In my capacity as a tech reporter for Techvibes.com, sometimes I get to check out some neat new tech, like these Sony E-Readers (the Reader Touch and Reader Pocket, in point of fact.) They don’t have a wifi or 3g connection, but they can read any format and can “borrow” e-books from the library.
Vancouver music legend Chris Peterson sat down for a chinwag with EVP host Jonny Vancouver to talk about his music, the internet’s effect on the music industry, and how he manages to work on multiple projects while keeping a day job. Shot with the JVC GY-HM100U, cut in Final Cut Studio, and graded with Magic Bullet Suite.
This video illustrates the changing trends in social media that are driving people away from the old mass media and towards social, personalized content. Some pretty impressive stats in here.
A number of big Hollywood stars have released big Hollywood films this summer which have taken big Hollywood nosedives. This downturn in the drawing power of many A-List stars is starting to worry the movie studios, and as usual they’re blaming technology. Apparently the fact that someone can text, Twitter or email their friends and give a film a scathing review in real time is a bad thing. Of course, as Gawker points out, if the movies themselves were any good this wouldn’t be a problem. I just saw District 9 on the weekend and (like everyone else) who saw it, I’ve raved up and down about the action, effects, and great story. And there’s not a star to be found in that film (which was shot for $35 million, and delivers every cent.)
Then there’s the fact that the old saw about people “escaping through movies during tough times” just doesn’t hold water anymore. That may have been true in the Thirties or even the Seventies, when the alternatives were few and far between, but nowadays people can either play video games, watch Youtube, or find any other number of free alternatives on the internet. Sure, they may not be quite as shiny as Hollywood product, but they also don’t take away $15 from your wallet and steal two hours of your life away.
It looks like web video series are finally hitting the big time, but not in the way the movie studios expected. Though TV networks and film conglomerates continue to try to appeal to an online audience, they do so with the same tired, lowest common denominator formulas that work n mass media, and the end result is pap like Quarterlife.
Enter The Guild. Created by Felicia Day, the web series chronicles the misadventures of a group of gamers involved in an MMO, or rather it milks the comic potential of what goes on beyond the game. The series has already been picked up by Xbox Live, and now a music video for the upcoming third series (which will also star geek hero Wil Wheaton) has hit over 1 million views, in addition to being the #1 tune on Amazon and iTunes.
How did this happen? Only a few years ago, this kind of traction just wouldn’t have been possible, but thanks to the internet, a small production company can target a sizable niche and actually do much better than studio product that targets everyone and pleases no-one. Plus the Guild just feels genuine, interacting with its audience about something they enjoy, rather than talking down to them and getting everything wrong.
In their continuing quest to commit suicide, as noted by Techcrunch, Hollywood is taking measures to restrict access to their latest DVD releases from DVD kiosks that allow people to order a DVD online and then pick it up from a high-tech vending machine nearby. Not surprisingly, Blockbuster is in support of the move, since it props up their failing business.
But as Techcrunch says (and I heartily agree), all this move does is encourage piracy. If people can’t rent movies in a way that’s proven to be convenient to them, they aren’t going to leg it halfway across town to the nearest Blockbuster. What they will do is take five minutes to learn how to download torrents…and then the studios have likely lost a customer forever.
According to a new article in Silicon Valley Insider, cable is starting to feel the pinch from online video, and no wonder. With old technology, no way to get a la carte programming, and a disdain for the customer that borders on the pathological, I’m not surprised cable is hurting.
Anecdotally I’ve talked to many friends who have dropped cable for online, some of them going so far as to get rid of their televisions. I keep my TV around as a video game monitor, but it doesn’t do much past that. And with the advent of iPhone apps like Al Jazeera English, it won’t be long before I pick and choose the channels I want (in my case, mostly news) and carry them around in my pocket.
Of course, Canada is even more of a monopoly than the United States, and to date we haven’t had anything as disruptive as Hulu arrive on the scene (though it’s likely on the way.) And our cable and TV execs are if anything in more denial than their US counterparts; when I was at the Banff TV Festival a few months ago one exec said with a straight face that “We’ll be just fine, we have HD!” Yes, never mind that all it takes is a clever bit of math and the web will soon have as good or better quality video than HDTV, you just wallow in your comfortable lies, TV exec.
Long term, I think the television industry as it stands is doomed. Eventually everything will come to our televisions, computers and other devices through the internet, and those who can adapt to that new reality will survive. Those that can’t…won’t.
The Associated Press created quite a stir recently by declaring that people who link to their stories are violating copyright. In effect, the organization declared war on the internet, and is taking what I think is a colossally wrong headed turn towards walling off their content from the very people it should be showing it to, ie) the world. Notable new media thinkers like Jeff Jarvis have railed against AP’s move, but now he’s been joined by an unlikely ally. Chris Aheam, the President of Reuters Thompson, has written a column called “Why I believe in the Link Economy,” where he explains how Reuters will embrace opportunities created by the internet, rather than fighting the future and losing.
Andrew Warner runs Mixergy, a show consisting of Skype interviews with entrepreneurs building startups that are changing the way people do business. His latest show features Leo Laporte, who worked for Tech TV for years before being laid off. Rather than take that lying down, Leo moved right into podcasting and in a few short years has built up something of a new media empire starting with This Week In Tech, also known as TWIT. In this episode of Mixergy, Leo explains how he delivers well-produced niche content at a lower price than the networks are capable of, and what other new media producers can do to emulate his success.
Full disclosure: I worked with Leo on-air and behind the scenes last year on “The Lab with Leo Laporte,” and still maintain occasional contact with him. I also met and had a great conversation (and a few beers) with Dane Golden, Leo’s right-hand-man at TWIT, at Macworld 2008. But before any of that happened, Leo’s move into podcasting made me think that it was possible for myself and fellow nerd @legopolis (and later, @dubbayoo) to start Radio Free Skaro, my own podcast devoted to all things Doctor Who, as well as concentrate on web video as the dominant growth area for my own company, Freyburg Media.
