December 1st, 2009
Google announces launch of new automatic voice recognition transcription service for YouTube videos. This new service aims to bridge the accessibility gap between rich media and the growing number of user around the globe who flock to YouTube as a source of entertainment and education with different language requirements.
While this new capability has been in the works for some time by the engineering genius at Google this beta launch represents a breakthrough step for Google. While this technology will certainly benefit users of different languages the real winner here will be Google and its video advertising service.
Read more about automatic captions on YouTube. http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/11/automatic-captions-on-youtube.html
Posted in Media News, Press Releases, Social Networks, technology | No Comments »
November 10th, 2009
The 78 year old media tycon just might be shooting his company and shareholders in the foot if his plans to block Google from indexing his content go through.
In an interview with Sky News Australia, the mogul said that newspapers in his media empire – including the Sun, the Times and the Wall Street Journal – would consider blocking Google entirely once they had enacted plans to charge people for reading their stories on the web.
“The people who simply just pick up everything and run with it – steal our stories, we say they steal our stories – they just take them,” he said. “That’s Google, that’s Microsoft, that’s Ask.com, a whole lot of people … they shouldn’t have had it free all the time, and I think we’ve been asleep.”
Additionally, Murdoch who owns MySpace has been struggling with competition from Facebook potentially could fall short of lucrative advertising revenue from Google. How ironic isn’t it that on one hand Murdoch would gladly reap the rewards of such a relationship with Google but on the other hand want to jeopardize the relationship.
Read the article here. http://www.nextmedia-source.com/frame.php?id=7967634
Tags: Blocked, Fair Use, Filter, Google, Indexing, Rupert Murdoch, Search
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April 2nd, 2009
I attended the Fuel Industries April Fuels Day career event last night and it was a amazing! For those of you who do not know Fuel Industries and no its not related to Husky Oil, Shell or any other energy behemoth but in the interactive branded application world they are rising stars.
The event was hosted in their swanky San Francisco’isc style office which includes full production recording studio (Fuel Sounds) and HD Cinema studio (Karbon Arc). Essentially its a full-service creative agency which reminded me of visits I did to Disney’s production studios. You have animators, flash, web, iphone and other mobile development all under one roof.
The event was well received from what I could tell. There were people from all backgrounds showing off their wares. I was a little taken aback when Boba Fett arrived in full armour… didn’t know intergalactice bounty hunter gigs were a little slow these days! But its all cool right.
All in all the guys were real cool and passionate about what they do and the industry is taking notice. McDonalds, HBO, Nokia, Microsoft and the GAP have noticed as well and that is why they have selected Fuel to provided branded online experiences for them.
If you’ve not checked out their work I’d suggest you head on over there now before you are the last one around the water cooler talking about these guys.
www.fuelindustries.com
Tags: advergame, branded applications, Careers, creative agency, design, studio production
Posted in Careers | No Comments »
March 30th, 2009
LinkedIn Group
For those of you who are connected with LinkedIn and those who should be I’ve started a new group for Social Network professionals. The groups mandate is to provide a forum for thought leadership and discussion and to ultimately find ways to add value while monetizing those networks.
So what are you waiting for… join today!
http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=1873184
Tags: LinkedIn, Social Networking, Social Networks, Web 3.0
Posted in Social Networks | No Comments »
March 26th, 2009
The Ontario Gov’t recently announced a new fund called the Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund. Basically the fund looks to invest $250 million dollars over five years together with qualified venture capital funds and private sector investors.
“The move is a response to the challenges emerging technology companies are experiencing in raising venture capital due to tightening credit markets. The long-term goal of the fund is to create a dynamic, vibrant venture capital community that will help Ontario companies grow and compete globally.”
QUICK FACTS
- The fund is targeted at companies working in clean technology, life sciences, digital media and information communication technology.
- Eligible companies must have a significant corporate footprint in Ontario.
- The goal is for the fund to be self-sustaining through return on investment.
The program starts in July. You can get more info from their website.
http://www.mri.gov.on.ca/english/news/ETF031809.asp
If you combine this with the recent announcment by TeleFilm Canada (e.g. $14 million funding) and with a little help from private sector you can see how these funding sources can add up quickly.
Now to start thinking of that next big idea.
Tags: emerging technologies, Funding, private sector, vc
Posted in Funding | No Comments »
March 25th, 2009
While most every western based online service company, blogger and social media outlets fight it out for a share of the domestic market you should be thinking global!
That’s right think global is not a unfamiliar term and we hear it all the time however the new spin is that we don’t necessarily think global with English based content and new media. For instance Chinese and Koreans between the age of 18-35 are well trained with English curriculum as part of their traditional schooling. They can read and write English probably better than some cultural groups here in North America. What they lack however is the immerse cultural experiences. For instance Chinese consumers spend billions per year on North American brands with a very large proportion of that spending on new media…
According to a 2006 UPS Consumer Preference Study on China…
“More than three-quarters of Chinese consumers who plan to purchase books, music or video intend to buy an American DVD this year…”
This is where I see the opportunity. Individuals and organizations who are able to see an opportunity with their English only products and services that both meet the demand for immersive western culture while making it fun and interactive will take advantage of this new market.
McGraw Hill’s BusinessWeek Magazine was one of the first to see this opportunity while I worked with a Canadian company who developed an online edutainment platform. What we developed for BusinessWeek was a online experience using their English only content assets to bring global news and opinion to a non-English audience who wanted to enhance their existing English skills while having fun and learning at the same time. The product launched as BusinessWeek Business as a Second Language (www.businessweekbsl.com).
While others are fighting it out over the same limited set of users savvy individuals and companies should look to international markets especially if they have something that falls into the edutainment space. There is gold in them there hills only the gold is across “the pond”.
Tags: asia, english, Monetization, non-english content, online services, service provider, Social Media
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March 10th, 2009
Here is what Telefilm Canada has to say…
“The Department of Canadian Heritage has allocated $14.5 million dollars per year to the Canada New Media Fund for a period of two years. Administered by Telefilm Canada, the Fund is a national program which supports the creation and the distribution of interactive digital cultural content products. The Fund will strive to achieve its objectives through its two main Program components: Product Assistance and Sectoral Assistance components, which are both application driven. The third program component of the Fund, the Sectoral Development, will allow Telefilm Canada to tailor its support for Canadian interactive digital companies at national and international markets.”
More information on Telefilm Canada’s website http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/03/311.asp?fond_id=3.
Tags: Content, Funding, Interactive, New Media
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March 10th, 2009
And yes it is a mouthful however just like the name I expect to come away from this event with new friends and a new appreciation for the work Adobe has put into its next generation flash communication server platform.
Here are the details in case you are interested in attending:
OFUG – Flash Catalyst, FXG and AS3 To Objective-C
Date:
Wednesday, April 01, 2009 from 6:45 PM – 9:00 PM (ET)
** Register Here **
Location:
Adobe Systems Canada
343 Preston Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1S 1N4
Canada
Tags: AS3, Flash Catalyst, FXG, Objective-C, OFUG
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March 9th, 2009
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