Video Blogs: The Next Step

CNN Money and Business 2.0 have an article about video blogs today. I think video blogs are the next step in organising user generated content.

From the article:

"With the proliferation of devices like the video iPod, the vlog boom is on. As of March there were more than 6,500 vlogs, says directory Mefeedia.com, compared with fewer than 300 a year earlier.

And there's good news for vloggers who want to monetize their fame: Advertisers are getting more comfortable with online video spots. In the United States, Internet video ads brought in $225 million in 2005 and are expected to break the $1 billion mark in 2008, according to eMarketer, a New York research firm. "Vlogs are very targetable," says eMarketer analyst David Hallerman. "They're small, but they have a niche audience."

True to its unconventional style, Rocketboom auctioned off its first week of ads on eBay (Research). Bidders were warned that Rocketboom would have complete creative control over the spots. TRM, an ATM sales company based in Portland, Ore., won with a bid of $40,000. In exchange, Baron and Congdon shot and aired five 60-second spots featuring Congdon in two roles: an ATM sales rep in superhero garb, and a masked villain trying to blow up TRM.

Of course, Madison Avenue firms aren't lining up to buy ad space just yet. After all, this is a quirky, do-it-yourself medium where content ranges from the sublime to the unwatchable. "There isn't enough critical mass for us to go to a client and say, 'This is something that's going to work for you,'" says Charles Pinkerton, partner at New York-based Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners' the Media Kitchen."

Net Neutrality Goes Down in the House

From Daily Wireless:

"The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 34-22 on Wednesday to defeat a Democrat-sponsored Net Neutrality amendment that would have prevented AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from creating "tiered" internet access. Members of the committee rejected Edward Markey's measure that would have barred telcos from creating higher access fees from competing internet content companies.

The issue pits big telecoms companies against Google, Yahoo and eBay. Phone companies say they need a toll structure to fund the "last mile". Services like Skype or Google Video, that compete directly with the phone company services, say they'll be shut out.

The network neutrality issue is part of a much larger House bill, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006, that significantly rewrites telecommunications laws. The bill focuses on providing the telephone companies with a national video franchise, eliminating the time-consuming and expensive local franchise process for Telcos."

From the Red Herring:

"Despite furious protests from a broad coalition of supporters and intense lobbying from Internet companies such as Google, a Net neutrality amendment died in committee as the battle for Internet control raged late into the evening Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

The term Net neutrality has come to represent the concept of an Internet where no traffic is given preferential treatment based on compensation to the companies that own the Internet’s underlying broadband network: the phone and cable companies.

If passed, the bill will significantly shrink the telephone companies’ time-to-market by granting them national entrée into a market that has been the predominant preserve of about a dozen cable TV service providers since the market’s inception about two decades ago."

From TechDirt:

"One of the interesting things about the debates that we have here about legal issues concerning innovation is that they tend not to be partisan. It's never been easy to line up a specific intellectual property agenda with one party or another -- which tends to mean that any debate on the subject at least focuses a bit more on the issues, rather than stereotypes of Democrats or Republicans. However, it looks like the network neutrality debate is suddenly becoming partisan -- which is a worrisome trend.

However, it's telling that everyone is now covering it as a partisan issue, whether the headline is "GOP Gets It Way on Net Neutrality" or "Democrats lose House vote on Net neutrality". This is an important issue to discuss, without there needing to be partisan bickering about it. Network neutrality is quite a complex topic, and unfortunately, it seems like both sides of the debate are simplifying it down to slogans which risk confusing, rather than enlightening, people.

The only reasons the telcos are in the position to violate network neutrality are because they've pretty much been granted subsidies and monopoly rights of way -- and part of that bargain was that to increase competition, there needed to be open and fair access.

To suddenly claim that we need a hands off approach is ignoring the fact that there's never been a hands off approach and the companies involved were granted special rights."

More:
Jeff Pulver: Save the Internet, Win $1,000
Jeff Pulvier's RBOC SMackdown
Many More Net Neutrality Posts

Helio's Got Mad Game

Following a press release (PDF) from Helio, MocoNews has some highlights.

From MocoNews:

"There’s some interesting features based on SK Telecom technology: “The ability to “gift,” or purchase and share favorite games with another Helio member, or “beg” another Helio member to purchase a favorite game for you”. There’s also a rental option to test out the game. Perhaps more useful is the partnership with games site IGN, which will see independent games ratings and reviews for the games on the service.

“The game service also offers Helio members a number of custom tools including animated previews of in-game footage for titles, “cheat codes” free-of-charge for purchased games, a “wish-list” function that allows you to catalog favorite games for purchase later, and a “download locker” for free-of-charge re-downloads of purchased games.”

Helio needs to differentiate itself based on content and user interface so I expect all the different types of content will be presented in a unique way."

From the press release: (PDF)

"The Helio game service features an original user interface that expands the expereince with updates and information beyond and dull list of games. Unique to Helio is the integration of independant games and reviews through a partnership with IGN.com, a leading internet videogame and entertainment destination. Posted on individual profile screens for each game, this information allows members to gain expert insight into games before the purchase through a direct connection to the gaming community.

Partners include:

• Airborne Entertainment
• Com2uS
• Cosmic Infinity
• Digital Chocolate
• EA Mobile
• Exit Games
• Floodgate
• Gameloft
• Gamevil
• Glu Mobile
• Hands-On Mobile
• SkyZone
• THQ Wireless"

Google SketchUp

In another "all your bases are belonging to us" move, Google released a free personal version of SketchUp.

From Zmarties:

"Having recently bought the company and 3d design product SketchUp, Google has (sic) now taken the next step of releasing a free personal version of the SketchUp software. Currently available for Windows XP, with a Mac version "coming soon", the program allows for simple drag and drop design of 3d models - which amongst other uses can then be displayed in Google Earth. The pro version remains available for commercial use, with lots more features.

Google are also introducing 3D Warehouse, designed as a repository for 3d models created in the program. The models can be viewed in Google Earth via a network link, so you can see geolocated models as you browse the world, rather than having to explicitly download them. Google has pre-populated the warehouse with a number of models which range from complete complex buildings, such as the Taj Mahal, through to individual design elements such as traffic lights and furniture."

Apple TV

Lost Remote has some thoughts about how much Apple has changed the world of TV, and maybe its just getting started.

From the post:

"This is just a quarter of Apple's booth, which as a whole is packed with 500+ people. This group is watching a demo of Final Studio Pro on the new MacBook Pro -- high-def editing and full studio effects on a laptop. Says one of the Apple guys, "Apple just killed the idea of a $300,000 edit suite."

Beyond the fact Apple brought studio-quality editing to desktops and laptops -- and captured a major segment of the TV production market -- they opened up non-linear editing to the masses. Millions of people have bought a copy of Final Cut Pro. Teenagers know how to edit on it.

There's a powerful lesson here for TV. Think beyond your existing (decreasing) consumer base and traditional business models. Think of your consumers as anyone with any interest in media (everyone.) Then empower them. Become facilitators to help them manage your content... and their content."

Microsoft Massive and Sony

In-Game Advertising has another tidbit on the Microsoft Massive potential deal.

From the post:

"The notion that Sony might reject ads placed by Massive "is a possibility, but it may not in fact be the way things turn out," Mr. Miscoll said. He added that Sony or others, even if they compete with Microsoft, may not be able to resist accepting Massive's advertising because 'the economics of the Massive network to the video game publishers are very compelling.'"

Richard Edelman: The Me2 Revolution

Karl Long at Futurelab points to this Richard Edelman repost of a report he did back in February for PRWeek. Its an interesting assessment of how companies need to change the way they communicate with consumers.

From the article:

"Smart companies must reinvent their communications thinking, moving away from a sole reliance on top-down messages delivered through mass advertising. This is the Me2 Revolution. What is now required is a combination of outreach to traditional elites, including investors, regulators, and academics, plus the new elites, such as involved consumers, empowered employees, and non-governmental organizations.

In the US, for example, the "person like yourself or your peer" was only trusted by 22% of respondents as recently as 2003, while in this year's study, 68% of respondents said they trusted a peer. Contrast that to the CEO, who ranks in the bottom half of credible sources in all countries, at 28% trust in the US, near the level of lawyers and legislators.

How can companies embrace this future of empowered stakeholders? Speak from the inside out, telling your employees and customers what is happening so they can spread the word for you. Be transparent, revealing what you know when you know it while committing to updating as you learn more. Be willing to yield control of the message in favor of a rich dialogue, in which you learn by listening.

Recognize the importance of repetition of the story in multiple venues, because nobody believes something he or she hears or sees for the first time. Embrace new technologies, from employee blogs to podcasts, because audiences are becoming ever more segmented. Co-create a brand by taking on an issue that makes sense for your business, such as GE's Ecomagination campaign where green is truly green."

Karl's chart:

ComVu: Live from the Palm of Your Hand

Via MocoNews, ComVu annouce today it has taken one more step towards living up to the company tag line.

From the release:

"ComVu, a leading company in the personal mobile video broadcasting industry, today announced the world’s first live video broadcasting from a 3G camera phone direct to the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld) network. ComVu is working closely with Modeo, a pioneer in mobile television broadcast technology, to provide millions of citizen reporters with the ability to broadcast breaking news live to a global television audience."

"It’s an exciting time for the broadcast industry when millions of mobile consumers can view high quality television on Modeo integrated DVB-H smartphones with Windows Media technologies," says William Mutual, CEO of ComVu. "ComVu currently offers mobile newscasters an efficient way to broadcast live to a few thousand simultaneous viewers. However, with DVB-H, ComVu will enable the ultimate distribution solution for citizen powered journalism and user generated content with immediate reach by next year to an audience in the tens of millions worldwide."

"The combination of Windows Mobile 5.0 powered devices and the Windows Media platform is creating exciting new mobile media opportunities ," said Chad Hodge director of Windows Digital Media at Microsoft Corp. "By leveraging the ComVu PocketCaster application the same Windows Media technologies that are used to deliver professional content to mobile viewers over Modeo's network can be used for consumers to gain access to a global audience."

From MocoNews:

"To be clear, it’s not using DVB-H technology to get the video from the handset to the servers, but from the servers to all the viewers. ComVu is working closely with Modeo, the main company rolling out DVB-H services in the US, and expects to roll out its services in 30 major US cities throughout 2007.

The service isn’t free, there’s a $4-200 per month subscription fee — that’s a big range, and I assume there’s a vastly different service offered depending on how much you pay."

Microsoft Buying Massive

Via In-Game Advertising, there is a story in the Wall Street Jounal that says Microsoft is going to acquire Massive.

From the CNET:

"Microsoft is said to be planning to buy in-game advertising heavyweight Massive in a deal worth $200 million to $400 million, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.

According to the Journal (paid subscription required), Microsoft expects to acquire the 80-person New York City outfit in a bid to bring the technology behind much of the ads found in video games today in-house."

Vedrashko bought a copy - here are some pull quotes:

"Advertisers spent about $56 million on advertisements in videogames last year, up from $34 million the prior year."

"So far, Massive mainly delivers ads into games for personal computers, which are commonly connected to the Internet. But a bigger opportunity lies in delivering ads to systems such as Xbox 360, Sony Corp's forthcoming Playstation 3 and other consoles that account for most of the industry's sales. [...] Massive, in fact, has quietly begun delivering ads into games for the Xbox including Ubisoft's action title, "Rainbow Six Lockdown".

Lost Remote NAB News Room Ideas

Lost Remote had a get together at NAB yesterday and here are some spot on ideas for making local news and web coverage better.

From the post:

• Don’t just break news online, also break exclusive news.
• Publish research online.
• Break the deadline mindset, keep your content fresh.
• Provide follow ups to stories online.
• Reduce clutter on homepages.
• Put community-generated content on your websites

BBC iPlayer

This is a really big deal. I wish we had this kind of big company activity in the US.

From the article:

The BBC today unveiled radical plans to rebuild its website around user-generated content, including blogs and home videos, with the aim of creating a public service version of MySpace.com.

Ashley Highfield, the BBC director of new media and technology, also announced proposals to put the corporation's entire programme catalogue online for the first time from tomorrow in written archive form, as an "experimental prototype", and rebrand MyBBCPlayer as BBC iPlayer.

The BBC is also running a competition to revamp the bbc.co.uk 2.0 website, asking the public to redesign the homepage to "exploit the fuctionality and usability of services such as Flickr, YouTube, Technorati and Wikipedia".

At the heart of the play concept is MyBBCPlayer, which will allow the public to download and view BBC programming online and was today rebranded as BBC iPlayer.

"BBC iPlayer is going to offer catch-up television up to seven days after transmission," said Mr Highfield. "At any time you will be able to download any programme from the eight BBC channels and watch it on your PC and, we hope, move it across to your TV set or down to your mobile phone to watch it when you want."

The find concept relates to next-generation search and unlocking the BBC archive. From tomorrow internet users will for the first time be able to search for details of the corporation's entire programme catalogue as far back as 1937.

More Ashley Highfield:
Mix06: Bill Gates, Aber Whitcom, Ashley Highfield and Tim O'Reilly
BBC TV over IP

New Democracy Player v0.8.2

I think the whole Democracy Project is pretty cool. They released a new, faster version of the player.

From the announcment:

"We’re wicked pumped to announce the newest version of Democracy Player today! Version 0.8.2 is faster, more responsive, easy-to-use, stable, and looks well-organized, intuitive, obvious, and cleaner. We have been aggressively testing this new version for the past week, worked out a bunch of bugs, and now find Democracy Player at a point that is undeniably satisfying."

Get the new player here: Get Democracy

Also of interest:

"The Channel Guide now boasts over 400 channels and there are hosts of webpages of video that deserve to be watched on your internet TV. One of my favorite channels/webpages to watch in Democracy Player is the Ubu channel — it has archived art and non-art videos collected by really dedicated people.

To watch webpages in your Democracy Player, click on the “Add Channel” button and paste in the webpage’s url — Democracy Player will do all the work of finding and grabbing videos and update you whenever there is a new video posted to the site. If you’ve never watched videos on your own internet TV before, you might enjoy full screen, automatic video delivery of your favorite videos from the web."

Democracy Blog

NAB: The Shape of Things to Come

The NAB pannel "The Shape of Things to Come," must have been really interesting.

From the NAB site:

"Newsroom luminaries share their thoughts on the myriad issues that must be examined as station executives develop their long-range plans and make capital equipment investments. There is no easy answer. Come voice your opinion and share your experience at this important town hall meeting produced by RTNDA and NAB.

Moderator
John Seigenthaler, Anchor and Correspondent, NBC & MSNBC, New York, NY

Panelists

• Tom Curley, President and CEO, Associated Press, Washington, DC
• Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products and User Experience, Google, Mountain View, CA
• Harvey Nagler, Vice President, CBS Radio, New York, NY
• Jorge Ramos, Co-Anchor, Noticiero Univision, Miami, FL
• Dan Rather, Former Anchor and Managing Editor, CBS Evening News, New York, NY
• Fred Young, Senior Vice President News, Hearst-Argyle Television, New York, NY"

From Lost Remote:

" I have to say I'm stunned after attending the last panel, "The Shape of Things to Come." After all, wasn't the panel designed to discuss the future of news? Well, they took a big leap back to the past by criticizing blogging and questioning the credibility of Google News. I may get in trouble for writing this, but when you want innovative ideas that define the next generation of news, don't bring in a panel of broadcasting veterans to talk about it.

If this is "The Shape of Things to Come," then TV news is in for a very rude awakening. Journalists need to stop questioning the credibility of everyone else and start INVOLVING YOUR AUDIENCE. The very fact that user-generated content -- one of the future pillars of journalism -- was not broached by anyone on the panel except for a Google VP is very telling.

I'll close with this. If this panel was any indication, I'm very skeptical that the broadcasting news industry will innovate the ideas needed to save it. Not as long as they continue to argue about the ethics of this and that. Stop arguing, start experimenting. Empower the most innovative people in your company with the resources to try something new. Or watch as your budget evaporates with your audience and you're left with nothing more than a teleprompter. "

From PaidContent:

"Curley was asked by moderator John Siegenthaler, the NBC/MSNBC anchor, if AP would consider going directly to consumers .

Curley emphatically replied, “No. We’re a business-to-business model and we’re going to stay there. I have $700 million in revenue and an organization/staff set up to take care of that $700 million and to try to switch to another model doesn’t make any sense. I think the last thing the world needs is someone else out there trying to create another destination site. One of our competitors famously tried that about 18 months ago. … ”

Hello Hiwire

Following up on this post about Aloha Partners, RCR News today covers the creation of a new subsidiary called Hiwire. Hiwire will compete with MediaFLO and Modeo.

From the article:

"Aloha Partners, backed by several wealthy investors with histories in cable and wireless infrastructure, has been buying 700 MHz spectrum (TV channels 54 and 59) and is ready to put the spectrum to use. The company claims to be the nation's largest 700 MHz spectrum holder with an average of 12 megahertz of spectrum covering 60 percent of the U.S., including holdings in the top 10 markets and 84 percent of the population in the top 40 markets.

Hiwire is testing Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld technology in Las Vegas, and plans to roll it out commercially later this year. Eventually, Hiwire expects to spend about $500 million to deploy mobile TV in the top 150 markets, said Scott Wills, Hiwire president and chief operating officer.

"Qualcomm is the CDMA manufacturer and my guess is that the CDMA carriers will embrace MediaFlo because it will be embedded. My suspicion will be that DVB-H will be a logical migration for GSM carriers in the United States," said Charlie Townsend, chief executive officer of Aloha Partners."

Nokia Presents Gary Oldman

Via MocoNews, Nokia has enlisted Gary Oldman to help promote mobile video.

From the press release:

"Award-winning actor and film-maker, Gary Oldman today unveiled a pioneering new mobile video initiative, the Nokia Nseries Studio, and announced plans to shoot a short film with the new Nokia N93 multimedia computer, also introduced today.Commenting on the initiative, Gary Oldman said: "I am fascinated by the potential of mobile video devices like the Nokia N93. They allow us to catch the fleeting moments we observe in our daily lives and share them as they happen. The possibilities for film-making are endless - I'm looking forward to producing a short film on a Nokia N93 and I hope it inspires people to record the extraordinary moments in their ordinary days and share them with the world."

Tapio Hedman, senior vice president, Multimedia Marketing, Nokia, said: "Connected mobile video devices are the ultimate solution for spontaneous video recording. With the Nokia Nseries Studio we're hoping to encourage more people to shoot and share their life experiences. And with the Nokia N93, people can capture these moments in unparalleled video quality from a mobile device."
From Engadet:

"Both models run Series 60 3rd edition and feature large 2.4-inch QVGA, 262k color displays, Bluetooth 2.0, miniSD slot expansion, MP3/ACC media players, FM radio with Visual Radio, and a chubby 3.2 megapixel shooter with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, mechanical shutter, and integrated flash.

The N73 will launch as both a quad-band GSM/EDGE model and another which includes 3G (2100MHz UMTS). It features 42MB of on-board memory and 3D stereo speakers at the top and bottom of the unit to kick out some tinny jams. Meanwhile the N92-lookin' N93 turns-out 900/1800/1900 GSM/EDGE and 3G (2100MHz UMTS), 50MB built-in memory, 802.11b/g WiFi, UPnP, TV-out, and adds a 3x optical zoom to the shooter which can record MPEG-4 VGA video at 30fps. If you're looking for mobile TV, you'll have to stick with the N92 though, since the N93 does not feature a DVB-H tuner."

Verizon ICF Media Platform

Verizon announced the launch of its next generation ICF Media Platform at the NAB yesterday.

From the press release:

"The new version, part of Verizon Business’ ICF Media Platform family of software-based products and services, supports the National Television System Committee (NTSC) signal, the standard for North America, Central America and Japan.

"The digital media marketplace is exploding, and Verizon Business is helping to transform how the broadcast and the entertainment industries do business,’’ said Ron McMurtrie, group president specialized services for Verizon Business. "As telecommunications and entertainment converge, Verizon Business is helping customers – through our advanced platform and global IP network -- to control costs and simplify their operations by efficiently managing and distributing digital media content from virtually anywhere at anytime.’’

Customers can use the media platform for editing, consolidating and distributing content to a wide variety of formats and devices, including a desktop computer, IPTV, personal video player, a mobile phone or any EVDO-enabled wireless device. The platform is ideally suited for remote rough-editing, content logging, broadcast archiving and digital asset management and viewing "digital dailies’’ from the field."

MediaFLO' Citywide Coverage During NAB

MediaFLO annouces that the FLO technology will be providing multipe channels of mobile video during the NAB in Las Vegas.

From the press release:

“A key design advantage of FLO technology, versus competing multicast technologies, is that capacity does not have to be sacrificed for quality or coverage. We view all three of these factors - capacity, quality and coverage - as 'must-haves' for a successful wireless multimedia offering and FLO technology was specifically engineered to optimize performance in each of these areas,” said Rob Chandhok, vice president of engineering and international market development for QUALCOMM MediaFLO Technologies.

“Our demonstration at NAB2006 is intended to show how FLO technology can enable up to 16 channels of video content at QVGA quality, all while being delivered in a cost-effective manner, using fewer transmitters than competing technologies to cover an entire market.”

Engineered specifically for the mobile environment, FLO technology offers several advantages over other mobile multicast technologies, including higher-quality video and audio, faster channel switching time, superior mobile reception, optimized power consumption and greater capacity than other multicast technologies. Specific performance features of FLO technology in a 6 MHz channel include:

• Support for transmitting up to 20 streaming channels of QVGA-quality (320x240 pixels) video at up to 30 frames per second, 10 stereo audio channels (HE AAC+ parametric stereo) and up to 800 minutes of distributed Clipcast™ content per day (short-format video clips)
• An average channel switching time of less than two seconds"

Lost Remote: Earlier Themes of NAB

Following up the Jeremy Allaire keynote, Lost Remote is sensing a theme at NAB: Content needs to change.

From the post:

"I sense an early theme beginning to develop here at NAB-RTNDA. Not a theme of the convention, per se, but it's dominating the discussion among our Lost Remote team.

Sure, technology is exploding and content is king (as NAB's Rehr spoke about earlier today), but it's not traditional broadcast-style content that holds so much promise. It's personalized, tailored, one-to-one content that thrives on interactive platforms.

I hate to say it, but most broadcasters are consumed with extending their broadcast-style content instead of creating new content that connects with consumers on a personal level."

Lost Remote: Jeremy Allaire's NAB Keynote

Lost Remote has a post up covering Jeremy's keynote address.

From the post:

" He begins by mapping out the promises of internet TV: open distribution, consumer choice, multi-screen delivery and content owner control. A broad overview for the broadcast folks in the crowd.

He breaks down internet TV businesses to broadband channels (destination sites, pay media solutions, TVs and devices) and syndication networks (portals and destinations, web affiliates and syndication marketplace.)

Where to reach consumers? Four ways: branded destination site, branded affiliation and syndication, portals and aggregators, licensed (unbranded) syndication.

"There is a broader shifting landscape in advertising and marketing as a whole... the brands that advertise in TV shifting away from short-form ads to forms of advertising with deeper engagement."

Question about how to influence ad agencies to understand online video and monetize it today. "We've crossed a threshold that mainstream brands... can attract premium CPMs and make money... the niche brands have to establish different kinds of advertising relationships... no magic to this... must have great content... The key is for new ad models that we haven't yet seen... performance models like Google AdSense... with highly-targeted ads."

Daily Wireless at the NAB

Daily Wireless has a great post up about the NAB. I pulled the Qualcomm/Modeo bits as well as a really cool graphic but there is alot more in the post so go read it.

From the post:

"The National Association of Broadcasters holds their big Las Vegas show this week featuring more than 100,000 attendees, 1,400 exhibitors, hundreds of conferences and press releases and Monday Highlights.

One new focus this year is mobility with "MoTV: Mobile, Video & TV Forum" on Tuesday and the "Web & Mobile Development Conference" on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Qualcomm will cover Las Vegas with MediaFLO. The demonstration will multicast of 16 channels of QVGA-quality video content, audio and data transmissions across the city using two high-powered FLO transmitters in the 700 Mhz band. FloForum includes Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, Thompson and others. Verizon has committed to MediaFLO for mobile tv.

Competitor Modeo (left), using the competing DVB-H standard (at 1.6 GHz), also has a live broadcast at the show. Their Mobile DTV Alliance includes Texas Instruments, Intel and others. Cingular may go with Modeo. Sprint has not (yet) made a committment. Maybe this week.

IPTV World looks at the competition from telecos, satellites and cable. SkyStream announced VOD and IPTV solutions, with support of Microsoft TV’s Picture-in-Picture (PiP) and Z-Band management software.

1% Watching Mobile TV

A New York Times article points out a recent study by the NDP Group. With about 25% of current cell phones being video capabile, only 1% of users reported using them to watch clips.

From the article:

"Worse for the industry, most of those who do watch video on their cellphones have been with their current service provider for at least three years, meaning that they were not drawn by the availability — or the marketing — of mobile video. Wireless providers have been banking on video's ability to draw new customers.

"Many, many people just use their phones as a device to make and receive calls," said Drew Hull, research director for mobile content at the NPD Group. Until the price of video service drops, he said, "they still have no interest in paying extra for that service."

Sprint Links BlogStar

Sprint's newest social networking play is called BlogStar.

From Reuters:

"Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson are back together.

In the wireless world, anyway. Both are participating in a new mobile blogging service offered by Sprint called BlogStar, which also counts Wesley Snipes, the Game and Bam Margera as contributors. The rich and famous stars are documenting their lifestyles with camera phones and posting pictures, text and, eventually, video to their personalized mobile blogs. Access to each blog costs $5 per month. Subscribers receive alerts when new posts are uploaded, to which they can leave replies as well as discuss content with other subscribers."

From BlogStar:

"BlogStar produces celebrity driven mobile entertainment allowing high-profile celebrities to create and distribute and array of mobile entertainment including text, picture, audio, video, and community features, direct to a global fan-base."

Internet Advertising Bureau 2005 Report

The IAB release information about its 2005 ad revenue report. (PDF)

From the press release:

"The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) today released the Internet Advertising Revenue Report including final numbers for Q3, Q4, and full year 2005. The report states that Search, Classifieds, Display, and Rich Media all continue to grow at a healthy rate. Overall internet advertising revenues (U.S.) for 2005 totaled $12.5 billion, a new annual record exceeding 2004 by 30%. Q4 2005 internet advertising revenues totaled a record $3.6 billion, representing a 34% increase over same period in 2004.

”Interactive Advertising continues to experience tremendous growth as marketers experience its overall effectiveness in building brands and delivering online and offline sales,” said Greg Stuart, CEO, Interactive Advertising Bureau. “We are confident that this growth trend will continue as more marketers find Interactive to be an imperative and additional platforms including broadband video, gaming, iPTV and others continue to emerge as real opportunities.”

From the report: (PDF)

Google Bidding on 3G

From Daily Wireless:

"Google's co-founder Larry Page today sparked another round of rumors that Google could become a wireless broadband service provider, says Tom's Networking.

During the Q1 earnings call, Page said that the firm was always looking into new ways to "expand" Internet access possibilities for users. While Page did not confirm any existing rumors [of participating in the upcoming AWS auction], he did not reject them as wrong either.

Schmidt, asked about radio spectrum, said;

"We don't have a huge bid being prepared." He joked that a random engineer might be working on a side project without his knowledge. "It would take some work for an engineer on 20 percent time to prepare a billion dollar bid," Schmidt said.

The Advanced Wireless Services Auction (AWS), is scheduled to be held this June (pdf). Initial applications to participate in the sale are due by May 10. It is targeting "3G" cellular using the paired 1710-1755 and 2110-2155 MHz frequency bands. Google, Amazon and eBay have been rumored to be preparing a bid, perhaps competing with traditional wireless providers such as AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth."

From Tom's Hardware:

"After yet another rock-solid quarter performance, Google is in the financial position to become a major player in bidding for spectrum bandwidth, if it intends to. The company currently has about $8.5 billion in its warchest; the stock price closed Thursday trading at $415.00, giving the company a market capitalization of just over $123 billion. For the first quarter, the firm reported revenues of $2.25 billion, up 79% over Q1 of 2005 and a profit of $592 million, up 60% over the same quarter last year."

Aloha Partners: Largest Owner of 700MHz Spectrum

Via MocoNews, Aloha Partners teams with SES Global to develop mobile TV services.

From the post:

"SES seeks to carve out a niche in the rapidly-evolving mobile segment by using its satellites to beam music and TV channels to wireless transmission facilities on the ground. The programming is then slated to be further tailored to local markets and distributed to cellphone users or subscribers of other wireless networks.

A yearlong test is planned to begin this fall in Las Vegas, though negotiations with programmers and leading cellular providers still have to be worked out.

It is ambitious: the plans are to simultaneously distribute as many as 40 higher-resolution video channels directly to handsets, more than MediaFlo (20 channels) and Modeo (nine channels and uses DVB-H). Aloha has spent about $150 million over the past few years acquiring broadcast spectrum."

From a Aloha Partners white paper:

"The wireless industry has developed a short hand for comparing spectrum sales: the cost of each MHz sold divided by the population in the license area for that spectrum. This is known as the "cost-per-MHz pop."

For example, in July 2004, Nextwave sold 10 MHz of 1900MHz spectrum in Sarasota, Florida for $8.5 million. The cost-per-MHz pop for the Sarasota license was $1.25 ($8,500,000 /10 MHz/680,000 people). At the same time, Nextwave also sold 10 MHz of 1900MHz spectrum in New York City for $930 million. The cost-per-MHZ pop for the New York license was $4.60 ($930,000,000/ 10 MHz/20,202,000 people)."

The dramatic increase in spectrum values during the past seven years is due to three factors:

• an 18-fold increase in minutes of use from 63 billion in 1997 to 1.1 trillion in 2004;
• a 75 percent reduction in the network cost to provide incremental capacity from $.78 per minute in 1997 to $.09 per minute in 2004;
• a nearly four-fold increase in the number of wireless customers from 55 million in 1997 to over 180 million in 2004; and
• a 40 times increase in wireless data revenues from under $100 million in 1997 to over $4 billion in 2004."

Sprint and ABC Agree on FCC Spectrum Plan

From the press release:

"Today Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and the ABC Owned Television Stations Group, a unit of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), announced that both companies have agreed to a template Frequency Relocation Agreement (FRA) for each ABC-owned station and a Group Reimbursement Agreement (GRA), covering ABC's station group relocation-related expenses, in the 2 GHz Relocation project.

The FCC has licensed Sprint Nextel to use a portion of the 2 GHz band for commercial mobile radio services upon relocation of the BAS licensees. The agreements will allow both companies to move ahead with the relocation process and assist ABC's transition to providing digital broadcast news services. Under terms of the agreement, Sprint Nextel will pay for ABC's relocation-related expenses, including the acquisition of comparable equipment to operate in its new frequencies.

Commenting on the agreement, Dave Converse, vice president and director of engineering, ABC-Owned Television Stations said, "We're delighted to have reached this accord, enabling ABC-owned stations across the country to continue their critical local newsgathering and reporting, in compliance with the FCC's spectrum relocation decisions. Our agreement is the result of a lot of hard work by both Sprint Nextel and ABC and it serves the interests of both companies."

Michael Degitz, vice president of spectrum management for Sprint Nextel added, "I'd like to thank our friends at ABC and my colleagues at Sprint Nextel for the many hours of hard work in reaching this agreement. ABC has again shown its leadership in the broadcast industry by being the first major broadcaster to reach agreement with Sprint Nextel on BAS relocation reimbursement. These agreements provide a model for other licensees to complete their own agreements according to the FCC's requirements."

David Converse is also on Pathfire's advisory board.

Michael Degitz wrote an article about the 2GHZ relacation.

From the article:

"Many of you know that the FCC has mandated 800 MHz band reconfiguration in order to eliminate 800 MHz public safety radio interference. This effort will eliminate radio interference at 800 MHz from commercial mobile radio service operators and provide the clearer communications police, fire and EMS need to serve and protect our nation.

To make this possible, and in consideration for both returning 8.5 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands as well as funding the 800 MHz band reconfiguration, Sprint Nextel was allocated 10 MHz of spectrum, 5 MHz of which the FCC had originally licensed to certain Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) providers.

As many of you know, years ago, the FCC mandated that Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS) licensees using the current 1990-2110 MHz band have to convert from the current seven-channel 17 MHz channel plan to a new seven-channel 12 MHz channel plan, which extends from 2025 to 2110 MHz and replace or upgrade their equipment to operate on the new frequencies.

Sprint Nextel has divided the country into eight regions. Multiple markets within each region will be relocated at the same time, maximizing the use of resources and enabling the relocations across the country to occur efficiently."

Jeff Pulver: Save the Internet, Win $1,000

Jeff Pulver is taking the Net Neutrality campaign to the people.

From business2Day:

"In a brave (and possibly futile) attempt to counter the lobbying and TV advertising dollars of the telcos and cable companies as Congress considers rewriting telecom law, Jeff Pulver is starting his own grass-roots media campaign to Save the Internet. The issue at heart here is Net Neutrality, and whether it should be legislated. Pulver thinks it should be, and is offering $1,000 to the best video or multimedia ad submitted. (Here are the official rules)."

From Jeff's site:

"We need to harness your individual genius and our collective genius (for isn't it the collective power of the Internet that makes it so remarkable?) to save the Internet, and we are willing to pay and give you eternal glory (or at least glory for as long as the Internet lasts).

Send us short, creative ideas -- videos and other Internet-based gimmicks -- that you think might effectively communicate to government that they must write rules to enable us the Internet innovators to transform the Internet and communications experience."

More Jeff:
Jeff Pulvier's RBOC SMackdown
Many More Net Neutrality Posts

Mobile Wallets in America

Also from MobileCrunch, more talk about using mobile phones as payment systems.

From the post:

"In-Stat predicts that as many as 25 million Americans will be carrying Mobile Wallets - that is mobile phones that have payment functionality to supplant a conventional wallet - by 2011.

My prediction is that this report under-shoots the mark substantially and that some move by a third party, be it a Yahoo or Google or an MVNO out to distinguish themselves will come up with a very solid program and get a large group - MySpace Users Anyone? - forgive the pun “excited” about having a mobile wallet in their pockets."

From In-Stat:

"Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• According to an In-Stat consumer survey, attitudes of US users towards mobile wallets are at best, lukewarm, with roughly one-third of respondents interested, one-third indifferent, and one-third uninterested.
• The most frequently mentioned barrier to the mobile wallet is added fees for its use (72% of respondents), followed by security concerns about loss of the phone and privacy.
  
• Survey data found that mobile wallet was most appealing to technology innovators and early adopters as well as subscribers who already rely heavily on their wireless phones."

More on Mobile Payment:
FeliCa Opens the Door
Russell Finds FeliCa
FeliCa on Rails
FeliCa in the Wild
FeliCA Survey
Motorola's M-Wallet
NFC at Giants Stadium
More NFC Payment Talk
Noikia NFC Phones
2006: All About NFC
iPod Payment Terminal
Near Field Payment Comes to Atlanta

Alltel's My Circle Plan

MobileCrunch reviews Alltel's latest pricing plan called "My Circle."

From the post:

"By offering unlimited free calls to ten pre-selected numbers with their new “My Circle” plan, Alltel hopes to increase ARPU and offset off-net settlement charges resulting in overall improved profits off of their voice customers.

Personally I think this is the first salvo in a skirmish that is going to end with flat fee calling plans that are, much like data, basically “all you can eat”. It wouldn’t surprise me to see one of the upstart MVNO’s jump into the fray with a $99 or $149 truly unlimited plan."

WiMax in Japan

From Daily Wireless:

"Alcatel has been selected by ACCA Networks, one of Japan’s largest DSL and Optical Fiber Access service providers with over a million subscribers, to launch a Mobile WiMAX trial in the Tokyo area.

Toyko appears to be ground zero for Mobile WiMAX. At least two other Toyko Mobile WiMAX trails have been announced:

• NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest cellular operator, is planning a year of tests of IEEE802.16e WiMax in Tokyo using the 2.5GHz band.

• Airspan and YOZAN, a leading telecommunications operator in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, plan to deploy a Tokyo-wide WiMAX network. The Yozan MetroZone will deliver high speed IP connectivity, and support Voice, Video and broadband data services."
  

Fun with Hu Jintao, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer

Ok, so i don't pull stuff from Valleywag much but this is geeky goodness.

From the post about Hu Jintao's visit with Microsoft:

"Can you demo the Internet please?"

Everyone enjoys Steve Ballmer's "sneezing orc" impression.

Cisco Teams up with MTVu

From the article on ZDNet:

"Through a relationship with mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network, Cisco unveiled Wednesday the mtvU "Digital Incubator" program, an annual contest that selects 10 student groups that will each get $25,000 in cash to fund projects aimed at developing content for broadband users.

"My biggest regret is that I haven't found the next Google of online content," said Dan Scheinman, senior vice president of corporate development for Cisco. "The media business is in a disruptive era and consumers are being empowered to create and share their own content. It's important for (Cisco) to see where the trends are going so we can build capabilities into our products to enable it."

Scheinman is convinced that corporate suits in Silicon Valley, Hollywood or New York won't likely be the ones to come up with the next big thing. Instead, innovation will come from students on university campuses, he said."

Yeah, my biggest regret is that this whole social network and and user generated video thing took off about 5 years too late.

Om Says No Yahoo Wifi

Om doesn't think the latest rumors about Yahoo offering a free WiFi service are true.

From the post:

"The first reason Yahoo is not going to go off on a WiFi binge is because of its past: the company has a very healthy and strong relationship with the Baby Bells. The relationship is pretty simple - Yahoo stays out of the access business, and Bells drive traffic to Yahoo sites.

The second reason Yahoo is not going off on a WiFi-tanget, is actually the first reason. AT&T, Yahoo’s staunchest ally, has cobbled together a big enough WiFi footprint around the country through internal efforts and partnerships with the likes of Boingo and GRIC.

The bottom-line is that Yahoo can easily re-sell these wi-fi networks, or offer for them as free ad-supported service."

AOL to Take on MySpace and Facebook

From TechCrunch, news that AOL may soon launch a social network site.

From the post:

"This market is red hot. Mature players like Facebook and Fox-owned Myspace basically own their respective categories, and better-featured (and funded to the hilt) newcomers like Tagworld and Tagged gunning for the big guys.

Even aging Friendster, mostly written off as living dead, has made a recent (if quiet) comeback based on Alexa stats. Fickle teenagers and young adults are quick to jump ship to the hot new thing, but these existing players will certainly not lie down for AOL."

MySpace: Not Safe for Preditors

danah boyd makes a really good point about fear mongering and the internet.

From her post:

"Following this same model, LAPD and other police groups have been logging on, pretending to be sexy 14 and 15 year olds and happily responding to all sexual predators who approach them, without making their profiles private.

I've lost count of how many predators have been lured out by these raids. Of course, my favorite is Brian Doyle, a high-ranking homeland security official.

I find this turn of events really cool because no cop could pretend to be a 14-year old and go see a priest or turn up in a school to see if they'd get molested. Online, they can! Cops: 1, Predators: 0.

While predators have been arrested, i've stopped hearing about teens getting themselves into trouble. At this point, MySpace is safer for teens than for predators! This makes me smile.

If anything positive can come out of all of this moral panic predator hype, it will be an increase in predator arrests and a decrease in the frequency in which predators reach out to youngins for fear that they might be cops. Predator arrests are making the world safer for teens everywhere."

Craig Mathias: Pipes and Data

Via Daily Wireless, from an Op Ed in Unstrung, Craig Mathias, a principal analyst at Farpoint Group, lays out a plan that would work.

From the article:

"Does anyone really like their phone company? Cable provider? Cellular operator? I really doubt it. Just how did these guys come to be so hated? Could it be their ridiculous pricing plans, poor customer service, or generally bad performance -- dropped calls, no service, etc?

Yep, all of the above. But one thing that really irks me is how they want to get into the content business. It's kind of like UPS only delivering stuff they sell, or demanding a cut of the value of what they ship.

I think the best solution to the problem is to separate church and state. Carriers should be restricted from providing content, except through a subsidiary that sells over the network like any other customer of the carrier. In short, carriers should be required to move any bits presented to them for such movement, without prejudice or favoritism.

I'll bet there's a First Amendment argument in there somewhere against this. But I would also suggest that successful companies are those that only do what they know how to do, and leave everything else to others -- their customers in many cases. Someone, after all, needs to own and operate the big dumb pipe. It's not glamorous, but it can be very, very profitable."

WiFi Router for Your Car

The next environment for internet expansion is the car.

Today we find this news at Daily Wireless:

"Travelers this summer will be able to stay plugged in at broadband speeds using The WavBoard CM3 ($379.00), by Omniwave, one of the first broadband cellular routers specifically designed to be used in a moving vehicle.

The CM3 is based on ther WavBoard EV1. Users can plug directly in using Ethernet or via Wi-Fi. Multiple users can be online at the same time.

Similar mobile wireless routers include the $299 Kyocera KR1 Mobile Router, also available through D-Link, the Linksys Router for Mobile Broadband (WRT54G3G-NA), the Entree Box, the StompBox, Junxion Box, Omniway, Possio PX40 Wireless Router and NETGEAR's box with a Flarion backbone."

Mobile Browsing Research Numbers

MocoNews has some numbers from a report by Ipsos Insight on mobile web browsing.

From the post:

“In 2005, 28 percent of [global] mobile phone owners used their phone to browse the Internet, up from 25 percent the year before. More significantly, the increase is driven by adults aged 35 and older joining younger users in this habit…27 percent of adults aged 35 to 54 who are living in households with cell phones claim to have browsed the Internet on their phone. Only 21 percent of them did in 2004, according to Wright. Twelve percent of those 55 and older also engage in mobile browsing.”

“The study also found a correlation between comfort with cell phone use and comfort with the Internet. In 10 out of 12 global markets studied, 90 percent of people who had accessed the Internet in the last 30 days owned cell phones.”

Digital Ads: $23B by 2010

A new report from Park Associates says that digital advertisments will reach $23B in revenue by 2010.

From ClickZ:

"Advertising in the Digital Age: Challenges and Opportunities," gives a five-year breakdown of digital advertising spending across Internet display, search, rich media, DVR, in-game and mobile advertising. Overall, the firm expects digital media to grab 10 percent of overall ad spending, or $23.5 billion, by 2010. Last year, the company said, digital media captured just 5 percent of ad spending, or $9.45 billion.

Emerging categories like rich media, in-game, and mobile advertising will show the most growth, according to the report. Internet rich-media ads are expected to experience a 31 percent compounded annual growth rate by 2010. The format will bring in an estimated $5.7 billion. In-game advertising will grow by at least 50 percent annually to $432 million. Advertising on a mobile platform is due to reach $2 billion."

Robot Space Combat!

Maybe the coolest headline ever. All this from Daily Wireless:

"New Scientist reports that Japanese robotic game organizers plan to take their event into space. A satellite carrying several small humanoid robots is planned to be launched into space in October 2010. It will release humanoid robots, who will then proceed to fight each other in the vacuum of space.

A tardy April Fools joke? Apparently not.

Organizers of Robo-One, a robot combat event held annually in Tokyo, announced plans for their space combat mission this week. Robo-One is a robot combat event. Robots.net and DefenseTech have more.

Facebook Gets $25M

From PaidContent:

"So as I mentioned first here about Greylock, all the speculation has come to rest: the social networking site Facebook has closed $25 million in funding, from Greylock Partners, and includes earlier investors, Meritech Capital Partners, Accel Partners and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Facebook had raised about $13 million earlier from Accel and Thiel."

From Silicon Beat:

"It has never been our intention to sell the company," said Melanie Deitch, Facebook's director of marketing, adding that the latest funding puts the rumors of such a sale to rest. Late last month, Business Week reported the company had turned down a buyout offer for $750 million and was looking for as much as $2 billion, citing analysts saying that Viacom, owner of MTV, might make a good match.

Big List of Internet Video Sites

Market Watch's Bambi Francisco has an article up talking about how little video content sites are taking eyeballs away from search engines (and regular TV channels.) She also has a great list of many internet video sites.

From the article:

"There is MySpace's video channel. It's just getting started and it's already seeing 42,000 videos uploaded daily, I'm told. There is also, of course, the video efforts by Google, Yahoo and MSN. Then there are the ones that aren't readily heard of.

They include Rocketboom.com, a very interesting video blog. I already mentioned Current.tv. Then there is Grouper.com, Dailymotion.com, Vmix.com, Metacafe.com, Vidilife.com, Guba.com, and eBaumsworld.com. There's also Ourmedia.org, Veoh.com, Podzinger.com, Break.com, Tagworld.com, Gorillamask.net, Fireant.tv, Dailysixer.com, iFilm.com, Sloopy.com, Atom Film (and AddictingClips), Extremefunnyhumor.com, Dinkytv.com, Stupidvideos.com, GrindTV.com, Comegetyousome.com, and Livedigital.com."

Red Herring: The Future of the Internet

Red Herring has a long article up with lot's of great quotes about the future of the internet.

From the article:

“One expects there to be much more organic connection between people and technology,” says Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf, who is widely known as one of the “fathers” of the Internet for his role in co-designing the TCP/IP protocol and the Internet’s architecture.

Electronics will instead be embedded in our environment, woven into our clothing, and written directly to our retinas from eyeglasses and contact lenses, predicts inventor, entrepreneur, author, and futurist Ray Kurzweil. “Devices will no longer be spokes on the Internet—they will be the nodes themselves,” he says.

“My whole thesis is that information technologies are growing exponentially. Things that we can measure like price performance, capacity, and bandwidth are doubling every year so that’s actually a factor of a thousand in 10 years,” says Mr. Kurzweil. “So if the Internet is already very influential—if there is already a trillion dollars of e-commerce, already a very democratizing technology, then multiplying its size and scope by a factor of a thousand will be a very significant change.”

Bandwidth access of 100 megabits per second or more will become the norm. “It is probably a safe bet that everyone will be able to have a full-motion, high-definition real-time link to anyone,” says Bram Cohen, creator of the popular peer-to-peer program BitTorrent. Once that happens, “the concept of who is online and who is offline will melt away,” says Bradley Horowitz, Yahoo’s director of media and desktop search."

But Wait!

"To make matters worse, some U.S. local exchange carriers in recent months began lobbying for a different model in which any traffic generated by any network endpoint—such as Google—has to compensate the carrier for the use of its broadband facilities. “This is an attempt to return to a 19th century model of telecommunication with complex inter-carrier termination and compensation mechanisms,” says Mr. Cerf.

“In my opinion, legal protections are needed to preserve both consumer choice in the use of the Internet and to ensure continued innovation of new services without having to obtain permission or negotiate commercial arrangements with the access providers,” Mr. Cerf says."

More on Net Neutrality:
$200 Billion to Beat out Slovenia
Net Neutrality Laws (Vint Cerf addresses Congress)
Erick Schonfeld on Net Neutrality
Slashdotting Net Neutrality
TechDirt Reads the New Telco Bill
They Make Comments
Jeff Pulvier's RBOC SMackdown
The Internets
Net Neutrality in Danger
Senate Hearings on Spectrum Reform
Net Neutrality and Running with Sissors
Net Neutrality Comments
Net Neutrality Roundup
Net Neutrality Not Optional
More Two Tiered Internets
From Tiered Internets to No Internets
Om and Niall Podcast Transcript: Two Tiered Internet

State of the Bloggsphere: April 2006

David Sifry has part one of the report up today.

From the post:

"In summary:

• Technorati now tracks over 35.3 Million blogs
• The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months
• It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
• On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day
• 19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created
• Technorati tracks about 1.2 Million new blog posts each day, about 50,000 per hour

For historical perspective, you can see earlier State of the Blogosphere reports from February 2006, July 2005, from March 2005, and from October 2004."

Terry Heaton's take on the report:

"Blogging and other forms of new media are a fact of life, and this growth is nothing to sneeze at, even though the user numbers are still relatively small. Local broadcasters need to get involved in blogging and in their blogging communities, but there's more.

It's not enough for local broadcasters to just get into new media alternatives to their business model; they must also use their mass marketing clout -- while they still have it -- to encourage people to use new approaches in media. Yes, I realize that sounds heretical, but you don't have to actually ask people to abandon your broadcast platform to invite them to use your RSS feeds or your smart aggregators, or to teach them what those things are.

Look, the point is that the migration from old to new is happening whether mass media entities assist in moving it forward or not. Would you rather have your viewers learn of Media 2.0 opportunities from you or Yahoo! and Google? Moreover, wouldn't you want them using YOUR applications instead of theirs."

Google Cracking the Code

Ever since Google and Sony annouced a joint marketing relationship for the Da Vinci Code there has been a lot of chatter about what it means. Coming off the top rope, Umair Haque thinks it means very bad things.

From Umair:

"The next great business game is going to be about ripping branding apart and making it hyperefficient, hypercultural, hypersocial. This is the game MySpace is playing. This is the game Google wants to play.

But brands are about what make us human: the cultural and the social. Google, as we know, is deeply algorithmic. It is like HAL 9000.

Now, this is a problem. A big one.

Why? Because Google can't play this game. It has very different competencies - in my language, it doesn't understand subduction and the commoditization of meaning. But more on that later.

This move is very important because it's a tell: buried deep within this move are the seeds of Google's strategy decay."

Torpark

Wow, this is big. I don't use Tor cause its pretty slow and I am not particularly worried about what I do online. But this is really cool. You can download the application to a USB key and use it where ever you go to get online.

From the site:

"Torpark is a fully configured combination of Tor (The Onion Router) and Mozilla's browser technologies, enabled by John T. Haller's Portable Firefox. As of v1.5, the whole package is wrapped up in a nice single executable with file directory. No installation, no registry keys, no files left behind."