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Tuesday, May 07, 2002 |
If you're upset about the length of the post below in your news aggregator, be sure to vote in the Should Jenny Truncate Her RSS Feed sweepstakes. I'm still searching for a way to provide two feeds, one abridged (truncated) and one unabridged (the full monty) so that you, dear reader, can decide for yourself which style best suits you. Unfortunately, I lack the requisite knowledge to do this myself, and this may be the one situation that duct tape cannot resolve.
Don't take this the wrong way, but you folks haven't been terribly helpful so far in making this decision for me, as earlier this evening the vote was evenly split at 50% for and 50% against. Sigh. Don't make me pull this car over....
(Actually, I really do appreciate those who have taken the time to vote!)
11:53:28 PM Permanent link here
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"The study, by Memphis-based marketing agency NextResearch, finds that 73% of PVR users find television more fun, 13% watch much more television, 43% watch somewhat more, and 30% watch more premium channels (Special Release: April PVR Monitortm). See the Satisfaction with PVR Chart....
This study is good news for television advertisers in the short term, and also good news for the long term — if advertisers and network executives adjust their business models. For example, 42% of PVR owners no longer "channel surf," but over 70% are using interactive program guides provided by the service for watching live, and 58% are using interactive program guides for recording. This means that rather than focusing on merely capturing the attention of viewers, or expecting them to watch a new show that follows an old favorite, networks are going to have to convince people to program a show to be recorded. This is going to become very important to networks, especially since 44% of PVR owners no longer pay attention to channels.
Here is one obvious idea: work with PVR developers so that people can press a single button during a promo to schedule a show for recording. I own a TiVo, and often, when I'm watching a show, a promo will appear for a show I might be interested in. Unfortunately, I am also too lazy to pause and then go through the trouble of setting that show to be recorded. A "one-click" system would mean I waste more time with the boob tube....
Unfortunately for Kellner, a lot of people have already trained themselves to ignore television commercials, just as most people ignore the banner ads on the Internet. Indeed, I would not hesitate to say that the vast majority of advertising simply goes unnoticed. [You didn't hesitate - Ed.] ReplayTV didn't invent the concept of people ignoring commercials, they merely made it obvious. [Note to network executives, here is an obvious idea to defeat 30-sec skip functions: vary the length of bumpers, promos and the commercials themselves.]
The next couple of statistics that Ad Age notes are the crux of the issue. Apparently, people are only willing to watch advertisements that are entertaining or for products that they are interested in....
Advertisers have plenty of options. It may require people like Kellner to actually think, or something, but marketing is not going to curl up and die, no matter how attractive that thought is. If anyone needs to worry, it is the video rental business, since the study found that 56% of PVR owners rent fewer videos since acquiring a PVR." [LawMeme]
Uh-oh... I feel another lawsuit coming on. ;-)
Actually, Ernest collated many of my own thoughts in this article (go read the whole thing), so thanks to him for saving me the time! Even though he mentions some new models the television industry could begin implementing yesterday, I've been mulling over in my mind a combination of Ads.com (I used to think it would be AdCritic.com, but they're headed in a different direction apparently), Emergent Music, and Amazon wish lists.
Being a student of popular culture, I actually like a lot of ads. Not most ads, but enough of them that I know many a jingle, recite taglines, and even research some of them on the web (especially for music). In fact, I'd love to see a study of which commercials can be recited verbatim by Gen Xers and see how they bind my generation together.
I also have a digital video recorder, so I'm in a bit of a bind. I almost always skip commercials when watching recorded shows, but it's mostly due to a lack of time. TV schedules haven't shifted to meet my busy schedule, and the tired "commercials after the credits, at 14 minutes after, at 27 minutes after" format isn't in my daily routine because it just doesn't fit. That's just not the right time to try and catch me.
But if the ads were targeted and I could watch them when I wanted to in the ways I wanted to, that would be another story. What would be even more incentive would be popularity rankings for commercials so that I could see what was creating buzz right now. AdCritic used to list the ten most popular commercials right on the front page (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, I'm looking at you, Ads.com). I found some pretty good ones that way, and often I would forward their URLs on to my friends.
Think out of the box and mix it up with the internet, especially news aggregators. I'd subscribe to a feed equivalent of Daypop's top 10 commercials, especially because I don't have to watch them - it's still my choice. Heck, good/funny commercials like the Lee Jeans Commercial (warning: don't click if you think naked, talking butts are not funny) find their way on to Daypop's Top 40 anyway. And if my trusted buddies think a commercial is good, well then, I'm all over it. Don't even get me started on the idea of sending me commercials I've approved through RSS enclosures....
Let's add in my wish list, though. Just as with Napster, there are incredible marketing opportunities here if executives could just pull their heads out of the sand and gaze forward instead of backwards. They weren't even on the dock when the boat left for that one, but here's their chance to pull to the front of the pack. Work with DVR manufacturers and Amazon to create mega wish-lists that interact across mediums, along with delivery of focused advertising.
Say the expansion pack for the game Apples to Apples is on my wish list. My ReplayTV knows this, so it pushes ads for similar games to me, as well as sending coupons/discount notices. If I subscribe to such a feed in my news aggregator, maybe they appear there, too, along with a "see similar" cross reference. When 60 Minutes wakes up and does a show about what a great game this is, a notice pops up on my Replay and asks if I want to record it (Ernest's one-click publishing - dude, patent this idea fast!).
That's just one idea, but it could be extended to work with other mediums, too, such as books, library book reviews, PDAs, cell phones, video games, etc. As with every other new technology or service these days, they'd have to work out the privacy and technical issues, but it would certainly be money better spent than on ridiculous lawsuits that further alienate the customers they're trying so desperately to keep.
11:42:03 PM Permanent link here
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Good news for YACCS users (all 14,500 of us and growing!). Hossein has modified the code to run faster, so if you haven't already upgraded, please do so now. It's incredibly, no-brainer easy to upgrade and if you don't, you'll start seeing reminder messages in your comment boxes starting Monday, May 13.
Good news for YACCS wannabes - Hossein is again taking new signups after May 13. This is one of the best free services available for bloggers, so I highly recommend it. Among its many wonderful features is the ability to subscribe to an RSS feed for your comments, so they appear right in your news aggregator!
I'll be adding my name to the donation list, too, because it's that good.
11:01:46 PM Permanent link here
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Wow - no reactions to my quest to start an education campaign for public access to wireless networks in public libraries. Sigh.
I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, but I wonder if Horatio would have any bearing later in the cycle:
"The Horatio system is a firewall authentication tool. The premise: Legitimate users want to attach laptops and other mobile hosts to the network, but security demands that illegitimate users be prevented from accessing the internal, secure network and from abusing the general Internet. The approach taken by Horatio is to provide a separate, untrusted, network that only connects to the internal network (and thus to the Internet) through a firewall that by default does not pass any traffic.
When a legitimate user connects his or her host, it is assigned an address by a DHCP server (such as dhcpd), but is unable to contact anything outside the untrusted network. The user must must point a web browser at the horatio web server, which runs on the firewall machine, and provide a username and password. Once the username and password have been validated, the firewall rules are modified to allow the host access to the rest of the network."
Would it seem less scary with something like this in place? Eric Snowdeal noted:
"i'm interested in how the receptiveness changes based on how wifi is positioned. does receptiveness change if it's seen 'merely' as a technology ('wifi ready') versus an enabler for increasing a library's role as a community network partner?"
Maybe. But there still has to be a big "what's in it for me" component. Perhaps the first step is for geeks with laptops and wi-fi cards to approach their local libraries and let them hear first-hand that there is community interest.
10:21:52 PM Permanent link here
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"Depth: It's the great untapped dimension that monitor technology has been missing. Now an emerging New Zealand-based company has its eyes set on becoming to monitors what "Dolby" is to sound technology.
Deep Video Imaging is currently setting up its U.S. operations in the San Francisco Bay Area as the owner of licenses and patents to three-dimensional monitor technology. By combining the images generated by two overlayed flat-screen panels, its monitors can create 3D images using systems with any of the high-performance video cards available today.
The company is already selling 15-inch development units built by LG/Philips LCD, and is currently pursuing agreements with a number of U.S. and Asian manufacturers. Commercially available units are expected to be available in the first quarter of next year.
Target market segments include aviation, military, medicine, automotive, graphic design, and gaming, but company representatives claim the technology can also be tailored for watches and handheld devices." [PC World]
10:10:34 PM Permanent link here
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"Deploying the very technology that gave birth to the industry it represents, The International Webcasting Association (IWA), in cooperation with TVWorldwide.com announced a joint effort to produce two webcasts on important copyright issues that may change the face of the webcast industry. In an effort to unite and inform its members and the webcasting industry at large, the IWA will dedicate the second in a series of on-line Worldwide Town Meetings of Webcasters to the implications of the Copyright Office recommendations. This will be webcast on May 9 from 1PM-4 PM EDT.
This will be followed the next day with live coverage of the U.S. Copyright Office's important roundtable discussion on the proposed guidelines for webcasters to give the required notice of copyrighted material they webcast and to maintain webcast records. The roundtable will be held May 10 from 9AM-5PM EDT. Both webcasts will originate from Washington D.C. and be freely available at http://www.webcasters.org/ and http://www.tvworldwide.com/. Event sponsors include Streaming Magazine, the nationally syndicated "On-Line Tonight" radio show featuring David Lawrence and other sponsors currently lining up to support the webcasts."[Mary Wehmeier's Blog Du Jour]
More info about this at Mary Lu's site, so check this one out! Important stuff.
9:41:28 PM Permanent link here
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"TDK Mobile enables users to control a bluetooth-enabled mobile phone from a PC/Laptop using using the Bluetooth PC Card or USB Adapter. This connectivity allows users to back up mobile contact lists and SIM card memory to the computer. This is becoming increasingly important as cell phone users upgrade more frequently, or in cases or loss or theft.
TDK Dialler is part of the company's Bluetooth solutions for Palm devices, and adds features to the existing blue5 and blueM products. It enables users to dial any number in their Palm database directly from the PDA via a Bluetooth phone. TDK Mobile and Dialler also simplify SMS operations as they can be done on the PDA instead of on the phone.
TDK blueDial is the company's new product for their TDK Systems bluePAQ device. This new product is similar to the one for the Palm, in that it allows users to dial from iPAQ contact lists and send SMS messages....
On a related note, TDK Systems has launched two sites to promote Bluetooth: www.no2wires.com for compatibility and interoperability issues, and getbluetooth.com to guide consumers on where to purchase Bluetooth products by location." [allNetDevices Wireless News]
I'm dreaming... of a bluuueeee Christmas....
9:08:23 PM Permanent link here
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"Canadian author and columnist Jim Carroll provided the annual congress of the International Newspaper Marketing Association with the following reasons why media 'convergence' is like teenage sex:
- No one knows what it is but thinks that it must be great.
- Everyone thinks that everyone else is doing it.
- Those who say they are doing it are probably lying.
- The few who are doing it aren't doing it well.
- Once they start doing it, they realize that it's going to take them a long time to do it right.
- They'll also soon start realizing that there is no 'right' way to do it."
[E-Media Tidbits: A Group Weblog]
After rediscovering this blog, I'm going crazy quoting from them, but it's such great stuff. Check out the blog for yourself because almost every post will be of interest.
But why no RSS feed? Argh! Voidstar RSSify, bay-bee! Consider it peer pressure - every Blogger site should do it!
9:00:41 PM Permanent link here
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"Most newspapers charge for downloading articles from their Web archives, and have for some time. But as search and library guru Gary Price notes, there's little reason for most of the public to pay. Many public libraries these days offer free access to broad, deep publication databases. (Example: my local library databases in Boulder, Colorado.) Oddly, much of the public seems to miss the fact (so far) that if they have a library card, they can use these services — and get free, full-text access to thousand of newspapers, magazines, etc. If more people realized this, would they pay $2 or $3 per article at a newspaper website archive? Not likely.
As the public wises up (it'll happen in time), newspapers should reconsider paid Web archives. Sites like the San Francisco Chronicle's SFGate.com will start to look smart; it's long kept a free article archive and made money from the traffic to the archives." [E-Media Tidbits: A Group Weblog, via The Lost Remote]
It's midnight before your paper/article/trivia answer is due. Do you know which databases your library makes available to you?
6:18:28 PM Permanent link here
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"Now Fox Sports Net is letting fans put themselves on TV. Called the "Viewers Voice Box" or Fox Box, the 120 square-foot studio draws its own crowd at Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Fox Box looks like a huge television set. Fans step inside, read a disclaimer, hit a button and see a short video posing the question of the day. Their responses are recorded, digitized and sent overnight to the Fox studios via the Internet.
Designed by LiveWave, the same company that built the remote camera at ground zero, the Fox Box is completely automated. From miles away, producers can adjust the camera and change the video question at will.
'[It] provides us with great material while connecting with our viewers in a unique and compelling way,' says Bill Bergofin, VP of Marketing for Fox Sports Net. 'The next morning, footage of fans giving their opinions arrives at our editing facility ready to integrate with two way connectivity.'
The Fox Box is also a powerful marketing tool. After recording their responses, fans are encouraged to tune in to watch....
TV kiosks are not a new concept, first introduced by Toronto's trailblazing CityTV years ago. But the Fox Box is the first large-scale project to combine the power of the Internet with broadcast-quality video." [The Lost Remote]
Now that's an enclosure!
6:13:35 PM Permanent link here
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Here's another visual map of a Google search. This one is much more interesting to me, and the relationships seem more accurate. (Note: I had to install the Java 2 Runtime Environment to get it to run.) [via PeterMe]
9:48:46 AM Permanent link here
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"Another Prodigal Lawyer-Blogger Checks In...
Madeleine Kane sent me an E-mail today telling me that she found my site through the MSNBC article that came out on April 15th. She calls herself recovering lawyer who's switched to humor writing (hey leave a trail of bread crumbs for the rest of us...). Among other things she writes a satirical weblog about our President-- Dubya's Dayly Diary.
Welcome to Madeleine. I guess it's true what Daniel White said in 'The Official Lawyer's Handbook': there are no funny lawyers; only funny people who made the wrong career choice. Glad she was able to achieve Escape Velocity." [Ernie the Attorney]
I wanted to make sure Bruce saw this one!
12:15:25 AM Permanent link here
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© Copyright 2004 Jenny Levine.
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