Canadians watch the most online video

Broadband and mobile data proliferation in Canada point to a big year for Internet Broadcasting in 2011. More and more viewers are tune out of cable and seeking narrow cast content online. This current study shows trend.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood - for another copyright debate

Bill C32 - if you are a Canadian here is why you should care:  

Liberals Preparing C-32 Amendments on Digital Locks & Fair Dealing

If you have ever made a copy of recording, a movie or a TV show, you may have broken the law.  The debate over fair dealing and blatant piracy has been around for a long time.  It shifts as technology changes but the core issue is the same, money and control.  When the VCR first appeared as a device to "time-shift" programming, networks lobbyists insisted on regulations, levies and protection.  One who saw the value of time-shifting as a great way to share information with more viewers was Mr. Rogers of the PBS program Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

The following is taken from a Globe and Mail article "How the new copyright bill will affect Canadian culture"

Traditional Media's Last Offensive

First off a clarifying statement:  I do not have any affiliation, investment or personal stake in Google.  I do not even have an adsense account.  I am a user of their services like gmail, apps and search.  I am a bit concerned about their size and influence but no more or less than other companies like Microsoft, Apple Intel etc.


This post is not at all intended to come to the defense of Google, (like they need my help), it is  however intended to point out why I believe they are being inaccurately attacked in the traditional media.  Specifically as it pertains to their newest foray into what is described as Google TV.

Not-MySpace... FaceSpace maybe?

It was not that long ago that I heard a net savvy commentator warn that MySpace should be wary of the rapid growth that was making it the place on the Internet for "social interaction". Shortly after hearing this comment NewsCorp announced that it was paying $580 million in cash to acquire Intermix Media Inc., a Los Angeles-based company whose chief asset is MySpace.com. Shortly after that Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. It looked at the time as though Rupert Murdoch had stolen MySpace in comparison.

I found myself thinking about the comment I had heard. The point was simple, MySpace was a big deal because it was the "new - new thing" but what would happen when the cool early adopters did not want to be hanging around in the same "Space" as every other garage band and social network newbie? These mavens would go looking for other cool hangouts to adopt and make these the happening scene to be a part of.

Along comes Facebook: 550 million users later MySpace is all but forgotten and finally has no alternative but to concede that in order to survive MySpace must partner with Facebook.
Yet again, we see a Media Mogul wade into the online space and fail. Although MySpace is not officially dead, this has to be seen as a half billion dollar failure. Under NewsCorp's direction MySpace languished, it could not reinvent itself or sustain the cool persona it had once relied on to recruit new members. Was it doomed to die this kind of a death from the start? Perhaps but YouTube seems to have maintained some relevance and Facebook is always coming up with new gimmicks good or bad.

It would seem that the cyber world's bon vivant yesterday is tomorrows dumpster diver looking for table scraps. Just when something becomes hip and cool, it is no longer worth belonging to. Will Facebook and YouTube fall upon a similar laissez-faire? Time will tell. Meanwhile, we should learn from casualties of the online social network space. Even though the term has just recently entered our digital lexicon there is enough evidence of more failures to come. I am betting Foursquare is the next to go down.

In summary a fad is still a fad and recognizing the online equivalent is not that difficult. Using these fads as tools to create awareness of your product, service and or message is fine. Building your entire strategy around them would seem dubious at best.

The Hubris of Traditional Media

There is a lot to be said for wisdom and expertise. In most cases it requires many years to gain the knowledge that formulates the sage advise that lends credibility to one's name.



On the other hand those years of experience can sometimes become an anchor or maybe even one's security blanket. This is especially evident in areas that are experiencing rapid change and paradigm shifts. Take the traditional media industry for example.

Mobile Device Security - Market War Tactic?

When one talks about the Mobile Device marketplace it literally refers to a billion plus units. Those numbers obviously equate to enormous sums of capital, so the stakes in this game are astronomical.

The high rollers; RIM, Apple (device makers with OS) and Google (Android OS).

• RIM staked out high ground and put the "crack" in every business person's blackberry.
• Apple made their positioning statement "No Flash on iPhone or iPad"
• Google released Android as the Open Source OS, which was adopted by HTC and others

In the last 90 days, RIM has had to bend to the Indian government's request to make their data more accessible. Apple has come under fire for trying to assert omnipotent control over mobile content distribution, as they maintained the "no-flash - not ever" policy. Google announced Google TV and Android is now in Sony's HDTVs, all the while the OS has gained market share faster than anyone would have predicted.

So the stage is set, let the battle begin:

My Free Streaming Account Crashed! Now What?

Free streaming services are great for testing and using as a hobby service. I mean you can't beat the price. But what happens when free costs you viewers?

I have watched so many situations occur with "free streaming accounts", it seems as though the failure only occurs at the most important time. For example: Your sports team has used the free service all season long, it has been pretty good and for the most part the online fans have been able to watch the game. Then the team makes a run for the playoffs. The day of the big game you begin to stream to the free-service and something crashes. No fear just contact the free service provider for help.

Online video Evolution - Confused? Do you care?

Are you confused by all the noise surrounding online video lately? Are you even aware of it and do you even care?

For most people browser standards and video enhancements are a result of buying a new computer which just seems to automagically resolve itself to the latest and greatest. Frankly, that is how it should be. Updating plugins and downloading special applications is hard enough for the geeks to stay on top of, let alone those that just want the $%#& computer to work.

HTML5 addresses this issue. Rather than being nagged to update to the latest version of "XYZ" software, HTML5 will take care of this at the geek level, (those who build pages and portals).

HTML5 can do some pretty amazing things and as a result the technical wizardry is light on the computer processor, meaning it takes less computing power. This means your smart phone will be even smarter and faster!

Now Video is another story: The brilliant people who set the standards for web speak (the protocols such as HTML5) could not agree on a video standard, so they have left this to the market to sort out. What we do know is that plugin for video is now a dirty word, this means all those applications you have diligently updated are becoming obsolete. Yet there are billions of dollars at stake, so let's follow the money trail and meet the players:

If Phones Are So Smart Why Won't My Video Play?

I thought there was "an app" for that?

For anyone around the Internet in 1995 you will see many similarities in the Mobile space. Each week we are hearing about new opportunities all targeting the Mobile data user. It is hard to keep up with the pace and then which phone should you buy?

Before you sign a contract so that you can subsidize the mini computer wrapped up in a phone, you may want to give some thought to video. Many clients have approached me and asked why an Internet Broadcast I was streaming live would not play on their iPhone. The answer has a few possible reasons but most likely the format of the live stream could not be recognized by the phone itself.

If you have a newer device like the iPhone, Droid and others, you will certainly be able to watch YouTube but YouTube is not live. If you are trying to view Flash you are most likely out of luck. Apple made it perfectly clear that i-stuff would not be running Flash. Droid and the Nexus One which uses the Google Android operating system are supposed to able to use Flash 10.1 but there are reports to suggest all is not going well with this deployment.

So what does one need to do?