(Austin, Texas) May 4, 2022 – latakoo’s newly released web technology and interface wins this year’s NewscastStudio Broadcast Production Awards. The leading trade publication for broadcast production and creative professionals across news, sports and entertainment named the new latakoo Pilot its 2021 Best New Product or Service in the Production and Engineering category.

The reimagined Pilot web portal, released in October 2021, is the secure place in the cloud where content creators view, download, transcribe and share files that have been sent from anywhere using the latakoo Flight apps on their desktop and smartphones. Once a file is uploaded through latakoo, it lands in Pilot first and is the central spot for easy collaboration across teams.

The new Pilot, which replaced an older system, is packed full of advanced features and functionality that saves content creators on deadline precious time, improves efficiency across teams and gets video on-air and online faster. Steven McCauley, the senior media specialist at the NBC and Telemundo stations in Philadelphia, says the new tools at his team’s fingertips have improved their workflows and helped educate journalists on the entire latakoo system.

Users say their favorite Pilot features include:

• Real-time File Tracking: Similar to a FEDEX or UPS package, users can see the precise times files land in Pilot, and know when they’re delivered to their asset managers through the latakoo HUB
• Bulk Actions: Content creators can move, copy and download multiple files at once.
• Personalization Options: Everyone’s workflow is different, which is why customization options are built into the site so users can decide what they want to see and how they want to see it.

“It’s useful being able to monitor progress [of files] in real-time and then be able to go backwards if necessary,” said Eric Gladstone, Senior Manager of Media Operations for the NBC and Telemundo Boston stations. “Being able to answer the question of “will the package make it?” with an answer has been very nice.”

”We’re grateful for the recognition. latakoo Pilot gives our users everything they need to collaborate quickly over video and other digital assets,” said Jade Kurian, president of latakoo. “We help broadcasters and content creators in their mission to provide the most and best information to the public as quickly as possible, while still saving those companies resources.”

The new Pilot sets the stage for additional features coming to the web portal this year such as live streaming with live transcription, and a timeline editor built into the video player that will give users the ability to comment directly on the timecode and trim uploaded files. Pilot is also the backbone of latakoo Manifest and latakoo Connect, which helps teams discover, follow and request content from both inside and outside their organizations.

About latakoo
latakoo is the fastest, easiest way and most secure way to transfer high-quality video files from anywhere to anywhere, regardless of file size or Internet connection. Based in Austin, Texas, the company was founded in 2010 by two award-winning journalists (Paul Adrian and Jade Kurian) for journalists. latakoo enables professional broadcasters and production companies to automate delivery of video content to different asset managers and digital platforms and ingest or playout servers seamlessly. latakoo’s clients are some of the world’s largest media organizations, including Nexstar Media Group and Euronews. In 2020, The International Trade Association for the Broadcast & Media Industry (IABM) named latakoo its Company of the Year and selected latakoo President Jade Kurian as a finalist for its Technology Leader of the Year award.

About NewscastStudio

For nearly 20 years, NewscastStudio has served as the leading trade publication for broadcast production, at the center of broadcast technology, creative design and engineering.

NewscastStudio covers the tools and techniques that make storytelling possible and features the largest database of design and studio examples in thousands of galleries. The site covers the changing landscape of media from software-defined production and IP to the latest equipment, case studies, thought leadership and industry roundtables.

(Austin, Texas) – With fewer journalists traveling to Beijing to cover the 2022 Winter Olympics amidst increasing COVID-19 and security concerns, many who can attend will be working as multimedia journalists, responsible for shooting, editing and sharing their own content. These journalists, representing some of the largest media organizations in the world such as Nexstar Media Group, will rely on Austin-based latakoo to get the story home. In fact, journalists have been using latakoo’s cloud-based platform to share Olympics coverage directly from the field to their newsrooms since 2012.

“As former journalists, we recognize the impact of great storytelling, but it’s lost if you can’t get it to the viewer. Our technology guarantees the rapid, secure transfer of high-quality video files from any location to any location, regardless of file size or connectivity,” said latakoo CEO and co-founder Paul Adrian. “Reporters are able to upload their content on location in the field directly to their station’s digital asset manager, and the content can be edited within the latakoo platform. We are proud of the role latakoo plays in supporting journalists as they cover some of the world’s biggest events like the Olympic Games.”

Below are highlights from latakoo’s usage during previous Olympic Games:

• During the 2020 Summer Olympics, journalists used latakoo to transfer more than 200 hours of video content from Tokyo to their newsrooms. 
• Since the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, latakoo has provided athletes and their families with access to its mobile app so they can send candid behind-the-scenes videos and photos from their phones directly to media organizations, streamlining the content sharing process for everyone involved. 

Journalists have been using latakoo at the Olympics for the last decade.

Since the onset of the pandemic, latakoo has become an invaluable resource for journalists as a remote workflow solution, and usage has increased significantly. At the height the pandemic in spring 2020, when journalists were forced to leave broadcast centers and begin reporting from home, latakoo’s usage increased by 172% year-over-year in a single month. 

About latakoo 

latakoo is the fastest, easiest way to transfer video files from anywhere to anywhere. Based in Austin, Texas, the company was founded in 2010 by two award-winning journalists (Paul Adrian and Jade Kurian) for journalists. latakoo enables professional broadcasters and production companies to automate delivery of video content to different asset managers, digital platforms, and ingest or playout servers seamlessly. The International Trade Association for the Broadcast & Media Industry (IABM) named latakoo its 2020 Company of the Year and selected latakoo President Jade Kurian as a finalist for its Technology Leader of the Year award. In addition, TV News Check, an industry trade, honored Kurian as a Futurist in its 2020 Women in Technology awards. For more information, please visit www.latakoo.com.