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The Internet disrupts a lot of old businesses. It doesn't do away with them, but it changes them. MP3 has changed the way the recording industry works. Amazon has changed the way books are bought and sold. A lot of people in the TV business think they're immune to that trend. Not only is it crazy to think you are immune, but to survive you've got to embrace the inevitability that the Internet will overwhelm the TV business. What the Web does is call into question the need for programming for mass audiences. It's going to put that notion, which has been the bedrock assumption of TV for the last 50 years, under question. There's a big reaction among consumers against packaged, slick and promoted content targeted at an audience. People have an instinctive reaction against that stuff now. They are looking for something raw, unadorned, original and not as slickly produced. What the Web is really great at is self-expression and connecting like-minded people. So the issue for media companies is that a multitude of individuals are springing up who don't necessarily need to consume those old products because they're busy making and exchanging their own content. You talk a lot about turning the cell phone into a "video walkie-talkie." But that sounds a lot like the picture phone. People have been talking about picture phones for over 35 years but the idea has never caught on with the public. There are all kinds of reasons why a picture phone doesn't make sense. Like video conferencing -- you have to go over to a part of your house that is set up for it. There's nothing convenient about that. What we're talking about here is a mobile device with a video option. According to Bloomberg News, there may be a billion cell phones on the planet by 2003. What would be the implications if everyone had a "video walkie-talkie"? If everyone gets a video walkie-talkie, then everyone will be a potential electronic news gatherer. Episodes like the Rodney King incident will be ubiquitous. The eyes of the world will be everywhere all the time. We didn't have a good picture of what was happening in East Timor recently because there wasn't a good way for people to get the images out. It sounds like there may be geopolitical implications if this kind of technology actually catches on. There's an old phrase -- out of sight, out of mind. There's no question that improving communications has a geopolitical impact. This is a deeply empowering technology for people. Instead of getting the processed, programmed point of view, you'll be able to upload your own point of view. Getting back to Hollywood, what other ways will digital networked technology change the entertainment industry? TV content is dumb -- not as content, but as data. It's not self-aware, interactive, indexed, searchable or dynamic. Once a program is on tape it becomes fixed media, like shrink-wrapped games for computers. The problem with products like that in a networked economy is that they become commoditized. Video libraries are destined for commodization. What every program provider needs to work on is how to add layers of service, content and information on top of that fixed linear programming. Let's imagine a world where sports programming is encoded live and indexed for all key plays. One index may be how loud the audience cheers. Let's say that PacketVideo has a deal with a video provider to deliver sports highlights to mobile wireless customers. Imagine a busy traveling businessman who loves sports and signs up for this program. He doesn't have a lot of free time and he's stuck at the airport. He wants sports video but only wants to see the big plays. He says "Sports. Football highlights" into his cell phone -- I'm convinced we'll have speech to text recognition on these things. The command goes back through the server and scans all the indexed sports footage for the past weekend and brings up the big plays. That service is one way to take linear video content, repackage it and make it valuable enough for someone to pay a subscription for it. What is the ultimate wireless vision? Imagine a world where processors are embedded in everything, wireless bandwidth is abundant and flat and flexible screens are available. That will be a world where video images are as ubiquitous as paper is today. Everywhere you see a poster, sign or ad, imagine a video screen in its place. It will be a world aglow in constant activity and fabulous images, communicating relevant information. Take a billboard on a bus. As a bus moves through different parts of town, the ads will change depending on the time of day, the part of town and traffic conditions. During rush hour that ad space will be more valuable to advertisers than at other times. Aren't people already suffering from information and sensory overload? We haven't seen anything yet. The fun thing about traveling overseas is coming home and realizing how saturated we are with media in the U.S. You begin to think you've reached your limit and can't absorb another video image. Well, you can always absorb another video image. We're going to be awash in a rich media stew.
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About the writer Sound off Related Salon stories Broadband warrior Tom Jermoluk takes on everyone from America Online to the local phone company in his bid to connect with the consumer.
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