Current and Future Trends in Digital Media
Current Trends in Digital Media include:
You Tube (where anyone can upload a video). There are many people who have online shows who broadcast on You Tube. I watch one regularly called “Fast Lane Daily”
Websites such as My Space and Facebook - these are community websites and make money from advertisements.
Mobile Technology such as mobile phones, smart phones and wireless devices such as the Apple iTouch and it’s eqivalents such as the iRiver etc.
Podcasts and Vodcasts.
Consumers accessing information (web, email etc) from media centres and games consoles such as the Wii. It is quite common now for people to use their Wii’s to browse and access You Tube and use it like an extra TV Channel.
Future Trends in Digital Media will include:
Wifi will play a bigger part in the accessing of Digital Media. With the iPhone coming to Australia in the next couple of months - consumers will want more and better wifi capabilities and more information and media available via wifi.
Online television is here already, but this will take a much bigger part in tiimes ahead. People find it much more convenient to watch television when they want to and watch what they want when they want. Increasingly, people are having media centres in their homes, not DVD players.
The range of wifi devices will vary. I have recently discovered this module that attachs to my camera and this will upload your photos as you take them onto your website. How nifty!
This one is almost scary!! In Korea (who are always a couple of steps ahead of us when it comes to gadgets) they have a system over there called OhMyTV and they also have mobile phones that upload straight to this TV station and therefore footage is being watching almost immedidately - see the full article here :http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080613/tbs-column-pluggedin-7318940.html I would be frightened that someone would be filming my paralel parking and uploading it to world’s worst drivers!
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html Surface is essentially a Windows Vista PC tucked inside a table, topped with a 30-inch reflective surface in a clear acrylic frame. A projector underneath the surface projects an image onto its underside, while five cameras in the machine’s housing record reflections of infrared light from human fingertips. The camera can also recognize objects placed on the surface if those objects have specially-designed “tags” applied to them. Users can interact with the machine by touching or dragging their fingertips and objects such as paintbrushes across the screen, or by placing and moving tagged objects. Surface has been optimized to respond to 52 touches at a time. During a demonstration with a reporter, Mark Bolger, the Surface Computing group’s marketing director, “dipped” his finger in an on-screen paint palette, then dragged it across the screen to draw a smiley face. Then he used all 10 fingers at once to give the face a full head of hair.
Using the specially-designed “tags” on objects, Microsoft Surface can automatically offer additional wine choices tailored to the dinner being eaten based on the type of wine set on the Surface.
Prices will reportedly be $5,000 to $10,000 per unit. However Microsoft said it expects prices to drop enough to make consumer versions feasible in 2010.
Partner companies plan to use the Surface in their hotels, restaurants, and retail stores. The Surface is to be used to choose meals at restaurants, plan vacations and spots to visit from the hotel room. Starwood Hotels plan to allow users to drop a credit card on the table to pay for music, books, and other amenities offered at the resort. In AT&T stores use of the Surface include interactive presentations of plans, coverage, and phone features, in addition to dropping two different phones on the table and having the customer be able to view and compare prices, features, and plans.
Info from Wikipedia and Microsoft.
News from June 2008: iTunes Australia opens up TV downloads Info from http://www.digitalmedia.com.au/
Apple has finally added TV program downloads to the iTunes store in Australia, although no word yet on movies on demand.
Programming from Australian networks along with US series from Disney Channel, MTV and ABC Studios will be available for $A2.99 inc. GST) per episode.
Some of the shows available include Summer Heights High and McLeod’s Daughters, Sea Patrol, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and The Hills.
“We’re thrilled to bring television programming to the iTunes Store in Australia,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We’re off to a great start with shows from Australia’s top networks combined with favourites from the US, which customers in Australia will love being able to watch on their computer, iPod or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.”
The full list includes:
• Disney-owned production company ABC Studios programs airing on the Seven Network including “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost” and “Scrubs;”
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation programs “Summer Heights High,” “We Can Be Heroes,” “Double the Fist,” “Foreign Correspondent Postcards,” “Sleek Geeks” and “Surfing the Menu;”
• Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana,” “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and “Cory in the House;”
• Nine Network programs “Canal Road,” “McLeod’s Daughters,” “Sea Patrol” and “Urban Magic;” and
• MTV Networks’ “Blue’s Clues,” “The Hills,” “Laguna Beach,” “My Super Sweet Sixteen,” “South Park” and “Pimp My Ride.”