News Reporter, KSEE-TV
Fresno, CA
Read the full post 1 comment August 31st, 2006
Archive for August, 2006
Amazing 360-degree tour of Katrina damage
One of the big challenges of covering Katrina on any medium is communicating the scope of the devastation. But a new 360-degree interactive tour on MSNBC’s Rising from Ruin does the best job I’ve seen so far. It starts with a draggable, zoomable map of two coastal Mississippi towns, and you can click on various icons to see 360-degree photos and video, as well as more traditional audio slide shows. The video is truly amazing (screen shot below), some shot from a vehicle, others are walking shots. In some cases, the video is accompanied with narration. He’ll say, “As you’ll see on the left,” and I’ll pan the camera over to the left to see what’s he’s talking about. A terrific way to immerse the user, and some amazing technology.
8 comments August 31st, 2006
MotionDSP enhances user-created video
Camera phones with video capability are becoming increasing popular, but still, the quality is pretty pathetic. Enter MotionDSP, a company that uses a technology to enhance low resolution video by comparing multiple frames to replace lost pixels. Take a look at the video demo here. Writes Terry Heaton, “The idea of tweaking the resolution at the receive end of the upload is brilliant, and it may well be the solution broadcasters need to transport video files from the field via the internet.”
8 comments August 31st, 2006
Just a reminder from MSNBC.com
With Katie Couric making her debut on CBS next week along with a host of new features on CBSNews.com, MSNBC.com sent out a curious press release to remind people that “NBC News dominates broadcast competition online.” It follows below…
Read the full post 4 comments August 31st, 2006
Out-of-copyright books now free on Google
You can now download and print out-of-copyright books for free as part of Google’s book program. No doubt it will nibble away at publishing’s bottom line, who rely on the steady income stream from classics. So would you rather buy a classic book or download it for free as a PDF?
9 comments August 31st, 2006
Realtors spend online ad dollars on themselves
It’s no surprise that realtors are spending more online and less on print, but where realtors are spending online is. According to a new report from Classified Intelligence, 26% of realtors spent 10% of their ad budget on their own websites and 29% put 20% of their budgets there. While real estate dollars are leaving newspapers, 61% of the 100 real estate agents surveyed don’t spend any money on online newspapers at all. Surprisingly, many are also steering clear of paid search ads. I think this sample is a bit too small to draw any definitive conclusions, but media companies rarely view the advertisers that support them as competitors themselves. There are plenty of tools out there now for advertisers to market in new and innovative ways without spending a lot on advertising.
7 comments August 31st, 2006
Video ads to grow like gangbusters
A report by eMarketer predicts video advertising will grow 71 percent this year to $640 million. By 2010, the number is expected to hit $2.3 billion for 8 percent of all internet ad spending.
Add comment August 30th, 2006
MSN to stream CW show premieres
UPDATE: MSN will debut the premiere episodes of America’s Next Top Model, Everybody Hates Chris, Supernatural and Runaway free and without commercial interruption for one week before their on-air broadcast. Recently, MSN inked a deal to stream all of the Arrested Development episodes. And it streamed the Weeds season premiere.
2 comments August 30th, 2006
Verizon offers free online game hosting
Verizon Communications is rolling out PlayLinc, a free hosting service for multiplayer games that works with XBox, Playstation2 and PCs. They’re going the ad-sponsored route, which is interesting. Before and after your game, you’ll see a sponsor’s ad. Not a bad tradeoff considering what people spend for game hosting. And you don’t need to be a Verizon subscriber to use the system - it’s open to all. World of Warcraft Clans: do battle!
7 comments August 30th, 2006
NYT: Downloading films is still a pain
Yeah, the LR Faithful are pretty tech-saavy. But most people still aren’t. And the idea of downloading a movie terrifies them. John Quain at the New York Times takes a look at the different services that offer movie downloads to PCs, and finds they all have at least one thing in common: they’re a pain. (NYT free sub. req.)
9 comments August 30th, 2006
TiVo signs another ad deal
The company that invented ad-skipping has teamed up with a second major ad agency, Omnicom Group. TiVo CEO Tom Rogers says ad revenue doubled in the second quarter over last year and “this will be a revenue stream that will be quite material.” Two weeks ago, TiVo announced a deal to license DVR software to Cox. Meanwhile, TiVo lost $6.45 million in the second quarter due in part to hefty legal costs associated with the Echostar case.
Add comment August 30th, 2006
Broadcasting Board chair cited for abuses of office
The State Department has released a report that says Broadcasting Board of Governors Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson was using his office improperly by making an incorrectly-documented hire and “running a horse racing operation” on the government’s dime. That’s right - a horse racing operation. Tomlinson’s the guy who resigned as the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting cited him for improper hires and political tampering. Tomlinson says the investigation was “inspired by partisan divisions,” and says the horse racing stuff was limited to an email a day out of his office. (WaPo free sub. req.)
1 comment August 30th, 2006
Hearst-Argyle taps Natz to head online efforts
Jacques Natz, news director at WTHR (NBC) in Indianapolis, has been named the new boss of Hearst-Argyle Televisions online media. According to Broadcasting & Cable, Natz will work on projects including DTV, WeatherPlus, the company’s relationship with Internet Broadcasting, and developing content for mobile and multicast.
8 comments August 30th, 2006
Stevens is ’secret senator’ blocking online gov’t accountability
The politician most confused by the internet is the one who is blocking a vote on posting the federal budget online. CNN reports that Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) is the identity of the man many in the blogosphere worked to identify. The bill would mean that the government would have to publish a database of federal spending online. The spokesman for Sen. Stevens (”The internet is a series of tubes“) says the senator has “a series of concerns and questions about the bill” and wants a cost-benefit analysis.
7 comments August 30th, 2006
McGraw-Hill’s KGTV training VJs
Slowly but surely, more local TV stations are beginning to add video journalists — people who report, shoot and edit their own stories on lightweight gear. VJ pioneer Michael Rosenblum dropped Lost Remote a note to say he’s in San Diego at KGTV holding his VJ bootcamp. “Unlike WKRN and KRON, they are taking a much more gradual approach to the process,” he writes. Rosenblum says he’s training 9 people, half reporters, half photographers. “So far, so good,” he says. As I’ve written before, I think the VJ approach — as controversial as it is — is just getting started in local TV news.
17 comments August 30th, 2006
Watching TV shows on your computer
Mark Glaser drills down on the relatively new phenomenon of watching TV shows on your computer. “Let’s be clear about one thing. Watching TV shows and movies on computer screens — as they exist today — will not replace watching TV and movies on much bigger screens, in much more comfortable environs,” he writes. Hmmm. I’ll give that to him, for now. While DVRs are efficient for recording shows in advance, streaming TV online is useful for those shows you missed and never intended to record in the first place.
12 comments August 30th, 2006
