Technology360

Veoh does high resolution video ...

Doug Sherrets writes:  "... A hurdle Veoh must overcome is figuring out how to deliver relevant content to the relevant people.  ... [A]lready people find it difficult to identify TV shows that are interesting because there are hundreds of channels. So what happens when you have 200 million videos? As I believe is the case with many high-potential online services today, much of the value will come with networks of friends who can recommend videos to their friends or identify which of their friends are in which videos. Drivers of the “democratization” of video content include inexpensive cameras and free video editing equipment, but all that content being created must be filtered to the right people, and a good way to do that is through networks of friends. Many of these emerging services are attempting to organically create those networks of friends, but that is a tall-task. ... [T]he real value in networks of friends comes when that friend network is so complete that it includes a significantly high percentage of one’s friends of friends.  Without that network, the challenge of overcoming information overload facing long tail service providers becomes enormous; after all, how can you expect an individual user to wade through all of that content? Blog search engines work for blogs, but there might be a better way unique to videos. There is so much value to be had in linking content sharing and networks of friends that, in the long run, the services that survive will have to do it. The challenge is finding and linking with complete networks of friends. That said, who will do it, with whom and when? In some ways, it may not matter who does it first because the services with the complete networks of friends have the upper hand. ..."  Link:  Minority Rapport.

The New Economy = Web 2.0

Pip Coburn writes:  "... Well, just as the New Economy started, it ended.  ¶  Several years later, when the New Economy was finally arriving—this is the point where real Earthlings were finally ready to change their habits and their economy to leverage the Internet in the user-oriented world of the Change Function, as opposed to the point where companies tried to force us through the keyhole into the New Economy for their best interest but not ours—we all implicitly colluded to call the whole thing something else, so as to not remind anyone of the foppery of the "New Economy"—egads!—so no one would be too embarrassed. Hence Web 2.0.  ¶  Web 2.0 encompasses everything. It's bigger than all of us and that is why everyone has trouble saying just exactly what Web 2.0 is. It encompasses The Free World I speak of, Chris Anderson's Long Tail, Om Malik's "Built to Flip," the Perkins Curve, "the Singularity" of Ray Kurzweil, Nicholas Negroponte's $100 PC, The rebirth of AT&T sorta with IPTV, Google's "GoogleWorld," the "Mashington Post"  and Ray Ozzie's Microsoft Live. Some folks still can't believe that the words "Ray Ozzie" and "Microsoft" can appear in the same sentence, and if that doesn't say something is up what does? ..."  Link:  AlwaysOn.

Also see his follow-up column, Hey! The Old New Economy Is Also The Free World.  Link:  AlwaysOn.  --Dennis

Eyeing the economics of on-demand media

Diane Mermigas writes:  "... Larry Gerbrandt, senior vp and analyst at Nielsen Entertainment Reports, examines the early "Economics of On-Demand Programming" at this inflection point. Broadband access has reached critical mass and more than one-third of all U.S. households; more than 30 million iPods are in use; nearly all of the 74% of U.S. households with personal computers are Internet connected; and U.S. penetration of cell phones is above 76% -- which does not even account for the myriad portable video game, digital music and PDA devices. ..."  Link:  Hollywood Reporter. 

The Unbundled Awakening

Terry Heaton writes:  "... This is my annual look ahead, and while nobody's crystal ball is perfectly clear, these observations seem self-evident when viewing the forest from a distance. I've called this 'The Unbundled Awakening,' because that's what's happening and what will continue to happen in the months ahead. The concept has been launched; the infrastructure is being built; and efforts to institutionalize it are underway. The awakening is taking place first among consumers, and media companies will have no choice but to respond or risk complete irrelevance. This is tough stuff for entrenched mainstreamers. ...¶... It's a very dangerous time for any broadcaster to be making assumptions based on history.  ¶  But the biggest problem for broadcasters is their crumbling core competency and the shrinking value propositions they offer to both viewers and advertisers. The natural ability of the Internet to distribute unbundled media is disrupting broadcasting's basic business, and that will accelerate in 2006. Most broadcast companies have responded to the disruption by forcing their mass marketing value propositions into the situation (it's what they know), but most are finding that such a response — while creating some revenue opportunities — doesn't produce the kind of scale necessary to make up for the kinds of losses to their core business that they're facing. ... "  Link:  The POMO Blog.

This is my 2,000th posting since I moved my weblog from Radio UserLand to TypePad in April of 2004.  There were about 500 more on the UserLand blog from November 2003 to April 2004.  What better to mark this occasion than a new essay by Terry Heaton.  --Dennis

Analog To Anytime: The Traditional Broadcast Era Is Ending

David Liroff, VP and CTO of WGBH, Boston, has kindly made available the slides of his presentation of this title [ppt] to the Digital Future Initiative Summit in Washington, DC on December 15.  In addition to the link here, you can also find this presentation and a bio in the David Liroff Archives under Links on the left side of this page.  Not to be missed.  --Dennis

DTT set-top boxes violate power consumption regulations

Craig Birkmaier, proprietor of the OpenDTV discussion list, points out that, "... If you live in New York or California, don't plan on getting an ATSC set-top box. Both states have passed laws/regulations limiting the in-use and standby power for DTV set-top boxes, and more than 30 other states are considering similar limits. These limits were determined using European DVB boxes with SD resolution. The in-use limit of 9 watts is too low for an ATSC box with HD decoder. The original legislation passed by the House included a provision that overrides these state imposed limits, but it was dropped during the Conference negotiations. ..."  Link:  Free Lists.

Dropping Of Cable Provision May Spur Another DTV Bill

Drew Clark writes: "While rival industry groups praised House passage of a firm deadline for the nation's transition to digital television broadcasts, the dropping of another digital TV-related provision from the budget reconciliation measure might spark further debate.  ¶  At issue is the absence from the final bill of a section that would have authorized the cable industry to "down-convert" high-definition digital signals into standard-definition analog signals.  ¶  The lack of such a provision might jeopardize the vast majority of cable TV customers -- exposing them to the possibility that their televisions will also go dark after Feb. 17, 2009, the day set by the reconciliation bill for broadcasters to relinquish use of the analog spectrum.  ¶  That, in turn, might rachet up the pressure on Congress to consider a follow-on digital television bill in the near future. ..."  Link:  National Journal.

See also these earlier related stories.  --Dennis

Reuters video to get mass distribution

Elinor Mills writes:  "International news agency Reuters is launching a pilot program on Tuesday that will allow blogs, news organizations and other online publishers to show Reuters news video on their Web sites.  ¶  The video affiliate network program will enable Web site operators to place a video player on their Web site and show up to 20 of Reuters' breaking news stories from around the world that will be updated throughout each day... ."  Link:  CNET News.com

Google, Time Warner strike $1 billion deal on AOL

Elinor Mills writes: "Google will invest $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in Time Warner's America Online unit as part of a partnership that expands their existing search engine deal to include collaboration on advertising, instant messaging and video. ..."  Link:  CNET News.com.

Mass media's last blast

Reed Johnson writes:  "A moment of silence, please, for the imminent death of the old Mainstream Mass Culture. ...¶... This was the year in which Hollywood, despite surging DVD and overseas sales, spent the summer brooding over its blockbuster shortage, and panic swept the newspaper biz as circulation at some large dailies went into free fall. Consumers, on the other hand, couldn't have been more blissed out as they sampled an explosion of information outlets and entertainment options: cutting-edge music they could download off websites into their iPods and take with them to the beach or the mall; customized newcasts delivered straight to their Palm Pilots; TiVo-edited, commercial-free programs plucked from a zillion cable channels. ..."  Link:  Los Angeles Times.  Great article.  A doff of the derby (anyone remember Jimmy Hatlo?) to Terry Heaton.  --Dennis