philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Silicon Valley Is Now Public Enemy No. 1, And We Only Have Ourselves To Blame

[Philip Lelyveld comment; this article is a fair assessment of the problem.  Silicon Valley used to innovate in new, tech-focused, and uncharted industries.  Now they are 'disrupting' existing industries with little regard for the millions of people currently employed by them, or the rules put in place to protect consumers.]

At the heart of this controversy is Silicon Valley’s changing emphasis from pure technological advancement to disruption of existing manufacturing and service industries. For decades, the region worked in greenfield territory – spaces where existing incumbents were only other technology companies or simply did not exist.

Now that the Valley’s companies are increasingly competing against traditional businesses, society is not so quick to give us a pass on this behavior. Take Airbnb and Uber again, both of which have attempted to avoid regulations and taxes in their fields (hotel taxes and taxi and license commission regulations, respectively). The tech press often writes these up as “disrupting” unwieldy government regulations, and to a degree, this is accurate (the best writers also mention that many of these laws were designed with consumers in mind, back when cabs and hotels were far less safe than they are now).

For the most part, these companies have managed to mitigate their insubordination. Yet, the same special rules never seem to apply to small and medium size businesses like an independent bed and breakfast, which lacks the financial and legal muscle to ignore such regulations without risking its entire business. It is this exceptionalism that in the past has been heralded, but in the context of today’s economic environment invites significant blowback.

See the full story here: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/28/blowback-silicon-valley-is-now-public-enemy-1/?ncid=tcdaily

A Historic Neil Young Concert, Captured by a Crowd

On Jan. 7, Tom Adams went to see a Neil Young concert at Carnegie Hall by himself. It wasn't until days later that he made a connection with a group of other fans who attended. Like him, they had all secretly videotaped the solo acoustic performance, part of a four-night stand by Mr. Young, in his first return to the famed New York venue since 1973.

On Tuesday, Mr. Adams uploaded to YouTube a video of the entire two-hour show, which he had stitched together from footage captured by fellow concertgoers seated around the theater. Most of the video was shot by Mr. Adams, a video producer from Williamsburg, Mass., on a compact Canon camera perched on the railing in front of his $150 mezzanine seat (102, Row AA). All the videos were edited to match a single audio recording made at the concert, which Mr. Adams downloaded from an anonymous source on an online-sharing site.

Read the full story here: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303448204579338600817194242

Sony Closes Technologies Unit, Lays Off Its President

[Philip Lelyveld comment; this impacts a number of my friends.  I hope that they all find new and interesting challenges soon.]

The latest layoffs also hit Home Entertainment Group and Imageworks VFX unit.

Big Is the Next Big Thing

by Paul Daugherty, CTO of Accenture

Companies are using digitally fueled technology to create new, visionary business models that are unlocking opportunities in entirely new industry segments, and opening doors to new customer markets. This is resulting in higher growth than would be possible by remaining tethered to traditional business models.

...

These companies are doing two things. First, they are embedding digital technology within every aspect of the business, connecting the company with digitally-enabled suppliers and customers — everyone who touches, buys or services the company’s products. And they are opening themselves up to new flexible ventures and partnerships with other industry sectors. The digital enablement of companies and supply chains facilitates this cross-sector collaboration.

See the full story here: http://recode.net/2014/01/22/big-is-the-next-big-thing/

AMC movie theater calls “federal agents” to arrest a Google Glass user

[Phil Lelyveld comment; did anyone NOT see this coming?!]

I went to AMC (Easton Mall, Columbus, OH) to watch a movie with my wife (non- Google Glass user). It is the theater we go to every week, so it has probably been the third time I’ve been there wearing Google Glass, and the AMC employees (guy tearing tickets at the entrance, girl at the concession stand) have asked me about Glass in the past and I have told them how awesome Glass is with every occasion.

Because I don’t want Glass to distract me during the movie, I turn them off (but since my prescription lenses are on the frame, I still wear them). About an hour into the movie (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), a guy comes near my seat, shoves a badge that had some sort of a shield on it, yanks the Google Glass off my face and says “follow me outside immediately”. It was quite embarrassing and outside of the theater there were about 5-10 cops and mall cops. Since I didn’t catch his name in the dark of the theater, I asked to see his badge again and I asked what was the problem and I asked for my Glass back. The response was “you see all these cops you know we are legit, we are with the ‘federal service’ and you have been caught illegally taping the movie”.

See the full story, including corrections at the bottom, here: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2014/01/20/amc-movie-theater-calls-fbi-to-arrest-a-google-glass-user/

London Eye Links Record Number of Streams

For one night only, the London Eye hosted a rotating array of simultaneous music tributes to Britain’s club culture that were live-DJ'd and podcast - one per pod; how appropriate (warning; this is a technical article).

Read the full story here: http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/london-eye-links-record-number-of-streams/222947

Perseverance and Disrupting Big Tech

[Philip Lelyveld comment: this author basically says that, if you have a disruptive technology and hang in there (with enough VC funding), you will win out over the incumbents.  I'd add the  research of his colleagues Brynjolfsson and McAfee who found that start-ups can act quickly, but if the incumbents can survive, they have the resources to later overpower the upstarts.  The disruption occurs, but the winner can be either the upstart or the incumbent - depending on who executes a strategy better.]

I was talking with a founder/CEO of an enterprise startup about what it is like to disrupt a sizable incumbent. In the case we were talking about the disrupting technology was losing traction and the incumbent was regaining control of the situation, back on their feet, and generally felt like they had fended off the "attack" on a core business. This causes a lot of consternation at the disrupting startup as deals aren't won, reviews and analyst reports swing the wrong way, and folks start to question the direction. If there really is a product/market fit and the technology improves things, then hold on and persevere because almost always the disruption is still going to happen.

See the full story here: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140119170759-2293107-perseverance-and-disrupting-big-tech?curator=MediaREDEF

Around the World, Net Neutrality Is Not a Reality

But in the emerging economies of the world, that’s pretty much how things already work, thanks to a growing number of deals Google and Facebook have struck with mobile phone carriers from the Philippines to Kenya.

In essence, these deals give people free access to text-only version of things like Facebook news feeds, Gmail, and the first page of search results under plans like Facebook Zero or Google Free Zone. Only when users click links in e-mails or news feeds, go beyond the first page of search results, or visit websites by other means do they incur data charges (see “Facebook and Google Create Walled Gardens for Web Newcomers Overseas”).

...

But the existence of a free and dominant chat, e-mail, search, and social-networking service makes it awfully hard for any competitor to arise. And Susan Crawford, visiting professor of law at Harvard University and a co-director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, calls it “a big concern” that Google and Facebook are the ones becoming the portal to Web content for many newcomers.

“For poorer people, Internet access will equal Facebook. That’s not the Internet—that’s being fodder for someone else’s ad-targeting business,” she says. “That’s entrenching and amplifying existing inequalities and contributing to poverty of imagination—a crucial limitation on human life.”

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How things unfold in the developing world may have a bigger impact on the future of the Internet. Worldwide, the number of smartphones is projected to double from 1.5 billion last year to three billion in 2017. Most of those 1.5 billion new phones—and new Internet access—will be in the developing world.

See the full story here: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/523736/around-the-world-net-neutrality-is-not-a-reality/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140120

3D Systems Sense handheld digitizer

[Phil Lelyveld comment; 3D Systems had roving ambassadors scanning people's heads on the CES show floor.  It takes about 90 seconds to scan a head, including the top of the head.  When they display the captured file on a tablet a few seconds later, missed areas of the head look like black open wounds, giving the model a zombie-esque quality.  The $399 Sense is an excellent intermediate product that, when improved, will be ready for the consumer market.]

The Sense, which is about as big as a staple gun, can scan objects with your help. Unlike other scanners, the Sense is meant to be held and circle the object its scanning. This means that it can be difficult to get a perfectly accurate reading, since human error becomes more of a factor.

See the original post here: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/19/fly-or-die-3d-systems-sense-scanner/?ncid=tcdaily

You don’t want your privacy: Disney and the meat space data race

MailChimp Chief Data Scientist is at Disney World this weekend wearing his RFID-equipped MagicBand. Here’s how he thinks the practice of digitally tracking consumers in the physical world will reach everywhere from theme parks to our homes.

But under all that visual appeal, beneath the surface of the band, was the reason for Disney’s huge investment: a sophisticated RFID tag. These bands, which are individually coded to each visitor, allow Disney to track individuals wherever they go in the parks and resorts with long-range RFID readers. You check into FASTPASS rides with your band, you purchase food by swiping your band and you use it as a key to your hotel room.

The bands are even uniquely colored and monogrammed with your family members’ names so that they won’t get switched up. Why? Because they don’t want their database to get confused and think that you, a 45-year-old man, rode the teacups instead of your little son Timmy. This is one of the first examples I’ve seen of physical design (e.g., monogramming and coloring) for the sake of digital data purity.

See the full story here: http://gigaom.com/2014/01/18/you-dont-want-your-privacy-disney-and-the-meat-space-data-race/