Engage me

Chevron had some interesting ads in Wired a while back, and after hunting around a bit on their site I found what I was looking for; Energyville. It is a game/simulation developed along with the Economist- where you set up the mix of power supplies for a major city, seeing how it affects economic, environmental and security levels. Then some random events occur to affect your current situation, and you get to refine your choices for the next time period.

Captivating and informative at the same time. Good fun and a great example of using the net to extend information (and in this case a wee bit marketing) by "simply" adding interactivity and a bit of randomness


And on the topic of engagement - apparently Two and a Half Men is "it" right now. NewTeeVee had a piece on comparing viewership with online engagement ( reading, rating, sharing, linking and inviting). The show stacked up an average score of 9.5 interactions per viewer - while House got some 3.3 interactions and the most viewed, Greys A., got a rather modest .74

So does it give any good indications of the loyalty of either group of viewers?
Perhaps not as a one of (single week comparison), but given some time and comparable data it could be a nice addition to the toolbox (and perhaps the option of adjusting the scores for various activities on the fly - reading might be a better goal for a news show, while sharing could be key for a new show getting started - could even predict future viewership potential and be correlated)


...and the sun is long gone - it is getting close to 11, on the 11th day of the 11th month...

Don't play inChrome?

At least not if you intend to do any changes to your blog on Blogger. Because adding in new gadgets to the page, is a one way process in the Google browser. The "remove" button doesn't work. Which is kind of strange, considering how they touted their huge base of test-pages, you would assume they made sure their own actual services worked without major hitches.

Makes me not want to risk posting with Chrome, which was supposed to be on the agenda after doing some layout adjustments. Reminds me of when they added in the first version of the spellchecker - and it didn't include blog or Blogger... the joys of division of labour

Betray | Seduce | Persuade

- are three of the tech names used for the indie game "Love"- which was mentioned in Wired 16.08, and got a little extra love on the site. But putting up 10 screenshots from something where you are gushing about algorithms and generative computing seems oddly misplaced. What I wanted was to see a bit of the "machine as God" in action.

Oh well, there was at least a link, so I spent some time digging a bit more - and here are some direct links;
"Some of it is yours, and some is your friends. Some just happens by itself. Sometimes it disappears and makes you sad." [more on love]

And a nice blog with the news and updates - "Do you have time to read this? What if this update turns out to be a waist of time?" [25]

11k coffee?

"With an $11,000 asking price, the Clover has become a fetish object among the coffee-obsessed"
"program three key variables: dose, water temperature, and brew time. (Example: 37.5 grams of Brazilian Fazenda São João at 204 degrees for 43 seconds.)"

See the Clover work some magic in a short video along with the Wired article. Wonderful concept. A bit of a sticke-shock, but hey - it points to a brighter future for coffee in general. Details and control for the extra-ordinary cup. And just a little bit better everyday joe.

Want to watch with me?

So, what does YouTube lack? How can online video take it to the next level?
According to some - it is all about UsTube, connecting viewers they way the family and neighbours used to gather around the tv set.

"Laughter is social, and that’s important to consider as watching online video ... can be a pretty isolating experience" - from a story on CBS and their new social solution

"pre-populated and active fan communities ... each have nearly a million members spread over five different social network platforms: Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, and hi5" - ABC branching onwards

So - both building new solutions and hooking up across existing avenues seem like valid paths. And that is probably one of the key messages going forward - with Hulu driving the point home every day - it is not about locking up the farm, but about making it easy to spend more time and get even more engaded. In a world of too much to count, abundant choices and offerings across channels, plattforms and media - it makes a lot more sense to take a handfull viewers here and a score minutes there...

(always assuming it makes economic sense to play on the field at all)

...and the sun hides a bit too well behind the rainy clouds...

"Just" a camera

EF Lenses used in the making of REVERIE:

1. FD 7.5mm f/5.6 (converted to EF mount)
2. EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
3. EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
4. EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
5. EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
6. EF 135mm f/2L USM
7. EF 200mm f/1.8L USM
8. EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM
9. EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
10. TS-E 24mm f/3.5L
11. TS-E 45mm f/2.8

- yes, the movie is absolutely stunning to look at, it is hard to fathom that it was in effect made with a camera rather than video-camera. And a $5000 budget for flying around is nice. But I have a feeling that for the TCO of those lenses you would get some pretty decent video equipment as well. (RED)

All in all? A great time to look for great content in new places. Enjoy.

...and the sun made a comeback this afternoon...

Cross-post

Comment on the post
Podcasting Is Not Dead:

...from being "one" phenomenon where almost everybody knew a lot of the same references (DSC, Dawn&Drew, ...) podcasting is now nothing more than a way to get audio (and video) content

Even if I'm using Google Reader to skim headlines, I'm not rss'ing the news - I still read them.

Same for audio - now I have a way of getting shows conveniently whether they are broadcast locally, nationally or abroad. Whenever, wherever.

But it still comes down to time constraints - take out work, sleep and family time. What remains is leisure - surfing, reading, watching video, playing games - or working out...

Subscriptions and loyalty are great, but pull-based push doesn't equate to actual use. There is a reason iTunes has built in limits for backlogged content

So - text, audio and video are all alive and doing quite well, each across a multitude of platforms, formats and distribution channels.

What me video?

Market Overview For Video Transcoding Services; "content owners continue to need more services than just pushing bits across a network" - not a full overview, but some directions and a good slide by RipCode (linked image) - and as on most post by Dan R. some good comments

just another click on the net

Is it possible that those two extra clicks of the mouse generate enough page impressions and banner ads served that it's worth the frustration to their readers?
Most Magazine And Newspaper Sites Are Tricking You (And Their Advertisers)
-quick read from Mitch Joel, some good links as well

Is there a good business model for in-depth content on the web? How do you find a balance between diving long-form content up, and readability? And how to you monetize (or finance) longer pieces, if the print-friendly version is more read than the originals?

...and the sun has passed on to the other side...