Blog Entry List

Wednesday 30 November 2011

3D - Is it worth it

3D is an amazing technology, dont get me wrong on that. But the question of its future in terms of general entertainment is quite a difficult one to ask. On the one hand its commercial success with films such as James Cameron's Avatar and in handhelds like the Nintendo 3DS it seems very much as though the next step in its life would be the continual integration into normal everyday equipment.

Now there are a few problems facing the technology. First and foremost is the most obvious flaw, the "Glasses". I dont think anyone has yet to find a way of making wearing large glasses indoors anything but ridiculous, add to that the cost of the more effective higher end specs and you have a rather expensive viewing experience on top of the base cost for the TV set itself.
The solution is of course to go down the non-glasses route which has been successfully demonstrated by Nintendo with its handheld system. However we come up to a huge problem when it comes to integrating this technology into larger formats such as a home television. Currently the only way of producing this "glasses free" 3D effect is to simultaneously project 2 different views (one for each eye) at a focal point which when viewed together produce the effect. The problem of static focal points has been remedied by coupling motion sensor technology with the TV in order to move the focal point of the image to suit a moving object (this would allow a viewer to move around in a set area and still get the 3D effect). This is however very expensive in its current form. The biggest problem however arises when you have multiple viewers, so far the technology is unavailable to provide multiple focal points in order to facilitate multiple viewers from multiple angles.

With all of these problems holding the technology back it is likely that without a major push by Electronics manufacturers we will see a stalling of development or at worst a discarding (a la HD-DVD) of the technology from the main stream consumer market. However you are not likely to see a major push from the manufacturers until we see a real surge in the demand from the consumer for the technology. It is certainly a sector well worth watching over the coming years.

Youtube & the Future of Entertainment

The way in which we consume info and entertainment has dramatically changed in the last decade. Through HD and Blu-Ray onto 3D formats the quality of our products has increased exponentially the quality of content being broadcast at us. But the biggest shift in the way that we view material has been the boom of streaming. As internet speed have increased so has the amount we all want to download. Nowadays we are streaming shows via Netflix or BBC iPlayer while simultaneously downloading a new film onto our Xbox's, all while  downloading the latest album straight onto our smart phones.

Never before have we had so many ways of getting the media "we want" straight to our homes. And here is the key, "personal choice". Why spend money on an expensive cable or satellite bill in order to get hundreds of channels you will never use when you can get exactly what you want, when you want it and for a price that you know is only going towards the cost of the shows that you want to see.

In the title of this piece i made a point to name one of the sites that i believe will be central to the viewing experience in the future. Youtube is vast, both in its content and use. Almost anything can be found on it, from catching up with the latest current affairs or fashion news it is fast becoming the hub around which people live their lives and i believe that this will move into the entertainment experience in the future. Rather than searching through multiple channels in a menu on your TV screen you will be searching for the latest videos from channels which you the user has subscribed to.

The future of entertainment is simple. Its all about getting the viewer exactly what they want and exactly when they want it, no matter where they are in the world.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

iPad - Modern Marvel or Consumer Illusion

Now I will openly admit that I was wrong about the iPad. When Steve Jobs stood up and announced the iPad I considered it to be a flop from the start. Why would anyone want to spend hundreds of pounds on a product which did nothing new? Coming after the un-precedented success of the iPod in its many guises and then the iPhone, the iPad seemed to me to be something of a mis-step.

Previously Apple had been at the forefront of understanding consumer demands. When we all went mad about MP3 players, they gave us the best. When the same happened with smart phones again Apple stepped up and delivered a product which at the time had no real competitors in terms of quality and user experience other than the business-centric Blackberry. But then they revealed the iPad and did the opposite. Rather than waiting for consumers to realise that what they always wanted was a tablet computer Apple came along and forced their prodcut under the nose of the consumer and shouted "Buy It" at the top of its voice.

But surely you say, there is no way that one company (or even just one man) could fool the world into buying a product it neither needed or wanted. What a fool you would be for thinking that, just as i did when i saw the announcement. Apple had become so powerful in the world of consumer electronics that it and Steve Jobs had suddenly started to rewrite the rules. These rules helped Apple not only to corner the Tablet market but also to almost single handedly create the market in the first place. Now there are those who will talk about how tablet computing was not created by Apple and this is entirely correct, however it was Apple who truly made them the product that they are today.

Facebook Format-Change Syndrome

Yes everyone it's that time of year again. When all over the internet the screams of anger start to pick up. I am of course referring to the backlash that has arisen once again over the changes to our beloved Facebook. Its amazing how angry some get over the smallest changes to the social networking site, but the question you have to ask yourselves is simple, "why do people get so angry". Many psychologists and industry analysts have pointed to a seemingly primal hatred for change or maybe its the idea of having to re-learn the website which gets some peoples metaphorical panties in a twist.

This is however a seemingly short lived anger for many, in a few weeks time as always happens, the shouts start to diminish and the comment boxes begin to lose interest as suddenly everyone realises how little any of this matters. We still get access to all the same functions we used to, but now we may have something new to fiddle our privacy settings for. Why then do we get such a huge reaction when mere weeks ago the world was pledging to sink the website in a mass exodus in outrage at the company?

My answer would be that it is merely a case herd mentality once again being amplified by the mechanics of the social networked world in which we live. Either that or there is just a whole lot of crazy people out there.