

Also, thank you everyone for the awesome support! It’s been a very exciting day seeing all the emails, new subscribers, and comments. I can’t tell you how much your support means to me (and us).

A message from the Hyman Family.

Here is the video.

Hi, everyone!

As you know, I’m conducting a session on Saturday regarding online video at the Podcamp AZ. Because this is an unconference, the audience plays a significant role in the session. That said, I’m thinking we should get some discussion going before the session. What questions do you have? What comments would you like to make?

In what direction do you want the session to go?

Leave comments here if you’d like. You can also email me at israelhyman (at) gmail (dot) com. You can twitter me at www.twitter.com/israelhyman or you can always call me at 480-980-1533. Yes, that’s really my mobile number.

I’m going to do a free session called “Improve Your Online Video” on November 3rd at Podcamp AZ. The Podcamp is free. My session is free. You can follow this link to register. If you can make it to Phoenix on November 3rd, please join us. I’m hoping to see as many of you there as possible.

Following is the description for my session:

Aesthetically, most web video is pretty horrible. Because folks don’t know how easy it is to create good video, they make major blunders. They shoot up their own nostrils; they distort their faces with incorrect lens settings; they ignore audio quality. Avoid these pitfalls! Beginner or pro? Come join the discussion.

Oh, and by the way, I believe Podcamp AZ is going to be streamed live over the internet using Ustream.tv, so if you can’t make it to Phoenix on November 3rd, you can still enjoy much of the event.

Finally, my friend, Justine Ezarik (yes, the iPhone “Bill in a Box Video” Justine), is having a Photoshop contest to help promote Podcamp AZ. Maybe you’d like to participate?

Here’s my dilemma: More than a year after forming Glimpster, I continue to get requests from people with good ideas for shows, asking if they can join the network. I don’t know what to do about these requests. They’re tempting. Glimpster has four different shows, and only two of them actively produce new content, Paperclipping (my wife’s scrapbooking show) and Izzy Video. With only four shows, and two of them active, I can hardly call this a network and keep a serious face.

I admit that the thought of adding more shows to Glimpster thrills me. I can imagine how fun it would be to develop this into a network with ten, twenty, or more shows, all producing educational content and making it available for free. I think this kind of project could benefit people worldwide.

But the problem is, unfortunately, time. When I think about how strained I feel with only Izzy Video and Paperclipping as active projects, I wonder if I might become overwhelmed by additional responsibilities. Right now Glimpster is a spare-time project. Do I have time to do more? Honestly, I believe I do. But how far do I want to take it? I don’t know the answer to this yet.

I’d like to get your feedback. You are the viewers, after all. What should I do with Glimpster? If I accepted requests to join the network, would you want to participate? How would the arrangement work?

I’m curious to read your responses in the comments.

Hello, friends!

I had minor surgery on Friday, so I’ll be spending the next few days in bed. Why do I tell you this?

1. I hope you’ll understand why I may not get to Izzy Video this weekend (even though I’m committed to producing them more regularly).
2. Maybe I’ll get your sympathy vote over at Podcast Alley.
3. It explains why I’m spending so much time practicing my (beginner’s level) web coding skills on this site.

You’ll probably notice a lot of changes to the website, because yes, I have that much time on my hands. And this begs the question: How in the world did people recover from surgery before computers existed? They must have been so bored!