CSI:NY vs Second Life - how did it go?

Well, being situated in Finland I had a bit of a problem catching the CSI:NY program itself, so haven't seen that one. I did, however, log on to Second Life to have a look around, and yes, in that end Electric Sheep made it all work pretty darn well.

Judging by the response from some other people blogging about this, the television version was still mostly a muck-up when it came to the whole cross media shebang - or rather, the fact that 99% of all that is shown on television is fake. So too with regards to what was included about Second Life in yesterdays episode. For a better review from someone who actually watched the show, read this.

What would be good would for the television end of the production chain to start listening to the internet (or in this case, Second Life) end of the chain a little bit more. It is not possible to create a good all-encompassing experience that gives both worlds justice unless you let both parts influence each other to a great enough extent.

For an interview with Anthony Zuiker, creator of the CSI brand and the guy with the idea of going into SL from the start, check this out.

As for viewer ratings, I haven't seen any yet, nor any figures for how many people signed up as Second Lifers yesterday. Will post as soon as I have them.

Well - to sum it up, a nice enough effort. As well, it will continue with new mysteries every month, so hopefully no end to it but a continuing presence in SL. Just get the tv part to work together with it a bit better, please?

Yup, that's a faceless CSI-corpse on the floor, alright.

Ehhehh. Heh.

Sorry, but got to post this. If you have to make an ad for a tv channel about crime, you could do worse than this. And it's a really catchy song as well! :)

Cross media and television, match made in heaven

Tonight on CBS there'll be something pretty nice to look forward to, for all the viewers in the US and all Second Life players worldwide. See, what they're doing is basically widening the CSI:NY brand into Second Life, which at first glance has the definite ability to be awesome. Although there are some who think it really doesn't :)

Tonights episode will feature in and moreover continue in Second Life. Wonder what that'll be like :) . As a first, I have great hopes for this - lets just hope it doesn't run out of steam like, say, The Lost Experience or something suchlike.

This is what I'd like to be doing with my tv projects as well. Anyone got a couple of millions of €€ to give away?


Preview of tonights CSI:NY Second Life extravaganza. Looks nice!

Just to contradict myself a bit - the Bugatti Veyron... mmm...

Heh, saw this in Berlin the other week. And I must admit I'd like to have one. Or two. Or a dozen. Perhaps if they made them run on biogas I could get my conscience to shut up as well? ...or I could just take this version - "Studie" I guess means that it's just a nice model.







Beauty in motion - even when it's not in motion.

The times they are a-changing

Just plugged in my 4Gb smartdrive USB stick, and realized that not so long ago, 4Gb was what you'd be REALLY lucky to fit into a bloody livingroom.


One gigabyte then, one gigabyte now. Old one - MUCH cooler...

I just wish, really really wish, that all the energy spent on not so important things - like updating your Facebook page (yes, you!) and trying to fit more gigas onto smaller space - would be spent on trying to save this bloody planet.

Was in the woods with the kids a couple of days ago - the loud smattering that could be heard were the elk flies hitting our jackets, caps, hair, legs, everywhere. Never seen such an amount of them evil buggers. Four hours later I plucked the last one as it was crawling on my cheek. Now - there were no elk flies here when I was a kid, just the mosquitos. Global warming has brought them to my porch, and I don't like it one bit. Time to do something - I won't take the car ANYWHERE for the rest of this week, and that's that.

Hear, hear! The latest word on Joost.

It's always nice, and a bit annoying, when someone else articulates your own feelings in words in a much better way than you yourself have been able to do. So, it's with a mixture of both that I just read William Coopers article on the new developments over at Joost on his Informitv-pages - read it here - and find that the feeling in the back of my head I've had every time I've opened Joost (or Babelgum for that matter), and the probable reason why I check it out once a week - tops - nowadays, was just exactly what William stated at the end of the article.

As he points out, Joost and its rivals represent a breakthrough when it comes to technical matters, programming, how to use the Net and so on. What they don't represent is a better way of consuming media - at least not a more appealing way. As William says -

"At the moment, [Joost and Babelgum] seem rather sterile. Unlike television, which is constantly appealing to its sense of immediacy through a continuous flow of programming and promotion, these video-on-demand environments are less dynamic. As with many other on-demand systems, there is a sense that the same material will still be there tomorrow, in which case why watch it now?"

Quite so.

Weather is nice, and 50-50

Went out finshing last weekend. Next to no fish, but good beer, a warm sauna and great company made it really worthwhile. And the weather Saturday evening was bloody marvellous. As we rounded a small island we saw this HUGE storm moving towards usrapidly. Luckily enough, it missed us by a mile or so, but the clouds, the rainbows and the lighting was just overwhelming. The only camera I had was on my phone, so the pictures weren't that good, but here are some...









On another note - look out for the next Millionaire! Yes, 2waytraffic, who bought Celador (the production company who owned Who wants to be a Millionaire) are trying their best to cash in on their investment. Their new format is called 50-50, and is essentially a spinoff of the 50-50 lifeline from Millionaire. Contestants play in pairs to to make choices between two possibilities (read more about it here).

The only question I have is - when will the quiz show fad run out of steam? Not now,it seems, as 50-50 has already scored deals in Japan, Greece, Australia and Italy.

Perhaps I should be doing quiz shows as well...

Beware the Facebook

Well, as many MANY others, I find Facebook strangely addicitive. Play along, do lots of idiotic fun stuff, play Travel Quiz and Texas Hold'em... and find old friends!

But is there something else to Facebook than just the face and the book? For a pretty sinister (albeit slightly conspiracy theoryish) look at Facebook, watch this. Nice voice in the voiceover too, meow..

The art of updating infrequently

Well, what can I say. Between working (and working and working) and not working, there doesn't seem to be any time to update this blog with anything remotely associated with regularity.

What new then? The Space Trainees was pitched at EBU Creative Forum in Berlin last week - along with 20-odd other EBU-projects - and there was some interest in the format. Let us hope it'll take off shortly.

On the telecom / media / television side of the world, MIPCOM might be pretty interesting this year. A whole day is dedicated to the hype of the moment, Green TV (television programs with an ecological twist) - I actually heard the pitch for a pretty good format in the genre in Berlin, made by SBS from Australia. It's called Eco House Challenge, and the website can be found here.

Anyone going to Cannes for the MIPCOM and fancy a chat, let me know :)

On another completely different note, have you ever wondered what you're worth? Here is the place to find out. To my dismay, I clocked in at 2.975$... I think I'm more worth than that!

Hacking an iPhone

Well, disturbing news for a lot of people. Happy news for a lot of other people. Telecoms.com reports that a US teenager, George Hotz, spent his entire summer break hacking the iPhone. This he succeeded in doing, trading the hacked iPhone (hacked so that it can be used on any network, not just the ones it is branded for) during the weekend.

Other people and organizations are also working on cracking the iPhone, which means it'll be some nervous times at, for instance, AT&T, the network that the iPhone is supposed to be solely connected to in the US. As many of the potential customers for the iPhone are pretty technologically aware people, changing operator with the help of a cracking software should pose no greater obstacle. We'll see what happens.

What did he trade it for? A Nissan 350Z and three 8GB iPhones :). Well spent summer break, methinks.

Back (once again)

So, summer vacations over, back at work. Traditional autumn-start-of-school-and-daycare-flu grabbing a hold of the family, coughing and wheezing...

Now, preparing a trip to Berlin and the EBU meeting, where we'll be presenting The Space Trainees to lots of people - hope the flu has gone by then!

Also lots of development work to be done. Phew.

And, if you haven't yet signed up to become an owner of a REAL football club (albeit in the lower echelons of British football), do so now :) I've done it, so it can't be all bad. What? Oh.

Mhm, just a heads-up regarding this...

if you are

a) not on vacation,
b) perhaps on vacation, or at work, but do not have anything to do next Tuesday (10th July) at 1300 GMT and
c) you're interested in the future of mobile television,

you could do worse then signing up for this webinar, organised by WeComm. As it

a) features some key persons from BSkyB and Motorola,
b) it's free and
c) it's only 40 minutes long,

I'd say it was a pretty good way to spend that time. You even get to ask you own questions - like "what's it good for anyway?" and stuff like that. :)

Not gonna see me there though, vacation coming up... puuh.

VeohTV tried and tested

Well, as I wrote earlier, I'm starting to feel a little bit like them animals tucked up in cages that they test new make up products on... only difference is, I've signed myself up for all these tests... silly me.

So - betatesting Joost, Babelgum, and now VeohTV. VeohTV differs from the other two in the sense that it's more web-based, which is both good and bad. It has a more webby feeling to it as well - while both Joost and Babelgum are attempting to be IP-television on your computer, VeohTV feels - to me - more like an attempt to be a smooth and easily managed interface to all the content that is on the web. I mean, at the same time as you can watch episodes of Heroes, 24, CSI or Jericho (the latter only if you're US-based though) you can browse sites like YouTube, VideoGoogle or watch WebcamGirls (woohoo!) - i.e. pretty much everything that the web has to offer.

And here then is part of the problem - the web contains quite a lot. So if you're really trying to kill time, you can just start pretty much anything, bare with the (slightly annoying but obligatory) commercials at the beginning of each and any clip (and sometimes the ads are longer than the bloody clip!) and just watch away.

For me, this does not work. As we all know, the web is full of really shite content, which makes VeohTV an interface to more easily get your hands on really shite content. Not something I need. Added to that, the quality is often abysmal. Pixelation is just the first word, I could come up with a dozen more I think.

VeohTV prides itself on having a funky recommendation feature - it logs what you watch and then recommends stuff that you might want to watch based on that information. Still, for me, as there's so much crap there and I simply click on a couple of links to see what they really are, quickly shutting them down after not liking what I saw, the recommendations get a bit skewed. I believe this could be helped if I could be bothered to ass different clips to my favourites etc, basically showing what I like, but honestly - I can't be bothered.

Some good things though - most clips have a short summary in the title, which helps a lot. The interface is easy to understand and even easier to use - good usability there!

For my money though, so far, it's Joost who's the leader in the IP based television service. Or, if you're feeling like being on the shady side of the law, perhaps Joox instead?

Heh

Me being this book aint too far from the truth, really:

You're The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

by C.S. Lewis

You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed
quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it
seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic
struggle between two forces in your life and you are very concerned about a betrayal
that could turn the balance. If this makes it sound like you're re-enacting Christian
theological events, that may or may not be coincidence. When in doubt, put your trust
in zoo animals.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

VeohTV - what's that all about then?

My GOD! SHOCKING NEWS! Now you can WATCH TELEVISION ON YOUR COMPUTER! AT AAAANY TIIIIIMEEEE!!

ehh.. well, yes. Just got into work early Thursday having had a farewell-bash for colleague Tommy who's leaving us to go to Stockholm and work with eye-tracking cameras and stuff. So, slightly hungover and very tired, I open my mailbox to find myself invited to betatest VeohTV, internet-based television.

Yet another one, you think? Yeah, that's what I thought too. But VeohTV has got some features that I like. First off, it's a free software. Just install and watch,
basically. What do you watch then? Not broadcast tv, of course, but clips on the web, from all sorts of sources - ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, YouTube, MySpace, Google, Yahoo... you name it. VeohTV has a funky EPG which learns what you usually like to see and recommend stuff that you might also want to check out (haven't tried that yet, will be interesting to see how it works, if it's really intelligent or not) and of course the nifty feature of being able to record the material onto your computer.

Verdict? None yet. But with all the Joosts and Babelgums and Joox and Stage6, I am seriously beginning to wonder who'll come out on top in the end. Perhaps someone will buy them all and mash them up into a great big next-great-big-thing-thing?

Will get back to VeohTV once I've had the chance to try it out a bit more.

On another note - CONGRATULATIONS to fellow Finns Saku et al at Broadcasters / Zodiak! Their format "Pin Code" (basically - there are lots of money on a bank account, the contestants must find out the correct pin code to get to the money) has been optioned into several territories - including the US and Spain. Well done - perhaps the Finnish television business is going somewhere finally?

On the other hand, our format "The Space Trainees" is optioned into three territories, including Australia and Poland, so we're not that far behind :)

Nokia and DVB-H in Malaysia

The mobile tv circus rolls on and on. Latest news is that Nokia will partner up with Malaysian MiTV to roll out mobile tv offerings on the DVB-H platfom in the second half this year. As is stated, the people of Malaysia will "be able to watch the latest news, engage in music videos and documentaries or even catch their favorite TV series anywhere, anytime directly on their mobile devices".

Have we heard this before? Yes we have.

Furthermore, all the talk about this venture is about the technology - "there's no streaming and lag associated with it. You will be able to switch between channels instantaneously, and on top of that, the picture quality and reception will be better than any video streaming service available today." So it's great, it works, and it's still the same content, on another device.

What I'm personally still waiting for is, however, something that goes the other way around - not implementing a technology that just lets the audience watch the same content on another device, but rather content that has been developed to fit just that particular device. So far, there have been precious few attempts to develop anything new and exciting.

Mobile tv - still needs some tuning, methinks.

Music, handsets and an iPhone killer.. or is it?

If you buy a new phone within the next 12 months (as many many MANY will do, myself included I hope :) you'll probably find a new icon in the menubar, right next to all the usual Calendar and Gallery icons. It'll be called Music Station, and it will be pretty nice, but a bit nasty as well.

See, iPhone is coming out on the market shortly. It's a really nice device, as can be seen on numerous places all over the 'Net. Now, the drawback is that the iPhone will be tied up to a specific operator. In the US it'll be AT&T, and so on - and in order to avail themselves of all the possibilities iPhone offers, the users must sign up to that said operator. As far as has been reported so far, the iPhone won't be downloading tunes off of iTunes either, which makes Music Station all the more intriguing.

Thing with Music Station is that it lets you subscribe to all the music available from most major labels and a lot of indies as well, for 2.99€ a month. Download all you want, listen all you want - as long as you subscribe. And here's the nasty part - if you stop subscribing, you can't listen to any songs anymore, not even the ones you've downloaded. But the playlists are stored, so as soon as you start paying again, you can listen again.

What to think of this then? Well, with iTunes being priced at $0.99 per song, it's a helluva lot cheaper. Still, with iTunes you get to keep the song... My gut feeling is that as long as the players behind Music Station can get the telecom industry behind their product (and it's looking good so far) they have a good chance of upheaving iTunes hold of the market. Must see to it that it's included in my next phone ... :)

Know what you're going to be downloa... eh, I mean WATCHING?

Just read some comments that buyers from the Big Companies had made about which new tv series they think are going to become hits in the near future. Some of them were a bit interesting...

Everyone seemed to agree that there was no new Super Hit like "Heroes" or "Desperate Housewives" on the horizon, but nevertheless, there were quite a few interesting ones on their way. One was the reminds-me-quite-a-lot-of-Sex-and-the-City series "Cashmere Mafia", a series featuring amongst others Lucy Liu, about ambitious and sexy women in NYC, forming their own club... well, I for one like to watch series with sexy women, so I'll give it a shot :).

Lucy Liu, soon to be seen strutting her stuff in "Cashmere Mafia".

Another series is "Gossip Girl" featuring Kristen Bell of "Veronica Mars"-fame - a series about young elite adults in upper class NYC, lots of sex and drugs and stuff like that. Well, I like sex and drugs and stuff like that, so I'll give that one a shot as well :)

The cast of "Gossip Girl"

Another series premiering on ABC this autumn is "Dirty Sexy Money", which is a bit more along the lines of old shows like "Dallas" or "Dynasty" - an idealistic lawyer who is connected to the wealthy and powerful Darling-clan (in NYC, of course :) and slowly but surely is drawn into the land of, yeah, you guessed it - dirty, sexy money. Donald Sutherland is in it - on the other hand, name a show where Donald is NOT in the cast... can't think of one. Well, seeing as I like money, I'll probably give that one a shot as well.

Lots of other shows as well, but I'll mention just one more - "The Sarah Connor Chronicles". This is a show that will premiere on FOX in the US in early 2008, reportedly. If the name sounds familiar - well, it should. Sarah Connor is/was in the Terminator movies - you know, getting chased around all the while by Arnie in Terminator, then being protected by Arnie along with her son in Terminator II, and then... she wasn't in Terminator III, was she? Can't remember. Still, this new series is about what Sarah and her son John did in the years between Terminator II and III. Should be action-packed and probably great fun. Sadly, no Arnie in it though - might be he's too busy being the gov'nor. And, seeing as I like terminators, I'll probably watch that as well. (Btw, the one playing Sarah Connor, wasn't she in "300" as well?)

Yeah, we're mean. That's 'cause we're in a Terminator spin-off, that is.

Now my fingers are bleeding. Better do some work as well :)

When two worlds combine

As a developer of interactive and cross media tv formats, I find it really interesting what production company and format developers Endemol and their partners at gaming firm Electronic Arts are up to at the moment. It's called "Virtual Me" and will "bridge the gap between computer games and television shows", as the companies put it in the release statement earlier this spring.

It's quite simple, really. The viewer can create his or her own avatar online (much like for instance Second Life), through software provided by Electronic Arts. With this avatar, the viewer can then participate in virtual versions of top tv shows, like "Fame Academy" or "Deal or no Deal", as provided by Endemol.

Pretty neat, right? For once, everyone can be on television. Well, virtual television that is. Just goes to say - the imagination is the limit when it comes to the new forms of entertainment, freely crossing over media borders and creating new and exciting possibilities.

Virtual Me will premiere in connection with hit format "Big Brother" soonishly. Keep your eyes peeled!

Babelgum, Joost, Vuze, Microsoft Surface...there are so many of them!

Just started testing Babelgum as well (you all know, that Joost-competitor). Must say that at the moment my bucks are on Joost in that particular battle, as I find the usability of Babelgum a bit less intuitive and straight-forward. Might just be me, but I'm finding it hard to easily get to what I want to look at - or even find anything that I might want to look at. Joost gives a quicker and clearer overview of content on the service, which in my book gives them the clear advantage.

Hadn't noticed, but Azureus, the Bittorrent client that is the most downloaded client of them all, has also gone legit in the past months. Their service - Vuze - has made deals with a lot of content providers, such as Showtime Networks, BBC Worldwide, Bennett Media Worldwide, G4, A&E Networks (including A&E, History, and Biography channels), National Geographic, and Starz Media (this I copypasted from their website, sorry :) - and are offering up SD and HD content to all subscribers. Another competitor to Joost and Babelgum, hooray!

Also,if you want to watch movies, anime, cartoons or tv-series, you can visit Joox. It is a portal to the Stage6 service on the divx.com platform, and my god do they have lots of content. Good quality as well, even on old stuff like Fawlty Towers. LMAO indeed.

Finally, looks like Microsoft have gone all aestethic all of a sudden. Check out the new Microsoft Surface, available later this year, which is a desktop integrated into a 30" table screen. It's interface looks really really neat, and there seems to be lots of nifty details and features in it. Have to get me one soon :)


Microsoft Surface, looking good. But will it bug? ... OF COURSE IT WILL!