Agora Media Group Innovation Blog

Google Wave will launch in less than a day, on the 30th of September more than 100.000 invites will be send out.
The new real-time platform will certainly impact all of us how we will communicate and collaborate, as set forth in our article Google Wave: The Nexus of Communication.

So who will be amongst the 100.000+ lucky ones who will get an invite for Google Wave?
As set forth on the Google blog it will be:
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Augmented Reality is on the rise, this means also creating business models which are profitable and sustainable for the Augmented Reality industry.

An extended and interesting attempt to do so, is written and visualized in the 16 Augmented Reality Business Models by Gary Hayes.

Below you’ll find the graph and here the link to the bigger version.
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by Richard Kastelein (originally posted on Atlantic Free Press)

It’s only been a couple of weeks since the European Broadcasting Union demonstrated the potential of the HbbTV specification at IBC2009 in Amsterdam. But it won’t be long before Europeans start seeing the results – before Christmas according to some pundits. And once compatible devices are out in the market, they say the speed-to-market of applications developed for the platform will be incredibly short… as the industry looks to new models that embrace open API’s and SDK’s much like Apple has done with the iPhone and the Open Source movement online with enormous projects such as Sourceforge. With an HTML environment activated by a simple red button, in the same manner as a Web portal, the resulting content can be delivered over the IP stream.
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Upcoming Monday the Social TV Forum will take place in London at the RIBA.

Key questions which will be addressed during the one day conference are:

* Will social media interactivity bring unique value for TV users ?
* Social media applications for the TV? Social networks as a platform for delivering TV content ?
* Social networks – the new entrant to the video market? Producing TV content for social networks?
* Examine the current state of the market – from broadcasters, content providers, social networks, brands, advertisers and analysts.
* Understand the key trends driving social TV, the challenges being faced the future outlook.

The future challenge is how to integrate Social Media into television experiences, how do we realize this convergence.

The speakers list is very interesting, including delegations from companies like BBC, Endemol, MTV, Telecom Italia and many more.

Agora Media Group will be present at the conference, if you want to get in contact and meet, drop a line to richard [at] agoramedia.co.uk .

An interesting and fun contest by Seac02 which evokes the creativity of the crowd to participate and engage with Augmented & Virtual Reality.

Why interesting?
Because this is the way to let people know about the possibilities and opportunities of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality  by getting them personally involved and engaged in these fields. It certainly is viral and will appeal to many, to be part of something innovative!
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Acrossair has released a new Augmented Reality information app for the iPhone 3GS, called NearestWiki.

The application is in lign with for instance Wikitude, providing the user with real-time information about his or her surroundings.
You do need firmware version 3.1 to run the software on your iPhone.
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Today I was pleasantly surprised by the announcement of Mobilizy with their proposal of an Augmented Reality Mark-up Language (ARML).
This proposal helps to establish a long-term sustainable framework to display location specific data on any Augmented Reality browsers, making sure that data can be universally accessed. read more

The latest buzz from Silicon Valley has to be the Real-time Web.
Ignited by the success of Twitter, the next evolutionary step of the Web is the real-time delivery of content, as this might be true, there’s too much noise about the Real-time Web and its implications.

Is the Real-time Web really that emerging and transformative or is it hyped and cleverly used marketing jargon?
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by Richard G. Kastelein

This work is a summary of “Innovation at the Edge: Social TV and Beyond,” by Natalie Klym and Marie Jose Montpetit, MIT Communications Futures Program, September 1, 2008, link to the original paper.

The transition is happening. Convergence is inevitable. At least I think so.

How much longer will it be (or can we handle) until we move from our passive, numbing, anti-social, traditional TV screens to a more connected and shared, interactive TV space with family, friends, and communities?

Not long. There’s too much of a need for this change.

A full 57 percent of US Internet users reported browsing the Internet and watching the TV simultaneously, according to Neilson Ratings (PDF). On average, Americans spent about 2 hours and 39 minutes per month doing these activities together, with almost a third of their Internet time being spent in front of the TV. “This simultaneous activity is one reason we see continued growth of both Internet and TV consumption,” wrote Nielsen.

What does that mean?
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Agora Media Group has created a LinkedIn Group named: Social TV Group – Television 2.0 – Convergence and Community

The purpose and goal of this Linkedin group is to centralize news, information, companies and individuals with an interest to the new developments and industry of Social TV – Television 2.0.
A place where like-minded gather, exchange and learn.
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