Filed under: Feature, TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Austin, Evan Roth, Graffiti, Graffiti Research Lab, GRL, James Powderly, Keynote, Laser Tag, LED Throwie, MC Yan, Open source, South by Southwest, Subcultures, SXSW, Theo Watson
SXSW KEYNOTE: JAMES POWDERLY GETS DOWN WITH LED’S
LED Throwie: a lithium battery, a 10mm diffused LED and a rare-earth magnet taped together.
Today James Powderly spoke to the geek-fabulous crowd at SXSW in Austin. Powderly is an artist and technology maven who co-founded the Graffiti Research Lab in coordination with Evan Roth. The mission of the Graffiti Research Lab is to empower artists with open source technology to allow them to communicate in urban settings to the degree that advertisers are enabled.
Powderly’s first request of the crowd at SXSW: he wanted the crowd to flick him off and took a picture from on-stage. Talk about crowd sourcing… This one act set the stage for the interview to follow and the Graffiti Research Lab’s body of work.
The LED Throwie above represents one of the Graffiti Research Lab’s earliest works. The packaged lights can be thrown on surfaces creating an illuminated night-time vision. Click here or on the image above to see video of the LED throwies in action. For another example, click the LED Bombing image below.
L.A.S.E.R TAG
The GRL’s latest technology L.A.S.E.R tag utilizes digital projection to enable graffiti artists’ a much larger canvas to create on. The image below was created on a recent trip to Tokyo.
Here’s how it works. A projector hooked to a computer with custom built software by Theo Watson reads the green light of the laser point via an attached camera. Wherever that camera detects the green laser pointer, it updates the projector with a white pixel stylizing the final effect to look like dripping paint. The software is open source allowing for other artists to build on these effects adding their own signature features.
H$NG K$NG
Most amazing to me is the project they pulled off in Hong Kong. I used to think that New York City rocked the most amazing night-time city view worldwide… until I visited Hong Kong a few years ago.
Photo Credit: remz-zero
This shot above was taken from Kowloon overlooking Hong Kong Island. The building at the far left consisting of ascending lit triangles is the Bank of China designed by I.M. Pei.
For this remarkable project pulled off by the GRL in coordination with MC Yan, laser tag technology was used from 1,200 meters away on Hong Kong Island. MC Yan projected an image onto the Hong Kong Cultural Museum in Kowloon. This is the farthest distance the technology has ever successfully been used. Click here or on the image below to check out video of the project.
Powderly describes himself as a magician teaching other artists his tricks. Back in the day, graffiti artists would tag NYC subway trains as a way of spreading their message from the Bronx to Brooklyn. Now, the Graffiti Research Lab allows a whole new level of trickery to engage artists ways previously unimaginable.
As a laser tag parting gift, I leave you with the GRL’s latest collaboration: the music video The Hardest from AZ (featuring Styles P & Large Professor).
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: DailyShow, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jim Cramer, Jimmy Fallon, John McCain, Jon Stewart, Kevin Rose, Television
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart earned its second highest total viewer count of the year on Thursday with 2.3 million viewers (the largest viewer audience was on Inauguration Day with 2.6 million). Why the big audience? Stewart’s guest was CNBC host Jim Cramer. The interview is also available on TheDailyshow.com site, which is reporting its highest traffic numbers in 2009. (Cynopsis 3/16)
Thomas Clarke, TheStreet.com’s CEO for the past decade, is leaving, effective immediately. The financial-media firm’s board is searching for a new CEO. Clarke’s abrupt exit comes amid co-founder Jim Cramer’s ongoing fracas with Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart. (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090313/FREE/903139975 3/13)
“Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon is interviewing bloggers and showcasing gadgets in a digital embrace that may help draw hip, plugged-in consumers who don’t watch much television. Fallon has already interviewed Digg co-creator Kevin Rose and Engadget editor Joshua Topolsky. (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cotown-fallon16-2009mar16,0,5467182.story 3/16)
Not only are the Digg guys stars on Jimmy Fallon’s show, after witnessing the all out rock star madness at the SXSW Diggnation party, they’re surely becoming a formidable brand. Perhaps the first credible online video series brand? I’m sure the Gary Vaynerchuk fans will have something to say about that comment.
“60 Minutes,” at age 30, is back in a big way. Thanks to a renewed focus on hard news, along with some exclusive interviews, the audience is up to 15 million per episode. “Our success is a direct reflection of America’s hunger for news,” says executive producer Jeff Fager. (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://www.newsweek.com/id/189288 3/14)
ABC News correspondent George Stephanopoulos and Arizona senator John McCain will come together online for a “Twitterview” to be conducted on Tuesday. The public will be able to read the real-time 15-minute exchange by signing up at the microblogging site. (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090313/ap_en_tv/na_us_twitter_stephanopoulos_mccain 3/13)
Reporting from the Twitter capital (Austin, TX), Twitter is reaching epic proportions while struggling to monetize itself. Perhaps SXSW is the best place to see the advantages of a Twitterverse as my estimates are that at least 70% of the attendees are using it. That said, as twitter reaches epic scale, how do we sort through the mass communication stream?
America‘s Next Top Model held auditions in New York City this past weekend, and before the day was over three people were arrested for inciting a riot and disorderly conduct and six others were injured. At some point chaos broke out involving hundreds of people outside the Park Central New York hotel, reports the AP, though what exactly happened to create the free-for-all remains unclear. Once it was all over, the street outside the hotel was strewn with clothing, sleeping bags, beach chairs and shoes, all left by several potential auditioners who had been waiting on line, many overnight. This particular round of auditions were for shorter women, under 5’7″, the standard height minimum for previous ANTM auditions, and other auditions are schedule in several other cities across the US in the upcoming weeks. (Cynopsis 3/16).
TV Guide Network‘s season premiere of Idol Tonight delivered 325,000 households last Wednesday, marking a 26% increase over last season’s premiere. Idol Tonight airs ever Wednesday at 8p with hosts Kimberly Caldwell and Justin Guarini. (Cynopsis 3/16)
In consideration of the economy and wanting to remain relevant to its viewers, Today‘s Matt Lauer will take his annual Where in the World trip starting May 1st, but Lauer will remain in the United States, visiting a variety of affordable vacation sites. (Cynopsis 3/16)
Beginning today, Sci Fi Channel will be no more — it will become Syfy. The rebranding, which does not change the pronunciation of the channel, will be accompanied by the tag line “Imagine Greater” and will be rolled out for advertisers and agencies at NBC Universal’s upfront presentations. The New York Times (3/15)
Most traditional media professionals don’t understood digital media, says outgoing AOL chief Randy Falco. “Having spent two years at AOL, I would love to be able to go back to that industry knowing what I know. There are a lot of misconceptions about digital media.” (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=102085 3/13)
Last week’s News Corp. executive shakeup came as a shock to television industry insiders. The ouster of Fox Entertainment chief Peter Liguori is “shocking.” One network exec says that the jockeying for power is already intense. “The place resembles Iraq after the fall of Saddam.” (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/03/who_won_and_lost_in_the_news_c.php 3/15)
Discovery Channel and a few other cable networks are buying shows exclusively in high definition, even though many unscripted shows are still being produced in standard format and the economy is putting the pinch on other networks. One advantage for cable networks buying HD is they run their programs repeatedly, according to this article. Broadcasting & Cable (3/16)
Verizon is preparing an update to its FiOS-based widgets platform to enable third party developers to create applications for the platform, according to a post on Verizon’s PolicyBlog. Designers are testing new apps providing integrations with popular sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. (Cynopsis 3/16)
Time Warner, which owns cable networks such as TNT, TBS and HBO, will get more than $9 billion from its spinoff of Time Warner Cable. And that, according to Chief Financial Officer John Martin, will allow the company to consider well-researched M&A bids: “We’re going to be opportunistic and evaluate whether there are any acquisition possibilities, but we’ll be extremely disciplined in whatever we might do in that area,” he said. Broadcasting & Cable (3/16)
Hispanic Cable TV (+9.6%) and Cable TV (+7.8%) were the only two media to show ad growth in 2008 according to Nielsen. Cable was the highest CPM-based revenue-generating medium with $26.6 billion in sales. Internet advertising, not including paid search, text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream (“pre-rolls”) players, messenger apps, partnership advertising, email campaigns or house advertising activity, dropped by 6.4% in 2008. (Cynopsis 3/16)
U.S. Ad Spending -% Change 2008 vs. 2007
Media Category Jan-Dec ’08 vs. Jan-Dec ’07 % Change
Hispanic Cable TV 9.6%
Cable TV 7.8%
Spot TV Top 100 -0.3%
Syndication TV -0.8%
National Sunday Supplement -1.9%
Hispanic Broadcast TV -2.4%
Network Radio -3.3%
Broadcast Network TV -3.5%
Local Magazine -3.7%
Spot Radio -4.0%
Spot TV 101-210 -4.6%
Outdoor -5.0%
FSI Coupon -5.2%
Internet* -6.4%
National Magazine -7.6%
National Newspaper -9.6%
Business to Business -9.7%
Local Newspaper -10.2%
Local Sunday Supplements -11.0%
TOTAL -2.6%
Source: The Nielsen Company
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Ali Landry, Desperate Housewives, Grey, Grey's Anatomy, Hulu, Television, Television program, Yahoo
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ABC had nine out of the top ten most viewed television series for the month of February according to Nielsen VideoCensus (Which, it’s important to note, doesn’t track visits to Hulu.) Lost proved to be a juggernaut with 2.5 million unique viewers, up 41% over January. Lost also ranked number one in total streams with 48 million - up 20% from January. Dancing with the Stars (1.5 million unique viewers), Grey’s Anatomy (1.3 million), The Bachelor (962,000), Brothers & Sisters (801,000), Desperate Housewives (793,000) and Scrubs (655,000) ranked 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, respectively. (Cynopsis 3/16)
Yahoo is abandoning its forays into television-style online productions. Instead, the Internet company is focusing on producing brief, niche Web shows. Yahoo execs say they have found a sustainable model for making original video online, in part by not competing with TV. (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/technology/internet/16yahoo.html?_r=1 3/16)
Ali Landry is the hostess of “Spotlight to Nightlight,” a series on celebrity mothers.
Analysis: More television viewers are flocking to Web streaming, but the broadcast networks aren’t getting anywhere near the revenues that they would earn from traditional TV commercials. If too many people switch to services like Hulu, TV’s business model “could collapse.” (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118001234.html?categoryid=2522&cs=1 3/13)
Facebook unveiled some new targeting filters on its ad platform last week allowing advertisers to now target users by language and geographical location including individual metro areas made up of multiple cities. Previously in order to target based on language, advertisers were forced to specify countries they wanted to target. (Cynopsis 3/16)
A panel of comedians and tech execs at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, contend that online video is still a long way from destroying traditional television. “Everyone is still trying to figure out” webisodes, says B.J. Novak of NBC’s “The Office.” (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/03/15/sxsw-web-video-isnt-killing-tv/ 3/15)
B.J. Novak, who plays Ryan Howard on NBC
Steven Johnson, author of “Everything Bad is Good for You,” says during an appearance at SXSW that he sees a bright future for news. Consumers will benefit from the new “ecosystem of news” — encompassing Digg, Twitter, Facebook, as well as professional journalists. (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10196386-93.html 3/13)
Tim Armstrong’s jump from Google to AOL could create a challenge for the Internet search giant in its effort to win big advertisers. Google’s exiting top ad exec has a rep for building strong client relationships. His sales team at Google will find their jobs “more difficult without him.” (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123715363111434391.html 3/16)
The hiring of Google’s Tim Armstrong to run AOL is prompting speculation that a long-awaited separation of the troubled Internet unit from Time Warner is finally near. An announcement is expected “in the next 12 months.” Ultimately, Armstrong will “run a public company.” (Iwantmedia 3/16, http://www.smartmoney.com/news/ON/?story=ON-20090313-000813-1348&hpadref=1 3/13)
AOL’s People Networks division has today announced the launch of social networking site Bebo, which it acquired almost exactly one year ago, in several key European countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/16/aol-rolls-out-bebo-in-several-european-countries/ 3/16)
Vancouver-based web 2.0 movie fan site MovieSet, a portal that allows users to track the development and creation of feature films, is gearing up for its first live streaming event. MovieSet will be streaming live from the set of mixed martial arts movie Death Warrior beginning today providing embeddable interviews with the filmmakers and actual footage from the set. (Cynopsis 3/16)
If you can’t beat ‘em (Hulu, that is), turn to other content providers. Socially-oriented online entertainment platform Boxee has added Blip.tv shows to its line up. (Cynopsis 3/16)
U.S. visits to Facebook grew 149% in February compared with the same month a year earlier, according to Hitwise. That pushed Facebook’s market share among users in the United States visiting social networking sites to 36% last month – still behind MySpace, which enjoys a 52% market share despite a 28% percentage drop. MySpace also continues to lead in time spent among the top 5 social networking sites with an average 29:38 per users per month. (Cynopsis 3/16)
Market share of U.S. Internet visits to top five social networking Web sites
Rank Name Feb. 2008 Jan. 2009 Feb. 2009 Y/Y percent change
1 MySpace 72.92% 57.08% 52.21% -28%
2 Facebook 14.46% 31.15% 36.03% 149%
3 Tagged 0.65% 2.33% 2.47% 280%
4 MyYearbook 1.17% 1.67% 1.63% 39%
5 Classmates 1.03% 0.80% 0.82% -20%
Source: Hitwise
Average U.S. time spent among top five social networking Web sites
Rank Name February 2008 February 2009 Y/Y percent change
1 MySpace 30:07 29:38 -2%
2 Facebook 21:00 22:12 6%
3 Tagged 24:56 26:22 6%
4 MyYearbook 31:35 25:22 -20%
5 Classmates 10:19 11:14 9%
Source: Hitwise
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Accel Partners, AT&T, Facebook, Facebook Connect, Facebook Platform, fbFund, iPhone, SXSW
Mobile Web usage is still a nascent activity, but comScore put out some data on the information-consumption habits of consumers in the U.S. The number of people who access news and information daily on their mobile phones doubled from 10.8 million in January, 2008 to 22.4 million in January, 2009. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/16/daily-news-habit-doubles-among-us-mobile-users/ 3/16)
The big news out of SXSW over the weekend (besides AT&T‘s poor network coverage in Austin) is the launch of Facebook Connect - the social network’s technology for sharing data between Facebook and other apps – for the iPhone. The integration will allow developers to build or adapt existing applications to share data with users’profiles including rich media such as photos. Even developers of popular applications like shakeable restaurant review app Urbanspoon have trouble gaining market share due to the sheer explosion of competitors. Now Urbanspoon users will be able to easily share their reviews with friends in their Facebook feeds, exponentially increasing the ability for apps to grow virally. More than 6,000 websites now utilize Facebook Connect to integrate with the 175 million-member social network. (Cynopsis 3/16)
fbFund, a $10 million seed fund focused on supporting entrepreneurs who are building their business around Facebook.com or with Facebook Connect, is now accepting applications for its third funding round. The fund, which is backed by Facebook, Founders Fund and Accel Partners, is shifting its focus to funding Web and iPhone app developers leveraging Facebook Connect. In the past, fbFund focused on the broad spectrum of successful and promising applications built on the Facebook Platform. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/16/facebooks-fbfund-is-accepting-applications-for-iphone-apps/ 3/16)
Makers of personal computers have begun invading the turf of mobile-phone manufacturers as they have rushed into developing phones that combine the power of PCs and the mobility of cell phones, industry observers noted. “The action is really with the smartphones where everyone is competing to cram the most features into a phone,” said chip analyst Linley Gwennap, head of the Linley Group. “I think of PCs as just kind of boring these days.” The New York Times (3/15)
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Filed under: GAMING | Tags: Business, Casual game, Chats and Forums, Gamer, Games, Handheld Platforms, Mobile Phones, Video game
The gaming sector is on pace to reach $40 billion in annual revenue by 2012 on a global basis, in part because of the availability of mobile devices, network access and improved broadband speeds, according to TMNG. “The expansion of casual games, simpler user interfaces and the proliferation of innovative business models is broadening the gamer demographic. The timing is ripe for service providers to hedge the business cycle,” said TMNG Chairman and CEO Rich Nespola. InformationWeek (3/13)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Accessories, Apple, Comcast Center, Gizmodo, ILounge, iPod, IpodShuffle, Universal Serial Bus
Gizmodo followed up on iLounge and BBGadgets‘ finds this weekend about rumors that the iPod Shuffle has an authentication chip in its headphone controller in order to work with the new control scheme. It does. (http://i.gizmodo.com/5170797/confirmed-ipod-shuffle-earbuds-need-authentication-chip-to-function 3/16)
Poken is a tiny USB key with an embedded RFID reader/transmitter. When you press a little button on the dongle and place it next to another Poken it passes all of your pertinent information to between Pokens – Pokenii? You then plug the Poken into a laptop and connect to your online manager and you can then “add” that person to your contact list. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/15/poken-tiny-rfid-thingies-that-share-all-your-personal-data-with-others/ 3/15)
I want one…BAD.
Comcast and Sony on Tuesday are expected to open a retail store in Philadelphia to showcase their cutting-edge products. The 3,400-square-foot retail outlet will be called Sony StyleComcast Labs, and it will be located in the new Comcast Center office building. The New York Times/The Associated Press (3/15)
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