Author: vanevery

The Future of Independent Media

GBN: The Future of Independent Media
I thought I linked to this a while ago but I couldn’t find it recently when recommending it to a student.

Andrew Blau writes a great essay contemplating Independent Media in the face of the quickly changing technological landscape. A very good read:

From the text:
The technologies that enable us to make and consume motion media are becoming better, cheaper, and more widely available—and with blistering speed. As a consequence, patterns of media production and consumption are changing just as rapidly. The Internet continues to create new opportunities to connect with audiences. Video games are becoming a platform for critique and education. A new generation of media makers and viewers is emerging, which only increases the likelihood of profound change. Images, ideas, news, and points of view are traveling along countless new routes to an ever-growing number of places where they can be seen and absorbed. It is no understatement to say that the way we make and experience motion media will be transformed as thoroughly in the next decade as the world of print was reshaped in the last.

Digital Living Room – Stalls

The New York Times: David Pogue’s Columns (Forum/Message Board)

Well, I can’t find the original article (not unusual for the NYTimes site) but the reader feedback on one of David Pogue’s columns regarding the digital living room is very interesting. A nice glimpse into what people are using and what they might be using in the future (along with what they are definitely not going to use).

Keep clicking Next after the jump. It goes on and on.

iPod video, will it lead to more streaming video consumption?

Streamingmedia.com: Video iPod Sales Growth Portends Big Things for Streaming Media in 2006
From the article:
The biggest unanswered question, of course, is whether the average consumer, who has preferred her iPod audio and video downloaded, not streamed, will warm to the idea of streaming content that could really be accessed from anywhere she has cell or wireless data service.

My Comments:
It was suggested in the article that the answer might come at CES or at MacWorld. While interesting related items were announced at CES (nothing at MacWorld AFAIK) I don’t think this actually has anything to do with what the consumer will actually adopt.

Mobile streaming video.. Hmmn.. Mobile carriers think it is the next big thing. If the iPod video is a success and I think it will be, it will be more about personal control over media and fair pricing than TV anywhere, neither of which the mobile carriers understand. For instance, I can’t stream my home movies through Verizon’s VCast service but I can offer a download of them through iTunes for iPod consumption.

Button Camera and Microphone

AVING – Global News Network
Really interesting Bluetooth button camera.
From the site:
If you wear this button-looking device on your suit, it records the situation of a spot and transmit the data to remote areas using the wireless transmit technology (Bluetooth) in real time. The device detects movements of an object and records them automatically. You can have access and communicate several Self Guard devices from anywhere you can use the internet. So, even if you are not present in the spot, you can install this model in various hidden places and take control of the situation while giving instructions. It comes up with rechargeable battery.

stay free, article roundup

Stay Free! Daily: This Month in New York City Critical Mass OR How Much Does It Cost the City to Run One of Those Police Copters All Night? – Story of what Critical Mass has become. Bikers vs. Police. Messed up!

Stay Free! Daily: Sucking on the tit of McDonald’s – McD’s, marketing to kids? I wouldn’t say that this image is evidence but there is no doubt.

Stay Free! Daily: Hiking through Manhattan – The highline!

Stay Free! Daily: Radio Free Clear Channel – Clear Channel doing pirate radio. Quick someone get the FCC on them.

Stay Free! Daily: How did Mad Hot Ballroom survive the copyright cartel? – I have always had issue with this. You can video tape a public space with visual private property in that space, but you can not have the sounds of that space if it includes music. Documentaries are greatly suffering because of this.