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Verizon's Droid X Hits the Market Today
The smartphone market takes another important step forward today as the Droid X officially becomes available. Made by Motorola, powered by Google's Android OS and sold exclusively by Verizon, the device has received rave
reviews from those who have tested it. The Droid X is particularly interesting to me because it sports a 4.3 inch high-resolution display that makes mobile video watching more satisfying than ever. In addition, the Droid X takes 720p HD video, making it a high impact pocket video camera as well.
As I wrote last month when the Droid X was unveiled, watching video on the device itself is only half the pleasure. Because the Droid X has both a mini-HDMI output and is DLNA compliant, it offers the opportunity to connect to the big screen TV to watch videos and browse photos there, making it a "mobile set-top box." This is a very exciting prospect and yet again creates new video value.
I've been testing the HTC Evo from Sprint for the last month, which has a similar screen size to the Droid X and also has the HDMI output. It's very cool to be able to shoot HD video on the phone and then immediately be able to connect it to the TV and play it. My experience is that video stored locally on the Evo plays really nicely, but unfortunately when video is played over the network there's a fair amount of degradation, which may partly due to Sprint coverage at my house. I'm planning to get a Droid X and will be interested to see how they compare.
Regardless, it's still very early days in terms of the high-quality video features (both playback and record) for this new generation of smartphones and what we're seeing now is just a preview of things to come.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Mobile Video
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What's Google Really Up To With Its Fiber-to-the-Home Project?
I continue to be intrigued about what Google is up to with its 1 gigabit/second fiber-to-the-home project that it announced back in February. The latest (non) update is that yesterday the company unveiled a new resource web site for the project, dubbed "Google Fiber for Communities."
While there's an FAQ link for the project, there really isn't much new information provided about the project itself. Instead, the most prominent
button on the new site says "Take Action Now" (Improve Broadband in Your Community). Clicking it takes you to a site that discusses the cost of laying fiber conduit and gets into the minutiae of digging up streets. There's a button to email your representative to express support for pending federal legislation requiring installation of conduit in federally-funded transportation projects. There's also a lengthy set of recommendations that city-sponsored road projects also include conduit.
What's going on here? Why is Google, which derives the vast majority of its revenues from search advertising, dedicating time and resources to advocating for local fiber conduit? The only thing I can conclude is that Google is trying to lay the groundwork to eventually expand well beyond its upcoming fiber trial. This would be facilitated by having conduit already in place around the country. Even still, as I described in my original post in February discussing the fiber experiment, wiring up communities is tough, tedious and costly work that Google has little experience with.
Categories: Broadband ISPs
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VINDICO Gets MRC Accredited
VINDICO, the recently created video ad server division of BBE, is announcing this morning that it has been accredited by the Media Ratings Council (MRC). For those not familiar, the MRC is an independent industry association that
works to ensure audience measurement is valid, reliable and effective. VINDICO believes it is the first demand-side video ad server to be accredited by MRC (there may others, I'm not sure; I know that FreeWheel was accredited about 6 months ago).
Matt Timothy, VINDICO's president, told me yesterday that the accreditation is a big step forward for both the company, and the online video ad industry. Matt explained that with online video advertising still relatively early-stage, there's been a "Wild West" dynamic with different ad servers and measurement approaches. That friction constrains advertiser spending in the new medium. MRC gives VINDICO new credibility with the agencies and advertisers it serves that the audience data it shares is up to MRC's stringent standards.
With the rise of online video advertising, Matt also sees 2 trends developing: the shift from estimated ad measurement (common in TV advertising) to actual ad measurement and agencies/advertisers taking control of the actual ad delivery process (which in TV advertising is handled by the TV networks and stations). VINDICO is betting on both of these trends; it targets agencies and advertisers with its ad-server technology. Matt pointed to recent wins with VivaKi and Universal McCann as evidence that its approach is working.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Advertising, Technology
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Sports Continues to be Shining Star of Online Video
The final ESPN3.com and UnivisionFutbol.com streaming viewership numbers for the FIFA World Cup provide the latest evidence that sports are the shining star of the online video world for both free and paid viewing. Here's some sample data for recent free online sporting events:
FIFA World Cup: ESPN3.com (7.4 million unique viewers, 15.7 million hours viewed), UnivisionFutbol.com (10 million hours viewed)
2010 NCAA March Madness: CBSSports.com (8.3 million unique visits to MMOD video player, 11.7 million hours of video and audio)
2009-2010 Sunday Night Football: NBCSports.com (2.2 million unique visits, 1M hours viewed, 29 minutes of average tune-in time)
2008 Beijing Summer Olympics: NBCOlympics.com (70 million video streams, 10 million hours viewed, 27 minutes of average tune-in time)
Categories: Sports
Topics: CBS, ESPN3, March Madness, NBC, Univision, World Cup
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Samsung Apps for Connected TVs - "Now there's a TV for that" Ad Campaign Begins
It looks like Samsung is ramping up promotion for its Samsung Apps store for connected TVs, using the tag line "Now there's a TV for that," a play on Apple's well-known "There's an app for that" slogan. I noticed a full back-page ad in the current issue of the New Yorker (see below) and promotion will no doubt be turning up elsewhere as well.
Categories: Devices
Topics: Google TV, Samsung, Sony
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VideoNuze Report Podcast #67 - July 9, 2010
Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 67th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for July 9, 2010.
This week Daisy and I talk about YouTube's new "Leanback" and mobile experiences, both of which were unveiled this past Wednesday. Daisy was at YouTube's headquarters and interviewed the company's mobile product manager Andrey Doronichev. Regarding Leanback, I wrote that it looks promising, as it offers viewers a passive, continuous way to experience a personalized version of YouTube, with all their new favorite video streamed back-to-back. It also makes YouTube a more important part of the Google TV value proposition. Listen in to learn more.
Click here to listen to the podcast (15 minutes, 1 second)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Devices, Mobile Video
Topics: Google TV
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Interview with Mitch Berman, Co-founder, ZillionTV
Last week I had a chance to catch up with Mitch Berman, co-founder and Executive Chairman of ZillionTV, the early stage online entertainment service. Mitch is a long-time Hollywood veteran and will be speaking at next week's NATPE LATV Fest (VideoNuze readers get a special discount). An edited transcript follows.
VideoNuze: What are the 2-3 key trends in digital media we should be watching?
Mitch Berman: I often talk about the growing role of influence, sharing and reward which are tied to social networking. Reward is both the influence you get with other members of your social circle as well as "points." Another trend is the rise of casual games which are becoming very popular with examples like Farmville. Then I'm also watching the trend toward over-the-top video. Now you have retailers, CE makers, independent over the top players like Roku and others, plus software providers. They're all attacking the traditional video subscription model.
VN: Is the threat of cord-cutting real or imagined?
Categories: Events
Topics: LATV Fest, NATPE, ZillionTV
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YouTube Aims for Big Screen and Small Screen Success
Not content to dominate online video viewing, yesterday YouTube unveiled new initiatives for viewing on both TVs and mobile devices. Taken together they demonstrate how aggressive YouTube plans to be in the 3-screen viewership era.
First up, YouTube introduced the beta version of "Leanback," the new 10-foot experience that it introduced at the recent I/O conference. With Leanback, you only need to use the 4 arrow keys and Enter key on your keyboard to
navigate the YouTube experience. Video plays in full-screen mode and in automatically in HD when available.
There are different options for what content Leanback delivers: if you have set up subscriptions, it will give you a feed of those videos; in addition, if you've connected your YouTube account to your Facebook account you'll also get a feed of videos your friends are watching/sharing; alternatively, if you've done neither YouTube will simply give you the most popular comedy, entertainment, news, etc. You can also easily search and browse.
Categories: Advertising, Mobile Video
Topics: YouTube
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