What next for the humble TV ?

TV goes 3-D

The move into High Definition broadcast now offers couch potatoes around the world a better viewing experience, outdoor advertising is using more interactive and engaging methods to connect with users - what will be the future of this technology ?

A number of manufacturers now have introduced displays which are able to create the illusion of ‘ depth ‘ to the picture with there “ autostereoscopic* “ displays – which in laymen’s terms means you get 3-D images without the need for the red and green glasses we are all used to.

Of course you need to have specially created 3-D material to display ( it will not take todays traditional broadcast feeds and add depth ) however it does give us a glimpse of the next generation of TV.

Another technology which has been around since the 1860’s has been undergoing some radical technology changes and offers display marketing some exciting options.

‘ Peppers Ghost ‘ used a combination of glass ( which was placed in front of stage performers at an angle of 45 degrees ) and projected images to give the illusion of images and objects materialising from thin air.

Bringing this concept forward 150 years today’s marketing technology from companies such as Vizoo uses a thin gauze and modern day computing horse power to produce 3-D images which quite literally float in mid air.

Linking these displays to touch screen consoles could give users an interactive and visual experience over and above traditional displays - lets hope these are put to good use in the outdoor and display advertising world.

Holographic Lexus floats and spins in mid air

* note - remember you can double click on any word in this blog to find out more information.

Ten Laws - on simplicity

Law 1: Reduce

The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.

Law 2: Organize

Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.

Law 3: Time

Savings in time feel like simplicity.

Law 4: Learn

Knowledge makes everything simpler.

Law 5: Differences

Simplicity and complexity need each other.

Law 6: Context

What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.

Law 7: Emotion

More emotions are better than less.

Law 8: Trust

In simplicity we trust.

Law 9: Failure

Some things can never be made simple.

Law 10: The One

Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.


Taken from http://www.lawsofsimplicity.com/

The future of books

Recent survey from Penguin books

• Three in four teenagers get their information on books from the Internet and wished there was more information on books available to them on the Internet.
• Nearly 44% of surveyed teens never or rarely visit a chain bookshop and 68% never or rarely visit an independent bookshop.
• 69% of teens think they will be doing more reading online in the future.
  
• Teens who rate reading as cool are the most frequent visitors to social networking sites.

The last point you would think is an obvious one, so why is there so little supplemental information available on the Internet to accompany books ?

Consider this : There must be an awful lot of additional content that gets cut before publication of books, why not have a promotional code in the back of the books which gives you access to all this additional content.

Once someone has purchased your book you have no clue to who they are in the retail world.

This would be a great way for marketing to use technology to engage people and build a long term, relevant relationship.

Personal radio goes mobile

Something I missed from last month - Pandora the music ' discovery service ' goes mobile.

This great service which matches, suggests and then streams music based on your personal preferences is now available in the US via selected mobile devices.

Radio gets personal

X-fm, a UK based radio station is taking listening participation to a new level. Via there websites they are allowing listeners to construct playlists which will then voted on by both the shows producers and listeners, the winning playlists are then aired over their traditional broadcast.

This fundamental shift for it's listeners adds a new level of participation and engagement, which has traditionally been a lean back medium.

Personal music services on the web are nothing new. Pandora has for the past two years been successfully serving personalized music channels to listeners through their dedicated website.

But there is a change with the entry of Dizzler, a search enabled music and video player.

Nothing new in this concept, their method of promotion is though. Dizzler hands over control of the application and where it resides to users. Simple MySpace exports allows simple creation of their favorite play lists for both video and music to then embed them and the actual player within their personal pages.

Relevance

Vistiors are then able not only able to listen to these, but enter and search for their own favorites leading I am sure to enhanced propagation of the player through the community.

Sales opportunities for both the records that are being listened to for download and relevant targeted marketing promotions, both on screen and through other methods make this a great route to the youth market through the use of internet marketing.


There are many content search and control websites available today with similar functions and technology, the key now is their positioning and associations.

Mine

By allowing user control in both the content played and then also allowing this to enhance personal sites and pages Dizzler and sites such as MyWaves recognize it is no longer good enough to offer these services in standalone webfront ends, the social aspect plays a key role in their success and acceptance. They are using the power of the crowd to market their technology.

Search goes visual

visual results offer more information - a more complete picture

Pictures paint ......

Search today presents us with text – many argue this method is still the fastest and most effective way to present information. Agreed for sites which are purely information sources and have no content which is visual to either supplement or enhance this information, but many today are not ( even more so with new rich media capabilities of browsers and plug-ins such as Silverlight ).

The argument of text based search results goes back to the days when Windows and Apple desktop were launched.

Search today needs enhancement, a combination of both text and also images – basically the entire webpage delivered to the user, else it is like advertising an art exhibition by only using words.

Visual impact wasted

Web-pages are a rich source of visual information, ( in some cases this is the entire reason for the page) all of this is lost until users until they click through.

Couple this with the issue if you do not appear in the first 10 results then the time and effort of your site visuals is wasted.

Layers

This is where a new product from SpaceTime comes in.

Leveraging popular search Google,Yahoo,Ebay and Flickr ( more to be released ) it then displays the first 10 results in an almost identical manner to Windows Vista ‘ layers ‘. By then clicking on these windows it switches you to a familiar 2-D flat view of the web page for viewing.

Another nice feature is previous searches are placed in a toolbar at the bottom of the screen allowing for fast and easy switching.

This exploration of enhancing how search is a positive step to presenting the new media rich web sites in a graphical format, it allows the full context of the page to be considered rather than just how it ranks in the world of search.

The power of video editing – in a web browser

easily edit video online

The continued growth in online applications took a leap forward – users will soon be able to edit video online with a tool from Metaliq's called Topbanana.

Built using Microsoft’s Silverlight technology it allows users to upload, browse and edit video content online - across different web browsers.

Power to the people

Web mashup sites ( the ability to take content from many sources to create a customised site – check out ‘ popfly ‘ from Microsoft ) continue to grow as users are demanding control of content. With video now making up over 60% of the internets traffic, these online tools that give content control to consumers will only increase in importance and value.

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Features

• The plug-in allows rich applications to be delivered through the web browser ( Adobe’s Apollo technology differs in that it allows stand alone applications to be deployed )

• Silverlight applications use XAML, a text-based markup language - this enables web search engines to crawl the content. By comparison Adobe Flash pages have to have supplemental code around the media for web crawlers to index for search - this is increased work for the developers.

• It works across browsers – the plugin works seamlessly across browsers, key from a user point of view and also to get developers on board to give a wide an audience