Rogers putting on 'Shorts in the City' | iPhone app is up @wsff10

Media_httpwwwmarketin_ihxpu

The world of online episodic entertainment has been growing for the last few years, from Hollywood writers' strike-inspired gems like Dr. Horrible's Sing-ALong Blog to ground-breaking branded content like IKEA's Easy to Assemble.

Tuesday, Rogers Media and Citytv.com, with partners Nissan Canada and OMD Media, introduced a new video initiative called "Shorts in the City" hoping to make a mark of their own, boasting Canada's largest selection of serialized online video content available in the country.

The content is supplied by Vuguru, Michael Eisner's new media studio (Rogers is an investor) and international distributor Fireworks, consisting of more than 17 shows and 500 episodes of drama, comedy, thriller, horror, sci-fi and animation.

"All the content will be on Citytv.com as well as on the iPhone app and the iPad app, when that launches, so those will effectively be the hub," said Claude Galipeau, senior vice-president and general manager, digital media for Rogers Media. "We're also going to release content in other areas, Back on Topps, for example, is a comedy show about baseball and will be on Sportsnet.ca, the Dilbert cartoon will be on Macleans.ca, while Prom Queen will be on Flare.com."

Select shows, depending on popularity and demographic appeal, could appear on television after their initial run online and through the various apps. But Galipeau was quick to say that "Shorts in the City" is not an incubator for Rogers' TV programming.

"This is content built for and released first on the web and in some case because it's serialized, it can be stitched together and played at movie-length as a movie of the week," he said. "It's high-quality video, merely produced at a cheaper price point, but the quality is there on the screen."

As of now, the content is internationally sourced, but Rogers Media is accepting pitches and working with Canadian producers.

Nissan Canada will integrate ads within the programming. "At the heart of the 'Shorts in the City' program is a unique entertainment experience that puts viewers in the driver's seat as to when and where they enjoy this content," said Mark McDade, Nissan Canada's director, marketing.

A national ad campaign supporting the launch will include TV spots, digital display, outdoor and cinema in 20 Canadian markets.

Activision Blizzard, Nokia, and 'Alan Wake' Creator to Present at Pre-E3 Transmedia Event

LOS ANGELES, - Digital Media Wire today announced speakers for the 2nd annual International Game and Film Lounge to be held at the Figueroa Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, June 14, 2010, the day the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) opens its doors at the LA Convention Center.

The International Game and Film Lounge –produced by Digital Media Wire in association with Variety and Nordic Game - brings together an eclectic mix of leading companies, talent and celebrities in film and games from the United States, Europe and Asia, to share ideas about international and transmedia aspects of the games and film industries and how to create new business opportunities at the intersection of these two exciting fields of media.

The event includes the following keynotes and special presentations:

Matias Myllyrinne, Managing Director, Remedy Entertainment, will give a special presentation on how digital download/add–ons are continuing the shelf life of the fiction his company is creating. Matias will also be featured in an interview by Sten Selander, Director of Business Development, Nordic Game, about his views and experience with transmedia aspects of games, film and television. Remedy's latest project, Alan Wake, published by Microsoft Game Studios, was recently released for Xbox 360 and is currently a top selling game in Europe and the U. S. The story plays out in an episodic format, with a television show-style presentation where each episode/chapter brings another piece to the puzzle of the main plot. Remedy has confirmed that Alan Wake is only the first season of a bigger story, opening the door for future sequels.

Dan Winters, VP, Developer Relations and Acquisitions, Activision Blizzard, will be featured in a keynote interview with Marty Poulin, CEO at ShadyLogic Studios. Dan is an industry veteran of over 15 years, with stints at Activision, Disney Interactive and Electronic Arts. Before entering into the world of Video Games, Dan spent 4 years playing professional baseball for the Oakland A's, San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. He also spent 6 years as an actor with appearances on day time TV, commercials and various other TV shows. After getting his start at Activision in 1993, working on various titles including Mechwarrior 2, he spent 10 years at Disney Interactive where he eventually became Vice President of Product Development. Under Dan's leadership, Disney Interactive contributed to or co-released over 50 games including: Kingdom Hearts, Tarzan, A Bug's Life, Toy Story, Tron, etc... After a stint at Electronic Arts as Executive Producer of Medal of Honor: European Assault, Dan rejoined Activision in 2005 to oversee Developer Relations and Acquisitions.

Ronald Azuma, Research Leader, Nokia Research Center Hollywood will deliver a keynote presentation on the future of mobile media and entertainment. At Nokia, Ronald leads a team that is exploring the question: What are new forms of compelling media that take advantage of the strengths of mobile devices? In Dec. 2009, his team built and performed The Westwood Experience, our first exploration into location-based experiences. This is a new form of mobile entertainment that blends a compelling story with physical locations augmented with digital content.

Garry Schyman, Award Winning Transmedia Composer, to deliver Keynote Presentation. Evocative motifs, epic themes, aleatoric dissonance or apocalyptic intensity: composer Garry Schyman explores a stunning spectrum of sonic possibilities. The creator of music for the multiple award-winning video game BioShock – winner of Best Original Score from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Spike TV's Video Games Best Score Award, G4 Television's Soundtrack of the Year and four awards from the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G) including Music of the Year, Best Interactive Score, Best Original Instrumental and Audio of the Year-- he has emerged as one of the medium's foremost composers. A composer whose work spans feature films, prime time television series, mini-series, movies of the week, video games and documentaries, Garry studied composition at the University of Southern California and later, privately with the renowned composer George Tremblay. Just out of the university he was then employed by the legendary Mike Post and Pete Carpenter organization where he worked on the team's roster of top rated series.  

For complete agenda, registration, press pass and event details please visit: http://www.gamefilmlounge.com

Other prominent Digital Media Wire events include LA Games Conference, NY Games Conference, Future of Television Forum, Digital Music Forum East & West, Digital Media Insider @ CES and Digital Media Conference East and West.

About Digital Media Wire, Inc:

Digital Media Wire is an events, news, and publishing company serving the digital entertainment & media industry since May 2000. Digital Media Wire produces executive forums featuring leading executives in digital media and entertainment. Digital Media Wire also publishes an authoritative daily email newsletter and industry news portal. For more information, please visit: www.dmwmedia.com.

 

Augmented Reality Get Its Own Standardized Logo

Dubbed, AR Plus (or AR+), the logo is designed to be a beacon that will signify when an interactive augmented experience has been implemented into an application. In the same way standardized USB or DVD devices brand the same logo on their devices and products, Total Immersion hopes AR developers will place the AR+ logo on their products.

bruno_arlogo_jun10.jpg

Uzzan's keynote this morning focused on the creation of standards within the AR community - a popular topic at the conference so far. Uzzan says the time is now for standardization for augmented reality because major technology players are considering AR experiences, and a lack of standards may temporarily keep them from adopting the technology. He believes standards are what the community needs to breakthrough into the mainstream.

"With the new AR+ logo, the industry can give consumers, developers, brands, and others a consistent framework for encountering and understanding augmented reality solutions," said Uzzan in a press release Thursday. "There's a sense that the AR industry has grown up too fast, that it has at times felt like the 'Wild West.' Today, the industry consists of multiple players, multiple platforms and easier access to AR. The new AR+ logo affirms that we're working with a new human interface, now going mainstream."

ar_gamedvd_jun10.jpgThe benefits of standardization, Uzzan said, include stability and compatibility across platforms for AR experiences. Large downloads and poor quality have deterred users from using augmented reality in the past, and standardization will streamline development, providing higher quality to the user experience. The AR+ logo, he says, is a suggestion open for discussion, and a first step toward standards for AR.

AR developers can download the AR+ logo by visiting Total Immersion's site where they can also find guidelines for the logo's use.

If you'd like to learn more about how companies are using augmented reality for marketing in both desktop and mobile-based experiences, be sure to check out our latest premium report on the subject, Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers.

WOW -AppCity launches global online app store| lets users buy unlimited iPhone apps for a flat fee @wsff10

(source: http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/37367/AppCity-launches-global-online-app-store)

French firm AppCity has built a multi-lingual destination, at www.appcity.com, that offers apps for iPhone, Android, Nokia Ovi, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile users.

It's subscription only, with a typical price of five euros a week for access to any apps. One-off downloads are not available (other than for free apps), but there's no subscription lock-in beyond a week.

The service is initially available in English and French, but AppCity plans to expand to Spanish and Chinese language versions by the end of summer 2010.

The firm is aiming to embed links to its service with handset firms and also to be hosted by operator portals. It says it will go live with one French operator imminently.

All billing is via the phone bill. There's no credit card support, but AppCity is working to integrate PayPal.

cont.

 

 

Mobile publishing: apps or mobile websites? @wsff10

Should publishers be focusing their mobile strategies on apps or mobile websites? That was the subject of a head-to-head debate at the M-Publishing conference in London today.

Matt Millar, CEO of Live Talkback, put the case for apps.

"Mobile isn't about mobile, it's about convenience. It's about simplicity. So what's the most convenient way of making things easy to use?" he said.

He talked about the way mobile apps can currently use all of the features of a device, and that people are keen to use them.

"You're giving them the best possible experience," he said. "Is a mobile website really the best possible experience? Don't cut corners, and don't simplify things because it will be a little bit easier for your developers."

Advertisement

Millar said that people accessing a service via an app will use it "about three to six times as much as people with mobile web on the same device", according to Live Talkback's experience.

Joan Blaas, CEO of Mobzmedia, put the case for the mobile web, pointing to people's desktop PC use as a reason to believe that the web wins out over apps.

"It frustrates people to have only one application, like the Financial Times, because they're used to getting their news from multiple sources," he added, referring specifically to the publishing industry.

Blaas also talked about "the inflexibility of an app" - publishers have to release new updates if they want to change the app, for example rebranding it for a big event like the World Cup.

"On the mobile internet, it could be done in a day," he said.

Blaas also highlighted the advantage for a publisher of running their mobile site off the same content management system as their website.

"It's a lot simpler, as a publisher you can reach a larger audience, and you don't have to compromise on reach," he said.

The problem with boiling apps versus mobile web into an adversarial debate, though, is that it relies on the premise that one of them has to 'win'. When in truth, both mobile apps and mobile websites are important.

Or at least deserve equal consideration in the strategies of publishers, even if that means launching apps in the short term while working on a mobile web strategy for the future.

As the first questioner from the audience said: "Isn't this a bit of a moot point, because as publishers you need to be focusing on a multi-channel strategy?"

Quite.

"The challenge is how do you pick a priority?" responded Millar. "You have to pick some areas to spend. And I also think you have to realise that you have to pick some focus."

UK Berg launches iPad mag Popular Science - grazie @michele_perras @wsff10

April 2, 2010 by Matt Webb

Popular Science+

In December, we showed Mag+, a digital magazine concept produced with our friends at Bonnier.

Late January, Apple announced the iPad.

So today Popular Science, published by Bonnier and the largest science+tech magazine in the world, is launching Popular Science+ — the first magazine on the Mag+ platform, and you can get it on the iPad tomorrow. It’s the April 2010 issue, it’s $4.99, and you buy more issues from inside the magazine itself.

Articles are arranged side by side. You swipe left and right to go between them. For big pictures, it’s fun to hold your finger between two pages, holding and moving to pan around.

You swipe down to read. Tap left to see the pictures, tap right to read again. These two modes of the reading experience are about browsing and drinking in the magazine, versus close reading.

Pull the drawer up with two fingers to see the table of contents and your other issues. Swipe right and left with two fingers to zip across pages to the next section. Dog-ear a page by turning down the top-right corner.

There’s a store in the magazine. When a new issue comes out, you purchase it right there.

cont...

Digital Self-Publishing Shakes Up Traditional Book Industry

Media_httpsiwsjnetpub_iieii

Writer Karen McQuestion spent nearly a decade trying without success to persuade a New York publisher to print one of her books. In July, the 49-year-old mother of three decided to publish it herself, online.

Eleven months later, Ms. McQuestion has sold 36,000 e-books through Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-bookstore and has a film option with a Hollywood producer. In August, Amazon will publish a paperback version of her first novel, "A Scattered Life," about a friendship triangle among three women in small-town Wisconsin.

Ms. McQuestion is at the leading edge of a technological disruption that's loosening traditional publishers' grip on the book market—and giving new power to technology companies like Amazon to shape which books and authors succeed.

Much as blogs have bitten into the news business and YouTube has challenged television, digital self-publishing is creating a powerful new niche in books that's threatening the traditional industry. Once derided as "vanity" titles by the publishing establishment, self-published books suddenly are able to thrive by circumventing the establishment.

cont...

Heroes Creator Introduces New Genre of Entertainment- "mobile immersive experience"

What's TEVA?

Thanks to Nokia's partnership with Kring, their upcoming Ovi Store (aka the Nokia App Store) is going to kick off with some of the most innovative content that has ever come to the mobile platform. It's set to open in May soon after the store will feature Kring's new project and is code-named TEVA. As for what exactly TEVA will look like and what it will be about...well, details are still vague. Kring wants to make sure spoilers don't ruin the fun for the audience...or perhaps we should say "participants."

ARG Explained

What we do know, however, is that TEVA will be a combination of user-generated content and Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG). In you're unaware of what "ARG" means, it's when an interactive narrative is told using the real world as the platform. Instead of passively consuming this sort of entertainment, ARG players actively participate in it. A somewhat recent example of this is what ARG called the "Lost Experience," which launched back in 2008 as an online clue hunt developed by ABC for fans of the TV show "Lost." In this game, web sites across the net contained clues that when pieced together told a story that tied into and paralleled that of the show. Another example would be the ARG created for the band Nine Inch Nails to promote their "Year Zero" album. This time the adventure started when concert goers found thumb drives in the bathrooms that contained unreleased songs and clues.

TEVA is No Ordinary ARG

So the idea of an ARG isn't an entirely new one, but using the mobile platform to play the game is...at least like this. You see, TEVA isn't just a traditional ARG moved to the mobile platform - it only involves some elements of that type of story-telling mechanism. Another piece to this mobile experience is user-generation content. This is a new twist. In the past, ARG players would just interact with the story line - now they're going to help create it. And yet another aspect to this mobile experience will be local. Gameplay takes place in your city - not just in an application or just on the web. How exactly this happens, we don't know, but TEVA will use GPS and other location-based services in some way. 

So What Do We Call This?

When we asked if there was a name for this type of entertainment, Kring said perhaps we could call it a "mobile immersive experience." It's a bit long, but it works.

Since there aren't a ton of details about TEVA yet, we have to use our imaginations to guess at what sort of interactions might be included. Based on some of the other discussion topics that evening, one of the possibilities that may come into play in this new mobile experience is an augmented reality application.

At the dinner, one of the Nokia execs described how we could use our mobile phones to record geo-located images and videos and tag them with specific keywords. This media could then only be accessed when you arrived in the same geo-location with your mobile phone. For example, if you showed up at the local park, you could pull up a video of your friends playing Frisbee there last week. This "mirror world," as it is being called, isn't so much an "alternate" reality, but a real one...just one that's been recorded, tagged, and archived. With this, we sort of become the ghosts of ourselves.

The Possibilities are Endless

The TEVA project will initially launch in the Ovi Store while it's being developed for other mediums (iPhone? Web? This, too, is unknown.) What is known, though, is that Kring is extremely excited about the project. As a creative, he's less interested in the technical details of the technology itself - just what it can do and how he can use it to create an entirely new entertainment experience.

Kring noted that there are already mobile applications that allow you to go out into the real world and "collect clues, send things, create things, and share with other people nearby...using the locative qualities of the phone. Once you get the parameters of what these services can do," he continued, "then your imagination is the only thing that stops you...if you attach a narrative to that."

TEVA will launch this summer and will be rolled out regionally.

Above image is the TEVA logo.

My guess? Conspiracy for Good is the source for UGC:

http://www.conspiracyforgood.com/about