Archive for July 25th, 2006
Oceanic Time Warner Cable in Hawaii says it’s the first cable company in the country to allow subscribers to upload photos and video to a TV channel. Here’s how PhotoShow TV works: subscribers (who also have to be Road Runner broadband subs) download an application that organizes all their photos and video on their computer. They pick what they want to upload, hit a button, and if it passes muster (no bad stuff) it’s made available on demand on TV. Viewers use their remote to navigate through the menus of categories to play it back. Hmmm. Great idea or is this just better left on the internet?
July 25th, 2006
Local television used to be the de facto destination for weather and traffic information, but the internet and mobile devices are turning the tables fast. Take, for example, today’s launch of Google’s mobile traffic service. I downloaded the application on my Blackberry, and it’s very impressive. It combines Google Maps with a layer that illustrates real-time traffic conditions with colors superimposed over major roadways in 30 markets. And unlike most mobile graphics, it’s crystal clear and allows zooming to street level (it takes a little time to load, especially on slower-speed services.) The next logical step is for Google to add the traffic feature as a layer on their popular web-based maps — a significant competitive threat for local TV newscasts and their websites.
July 25th, 2006
Jason Calacanis’ offer to pay $1,000 a month for Netscape power contributors has once again raised the question of whether citizen journalists — or any user who contributes content — should be paid. Mark Glaser tackles the question, and he interviews Digg CEO and co-founder Jay Adelson about the idea. “Oh no, that would be a complete destruction of what we consider to be the principles of Digg,” Adelson said. “Certainly no monetary compensation or things like that, because what we don’t want to do is create this artificial hierarchy.” User compensation is a big issue that will only get bigger as everyone gets into the user-created content game.
July 25th, 2006
WDIV’s Click on Detroit, WPLG’s Local10 and WKMG’s Local6 have all launched a new Internet Broadcasting design, and the rest of the Post-Newsweek station sites are relaunching soon. Take a look around and post your impressions…
July 25th, 2006
Beginning today you can find Friends, Aquaman, Babylon 5, The Flintstones, MadTV and The Jetsons (cool!) available for sale on iTunes. All are priced at the typical $1.99. You’ll notice there are no current hits on the list, thanks to the difficult ongoing discussions underway between Warner Bros. and the networks.
July 25th, 2006
Nashville, TN
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Ok, Mr. and Ms. Smartypants, time for another famous lostremote soundoff. Management says it is time to embrace this online video thing and send any able and willing body out to capture clips and post them. As usual, the trick is to make it cheap, good, easy to use, and –did i mention?– cheap. Let’s hear your recommended rig for arming a newbie web warrior to shoot good quality web video.
July 25th, 2006
Doubleclick bowed a new service this week that allows marketers to serve rich media ads in sites that are designed completely in Flash. Publishers of entertainment and gaming products drove the development of the service in attempts to monetize cutting-edge development of highly graphic and interactive online experiences. The new product, called DART Motif for Flash-in-Flash, allows ads to interact with content as it is running on the page, such as Flash video.
July 25th, 2006
Hefty new fines for indecency are having a “chilling effect on creativity,” said Fox TV entertainment president Peter Liguori. “None of our business plans are designed to take on such huge fines.” Last month, President Bush signed a law increasing fines ten-fold to $325,000 for each offense on each broadcast outlet. Luguori says the new rules and the fines are “vague” and “difficult to manage.”
July 25th, 2006
MTV’s Country Music Television channel, CMT has launched “Loaded,” a new video site packed with unaired TV footage, original material and music videos (free reg. req.) It seems a new TV broadband site launches every week these days.
July 25th, 2006
Driven by search, JupiterResearch predicts that online advertising will grow to represent 9 percent of overall ad spending by 2011. The fastest growing segment? Online video ads.
July 25th, 2006
After years of die-hard gameplay, my Xbox (bless its soul) bit the big one. Hooray! That means I felt entirely justified to race out and buy the Xbox 360, which I did in short order. I popped in Call of Duty 2 (pictured), and I have to say, I’m stunned all over again. With my high-def screen and surround sound system, the graphics and sound are millimeters from reality. For the first time, I feel truly immersed in the game, like I was actually fighting in the trenches in WWII. Why would any 18-year-old guy want to watch TV when he can virtually live the role of a main actor in a growing number of stories, now in even more stunning realism? As I’ve predicted before, gaming’s popularity is just getting started, especially as adults are drawn into new virtual worlds that may not be games per se, but explorations. For example, imagine being able to explore ancient cultures in vivid high definition with your friends by your side, connected via Xbox live. Why watch the History Channel when you can explore it yourself? Gaming consoles will become interfaces to virtual, interactive experiences that TV can’t match.
July 25th, 2006
