Zeitgeist 2008

Already two months ago… but maybe you haven`t seen the conference yet …
Here the YouTube channel… a lot of interesting stuff…

… e.g. this interviews on “The Future of Online Video”….

“Hardware-Content-Bundling” in the Movie Business

We have been talking about it for a while in the music industry… e.g. “Nokia’s Comes With Music” . Now the movie industry sees this option as well.

Howard Stringer, Sony’s chief executive, mentioned the idea in an interview with The New York Times. Sony has an agreement with cable companies to essentially build cable set-top boxes into its televisions.

“Technically, we can send a movie to that,” Mr. Stringer said. So why not package a TV set with a batch of Sony video content — including, say, a look at Sony Pictures’ Will Smith vehicle “Hancock” before its DVD release?

Mr. Stringer said there would be issues to work out before something like this could happen, since it would disrupt the standard progression of movies from theaters to other outlets like cable. But he indicated that the company was considering new ways to combine its hardware with its content to bolster its profit margins in markets that are becoming commoditized.

Ballmer On The Future Of Media Industry

Well, Steve Ballmer always has  strong opinions… during a lunch with some editors of the Washington Post he made some predictions… we will see… (via Techchrunch)

Have You Ever Heard About WiMax? Or LTE?

When we talk about the developement of the media industry, we should also consider the advancement of technology in the future. So far… old story. But most of the time we don`t… well I mean … I don`t. I should! Knowing about “predicted”new technologies in about 5 years gives you a clearer horizon what will be possible… how consumer behavior could change…

Example? See mobile & wireless technologies:

Yes, there is the new iPhone 3G out now… but what`s the next-next level?

Have you ever heard about WiMax? It´s a next generation wireless network built by a consortium of telecommunications companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Google, Bright House Networks, Clearwire, Sprint Nextel and some other…

Actually the technology has been already working somewhere out there for years… but infrastructure and technology hasn`t spread yet…. So maybe the technology is still some years away…

It allows you to carry video, voice and data just like WiFi, only much faster. On the high end maybe 6 Mbps, but not “per household” like from a cable provider, instead “per person”.

Such an advanced highspeed wireless network and the devices that use it will actually change our behaviors on a large scale. Big hard drives in your mobile device? Who cares anymore… instead: Unlimited storage accessible via your device! The age of cloud computing for everybody and the age of access is coming soon! Ubiquitous unlimited content access… this will have a huge impact on the media industry…

Anyway, there`s a long way to go … who knows if the mainstream market will ever see “WiMax”… read more about it in an article by Shelly Palmer (Jack Myers Business Report).

But  wireless highspeed network will be here soon!

By the way: LTE (Long Term Evolution) – mentioned in the headline – is a competing technology to WiMax developed by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.

The Groundswell

First of all, sorry for not updating for ages! No excuses! Just had to organize a lot of things… worked on the thesis but had no chance to do some updates… sorry!

Anyway… I read this weekend one of these “must read books”, “The Groundswell” by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. If you ever wondered what`s going on out there with all this “social network stuff” and you want to get updated as fast as possible… read this book! If you need some inspiration for  “brand communication in the digital age”… read this book!

For all the “specialists” in this area most parts of the book have been heard before somewhere…sometime. But it`s a great summary of a lot of useful, inspiring stuff. What I found great is the approach of the book   not primarily technology focused, but taking a closer look at the “Groundswell” phenomenon itself based on people acting on their eternal desire to connect.

The Groundswell itself is defined as:

“A social trend in which people use technologies to get things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.”

Have a look on the Groundswell blog for more …

Highly recommended book!