Meet Koh and Yurie. They're a happily married young Japanese couple who moved from Tokyo to San Francisco a year ago due to a job transfer. In early September, while on a business trip back home, Koh bought a new game cartridge for his Nintendo DS. It was mostly out of curiosity — the Japanese Twitterati were all abuzz over a new dating sim called Love Plus, and he just wanted to see what the hype was about. "I've tried the other dating sims before just for kicks, but I never got hooked," he says. "I didn't expect this to be any different." He was wrong.
During that one week in Tokyo, Koh found himself fully committed to his virtual relationship with Rinko, a pouty, hard-ass high school girl who hung out at the library. The relationship was formal at first, consisting of awkward whispered conversations in which she sent mixed signals and called him by his last name. As things got more heated, though, she started calling him Kohichi (calling someone by the first name still carries a degree of intimacy in Japan) and became more demanding of his attention. "I felt like I might get sucked into this world," Koh, who is an engineer at a major game manufacturer by day, tells me. "It's not like any dating sim with young girls in it becomes a hit, but this one is really well-made."
An article posted on a Japanese tech site in September told the story of several women who had complained on an online bulletin about how their family lives were disrupted by husbands addicted to Konami's hit game. Last weekend, I invited Koh and Yurie over to my house to talk about Koh's virtual relationship with Rinko, and how — if at all — it had impacted their real world husband-and-wife dynamic.
Interview at link.Meet Koh and Yurie. They're a happily married young Japanese couple who moved from... more
The Wall Street Journal reports that Disney is close to releasing a new system that will sell permanent, multi-device access to digital media. The system, dubbed Keychest, is being positioned as an answer to consumer concerns about purchasing digital media that are locked to a small number of devices, and thus as a way to finally shift media sales from an ownership model to an access model. They claim that such a service would reduce the risk of losing access to content as a result of a single vendor going out of business, as purchased content would remain available from other vendors. However, they do not seem to have addressed the question of what happens to customers' access to purchased content if the Keychest service itself is discontinued.The Wall Street Journal reports that Disney is close to releasing a new system that... more
To help promote its new show SportsNation, ESPN is encouraging fans to prove they can talk sports by inviting them to take an online Screen Test. To highlight a new level of fan interaction (the show features, polls, youtube vids, call in and skyped in fans, comment boards and lots and lots of tweets) ESPN is following in current's footsteps (albeit very slowly and cautiously) by allowing fans to create their own mini show segments. I wonder if they will actually use these "auditions" to find people who will end up on the show live (weekdays on ESPN2 @ 4:00).
You take the test using your web cam. You choose a general sports category (like the NFL), a producer will throw a specific topic at you and you’ll have 30 seconds to prove that you can talk sports. She’ll also throw a curveball at you to see how well you think on your feet. After you’ve tried it (you can retake if you flub as many times a you like) and submit your video you’ll receive a video where it will look like you Skyped into the show with the hosts. You end up with a video of yourself on a ESPN show that you can link to, or embed or send around or do with what you will.To help promote its new show SportsNation, ESPN is encouraging fans to prove they can... more
This video takes an authentic and exciting look at the monthly Downtown L.A. Art Walk. The Downtown L.A. Art Walk is a self-guided tour that showcases the numerous outstanding art exhibition venues and artists in Downtown Los Angeles.This video takes an authentic and exciting look at the monthly Downtown L.A. Art Walk.... more
Shopping is really fun when you don’t have to actually spend any money, right? This magazine editor has a bit of fun and does the online shopping for you as if she were going to the soiree herself, but sadly, can’t buy the pieces. But, maybe YOU can! Last week she rocked http://www.oneof365.com/category/net-a-porter/ and this week it’s J.Crew.com. The look is “garden Party Chic” and she’s picked out a glam look that’s sleek and sweet—perfect for any summertime “do.” She gives you a great background on the brand, excellent styling tips, and puts together an amazing outfit you can buy online right now. She has zero affiliation with any of the sites she “shops” from so this isn’t her hocking the goods, it’s just her having a bit of fun as a magazine editor.
Really fun fashion page that shows off trends in a really unique way. Blogger has an amazingly eclectic site with everything from beauty, fashion, diary style entries, poetry, life in the magazine world----this girl has everything. Already winner of the prestigious “Blog Of The Day Award” (some people take years to earn this—she’s only had her blog up 3 weeks!) and on top level blog rolls of awesome bloggers, this girl is amazing. A+++++
.Shopping is really fun when you don’t have to actually spend any money, right? This... more
The video-sharing Web site YouTube is probably best known as the place to find silly home videos of klutzy cats, clever babies and lip-syncing soccer moms. But YouTube is becoming increasingly important to the music business. In fact, some industry professionals say it has become the MTV of the digital generation.
In the old days, new bands created buzz by playing clubs and getting on local radio. Today, record labels often gauge a new band's popularity by looking on YouTube. Jeff Dodes, head of multimedia for a division of Sony Music, says that's where one of his talent scouts saw the video for the song "The Stanky Leg," by The GS Boyz. "The Stanky Leg" had created so much excitement on YouTube that Sony decided to sign The GS Boyz. And Dodes says that when the group makes its record for the label, he'll take The GS Boyz back to YouTube to promote it.
But once a group is signed to a label promotion teams use a number of tricks to make sure that YouTube users actually see videos by their artists. Jeremy Maciak of Vagrant Records points to a video by the label's band A Cursive Memory. Maciak says the production is simple, consisting of "the band jumping in front of paparazzi and behind velvet ropes all throughout Hollywood with a boom box on their shoulder, singing their song, which is called 'Everything.' "
The video is filled with shots of well-known celebrities, all of whom are named in the video's tags, which Maciak says garnered a lot of exposure for the video. The video was viewed hundreds of thousands of times, but not necessarily because people were looking for the song.The video-sharing Web site YouTube is probably best known as the place to find silly... more
"I was appalled when I read that school inspectors say boys are turned off art when it's too heavily focused on drawing and painting," Hockney told the paper."It's a bit like saying schools shouldn't be bothering with grammar. The only reason people aren't stimulated is because they have got bad, boring teachers." He may, for once, have a point."I was appalled when I read that school inspectors say boys are turned off art when... more
The hip hop industry is adopting to the new technology and the digital media. Soulja Boy web phenomenon it’s the best example of what I've seen of an artist utilizing the power of the Web to break his career. Web rapping is the new underground trend that is reshaping the industry giving artist the power to control their destiny. By being unique anybody able to put some lyrics together can build their own online community. If their message can speak their audience slang. This is the first artist I've seen who's song was relevant and able to merge the tech lango with a beat i could knock my head to, his own style and flow. Through his swag is no Jay-z, Lil' Wayne, Kayne West, etc. This is the next phase of what I believe is going to be know as Rap 2.0.The hip hop industry is adopting to the new technology and the digital media. Soulja... more
"High-end filmmakers aren't just making movies these days. They're building virtual worlds before shooting a single frame of film, using digital tools that blur the lines between animation and live-action, virtual sets and physical soundstage, photorealistic cartoon characters and motion-captured human beings.
Over the past few years, digital moviemakers have mastered new technologies and learned to micromanage massive teams in order to bring complex collaborative visions to the screen. The goal: to create truly immersive movies that knock the socks off even the most jaded moviegoer.
"Every technological advance in filmmaking points directly to something like Star Trek's holodeck, where you don't go in and watch the stories — you are actually in the bar or you're climbing the rock or whatever is there," said Phil "Captain 3D" McNally, the stereoscopic supervisor, who handled the 3-D elements in DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs. Aliens, which opened Friday. "That's lucid dreaming as realized by Star Trek technology. If you have a choice between watching a movie and going on the holodeck, I guarantee you'd be going on the holodeck."
As with earlier advances — from silent films to "talkies," from black-and-white to color and from sound to surround sound — the new technological tools at moviemakers' disposal are changing not just what audiences see and hear, but the way directors and their crews work.
Unlike previous 3-D cartoons, Monsters vs. Aliens was conceptualized from the get-go as a story designed for depth.""High-end filmmakers aren't just making movies these days. They're building virtual... more
This week, I've given a lot of thought to how poor communities on the other side of the digital divide are able to connect. The Internet is now only accessible for a tiny portion of humanity. Probably less than 20% of humanity has regular internet access, and in rural India, where 700 million people live, it must be a far, far smaller number. When all of us English-speaking urbanites have forums to share and learn and grow, but vast numbers of people don't, it only increases the inequality of the poor. In addition to their financial poverty, they are becoming increasingly information poor. Tons of great people are putting their minds to this challenge, and some possible solutions in the country I know best (India) are the "one laptop per child" initiative and village Internet kiosks run by groups such as Drishtee.com in Delhi.
Here's what the digital divide means concretely in Video Volunteers' work. We have trained 75 Community Video Producers from slums and villages of India along with our NGO partners. Every two months they make a film on a different critical issue like health, education, water and corruption and screen them on widescreen projectors in 25 villages.
These folks live in twelve different geographies in India, ranging from the slums of Mumbai to lush isolated rural areas 1000 kilometers away, to villages in the foothills of the Himalayas. They have so much to share and learn about. Every year, we bring them together in two week long group trainings. The ideas fly, and it is an incredible experience to watch them comment on and give feedback on each others' 'video news magazines.'
But here's the challenge. We can only bring the Producers together physically once a year or at most twice. Money, distance, time and their regular work grind makes it impossible to do it more frequently. They do stay connected. Producers with access to cell phones will text each other or talk on the phone. Two producers -- one from a rural Community Video Unit ('CVU') and one from an urban CVU -- got married a few weeks ago, so the connections are obviously pretty intense when they do meet at these group training. But it is only the leaders of the group who speak on the phone regularly, and I bet most of what they do is gossip, not talking about what they can learn from each other.
We want to build a "network" of community video producers, but a network that is for collaboration and sharing, not gossip. We think this Network can be strong, because of the unique perspective they have of the issues as people who have 'lived' the issue as opposed to just observed it. Professional journalists have wire services, web sites, and other things to stay in touch. But community journalists in the developing world don't have any of that.
At Video Volunteers, we've increasingly come to realize the only solution to 'networking our network' of Producers is the Internet. The Internet is the only way for community journalists in the developing world to stay connected and be in touch, and it could be a very powerful tool for sharing and learning. In my 'dream' platform, our Producers are posting the rough cuts of their video news magazines to a website for peer review. They are uploading directly from the field, from their cell phones, videos of closed schools or doctors offices, and getting feedback from their peers via SMS on what to say to the officials when they go to confront them. They are requesting music suggestions for their films or other visuals that their fellow Producers email them directly from their own CVUs.
They are talking about solutions to challenges -- how do you get more people to a community screening on a widescreen projector in the center of the village? How can you use local advertising to earn revenue? How do you motivate community volunteers to help in finding stories?This week, I've given a lot of thought to how poor communities on the other side of... more
Kit Laybourne's new book MEDIAPEDIA (Knack) which is being published this Tuesday November 18th. Kit is also the author of the classic manual THE ANIMATION BOOK (Three Rivers Press). MEDIAPEDIA is an innovative and attractive how-to and why-to guide to making personal media through digital photography and online tools. Amateur scrapbookers and design professionals alike can derive a lot enjoyment and a lot of ideas from this playful, inspiring book. Check out www.mediapedia.net.
Thank you,
Gwendolyn Bond-UpsonKit Laybourne's new book MEDIAPEDIA (Knack) which is being published this Tuesday... more
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This is an idea for a newspaper created using 100% variable data printing custom made to the subscriber's specs and paginated using auto layout software. This idea was rejected from the knight news challenge as being "not innovative enough". Scroll to the bottom of the article to view a .mov of the slideshow. This is an idea for a newspaper created using 100% variable data printing custom made... more
As the dust settles from Thursday's launch of MySpace's highly anticipated and somewhat controversial new music service, the broader implications of the initiative are becoming clearer.
A joint venture of the News Corp. subsidiary and Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, EMI Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, MySpace Music Service represents a turning point for the recording industry and MySpace itself.
For the major labels, MySpace Music is the cumulation of more than 18 months of experimentation in new business models and a launching pad for their digital music strategies for the future. While detractors continue to level criticisms against them for their alleged role in hindering the digital music market with complicated licensing demands and other limitations, the majors have largely reassessed their approach to the Internet, spurred by the continued slide in physical music sales.
During the year and a half leading up to the launch, the majors have signed unprecedented deals opening the door to ad-supported free streaming, digital rights management-free music sales and reduced licensing costs in return for revenue share and/or company equity.
All these elements are present in the MySpace Music deal. As such, the service represents less of an experiment and more of a template for future agreements.
"It highlights the shift in our business to bring business models to the market that meet where the demand is for our music," UMG's eLabs division executive vp Rio Caraeff said. "It's the single largest thing we've done to change the way we do business around the way the customer wants to experience music."
Caraeff says to expect further flexibility in digital music deals in the near future. Among other things, this means including access to the Universal catalog in software development kits that give developers the ability to create new applications with built-in music licensing.
The social networking giant has long served two masters -- the artists with profiles on the service and the music fans with the same. There are more than 5 million bands with MySpace profiles, and while MySpace doesn't provide a specific breakdown, the vast majority are independent or unsigned artists.
But in launching a music service meant in part to take on Apple's iTunes store, particularly one aspiring to generate advertising revenue based on free music streams and traffic to artist pages, MySpace has opted to focus on the content its members use most.
That means major labels. And while major-label acts represent the minority of artists on MySpace, they account for the majority of content the company's broader membership seeks out, in terms of music streamed and artist profiles visited, although MySpace doesn't provide specific figures.
Not surprisingly, independent labels and the digital aggregators that represent them are somewhat miffed that they weren't invited to take part in the joint venture alongside their major-label competitors. However, that didn't stop the Orchard and major-owned indie distributors (Warner's Alternative Distribution Alliance, Sony's RED, Universal's Fontana and EMI's Caroline) from licensing the catalog of their label clients to the service at launch. Negotiations between MySpace and other indie labels remain ongoing. While an equity stake in the joint venture is completely off the table, the terms under discussion focus on the indies' share of ad revenue from streaming and purchased music and videos.
The majors in the joint venture, meanwhile, will profit not only from a cut of the same ad and sales revenue, but also in the underlying revenue the venture receives, even from content contributed by other labels. As the dust settles from Thursday's launch of MySpace's highly anticipated and... more
Future of Music Coalition will host a “What’s the Future for Musicians?” seminar at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, IL in conjunction with One Web Day. Musicians from all genres — classical, jazz, rock, folk and hip-hop — will learn about a range of internet-based promotion and distribution options, how to navigate the health insurance landscape, the importance of open internet structures and how copyright law and business models are affecting how musicians will be compensated in the digital future.Future of Music Coalition will host a “What’s the Future for Musicians?” seminar... more
"Brave New World of Digital Intimacy" -- super interesting NYT article by Clive Thompson on your "ambient" social life. "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy" -- super interesting NYT article by Clive... more
"iRiver has recently introduced its new P20 Media Player and M3 portable GPS navigator / media player at IFA show in Berlin. For your info, the P20 was debuted at CES 2008 as a plastic prototype. This gadget features a 4.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen display and a 80/120GB of storage capacity that is enough to store 12 hours of music or 9 hours of video. The iRiver also introduces the M3 portable GPS navigator / media player that comes equipped with a 3.5-inch touch screen LCD. ..""iRiver has recently introduced its new P20 Media Player and M3 portable GPS navigator... more
