Filed under: MISC
We may know them as:
But in reality, they look a bit more like this:
On stage at D5: All Things Digital, this past Wednesday, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were interviewed for the first time since their Fortune interview in 1991. (Observe below) Momentous, to say the least.
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
Time Warner likely would only spin off “a slice of AOL” if it decided to create a stock currency for acquisitions down the line, says COO Jeff Bewkes at the Sanford Bernstein Strategic Decisions conference. He also signals continued disinterest in a potential sale of Time Inc. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i157e88908d7e0062faeded21bd6a166c 6/1)
NBC Universal On Demand joins Music Choice to offer a ‘Music & Movies’ Video On Demand category featuring music artists starring in films premiering On Demand starting today. The line-up includes Justin Timberlake in Alpha Dog, Alicia Keys in Smokin’ Aces and Mandy Moore in Because I Said So.
The HD TV shows that ABC.com plans to roll out on its Web site next month may meet the basic definition of HD, but they won’t match the HD quality of cable and satellite offerings. The ABC.com shows will be highly compressed and have different bit rates from the MPEG bit rates that cable and satellite use, which could affect the video quality. Multichannel News (5/31)
Arby’s and NBC Universal have produced a 30-minute collection of outtakes from NBC comedies including 30 Rock, The Office and Saturday Night Live, airing daily from 12n-2p ET. Lunchbreakshow.com also includes late-night monologues, comedy shorts, Web-exclusive videos and clips from classic sitcoms and stand-up acts. The mashup can also be seen at dotcomedy.com.
MTV is resurrecting Unplugged as a multi-network, multiplatform show. The new incarnation will be customized for MTV, VH1, CMT and their prospective websites beginning with a Jon Bon Jovi acoustic performance of his newest album Lost Highway, beginning June 22. The artist is aptly chosen; Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were believed to have inspired Unplugged initially with an acoustic performance at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.
Viacom chief Philippe Dauman, at the AllThingsD conference, says he isn’t interested in making any big Web acquisitions. “I’d rather spend the extra $700 million developing new experiences,” such as the virtual worlds built around company franchises such as SpongeBob. (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003730218_brier01.html 6/1)
While Qwest is largely taking a “wait and see” attitude to the video rollouts by AT&T and Verizon, it still has designs on delivering video to its customers. Qwest CEO Richard Notebaert said his company was talking with movie studios in regards to delivering their movies to Qwest customers via the Internet. (Denver Rocky Mountain News/Bloomberg 5/31)
Comcast will roll out TiVo-based digital video recorders later this summer in its New England division, which includes the Boston area and parts of New Hampshire. The TiVo partnership with Comcast dates back to 2005, but there were some hurdles to overcome when melding TiVo’s software and services with cable set-top boxes. (Light Reading 5/31)
Comcast CEO and Chairman Brian Roberts said interactive ads would be a corporate priority next year. “The money is humongous, and real cash,” Roberts said, asserting that Comcast can play a leading role in recruiting other cable companies to offer a unified platform to advertisers. (MediaPost Communications 5/31)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
EMI signed a licensing deal with YouTube to make music videos and audio recording available for free on the video-sharing site. EMI had been the one holdout among the major music labels to give YouTube access to its artists’ works. The company is now apparently satisfied with the Google-owned company’s content identification tools and reporting system for tracking usage.
YouTube signed a deal with Major League Soccer to launch a channel featuring action clips, interviews, player blogs and user generated mashups. Other YouTube sports partners include NHL, MLB and the National Lacrosse League.
NATAS announced the nominees for the four new broadband entertainment programming categories – comedy, drama, children’s and variety – created specifically for digital devices. MySpace was a partner this
year, allowing users submit entries through the social networking portal. Vuguru’s Prom Queen and Sam Has 7 Friends are up for “best drama,” while Comedy Central’s Baxter & McGuire and Honesty are among those vying for “best comedy.” Winners will be announced at the Daytime Emmy Awards on June 14. ( The Washington Post/Associated Press 6/1)
Prom Queen
Sam Has 7 Friends: Not Yet on the Internet. To be launched on http://www.samhas7friends.com/ .
Baxter and McGuire : Trust me, this one is definitely worth watching. Episode 1 and 2 were priceless moments that I wish I could relive.
Honesty
(Below) At first I thought this was simply a case of misguided-bloated-budget-syndrome, but after watching the trailer (the only piece of content currently available), I’m hooked.
Stage 3 Media’s ambitious Sanctuary series was named “Highest Budget for a Direct-to-Web Broadcast” by the Guinness World Record folks. The budget for eight 15-minute episodes totaled $4.5 million.
Sling Media is releasing new virtual remote updates for its Slingbox. The first update release will include support for TiVo Series 3, AT&T U-verse & HomeZone, select Motorola/Cox set-top boxes, several U.K. remotes and even Apple TV. (Gizmodo 5/31)
Verizon launched a new broadband site called Action Hero that allows users to create their own animated action/sci fi shorts or search for films made by friends by entering their email address. Also new from the telco is VerizonSurround, a video content portal organized by genre that includes a partnership with RealNetworks’ Rhapsody music service. Some subscriber-only content will be added to the site this summer.
Below is a link to my animated movie, A Woman Scorned. On the right, is the picture I used to create my avatar. If you look closely, you will see that my avatar looks burned on the right side of her face. I have hair covering that side of my face in the photo; the program couldn’t negotiate its way around this particular issue.
RealNetworks will release a newly revamped video player next month to allow users to download online videos from other sites such as YouTube and burn them to DVDs and CDs. The new RealPlayer will support Flash, Quicktime, Windows Media and, of course, Real formats and allow users to share video links with friends. Real is saying it will only work with non-DRM content and record ads along with the video, but the move still seems destined to draw fire from major distributors.
AOL Latino launched a social networking service targeted at bilingual Hispanics, built on the Latino AIM Pages platform. Roselyn Sanchez, star of the upcoming movie Yellow, will help promote the service with a new microsite featuring trailers, behind-the-scenes footage and a blog.
Find Internet TV launched a new programming grid to track what’s airing live on the internet. Users can choose to search by network, programming genre or time. There are not a whole lot of networks/distributors on the grid yet, but it’s a start.
While searching across live internet content is interesting and useful, I think a search engine that searches across all content while categorizing into live or non-live (as the case may be) would be more useful.
Video search engine Blinkx announced it has indexed over 12 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content.
(Below) I urge anyone reading to care more about this story. Online access to NPR is an amazing resource not just for news but for an eclectic array of music, film critique , etc.
Groups representing online radio broadcasters filed preliminary paperwork in the D.C. Circuit Court to appeal the ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board that would effectively double royalty rates paid to record labels. Services such as Live365.com, Pandora, and NPR affiliate KCRW in Santa Monica have been organizing a grass roots campaign to pressure legislators to act.
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
April sales of Nintendo’s Wii gaming system reached 360,000 units in the U.S., marking an increase of 100,000 over March’s figures. Analysts attribute the Wii’s wide demographic appeal as a driving force behind the accelerating sales, in addition to the company’s willingness to think outside of the box. (CNNmoney.com/Fortune 5/31)
Massive multiplayer online games may be increasingly popular, but when play becomes repetitious and stagnant, players don’t keep coming back. The next wave of MMOGs may change that, as developers hope to build a greater range of experiences as they try to lure a larger gaming audience. (GameDaily BIZ 5/31)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
Harman Kardon’s new GPS is expected to fit nicely into the entry-level GPS market. The $300 unit touts a 4-inch-wide screen, 2 gigabytes of built-in flash, a miniSD slot for expansion and MP3/WMA playback. (Gizmodo 5/31)
Dell hopes to appease unhappy owners of its 2006 XPS 700 gaming PC with a free motherboard update and a discount on a future motherboard. XPS 700 owners have previously voiced concerns over the system’s lack of 64-bit software support, missing Intel virtualization technology and missing EPP memory support. (The Register (U.K.) 6/1)
