A Few Good Testers Needed

I promised a major announcement this weekend, and here it is!

As the Digital Edition project nears completion, we want to make sure it passes inspection before we go live. Do you want to be one of the first to see each Digital Edition of Video Watchdog and offer feedback before it is released in December?

There is work involved, but this just might be an opportunity you don't want to pass up!

It Could Be You!

We need some serious testers who are willing to go through a checklist of tasks on each edition to make sure the videos play, the Table of Contents is correct, the pages look good, links work, and a host of other things on the following devices:

Computers
Laptops
Notebooks
Tablets
Phones

OS includes: Apple, Android, Linux, Windows, Kindle Fire

What's Involved?

Testers who are chosen will have access to all 176 editions for 30 days through a private blog with links to the editions, and on tablets and phones with a special subscription login.

The test period is November 1-30, which means an average of 6 issues need to be tested daily. Phone and Tablet testing requires downloading the edition (10mb - 60mb) with or without video content (it can be streamed to save space), and can be deleted once it is tested. Computer testing involves no downloads, but Flash is needed on your PC.

Testers follow a checklist for guidance. Changes that are found need to be logged in as a comment on the private testing blog.

A partial checklist

All testers must have their own device (computer, phone, tablet) and be able to access the blog from a computer or other device that will let them add comments to the blog page. Testers need to be available for the whole month of November because some titles will appear mid-November.

What's the Reward?

If you are selected and complete the testing program, you get the complete Digital Archive playable on all devices!

$702 value!

Interested?

Contact us using the form on the right by Sunday, October 26. Please include:

1. Your name and email address

2. The device you want to test on (computer type, browser, tablet or phone type, etc.)

3. Any special qualifications or experience you have with various devices, proofing, gaming, following written directions or even reading Video Watchdog will also be helpful for us to know.

There's More!

We are so pleased with the quality of the editions, we can't wait to share how they look with you! So during the testing time, we'll post a few editions on this blog for you to see and comment on as well. This way, you can all be a part of the testing process!

If you don't want to miss anything, subscribe to this blog by email on the right. We'll notify you when the next post appears.

Can't wait to hear from you!

Nearly There!

83% Complete! 

Out of 1,256 procedures that needed to be done to prep this 176-issue archive, we have only 208 more to go! That's 83% for the bean counters out there. I'm feeling good!

84 - Completed
50 - with 3 more procedures
16 - with 2 more procedures
26 - with 1 more procedure!

Although countdowns are exciting, I will be overjoyed to see these issues go live.

And as awesome as the Digital Editions are going to be, there is another technology that we are in love with. It's is absolutely Amazing. Perhaps you've seen it?

Stay Tuned... 

A major announcement and possible opportunity for some of you will be announced this weekend!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Absolutely Nuthin'!

Last month Tim's ancient, hobbling, Windows XP computer bit the dust. We were hoping to make it through another issue of Video Watchdog, but no...

I was able to resuscitate it with an old power supply long enough to transfer his programs to a new iMac. 

We are so thankful nothing was lost except a lot of our time and worry during the transfer. What you see above is Windows XP running on an iMac.

What ? ? ?

Yes, it can be done. Using Parallels software. But why do it? 

Because we can!

We have been DOS users, then Windows users since 1985. We still use old DOS programs (WordPerfect for DOS, dBase III Plus), and a few Windows programs we can't find Mac replacements for (ePrompter, Desktop Calendar). But mostly, we didn't want to lose even more time learning a completely different operating system and keyboard in the middle of our digital projects.

The Digital Archive Indiegogo campaign contributions made this all possible. Thanks to all of you for the rescue!

The iMac is a super piece of equipment, and Windows runs better on the iMac than it does on a Windows computer. With the swipe of a magic mouse, or a trackpad, the screen changes to the Mac. And now we can be more knowledgeable about the Mac side with Digital Edition customer support.

Best of both worlds.

I am happy, but Tim is still struggling with the Mac keyboard using Windows programs. We'll figure it out eventually. We're both on Macs now, running Windows. It's transition time.

If any of you have been in the same situation, we'd love to hear how you got through it.

More news coming up. Stay tuned!