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Bob Iger Named to Apple Board, Arthur Levinson to Serve as Chairman

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November 16, 2011
  • Apple has named Disney chief exec Robert Iger to its board, while Arthur Levinson will take over the chairman post previously held by Steve Jobs.
  • Bob Iger was a friend and business partner of Jobs. The two worked together when Disney acquired Pixar Animation Studios in 2006.
  • Levinson, chairman of biotech company Genentech, has been co-director of the Apple board for six years.
  • “They’re trying to shore up the Disney relationship or strengthen that relationship because it’s an important part of where Apple is going,” said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos, referring to the possibility of a future Apple television and its need for licensing deals. “The content piece is the critical key to the living room,” Munster added.
  • “He is going to make an extraordinary addition to our already very strong board,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said of Iger, commenting that Iger’s role at Disney in harnessing new technology makes him “a great fit for Apple.”

Would a Kindle Fire Smartphone Become the iPhone of Android Phones?

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November 15, 2011
  • It has been suggested that Amazon should consider releasing a smartphone version of the Kindle Fire.
  • The belief is that a Kindle Fire phone would stand the best chance to compete directly with Apple’s iPhone, based on the tablet’s affordability, recognizable brand name and unlimited publicity through its connection to the Amazon retail store.
  • “Most important, Amazon has already done a lot of the heavy lifting required to build a phone,” writes Harry McCracken in a related Time article. “It could simply repurpose much of the effort it’s poured into the Kindle Fire tablet, and then add phone-specific features.”
  • “But this is all just hypothesis at this point,” comments TG Daily. “Amazon will be plenty busy with the Kindle Fire for some time to come.”
  • Yet it remains an interesting idea. “I wondered why no company has taken up the challenge of building…well, the iPhone of Android phones,” writes McCracken. “Something that’s elegant, approachable, uncluttered, and respectful of the consumer’s intelligence. Any bundled services would need to be beautifully integrated rather than just shoveled onto the phone indiscriminately, as the apps on Android handsets often are.”

Secret Google Lab Where the Future is Imagined and Robots Run Free

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November 15, 2011
  • A top-secret lab called Google X is tackling a list of 100 “shoot-for-the-stars” ideas, including an elevator to outer space, a refrigerator connected to the Internet that orders groceries as they run out, and robots that serve a variety of tasks.
  • A Google worker familiar with the project likened it to how the CIA is mysteriously run. “In interviews, a dozen people discussed the list; some work at the lab or elsewhere at Google, and some have been briefed on the project,” reports The New York Times. “But none would speak for attribution because Google is so secretive about the effort that many employees do not even know the lab exists.”
  • Most of the ideas are only conceptual at this point, but others may eventually see the light of day. One idea that may reach the public involves driverless cars. It would not only provide a new business for Google, but promote the company’s navigation or information technology for cars as well as location-based ads.
  • Additional ideas in development include ways of connecting objects to the Internet, such as a garden planter that could be watered remotely, a coffee pot set to brew from another location, or a light bulb that could communicate wirelessly with Android devices.

Texas Instruments Video: Explaining How Immersive Spatial Audio Works

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November 15, 2011
  • This 3 1/2 minute video by Texas Instruments clearly and concisely explains the three components of their 3D audio technology: beam steering, crosstalk cancellation, and head related transfer function (HRTF or the psychoacoustic effect).
  • “Laptops, tablets, mobile phones and other multimedia devices offer an impressive visual experience,” suggests the video. “However, the overall experience is hindered by space constrained audio systems that lack clarity and depth — until now.”
  • Texas Instruments explains in the video how its audio technologies convert the “small sound stage” into an enhanced, immersive experience via techniques that manipulate sounds in desired directions in a 3D space.
  • This is a must-view for anyone interested in spatial audio applications for consumer electronics.

Is Modern Warfare 3 the Most Successful Franchise of All Time?

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November 15, 2011
  • “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” has set a new entertainment launch record, selling 6.5 million units within 24 hours after its release last week. The first-person shooter raised $400 million in sales revenues in the Unites States and United Kingdom.
  • This marks the third consecutive sales record for game publisher Activision Blizzard with the “Call of Duty” series. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” sold 4.7 million copies during its first day of availability in 2009, and last year’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops” hit 5.6 million in its first 24 hours.
  • “We believe the launch of ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’ is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories,” said Activision Blizzard chief exec Bobby Kotick.
  • “Other than ‘Call of Duty,’ there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row,” he added. “Life-to-date sales for the ‘Call of Duty’ franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Lord of the Rings,’ two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.”

Revolutionizing Wait Time: DreamWorks and Intel Partner on Rendering

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November 15, 2011
  • Animators at DreamWorks have to work in low resolution — “as if blind” — because rendering takes a week for 3 seconds worth of animation.
  • “CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said his company’s four-year partnership with Intel is developing scalable multicore processing methods and software that will change all that,” reports Forbes.
  • Katzenberg explains the partnership is dedicating tens of millions of dollars in an effort to reengineer animation software “in a way that will halve the number of steps in the production line and ramp up animators’ productivity between 50 and 70 times.”
  • The technology will also be widely applicable in areas that use high-end rendering, including medicine, oil, aircraft design and more.
  • “This literally is going to revolutionize waiting,” suggests Katzenberg.

TV Tune-In: New Second Screen Companion Hopes to Socialize TV

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November 15, 2011
  • Rogue Paper Inc. has developed a second screen app named TV Tune-In that is designed to let TV viewers engage in real-time commentary with other viewers.
  • The company refers to the app quite simply as an “Audience Engagement Platform.” It works by tracking the user’s time zone and program being watched.
  • According to Rogue: “Viewers can just plop down on the couch, turn on both screens, and dive into the sea of snarky comments about their favorite shows. The app allows users to watch live and time-shifted, to enjoy the entire delicious dish in sync with the episode you’re watching on your TV or laptop.”
  • The platform is targeting the 40 percent of consumers identified by Nielsen who simultaneously use mobile devices while watching television. These multi-taskers should be of interest to advertisers as well.
  • “From the 1950s when viewers gathered around the television and discussed the programs, to conversations happening in real-time, television has always been social,” explains Rogue Paper CEO Stephanie Boyle. “TV Tune-In harnesses the social aspect of television and provides a toolkit for broadcasters to engage their audiences and actively participate in the conversations happening around their content.”

Will LG Electronics Debut a New Google TV at CES?

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November 15, 2011
  • LG may debut a television set with Google software at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, according to “two people with knowledge of the project.”
  • The move would be a boon for Google in the field against entrants such as Apple and Microsoft.
  • Google is working to build support for its Google TV software, despite disappointing sales from its Logitech partnership. The company introduced a redesigned version last month after the earlier release failed to meet expectations.
  • “The revamped version of Google TV service has a simpler interface,” reports Bloomberg. “The upgrade was designed to show the YouTube video- sharing service better and opens up the platform for Android developers to build applications for TV. Android is Google’s software platform for mobile devices.”
  • LG rival Samsung has also been in discussions to develop a Google TV product.

Panasonic Announces App Expansion for Connected Viera TVs

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November 15, 2011
  • Panasonic’s line of Viera TVs now ships with 12 embedded applications, including Hulu Plus and Netflix. About 120 third-party apps are also available for Viera TVs.
  • Just as PC users add apps to their computers, Viera owners are free to add content apps to their TVs once those apps go through quality-assurance testing by Panasonic.
  • The company says that more than 40 million connected TVs were sold by 2010, and 2013 projections suggest sales of connected TVs will outpace those of PCs.
  • “Panasonic also recently announced a new gaming app, PlayJam; a Bollywood movie/video channel, BigFlix; and the Viera Connect Market, whereby users can upload credit card information once and use it across a variety of apps, such as a demonstrated app in which users could buy 3D eyewear, among other consumer electronics devices,” reports Home Media Magazine.

Panel Notes from FoE 5: The Futures of Serialized Storytelling

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November 14, 2011

The following are some notable comments from a panel at last week’s Futures of Entertainment conference at MIT.

Panel: “The Futures of Serialized Storytelling”

  • Science fiction is perfect for serialized storytelling because of a large story world that can generate.
  • Today’s distractions are forcing TV to focus on its best skill, large live events.
  • Serialized drama is really moving to time-shifted. About 50-60 percent of a drama (in theUK) is moving to time-shifted viewing.
  • The large challenge for storytellers is how to deal with asynchronous drama. Do writers and show runners still use mechanisms such as cliffhangers, when a large amount of viewing happens 6-12 months after the show?
  • Three types of audiences: skimmers, dippers and divers. Skimmers watch the show but offer no other engagement. Dippers will engage beyond the TV, and watch clips and other content online. And divers are the hardcore fans that engage with each other and all the content you put out.
  • You spend the most time and energy to produce content for divers. Even though divers are a small slice of the audience, they are the most active. They are the core of your “word of mouth campaign.”
  • TV producers are out of touch, they have been too focused on ratings. They have to get back into the crowd. They have to rebuild their skills of “listen and response.”
  • For the past five years dramas have been produced in a bubble, driven by executives and ratings. Or copying formulas that may have worked in the past. Very little has happened to create new stories.
  • It’s important to pace your engagement with the audience. It’s not always about putting out loads of content up front. You must fold in content for the hardcore fans but not alienate the regular fans.
  • The more we move into a digital world, the more important the physical tangible experience becomes. It can be a great tool to engage with audiences. For example, “Game of Thrones” food trucks. But on the flip-side, distribution is very difficult.
  • Twitter (social media) serves to amplify the liveliness of TV.
  • Dramas are not built for Twitter during the show; we see much more Twitter activity after the show.
  • “The X-Factor” seems to be designed for half of your attention. It allows for audiences to tweet during the show.
  • In social media, we know that the audience members aren’t directing their comments to the show, they are talking to their friends.
  • We’re going back 150-200 years ago, during the age of Shakespeare, when a story was told in front of an audience that reacted and talked and commented openly.
  • The TV or the movie screen should be the primary source of storytelling. The reason being, those sources will build the most attention from audiences.
  • The primary source has to be the best place that can cut into the audience’s attention. With time, that may shift away from the TV screen.

Moderator:
Laurie Baird (Georgia Tech)

Panelists:
Matt Locke (Storythings, UK)
Steve Coulson (Campfire)
Lynn Liccardo (Soap opera critic)
Denise Mann (University of California-Los Angeles)

Panel Notes from FoE 5: At What Cost? Privacy Issues in a Digital World

By
November 14, 2011

The following are some notable comments from a panel at last week’s Futures of Entertainment conference at MIT.

Panel: “At What Cost? The Privacy Issues that Must Be Considered in a Digital World”

  • If individuals release personal information to the world, they have to distinguish when they are really losing their privacy and when they are legitimately sharing information.
  • Just because we are sharing information in different patterns today, that doesn’t mean that we have to think of privacy as a whole any differently.
  • Everyone needs to know and be aware of what each service provider’s positions are regarding privacy.
  • There should be a push to track and openly comment on user privacy policies by companies.
  • There is no question that personalization requires giving one’s information. But this is only because we have not been creative enough in developing a solution that doesn’t require information sharing. Not enough thought has gone into having personalization and privacy live side by side without compromise.
  • Here are a few examples from outside the entertainment space that have been able to personalize a user experience without compromising their privacy: Using GPS information for vehicles on the road, traffic patterns can be generated. Companies extract information from each vehicle, and anonymise the information. By using the information in aggregate each driver can receive a personalized traffic report.
  • Adnostic is a system that provides targeted ads without tracking. It does the ad recommendations by pushing all the tracking to the client side, so that the centralized 3rd party service never knows what you are doing.

Speakers:
Jonathan Zittrain (Harvard University)
Helen Nissenbaum (New York University)

Apple iPhone 4S: Recent iOS Update Fails to Fix Battery Problems

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November 14, 2011
  • Apple released an iOS update on Thursday designed to fix the problem that iPhone 4S users running iOS 5 have been experiencing with regards to battery life.
  • However, many iPhone owners have reported the update (iOS 5.0.1) has had no effect in fixing the issue.
  • “A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices. We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks,” Apple said in a statement.
  • Based on the language of the statement, especially noting the generic phrase “a few bugs,” Digital Trends suggests the company may not know the cause of the problem.
  • “The recent iOS software update addressed many of the battery issues that some customers experienced on their iOS 5 devices,” said Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller, adding: “We continue to investigate a few remaining issues.”

Standards Effort: Companies Team Up for Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative

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November 14, 2011
  • Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and X6D Limited (XPAND 3D) are collaborating in an effort to standardize 3D glasses. The companies have launched the “Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative” licensing program and will open a test center later this month.
  • “Currently, we have wholly incompatible active-shutter models based on different technologies, which the consortium wants to replace with a unified standard that will let you use the same pair of spectacles on any display or at any theater that uses the XPAND 3D standard,” reports Engadget.
  • According to the press release: “Infrared and Bluetooth enabled radio frequency system 3D active glasses technologies are licensed within the licensing program. All information including licensing fees and process requirements to become a licensee, are available on the Initiative’s official website.”

Study says 80 Percent of Mobile Users Multitask while Watching TV

By
November 14, 2011
  • Digital advertising agency Razorfish recently partnered with Yahoo to conduct a study regarding consumer behavior and the simultaneous use of television and mobile devices.
  • “While 80 percent of mobile users multitask in front of TV, 70 percent say they multitask once a week, and 49 percent on a daily basis,” reports Lost Remote. “More than 60 percent check their phones at least ‘once or twice’ during a show with 15 percent active on their devices the entire time.”
  • These multi-taskers are primarily attracted to content related to reality shows, news, comedy, sports and food.
  • The study suggests that 38 percent believe the mobile activity enhances TV broadcasts, while an equal 38 percent find it distracting.
  • Lost Remote reports: “94 percent of mobile multitaskers communicate while watching TV, while 60 percent are looking up content. Of the communicators, the most popular activities in order are: texting, talking, email, social networking and IM.”
  • Razorfish and Yahoo also learned that most of the mobile activity takes place during commercial breaks.

Study: 300 Percent Growth in Mobile App Downloads Expected for 2011

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November 14, 2011
  • Mobile analytics firm Flurry has released new estimates based on iOS and Android app-enabled devices.
  • According to the report, 25 billion apps will be downloaded in 2011, marking 300 percent growth from last year’s six billion.
  • Five billion Apple and Android apps are expected to be downloaded in December alone, based on the surge typically associated with mobile shopping and people on break looking for entertainment.
  • Revenue from the U.S. market will reach $2.5 billion, compared with 2010’s $1 billion.
  • The increase in app catalogs has helped the increase. iOS offers about 500,000 apps and Android is around 350,000.
  • ReadWriteWeb also points out that only 43 percent of U.S. consumers currently have smartphones, but the number is expected to reach 50 percent by Q3 2012, which will also fuel app downloads.

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