Newsletter #116 Web Video - The New Frontier

Created on 28/08/07

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Our last newsletter (25th July, 2007) was "Is Spam Now Boring?".

Feature Article

Broadband video is a major disruptive influence for both television networks and the video/DVD distribution chains. The delivery of “moving pictures” has historically been controlled by a relatively small number of television networks and large media organisations. However the Internet allows video producers to reach audiences without any third-party intermediary being involved.

The most obvious example of this is YouTube where content created for, or adapted for the medium has become a huge influence on modern society, including even the upcoming American elections. Search for “Obama Girl” on YouTube.com to see what I mean.
Most major TV networks are now making at least part of their content available online in video format.

The latest baby of Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis who created peer-to-peer music download service Kazaa and free Internet telephony service Skype, is Joost. Joost is a free TV-on-the-Web service that works similarly to Kazaa in that it asks every computer on its network to store small chunks of information which is then streamed to the user. Joost has the advantage that it doesn’t require huge bandwidth to deliver the video content; the bandwidth is shared amongst users.

A recent survey of online consumers by ABI Research found that 12 percent had purchased some sort of video content delivered over the Internet. Of those, the majority (71%) watched it on their PCs, while 16% burned to DVD and watched it on a TV. Another 8 percent viewed it via a gaming console.

One of the more interesting aspects of this is how broadband video will ultimately reach the television which is the most comfortable way to view longer videos? There seems to be a number of potential scenarios:

1. Via video game consoles. Because they are positioned close to TVs, have large hard drives and are normally connected to online services.
   
   
2. Via specialized set top boxes that integrate the delivery of online video with the TV using a Wi-fi wireless network connection. Apple TV is an example of such a device.
   
   
3. Or will televisions evolve sufficiently so that they can receive and then play a video downloaded from the Internet?

Whatever the delivery method it is apparent that online video is more than just a disruptive influence for the entertainment industry. There are a number of ways that video could be used by your business. Some examples:

1. A demonstration of how a product works or is assembled.
   
   
2. A walk-through of your factory, a house or property for sale.
   
   
3. Video tutorials.

Because video is becoming so common online, services making it easier to add to your Website are becoming available. Even now you can easily upload a self-produced video to YouTube and insert the code provided into your Website so that YouTube takes care of the storage and streaming.

It’s worth thinking about how video can add value to your online presence.

Hot Tips

Newbies

BCC means Blind Carbon Copy and has the effect that email receivers will not know who else has been sent the message and cannot "Reply to All". Just enter the addresses as normal in the BCC section and put your own email address in the “To” box. You will receive a copy of the email sent. If the BCC box doesn't show create a new message, then go "View"/"All Headers" in Outlook Express 6 or "View"/"Bcc Field" in Outlook 2003.

Power Users

A feature of modern browsers lets Webmasters design an icon that will appear to left of your site's title on the "favorites/bookmarks" menu and on the address bar, rather than the plain default logo. To take advantage of this, make an icon that describes your site in a graphics software program - normally 16x16 or 32x32 pixels - keep it very simple. Export the finished image as a bitmap, say "favicon.bmp". Rename this as "favicon.ico". Transfer this file to your Website and then include the following tag between your "head" tags: . You can use GIF or PNG format if you wish, just rename the link to find your icon.

Interesting Sites

iYomu (I, you, me and us) bills itself as social networking for adults. The site offers features such as 1GB of storage for all your documents, photos, email, videos and music, free email account and the ability to connect with people of similar interests. There are several tools: iYDNA a profiling tool, iYLocate which lets you find other users with similar interests in your area and iYCommunity which shows connections between members and their interests. An unusual feature is the US$1 million dollar challenge where members gain points through various puzzles, referrals and other activities. http://www.iyomu.com

InsiteFul Quotes

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." Albert Einstein

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

Archives

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Best wishes

Alex Garden

Internet Strategy | Website Design | Website Promotion | Web Text Messaging | Email Newsletters | Online Sports Games | Content Management