Evolution of Mirai Live

[pandacular]

I'm surprised this has not been discussed yet as far as I can tell.

It seems that there are some changes coming to the structure of Mirai Live. Ryan's words, which I used in the title, were that of an evolution. This was mostly announced in this stream, and I can't find anything in writing about the specific changes, but here is what I gleaned from the stream.

* Mirai livestreams are going away, or at least being substantially minimized. The library will still be available.
* In favor of livestreams, there will be "Mirai Academy", which will "answer all your questions in a timely manner as they come up"
* The app is launching sometime this month. Ryan did a different stream walking through the app, which can be found here.
* In the app stream, he talked about 101, 201, 301, etc courses. Some will only be available to pro members
* The library will be re-indexed--it sounds like it will be organized in a clearer way
* New content will be served primarily through Mirai Mobile

So, what do you think of these changes? I'm cautiously excited about the app, it seems to finally provide the much sought after care calendar for every* species that is used for bonsai. The app sounds like it will be somewhat limited for basic members--$360 per year is certainly a lot! I'm not too saddened to see the livestreams go, but hopefully it doesn't mean there will be no new Mirai content.

 

[Ruddigger]

Sounds like he’s downgrading his service to be more inline with how Bjorn’s is. I wonder his subscriptions will be effected.

 

[pandacular]

Sounds like he’s downgrading his service to be more inline with how Bjorn’s is. I wonder his subscriptions will be effected.

I realized I missed the start of the mobile app stream and one of the things he mentions there is re-working the existing library to be more easily searchable and be more organized. I think this could be a big step. If I want a quick answer, that is currently just not an option with Mirai Live.

It does seem like a downshift in content production. One of the things he mentions is that he's doing this partly for balancing his own life and family

 

[Ruddigger]

One of the things he mentions is that he's doing this partly for balancing his own life and family

That’s understandable, but it’s tough to ask for the same money when you’re offering less content and a calendar app. I’ll probably take a look at the app for a month and then drop my membership.

He tried to scale back on the live streams last year and there was enough backlash that he resumed business as normal rather quickly.

 

[pandacular]

I wouldn’t doubt if there was a drop in subscriptions. There seems to be a very bold, but perhaps vague vision involving more content. I’m honestly not sure what the future of the company looks like, but I hope he kind find a balance of content and profitability to keep doing what he’s doing in some respect.

As a software developer, it seems to me highly risky to be launching this app and discontinuing streams on the same day (next Tuesday).

 

[pandacular]

Specifically, he mentioned that launching the app is the first of 4 phases, which will include a website redesign with an expanded gallery.

I keep remembering random tidbits, but most of this is at the first and last 5 minutes or so of the announcement stream, as well as the first 10 minutes of the app stream.

 

[Ruddigger]

That kind of made sense to me, actually. He’s jangling his keys with one hand to distract you while he takes your toys away with the other.

 

[pandacular]

That kind of made sense to me, actually. He’s jangling his keys with one hand to distract you while he takes your toys away with the other.

Unfortunately, I also got some of that vibe. Feels like I’m being pitched a startup idea with the level of promises being made.

 

[Scriv]

I'm surprised this has not been discussed yet as far as I can tell.

It seems that there are some changes coming to the structure of Mirai Live. Ryan's words, which I used in the title, were that of an evolution. This was mostly announced in this stream, and I can't find anything in writing about the specific changes, but here is what I gleaned from the stream.

* Mirai livestreams are going away, or at least being substantially minimized. The library will still be available.
* In favor of livestreams, there will be "Mirai Academy", which will "answer all your questions in a timely manner as they come up"
* The app is launching sometime this month. Ryan did a different stream walking through the app, which can be found here.
* In the app stream, he talked about 101, 201, 301, etc courses. Some will only be available to pro members
* The library will be re-indexed--it sounds like it will be organized in a clearer way
* New content will be served primarily through Mirai Mobile

So, what do you think of these changes? I'm cautiously excited about the app, it seems to finally provide the much sought after care calendar for every* species that is used for bonsai. The app sounds like it will be somewhat limited for basic members--$360 per year is certainly a lot! I'm not too saddened to see the livestreams go, but hopefully it doesn't mean there will be no new Mirai content.

I was incredibly impressed by the functionality and customization of what he showed... it seems like he put a tremendous amount of work and thought into creating something that can be of great value to beginners and advanced practitioners alike. One of the biggest issues I have with Mirai content is having to comb through hours of recorded livestreams to extract small bits of information that are pertinent to my trees. The search function is also pretty useless. This solves all that and then some.

I'm honestly cool with not having a weekly livestream... this seems like much better value for my money. Watching Ryan work on something I'll never get my hands on is entertaining all... but it's often exhausting and sparingly relevant to my own practice.

 

[pandacular]

One of the biggest issues I have with Mirai content is having to comb through hours of recorded livestreams to extract small bits of information that are pertinent to my trees. The search function is also pretty useless. This solves all that and then some.

It certainly promises to solve that. It remains to be seen how well it is solved in practice.

It’s interesting, because by Ryan’s own words, Mirai Live was created for the more advanced bonsai hobbyist, but that content is now being retooled for beginners like myself.

Another thing that he discusses on the podcast/evolution stream is that this change will include changes and refocuses to the way that in person education at Mirai works. This certainly excites me, as I aspire to take courses there someday.

 

[Scriv]

Another thing that he discusses on the podcast/evolution stream is that this change will include changes and refocuses to the way that in person education at Mirai works. This certainly excites me, as I aspire to take courses there someday.

Will be very curious to see how that selection process works. He also mentioned customized one on one education irrespective of the scholarship program. Curious to hear more about that as well.

 

[BobbyLane]

From a creative aspect I really enjoy the live streams. There isnt many resources that go as deep into the styling process of raw material, high quality material or material fairly accessible to many.

 

[clem]

[...] but I hope he kind find a balance of content and profitability to keep doing what he’s doing in some respect.

In an interview with a newspaper, Ryan said he struggles to make ends meet. I was surprised to hear that. Do we know how many subscribers Mirai has ?

for example :
1000 subs X $20 per month = $20.000 each month.
10.000 x 20 = $200.000/month

Maybe it could be interesting for him to create a minimal (low cost) account ($5 or $10/month) with a reduced number of lessons in the library. The essential lessons (wiring/watering/ etc)
(For example, Netflix offers a low cost membership with advertisements)

 

[clem]

Another thing that would be interesting for foreigners : a translation in different languages of all his lessons. When i was a member, i asked his team, and they answered that there was no possible translation yet.

 

[Colorado]

This feels very bittersweet for me. I am tremendously grateful for everything I have learned through the Mirai Live streams. I always looked forward to the Tuesday night streams. So, I am very disappointed to learn that there will be no more live streams. I had not realized that those were being discontinued.

However, I have an open mind about the new platform. I don’t anticipate using the calendar much….I mean, I don’t need a phone app to tell me when to repot my trees. But I don’t know, maybe it will be a positive.

“There is nothing permanent except change.” ….here’s to a new chapter! Excited to see what it brings.

 

[Maiden69]

I think I am one of the few that won't "miss" the live streams, as my schedule rarely allows me to stay up to actually watch them when they go live... but I think that there is a lot of extra information that develops from the questions done during the streams. I haven't had a chance to look at the evolution stream, I started a few minutes ago, but I struggle with listening to podcasts, and this one seems just like one. The one thing I love about the streams is that there is work being done on a tree in addition to the information given which makes it appealing to me.

Hopefully they will continue doing content, even if it is not live. I think I would definitely take advantage on the App, as I struggle to balance my schedule and the trees. I hate adding stuff to my calendar and with the app at least it will alert me to key times to do work on the trees.

 

[Dabbler]

I use to have a membership and really enjoyed it watching and all the content - but it just got to costly to keep it up as you can find all the same info on forums and YouTube. So while I missed some of the cool video's it just didn't seem to fit for me. I think Bjorn always had the right idea about it - simple, elegant and ez for everybody.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I look forward to seeing the evolution of Mirai. I enjoyed the livestreams... but found myself using them less and less over the years - and would simply watch the videos later as I had time. I do look forward to seeing better organization and cross-referencing and plan on continuing my subscription.

To be honest, I always wondered about the work load associated with everything he was doing. To have a livestream once per week is one thing. To have a livestream AND run a nursery AND go to all the big shows is another. It is extremely difficult to keep that level of quality content up for years and years. He had several employees to help - but even that adds a layer of complexity.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Another thing that would be interesting for foreigners : a translation in different languages of all his lessons. When i was a member, i asked his team, and they answered that there was no possible translation yet.

This is huge. With all the talk about AI I have always said - a killer app for AI is a real-time fluent language translator.

Even the best text translator is stilted and awkward and you would never mistake it for a fluent native speaker. Real-time translation of video? Forget about it!

Reminds me of when I was living in Europe and I would go see an American motion picture. The actors were speaking English, it was dubbed in German, and it had French sub-titles. I always laughed when I could lip-read the English - and the German translation was nothing like what was being said!

 

[Kodama]

Right now it is already possible to collect all audio and video and get it easily transcripted and indexed as its own model to query with an AI bot and then those answers could easily be translated in multiple languages in real time. Crazy times ahead