Frequency

Smart Channels De-Coded: Organizing Your Streams

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:43:06 -0700

Is your tuner overwhelming? When you first log-in to Frequency each morning, do you have to scroll and scroll through channels, topics and connected social network icons in order to find what you want to watch? The engineers behind Frequency have the answer to your organizational troubles with a handy tool allowing you to fold feeds into one manageable stream.

For example, all your news stations can be bundled together so you can quickly see what the big boys at CNN, AP, and BBC are up to. Or, maybe you’re following a bunch of indie feeds – from alternative music to independent film – and you’d like to thumb through all these channels at once to see what’s new. You can. Simply create a new channel — a customized channel you can call anything you want that gathers all your related feeds into one bucket. So, every time you log-in to Frequency, you’ll find a tidy Tuner and what once were 10 channels have now become one super charged channel – fine-tuned to show only the sources you’re most interested in.

These personally curated channels holding a collection of feeds are called Smart Channels. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make them (extra points for printing out this list and pasting it up on your cubicle wall):

1. Spiff Up. Figure out ahead of time what channels you want to bundle together. Ask yourself: Which of my stations relate? What do I watch the most and how do I want to organize those videos? For ease of Smart Channel creation, I recommend dragging and dropping your related Tuner icons so they appear next to each another. (Just pick up the entity with your mouse and re-order it. For example, all my connected social network accounts appear side-by-side, followed by my news channels – a pleasing experience, visually.)

2. Build It. Click on a channel in the to-be-bundled section of your now structured Tuner. Load the feed. Click on the arrow in the feed’s header area (i.e. where it reads CNN). This expands a sub menu, where you can select the option to create a “New Smart Channel.” Name your Smart Channel in the provided title bar. (Get creative, get lengthy – these are your customized channels and no one else will ever see what you call them.)

3. Fill It. Click on the next icon in your tuner and expand the feed’s sub menu. Your newly created Smart Channel appears by name as well as an option to create yet another Smart Channel. Since you’ve already lined up your icons and decided what you want to bundle, go ahead and fold this feed into your first Smart Channel by selecting “Add to Smart Channel.”

4. Start Over. Changed your mind? You can easily wipe the slate clean by deleting your Smart Channel. On your Tuner, click the minus (“-“) sign and it’s gone – the Smart Channel is gone but the channels you’re following are still there. For example, I’ve got four channels in my Morning News Smart Channel and I’ve deleted Morning News; however, those four channels now appear as individual icons in my tuner – back to how it was before I created the Smart Channel. You can also remove a feed from a Smart Channel without removing the actual Smart Channel. When you are watching the Smart Channel, click on the arrow next to the name above the playlist, roll over any of the channel’s contents and you’ll see an X mark next to each feed. Click the X to dump that feed from your Smart Channel.

So now you created Smart Channels, but what if you want to watch just one feed within the bundle? Click on the arrow next to the Smart Channel name above the playlist and there you’ll see all the feeds it contains. Click any feed to watch videos only from that source.

You can add as many Smart Channels as you’d like to your Tuner, and each Smart Channel can consist of up to 12 entities. That means you can bundle together 2 through 12 different topics, channels as well as your social feeds and YouTube networks. What you can’t bundle are Your Highlights (this is considered your homepage by us) and our Top 25 – a selectively picked list of videos showing the best and brightest of the Internet. Additionally, you can’t put your Favorites and Saved folders into a Smart Channel. Everything else, however – all the topics, channels, people, Facebook, Twitter, et al. are fair game for bundling.

Now that you’re a Smart Channel aficionado, you’re ready to turn your Tuner into a customized work horse of carefully collected feeds. What once was a jumble of independent stations is now one elegant, highly concentrated icon in your Tuner.

-Audrey
QA Tester

(Final Note: You can easily spot a Smart Channel by its unique Tuner icon – there will be four mini icons in one. So, if you’ve got four feeds together, four icons appear in each corner of the bigger icon, illustrating your personal collection.)

One Million Frequency Topics at Your Fingertips

Fri, 11 May 2012 08:58:41 -0700

9 a.m. Friday morning. You’re logged-in at work but already in weekend mode (think my body is in the office, but my mind is on the dance floor). You’re surfing through your Tuner and checking out your channels, your Facebook videos, your faithful favorites via your connected YouTube feed. Maybe you’ve spent a few minutes scanning the news or watching music videos, and, during your video escapades, you came across the coolest clip you’ve ever seen and you need more of its kind.

If you’re as obsessive as I am, when you find something you really like, you can’t stop watching it. You just can’t get enough of whatever interests you – you want more and more. Your blood is pumping; you’re ready to go. The work day is just starting, but before you can do anything else, you must find another video. How, you ask; how can I watch more videos related to the video I love? The answer is easy: Topics. Frequency topics (which we estimate to be in the million count) are added not daily, not hourly, but by the minute to our video catalog. Our topics stream video pulled from a variety of different sources that pertain to a keyword.

With Frequency topics you can find videos related to something – however esoteric it might be — that you’re interested in. Let’s say, for example, you’re obsessed with whirling dervishes. You can’t stop watching those twirling skirts, the sacred-sounding Sufi music in the background. You cannot get enough whirling dervishes in your life and you want more. We know what you want; with Frequency, there’s a topic for Whirling Dervishes.

To make it as easy as possible for you to find more of what you want to watch, here are three ways to pull topics on Frequency:

1. Click Search in the header and type in what you’re interested in (i.e. crop circles, snake handling, Zumba dancing, Houdini, vibrational sound healing, crocodiles, whirling dervishes). Once your search returns results, channels, topics and people will appear in the left column and videos will show in the center – all related to the term you specified.

2. Go to the Guide and check out our Trending and Featured Topics’ sections. From Wall Street and Barack Obama to Johnny Depp and The Avengers – you’ll get a list of popular topics, meaning hot terms or people in the news — things and events happening right now at this very hour. Under each Featured Topic in our Guide, you’ll see a video count relaying how many videos have been added within the last 24 hours. (While you were sleeping, we were busy gathering the latest videos from around the world related to a topic.)

3. Get Specific with a video – go deeper into what you love by clicking on the tags that show under the video in play mode. For example, I really liked this video and now I want to watch more videos like this. Under the video, just above the description, there are tags – these are terms that pull a related topic. When I click these links, a stream returns with topics associated with that tag. I can then follow that topic, and, when videos come in from any source — meaning any channel, any person or any feed related to that topic, I’ll have new videos to enjoy.

-Audrey
QA Team

The Frequency App Reviewed by Cooliphoneipadapps.com

Thu, 10 May 2012 13:02:00 -0700

Many of us are visual people. We understand information more readily from watching and hearing in vivid color and sound, rather than reading in black and white. News can be compacted into a short video thus giving you the gist of a story quickly and clearly without eye strain or boredom. Realizing the many benefits of up-to-the minute, attactive videos, Frequency has created an iPad app delivering a plethora of video news mirroring its web site at frequency.com.

Quite simply, Frequency is a video service which you customize completely to suit your tastes with interesting clips in all areas of life such as entertainment, news, sports, technology and loads more. Additionally, these videos are dished out to you in real time portraying current news. You can even see just how fresh is your news source as the time of delivery is noted on each video thumbnail. After you have enjoyed your sharp and smoothly played video, you may share it with family and friends via Facebook or Twitter, or even mail the link itself. Tap the heart if you loved the clip, or tap the folder if you’d prefer to take a more in-depth look at it later.

Below is a snapshot of the many features of this engrossing video aggregator of news and entertainment iPad app:

• Watch 1,000 channels of online video, or follow your favorite blog as its own video stream
• Stay up to the minute on topics that are trending right now
• Get every video your friends post on Facebook and Twitter
• Quickly access anything you are following in your personalized Tuner
• View a stream of video from all your channels in Your Highlights
• Go full screen or use AirPlay to watch on your TV

Launch Frequency to find a large list of Channels, headed by Frequency Top 25 stories on the left. Swipe down through the channels to find the sources you love and choose to Follow (tap to add to preferred viewing list) on your personalized Tuner on the top of the screen. Alternately, to remove a channel from your Follow list, tap the Unfollow button next to that channel’s icon. But, hold on here, these are not the only news channels!

You will see an arrow next to Channels which when tapped will provide you with a Categories list to further help you find exactly the news you seek. In addition to this long list which includes animation, automotive, business, comedy, cyber culture, movies, travel, etc, you will see Featured, Trending and Social videos. The Categories and Channels offerings are quite generous and you are probably going to find there is far more content here than you have time to watch! At any time, you may change your view mode to list or grid. Each video will have a short description underneath reflecting its content.

The Settings icon will allow you to connect with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in addition to signing in to your Frequency.com account if you already have one. You do not need to open an account in order to begin enjoying this app. However, if you also watch Frequency videos on your computer, then you will notice that this app syncs perfectly with the content there. In Settings, you may also set your Video Quality to either Auto, Low or High.

Some of the outstanding features that have me happily sold on Frequency as my video news collector of choice are: (1) all videos shared by my friends on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube are able to be seen here, (2) re-aligning channels in my customized Tuner is easy by dragging an icon to a new position, (3) using the Smart Channel feature (a collection of my favorite sources) is a cool time saver, (4) adding RSS feeds or video from any website is a super personal touch, and (5) excellent video playback is pure pleasure. As soon as I wrap up this post, I will resume watching the humorous video in top screenshot from “The Onion”, one of my favorite channels. Enough said!

COOL CONCLUSION: An enormous collection of captivating, newsworthy and current videos along with a great deal of customization make Frequency the ideal video aggregator for your favorite news sources.

—Date/Version: Updated 4/25/12 - Version 1.2.1
—iOS/Age Rating: This app requires iOS 4.3 or later. Rated 12+.
—Device: iPad
—Developer: Frequency Networks
—Facebook: Frequency
—Twitter: @OnFrequency

Visit the iTunes App Store for more details, and to download:
FREQUENCY

Scanning the Stream: ‘Popular’ vs. ‘New’ Feeds

Tue, 08 May 2012 08:52:25 -0700

When you log-in to Frequency, you can quickly scan your videos, your friends’ videos as well as videos from the channels and topics you’re following. Your homepage is a collection of all your feeds, which we’ve bundled together in one location as Your Highlights. We’ve set Your Highlights to show the most popular videos in all your streams, and we’ve designed it in such a way that you can easily peruse through to see what’s happening.

But what if you don’t want to see the most popular videos; maybe you’d like to see the newest videos? Well, you can. Simply click on the arrow in the top bar of Your Highlights, and you’ll expand a sub-menu with two options: “Popular” and “New.” Select “New” and your stream will be re-sorted, showing the most recent video first. When new videos are posted, a message will prompt in your feed letting you know videos have just been added.

So, if you’re following constantly updating news channels and trending topics and want to see videos within the minute on your Frequency homepage, remember to change the default setting of your stream and you’ll never miss an incoming video.

-Audrey
QA Team

Finding Friends with Frequency

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:01:00 -0700

Looking for new friends – new friends with new feeds to watch? Bored with your usual Facebook, Twitter and YouTube social streams? We have the answer. With Frequency’s Guide, you can find people to follow – people with new video posts delivered daily to your inbox.

Here’s how it works:

-Navigate to our Guide, Featured People section
-Check out the top performers showcased there and follow the people that interest you
-Upon following, you’ll see a brand new icon appear in your tuner – this is your Frequency Friends folder, and every person you’re watching on Frequency will be inside that folder

Wow, that’s cool, you say. But how do these people know I’m following them? Well, as soon as you clicked the “follow” button on a person, that person received an email letting them know you’re following them. In that email, they can click on your avatar to find your favorite videos. (After seeing how cool your stream is, they might even follow you back!)

With your network of Frequency Friends, you can see who’s following you and who you’re following anytime by navigating to the Guide’s Social Section where you’ll find two columns, “You’re Following” and “Following You,” respectively.

So now you’re following people but no one’s following you? Don’t worry, it happens to us all. Here’s how to gain Frequency Friends:

-Pimp out your Frequency profile by adding an avatar and filling out the bio section
-Start favoriting videos you like – users following you will only see the videos you’ve marked as favorite, so get clicking! (Once you favorite a video, hover over the Favorite button under the video player to see if other Frequency users have favorited the video. If they have, you can click on their name in the hover-over and navigate to their personal video selections.)

Now that you have a few new friends, remember to spread the word by sharing your favorite Frequency videos on your own social networks.

-Audrey
QA Team

Say Goodbye to Your Mother-In-Law

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:19:00 -0700

Have you connected your Facebook and Twitter social networks into your Frequency? (If not, stop reading right now and go here to get the most out of your feeds.) If yes, good! As a fully loaded Frequency user, you’ve probably got a gang of videos in your feed and can watch all the postings from your friends, family members, and loved ones. But maybe this isn’t so great, you say. Maybe you’re not too friendly with some of your friends on Facebook or maybe you love your mother-in-law, love her so much – but would rather not view her hourly cat video updates. Maybe you’re just not interested in grandma’s sewing circles or knitting techniques.

We understand.

Your time is valuable. When you navigate to Frequency, you want to quickly scan your Facebook and Twitter feeds and watch only the videos that interest you. Our team of top-notch engineers created a way for you to not “block,” not “de-friend,” but simply hide anyone from your social networking feeds. Here’s how:

-Go to your Facebook or Twitter feed (click the supporting icon in your Tuner)

-On a video thumbnail, click the “X” mark on the upper right corner and you’ll be asked if you want to hide that user. Yes. Yes you want to hide that user

-Now that the user is hidden, go to your Facebook or Twitter feed and you’ll no longer see their videos

Changed your mind? Maybe your mother-in-law asked you why you didn’t see her latest YouTube kitten cuddle upload? Here’s how to unhide a user:

-Go to Your Preferences

- Find the “Hidden Sources” area where you’ll see everyone you’ve hidden from your connected social networks

-Unhide whoever you want and their next posting will show up in your feed

And don’t worry – no one will know that you’re a selective video watcher and that you’re not watching their videos. Remember you can always unhide them whenever you want.

-Audrey

QA Tester

We Love This Review of the Frequency iPad App by iPhoneAppReview

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:04:31 -0700

“Frequency: The World of Internet Video at Your Fingertips”

Reviewed by Luke Patrick

If you’re much like us (and God help you there, Mates!) you really like watching videos on the Internet. You’ll spend hours combing through what’s hot on YouTube, checking CollegeHumor for the latest, or even just viewing what your friends have posted to Facebook. With that in mind, how cool would it be if one iPad app could combine all of these various sources, bringing you the best in online video entertainment instantly? With Frequency, by the developer of the same name, this dream can in fact be a reality. And we can’t bloody get enough of it. For our full review of this stellar video-based app for the iPad, check below just beyond the break!

Concept and Functionality

As stated, Frequency has one goal and one goal only: It wants to deliver to your doorstep all the customized and best videos the Internet has to offer. It does this through a variety of means, but in a lot of ways, the app can most be likened to Flipboard. Both allow you to choose from a list of categorized sources, and then both display the refreshed results from those items. For instance, you can add Adult Swim as a source, and it will appear in your dashboard for easy viewing. There are nearly hundreds of different sources to choose from, adding up to one heck of a lot of videos. Once you’ve clicked on a single source item, you’ll then be shown all of the available videos you can watch. Click on any one of them, and they load nearly instantly in high definition. From there, you can share them, favorite them, like them, etc. All in all, if the sum total experience of this concept sounds incredibly awesome, that’s because it simply is. It’s like having an immediate filter to sum up what’s going on in Internet entertainment for the day, a filter that delivers to your door.

Interface and Design

However, none of this is really new to the scene. So what makes Frequency completely different from any other Internet video app we’ve looked at? To cut things short, it’s the interface. It’s simply one of the most gorgeous and simplest designs we’ve ever seen. Users can access the dashboard with the touch of a button, instantly add sources, and do just about anything else they’d like. And thankfully, there are no tabbed navigational displays. Only smooth scrolling and sliding mechanics and flawless, flawless playback.

Overall Value

Incredibly enough, Frequency will cost you absolutely nothing to enjoy. For an interface this good, we’re surprised at the price, but there you have it. With no money down, you can get daily the best Internet videos wrapped in a gorgeous design and smothered in high definition streaming. And if that doesn’t sound like a good deal to you, then we have no idea what ever will.

Frequency requires iOS 4.3 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

The iPhone app reviews rating:

Hubze.com Frequency iPad App Review

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:57:00 -0700

There’s not much that Scott Ayres, chief information officer of Hubze.com likes more than watching videos on his iPad, so when he reviewed our App, and proclaimed Frequency to be one of his “favorite video Apps for the iPad,” we were delighted.

One of Scott’s favorite things about our App, is the social sharing capabilities of Frequency – not only can you connect your Facebook and Twitter but you can also share videos from Frequency with all your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Scott showed this by simply tapping the Twitter icon under a video, and in just one move that video is posted on his Twitter. “It’s a cool way to share videos fast…”

Scott also discovered a key Frequency feature – we don’t just load the actual videos your friends share through their Facebook and Twitter, but we also analyze each link that comes into our system, and pull videos that appear within a page. “If you share a link that happens to have a video [on Facebook], I’ll get that video in my Frequency feed.”

Not only can you watch videos in a variety of views (think full screen), but, if your short on time, you can also save videos to watch later. When Scott’s in a rush and sees a lot of videos he knows he wants to watch, he just taps the folder icon under the video and it’s now in his Watch Later folder, up in his Tuner.

So, if you haven’t already, download our App on your iPad today. Because, “Frequency makes it easy to find the stuff you want to watch…”

Frequency On The Go

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:06:45 -0700

Here you are again. Monday. If you’re like me, for the next 8, 10, or even 12 hours you’ll be sitting in front of a computer, staring into a fixed screen. You’re drinking coffee, eating a glazed donut. There’s chow mein noodles in your future. Then, after lunch, more sitting. Are you fed up with being a sedentary office drone? Do the rolls of fat hang over your pants? And maybe you try every week to get to the gym after work, but the thought of walking on a treadmill and staring at the corresponding wall is about as exciting as Tuesday morning in the office.

But before you give up, slide way down into your chair and say you’re too tired, too bored to do anything after work but go home to bed, consider Frequency – no, not just Frequency.com on your desktop, but Frequency’s App on the iPad. With thousands of videos at your fingertips, Frequency can be taken with you anywhere – even the treadmill. How, you ask? Easy. Simply connect your Frequency.com account with our App, and you can view your favorite videos, your Smart Channels, your saved clips right on your iPad.

So while you’re at your desk, on the computer, get your Frequency account tuned up by building a motivating feed. What are your favorite music channels to work out to? Bundle those together into an optimized Smart Channel.

With your Frequency fully loaded, prop up your iPad in front of you on the treadmill and say goodbye to that hour of staring at the wall, walking on a machine. As you’re watching your favorite music videos (here’s mine) or enthralled by a movie channel in our Guide, mile 3, 4, 5, even 6 went by and you didn’t notice because you were having such a great time with Frequency on your iPad.

-Audrey
QA Team

P.S. The gym is not the only place you can take Frequency’s App – you can also listen to your favorite Frequency videos via your iPad when you commute to work. So tuck your iPad under your arm and we’ll always be there for you – just a tap away.

Cyber Culture: The Pulse of the Web

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:43:08 -0700

If you’ve never poked around Frequency’s Cyber Culture category, I’d highly recommend doing so. It features some of our favorite aggregates like Reddit Video, Gizmodo and Boing Boing, as well as original and new web shows like SlateV, American Hipster and Vice. In my opinion, Cyber Culture is the most entertaining category on Frequency.

If you want to stay on top of the hottest videos on the web, or check out the latest in original web content, it is the premier destination on Frequency.

Jason Castle
Channel Curator

The Guide...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:51:00 -0700

With more than 800 channels, Frequency’s Guide has something for everyone and every mood – when I’m hungry, I go straight for the Food column on the left side of the Guide. There I surf through such tantalizing dishes as grilled mahi mahi with butter-drizzled asparagus served up by The Food Network, chocolate dipped coconut macaroons via the Joy of Baking, and get gritty with The Hippy Gourmet where I learn about sustainable farming and organic greenhouse gardening. After lunch, I ease into the late afternoon by going back to the Guide for a dose of high brow culture via Frequency’s Art category. From Picasso’s circa 1914 metal pieced guitar to the latest lineup of independent flicks showcased in Filmmaker Magazine, I get my fill of texture, colors, and creative thinking – such a fill in fact that I’m ready for a cocktail break – and, of course, there’s a channel for that in Frequency’s Guide! Everyday Drinkers shows me how to make an El Diablo cocktail mixed with silver tequila, lime juice and ginger. (Note to self: Pick up tequila on the way home.)

Tips for Maximum Guide Exploration:

- Don’t know what to watch? Easy. Simply browse through the left column’s alphabetical list of channels

- Want to just eyeball the latest selections of a channel without actually watching anything? Select a channel and on the right column, you’ll see a handful of thumbnails and titles, depicting the latest videos

- Know exactly what channel you want to watch? Click “Search” in the header and type the channel’s name – like magic the channel will be returned

- Pro’s Tip: You don’t have to follow a channel to watch a channel – simply select a channel in the middle column of the guide, select a video in the right column and bam! the channel’s offerings will load in your browser. If you want to check out a channel every day, be sure to “follow” and it will be waiting for you in your Tuner

Audrey
-QA Team

A wonderful review of Frequency that we missed...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:44:00 -0700

Best Free iPad App of the Week: Frequency

by Patrick Jordan

in Best Free iPad Apps

Who doesn’t like free? And who doesn’t like great iPad apps? When the two come together it’s good stuff. With that in mind, we’d like to share our Best Free iPad App of the Week here every weekend.

This week’s pick is Frequency. Frequency is described on its App Store page as ‘your personal video service’. It’s another excellent, social and highly customizable video app for the iPad. This is rapidly becoming a category where iPad users are spoiled for choice – and that’s a very good thing given how crummy the selection is on TV these days.

Frequency claims to offer ‘more video from more places than anywhere else on the internet’ – I imagine some rival apps might have something to say on that, but the range and amount of content in the app definitely looks impressive.

Here are some of the app’s key features:

- Follow any of your favorite online video channels
- Stay up to the minute on all the topics that are trending right now
- Get every video your friends post on Facebook and Twitter
- Quickly access anything you are following in your personalized TUNER.
- Get highlights from all your channels in My Feed
- Go full screen or use AirPlay to watch on your TV

If you’ve got an account with Frequency.com you can login to the iPad app and see everything you’re following. If, like me, you’ve never had a Frequency account it doesn’t matter at all – you just start fresh with the app and it’s easy to discover content and follow channels that interest you.

When you first open the app you’re prompted to connect with your Facebook account to see videos shared by Facebook friends and be able to share videos you like. You can skip this step as well if you like. Once you’re in the app it’s easy to add connections to your Twitter and YouTube accounts as well.

I like the UI in Frequency a lot. It’s nicely tiered and makes it easy to discover new content, browse channels and topics, and enjoy your own and friends’ favorite stuff.

The app offers you a little mini guide to getting around when you first get into it. This is nicely done, but also happily it’s really not needed as the interface if clean and easy to get around.

You use the three buttons at the left of the top bar to slightly adjust your viewing mode in the main portion of the page – between Guide (ideal for choosing channels and topics), Dashboard (browse videos from your chosen channels and friends), and Player (just sit back and watch).

Below the top bar is the blue Tuner bar – with icons for your favorite channels (and a set of default starters). As you add channels and favorites, they’ll be added to the Tuner bar. You can tap and hold on any of the icons (as you do in the iPad’s Multitasking bar) to make the icons wiggle and then hit the X on any of them you want to remove. You can also toggle on and off whether the Tuner bar is visible.

The app works nicely in both portrait and landscape views – and of course it has full AirPlay support so you can enjoy all the videos you find in it on a big TV screen.

Of course the best thing about this app is that it helps you browse, find, and enjoy good video content. It does a great job at this. It has helped me find a number of interesting channels I wasn’t aware of or hadn’t thought much about.

And to unearth fun individual videos via Topics areas like trending and channels like the Frequency Top 25 – like a clip of Louis CK doing standup back in the mid 1990s.

When you enjoy a video it’s easy to add it your Favorites or Watch Later list, and share it via email, Twitter, and Facebook.

As I said above, we are now spoiled for choice when it comes to good video apps for the iPad – and Frequency is among the very best I’ve seen.

Here’s an App Store link for Frequency.

A Great Way to Start the Day

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:48:00 -0700

What I love about Frequency is not only the personalization of my feeds – I’m following just the channels, people and topics which interest me – but also the organization of my feeds. When I log in every morning (armed with a large mug of coffee), the first site I visit is Frequency.com. I immediately navigate within my Tuner to my collection of Smart Channels (which I’ve dragged/dropped to arrange alphabetically – yes I’m one of those people who alphabetize my books, DVDs, CDs and get a pleasant feeling just looking at the order and clarity on my bookshelf). As with my bookshelf, I love the structure of my Frequency Tuner – with one click, I can watch videos my friends posted overnight on Facebook or Twitter and peruse through my personal YouTube favorites. Then, once on my second cup of coffee, lit cigarette in hand, I dive deep into the right side of my Tuner – my Smart Channels. Depending on my mood, I can watch/listen to my favorite music, which I’ve organized by Topic and Channel and bundled as a collection – so that four or five different (yet related) entities I’m following are neatly collected in one location. With my Smart Channels, I can watch the latest Radiohead/Thom Yorke re-mix or follow new indie film releases. There is no other site on the world wide web that is so customized to me. Because of Frequency, I’m able to watch a retro French wave music video, an eclectic-impossible-to-find punk rock clip and still have just one tab open on my computer – Frequency.com – and manage to get to work on time.

-Audrey
QA Tester

P.S. If you haven’t created a Smart Channel or structured your Tuner into easy to manage channels and topics, visit our FAQ section today. Trust me, you’ll love the organization of online videos possible with Frequency.

Frequency – Personalized Video Channels from the Web

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:48:47 -0700

YouTube is a great source for all things video but when it comes down to organization they lack a few components. Now trust me, I’m a YouTube fan but it would be nice if there was a way to better sort through not only what I’m subscribed to, but also what I would like to see. Frequency.com is a website that really helps break down the categorization of your interest in videos.

I was first turned on to Frequency.com when I noticed a video of ours was posted on their site. Of course I had to investigate. I went over to the site and realized there was a plethora of videos and more importantly, complete organization. Everything was broken down into specific categories. Now YouTube breaks down videos in categories, but they are limited currently to only 11 vague categories.

Frequency gives you 25 different specific categories that will deliver content to you on a personal interest level. I found this quite amusing as I could choose “channels” and categories of my liking and literally sit through an infinite playlist of videos from those channels related to what I wanted to see. You can sign up free on the site, and have the ability to follow thousands of channels tailored to your interests.

The next step in my Frequency investigation was through the App Store. I found that indeed they did have an app for iPad and more importantly (for me), it was “Retina Ready” for the new iPad, with 1080p video support! The ironic thing is that I actually found this app not only more appealing to the eye, but easier to use then the YouTube app. It’s also important to note that frequency pulls videos in from all over the web, not just YouTube. So your content discovery is really limitless. Believe it or not, YouTube isn’t the only video platform on the web… (Surprising right?? LOL)

The Frequency app is super clean! In a matter of minutes I fell in love with the interface. There’s not much to it either. Very simple. Find a channel you like, follow it, and let the playlists begin. In some ways it’s like a StumbleUpon for videos. Frequency will take all the channels your subscribed to and give you Highlights from each channel in one playlist. It will also sort those highlight by only the popular videos from each channel your subscribed to. The app directly syncs with the site so you can also access all of this from your computer as well. This app also has Twitter and Facebook integration which will pull any videos your friends upload right to your iPad.

Overall my experience with the Frequency app has been great, and as of the other day, macmixing.com now has a channel as well. Go check it out guys and gals, it’s a free service and a free app so what have you got to lose?

You Can find Frequency right now with support for the new iPad’s Retina Display in the App Store.

Source URL: http://www.macmixing.com/frequency-personalized-video-channels-from-the-web/

Turn any Website into a Channel on Frequency!

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:30:00 -0700

One of my favorite things about Frequency, is that if we don’t have a
channel you want, as long as you can get an RSS feed, you can add it
to Frequency yourself! To access this feature, go to your preferences
and add and name your feed in the “RSS Feed” section. Frequency will
add a channel in your Tuner named after the feed, and will begin to
grab all the videos that are in that feed for you. If you check the
“autopost” box next to a feed, it will post all of the videos that
feed gets to your user page (http://www.frequency.com/).

This can be useful if you want to publish your personal videos or
other favorite video creators on Frequency for others to watch. Here
are some tips for common methods of finding RSS’s:

Websites/Blogs: Blogs and many types of aggregate websites will
feature an RSS icon similar to this somewhere somewhere on their
pages:

If you can’t track that down, often times the “Subscribe” button in
browsers till take you to their RSS page. Provided the RSS has videos
or will eventually have videos in it, Frequency will pick them up no
problem. This is a really neat way to turn any website into a video
feed. Not all sites will have RSS’s this easily available or available
at all.

YouTube channels:
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/users/USERNAME/uploads?alt=rss&v=2&orderby=published&client=ytapi-youtube-profile
To get the desired youtube channel, simply exchange the USERNAME with
the username of your favorite youtube channels.

YouTube playlists:
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/playlists/PLAYLISTID?max-results=50&start-index=1
To get the RSS for a playlist, exchange the PLAYLISTID for the ID at
the end of a playlists URL. For example, in this playlist:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58FD3A7244B64B99&feature=plcp
The playlist ID would be that long string of numbers, SUBTRACTING the
“PL” characters at the beginning of it, so the RSS would look
something like this:
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/playlists/58FD3A7244B64B99?max-results=50&start-index=1

Some of Youtube’s limitations means that RSS’s cannot contain more
than 50 items, which is a problem if a playlist has more than 50
videos, and playlists themselves can have no more than 200 videos.
To continue getting the videos from the playlist, you must add another
separate feed like this:
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/playlists/58FD3A7244B64B99?max-results=50&start-index=50

This starts the feed 50 videos down the playlist, You can modify the
“start-index=50” to be whatever you need, up to 199. Increments of 50
would provide the most ideal solution.

YouTube favorites (if user has made favorites public):
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/USERNAME/favorites?orderby=updated
Replace USERNAME with your desired user.

Vimeo Channels: http://vimeo.com/channels/stopmotion/videos/rss
Replace “stopmotion” with the channels posts you wish to obtain.

Vimeo Groups: http://vimeo.com/groups/421/videos/rss Replace “421”
with your desired group’s ID. The id will be listed at the end of
their group homepage URL:
http://vimeo.com/groups/421

http://vimeo.com/thefilmartist/likes/rss Replace
“thefilmartist” with your desired channel’s username. This will get
all the videos they like on that profile.

Jason Castle

-Channel Curator

For the Sports Fan-atics: March Madness!

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:16:00 -0700

It’s that time once again! March Madness is upon us and Frequency is the best place online for you to get highlights, clips of games and watch your Alma Mater compete!

Sports are a defining part of the human experience. They inspire us, validate our competitive nature, and touch the depths of our emotion.

And because there are as many teams and types of sports as there are fans while creating out Sports Category we tried to be as exhaustive as possible.

So whether you’re an MMA Fight fan, into HBO boxing, Red Bull’s Extreme Sports Channel, or the more traditional fare of ESPN and the NBA we’ve got the sports you like to watch. And we’ve also made sure to include the top sports blog channels you like follow online like SB Nation and the Bleacher Report.

So, kick back, tune in and enjoy…

- Zaidan

Chief Curator

Cyber Culture

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:25:00 -0800

We created the Cyber Culture cate gory as a place for all the top curators on the internet.

The result is a one-stop-shop where you can find video from all the most popular and influential taste-making blogs and communities on the web.

Laughing Squid, Neatorama, Gizmodo, Devour… We’ve got them all. And if there are any we’ve missed, please let me know.

Zaidan

- Chief Curator

Why I love the Laughing Squid Channel

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:17:00 -0800

A channel that’s guaranteed to have a tentacle on the pulse of cyberculture video is the Laughing Squid.

From source: “Laughing Squid website features interesting art, culture & technology from around the web. It is also an independently owned and operated cloud-based web hosting company. Laughing Squid was founded in 1995 by primary tentacle Scott Beale, who is the editor and head curator, joined by several awesome guest bloggers.”

What this means is that the Laughing Squid channel is free to pursue nearly any class of content in web video so long as it’s 98.375% awesome. And, as a rule, they surpass even that. Since it’s inception the Laughing Squid has managed to consistently managed to identify quality content, elevate it and promote it.

Zaidan

- Chief Curator

5 Must Have Free Apps For Your Apple Devices

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:55:00 -0800

5 Must Have Free Apps For Your Apple Devices:

5 Must Have Free Apps For Your Apple Devices

Posted: March 1st, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: App Store, Apple, Evernote, Flipboard, Foursquare, Frequency, Instagram, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Whadda Media | No Comments »

Here at Whadda Media we love our Apple products, however with over 500,000 apps to choose from in the app store, it can sometimes be a challenge to find the best ones.

‘What apps are the best?’ is a common question, however is it not one that is easy to answer. However, here are 5 apps that we couldn’t do without!

1. Flipboard

Flipboard has to be our favourite and most used app. Founded in 2010 the social magazine application pulls together a collection of your social networks most relevant tweets & posts, and presents them in a magazine format on your mobile device.

This application is great for when you’re travelling to and from work, simply flick your way through articles posted by the people you follow on Twitter or Facebook. or select from articles in different sectors such as Technology, Lifestyle or News.

The application stops you scrolling through your timeline seeking relevant tweets and articles, instead, Flipboard brings all your relevant news stories into a stunning, engaging, digital magazine, for you to peruse at your leisure, allowing you to retweet, favourite or email through the app.

Check it out on… www.flipboard.com

2. Frequency

Frequency is one of the best video applications around. Unfortunately this app is only available on the iPad, frustrating this may be, however, this app is so nicely integrated and so engaging, it may well force you out to Apple to buy an iPad.

The Frequency app acts as personalised video service, allowing you to sit back and ‘watch’ the Internet. The application integrates several social networks and curates them into channels of your highlights, Facebook videos, Twitter videos, YouTube videos etc, as well as featuring videos in ‘Frequency top 25’ and ‘trending’ sections.

You can also filter and search for videos by topic. When selecting a category, the app will show you the biggest influencers in that particular field, allowing you in follow them on Twitter and browse the videos they have posted online.

Frequency is a great advert for the iPad – we would definitely recommend it!

Get it here… www.frequency.com

3. Instagram

Everyone loves a good photograph and now with the iPhones powerful camera, more and more people are able to capture great shots on the move.

Instagram is an iPhone only application for sharing images, whether you’re a pro or an amateur, the app is a great forum for uploading images and hearing what people have to say about them.

Instagram inspiration attempts to recreate the instant and magical feeling that once surrounded Polaroid pictures. The application has an extremely large community around taking photographs, adding a cool little filter, and then posting them for all to see.

A simple but effective application and one that will quickly grow on you. Instead of tweeting or posting your image on Facebook, often you will find yourself wanting to add an original effect to the image, and share it with the Instragram community.

What we’ve found is that is grows your interest in photography and lures you into wanting to capture better photos to prove your ability and your eye for a great pic.

You can also access your Instagram profile & images on the web at Gramfeed! Check it out here… www.gramfeed.com

Get the app today at… www.instagr.am

4. Foursquare

Foursquare is a great app that turns ‘eating out’ into a fun interactive game that allows you to compete against friends. Since launching in 2009 the leisure application has gathered a huge response with over 15 million users worldwide and over 2 million check-ins a day.

The application implements a similar check in concept that’s used on Facebook, however, Foursquare has incorporated the concept into a game, where users can compete for badges, accrue points, leave tips, unlock specials or earn the mayor title at venues all over the world.

The application is also great for companies, who can use the forum to analyse customer reviews as well as generate reward schemes and campaigns that surround the application.

This app is great fun and highly addictive, it’s awesome for competing against friends, building lists of place you love or want to visit, researching the best dishes to eat at a particular venue or for finding nice restaurants in your area!

Check out the application here… www.foursquare.com

5. Evernote

Evernote is an awesome app that helps you organise and plan your busy lifestyle. It works across Mac, iPad, iPhone and more importantly you can sync your account so you can access it on any of these platforms at any one time.

The app allows you to create notes, capture images, record voice memos and write to do lists. Also, a number of the features work together; for example: you could take a picture and record a voice memo to go with it; you can also install the Evernote web clipper, this lets you clip images straight from a webpage and annotate before you save them to your account.

Evernote has so many different features it is hard to give one exact answer to why you should use it. We find it great to use to help us remember and separate ideas. Simply add a relevant tag and then when you need to find information, you can quickly search for it.

Although it isn’t exactly a ‘fun’ app, we are still huge fans. Since we’ve had it, we have been able to categorise all different ideas or notes on all different projects, as well as having separate tags for any personal interests.

Get Evernote here… www.evernote.com

ShareThis

Automotive category launches!

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:30:08 -0800

We’ve been receiving emails from our need-for-speed members requesting the addition of an Automotive Category and, as always, it’s our pleasure to deliver.

We’ve put together an excellent collection of channels for gearheads and automobile aficionados alike. If you’re looking to buy a car and searching for a review you might want to check out The Auto Channel. If watching fast cars go fast is more your speed take a look at Jalopnik. From Top Gear to Motor Trend this category is full of win.

And, as always, if there’s anything we missed, please let us know.

Zaidan

- Chief Curator