Streaming Video Viewers Are Impatient

Posted December 11th, 2009 by Albert Banks

A new study by TubeMogul reveals that 4 out of 5 users abandon a video if it rebuffers during playback. Most people seem to expect the initial buffer, but rebuffering is a deal killer.

The study references the five CDNs covered, with Limelight having the least amount of slow loads. The study does not appear to factor in factors out of a CDN’s control. Time of day, video encoding and client connection speed certainly influences the play back experience.

But one thing is clear. Video viewers are a demanding bunch. They expect video to start quickly and continue without interruption.

Augmented Reality. What?

Posted November 18th, 2009 by Albert Banks

If you haven’t heard of Augmented Reality, here’s the scoop. AR is a live view of the physical world merged with virtual digital information and/or imagery. The concept has been around in the military and industrial applications for years.

You’ve probably seen the technology in use without realizing it. Those first down lines on field during the television broadcast of football games? Yep, that’s AR!

Recently, this technology has gained popularity in many consumer settings.

Advertisers are using it to promote new products via cool interactive experiences. Service providers are using it to present relevant location aware information. Many cities, museums and theme parks are using it to add virtual objects to their existing  physical environment.

Like any technology of the brink of popularity, we have to question if it is fad or future. Fast Company recent addressed this exact question. Myjive believes this one is here to stay. All you have to do is look at the many potential applications already being explored.

Yelp’s iPhone App Monocle feature
Augmented Reality Contact Lenses
Canon’s MR Aquarium
Jack’s Links Living Sasquatch

As we like to say here at the office, “The future is going to be so cool.” And with AR, the future is here.

HTML 5: Game Changer

Posted June 24th, 2009 by Albert Banks

This year, the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) released it’s HTML 5 proposal. HTML 5, is a significant update to the prominent web presentation specification. The changes focus on web application development, ones that might even make proprietary plug-ins such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Sun JavaFX irrelevant.

Below are the most significant new features and their current browsers support:

Video and Audio Tags

The long awaited video and audio tags that would standardize how we include these elements in websites. With HTML 5,  including video to your webpage would not require utilizing third-party plug-ins (ie. Flash, Quicktime) or video codecst.  Developers would also be able to manipulate videos and built-in video controls.
Browsers: Firefox 3.5

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Workplace Technology Generation Gap

Posted April 24th, 2009 by Albert Banks

Baby Boomers and Generation Y are now cohabitants in the workforce. As Sarah Perez notes in her recent article, the technology gap between the generations at work is “Oh So Wide.” The results of a study released by business information solutions provider LexisNexis are quite illuminating.

Gen Y spends 10.6 hours per day browsing social networks, news sites, blogs, forums, and multimedia sharing sites while Boomers clock in at only 5.6 hours.

A majority (62%) of Gen Y employees interact with a social network while at work, but only a fraction of Boomers do (14%).

A majority of Boomer feel PDAs and mobile phones negatively affect workplace etiquette and don’t believe laptops should be used by participants of in-person meetings. Less than half of Gen Y agrees.

As the complexion of the workplace evolves, will the Boomers change their views or will the younger generations continue to frustrate their bosses? Time will tell.

Social Media Marketing – Rethinking Traditional Marketing Plans

Posted March 11th, 2009 by Albert Banks

Slides for Ron’s presentation: Social Media Marketing- Rethinking Traditional Marketing Plans.

US Broadband Still Woeful

Posted February 19th, 2009 by Albert Banks

Here in the United States we like to think of ourselves as a modern technological society. The truth is we lag behind the rest of the world in a very important facet of technology – broadband. High Speed internet access (broadband) has continued to grow in this country, but not nearly as fast as other nations.

Penetration

The US has continued to drop in the broadband penetration rankings worldwide – we are now 19th. This means a greater percent of people in countries such as Luxemburg, Australia and Canada have broadband access than Americans.

Speed

We also lack when it comes to broadband speed. The latest CWA Report has the US ranked 15th with an median download speed of 2.35 Mb/s. Compared to Japan (63 Mb/s), South Korea (49.50 Mb/s), Finland (21.70 Mb/s) and France (17.60 Mb/s) our speed is pitiful. Even neighbor Canada ranked ahead of the US with an average download speed of 7.60 Mb/s. Now comes the news that Koreans will have 1Gbps connections by 2012.

Cost

After hearing these stats, you might wonder how our costs compare to other countries. This is the one list we do top. The US has the highest cost of broadband among industrialized nations.

Where do we go from here?

The government is ready to influence the situation, citing productivity gains from an improved infrastructure. The economic stimulus package should include a $10 billion to $15 billion investment.

US internet service providers have fallen into a stagnant situation. Hopefully, this influx will energize the market. Otherwise, we will continue to drop behind the modern world in broadband…

No ESPN360 For You

Posted February 10th, 2009 by Albert Banks

If you are a sports nut like me, ESPN360 is pretty sweet. It is the web version of ESPN’s television network featuring 3,500 sporting events per year. But you can only view it if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has shelled out some cash.

For the past few years, ESPN has been forcing ISPs to pay a licensing fee for the website. If the ISP doesn’t pay up their customers don’t get access. Time Warner Cable is one of many ISPs who haven’t signed on, meaning no ESPN360 for me…

This is a disturbing trend if you are a fan of Net Neutrality. You know, the right to use your web access for whichever sites and software you desire. Can you imagine choosing your ISP based on the websites you can access or the programs you are allowed to use?

This topic has become a hot political topic and it will continue to be until we finally have some legislation governing the issue.

References:
ESPN to ISPs: Pay for Your Customers to Play Video
Net Neutrality Debate Is Secretly All About Internet Television, Net Pioneers Say

AS3: Programmer’s Dream, Designer’s Nightmare

Posted January 23rd, 2009 by Albert Banks

Here at Myjive we have made the jump from using Actionscript 2.0 to 3.0 in our Flash based productions. What we’ve found is not surprising. This leap is great for programmers, but can be scary for designers.

AS3 is a huge evolution from an inconsistent codebase to a solid object-oriented programming language. It greatly improves the Flash Player runtime and makes coding more traditional for developers.

A byproduct of this evolution is that animations, transitions and tweens are now code based, rather than timeline based. For designers and animators this is a big shift in how they are used to creating Flash assets. Now instead of adding minor code or adjusting a timeline to create a rollover effect, multiple listeners must be setup to control the interaction.

The result is the need for greater communication between coders and designers. They have to be on the same page when creating assets and implementing interaction. Our team has learned to embrace this change, leveraging the improvements in AS3 to create solid, visually stunning Flash widgets, applications and websites.

What is your experience with AS3?

iTunes DRM-free Songs. At What Cost?

Posted January 8th, 2009 by Albert Banks

Apple recently announced they will offer DRM-free versions of all songs in their library by the end of the quarter. For now, about 80% of the library will be available without DRM. Apple struck a deal with the four major labels and multiple independent labels – with a catch.

The catch is they must allow for $.69 and $1.29 song pricing in addition to the previously standard $.99 price. Not that big a deal until you look more closely.

1. Most new music will now be priced at $1.29 versus $.99.
2. To get the DRM-free version of a $.69 song, you have to pay a 30 cent premium ($.99)
3. The DRM-free versions are still AAC format, meaning they are still are tied to Apple software and devices.

This deal is great for the music labels, as they get a revised pricing stucture. Apple wins by publicly fighting and “defeating” DRM.

But, consumers are a big fat loser with this change. They will pay more for new and DRM-free music, and those files will still be in Apple’s format. Until Apple starts offering only DRM-free (or same priced) music in the standard MP3 format, iTunes will continue to be a sub-standard provider of digital music.

The Slow Death of Physical Media

Posted November 26th, 2008 by Albert Banks

From the moment digital downloads of music became (legally) available, the writing has been on the wall. Physical media, in this case music CDs, vinyl and cassettes, is facing extinction. According tho the RIAA, digital downloads of music surpassed physical media in terms of units shipped in 2007.

However, in terms of dollar value digital still lags behind. This may be due to the discounted rate of digital. Paying $9.99 on iTunes for an album verses $14.99 at Best Buy for a CD would certainly indicate a price disparity. It is also easier to download a song from a computer than trek to a retail store.

Now a major landmark has been reached. Atlantic recently reached a milestone that no other major record label has hit. More than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital downloads.

The music industry is seeing, and to some degree accepting reality. Let’s hope the movie industry follows suit – and fast. Blu-ray player and media sales continue to fall short. Price may be the major factor for consumers, but convenience also plays a part. Hmm, this situation sounds very familiar…