Currently browsing: Blog

latakoo Connect gets the word out to local news outlets and communities;

Getting a story pitch in front of busy journalists has never been tougher.

So when a climate advocate and political leader in central Texas had an important message to share, but no effective way of sharing it, she decided to get creative.

Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea is no stranger to the world of journalism. A former award-winning reporter for NPR, she deeply understands the time constraints that reporters have, and the challenge of getting their attention.

Politicians and PR teams might consider sending an email they hope is opened, posting on social media and hoping journalists find it, or building and leveraging relationships with specific reporters – options that range from ineffective to time-consuming.

When she was given the opportunity to join world leaders at COP28, the United Nations Climate Change conference, in Dubai in her capacity as Board Chair for ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability USA, Commissioner Shea knew she wanted to keep journalists updated on what she was learning.

That’s why she teamed up with latakoo, with the goal of injecting her content directly into the newsroom systems.

latakoo is a software solution provider that is relied upon by hundreds of newsrooms every day. Journalists use latakoo to send and receive large video files, and to collaborate over those files effectively and efficiently.

Recently, latakoo introduced latakoo Connect. This new feature enables third party content providers to upload their videos and images to latakoo, where they can be accessed by news teams and brought into their newsroom computer systems with  the click of a button.

Commissioner Shea, a long-time climate change advocate who identified this year’s conference as especially significant due to the ongoing climate emergency, put her content on latakoo Connect in hopes of reaching more people.

“latakoo Connect was an excellent and easy way for me to upload content and get it in front of busy news teams,” said Commissioner Shea. “latakoo made the process effortless and instant. I got great coverage as a result.”

During the conference, Commissioner Shea heard from climate leaders including Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.

Unlike the news teams that rely on latakoo’s technology every day, Commissioner Shea did not have access to a professional video journalist or an expensive video camera. Instead, she filmed speeches, protests and her own thoughts using her cell phone. 

Using latakoo’s handy mobile app, Commissioner Shea uploaded her videos and images to the platform and placed them on Connect. It wasn’t long before her content caught the eye of KXAN, the Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate station in Austin, Texas.

On Wednesday December 6, KXAN featured Commissioner Shea in their 4 p.m. newscast. Chief meteorologist David Yeomans introduced the story by reporting on the importance of the conference, before tossing to a soundbite from Commissioner Shea that she had uploaded through latakoo Connect.

“Important stories that impact our local communities are often not getting covered because there aren’t enough journalists to produce these stories or local newsrooms don’t know it’s happening,” said latakoo President and Co-Founder Jade Kurian. “We’re giving people the opportunity to be connected to journalists. The journalists won’t always use all the content that’s in Connect, but having it within arm’s reach means there’s more likelihood some of these impactful community stories will get coverage.”

latakoo has built an experienced team consisting of seasoned journalists that are passionate about the news industry, and first-class engineers that have changed the game when it comes to video transfer and collaboration. A number of major broadcasters, such as the more than one hundred stations of Nexstar Media Group, use latakoo software every day, in addition to production groups and universities. News teams tell latakoo that its mission critical technology saves them significant time and money.

A First-Hand Account of Russia’s War on Ukraine from a latakoo Team Member
;

Vova and his wife were both born and raised in Ukraine.

Moving swiftly to the underground parking garage when the dreaded sirens go off outside their apartment has become the norm for one of our team members and his wife who live in Ukraine. Vova, who has been a software engineer with latakoo for the last 7 years, lives in the Western part of the country that is currently under attack by Russia. He said the sirens, meant to warn anyone within earshot of potential threats, have been going off about four times a day. In fact, he had to abruptly jump off the Zoom call during our weekly latakoo team meeting last week. We were all wearing colors of the Ukrainian flag that day, and had changed our virtual backgrounds to show our support.

“That’s why I left the meeting because of the alert system sirens,” said Vova. “It means that something like a flying object enters our region.”

Vova, 29, said the scariest moment so far was when the Russians flew a drone into the region. It was thankfully defused by the Ukrainian air defense system. He and his wife are sleeping in two hour shifts to ensure they don’t sleep through a warning siren. When the sirens do blare, they take refuge in their concrete parking garage. Vova said each time they go, they grab a backpack sitting by the door that they’ve filled with snacks and toiletries because they never know how long they’ll be stuck in the shelter. Their car is parked in the garage and provides a more comfortable place for them to sit or sleep. Not everyone in the shelter has a car, so Vova and his neighbors brought in folding chairs so no one has to sit on the cold, hard surface. They’ve also added a shelf to keep food items that don’t require preparation, and a portable toilet for the group to use.

      
Vova said he and his wife are nervous and extremely angry about the situation their country is in.

“I feel anger in terms of Russians and I feel anger because I can’t do anything except for volunteering,” said Vova. “You can only do what you can do from where you are.”

Instead of worrying about themselves, Vova and his wife have been focusing on the safety of others. As refugees from Eastern Ukraine flood into their city, they’re helping coordinate places for them to live and are donating clothing and other necessary items.  They’ve made trips to drug stores to search for vital medications refugees are requesting, but Vova said finding it has been a big challenge because most drug stores are closed, or the shelves are empty.

Leaving their home is also difficult and scary. Authorities are instructing people to stay indoors between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. When they do get out, it’s only to go to the market to buy necessities. Gas stations are out of gas, so driving anywhere is no longer an option. Vova said there are police everywhere in his neighborhood. Citizens are required to stop and show documentation and passports if they do need to leave the city.

Vova, who’s a BMW car enthusiast, has been staying on top of what’s happening across the country through an online community he was already a part of. The group, which typically chats and bonds over their car obsession, is made up of Ukrainians who live in various cities all over the country. People are constantly posting pictures and videos to keep each other informed about what’s happening where they live.

Those living in Kyiv, the capital and most populated city in Ukraine which is under siege, said they’ve had to sit in shelters anywhere from 11 to 18 hours at a time.

“One of them said a man went out just to buy food for his pregnant wife and was shot right at the entrance of their parking lot,” said Vova.

Getting his mind off the horrible events happening to his homeland is nearly impossible, but Vova said being able to continue working from home through this war and developing new technologies for latakoo has helped him de-stress and takes his mind off of what’s going on around him. He knows his work is also vital to journalists covering the war in his homeland. Vova is also an extremely talented musician, and has been known to show off those skills to our latakoo team and clients. In 2020, he put his own latakoo spin on the Beatles hit “Let It Be” and played a portion of “Jingle Bells” with his electric guitar for our 2021 holiday video.

The latakoo team is in constant communication with Vova via Zoom and Skype. Everyone keeps asking Vova, “How can we help? What can we do?” He said the best thing is to know where Ukraine is located.

“Before this, the hardest part was that everyone saw Ukraine as part of Russia,” said Vova. “We are always trying to say we’re not Russians – we’re completely different.”

Vova finds some solace in the fact that he is also helping journalists tell the stories of Ukrainians by using latakoo, the service that he helps to support. 

We will continue to keep you updated on Vova’s situation and pass any information along he feels is important to share. If you’re looking for ways to help, Vova recommended these two donation organizations: Come Back Alive and Humanitarian Assistance.

In honor of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we want to recognize the six incredible women on our latakoo team who make a difference each and every day. These women are true leaders – overcoming obstacles, challenging the status quo and serving as role models for the next generation of women in tech. Get to know them here. 

Jade Kurian

Co-Founder and President

How long have you been at latakoo?

Paul Adrian and I co-founded latakoo in 2010. I have run operations for the company as President since then.

Where are you located? 

Austin, Texas.

What do you enjoy most about working at latakoo? 

I love what we do, the solutions we provide, the people and groups we serve and how we interact and collaborate as a team. We provide a much needed and widely embraced solution for content providers, especially journalists. I believe good journalism is at the heart of creating good communities and great democracies. And our customers are the reason we exist. They work with us as we test user interface and functionalities, giving us nuggets of wisdom on their workflows and needs. Our team is a mix of people from around the world, all with unique understandings of humanity and technology, but each one contributes in respectful and meaningful ways to find new solutions. I couldn’t love my work as much if I didn’t have this team that always wants to do their best, always responds and always shows compassion and kindness to each other and our customers.

What does it mean for you to be a woman in tech?

My whole life, I have been in rooms where the female to male ratio of employees was drastically unbalanced. I still show up to meetings where I am the only woman on the call. I don’t think that being a woman in tech is all that different than being a woman in many other industries. Women represent about half the workforce in America and about 25% of the technology workforce. Most women, especially minority women, must work harder and fight for a seat at the table. Any time one woman joins a tech company, being paid the same as a male worker in the same role, it helps the whole. 

I’m a realistic optimist or practical optimist. I would say things are getting better. There are quite a few encouraging indicators. More girls are getting into computer science and science at younger ages. More women are graduating with degrees in technical fields. Funding for female-led companies is beginning to pick up, although it’s not anywhere near the level it should be, and it does not compare to male-led companies. NASDAQ’s minimum diversity requirement will be helpful in encouraging companies to add women and minorities to the board.

What are you most proud of as a woman? 

I’m proud of this company and the people that continue to build it with me. I enjoy working hard, even if I had to work harder to have a voice. Because I accept that things are not set up to be fair, I operate with the mantra that nobody is coming to save me or help me; I must help myself.  I’m proud that I’ve been able to figure it out and come out on the other side with some strength and resilience. 

What is one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?

I was born into a home with no running water or electricity. As a child, I regularly bathed in a river or showered outside. When I first felt hot water from a shower, I was shocked.  Now, I take ice baths and cold showers for workout recovery, and I feel quite comfortable in the cold water.  My trainer also says that of all his clients (men and women), I scored the best time for “the 300,” a workout that includes a heavy number of burpees. I’m sort of proud of that!

Name someone who’s been a role model or inspiration in your life. 

I am inspired by people who get things done. I am in awe of the doers. We’ve all seen them. They just plow through, no complaining or a little complaining and a lot of doing, no matter what happens. From Mahatma Gandhi to MLK to my mother, who immigrated to the US as a nurse, leaving everything she knew for a new life and then, built that life. I am also fiercely inspired by those who protect animals and our environment. I am a vegan, and I am really inspired by vegan athletes. For so long, there was this idea that to be a great athlete, you had to eat meat. There are so many incredible athletes who are disproving that, including Rich Roll. I listen to Rich’s podcasts and nearly all of them are inspiring in some way. We can have rich lives and healthier bodies, improve our environment and reduce global warming by not eating animals.

Erica Woods

Account Executive & Customer Success

How long have you been at latakoo? 

I’ve been at latakoo for two months, but seven years in the tech/start-up world altogether.

Where are you located? 

I currently live in Canada but also live in Arizona.

What do you enjoy most about working at latakoo?

The people and the culture of the company.

What does it mean for you to be a woman in tech?

It means that I get to contribute – in a modern way – to create seats for women who will come after me at the table that was built by women before me.

What are you most proud of as a woman?

I’m really proud to be a woman whose goal is always to raise up women, to offer support and to cheer in our collective victories!

What is one thing people might be surprised to learn about you? 

Two things: I used to be a janitor in high school, and I used to drive a city bus.

Name someone who’s been a role model or inspiration in your life. 

It’s difficult to name one person. I find that I am lucky enough to have found myself surrounded by many friends, family and colleagues who I admire because of their strength, courage, kindness and wisdom.

Carolina Subotovsky

UI/UX Designer

How long have you been at latakoo? 

I have been at latakoo for a year and a half.

Where are you located? 

I am in Florianópolis, Brazil.

What do you enjoy most about working at latakoo? 

The challenges of building products to aid people with their jobs

What does it mean for you to be a woman in tech?

It means that we can do whatever jobs we want to do (even those that were originally ruled by men).

What are you most proud of as a woman? 

Not just as a woman, but as a human being: being strong, independent and determined.

What is one thing people might be surprised to learn about you? 

I participated in a contest for teenagers building a space colony.

Name someone who’s been a role model or inspiration in your life. 

My aunt. She traveled a lot by herself, defying all preconceptions.

Ryan Emmons

Customer Success Director and Chief Designer

How long have you been at latakoo? 

I’ve been at latakoo for 8 and 1/2 years. (I can’t believe it’s been this long!)

Where are you located? 

I live in Austin, Texas.

What do you enjoy most about working at latakoo? 

I never get bored.

What does it mean for you to be a woman in tech?

I love working for a company that prioritizes women and equality. To me it means shattering all the standards that came before, so hopefully the next generation doesn’t even have to think twice about working in a once male-dominated field.

What are you most proud of as a woman? 

I’m very proud of my work ethic and how much I’ve grown over the years. I started as a preschool teacher with a studio art degree and have worked my way to a great position at an amazing tech company.

What is one thing people might be surprised to learn about you? 

Most people are surprised to learn that I am a woman because of my name. If I had a dollar for every time I got called sir via email…

Name someone who’s been a role model or inspiration in your life. 

My family. I come from a long line of very tough, hard-working women who have always inspired me to try and be as badass and giving as they were.

Greta Yastrzemski

Executive Assistant & Customer Success Associate

How long have you been at latakoo? 

I’ve been at latakoo for over two years now.

Where are you located? 

I am located in Florida.

What do you enjoy most about working at latakoo? 

The people!  Also, there’s never a dull moment! Each day gives me a chance to stretch and grow.

What does it mean for you to be a woman in tech?

That there are no limits to what you can achieve.

What are you most proud of as a woman?
That I’ve been able to re-enter the workforce after being a stay-at-home mother to twin boys for over 13 years.

What is one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?
My previous career was as a hair designer.

Name someone who’s been a role model or inspiration in your life. 

It is impossible for me to single out just one person – my family, my friends, different people with whom I’ve worked, as well as currently. They each in their own way have inspired me to become a better sister, daughter, friend, mother and coworker. I’m lucky to have such amazing people in my life and forever grateful for each of them.

Erin Cargile

Director of Content and Training

How long have you been at latakoo? 

I’ve been at latakoo for nine months.

Where are you located? 

I live in Austin, Texas.

What do you enjoy most about working at latakoo? 

The people we work with — this includes my coworkers and our thousands of customers. Both are extremely driven, gifted at what they do and work amazingly well together to achieve the same goal: continuously improve video workflows. And I will never get over the amazing view overlooking Lady Bird Lake and downtown Austin from our office.

What does it mean for you to be a woman in tech?

I always laugh when I hear this because I was a local news reporter for 17 years before joining latakoo. I am the least tech-savvy person I know, but part of my job is to train users on our technology who are just like me. What I am good at is communicating and breaking things down in a way that’s easy to understand. I also used latakoo as a journalist before joining the company. So, to me, being a woman in tech means embracing what you think you don’t know or aren’t good at and being confident in the skills and experience you bring to the table.

What are you most proud of as a woman? 

Surviving childbirth! And not being afraid to speak up in a positive way last year when I felt like the company I worked for at the time should be offering a better parental leave policy for its employees that was more in line with benefits other comparable companies were offering. It was actually on International Women’s Day last year when I was home on maternity leave and sitting there holding my new baby boy when I thought: I can’t just keep complaining to my friends about it – I have to say something to those who have the power to change it. Seeing other social media posts from strong women that morning gave me the guts to say this is not ok and I hope we can work to change it. Once I voiced my thoughts, other employees reached out to me and wanted to share their stories and do whatever they could to help lobby for a new policy. A few months later the company announced it would be improving its parental leave policy for all employees starting in 2022. I also did a TEDx Talk a couple of years ago on the power of being told “no,” and how when I think this is going to be the answer or someone flat out tells me “no,” that it usually lights a fire under me and serves as motivation to keep working toward a “yes.” That reaction has served me well in life.

What is one thing people might be surprised to learn about you? 

I was a competitive gymnast as a child and can still do a back handspring. That’s not to say I can move very well the next day after doing it, but muscle memory is incredible!

Name someone who’s been a role model or inspiration in your life. 

Many people have inspired me for many different reasons over the course of my life including Jade, who is an incredible mentor, role model and leader here at latakoo and who does it all with grace. I would have to say my mother and grandmother rubbed off on me the most and made me the person I am today. They’ve taught me to be extremely driven and hard-working, to never settle for mediocre and are incredibly humble, kind and gracious. They’ve always instilled in me women can do anything, and usually do it better.

We are grateful for everything these women do for latakoo. Join us in celebrating these women for Women’s History Month. 

On a sunny day, I walked confidently into my first day at work for one of the bigger television stations in the US, feeling pretty good about my new reporting job. A photographer welcomed me and with a smirk and a smile, he said in a whisper, “Welcome to the lion’s den, kid. You’re fresh meat. Be careful.” It was his warning that I had to have my own back and being the new person didn’t mean I would get any breaks. That was the television world at that time. Get it done, get it done right or move aside. Your competition was everyone. My journey as a broadcast journalist was one that tested me in almost every possible way until I became an entrepreneur.

It was a real honor to share the tests of entrepreneurship with the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) Tech Talk in November. I love talking latakoo every chance I get. We’ve come quite a distance since my co-founder and I created latakoo in 2010. It’s always my hope that someone will hear something that speaks to them and it helps them in their journey and success.

The DWEN talk, with Intel’s Global Sales Director Sarah Wieskus moderating, focused on the topic of How to Position Your Business for the Future. That’s something most entrepreneurs are thinking about. At latakoo, one of our goals is to build the future of content collaboration and sharing.  Our video workflow company is always working to meet the ever-changing needs of the largest broadcasting companies in the world. 

Please do watch our full Empower Hour chat here. A big thanks to Sarah, Intel and Dell!

If you can’t watch, I put together a list below from our chat of my tips for entrepreneurs and best practices that have helped me and our company grow. I certainly haven’t done it alone and I’m still learning. My co-founder Paul Adrian and I share these three qualities: We love to learn, we’re big on research and data, and we don’t like to quit.

I really do wake up every morning and think, “I can’t wait to go to work!” As a business owner, yes, I’m always working, but what I mean is I can’t wait to engage with my team, and I can’t wait to solve problems for my clients. 

That doesn’t mean every day is full of roses. There have been many challenging times along the way. As I said during the talk, I knew starting a business wouldn’t be a cakewalk, but I didn’t know how hard it would be to build a company starting with an idea and taking it to profitability within 5 years. I hope these tips and lessons learned help you and your future. Best of luck!

MY BEST PRACTICES AND TIPS FOR ENTREPRENEURS

• Try to do something every single day that grows your business
• Listen intently to your clients’ needs, and work to come up with solutions 
• My main ingredients to survival and success:

             • Persistence

             • Grit

             • Not backing down

             • Not letting go entirely, but enough so that others can do their jobs

             • Taking a step every day toward a goal

             • Tackle one problem one at a time, and don’t let them overwhelm you

             • Having realistic expectations

• When should you ask for help?

             • We bring in help for two reasons: When you or your team become inefficient, and tasks are taking too long, or when we need a specialist.

IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO START A BUSINESS

• It’s important to have an idea of how much bandwidth you have to contribute to it.
• If you can’t give it your full focus, it’s likely to be much  tougher. Also, investors generally don’t invest in part-timers.
• When it comes to the financial investment, bootstrap for as long as you can.
• If you can, find a way to build your business, instead of spending all your time trying to raise investment.
• If you’re creating something that’s a solution for your clients, then focus on the clients and what they need.
• Success means having the freedom to create and make your own decisions. Don’t rely on others to make your decisions. Listen to everyone who gives you advice with a mind to evaluate the advice before acting on it. 

• It’s important to have mentors you can go to for counsel who are always cheering you on, but also not afraid to be honest and give you a reality check.
• Make your decisions based on research and data first, but don’t ignore your gut feelings.
• If you’re an entrepreneur because you want to provide a solution and you are dedicated, then you’re going to figure it out.

I think about missed opportunities, often giving a good deal of thought to things I didn’t do well and how I could improve next time. At the DWEN talk, someone asked about books that helped me. I answered that I have a ton of  books. Lots of Malcolm Gladwell. None of them were top of mind at the time so I spoke about finding people who are actually doing something and understanding their examples. I want to add to that here. I enjoy being a learner. I try not to make decisions without data and research. Reading and listening are obviously integral to learning. I don’t always want to read a book that’s self-help or business related because I need an escape. My current read is a psychological thriller. Having said that, my favorite read in 2021 was “Breath,” by James Nestor. A fellow female entrepreneur friend gifted it to me. James Nestor is again, someone who is out there doing what it takes to change his life and the lives of others. He did research on himself to cure his illness. In this book, he provides research and methods on the healing power of our breath. Whether we want to deal with stress or improve our performance, breathing the right way and focusing on the breath, makes a difference. Here’s more about Nestor’s mission and how it can help you deal with stress. 

I also read lots of blogs on Medium, check the New York Times and Washington Post daily and I have several podcasts that I frequent on my runs, including The Rich Roll Podcast and Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman. Roll is an ultra athlete and a vegan. I’m a runner and a vegan. Roll brings on guests who are inspirational in their quests in life, people who are trying to change the world, save the planet, help animals, live longer, live better. Rich Roll is one of the reasons I am a vegan. Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, meanwhile focuses on how founders scaled their companies, telling the origin stories of companies that scaled successfully, with people sharing their challenges and lessons. One of the reasons I enjoy Masters of Scale is Hoffman’s genuine love for entrepreneurs and what they do. One of my favorite quotes about entrepreneurship comes from Hoffman, “An entrepreneur is someone who will jump off a cliff and assemble an airplane on the way down.”

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I am definitely that kid who asked “why” a lot, defying some of the rules. Why does it have to be this way? Why can’t we do it better? Why is this the rule? Not every rule is right or efficient or good. Sometimes to change things, you have to step into the lion’s den and figure your way out.

You know the feeling when you go to the grocery store and they’ve rearranged the aisles? You’re immediately annoyed because now the quick trip isn’t going to be so quick anymore as you struggle to learn the new layout. Why is it so hard to find a loaf of bread?! But with each shopping trip you get a little more comfortable, and can’t seem to recall how things were before. The reasons behind the changes become more clear as you discover new items the store was making room for with the new design. The end goal was to create more options and a better experience for customers.

While latakoo Pilot isn’t exactly a grocery store, it is the spot multimedia teams depend on around the clock to get the files they need. It’s the magical place in the cloud where our community of content creators view, download and share videos, pictures and audio uploaded through latakoo. As our technology and offerings evolve, a new Pilot was needed to grow along with it. October 13, 2021 was an exciting day, to say the least, as we rolled out the new and improved Pilot NextGen to our users.

What Changed?

The before and after is drastic. Not only did the new site get a visual makeover, but the updated Pilot is packed full of new features and functionality that our team thoughtfully designed based on feedback from real users who drive everything we do at latakoo. Turning on the new Pilot for everyone was as simple as the click of a button, but the transformation was years in the making. 

Some of the biggest upgrades include new options that allow users to personalize their Pilot. You can create a custom list of Selected Networks that you access the most, eliminating extra time spent scrolling through a long list of choices. Click on the video below to see how.

The all new List View displays files more like a spreadsheet and is also fully customizable to fit your workflow. The added Bulk Action buttons enable users to delete, download, move and copy multiple files at once. There’s also the noticeably larger and smarter video player that offers a much better viewing experience.

Post-Release Fixes & Enhancements

latakoo Pilot NexGen has now been out for testing for a full month, and we want to thank you for communicating issues you’ve found as you use the new system. Our team has been working diligently to push fixes.

Here’s what our team has resolved to date:

• Improved search results
• Sharing links (direct and embed)
• Saving, moving and copying metadata
• No more % in downloaded file names
• MPEG2 transcodes

These are the improvements coming soon: 

• Ability to rename files
• Audio file thumbnail in certain web browsers
• Group upload file names
• Ability to download individual elements from a group
• Isolate individual audio tracks

Valuable user feedback has already led to latakoo Pilot enhancements. A client asked if it was possible to add a progress bar so they could track the status of files through the entire latakoo system — letting them know the second a file is uploaded to the moment it’s landed in their asset management system. The short answer was: YES! Our team at latakoo has always had access to this data behind the hood, but producing that data in a way that you could easily digest it required quite a bit of designing and building. We are happy to report it’s now available to users through the new File Tracking feature built into latakoo Pilot. Similar to a FEDEX or UPS package tracker, with our Flight Tracker, you get to see the arrival points and times for your file.

When will Classic Pilot go away?

At your grocery store, changes are usually made with zero heads up or adjustment period for shoppers. At latakoo, we wanted our users to ease into this new territory at their own speed, and be able to go back to the old system as needed. That’s why, when Pilot NextGen became the default, we put the “Back to Classic Pilot” button right at the top for users to click on any time and go back to what they were comfortable with.

Our hope is that you’ve started living in the new Pilot full-time. If not, give it a try! Once our team tackles the list of improvements above, Classic will go away and NextGen will become the main Pilot. The important thing to remember is that Pilot NextGen is running on the latest technology with an optimized database, allowing for more speed and flexibility. We will be sure and communicate to you with plenty of notice as Classic Pilot is retired. You can look forward to more updates as we continue to provide the tools and technology to simplify your workflows. 

How do you send video files back to your station? Do you stick to a regimented daily schedule and allow time to send files? Or, are you working remotely, at the mercy of your deadline and Internet bandwidth?

As journalists, we know firsthand how complex it can be to figure out how long a file will take to send with the available Internet connection – or whether you need to make that file smaller to meet your deadline. In these cases,  a one-size-fits-all approach does not work.

We gathered three broadcast experts to find out their methodology to transfer files back to the station. Along with Richard Metzler, our Video Scientist here at latakoo, our group discussed the best approach to sending video fast while maintaining broadcast quality. Here is what we found out.

How Wes Rapaport Sends Video

Wes Rapaport, the Austin Bureau reporter for Nexstar Media Group, serves more than 100 stations each day with content from the Texas capital city. He says that while he works to send his stories at least 30 minutes before the broadcast, there are days when breaking news intervenes. His goal is to make sure the file not only arrives on time, but in a way that makes it seamless for those receiving the story across Nexstar stations.

“You’ve got some stations where there’s just one or two people doing most of the editing and producing, so my goal is to create a product that is the highest quality, but also can be downloaded in the simplest way,” says Rapaport. For that reason, he selects a high bit rate compression to send the video with the latakoo Flight app, delivering the file in a standard H.264, .mp4 format.

Wes noted there are times where bandwidth is just not available, such when he was covering a fire in the mountains of New Mexico. Working the story solo, time was limited and so was bandwidth. “There’s barely any (Internet) service out there. I’m making sure that I’m able to deliver the product when it’s supposed to be there, but also making sure that it’s high quality can be,” says Rapaport.

How Joe Little Sends Video

Quality is king for Joe Little, Director of Storytelling at KNSD-TV in San Diego. Little is also a faculty member with the National Press Photographers Association. The quality of his on-air work is so important to him, he told us, so he structures his entire day around allowing enough time for an uncompressed file upload with latakoo.

“I don’t compress my video ever. When I’m involved and I’m in control of my schedule, I back time my day like a producer. If my deadline is at 4:30 pm, then I need to start editing at 3:45 pm, which means I need to start writing by 3:15 pm. I build my day that way so I have time to send uncompressed files with latakoo, no matter where I am,” says Little.

How Jose Otero Manages Video

Jose Otero, the manager of technology KDEN in Denver, says his responsibility is to ensure stories look great when they are broadcast, no matter where they are coming from. One of the ways he ensures quality is to teach his team how to send files quickly with latakoo.

“Our team is only as good as their ability to use their tools. latakoo is one of those tools. They need to know what the application does and what time and bandwidth constraints are. We give them the tools, but they need to plan ahead,” says Otero.

Tips from latakoo Video Scientist Richard Metzler

latakoo’s Video Scientist Richard Metzler shared his tips on how to send video fast while complying with quality requirements.

1. If you’re in a rush, you’ll get better visual quality by reducing resolution compared bitrate.
2. For compatibility with most players and systems, always encode in AVC (h.264).
3. For most purposes, AVC (h.264) is sufficient.
4. If you need to move high quality, 4k video or beyond and have plenty of time and battery power to encode, then HEVC (h.265) is a better choice than AVC (h.264).

5. If you have to send an Intraframe-Only format (like ProRes, AVCI, and XDCAM) be sure you’re transferring over a fast and stable connection. These files are HUGE and will take time.
• If you use the latakoo app, you can safely preserve quality by compressing to the “Visually Lossless” setting, which will greatly decrease the overall transfer time.
• We recommend Visually lossless for all upload connections less than 50 Mbps, although in specific cases we might recommend that you use Visually Lossless compression even if your connection exceeds 200 Mbps up.
• But if you have over 200 Mbps of upload bandwidth and use the latakoo app, don’t hesitate to use the “No Compression” setting. There are improvements in the latest 6.5 series apps that can fill your bandwidth and send those files super fast. No need to compress first.

6. If you’re recording a conference, watch out for compatibility and visual issues caused by variable framerates and resolutions.
• Your best bet is to lock in a framerate between 15 and 30 fps in your conference software’s settings whenever you have a stable connection.
• If you don’t have a stable connection, drop the maximum resolution in the conference settings as low as you can tolerate.

For journalists and photographers committed to sending the highest quality file possible, we’ve got great news. The latakoo Flight app versions 6.5.4 or above has major speed improvements when sending uncompressed files.

That’s why we built the latakoo Flight application with the flexibility to simultaneously compress and send files – or to send the files with their original size and quality as quickly as possible. The application’s visible speed gauges and estimated upload times give journalists critical information they need for their environment and deadline.

However you choose to send your file – whether you structure your day so you have plenty of time to send your file without compression, or use the latakoo estimated upload times to choose a compression setting, latakoo gives you the flexibility send in a way that works best for you and your organization.

From our office in downtown Austin, Texas, there is a clear and often meditative view of the popular Lady Bird Lake and Trail, where on most days, you find hundreds of people enjoying the water or the trail. As Covid-19 began to permeate into Texas, it was like a valve suddenly shut off — the people disappeared. State and local governments issued lockdown orders. We sent our employees home. Our clients cleared out their newsrooms, production facilities and studios. Journalists began reporting from their living rooms instead of broadcast centers. Todd Bynum, KXAN-TV’s Chief Photographer told me, “We made sure laptops had the latakoo app installed, then handed them out to our crews and said, ‘you’re not coming back here for a few months, use latakoo to send us your stories, latakoo will be your friend.”

latakoo is a native cloud company celebrating our 10th anniversary this month. Our clients are some of the world’s largest broadcasters. Their staffers were already comfortable using latakoo to transfer files quickly and securely from around the world. As the pandemic set in, they began to count on us more than ever.

What we saw in the wake of the shutdowns was unprecedented usage by current clients – with uploads from users growing 172% year-over-year in just one month. In the case of one major broadcast client, users from one of its divisions, uploaded an explosive 1800% more minutes of video than in May 2019. latakoo’s cloud offers a platform for collaboration, downloading and viewing. One client streamed nearly 150,000 minutes of video in a single month, up an incredible 8,000% over the same month last year.

“We had been using latakoo as a one-way street prior to the coronavirus pandemic, taking files from the field, to the cloud, to the asset manager,” said Rick Erbach, News Director of WGNO, in New Orleans, Louisiana during a webinar in April. “Now we’ve turned it into a two-way street. MMJs will say,  ‘I need this video or that video.’ And so what we are doing now is putting that video up to the latakoo cloud so they can bring it down to their desktop at their home.” Erbach says latakoo has been a “newscast saver” during the pandemic.

As we were scaling our service and adapting to the demands of increased traffic, clients started asking to use latakoo to enable novel remote workflows. We have always nurtured a very collaborative relationship with our clients. I was not surprised when they called us with questions like, “What if we used latakoo to record live feeds coming in from press conferences?” 

We responded with rapid innovation. We set up workflows to create files from live streams, enabled cloud editing in beta and launched a unique disaster recovery workflow. And, our team pushed out a new service called Manifest to help teams discover, follow and request stories – ensuring delivery to multiple locations. Manifest integrates with AP’s ENPS and literally helps news teams manage stories from birth to broadcast.

The question that always comes up, “Did you already have a plan in place?” We did have an emergency response plan, but if we’re all being honest, we have to admit that we had never faced a pandemic. It’s like a breaking news story where the facts as you know it will change in an hour, in a day, in a month. You are forced to operate with only the here and now. Our marketing efforts, which included two major conferences, had to be shuffled as NAB and IBC cancelled shows. We’re sponsoring and producing more webinars and using public relations teams in Europe and the U.S. to supplement marketing. 

My heart sinks and I feel pangs of guilt when I hear about companies that have shuttered. We are growing and adding staff. I remember the days when buyers were skeptical about “cloud” solutions. Now people are pandemic-proofing by using cloud companies. We don’t know for sure how it will all shake out, but we believe the way to continued growth is to listen carefully to our clients, intelligently and efficiently build what they will use, pivot as needed and continuously be ready for change. 

Our view is back, hundreds of people once again in the lake and trail here, but as the pandemic rages on, it’s clear that nothing will ever be the same. 

The news anchor you’ve been watching report from their living room or kitchen, may be there for a while, as the coronavirus infection continues to set new records. Most television news broadcasters have dramatically limited the number of people in newsrooms and studios in order to protect their employees and prevent the infection from spreading. 

According to The At-Home Studio And The Future Of News Workflow webinar hosted by TV News Check on July 23, a majority of the attendees plan to keep more than 50% of their staff off-site permanently.

Broadcasters are increasingly turning to companies that facilitate their teams’ ability to work from anywhere. latakoo is one of those solutions, enabling the fast transfer of files from anywhere to anywhere, whether it’s to the broadcast studio or to a colleague for collaboration. latakoo users can transfer a file one time and have it arrive at multiple destinations with multiple workflows. 

“Hats off to the journalists out there who are doing this important work,” said Jade Kurian, president and co-founder of latakoo. “These news crews are out there, protecting the rest of us and we are so happy to be able to support them.”

Austin-based latakoo has seen explosive growth in the usage of its file transfer and cloud-based system. In just one instance, a single news division is sending more than 32,000 files a month, or 1800% more files than in May of last year.

For many clients, latakoo was a known software tool that became the preferred way to move files when the pandemic began. “As far as sending video, latakoo was already a well-established workflow for us. We just expanded upon that once we started working from home and it has been super successful,” said Keith Barbaria, VP of Technology for NBC Boston, NBC Sports Boston, Telemundo Boston and New England Cable News.

Not only are customers sending more video, they’re using the cloud-based platform for collaboration as well. One latakoo news client streamed 147,570 minutes on the latakoo platform in May 2020, an 8,000% increase over the same month the previous year.

Cloud collaboration is the way dispersed teams are continuing to be productive, since the appetite for news coverage has only grown since the pandemic began.

“(We’re) leveraging latakoo a whole lot in terms of getting material to and from home base,” said Brendan Falco, Senior Director of Operations for Spectrum Networks, on the collection of software tools or hardware ‘kits’ his team is using. “I think we’re in a groove on how those kits are set up and we’ve been happy with the result.”

latakoo’s Kurian thinks that the pandemic has not only brought lasting change to the way news crews work, but to the technology they use. “What I keep hearing from our customers and potential customers is the need for a solution that’s sophisticated enough to integrate with  other platforms and technologies they’re using, along with the simplicity in user interface, so you don’t need to be an engineer to use it effectively.”

“I don’t know if you’re aware of what happened here,” said our client. “But we had to send our editors home – all of them – nearly 200.”

It wasn’t a choice. The state’s governor  ordered all non-essential workers to seclude themselves to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. And while these workers qualified as essential, they got sent home anyway because one sick employee could infect enough others to knock a critically important newscast off the air.

“Here’s the thing,” our client continued. “We’ve learned that the work can get done from home. These people are not coming back. We’re already converting edit bays for use as offices and other things.”

After years of tolerating, but not openly embracing the full potential of cloud technology, the pandemic forced broadcasters to rip off the Band-Aid and in-an-instant fully adopt the cloud as a primary tool for the construction of their newscasts.

Before the pandemic, our cloud based platform  was primarily used to quickly move content from the field through the Internet to a broadcast centre. It was an acquisition tool. But once people began working at home, that video had to go the other direction; from the broadcast centre to people’s dens and home offices.  The video also had to be accessible to watch in the cloud.

While content transfer has always been bi-directional and the video has always been watchable within the platform, what changed was where people were working. Confirmation for the anecdote our client verbally shared with us leapt off the page when we looked at their usage data. This customer’s team uploaded 1,800% more video in May 2020 than in May 2019 in their headquarters city.  The staffers watched 8,000% more video on the platform. They streamed nearly 150,000 video minutes in just one month. Welcome to the cloud.

The thing about the pandemic is that it hastened a change that was already occurring, and like those soon-to-be-converted edit bays, broadcasting itself will change forever going forward.  This opens up tremendous opportunities for broadcasters, production companies and the vendors that support this community to fully explore and develop the potential of massive amounts of scalable compute, endless inexpensive storage, integrations and interoperability.

No longer is an editor confined to a small room physically attached to a limited set of locked down on-premise tools. Now, that editor can connect to the most innovative services in the world. Some built by niche specialists who may literally do one thing better than anyone else.  The content creator gets access to that specialized tool if it is connected to her organization’s cloud platform.

And that is the real key. We vendors must create systems that make integrations and interoperability easy and seamless in order for our shared customers to reach the full potential of the cloud. That is easy to say but is a huge step for the industry. It may even be a bigger step than the one the broadcasters took when they sent their editors home.

The video vendor industry has a long history of building proprietary products that attempt to lock-in a customer base to a specific brand. This lock-in practice has not disappeared as vendors have taken to the cloud. The competitive instinct of some storied brands is to attempt to build a single siloed cloud platform that does everything their customer needs.  The problem with this model is that even if it temporarily satisfies a customer, the silo is almost instantly out-of-date and will lag behind new solutions built by the rest of the world.

The true promise of the cloud lies in being able to easily access different cutting-edge technologies from your chosen platform, and that is available to your team if the vendors you choose make it easy to connect their system to services created by other companies.

Our core foundational belief is to be a bridge between the technologies that our customers use.  A perfect example of this philosophy is the provision of a service on our platform that tracks the metadata associated with video stories from birth to broadcast by seamlessly integrating with the newsroom computer systems that our customers use.

It is possible that the legacy of this pandemic will not all be bleak as it forced broadcasters and vendors to work together to unlock the full potential of a cloud that is still connected to traditional broadcast facilities and to the video editor creating something beautiful from her home office.