Somrat Niyogi, CEO of Miso, writes via TechCrunch that “Twitter currently dominates live TV because it enables these ‘come-in come-out’ experiences that are light, delightful and informative. But ultimately, Twitter is also dominating because of the mistakes we are making in the social TV industry.”
Niyogi believes the fundamental issue is in the industry’s approach to consumers. “Right now, second screen apps are saying, ‘Here are other ways you can use your smartphone while you watch TV!’ But is anybody really asking, ‘What do people really want to do when they watch TV?'”
“Companies should pick a single value prop and deliver it really well. This is why Instagram has 100 million users and no second screen app has climbed to 1 million users organically,” writes Niyogi.
“Let me emphasize this again: the key is to do one thing and do it right. As Matt Cohler wrote recently, there are winners in the mobile space and patterns are emerging: ‘Great mobile apps act like push-button remote controls for real life,’” he writes.
Niyogi highlights successful ‘single purpose apps’ like Instagram, Yelp and Pulse.
He ends his article with this question: “Now, I encourage everyone to ask themselves: is there a habitual, single thought experience that people want to use everyday that I can deliver in a magical, simple way?”
His answer? “I believe there is. But, only time will tell and there is more work that needs to be done. Most of all, I believe that TV and the experiences around it will only continue to get better and better… as long as we get on the right track.”
London company Showcaster is about to release a live video show called #Yappfactor, which will air during this fall’s “The X Factor” (UK).
The show won’t air on broadcast TV but instead inside the Zeebox social TV sidekick application.
Zeebox just added Viacom as a U.S. investor and promotional partner in addition to Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal.
“‘The X Factor’ stream will see comedian and radio host Jake Yapp offer ‘tongue-in-cheek’ observations to UK Zeebox users’ sofas while they watch the show on the TV in front of them,” according to paidContent.
The article writes of the possible pitfalls of dual video streams: “Although many viewers have become used to reading and participating in text-based discussion and to Googling for information relevant to the shows they are watching, the introduction of parallel video in addition to the principal live broadcast could prove overwhelming and disruptive, not least to fellow viewers in the same room — like a friend interrupting every song with an annoying sofa commentary.”
“#Yappfactor is a purely editorial exercise for us. It is nothing more than commentary from an independent comedian — an extension of the alternative Twitter commentary we’re already been running,” says Zeebox product and content development chief Simon Miller.
Adobe, Google, HP, Microsoft and other tech heavyweights have joined together to form the “definitive resource” for all open Web technologies, called WebPlatform.
The resource will provide developers with a “single source of all the latest, quality and relevant information about HTML5, CSS3, WebGL, SVG and other Web standards,” reports Parity News. It will also offer tips on Web development and related technologies.
“We are an open community of developers building resources for a better Web, regardless of brand, browser or platform,” explains the WebPlatform homepage.
All documentation on the site will be listed under creative commons licensing, “with the initial contribution coming from the member companies while subsequent code snippets, examples, and documentation is expected from visitors,” writes Parity News.
On its own blog, Google makes note that “Web Platform Docs is a community-driven site that aims to become the comprehensive and authoritative source for Web developer documentation.”
Starting this week, Google Play will be more tightly integrated into the Google TV experience. Google Play movies, TV shows and music will be available on Google TV in the next few weeks.
“You’ll be able to buy or rent content directly through the Google Play Store on Google TV, and purchases you’ve made on other devices will also be automatically available on Google TV,” according to the Official Google TV Blog.
“Google Play titles will also be discoverable through our TV & Movies app, which brings recommendations for shows and movies available on live TV and apps like Netflix, Amazon, and now Google Play,” notes the blog.
Additionally, purchases made on other devices will be available on Google TV.
“For developers, this update also enables many other Google Play features including auto-updates, subscription billing, and smart app updates,” explains Google.
In a deal with Cox Communications, Starz Entertainment will now offer online services to existing pay TV subscribers.
“Dubbed Starz Play and Encore Play, they are making good on Starz CEO Chris Albrecht’s promise to roll out the company’s own branded offers in the vein of HBO Go,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Much like HBO Go, Starz’s authenticated services online won’t allow for standalone subscriptions. All must be paying TV customers with a traditional Starz subscription in order to log on.
“We will rotate some of the content, mostly on the feature films side, to keep things fresh, but we will have critical mass,” explains Ed Huguez, president of the affiliate distribution for Starz Entertainment. “There is a lot of interest from all our distributors, so we expect additional agreements for our authenticated services soon.”
Free app downloads for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch apps are currently available. “The services are accessible through Wi-Fi and broadband connections,” notes THR. “Cellular connectivity for Android phones and tablets, as well as gaming consoles will be launched in the future.”
A new Nielsen study indicates that women watch significantly more TV than men, “but it’s also finding that the rise of connected (seventh-generation) gaming consoles like the Xbox is changing that,” writes TechCrunch.
The study says that even though women spend nearly 40 minutes more in front of the TV than men do on a daily basis, men are spending twice as much time on gaming consoles.
With the numbers averaged together, women are still in front of the screen more by a margin of 11 minutes.
“Nielsen doesn’t break out what it is that men and women consume via the consoles — it can be anything from playing games to watching on-demand or catch-up TV services, or surfing the Web,” notes the post.
“But it does present an interesting challenge both for the advertising industry, and those working in any content service that appears (or wants to appear) on TV: if you want to use that screen to target men as much as women — then you have to think about services that work through those consoles as well as regular TV ads,” suggests TechCrunch.
The current focus seems to be on bridging the services between mobile and TV screens rather than finding solutions that bridge content offered by TV services and content coming from connected consoles.
After a long seven years of litigation, Google and the Association of American Publishers have reached a settlement allowing publishers to choose whether Google digitizes their books and journals.
The publishers involved in the settlement include McGraw-Hill Companies, John Wiley & Sons, Pearson Education, the Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster.
While this decision forwards Google’s book-scanning Library Project, it does nothing to help litigation between Google and authors.
“Though the settlement will not change much about the way that Google and publishers already partner, it is the newest signpost for defining copyright in the Internet age,” reports The New York Times. “It is also the latest evidence of the shift to e-books from print, and of Google’s efforts to compete with e-book rivals like Amazon.com.”
“What’s really exciting about today’s settlement is the fact that Google will be getting access to books that have long been out of print, that are in copyright,” said Tom Turvey, director of strategic partnerships at Google. “It’s good for users who weren’t able to buy them before, and for publishers.”
“The settlement does not answer the question at the heart of the litigation between Google and publishers and authors — whether Google is infringing copyright by digitizing books,” notes the article. “It essentially allows both sides to agree to disagree, and gives publishers the right to keep their books out of Google’s reach.”
Prior to the release of Siri, Michael Phillips had been writing software that allows computers to understand human speech. In 2006, he co-founded a voice recognition company named Vlingo, “and eventually executives at Apple, Google and elsewhere proposed partnerships. Mr. Phillips’s technology was even integrated into Siri itself before the digital assistant was absorbed into the iPhone,” reports The New York Times.
In 2008, Phillips was contacted by another, larger voice recognition company. That company’s chief executive told him, “I have patents that can prevent you from practicing in this market,” according to reports.
He was then told he had two choices: sell his firm or be sued for patent infringement. He didn’t sell and was hit with six lawsuits.
“Mr. Phillips and Vlingo are among the thousands of executives and companies caught in a software patent system that federal judges, economists, policy makers and technology executives say is so flawed that it often stymies innovation,” notes the article.
According to analysis from Stanford University, as much as $20 billion was spent on patent litigation and patent purchases in just the past two years — “an amount equal to eight Mars rover missions.” Apple and Google reportedly spent more on patent lawsuits and big-dollar patent purchases last year than on research and development.
“Many people argue that the nation’s patent rules, intended for a mechanical world, are inadequate in today’s digital marketplace,” explains the article. “Unlike patents for new drug formulas, patents on software often effectively grant ownership of concepts, rather than tangible creations.”
The patent office regularly approves patents for vague algorithms or business methods without demanding specifics. The result involves patents so broad that patent holders have the opportunity to claim ownership of potentially unrelated products.
“Often, companies are sued for violating patents they never knew existed or never dreamed might apply to their creations, at a cost shouldered by consumers in the form of higher prices and fewer choices,” suggests the article.
It was just a decade ago that digital image sensors replaced film, rocking the world of photography. But that was only the beginning of many new changes.
CNET reports that during the Photokina show, “it was clear a second wave of change is sweeping through the industry. Cameras produced during the first digital photography revolution looked and worked very similarly to their film precursors, but now designers have begun liberating them from the old constraints.”
The article suggests that three major developments are pushing new changes: “a new class of interchangeable-lens cameras, the arrival of smartphones with wireless networking, and the sudden enthusiasm for full-frame sensors for high-end customers.”
CNET writes of the camera’s broadening ecosystem, which includes new lens mounts and mirrorless cameras in addition to “stacks of technology that can include processors, operating systems, app stores, online services, social graphs, and user accounts with accompanying credit card numbers.”
The article features details regarding an “explosion” of mirrorless offerings from Sony, Canon, Fujifilm, Samsung, Pentax and others.
“The result is a new phase of experimentation that’s refreshing but risky,” the article suggests. “Photographers get a wealth of new choices, but they’re betting on camera systems that might not survive as today’s experimentation settles down into tomorrow’s winners and losers.”
“For ordinary people, the biggest change in photography is the arrival of smartphones with respectable if not stellar cameras,” notes the article. “Because people always carry their phones, those cameras are the ones increasingly used to document people’s lives photographically.”
According to numbers from Twitter, the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney was the most tweeted about political event in U.S. history. Twitter logged 10.3 million tweets about the debate with more than 250,000 mentioning Big Bird (in response to Romney’s PBS comments).
Although Twitter has only been around since 2006, “in that short time Twitter and other social media platforms have fundamentally changed the political landscape,” writes BBC News.
“Anytime you get more people engaged and fired up about politics and the vote they have a right to make, that’s a great thing,” says Clay Schossow, co-founder of New Media Campaigns, a Web design & development firm in North Carolina.
“People are telling [journalists] what stories they want to see,” Schossow adds, noting that trending Twitter themes impact the next day’s news.
But being so engaged in Twitter during a debate or other event could cause some to miss out on key moments, notes Patrick Ruffini, president of Engage, LLC, a Washington, DC political media firm. “I find myself missing big lines,” he points out. “I’m engrossed in Twitter and engrossed in my own personal consumption of the debate itself as opposed to what’s said on screen.”
Some analysts are concerned that the real-time nature of social media will have a negative, perhaps reactionary impact on news coverage and shaping the post-debate narrative. Brendan Nyhan, a professor of government at Dartmouth College, turns off Twitter during the debate and recommends that journalists do the same.
“More and more people are turning to Twitter to discuss their political views, and don’t show any indication of turning back,” suggests BBC News. “Twitter users — and the American electorate — will learn to adapt accordingly.”
While initial ratings for new and returning TV series have been disappointing for big networks thus far, DVR playback numbers are helping to close that gap.
“The big question raised by the growing influence of DVR numbers is how the increase in delayed viewing may shake up industry practices — in everything from how a show’s performance is evaluated to how and when networks spin ratings results,” reports Variety.
Because DVR playback numbers don’t arrive for a week or two after the original air date, it’s difficult to tell if a show is doing well at first.
“The average DVR lift from viewing done within three days of the initial telecast, or what Nielsen dubs Live-Plus-3 ratings, for Big Four network shows during last week’s premiere onslaught was 26 percent, up from 20 percent during the comparable week last year… and even more viewing will take place later in the week after a telecast, boosting the Live-Plus-7 tallies as well,” according to the article.
More people are using DVRs this season because more people own them. DVR ownership in U.S. homes jumped from 42 percent last fall to 46 percent today. “Among viewers in the 18-49 demo, the rate is 51 percent. And they have clearly learned how to use their machines to full advantage,” writes Variety.
Major Hollywood talent is finding television — especially cable — more attractive than ever due to its improved quality and expanded possibilities in the digital revolution.
“The television business is so much better for the modern digital era,” said Chris Silbermann of ICM Partners, speaking at the Entertainment Business Managers Power Breakfast in Beverly Hills this week. “Really, it is just so much more organically aligned.”
“He said the episodic nature of many TV shows makes more sense in the digital realm, especially as shows that find an afterlife on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and elsewhere,” writes The Hollywood Reporter.
He also said that digital popularity and subsequent revenue are making increased production budgets possible for television series, which means profits are beginning to reach new talent.
“Digital dollars trickle down. We’re seeing a lot of shows, particularly from cable, that would not have had an afterlife in syndication being sold (to digital),” he said.
Silbermann suggests that Netflix’s “House of Cards” will prove to be an important test. “A lot of people have said it will be a watermark show. If they promote it well and it does well, then the flood of talent is going to go there. They have to prove not only that they can make a good show, but they have to prove they can market it.”
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen provides a detailed review of the upcoming Windows 8 on his website. He highlights features of the new bimodal user approach and offers helpful tips based on his experience.
Allen notes that some long-time Windows users might be initially frustrated by the lack of a traditional Start menu. But the new screen is visually pleasing and easy to navigate, he suggests.
“The Start screen displays a scrollable collection of tiles,” he writes. “Each tile represents an app (Mail, Internet Explorer, and Calendar, for example) or feature. Many are live tiles; that is, tiles that display notifications related to that app or feature.”
And although it can sometimes be difficult to find, he writes of the new control called the Charms bar, which offers access to important features like Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings.
“There are a number of things introduced to Windows by the tablet aspect of the bimodal user experience that I found puzzling, especially for a traditional desktop user like myself,” he writes. These include difficulties using multiple monitors, inadvertently switching modes, inability to build hierarchies on the Start screen and difficulty scrolling in desktop view on a tablet.
Allen notes in his conclusion that the bimodal operating system will take some adjustment, but he remains confident that users will adapt quickly, will find touch to be a natural progression and will be particularly impressed with the tablet capabilities.
“The tablet interface is elegant, responsive, and stacks up nicely with other tablets on the market,” he believes. “And with its capability to optionally switch to desktop view right on the tablet, Windows 8 extends to mobile users the flexibility to run traditional applications and become more efficient and productive while on the go.”
According to a new research report, Hollywood’s TV studios are strong enough to fend off disruption, even from Apple.
And that’s largely because of syndication. “Barclay’s says the TV syndication business has doubled its value over the past decade to an estimated $20 billion this year,” reports Variety.
“While cable’s aggressive licensing of broadcast series Stateside has largely fueled that increase, analyst Anthony DiClemente projects continued growth stemming from digital buyers and international syndication, which he says represents the ‘biggest opportunity’ for the studios,” notes the article.
Because there exists such a tangled web of rights controlled by studios across windows and territories, Apple won’t be able to control the living room, according to DiClemente.
“It would be very difficult, not to mention expensive, for new entrants to secure the requisite digital and linear rights to provide consumers with a one-stop content offering,” he writes. “We therefore don’t expect Apple to attempt the costly and logistically daunting task of standalone distribution.”
DiClemente predicts that instead of Apple manufacturing its own TV, as has been the rumor, it will make a set-top box that would integrate with other Apple devices, an approach that would not disrupt TV programmers or distributors.
After an initial failed attempt in June, New York-based startup MoviePass is back, offering 75,000 wait-listed users the opportunity to pay between $19.99 and $34.99 a month to watch up to one in-theater movie per day.
MoviePass users will be able to see movies at any theater in the U.S., so long as it accepts major credit cards.
“Subscription prices are based on MoviePass’s three zoning areas: Members who live by theaters that charge an average of $8 to $10 per ticket can subscribe to the $19.99 tier, while those in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, where tickets can run around $13 to $15 a pop, pay for the most expensive, $34.99 plan,” details Fast Company.
MoviePass has no theater or ticket brokerage partners. So how will it survive?
“Its newest workaround is a MoviePass-branded payment card that members will use like a regular credit card to purchase tickets at theater kiosks,” notes the article. “Starting today, MoviePass members will use its new iOS app to select a theater, a movie, and a showtime. Once you’re within 100 yards of the selected theater, you can check in within the app, which activates your MoviePass debit card using geolocation technology.”
“This doesn’t need to go through anyone’s API, it runs on existing credit card rails, and it allows customers to have mobility and access to more theaters, so we think we’ve solved everyone’s issues,” explains MoviePass CEO Stacy Spikes.