Interesting New Sites

www.bragster.com is the place to dare your friends, record the challenge, upload evidence and brag about it forever.

www.moviehatch.com is where you pitch your film idea and others vote on it. You could win $5 million. Done in conjunction with the Jackson Hole Film Festival.

History of America at War through food

Sent to my by my friend Dave S in the other London (Ontario). Very clever and good production.

Disney and Youtube

Disney/ABC's Stage 9 Launches, With YouTube

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Thursday, February 28, 2008, 10:11 AM ET

Disney/ABC Television Group's official announcement this morning of Stage 9 Digital Media, an experimental new media content studio, is another key milestone in the fast-moving broadband video industry.

I got a short briefing about Stage 9 late yesterday from Disney/ABC because it asked me to provide some analyst context to the LA Times' Dawn Chmielewski, who's done a great piece here. Stage 9 is Disney/ABC's key initiative to reach the coveted 18-34 audience in synch with this audience's unique media consumption patterns. Programming will be short, funny, well-produced, episodic, and widely distributed through popular broadband sites, social networks, mobile and download services.

Rest of article

Good Article from Mark Cuban re: IPTV

Will you watch what I watch ?

Feb 27th 2008 3:44PM

Unlimited choice seems to be the defacto "nirvana" when it comes to any and all things video. We all want what we want, when we want it, how we want it, for free if at all possible.

The reality is that even though we may index everything and anything digital and use search engines thinking we truly have access to everything, that is far from the truth. Google users "choice" goes as far as their search algorithms take the first results page. Rare is the search that goes beyond the 1st page. Which is exactly why SEO is so important to so many.

Rest of article

Quarterlife transition to NBC tanks - badly

By James Hibberd and Steven Zeitchik

Feb 28, 2008

UPDATED 11:31 a.m. PT Feb. 28

The ambitious experiment of transitioning Internet series "quarterlife" to TV was a failure, says the show's co-creator Marshall Herskovitz.

A day after the drama about a twentysomething blogger and her circle of friend debuted on NBC to dismal ratings, the prolific writer and producer told an audience at the Harvard Business School Wednesday that the leap to broadcast television should never have been attempted.

For the rest of the article click here

Globe Article: Tories plan to withhold funding for 'offensive' productions

Oh my dear gawd. Next they will be blocking websites.

GAYLE MACDONALD

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

February 28, 2008 at 2:07 AM EST

The Conservative government has drafted guidelines that would allow it to pull financial aid for any film or television show that it deems offensive or not in the public's best interest – even if government agencies have invested in them.

The proposed changes to the Income Tax Act would allow the Heritage Minister to deny tax credits to projects deemed offensive, effectively killing the productions. Representatives from Heritage and the Department of Justice will determine which shows or films pass the test.

Rest of the article here.

Watch American TV on the web

Many of us Canadians can not see sites in the United States especially TV sites. Well, no more.

Check out this little gem that my friend told me about: Anonymizer

Download it. It makes your location invisible. I tried it on hulu and it worked fine.

Most Popular Online Video Genres

Most Popular Online Video Genres Viewers Watch Monthly or More, 2007
Genre % of viewers
News/current events 61%
Jokes, bloopers, comedy 57%
Movie trailers, previews 51%
Music videos 49%
TV shows (clips, previews) 44%
Entert. news/movie reviews 41%
User generated videos 39%
Weather info. 36%
Sports clips/highlights 30%
TV shows (full episodes) 27%
Business/financial news 20%
Cartoons/animation 14%
Full-length movies 14%
Concerts 14%
Source: eMarketer estimates

Pecha Kucha

Very cool idea that started in Japan. One in Montreal in March if you are interested.

http://www.pecha-kucha.org/

What is Pecha Kucha Night?

Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each - giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.

Link here to a video from Wired Magazine editor who explains the origins.

Mini Mobiles

From my reporter friend Matt Cowan who does the technology report for Reuters out of London. I will post his pieces every so often. This one from a few weeks back when he was at the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Article: Is TV Time Caught in the Web?

Below is a snippet from a good article on web usage by emarketer sent to me by Diane Williamson VP Interactive from Marble Media

Full article here

Avoiding the wrong conclusions on Web usage.

Ever since US Internet usage became widespread, marketers have been tracking online usage to see if Web time was coming at the expense of TV time.

Now, IDC has found that Internet is the medium on which US online users spend the most time--32.7 hours per week, almost twice as much as they spend watching television. The data was collected in September and October 2007.

Amazon Kindle

If you've wondered like I have this is quite a good short piece on it. I was thinking of purchasing one. Not so sure now. Maybe v2.

Sarah Silverman

This could be the future of TV. Jimmy and Sarah are a couple. Matt Damon is a friend of the show. Sarah is "supposedly" cheating with Matt on Jimmy. 4 million hits. Search the rest and watch it all.

Democamp17

If you have never been to one of these I highly recommend you do when they put on the next one.

The idea: get your project to a beta stage then ask for help from the community.

You can join the group here

Rule are simple. Set amount of time on stage. Ask the community for help on a project.

Here are the projects from last night:

www.askitonline.com - survey website - very good idea
www.gigpark.com - like linked in but for techies
www.planeteye.com - online travel guide
www.scenecaster.com - in browser 3D experience

Also, make sure you check out a blog on wireless in Canada by Tom P
www.wirelessnorth.ca. How much do we pay for data rates in Canada? More than most countries around the world and more than in Rawanda. Yes.

Hands-On With BlackBerry Curve OS v4.3.1. Beta

finally video on my curve

CFPTA Conference - Observations

Ottawa was cold but the Westin hotel, where the Prime Time conference was held, had a nice artsy fire thingy in their freezing lobby.

However, some architectural genius felt that the fire should not actually warm said lobby and had the flames surrounded by thick glass least some hotel patron fall headlong into the flames and set their bouffant alight. The only way one could feel any actual heat was if you pressed your hands against the glass for a minute or two. I know, I tried. Pathetic.

Overall the conference was 'interesting'. The TV folks talked policy mostly which was interesting, there were a few heated debates, the lunch time speakers fought to be heard over the din of people talking with their mouths full, and anything to do with 'new media' (I love that they still call it that) was pushed to the last day (Friday). I mean if they really wanted to discuss the integrated media industry it would have been on the first day so everyone could have a good wag about it over next three days.

People for the most part, including yours truly, just looked old. There were no laptops open on tables with groups of people gathered around with hands flailing discussing in conversation like at the Next Media or ICE conferences, no stand up coffee tables to put a laptop or PDA on, no free wifi, no daily blog with notes and updates, and no cool Canadian technology or start ups (which there are many). I guess all the young film and TV producers were at home uploading their content to Youtube Canada and starting a new association called CIMPA (Canadian Integrated Media Producers Association).

Breathing Earth

This is quite a cool site if you are into Stats like I am into stats.

Breathing Earth

I teach a course for WIFT on Emerging Technologies and one of the students told us about this site. She said that her friend had proposed to his girlfriend using the site. Apparently, she really likes geeks cause she said yes.

Geochaching

Digg.com gets a challenger

I love Digg.com. It's number one on my igoogle and, if you get a second, check out Digg Labs swarm.

A few days ago I learned about Popularo. A new site set up by some frustrated Digg users that is to launch today at 7PM.

Here's what they say about why they set up the site:

What Is Popularo?

February 16th, 2008

As promised, here is a little bit more information.

About popularo: We wanted to build a site where voting was based solely on the the popularity of the content, not on the popularity of the submitter. All content has the same chances of making it to our front page no matter who submits it, even the founders. We fully embrace the feedback of our users instead of ignoring them for three years and then trying to play catch-up.

Start Up North

If you haven't already you should keep an eye on this site and/or subscribe to their newsletter or RSS feed.

Lots of great information about what is happening with Canadian companies in the start up space.

www.startupnorth.ca

CFTPA conference

The below posts are some of the notes I took while on stage during the panel. I openly admit my spelling is poor, my grammar atrocious, and some of my suggestions wayward but thank you for listening and not throwing things.

http://www.cftpa.ca/primetime/2008/schedule/

ITV – The Convergence of Interactive Technology and Television
With Internet TV growing in interest at a rapid pace, options for independent producers to reach new audiences also expand. This panel will explore the new demand for the growing convergence of interactive technology and television.

Moderator:
Andra Sheffer, Executive Director,
Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund

Panelists:
Michael Goldsmith, Director, Original Content, Teletoon
Gavin McGarry, Digital Media Consultant
Larry Meistrich, Chairman and Founder, Nehst Studios
Sam Punnett, President, FAD Research
Diane Williamson, VP, Marblemedia interactive

fab research - sam punnett

we are in an experimentation phase

keynote to be uploaded...

hundreds of channels

netflix
appletv
hulu.com
brightcover.com
vuze.com
joost.com

Nehst studios

bg - shooting gallery

ttp://www.nehst.com/

http://www.screentest.biz/

1.buy finished films
2.access - bridge the gap between ugc and pros
touch point cinema
3. screen test.biz - collect data

Dribble Kick - pitched now partnering with brands

building own network

monetize? --- DK - Picture People

understand the business - follow the cash

http://www.filmboot.com/

ensure email sign up on your front page for newsletters - build an audience

marble media

shows in production
-adrenaline project
http://theadrenalineproject.ytv.com/

-taste buds

-the dating guy with teletoon

teletoon

commissioning bonus material - yes

www.teletoon.ca

-what stories can you tell on the web that will drive back to the TV

-good prelaunch tool

-zimmer twins

-use mash up engines before show launch

-use internet to develop shows - commissioning 10 pilots

Interesting Articles on Online Video

From the Silicon Valley Insider

Economics of Online Video 1: One Tough Business
Revenue is an improvement on the industry's experience to date, but it's time for a detailed look at streaming economics. Specifically, what's the bottom line? Can streaming video make money? Can YouTube?

Economics of Online Video 2: Unit Cost Structure
Streaming video has a similar cost structure to many text- and graphics-based Internet businesses, with three significant additional costs: bandwidth, storage, and transcoding. Each of these items increases the costs associated with video streaming relative to that of static content--without a reliable offset in terms of additional revenue.

Future

What is the new narrative?

Amazon - if you liked that you might like this.

Digg.com Swarm

viewdle - face recognition technology

stumbleupon

ffwd | videos

SPOKEO

YouTube - CELL235's Channel

YouTube - CELL235's Channel

Blogged with Flock

The Content

The sites I'm watching:



Veoh

Joost - Free online TV - Comedy, cartoons, sports, music and more - Download today

Metacafe – Best Videos & Funny Movies

Dailymotion - Share Your Videos

Youtube Overlays

Stats

The World


Canadians view the most content.

The Questions

What kinds of content are the new internet "gate-keepers" looking for?

All genres at the moment.

Is it linear or interactive?

It must be social and relevant.

Is it original or adapted or traditional content?

Mostly traditional at the moment depending on the platform but more made-for-platform-content is coming.

How do you determine what content works on what platform?

TV - we all understand this medium
Online - needs to have good meta tagging and be very searchable -- killer kite.
Mobile - the small size of the screen needs to be taken into account when shooting.


Is there a need for "professionally-produced" content or is UGC from any source going to predominate internet content?

There will always need to be editors but not like we have seen in the past.
Niche. Niche. Niche.

How will it be marketed?

Search, SEO (search engine optimization), behavioural weighting, traditional media promotion driving to online.

What are the advantages of internet TV?

For producers:
1) Only need to convert old media once to digital then distribute
2) What I want. When I want it.

What would you advise traditional television producers to do?

1) Intelligence Gathering Phase: We are currently in the learning phase. Embrace it. Read the trades.

Some blogs with good content:

Mashable
Techcrunch
Paid Content
Mobile Entertainment

2) Gather Data: Place your content where you can get lots of data back as to how online work. You will make very little money, cover your costs, but the intelligence gathered from the process will be lucrative in the future.

3) Play with the technology.

Woman on the train in front of me

Age: 22-25
Watched Veoh TV - America's Funnest Home Videos 1 (TV show) then CSI S8 E8 1
She watched entire shows.\
She is now watching Coldcase S5 E9 2 she just finished S5 E9 1 -- I'm assuming part 1 and part 2.