Message from Michael - GoogleTV - October 5,2010

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                                                        October 5, 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

      YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION

      BILL GATES’ FAVORITE TEACHER

      DOWN BY THE RIVER

      WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN

      COCKTAIL CHATTER – IPHONES AND PORN

 

 

      YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION: And if you believe some analysts, the release of GoogleTV is about to change the world, but they’re definitely going to ask for a contribution.  Okay, okay, enough of The Beatles. And I apologize to all those who now have the lyrics stuck in their head.  But, if some of those analysts are to be believed, GoogleTV is the newest creative destruction, as it “seamlessly” (a word they use a lot in their promotional material) integrates the Web and TV.  It puts together TV, either satellite or cable, although it seems to favor DISH, with the Internet; Adds in a search function and display, along with Apps on the screen; then mixes in anything on your computer such as videos and pictures, or Flickr pictures, or YouTube video.  All on that 42-inch screen.   Now, the tech-savvy… or cynical… ones among you will say, “Gadzooks, Michael, that’s just Apple TV all over again.”  Well, according to the analysts, yes and no.  Apple TV helps you combine Internet content (including TV shows and movies online) and Television content on the big screen.  The difference appears to be in the Interactivity which Google brings to the screen, allowing you to search for, or use apps to get,  your favorite show, movie, YouTube video, information, whatever and display it.  What is similar is that Google has taken a page from the Steve Jobs promotional handbook, writing that, “the coolest thing about Google TV is that we don’t even know what the coolest thing about it will be.”  On a more pragmatic level, they note that there are 5 Billion TV sets in the world. To add a little perspective, let me remind you of a previous Message which noted that there are just under 7 Billion people, total, in the entire world, including those little villages where ten people have one TV set; and that there are just under 2 Billion Internet users. 

As a side note, and because we want to make sure you know about all the high tech developments, we should also point out that Apple and Google are not the only ones creating the ‘holy grail’ of an Internet-TV combination.  Boxee is gaining ground in this area of streaming Internet content on the TV.  All free theoretically.  And a small startup in California, Roku, has also entered the fray with a low cost Internet video streaming device.

      ILL GATES’ FAVORITE TEACHER:  He’s a 33-year-old Harvard MBA who started his own free-to-anyone online tutorial program in a converted closet in his home in the Silicon Valley, using a few hundred dollars worth of video equipment.  Gates became a fan, according to an article in Fortune magazine, after a colleague at the Gates think tank, bgc3, pointed out Kahn’s kahnacademy.org website.  Gates gave Kahn a ‘shoutout’ at the Aspen Ideas festival after he and his 11-year-old son began using the videos which cover everything from algebra to biology.  Unfortunately, for Kahn, as near as I can tell, Gates did not give him any money.  Fortunately, for Kahn, though, Google did, funding it to the tune of $2 Million so the Kahn Academy can create more courses and “translate their core library into the world’s most commonly used languages.”  The Google funding is part of its Project10tothe100 effort which solicited ideas from around the world that it would fund because, the website says, after a basic level of material wealth, “the only thing that increases individual happiness over time is helping other people.”  So, 160,000 submissions from 170 countries were narrowed down to 16 submissions; of those, five were voted on to get millions of dollars to buy some happiness.  The other four are:  First, founded by inventor and physicist Dean Kamen, and which helps promote science and math education by staging team competitions among young people; the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences which also promotes math and science education but specifically in Africa;  PublicResource.org which we have mentioned in previous messages and which has the mission of providing public documents free to everybody online; and finally, Schweeb, which is a way-cool monorail transportation system in which you get around by using a recumbent cycle in a plastic tube (Go to the website.  You have to see it to believe it).  Like I say, way cool.

And as a footnote  – No, I had not heard of Gates’ think tank, bgc3, before either.  PCMag calls it Gates’ “mystery startup.”  Speculation runs the gambit that it is his latest, innovative business venture to the idea that it is just a way for him to pay the salaries of his entourage of employees.         

      DOWN BY THE RIVER:  That flowed by the coal yards.  Or, if that hasn’t gotten lyrics stuck in your head.  Try this – I’m depending on you, son, to pull the family through.  See a theme?  All right, to get back on track.  Both relate to AOL’s huge investment in a semi-new, hyper-local news service – Patch.  According to AOL officials, they are planning to create 500 hyper-local news sites under the Patch brand which will make them -- here’s the big factoid of the day --  the largest hirer of journalists in the U.S. this year.  A visit to the website showed most of the 100 existing sites are located in the Northeast region, California and Illinois, with sites “coming soon” to Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Washington state.  All in all, 20 states.  Why not the other 30, I don’t know.  But that’s not all.  AOL  has also launched a new advertising system nick-named Project Devil with mega-advertisers General Mills and Proctor and Gamble.  That’s still not all.  The operation, once-derided as an also ran in the new media world, has gone on a buying spree – picking up the how-to site 5Min, the popular tech site TechCrunch run by Michael Arrington, along with StudioNow which helps companies create online videos, and ThingLabs which developed the Brizzly social media reader.  And just to add a little more to the mix.  They’ve also launched the MarloThomas.com website, built around the actress’s recent rise in popularity.  Not bad for what was once a has-been in the media world.  The interesting point made by several analysts is that in the new media world, success is defined through either distribution or content.  Some companies try to do both.  The ‘smart’ companies focus on one or the other.  AOL is obviously staking a claim on the content side of the equation.

      WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN:  As MediaLife magazine put it, Blogging is “so 2004.”  Well, not so fast, says a study by eMarketer.  According to their report, more than half (51%) of the online population in America read blogs on at least a monthly basis.  That translates into 112.7 Million people.  And eMarketer says that number is expected to grow to more than 150 Million (or 60% of the online population) by 2014.  On the flip side, Americans may be blog readers but they’re not especially blog writers.  Only one in ten (11.9%) Internet users update their blog on a monthly basis.  That translates to 26.2 Million people, although eMarketer expects that number also to grow significantly in the next three to four years.  Analyst and report author Paul Verna makes the interesting observation that “over time, blogs will continue to become indistinguishable from other media channels” in part because of the increased ease of use and a growing comfort level.

      BEATING A DEAD HORSE AWARD:  Yes, here I go again, carping about this phenomenon known as “custom content” or “custom publishing” or “brand marketing” in which the old concept of advertorials and VNR’s are being dressed up in new media clothing.  The latest addition to this growing development, which some say is blurring the line between advertising and news, is the respected business magazine, Forbes, and the almost equally respected celebrity, Tyra Banks.  The magazine is offering marketers the opportunity to be part of the “news environment,” according to an article in Advertising Age.  Yes, you too can make your pitch, disguised as information, right along side the magazine’s leading news bloggers.  Meanwhile, Ms. Banks’ very successful Bankable Media company is teaming up with one of the leading, and some say questionable, custom content groups, Demand Media, to create more info-tainment type content.  And another ‘meanwhile,’ -- the Center for Media and Democracy is calling on the Federal Communications Commission yet again to investigate the use of VNR’s, or what it calls ‘fake TV news’ in television news programs.            

      COCKTAIL CHATTER:  In the way-cool category, like the Schweeb, is an app that can convert your iPad Touch into an iPhone.  New York Times tech columnist David Pogue noted the app, Line2, was first used to give you a second line on your iPhone.  Even cooler, you can use that second line using the Internet and not the AT&T billable airwaves.  As in… no cost.  Even cooler still, now he says you can use your iPad just like an iPhone to make free calls, using the app.  In other news, the identity of thousands of people who downloaded porn illegally was stolen from a British firm and released on the Internet.  CNet reports that the information was taken from the ACS law firm which tracks down illegal file sharing for the porn industry.  The Internet forum 4chan, which we have talked about in previous Messages, leaked the material which reportedly included pleas from married men to the law firm not to release their names. And for those still humming down by the river, the song lyrics are by Dickey Lee.  The lyrics from the second song are by Clarence Carter.

      SHOUTOUT:  And best of luck to Tom Petner, former news director, ShopTalk editor, Vault COO and Senior VP of APBNews.com, whose latest venture is the247newsroom.com, a sort of combination ShopTalk, Romenesko and advice column.  As the website mantra says, “news is more than a career; it’s a 24/7 lifestyle.”   

      SUBSCRIPTIONS:  We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael.  But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.  If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com.  You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.