Hope you all had a great July 4th Weekend!First, let me welcome the new adds to the class:
Mike is direct from a hellish stint as an exec assistant where he was driven to distraction by being ordered to perform meaningless, life sucking tasks and is recovering his self-esteem with the UCLA Producing Certification Program. Exchange Students Vladimir form Russia, Banu from Turkey and Yvonne from Kenya are all in the Cert program too. Vladimir is also a freelance Editor. Gautam is an Engineer and articulate D.J. blogging at http://thesmoothdj.com. Ece is in the Music Business Certification program studying tour management.
NEWS
Vincente tuned us into the new streaming box VOD of over 10,000 movies over the Netflix “Ready” device for $99 from Roku. I was amazed to here that after buying the box you can pay just $8.99 per month for the 1 DVD over the mail and you can watch unlimited movies over the box. Roku was one of the first CE companies to create media “adaptors” which bridge the Internet to the home entertainment devices starting with Internet radio to stereos.
We debated about eBay’s liability in the counterfeit goods case for which a court in Europe ordered eBay to pay $61 million in damages. Most believe that eBay should not be held liable for this would be poor precedent for other Internet e-commerce providers.
Hulu, the new Internet Video “channel” from Newscorp and NBC Uni had some news. More people watch comedies on Hulu than on the Network sites, whereas the opposite is true for dramas. We debated as to why that is. Some say it is the short form nature of comedy. It could also be in the user experience and the way that comedies are showcased on Hulu Vs NBC.com and Fox.com. It could also have to do with the demographics of who is logging on to the respective sites.
Nokia announced that it had made a licensing deal with Warner Music Group. This is an example of new business model for the NOKIA MUSIC STORE, which, I think, is aimed squarely at iTunes and is similar to Verizon’s Vcast Music with Rhapsody. In Nokia’s case, their store will be carrier agnostic and probably be the music solution for many international carriers.
Shannon pointed out this NYT Article about a new Google sponsored media / entertainment initiative with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane (NYT Article : Google and Creator of ‘Family Guy’ Strike a Deal)
I mentioned the Android / Google article in the July issue of Wired and how important it could be the burgeoning wireless world.
CLASS
I covered part II of the “Trends” lecture. Recapping demographics and moving on to the megatrends of:
- Convergence
- Booming CE Industry
- Any Screen Anywhere Anytime
- Wireless Broadband
- Digital Production
- Internationalization of the Movie and Entertainment Industry
Mace Camhe a Principal of The Outfit Media (www.theoutfitmg.com). We will hear about the Outfit Media Group and talk about digital production trends. Sphere: Related Content
12 comments:
Technically, the unlimited deal only applies to Netflix's unlimited plan
For more Wired review of the Roku box, click here."
Another reason why the eBay decision shouldn't hold up - it's the same as saying the City of New York is liable for all the bootlegs on Canal Street! The takeaway here is that eBay, just like our cities, are a platform for buyers and sellers to meet. One can't expect the facilitator to police everything that goes on - it's just no tenable. The police of NYC should keep themselves busy clamping down on violent crimes, and one could argue it's more important for eBay to spend resources on making sure people don't sell their babies or their bodies (which happens and certainly leads to more public outcry than fake leather bags).
Gautam
We discussed a number of consumer home video devices. I've got two questions:
Are there any devices others that those listed below that fit into this general category?
Tivo
AppleTv
Echostar
Slingbox
Roku
Vudu
Archos???
In addition to those listed below, what are primary distinguishing characteristics that make one different then the others?
Streaming Video from Internet
Local Media Storage
TV Recording
VOD Support
TiVo is more of a swiss army knife that combines DVR,Movies Downloading and acts as a media extender (listen to music/look at pics from your computer)
AppleTV is more of an extender, but with new software is more of an independant device
Echostar provides DVR functionality with their DVR
Slingbox is purely a media extender
Roku is strictly streaming
Vudu is movie downloading/streaming
Archos is portable DVR
All the above boxes provide services via broadband connection
Disney had a service called MovieBeam that could receive movies over the air. They were downloaded to the box and could be viewed at your leisure...no broadband connection necessary. It died about 8 months ago.
Xbox Marketplace allows you to purchase movies/TV shows/Games and download them to your X-Box
PS3 users may soon be able to stream Netflix movies online
And last but not least...Who can forget Windows Media Center that provides DVR, Video on Demand (through 3rd parties, and the ability to watch your DVDs, pics and listen to music.
and for Daryl...
http://gizmodo.com/5023415/iphone-gets-voice-dialing-with-ispeak
I wanted to bring up Hulu.com, I'm a big fan of the site but mainly watch Comedies. I'll have to agree it's because the comedies are shorter and I can tolerate a short 20 second commercial every 10 minutes. You can watch movies on Hulu, but being the film dork that I am, I can't be interrupted every 8 minutes by commercials while watching Ghost busters or The Big Lebowski.
I couldn't find a news item that mentioned the Hulu/Roku link... Is this still in the works/unannounced or am I missing it?
-shannon
Okay, now I feel like a big lying liar!
I misread the article. After a more thorough sweep of the web, officials at Roku are 'hinting' at other content partners, and Hulu is 'rumored' to be one of them.
Vincent - thanks for the demystifying follow-up to my questions on consumer video devices. Great stuff.
can we have the slides from the last lecture posted?
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