I’ve previously blogged about the iPad acting like Star Trek’s “replicator.” Last week, this concept along with “there’s an app for that” saved a lot more than a video shoot.
As we left Newburyport (Massachusetts) for Boston Harbor, I discovered the sailboat’s GPS navigation charts card wasn’t loaded (and nowhere to be found). While an inconvenience, this is (normally) a sail that can be done using the ship’s compass + traditional navigation charts + one’s eyes.
But then unexpected fog rolled in -- and LOTS of it. We were engulfed in white “clouds” 360 degrees around us with visibility maybe 100 feet at best.
We engaged the radar which gave us an idea potential oncoming nearby objects. The GPS showed us our general position but without the charts, we could easily go off course and hit buoy markers, rocks, or even land.
After a failed attempt at getting to work an old handheld back-up GPS (I know, file this under “things to check BEFORE you leave port.”) I was, thankfully, reminded that I had my iPad “down below.”
I already had the iNavX marine navigation app on it and in an instant (just like Star Trek’s replicator), I downloaded the appropriate chart for our closest position.
I secured the iPad on the boat’s console and quickly found that:
By using the iPad in conjunction with the radar in the fog, we were able to tell when we were coming up on a channel marker (buoy) to confirm we were on course but also to ensure we didn’t crash into it.
Thankfully the fog burned off less than halfway into our trip but without my iPad (running iNavX), I’m not sure we would have safely made it home to Constitution Marina.
A moment during SXSW’s “TV + New Media” panel suddenly brought me back to the early-to-mid 90s – at UNH during Student Senate & SAFC meetings (photo above). It was our culture to pass dozens of notes back-and-forth during meetings, in effect, creating an informal meeting within a meeting. A sampling of some of the notes I saved over the years (below) show most being sarcastic and fraught with “insider humor.”
Fast forward back to March 14th 2011 at 11am. Dule Hill was a part of the panel and had, recently, joined Twitter. His playful “backchannel” banter with panel attendees using the #psych hashtag quickly became the most entertaining part of the discussion. At one point, Dule challenged the crowd to yell "me" if they were following him on Twitter causing a momentary pause in the main event as one of the other panelists said, “clearing there’s an inside joke going on!”
The Twitter backchannel is today’s version of meeting note passing. It has all of the same characteristics with one big exception: It’s completely public.
While notes during Student Senate meetings were addressed to one or more individuals as they were passed down the rows and aisles of our meeting room, the backchannel gives everyone access (for those who choose to join in) to the “meeting within a meeting.” And in creating his own "second screen experience" that's exactly what Dule Hill did for all of us in the room and following along on Twitter.
I snapped the photo below well across the river away from downtown Austin. I don’t think the sign was meant to celebrate #SXSW but, instead, be a warning to all of the locals to prepare for the “geek madness” that overtakes their city each year.
While it’s difficult to distill pages of notes, tweets, interactions, and thoughts into a blog post, here’s what I’m leaving Austin with as I sit 35,000 feet above the air en route back to Boston:
#1. After 20 years, we’re still having to justify the Web.
I keep a print in my office of the very first website which launched 20 years ago (this coming August). And, yet, I’m amazed that 2 decades later (and despite the fact that just about everyone in the US is online at this point) that the web is still perceived (by many) as a “second thought.”
NBC writers are, understandably, extremely busy writing for TV so they use writers assistants for any online extension content. Yet, NBC is the #4 television network while NBC.com is the #1 TV network website – all done on a shoestring budget.
#2. Without dispute, “socialTV” is hot right now.
A very interesting thing happened outside the highly anticipated #socialTV panel. Apparently a shuttle carrying attendees to where the panel was being held, was late and the event was already at capacity. So the dozens of people stuck outside started up their own panel.
Yet with all of the hype (which I, admittedly subscribe to and happily evangelize) around social media + TV convergence, we’re all trying to figure out the “ideal” two-screen experience. I thoroughly enjoyed my informal conversations with Miso’s Somrat Nioygi and NBC News’ Ryan Osborn. It’s good to be reminded that people’s needs around television are pretty basic – and so anything that we do to create an “enhanced” 2nd screen experience has to be equally basic and complimentary. We’re still in the experimental phase.
#3. What some say are game changers, others say are fads.
Seth Priebatsch’s #gamelayer keynote was absolutely terrific. His passion and energy are convincingly contagious. It’s easy to get into the hype of the “gamification of the web” (I know I do) but at the end of the day the layers that we put on things (be they games, check-ins, back channels, etc.) don’t matter if the content they serve is bad.
While some publically said at #SXSW that these tactics are mere fads, I would never say that. After all, many people thought Twitter and Facebook were fads. Some still think that social media is a fad. The yet-to-be-answered question, though, is whether or not the game-layer is a “game changer?” Stay tuned.
#4. It’s easy for a hot startup to become a “diva.”
So here’s a tale of two startups – both of whom I very often proudly blog about, tweet about, use heavily, and discuss with my clients. I was suddenly brought back to the days of Paula Abdul on American Idol when she’d note contestants that became “affected” by their instant fame.
One of the start-ups (which I won’t call out) seemed a lot more interested in living the lifestyle of the characters on Entourage – I’ll just leave it at that. While, in stark contrast, Boxee kept it as real, open, and authentic as it gets. Andrew Kippen is an absolute class act. And Boxee’s back-yard BBQ was one of the highlights of SXSW for me -- These are the kinds of people I will go out of my way to do business with. Perhaps it’s the “New Hampshire” in me.
#5. We’ve only just begun to experience what’s possible.
It’s become cliché, at this point, to say mobile is big. And I loved the CEO of Gowalla’s quote, “In a mobile device, we’ve been given a magic box. If the best we can do is give someone a badge + a buck off a coffee, we’ve failed.”
I first started my blog because I was moved by how increasingly accelerated “breakthroughs” in tech & app development were happening – And it keeps accelerating. Just look at how, in just mere months, amazing things were done by hacking the Xbox Kinect platform. Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to get even more interesting (and delightfully crazy)
From my post about the original AppleTV to the #TVnext event I’m currently putting together, a lot has happened in 2 ½ years in the world of Web + TV convergence.
On Thursday, I was interviewed by Austin Gardner-Smith for a post in BostInnovation: What the Internet TV Revolution Means for Advertisers and Marketers. It prompted me to take a look back on some of the posts I’ve written about this topic over the past few years:
Needless to say, I am “giddy” for #TVnext as we’ve got an amazing lineup of speakers from across the industry and I cannot wait to be part of a discussion of how TV is getting more social, more connected, and more portable.
Last May, I posted about the prototype of the Comcast/Xfinity iPad app and ended the post with: “This is one I can not, personally, wait for.” Well, six months later, the wait is finally over as this past Monday, Comcast launched the app which is free for download. Here is my demo & review of both the iPad app as well as Xfinity’s DVR manager:
Discovering new content.
By leveraging the inherent user experience of the iPad, the Xfinity app amplifies new content discovery. Its big screen not only shows more channels, but the ability to filter content, navigate quickly, and easily access show details makes the traditional on-screen program guide feel like a sluggish antique.
The power of portable.
Having remote access to set and manage your DVR enables those many serendipitous moments to leverage WOM “water cooler” chatter about a show (when you’re not near your TV/Cable box) and instantly set it to be recorded. Additionally, as Comcast rolls streaming video viewing of onDemand content from the app itself (not yet available), your favorite shows are now “portable” and with you wherever you go.
A “harmonic” 3-screen experience.
This app is part of a growing trend to not interrupt the TV broadcast on the main screen by leveraging the second and/or third screens for interactive content. We saw hints of this with ABC’s My Generation iPad app as well as what NBC did with parallel “behind the scenes” footage for this year’s Emmys. There is no need, anymore, to clutter and block the big screen.
All of this has the potential to increase TV content consumption as the barriers to watch continue to diminish, over time. For those who like to proclaim the death of TV, think again.
