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Will Instagram Play a Role in Rumored Facebook Smartphone Venture?

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May 29, 2012
  • According to comScore, Instagram’s traffic increased by an impressive 78 percent between March and April.
  • Digital Trends credits the release of a new Android app and the $1 billion acquisition by Facebook.
  • The question remains: What are Facebook’s plans for Instagram, especially following the announcement of competitor Facebook Camera?
  • “It’s entirely plausible that while Facebook is slowly developing its mobile experience for users with new Facebook branded apps and increasing its brand presence on mobile phones, the company is slowly preparing for its first horizontal integration via the rumored Facebook phone,” notes Digital Trends.
  • “After Facebook has comfortably developed and grown its core suite of Facebook mobile applications, while at the same time maintaining acquisitions including Instagram, we could expect these apps to be ported over to the Facebook phone, and displayed as Facebook’s native applications,” adds the post. “Thanks to Instagram that could mean the potential for 50 million Facebook phone owners.”

Detailing the Key Takeaways from the paidContent 2012 Conference

By
May 28, 2012
  • Industry leaders gathered in New York City last week to discuss opportunities and strategies involving digital media at the paidContent 2012 conference.
  • According to paidContent, the following are the five key takeaways from the day:
  • 1) “Data helps destroy containers, and that’s a good thing. Data creates new content and information experiences and helps bring an end to the notion of content silos.”
  • 2) “Digital storytelling is a native art. Stories on the Internet are not a new form of magazine or newspaper stories, but a medium in their own right — just like radio or TV. Publishers should develop their platforms accordingly rather than just repurposing other print vehicles.”
  • 3) “Not all ‘media’ are created equal. Union Square’s Fred Wilson and Betaworks’ John Borthwick gave a rude awakening to Big Media executives, urging them to give up control of their content — and even to stop calling it ‘content.'”
  • 4) “Publishers have to sell their brands directly to consumers.”
  • 5) “It’s time to toss CPM as a yardstick for online advertising success… it’s time for advertisers to adapt their ads to the evolving nature of the Internet itself. That means forgetting about CPMs and focusing on data and social dynamics. On a broader level, it means re-imagining basic precepts of advertising and product discovery in a world where Web pages are being eclipsed by new types of online discovery and interaction.”
  • It’s worth noting that proposed projects being developed by the ETC will address the first 3 of these 5 bullets.

Personalized Video News: NewsLook Announces Free iPad App

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May 25, 2012
  • Streaming video news service NewsLook has launched a free iPad app that allows users to create personalized video channels that feature curated news content from more than 50 worldwide sources.
  • “Our NewsLook iPad app offers unprecedented personalization and engages users by greatly streamlining video search and discovery, enabling them to weed out unrelated content and get just what they want, from trustworthy sources,” said Fred Silverman, former CBS producer and current CEO of NewsLook.
  • According to the press release, sources include the Associated Press, Bloomberg, and Reuters — and users can customize channels based on interests such as “sports, politics, lifestyle, fashion, art, and entertainment.”
  • “NewsLook curates and publishes 150 videos daily in real-time and maintains a vast archive of over forty thousand videos,” notes the release. “This content is also available across a variety of platforms like Sony BIV and Google TV as well as via seamless syndication.”

Photographers Go Social: Google+ Draws New Community of Artists

By
May 25, 2012
  • Google+ is ready to take on Flickr and Instagram by offering photo sharing with real-life meetups and its Google+ mobile app.
  • The Hangouts video chat is gaining in popularity, especially with photographers who share their work online and chat with fellow artists.
  • GigaOM interviewed photographer Trey Ratcliff this week at the Google+ Photographers Conference in San Francisco (the post includes the interview video).
  • For those pundits who have argued that Google+ is becoming a ghost town, it’s interesting to note that Ratcliff “is hosting Hangouts about photography, sharing his latest pictures with his more than two million followers, and meeting people all over the world for real-life events,” according to the article.
  • GigaOM cites the influence of Bradley Horowitz, VP of product management for Google +, who “studied image recognition at the MIT Media Lab and built a visual-information retrieval company” before overseeing the acquisition of Flickr while employed by Yahoo.
  • Horowitz is bringing his vision of social photography to Google+ and hinted during the San Francisco conference that photo processing is next.
  • According to the article: “’Today, the tools are too segmented,’ he said, summing up the discrepancy between an Instagram filter and a full-blown app like Photoshop. ‘Either they are toys, or they are for the pro.’ Google+ has some rudimentary online editing for photos built in, but Horowitz hinted at the possibility of extending these much further.”

IPO Fallout: Shareholders Take Legal Action Against Facebook

By
May 25, 2012
  • Now that the stock has fallen following Facebook’s IPO, shareholders are suing the company and the underwriters of the IPO for hiding “severe and pronounced” reductions in Facebook’s revenue growth forecasts.
  • Mark Zuckerberg is listed as one of the defendants in the suit, which was filed in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday. A similar suit was filed against the company in California earlier this week.
  • “It probably shouldn’t surprise anyone that while the company’s initial stock offering was a boon to the company and insiders, it’s been a costly disappointment for the general public,” suggests a Los Angeles Times editorial.
  • “Now, some investors are accusing the company and its bankers of playing the public for suckers, sharing pessimistic revenue projections with a few insiders but not average investors.”
  • Regulators are investigating whether investment bank and lead underwriter Morgan Stanley “selectively informed clients of an analyst’s negative report about the company before the stock started trading,” notes the article.

FCC Chair Throws Support to Broadband Data Caps and Tiered Fees

By
May 25, 2012
  • Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC, has officially announced his support of usage-based pricing for broadband services.
  • “Usage-based” refers to a tiered-fee model that allots more bandwidth to users who are willing to pay extra.
  • Speaking at the NCTA Cable Show in Boston on Tuesday, Genachowski said that tiered pricing could help spur industry innovation and competition.
  • “Public interest groups and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings have criticized the practice, saying users will be punished for watching streaming video services, for example, that tip them over their monthly limits,” reports The Washington Post. “Hastings has also cried foul over how Comcast isn’t counting video use of its own XFinity services against data plans.”
  • Comcast recently announced it would begin usage-based pricing on a trial basis.
  • “Business model innovation is very important,” Genachowski said. “There was a point of view a couple years ago that there was only one permissible pricing model for broadband. I didn’t agree.”

Social Video: Mixin Offers New Level of Online Video Interaction

By
May 24, 2012
  • Social video start-up Mixin helps users mix personal comments with online videos and share the content via social graphs online.
  • “It allows people to start customizing and sharing videos within minutes on either a partner site or on mixin.com,” explains VentureBeat. “You can add comments or a number of icons. The sharing is compatible with Facebook’s privacy settings so that users’ comments are only seen by their intended audience.”
  • The company has announced initial distribution partners. AnyClip and Viumbe, for example, will integrate the tech into their players.
  • More than 200,000 users tested Mixin during its live beta mode over the past month.
  • Rivals include Chill, Frequency, Socialcam, and Viddy, but CEO Jon Goldman believes that “Mixin tries to be more consumer-friendly with easier authoring capability,” notes VentureBeat.
  • “Most online video is all about searching and algorithms with some minor social features tacked on,” adds Goldman. “Mixin’s technology starts with social interaction as the foundation so that videos serve as a way to connect friends and increase sharing. The customization, commenting and posting to Facebook allows users to add their personal stamp and humor to the videos they love.”

Primetime: Adobe Announces Live TV Coming to its Multiscreen Suite

By
May 24, 2012
  • Adobe has unveiled Primetime Simulcast, in addition to other enhancements to Project Primetime, its video platform for delivery of ad-supported TV viewing across connected devices.
  • “Primetime Simulcast will support apps across Apple iOS and Android devices and within major computer browsers,” reports Multichannel News. “The new service complements Adobe’s Primetime Highlights, introduced earlier this year, which lets broadcasters convert live streaming to short, ad-supported video clips.”
  • Adobe demonstrated Primetime Simulcast at the NCTA Cable Show in Boston this week.
  • “Primetime with full integration of all major components will be available in late 2012 with support for Windows, Mac OS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Samsung Smart TVs and other platforms,” notes the article. “Components of Primetime will continue to be available as separate, individual products.”
  • Adobe also introduced Adobe Media Server 5 and its Adobe Access 4 DRM solution.

OoVoo Upgrade Delivers 12-Way Video Chats to iPad and Facebook

By
May 24, 2012
  • Video chat service ooVoo has announced new product upgrades, including a new app for Facebook that allows for 12-way video chatting.
  • “The company, whose name represents two sets of eyes looking at each other, lets users access video chat rooms from the iPhone and Android phone over Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G LTE as well as via Web and desktop apps,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
  • An upgrade to the company’s iPad app also includes the 12-way video chat feature, and allows users to view four video streams at once.
  • “One of the most convenient aspects of this service over, say, Skype or Facetime, is that users can invite people by sending them a user-specific ooVoo link, so friends can participate without having to download the application,” explains the article.
  • The service offers the ability to record and upload video chats to YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, free of charge.
  • Currently, ooVoo has 46 million users worldwide, 60 percent of which are under the age of 25.

Redefining Multichannel Distributors: FCC Looks at Video Sites

By
May 24, 2012
  • Cable and satellite TV companies are opposing any move by the FCC to redefine online video distributors as multichannel video programming distributors.
  • “In a public comment period that ends in the coming weeks, the commission is asking whether the rules of multichannel distributors — like the right to carry certain popular channels and the responsibility to carry some less popular ones — should apply to new online distributors like Hulu and YouTube,” reports The New York Times.
  • “If it decides that they should, then more companies could stream TV shows to computers and smartphones, hastening an industry-wide shift to the Internet,” adds the article.
  • A simple change to the definition of multichannel distributor could have far-reaching effects, including a change to the way companies acquire programming, a shift in bundling practices that could potentially alter the cable model significantly, holding online services to traditional rules of retransmission consent, and more.
  • “We’re barely into the second inning of how video distribution will ultimately work,” said Will Richmond, editor of VideoNuze. “Broadband delivery is leveling the playing field for new, deep-pocketed, over-the-top entrants to disrupt the traditional pay TV model.”

U.S. District Judge Dismisses Unfair Competition Complaint Against Aereo

By
May 24, 2012
  • One of the legal complaints filed by broadcasters claiming that the Aereo video service represents unfair competition has been dismissed by a federal judge in Manhattan. However, the copyright infringement claim will be heard next week.
  • “Aereo, whose backers include media mogul Barry Diller, in March began streaming local broadcast TV signals over the Internet to New York residents for $12 a month,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Major broadcasters sued to shut the service down, claiming copyright infringement and unfair competition.”
  • U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan, who ruled against the unfair competition claim, will hear arguments regarding broadcasters’ complaint that Aereo, which is not paying to license broadcast content, is doing so illegally.
  • “It’s disappointing. But we look forward to our day in court to prove that Aereo’s unauthorized streaming of our content constitutes copyright infringement,” said a Fox representative, a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

The Verdict is In: Google Android Does Not Infringe Oracle Patents

By
May 24, 2012
  • There’s been a decision in the Oracle v. Google trial. It’s been determined that Android does not infringe Oracle patents.
  • “Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for Northern California exonerated the search giant following a trial that lasted three weeks, ruling that Google did not infringe on six claims in U.S. Patent RE38,104, along (with) two claims in U.S. Patent 6,061,520,” reports Engadget.
  • While the jury found that Android infringed copyrights with 37 Java APIs, a unanimous verdict was not reached in regards to whether it was covered under fair use. The jury also found that Google had infringed on one copyright count with the use of rangeCheck code. Judge Alsup is expected to rule on whether the SSO of the Java APIs can be copyrighted at all.
  • “Per the agreement that both teams struck last week, should Alsup find that the SSO is not covered under copyright law, Oracle will receive statutory damages from Google for the rangeCheck and test file usage, a maximum of $150,000 per infringement count,” reports The Verge in a related post. “Should he rule to the contrary, all three copyright infringement counts will be bundled together to be dealt with in a new trial or in an appeals court.”
  • Appeals are expected, based on the magnitude of the case. “Oracle presented overwhelming evidence at trial that Google knew it would fragment and damage Java. We plan to continue to defend and uphold Java’s core write once run anywhere principle and ensure it is protected for the nine million Java developers and the community that depend on Java compatibility,” according to Oracle’s statement following the verdict.
  • Google’s official statement: “Today’s jury verdict that Android does not infringe Oracle’s patents was a victory not just for Google but the entire Android ecosystem.”

Will Kepler Chips Help Usher In a New Age of Cloud Computing?

By
May 22, 2012
  • Nvidia recently launched Kepler — the first GPU designed specifically for the cloud. Vendors such as HP, Dell, Cisco, and IBM will offer supporting products in the near future.
  • “The whole concept behind these servers is to serve up a desktop experience from the cloud,” reports Digital Trends. “Tremendously powerful new processors toiling away in the cloud could make it irrelevant what kind of screen you connect with, ushering in a new age of computing.”
  • “This means delivering games, applications, utilities, and media to any device that will run the client: iPads, iPods, Android tablets, smartphones, and even cars and smart TVs,” explains the article. “As this technology comes to market, it will increasingly not matter what you are using — you’ll be able to get your stuff on it as long as it is connected with decent bandwidth.”
  • The article cites demos from Nvidia’s recent GPU Technology Conference in San Jose that introduce some compelling ideas. Imagine if games, for example, were delivered like streamed movies and could go everywhere, regardless of platform.
  • “What if you could run Windows on a Mac, or an iPad, or anything that would host a tiny client?” asks Digital Trends, suggesting software could potentially be delivered like electricity. “If you like Apple hardware but hate the Apple platform, you can still run Windows. If you want to run Windows on your big smartphone or tablet in an emergency, you can do that, too.”

Lenovo Announces New ThinkPad Line Including X1 Carbon Ultrabook

By
May 22, 2012
  • Lenovo claims that its upcoming ThinkPad models are thinner, lighter and moving toward the ultrabook category with features such as 3G wireless and Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors.
  • The China-based PC maker says its X1 Carbon Ultrabook, for example, will be among the world’s lightest 14-inch laptops (at three pounds).
  • The company is also highlighting its X230 ThinkPad that will hit shelves next month for $1,179. Weighing less than three pounds, the 12.5-inch X230 touts 24 hours of battery life and 4G/LTE mobile broadband access.
  • “If you’d rather have your X230 in tablet form, Lenovo has thought of that, too: The ThinkPad X230t has a rotating display that can be folded over to create an instant tablet. It is touchscreen enabled, comes with a stylus pen and also works with a ThinkPad laser mouse,” reports AllThingsD.
  • Lenovo’s new ThinkPad X, T, W, and L Series laptops include Intel processors, Dolby audio, and HD displays.
  • “The T430s is the ThinkPad line’s lightest 14-inch (non-ultrabook) laptop, while the T530 has a 15-inch full-HD display. But the most notable feature of these laptops is probably the addition of 4G/LTE broadband availability through Lenovo’s upcoming contract-free broadband service,” notes the article.
  • The laptops will be available in June, priced from $879 to $1,399.

New Home Theater Experience Possible with Dolby TrueHD Technology

By
May 21, 2012
  • Dolby has developed a way to improve the playback performance of soundtracks on Blu-ray discs. Using its TrueHD lossless audio technology, Dolby hopes to provide more of a surround-sound experience in home theaters.
  • “The company is incorporating Meridian-developed 96kHz upsampling technology into Dolby Media Producer, a post-production product that encodes Dolby TrueHD bitstreams for use on Blu-ray discs,” reports TWICE.
  • “The technology creates 96kHz Dolby TrueHD soundtracks from the 48kHz-PCM mixes that the movie industry creates for movie theaters, which use 48kHz playback equipment,” adds the article.
  • Dolby says authoring houses and sound-mixing facilities worldwide have upgraded to its Dolby TrueHD with advanced 96k upsampling in version 2 of the Dolby Media Producer Encoder.

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