The Cameras Are Never Off
July 23, 2008
Interesting video as President Bush asks that the cameras be turned off and then makes some remarks we have to assume he didn’t want recorded. Unfortunately these days, especially when you are a public figure, the cameras are never off. Somebody out there has a cell phone with video or some other kind of pocket recording device. We live in a time of constant recording. To many people are carrying devices capable of recording and distributing that recording to millions via the Internet is also so easy now. One camera I saw yesterday specifically records video in YouTube compatible format, a feature that was highlighted prominently on the box. Remember when America’s Funniest Home Videos was a top TV show? Now YouTube is America’s Funniest Home Videos. Watch yourself out there in public because the camera is never off. Neither is the audio recorder or the snapshot.
Seesmic Video WordPress Plugin
April 23, 2008
Seesmic is already an interesting video platform but this new WordPress plugin takes things to the next level. {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/YDCHJRXiqP_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”Seesmic Video WordPress Plugin ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/53MaznvsaV”}}}
Your Chance To Be A New Media Hero
April 9, 2008
Today is your chance to take part in New Media history. Podiobook pioneer Scott Sigler has a chance to be the first Podcast author to hit the New York Times bestseller list. This is an important moment in New Media and could open doors for many other indie writers. If you have not already purchased a copy of Sigler’s Infected, you should do so at Amazon.com or better yet, at major bookstores everywhere. Borders, Barnes and Noble, your choice.
Infected is a great read and it’s your chance to be New Media Hero.
Netflix and Apple TV - Great and Flawed
April 3, 2008
As a movie lover, I love my Netflix subscription. I can get practically any movie ever made including many indie ones that never show near me. I pay one simple monthly fee and can watch as many movies as I can handle. I can take as much time to watch the movie as I need and return it at my convenience. It’s the kind of business model that’s made Netflix a winner and has put undue pressure on Blockbuster. What could be better?
Well, if I didn’t have to wait for the mail to get a movie. If I could sit in the comfort of my couch and order up movies instantly. Enter Apple TV. Especially with the new Take 2 version of Apple TV where rentals are part of the equation, the speed an simplicity of watching movies on demand is unparalleled.
Netflix and Apple have equal but opposite problems. Apple has a fantastic distribution system but not nearly enough movies. Netflix has all the movies and then some, but an outdated and slower delivery method. I’m waiting for one or the other to deliver the knockout punch. If Netflix could only deliver online more effectively. Their current system for watching movies online is cumbersome, only works with Windows and is available for very few movies. So, it’s useless. Apple has very few movies available and at the rate they add movies, it will take a lifetime to match the Netflix selection. Also, Apple has some of the more draconian and lame DRM rules for rented movies. Lastly, at $3.99 per movie, it only takes 3 iTunes movie rentals to equal a basic Netflix subscription which gets you unlimited movies per month and no stupid DRM rules.
Now Apple is the 10,000lb gorilla in this match and should be able to knock out Netflix easily, but so long as Apple and Hollywood keep their heads in the ground, they’re never going to do it. I actually blame Hollywood on this one as they are mostly short sided and paranoid. I think Apple does want to knock out Netflix but Hollywood won’t let them. Hollywood execs are more scared of Steve Jobs than they are of the so-called movie pirates. Fear is never a winning business strategy.
Social Media Ad Glut
November 8, 2007
Om Malik nails it on his latest blog post about the coming advertising glut in social media. Om asks, how much is too much? Facebook and Myspace have announced new social advertising initiatives as well as a recent forecast that US online ad spending with double between 2007 and 2011.
So indeed, how much is too much and are we going to find ourselves as over advertised and marketed to as we are in the current mainstream media? So far new media has found itself relatively light on advertising and marketing. But as ad banners on websites become ever less effective, online marketers are looking for new and better ways to get to customers.
Maybe the key question is now how much advertising will there be in new and social media because marketers will always beat a path toward customers and more and more of them are showing up on social networks, but how good the advertising will be. How intrusive and impersonal will it be? We talk so much in new media about engagement and conversation. New media marketing is supposed to be different than old media marketing and this is to be our saving grace in the new world. But has the old guard now rushing into new media really learned this lesson? Will these new platforms embrace and encourage the new ideas of new marketing, or are we moving back into the frying pan from whence we came?
Brilliant Talk by Larry Lessig
November 6, 2007
This talk given by Larry Lessig at the 2007 TED is absolutely fantastic and right on. Brilliant stuff and a must watch.
CBS Aims to Spread Web Content
July 20, 2007
It’s a very encouraging day as CBS figures out how to be effective on the Internet. The network will spread its content over 400 sites by the fall.
“CBS is al about open, nonexclusive partnerships,” CBS Interactive president Quincy Smith said. “Just CBS.com is not the answer” to reaching viewers, he added, so the network is devoted to going out where the viewers are, not forcing them to CBS.com.
This runs counter to NBC, who is creating a social network on their site. There are already too many social networks as it is, why do I want to join NBC? As CBS has figured out, you cannot assume to be the be all, end all site for your customers. You have to reach out to them, where they are on the net. A huge bravo to CBS!
Smith added that the network may reach out to fan-site producers to program CBS’ Web-site content. He cited a fan clip he admired: a digest of every season of The Sopranos in seven minutes, now available on YouTube. That clip might be too long, violating guild contracts and causing rights issues, but the network might take such an example and create a version running two minutes, he said.
I don’t know who put what in the CBS water cooler, but it’s working! Bringing in fans/customers to help build website content? Wow, pretty amazing. Now we still have networks, including CBS’s other half Viacom, trying to sue the pants off everyone, but it’s an encouraging development nonetheless. Let’s hope others take notice.
Technorati Tags: CBS, NBC, Socialnetworks
MPAA Fake Bittorrent Site Outwitted
July 6, 2007
The MPAA, RIAA, take your pick; these guys never learn. The latest in the saga of stupid anti-piracy tricks is a fake bittorrent website supposedly loaded with first run movies for download. Actually an MPAA front run by a company called Media Defender, the site was designed to trap and bust people trying to download copyrighted content. What happened next should surprise no one. The website ZeroPaid found out, ran an article which hit digg.com among other sites and in a matter of hours, everyone was the wiser. You can’t sneak around the web playing dirty tricks on people. Someone is going to find out and the word will get out, fast. So the MPAA accomplishes nothing and looks like idiots in the process. I can’t believe the MPAA is going to walk through the same meat grinder the RIAA is waking through already.
Technorati Tags: MPAA, Piracy, Bittorrent, RIAA
New Media Firehose
June 21, 2007
It’s exausting to keep up with, the flood of new apps and services pouring out of the tech world these days. I’ve never 
seen such fast moving and creative innovation. It’s a great time be around. One new service I learned about today via Twitter, a place I learn so many new things these days, is Kyte.tv. Kyte is an online video site for user generated content. Somewhat like YouTube but with a better user interface, one feature that grabbed my attention is the ability to open a channel and allow anyone or a selected group of people to upload videos. It’s almost like comments on a blog but in video. With all the notebooks with built in video cameras, we’re going to see more and more user generated video.
YouTube Comes To The iPhone
June 20, 2007
Google and Apple are at it again with regard to the iPhone. First a slick Google Maps app and now a custom YouTube app that will bring online video to the iPhone. It’s nice I guess, but I would be even more interested in an app that allowed me to watch tv shows from the various networks now streaming shows online. Oh but that would go against Apple selling shows on iTunes. I have no interest in buying shows I have already paid for via my satellite bill when they are available for free as a stream with ads.
Oh, and just one more thing… remember when Steve Jobs said at the recent WWDC conference that building web 2.0 apps for the iPhone was such a sweet deal for developers? Not sweet enough for Apple as the new YouTube app is a full native app for the iPhone. Let’s not kid ourselves, web 2.0 apps for the iPhone might work out resonably well but they’ll never be as good as a native app.