The Entertainment Technology Center @ USC will host a 3-day Virtual NAB Cloud Conference, featuring more than 35 speakers, panelists and keynotes, on March 2, 3 & 4 at the YouTube Space LA. A very limited number of seats are still available. The conference is an extension of the Media Management in the Cloud track that ETC leads at the NAB Show and provides a forum for a deeper discussion of Media & Entertainment and the Cloud. The entire program will be recorded and videos will be posted on the ETC YouTube channel in advance of NAB to provide a lasting repository of perspectives and experiences in this rapidly evolving sector. Continue reading ETC@USC to Host 3-Day Virtual NAB Cloud Conference in LA

According to the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), wireless VidiPath technology will enable the secure delivery of subscription TV to all certified devices in the home. This could lead to eliminating the need to rent multiple set-top boxes. Wi-Fi-based VidiPath provides access to subscription TV across smartphones, tablets, Blu-ray players, game consoles and PCs. The first VidiPath-certified products are slated for availability in the first quarter. Comcast, Cox and Time Warner Cable are among those planning to offer VidiPath STBs. Continue reading DLNA: VidiPath Tech to Enable Subscription TV Across Devices

During yesterday’s HPA Tech Retreat, I moderated a panel on two emerging production standards: DPP and IMF. Although SMPTE standard IMF (Interoperable Master Format) is familiar to many in the industry as a single, interchangeable master file format that allows for flexible versioning, very few in our industry know about DPP (Digital Production Partnership), a new British standard for B2B file exchange. Our discussion tracked the evolution and potential overlap of the standards, and how they are currently being used in the industry. Continue reading HPA Tech Retreat: Emerging Standards Enable Interoperability

The Internet of Things (IoT) is just a pipedream if the network to connect devices and people cannot handle the traffic. 5G is the fifth generation mobile network that aims to enable the IoT, and at the 2015 CES executives from Cisco, Ericsson and Samsung discussed how the network will be created. Dramatic increases in global mobile traffic are widely anticipated, with an estimated 50 billion connected devices in play by 2020. Cisco predicts an 11-fold increase in global mobile data traffic between 2013 and 2018. Continue reading The Internet of Things: 5G Mobile to Enable Connected Devices

In order for online video producers to make money, YouTube offers a feature that allows viewers to donate to their favorite artists. Independent content creators are the major source of revenue for YouTube, and while some of them do make money through pre-roll ads, it is not enough for many. Now, Google offers Fan Funding so viewers can essentially tip their favorite video creators. The feature works in both the browser and the Android app, and all transactions are processed by Google Wallet. Continue reading YouTube Feature Enables Fans to Donate to Content Creators

The National Association of Broadcasters filed a lawsuit yesterday in response to the FCC’s plan to auction airwaves next year. NAB argues that the spectrum reverse auction, the first of its kind, would negatively impact TV stations financially and reduce coverage areas. The auction would allow stations in large cities to accept bids so their spectrum can be resold to wireless carriers for mobile broadband. Participating stations can close shop or move to another channel with fewer airwaves. Continue reading NAB Files Lawsuit Over FCC’s Auction Rules for TV Airwaves

The partnership to allow musicians to sell directly to Spotify users through BandPage has gone live. BandPage, a platform that allows artists to easily promote themselves and make money online, will enable exclusive offers from the artists directly to the fans. The offers will transcend typical merchandise and instead include secret shows, meet-and-greets, soundcheck parties and more. The service went live on Wednesday, and offers are already available to the public. Continue reading Spotify and BandPage Enable Direct Artist-Fan Engagement

The Alliance of Artists & Recording Companies has filed a lawsuit against Ford, General Motors and two tech companies that made devices for digitally copying music from CDs to hard drives. The lawsuit is based on the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act, which provides royalties to record companies from the sale of music copying devices. The Alliance contends that Ford and GM installed these devices without paying any royalties, and is now seeking unpaid royalties and damages. Continue reading Ford and GM are Sued for Devices that Enable Music Copying

Day one of Media Management in the Cloud, a two-day conference co-produced by NAB and the ETC, opened Tuesday morning to a standing-room only crowd in the Convention Center’s South Hall. After a brief welcome by ETC CEO Ken Williams, ETC’s Erik Weaver began the day’s events, noting that almost everything happening at NAB this year seems to have some connection to the cloud. Day one presentations and panels focused on key areas related to cloud services, such as cost, scalability, security, production and storage. Continue reading NAB Cloud Conference Opens to a Packed House in Las Vegas

Chute helps clients take the best content created by a brand’s most loyal customers, people who create content that features their brand, and use it in marketing and ad campaigns with the customers’ permission. Chute scours the Web for user generated content of all types — text, photo, music, video — that celebrates a client’s brand. Using both online metrics and human screening, they select the best examples of content: selfies holding a favorite drink, a post about a store experience, a fake commercial for a favorite car, etc. Continue reading SPROCKIT Startup Enables Companies to Leverage Fan Content

DataFission has developed generally applicable technology that can index, search and report on all forms of unstructured, metadata-free digital data. With deep roots in military research, this San Jose company has developed algorithms that can index files and streams of data, without human interaction, in one sweep. The system can index any type of data, including video, still images, music, audio tracks, text, software and metadata. According to its brochure, DataFission is “Solving the world’s problem of searching the unsearchable.” Continue reading NAB: DataFission Platform Aims to Search the Unsearchable

Ken Williams, executive director and CEO of ETC@USC, moderated a Disney/ABC Television Group panel at NAB called “Creating the Watch ABC Product.” From the SPROCKIT stage Monday in Las Vegas, the panel included Albert Cheng and Skarpi Hedinsson of the Disney/ABC Television Group, Ralf Jacob of upLynk and Doug Knopper of FreeWheel. The discussion focused on content creation, advertising, distribution workflow, technology integration and vendor relationships. Continue reading From the NAB SPROCKIT Stage: Creating Watch ABC Product

In partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters and the World Series of Startups, SPROCKIT is a program that shines a spotlight on interesting startups through the NAB Show and SPROCKIT Sync, the exclusive community of entertainment and media decision-makers that meets three times a year. The July 2014 meeting will take place at ETC@USC. The other meetings are October 2014 in conjunction with NY TV week, and January 2015 in Silicon Valley. Continue reading Startups From SPROCKIT Program Deliver Pitches During NAB

The ongoing effort to utilize new technologies in the service of storytelling was the theme of USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) Dean Elizabeth Daley’s keynote address Sunday at the SMPTE Technology Summit on Cinema at NAB. Digital technology is deeply engrained throughout the SCA curriculum. In fact, the Interactive Media & Games Division and the John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts wouldn’t exist without it. Yet “everything has changed, and nothing has changed. Great storytelling is still key,” Daley said. Continue reading NAB: USC’s Elizabeth Daley Speaks at Tech Summit on Cinema

“It’s all about the story” was the message of Chris Cookson’s keynote address, and a recurring theme throughout the first day of the NAB Show’s Technology Summit On Cinema: The Future of Motion Imaging and Sound (TSC), produced in partnership with SMPTE. The essence of cinema is storytelling, he said. Cinema is the canvas for storytellers to convey their ideas to the audience. Throughout his talk, Cookson used cinema in the broadest sense, to include content viewed in theaters, on TVs, and on laptops, tablets and phones. Continue reading Chris Cookson Speaks at NAB’s Technology Summit on Cinema