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Reasonably Accurate 馃馃 Transcript
Today's very well deserved rant is gonna be on complexity. The reason why it's a well deserved rant is I just spent the last half hour trying to set up what should be really easy and simple to do.
Um And it just didn't work out. So what I was trying to set up was a better way to stream this show. So right now you're seeing me uh live on youtube or on markn.ca slash MWM Mornings with Mark.
Um I'm gonna wrap this up. I'll post it as a um archive youtube video. I'll share it out um Elsewhere on other social channels. My idea which I don't think was insane was to do like a simulcast.
I want to be able to push it out once from my laptop or my ipad. Have it hit something and then go to Twitter to Facebook and to youtube. Of course, there are a lot of things preventing that from happening.
Um I'm just going to double check that the stream continues to work and it does, that's always good. I've not had good luck this week. Um So there's a number of things that are making that really, really difficult.
Now, that being said, I've invested a lot in this kind of a setup. Um, you know, it wasn't just for streaming, it was for a number of other activities, but I've got like full wire casts, um, software on my Mac.
I've got O BS on my Mac. I've got um the beta of live stream studio for Mac and all of them are absurdly complicated, slow bloated and don't really work. Well. What I am broadcasting to you from is my current favorite streaming software on my desktop.
ECM Live. It's a 30 or $40 Canadian app. Dead simple. Um Lets me do the cool things like pull in my DS LR I'm off my blue uh off my sorry, my road pro or my here um connected through a blue Icicle um for a nice audio.
I have um my overlay graphic um in the uh in the top there. Um Super easy. The interface is great. I can pull in Skype calls if I want to um just how streaming should be on a desktop.
Like, you know, check something boom out. You go, you can switch scenes real easy. Um It is very much a novice targeted app, but I think from a streaming uh perspective, you want to keep it as simple as possible.
Um back end just as hard I wanted to go through um live stream.com. Of course, Twitter being the exception there that you have to do a super low quality broadcast out because they don't actually transco anything on the fly as you're streaming.
Um not gonna cut it, try Aws media live. Um Again, some exceptions where things like Twitter wouldn't work. Um I think I have a guest who's trying to join the show. Let me see you, Joy.
OK, guest joining the show. Um So, uh lots of complicated there and of course, Facebook's overarching licensing uh requirement where it says you can't stream to Facebook and other things at the same time.
So, um and I get it from a business perspective, but from me just trying to get content out there, super super complicated. Why am I ranting about this? Well, I'm frustrated also, I think there is a good analogy here for security and privacy.
We make things way too complicated, way, way too complicated, the overarching push for the last few years or decades from it has been more features, more functionality, you do more and more and more not do better.
And that's a major problem and when it comes to security and to privacy specifically, that's a huge issue. So this came up during the Cambridge analytical scandal with Facebook several times. People are like, well, Facebook needs to do better about controlling you being able to control, who sees your information.
Now, Facebook and adding information to the Facebook network is one issue controlling who can see what you post is a whole another there is a huge and amazing granular, amazingly granular privacy control system built into Facebook that almost no one uses because they don't know how to use it.
They go to their default of public, private, public only meet friends or friends except um So usability is a massive, massive thing here. It ties to complexity. Um Streaming alone, you know, it's easy on mobile.
I hit a button and go live. That's wonderful. That's assuming I'm going to one place though. Um on my desktop, it's not that easy. I can't just hit one button and go live.
Um You know, they try to pull it through the browser. That's a nightmare. Um On the desktop experience, streaming is very, very much uh 38th class citizen um mobile, it's better.
But again, per network, it's dedicated. Uh in general, things need to be simple and simple. Doesn't mean not powerful, simple, doesn't mean not um useful, simple means effective at the stated um goal.
And I realize from the streaming perspective that the stated goal is you can grab your phone, hit a button and go live. That's easy. That works on every network. As long as you want to target that one specific audience, it generally works.
If you want to do something a little more complicated, a little more sophisticated, it goes all the way max to. Um we hate you as a user interface designer. We are going to make your life as hard as hell, there's got to be better.
And I think that extends to a number of things. I'm going to touch on that on my talk this week at Atlantic Security Conference in Halifax on Thursday, talking about operational technology. Very similar thing, one goal in mind, very different real world use case.
So summary takeaway streaming can really hard as you saw even yesterday from the multiple takes and multiple attempts. Um It's worth it. I think this is a really good way to engage with folks in general.
Um I think complexity really needs to come down because complexity is the enemy of not just usability but of security and privacy as well.
