Agora Media Group Innovation Blog

YouTube envisions future of television viewing – William Cooper at informitv.com with more brilliant insight

If you aren’t a lucky recipient of Cooper’s emails, you can sign up for free here.

He’s simply one of the smartest guys in the Social TV and TV 2.0 landscape and always connects the dots in a brilliant fashion.

YouTube envisions future of television viewing – 18 April 2010

It is just five years since the first video was uploaded on YouTube by one of its founders. Now over 24 hours of video a minute are uploaded to the site and it receives over a billion views a day. YouTube has its sights set on turning a few minutes a day watching videos on the web to something more like the hours a day we generally spend watching television. That vision could become a reality once televisions are routinely connected to the internet.

“People think about the world of TV and the world of online video as being different ways to distribute video,” said Chad Hurley, the co-founder of YouTube, in an interview with the Telegraph newspaper. “But what happens when every TV is connected to wi-fi with a browser?”

“That is what we envision. Instead of this world of online video and this world of TV there is just one world,” he said. “There won’t be a difference in the future.”

“The iPad — is that a phone or a computer?” he questioned. “If I put it on my wall is it a TV? People continue to try to throw things in the buckets when really these are all going to be different-sized devices with a connection to the internet.”

Read full article here

ps: I am about to get my connected TV next week here in Holland. Fresh off the shelves a Samsung with Internet@TV so will be running some tests and shooting video next month. For Dutch readers, yes, there are Dutch Apps already developed. Eerste Nederlandse widgets op Samsung-tv’s

I came across a new patent which is filed by Apple on PatentlyApple.com.

It describes in detail what Apple how Apple is planning to revolutionize the current ticketing process, plus enhancing the event experience itself.
For further details, have a look at the article on PatentlyApple.com.

For me, two immediate questions arise.

Is Apple trying to smartly achieve a kind of All-you-need-is-the-iPhone state?
By centralizing processes and ascribing them to this device, a powerfull influence is created for the iPhone. Surely iTunes and it’s music is part of this move, but the centralized modus for the iPhone can of course be expanded to many other purposes as well.

Secondly, based on Porter’s Five Forces model, what will the impact be if Apple enters this business?
It certainly will put emphasis on the entry of a new player and the threat of substitute products/services. The patent refers to giving access to live recordings of the concert which visitors just attended or access to exclusive interviews. Who wouldn’t want this? It’s all additional and easy to access content, this will have consequences for other ticketing businesses who can’t offer this.
iTunes is a platform used by many, the bargaining power of customers will increase due to its innovative approach, raising the current intensity amongst existing players to outsmart Apple and “conventional” ticketing business.

Do you think the iPhone becomes the all-in-one-device?
If this will happen, how do you see the future or developments of the ticketing industry?

The first Android based television is presented by People of Lava from Sweden and  it’s an Internet-connected TV from a country that will launch its first television device in decades.

The two questions that need to be asked and answered, correctly pointed out by Wired also, are the following two:

* What is the point of some of the services that are being offered through the Android TV.
* Web-TV is the future, but simply replacing a screen (laptop for TV) is not the way to go.

With regard to the first question, I think it’s a matter of comfort, new/enhanced experiences made possible by the TV screen instead of the laptop screen.
Video calling with Skype on your TV is the same kind of starting point in finding a solution for a need.

The real challenge is the control part. For services on the Android TV, a keyboard is needed, the perceived risks or transition risks can be too high for many, willing to make the trade off between a better/new experience (Web TV) and a known device/process (Laptop). Why choose for a TV+Keyboard when there is the much used laptop?

This challenge relates to the second question, a replacement of screen is not the the long-term sustainable solution, from the user point of view it adds only a new device for the same needs, which could complicate usage or offer too much choice.

Researches have pointed out to the fact of multitasking during the (passive) TV experience. The new TV experience is dynamic, reciprocal and certainly not passive, but combining the laptop and TV in media consumption without the burdens/difficulties of usage, can be a relevant middle-way to change TV behavior without being too disruptive.

From an application point of view, the Android TV will be interesting if the portfolio of applications is broad. Will this be a chicken-egg scenario?

People of Lava can tap in two applications sources, their own and of course the Open Source Android platform. Their own app store can be relatively extensive, but real power of such a device -and future Android TV devices- will be reflected by the community efforts/applications.

Below you’ll find specifications and a couple of images which can be found on the People of Lava website:
read more

Wow! That came out of left field -  unsuspected but… really – something that really makes sense when we consider TV Everywhere as a concept (at least for me!). If the iPad does get the traction that many are predicting (Apple Inc.’s iPad tablet computer hits US shelves on Saturday, April 3, 2010), and they do flog 10-20 million in 2010, the converging media landscape will really have a new player in terms of co-viewed TV and Social TV.

Personally, I have always had issues with watching video on mobile devices – not that I am blind, I can actually see well. But I just don’t enjoy the experience. Interactive TV on an iPad (24.3 cm × 19.0 cm × 1.3 cm) will certainly be more enjoyable and feasible for most consumers.

Will this be a one screen or two screen play? Or both?

“Part of the idea is that mobile devices are easier and more appealing to play with while watching TV than laptop or desktop computers — but the tablet will hit the sweet spot in between.” reports Ad Age, so let’s wait and see.

MTV Developing ‘Co-Viewing’ Apps for the iPad

Magazines and newspapers aren’t the only media eying big benefits upon the iPad’s arrival: TV is poised to use the device in new ways, including creating interactive, social apps designed to be used while watching live programming.

MTV Networks, for example, is developing a “co-browsing app meant to be used while watching live TV,” said one executive familiar with MTV’s iPad plans. “This means the iPad could be the appendage that makes interactive TV a reality.”

Kristin Frank, general manager of MTV and VH1 Digital, said MTV is focusing on two approaches to its apps, whether for mobile or the iPad: co-viewing apps that capture the social-media chatter around TV and awards shows and apps for video on the go. IPad apps for “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “MTV News” and “VH1 To Go” are all due in April, she said.

“Fifty-nine percent of people are multitasking when watching TV — that’s something we’ve always known,” said Ms. Frank, referring to recent Nielsen data quantifying a longstanding observation. “This is the next evolution.”

Mobile phone apps to run on the iPhone and Android devices remain MTV’s priority for 2010, Ms. Frank noted, but the iPad apps under construction are a reminder that TV is not about to sit the tablet out.

Read More…

by Richard Kastelein

This article first appeared at Atlantic Free Press.

Ever since the New York Times launched word that Google TV will likely become a reality last week, the concept of convergent media has suddenly become a mass meme rather than a tech meme… and probably done more good for IPTV and the blossoming worlds of Social TV, tCommerce, TV Widgets, TV recommendation engines, TV Everywhere, TV 2.0, and opt-in TV advertising than any single event in this emerging landscape.

The TV deal between Google, Sony, Logitech and Intel which flooded the media zeitgeist last week was a perfect riposte to the other news that Facebook topped Google for the week ending March 13th with 7.07 per cent of all Internet traffic for that week, while Google.com got 7.03 per cent.

Sony looks set to rollout new Intel ‘chipped’ TV sets, while Google will make available set-top-boxes (STB)’s – and both will be powered by tiny keyboards built by Logitech. Makes perfect sense.

And what punter would not want an affordable Google Set Top Box (STB) with new cool Logitech remote that does stuff, so he can search his TV and do other cool things? Or just buy a new Sony LCD wall screen that does the same thing – sans the STB?

Interesting to see how it all plays against the Yahoo Connected TV – which already has its feed firmly entrenched in the space and has some cross over with their partners, including Sony and Intel. Most people still don’t even know about Yahoo TV, nor ever heard about. Including most developers I meet at the many events I attend each year in Europe. You can bet, with all the coverage last week, they know about the Google TV foray.

Probably the most exciting news for me is the fact that the New TV platform will be based on Android, and will remain Open Source. That means all code will be transparent, available and open to change and suggestions and managed by a core team… unlike the iPhone,  Facebook and Yahoo Connected TV developer communities  which offer a slice of code to allow developers to develop applications via Application Programming Interface (API)’s or Software Development Kit (SDK)’s.  Bear in mind, any external or 3rd party development has to meet stringent standards for the TV market. read more

That is what Verizon Wireless and Skype have announced yesterday at the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona!
It was bound to happen at one point, but I never thought that Verizon would be the operator to initiate this.
Secondly, this is a huge milestone for Skype which is trying to get access to wireless networks for several years now.

What do you think the effect of this development will be on the mobile industry and on the current relationships?

Press release from Skype:
read more

TechCrunch announces in its article Facebook’s Project Titan: A Full Featured Webmail Product that Facebook is developing a full fledged webmail product. Internally -of course- it’s seen as a Gmail killer. For some of the known features of Facebook’s webmail product, click the link above.

What I do find more interesting, is the question if this might be or not be, the Gmail killer?
Facebook has one advantage that Google does not have, the social network. Where Google wants to organize the world’s information, Facebook tries to be the global social hub.
70% of the time spent online is attributed to social networking, communication through email is simply an extension of it.
The question is if people would trade Gmail for Facebook email if that simplifies the activity and centralizes these activities on one platform?

What do you think, would people back away from Gmail to Facebook or are the perceived risks too high and has Google diffused so much that it’s not an option for many?

Google Buzz is “a Google approach to sharing.”

Google is making an interesting move which is two-folded.
At the one hand, it’s trying to enter the social networking business, on the other hand it’s trying to do what it’s overaching goal is: organizing information, in this case, social information.
Google’s trying to get a grasp on Facebook and Twitter. Especially Facebook is unstoppable in its advance in monthy traffic.

What Buzz does is incorporating social tools in Gmail.
It has five features:

• Users can auto-follow people which he/she is frequently communicating with, be it email or chat.
• Sharing becomes much easier, the user will be able to share content from Flickr, Youtube and so on.
• A recommendation service where Buzz will help you find popular content.
• The user will get social updates.
• The user will be able to update his/her status, be it to the public or private.

Some features do look alike the ones which are available on Facebook and Twitter. Gmail is a perfect platform to deploy these social tools, a huge userbase of 170+ million, which will return Google lots of intel, on usage, functionality, usability etc.

One of my last articles, The Synaptic Web and the Flux of Information, referred to search and filtering and why filtering is becoming the mechanism in this highly communicative digital society.
Google Buzz will create Google’s own real-time stream of information, how will Google manage the flow for the user, in terms of keeping an overview and not being overloaded?
Yet another tool is not adding more simplicity to the overcrowded landscape. Looking forward how and if Google is able to convince its users to go for Google Buzz.

What are your initial thoughts?

Today, February 3rd, game developer Paladin Studios has launched EnerCities. It is an online game in which players are challenged to build a sustainable city. It will run online (www.enercities.eu) and on Facebook, and is available in six European languages. The game is part of an educational platform dealing with energy issues, backed by European Commission funding of €1 million. read more

WOW!

I can’t simply express it differently, these are the next steps in the Augmented Reality evolution and diffusion.

First of all, Sketch Recognition is a development which will make QR Codes / markers redundant on the long run and will create a more natural/organic augmented reality.
View below the video which shows how the technology interacts with the augmentated content! This goes beyond the abilities of current browsers and technologies which do not understand the augmented data, but merely shows it based on markers or GPS data.

The next video will really blow your mind because the technology enables recognition upon natural shapes.

When you combine the two new developments, the extra opportunities -enabled by them- are vast.
Not only will it be more organic and user generated, but based upon the initial augmentated reality, the meta-data can undergo interaction with the user and thus altering the intelligence extracted by the superimposing!

The good news for developers is the following, quoted from the GamesAlfresco blog:

For the first time ever, the core code necessary for real augmented reality “(real” here means precise alignment of graphics overlaid on real life objects) on iPhone 3.0 is available to the public.
To get access to the source code – send us an email ( comogard@gmail.com ).

The precise alignment of graphics on real life object will be an improvement compared to the current abilities to align.
I do wonder what new applications will be developed and how industries will benefit from this.

What do you foresee?