My name is Bill, I am a recent graduate in Information Sciences and Technology from Penn State University and this is a place for me to post or give my 2 cents on the fascinating world of technology. I am now working for a pretty big technology related company whose name I will leave out just to avoid any possible complications, however far-fetched them happening may be. Music gets included from time to time as well.
“Personally, I’m still suspicious of Apple,” said Harry Miller, head of the American Cinema Editors’ technology committee. “I don’t think they have my interests at heart. And I don’t want to invest money in any of their hardware or software when they might drop features in new versions.”
—
If Media’s Future Is Online, Where Are the Profits? - WSJ.com
Take these two trends and tell me where you think this is headed.
(via soxiam)
I think subscription model’s are taking over digital entertainment. While the last decade saw us unwilling to pay for our entertainment medium and accept anything for it. We are now realizing the benefits of paying a little here and there for a good amount of quality. While most are still holding out for free ad-supported services, those numbers are dwindling year by year while netflix and paying spotify members go up.
(via emergentfutures)
YouTube is developing a secret weapon against the internet’s worst commenters.
You know who you are.
As loathsome as these comments may be, does this kind of count as censorship?
As big of a fan as I am of Cory Booker and his tendency to actually DO things, I really don’t see this taking off, much less changing anything. The only “millenials” it would appeal to already have their resources and just because the reporters are in that age group it doesn’t make them any less biased than the current media. This basically combining youtube and rss feeds in terms of delivery, really not the revolutionary idea journalism needs on the internet.
—
Christopher Mims, Technology Review. What’s Wrong With Almost Every Old Media-Inspired New Media Startup.
Mims lists companies he believes get it (eg., Newser, News.me and the Atavist), writing, “Notice that what all of these examples have in common is that where they’re really succeeding isn’t the web. If you think you have the money and clout to be the next Huffington Post, be my guest, go “innovate.” But the web is a surprisingly mature medium, and old-media pundits turned new media hucksters who think they’re going to tell anyone else how to launch a sustainable business there are emperors sans clothes. New media companies that will succeed are founded by two kinds of people: technologists, and media people who think like technologists.”
An App to Build Your Own Newscast
Knight News Challenge winner Watchup is a curatorial iPad app that allows users to build their own newscasts by self-selecting a series of news stories. Think along the lines of Pulse News but with video.
via Nieman Lab:
Pick 10 stories from 10 channels, then lean back with your morning coffee and watch as the stories roll past without user intervention. Channels cover topics like finance, technology, breaking news, business, and other news categories. The app comes preloaded with 10 channels, but users will be able to customize from a list of about 40 total.
How they hope to make money:
Farano says Watchup plans to generate revenue from pre-roll ads that will air before videos, and the plan is to give news organizations a cut. The trick will be to create an interface that’s appealing enough to users that they’ll abandon engrained habits and be willing to watch ads that they might otherwise be able to avoid. Farano argues it’s also an ideal solution for news organizations like The Wall Street Journal that find they can’t produce enough video to meet advertising demand.
Its funding will come as a venture capital investment rather than a grant.
FJP: Could be wonderful, could be tricky to sustain. Check out the other Knight news Challenge winners here.
More proof that the news in the information age is aggregation-based.
Okay intellectual property reform is more necessary than ever when you have ideas like this being taken seriously. I can’t stand these companies doing anything that limit the capabilities of their product, once it is purchased it’s use should be decided by the buyer. However, there certainly are plenty of concert goers that feel like these devices are cheapening their experience, in fact I can think of specific friends that might argue for any way to stop all the picture-taking and videos during shows is good despite believing in open technology otherwise. This is an issue that should be good debate fodder, what does everyone think about it?