The Good NET Guide

Posts Tagged ‘media’

I’m at the NewsMorphosis Conference in Hawaii today locked in a day of debates about the state of news quality and how the hell we find a business model to keep paying for it. It’s a big issue locally– earlier this year three of Hawaii’s five largest TV news stations merged operations and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin is  merging with the other daily paper the Honolulu Advertiser, resulting in plenty of layoffs and general civic concern.

So it’s fitting that the conference ended with a talk by John Temple, the editor of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s new Peer News site, a test case in how the future of local news could work. And thankfully, we finally got a few more details on the site and the approach.

Temple was clear to say “there is no silver bullet” when it comes to fixing the media business, but also sees a great deal of hope in the volatility– this from the guy who was head of the now shuttered Rocky Mountain News, a paper that’s already gone through what so many dailies are dreading.

“We’re not trying to reinvent a local newspaper and put it on the Web,” he said. Indeed, the mission of Peer News doesn’t even contain the words “news” or “media” or “paper.” It’s simply “to create a new civic square.” Core to the development of Peer were three questions:

-What is the role of a free press in a democracy?

-How would you best fulfill that on a local level using all the tools available today?

-How do you do that in a sustainable way?

On content, the most interesting thing Temple talked about was doing away with “articles” as we know them. He criticized the static, episodic nature by which journalists have traditional covered news, challenging readers to hunt through archives for the information they want. Instead, Peer’s “building block” will be a page that’s always updated almost like Wikipedia, or as he put it, “something closer to a living history on a topic that changes as it develops.” There will no longer be a sense of “missing” an article, because the “articles” will be living things. That also addresses the critique that local news swarms around one issue, then moves on. “We’re not going to be hot topic driven,” Temple says. Going back to those questions, Temple says the role of a free press is to inform citizens so they can make intelligent decisions. “Let’s stop making it so difficult,” he said.

The other hallmark of Peer’s approach is what has made blogs popular– a sense of community. But it’s certainly a different approach. For one thing, Peer won’t have “reporters” in the classical sense, it will have “hosts” who help facilitate this civic square answering questions for the community.  “In this era, the fact that newspapers still rewrite press releases is an embarrassment,” Temple said. “We’re not going to be stenographers. I think that’s a downfall of journalism.”

But for a site that intends to be very community oriented, there was one big shocker: Peer will not have comments. “(Comments) descend into racism, hate, ugliness and reflect badly on news organizations that have them,” said Temple. Why? Because people do not have to show their faces when they comment so there’s no sense of responsibility, he argued. “We think anonymity is a huge problem when it comes to comments,” he said.

Temple also emphasized that the coverage would not pull punches: “We’re going to call things like we see them. We think there’s real value in taking a stand.”

So what about that business model? As Temple noted, there aren’t that many business models out there to chose from. Unlike most media sites, this will be a member site that people “value and will pay for.” He added “advertising would not be a key focus for us.”

Peer should be launching early next quarter, so we’ll be able to see more of these ideas in action soon. But it’s clear that the site– or “news service” as it prefers to call itself– is taking a markedly different approach from old and what we consider “new” media right now.

And with the benefit of some of these details, it seems less out of step for Omidyar to be starting this company. EBay, after all, was one of the first sites to powerfully leverage community on the Web, pioneering a lot of the systems of trust and reputation we still use today.

(More on Temple’s blog here.)

Total advertising expenditures fell 12.3% last year to $125.3 billion as compared to 2008, according to data released today by Kantar Media. However, Q4 2009 ad spending was off 6% against the year ago period, with nearly all media improving upon their January-September performance.

Zooming in on the digital part of equation, Kantar Media says Internet display ad expenditures actually increased 7.3 percent in 2009, aided by higher spending from the telecom, factory auto and travel categories.

Print media were unsurprisingly hit hard, with measured ad spending in the Newspaper sector plunging by 19.7% in 2009.

You can find more figures and insights in the press release.

An independent study released this morning by neutral app store GetJar indicates that the market for mobile apps should grow to a whopping $17.5 billion within the next three years.

This would basically mean that the value of apps sold would be greater than the value of CDs sold in 2012 ($13.83 billion).

According to the same study, downloads of mobile apps to handsets will leap from slightly more than seven billion in 2009 to nearly 50 billion in 2012, representing a YOY growth of 92%.

The figures are pretty much in line with other forecasts, such as research2guidance’s prediction that the worldwide smartphone application market will grow from $1.94 billion in 2009 to $15.65 billion by 2013.

GetJar had commissioned independent consulting firm Chetan Sharma Consulting to look into the global mobile apps market, in order to analyze the potential and real value of the mobile apps market worldwide, using first-hand data.

According to the study, by 2012, off-deck paid-for apps will be the biggest revenue generator, accounting for almost 50 per cent of all apps revenue. By comparison, in 2009, on-deck apps available from mobile operators accounted for over 60% of all apps revenue, but this will fall significantly to just under 23% by 2012.

The average app selling price for apps in North America was $1.09, significantly higher compared to that in developing markets such as South America ($0.20) and Asia ($0.10).

According to the study, revenue opportunities in Europe are set to soar from $1.5 billion in 2009 to $8.5 billion in 2012, while in North America the figure will rise from around $2.1 billion to around $6.7 billion in 2012.

Currently, apps are most popular in Asia, with the region accounting for 37% of global downloads in 2009. However, while Asia had the highest number of downloads, users in North America spent the most money on apps, accounting for over 50% of revenue.

GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs first presented the results of the study at my conference, Plugg, last week. The full video is embedded above, or you can jump straight to the Vimeo page.

As for the presentation slides:

The PogoPlug storage sharing solution sees a new firmware version release today, adding two major new features. First, XBox 360 and Playstation3 consoles can access media stored on a PogoPlug, making it easier than ever to enjoy media on your television without any new investments. Second, multiple PogoPlugs can now work together to offer remote backup functionality, from one PogoPlug to another, to ensure your data is always safe.

Read the original:
PogoPlug update adds new sharing and backup features

If you’re like me, you thought the AirStash was a mustache that floats in the air, like those seed things in Avatar , only not glowy.

More:
AirStash: Wireless portable storage

First a Casio Exilim , now an ultra-mobile PC (or UMPC, as the Japanese say): Cult teddy bear Rilakkuma is on his way to dethrone Hello Kitty as the character of choice for Japanese electronics companies when it comes to giving gadgets that extra-cute touch. The bear is now to be seen on a special version of a Kohjinsha tablet PC [JP, PDF] that’s part of the company’s XS series. The Rilakkuma device features a 8.9-inch touchscreen with 1,280

Spring Design this morning announced that its dual screen Alex eReader will be available online today ( the rumors were true! ) for $399. Customers can thus start pre-ordering the Android-based multimedia e-reader, which supports eBooks in EPUB, PDF, HTML and TXT formats.

Original post: 
Alex eReader now on sale in the U.S. for $399 a pop, starts shipping mid-April

Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, two of Chicago’s best-known tech entrepreneurs, plan to invest as much as $10 million annually in early-stage technology companies through a new fund dubbed Lightbank.

The goal is to provide early-stage startups with seed financing, ranging from 100k to $1 million and fund companies with up to $10 million on an annual basis for the next 10 years. In addition to investing capital, Lightbank intends to take an active role in guiding and nurturing companies through all stages of growth.

With the new fund, the entrepreneurs want to help establish Chicago as a technology hub and support the heaps of “untapped entrepreneurial talent” they claim the city is filled with. If you think that applies to you, find out how to apply here.

Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell met at the University of Michigan. In 2001, Lefkofsky founded InnerWorkings, a print and procurement company that was taken public in 2006. In 2005, Lefkofsky and Keywell started Echo Global Logistics, a transportation and logistics management company that went public in 2009. In 2006, the pair co-founded MediaBank, a data-driven media-buying platform that they claim now processes nearly 20 percent of the media purchased annually in the United States.

In 2007, they seeded and co-founded Groupon, a collective buying site that now operates in over 40 cities, has more than three million subscribers and has raised close to $36 million from New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners.

Between the two of them, Lefkofsky and Keywell claim to have raised over $150 million in capital for their ventures, and generated more than $1.5 billion in investor returns.

We’re looking forward to tracking which investments their new fund will be used for.

Media and legal news pundit Dan Abrams is expanding his Mediaite, mini-empire today with the launch of fashion news site Styleite. Abrams announced late last year that he has a definitive plan for expanding to other verticals, and most recently launched tech and geek culture site Geekosystem. Styleite is the Mediaite family’s venture into fashion journalism, with a little edge and pop culture stirred in. The site covers the news of what’s taking place in the industry and focuses on a blend of analysis and breaking news.

Stories range from Amy Winehouse’s new designs to Yves Saint Laurent’s latest exhibition to Lady Gaga’s best fashion moments in her latest music video. The site also features a fashion industry-focused Power Grid which is Mediaite’s trademark feature for ranking individuals and execs in various industries. The technology will rank 3,000 models, brands, execs, designers, reporters and others in the fashion industry based upon their power and media exposure weekly.

But Styleite aims to more than just a fashion news and analysis destination; the site also wants to be a fashion community. Styleite includes a feature , which is similar in theory to Like.com’s Weardrobe, that allows users to create a profile and upload photos of their outfits and then tag their photos with the brands and styles that they are wearing at the time. The aim is to socialize user generated content around fashion and engage visitors in the art of styling their clothes.

Abrams has seen considerable success with Mediaite since its launch last year, with the site making Technorati’s top 40 blogs list. Mediaite also expects to turn profitable this year as well. And Styleite may be able to draw a different demographic than the media and tech focused sites. I’m a fan of fashion-focused news sites incorporating social media and community creating tools into their platforms and I think Styliete could end up helping push the envelope forward when it comes to fashion journalism.

Earlier this morning, social networking giant Facebook announced on its blog that, one week after it said it would be opening an office in Austin, Texas, it will set up an additional support center in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, the capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

In the statement, the company says both offices will allow them to better serve its users, advertisers and developers. Facebook added that it is currently recruiting people to staff the online sales and operations teams for both office locations.

The India-based support center will not be Facebook’s first international office – it already established a presence in Dublin, Ireland, just over a year ago (PDF). Don Faul, director of global online operations at Facebook, in the blog post said that having multiple support centers in a variety of time zones helps Facebook provide better round-the-clock, multi-lingual support.

According to the company, seventy percent of the people using Facebook are now located outside the U.S. and are accessing the service from more than 70 languages. In India alone, Facebook says it has more than 8 million people actively connecting on Facebook

A quick glance on Wikipedia teaches us that Hyderabad houses many computer software companies and consulting firms, so much so that the city is sometimes referred to as “Cyberabad”. Microsoft apparently has established its largest R&D campus outside the US in the ‘City of Pearls’, and other names on the list of companies with one or multiple offices in Hyderabad include Google, Alcatel Lucent, Amazon, HP, Dell, IBM, Motorola, Oracle and Deloitte.