This week was a big week for the Lab. Not only did Google announce a new feature for Gmail that finally cracks the code on un-sending emails that were a bad idea, and not only did our favorite video recording device, Flip Video get bought for a ton of cash by Cisco, but the Lab has been immortalized in our first-ever cartoon by Ad Land on AdWeek:
See David T. Jones’Â full Ad Land cartoon.
And yes, we too have given up and are throwing ourselves at the mercy of Twitter.
Recently I attended the TV of Tomorrow Conference which focuses on understanding how the interactive multiplatform television industry is structured. It also looks at the emerging business models in this space, and how user-generated content, social networking and other Web 2.0 phenomena are impacting the television space. (Check out Tracy Swedlow’s blog for more on the evolving interactive television industry.)
As a speaker and panelist, I took some time to chat with some industry professionals. Most prominent this year was the universal admission that cable is falling behind in terms of interactive deployments and broadband video or “over-the-top” video services (meaning they ride on top of the broadband bus, but they don’t require any business or technology affiliations with the underlying broadband network) are leading the way with true interactive capabilities.
From Yahoo to Hulu, to the new Boxee…over-the-top is exploding. Continue reading ““Over-the-top” is the new black”
1)   I turn on the Tivo and select the latest episode. I have saved the Friday night broadcast viewing for Saturday afternoon…when I have time to savor it.
2)   I log on to the Facebook group to to check out the chatter. What a bunch of frackin’ geeks.
3)Â Â Â I watch more of the show.
4)   I pause the show to hit the main fan site, and watch a webisode that I missed, that feeds nicely into the episode I’m watching. I do a search on Battlestar webisodes and find them all over. Including veoh.com where some brits complain that they can’t find the webisodes anywhere else due to rights issues and “thank god” for video sharing sites. I want to tell them that the BBC player needs to be available in the US so I can watch the last few Dr. Who episodes…but why get into a battle. (I will do a Dr. Who search later tonight to see if I can grab anything. I yearn for new Dr. Who episodes and don’t understand why David Tenant can’t sacrifice his career goals to continue playing the role forever. He is obviously selfish. But he’s the doctor and so groovy).
5)Â Â Â I get a snack
6)   I watch more of the show and pause…sometimes the lighting is so dark it reminds me of the W hotels, when I bang into everything in the lobby. I somehow connect Starwood points to Battlestar episodes and wish for a little more brightness in space.  Star Trek was well lit. What the frack!
Continue reading “Afternoon in the Life of A Battlestar Fan”
When the Kindle first came out, there were many of us that wondered if yet another device would capture the public’s eye in a year or so full of “gadgets.”  In our 2009 Digital Trends, we’ve talked about the the fact that many consumers are clamoring for simplicity and the devices that are really winning, have one basic feature to highlight. Certainly the iPhone and the host of applications it’s opened the door for challenge that theory, but you could argue that the iPhone’s most popular feature and function is as a “application house.”
More obvious is the success of the Flip camera and surprise, surprise, the Amazon Kindle. Continue reading “Kindle illuminates Amazon”
Asthon Kutcher is up to it again with a new web series airing on Facebook’s FunSpace application. The app comes complete with an “On Demand” interface with access to Funspace’s other channels (Kutcher’s Katalyst HQ series currently owns the main stage) and the ability to forward to all your facebook friends and of course, commenting.
Unique to Katalyst Media’s play here is the first Facebook video series. Like Seth MacFarlane, the innovation is present in the sponsorship or brand integration with the video content and delivery method. The mandate from their first sponsor, Cheetos, was to target 18-35 year olds just out of college or getting into the real world; and to develop content that would entertain rather than interrupt.  Continue reading “Kutcher a ‘katalyst’ for innovation”
