TV in the Real World

Daisy Whitney has a funny article on TV Week titled, "First Person: A Divergent Convergence, Outfitting a Home With Latest Gear a Nightmare Even for a Geek."

Daisy tried to get her TV working with Comcast DVR, Akimbo, Sling and TIVO.

From the post:

"Nothing works. I have six remotes, four set-top boxes, one high-definition TV and a wireless network sending connectivity to every corner of my home.

I am willing to wade through three months of botched hookups, bad boxes and burgeoning wires because I cover new technology. But I suspect the average consumer doesn't have as much patience.

If convergence is going to work, we'll need a cottage industry of supercharged new media experts who can quickly tame the devices into submission.

But you know what? It's not fun anymore.

In fact, just to spite my television and the jeering red lights of its tentacled boxes, I decided to show it who was boss.

I downloaded the last episode of "The Office" via iTunes, made some popcorn and curled up on the couch with my laptop.

It worked perfectly."

Sling Media Walled Out

Carlo at MobHappy comments on Sling's recent troubles.

From the post:

"But apparently it’s one of those “you can do anything you want, as long as it’s something we sell” situations:

“We have no immediate plans to run that service,” says Jeffrey Nelson, spokesman for Verizon Wireless, the country’s second-largest carrier. “What runs on our network are our services.”

That’s the problem — a closed attitude that operators have to be at the center of everything, instead of empowering other content and service providers and working out an ecosystem through which everyone can profit. How many times will carriers’ closed systems have to fail before they learn this?"

Advertising 2.0

Paul Beelen has a paper out on new trends in Adrertising called, you guess it, "Advertising 2.0". His site is in spanish but the paper is in english.

From the paper:

"What everybody in advertising, marketing and media should know about the technologies that are reshaping their business."

"This type if Internet is far more dangerous to the advertising industry than the previous one."

"The videocast Rocketboom is made for US$20 a day and reaches over 120,000 viewers."

"Media strategies still depend mostly on top-down media, whereas the trend is clearly towards bottom-up micro media."

"Instead of fake, artificial commercial messages people can now get real life comments from peers on anything they want."

Russell Finds FeliCa

Russell is my favorite guy lately.

From his post:

"The Mobiface blog pointed out some video links today of some interesting mobile user interface animations from Japan, and when I clicked over to YouTube to check them out I found a whole bunch of other cool Japanese videos as well, including mobile phone commercials! Rock! I did a tag search of KDDI and DoCoMo, and found some pretty great commericals. It seems DoCoMo is selling Push To Talk and FeliCa mobile payments as a set: Talk Buy Talk! Awesome."

Previous FeliCa posts:
FeliCa on Rails
FeliCa in the Wild
FeliCA Survey

Fox goes D2C

From the press release:

"The News Corp. subsidiary launched Mobizzo, an Internet storefront featuring content from Fox brands including “Family Guy,” “Napoleon Dynamite” and the upcoming film “Ice Age: The Meltdown.”

Catchy name...

“The mobile market is exploding and it makes perfect sense for a media company like ours to create a real content destination for the billions of cell phone users around the world,” said News Corp. Chief Executive Officer Peter Chernin. “From Fox television and movie properties to original content produced directly for the mobile audience, we think we can create a unique and compelling mobile entertainment offering and deliver it directly to the consumer.”

At the bottom of every page, in small greyed out letters:

"T-Mobile users cannot download games from Mobizzo yet. Check back soon!"

Qualcomm's DVB-H Chip

Qualcomm is making a DVB-H chip.

From the press release:

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is developing chips based on a mobile television standard that rivals its own MediaFlo wireless technology, Chief Executive Paul Jacobs said on Monday.

Jacobs said it would be in Qualcomm's interest to make chips for DVB-H, a television standard for mobile phones that rivals such as Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) are championing, because the success of this standard could boost the uptake of wireless TV in general.

"It doesn't always have to be a Qualcomm technology that's deployed for us to benefit," Jacobs said at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York."

See also:
DVB-H 3GSM Favorite
Mobile TV Spectrum Review
Satellite Backbones for Mobile TV
Mobile DTV Alliance
Crown Castle Annouces Modeo
DVB-H Making Some Waves
DVB-H vs. MediaFlo

Web 2.0: Complete Loss of Business Perspective

Russell outlines his thoughts that the whole Web 2.0 thing is a bunch of hype.

From the post:

"There’s a few companies out there that seem to get it but just about every other new website I’ve seen lately is nothing but features parading as businesses. Sure, these guys get to be entered in the “Flip It Quick Acquisition Lottery”, but beyond that, none seem to be creating anything of any real value. Yeah, I’ve bitched about this before, but hey… today seems like a good day to start in again."

I am going to argue with Russell, something I have never done.

"Let’s go back in history (2004) to the conception of the term “Web 2.0″ itself - the shining examples then were Amazon.com and eBay."

I say, no: the first Web 2.0 company was Google.

Google epitomized everything Web 2.0 way before we saw it. Google embodied Richard Feynman and Edmund Tufte’s, principal: “simple design, intense content.”

Google looked at things globally then sought to meld as many useful data points into as simple an interface as possible. Amazon and eBay did make a lot of money doing what they did and developed the user created communities around that monatization, but Google ushered in the next revision.

For those unfamiliar with business thinking Web 2.0, Russell points to Doin Hinchcliffe's "Thinking in Web 2.0: Sixteen Ways." The post launched Russells tirade.

From the post:

1. Offer/use rich user experiences.
2. Embrace and enable rapid change and feedback.
3. User-driven organization and filtering are not just nice to have.
4. Provide data and services that are for user's individual benefit.
5. Granulate your data and services.
6. Obey the law of unintended uses.
7. Know thy popular standards and use them.
8. Identity on the Web is sacrosanct.
9. Everything is editable.
10. Understand and embrace the "capability gradient".
11. The Web is the platform; make it grow.
12. Be prepared to share everything with enthusiasm.
13. It's about data first, experiences and functionality second.
14. Data belongs to those that create it.
15. The link is the fundamental unit of thought.
16. Before you even begin, understand your goal simply.

I am sure people on the west coast are tired of hearing how every web company is embracing Web 2.0. However, everyone else ( people with traditional businesses) could learn how to *move* business models into the next stage of internet utilization by paying attention to fundamental drivers that gave rise to the term.

Russell Beattie Doesn't Know What "Exclusive" Means

Russell and everyone else other than MySpace.

From the post:

"Hmmm. It seems that MySpace’s “exclusive” mobile deal with Helio must be using some other form of the word that we hadn’t heard of before. (Shh! Don’t tell Scott! I’m not sure he’ll be able to take it!) This morning when I logged in to MySpace to approve some new friends requests (and get rid of some morons), I noticed a new link on home page dashboard: “Get MySpace alerts on Cingular - New!” Huh?!? That’s surprising considering last week’s announcements, no?"

Russell is also a Cingular customer so he got a features email from his new friend Tom.

In other news, MySpace now has its own shortcode: MYSPC (69772.) Short codes don't seem to have hit yet but they are just like urls where in '95.

Sprint Gets MTV Content

From the press release:

"Sprint continues to lead the industry in bringing the best lineup of entertainment and mobile content to our customers," said Jeff Hallock, vice president of wireless product strategy and marketing for Sprint. "Now our customers have the flexibility to view compelling programming from CMT, COMEDY CENTRAL, MTV and VH1. They can also listen to streaming audio channels from CMT, MTV and VH1 - a service that currently only Sprint offers to its customers."

"Our diverse networks air many of the most popular - and creative - shows on television that define the ever-changing pop-culture landscape," said Greg Clayman, MTV Networks' vice president of wireless strategy and operations. "No matter where they are, Sprint customers can now stay connected to the short-form programming they love on CMT, COMEDY CENTRAL, MTV and VH1 and remain plugged into the latest trends in music, fashion, movies, comedy and more."

From MocoNews:

One problem is that it sounds like all the channels are independent, and have to be paid for independently…”CMT, COMEDY CENTRAL, MTV AND VH1 are each currently available for $5.95 per month, per channel on Sprint multimedia-capable handsets. Data usage will apply.”

So if you want Comedy Central and MTV it will cost you $12 per month, plus data charges — which could add up pretty quickly. With this level of cost it’s unlikely to be a mass-market service, but maybe the companies are only interested in offering a ‘premium service’. Of course, MTV has already indicated it’s keen to offer a free, ad-subsidized service…

Jupiter Research on MySpace

ABC has an interview with a Jupiter Reseach guy talking about the popularity of MySpace.

From the article:

"Certainly there are a large amount of people spending a large amount of time on this site," said Nate Elliot, an analyst for Jupiter Research. "When you look at the huge numbers they throw out there — 50 [million], 60 million registered users — those are a mirage."

"They're promoting the number that is most advantageous for them to promote, but the simple fact is that only a fraction of the registered users ever go back," said Elliot. "And only a fraction of them use the site on any kind of regular basis, and then another fraction of them are responsible for the traffic."

"Once you start showing up in Newsweek, and one of the largest media companies in the world pays half billion dollars for you, it's kind of hard to maintain that 'street cred,'" he explained. "Kids will find something else that has street cred and move on to that, and I don't know what that is and if I did, the fact that I knew about it, would probably kill it."

The Creator Pyramid

Bradley Horowitz came out of the box strong with his "Creators, Synthesizers and Consumers" post.

From the post:

"The levels in the pyramid represent phases of value creation. As an example take Yahoo! Groups.

• 1% of the user population might start a group (or a thread within a group)
• 10% of the user population might participate actively, and actually author content whether starting a thread or responding to a thread-in-progress
• 100% of the user population benefits from the activities of the above groups (lurkers)

The first is that we don’t need to convert 100% of the audience into “active” participants to have a thriving product that benefits tens of millions of users. In fact, there are many reasons why you wouldn’t want to do this. The hurdles that users cross as they transition from lurkers to synthesizers to creators are also filters that can eliminate noise from signal. Another point is that the levels of the pyramid are containing - the creators are also consumers."

And now for the smackdown from Greg Yardley:

"I think it’s a good reason to short Yahoo - that pyramid’s a .44 caliber shot in the foot. Once you start believing 90% of your audience is passive you can’t help but shape your existing communities and design new ones with the passive consumers in mind. Talk all you want about making it easy to create - if you expect the bulk of your users to be passive gawkers your thinking’s never going to stray from CPM ad space. How disappointing - since it is possible to design a service that demands creation, and such services are far stickier than ones built around showing ads to passive surfers. To compete, Yahoo’s new services need 90% creators, not 1% or 10%.

It’s telling that the social media Yahoo’s bought doesn’t fit Horowitz’s own pyramid - del.icio.us and Flickr don’t demand that participants create, but they’re designed to encourage creation at rates far higher than one in one hundred or even one in ten."

More Click to Call

Thanks to Dan for spotting this article from ClickZ:

"Lots of agencies are being challenged to constantly move the bar for ROI. By incorporating a 'click-to-call' button into creative, we're able to create a quantifiable ROI that can increase conversions by as much as 25 to 50 times," John Federman, CEO of eStara, told ClickZ News. In eStara's parlance, "click-to-call" is the infrastructure that allows a call to be initiated online and completed on a telephone, while "pay-per-call" is one business model of click-to-call.

Dave Meirowitch, sales manager at performance marketing firm SendTraffic, agrees that managing client expectations is critical at this early stage in the format's development.

"There's some education to be done. It often has that 'too good to be true' novelty. We make sure we have a very detailed contract to set the right expectations about how many calls to expect and how much they'll likely pay," Meirowitch said. "We make sure not to exaggerate the volume and be realistic about goals. At this point, it's not going to replace other kinds of advertising, but it can work great as an add-on."

Earthlink in the News

With the new partnership for Muni Wireless and the Helio deal there is a lot of chatter about Earthlink's future. The joint Earthlink Google SF bid is online too.

From Om:

"Like America Online, Earthlink has been in a desperate fight to make itself over, using any and every broadband technology. Broadband over powerlines, Fixed Wireless, MuniWireless, Broadband MVNO, and Voice over IP - anything to get off its dependency on incumbent - DSL or cable - access pipes.

Earthlink is currently planning WiFi networks in five cities, and the total cost of building networks in these cities will be in the $50 million range, according to informed industry insiders. Municipal Wireless is the easiest way for Earthlink to get out from under the yoke of large incumbents, and it has no option but to aggressively chase these opportunities. And to turn it into a viable business, many think the company needs to play in at least 20 cities, including some NFL towns.

It certainly has past history of spinning out businesses. Helio, their MVNO was spun-out and has received backing from SK Telecom of South Korea. So why not Muni Wireless Business? In recent days I have heard fleeting rumors about Earthlink spinning off the muniwireless business as a separate entity, including an investment from a big investment bank."

From Techdirt:

"This leads to Om's prediction that the company will spin off the muni-WiFi efforts, to see if it can be valued at a higher rate. This is the type of thing that could make sense from the Wall St. point of view where they seem to hate businesses that have multiple lines that are valued very differently. It's part of what leads to the "build 'em up, break 'em down" mentality of Wall Street (who, of course, gets fees at each step of the process).

However, as we discussed in that link, these types of deals may be good for shareholders in the short-term, but kill off much of the strategic value for companies in the long term. Where it makes sense for a company trying to transition its business to invest in separate lines, Wall Street doesn't seem to have the patience to understand that this actually does make sense, and would rather break things up and set them afloat alone immediately."

Net Video Downloads Test Limits

From a ZDNet article, "Net video explosion triggers traffic jam worries:"

"The amount of video online is skyrocketing, whether it's "Lost" episodes or movie trailer mash-ups. The phenomenon is putting new stress on ISP networks, which are seeing the demands on their bandwidth burgeon.

Now a new wave of companies--some newcomers, some with familiar faces--are stepping up to play the role of traffic cop, arguing that they have ways to manage this surge in video traffic and keep networks healthy.

"Everyone loses in the current scenario," said Michel Billard, a former HP executive who recently joined start-up Itiva, one of the companies offering video-speeding technology. "What we need is a way to amplify the bandwidth that's available."

Itiva's technology works by taking a huge movie file and breaking it up into tiny individual pieces that are formatted just like ordinary Web pages. When they're downloaded by a user, these individual pieces--Itiva calls them "quanta"--are stored in ISPs' Web caches, which are already distributed in every network.

Once stored separately like this, they can be quickly downloaded and pieced together by anyone else in that network, in a way that's much more inexpensive for the ISP than if everyone was going back to the original download site.

"It's like BitTorrent for ISPs," said one top network company executive familiar with the technology, but who asked not to be named. "It's very much of interest to telcos."

I have also seen a solution from NFT.

From the NFT site:

"NFT is leading the use of distributed systems to overcome this broadcast bottleneck. The basic idea behind such systems is that each viewer's computer will not only act as a receiver of a video stream, but also as a rebroadcast node - passing a copy of its stream onto a small number of other viewers (in the basic NFT system either one or two other viewers).

The major challenge faced by those pursuing the distributed broadcast approach is how to manage the resulting distributed network to provide stable and reliable service when large numbers of viewers are continuously tuning in (joining the network) and tuning out (departing the network)."

Penthera Raises $6.5M

Via alarm:clock, Penthera raises $6.5.

From the post:

"Pittsburgh, PA-based Penthera has just raised a first round at $6.5M for its broadcast mobile video middleware and application-level software, which sits on the broadcast head-end and on handheld devices. Penthera has trade-marked the term Virtual Set-Top Box, which sounds cool. One of its investors, Modeo, is a broadcaster that will roll-out the product towards the end of this year."

From the press release:

"Penthera is uniquly positioned to lead the software segment of the emerging broadcast mobile video market," said Bilge Ogut, a Warburg Pincus managing director. "Their integration with Modeo's U.S. broadcast network is a remarkable achievement and demonstrates Penthera's extensive technical breadth and competence."

From Penthera:

"Penthera Technologies, Inc. provides industry-leading, mobile broadcast software solutions end-to-end so that broadcasters, OEMs, ODMs, and network operators can offer differentiated, revenue-generating, rich media services such as live TV, video and audio programs.

Penthera™ offers patent-pending middleware and application-level software and services on a global basis. The software suite supports a broad range of multi-vendor platforms including broadcast head-end servers and mobile devices such as handsets, PDAs, laptops, and in-vehicle entertainment systems. The Penthera products exploit the natural benefits of a one-to-many, always-on, infinitely-scalable broadcast channel."

User Centric LBS

Interesting post on LSB:

"That said, there seems to be a conspicuous lack of user-centered design in location-based services. User’s context is often not taken into account, and designers frenziness to push for automatic positioning or complex features often leads to poor scenarios as Russell pointed out some time ago. What is missing is not the technology, of course there are lots of clever positionning techniques (GPS/WiFi triangulation/RFIDs/TV waves…) but rather a scenario that fits to users’ needs and their context.

This is the reason why I put the emphasis on the idea that location matters but designers should keep in mind that automatic positioning is just sharing information whereas self-declared positioning is both an information and a communication act.

They found that letting users manually reveal their positions was also good way to get rid of location awareness discrepancies (due to unreliable network, latency, bandwidth, security, unstable topology, or network homogeneity)."

UHF White Space

Daily Wireless is the best site going. They have a great story up today about a couple of bills that may allow unlicenesed use of "white spaces" in the UHF spectrum.

From the post:

"Two new bills want to open up this spectrum up.

• The Wireless Innovation Act, introduced by Senators George Allen (R-VA) and John Kerry (D-MA), directs the FCC to set up rules that would enable unlicensed use of the spectrum between 54Mhz and 698Mhz by the end of the year. The goal of the WINN Act is to increase broadband use rates, especially in rural areas, by making it easier to provide more kinds of Internet service.
  
  

  "Making this technology available in all corners of our country is good for our families, demonstrates the spirit of American innovation and promotes our success in the global economy," said Kerry in a statement. "

• The competing American Broadband for Communities Act (ABC Act) was introduced by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and looks quite similar to the WINN Act, but with different open frequencies, according to the ArsTechnica article. It also directs the FCC to open up "any unused broadcast television spectrum in the band between 72 and 698 megaHertz" which "may be used by unlicensed devices, including wireless broadband devices."
  

"The New America Foundation (pdf) probably has the most spirited and detailed defense of the unlicensed use of the UHF band. Realistically, the U.S. government seems unlikely to forgo the billions in revenue from licensed 700 Mhz users. What is being discussed is how to utilize the spectrum more efficiently.

Forbes estimates that the digital switchover will help the electronics business move $75 billion worth of product in the next three years. Currently, only about 20% of Americans are capable of receiving a digital signal, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The feds have earmarked $1.5 billion to be distributed among the 21 million families who still have analog sets so they can buy digital tuners. Each family will receive up to two $40 vouchers, to be distributed through the Commerce Department."

Scobleizer on RSS Advertising

Scobleizer has a long post about RSS ads and more generally about generating traffic and making money as a content producer. Go check it out.

"Aside, there are at least three ways content owners today make money off of advertising:

1. Show a banner ad when you visit the page (the content owner gets paid everytime you visit that page. For instance, I just went to cnn.com and there’s a banner ad there and they probably got a few cents from my visit.
2. Click-to-pay advertising. You see all those Google ads all over the place? Chris Pirillo’s blog, for instance, has Google ads (so does Blog Herald). These sites only get paid if you actually click on the advertising. For instance, some of the words you click on can be worth up to $60 PER CLICK to Google and other advertising companies (like Mortgages).
3. Interruptive advertising. News.com uses a lot of these kinds of ads. They are Flash movies that fly over the page, or pop up, or run across the page until you click their close or “skip” buttons. These are also paid by impression, or everytime you load the browser up."
   

What is MySpace

This seems to be something people, older people, are asking each other. Here are two attempts at providing answers.

"Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace"

danah boyd
American Association for the Advancement of Science
February 19, 2006

"What we're seeing right now is a cultural shift due to the introduction of a new medium and the emergence of greater restrictions on youth mobility and access. The long-term implications of this are unclear. Regardless of what will come, youth are doing what they've always done - repurposing new mediums in order to learn about social culture.

Technology will have an effect because the underlying architecture and the opportunities afforded are fundamentally different. But youth will continue to work out identity issues, hang out and create spaces that are their own, regardless of what technologies are available."

"Industry Note - The Great Divide: Why is the Valley Afraid of MySpace?"

umair haque

"The challenge, of course, is for geeks to understand that it's exactly this value equation they should be disrupting, not ignoring: making marketing, branding, advertising not evil.

That they're evil doesn't mean you should ignore them - it means you should be destroying them and then redefining them: making them less about Madison Ave and BuzzAgent, and more about the deep 2.0 principles that in fact, are revolutionizing the deep economics of many industries - principles like peer production, gift economies, sharing, transparency, social capital, anticonsumption, and deep culture."

Artificial Life: D2C

Via MocoNews, from Chron.com:

"The new portal will be launched in March 2006. The new m-commerce portal will offer a great variety of proprietary and popular Artificial Life mobile games and content (such as game related wallpapers, screensaver, ring-tones, true-tones, video mails, etc.). Customers can purchase all content and games directly from the website and download the games and content to their phones independent of their location or mobile operator.

"The launch of our new m-commerce portal is a big step forward for us. It will provide us with a new global sales channel directly to end users and an additional revenue stream. It will also make us more independent of the mobile operators and therefore will further strengthen our position in many of the global mobile markets," said Eberhard Schoeneburg, CEO of Artificial Life, Inc."

Artifical Life makes several products including V-Girl, virtual girlfriend.

DVB-H 3GSM Favorite

From Electronics Weekly, industry leaders see DVB-H as the clear favorite for mobile TV.

From the article:

“DVB-H is going to be the big one. The prediction is it’s going to have 40-50 per cent of the market,” said Berardino Baratta, a general manager at Freescale Semiconductor. “The traditional operators are going to license access.”

Gertjan Kaat, senior vice-president for mobile and personal at Philips Semiconductors, thought that, in future, there would be fewer technologies. “DVB-H is by far supported by the biggest community, it has the highest support,” said Kaat, who believes the mobile phone network will not be able to cope with TV.

“There’s a belief in the market that 3G and EDGE can have video-on-demand, but the base stations won’t be able to handle the capacity,” said Freescale’s Baratta. “All the next-generation technologies have to be good at voice; and DVB-H as a separate network doesn’t risk voice.”

See also:
Mobile TV Spectrum Review
Satellite Backbones for Mobile TV
Mobile DTV Alliance
Crown Castle Annouces Modeo
DVB-H Making Some Waves
DVB-H vs. MediaFlo

go2 Mobile Seach

MocoNews has some statistics from go2.

From the post:

“Visits to its mobile, local search websites increased 51 percent in 2005 to more than 24.2 million unique user sessions, up from 15.9 million in 2004. During 2005, go2’s mobile websites, which include Yellow Page, local search and other local information, delivered more than 210 million page views of local information, up 37 percent from over 150 million in 2004.”

Harris Interactive's IPTV Survey

Harris Interactive's released an IPTV Survey last week.

Highlights:

"Many adults expressed a great deal of interest in the interactive features IPTV has to offer, the most popular of which include:

• The ability to save money, since IPTV should be far less costly than cable or satellite (42%)
• The ability to select the time you watch a program (on demand) (33%)
• The ability to receive a broader array of programming content to meet your particular interests (24%)
• High-definition viewing (20%)
• Digital video recording (18%)
• Interactive program guide with navigation and search functions (15%)

Types of providers adults say they would feel most comfortable with delivering IPTV service include:

• A cable company like CableVision or Comcast (33%)
• A new company that has no baggage (25%)
• A technology company like Cisco or Microsoft (15%)
• A telephone provider like Verizon or SBC (13%)
• An Internet provider like AOL or Earthlink (11%)
• A content provider like Disney or CNN (4%)

Milt Ellis, vice president and senior consultant for the Technology Research Practice at Harris Interactive comments: "It’s no surprise to find that consumers want to save money on their cable or satellite bill, but the survey results also show that many consumers are quite interested in having access to a broad range of content to watch, at a time they determine.

When consumers are able to watch their favorite shows at a time of their own choosing, "prime time" may need redefining, network program schedules may have little meaning, and TV ad rates will have to be recalculated. If and when IPTV becomes a mainstream reality, it could be the best of times for consumers and IPTV providers and challenging times for the networks, as well as cable and satellite providers."

Click to Call

A recent survey from Airwide Solutions states that:

"By 2008, 89%of brands will use text and multimedia messaging to reach their audience, with nearly one-third planning to spend in excess of 10% of marketing budgets on the medium. In five years over half of brands(52%) expect to spend between 5% and 25% of total marketing budget on mobile marketing."

Its still hard to tell exactly what mobile marketing is but there is certainly a ton of convergence that will take place over the next five years. First eBay acquired Skype (PDF.) Now Microsoft is getting in the VOIP game.

And then this from The WSJ (subscription required.)

"Consumers trawling Google Inc.'s search engine may have noticed a new icon appearing beside some advertisements on the Google Web site: a little telephone handset.

The handset image is part of a "click to call" test that Google has been running since late last year. Web surfers wanting to talk with a participating advertiser can type their phone numbers in a designated space and have Google connect them on a free call. Google gets the consumer and the merchant talking by causing both their phones to ring at the same time.

"It's the most promising new model in paid search," says Gerry Campbell, vice president of search and directional media at America Online. "Is it as big as paid search? Hopefully, although I don't think that's realistic in the next five years."

Connecting consumers and merchants by telephone could bring new advertisers to paid search, particularly small businesses and services firms that don't transact business online. It could also help companies that rely on call centers to sign up customers."

NFC at Giants Stadium

From Contactless News:

"AT&T Park Installs Contactless Readers From Hypercom; Lets Fans Pay Faster with the Same Security and Protections They've Come to Expect from Visa

The San Francisco Giants and Visa, a proud Giants sponsor since 1997, are making it easier for baseball fans to speed through concession lines at AT&T Park, now that it's equipped to accept Visa Contactless payment cards via 100 special terminals being installed by Hypercom Corporation.

"It is our top priority to create the best possible experience for our fans when they are at the ballpark," said Larry Baer, Giants executive vice president and chief operating officer. "We believe that with Visa's new Contactless technology, the fan experience at our games in 2006 will further be enhanced by faster-moving concession stand lines. We are pleased to be partners with Visa, and to offer the latest in payments technology at AT&T Park."

Visa Contactless technology has been growing in popularity. To date, there are 4 million cards issued worldwide and 20,000 accepting merchant locations in the United States. It is particularly useful in places where speed is important to customers and where cash has been the traditional means of payment. Besides sporting venues, the technology is well-suited for convenience stores - 7-Eleven has equipped all its U.S. stores with the technology - and for quick-service restaurants, gas stations, movie theaters, taxi and mass transit fares."

Participatory Culture Foundation Releases D____ Player

It doesn't look like its up yet but today is the day PCF is suppose to release the windows version of its D_____ Player. PCF has four components:

1. D____ Player: " Desktop application for watching internet TV. Intuitive interface. Free and open source. The centerpiece of our platform."
2. VideoBomb: "Website for sharing videos, creating personal video channels, and filtering up the best videos online. A democratic playground for internet video."
3. Broadcast Machine: "Software for publishing channels (RSS feeds) of video from your website. Installs easily, supports BitTorrent, creates a browsable gallery."
4. Channel Guide: "It greets you when D_______ starts up. The Channel Guide is an open listing of internet TV channels-- video podcasts, vlogs, and much more."

From the Hype page:

"There's a world of amazing independent video out there and now there's an easy way to watch it. DTV is bringing internet TV to the fullscreen -- lean back and enjoy. Browse the built-in channel guide, subscribe to channels, videos download in the background, and DTV notifies you when they're ready to watch. Open-source and open standards means everyone can watch and everyone can create."

MocoNews' 3GSM Mobile TV Roundup

MocoNews has a very comprehensive list of 3GSM mobile TV articles with short synopses.

Some highlights from the post:

Ireland Online

"John Delaney, principal analyst at Ovum, said mobile operators were now looking to recoup investment on 3G through new services such as mobile TV while handset manufacturers see the technology as a way to encourage a fresh boom in sales.

He said Virgin’s decision to use the DAB network rather than 3G or DVB-H would provide a cheaper and quicker but less comprehensive service.

He added: “It is becoming clearer that what is catching the industry’s imagination is providing TV on mobiles.

“Yet what is less clear is what people will be prepared to pay for it."

Game Daily BIZ:

"While entertainment generates some $5 billion in revenue for the mobile phone industry -- less than 1% of overall mobile phone revenues -- revenues could rise to $10 billion in the U.S. if the two sides can band together to crack the mobile advertising code, according to McKinsey and Co. global telecoms chief Rolando Balshinde.

"Advertising will make it viable," explained MTV Networks chief digital officer Jason Hirschhorn. "Free is always good for the consumer."

But while most seemed to agree on the issue of advertising, no one seemed to know what the consumer actually wants: video-on-demand, live TV, community services, mobile soaps, sports or downloads.

The Guardian:

The problem is that the networks are so busy just gobbling up licences to existing content such as film trailers, movie star interviews, music and TV shows - and pushing some pretty low-quality stuff at that - that they could be missing the main event. History shows that this always happens with new media. People recycle what has worked before in the hope that it will work again.

This is why (Peter) Bazalgette's call is so apt and well-timed. He suggested that three things will mark out native mobile content; the killer application would need to harness video, consumer participation and the user generation of proactive consumers.

On the way to creating these new media forms, there is a lot to learn about the desire of people to consume and create content on handheld devices. The conference was jammed with contradictory research. Some companies think people want to watch scheduled linear TV on their mobiles. Others, including Apple, are showing that short-form content is not necessarily the be-all and end-all. Still others, and there is definitely something in this, are finding revenue models for user-created content that is shared peer to peer."

WSJ on Brightcove

There is a good article (subscription required) in today's WSJ about Brightcove.

From the article:

"Reuters is moving faster than other media companies partly because it doesn't have to worry about cable- or satellite-TV operators. Its video footage and reports are sold mostly to TV networks and online sites. "That gives us a little more latitude in the consumer media space," says Stephen Smyth, a Reuters vice president.

To reach its audience in as many forums as possible, Reuters is syndicating through Brightcove 20 video news stories, which are rotated often, to bloggers, small newspapers and other Web sites. Each affiliate site plays the videos on an embedded Brightcove player that features the Reuters brand. Mr. Smyth says these smaller media properties are going to be an important way of attracting consumers as the traditional media audience fragments."

Brightcove previsously covered:
New York Times Picks Brightcove
Brightcove's Adam Gerber
Internet Video Services
Brightcove Gets Funding

IBM: End of TV as we know it

Still digging through the IBM report (full version PDF) but here is the top line recommendations:

"IBM offers six executive recommendations to get started:

Segment: Invest in divergent strategies and supply chains for bimodal consumer types. Identify, develop and continually refine data-driven user profiles in order to optimize product and service development, distribution, marketing messaging, and service migration. Tailor content, advertising, pricing and reach dynamically.

Innovate: Innovate business and pricing models by creating – not resisting – wider consumer choice with windows, bundles, pricing and distribution. Take risks today to avoid losing position long-term.

Experiment: Develop, trial, refine, roll-out. Repeat. Conduct ongoing market experiments alone and with partners to study "real life" consumer preferences. Invest in new measurement systems and metrics for the on demand world of tomorrow.

Mobilize: Create seamless content mobility for users that require on-the-go experiences. Ensure easy synchronization across devices and without user intervention.

Open: Drive open content delivery platforms to optimize content and revenue exploitation, and to create optimum business flexibility and network cost-efficiency. Position open capabilities to bolster digital content protection with consumer flexibility, and for plug-and-play business upgrades necessary in the fast-changing marketplace.

Re-organize: Assess business assets against future requirements. Identify core competencies needed for future competitive advantage. Isolate non-core business components for outsourcing or partnership. From an external perspective, reconfigure business to exploit market and financial levers to buy, build or team to future competitiveness."

Dissecting the Municipal Network

Glenn Fleishman pulls apart Muni Wireless, back end from front end.

From the post:

"Most municipal networks that are being bid out combine several kinds of networks and several kinds of services: The coverage and criticism of municipally authorized and bid networks often focuses strictly on Wi-Fi. That’s just one element. Most municipal networks comprise six separate components.

1. Wifi for mobility...
2. Wifi for residences...
3. Inra-node networks...
4. Back-haul networks...
5. Aggregation...
6. Backbone...

The service side is equally broad, and can include:

• Non-subscriber mobile access
• Subscriber mobile access
• Fixed residential access
• Mobile city workers
• Mobile public safety workers (often, however, on a separate frequency band)
• Fixed business wireless broadband (WiMax like)
• Fixed municipal wireless broadband (WiMax like)
• Fixed smart devices (parking meters, utility meters)
• Mobile city assets (vehicles and equipment tracking)
• Fixed or mobile sensors
• Commuter bus, train, ferry access
• College campus access (for all purposes)
• Indoor municipal building service for city workers

Most of the above are on the plate for every single serious urban municipal broadband RFP, which is one reason why fiber—despite its expense—is often cited as a reasonable part of a broadband plan. If not to the home or node, at least a fiber ring to deal with local backhaul and municipal needs."

Two Senate Community Wireless Bills

Via Smart Mobs, Sascha Meinrath covers the developments in the Senate last week. Seems to be the same post as MuniWireless's.

From the post:

"Two bills were introduced on Friday that would radically improve unlicensed wireless access. Both bills would greatly improve the general public’s access to the public airwaves. The first bill, “The Wireless Innovation Act of 2006,” is a major bi-partisan effort to line up Senators to support Community Wireless. The second, “The American Broadband for Communities Act,” is lead by Republican Senator Stevens and does much the same.

Both bills would open up TV broadcast bands (as proposed by FCC proceedings 04-186) within the next 180 days. These bills are particularly important because of FCC proceedings 05-312 (read the wireless communities' concerns about the 05-312 proceedings here PDF). The 04-186 proceedings are something that I and many other people have been actively working towards for quite some time. You can read our official comments on the 04-186 proceedings here. (PDF)"

Russell Beattie's MySpace Adventure

Russell took the plunge and got a MySpace account. He provides an in depth review of features and issues.

From the post:

"The crimes against good web design added by the members are pretty astounding, I have to say, but it’s not like it’s MySpace’s fault in particular. This I didn’t realize before - yeah, they could be more draconian like Spaces or Yahoo and only allow specific templates, but hey, I’m all for giving members power over their own page too.

They need to put some serious money into infrastructure, every 5th page I loaded gave me an error. Wow. And I love this error when I clicked on the instant message link: “The IM is busted. It’s not working. It is going to take a few weeks to fix. I will post an announcement when its fixed. -Tom” LOL. Gotta love it."

Russell goes through many of the top level features and concludes:

"So the most innovative thing - and what I’ve read about before and thought was really the whole purpose of the site - is the Band profiles and now blogs. These are very cool -you can browse artists both signed and unsigned, see their profiles, add them as your “friends”, subscribe to their blog, see videos and put their music on your home page. There’s also lists of upcoming shows, and a directory of artists. Very cool stuff."

Final thoughts?

"I guess the next step in understanding the whole scene is to find someone who uses it for real and see what they actually get out of it. What’s the really compelling features of MySpace? Then I’ll be able to best understand what a mobile version of the site would really provide to its users, and maybe, just maybe, grok a bit more about the whole area."

Warners Bros goes D2C

Variety has an article up with an interview of Justin Richardson, director of wireless business development for Europe.

From the article:

"Warner Bros. said Thursday that it will start its own mobile Internet site to distribute TV, video and even films to cell phone users -- a move that lessens the company's reliance on cellular carriers.

Warner has been selling through mobile operators, who put bits of content like ringtones and pictures onto their carrier "decks," or portals as they're known in Europe.

The operators typically get about a 50% share of the retail price, which is acceptable to Warner on pure mobile content like ringtones but not good enough for Warner's traditional film and TV fare, Richardson said.

Off-portal, also known as "direct to consumer," was a hot theme at the conference, which ended Thursday and featured a strong mobile-entertainment theme."

Why We Will Watch Mobile TV

More from the Red Herring on why mobile TV is going to be big.

From the article:

"Mobile TV has three unique benefits not available on any other media, he says. First, mobile telecom networks have a built-in payment mechanism. The Internet may be interactive, but if you want to buy something you have to give your credit card number or purchase e-cash on a system like PayPal. But on mobile telecom networks, payments can be built in at a click. Click-to-pay does not exist on any other mass media.

Second, mobile phones are always with us, unlike any other device. No other mass media is so often at our reach. Finally, mobile phones are now replaced at an average rate of 21 months globally. Consumers don’t replace PCs, TVs, radios, or MP3 players at such rapid rates, says Mr. Ahonen. “So when the Nokias and Motorolas and Samsungs decide to put this feature on our next phones, within only a few years we will all have them,” he says."

As to how the actual signal will be distributed, well that's still up for grabs.

"Mobile operators could choose to provide TV services over their own cellular networks, with no broadcast network interaction; operators could add overlay technologies called multimedia broadcast multicast service or broadcast and multicast service that enhance 3G services for broadcasting content; operators could be bypassed altogether by broadcast network operators for mobile broadcast TV, providing only an uplink; the mobile operators could take a leading role in broadcast TV, including some level of interaction with broadcast network services; or mobile operators and broadcasters could team as equal partners to take full advantage of the complementary nature of cellular and broadcast networks."

9 Wireless Companies to Watch

MocoNews points to this recently online article by The Red Herring.

The nine:

• DIBcom: fabless semiconductor company that enable low-power mobile and portable TV reception: Palaiseau, France
• Frontier Silicon: a fabless chip company which says its mobile TV chips and hardware consume less power and are smaller than those made by competitors: Hertfordshire, U.K.
• IceMobile: IceMobile recently launched its VideoCall2TV technology and formats that allow viewers to make a video call from their 3G to a TV program and participate in the show with live spontaneous performances: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Microvision: Microvision, which already makes wearable displays for industrial and military use, is positioning itself to move into the consumer space by partnering with other equipment manufacturers: Bothell, WA
• MobiTV: Mobile video aggregator: Emeryville, CA
• Mobix Interactive: Mobix Interactive retrofits existing TV programming such as Fashion TV for mobile phones, creates original video content, and broadcasts live TV like rock concerts to mobile phones: London SW U.K.
• OnTimetek: OnTimetek specializes in mobile streaming platforms, including DMB encoders and receivers: Kyungi-Do, South Korea
• Sling Media: Slingbox redirects a TV stream from a cable box, satellite receiver, or DVR in a consumer’s home to an Internet-connected PC and mobile: San Mateo, CA
• The Mobile Media Company: Mobile Media enables mobile broadcasters and content owners to launch, manage, and control their own mobile video portals offering live TV, streamed video, and downloadable on-demand clips: Oslo, Norway

Meme Testing: Breememe

Round two of the realtime speed tests. Breememe will be tested on memeorandum and TailRank.

Brought to you by Steve Rubel.

2006: Passwords Get Real?

Nick points to this DHS report (PDF) on security threats for 2006.

From the report:

• Hackers Use Instant Messaging To Spread Viruses and Worms
• Phishing Fraud Becomes More Prevalent and Sophisticated
• Viruses Attack Cell Phones and PDAs
• Hackers Target Online Brokerage Accounts
• Internet Crimes Go Unreported

Wired is also reporting on the 2006 RSA Conference.

From the article:

"(John) Callas is currently the CTO of PGP, the industry leader in encrypted communications and data storage.

"Now we are not dealing with kids having fun," Callas said. "We are dealing with criminals -- the Russian mafia. And online banking risks are there if your bank offers it, even if you don't use it."

E-trade, for instance, already offers free RSA security tokens to its most active users. Those battery-powered devices work by using a using a seed number and the current time to cryptographically generate a secure one-time code to complement the normal user login and password.

But those gadgets aren't cheap and most people don't want multiple tokens or prefer not to carry them around. That's prompted newcomers to find alternative methods of performing "two factor" authentication."

The Oasys of Pherotones

Oasys Mobile is getting a ton of buzz (with the right people?) over its Pherotones campaign.

From the NY Times article:

"But rather than the revolutionary product that Pherotones promised, the ads were the beginning of a buzz marketing campaign under the guise of a fake product (Pherotones) and a fake doctor (Dr. Myra Vanderhood) with a fake Web site (Pherotones.com), all for a real client with less than $250,000 to spend.

And the planners of buzz marketing campaigns often say that in order to reach the modern multitasking consumer — who may be simultaneously watching television, talking on a cellphone, reading the Internet and sending instant messages — advertising must be a two-way conversation to have an effect.

"The consumers in that target demographic do not want in-your-face marketing," said Gary Ban, the chief executive for Oasys Mobile. "We wanted something that was risqué, funny and something that involves the consumer. If you're doing something that they can identify with, that they can participate in, that's basically something that that generation can tune into."

MySpace/Helio: Under the Hood

Daily Wireless takes a deeper dig into the deal:

"Helio will feature MySpace Mobile at launch, offering mobile access to the MySpace community from Helio phones, including moblogging. MySpace On Helio will essentially give the 55 million MySpace users an opportunity to disconnect from their PCs and access their email, bulletins, profiles, blogs, and photos from their mobile phones.

The two phones are dubbed the Hero and the Kickflip. The Hero (previously known as the Pantech 8300) is a slider with stereo speakers. The Kickflip, made by VK Mobile, is a "pearlescent" phone with a spring-assisted swivel mechanism that opens in either direction.

Both phones are CDMA EV-DO with QVGA displays, 2 megapixel cameras, 70 MB of memory, microSD memory card slots, and speakerphone. All Helio phones will come with an MP3 music player, MPEG-4 streaming video, and Mobile Flash for interactive content.

It's still not clear which carrier Helio will use for spectrum -- Sprint would be the most likely candidate. What spectrum will Murdock will use for (yet to be announced) Mobile Video? One guess would be Intel-backed DVB-H from Modeo, the Crown Castle backed 1.7 GHz system.

Murdock's quad play may now be coming in focus; television (DirecTV), cellular (Helio), mobile video (Modeo) and for Mobile WiMAX it would likely use Sprint and Clearwire spectrum at 2.5 GHz."

Russell Beattie: MySpace, I don't get it

Russell comments on the MySpace/Helio deal:

"Why? Because I just don’t get it. I wish I did, but I don’t. Those crazy kids today, and all that. I mean, I get the components of it all - community, pictures, messages, music, social networking, yada-yada, but I don’t *get* why MySpace in particular is popular. I don’t grok it down deep. Or Facebook for that matter (not that I’ve ever seen Facebook - what a competitive advantage, hey? If you’re out of school you can’t even see what the hell the site does!). Why did these sites get such traction when others didn’t?

New mobile services are centered squarely at the MySpace culture and demographic… if I don’t grok them, I may not grok the future of mobility.

That’s going to keep me up at night, I swear."

I have only seen a little bit of Facebook past the first page. Actually it was fairly interesting, for other reasons. I too don't really get MySpace. The pages look awful and I don't understand the adding friends appeal. Oh well, that will make two of us up at night.

Hierarchy of Needs 2.0

Bruno Giussani pulls some data points from a recent Morgan Stanley report:

• "North America accounted for 66% of all Internet users in 1995, for only 23% in 2005.
• South Korea is the most broadband-friendly country in the world: 70%+ penetration.
• At the end of September 2004 there were 193 million broadband subscribers globally (63 mm in Asia, 47 mm in North America).
• Annual ringtones sales (May 2005): 3 billion USD. Cumulative iTunes sales (Sept 2005): 559+ million USD.
• Annual engineering graduates 2004: USA: 76'000; India: 184'000; China: 352'000; Rest of the world: 1'007'000.
• In 2004, cell phone users sent 1.1 trillion SMS messages, generating 50 billion USD in revenues for the operators.

The analysts write: "We believe the first ten years (1995-2005) of commercial Internet were a warm-up act to what is about to happen". And they wonder whether in this context we shouldn't think of revising the "hierarchy of needs" suggested in 1943 by Abraham Maslow. Here is how they imagine a revised version:"

David Sifry Reports on Brrreeeport

Sifry: "So I just wanted to keep y'all updated. Technorati: 422. Google Blog Search: 337.

(Robert Scoble created a very interesting meme and test: To see how well folks in the blogosphere are indexed by the major search engines.")

worklife.freedom

From GotoMobile, a study (PDF) from Visto about its worklife.freedom initative. From the study:

"The survey, conducted with mobile professionals in the US, UK and Italy, shows that 80 per cent of mobile professionals want the ability to work flexibly, with users viewing mobile email as a key tool. Additionally, 70 per cent of respondents want the ability to access both professional and personal email on the same device to better manage work life balance issues."

Intel Centrino Mobile Technology

From PC World:

"During 2006, many of our customers will offer Intel Centrino Mobile Technology laptops that not only feature built in Wi-Fi technology, but also an internal 3GSM data card and an integrated SIM reader," Sean Maloney, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's Mobility Group, said in a statement. "This will turn the notebook into a real multi-communications terminal, and the SIM into a real authentication vehicle for GSM, GPRS, EDGE, 3GSM, HSDPA and Wi-Fi networks."

From TechDirt:

"The Intel action begs the question: if other wireless broadband technologies get deployed first, and then bundled into laptops, what opportunity will be left for mobile WiMAX? In 2005, we said, "If WiMAX falters, is unduly delayed, or is beaten to mobility by some other technology (which appears to be happening), then at some point, Intel will simply abandon ship and adopt the other technology."

MySpace and Verizon: Calling All Bands

From Wireless Week:

"Verizon Wireless and MySpace are launching the "Calling All Bands" contest where one lucky unsigned band will get the chance to launch their career on a wireless phone.

The winner will get the opportunity to have its song, music video, ringtone and ringback tone released on Verizon's network. The band also will work with Verizon to produce a music video that will be released on V CAST, plus a ringtone and ringback tone of the winning song that will be available for purchase by Verizon customers.

Beginning tomorrow, any unsigned band on MySpace can submit an original song for the "Calling All Bands" contest. From the submissions, 15 semifinalists will be selected and the MySpace community of friends and fans will be able to listen and vote online for their favorite band from the contest page. The top five entries to receive the most votes will become finalists; the winner will be chosen among the finalists by Verizon and MySpace and will be announced on MySpace at the end of March."

MySpace on Helio: Update

In what must be a blow to Amp'd, MySpace launches in an exclusive deal on Helio.

From MocoNews:

"The “MySpace Mobile On Helio” will leverage the devices’ advanced capabilities to keep MySpace members connected to their network through mail, bulletins, profiles, blogs and photo galleries, the company said."

From the press release:

"The mobile service will offer a look, feel and overall customer expereince that are true to the online MySpace environment while optimizing it for mobile including:

• Mailbox: Ability to read and write MySpace mail from your Helio device
• Bulletin: Send messages to all your friends anytime, anywhere from your Helio device
• Blogs: Read and write blogs on-the-go without a PC
• Photos: View photos on friend's profiles optimized for your Helio screen
• Profiles: View profiles and add new friends as you meet them directly from your Helio device.

The service will also enhance the overall MySpace expereince with new features and content sources including:

• Photo posting directly from a Helio device so expereinces are shared as they happen
• Added photo storage capacity exclusively for Helio members
• A mobile online status indicator in a user profile for those online via a Helio device

TechDirt Reviews Senate Muni Wireless

From the post:

"In a Senate hearing on municipal broadband efforts today we learned a whole lot of nothing. Basically, Senators who have already stated a position for or against municipal broadband stuck by what they've said before. Speakers at the hearing favored one side or the other, but didn't appear to say anything even remotely original. Those on the fence? Well, it appears they remained on the fence. In other words, a whole lot of nothing was accomplished that could have been accomplished months ago, if Senators had gone out and read some of the news and blog coverage of the whole debate that's been going on for quite some time."

From CNET:

"For some at Wednesday's hearing, the answer was clear: If the nation hopes to pull up its worldwide ranking in broadband deployment, the federal government must step in and protect the rights of municipalities to build their own broadband networks. "As we work to reach the goal of universal broadband, we must open new doors, not slam them shut," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat."

Senate Hearings on Muni Wireless

Daily Wireless highlights the senate hearings today:

"Today, the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is holding hearings on "State and Local Issues and Municipal Networks".

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Co-Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) have scheduled a Full Committee Hearing on State and Local Issues and Municipal Networks for 10am on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 in room 562 of the Dirksen Building (webcast)."

And this search tool:

"Muninetguide provides a searchable online database of municipal and related Web sites with more than 7,500 listings of Web sites that pertain to state and local governments, agencies and related organizations."

Brrreeeport

Since I missed out on the blond joke, I present brrreeeport.

Creating Trend Units

From Trend Watcher, a new article on how to stay on top of and utilize the knowledge gained from trend watching.

From the post:

"The 3 main challenges

1. Management and corporate culture (‘They’re just not into trends’)
2. Resources (Information overload or starvation, lack of time and/or lack of funds)
3. Understanding and applying trends (How to think Big Picture? What to actually do with your point of view?)

If you're facing one (or maybe all three) of these challenges, you know how hard it can be to remain upbeat about making trend watching an integral part of your daily work. The good news is that none of these challenges are life-threatening. In fact, as stated at the beginning of this document, everything you need to overcome these challenges is available.

Our recommendation? Start your own corporate TREND UNIT."

They recommend an ad hoc group dedicated to discussing trends. How do you spot trends?

"Fine-tuning your trend watcher mindset

• Look cross-industry, cross-discipline, cross-demographics, cross-class.
• Think like a (paranoid) CEO, even if you don’t get paid like one. Stop being 'just' a specialist and aim to become a generalist: yes, we all need to be a specialist in something. However, we also need to be generalists, to understand the big picture and how we and our companies and products fit in.
• Never dismiss anything too quickly. Many of today’s success stories, from the camera phone to the Airbus 380, were dismissed and ridiculed from the day they were imagined, announced or conceived.
• Ask questions. Why is something happening? Why was it introduced? Why do consumers like it? Or why do they hate it?
• Try stuff out: the proof of the pudding is always in the eating.
• Read a random magazine every week (buy one you would normally NEVER read), or a random blog!
• Taboos, prejudices, dogmatism, negativity: all of this will stop you from picking up new ideas (and becoming a more pleasant person!), understanding many of your customers, and will thus cost you money."

What do you do when you spot trends?

"Applying trend information

Ask yourself if the trend you’re discussing has the potential to:

1. Vision
   Influence your company's vision
2. New business concepts
   Come up with a new business concept, an entirely new venture
3. New products, services, experiences
   Add ‘something’ new for a certain customer segment
4. Marketing, advertising, PR
   Speak the language of those consumers ‘setting the trend’: we haven’t come across too many trends that were not useful in shaping (part of your) marketing messages.
5. Internal
   Improve your organizational processes"

CNN Enhanced TV Reviews

From Lost Remote, CNN Ehanched TV launches on Dish.

"CNN's air takes up a quarter of the screen with real-time information from CNN.com occupying the rest. "The ideal interactive experience is one that actually enhances the viewing of the linear network, so you aren't tuning away from the linear network and are increasing time spent viewing it," said Kevin Cohen, SVP of strategic planning for Turner Broadcasting Systems."

From MediaBistro (Screen shot courtesy of):

The service is CNN's "first major one-screen interactive TV application that runs along with its regular CNN linear cable channel to 11 million EchoStar customers outfitted with ITV-capable set-top boxes," according to TV Week.

In the future: "Users will be able to access the CNN Enhanced TV application whenever they tune into CNN/U.S. located on channel 200. There is no additional fee to DISH Network subscribers for access to CNN Enhanced TV."

Umair Haque on MySpace

Umair is a big commentator on edge competency. He takes a look at MySpace in this post:

"All of which begs a few very interesting questions, since it's going to be the first time big media has really tried to capture a share of the value created by a community at the edge:

0) The philosphical question: is the strategy about milking the community's social capital (and killing it), or treating it with the care it needs?

1) Will they be traditional (lame) ads? Not recommended.

2) Will they try and seed the community with flacks? Extremely not recommended.

3) Will they leverage the community itself = the snowball effect? Recommended.

4) Will they choose the right companies to work with? It looks a little dubious from that list. Nike meets Myspace goths? That's exactly what everyone was afraid Fox would do with Myspace!!

999) Is advertising (traditional) really the revenue stream with the greatest returns from Myspace? Will Fox use this as a platform to redefine advertising for an ultraconnected era? Will Fox clue in to the commoditization of meaning?"

More Indentity 2.0

The identity issue is not going away and though it makes me kind of sleepy, its really important. I am glad Nick is thinking about it for me.

From Nick's post:

"You'll have an identity no matter how you authenticate, but the more you rely on your identity the more important it becomes and the more secure it should be. But I think most of the identity players are focused on making identity easier - i.e. fewer logins."

Nick points to this great overview post from xmlgrrl:

• OpenID: A system for supporting URL-based identifiers, allowing for a confirmation to prove that it’s your URL (a la email confirmation loops)
• LID: A system for supporting URL-based identifiers, now coordinating closely with OpenID so as not to compete unnecessarily
• YADIS: A policy protocol to let a relying party discover whether an authority uses OpenID or LID and adjust its behavior accordingly
• SXIP: A company that has built identity solutions and protocols with an intended focus on easy integration with existing web apps
• DIX: A proposal for IETF identity protocol work driven by SXIP; a BOF is scheduled soon to consider WG creation
• Pubcookie: A classic cookie-based system for non-federated single sign-on within a single domain
• XRI: An effort within OASIS to build a new URI scheme for use in creating identifiers and resolving information about identities
• i-names: Simple XRI-compatible identifiers, which for people take the form of =name
• Identity Commons: An organization developing stock sets of policies for identity information usage, a la Creative Commons
• SAML: An OASIS standard for representation and federated exchange of identity information, with a focus on human-facing interactions
• Liberty: A set of technology standards and business guidelines for privacy-enabled identity interactions, both human-facing and machine-to-machine
• WS-Federation: A privately produced protocol for identity federation, with current product support focusing on human-facing interactions
• Infocard: Microsoft’s new UI component for a client that can mediate identity interactions, similarly to LECPs/ECPs (see below)

Emily Chang is on Fire

Two fantastic articles co-written by Emily Chang.

"The Agile Web Design Manifesto, An Introduction"

Core principles of Agile Web Design
- Design the system not the surface
- Design as evolutionary and user-driven
- There is no page, only pathways
- Rapid and iterative over final
- Simplicity over complexity
- Collaborative and open design

"Design 2.0: Minimalism, Trancparency, and You"

One of the questions asked in each interview is “What is your design philosophy?”

In reading the current sixty interview responses, there’s a clear trend towards several key words that continue to appear in people’s answers:

• simple
• fast
• intuitive
• social
  
• minimal
• choice
• useful
• fun

IPTV vs. TV over IP

Om raises a great issue about the ways in which video content are going to be consumed. He points to this comment by Thomas Nolle, “Steve Jobs took a giant step toward making IPTV a non-issue when he announced the Video iPod…..If consumers want portable, personalized, video experiences, will their as-I-want-it attitude carry over into their home-viewing patterns?”

Om asks for comments while also pointing to his previsous posts about IPTV and the downloadable television.

I think the issue is not so much about the Ipod and everyone asking why people would watch television shows on a 2"x2" screen, its about how you got the television show in the first place.

I haven't had a RBOC account for five years. There is no way I am going to trust any of those players to deliver IPTV. I want a fast pipe and a place to download shows I want to watch. That's what the Itunes store (and Comcast) gave me. Now I download "Lost" and watch it on my computer. Its not HD but I don't care, its good enough.

Also see The Mossberg Report for a review of other portable video players.

Net Neutrality Roundup

This story seems to have legs.

Smart Mobs points to an article from the BBC by Bill Thompson and commentary from Lawrence Lessig.

Bill Thompson:

"I'm a market socialist, and I believe that regulated markets are the best way to create social value. I have also been using the net since 1985 and I have seen it evolve and grow thanks to the balance between regulation and market forces. That balance has to be maintained.

Social justice is best served by ensuring that public utilities, of which the network is surely one, are regulated in the public interest.

Markets fail, and they do so in ways that any humane society must address. Ensuring that network access is available to all and that the network itself carries all lawful traffic is the only way forward.

We must just hope that the US government recognises that this is the case, and sets a good example to the rest of the world."

Lessig's testimony to the senate can be found here (PDF.)

"It was in large part because the network respected what Saltzer, Clark and Reed called "the 'end-to-end' principle" that the explosive growth of the Internet happened. If this committe wants to preserve that growth and innovation, it should take steps to protect this fundemental design."

Techdirt points to a Cringely post and concludes;

"The key point, though, is that the arguments for why the broadband providers claim they need to end network neutrality are bogus -- and it's time to call their bluff. The problems they're claiming are all fixable via technology (though, not necessarily the technology from Cringely's friends at Burst.com, which is what he suggests). And, if the telcos really think they're going to go out of business by continuing to offer the internet as is, then let's see it happen. The internet won't die if those companies go out of business, so why should we protect the business models of a few companies who can't see far enough ahead to make their business models work in a space where there's tremendous opportunity?"

The Cringely article:

"I asked Bob Kahn, the father of TCP/IP, and he made the point that the Internet is a Best Effort network and if you change that, well, you no longer have the Internet. Remember when Compuserve and AOL and other network providers existed in parallel, providing access to the Internet for their users but only through a kind of protocol translation gateway? Remember how terrible that was? Well, that is effectively what Congress is being asked to mandate.

This is lunacy."

Nokia UMA

Carlo at MobHappy discusses Nokia's push for UMA.

From the post:

"There’s little doubt that UMA will be a disruptive force in the mobile telecom industry. It promises to meld the benefits of fixed or PC-based VoIP with those of mobile telephony. But why it’s so compelling for Nokia is that it gives them an opportunity to expand their pool of customers beyond just mobile operators. Sure, they go on about how mobile operators can leverage all their assets and plenty of other buzzphrases, saying UMA lets them boost network coverage and reduce costs as well as introduce new services. But it also gives plenty of companies that want to get into the mobile space a foothold — companies like cable operators, fixed-line companies, even strong Internet brands.

For someone like a cable operator, an MVNO using its own networks for UMA backhaul is a pretty compelling proposition. A fixed operator can offer a similar network, and for a diversified telecoms company, like France Telecom — say with its Wanadoo ISP and Orange mobile network in the UK — it makes even more sense. The telecoms infrastructure market is slowly melding fixed and mobile; for consumers this mix will happen even more quickly. By seizing on UMA, Nokia can expand outside its traditional networks sales area, and grow its carrier customer base."