January 2012
1 post
How France’s Free will reinvent mobile — Tech... →
Jan 11th
1 note
December 2011
23 posts
the old dividing lines between television, radio,... →
Convergence oracles have been preaching the gospel for the past 2 decades, the era of the tablet has finally made it a reality. Hat tip to David Carr for a nice compact sum-up ! Content has a price tag, which is reassuring, but the old dividing lines between television, radio, Web and print disappear within the four corners of a tablet. That means, for instance, that CNBC and The Wall...
Dec 24th
Call in airstrikes on your iPhone with JJ Abrams'... →
clever oh very clever indeed Mr Abrams ! Given the success of Freddy Wong et al, I agree with one of the commenters that we’re days away from a web action flick powered by this app Director JJ Abrams has always gone above and beyond with viral marketing. We all remember the plane he sabotaged to crash safely in the Bahamas for the last season ofLost, or the actual extraterrestrial...
Dec 24th
“Comedian Louis CK’s recent digital distribution experiment to sell his latest...”
– http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/22/louis-cks-special-1-million/
Dec 23rd
1 note
The ubiquity imperative: Why content needs to be... →
Viewers were formerly beholden to the whims of a select group of programmers: If they wanted to watch a show, they were forced to be home and tune in at the time it was broadcast. That world has changed, thanks to the broad proliferation of time-shifted viewing options — whether they be DVRs, cable video-on-demand services or online options like Hulu. Just as importantly, viewership doesn’t just...
Dec 21st
Five Years After Banning Outdoor Ads, Brazil's... →
could this example yield copycats ? In September 2006, São Paulo’s populist mayor, Gilberto Kassab, passed the so-called “Clean City Law,” outlawing the use of all outdoor advertisements, including on billboards, transit, and in front of stores. Before being enacted, the law triggered grave alarm among city businesses and other economic constituents. Critics worried that the...
Dec 21st
2012 TRENDS – #5 : Time for coopetition
“The more consumers adopt new technologies, the more comfortable they become with accessing content on every available screen and expecting the experience to be seamless across devices and platforms. The companies that are best suited to meet these formidable consumer expectations are those that can deliver hardware, software, content and social i ..read more..  Smartr - your personal newspaper
Dec 21st
Infographic: 6 media giants control 90 percent of...
Are you in to independent films? You probably enjoy the Focus Features studio, which prides itself on its indie credentials. Focus Features is owned by GE. What about music? Are you a hip-hop fan, who can’t stand the sound of country music? You might be surprised to learn that Viacom owns BET and CMT (and MTV). The world of media conglomerates can b ..read more..  Smartr - your personal...
Dec 21st
1 note
The Next 5 in 5 — innovations that will change our...
In the latest Next 5 in 5 multi-year forecast, IBM examines market and societal trends expected to transform our lives in the next five years and emerging technologies from IBM’s global labs:Energy: People power will come to lifeImagine being able to use every motion around you — your movements, the water rushing through the plumbing — to harn ..read more..  Smartr - your personal newspaper
Dec 21st
The future: Too old to care about tomorrow
I’VE been doing a little reflecting on my view of the world, amid the (relative) quiet of the holidays, and it seems to me that my thinking about things has undergone a subtle shift. In a nutshell: I’ve become far less confident about our ability to accurately describe possible outcomes more than a decade out. Correspondingly, I’ve become increasing ..read more..  Smartr - your...
Dec 21st
Netflix Instant Could Wreck The Entire Internet →
for all the naysayers… During peak hours — after dinner time until around midnight — Netflix already accounts for somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of all US Internet traffic. So what will happen to the Internet if the 14 million Netflix subscribers who send and receive DVDs via the mail suddenly start streaming everything they watch? Well, that traffic will jump by 50 percent,...
Dec 17th
Dec 17th
1 note
What Louis CK knows that most media companies... →
Louis CK edits his own stuff on his Mac ! The comedian now joins the alternative rock group Radiohead and DJ mashup artist Girl Talk (both of whom have released “pay what you want” downloads”) as an example of how successful a direct-to-fans approach can be. And Louis CK’s experiment shows that this approach can have the same kind of disruptive effect on television and movies as it has had...
Dec 15th
Louis C.K. Internet Comedy Special Is Already... →
“Louis C.K.: Live at the Beacon Theater,” which has been selling online for $5, has made a profit of around $200,000, according to the comedian. The special, Louis C.K.: Live at the Beacon Theater, has sold more than 110,000 copies of the special, which became available Saturday for $5, the performer said in a Tuesday night post on louisck.net, according to the Times. More than...
Dec 15th
Banking on the vaults - film libraries are... →
A few years ago, banks wouldn’t dream of lending against the libraries of indie film companies. Some are still skeptical, but others are starting to appreciate the long-term value of older content thanks to the digital distribution deals inked during the past two years with rising platforms such as Netflix and Hulu. (…) At this point Miramax is only a library, with no firm plans as...
Dec 15th
“The banks have said, leave us deregulated, we know how to run things, don’t put...”
– Jeffrey Sachs, the controversial economist talks about the collapse of the global financial system and how to end the crisis with Al Jazeera (via mohandasgandhi)
Dec 11th
242 notes
“it may not be long before a generation of Americans grows up without ever having...”
– Kodak’s long fade to black - Los Angeles Times (via interestingsnippets)
Dec 8th
3 notes
Detained by U.S. Customs: Some thoughts about the... →
Great sumup of our interesting times by Mathew Ingram from GigaOm: Am I taking jobs away from Americans by writing blog posts from Toronto, and should the U.S. be concerned about that kind of activity? I honestly don’t know. All I know is that anyone living anywhere theoretically has the ability to do what I do, for any company based anywhere in the world — just like anyone can be a journalist,...
Dec 7th
Comcast execs: Verizon deal to bring the... →
Late last week, Verizon Wireless signed a deal to purchase 122 spectrum licenses from SpectrumCo, a joint venture between Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, for $3.6 billion. As part of the deal, which awaits approval from the Federal Communications Commission, the Comcast will now be able to sell Verizon Wireless service as part of their communications packages. To the casual...
Dec 7th
“Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said he sees an “arms race” to dominate Web-based TV...”
– Netflix’s CEO Sees ‘Arms Race’ to Dominate Video Streaming - Bloomberg
Dec 7th
1 tag
Dec 6th
4 notes
“imagine the massive retaliatory response that would be triggered if Iran were...”
– George Orwell on the Evil Iranian Menace - Salon.com (via turkeyjaws)
Dec 5th
53 notes
The Amazon movie revolution ... one year on
There is something wrong with modern Hollywood – we can agree on that. Too many remakes and sequels and prequels; far too many computer game and toy adaptations. Everyone thinks the profit-focused, top-down system is too busy chasing “pre-branded content” to find new talent, and too risk-averse to take a chance on original stories. Industry inside ..read more..  Smartr - your...
Dec 3rd
The EXPEDITION for the FUTURE →
On February 8th, 2012 I am boarding the Hanse Explorer for a 33 day journey from the end of the world, Cape Horn, to the beginning of humanity, Cape of Good Hope. NOMAD Industries has chartered the amazing vessel with the capacity to safely carry a few selected individuals across the sub-antarctic sea, to the most remote place on the planet, Bouvet Island. The EXPEDITION for the FUTURE will...
Dec 1st
November 2011
58 posts
2 tags
Netflix Viewing Seen Swelling U.S. Cable Bills →
US cable internet subs are about to become Canadian… Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) and U.S. pay- TV companies, weighing how to profit from surging Internet demand spurred by Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and Hulu, are on the verge of instituting new fees on Web-access customers who use the most. At least one major cable operator will institute so-called usage-based billing next year, predicts Craig...
Nov 30th
Hot for “Bad Teacher”: Sony Spikes Sales With... →
Hollywood is trying to figure out how to get people to buy more movies instead of renting them. Sony might have an answer: Sell the flicks on iTunes, Amazon and other digital outlets before viewers can buy or rent them anywhere else. Sony tried doing this with “Bad Teacher” last month, and the results sound encouraging for the studio. It says its “windowing” experiment boosted digital unit...
Nov 30th
Nov 29th
73 notes
How 'Victoria's Secret Fashion Show' Turns $12... →
Broadcast in more than 180 countries, the $12 million made-for-TV-event attracts the world’s top models and features A-list musical guests. And it’s all designed to burnish a brand that peddles fantasies to everyone from teenagers to suburban housewives of America. “It’s the only one-hour network show dedicated to a single brand,” says Mitro. “It puts our...
Nov 29th
2 tags
VOD Rides to the Rescue of Indie Film →
Buoyed by good reviews, “Margin Call” has been rented online 250,000 times, noted Jon Feltheimer, co-chairman and CEO of Roadside stakeholder Lionsgate, during a conference call with media and analysts following the studio’s recent earnings announcement. “Margin Call” has made nearly $4 million at the domestic box office, and Feltheimer said he expects the movie to make as much, if...
Nov 29th
1 tag
“Apple is designing a television that you can shout and gesticulate at – and it...”
–  Next up for Apple, it’s iTV – the television that will respond when you shout at it | Technology | The Observer
Nov 29th
With Connected TVs Expected to Boom, Marketers...
We’ve been hearing a lot about the convergence of television and the Web this year. From second screen apps and Twitter chatter about TV to set-top boxes and Internet-connected HDTVs, the two worlds are colliding in a big way. Apple is even rumored to be planning to get in on the game, launching an HDTV set of its own next year and possibly making a ..read more..  Smartr - your personal...
Nov 29th
3 tags
“In mid-September, Viacom executives found what executives later called an...”
–  Kids’ Nets Face the Mystery of Missing Children | MediaWorks - Advertising Age
Nov 28th
3 tags
“It’s a big deal when an analyst as respected as Credit Suisse’s Stefan Anninger...”
–  Analyst Warns: Pay TV Will Fade As Young Viewers Look For Cheaper Alternatives – Deadline.com
Nov 28th
YouTube's Monetization Gap with Hulu - via Digiday →
When it comes to sheer revenue, YouTube is blowing the doors off of Hulu. Analysts peg YouTube’s 2011 haul at anywhere between $1.2 billion and $1.6 billion, while Hulu has said it expects to pull in $500 million this year — a number that includes revenue from its subscription service Hulu Plus. <span>Chart:RPUU</span>...
Nov 28th
4 notes
Nov 27th
94 notes
Nov 27th
“In the late 1990s, high-end outer suburbs contained most of the expensive...”
–  Christopher Leinberger, The Death of the Fringe Suburb (via stoweboyd)
Nov 26th
10 notes
Original branded video content has highest...
Original branded video content ranks highest for brand favourability and recall rates compared with other forms of video ad formats, according to Specific Media’s Video Testing and Measurement Insights (Vitamin) report. The ad network worked with consultancy Decipher on the research, the results of which it unveiled at the IAB’s Video Engage eve ..read more..  Smartr - your personal newspaper
Nov 25th
The Industrial Age Has Finally Run Out of Gas: An...
“Throughout the 20th century, we created wealth through vertically integrated corporations. Now, we create wealth through networks. We are at a turning point in human history, where the industrial age has finally run out of gas.” – Don Tapscott Somewhere, between the APEC CEO Summit with world leaders in Hawaii, receiving a place on the Thinke ..read more..  Smartr - your personal newspaper
Nov 25th
“personal manufacturing is currently going through much the same phase as...”
– 3D printing: Difference Engine: Making it | The Economist
Nov 25th
#ProjetColumbus les nouveaux territoires narratifs...
“J’ai toujours pitié du monde qui pleure sur la stérilité des médias sociaux plutôt que d’embrasser le changement #jeudiconfession #columbusSacha DeclomesnilNovember 24, 2011 2:44:30 PM ESTReplyRetweet“On parle beaucoup de création de sens #ColumbusSacha DeclomesnilNovember 24, 2011 2:39:35 PM ESTReplyRetweet“Importance de prendre le temps de s’ennuyer pour faire place...
Nov 24th
Forget Shopping, Friday Is Update Your Parents'... →
Nov 24th
“Because Starz is also going into competition with Netflix by partnering with the...”
– House of Cards - TechCrunch
Nov 24th
“But when Netflix snaps up an original program, it solidifies its...”
– Netflix gets back in the game
Nov 21st
“If someone were to have told you a few years ago that New York’s Metropolitan...”
– TribecaFilm.com | Future of Film | Can Hollywood Learn Innovation From The Metropolitan Opera?
Nov 21st
“The rogues’ gallery of Wall Street crooks, such as Lloyd Blankfein at Goldman...”
– Chris Hedges (via azspot)
Nov 19th
36 notes
Nov 18th
7,614 notes
“We are at decades-high inequality and declining social mobility - two major...”
– Facing Inequality - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
Nov 18th
“There’s more to Sony’s problems than acts of God and currency traders. The maker...”
– Longreads 
Nov 18th
79 notes
“But if data from The Guardian is to be believed, physics is becoming more...”
– The Next Web 
Nov 18th
40 notes