Andy Kaiser gives two thumbs up to new Motorola Droid | Digital Bits 10/31/2009
Posted by thaadsma in broadband, design, mobile web, multimedia, social web, user interfaces, web, web services.add a comment
Andy Kaiser and I and a few more of us at i3 Business Solutions have been patiently waiting for the first smartphone based on the Google “Android” platform to hit the streets, and compete head-on with Apple’s excellent iPhone.
Andy likes the iPhone. Andy really likes the new Droid from Motorola.
Read his excellent review written at his Digital Bits technology column. Here’s an excerpt:
“The Droid is an excellent phone. Google, Motorola and Verizon really knocked this one out of the park. I don’t even like baseball, and I’m using a baseball euphemism. That’s how impressed I am.
As of this writing, you can visit “DroidDoes”, Verizon’s promotional site for the Droid. The site starts you off with a few blurbs about all the things the Droid does that the iPhone can’t do or doesn’t have like having a removable battery, physical keyboard, multitasking, and open app store, etc. To my knowledge, this is the first cellphone that has had the guts to directly criticize the mighty Apple iPhone.
It can criticize Apple all it wants. The Droid holds its own. Easily.”
Find out why Andy likes this phone so much, as he fully describes its features and capabilities at his website AndyBrain.com.
Web Presentations & Video Conversation Protocol 06/13/2008
Posted by mritsema in multimedia, security, web, web services.add a comment
- Plan ahead – rehearse – prepare
- Confirm technology – connections – camera angles …
- Turn off IM, Office calendar, cell & office phones and other distractions
- Dress appropriately
- Be careful with mute and music on hold – both may fail or cause distractions for the entire online meeting.
Read the article for some entertaining stories about online gaffes we can all learn from.
Michael Ritsema
Place your television ads with Google TV Ads (!) | Inside AdWords : Google 05/01/2008
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Inside AdWords: Place ads on television with Google TV Ads
Cool! But I think we’ll start to see more YouTube-grade commercials on commercial TV from here on out.
On second thought: could they possibly be worse than our local auto dealer ads? ;^)
“We’d like to introduce Google TV Ads, a flexible, all-digital system for easily and efficiently buying more accountable and measurable TV advertising. The program, which has been an invitation-only beta test since June 2007, is now available to all US-based advertisers…
…How does it work?
First, you’ll need a TV commercial. If you don’t have one yet, check out Google’s Ad Creation Marketplace, where you can connect with industry professionals who provide script writing, editing, production, and voice-over talent at an affordable package cost. It’s free to search for specialists and send them requests for project bids, and you aren’t under any obligation to work with them until you accept a bid. To celebrate our launch, for a limited time Google will cover the cost of creating your TV ad through our Ad Creation Marketplace, up to $2,000. Learn more about this special offer.”
Google mapping spec now an industry standard | CNET News.com 04/14/2008
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Google mapping spec now an industry standard | Tech news blog – CNET News.com
“”What OGC brings to the table is…everyone has confidence we won’t take advantage of the format or change it in a way that will harm anyone,” said Michael Weiss-Malik, Google’s KML product manager. “The goal is to prevent market fragmentation,” in which different technology uses different standards. “
Real-Time Events in Three Dimensions… at last? | MC Press Online 02/25/2008
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Software That Depicts Real-Time Events in Three Dimensions May Offer Distinct Advantages |
MC Press Online
After years–decades!– of fits and starts, the latest 3D technologies coming to market offer real promise for real-world applications. Look for more information at this blog in the coming months as we focus on 3D technologies for market leaders.
One lively post to read right now at MC Press Online (HT to Mike Sansoterra):
“For some reason, which may date back to the Spanish Inquisition and threats of expressing our deeper beliefs, we have told ourselves that two-dimensional images are just fine and, if we could just see them in color, or just see them a little sharper, then we would feel quite happy-perhaps even blessed. Well, as the has-been news anchor Howard Beale says in the 1976 movie Network (directed by Sidney Lumet), “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Two-dimensional imagery simply isn’t good enough! I want my 3-D! “
Online Ads Hit $50 Billion By 2011; Local Reaches $9 Billion By 2012; Pre-Roll, Embeds Gain In ‘08 | paidContent.org 01/19/2008
Posted by thaadsma in advertising, analytics, google, microsoft, multimedia, web, Yahoo.add a comment
“With all the doom and gloom hovering over the economy right now, analyst reports heralding brighter days for the future of internet ad spend continue to be released. Below are three separate reports offering prognostications for online ad spending from a general perspective, another with a strictly local viewpoint and, lastly, an examination of streaming media.”
Click the link above to read all the good revenue news.
Microsoft Sees Olympic Gold and Silverlight 01/09/2008
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Microsoft Sees Olympic Gold and Silverlight
We’ll never have to suffer through another Bob Costas “human interest” story again!
“NBC will deliver NBCOlympics.com on MSN, and the video, more than 3,000 hours of free, live and on-demand content, will be powered by Silverlight, Microsoft’s cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering high-quality video experiences on the Web.
“We’ll take the 3,600 hours of all the different events and we’ll make it available live, on demand, and let you customize,” Gates said of the Olympics content.
The deal with NBC around the summer Olympics is a good win for Microsoft. “
NASA goes AJAX 12/03/2007
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NASA – NASA Launches New and Expanded Agency Web Site
NASA Launches New and Expanded Agency Web Site WASHINGTON – As the agency commemorates its 50th anniversary, NASA has launched “NASA.gov 5.0,” the first major redesign of its primary Web site in more than four years. The new design goes beyond a cosmetic facelift. It features a new level of interactivity and customization, and provides the opportunity to comment on selected NASA stories, create personal playlists of favorite NASA videos and share agency content with social bookmarking sites on the Internet.”
AOL Launches BlueString multimedia app 09/17/2007
Posted by thaadsma in multimedia, SaaS, web.add a comment
Wow–
it’s been awhile since I’ve thought about AOL, much less talked or wrote about them. Must be that, after the early days of online in the mid-90s, while suffering through AOL’s dial-up services once too often, I developed a mental block.
AO who?
It was a pleasant suprise when I checked out the new Bluestring service they offer. Here’s a nice little tool based on Adobe Flex that pulls together your media in all its various forms– simply, easily and free. Check it out for yourself, just for fun:
”AOL is launching a new collaborative multimedia story telling service called BlueString
at TechCrunch 40. The site ,is a Flex application that lets you pull in all your image, video, and audio content from across the web and mix them together into a multimedia slide show presentation. The shows can be embedded, shared, and edited by your friends.”
Skinkers, Microsoft announce live, streaming content venture 07/06/2007
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Skinkers, Microsoft announce live, streaming content venture
The competion in the streaming video space (with its potential for massive advertising revenues) continues to heat up. In addition to Joost, the early innovater and leader, Microsoft pulls a suprise move with LiveStation, built on the new Silverlight platform. Some commentary from Ars Technica:
“Since Joost already does free, streaming television with plenty of extra features, why would a company even bother to go down this road? The answer is simple: because it is taking streaming video one further by offering presumably free, live content. In a video demo, Berlucchi also notes that LiveStation will be easily modified to work with mobile devices.
Though the demo video doesn’t show much except some live content from the BBC, this service definitely sounds promising. If Microsoft can get in bed with the right content providers, then LiveStation certainly could be a Joost killer. If nothing else, LiveStation will at least help ensure that Silverlight is installed on thousands of PCs across the world, meaning that it could also be an accessory to the company’s Flash killer.”
Wired News | Why Joost Is Good for TV: 01/19/2007
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Wired News: Why Joost Is Good for TV: “At Skype’s sleek London headquarters, the two Vikings are penned in a small glass-walled conference room. Zennström is still under the gun to prove the wisdom of eBay’s purchase. He has confidence, though, in his recipe for turning bit-powered ideas into money-spinning businesses. ‘You can’t just put a technology out there and hope there will be a business in it,’ he says. ‘You have to put together a whole consumer offering, a great instantaneous experience. A simple service that fills an obvious need and can be offered for free.’”
Japan project aims to create 3D TV by 2020 | CNET … 08/21/2005
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Japan project aims to create 3D TV by 2020 | CNET News.com: “Japan plans to make this futuristic television a commercial reality by 2020 as part of a broad national project that will bring together researchers from the government, technology companies and academia.
The targeted ‘virtual reality’ television would allow people to view high-definition images in 3D from any angle, in addition to being able to touch and smell the objects being projected upwards from a screen parallel to the floor”
Forbes.com | The Era Of The Mixmaster 08/03/2005
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The Era Of The Mixmaster | Forbes.com: “The hot air surrounding blogs and podcasts could melt steel. I’ve made a living from my own Web site since 1998. I worked on a Ziff Davis Internet radio operation two years before that. Today’s “new media” just isn’t that new.
That said, if you look carefully, the contours of 21st-century content creation are taking shape. Specifically, I see four distinct groups that will create content no matter what transpires on the business end of media:
– Editorial pros. Writers, broadcasters, actors and those who employ them.
– Commercial pros. Product placement will evolve into full-blown production of scripted programming by what we know today as advertisers.
– Independents. Today’s amateurs can expect lots of company.
– Mixmasters. Blended content from multiple sources will excite consumers and intellectual-property attorneys, alike.”
The Long Tail: The new architecture of production:… 08/02/2005
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The Long Tail: The new architecture of production: “In the comments, Ryan Shaw points to the interesting MSMDX (Media Streams Metadata Exchange) project at UC Berkeley, whose goal is ‘to create a platform for collaboratively annotating, retrieving, sharing and remixing multimedia content.’. It’s just getting underway, but it has already produced one of the more cogent graphics illustrating the new architecture of participation in a remix culture. “
BBC Backstage :: "backstage.bbc.co.uk is the BBC’s new developer network" 05/18/2005
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BBC Backstage :: Front Page ::: “backstage.bbc.co.uk is the BBC’s new developer network, providing content feeds for anyone to build with. Alternatively, share your ideas on new ways to use BBC content. This is your BBC. We want to help you play.
backstage.bbc.co.uk is currently in beta as we add new feeds and APIs and develop the service further over the coming weeks and months. Join the email discussion list to tell us how we could improve the service and converse with others about BBC Backstage.”
Riding the wave of video downloads | CNET News.com… 05/11/2005
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Riding the wave of video downloads | CNET News.com: “As home broadband connections proliferate, digital-content companies are chomping at the bit to offer broadband customers content such as movies. The challenge? Many consumers are used to buying their content through other avenues.
‘There are already so many ways–DVD, VOD, P2P, cable TV, broadcast TV, satellite TV, pay-per-view, home video rental–1,001 ways to get the same mainstream movies easily and cheaply that the services are offering,’ said Todd Chanko, an analyst with Jupitermedia.
‘I figured if someone is that immersed in a topic, they’ll go crazy when they find a place that offers content they’re looking for.’
–Karl Quist
TotalVid founderTotalVid’s advantage is that it provides obscure content, such as movies on mountain biking, to a neglected part of the market. TotalVid offers more than 1,000 titles, which cost up to $4 and expire after seven days. In a classic up-selling move, consumers can also purchase a DVD and permanent digital version of a movie and have the rental cost subtracted from the DVD buy”
Japundit | More TV!: "The Teleglass, which goes on… 05/03/2005
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Japundit | More TV!: “The Teleglass, which goes on sale in June, comes with earphones and a box that connects to a portable DVD player. The wearer will see images as if watching a 14-inch television screen from a distance of one meter (yard), according to an official at Scalar Corp., the Tokyo microscope maker that developed the Teleglass.
People can slap the tiny screen with a 0.24-inch liquid crystal display and lens onto one side of their glasses or those with normal vision can choose to use a pair of sunglasses.
The sunglasses could make them look cool –or it could indicate they are being mischievous. People nearby have no way of knowing what film is being played on the Teleglass.”
MakeZine.com: Free TiVo: Build a Better DVR out of… 05/01/2005
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MakeZine.com: Free TiVo: Build a Better DVR out of an Old PC: “Several months ago, I finally became sufficiently jealous of the millions of DVR owners to motivate me to put a DVR in my own living room. But I wanted something more versatile than a normal TiVo, ReplayTV, or Ultimate TV system. I envisioned an all-purpose media server that would function as a full DVR, but would also work as a music server and play console games. It would have an easy remote-control interface, just like a commercial DVR, and a way to program it through the internet. Finally, I wanted to avoid the monthly fees that many DVR owners pay to keep their machines’ schedules up-to-date.”
