Curators at the National Media Museum in Bradford, England believe they have discovered the world’s first color moving pictures.
Dating from 1902, the discovery may be a breakthrough in cinema history.
“The newly-discovered films were made by pioneer Edward Raymond Turner from London who patented his color process on 22 March 1899,” reports BBC News. The previous earliest color film was thought to date from 1909.
“Turner shot the test films in 1902 but his pioneering work ended abruptly when he died suddenly of a heart attack,” explains the post, which includes a video sample of the color footage.
“Race for Colour,” a half-hour special will air on BBC One today and will be available on BBC iPlayer during the next week. The special includes comments from filmmaker Martin Scorsese who describes the discovery as “something very unique and very, very special.”
Fuji Film has announced that it will stop producing film stock for theatrical movies by spring of next year.
The company has been producing film stock since 1934, and is currently taking final orders for its only remaining plant still making the product.
“Fuji will continue to produce its Eterna-RDS archive film for film preservation work, however, while halting production of film stock used for shooting, editing and screening pics,” notes Variety.
“The three biggest makers of film stock globally are Eastman Kodak with a 55 percent share, followed by Fuji with 35 percent and Agfa with 10 percent,” explains the article.
With the shift from film to digital, worldwide demand for film stock dropped 70 percent from 2007 to 2011.
Apple unveiled its new iPhone 5 and iOS 6 yesterday at a press event in San Francisco.
“This is a glass and aluminum two-tone affair and, at 7.6mm it’s a full 18 percent thinner than the 4S,” reports Engadget. “It’s even 20 percent lighter at 112 grams, which is even less than the mostly plastic Galaxy S III.”
The new phone touts a 4-inch in-cell display and 1136 x 640 Retina panel (closer to 16:9, but not quite there).
“That new longer screen allows for an extra set of icons to be displayed on the home screen, and first party apps have already been tweaked to take advantage of the additional real estate,” notes the post. “The iWork suite, Garage Band and iMovie have all been updated.”
Older apps will work, but will appear in letterbox format until an update arrives.
“The most exciting news is likely the addition of LTE,” suggests the post. “There’s still HSPA+, EV-DO, EDGE and all that jazz on board, but it’s the true 4G that is really generating excitement. Sprint, Verizon and AT&T will all be able to take advantage of the single chip (data and voice) LTE solution inside.”
The iPhone 5 features a 802.11 a/b/g/n antenna, but no NFC as previously speculated.
Apple claims the new A6 CPU is two times faster than the previous chip and 22 percent smaller. The energy efficient CPU allows for 8 hours of talk time, according to Apple.
The company also announced its new iOS 6, available September 19th. “The latest mobile system from Apple packs a boat load of exciting improvements, including tweaks to Siri and the new Passbook (which would have worked really well with that rumored, but ultimately non-existent NFC chip),” notes Engadget.
The iPhone 5 will ship on September 21st ($199-$399), while pre-orders are slated to begin on the 14th.
It is with tremendous sorrow that ETCentric reports the passing of our good friend, colleague and adviser Bob Lambert.
Bob was a gentle guiding hand in a wide range of industry initiatives and a personal friend to the ETC where he served as chairman emeritus. He was instrumental in getting ETCentric off the ground.
“Bob was one of the most respected technology executives in the media and entertainment business,” comments Ken Williams, executive director and CEO of the ETC.
“Always generous with his time, Bob took a special interest in the Entertainment Technology Center @ USC, serving in numerous capacities, including most recently chief strategic and technology officer,” Ken explains. “Bob’s long service to the ETC was recognized by his being named chairman emeritus in 2010. His friendship and tremendous insight will be greatly missed.”
Bob was a thought leader whose work spanned all platforms, from cinema and television to online and mobile. He played a central role in the development of computer animated feature films and in the transition from film to digital cinema exhibition.
As a senior technology strategist at Disney for 25 years, Bob led the charge in strategic planning, intellectual property, patent strategy, standards and regulatory issues, and talent recruitment.
“I feel blessed to have called Bob a close friend and colleague,” says David Wertheimer, president of digital at Fox and former CEO of the ETC. “He was not only the ‘Father of Digital Cinema’ as we know it today, but he was the ‘Godfather of the Entertainment Technology Center,’ and was one of the most widely respected and genuinely liked people I have ever known.”
Bob was a SMPTE fellow and active member of the AMPAS Science & Technology Council. He served on the board of directors for numerous universities, start-up ventures and non-profits in addition to serving as a judge for the Collegiate Inventors Awards and the ATAS Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards.
“Bob always cared more about people than himself, and he had a rare talent for helping people see through the challenges of the present and focus on the horizon,” David adds. “I know that the world of tomorrow will be a better place for having had Bob with us.”
The team at ETCentric will miss his generous spirit, insight, guidance and good humor. When thinking of Bob’s passion regarding innovation, we’ll remember his line from a letter he wrote about Steve Jobs last year: “When you see something inventive this week, celebrate it. There’s a little of that Jobs spirit in all of us, insisting there’s always a better way to do things. Tip your hat to the folks in your world who help make that happen.”
The Hollywood Post Alliance has announced the 2012 winners of its HPA Engineering Excellence Award.
“The coveted honor is an integral part of the HPA Awards, which have become the standard by which creative and technical excellence in the art, science and craft of post production is measured,” reports TV Technology.
This year’s winners include: Cinnafilm’s standards transcoder Tachyon; Crossroads Systems’ file-based, portable storage solution StrongBox; the Dolby Atmos sound system from Dolby Laboratories; and Sony’s F65 CineAlta digital motion picture camera system.
“The Engineering Award not only represents the creativity of technology and technical innovation, but also helps to enable the creative power of our artistic community,” notes Leon Silverman, president of the Hollywood Post Alliance. “The products and processes that we honor with this award continue to demonstrate the important engineering work that is done behind our industry’s scenes and screens.”
The 2012 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards event is slated for November 1 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
Engadget reports from IBC in Amsterdam on NHK’s Super Hi-Vision camera that “doubles the capture rate from the standard 60Hz to a much speedier 120Hz, yielding sharper motion.”
“While the difference isn’t noticeable with static or slow-moving scenes, it certainly comes into play when filming rapid-motion sporting events or panning the camera,” notes the post.
“Filming a rotating image that paired ordinary objects and cityscapes with letters and numbers, you could see the difference instantly, with the 120Hz image on the right side yielding far shaper details, while the left side was often a blurry mess,” describes Engadget.
Since the higher frequency comes directly from the source, there is no software smoothing involved and “it appears perfectly natural, and much more pleasant.”
The post includes a series of stills and a video report from the IBC show floor.
Spotify is getting ready to launch a newly redesigned browser-based version of its popular streaming music service, according to multiple sources.
The overhaul is expected to focus on music discovery and will reportedly allow users to follow habits and playlists of influencers and friends.
“One source even said a lower subscription price for its mobile app could be in the works,” reports TechCrunch. “With a healthy user base and the record labels’ support, the browser version could help Spotify continue dominating the streaming music spotlight.”
Spotify launched one year ago and already touts 7.7 million daily users and 22.2 million monthlies, according to AppData.
TechCrunch notes that “4 million of them pay $5 a month for ad-free service or $10 for zero ads and mobile access.”
Magazine-style reader Flipboard has announced its partnership with Levi’s in a move that could be the next step in launching a new mobile shopping platform.
“For years now, reader apps have slugged along with an advertising business model that hasn’t exactly been lucrative,” notes Digital Trends. “With the debut of Flipboard’s new social shopping catalog, however, its e-commerce strategy could break ground for the experimentation of new business models among reader apps.”
The mobile-only app’s new Style category (located in the Content Guide) will include images uploaded from Instagram, articles by Levi’s staffers and a behind-the-scenes feature.
Flipboard is not the first to tackle m-commerce. Marie Claire and ELLE magazines are two examples of magazine apps in the iTunes App Store that integrate shopping within the magazine reading experience.
“This strategy could get the folks at Zite, Pulse, News.me, and other mobile readers thinking about supplementing their revenue with an m-commerce business model, and we couldn’t blame them,” concludes Digital Trends. “M-commerce is one of the fastest growing subsets within e-commerce.”
Last week, we reported on ETCentric that the new lineup of Amazon Kindles would include advertisements that did not provide an opt out option for users.
Now the company has announced it will provide Kindle Fire HD customers with an option to purchase their way out of the ads for $15.
However, Business Insider suggests users may opt not to avoid the ads because they “won’t realize that they can turn off the ads, will be too lazy to turn off the ads, or, most likely, won’t want to turn off the ads.”
According to the post, “the ads look cool” and customers will most likely get used to them quickly and possibly find them helpful.
“But having the option to turn off the ads will silence everyone appalled by the idea that Amazon will shove ads down people’s throats while perfect Apple and Google won’t,” says Business Insider. “So it’s very much the right move.”
LinkedIn announced it is adding Company Pages and a Facebook-style notification stream in its effort to increase user engagement.
“Launching today is our new notifications feature, which will keep you notified in real-time when someone likes what you’ve shared on LinkedIn, views your profile, accepts your invitation, and much more,” explains a September 5th blog post from Angela Yang, associate product manager at LinkedIn.
CNET reports that the notifications feature will take several weeks to go live to all members, “and push notifications for Android and iOS devices are also in the works.”
“LinkedIn is trying to graduate from a simple resumé-and-headhunting site into something big — Facebook big — in a sector where increased communication pays real dividends,” Ryan Tate writes in a related Wired article.
“LinkedIn’s ambitions are no doubt stoked by enthusiasm from Wall Street, which has bid up LinkedIn stock 36 percent since the company’s May 2011 IPO,” notes Tate. “Since Facebook went public in mid May, LinkedIn stock has climbed 14 percent, compared to a decline of 51 percent for Facebook shares.”
“Never mind the fact that nearly 40 percent of mobile ad clicks are either accidental or fraudulent — the folks from eMarketer say that mobile ad revenues in the U.S. will grow from $1.45 billion in 2011 to $6.62 billion in 2014,” reports GigaOM. “The New York-based research group projects that by 2016, the U.S. mobile advertising market will be close to $12 billion.”
The posts notes that Google (Android OS) dominates the mobile ad industry, while Pandora and Twitter also stand out.
“On a net basis, Pandora Media has emerged as one of the strongest U.S. mobile display-ad sellers, and its share of the total U.S. mobile display market is expected to reach 20.5 percent in 2012,” according to the eMarketer press release.
However, Om Malik argues that mobile ads in heavy rotation could eventually have a negative impact on the Pandora audience.
“While Twitter is beating Facebook as of now, it won’t be long before Facebook makes a comeback,” notes GigaOM. “Apple’s iAd continues to struggle” and is expected to steadily decline, according to eMarketer.
Projections from eMarketer suggest that by 2014, U.S. net mobile display ad revenue share will be comprised of: Facebook (20.5 percent), Google (17.6 percent), Pandora (16.3 percent), Twitter (14.5 percent), Millennial Media (5.3 percent), Apple iAd (4.8 percent) and Other (21.1 percent).
Business Insider discusses the evolution of online video and its potential future impact on content creation and distribution. It cites video streaming providers like Netflix and Hulu, the emerging success of YouTube’s original channels and the influence of social media and crowd-funding site Kickstarter.
“So what’s this mean for online video?” asks the article. “Web series and their increasing popularity are extremely revealing when it comes to foreseeing the future of online video.”
“The emerging popularity of online video can most definitely be accredited to the obsession and dependence on social media present in our world today. Online videos are going ‘viral’ because of the accessibility of a simple click of a button to share with our ever-connecting networks.”
Cisco predicts that the number of people accessing video via the Web will nearly double over the next four years. However, advances in Internet TV and a surge in mobile subscribers will lead to fewer viewers using PCs to view content.
By 2016, Cisco expects mobile devices to generate dramatic growth in video traffic, while HD video streamed to Internet TVs will grow sixfold, and comprise 6 percent of all worldwide consumer Web traffic.
“Our smartphones and tablets are predicted to be responsible for an 18-fold growth in mobile video traffic between 2011 and 2016,” notes Business Insider. “Not to mention, the number of worldwide mobile users will reach 1.6 billion, sooner rather than later.”
Verizon FiOS views cord-cutting as a potential game-changer that could launch a new revenue stream through a la carte content.
Cord-cutting “is not stopping. It’s growing. The question is: Is it growing enough for us?” asks Maitreyi Krishnaswamy, Verizon’s director of interactive video services, responsible for the company’s FiOS TV.
Verizon is planning a Netflix competitor with Redbox to launch later this year. GigaOM notes that “cord cutting is fundamentally changing the parameters of Verizon’s TV business.”
“Is the migration to a-la-carte enough that we can go that route?” says Krishnaswamy. “It impacts how we negotiate TV contracts with studios. It’s not something we can do overnight, but definitely something we’ve been looking at.”
“Krishnaswamy didn’t spell out all the details, but here is what I read between the lines of this statement: Cord cutting isn’t just about some people not paying for TV anymore, but also about enabling new and innovative business models, including unbundled subscriptions to individual channels,” suggests Janko Roettgers, writing for GigaOM. “And Verizon is apparently ready to take the plunge as soon as the wave is big enough.”
According to new data from Ericsson, 62 percent of people each week participate in social media activities during their TV viewing time, an increase of 18 percent over last year.
Four in 10 of those consumers are using social media to discuss the TV content they are watching.
Additionally, 67 percent of consumers are using tablets, smartphones or laptops for “their everyday TV viewing, both for video consumption and to enable a social media experience while watching TV,” according to Ericsson.
“But despite the growing popularity of on-demand viewing across many platforms, watching broadcast TV programming live is still the dominant viewing preference, the study found. Pair that insight with the social TV stat and you can see why a social TV strategy is so vital,” reports MediaPost. “Yes — consumers are watching on other devices, but by and large they’re watching on TV and they’re often also talking about the show thanks to social networks on their phones or mobile devices.”
“This research underscores how deeply habits are changing, and how essential it is for programmers and marketers to capture the TV viewer not only on the ‘first screen’ but also on the screen they use for interaction — the mobile one in most cases,” explains MediaPost.
Fox Filmed Entertainment is planning a new digital window for its films by offering HD versions at newly lowered prices about three weeks prior to disc and VOD availability.
The new model will begin this month with director Ridley Scott’s sci-fi thriller “Prometheus,” which will be made available via digital purchase on September 18. The film is slated for DVD, Blu-ray and VOD release on October 11.
Fox will join the UltraViolet digital locker system used by Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures and others.
“The new system is an aggressive bid to revive consumers’ interest in the purchase of movies, by giving them an earlier shot at films for about $15 each, down from a purchase price that is currently about $20,” reports The New York Times.
“That will nibble into what has been a waiting period of roughly four months in which pictures play exclusively in theaters before their release in home entertainment formats,” notes the article.
Home video sales have dropped from a $21.8 billion high in 2004 to $18.4 billion in 2011.
“According to figures from the Digital Entertainment Group, an industry consortium, digital sales of films and television shows — as opposed to revenue from rentals or on-demand viewings — rose almost 22 percent in the first six months of this year, to $329.4 million, from $270.3 million in the first half of 2011,” according to the article.
