Robert Paterson's Weblog

The New Media - CommandN - A Future for TV - a Plug for Queen Steet Commons

CommndN is a personal TV Channel that comments on technology trends.

Amber Mac and Mike Lazazzera host the show with Jeff MacArthur (Halifax, NS) as a guest segment producer. Brian McKechnie is the cameraman, post-production editor, and all-around chief rendering champ. It is so low tech and yet so appealing. My bet is that in 2 years the low tech will have gone away and it will have a technical quality of mainstream TV.

(By the way they give a nice plug for Queen Street Commons)

I think that this is part of the Media Future - the infinite universe is emerging right now.

I think of the problem that this means for advertisers - who will be watching conventional broadcast TV, listen to conventional scheduled radio, read a print newspaper in 5 years - many people will but not those that you want to reach. They will all be inside the interactive, anytime, anywhere universe that is produced by millions of people and aggregated by some means as Bloglines or itunes do now for blogs and podcasts.

This shift is here now - but these are surely the first baby steps. Think of the speed and the ubiquity of high speed in 5 years time. My Aliant installer tells me that we can expect a 15 time improvement next year alone. Think of storage. My regular iMac has 160 gig and I have a 400 gig back up. What will a terabyte cost in 5 years? We will see an iMovie for sure where we will have all are favorite shows. There will be no technical barrier to the online anytime interactive world.

It's not just the technology. It is culture that is shifting and the new tools serve this culture. There is a Maslowian shift in how many feel about their needs. Marketing began with Sunlight Soap offering the buyer for the first time a predictable utility. The early cars were all about a predictable utility that we could afford. By the 1940's utility has had its day - as many had what they needed for life. Now convenience came into play. This was the era of the washing machine and the cleaner. Then when all had convenience, we had ego - if I have one of these I will be deemed to be cool, sexy, sophisticated etc. Then when all could buy a brand we have been left with only price. Now if it is not cheap we don't want it. The Wal*Mart syndrome?

BUT I note a new desire - the desire to have meaning not for my ego per se - but to have meaning in my relationships. Starbucks makes me feel that I am pampering myself. My son James has a friend, Jen who makes bespoke handbags. You can buy an expensive brand name hand bag anywhere but if you want to give the woman in your life a sign that you really care - you may consider a one of a kind handmade bag by Jen. You may reward yourself with one of Tom's suits or buy one for your man. You may think all banks suck but your sister has breast cancer and you join hundreds of thousands of Canadians and Run for the Cure as sponsored by CIBC. This changes your perspective about CBC and sets it apart. It has meaning for you.

A service or a product in a world where all things are available for a low price must now have a meaning for your relationships with yourself, those that you care about or for the issues that you care about.

The mainstream in this world are not important - they adopt later what the pioneers and early adopters want. You reach the mainstream via the early adopters. It is this group that demand meaning. No meaning = no market.

The cold top down mass-market ad is no longer going to reach the market that most need - the people that influence the mass. The channel that you relied will be ignored by the influencers. The TV, Radio and Print world that stands like a colossus and all the marketing world that is attached to this edifice is terminally ill.

What an opportunity - the forest is burning and all this new growth will have room to emerge. The asteroid of technology has hit the dinosaur world of marketing and the little furry mammals will have their day.

The value of a college degree - vs your passion

Kathy nails it for me

Hotel Chelsea Room 822

Here are two views of room 822

This shot looks away from the sleeping alcove to the window.

This is the other half of the room. To the right is a small kitchen. The bathroom is off on the right by the bed alcove.

Room 822 is where Madonna and Isabella Rosselini used to stay

I can't keep up - Nerd TV

I can't keep up even online with the changes that are pouring out every day (Via Chris)

Here is the latest Nerd TV a PBS new show of downloadable TV

Beginning Sept. 6, PBS will make available - exclusively over the Internet - broadcast television's first entirely downloadable series, featuring PBS technology columnist and industry insider Robert X. Cringely's interviews with personalities from the ever-changing world of technology. NerdTV will be available for download from www.pbs.org/nerdtv .

Said Cringely, "NerdTV will have an uninterrupted hour with the smartest, funniest and sometimes nerdiest people in high tech. These are people who have changed our lives whether we know it or not. Through NerdTV a broad audience of enthusiasts and students will gain a much greater understanding of these techies and the context of their lives and work." Cringely is the author of the best-selling book Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date.

Cindy Johanson, Senior Vice President, PBS Interactive Learning, said, "Over the past ten years, PBS and its member stations have led the way with some of the most innovative, meaningful multimedia experiences available. Bob Cringely's NerdTV illustrates our unwavering commitment to bring audiences clever, on-demand, participatory programming." She added, "This ground-breaking series will be distributed under a Creative Commons license, so if viewers like what they see, they can redistribute the shows or even edit their own non-commercial version. Further, NerdTV offers a cost-effective production model that may transform how programming is made in the future."

Viewers will be able to choose which content or format they download to their computer: MP4 video of the whole program, MP4 video of the "juicy" excerpt (for a more general audience wanting just a nugget) and MP4 video of the "nerdy" excerpt (for a more technical audience wanting just a nugget). In addition, a variety of audio-only formats will be available, including AAC, MP3 and ogg vorbis.

Cringely noted, "With more than half of American homes with Internet access now using broadband, computer video - especially downloaded computer video - has become a viable but still little-used option for TV distribution. The strength of this new medium can be found in how it serves niche audiences. This is where Internet distribution shines."

The Ultimate Chelsea Hotel Tribute - Arthur Miller

Here is a link to Arthur Miller's paen to the Chelsea Hotel - a stunning piece that is on the Chelsea Blog - Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Snip - The Chelsea in the Sixties seemed to combine two atmospheres: a scary and optimistic chaos which predicted the hip future, and at the same time the feel of a massive, old-fashioned, sheltering family. That at least was the myth one nursed in one's mind, but like all myths it did not altogether stand inspection. The idea of family had limits. Unless one was drugged out, or spending one's days putting paint on canvas, words on paper, chisels on stone, or singing operatic arias at the piano, one found it difficult to hold Stanley's attention. In fact, I cannot recall a single real businessman-guest, although some of that type may have frequented the regular all-night card games, like the one which caused a bit of a rumble when two hold-up men stationed themselves outside the room and robbed the happy winners as they emerged into the hallway. But such mishaps were rare and would be denied by the management even though it gave the place a certain panache, or relief from real life's ordinary constraints.

It was not, one thought, that Stanley cultivated weird people, potheaded layabouts and some extraordinary as well as morbidly futile artistic types, but simply that he seemed to think these dreamers were normal; it was the regular people who made him uneasy. In any case, it was a general rule that when something weird happened, nobody—not Stanley, not the desk man or the phone operator or Mendel—would ever really know quite what it was all about, and so a kind of fog of exhausted enquiry suffused the place.

More on the Hotel Chelsea - It has a Blog

There is a great blog on the Chelsea

Not only does it journal daily life but is encyclopedic on its history

CBS Respods to the online world

CBS is making the step away from structure and schedule to an online buffet

"It is clear to us that the public has moved to the Internet as the place they go when they want to get information," Mr. Kramer (CBS)said, "because they can get the news whenever they want it and how they want it." (NYT)

Snip from CBC

CBS News has unveiled broad plans to revamp its website to attract younger viewers, offering people the ability to create their own newscasts in a "video jukebox."

The network announced Tuesday that its site will give the public free access to more than 25,000 video clips as well as expanding staff to make the online component a 24-hour entity. A feature called The Eyebox will allow viewers to assemble their own newscast from exclusive Web video, material already broadcast and archival material.

CBS will allow web users to create their own newscast.

"We are redefining the mission of CBS News," said Andrew Heyward, the president of CBS News.

"It's increasingly clear that the future of CBS News is not just as a practitioner of broadcast journalism but of broadband journalism."

Heyward said CBS aims to become a 24-hour network available across all platforms.

CBSNews.com will also feature a Web log called Public Eye, where executives and journalists will respond to questions and complaints from the public.

Journalists will be encouraged to supply video reports to the site frequently, so viewers can see it online instead of waiting for the next TV broadcast.

CBS will also have a Blog - "The Public Eye? to mediate between CBS and its customers - Quote from the Press release - "Ververs" (Vaughn Ververs) will serve as the conduit between the public and CBC News..." Mr. Heyward said the purpose of the new blog was not to criticize CBS but to make the news gathering process more open. Mr. Ververs will have the right to interview CBS correspondents and executives, and even bring cameras into the network's daily news meetings.

Mr. Ververs said he was not concerned about this restriction. "This is not an attempt to bring verdicts down from the mountain," he said in a telephone interview yesterday. "This is an attempt to show how things are done at CBS News and bring transparency to the process."

CBS recognizes that having a real person between the organization and the public will have the potential of developing a much better relationship without the costs, the drag and the inefficiencies of a more formal research and ombudsman approach. Expect more to follow this lead.

London Bombing - Tsunami - The New Media

It was clear during the Tsunami period that news had been reinvented by the immediacy of blogging and the Wiki. In the last week this shift has been confirmed as bloggers proved to be the front line and Wikipedia the authority.

Until now the "New Media" has been seen as competition to the old in terms of content. But have we not noticed the beginnings of an integration between the conventional media and the new? I have posted already about how the CBC is using Podcasting to gain a new place in the world. Now we also see the old media relying on the new as its primary source of content.

The Guardian added this comment (edited by me) - "within an hour of the explosions, according to Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news, the corporation had received 50 images from members of the public. It was a similar story at ITN and Sky; even at the Guardian's website we had images sent from users' phones. We linked to citizens' galleries of images on websites such as flickr where dozens of images were logged within hours of the events.....

Boaden's analysis of what she rightly identifies as a gear change is interesting. It certainly represents a new dynamic in newsgathering and a fulfilment of the blogger's adage on journalism: "There's always someone closer to the story than you." At a time when the media have, we are often told, all but exhausted the public's trust, the engagement of the public in disseminating and surrendering news footage must mark progress....

it is important that all media owners engage as fully as they can in ensuring that it is a mutually beneficial relationship - one where the public becomes a partner rather than simply a resource."

CBC - The New NPR/BBC for the World?

Look at how the CBC stacks up in Podcast popularity on iTunes!

At a time when NPR is under threat in the US, might not the CBC carve out a global place for itself as an open minded liberal and truthful voice in the world - as the BBC did in the 30's?

Does the CBC understand the potential or has this been an acciden

My Son James - First Exhibit in New York

We are in New York to attend James's first formal exhibition in New York. The opening was last night. Proud!!!!!

Here is a link to the Gallery and if you follow though you will see what it looks like and what James has on the wall.