I'm getting involved in a major project that doesn't leave any spare time for me now. May or may not be back....
Thank you for following rants and occasional raves!
March 4, 2009
March 3, 2009
OVGuide Updates Video Search and Discovery Tools
Online Video Guide is a comprehensive video search portal that draws results from sites including Fancast, Hulu, ESPN and Funny or Die.
They claim to deliver the most relevant search results of any video engine because of their team of editors, who manually comb, categorize, and tag content. In these tough times, I wonder how long they can afford to ....
While video search hasn’t truly come into its own so far on major engines like Google, OVGuide does face several competitors hoping to do the same thing, including earlier players Blinkx, Truveo, and Meefeedia, according to paidContent.
OVGuide currently derives its revenue through ad partnerships with the likes of NBC, ABC, and Warner Brothers. Here is to wish them the best of luck to keep the ad dollars coming!
They claim to deliver the most relevant search results of any video engine because of their team of editors, who manually comb, categorize, and tag content. In these tough times, I wonder how long they can afford to ....
While video search hasn’t truly come into its own so far on major engines like Google, OVGuide does face several competitors hoping to do the same thing, including earlier players Blinkx, Truveo, and Meefeedia, according to paidContent.
OVGuide currently derives its revenue through ad partnerships with the likes of NBC, ABC, and Warner Brothers. Here is to wish them the best of luck to keep the ad dollars coming!
February 28, 2009
Jeopardy Goes High Definition
Believe or not, Jeopardy originally used cardboard and magic markers (isn't THAT a riot?) but now broadcasts in HD, in a $4.1 million all-digital production. You can watch Alex Trebek here, to tell you how the show has changed over the years:
There isn't much I can add to Alex's story. Many happy returns - Jeopardy is celebrating its 25th anniversary!
Cybercast credit: LiveConnect via Brightcove
There isn't much I can add to Alex's story. Many happy returns - Jeopardy is celebrating its 25th anniversary!
Cybercast credit: LiveConnect via Brightcove
February 25, 2009
Free Video Calls? - Try ooVoo!
I've waited to write about ooVoo until they made it available for the Mac. Now you can download the (beta) software here.
ooVoo???
ooVoo is (another) free web video service that allows you to communicate face to face over the internet with people all over the world.
You can connect with up to six friends, family, and colleagues at any time, through high quality video and audio. Organize a family get-together, share breaking news, or heckle your friends during your favorite sporting event.
Here are the features on ooVoo that make life easier and more fun:
Video calling:
* See, hear and speak with up to 6 people.
* Call Friends who don't have ooVoo can video call you from their Web browser.
* Embed a video chat in any website, blog or social network.
* Make video calls in high resolution
* Record your session to create and share instant memories.
* Send a video greeting to multiple people at once.
* Customize your video calls and messages with fun effects.
You can also:
* Call a mobile or landline AS A PHONE.
* Text chat with up to 6 friends at once.
* Send files up to 25 MB each.
* Change the size of a video call window.
* Find people you know or find new friends on ooVoo.
* Bring your blog or MySpace page to life with an ooVoo link.
* Control who can see or contact you.
IMPORTANT THESE DAYS: Will save you a lot of time and travel expenses too!
ooVoo???
ooVoo is (another) free web video service that allows you to communicate face to face over the internet with people all over the world.
You can connect with up to six friends, family, and colleagues at any time, through high quality video and audio. Organize a family get-together, share breaking news, or heckle your friends during your favorite sporting event.
Here are the features on ooVoo that make life easier and more fun:
Video calling:
* See, hear and speak with up to 6 people.
* Call Friends who don't have ooVoo can video call you from their Web browser.
* Embed a video chat in any website, blog or social network.
* Make video calls in high resolution
* Record your session to create and share instant memories.
* Send a video greeting to multiple people at once.
* Customize your video calls and messages with fun effects.
You can also:
* Call a mobile or landline AS A PHONE.
* Text chat with up to 6 friends at once.
* Send files up to 25 MB each.
* Change the size of a video call window.
* Find people you know or find new friends on ooVoo.
* Bring your blog or MySpace page to life with an ooVoo link.
* Control who can see or contact you.
IMPORTANT THESE DAYS: Will save you a lot of time and travel expenses too!
February 22, 2009
MIT Students Turn Internet Into a Sixth Human Sense
Students at the MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable computing system that turns any surface into an interactive display screen.
The prototype was built from an ordinary webcam and a battery-powered 3M projector, with an attached mirror -- all connected to an internet-enabled mobile phone. The setup, which costs less than $350, allows the user to project information from the phone onto any surface -- walls, the body of another person or even your hand.
Pranav Mistry, "the brains behind the project," wears the device on a lanyard around his neck. Colored Magic Marker caps on four fingers (red, blue, green and yellow) help the camera distinguish the four fingers and recognize his hand gestures with software that Mistry created.
The gestures can be as simple as using his fingers and thumbs to create a picture frame that tells the camera to snap a photo, which is saved to his mobile phone. When he gets back to an office, he projects the images onto a wall and begins to size them.
When he encounters someone at a party, the system projects a cloud of words on the person's body to provide more information about him -- his blog URL, the name of his company, his likes, interests, and who knows what else....
When Mistry folds his hands in "namaste" fashion, the system opens a menu to allow him to choose an application. If he wants to read e-mail on his phone, he draws an @ symbol in the air with his finger. He can project a phone pad onto his palm and dial a number without removing the phone from his pocket. As he reads the newspaper on the subway he can project a video onto the page that provides more information about the topic he's reading.
Maes, Mistry's instructor, and Mistry have been working on the project for four months, day and night, and have filed a patent for it.
Maes' MIT group, which includes seven graduate students, were thinking about how a person could be more integrated into the world around them and access information without having to do something like take out a phone. They initially produced a wristband that would read an RFID tag to know, for example, which book a user is holding in a store.
They also had a ring that used infrared to communicate by beacon to supermarket smart shelves to give you information about products. As you grab a package of macaroni, the ring would glow red or green to tell you if the product was organic or free of peanut traces -- whatever criteria you program into the system.
"We wanted to make information more useful to people in real time with minimal effort in a way that doesn't require any behavior changes," Maes said. "The wristband was getting close, but you still had to take out your cell phone to look at the information."
That's when they struck on the idea of accessing information from the internet and projecting it. So someone wearing the wristband could pick up a paperback in the bookstore and immediately call up reviews about the book, projecting them onto a surface in the store or doing a keyword search through the book by accessing digitized pages on Amazon or Google books.
They started with a larger projector that was mounted on a helmet. But that proved cumbersome if someone was projecting data onto a wall then turned to speak to friend -- the data would project on the friend's face. Last month, they switched to a smaller projector and created the pendant prototype to be worn around the neck.
This year's TED demo was the first time they've shown it in public, though they're far from making a commercial product or forming a company around their invention. "But we're really excited about the potential," Maes said.
They learned recently that cellphone makers soon plan to release cellphones with projectors integrated in them, which will simplify their system even more.
Cybercast credit: Brightcove
The prototype was built from an ordinary webcam and a battery-powered 3M projector, with an attached mirror -- all connected to an internet-enabled mobile phone. The setup, which costs less than $350, allows the user to project information from the phone onto any surface -- walls, the body of another person or even your hand.
Pranav Mistry, "the brains behind the project," wears the device on a lanyard around his neck. Colored Magic Marker caps on four fingers (red, blue, green and yellow) help the camera distinguish the four fingers and recognize his hand gestures with software that Mistry created.
The gestures can be as simple as using his fingers and thumbs to create a picture frame that tells the camera to snap a photo, which is saved to his mobile phone. When he gets back to an office, he projects the images onto a wall and begins to size them.
When he encounters someone at a party, the system projects a cloud of words on the person's body to provide more information about him -- his blog URL, the name of his company, his likes, interests, and who knows what else....
When Mistry folds his hands in "namaste" fashion, the system opens a menu to allow him to choose an application. If he wants to read e-mail on his phone, he draws an @ symbol in the air with his finger. He can project a phone pad onto his palm and dial a number without removing the phone from his pocket. As he reads the newspaper on the subway he can project a video onto the page that provides more information about the topic he's reading.
Maes, Mistry's instructor, and Mistry have been working on the project for four months, day and night, and have filed a patent for it.
Maes' MIT group, which includes seven graduate students, were thinking about how a person could be more integrated into the world around them and access information without having to do something like take out a phone. They initially produced a wristband that would read an RFID tag to know, for example, which book a user is holding in a store.
They also had a ring that used infrared to communicate by beacon to supermarket smart shelves to give you information about products. As you grab a package of macaroni, the ring would glow red or green to tell you if the product was organic or free of peanut traces -- whatever criteria you program into the system.
"We wanted to make information more useful to people in real time with minimal effort in a way that doesn't require any behavior changes," Maes said. "The wristband was getting close, but you still had to take out your cell phone to look at the information."
That's when they struck on the idea of accessing information from the internet and projecting it. So someone wearing the wristband could pick up a paperback in the bookstore and immediately call up reviews about the book, projecting them onto a surface in the store or doing a keyword search through the book by accessing digitized pages on Amazon or Google books.
They started with a larger projector that was mounted on a helmet. But that proved cumbersome if someone was projecting data onto a wall then turned to speak to friend -- the data would project on the friend's face. Last month, they switched to a smaller projector and created the pendant prototype to be worn around the neck.
This year's TED demo was the first time they've shown it in public, though they're far from making a commercial product or forming a company around their invention. "But we're really excited about the potential," Maes said.
They learned recently that cellphone makers soon plan to release cellphones with projectors integrated in them, which will simplify their system even more.
Cybercast credit: Brightcove
February 19, 2009
Global IPTV Growth Creates Opportunity…Even Now!
No, not everything is going to hell … so take heart!
Matt McCall, Managing Director of VC firm DFJ Portage, notes that the internet is growing globally as the primary means of delivering television.
The statistics show strong adoption in China and Europe, but much weaker growth (essentially none) in the US.
Hong Kong 31%
Iceland 27%
Estonia 10%
France 10%
Cyprus 10%
Sweden 8%
S Korea 7%
US <1%
Growth in IPTV services and infrastructure creates significant opportunity for all of us that have innovative ways to deliver distribution, advertising, niche content, mobile integration, and a whole host of other related services.
Are you with me?
Matt McCall, Managing Director of VC firm DFJ Portage, notes that the internet is growing globally as the primary means of delivering television.
The statistics show strong adoption in China and Europe, but much weaker growth (essentially none) in the US.
Hong Kong 31%
Iceland 27%
Estonia 10%
France 10%
Cyprus 10%
Sweden 8%
S Korea 7%
US <1%
Growth in IPTV services and infrastructure creates significant opportunity for all of us that have innovative ways to deliver distribution, advertising, niche content, mobile integration, and a whole host of other related services.
Are you with me?
February 16, 2009
Internet Video Rescues Super Bowl Ads
The sexy PETA ad NFC refused to air also turned up on PETA's site (surprise, surprise....). YouTube also had Saturday's skit from SNL, mocking the actual Pepsi ad that would air Sunday. Ironically, the Web site for Jack in the Box crashed right after they'd aired their cliffhanger about Jack's bus accident, prompting one critic to joke, "Should we assume he's dead?"
A pirated version of Budweiser's un-aired Super Bowl ad also appeared on YouTube proving the Web is more democratic than NBC.
www.peta.org/content/standalone/VeggieLove/Default.aspx
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7bQZLtgHts
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/01/MN0T15LDLS.DTL
Cybercast credit: YouTube
A pirated version of Budweiser's un-aired Super Bowl ad also appeared on YouTube proving the Web is more democratic than NBC.
www.peta.org/content/standalone/VeggieLove/Default.aspx
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7bQZLtgHts
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/01/MN0T15LDLS.DTL
Cybercast credit: YouTube
February 13, 2009
You See, You Hear, You Report - on YouReportTV.com
Where they honestly believe that your news is good news!
Honest - that’s what they do say! So submit your story (in the UK that’s what they call a video too, it seems) to You Report TV, if it covers any of these subjects:
* Today
* Business
* Technology
* Politics
* Entertainment
* Sports
* More…
What do they want?
To help you here are their guidelines. Your content should be:
* Newsworthy, or based on news. Current or old news, that are news to YOU
* Video, mobile video, photo, audio, text or a combination of these
* As clear as possible
* Legal - for guidance refer to our terms and conditions
* Taken at no risk to you. Be safe!
What don't they want?
* Child pornography… SO ADULT PORNO IS OK?
* Dangerous or illegal acts
* Unlawful, obscene, defamatory or libelous material
* Images of rape, bestiality, intercourse, masturbation
* Sadistic or masochistic abuse
* Explicit depiction of male or female genitalia or pubic areas
* Paedophilia or necrophilia
* Spam (DUH)
* Unsolicited sales messages or advertising
Remember, YouReportTV is *Your* personal news channel. Only upload, contribute, share, discuss, or comment if it’s fun or useful for you and others.
Honest - that’s what they do say! So submit your story (in the UK that’s what they call a video too, it seems) to You Report TV, if it covers any of these subjects:
* Today
* Business
* Technology
* Politics
* Entertainment
* Sports
* More…
What do they want?
To help you here are their guidelines. Your content should be:
* Newsworthy, or based on news. Current or old news, that are news to YOU
* Video, mobile video, photo, audio, text or a combination of these
* As clear as possible
* Legal - for guidance refer to our terms and conditions
* Taken at no risk to you. Be safe!
What don't they want?
* Child pornography… SO ADULT PORNO IS OK?
* Dangerous or illegal acts
* Unlawful, obscene, defamatory or libelous material
* Images of rape, bestiality, intercourse, masturbation
* Sadistic or masochistic abuse
* Explicit depiction of male or female genitalia or pubic areas
* Paedophilia or necrophilia
* Spam (DUH)
* Unsolicited sales messages or advertising
Remember, YouReportTV is *Your* personal news channel. Only upload, contribute, share, discuss, or comment if it’s fun or useful for you and others.
February 10, 2009
Monetize Your Video with Storybids
Storybids is a (relatively) simple and useful web service for video producers and media ad buyers. They connect those with creative ideas for product placement with advertisers who want to place their products in user generated videos, mini-dramas, and webisodes, music videos, and online commercials.
How does it work for us, video producers?
Using Storybids' powerful creative and auction house tools, you can sell your creative ideas, embodied in your videos, to advertisers who want to place their products. You get your work noticed, the advertiser gets product placement and you get paid for your work. Pretty cool, huh?
How does it work for your prospective advertiser?
Storybids enables ad buyers to review the videos you upload and make available for bidding. This minimizes their risk and maximizes their ads’ potential impact, when it comes to distribution online through social networks, viral marketing, and video sites such as YouTube, MySpaceTV, and Facebook.
Automatic distribution and traffic tracking
Storybids provides distribution and video analytics measurement by optimizing finalized video for search engines and submitting to several video hosting sites such as YouTube, MySpaceTV, Veoh, Metacafe, DailyMotion and others simultaneously allowing dashboard reporting on the video’s performance via views, comments and ratings aggregated across the various video sites.
Cybercast credit: MetaCafe
How does it work for us, video producers?
Using Storybids' powerful creative and auction house tools, you can sell your creative ideas, embodied in your videos, to advertisers who want to place their products. You get your work noticed, the advertiser gets product placement and you get paid for your work. Pretty cool, huh?
How does it work for your prospective advertiser?
Storybids enables ad buyers to review the videos you upload and make available for bidding. This minimizes their risk and maximizes their ads’ potential impact, when it comes to distribution online through social networks, viral marketing, and video sites such as YouTube, MySpaceTV, and Facebook.
Automatic distribution and traffic tracking
Storybids provides distribution and video analytics measurement by optimizing finalized video for search engines and submitting to several video hosting sites such as YouTube, MySpaceTV, Veoh, Metacafe, DailyMotion and others simultaneously allowing dashboard reporting on the video’s performance via views, comments and ratings aggregated across the various video sites.
Cybercast credit: MetaCafe
February 7, 2009
Interactive TV - Actually Video - the Klickable Way
Klickable is a new online video platform that provides interactivity on your qualifying online videos. "Qualifying" probably means no sex, blood, or other non-PC content. Where is the fun in that?
Despite of all these restrictions, it's still true that interactive videos create a more engaged viewer, a more comprehensive publishing experience, and the opportunity for targeted contextual advertising. Klickable also claims that their members also provide publishers with comprehensive facts and figures to make your videos extra engaging.
"Klik-enabled" videos
"Klickable" videos give your viewers the option to klick on their favorite actors, objects, whatever they want. The Klick Kart provides you with the option of saving your klicks for later - that way you can revisit any part of the video (and any klicks) when you want to.
You don't have to to download of any software and only need a Flash 9.0 enabled computer and an Internet connection (preferably broadband). Klicakble allows you to embed your "klickable" videos on other Web sites, blogs and social networking pages.
If you are a publisher
Klickable offers to publishers the ability to offer more information to their users and to provide a more interactive and engaging experience. Our data has shown that users watch a Klickable video almost four times more than a regular static 20th century video. Tyey also increase a video's ad inventory through what they believe will be a new form of advertising: contextual overlay.
If you are an advertiser
Klickable gives advertisers an opportunity to serve contextually relevant advertisements within their videos. By making the brand an integral part of content either in post-production or product placement, Klickable advertising provides high brand recognition and recall as well as a high return on investment for ad spend. See our advertising section for more details.
I covered a similar online service from PlyMedia about a year ago, but haven't had a chance to try it, so I can't compare the two here.
Despite of all these restrictions, it's still true that interactive videos create a more engaged viewer, a more comprehensive publishing experience, and the opportunity for targeted contextual advertising. Klickable also claims that their members also provide publishers with comprehensive facts and figures to make your videos extra engaging.
"Klik-enabled" videos
"Klickable" videos give your viewers the option to klick on their favorite actors, objects, whatever they want. The Klick Kart provides you with the option of saving your klicks for later - that way you can revisit any part of the video (and any klicks) when you want to.
You don't have to to download of any software and only need a Flash 9.0 enabled computer and an Internet connection (preferably broadband). Klicakble allows you to embed your "klickable" videos on other Web sites, blogs and social networking pages.
If you are a publisher
Klickable offers to publishers the ability to offer more information to their users and to provide a more interactive and engaging experience. Our data has shown that users watch a Klickable video almost four times more than a regular static 20th century video. Tyey also increase a video's ad inventory through what they believe will be a new form of advertising: contextual overlay.
If you are an advertiser
Klickable gives advertisers an opportunity to serve contextually relevant advertisements within their videos. By making the brand an integral part of content either in post-production or product placement, Klickable advertising provides high brand recognition and recall as well as a high return on investment for ad spend. See our advertising section for more details.
I covered a similar online service from PlyMedia about a year ago, but haven't had a chance to try it, so I can't compare the two here.
February 4, 2009
Wallstrip Goes Down with Wall Street
The first week of 2009 brought some disappointing news to fans of the online video show "Wallstrip." Parent CBS Interactive is shutting production down.
For those unfamiliar with "Wallstrip," it has been the "pop culture meets stock culture" (as described by the site) video site that examined "hot" stocks and attempted to provide a down-to-earth explanation of why they were so hot.
What makes this story significant is that "Wallstrip" was one of, if not the first, online video original-production success story. Launched in 2006 with little more than some industry buzz and promotion by noteworthy financial and technology bloggers and about $500,000 in funding, it was acquired less than a year later for a rumored $5 million by CBS Interactive. See my first post, dated March 31, about it here.
There's been little released about why "Wallstrip" is being shuttered, but clearly difficulty in monetizing a site about hot stocks during the worst stock market since the Great Depression was the major reason.
While this is disappointing, we can probably learn a few good lessons from the "Wallstrip" story. CBS probably agrees, as they plan to use the “Wallstrip model” for their BNet property.
What is the “secret” of Wallstrip? In short, it "got it," at least from a viewer perspective. The creators took a fun, educational approach to what is a difficult to understand or even boring topic and built a following among a coveted audience (higher income financial enthusiasts). Episodes were relatively short, averaging 3-4 minutes at most, always entertaining, and came out three times a week due to the low production costs involved. Finally, users were kept engaged long after the clip ended with discussion boards and voting tools.
Why did it prove to be so difficult to monetize Wallstrip? The economic environment has no doubt been a factor -- perhaps the biggest one. Traffic has had to be a factor, too. According to Quantcast, "Wallstrip" only reached 14,000 users a month at its peak. Finally, advertising didn't seem to be the biggest focus -- original content was -- and this was compounded by the fact that repurposed content ala Hulu is still an advertiser medium of choice.
I very much hope that Wallstrip’s demise doesn't dampen the enthusiasm from other niche web video producers!
Cybercast credit: YouTube
For those unfamiliar with "Wallstrip," it has been the "pop culture meets stock culture" (as described by the site) video site that examined "hot" stocks and attempted to provide a down-to-earth explanation of why they were so hot.
What makes this story significant is that "Wallstrip" was one of, if not the first, online video original-production success story. Launched in 2006 with little more than some industry buzz and promotion by noteworthy financial and technology bloggers and about $500,000 in funding, it was acquired less than a year later for a rumored $5 million by CBS Interactive. See my first post, dated March 31, about it here.
There's been little released about why "Wallstrip" is being shuttered, but clearly difficulty in monetizing a site about hot stocks during the worst stock market since the Great Depression was the major reason.
While this is disappointing, we can probably learn a few good lessons from the "Wallstrip" story. CBS probably agrees, as they plan to use the “Wallstrip model” for their BNet property.
What is the “secret” of Wallstrip? In short, it "got it," at least from a viewer perspective. The creators took a fun, educational approach to what is a difficult to understand or even boring topic and built a following among a coveted audience (higher income financial enthusiasts). Episodes were relatively short, averaging 3-4 minutes at most, always entertaining, and came out three times a week due to the low production costs involved. Finally, users were kept engaged long after the clip ended with discussion boards and voting tools.
Why did it prove to be so difficult to monetize Wallstrip? The economic environment has no doubt been a factor -- perhaps the biggest one. Traffic has had to be a factor, too. According to Quantcast, "Wallstrip" only reached 14,000 users a month at its peak. Finally, advertising didn't seem to be the biggest focus -- original content was -- and this was compounded by the fact that repurposed content ala Hulu is still an advertiser medium of choice.
I very much hope that Wallstrip’s demise doesn't dampen the enthusiasm from other niche web video producers!
Cybercast credit: YouTube
February 1, 2009
Obama Inauguration: A Big Day for iTV Too
While Obama’s inauguration day was a day of many milestones in U.S. history, it was also a big day for web-internet-interactive-mobile television. Today's online video technology either didn't exist during the last inauguration or was in its infancy. Online video, the social Web, and mobile applications took center stage, as millions worldwide accessed and shared the inauguration experience and information online.
For online video specifically, a record number of Americans viewed the event at work, school, or at home. According to Akamai, a record 7.7 million viewers did so simultaneously, making it the most-watched live event in online video's history.
Outside of some expected capacity issues that excluded some users from accessing the stream optimally, the inauguration online was by most reports a success. Some long-time online video enthusiasts might remember an event almost exactly 10 years ago that did not go as well.
By the headline and sub-header, we surely have come a long way. For me, the web stream was moving even faster online than on cable TV!
I also downloaded the Ustream app for my iPhone the day before and thus was able to watch the inauguration while on the road. (No, I was NOT driving!) According to Ustream, over 100,000 users downloaded this application before the inauguration, making it the 6th most popular application in the iTunes store.
This certainly has the hallmarks of a major breakthrough in mobile and online video. I do expect live sporting events and the like to follow shortly, as sports fans, for a reasonable fee, sign up by the millions to watch their games whenever an wherever they want.
PS. I’m told, that if you had a Facebook account, you could log in via Facebook Connect while watching the CNN.com live stream.
For online video specifically, a record number of Americans viewed the event at work, school, or at home. According to Akamai, a record 7.7 million viewers did so simultaneously, making it the most-watched live event in online video's history.
Outside of some expected capacity issues that excluded some users from accessing the stream optimally, the inauguration online was by most reports a success. Some long-time online video enthusiasts might remember an event almost exactly 10 years ago that did not go as well.
By the headline and sub-header, we surely have come a long way. For me, the web stream was moving even faster online than on cable TV!
I also downloaded the Ustream app for my iPhone the day before and thus was able to watch the inauguration while on the road. (No, I was NOT driving!) According to Ustream, over 100,000 users downloaded this application before the inauguration, making it the 6th most popular application in the iTunes store.
This certainly has the hallmarks of a major breakthrough in mobile and online video. I do expect live sporting events and the like to follow shortly, as sports fans, for a reasonable fee, sign up by the millions to watch their games whenever an wherever they want.
PS. I’m told, that if you had a Facebook account, you could log in via Facebook Connect while watching the CNN.com live stream.
January 29, 2009
Infusing YouTube Videos Into Your Powerpoint Presentations
SlideShare, a mix between PowerPoint and YouTube now allows you to embed YouTube videos into your Flash-based presentations.
Now you can:
1. Include personal introductions in your slideshows
2. Offer video that supports the contents of the rest of the presentation
3. Include demonstrations of a website’s features.
Until now, adding video in to your presentation meant that you had to include links to separate video files, which sort of defeated the purpose of having a really simple way to share PowerPoint presentations.
Keep in mind that it isn’t currently possible to make a video auto-play; also you must deal with YouTube’s standard "feature" of linking to a video’s YouTube address whenever you accidentally click outside of the "Play" arrow. Other than that, it’s a great addition to the service. Also notable, that while this is the first time SlideShare has supported embedded video, the site has allowed users to embed audio alongside their slideshows since 2007.
You can check out a sample slideshow below.
SlideShare also launched an impressive "cloud-based" feature that ties your native PowerPoint client your SlideShare account.
Similar online services include SlideRocket, DocStoc, Scribd, SlideSix, and SlideBoom.
Cybercast credit: SlideShare and YouTube
Now you can:
1. Include personal introductions in your slideshows
2. Offer video that supports the contents of the rest of the presentation
3. Include demonstrations of a website’s features.
Until now, adding video in to your presentation meant that you had to include links to separate video files, which sort of defeated the purpose of having a really simple way to share PowerPoint presentations.
Keep in mind that it isn’t currently possible to make a video auto-play; also you must deal with YouTube’s standard "feature" of linking to a video’s YouTube address whenever you accidentally click outside of the "Play" arrow. Other than that, it’s a great addition to the service. Also notable, that while this is the first time SlideShare has supported embedded video, the site has allowed users to embed audio alongside their slideshows since 2007.
You can check out a sample slideshow below.
SlideShare also launched an impressive "cloud-based" feature that ties your native PowerPoint client your SlideShare account.
Similar online services include SlideRocket, DocStoc, Scribd, SlideSix, and SlideBoom.
Cybercast credit: SlideShare and YouTube
January 26, 2009
The YouTube Wedding of Television and the Internet
At long last, the goal of marrying television and the Internet seems to be happening!
New TV sets that come with networking connections built directly into them require no additional set-top boxes to get online. At the same time, many viewers are finding more attractive entertainment and information choices on the Internet -- and have already set up home networks for their PCs and laptops that can also move video and other multimedia content to their TV sets.
For starters, Netflix's online-video service will be available on a new line of high-definition TVs from LG Electronics. Netflix just announced a deal with Korea's LG Electronics Inc., that will make a Netflix online-video service available on a new line of high-definition TV sets from LG due out this spring. The online service offers 12,000 movie and television titles.
Amid other developments pegged to the just concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Yahoo Inc. and Intel Corp. also announced support from several major consumer-electronics companies to sell TV sets that come with software, dubbed widgets, that make it easier to call up Web content on TV sets using ordinary remote controls rather than computer keyboards.
"You are going to see very broad adoption of this open technology by the best brands in the TV industry -- not just for specialty products but deeply penetrated in their product lines," said Patrick Barry, Yahoo's vice president of connected TV in Vegas.
While similarly optimistic statements have been made by industry executives since the mid-1990s, the topic remains a hot one in high-tech circles because of the potential impact on existing business models in the entertainment industry. Instead of the often expensive packages of video content from cable and satellite providers, the Internet could theoretically deliver a much wider array of entertainment and information choices -- many of them free.
Intel, Apple, and others have promoted specially tailored PCs, set-top boxes, and other new devices to bring video from the Internet to living-room TV sets. Computer makers now believe we will be more receptive, as Internet connections become a standard feature on TV sets, high-definition movie players and videogame consoles.
"The number of people who watch an entire TV show on their laptops has tripled," says Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist who is director of the user experience group in Intel's digital-home group. But Ms. Bell says research by the company also suggests that many people also have extremely strong bonds to their TV sets. So any effort to add Internet content needs to be just as simple and not interfere with the experiences and behavior patterns the users enjoy. That means, she says, using a conventional remote control -- not some kind of computer keyboard, or a PC-style Web browser of the sort that emerged as a TV option in the 1990s.
These findings are one reason why Intel -- which in 2007 abandoned an effort to promote multimedia PCs under Viiv -- became a supporter of what Yahoo calls the Widget Channel. Their collaboration is designed to create a standard way for Web services to be unobtrusively offered up on TV sets.
The widget displays a strip of icons for Web offerings on the bottom of a TV screen, while traditional programming plays above. Click on one of the icons with the remote and it opens a larger window on the left side of the screen. Click again and the window will take up the entire screen. You could pull up an Internet weather report, for example, or photos stored on Yahoo's Flickr service.
Yahoo and its hardware partners initially will act as gatekeepers in overseeing such offerings -- a bit like Apple does with its store for iPhone software, but they plan to keep the process open and non-discriminatory. Intel plans to offer chips to manage the widget software in Internet-equipped TV sets and set-top boxes, but its hardware will not be required.
However, there is a downside...
The technology required to include Internet capabilities in TV sets does add about $300 more than comparably-sized sets without online capabilities.
Are YOU willing to fork over that much money in this recession? And if not now, when?
New TV sets that come with networking connections built directly into them require no additional set-top boxes to get online. At the same time, many viewers are finding more attractive entertainment and information choices on the Internet -- and have already set up home networks for their PCs and laptops that can also move video and other multimedia content to their TV sets.
For starters, Netflix's online-video service will be available on a new line of high-definition TVs from LG Electronics. Netflix just announced a deal with Korea's LG Electronics Inc., that will make a Netflix online-video service available on a new line of high-definition TV sets from LG due out this spring. The online service offers 12,000 movie and television titles.
Amid other developments pegged to the just concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Yahoo Inc. and Intel Corp. also announced support from several major consumer-electronics companies to sell TV sets that come with software, dubbed widgets, that make it easier to call up Web content on TV sets using ordinary remote controls rather than computer keyboards.
"You are going to see very broad adoption of this open technology by the best brands in the TV industry -- not just for specialty products but deeply penetrated in their product lines," said Patrick Barry, Yahoo's vice president of connected TV in Vegas.
While similarly optimistic statements have been made by industry executives since the mid-1990s, the topic remains a hot one in high-tech circles because of the potential impact on existing business models in the entertainment industry. Instead of the often expensive packages of video content from cable and satellite providers, the Internet could theoretically deliver a much wider array of entertainment and information choices -- many of them free.
Intel, Apple, and others have promoted specially tailored PCs, set-top boxes, and other new devices to bring video from the Internet to living-room TV sets. Computer makers now believe we will be more receptive, as Internet connections become a standard feature on TV sets, high-definition movie players and videogame consoles.
"The number of people who watch an entire TV show on their laptops has tripled," says Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist who is director of the user experience group in Intel's digital-home group. But Ms. Bell says research by the company also suggests that many people also have extremely strong bonds to their TV sets. So any effort to add Internet content needs to be just as simple and not interfere with the experiences and behavior patterns the users enjoy. That means, she says, using a conventional remote control -- not some kind of computer keyboard, or a PC-style Web browser of the sort that emerged as a TV option in the 1990s.
These findings are one reason why Intel -- which in 2007 abandoned an effort to promote multimedia PCs under Viiv -- became a supporter of what Yahoo calls the Widget Channel. Their collaboration is designed to create a standard way for Web services to be unobtrusively offered up on TV sets.
The widget displays a strip of icons for Web offerings on the bottom of a TV screen, while traditional programming plays above. Click on one of the icons with the remote and it opens a larger window on the left side of the screen. Click again and the window will take up the entire screen. You could pull up an Internet weather report, for example, or photos stored on Yahoo's Flickr service.
Yahoo and its hardware partners initially will act as gatekeepers in overseeing such offerings -- a bit like Apple does with its store for iPhone software, but they plan to keep the process open and non-discriminatory. Intel plans to offer chips to manage the widget software in Internet-equipped TV sets and set-top boxes, but its hardware will not be required.
However, there is a downside...
The technology required to include Internet capabilities in TV sets does add about $300 more than comparably-sized sets without online capabilities.
Are YOU willing to fork over that much money in this recession? And if not now, when?
January 23, 2009
Make: Television Debutes on public TV
A new TV show based on one of my favorite magazines, MAKE, debuted online and on public television (broadcast / cable tv) just a few weeks ago. Being from the old school, I prefer reading, but hey, this blog is for the print copy challenged. OK, just kidding….
Each half-hour episode hopes to inspire you to think create, and, well, make. Also, each episode can be viewed or downloaded DRM-free (that is without any digital right management wrapper), in HD from makezine.tv. The show is also available on Vimeo, YouTube, Blip.tv and iTunes.
See if you get inspired:
And here are links to newer episodes too:
1. ttp://www.makezine.tv/
2. http://www.vimeo.com/make
3. http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=makemagazine
4. http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=74069835 &s=143441
Making it to the show is now easy. Making time for it is hard.
Cybercast credit: Blip.tv
Each half-hour episode hopes to inspire you to think create, and, well, make. Also, each episode can be viewed or downloaded DRM-free (that is without any digital right management wrapper), in HD from makezine.tv. The show is also available on Vimeo, YouTube, Blip.tv and iTunes.
See if you get inspired:
And here are links to newer episodes too:
1. ttp://www.makezine.tv/
2. http://www.vimeo.com/make
3. http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=makemagazine
4. http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=74069835 &s=143441
Making it to the show is now easy. Making time for it is hard.
Cybercast credit: Blip.tv
January 20, 2009
DIY Video Ad, the AdGrinder Way
Using AdGrinder, any size business can create a high-quality video advertisement without breaking the bank. Instead of having to choose between pre-made ads that are used by multiple businesses, AdGrinder let?s you build your unique ad the way you want to. Choose your own images and your own background music, add your own text and provide your own voice-over.
In five steps and in less than three minutes, and without having or needing any technical skill, you can have a video ad, that is ready to bring you customers and spread the word about your business or service. Here is how:
1. Pick your template from our online catalog, choosing the look that works best for your product or service.
2. Upload your photos just like you would to a photo sharing service, picking the images that best convey the message you want to give.
3. Then choose your background music from our expansive library.
4. Finish by adding text to your ad to highlight its special features.
5. When all the pieces are in place, "Grind your Ad."
And the cost? Only $99 per video created. NOT BAD!
Once you video is ready, you will be able to use the Campaign Manager to place your video throughout the Net. You’ll choose your budget, your keywords and the area codes you want your ad to appear in. Adgrinder does the rest.
To track you video's "uptake," you’ll get a report every week showing you where your ad has appeared and how often it was viewed.
Customer comments are welcome - I don't know when I'll be able to test it myself.
In five steps and in less than three minutes, and without having or needing any technical skill, you can have a video ad, that is ready to bring you customers and spread the word about your business or service. Here is how:
1. Pick your template from our online catalog, choosing the look that works best for your product or service.
2. Upload your photos just like you would to a photo sharing service, picking the images that best convey the message you want to give.
3. Then choose your background music from our expansive library.
4. Finish by adding text to your ad to highlight its special features.
5. When all the pieces are in place, "Grind your Ad."
And the cost? Only $99 per video created. NOT BAD!
Once you video is ready, you will be able to use the Campaign Manager to place your video throughout the Net. You’ll choose your budget, your keywords and the area codes you want your ad to appear in. Adgrinder does the rest.
To track you video's "uptake," you’ll get a report every week showing you where your ad has appeared and how often it was viewed.
Customer comments are welcome - I don't know when I'll be able to test it myself.
January 17, 2009
Steal This Video with Story Blender
Story Blender is an online collaborative video production site where you can work together with others to "blend" your, and others media for rich, interactive storytelling. COOL!
Story Blender CEO Hyoung Yong Joon is the original founder of cyworldcom, saycupid.com , kukubox.com, and nplugs.com. Although the site is "beta," Yong's experience shines through - the tutorials, Blend Studio, overall layout, ease of use are all first class. There is really no need to spend time with the tutorials if you already have some (rudimentary) video making experience online.
And to show that he does do what he preaches, here is his own video, the Santa Cons and Salvation Army:
Your challenge, if you feel brave enough to accept it, is to remake this (hint: use the green Remake button) skit into the kind of Christmas story even the real Santa Claus could be proud of. Don't worry, you have a whole year to do it....
Besides the standard (by now) webcam and voice inputs, you can also "blend" in Google Maps overlays and data, which is something I have not seen yet on other sites covered earlier, like Animoto or JibJab.
I fully expect other, useful and fun features in the final 1.0 version, and will report on them as they appear.
Cybercast credit: Story Blender
Story Blender CEO Hyoung Yong Joon is the original founder of cyworldcom, saycupid.com , kukubox.com, and nplugs.com. Although the site is "beta," Yong's experience shines through - the tutorials, Blend Studio, overall layout, ease of use are all first class. There is really no need to spend time with the tutorials if you already have some (rudimentary) video making experience online.
And to show that he does do what he preaches, here is his own video, the Santa Cons and Salvation Army:
Your challenge, if you feel brave enough to accept it, is to remake this (hint: use the green Remake button) skit into the kind of Christmas story even the real Santa Claus could be proud of. Don't worry, you have a whole year to do it....
Besides the standard (by now) webcam and voice inputs, you can also "blend" in Google Maps overlays and data, which is something I have not seen yet on other sites covered earlier, like Animoto or JibJab.
I fully expect other, useful and fun features in the final 1.0 version, and will report on them as they appear.
Cybercast credit: Story Blender
January 14, 2009
Making Money with Training Videos, Part 1: DigitalChalk
DigitalChalk's teaching and training video making (OK, not just video, but multimedia) tools are available online with no software to buy or download. As an instructor, you now have the ability to create dynamic multimedia courses to engage your students, making their learning experience interactive and fun for them. And checking your bank account fun for you.
Build video courses online at no cost?
You upload, design and deliver multimedia training courses online. DigitalChalk will then charge a small fee to deliver the courses to your students online.
Instructor Account
- Sell your courses online! With the Instructor Account, DigitalChalk will pay you every time someone takes your course. You publish your courses on DigitalChalk, they collect the student enrollment fee and deliver the course automatically.
Every month they send you a statement showing how many courses you sold and a check for the fees collected, less a small course delivery fee and 2.5% for credit card processing.
Business Account
- Pay only for what you need. You can publish on-demand training courses in a privately branded account for your business. You are provided with all the course authoring, student tracking, testing and reporting services you need. This means that you no longer have to buy an expensive LMS or complicated authoring software when you have everything you need to deliver e-learning to your employees in one simple-to-use service.
Online training seems to be coming alive now with reliable "Web 2.0" authoring, delivery, and payment technologies leading the way. I'll cover another startup, Dojo Learning in an upcoming posting. Stay tuned!
Build video courses online at no cost?
You upload, design and deliver multimedia training courses online. DigitalChalk will then charge a small fee to deliver the courses to your students online.
Instructor Account
- Sell your courses online! With the Instructor Account, DigitalChalk will pay you every time someone takes your course. You publish your courses on DigitalChalk, they collect the student enrollment fee and deliver the course automatically.
Every month they send you a statement showing how many courses you sold and a check for the fees collected, less a small course delivery fee and 2.5% for credit card processing.
Business Account
- Pay only for what you need. You can publish on-demand training courses in a privately branded account for your business. You are provided with all the course authoring, student tracking, testing and reporting services you need. This means that you no longer have to buy an expensive LMS or complicated authoring software when you have everything you need to deliver e-learning to your employees in one simple-to-use service.
Online training seems to be coming alive now with reliable "Web 2.0" authoring, delivery, and payment technologies leading the way. I'll cover another startup, Dojo Learning in an upcoming posting. Stay tuned!
January 11, 2009
Openfilm - Independent Filmmakers Unite!
Openfilm (beta) is a new video sharing site and online community of independent filmmakers, film schools, festivals and audiences who want to discover, watch, and share the best web video in high-definition, for free.
For a beta site, it is fully functional, beautifully designed, and easy to navigate. HD is a BIG plus! They've just added:
Recommendations
To check out current video recommendations from their editors.
Reviews
In this section they deconstruct some of the best works on the site.
Blogs
Where staff members share production tips, industry news, and other stuff.
Film Festivals
Search and browse a huge database of festivals past, present, and future.
RSS Feeds
Subscribe and stay updated about the content of almost every page.
Here is animated video, titled "Monsters" by Brion, that I like. Enjoy!
Cybercast credit: OpenFilm
For a beta site, it is fully functional, beautifully designed, and easy to navigate. HD is a BIG plus! They've just added:
Recommendations
To check out current video recommendations from their editors.
Reviews
In this section they deconstruct some of the best works on the site.
Blogs
Where staff members share production tips, industry news, and other stuff.
Film Festivals
Search and browse a huge database of festivals past, present, and future.
RSS Feeds
Subscribe and stay updated about the content of almost every page.
Here is animated video, titled "Monsters" by Brion, that I like. Enjoy!
Cybercast credit: OpenFilm
January 8, 2009
Blip'd Internet Video Breakthrough
Blip’d is a new form of online media display, designed to benefit everyone posting video online. The Blip’d Media Format (BMF) provides user controlled monetization and measurement capabilities directly within Flash Internet Video.
Ahhh...music to my ears!
It replaces your existing embedded players with a new flash file that wraps around existing video hosted at many popular video sharing sites. Blip’d extends your viewer's engagement with additional media and marketing content you add as a transparent overlay to your Flash file; however, it is detached from the video stream itself.
As an independent video producer, now you can now place marketing or any other content within any video you produce. Instead of placing hypervideo links over the video as you currently do to direct traffic to your site, viewers can buy directly through your widgets, that are associated with the video’s content before, during or after watching the video. You can use any hosted image, widget or video to build your media overlay, which remains detached from your video file.
Viewers simply move their mouse to hit the play button. When the mouse is over the video screen, a thumbnail of attached media is briefly displayed for about 5 seconds. The viewer can immediately ignore the media thumbnail, called a “blip” and hit the play button on the host video player’s menu without delay. Moving the mouse away from the video screen makes the blip disappear like it never even happened.
BMF creates a whole new experience, giving you the only non-disruptive user controlled social media format at present. Also, Blipd.com is not a destination site. You use it to set up and manage your video overlays. As a member, you are given a user profile that automatically stores the embed codes of all of your blip’d videos. Even if you change video hosts, the embed code remains the same.
The Blip’d Media Format extends online video with a human powered social media marketplace that measures distribution and viewer engagement. It promises to be a scalable monetization, syndication, measurement, and broadcast service to any flash hosted video, supporting your the growth of independent video producers like us.
Ahhh...music to my ears!
It replaces your existing embedded players with a new flash file that wraps around existing video hosted at many popular video sharing sites. Blip’d extends your viewer's engagement with additional media and marketing content you add as a transparent overlay to your Flash file; however, it is detached from the video stream itself.
As an independent video producer, now you can now place marketing or any other content within any video you produce. Instead of placing hypervideo links over the video as you currently do to direct traffic to your site, viewers can buy directly through your widgets, that are associated with the video’s content before, during or after watching the video. You can use any hosted image, widget or video to build your media overlay, which remains detached from your video file.
Viewers simply move their mouse to hit the play button. When the mouse is over the video screen, a thumbnail of attached media is briefly displayed for about 5 seconds. The viewer can immediately ignore the media thumbnail, called a “blip” and hit the play button on the host video player’s menu without delay. Moving the mouse away from the video screen makes the blip disappear like it never even happened.
BMF creates a whole new experience, giving you the only non-disruptive user controlled social media format at present. Also, Blipd.com is not a destination site. You use it to set up and manage your video overlays. As a member, you are given a user profile that automatically stores the embed codes of all of your blip’d videos. Even if you change video hosts, the embed code remains the same.
The Blip’d Media Format extends online video with a human powered social media marketplace that measures distribution and viewer engagement. It promises to be a scalable monetization, syndication, measurement, and broadcast service to any flash hosted video, supporting your the growth of independent video producers like us.
January 5, 2009
Getting your message out on YouTube can be now “semi-automated” with the introduction of Tube Toolbox. Tube Toolbox is YouTube software often referred to as a "YouTube Friend Bot", "YouTube Friend Adder", "Social Marketing Software", "Video Marketing Software" or simply a "YouTube Marketing Tool".
Youtube Takeover bills this software as a “revolutionary software that will forever change the way you approach marketing on YouTube” It promises to:
* Get Friends
* Get Video Views
* Get Profile Views
* Get Subscribers
* Get Exposure
for you, your product, service, or whatever else you're hawking. Here is how it's supposed to work:
Specifically, Tube Toolbox is a "Friend Bot," that automates Friend Requests, Messages, Comments, and Sharing Videos. Set up a few parameters, click 'Start' and walk away. It will then work with your friends list, increase subscribers, increase channel views, increase video views, gain popularity, get into the top videos section, with the ultimate result being an increasing your exposure.
For example, using Tube Toolbox, you can send 100's or 1000's of Friend Requests, Messages, Comments or Subscription Invites, after setting up your parameters and clicking a start button.
I’m tempted to conduct a use-test, except for the fact that’s touted as “revolutionary software,” which immediately sends the wrong signal to me. If you’re a brave soul, will you let me and other readers know of your experience? Thanks!
Cybercast credit: YouTube... of course!!!
Youtube Takeover bills this software as a “revolutionary software that will forever change the way you approach marketing on YouTube” It promises to:
* Get Friends
* Get Video Views
* Get Profile Views
* Get Subscribers
* Get Exposure
for you, your product, service, or whatever else you're hawking. Here is how it's supposed to work:
Specifically, Tube Toolbox is a "Friend Bot," that automates Friend Requests, Messages, Comments, and Sharing Videos. Set up a few parameters, click 'Start' and walk away. It will then work with your friends list, increase subscribers, increase channel views, increase video views, gain popularity, get into the top videos section, with the ultimate result being an increasing your exposure.
For example, using Tube Toolbox, you can send 100's or 1000's of Friend Requests, Messages, Comments or Subscription Invites, after setting up your parameters and clicking a start button.
I’m tempted to conduct a use-test, except for the fact that’s touted as “revolutionary software,” which immediately sends the wrong signal to me. If you’re a brave soul, will you let me and other readers know of your experience? Thanks!
Cybercast credit: YouTube... of course!!!
January 2, 2009
Is Jinni the Pandora of Movies?
Jinni.com, in beta now, is a search and recommendation engine built specifically for movies. So, what does this tech talk mean to the rest of us?
For starters, you can:
• Search with the engine that understands movies
• Get recommendations that fit your unique taste
• Explore the best of the multiplex and beyond
• Watch wherever you choose
How It Works - The Movie "Genome"
Inside, the "Genome" is broadly divided in two:
• Experience - the mood and tone of the content
• Story - plot elements (One man army, Battle of the sexes), structures (Nonlinear, Story-within-a-story), flags (Violence, Nudity, oohhh NO!) and more.
It also includes many external aspects like awards.
The starting point is manual tagging by Jinni's film professionals. Each title has around fifty "genes," among thousands of possibilities. Then, using advanced machine-learning technology, Jinni's system parses the manual tags to begin automated tagging. This creates a level of consistency that we ordinary humans can't reach - especially important for similarity matches and recommendations, which won't work unless you compare apples to apples and battles to battles as often as possible. Users who vote on "genes," along with the Jinni team, constantly check and improve the accuracy of machine tagging.
Recommendations
Jinni thinks the best recommendations use man and machine. A machine can deeply analyze the type of content you like, to learn about your unique taste. People can share their personal favorites and opinions about what they've seen (in a way no machine can do, as yet). Jinni isn't a social network, it's a service designed to fit how people experience media - and dialogues about movies and shows are part of that.
Jinni recommends by comparing YOUR Taste Types and the genes of all the titles in their catalogue, figuring in your preferences (movies or TV, in theaters or online) and some other filters. Simplistically, if you have the "genes" for Gloomy Love Triangles, they'll recommend titles with those dominant "genes." As a user, you receive recommendations from Jinni, your Movie Circle, your Neighbors (people Jinni identifies as having taste similar to yours), and your Groups.
While this all sounds great, hip, and cool, I'd drop "genes" and "genome" as describers of how Jinni is meant to work. "Simplistically speaking," they are confusing and unnecessary. At least to me.
For starters, you can:
• Search with the engine that understands movies
• Get recommendations that fit your unique taste
• Explore the best of the multiplex and beyond
• Watch wherever you choose
How It Works - The Movie "Genome"
Inside, the "Genome" is broadly divided in two:
• Experience - the mood and tone of the content
• Story - plot elements (One man army, Battle of the sexes), structures (Nonlinear, Story-within-a-story), flags (Violence, Nudity, oohhh NO!) and more.
It also includes many external aspects like awards.
The starting point is manual tagging by Jinni's film professionals. Each title has around fifty "genes," among thousands of possibilities. Then, using advanced machine-learning technology, Jinni's system parses the manual tags to begin automated tagging. This creates a level of consistency that we ordinary humans can't reach - especially important for similarity matches and recommendations, which won't work unless you compare apples to apples and battles to battles as often as possible. Users who vote on "genes," along with the Jinni team, constantly check and improve the accuracy of machine tagging.
Recommendations
Jinni thinks the best recommendations use man and machine. A machine can deeply analyze the type of content you like, to learn about your unique taste. People can share their personal favorites and opinions about what they've seen (in a way no machine can do, as yet). Jinni isn't a social network, it's a service designed to fit how people experience media - and dialogues about movies and shows are part of that.
Jinni recommends by comparing YOUR Taste Types and the genes of all the titles in their catalogue, figuring in your preferences (movies or TV, in theaters or online) and some other filters. Simplistically, if you have the "genes" for Gloomy Love Triangles, they'll recommend titles with those dominant "genes." As a user, you receive recommendations from Jinni, your Movie Circle, your Neighbors (people Jinni identifies as having taste similar to yours), and your Groups.
While this all sounds great, hip, and cool, I'd drop "genes" and "genome" as describers of how Jinni is meant to work. "Simplistically speaking," they are confusing and unnecessary. At least to me.
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