» Posts Tagged ‘google’
When I originally wrote, “Google TV is what independent filmmakers have been waiting for,” in retrospect I forgot the “is” at the beginning of the sentence and the question mark at the end. So far the answer to that question has been, admittedly and unfortunately, a resounding “no” — so much so that, despite being sent a Google TV by Google (in part because of writing that article), I still haven’t set it up. But when it comes to independent film distribution, the TV is the final frontier, and whether or not Google TV version 1 made an impact, version 2 is currently rolling out this week and looks to improve things significantly. Oh, and rumors are flying that Apple is apparently getting into the TV game for real (the current Apple TV is nothing more than a hobby). More »
Back in November I criticized Google’s Android operating system for lacking an iTunes-esque media marketplace. Android’s openness seemed a good match for independent content creators, except it lacked a streamlined way to sell media content. Yesterday, at Google I/O, the Big G finally announced an Android Movies Marketplace, as well as an Amazon Cloud Player
In the world of digital content distribution, things are changing so quickly that if you blink, you miss it. With iTunes and iOS, Apple is the 800 lb gorilla in the room, and ever since the iPad became the fastest-selling gadget in history, the elephant in the room (too many analogous animals in the room now?) has been magazine subscriptions. The iPad has the perfect form-factor for reading magazines — I personally like the Kindle more for reading books — but until now, Apple didn’t offer a standardized method of “subscribing” to a magazine. Until now. And as it turns out, Apple’s new subscription terms are going to govern far more than magazine subscriptions, but applications sales, video distribution, and more. More »
There’s a slick new Google TV site live today, and it does an excellent job of highlighting what’s new and different about gTV when compared to other connected set-top boxes. The fact that Google TV needs a guided tour, however, is indicative of the kind of uphill battle Google is faced with when trying to turn the so-called “idiot box” into something decidedly more intelligent. Here’s their new video spotlighting apps on TV: More »
I’ve been using a number of Gmail Labs features in an effort to prioritize and filter incoming email, and I’ve settled on a system that has allowed me greater freedom from constant email-checking. But my techniques — which rely primarily on the add-on Multiple Inboxes — are by no means infallible. Thus I found myself intrigued by Google’s announcement today of Priority Inbox, which automagically sorts your email by importance. This is a big deal for any Gmail user, but I wonder if it might create a third category of email just above “spam.” I also wonder if the emails of filmmakers are going to frequently find themselves in this third, deprioritized category. More »
As transmedia pioneer Lance Weiler recently wrote in the pages of Filmmaker, mobile devices “offer opportunities for filmmakers to reach audiences directly, with little to no intervention from middlemen. While the selling of a film on iTunes requires a filmmaker to go through one or maybe two aggregators, it is possible to go direct to the App Store as long as the mobile app receives approval from Apple.” But while Apple’s iOS requires approval, Google’s Android does not. Not only is Google’s app marketplace more open than Apple’s ecosystem, but Android has rapidly rising market share, and now Google is releasing App Inventor for Android, a new tool for creating applications with drag-and-drop simplicity — no coding (or approval) required. More »
This past week Google integrated video editing functionality into YouTube. While basic, the toolset brings much needed capabilities like trimming and clip combining to the world’s most popular video sharing site. It also allows users to swap out background music using AudioSwap. More »
Okay, “wasteland” is a bit harsh. But up until recently the most viewed YouTube video of all time was of little value, in my opinion (Lady Gaga’s crazy-terrific Bad Romance music video recently took the top spot). Perhaps with the domination of amateurish content in mind, YouTube and Guggenheim today launched YouTube Play, a much needed initiative to spotlight creative online videos. The event (which takes place every two years, thus their “biennial” tag) will be accepting entries until July 31; approximately 25 videos will be showcased at the Guggenheim museums in New York, Berlin, Bilbao, and Venice as a result. More »
Rumors are circulating that Apple will soon release a 1080p Apple TV running iPhone OS 4 for just $99. Though Apple was long at work on this upgrade before the announcement of Google TV, the two devices are similar in that they both run on mobile operating systems (Google TV will run on Android). More important than the pricing or OS of the rumored Apple TV refresh, however, is what this could mean for Apple’s strategy of selling and distributing content. More »
One of Google’s lesser-known products, Google Moderator, was integrated into YouTube today. The platform — which allows for crowdsourcing, polling, and other feedback — originally launched as a standalone product in 2008. Now that it’s part of YouTube, however, it seems like a good tool for filmmakers. Here’s Google with the lowdown: More »
To date, all of the ads on NoFilmSchool have been Google AdSense ads, which means that Google is filtering the keywords on my site — along with your browsing history, apparently — to serve ads that the big G thinks are most relevant to you (NoFilmSchool is no different than millions of other sites in this regard). In the history of the universe Google has never shared how much of a cut they take for being the middleman between advertiser and publisher; today, that changed. More »
Google just announced Google TV, a device/spec that obliterates the line between “TV” and “computer.” Suddenly it’s going to be a lot easier to get content from around the web onto your TV — because your TV has full access to the web. Sure, some TVs and devices support limited web functionality today, but with Google TV it will no longer be a matter of which widgets your set-top box or Blu-ray player supports, because Google TV is a full operating system (powered by Android) that can access any website (including Flash-based content) and run applications (from day one, you’ll be able to run Android apps like Pandora). While I think there will be problems with how the OS organizes this wealth of content, the fact is that Google TV is going to make it a lot easier to get independently-produced content onto the big (home) screen. Video and analysis after the jump: More »
First off, the expected news from NAB: Adobe has announced the latest version of their creative suite, CS5. It’s 15 applications in all, so I won’t go into all the different new features. But if you’re planning on buying or upgrading your CS5 applications or suite, Adobe’s running a promotion right now where you can preorder CS5 before April 29 to get free shipping
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Some unexpected Adobe-related news came from Apple, just days prior to Adobe’s CS5 launch. I’ve written multiple times about Adobe Flash’s ability to export one application to several platforms, and how it could potentially allow indie productions to be able to produce cross-platform apps on the cheap. But then Apple gave Adobe the finger, inserting new language into its latest iPhone SDK potentially banning non-native applications from the iEcosystem; Adobe fired back by demonizing Apple, going so far as to say, “Go screw yourself Apple.” Short of both sides sending their programmers into an all-out, Braveheart-style battle to the death, no one knows how this is going to shake out — but the corporate battle does have potential consequences for independent creatives. More »
UPDATE: It seems I was wrong, but not before others picked up on this idea. As it turns out, the Google Nexus One isn’t nearly as disruptive as a VOIP-driven, ad-supported device could be. I still maintain that the below is possible, and hopefully we’ll see it one day soon.
This isn’t specific to film, but considering mobile devices today are much more than just phones — they’re connected computers that serve as our digital, personal assistants — this has bearing on how all of us will be interacting with each other (and content) in the future. So I thought I’d throw around some unqualified and totally speculative speculation about What’s Next when it comes to mobile platforms. More »
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