How the Chinese see the situation

TV Week (www.tvweek.com) features a story of a Chinese animation report of the NBC/Tonight Show/Leno/Conan travails. You don't have to speak Chinese to see that they've done an effective job of highlighting the issues.

The story points to a couple of things:
1. Public fascination with the soap opera content of celebrities and entertainment. Take note of the fight scenes.
2. An understanding of the continuing efforts to leverage entertainment program content, including the need to balance star talent, audience wants, and revenue projections.

Take a look. I am sure you will have additional thoughts.

TVBizwire

Must See Video: Chinese Animation of NBC Latenight Woes. Trust Us, This is Funny YouTube

http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tvbizwire/2010/01/post-6.php

New Apple Tablet

A new Apple product coming? It is supposedly going to be a tablet that is similar to the Amazon.com product, Kindle. Kindle is a tablet that allows digital viewing of books. The main difference is this will be built on the iPhone/iPod Touch technology and will be in color, as opposed to the black and white screen on kindle. There are speculations that it will have an option to view pages, not only scroll. So, the layout will be similar to an actual magazine with pages that "turn" (animated). 

This will be huge, if it is done right. Not only will it offer video ads for magazines, but it will allow for real time corrections of editorial and advertising content. If an ad runs wrong, the publisher could simply "push" correct information via the internet. Text books could be updated with information in a more cost effective manner, rather than printing a new edition...

It is rumored that the screen will be OLED (organic light emitting diode). When this technology is expanded, it will be cheap to produce large screens that are flexible. This is my prediction as to where technology and industry of print media will go in the near future. Here is just one of the myriad of speculative articles

New Apple tablet speculation: two models, OLED screen

By Neil Hughes

Published: 04:10 PM EST

New reports on Apple's rumored upcoming tablet device suggest the product could have two versions -- one for educational use, and one with a Web cam -- and utilize an OLED screen.

Relaying information from an anonymous tip, Gizmodo's Brian Lam states that the device will have a 10-inch screen and look like a "giant iPhone, with a big black back." The tipster claimed to have handled a mock-up of the device, stating it has a home button like an iPhone, and will be positioned between an iPod/iPhone and a MacBook.

The report did not elaborate on the supposed separate Web cam and education editions of the device, but said it would cost between $700 and $900. The device has allegedly been under development between four and six years, though the first prototype was only created in late 2008.
Click here to continue reading

Google probing possible inside help on attack

I thought this is very interesting. I read another story about the attack on the Google system that said it may have negative effects financially because the perception of their security. If people do not feel safe, they will stop using their email service and their traffic will go down. Their revenue will fall commensurately. I wonder if this is not a story from the PR department trying to tell us it is espionage, or if it is a legitimate concern. Either way is bad. Now they not only have to look at their network security, but they might have someone there that is less than ethical with access to private data.  

Google probing possible inside help on attack

Google is investigating whether one or more employees may have helped facilitate a cyber-attack from China that the U.S search giant said it was a victim of in mid-December, two sources told Reuters today.

Google, the world's most popular search engine, said last week it may pull out of the world's biggest Internet market by users after reporting it had been hit by a "sophisticated" cyber-attack on its network that resulted in theft of its intellectual property.

The sources, who are familiar with the situation, told Reuters that the attack, which targeted people who have access to specific parts of Google networks, may have been facilitated by people working in Google China's office.

"We're not commenting on rumour and speculation. This is an ongoing investigation, and we simply cannot comment on the details," a Google spokeswoman said.

Continue reading story here...

Disney's "Keychest"

A couple of days ago it was announced by Bloomberg that Disney is in the middle of renegotiating its previous agreement with the Starz Network in an effort to take back the rights to digital distribution of its films. This new agreement would limit the current online distribution of the Starz Network's films through Netflix.

http://tiny.cc/Z5m7Y

Disney's push towards re-appropriation of digital-distribution seems to be in support of the company's previously announced "Keychest" project. "Keychest," as described by Disney studios's president of home entertainment, Bob Chapek, would allow consumers permanent access to digital properties (ie. movies and television shows) across multiple platforms and digital devices. The technology is similar to that currently used by Google Docs in that the information is stored on a digital "cloud" from where it can be accessed at any time. This would allow for a customer to begin watching Mulan on television at home, pause it and continue watching it on a cell phone in the car, and finish it on a lap top in the park.
So what does this change spell for Netflix? Would you prefer digital ownership to digital rental?
Discuss...

All of Google out of China? Really?

By now we've all heard of Google's threat to pull out of the Chinese market due to the recent hacks into its email systems. If you haven't, then here's a short article that gives the main points.

http://tiny.cc/mP66s

So, what are the consequences of Google pulling out of China? A recent article in by Seth Weintraub of Computer World poses some interesting questions regarding all that Google is and the effects of a complete retreat from the Chinese market.
Since Google is no longer just a search engine it has to consider all of its different components and the effect it will have on its stake of the global market. Like the new Android smart phone or Youtube. With China being such a major player in today's global economy (and certain to be even more important in the future) what will happen to Google? Will it destroy the Android's chances against an already empowered Apple? Will companies using Google apps for business in the Orient have to look for other alternatives? And what about Youtube's promise of a global sharing center?

Discuss

http://tiny.cc/3D9kh

New FCC Approach to Internet Regulations

I think this an interesting article regarding access to the internet and the FCC. I don't know if any of you have heard of the "net neutrality" stuff that has been discussed in the past year or so?

Also, I just put in a home theater system. The blue ray player has internet access. I download purchased or rented videos from Amazon.com and it streams to my blueray player. It also works with Picassa Web albums and Youtube. Some Blu-Ray's have "BD Live" content. They are special features that are only enabled when you have internet access.

Unfortunately, the player I have doesn't support NetFlix. I wish it did. Their SlingBox product is rather expensive considering it doesn't do anything else, and I don't like uni-taskers. I was a little disappointed when I realized I had just gained a new way to spend money just by clicking a button.

I wonder if they will try to regulate it since the web is integrating with traditional cable viewing?

Here is the article:
FCC looks at ways to assert authority over Web access


By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 15, 2010; A22

The Federal Communications Commission is considering aggressive moves to stake out its authority to oversee consumer access to the Internet, as a recent court hearing and industry opposition have cast doubt on its power over Web service providers.


The FCC, which regulates public access to telephone and television services, has been working to claim the same role for the Internet. The stakes are high, as the Obama administration pushes an agenda of open broadband access for all and big corporations work to protect their enormous investments in a new and powerful medium.


"This is a pivotal moment," said Ben Scott, director of policy at the public interest group Free Press. The government wants to treat broadband Internet as a national infrastructure, he said, like phone lines or the broadcast spectrum. But federal regulators are grappling with older policies that do not clearly protect consumers' access to the Web, their privacy or prices of service.


The issue may have reached a turning point last week when a federal appeals court questioned the limits of the FCC's authority in a 2008 case involving Comcast. The agency had ordered the Internet and cable giant to stop blocking subscribers' access to the online file-sharing service BitTorrent. But in an oral hearing last Friday, three judges grilled an FCC lawyer over whether the agency had acted outside the scope of its authority.


The appeals court is still hearing the case, but analysts predict that the FCC will lose and that the ruling could throw all of its efforts to oversee Internet access into question. A loss could undermine the legality of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's push for policies that would prohibit service providers from restricting customers' access to legal Web content -- the concept known as net neutrality -- and throw into doubt the agency's ability to oversee pricing and competition among Internet service providers.

Article continues...
http://tinyurl.com/yesvgza

10th Anniverary of the Train Wreck

The AOL/TW Merger happened 10 years ago. If you're under age 30, it's probably difficult to remember this event. If you worked for either company or owned stock in the combined company, it was just a disaster. Ask Ted Turner.

Turner built Turner Broadcasting into a cable powerhouse from his first move into broadcasting with the purchase of an abysmal UHF TV station in Atlanta. Channel 17 received the call letters WTCG for Turner Communication Group. The call letters later became WTBS for Turner Broadcasting System. Today, it's just TBS and exists predominantly as an ad supported basic cable channel that has spawned the growth of other cable programming services. Turner sold his company to Time Warner, primarily a cable television company and magazine publisher. Eventually, Ted Turner would lose about 80% of her personal fortune in the collapse of AOL/TW, about $8 BILLION.

Read this article in The New York Times about the merger, 10 years later:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11merger.html?pagewanted=1&sq=aol%20&st=cse&scp=2

Here's a shorter URL: http://bit.ly/6djKT3

Where and why did this go wrong?

Here are the opening paragraphs from the NYT story:

A decade ago, America Online merged with Time Warner in a deal valued at a stunning $350 billion. It was then, and is now, the largest merger in American business history.

The Internet, it was believed, was soon to vaporize mainstream media business models on the spot. America Online’s frothy stock price made it worth twice as much as Time Warner’s with less than half the cash flow.