Reforms doomed by lack of unity | The Australian

And so long as we're hanging around the backrooms of the Australian's Media & Marketing section,

Reforms doomed by lack of unity | The Australian

As mentioned previously, Australian media interests were called to have their say on the Minister's proposals for media reform. Those responses were due Tuesday, but as the authors, John Lehmann and Mark Day, mention, Senator Coonan will continue to receive replies over the next few days. The article goes on to make some conjectures on what we're likely to hear from the various parties when the submissions are finally released to the public, based on open statements and previous intentions.

"Fairfax has expressed an interest in winning a licence for one of the (currently unused digital) channels, using spectrum formerly reserved for datacasting.

The PBL submission is expected to argue strongly that any digital channel must not look like a TV service.

Commercial Radio Australia is also concerned the channels could potentially become clones of free-to-air commercial radio."

"News Ltd, a 25 per cent owner of pay-TV operator Foxtel, would also be expected to oppose new pay-TV services unless the Government scrapped or significantly watered down the anti-siphoning sports list.

Sources say James Packer, whose PBL has a 25 per cent stake in Foxtel as well as owning Nine, is increasingly attracted to the subscription model. This has given rise to speculation he may join News in easing opposition to digital services which compete with Foxtel in return for Foxtel being able to expand on its sporting services."

"Seven wants multi channelling, and Ten gives it limited support only if it can use the spectrum for subscription services.

Nine is opposed, because it fears more signals will add to programming costs and fragment existing audiences, but deliver no extra revenue. While the big players appear united on the lifting of cross media and foreign ownership restrictions, some smaller companies, including Rural Press, are strongly opposed. Rural Press chairman John B. Fairfax said last week that he opposed mergers between radio and TV interests in country areas.

But APN News & Media chief executive Brendan Hopkins has called for the changes to cross-media and foreign-media ownership rules to be made a priority."

Of course, all this sabre rattling and sizing each other up may yet be for nought.

"When he set the media reform ball rolling 15 months ago, the Prime Minister let it be known he was not prepared to "die in a ditch", or expend large amounts of political capital, on an issue that he saw as having limited public impact.

He warned the media industry to "get its act together" or face failure for the third time in its attempts to modernise the highly regulated industry."

Way to take the lead guys. The scary thing? The likelihood that having to buy a digital set top box to watch television is more likely to affect the votes against the government at the next election than a scandal involving tacitly endorsed bribes to a regime in Iraq to buy our wheat, then convincing the public that we needed to invade because the Iraqi's were buying "Weapons of Mass Destruction" and were a threat to us all.

Definitely time for a change, if only to clear the decks. It's just a pity the "other lot" are a pathetic shambles at the moment.

Fairfax presses on with digital future | The Australian

A few days old now, but it kind of makes my point for me. Why bother worrying about cross-media ownership laws, having TV owners buying newspapers, or vice versa, when you can get the same result using the internet and bypass the legislation completely?

Fairfax presses on with digital future | The Australian

"AUSTRALIA'S oldest newspaper company, John Fairfax Holdings... is itching to get back into the TV game.

But don't expect Fairfax's activist chairman, Ron Walker, to further stretch the company's balance sheet buying a free-to-air TV station.

Fairfax is hoping to turn itself into a next-generation television network, moving its news and entertainment content across internet sites, mobile phones and, possibly, onto one of the federal Government's proposed new digital channels."

With the appointment of telco veteran Jack Matthews to head Fairfax's second foray into the intuhweb, analysts seem to think the stars are all aligning for a push into the broadband news market.

"(Fairfax CEO David) Kirk said at an ABN AMRO conference in Sydney this month that "video-on-broadband will be an increasing driver of growth, and we will be a leader in video on broadband for our websites". A glimpse into Fairfax's future was seen this month when it sold news video footage (my link - KL) of Sydney murder suspect Gordon Wood to the Nine Network."

"Kirk also said this month that the two new digital channels the Government wanted to introduce next year were "potentially of interest". The channels were previously reserved for datacasting services, but Communications Minister Helen Coonan had said they would be used for a broader range of television services, providing they were not clones of free-to-air TV.

Kirk warned that "if these are stillborn as services because of rules that are too restrictive - just as datacasting was neutered five years ago - then that spectrum will lie fallow for several more years to come". He pointed out that Fairfax had wanted to move into datacasting back in 2000, but ended up being "burned" because the Government limited the types of content allowed to be carried."

Stupid rules to protect existing interests tend to dissuade companies from investing time and money in new technologies. Who would have thought it?

So anyway, there's obvious interest here.

"It's got a long way to go before people turn to mobile phones with tiny screens to watch the races or things like that," Walker told The Australian's Media section this week.

"But ... every media board worth their salt has to be aware of future media (platforms)."

After Effects tutorials | VideoCopilot.net

Thanks to the boys and girls from Wrigley Video forums for the heads up on this place.

Video CoPilot is the work of one-man band Andrew Kramer. In addition to a bunch of downloadable resources at a reasonable price, it features some totally awesome free video tutorials on some of the more fun aspects of Adobe After Effects such as de-interlacing, creating an old film look, basic green screen keying and 3D compositing. Nice work and definitely worth a look for the enthusiast and professional alike. Good luck to Andrew as he continues what seems to be a very handy resource.

VideoCopilot.net

And then the bit where I rant about cyclists...

There's been a lot of talk around about bicycle riders being treated fairly, like any other traffic, that car drivers tend to treat them as invisible objects, impediments to barely swerve around and then ignore. That's what gets cyclists killed. As a former cyclist and a current motorcycle rider, I get this. I really do. I understand that drivers are blind. I understand that sitting inside a plastic and metal shell it's very easy to ignore what's going on around you until that unfortunate rider is under the wheels (and don't get me started about some of my fellow motorbike riders).

Here's my beef: Hey, cyclists! You want to be part of the traffic? Then follow the GOD DAMN ROAD RULES! You want to be one of us then it's up to you to see those "Give Way" and "Stop" signs, or, God forbid, the traffic lights. Then, and I realise this is an insane concept to a lot of you, YOU'VE GOT TO FOLLOW WHAT THE SIGN SAYS! Moreover, me foolishly believing that traffic isn't going to be coming straight through a Give Way sign is no excuse for you to start yelling that I'm blind. I'm not the one missing the Fricking sign, pal!

I understand that cycling is different to riding a motorbike or driving a car, I really do. I know that losing momentum halfway up a hill to placate a Stop sign is the last thing on the cyclist's mind. I've been there, I appreciate it, but I'll tell you what. I'll keep a better eye on you all, and make it my duty to get other drivers to do the same, if you all do what's expected from the road rules.

Aaah! That feels better. Time for another cuppa.

Seven to trial hit TV shows over net | The Australian

Of course the big test would have been to see if people were ready to pay good money for old Australian TV content, U.S. iTunes style, but free is even better!

Seven to trial hit TV shows over net | The Australian

"Executives at Seven are preparing to make hit shows such as Dancing With The Stars and All Saints available to be downloaded over a broadband internet connection for free."

So there's the Aussie content sorted out. Now, how do we get around the issues of overseas content flooding the P2P networks I've mentioned previously on this blog?

"Seven is also eager to strike a deal with US media giant Walt Disney, with which the network has an output agreement, to enable US hits such as Desperate Housewives and Lost to be able to be downloaded through Seven's joint-venture online portal, Yahoo!7."

Sounds fun. Doesn't quite get around the issues of ridiculously late scheduling compared to the U.S. broadcast dates, but it does allow people to get access without a lot of mucking about. As regular readers of King Leonard - The Weblog will know, we're big fans of the "path of least resistance from complete boredom." To that end, if people can easily locate and download content without having to stuff around with BitTorrent or eDonkey then 7 are a step ahead already.

"Under one model being considered, all of the shows would be embedded with advertising and available online soon after each episode had been broadcast on Seven. One source said trials were likely within a year or earlier if broadband speeds quickened."

Then, BOOM!, the whole thing falls in a heap.

If iTunes can get away with a 320x240 resolution clip and expect people to stick it on their TV sets, why on Earth do we expect local audiences to only accept a full-screen program? Start small why you've got it. Get bigger when Telstra pulls their finger out. If you keep putting things off we'll be hearing that things have been put on hold until ISP's can handle HD streams.

Australian Story Broadband ep 4 and 5

Just a quick note to alert people to last week's broadband edition.

Australian Story :: Collision Course

The story of a drunk driver, Ian Van Rooyen, and the family of the man he kills in a road accident. Definitely a polarising episode; you either see Ian as a doomed hero or an irresponsible fool. It's hard to be objective either way.

Then tonight we have an update on a previous Australian Story episode from six years ago, just in time for ANZAC day.

Australian Story :: It Was At Gallipoli

As part of the special we've got the entire original episode (as opposed to the television version where they'll only show half of it) as well as the update on what's happened to the subjects six years later.

"Australian Story travels back in time with a group of Queensland state school students who embarked on an epic mission to the battlefields of Gallipoli and northern Europe several years ago.

First, the program recorded their journey in 1999 as they traced the footsteps of World War I Veterans. Many were surprised the ‘school excursion’ had such an emotional impact on all involved.

Six years on, Australian Story catches up with the students and their teacher and discovers repercussions are still playing out in their lives, in richly rewarding ways."

As part of the Broadband extras make sure you take the time to check out the Google Earth interactive map of the journey (requires Google Earth obviously).

I think we have a week or two off before the next one.

Another mash-up Trailer | Titanic 2 Preview

Just beautiful. Where as previous trailers I've mentioned use video soley from the movie in question, this one takes bits and pieces from a bunch of Leonardo DiCaprio's movies and creates a rather interesting idea. What if Jack (DiCaprio's character in "Titanic") was frozen on the bottom of the ocean and revived in modern times? Fun, if only to see who "co-stars".

Titanic 2 Preview

Blog Maverick | My Quote of the Week

And the week's barely begun...

Mark Cuban has a few things to say about the U.S. federal communications regulator and telecommunications companies push towards being able to charge more for "non-essential' data flow and how it may affect digital TV in the future.

"In an ala carte world, the ala carte applies not just to consumers choosing between TV networks, but distributors choosing which applications to offer. Cable MSOs, Satcos and Telcos want their stock price to go up. They want to make more money. There is the very real possibility, and I would say likelihood that as new software applications come along, and they will, they could successfully compete for bits on distributors networks to the exclusion of TV bits. Im not saying digital TV would go away, it wont. But could substantially less bandwidth be allocated to TV ? Of course."

Dear FCC -Be careful what you ask for. - Blog Maverick

Yeah, cute. Nice post. And while it's a good warning to any country entering the world of high speed internet with powerful telecommunications companies to put their foot down, it's not quite relevant to the Australian experience (yet).

Then I got to the end and felt I should post his quote because I can see it being something I should keep in my head for the future.

"Its always a mistake to listen to your customers. The goal of any organization should be to give their customers or constituents what they will want, not what they did want. Its not the job of the customer to know their future consumption habits. Its your job"

Australian Cross-Media Ownership Laws

I'll readily admit it. I'm on the GetUp.org mailing list. This means that every now and then I get emails asking me to sign online petitions, championing progressive causes such as fighting the recent Industrial Relations laws, looking after asylum detainee's rights and asking for a much needed budget increase for the A.B.C.

Regular readers of King Leonard - The Weblog will know that three weeks ago Communications Minister Helen Coonan released her intentions to reform the Australian Media landscape. Now, a lot has been spoken about the implications of what's in this package, and no doubt much more will be written as the major media players submit their opinions by Tuesday next week (what a stupid date, the day after Easter long weekend).

(From the "Meeting the Digital Challenge" media release)

Key Proposals

2.3 MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL

The cross-media rules would be amended to allow cross-media transactions to proceed, subject to there remaining a minimum number of commercial media groups in the relevant market (four in regional markets, five in mainland state capitals).

And so it is that Get Up! has decided to enter the political fray, with a particular bent on the proposed changes to cross-media ownership laws.

"Media diversity is essential to our democracy.
It means we get to hear more than one side of the story. It helps us hold leaders accountable and prevents large corporations from wielding undue influence."

GetUp! - Say No To Media Monopoly

A valid point. In our changing media world the fact remains that the most massive consumption is still through television, radio and print. When one person or company holds multiple voices, with no obvious connection between them, it does mean differences of opinion can be efffectively shut down; not a good thing in a free and democratic society.

However, that view, to my mind, doesn't take into account the ever increasing impact of the internet, both in the existing media's ability to diversify and the public's ability to have their opinion heard (or, more recently, seen). For over a decade now we've had TV and radio stations delivering stories in print. Now we have newspapers and radio stations creating video content. And I have to tell you, I think it's great to see. The more media companies realise their key product is "information" or "stories" rather than "TV" or "Movies" or "Radio" or "Magazines", the easier it will be to get them to start facing the future and create content to suit. Of course, even newspapers with video cameras have their down side (an interesting outcome. Interested to see where this one takes us).

Then there's the ever growing base of user-generated content, citizen journalism and other recent buzzwords relating to regular people being given the ability to create and distribute their content online, not to mention a solidifying number of "Web 2.0" companies giving their audience the ability to pick and choose news sources quickly and easily. Despite the dire warnings of some, it is to my mind an activity of social responsibility worth pursuing. To this end, the more important discussion in this country is not whether Packer wants to buy out Fairfax (why would they now? All they wanted was the classified dollars. They've got that with their recently purchased classifieds websites. Why bother with a newspaper when you've got to create all that annoying filler. You know, content!) but rather whether creative people in this country will have access to distribute and download content easily and fairly, and that is a discussion relating to a slightly different, but increasingly connected, section of Australian telecommunications.

Time for Coonan to lead the way on broadband | Alan Kohler - smh.com.au

"Telstra and the ACCC are negotiating the regulation of the company's proposed $3 billion fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network, using a mixture of private horse-trading and public bluster.

(Telstra CEO, Sol) Trujillo has declared that if Telstra gets shafted on wholesale pricing of the existing wire network (unconditioned local loop or ULL pricing) the FTTN network won't get built, and it might not get built anyway if he doesn't get "regulatory certainty"."

"Without that, this country will be stuck in the dark ages with massive broadband inequality. The 20 per cent of the population who happen to live within 1.5 kilometres of a telephone exchange would be able to get quite fast broadband speeds (up to 24 megabits per second - a quarter of the speed they're now getting in Korea and Japan); everybody else would be stuck with the misnamed broadband we now have (256 kilobits, which is not broadband at all)."

"This, it seems to me, should be a clear aim of national policy, and it should be the Minister's job to see that it happens. The trouble is that the debate has gone up the blind alley of ADSL.

ULL/ADSL and FTTN are entirely different things but they are being lumped together simply because the ACCC is coincidentally deciding on the regulation of both at the same time and Telstra is trying to use ULL leverage to get a good outcome on FTTN."

I don't even want to go into my thoughts on Testra at the moment, and in the danger of allowing a single organisation or closely aligned monopoly to own the future media infrastructure (issues the U.S. are dealing with now) but I see the ongoing issue of true broadband connectivity as a more important issue than media ownership laws, especially ones that hold provisions for "a minimum number of commercial media groups in the relevant market".

So basically, I guess I'd like to see a Get Up! petition campaign that sounds a little something like this.

"At no time have regular Australians had such a potential to voice their opinions on the issues that matter the most to them. The advent of affordable and easy to use publishing of text, audio and video via high speed internet access, far from merely being an avenue for illegal file sharing or MMORPG's, has the ability to create a democratic forum unheard of in human history.

However, bickering by the country's major telecommunications company, Telstra, still predominantly owned by the Australian people, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), itself a government owned institution, has halted the much needed rollout of FTN (Fibre-To-Node) infrastructure to ensure equality of access to this resource to all Australians.

We urge the Minister for Communications, Senator Helen Coonan, who has noted that unless broad steps are taken to resolve issues of digital communications Australia faces a genuine risk of becoming "a dinosaur of the analogue age", to find a way to break this impasse and push forward with this essential service to all Australians."

Yeah, it's kind of wordy (and a little tongue-in-cheek) but I think it gets the point across.

As always, any random visitor who drops by on their way somewhere more interesting is encouraged to have their say. Kind of the point, really.

The future of the TV commercial is from the past | Blog Maverick

It's been a while since I dropped past Mark Cuban's weblog. A pity I've left it so long, because who knows how many other posts like this I've missed?

"I think the traditional commercial break will be the salvation of TV.

Crazy. How can I say that you say. What is my logic you ask.

Well, I would make one big change. I would make commercials live productions.

Thats right, live commercials. Straight out of the 1950s."

"...after the kicker misses a field goal, and we cut to the Levitra commercial.. Cue former player “If that guy would have hit that field goal, his wife would have been all over him to celebrate, but this late in the season, performance on the field and off can be tough. When I played, Iused Levitra. And you know what ? When I had a 4 hour erection, I put that shit to work. I didnt call a doctor. Hell no. My girlfriend… I mean my wife, loved it ” scroll news ticker with disclaimers and warnings.

Would you ever fast forward through a commercial knowing that the next one could be a classic ?"

The future of the TV commercial is from the past | Blog Maverick

It's an interesting notion, and one that fits the medium. A pity television's become so lazy.

Rocketboom | D.I.Y. Amanda dinner and a website kit

Yet another cute idea from the dynamic duo at Rocketboom. To help fill out their traditional "Casual Friday" it seems that Amanda and Andrew have decided to let the viewers make their own episode. Posting different versions of a possible "dinner and a website" review, the idea is to allow viewers to mix and match, including using their own footage to fill in the gaps. Different versions will be posted on the site.

Rocketboom | D.I.Y. Amanda dinner and a website kit

Here are some of the posts so far.

Elvis Ripley - Warning. Freaky.

Nixter

Kenny Velez

Matt Dunn

I laughed, and I laughed...

Well actually, I just kind of chuckled silently.

The Online Video Mixing revolution has begun!

It's something that's been coming for a while; the ability to upload and manipulate video clips online. The "Creative Archive" guys have been running some competitions in the U.K. using user-generated and archive video, Britain's Channel 4 has been running "FourDocs" along a similar(ish) line, Chevy's been running their "The Apprentice Chevy Online" competition, and my colleagues here at ABC New Media have been touting the idea in various guises for a while, but now we find a few beta sites designed to give video the "Flikr" treatment.

Jumpcut

Eyespot

Now all I've got to do is sign up to both and test them out. (Sometimes I love my job)

Gesture politics a cynical way to admonish Aunty | The Australian

I'm finding myself enjoying reading the Australian's Media section more and more. In this piece, former Media Watch E.P. David Salter has his say on the Communication Minister's plan to abolish the ABC's Staff Elected Director, and and has his say on some of the ABC's issues in general.

Gesture politics a cynical way to admonish Aunty | The Australian

Procrastinating Canberra misses digital broadcast | The Australian

An interesting article by The Australian's Mark Day about where Australia sits in the push to a digital future. Unfortunately, the situation is as bad as we'd all suspected.

"None of these delays can be put down to a lack of advice. It is coming from all quarters, but the Government seems prepared only to listen to the advice it wants to hear.

Before the turn of the century the Productivity Commission held a series of hearings to inquire into the digital future, and with today's hindsight, it is clear the commission got it right. It called for the removal of regulatory restrictions to stimulate the marketing of new services.

But the Government offered a deaf ear to the commission, and pigeon-holed the report. "

"If the two biggest media companies in the land don't want something, chances are the Government is not going to want it, either.

But this kind of thinking overlooks the obvious: the digital revolution is with us, and it is unstoppable.

The world is converting, and will continue to do so, whether we're ready or not."

The Australian: Procrastinating Canberra misses digital broadcast

I can't believe I didn't mention this earlier.

Back in November Lost Remote blog Managing Editor Steve Safran ran through his vision for the future of cancelled Fox show Arrested Development. Some of his ideas are great, and worth keeping at hand for the future. I just pointed my bud Grinner Hester to it as ideas for his recently released DVD Moddin' Art. I mean, selling DVD's through an internet audience, and hoping for a network pickup is nice and all, but the real money's in getting the content to the people who want it badly enough to pay for it. And to do that, you need to generate a buzz.

Lost Remote: Cancellation great for 'Arrested Development'

Australian Story Broadband Ep. 3a & 3b

Just taking a moment to point out that the third Broadband edition of Australian Story went up last night. This one picks up part 2 of the story of Phil Evans, the young saxophonist whose fingers were chopped off in a home invasion.

A big one for us, as we not only had to compress both episodes, but also seven additional video elements, including the interview with Phil after the broadcast of part 1, shot and edited here in the Broadband studio.

Australian Story

I'm pretty sure we've got next week off (after the double week production) then it's back for the 17th and the 24th. It is nice to be getting some good comments from people watching the episodes online which just goes to show that people will watch heavily compressed sound and pictures if the story warrants it.

ABC Embraces Citizen Journalism | Public Relations Institute of Australia

Anyone who dropped by the ABC's News page during cyclone Larry would have noticed some of the stuff we were doing to enhance the overall coverage, including posting video rushes and accepting and posting pictures from the audience. As a result, the Public Relations Institute of Australia had a chat with Brisbane ABC News Online boss Bob Johnston.

"On our site now, we invite contributions from the audience as a matter of course. So I guess these sorts of events focused the public's attention on what's possible. But we hope to get to a point where this is just a standard part of our news coverage, and not only for big events, not only for capital cities, if there's an event that's important to people in small communities, I mean if they can get a photo to us, we're happy to take it. So it really is transforming the relationship with the audience."

Public Relations Institute of Australia - ABC Embraces Citizen Journalism

Another remix trailer - Must Love Jaws

In the tradition of "The Shining", "West Side Story", "A Christmas Story" and "Titanic" remix trailers comes "Jaws" in the style of... well, not exactly sure. Certainly not the way it was originally produced, that's for sure.

"In the resort community of Amity Island, Chief Brodie and Matt Hooper didn't always fit in...
Until the day they took a fateful trip, and met a special friend.
In a world, that doesn't understand, in a place where all hope is lost, love comes to the surface.
This Summer, prepare for the family adventure of a lifetime..."

Must Love Jaws

I never thought I'd say this, but thanks to Mobutu from the Adobe forums for the heads up.

Update - Also got pointed towards a weepy, chickflick remix of "Cabin Fever". Would have been a little better without the blatantly false review quotes, but very nicely done anyway.

CPU Power in 2006 | Digital Post Production

Mark Dileo from the Digital post Production site runs through the history of computer processors over the last 7 or 8 years, the Intel vs AMD battle, where the two companies sit today and, more importantly for those of us thinking of buying a new system this year, what to expect in 2006.

CPU Power in 2006| Digital Post Production

Thanks to DavidY from the Wrigley forums for the heads up.

GetUp! - "Fund Our ABC" petition

Obviously I feel it would be inappropriate for me as an employee of the ABC to sign this, however it doesn't preclude me from making it known to others.

GetUp! - Action For Australia - www.getup.org.au

Update 28/03/06 - After busting the initial goal of 10,000 signatures in 12 hours and the second goal of 20,000 signatures in 24 hours, the goal now is to hit 50,000 signatures before it closes today. Already they're over 43,000.

DV.com - Trish and Chris Meyer | Camera Control, Part 1

I started on After Effects back at version 4, and I thought I had a pretty good grip on how things worked, having had years of experience dealing with keyframes, compositing and interpolation as a vision switcher. Then version 5 came out and introduced AE's "3D space", complete with cameras. I have to admit it's an area I've tended to shy away from, lacking any good examples of basic 3D tutorials. But now, AE gurus Trish and Chris Meyer run us through the basics of After Effect's 3D cameras, and show a trick how to get nice, smooth movement.

Trish and Chris Meyer | Basic 3D
camera control tricks in Adobe After Effects.

As always, DV.com requires registration.

What is Podcasting? | Ask A Ninja

The ABC is one of the most prolific creators of audio podcasts. But what is Podcasting? Ask A Ninja answers that very question to anyone over the age of 12.

What is Podcasting? | Ask A Ninja

"That's the simplest way to explain it.
We're a factory that produces apple pies for whales."

Man, I love this guy.

The Bulletin - The ABC at war

The article that's caused all the fuss over the last few days.

Bulletin - The ABC at war

While there, don't forget to check out the full interview with Minister Coonan, and a little feature piece by Paul Daly.

And meanwhile, we let people talk and just get on with the job.

Australian media reform - It's happening!

A bit of light reading for when I get home tonight.

If you have thoughts on where Australia's media needs to be headed in the long term, have your say. Minister Coonan wants to hear from you!

Meeting the Digital Challenge:
Reforming Australia’s media in the digital age

ABC Video on Demand (VOD) page went live Monday

Just thought Id mention it. This is stage two of our Broadband Revolution, moving on from our initial Broadband page.

Video on Demand (VOD)

Perhaps more importantly from my perspective,

Video on Demand ABC News

So what's wit' da no posts?

I have to admit to being less than diligent with my blog postings of late. This has mainly to do with my ever increasing workload (with more responsibility to come in the next few months) and my ongoing moderator position with Adobe at their User Forums. I have to say, with Premiere Pro 2 out it's just amazing how many posts that place runs through every day.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm off to Sydney for the A.B.C. Cross Platform Production Conference at the Ultimo studios. A fascinating mix of international guests talking about what they've been doing and the problems and solutions they've found in this area, followed by the heads of the ABC departments telling us what they've been up to and where they think the Corp is headed in the future. If nothing else, I get to take a look around the new ABC studios. I spent a few months working at the old Gore Hill studios back in 2000, but I've heard wonderful things about the new facility. I'm really looking forward to it. To top it all off, Tuesday marks 1 year since we launched ABC2, so much festivity is to be had that night. I keep thinking I should take a video camera, but I doubt I'd get mine through the door. I do intend to take notes, and pictures, so hopefully I should have some thoughts on that once I get back. If nothing else I'm thinking I'd have been better served with a smaller camera than the XL1-S I currently own.

One last thing. Monday marks the launch of the new half-hour version of Australia Wide. The producer's come up with an interesting mix, and we'll see how it all comes together with her in Sydney and us in Brisbane. If you can watch ABC2, give it a whirl at 5pm and 8:30pm and let me know what you think.

Until then, bat on.

Flash Video FAQ

What Flash video encoding solution is the best?

Figure it out yourself! L.A. video firm Roguish has gone to the trouble of allowing you to compare, side by side, different Flash codecs and encoders using a variety of different video content, from text over colour gradients, to water, to fire, to black & white 16mm. With the new Flash 8 codec becoming more and more of an option for internet video delivery it's a very handy little tool to have access to. Kudos to Roguish for putting that sort of information out there.

Flash Video FAQ

Australian Story Online - episode 2

The second of our Australian Story Online specials went up last night.

For three decades Peter Dawkins was the man Australian singers relied on to turn their music into chart-topping, record-breaking hits.

Then, at just 42 years of age, he walked into a doctor’s surgery complaining of various odd symptoms. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

Last year, an extraordinary medical procedure that held hope of a better quality of life was offered to Dawkins, but there was a catch – it would cost $35k and Peter Dawkins 'simply didn’t have the money' after being unable to work for so long.

It was at that point the industry that he had done so much for returned the favour in a most unexpected way…

Australian Story - A Little Help From My Friends

I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit this way at the moment...

Podcasting is IPTV's Killer App | DV.com

Franks Capria makes a pretty good point in this article from DV.com.

I agree that the iPod is a mediocre portable video device. The screen is too small and scratches too easily. I stand too far away from it on the treadmill at the gym. The battery life is too short, lacking the juice for a New York-to-Los Angeles flight. The click wheel, which is an awesome music controller, isn't nearly as intuitive as a video controller. But none of that really matters because I don't think of my iPod as a portable video device. It's an IPTV set-top box.

It's an interesting discussion, running through the current problems facing IPTV and Podcasting, how to create a Podcast and where the money is.

DV.com - Podcasting is IPTV's Killer App

As always, DV.com requires registration, but it's worth it.

Australian Story Online - A week (almost) on.

So I drop in on Martin yesterday to get the lowdown on what I'm sure will be the waves of adulation from all involved given our victory on Monday night.

Nothin'.

He makes a very good point.

"Last night we posted a full version of one of this country's top programs on the internet simultaneously to it being broadcast, and not a peep from anyone."

Comments were then made that if this had been a commercial channel the trade rags would have been buzzing with the news. But that's the joy of working for the national broadcaster.

TV catches the Net video bug | Tech News on ZDNet

After years of the internet being used to show TV programs, it looks like TV is going to start showing content created for the internet.

TV catches the Net video bug | Tech News on ZDNet

Because they need something to get the peoples back.

Ellis vs Whedon - count the nerdgasms

So anyway, last year Warren Ellis starts posting pictures (Ex. 1, Ex. 2, Ex .3, Ex. 4) taken by his loyal (and devout) readers from the San Diego Comic Book Convention. Some of the images were truly horrifying in a "cross-the-road-to-escape-even-looking-at-you-,-you-FREAK!!!" kind of way, but a lot of fun. So it comes as no surprise that Ellis posted the fact that the site for this year's Con had gone online.

Warrenellis.com » The Long March To Nerd Prom Begins

Of course, that's when the fun began.

In response to Warren Ellis' statement that
"there are one hundred thousand hungry people out there who need to attend San Diego Comics Convention in order to walk right past all that comics shit and go straight to sniffing Brandon Routh’s cricketbox, sending bits of themselves to the cast of SERENITY and masturbating ferociously in the men’s stalls while wearing V FOR VENDETTA masks and discounted Hulk Hands."
the page got a response from one Joss Whedon, who was obviously sitting around his office trying to avoid writing the sequel to Serenity.

And thus it began.

"Who is this Ellis guy anyway? He thinks he all that cuz he wroted “Planety”. The facts is, KomiKon is AWESOME becuz people dress up like stuff — but nobody dresses like Warner Ellis, I guess, mister sour grapes. I talked to Sumner Glou and she said nobody ever mailed her body parts except for one time an arm and then a messenger brought her a thyroid gland but big deal, SERENDIPITY fans happen to be the most tastefullest fans who have extra or redundant body parts."

The back and forth went on with gay abandon.

To read the responses from those witnessing it you'd have thought God had dropped in on Lucifer's LJ site to hang some shit before suggesting they should sneak out for a beer later.

"Boys, boys… don’t fight! I have an idea! DO join up, and write some comics TOGETHER. Deliciously twisted plots and characters, touching moments of hilarity… it.. would… be… og… crap. Fangasm. Now I have to change."

"Holy Procrastination! I love it! Hey Joss, as long as you’re slackin’, come over to Whedonesque - we need more - uh - you!"

"I am in the same message thread as both Warren Ellis AND Joss Whedon. I am vicariously famous. Twice."

"Man, this is just ten different kinds off geek-borne happiness right here. Two of my favorite comic-mkaer-people trading teh funnay right in front of me. Thank God for strep."

And on it went.

Of course, the blogosphere went crazy, as it is wont to do.

I mention this in passing because I find it an interesting example of celebrity, the internet and geeks in general. No outrageous statements or insights, but I get the feeling that this will be of further interest to me down the track. With that in mind I continue this blog's stated purpose of being a poor man's del.icio.us so I know where to find it when it becomes relevant to something.

That is all.

Eddie gets it!?! (In other news, pigs to commence daily flights between Sydney and Melbourne.)

Newly rewarded (the poisoned chalice perhaps?) CEO of Channel 9, the guy who was all over your TV screen for the last five or so years, Eddie McGuire has his say to "the Australian" about his long term views for the network now that he's got one of the most heavily scrutinised jobs in Australian television.

McGuire admits that while his initial concentration is short-term, his mind wanders over the big-picture issues. Attracting viewers back to FTA is one of them. "We have to be more nimble on our feet, keeping up with what people want," he says. "That can be difficult when on one hand you have people getting their television on tiny phone screens, while others put massive plasma screens on their walls. Television has always been about information and entertainment. Meeting both needs at the same time is the trick."

"I absolutely believe free-to-air television can maintain its mass audiences. There are still a lot of things that haven't changed. TV is interesting in that it's had an image of being new and flash for a long time, but it has also been very conservative.

"People my age have grown up with traditional television, but kids these days are into mobile services, watching television, texting and using the internet at the same time.

"They are now their own programmers, and the challenge is there to try to get that iPod generation to bring their ideas to us, so we can be their portal of choice. The trick is to be relevant to them again. That is not to say you're going to jettison the generation before them, but there's a mix there somewhere."

And that, of course, is the trick. Channel 9, the darling of the blue-rinse set over the last 20 or so years, has been accused before of dismissing younger viewers in favour of where the money was. So how does Channel 9 face this brave new world of Generation C while maintaining a link to audience members that have trouble dealing with their remote control? Moreover, given former Nine supremo Sam Chisholm said last year that his view of the future was TV, only smaller, will there be a change in thinking now that the iPods of Eddie's kids have his attention?

Maybe he could phone a friend.

All this is yet to come in our brave new post-Kerry TV world...

The Australian: Eddie eyes the iPod generation

"Welcome to the Super Bowl" | ESPN.com: Page 2

Bill Simmons runs through his experience at the NBA's All Star Weekend held in Houston, Texas. A fun read, written as only Simmons can. Make sure you read to the end to hear his story about sitting at the next table to M.J. and Charles Oakley in the bar at the Houston Four Seasons.

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Welcome to the Super Bowl

Australian Story Online - The first of many

Those who pay regular attention to KingLeonard - The Weblog will realise that things have been quite quiet of late. This has been as a result of;

• Two Weeks Holiday


• A superior workload upon returning to the job

And the first fruits of this week of work has paid off! Tonight we posted the first of what will hopefully be an ongoing series of Australian Story Broadband editions, including the entire program, extended interviews and Producer's notes.

Australian Story - One Perfect Day

I mentioned at the end of last year that we were working on this, and I made particular note of its importance, not from a viewer experience or as an enabler of "folksonomic interactivity", but from the publishing aspect. Well, while this episode has actually been quite a bitch to get done (albeit only taking a day or two from our end), the system is slowly being put into place to automate and streamline the process even further. Flash video plugins for our automated compression system are on order and further tweaks are being made to the ABC's publishing software. The issue here is to create a system that allows other program producers to create ongoing extended editions to allow viewers the opportunity to not only view the entire program at their leisure, but also see extra bits that just can't make it into the show due to the inherent shortcomings of scheduled content. By making this as simple and easy as possible it opens up all sorts of opportunities for these programs to get involved rather than be scared away by the prospect of "compression" and "servers".

Anyway, I took a few pictures to mark the occasion and here they are.

The "Fishbowl" - home of the Brains Trust.

Jessica Daly - She's the one looking after all the content. You can see Jess' small
screen debut at the start of the McInnes Pilot we produced late last year.

Tim Madden - Design Guru and all round genius,
telling his wife he's going to be home late.

Tim making sure the site is running before it goes live.

What better way to celebrate than wood fired pizzas.
"Ooh! Exotic Potato!"

I should mention, that guy with his back to the camera is
Martin Southgate, driving force behind the project
and uber-producer.

Martin and Jess check the site once it's live. Despite some misgivings from
certain southern naysayers, the Flash Server held its own through the peak
period following the show.

Jess "capturing the moment"

Martin and Tim checking the site through our "Off-Air" computer,
in the heart of the News Online offices.

The idea is that this computer shows us what people are seeing in their
homes and offices, beyond the boundaries of our proxy server.

So all in all a bit of a win. I'll be interested to hear feedback, which will no doubt begin tomorrow, but I think we did all right. Once again, kudos must go to Martin, Jess and Tim who have driven this project forward. Once it's fully operational I can see this being the start of big things for the future of the Corp online.

Pay up or lose your TV, viewers told | smh.com.au

Not quite so drastic as it sounds. Basically it refers to consumers having to fork out up to $400 for a digital set-top box. Way to beat up a headline.

Nice to see the possibility of sanity prevailing and some of the restrictions that have plagued the Australian TV landscape being lifted. Just think, if they did we could actually start telling people what we produce, rather than just doing it anyway and kind of whistling distractedly whenever anyone scrutinises us.

Pay up or lose your TV, viewers told - smh.com.au

Lack of posts? - I've been away

I didn't think I'd mentioned this before heading off, but I've been away from any computer for the last week and a half, enjoying time off work up the coast with my beloved wife. No photos, no video, no inclination. Just rest and relaxation.

Not that anyone drops by here on purpose, but I figured it was worth mentioning.

Hopefully more content once I'm back at work and we start producing Australian Story Online as a semi-regular project.

Does the cinema industry suck that badly?

Mark Cuban is a man who could never be accused of saying in a sentence what he can say in a paragraph, yet a lot of what he says does makes sense. In particular I point you, gentle reader, in the direction of his most recent tome regarding his company HDNet Films and their support for Steven Soderbergh's latest film "Bubble". Now, a lot's been said recently regarding this film and its planned simultaneous distribution across multiple flatforms, including cinema and DVD, including one cinema industry spokesperson labelling the practice akin to a "death-threat" for his industry ("Oh, God! The hyperbole. The HYPERBOLE!"). It seems most of the comments made by the cinema industry, and Hollywood in general, have just been reactive claptrap which has led our "fearless hero" to have this to say on the matter.

"NOT A SINGLE PERSON. NOT ONE stood up and said, “screw him, our product is great. We dont care what he does”. Not a single person said “It could hurt our business, but we will just have to work harder to bring people in to our theaters”. Not a single person said, “It will make us have to work harder and create a better value and experience for our customer”"

"No one even remotely associated with the industry even attempted to spin the situation. No one attempted to leverage the publicity (except for us of course) to their advantage. No one used it as a platform to say a single solitary positive word about theaters and the theater going experience.

They stood up and indirectly said….OUR PRODUCT SUCKS WE CANT SURVIVE WITHOUT HELP."

"Go See Bubble" | Blog Maverick

Which really has to make you wonder about how the cinema industry sees themselves. But then as Cuban himself said a few days ago,

"...I can whip up a mean steak, but I still like to go to restaurants. Because I enjoy it. I enjoy getting out of the house with family, friends, who ever...

"Going to a restaurant. Going to a sporting event. Going shopping. Cabin Fever is alive and well. Wanting to get away from your parents, your kids, your job, your apartment, your house, your problems will never, ever go out of style. For the next thousand years the question will be asked…
What do you want to do tonight? For the next thousand years, people will want to get the heck out of the house. The question is where to and why."

Which to my mind tells me that the news of cinema's demise is greatly over-exaggerated. What it DOES mean is that if cinemas want to be succesful they have to provide value, something I can't get at home. If I'm forking out $15 to see a show, then I want a show goddammit! Good seats, good sound, a professional, comfortable experience. Maybe go back to the days of a short cartoon or short film as a lead-in to the feature, rather than just churning people through the seats.

Now I'm no business mogul. I wouldn't know a BAS statement from a quarterly index return, or even if such things exist. But I wouldn't have thought it was too difficult to realise that for cinemas to continue to make money they need to invest in themselves, to believe in themselves. If I have the opportunity to see a movie at home, or see it on the big screen, the cinema experience definitely comes into play. But if I'm complaining about lumpy or tiny seats, or intermittent audio faults, I'm walking away and not going back. For example, I had exactly that problem at one local cinemaplex. Three minutes into "Return of the King" my wife and I walked because the surround sound kept dropping in and out, which is a pity because I could see the potential of the place if they just looked after it.

Here's what it comes down to in my mind. If you believe in your product then invest in it. Make it all the greater an experience and people will come. Be lazy, look at it as a one-way money funnel and watch the income dry up. Simple, just like me!

Current Studio | VC2 Survival Guide

The 2nd last day of last year I mentioned an article at DV.com regarding Current TV. In that piece I said;

I LOVE (with a burning passion) their determination to teach the language of video production to the people, creating a whole new generation of storytellers with the vocabulary to create wonderful content, and possibly push the medium in ways we've not seen before.

And here's why. Available to the viewing public around the world, free of charge, are online videos running through equipment, production, editing, compression, and most importantly, storytelling. While the information is aimed at creating pieces for Current TV (named "Pods") the information is still relevant to anyone wanting to get an idea how this video thing works.

Favourite quote: "If you're on a budget and a 1-chip (camera) is your only choice be sure to spend the $70 on an external microphone. DO NOT USE THE MIC ON THE CAMERA!"

THANK YOU!! FINALLY someone's saying it. The fact is you can get away with a multitude of visual sins if you have GOOD SOUND. The moment the audio levels sound off-mic or they jump from soft to loud and back again you lose the audience who are too busy trying to watch with one hand on the volume knob.

In fact, here's a tip for aspiring editors to fix a simple, rookie mistake: Play some good quality material with proper levels through your editing system. Find a monitor level that seems comfortable for you to hear what's going on. MARK THAT LEVEL ON YOUR SPEAKERS AND NEVER CHANGE IT! If you do, you've still got the mark to go back to. That way, you know that if a piece of audio is loud or quiet it needs to be adjusted on the timeline, not on the speakers. The moment you shift the speaker level you lose your relative position to the other material and you need to train yourself again to know if something's too loud or soft.

Current Studio // VC2 Survival Guide

ABC chief Balding resigns | ABC News Online

So the boss has made the decision to up and leave a year before his contract runs out to take on a position with the Sydney Airport Corporation. Still, for a guy who was kind of thrown into the job on the back of the hated "Shier" years until "someone better came along" I think he's done a pretty good job.

ABC chief Balding resigns. 20/01/2006. ABC News Online

Favourite Russell Balding moment? Him not showing up to a Senate Estimates commitee meeting and leaving no excuse or apology.

SANTO SANTORO: ...is there a reason why Mr Balding is not here? Did he give you a reason why he's not here?

MURRAY GREEN: Ah, Mr Balding is his own decision-maker. He is not here, and that's all I have to say, Senator.

All the best to you Mr Balding in your new job.

So, the hunt will commence for a new boss. Who would I love to see? Someone with a real grasp of what's happening in the rest of the world when it comes to the media. Not just a TV or Radio person, but someone who can really look across the ABC's platforms and see ways to make it work together.

But then again, I'm kind of biased.

More on this as the "Hunt for the New MD" begins.

From the sublime to the ridiculous

From the sublime...

Honda.co.uk official site

Honda Civic UK advertisement (mirror)

(via BoingBoing)

to the ridiculous...

Patriot Search

(Background: Good Morning Silicon Valley)

A good thing the site's tongue-in-cheek.

While I'm here, what's the deal with a mysterious stranger visiting the grave of American author Edgar Allan Poe's grave every year to mark the writer's birthday? Not why does it happen, but why hadn't I heard about this before?! I mean, it's been going on since 1949 for crying out loud and has apparently been passed on a generation. Roses and cognac? This is just too good not to have known about, and definitely not the sort of thing I want some moron ruining by "catching the guy out."

(Jeff) Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum, said early Thursday he had to chase people out of the graveyard, fearing they would interfere with the mystery visitor's ceremony.

"In letting people know about this tribute, I've been contributing to these people's desire to catch this guy," Jerome said. "It's such a touching tribute, and it's been disrupted by the actions of a few people trying to interfere and expose this guy."

CNN.com | Decades-old mystery: Who visits Poe's grave?

Web 3.0 | A List Apart

Jeffrey Zeldman, author of "Designing With Web Standards" (my first textbook for my course) and publisher of the "A List Apart" web design site, has a few things to say about the use of the term Web 2.0, in particular the way it seems to have been co-opted by marketers and businessmen and entrepreneurs looking to ride the hype.

A List Apart: Articles: Web 3.0

The fact is, I don't really know enough about the technical aspects of things like AJAX to say whether his perspective is legitimate or not, but regardless it's well worth the read for an alternate view to much of the hyperbole on the internet at the moment.

Mass media's last blast | calendarlive.com

Via Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab

An interesting article by Reed Johnson of the L.A. Times regarding the current world of media and how the interactive, do-it-yourself attitude is affecting American culture.

calendarlive.com: Mass media's last blast

My problem with it? Again, too American in its perspective, with this seeming belief that the internet and new media culture doesn't extend past the east and west coasts.

Now before I start a war about how I'm bagging on the "Big, bad U.S. of A." I understand, fully and absolutely, that this guy is writing for an American audience with a view towards analysing the American experience. No problem with that at all. I guess I'm a little disappointed that we don't seem to see similar articles by Australian authors and academics, viewing how much of an impact this new mediascape has had locally.

For instance, I don't believe it would be remiss of me to say that I don't think Australia is feeling the impact of iPods and Internet anywhere near as much as in the U.S., despite our reputation of being early adopters of technology. Between the stupidity of our telecommunications industry, our totally ignorant (and ignored) copyright laws and the overblown expense of everything, I'm amazed sometimes I can even get a broadband connection out of my house without applying for a second mortgage. But the fact is, I want to hear someone talk about this! In detail!

"Why not you?" I hear you say, oh gentle yet transient reader. Well, maybe one day I'll have some time to sit down and nut out an article of annoyance.

But not now.

Damn. How to shoot down your position in one easy paragraph.

Rocketboom/Ask A Ninja - the interview!

Having mentioned the wonderfully quirky "Ask A Ninja" last week it's great to see Rocketboom having a play with it, asking the Ninja questions that matter!

Rocketboom

So what I suggest is that you spend some time at "Ask A Ninja" to run through some episodes and get a feel for the show. Then do the Rocketboom episode and see which bits they've taken out of context.

Nicely done. Pity about the audio, but Amanda does acknowledge in the comments the obvious problem of miking someone through a heavy brown shirt that's tied around the head. A transcript can be found in the comments a little further down.

"Oh my, what very experientially stylised teeth you have!"

Via the always wonderful we-make-money-not-art

So back in 2004 as part of my Interaction Design subject I came up with the idea for a room specifically designed for enhancing presence in particular roleplaying games (Hell yeah! King of the geeks!). The idea was that at particular moments the Gamemaster/Storyteller had the facility to play with the experiential elements present in the room, i.e. lighting, music, sound effects, room temperature, etc.

Now Philips comes along with a technology they're calling PML (Physical markup Language) to allow media to influence your physical surroundings. The example they give is a PML version of the children's classic "Little Red Riding Hood."

"An Ambient Intelligence system can interpret a description in PML in such a way that the devices in its network can jointly use their individual capabilities to render that experience at a given location.

In effect, your whole room becomes a 'browser' that brings the experience to life. For example, PML-enabled lights add to the experience by getting brighter or dimmer, or changing colour. A PML-enabled hi-fi provides an appropriate soundscape..."

"To illustrate the principle, we have developed a PML-enhanced storybook telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood. As you turn the pages of the book, the book knows exactly where you are in the story. The PML associated with the scene described on that page is communicated to the space around you. The many Ambient Intelligence devices in that space then use their capabilities collaboratively to transport you into the world of the story."

It's an interesting attempt to break out of the desktop, creating an immersive physical environment using ubiquitous computing elements. Interesting to see where they take it in the future.

Philips Research Technologies - PML - When your room becomes your browser

PML Research Paper - PDF

Clerks 2 - the Vlog

Kevin Smith vlogs the making of his sequel.

Clerks 2 - News and Updates

Can't be arsed right now to say more. If it wasn't for what this is you'd get nothing. Be thankful you get this much.

Update: Yesterday was a particularly awful day for me. Went home early, tried to get some rest. Still not entirely over it, but am feeling better than I was.

OhmyNews International - A glimpse of an interesting future

From an interesting article in the India Infoline News.

Citizen reporters of OhmyNews, a unique news organization in Korea, now number more than 40,000 and are no stranger to the sensation that comes from producing their own news. It is this transforming and empowering experience that attracts thousands of "citizen reporters" to OhmyNews every day. Kim Hye Won, a long time citizen reporter of OhmyNews, described her excitement when she found her story published on OhmyNews for the first time: “As soon as I saw my article with my name, Kim Hye Won, attached to it, my heart fluttered. A housewife who for the last 18 years has been caught up in housework raising her children has now become a reporter. This was possible thanks to the OhmyNews spirit of ‘every citizen is a reporter.’”

OhmyNews International

Play Again Games : Monopoly Home Rules

Via the always interesting PlasticBag.org

I've always been a Monopoly fan, ever since I was a kid. It was one of those wonderful, family-gathering type events, with my dad, granddad and brothers huddled around a table enjoying beating each other.

That said, I've always been a purist with the rules. No putting the Tax payments in the centre of the board and collecting on "Free Parking" for me, nosiree. But with this list of alternative rules for the game all that may change.

Rule: A player must roll two dice on his turn, but may select any two dice from a set of four sided, six sided, eight sided, and ten sided dice.
Reason: Gives players some control over movement. Players may wish to role two four sided dice at the beginning, since they have a better chance of getting doubles and going again, and then later roll two ten sided dice to move around the board quickly. Larger dice decrease the chance for doubles and thus tend to balance the game.

Finally! An excuse to use my RPG dice in a mainstream game!
:-)

Play Again Games : MonopolyHomeRules

A new favourite! | Ask A Ninja

Ever wondered if Ninjas celebrate Christmas? Or where they get their cool, black uniforms? Ever wanted to know the career path to becoming a ninja? Well, why not "Ask A Ninja"?

The first episode's a bit too long, but he's starting to get himself sorted out with the comedy timing. Well worth watching.

Ask A Ninja

"I look forward to killing you soon!"

Minnesota Stories: Welcome to the Future

To anyone who still hasn't figured out the big deal about video on the internet, vlogs, blog, tagging, sites like Flickr and del.icio.us, and the general idea about letting people have and organise what they want for themselves, take a look at this video.

Minnesota Stories: Welcome to the Future

MNStories curator Chuck Olsen is on holidays at the moment, but decided to pull this one from his archives. I can remember watching it earlier in the year, but I don't think it resonated in quite the same way it did this time. I guess I'm learning stuff all the time.

Great work and a perfectly made point.

Great Australian Story Challenge

I should have mentioned this a lot earlier.

The ABC starts, in it's own way, soliciting user generated content. I would have liked something a little less formal, but all in all it's a great opportunity for Australian film and TV students to get a foot in the door, especially given how difficult it is to get a job in this industry.

"To celebrate 10 years on air, we're inviting university students from across Australia to produce a five-minute video in the style of ABC TV's Australian Story.

The winner of The Great Australian Story Challenge will receive a three-month internship with the Australian Story team, and finalists' entries will be compiled into a special program to go to air in May 2006, when Australian Story will officially turn 10. This special program will also air on ABC2 and program material will be available on ABC Broadband."

GAS Challenge - Australian Story

Warrenellis.com » Moblogging: Yesterday’s Internet

Warren Ellis is starting the new year on a roll with the second great article in two days. This time he asks whatever happened to the moblogging movement of a couple of years ago?

"The promise of moblogging was very simple: that we all get away from our desks and record life on the move and in real time. The dirty secret of the Web 2.0 movement is that it binds people back to their desks. It’s for people who stay indoors, make lists and shelve their DVDs by cinematographer."

Warrenellis.com » Moblogging: Yesterday’s Internet

Nice to get a fresh perspective.

Here's a thought. Maybe the moblogging movement isn't really stalled at the technology/service provider end. Perhaps it's more that sections of the blogging community have fallen into the mainstream mindset of polished work, fearing that something raw and rough and instant may damage their hard-won reputations. Have the first generation of bloggers gone 40+? Settling down and keeping it conservative? Horrible thought.

Of course, one of the problems is that podcasts and now vlogs do require basic editing to rise above just being raw footage (not that raw footage doesn't have its place). That means the newcomers, eager to impress the old school with their wicked edit skillz, need their desktop, or some serious mobile hardware. Hardly phone and Palm Pilot territory.

Actually, I do think it's more a service provider shortfall. I'd be inclined to make a push to get services like Blogger to sort out the problems getting mobile content quickly and easily onto a site. As an Australian there's all sorts of barriers put in place for me to shoot a pic with my phone annd email it to this blog.

Imagine this;

"I want to shoot an audio file off my phone. I want to shoot a street video to my blog from the street. This is essentially what I was talking about with the streetbound “feedsite listener” in TRANSMETROPOLITAN. And this requires no more than a phone with email or MMS and a system on the other end to parse what’s being received and stick it on my web page. I’m not a programmer. I don’t know if what I’m asking for is impossible. But, Christ, it doesn’t sound like it."

Now take it a step further. Audio or video file is sent to site. RSS subscription makes this media, and just the media, available to any mobile player. When manufacturers create a media player that's WiFi or WiMAX enabled, we'll start to see it. Author on a street corner shoots and loads their work and in seconds a guy on a street corner on the other side of the world is looking at it. Now imagine a dozen people all looking at an event, each clip disconnected from the context of the website it's coming from, just showing what everyone's seeing. Hundreds of New Yorkers watching the Twin Towers collapse in real time from every conceivable angle.

I can see some good things, and some not so good things coming out of that. But that discussion's for another time.

The downside to this video iPod thing

Via Steve Rubel's Micro Persuasion.

The perfect example of why big business should not be allowed anywhere near the internet.

PodGuide.tv: Advertisers want your iPods

"I've noticed a few more big name advertisers are starting to distribute short form content via their web sites in iPod format. It's the old “BMW Films” strategy of trying to convince people that ads are interesting by blurring the line between entertainment and advertising. Sprite offer a series of comedy videos entitled Marcus hates his job, while Bud Light brings us the psuedo-documentary about Ted Ferguson, Daredevil."

While "Marcus" has a little interest to it, I find each episode a little long. But at least, despite the obvious Sprite product placement, it's nowhere near as blatant as the Bud Light ones. If you do check them out, see if you understand what I mean when I say I'm not sure exactly who finds this stuff funny. It's a sad commentary on the company that brought us the "Whassuuup!" series of ads.

Lord of the Rings WoW mashup

Via Tom Coates' PlasticBag.org

Comedy gold, for a whole bunch of reasons.

wow-remash.gif (GIF Image, 412x226 pixels)

Joss Whedon Eyes the Future of TV

For those yet to read it, enjoy the sarcasm. Any drier and you could wipe the dust from it.

Joss Whedon Eyes the Future of TV - [TV Guide Online]

"Obviously, we'll see advances in technology. TiVo, iPods, streaming video — the way we watch TV is changing dramatically. It's on our phones, in our cars — even projected on specialized eyeglasses. But don't listen to the talk about having shows beamed directly into your brain. That's science-fiction nonsense. Shows will be stored in the pancreas and will enter the brain through the bloodstream after being downloaded into your iHole."

VisitorVille - is this perhaps the most fun interface ever?

So I sincerely doubt that anyone passing through here on their way to a more interesting blog would have noticed that this site gets its stats through SiteMeter. It's a nice, cheap (read: FREE) service that lets me see who's looking at what, how they got here, where they are in the world and how long they hang around. But then I noticed a GoogleAd at the top of the SiteMeter page pimping a service called VisitorVille. With interest piqued, I clicked forth...

The interface, at least at first glance, is just wonderful! Instead of tracking numbers and links, all the information is mapped into a 3D cityscape where the people are your visitors, buses are referring pages and buildings are your site's pages.

I have no idea if the program is as good as it claims to be. And I have no intention of spending the money on a program that would create a virtual ghost town (now there's an idea; skinning it to change the cityscape from modern day to whatever you want, like Western Frontier town, or ancient Japanese village). What I find wondrous is that we're finally starting to put the lessons learnt from games into our work tools.

VisitorVille: 3-D Web Traffic Software.

Warrenellis.com | Bums On Seats

O.K., enough self-congratulation leaving my edited work at the top of the list. Time to move on to 2006.

The always entertaining Warren Ellis has a few thoughts on where he thinks Hollywood's getting it wrong.

Warrenellis.com » Bums On Seats

"...I’ve seen so many trailers this year that appeared just kind of desultorily slapped together. If you’re spending the sort of money on making a film that could cover the cost of sending a probe to Mars, it’s just not right to look down at the ground, kick your heels and mutter that you’ve got this little movie that I might like to see. I mean, jesus, if you’re going to be capitalist running dogs, act like it. Bark and bare your teeth and jump up in people’s faces. When’s the last time you saw a trailer, or even a poster, that made you feel that if you didn’t see the movie an essential part of you would wither and die?

We’re all children when we go into the cinema. The actors stand four times our height and speak louder than we can. We hand over our cash to be told terrible and wonderful things, and to see all kinds of magic.

Is it just possible that some of us skip the cinema and buy films on DVD not only for the convenience and replay, but also because the films of today seem not to deserve to be bigger than us?"

My first foray into vlogging? | 2005 Year in Review

Well, not really. Vlogging is something entirely different, but to that end I'm happy to think of this as a personal reaction to the events of last year.

During the rather quiet week between Christmas and New Years I took the time to edit this together. The people at work seemed to like it so much they found a place for it on the 2005 Year in Review site.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

A word of note for viewers. First up, this video is highly Australo-centric so some of it may make no sense to viewers from overseas. Second, it's a high bit-rate (464Kb/s) streaming video (in line with company policy) so unless you have a 512Kb/s connection or better you may find you get frustrated.

One thing I should mention is that this video is internet only; no TV release for this puppy and other than being able to see it in its native resolution I can't see any reason I'd want it to.

[RealVideo] | [Windows Media]

Music is by the ever inspirational Sigur Rós.

Right, 2005 is over. What else you got?