The Fourth Estate (Moved)

Clone Wars

Making Western designed electronics products faster, cheaper and in greater quantities was a copycat game that Asian manufacturers played from the 70s onward, until it was pretty clear that they had conclusively won. Ironically, the same thing is happening again in the Web2.0 space - but with a twist.

Watching Elephants Dance

Integration of old and new media platforms is a theme that has been playing out in the news over the last few weeks. Not on the content side, which is a story most of us are comfortable with by now. But on the advertising sales side.

The Next Level

With no small trace of nostalgia, I read through Wired's recent review of the top Amiga games of all time. If people romanticise about the lost summer of their youth, I'm sad to say I've often thought wistfully about how I spent those same summers playing Shadow of the Beast, Syndicate, Defender of the Crown and all of the other titles that made the Amiga a cult machine.

Next Big Things

When Time magazine features Web2.0 as its lead story, you know the profit party is probably over. Or at least, the cutting edge is elsewhere. At Tim O'Reilly's ETech conference in San Diego last week there were a few ideas about where that might be. Although the agenda was eclectic, the underlying theme was self evident. Consumers are not just more connected than ever before, they are more connected to each other. In the next few years, that is going to lead to not only new ways of doing business, but also radical new forms of behavior. While you are waiting for those, here are five memes to chew over.

The Power of Now

There is nothing quite like getting what you want. Especially if its when you want it. 2007 is shaping up to be the year of 'on demand' entertainment. Apple will consolidate its media pedigree by adding more video content to iTunes as well as bridging the gap between the computer and the home television with its ITV device. Peer to peer technologies like Bittorrent and the Venice Project will go legit, as publishers discover bandwidth savings from decentralised distribution. Upstart aggregators like YouTube will try and toe the line on copyright infringement. And Studios, just like music labels, will wake up to the fact that consumers are starting to view channels as another form of forced consumption like record albums.

How To Win At Classifieds

First off. Lets be clear. We have to kill the phrase 'online classifieds'. At best, it has the weary note of strained metaphors like moving staircases and horseless carriages. At worst, its symptomatic of a dated way of thinking about the world. These days, winning in classifieds really means winning in markets. And that, dear readers, is a much tougher job.

Tubular Belles

If baby boomers day dream about winning the lottery, Gen Xers just fantasise about selling out to Google. In their video message to the YouTube community announcing their sale to Google - founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen could barely suppress their grins. And by the end of the clip, they were killing themselves laughing. I don't blame them. US$1.65 billion buys a lot of Ferraris and pina coladas. But as with all big media deals - the 'what' is never half as interesting as the 'why'.

Context is King

Two counter culture youth icons. One has 100m members. The other 82m viewers. The first is transforming the online promotion of music, and just got a fat $900m revenue guarantee from Google. The other established video as the ultimate vehicle for music promotion, and even after a quarter century, continues to seduce big brand advertisers. In the showdown between MySpace and MTV, its tempting to call the round on the numbers. But there is a more interesting comparison to be made.

You Can't Do That On Television

Online video has hit prime time. YouTube now claims to be streaming 100 million clips per day. Viacom and Google are experimenting with delivering short TV clips through online ad inventory space. Most of the major US networks are delivering traditional programming via iTunes or their own download service. And social networks like MySpace are adding rocketfuel to the explosion in viral video distribution. Is this TV 2.0? I don't think so.

Open Networks

Thank God for wifi. Stuck in transit for 7 hours in Malaysia, en route to London, the only thing standing between me and duty free insanity are a handful of RSS feeds. One of the more interesting ones was Marc Canter's social networking project - PeopleAggregator. Its a terrible brand name - but the underlying concept is right on the money.