Media
The Loonacy of Mainstream Media
Dec 19th
Believe it or not, there's actually a story on CNN giving advice to parents on what they should tell their kids about Britney Spear's younger sister's pregnancy at 16 years old.
This article is way to long. It takes up an entire page. The solution is simple on what to tell your kids about Britney Spears and her sister's troubles:
NOTHING
That's right. Who cares? I mean, why is the media obsessed with Britney? Do you really want to talk to your kids about someone you don't care about, and they likely don't either?
I really can't imagine anyone hinging on the latest news about Britney Spears. And if they are, well, that's really kinda sad.
<!–break–>
The End Of TV
Nov 23rd
When I was a kid, I remember watching an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and listening in disbelief as Data told a 20th century person brought back from a cryogenic freeze that television didn't persist more than 10 to 20 years into the 21st century.
I was watching TV when I saw this of course, so I immediately dismissed this. Being born in 1980, I have known TV all of my life. Life without some sort of television viewing seemed strange to me, and since inventions like radio, which had been around nearly a hundred years was still strong at the time, I didn't think that prediction made sense.
It turns out though, Data was right.
Fast forward to about 5 years ago. A good friend of mine, Ted Newkirk of AccessVegas.com, started gearing his site up for streaming video. I wrote his video CMS, which isn't terribly different from YouTube now, not really knowing if it would take off or not. It didn't, but not because it wasn't a good idea, it was just a bit too early.
Then YouTube and other sites like it changed the face of video, forever. It didn't help television's case that TiVo and similar DVR's (digital video recorders) were slowly eliminating TV's biggest moneymaker – commercial ads. This perfect storm of innovation, cheaper broadband access, and a growing distaste for TV commercials (along with the growing ability to skip them) crashed ashore with more vengeance than anyone imagined. We're still weathering the storm.
The current writer's strike is just one more example of changing times. Even big media companies aren't sure how the future of video entertainment will work out.
One thing's for sure – the world is now becoming on demand, thanks to the Internet. It's time television followed suit.
Video on Demand from Comcast and other cable providers is an example of media companies trying to find out where things are going. But is VOD on the television via traditional TV cable the future? I don't think so. Are sites like YouTube the way television entertainment is headed? I don't think so either. I believe the prevailing solution that will eventually replace the concept we know of as the television will be a synergy of the two, accessing video on demand via the Internet in a more friendly and media-center way.
Either way, we know this much for certain. The television entertainment industry will not be the same in 15 years.
Data was pretty smart, huh?
<!–break–>
Stop The Dancing Ads Please
Nov 21st
I'm also going to complaint a bit about those annoying little dancing ads. Usually they're for mortgages (why in the world that market is still able to afford banner ads on high-end websites I'm not sure), but this one that pushed me over the edge to the point of blogging about it was for continuing your education online:
They're annoying. They actually degrade your message, and if you're trying to covey something like excellence in an online education facility, a dancing person isn't going to do that.
Oh, and while I'm at it, the free iPod ads should stop too.
<!–break–>
Ahead of the Curve
May 24th
I had an interesting e-mail conversation with my good friend Ted Newkirk about Web 2.0 buzzwords like podcasting, RSS, and other related terms. If you're into technology and follow its trends and advancements, you know these words well. So well in fact that for some people they've become parts of their daily life.
If you're reading this post, chances are you're one of those people who read blogs, listen to podcasts, or know about (and possibly use) RSS. What's easy to forget is that we make up a slim minority of Internet users, and it's important that we keep that perspective in mind.
I hear colleagues in my field say things all the time like “everyone uses RSS” and “of course they'll listen to a podcast”, when in reality, they are only talking about 1-3% of Internet users in general. This isn't to say this small portion is better, it's just different.
The vast majority of Internet users communicate through e-mail almost exclusively and do not use social networking tools or web 2.0 technologies in their daily life. Ted illustrated this point well with this comment:
I watch about 3 hours a week of specialized programming related to business, politics, or Las Vegas (or a combination of the three). This doesn't include podcasts. I'm talking about actual TV shows. It dawned on me that if I just listened to them as a podcast, I could get through them much faster and easier. With TV, you have to be around a TV even if you are just basically listening to the show. Even if you tape it and watch it later, you have to be around the TV.
Naturally, I figured that each of these shows would have a podcast. They are popular shows. Guess what… none of them did. I was amazed. It kind of reminded me that the stuff we take for granted as everyday stuff is ahead of the curve for most people.
What I take from this, and what I think is the most important part of this observation from Ted, is that while it's fine to live in the future and use these exciting new technologies, if you're designing Web 2.0 technologies or thinking about implementing them in your website, it's important to remember that only a small portion of people are using these things. Even though some of these concepts like podcasting and RSS have been around for several years, the general public isn't there yet. To assume that “everyone will use it” or even that they will know how is a mistake.
That said, don't let that stop you from implimenting things. Technology doesn't advance without people to advance it. But true innovation is born out of noticing what people need and providing it for them, not deploying new advancements just for the sake of having them.