MediaPost Publications - Top TW Exec Promises Net/TV Will Converge - 06/03/2008

The long-ballyhooed convergence of the Internet and TV is coming, perhaps within the next year, according to the top executive at Time Warner Cable.

TWC will soon offer a device--a wireless cable modem--allowing the Internet to sync up to the big screen. And further "network everything in your home," per CEO Glenn Britt, although details were not provided.

Britt said Friday at an industry conference that "the idea that the Internet is separate is going to very quickly go away--you're going to get everything on whatever device you want." He noted that Apple TV has been an unwieldy "first step," and in general, it remains "pretty hard" to bring Internet streams to the TV.That, he said, will change in no more than two years. "It's going to be very easy," he said.

MediaPost Publications - Top TW Exec Promises Net/TV Will Converge - 06/03/2008

That's some big talk. Does TWC have enough credibility for this to hold up? Isn't TWC about to be spun off by the mothership? Meanwhile, yesterday a DM piece dropped in my mailbox at home -- it was from AT&T for U-Verse. Welcome to the new Cable Wars. This is just beginning to get interesting. Then again, will a recession dump all over this party? Will millions of Americans simply cut the plug and adopt rabbit ears for their shiny new HDTVs?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Live ad by Honda designed to keep viewers tuned in - International Herald Tribune

Live ad by Honda designed to keep viewers tuned in. This is live, at 14,000 feet, over Spain," a man shouted over the roar of the wind, as he and a group of fellow skydivers plunged toward the earth near Madrid. Before deploying their parachutes, they created human formations spelling out the letters H, O, N, D and A.

Live ad by Honda designed to keep viewers tuned in - International Herald Tribune

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Yahoo's BrowserPlus is a Game Changer. Finally! - Silicon Alley Insider

BrowserPlus is a browser plug-in unlike any other. As most of you know, a Browser plug-in allows you to add functionality to your browser that it is not built-in. For example, the most popular Browser plug-in is Adobe's Flash Player.The reason BrowserPlus is significant is because it is really the plug-in to end all plug-ins. The idea is that once you have BrowserPlus installed, you can install different feature modules as needed seamlessly and without restarting your browser. Right now, installing plugins, while not exactly painful, is enough of a speedbump that, outside the Flash Player, getting people to install them is fairly hard.

Yahoo's BrowserPlus is a Game Changer. Finally! - Silicon Alley Insider

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Games Girls Play - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games

It turns out boomer women do play computer games.And do they ever. The business of cranking out casual games--snack-sized alternatives to time-consuming fare like "World of Warcraft"--is mushrooming. Consumers paid $2.25 billion for such games last year, and the demand for titles like "Diner Dash" is growing 20% year-over-year, according to the Casual Gaming Association.And while casual games appeal to everyone from pre-teens to old men (the world's richest man, Warren Buffet, 77, haunts online bridge parlors while using the handle "T-bone"), women over 35 are the most likely to pay for them; 75% percent of those who pay for casual games are women, and 72% are over 35 years old.

Games Girls Play - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games

Blogged with the Flock Browser

MediaPost Publications - Advertisers Get Buzzed On YouTube With New Targeting Capability - 05/14/2008

With the latest targeting tool from YouTube, companies like Lionsgate have begun to ride the buzz on the video-sharing platform, running their in-video overlay ads on clips that are surging in popularity. Google quietly rolled out the tool on Tuesday, although it had been in development for several months, with Lionsgate as one of the pilot advertisers.YouTube buzz targeting works on an algorithm that looks at a number of viewer activities, including how many times a video is chosen as a favorite, how favorably it's rated, and how quickly it picks up views, to determine which clips are about to "go viral."

MediaPost Publications - Advertisers Get Buzzed On YouTube With New Targeting Capability - 05/14/2008

Blogged with the Flock Browser

MediaPost Publications - Gas Station Video Nets Expand, PumpTop TV Biggest - 05/07/2008

As place-based video explodes, one of the myriad sub-species--video networks that operate displays in gas pumps--are growing at an especially rapid pace. In addition to expanding their footprint, the three major competitors--PumpTop TV, Gas Station TV, and the FuelCast Network--have signed deals with major content providers and advertising partners.With a network covering 550 gas stations, PumpTop TV now claims to be the biggest such network in the country, and the operation is kicking into overdrive--installing displays at an average of four new stations a day, according to Dick Paulsen, president of AdtekMedia, which owns PumpTop TV.

MediaPost Publications - Gas Station Video Nets Expand, PumpTop TV Biggest - 05/07/2008

Blogged with the Flock Browser