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Here's the largest spherical panorama in the world: Prague from the TV Tower.
You can zoom way in and see all kinds of things.
Oddly, there are very few people in this photo. Here's a guy who knew the photo was being taken, and looked right at the camera:
Comments | Posted in Interactive
As 2009 comes to a close, and the music industry shifts focus to 2010, it's worth looking back at some of the noteworthy events of the past 12 months. This is also the right time to look ahead and predict what will happen next year.
For some in the business, this year brought trouble after trouble; for others, 2009 was a time for growing revenue, relevance and positioning. Whichever end of the spectrum you are on, there have been few dull moments for digital music this year. And next year promises even more change and growth.
Innovation and Acquisitions Abound
A number of high-profile acquisitions in recent months have shifted the digital music landscape.
Apple's recent purchase of streaming/download service Lala has sparked much speculation. Articles from the New York Times, PC World, and Apple Insider have discussed possible reasons for the purchase, and most tend to focus on the creation of an Apple-powered music streaming platform.
Unlike iTunes, Lala allows users to stream music they own from the web, effectively creating an anything/anywhere platform. It would give users the ability to listen to music via the web and mobile phones without having to download the content to different devices. There's still a scramble for a sustainable streaming model, and Apple wants in.
This is interesting on its own, as it adds a dimension to music consumption that is basically the opposite of how iTunes was built from day one. But this is only one part of why industry players are talking; everyone loves drama, and this story has plenty.
Just one month prior to Apple's acquisition, Lala made headlines as one of the key partners in the new Google Music service. Lala, along with a number of other partners, now powers streaming music search results through Google. When a user searches for music on the search engine, the option to stream the song (as well as purchase, get lyrics, and find tour dates) appears at the top of the results. With Apple's buyout of the company, people are left to wonder what may come of this service.
MySpace was also busy on the acquisition front, recently absorbing two music streaming services, iLike and imeem. Each of these companies had built a solid user base, but had not found the profitability investors expected. A buyout wasn't a surprise. Speculation abounds here as well: Both of these companies offer enhancements to what MySpace currently provides, but they do not bring anything particularly new or unique to the table.
That said, these deals are not without their own drama. iLike has powered Facebook's most popular music service for years, so this acquisition creates an interesting relationship between MySpace and Facebook. There are many other music applications on Facebook, so this development probably won't be significantly disruptive.
The same can't be said for imeem. It built its massive user base by allowing fans to create streaming playlists and embed them across the web. Bloggers and others relied on these players, as did web technologies such as twt.fm, which allowed users to easily tweet a link to an imeem-powered streaming track.
These services immediately broke last week when, without warning, MySpace completely pulled the plug on the imeem service. All traffic to the imeem.com domain now points to MySpace Music, and all backend access to the site (via its APIs) is turned off. This has created unhappy fans, bloggers, and developers.
Is innovation flourishing, or is the herd thinning out? These were only some of the more high-profile acquisitions this year. Expect to see more in 2010.
Direct-To-Consumer Continues Ascent
Another important trend this year was the continued emergence of a hyper-charged direct-to-consumer business model. Companies such as Topspin, Audiolife, Nimbit, and Reverb Nation are enabling artists to interact with -- and sell to -- their audiences in many new ways. I wrote about this topic in a MediaShift article earlier in the year.
The idea of direct-to-fan goes back decades. Massive value can be created when an artist engages their audience directly. This has been demonstrated for years at concert merchandise booths, and online in the form of things such as newsletters and e-commerce using PayPal.
The difference, and the reason this topic is on people's minds, is that technology has quickly propelled the D2C marketplace both downward and forward. Direct-to-fan has always worked well for large bands, or for artists with momentum. Now, small artists -- if, and only if, they are creative and good -- have the tools to recreate this revenue stream at their level. It doesn't mean every garage band can quit their day jobs, but it does mean more artists have new opportunities to make a living.
Forecasting, marketing, commerce, distribution, customer service, analytics, and deep fan engagement are all now available to artists at any stage of their career. This year saw some highly innovative and often successful campaigns run by emerging artists. In 2010, more artists will embrace this model, which means a lot of noise and competition. It will be more of a challenge for the brilliant acts to shine through.
What Else is Next
A few more thoughts about the year ahead:
- 2010 will be the year of analytics. Digital marketing and sales departments have been cobbling together metrics for years. Many things are trackable, but it's often impossible to access the data or find the means to implement structured analysis. Platforms such as Next Big Sound, RockDex and BandMetrics are looking to fill this need. As APIs and data sources continue to open up, these services will get better and better.
- The conversation about an ISP tax for unlimited downloads will continue. The big players working to combat piracy will continue to focus on this.
- Spotify is still gearing up for a U.S. launch, but in light of imeem's troubles, the ad-supported streaming model is under further scrutiny. There are fundamental differences in their ad structures, but ad-supported is ad-supported.
- I am curious to see where advertising goes on Twitter. The Huffington Post has one idea, trying to sell ads into feeds.
There are many more things on the horizon. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the state of the digital music industry, and what's next.
Jason Feinberg is the president and founder of On Target Media Group, a music industry online marketing and promotion company. He is responsible for business development, formulation and management of online marketing campaigns, and media relations with over 1,000 websites and media outlets. The company has served clients including Warner Bros. Records, Universal Music Enterprises, EMI, Concord Music Group, Roadrunner Records, and others with an artist roster that includes Har Mar Superstar, Flipper, George Thorogood, Steve Vai, Robben Ford, Chick Corea, and many more. You can follow Jason on Twitter @otmg
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Sony's pulling a switcheroo on its customers, rebranding its "eBook Store" as "Reader Store" (see what they did there? Err...) but more importantly, changing formats from BBeB to EPUB. This is a surprising step forward for the proprietary-loving Sony.
Undoubtedly you would've battled Sony's formats in the past, so know what I'm referring to. The big change happens this Friday, with all books downloadable in the open EPUB format only. The third cherry on Sony's big surprise cake this week is that the Reader Library 3.1 software will also become available on Friday, bringing both Mac and PC support—head's up, Snow Leopard and Windows 7 users. [Sony]
Foxit has created the eSlick Store to accompany its adorably inexpensive eSlick reader. But why?
It's great and all that eSlick now supports ePub and eReader in addition to PDF and TXT. But why a separate store that hosts 60,000 available titles when you can browse Barnes & Noble's million-plus eBook inventory instead? Especially when that separate eSlick store is run by a B&N subsidiary? More choice is always great, Foxit. But redundant choice is just clutter. [BusinessWire via Engadget]
"Online: Content is king. I don't disagree. But collaboration is queen. In chess the king is the most important, but the queen is the most powerful." - David Cohn
We in public media produce a lot of content, but historically we haven't had a lot of collaboration. That's been changing recently, and I'm fortunate enough to have a front row seat.
I'm the project manager for public media's collaboration about the economy, EconomyStory, a project funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that brings together 12 public media organizations to cover the current economic crisis, online and on-air. The idea was straightforward: By coordinating efforts across newsrooms, we can deliver to the American public news coverage and resources that are greater than the sum of their parts, and that leverage each organization's strengths. (For a list of partners and their contributions, see EconomyStory.org).
I previously managed a similar effort, also funded by CPB, around the 2008 election. Eight organizations were involved in that project. Over the course of these two projects, I've witnessed a series of triumphs and frustrations that are deeply relevant to the current conversation among journalists, and those interested in journalism, regarding the future of news. Below are my top three lessons learned. I hope other organizations can benefit from our experience, and build on what we've learned. I'd also love to hear what you've learned from similar projects.
Lesson #1: Collaboration Isn't Efficient, But Still Worth It
At the outset of the election project, I expected collaboration to create efficiencies. After all, instead of eight organizations having eight conversations about how to cover the same story, we were having one conversation. Certainly, the thinking went, this would reduce, if not eliminate, redundancies. But reducing redundancies, it turns out, doesn't necessarily mean reducing effort; coordinating with people at other organizations that have different ways of doing things takes time -- lots of it.
For example, during the 2008 election, NPR and PBS NewsHour jointly developed an interactive map that was featured on each of their websites, as well as on over 150 local station sites. With a curator assigned at both NPR and NewsHour, the map fused local and national coverage -- in text, audio and video -- from across public media. Having a collaborative map was convenient for stations, and, in my opinion, yielded a superior end product, which better served the public.
Both NPR and NewsHour could have launched the map earlier in the election cycle if they'd pursued individual products. Instead, they took the time to jointly develop the feature's specifications and select a vendor, among other tasks -- all of which lengthened the production process.
Was this strategic? Absolutely. Efficient? Not really. Yes, the public media system as a whole was focusing its resources more effectively; but individuals were not producing results as quickly as they would have if they'd worked alone.
Of course, collaboration doesn't always increase effort. It depends on the nature and timing of the project, and whether the partners have worked together before. My point is simply this: Don't assume that working together means saving time -- that's not the value proposition of collaboration. The value proposition is about quality, to the extent that you're equipped to turn quality into revenue.
In other words: Working together yields a superior and more distinctive end product; more distinctive end products, when promoted effectively, build audiences; bigger audiences are the raw material from which revenue may be extracted.
Lesson #2: You Need the Muckety-Mucks
The web department still operates as something of a ghetto at many media organizations. Despite pockets of leadership and innovation, public media organizations are, for the most part, no exception.
Sure, everyone knows the future's in digital, but, more often than not, the people with power and influence work in the organization's legacy media area, such as print or broadcast. I witnessed this directly during the election collaboration, which primarily involved web managers and producers at partner organizations. This hampered the project's impact, either by limiting promotion or preventing more meaningful editorial collaboration. (Much of our "collaboration" during election 2008, aside from the NPR/NewsHour map, took the form of cross-promotion -- a type of collaboration, to be sure, but not the deepest type.)
Having learned our lesson, the kickoff meeting for EconomyStory included multi-disciplinary teams from each partner organization. We then broke off into strands for in-depth brainstorming sessions. At one point, producers of several blue-chip public media programs locked eyes and admitted they didn't trust each other. Then they laughed about it. Then they started talking.
The immediate result? At least one co-production, which aired on both radio and TV, with related web content. The longer-term impact is that the channels of communication are open between these organizations, including at the executive level. This sets the tone and empowers people at every level to explore creative ways of working together. Now it seems I hear each week about a new collaborative effort between some subset of our project's partners.
Lest you think the lesson here is that change only comes from the top down, I'll underscore that the idea to collaborate for the election and the economic crisis was largely hatched within public media's web community. This community just needed to engage the right executives in order to begin realizing the full power of its vision.
Lesson #3: Autopilot? I Don't Think So.
People were enthusiastic when they left the kick-off meeting, but then they returned to busy offices, overflowing inboxes, and lengthy to-do lists. In other words, it was going to take more than goodwill to drive the project forward. Specifically, success was going to require:
> Formal Communication Channels: For the election project, partners relied on the phone and email to stay in touch with each other, and with me. This time around, I introduced Basecamp, a project management tool from 37 Signals. I made it clear at the outset (and in partner contracts) that participation on Basecamp was a requirement. Sound harsh? Yes, but I knew I was dealing with busy people who needed extra prodding to remember to share information outside of their own shops.
It's been a huge success because it's far more effective for partners to share information with each other, than for information to flow only from them to me. Why rely on a switchboard operator in the digital age?
One success story: near the beginning of the economy project, a producer at PBS posted a programming pipeline, including information about an upcoming Frontline special called "The Warning." It was about a lone regulator who warned of the potential for economic meltdown in the late 1990s. A producer at Marketplace saw this information and ended up commissioning a series of original radio reports, including an interview with the regulator, Brooksley Born.
This may not sound like rocket science (and it isn't), but without this project, and without a central information-sharing hub, it wouldn't have happened.
> Strong Central Staff: After the election project, it was clear that there were central project functions beyond project management that needed attention. For one thing, we needed to actually promote the partners' work, both to the general public and to public media stations. After all, it's hard to provide a public service when the public doesn't know what you're doing.
Also, in order to maximize editorial collaboration between partners, we needed someone with a bird's eye view of the project, as well as a journalist's sensibility, who could look for specific opportunities for partners to team up. We added these roles to the mix, bringing on freelancer and public media vet Katie Kemple to head up marketing; Public Radio International managed station outreach; and Lee Banville from NewsHour served as "editorial facilitator."
The combination of Basecamp and additional project staff has spurred more informal collaboration on EconomyStory compared to what we saw during the election project. The Frontline/Marketplace example above is just the tip of the iceberg. It's critical to have a central team that works to keep partners focused and engaged. In addition, those of us at the center of the project are then able to identify strategic successes and areas for improvement.
Conclusion
Learning to collaborate is a lot like learning to manage. A junior manager often thinks it's easier to do things herself, rather than take time to train someone on her team. While this approach may allow her to deliver results more quickly in the short term, it's not sustainable over time. Similarly, collaboration between news organizations is often time consuming at first -- but it's essential to their long-term success.
As more and more news organizations shut their doors, or reduce operations, lean organizations and newly freelance journalists need to learn to work together in new ways if they're going to survive. They need to be scrappy -- and public media organizations are nothing if not scrappy. There may be hope for us yet.
Amanda Hirsch is a consultant to independent media companies and non-profits, and the former editorial director of PBS Interactive (as well as MediaShift's former editor). She is also a writer and performer. You can follow Amanda online on her website and on Twitter at @publicmediagirl.
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I'm an avid reader, studied literature in school, and nerd out over tech, yet past ebook readers have left me cold. The Nook is the first reader I really want, and I won't be alone. Here's why.
It's cost-effective. Yeah, at $260 it's the same price as the Kindle 2, but you're getting so much more for your money: Wi-Fi, native PDF support, an SD slot and that crazy second screen makes it seem out of the Kindle's league. It makes the Sony Reader and iRex look absurdly overpriced and the Plastic Logic Que look like a shot in the dark.
Lending and Sharing. One of my main objections to the Kindle and other readers is that most of my books come from friends, rather than bookstores. The Nook realizes that and integrates a 2-week lending period—plenty of time for a quick read. Plus, you can lend to tons of different devices: Mac, PC, iPhone, iPod Touch, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile (soon).
Sharing is also done really well: As opposed to the Kindle, which only lets you read purchased ebooks on a same-account iPhone or iPod Touch, the Nook lets you read on any device supported, the most important of which are PC and Mac. So you and your significant other could read the same book at the same time, on whatever devices you each prefer. The Kindle, in contrast, doesn't support PC and Mac at all—but we'd be willing to bet Amazon is rethinking that decision right about now. Plus, the Nook syncs both your place in the book and any highlights or annotations you've made, which could be great for students.
Free in-store reading. You'll be able to take the Nook to any of Barnes & Noble's gajillion stores and read one ebook, for free, each time—the same way you might wander into the store, pick up a book and read it for an hour or two. Barnes & Noble is really thinking about how people actually read, which is a great sign: This kind of feature makes the Kindle feel like it's forcing you to change your reading habits rather than adapting to them.
And potential Nook customers will be able to go into a retail store with which they're comfortable and play around with the actual device, an advantage not shared by the Kindle. Given Matt's impressions of the Nook, I think seeing the hardware in person will convince a lot of people to buy it.
Head-turning looks. The Kindle 1 was, um, distinctive, and the Kindle 2 is inoffensive and sleek enough, but the Nook has legitimate style. As Matt said, "it makes even the relatively benign-looking Kindle 2 seem like it was beaten with an ugly stick." It was clear from the first leak that we were dealing with something very different.
Android. There are two things to be excited about when it comes to Android. First is the legit apps, which B&N seems open to—in today's presentation, John wrote "They, ahem, 'haven't announced' anything about app development, but they're comfortable using the phrase "when we do," which is veeeery promising." My personal most-wanted app? Pandora (or Slacker, or Last.FM).
Secondly, there's the more, well, illicit possibilities: The Nook both runs Android (which we already know is easily and enthusiastically modified) and has a microUSB jack, which should make for easy hacking. Imagine user-created skins, apps, games (in case reading gets boring)—the possibilities are just about endless. The Nook already supports PDF natively (yes!) but we could definitely see it hacked to embrace other formats like Word docs.
The second screen. Yeah, it's weird, and we wouldn't have believed it if it didn't, you know, exist, but it just makes so much sense: Browsing for books on e-ink is an exercise in frustration, and touchscreen e-ink is even worse. With its capacitive touchscreen, the Nook offers a keyboard and Cover-Flow-esque browsing without the awkwardness and lethargy of e-ink, but it also opens the door for multitasking. You'll be able to read a book and control your music at the same time, and because the music browser will be on the LCD screen, it won't look like e-inked crap. It should also support photo browsing and the ability to set your own wallpaper.
Battery life. The Nook's 10-day battery life may not be quite as long as the Kindle 2's 14 days, but 10 days is still insane—especially if we think about the tablets that will vie to make ebook readers obsolete. Whenever the Apple tablet is announced, you can bet its battery life will be measured in hours, not days. Plus, the Nook's battery is replaceable, always a welcome decision (you could have a spare battery, and when yours does eventually die, it's easy to replace).
Both 3G and Wi-Fi. I'm not exactly sure about the benefits of Wi-Fi right now (besides international travel, where AT&T may not work), but given the possibilities of Android, it's essential that the Nook includes it. In the future, we may want to download files bigger than ebooks—apps, games, videos, whatever—and Wi-Fi will be vital once the potential of the Nook is unlocked. Plus, there could well be Wi-Fi-only features of the kind AT&T wouldn't support: Streaming content, web browsing, VoIP, whatever. Wi-Fi is a killer feature not for what it does right now, but for what it could allow the Nook could do in the future.
Good news ebook fans: Amazon’s Kindle app for the iPhone is now available in more than 60 countries.
Amazon launched an international version of the Kindle back in October, but now users can link their Kindle books with their iPhone or forgo buying the Kindle and just read the books on their mobile phone.
Amazon employs a technology they call Whispersync with the Kindle that keeps the bookmarks and last pages synchronized across different devices on the same account. It also means that if you accidentally remove a book from your iPhone, you can redownload it on the fly.
Amazon’s Kindle app [iTunes lin]) is one of the best e-readers for the iPhone, regardless of platform. It’s easy to navigate, has adjustable settings for text and background color, and you can enable or disable the accelerometer (which is handy for anyone who likes to read in bed).
Using the app, you can buy books directly from Amazon.com and download them to your device, or sync with purchases you make on a Kindle or via the web browser. Amazon recently released Kindle Desktop software for the PC, and a Mac version is in the works.
Amazon also says that Kindle for BlackBerry is on the way, too. Since launching the Kindle in 2007, Amazon has watched the competition in the space go from nearly nonexistent, to more and more crowded. Competitor Barnes & Noble just launched their own eReader, the Nook, which also has its own iPhone app.
We think that the free Kindle iPhone app is the best advertisement Amazon can make for the Kindle itself. It’s extremely easy to buy and read books, and after you start to amass a small library, that can play a large factor in what standalone eReader you buy.
Tags: eBook, ereader, iphone, Kindle, kindle iphone, nook
Borders Group have launched an eBook reader and service with KOBO, a spinoff of Indigo. The service is available on your BlackBerry, where you can easily download eBooks and read them on your device. The KOBO service plans to offer 1.8 million free books and another 200,000 at $9.99.
With a clean UI, a simple downloading process and a clean font, this app makes reading books on your BlackBerry very easy. To use the KOBO app, you must have OS 4.5 or greater.
© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009