I’m at RIPE56 today and tomorrow. RIPE (Réseaux IP Européens) is a collaborative forum open to all parties interested in wide area IP networks in Europe and beyond, and RIPE56 is, you’ve guess it, the 56th meeting.
This week-long event brings together the best minds on IP networks, and I’m here working predominantly on the issues of IPv4 depletion and IPv6 uptake. This is a complex issue requiring some deft communications.
Right now however, I’m in a very interesting presentation by Thomas Billeter and Fredy Kuenzler of Zattoo. From their website:
“Zattoo has developed a software program that allows you to watch TV on your computer. All you need is a broadband connection and a current operating system (Windows XP or Vista, Mac OS X, or Linux). The service is legal and free of charge.
“Zattoo is a peer-to-peer application. This means that the data is not streamed from one central server to all users watching a certain program, but flows from one user to the next, thus also using the computing power of the users’ computers.”
Employing a team of 50 and funding of $15m, Zattoo is already live in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. More European countries and the US are planned this year.
Of course, the business plan is underpinned by advertising revenues, although the possibility of subscription based services isn’t dismissed at this stage. The pitch to broadcasters and advertisers: “Zattoo attracts fleeing viewers back to broadcast TV“.
The guys have just shown a matrix with “clips” and “full 24/7 programming” along one axis, and “archive content” and “live content” along the other. Here’s how they slot themselves and competitive video offerings in that matrix:
Zattoo currently serves two million users with 500 servers in 16 locations. Another 200 servers will be added in a few weeks. Less than half of content delivery is managed peer-to-peer due to the upload bandwidth constraints of typical ADSL broadband connections.
Their research has revealed why their current userbase is attracted to Zattoo:
29% want to watch whilst they do other stuff on their computer
22% don’t have a TV
18% use it when they are away from their normal TV
14% use it when their normal TV is being used by someone else
On last night’s episode of CSI: NY, a new type of technology from Microsoft helped investigators virtually reconstruct a crime scene by uploading hundreds of camera phone thumbnail photos that were taken in the area.
USA Today reported that this was done by using Microsoft’s Photosynth, which is still in development. The technology takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space.
With many people recording their favorite shows and fast-forwarding through the commercials, product placement has become an important and effective way for companies to get in front of consumers. According to a recent study by the PQ Media research firm, product placement grew 33.7 percent in 2007, to $2.9 billion. However, not all product placements are paid opportunities. For Microsoft and CSI, they have an ‘ongoing creative relationship’ where both parties can benefit.
Last year 30 Rock dedicated an episode to product placement (see segment below), where television writer Liz Lemon argued against including GE’s products in the show:
Liz: “We’re not compromising the integrity of the show to sell…”
Pete: “Wow, this is diet Snapple?”
Liz: “I know, it tastes just like regular Snapple, doesn’t it?”
Frank: “You should try plumagranite, it’s amazing.”
Cerie: “I only date guys who drink Snapple.”
Jack: “Yes, everyone loves Snapple. Lord knows I do.”
The show even featured someone dressed in a Snapple suit asking where HR was located.
Racepoint has has some experience with product placement, such as when the CereTom, a portable CT scanner, was featured in ER’s 300th episode this season. The scanner also made appearances on Grey’s Anatomy, and TLC’s Diagnosis X.
Last week, Segway launched a social network – Segway Social. This decision was made following a recent survey, in which 82 percent of users said they wanted to connect with other Segway customers. In this Web 2.0 community, people can share tips, inform fellow members about their personal experiences using a Segway personal transporter (PT), locate a “glide” (fun route to use a PT) in their area, and find out how much money they are saving by going green and riding the Segway wave.
This is a perfect example of the ways that companies are gradually adopting social media in order to improve customer satisfaction, allow users to establish a sense of connection with the brand, engage with new audiences, and drive sales. What was once merely a tool for security guards and police officers on patrol is now evolving into the “new bike” for eco-enthusiasts and commuters alike, through the power of peer-to-peer marketing.
What’s more is Segway’s strategy for promoting their company messaging and green goals through their blog. Segway is establishing itself as a thought leader in the green transportation industry by getting involved in the ongoing conversation and commenting on news, trends and events such as Earth Day.
What will be interesting to see is whether these social media marketing tactics prove fruitful and drive sales, as each basic PT runs at a cool $5100 or more. Although social networks like Social Segway are doing a great job demonstrating that it’s worth the green to go green, the ever-rising price of gas pretty much speaks for itself. I’d say PTs are A-OK.
As if AOL Instant Messenger and Facebook don’t already consume enough of our attention, The Facebook Blog revealed that they will soon be rolling out Facebook Chat. Similar to GMail’s gTalk Sidebar, when we sign on to Facebook, we will now see a chat bar pop up at the bottom of our browsers. Facebook Chat will allow us to connect with other Facebook users in real-time, as opposed to posting on walls and message boards.
Granted, this application will keep us in “real-time touch” with more people in our social networks than ever before… This however, is not necessarily a good thing. I don’t know about you, but there are about 10 people I chat with on a fairly regular basis on AIM… yet I’m closing in on a solid 700 people within my Facebook network.
Just because we have profiles and have a lot of “friends” on Facebook, doesn’t mean we want everyone to have instant access to our lives. We all saw the backlash Facebook had when the News Feed was launched… Can’t we all just “stalk” each other from the secluded privacy of our living rooms without being hounded on IM?
I am going to have to agree with Mashable on this one, and say that between AIM, Yahoo, GTalk, MSN, Jabber, Skype and MySpace, enough is enough. The more does not always mean the merrier.
This week I’ll be blogging from CTIA, the U.S. mobile industry’s leading conference. This show is particularly exciting from a media perspective, because there’s always a ton of very exciting product and technology news breaking.
OK – let’s get things started off with a little news from the big boys – specifically Microsoft. Microsoft today unveiled the long awaited Windows Mobile 6.1, the first major update release for the Windows Mobile 6 wave. Major improvements include a variety of new features and platform enhancements to increase productivity, improve the web surfing experience, and make it just plain easier to get up and running on Windows Mobile devices. Here are a few of my personal favorites:
A New Place to Call Home….Home Screen, that is…
With the release of Windows Mobile 6.1 comes a new plug-in based home screen layout. Microsoft is calling this user interface a Sliding Panel. Plug-ins will include clock, e-mail, calendar items, notifications (such as voicemail, missed calls, text messages), and Windows Live. If you’re a Windows Mobile 6.1 user you’ll also have the option to add in music and photos to that list. Here’s a sneak peek at the new homescreen courtesy of pocketnow.com.
Threaded SMS
This might be arguably the most productivity enhancing element of 6.1. According to Microsoft, Threaded SMS enables messages between a user and a contact to be grouped into a thread for that contact. This enables phone users to view an inline thread of conversation while typing a new message. No more flipping back and forth between screens, and no more forgetting what you were responding to mid-text.
Zoom With a View
OK – full disclosure here. Zumobi is one of my clients, and one of my favorite mobile technologies to come out over the past year. So, I’m a little partial to the whole idea of a zooming user interface. That said, it looks like Microsoft has done an admirable job at bringing basic zooming functionality to its mobile browser.
Users can now get a “zoom” view while browsing Web pages in Internet Explorer Mobile, letting them zoom into particular parts of a Web page to improve readability and overall usability. The zoom feature offers five viewing sizes—largest, larger, default, smaller, and smallest. These are available in all three views— desktop, fit to screen, and one column.
More Goodies
There are a host of additional new features on Windows Mobile 6.1, including improved time settings, alarms, cut & paste functionality, auto complete for email, multi-select options, an improved task manager that lets users actively manage memory allotment, improved connectivity to open wi-fi networks, and a nifty Getting Started Center that helps first time users make the most of their devices. Bottom line – more cool, helpful stuff to make life on the road with a Windows Mobile device a lot better.
Los Angeles is newly becoming a technology hot spot.Led by the digital entertainment revolution, it has become one of the next big markets lauded by venture capitalists eyeing the next JibJab or Flux. I’m starting to wonder when they are going to launch the Silicon Hills Insider?
Laura Holson has the latest chapter in the digital entertainment industry’s attempt to bridge the gap between The Valley and The Hills in today’s New York Times.
According the Laura:
“On Monday, the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent shop, will announce that it is teaming up with the Silicon Valley venture capital firms Accel Partners and Venrock to invest in digital media start-up companies based in Southern California.”
Dan Primack at the peHUB actually had some general musings about a potential William Sonoma and Accel Partners seed-stage digital media/entertainment fund last week.
The interesting part of Laura’s story is that she highlights AT&T’s role in the fund, that hadn’t been previously noted.
AT&T will be a limited partner and according to Laura and is specifically interested in investing in mobile technologies that will assist their overall mobile strategy:
“AT&T is not looking exclusively for content; the likes of CBS, ESPN and NBC already provide much of that for cellphones. Instead, it is hoping to invest in technologies that will make it easier to run ads on cellphones, as well as to nurture social networks like Facebook and MySpace, online hits that have migrated to hand-held devices. AT&T has spread money around Hollywood before — it invested in the film producer Media Rights Capital — but those investments were largely passive.”
Laura reports that the fund will be in the tens of millions of dollars, but Dan at peHUB believes it to be as high as $50 million dollars.This would price it as a good deal smaller then rival Creative Artists Agency (CAA) venture fund with Draper Fisher Jurvetson that is believed to be around $150 million-$200 million.
AT&T’s investment into the Los Angeles technology scene makes perfect sense as it aims to take advantage of the entertainment advantage the iPhone has given it over the rest of the mobile market.It also has a strong hold on the IPTV market in the US, which it could address through this investment as well.It has already invested in technologies on that front including Akimbo, a white label video service provider and ChoiceStream, a personalization provider.
Disclosure: ChoiceStream is a client of the Racepoint Group
Hollywood returned last night, the writer’s strike firmly placed in the rear view mirror.It was a night to reconvene and celebrate; as host Jon Stewart paraphrased “Welcome to the makeup sex.”It was certainly an interesting night of making up and most of the critics weighing in this morning seem to have come to the same conclusion: There were some makeup jitters.
With the event seemingly rushed together after the Hollywood strike ended; the producers of the show were rushed into putting together a program that seemed somewhat aloof and all over the map.Stewart, who was one of the few stars on-hand that appeared to bring his “A” game, shined during his opening monologue but seemed to vanish behind a long-list of video montages during the rest of the telecast.It was evident that the producers had planned to go through with the show sans-writers and didn’t have time to re-work the show once the strike ended.The rest of the night was mostly unmemorable with little known actors and even less appreciated movies (at least among the general public) accepting awards with less then memorable speeches.
However, one person who did shine, even without appearing, was Steve Jobs.Not only did his Pixar created film Ratatouille take home best animated film, he also scored the best product placement of the night for that other company he runs.In a spoof on popular culture and technology, Stewart joked about how great it was to watch Lawrence of Arabia on his iPhone and even maneuvered the device on its side so he could joke about the ability to watch it in widescreen; which got Apple the close-up of the logo that most product placement specialists would die for.
At Racepoint Group we’ve had some great success with product placements including stints for NeuroLogica on Grey’s Anatomy and ER (The CereTom should be up for an Emmy).We also understand the complexities of making it happen.Obviously it is much easier for a brand and product like Apple and the iPhone, but a win for their folks nonetheless.
As Roger Clemens showed everyone on 60 Minutes, steroids are a major issue in sports, and people will probably be fighting over acquisitions and testing for at least the next decade. In a brilliant move, Southwest Airlines decided to capitalize on the hot news topic, putting out a series of great commercials about “productivity enhancers”. Maybe this poor business man can have a sit-down interview with Mike Wallace next to declare his innocence.
Racepoint Group has been working with One Laptop Per Child for more than a year now. It has been an incredible experience. The non-profit organization headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. has a simply mission with an extremely difficult end-goal: to use education to eradicate poverty in developing countries.
To undertake this noble mission, OLPC has created and is now manufacturing the XO Laptop — the so-called “$100 Laptop” (which currently costs about $188, but with economies of scale kicking in, the cost should begin to migrate downward toward $100).
The organization believes that supplying children with laptops will open up their worlds, unleash creativity and exploration, and ultimately lead to a revolution in education.
The technology achievements in the XO Laptop are amazing. It is the greenest laptop ever devised and contains these remarkable features:
Rugged design and sealed case to make it water-and shock-resistant
High-resolution screen that can be read in direct sunlight, as well as indoors in the dark
Low power consumption using only 5-10 percent of the average wattage of a normal laptop
Can be powered by solar energy and human energy with pull cords and hand cranks
Mesh (peer-to-peer) network that turns each XO laptop into a full-time router connecting each laptop and allowing for easy Internet access
No moving parts, except for rabbit ears (for the mesh network) and the hinge
Runs on free, open source software
Contains no lead, mercury, cadmium or PVC
Racepoint has had enormous success in driving the public relations program for OLPC with global coverage for the project numbering in thousands of articles, blog posts, and television and radio coverage.Some of the highlights: 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, FOX-TV, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC, NPR, Associated Press, Time Magazine, and People magazine.
The XO Laptop is designed for children in developing countries, but for a limited time (from November 12 to November 26) the laptop can be purchased by people in the United States and Canada.North American consumers can buy one for $399 U.S. dollars and get two computers.They keep one – and the other goes to a child in a developing country.The program is called Give One Get One.
The support so far has been amazing.If you’re looking for gift that can make a real difference – look no further.
Whether good or bad, YouTube allows virtually anyone to become a star overnight. Point and case: Tay Zonday’s ever so popular “Chocolate Rain” has garnered 10.5 million views to date and references on Carson Daly’s Last Call and The Daily Show not to mention a live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
With the ease of communication and technological advances however, comes a whole new set of legal issues including the ever so controversial IP infringement. And at the moment it is a blurry line that publishers, the music industry and law makers are navigating to find appropriate ways to enforce current IP laws. I attended a recent conference hosted by Boston University’s School of Law and College of Communication where one of the principle speakers, Gigi Sohn, co-founder of Public Knowledge and an internationally known communications attorney, posed several changes to the current copyright law. She noted, “copyright law has become out of touch with our technological reality to the detriment of creators and the public.”
One of the examples of this disconnect that Gigi provided was the current debate of Google’s Book Search program, which allows anybody to search for passages in books that are part of Google’s system. Book publishers argue that by making a digital copy of the book Google is violating their copyrights. On the flip side, if a library is paying for the book in the first place and users aren’t able to see the entire book, then it shouldn’t be a violation. If the court sides with the authors, I agree that this would hinder future technological advancements, as Gigi rightly projects; “imagine if Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN had to get prior permission from every single webpage owner whose works they link to!”
Lawmakers aren’t faced with an easy task. Laws need to be written that better suit today’s current digital world while still protecting the content creator. From NBC Universal alone, YouTube receives about 1,000 takedown notices a month! Recently, several of the larger media companies including Viacom, Walt Disney and Microsoft agreed to use technology to eliminate copyright-infringing content—however I question the effectiveness of the technology. One court outcome that inevitably will affect the industry is Viacom’s $1 billion suite against YouTube. If content creators aren’t rightfully compensated for their work, the quality and amount of creativity is likely to decrease. In the end, it is the consumer’s dollars that are going to have the largest impact. iTunes massive digital sales have already shown the consumer’s distaste for a $17 CD.
