Hrmph. Too Bad I'm Hating Facebook: Facebook, Netflix Push Congress on Social Integration, Video Privacy | Fast Company

At today's Facebook F8 developer conference, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joined Mark Zuckerberg on stage for a surprise announcement: Netflix will finally be integrating social sharing with Facebook. That is, if a bill that is sitting in Congress is ever able to pass on the House floor.

Ironically, Facebook has already had Netflix integration in 44 of the 45 countries the service is available. The one exception? The United States, where an outmoded bill from 1988 called the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) has forbidden the disclosure of one's video rental information, and thus any integration between the two American companies. But a bill called H.R. 2471 would change all that--if Congress can find time between tax legislation and debt issues to pass it.

"Luckily the U.S. has a bill today in Congress to update that old privacy, which will then allow us to turn it on in the United States," Hastings said with a smile.

That phrasing might've excited some--making it sound as if Congress is weighing the issue today--but unfortunately, that's not the case. The House legislative calendar has no mention of H.R. 2471 on the docket.

Instead it appears Netflix is making a push for the legislation to be passed, posting a email members of Congress to "modernize" the legislation.

read the full post:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1782164/facebook-netflix-push-congress-on-social-i...

Wieden + Kennedy Tech Incubator Picks Its Startup Class of 2011 | Excerpt via Fast Company

When Wieden + Kennedy launched its tech incubator, the Portland Incubator Experiment in 2009, the effort proved a fruitful collaboration between the ad agency and local tech talent; it even spawned a few going tech concerns.

But it didn’t fully integrate all that startup mojo with Wieden’s core business--creative problem solving for brand partners. With a new iteration of PIE that will see nine newly selected startups working in-house, the agency is looking to more directly connect its clients to tech innovation.

Wieden Portland just announced the winners of its PIE startup contest--nine companies ranging from a finance-focused cloud management platform to what’s being dubbed an “Airbnb for pets.” The startups will receive $18,000 in capital, a place to work, and access to Wieden’s leadership and the Portland tech scene’s best minds. But, perhaps more significantly, the budding companies will get access to a posse of high level brand players from Target, Coca-Cola, and Google--execs who represent not just marketing communications, but IT, retail, innovation, design, and other disciplines at those companies.

Grazie to Christine Weitbrecht! for the Notes from Henry Jenkins talk at Transmedia LA: Henry Jenkins « Thoughts on the T

Q: What is transmedia? For example, is Harry Potter transmedia?

HJ: Literally, transmedia means connecting across media. Transmedia can take many shapes: Storytelling, ritual, branding, spectacle, education, activism, play, etc. Nowadays, everything we do takes place across different media. [See Henry's most recent blog post defining transmedia here]

At the same time, however, transmedia is not just adaptation, e.g. novel to screen or vice versa. In transmedia, each platform must add something new to the overall storyworld, so that each platform adds to the audience’s knowledge and comprehension of that world. Transmdia is radically intertextual (linking between two different texts) and at the same time possesses multimodality, i.e. the possibility to engage with the content via several different channels.

Harry Potter used to be multimedia, not transmedia, as it was originally composed only of the novels and their film adaptations. However, with the development of Pottermore, Harry Potter has become transmedia by offering an additional platform that will add to the audience’s understanding of the overall narrative. Henry himself sees Pottermore as one of the most important transmedia projects of the year.

Other key characteristics of transmedia are a) expanding the timeline, b) expanding the storyworld itself, and c) swapping subjectivity. In one way or another, transmedia projects usually do at least two of these three things.

 

Q: Where does ‘official’ production end and where does participation begin?

HJ: For one, not all participation must be fan controlled, it can also be initiated by producers. What is important, however, is that participation is always a collaboration between producers and fans, and that it doesn’t alienate any fans or hurt the storyworld in question. Participation must me inclusive, so you must understand the fans you have, and care about what they care about. For example, Battlestar Galactica and Lucasfilm both invited fan participation by video contests, but they would only allow plots involving certain genres and types of action (usually a lot of combat). This alienated many female fans, who followed Battlestar and Star Wars for other content, such as relationships, and who could not express themselves within the confines of the participation controlled by the producers.

Similarly, JK Rowlings announcement of a “safe” environment in Pottermore is likely to mean that no erotica is allowed whatsoever (no fan fiction at all, as a matter of fact, as one of the audience members could report), which polices fandom in a very uncomfortable way for many fans who build their fan identities around aspects of the fandom that is now being negated by Rowling.

read Christine's full notes on her blog:

http://christineweitbrecht.com/?p=167#

Warning Y'All - Douglas Rushkoff 'You are Facebook's product, not customer' (via Wired UK)

Media_httpcdniwiredco_jjigt

Excerpt from Original Post by Olivia Solon:

"People need to understand that they are the product of Facebook and not the customer, according to media theorist and writer Douglas Rushkoff.

Speaking at the inaugural Hello Etsy conference in Berlin, the author of Program or Be Programmed said: "Ask a kid what Facebook is for and they'll answer 'it's there to help me make friends'. Facebook's boardroom isn't talking about how to make Johnny more friends. It's talking about how to monetise Johnnny's social graph."

He added: "Ask yourself who is paying for Facebook. Usually the people who are paying are the customers. Advertisers are the ones who are paying. If you don't know who the customer of the product you are using is, you don't know what the product is for. We are not the customers of Facebook, we are the product. Facebook is selling us to advertisers."

Rushkoff believes that this lack of understanding is a construct of software companies who don't want you to understand their inner workings. He explained that in the early 1990s, to use a computer was the same thing as to program a computer. He explained: "It took anywhere from a few hours to a day to learn how to use a computer back then, but then you knew the whole thing. You were using the computer. You weren't dependent on boxes of software you bought off the shelf, you were making that world as you went along. There was no such things as an 'end user', just a 'user'. We were all equals...."

Highly Recommended by Olivia Solon - I"m in: Website lets you draw your own stickman adventure (via Wired UK)

Media_httpcdniwiredco_ytizc

by Olivia Solon:

"Kentucky-based web developers Hitcents have created a website called Draw a Stickman that allows you to draw your own protagonist in a cartoon adventure.

When you land on the homepage you are asked to draw your own stickman (or woman) and they suddenly come to life before your eyes. At various different intervals you are required to draw your own escape route or weapon -- in one wonderful instance you are asked to draw a balloon near your newly-animated stickman's hand. Once you've drawn it, it falls to the ground and you are accused by your stickman of drawing an egg instead of a balloon. This hatches into a dragon, which you then need to fend off with a sword which, surprise, surprise, you have to draw as well.

I won't spoil the rest, but it's absolutely wonderful to play with and I highly recommend that you head on over to the site to give it a go. If you are feeling subversive then you can disobey your stickman and arm him with unsuitable objects..."

The Grid TO | Urban Orca's platonic ideal

_Tue Sep 20, 2011_Media

Urban Orca’s platonic ideal

New, Toronto-based social-media start-up wants to connect you with new friends—but for offline group activities, and with no sex attached.

With phrases like “Silicon Valley North” being used to describe Toronto, it’s no surprise that the city has a knack for spawning top tech-savvy start-up talent. Home to mobile development giants like Xtreme Labs, Polar Mobile and Five Mobile (who all create apps for Apple, Blackberry, Android and Windows), the city has also provided a welcoming environment for companies like the Google-acquired desktop organizer BumpTop and IBM-purchased Clarity Systems.

Now, Hesam Hosseini and Andrew Sider—two young, Toronto-based entrepreneurs—are looking to expand our conception of social media and the function it plays in our daily lives with a new downtown-based start-up called Urban Orca. Previously launched in Manhattan earlier in the summer and available in Toronto as of Sept. 15, Urban Orca’s concept is quite simple: it’s a social media site that allows like-minded people seeking social relationships to form friendships in real life. After users set up a simple profile stating their interests, the site connects similar, fun-seeking people by using a social event—like a jogging club or dinner to facilitate a Chinese-English language exchange—to get people together offline.

And though there may be some skeptics who discount Urban Orca as n

Like! Happening in TO - Projection Bombing | Street Art Showcase

Projection Bombing

See video

Street Art Showcase will be hitting different spots of the city to 'projector bomb' starting Monday, September 19th as a prelude to Street Art Showcase 2011 on Saturday, September 24th.  Projection bombing is digitally projecting people's work, writing, etc. onto various walls of buildings throughout the city.  It's interactive and you can create a message or a picture on our iPad and have it projected onto the building as you are doing it.  Jerrem Lynch an experienced projection bomber from Austraila is heading the production.  Follow us on Twitter to get the latest news where our next projection bombing will take place.  

Spare Time?: Twitter Paper Toy: For The Seriously Addicted… | Bit Rebels

Media_httpcdnbitrebel_iwekx

Description:

"So what does it mean to be addicted to Twitter? That’s a question many people have tried to answer. The scale has many ratings and what seems like perfectly normal behavior for some is considered beyond addiction to others. The fine line between these camps would be much too hard to explain, so I will restrain myself from even going further into this question.

Am I addicted to Twitter? Very much so! I am constantly tweeting, trying to come up with new ways to approach my followers, and most of all, trying to keep up with everyone that I am following so the diagnosis is quite clear. Yes, I am a Twitter addict with a constant need for more interaction. However, there are many layers of this new social networking virus, and they go way beyond the 24 hours a day that we all have been given. Either you stick to interacting and growing your online life like your real world life depended on it, or you follow the instructions that Rosaura Ochoa has drawn up, and you elevate your addiction to another, completely new level!..."

Abrahms & Nolan? = Powerhouse: "Person Of Interest" Creator Jonathan Nolan Isn't Paranoid--Or Is He? | Fast Company

Media_httpimagesfastc_hzjci

BY SUSAN KARLIN Wed Sep 21, 2011

Excerpt:

“There are apps that ask what your mood is, or track the transmission of disease," says Nolan, whose new, J.J. Abrams-produced drama premieres tomorrow on CBS. "Gmail software reads your emails for marketing purposes. There’s a dovetailing of corporate and government interests. Cell phones have become like Trojan horses."

Jonathan Nolan always knew Big Brother was watching. But it wasn't until his upcoming series Person of Interest became CBS’s highest-testing drama pilot in 15 years that he realized he’d tapped a cultural nerve about our increasing lack of privacy.
”I often wondered if I was alone in being interested in these things,” says Nolan, 35, known to friends as Jonah, and who’s perhaps best known for co-writing The Prestige, The Dark Knight, and next year’s The Dark Knight Rises with his director brother, Christopher. “Screening the pilot, it was abundantly clear that this has become part of the conversation in a big way.“....