Will HAL invade your living room?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by DW

Brad Dick February 24th, 2012
(Courtesy http://broadcastengineering.com)

Controlling a TV set is easy. Just push the appropriate button.

Not good enough say TV set makers and others. We want you to instead use your cell phone, tablet and now your voice.

According to the January Consumer Electronics Show (CES) exhibits television set makers and other vendors are about to actually enable viewers to really talk to their TV sets. Several companies have recently demonstrated new TV remote controls that empower viewers with voice control over their TV sets. Just before CES, LG demonstrated their Cinema 3D smart TV with voice control, called Magic Remote. The company claims the device enables a wide range of television set control functions via voice. At CES, Samsung announced voice control for some models of their TV sets too.

But Samsung and LG aren’t the only vendors looking to bring voice control to your television set. Just six days before Apple released iCloud and Siri, behemoth Google filed a patent application for their “Google TV” remote and application. According to patent materials, the new remote, “will use voice controls associated with Google’s own cloud services.” The device will allow viewers with Android phones to control their TV sets. The web site Patently Apple suggests that Samsung’s voice remote may actually be an early implementation of the Google technology.

The site’s documents describe the Google application in some detail. In addition to voice control over standard functions like channel change and volume, the Google device would enable a wide range of options. Viewers could remotely direct their TV to turn on and find a program by name.

With location-based devices like cell phones, once you near your house, the phone could tell the TV set to turn on and find the program “Happy Days”. The patent application also discusses creating music play lists and similarly controlling them by remote. By the time you enter the house, the TV set is on and tuned to your favorite channel. If the show is not available, the Google computer would program your PVR to record the show.

As proposed, Google would use the cloud for storage, translation and transmission back to the TV set. Of course, the overall system could connect to all devices owned by a viewer, passing the proper metadata between the Google cloud sever and local devices.

I’ve always felt that such an audio-controlled TV device wouldn’t work because of background noise. Google has thought of that and the door for commands remains closed until the viewer speaks a “trigger” word. After the trigger, the control link opens and awaits a voice command.

Finally, many of us have heard the rumor that Apple is coming out with an Apple TV, now presumably powered by a voice-activated Siri-based TV remote. Keep in mind that’s still a rumor.

While I’m a fan of technology, computers can enable a whole new range of issues. I mention that from personal experience. My 15-year old son, Jeremy, once reprogrammed my VOD channel password. I couldn’t watch VOD movies until I called the cable company for a reset. Somehow he had figured out how to change the password on his own.

All this predicted new voice control stuff reminds me of the movie, “2001”. The story revolves about a spaceship, Discovery One, which is entirely controlled by a new, really smart, human-like talking computer named HAL. In an interview HAL with the BBC network, HAL declares itself “foolproof and incapable of error”.

Even so, one of the astronauts, Dr David Bowman, becomes convinced that HAL is defective and even responsible for the deaths of fellow crewmembers. Bowman then decides to deactivate HAL and heads to the door leading to the computer room. “Open the door HAL,” Bowman says.

HAL replies, “I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.”

Could happen.

Study: Mobile-TV Viewing Surpasses Broadcast Viewing

Posted on March 5, 2012 by DW

Mar 6, 2012 4:24 PM, by Franklin McMahon

(Courtesy http://broadcastengineering.com)

It is good news for advertising-supported mobile-TV content that consumers’ viewing and purchasing preferences seem to be closely aligned.

InMobi has just released the results of its latest survey, and the results may not come as a surprise to many. But it is also a look into the future and a good indicator of exactly how far content creators have come in designing a mobile-TV landscape.

The survey is tracking the numbers, and it shows that now 27 percent of participants are spending more time viewing content on mobile as opposed to 22 percent viewing actual TV. As mobile use continues to climb, these numbers are the reverse of even a year or two ago, where broadcast was still the king and mobile was just getting up to speed.

The biggest boom is not the content though, it is the advertising. The survey outlines that consumers are now more comfy with mobile advertising and their purchase behavior is more geared toward purchases centered around mobile.

Willingness to do transactions over mobile has been steadily increasing and, as more ads appear on mobile, along with more ways to have mobile transactions, it only makes sense that consumers are enjoying more TV time in the palms of their hand.

The survey states that 42 percent of respondents have said that mobile was the place where they first learned of a new product, and a beefy 76 percent have stated that they will make mobile purchases over the coming year. Twenty-three percent noted that they feel mobile purchases can save them time and money, and they are influenced by mobile advertising.

All of this is good news for mobile-TV content producers. There has always been a growing need for shows on devices, but content needs to be advertising-supported, and this survey clearly shows that consumers are eager to support the programming with their dollars and purchases.
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Read more: http://broadcastengineering.com/mobile_tv/study-mobile-tv-viewing-surpasses-broadcast-viewing-03062012/#ixzz1oI3QIsu5

20 Content Marketing Ideas for 2012

Posted on January 2, 2012 by DW

By Lisa Barone

Published December 28, 2012

http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/12/20-content-marketing-ideas-2012.html

I know–just the phrase “content marketing” is enough to instill fear in many small business owners. But why? As SMBs, we’re pros at using content as a way to attract customers and build word of mouth. We’ve been doing it our whole entrepreneurial careers! But we seem to forget this when the “content marketing” term is brought into the discussion. However, the idea of leveraging content marketing as a lead generation strategy doesn’t have to intimidate you. There are virtually an endless supply of content marketing strategies at SMBs’ fingertips.

Here, I’ll start you off with 20.

Below is just a handful (OK, a few handfuls) of content marketing ideas your business can implement and profit from in 2012.

Create a free course on a topic related to your business and invite people in your neighborhood to attend. For example, if you’re a caterer, maybe it’s how to host the perfect dinner party. If you’re an accountant, maybe it’s on what you need to know before filing your taxes this year. Promote the event using both local print and online resources.
Send out a direct mailing thanking your customers for their patronage in 2011 and sharing what you hope to bring them in 2012. Make sure you’re top of mind as the New Year hits.
Compile your 20 best/most trafficked/most commented on blog posts into an ebook and offer them as a free download.
Participate in industry-specific Q&A sites and help solve others problems. Don’t promote your business, but do include a link to your website in your profile so people can find it on their own should they be interested.
Dedicate 30 minutes a week to commenting on relevant blogs to build relationships, get your name out there and create authority.
Creating a buying guide related to your industry. If you sell a product, focus on the different specs, installation, uses, etc. If you offer a service, focus on the best questions to ask when evaluating a vendor, the different types of services, etc.
Start an industry-specific Twitter chat. Invite guests to co-host with you.
Put together an informative blog series (maybe three posts long) to capture traffic for a competitive keyword phrase show expertise in a particular area. Later, bundle the posts together and turn them into an ebook.
Create a video interview series where you chat with influential people in your industry or community and post the videos on your website.
Start an email newsletter.
Host a weekly Google+ hangout to talk about timely issues and topics.
Be a guest on a podcast.
Get other local business owners together and hold a workshop on a hot issue in your industry. Or, get together with other business owners in different industries and talk about how you’ve used the Internet/Facebook/Twitter to increase business.
Write guest posts for other blogs in your industry.
Review products/services/books you like.
Write case studies for your website. Promote them.
Create a tool to help your community. If you’re a tax preparer, maybe it’s a deduction finder or a planning worksheet. If you’re a social media consultant, maybe it’s a list of Twitter conversation starters for people not sure how to jump in.
Write a white paper detailing a specific issue affecting your industry, what it means and your take on it. Get other experts to share their opinions as well. Include them in the whitepaper.
Speak at your local Chamber of Commerce. Create a PowerPoint presentation to go along with it and then post it on your website.
Start a video grab bag series where you answer common questions on YouTube and post the videos on your blog.

See how easy that was? Twenty powerful ways to use content marketing to build awareness for your business. You don’t even have to break a sweat.

About the Author

Lisa Barone is Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media, Inc., an SEO consulting firm that specializes in providing clients with online reputation management, social media services, and other Internet services.