http://www.ejc.net/media_news/germany_europes_first_personalised_paper/
http://www.ejc.net/media_news/germany_europes_first_personalised_paper/
2009.10.15 in Content, Media | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Compatible with the Apple iPhone, RadioWeave combines social networking with personalized Internet radio in a move that’s designed to deliver an easy-to-use Web and mobile service that “weaves” customized public and private radio stations into a single audio steam. RadioWeave lets users create public or private micro-channels and audio libraries. YiqYaq says that its goal with RadioWeave is to give users a primary audio source for timely and relevant information, entertainment, communication and social interaction.
"RadioWeave will drive the reinvention of radio," claims Brent Noorda, YiqYaq’s co-founder and CEO. "Today, consumers expect and demand the ability to filter and tailor everything they see, read and listen to online, where we spend a majority of our time.” Noorda suggests that traditional broadcast radio has yet to fully confront this fundamental cultural shift, and that RadioWeave provides a solution that gives users total control over their listening experience, blending multiple types of audio content into a single personalized streaming experience.
After registering for the free service, RadioWeave users can immediately begin listening to their content libraries and micro-channels, including everything from national and local news, sports, weather and traffic reports to music, podcasts and other professional content. These libraries and micro-channels are then blended together into a single, personalized audio stream that can be controlled by a virtual tuner.
RadioWeave also allows users to produce and upload their own content, as well as comment and react to professional content by sharing their own audio and podcasts. Users can also listen to their social media updates by using RadioWeave's text to speech engine to read their Twitter tweets and, in the future, Facebook status updates and e-mail messages as well.
RadioWeave not only fulfills listeners' demand for customized radio, but also offers a potential valuable medium for advertisers,” Noorda says. “[RadioWeave] will provide accurate numbers of listeners in real-time, comprehensive user demographics and the ability for content providers to micro-target their messaging to select groups of relevant and receptive listeners."
While RadioWeave is the first service to focus on matching social networking with personalized Internet radio, the product is entering an increasingly crowded market. Current players include stitcher, live365, One Llama, BlogTalkRadio, imeem, Lexy, Pandora, audioBoo, Rhapsody, Mediafly, trottr, Siriius/XM, ipadio, last.fm, TweetMic, Simplify Music and Podcaster.
2009.10.13 in Content, Media, Social Media | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
http://www.ejc.net/media_news/three_million_swedes_file_share_illegally_study/
2009.10.13 in Content, Privacy/Security | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
2009.10.12 in Content, Social Media | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
http://www.ejc.net/media_news/amazon.com_takes_kindle_global/
2009.10.08 in Content, Netbiz | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
http://www.ejc.net/media_news/bbc_unveils_guidelines_for_journalists_online_content/
2009.10.08 in Content, Media | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Internet-enabled TV sets could see wider adoption in the next few years as viewers get comfortable with the idea of running widgets on TV screens, according to a study released by Ernst & Young on Thursday.
Widgets -- or mini-applications -- are already being used in devices like mobile phones and computers to run light applications, and those applications could reach TV sets, the analyst firm said in the study. TV widgets are designed to pull selective content from the Internet to complement TV watching. For example, users can view weather information on TV or buy products advertised on TV from online stores.
Many consumers consider it an "appealing" idea to mesh TV with information from the Internet, according to the study. Web-connected TV shipments could total less than 500,000 in 2009, but top 6 million by 2013, E&Y said in the study, citing statistics from Parks Associates.
Widgets could also be the glue that brings together Internet and TV content. Broadcast TV is already competing with the Web for viewership, and widgets could facilitate content searches through both mediums, giving more entertainment options to viewers.
Many Web sites and technology companies are developing an ecosystem to bring content from the Internet and TV together. Myspace.com, for example, has developed a widget that blends TV with its social-networking offerings. TV watchers could exchange e-mail messages or browse photos on MySpace by activating a widget at the bottom of the TV screen. Users don't need to rely on a browser to access MySpace content.
TVs and chips, for instance, are also being developed to build Web-enabled TVs. Sony, Samsung and LG have said select flat-panel high-definition TV models would be able to run widgets or download movies from online entertainment services like Netflix.
Intel last week announced the CE4100 media processor, which enables the use of Internet and multimedia applications on TVs, Intel said. Intel is also working with companies like CBS and Cinemanow to bring widgets to TVs.
Web-enabled TV has struggled over the past 15 years since Time Warner Cable launched the iTV service in Orlando, E&Y said. Ever since, it has seen many iterations, with companies like AOL, BSkyB, RespondTV, Hewlett-Packard and Apple trying to bring the Internet to TV through devices like set-top boxes or adapters.
The success of widgets depends on applications that users will want to have on their TVs. For example, one-click access to on-demand content from online movie stores is well-suited for widgets.
Widgets for TV use also need to be adopted by television programming and cable operators. The operators will look to monetize widgets by developing an ad sales model around it, which could face some challenges, the study found. For example, viewers could migrate their attention from TV shows to widgets, which could affect the ratings of a program. Conflicting advertising could also appear on a TV screen and widget at the same time, which could affect ad sales models.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/172993/internet_tv_could_boom_in_the_next_few_years_study_says.html
2009.10.05 in Content, Media, Netbiz | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
http://www.ejc.net/media_news/internet_tv_could_boom_in_the_next_few_years_study_says/
2009.10.03 in Content, Media | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Research conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and the Berkeley Centre for Law and Technology has found that 66% of adult US citizens do not want advertising to be tailored to what advertisers think are their interests.
Advertisers and publishers have grown increasingly likely to track web users' behaviour and to try to show them adverts that they think will be more relevant to them. Analysing relevance depends on the tracking of behaviour, which has raised questions of web users' rights to privacy.
The survey has found that two thirds of US web users do not want this to happen. It also found that once it explained the actual methods used to track behaviour that figure rose even higher, to between 73% and 86% after three common tactics were explained to them.
Publishers keen to increase advertising revenue and advertisers have claimed that tracking that does not identify users by name is acceptable to most people because of the benefits that accrue from being shown more relevant ads. "To marketers, it is self-evident that consumers want customized commercial messages," the academics' report says. The survey's data appear to refute that argument.
"Contrary to what many marketers claim, most adult Americans (66%) do not want marketers to tailor advertisements to their interests," said the study. "We conducted this survey to determine which view Americans hold. In high percentages, they stand on the side of privacy advocates." "That is the case even among young adults whom advertisers often portray as caring little about information privacy," it said. "Our survey did find that younger American adults are less likely to say no to tailored advertising than are older ones."
Other surveys have been conducted, but the academics from California and Pennsylvania said that they used methodologies that rendered their results less useful than their own study. The new study was based on phone interviews with 1,000 randomly-selected people which was weighted using census data to be nationally representative.
The study also found that even when tailored ads come with discounts or specially fashioned news, a majority do not want their web use to be tracked. Surveyed people also overwhelmingly backed legislating further to protect web users.
"69% of American adults feel there should be a law that gives people the right to know everything that a website knows about them; 92% agree there should be a law that requires websites and advertising companies to delete all stored information about an individual, if requested to do so; [and] 63% believe advertisers should be required by law to immediately delete information about their internet activity," the report said.
Companies that track web use often claim that the tracking is anonymous because a user's name is not discovered or stored. Privacy advocates argue that some of the data that is gathered, such as the internet protocol (IP) address of a person's internet connection, is inherently personal and that its gathering and storage is no longer anonymous.
But the new study found that even if anonymity could be guaranteed, web users would still reject tracking and ad tailoring.
"Assurance of anonymous tracking doesn’t seem to lower Americans’ concerns about behavioral targeting," it said. "They are quite negative when it comes to the general scenario of free content supported by tailored advertising that results from 'following the websites you visit and the content you look at' in a manner that keeps them anonymous. 68% definitely would not allow it, and 19% would probably not allow it. 10% would probably allow, and only 2% would definitely do it; 1% say they don’t know what they would do."
The strength of web users' feeling about the issue is reflected in the fact that 35% of them said that executives whose firms use information illegally should face jail time.
"This survey’s findings support the proposition that consumers should have a substantive right to reject behavioral targeting and its underlying practices," said the report.
2009.10.02 in Content, Netbiz , Privacy/Security | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
2009.10.02 in Content | Permalink | TrackBack (0)