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As the dust settles on a bit of UK political and TV history pundits and politicians are all trying to guage it’s effect on the election. For me it was facinating stuff, I consumed this bit of TV not in front of my TV but like millions of you, on my computer while simaltaneously plugged into Facebook, Twitter and The Worm!!!

I found the whole experience facinating, connected and also even exciting (politics = exciting yeh I know!!!). I think it upped the ante for political debate and brought a kind of roman gladiator like feel to proceedings. Even though the audience wasn’t really allowed to clap and jeer, the social networks were alive with comments, which I bet if they had came attached with sound would have all the rawkus noise of a wined up roman public, baying for blood.

I joined the dabate about 20 minutes in and for me within the first couple of minutes Nick Clegg was in his element coming accross as a confident fresh speaker. It wasn’t long before both the Twittersphere and Facebook posts were too confirming Clegg was “doing well”, with the “just for fun” polls putting him in the lead on popularity and a close second on the economy.

I think for many people he was a little bit of a revelation having been consigned by the last few weeks of satire as the unknown outsider. Undoubtably Clegg had the most to gain during the debate and traded blows effortlessly as the fresh faced “ready for change” leader.

My instinct (and I suspect also the wider electorate) is that people are keen for change and reform at Westminster and Clegg seems to have alot to offer, a party that’s never governed and seemingly remaining unscathed by the recent sleaze alegations making them much more than just the tactical vote of past elections.

Brown I thought did well obviously not in his element but again seemed to rise to the challenge. Almost all of his answers were characterised not by the effervesance and optimism of Clegg but by a pragmatic and thoughtful approach, that I suspect comes from the realities of being in government for 10 years. Brown defined himself as the safe pair of hands. The biggest loser in this I feel was Cameron, who was expected to do well in this debate, infact came accross less convincing and at times he seemed lost. Both the ITV polls and general social networks assesment he was last on almost every issue.

I would consider my self a floating voter so I’m very keen to see what each party wants to do with our country, also as a business owner I want to see innovation and leadership at one of the most important junctures in this countries last 30 years. I think the future of the UK as a competitor in the world is at stake and if we elect the wrong party or even worse create a hung parliment it will effect us financially and socially for years to come.

So what’s the impact of the debates, for me I think they will be critical on influencing mainstream opinion, we are a personality driven society, we love celebs and by forcing our future leaders I to this arena webare judging them on the same level, we are projecting ourselves to them and if either of them hit a rich vein of mainstream agreement it could be decisive.

I for one have been engaged and will try hard to dig behind the personalities, and understand the policies but in the end this is the election and right now we need someone with global vision, ideas and the qualities of a true leader.

If you were impressed when manufacturers began putting home theaters in boxes, wait until you feast your eyes on NewTek’s TriCaster, which packs an entire live television production studio into a comparable cube of space. With minimal training, anyone who can operate a computer can use it to broadcast professional-quality live video over the internet or on television.

“It’s basically a live TV truck in a backpack,” said Philip Johnson, NewTek senior vice president of strategic development. “It’s being used by everyone from the NBA [Development League], to Fox Sports, to Fox News. John Dvorak uses one for Cranky Geeks, and Leo Laporte [and Tom Green] use it.”

YouTube and inexpensive cameras have already democratized video production to a large degree, of course, but the production values of many of those videos is barely ready for America’s Funniest Home Videos, let alone prime time. In contrast, TriCaster enables broadcast-quality production values that’s equally suited for television and for the internet.

This disruption of the normal live video production process means content attractive to niche audiences is now worth televising to local communities or streaming worldwide. “You don’t have to have a million people watching,” said Philips, “because the budget of making the show is almost nothing.”

The TriCaster is essentially a high-powered computer with special ports. Like other computers, it plugs into a display and it’s operated using a mouse and keyboard. The onscreen interface resembles a traditional TV-studio switching console, but after a short tutorial, just about anyone can figure out how to switch between cameras, add graphics and so on. I saw how easy this was, and heard countless testimonials about high schoolers and church volunteers learning how to use it in a half hour.

“We had to take a process that normally has 5 to 30 people creating a show and make it easy enough for one person to run, [someone] who has never run a TV show before,” explained Philips. Indeed, the TriCaster allows a single operator to mix multiple cameras (higher-end models support more cameras) interspersed with graphics, pre-recorded clips, real-time effects and more than 300 three-dimensional transitions. The box outputs to the web, television stations or big screens in churches and sporting arenas.

NewTek’s entry-level TriCaster, with support for three cameras, costs $4,000. That may seem like a lot, but considering that it can be used in place of a mobile production vehicle, four grand is small potatoes, relatively speaking.

The benefit to niche video broadcasters has been significant. Many high schools, colleges and minor-league sports teams can now afford to broadcast and stream most or all of their games.

“In 2004 and 2005, we dealt with a regional sports network to distribute our video content,” said Nate Flannery, director of new media and technology for Horizon League, a Division I conference of NCAA, “and we were getting 15 games on each year, paying $25,000 to $30,000 [per game].”

After switching to TriCaster and webcasts, they were able to display 150 games the following season for the same budget. “It allowed our local production crews to do a full production to the web with just literally a PC-type box and a monitor court-side, plugging in their cameras and just going for it,” explained Philips.

Since then, Horizon’s process has become even more efficient. “Last year, we produced 408 live events and 350-plus on-demand videos — all for the same budget that we produced those 15 TV games for.” So far this year, he said the company is on par to spend less to broadcast more than 400 events than it did to televise 15 of them four years ago.

This is not just for online video. At least one Horizon school has started routing video from a TriCaster directly to the local television station in addition to streaming to the web. Larger broadcasters have shown interest as well.

“What’s been the surprise for us is that this is being adopted by people with big budgets,” Philips told us. “One of the first big projects we did was working with MTV on The Hills…. They said, ‘how do we take those fans from the show and bring them to our website?’ So we took a TriCaster to a fan’s house in New Jersey, set it up in her basement, plugged it into her dad’s DSL line, ran camera cables up the stairs, and did the Hills aftershow party…. It was a smash success … and it never would have been tested if not for the guerrilla tactics of doing this with a small crew.”

In the music world, TriCaster is used by Total Request Live, touring bands webcasting their shows and Jon Anderson from the band Yes, among others. “He’s is doing this show from his house, where he’s doing green screen … on virtual sets and he’s collaborating with musicians all over the world,” said Philips. “They send in tapes of them playing and then he plays live with those tapes. He’s about to launch this.”

“Crazy ideas can be made now, especially by someone like Jon Anderson who’s so creative,” added Philips. “He’s going to have his very niche market, but it’s all the Yes fans, and there’s a lot of them.”

Original Article wired.com