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Fear and loathing at NAB 2012

If this week’s National Association of Broadcasters Show is any indication, by 2020 “broadcasting” is a term that will be foreign to anyone under 40. Based on the show’s programming this year, as well as the general vibe that multiplatform delivery is the future, it seems that pretty soon no one will be concerned about how content is distributed — just if it’s good or not.

How quickly things change

This was my fourth or fifth year in attendance, and in many ways, it was shockingly similar to the others I’ve attended. There was (again) a lot of talk but no real movement on stuff like mobile DTV and 3-D TV, as well as grudging acceptance among incumbent content creators that the Internet, mobile and tablets are platforms they need to play on, even if there’s no real money there.

But there was one thing that was very different, at least in the makeup of the show’s keynotes and “super sessions.” In attending a few of the higher-profile sessions, I got the feeling that this year’s NAB Show wasn’t actually about broadcast TV, at least not in the way that it’s sold or distributed. It was instead about the multiplatform piece, and seemed specifically to shine a light on those who were leading the charge in that arena. The only problem is that the creators and distributors it highlighted weren’t broadcasters, at least not in the traditional sense, but those mired in the online-only or online-first world.

While last year’s NAB show featured a keynote speech by CBS head honcho Les Moonves, there were no comparable heavy hitters from the TV world to give their vision for the future. Notably, the show seemed to cater instead to those who were interested in how streaming and multiplatform delivery were disrupting the traditional TV model. NAB brought in speakers like Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, Machinima President Philip DeBevoise, Electus’ Ben Silverman and Revision3’s Jim Louderback, among others.

Even those speakers who are part of the traditional broadcast model seemed to be there not to talk about the business of TV, per se, but about distribution in the bold new multiplatform world. Hell, even Betty White — who we all know of because of her TV career, and who spoke at an early breakfast slot on Tuesday — has seen her career resurrected mostly because of a Super Bowl commercial that went viral online and made her part of the conversation again.

What is a broadcaster, anyway?

I wasn’t the only one who was confused by the whole thing. I facilitated a roundtable discussion for a group of attendees Wednesday morning, leading a wide-ranging talk about a number of topics facing content producers and distributors.

The makeup of the room was impressively diverse: There were attendees who were there at their first NAB show, and others who had been going for decades. There were some present who worked for PBS, others who produced news and other content for local affiliates, and a university professor who was there to comment on the way the behavior of college-aged viewers were changing. There were participants from the agency side, others who created apps, and still others working on new web-original projects. There was even a guy from Brazil who produces surfing shows for the web. He switched from TV distribution to streaming video more than a decade ago.

One of the folks there — whose name I’ve unfortunately forgotten — summed up the feeling of the show pretty well: “How do we define a broadcaster?” he asked. “Is it someone who distributes content over the air? Is it someone who does over-the-air and cable and satellite? Is it someone who does that and also does delivery on the web and to other platforms, with a certain number of viewers?”

Barbarians at the gates

Considering who was speaking at this year’s show, I think there’s a clear answer to that: the definition needs to fall outside the traditional scope of the broadcasting industry and needs to include folks who are making content that doesn’t necessarily originate on TV. When Netflix introduces a slate of programming that includes shows from David Fincher, Kevin Spacey, Eli Roth and the return of Arrested Development, you can no longer define content as “premium“ just based upon whichever distribution platform it appeared on first.

I’ve always attended NAB with a view toward the digital future — and over the years, I’ve been frequently frustrated by how the industry doesn’t seem to “get it.” This is the first year where I’ve felt that the show and attendees were having real discussions about the future, the first time someone acknowledged that the big broadcast and cable networks weren’t the only ones who held the keys to the future of video.

But I wonder what that means for everyone else at the show, or, what the people who have been going to NAB for decades think about the barbarians at the gate that are taking up all their speaking slots and shaping the discussion. What does it mean when there are no real broadcast titans speaking at a show for and about broadcasters?

It probably means that the world is changing, and it could mean that smart content creators and distributors are doing everything in their power to stay ahead of that change. And maybe, just maybe, it means that the broadcasters at NAB could learn a lesson or two from those who are doing so, including the folks at Netflix, Machinima and Revision3.

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from GigaOM http://gigaom.com/video/fear-and-loathing-at-nab-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&...

YouTube Sensation Does the Robot in $10 Million Roomba Campaign [VIDEO]


Dubstep master and YouTube sensation Marquese Scott is back with another jaw-dropping routine. His 2011 YouTube dance video gained more than 43 million views. This time, he is promoting the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.

iRobot Corporation — behind the Roomba and Scooba automated cleaners — is making moves with a robust $10 million ad campaign, appealing to fans on T.V. and online. Scott appears in the T.V. and online spots doing “the robot,” alongside the Roomba.

The T.V. spot will run on national cable channels as well as on the websites of online publishers including Conde Nast, Epicurious and The New Yorker.

iRobot promotes the futuristic Roomba vacuum in the ad campaign, though their long list of products includes automated machines that wash floors, pools and gutters. The campaign celebrates “the unique bond that is created between people and robots,” according to the Boston-based ad company Mullen.

iRobot is also tying in a global YouTube competition with the national ad campaign. Dubbing it an “Robolution,” iRobot has created a branded YouTube channel to promote a robot dance contest.

Contestants are asked to submit videos of themselves dancing to the iRobot theme song, available for download on the branded YouTube page. It’s suggested that dancers mimic the Roomba’s slow back-and-forth movement — like Scott does in his videos.

SEE ALSO: Beyond the Roomba: How iRobot’s Technology Is Making War Zones Safer for Soldiers

The YouTube page so far is a branding win. People can submit entries for the dance competition while reading up on the latest iRobot products, all in one place. Plus, there’s room for fans to leave personal comments about the futuristic products.

Watch Scott’s unique moves in this YouTube video created specially for the competition:

Can you do the robot better than a Roomba? If so, post a link to your “Robulution” video in the comments.

More About: irobot, roomba, Scooba, Video

from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/04/18/roomba-ad/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=fe...

Startups Meet Reality TV: Watch ‘TechStars’ on Mashable


Getting into a top startup accelerator program can make the difference between a company making it big and being lost in the ether. Starting today, Mashable goes behind the scenes of that experience by bringing the Bloomberg television show TechStars to our community.

TechStars has emerged as one of the most influential and well-funded accelerators, with the 114 companies that have been through the program raising a collective $134 million — and 8 of them being acquired. The organization now offers companies up to $100,000 in funding, after raising a $24 million round of funding last fall.

The process of getting into TechStars — which is statistically more challenging than getting into an Ivy League university — and then going through the grueling 3-month process of building your startup, was profiled by Bloomberg in a 6-episode documentary that recently aired on the cable network.

Now, you can watch the TechStars show on Mashable. We’ve made the entire series available on-demand, and chopped it up into short segments that are ideal for Internet viewing. Over the course of the next couple of months, we’ll also be sharing each episode as part of a Mashable post, giving our community a chance to discuss the themes of each show in our comments section.

In the first episode, embedded below, TechStars executives review the hundreds of pitches they received from startups that applied to the program, and then grill some of the finalists during in-person interviews. The episode also features soundbites from top investors Fred Wilson and Brad Feld, Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk.

We hope you enjoy watching TechStars on Mashable, and invite you to view the full series at any time in our video section.


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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/04/18/techstars-on-mashable/?utm_source=feedburner&u...

Get Rid of Underarm Stains with Dishwashing Detergent and Hydrogen Peroxide (Plus, Other DIY Cleaning Solutions) [Household]

Sweat stains are notoriously hard to get rid of. If aspirin, citrus, and baking soda/borax remedies haven't worked for you so far, consider this one-two punch of hydrogen peroxide and dishwashing detergent. Plus, this visual cheat sheet from Picklee shows you how to concoct several more cheap cleaning solutions for more serious spring cleaning. More »


from Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/5902780/diy-cleaning-solution-recipes-to-conquer-the-to...

The 5 Most Over-Hyped “Future of TV” Topics

television-is-dead

Editor’s note: Jeremy Toeman is a founder of Dijit Media, a startup whose vision is to create the ultimate “hyperpersonalised social TV guide” mobile experience. Jeremy has over 11 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, social TV and consumer technology working with companies like Sling Media, Mediabolic, Boxee, Clicker, VUDU, and more. Follow him on Twitter @jtoeman.

From some of the chatter out there, it seems like the prerequisites to have “deep knowledge” about the TV industry is to have ever watched TV.  Yes, that sounds pretty cynical, but I see post after post espousing wisdom on topics that are so misguided it makes my head shake – involuntarily.  While everyone is certainly entitled to their opinions, there’s just something to be said for a little research, a little fact checking, and deep diving with industry experts.  I think the “future of TV” industry at large would benefit greatly from a little more of the above, and a little less jumping on bandwagons.

Accordingly, here are the 5 topics I see on practically a daily basis that are just plain tired, and should be put to rest.

1. The Future of TV is about Voice Control and Gestures

In the future, you’ll tell your TV to change to channel 702, ask it when the next Tom Cruise movie is on, and wave your hand to change the channel.  Really?  This is exciting?  First, when it comes to gestures, the *best case scenario* is using gestures for the most simple of functionality, such as channel/volume adjustments.  What’s the “when’s the next Tom Cruise movie on?” gesture (protip: you jump on your couch).  It’s a model that works great for games, and not much else.

And as far as talking to your TV, whether it’s Jack Donaghy’s awesome voice-controlled TV for Kabletown, or this funny commercial, it’s clearly an easy topic to play around with:

But is there value in it? Some, definitely.  I do not, in any way, question the fact that a well-executed voice interface to change channels, perform searches, etc, sounds great.  But is that really revolutionary?  Considering that TV watching is primarily done with a second screen (iPad, smart phone, etc) in hand these days, the ability to search without using the awful on-screen interfaces as provided by set-top box makers has already improved dramatically.  Searching for show listings, actors, etc, using a dedicated app or even just google is a marked improvement.  I don’t consider a voice-enabled search “revolutionary” at this stage.

2. The Future of TV is all about Social TV

Literally every “big” show event these days has a followup about how it’s the most gigantic moment in the history of #SocialTV ever.  Well, considering this is a fairly new thing, and more people are still signing up to services like Twitter and trying out Social TV apps, that shouldn’t be much of a surprise now, should it?  Of course Game of Thrones broke records, just like how the American Idol season finale will later this year.  As will the Olympics, then next year’s Superbowl.  But here’s the thing: other than huge events, app makers and broadcasters alike are still trying to figure out what Social TV really means.

It’s clearly not about check-ins, that’s very 2011 thinking.  And it’s not going to be about measuring real-time tweets (hello West Coast, sorry, your Tweets just don’t count), which is very 2012 thinking.  There’s something happening in the “engagement with TV” space, but it’s probably a much richer experience than what we’re talking about.  Oh, and so we don’t forget to address it – nothing, not a single thing, in the field of social/real-time engagement works particularly well when it comes to “catch up” TV.  Which there will remain plenty of for years and years to come.

3. The Future of TV is all about Cord Cutters

Auntie May just cancelled cable and bought a Roku, what the what?  Cable is doomed, it’s like newspapers and the music industry.  Slow down folks, not so fast.  First and foremost, not a single report from any credible source has ever painted a picture that cord cutting is having, nor will have, any impact on the industry.  At an average price of $80/month, cable (and satellite and telco, but I’ll just say cable from this point forward – less typing), is about the best deal in entertainment you can find on a dollars/hour basis.  Most Roku, WDTV, and Apple TV owners still have a paid cable service, as do most Netflix and Hulu subscribers.

Additionally, the reason TV != music is about distribution and lockup agreements.  Sure, artists had labels, and labels distributed their music via CDs to retail stores, and there are a lot of analogies to the TV industry.  Except for the lockups, bundles, affiliates, and a dozen or so other participants in the TV production-to-consumption cycle.  TV shows can’t start their own distribution service – because 90% of TV shows are made by the folks who own the distribution side.  And the networks can’t just go direct to consumers, they’d sacrifice huge amounts of money to do so.  Like billions huge.  And for what?  To directly engage with (read: provide customer service for) people who get pissy if their DVR cuts off the end credits one time on a show they don’t even care about. Yeah, sounds great. This is highly related to Death Topic 5 below, so more in a moment.

4. The Future of TV is all about Apps

Just imagine a world where instead of browsing channels or searching for things, you can download apps for it all.  ABC? App. NBC? App. Fox? App. Bravo? Part of that NBC App (or maybe it’s own). TBS? App. SyFy? Same as Bravo, maybe.  How about the shows themselves?  Where’s Seinfeld?  Could be it’s own app!  Or, since TBC has syndication rights (well, some of them), it’ll be in their app.  And I’m sure NBC still owns some rights too, so maybe there instead.  Or possibly it’ll get split up amongst each of the stakeholders, on a per-season basis.  This is the future, and it’s awesome.

If awesome means terrible.

As I’ve said before, TV isn’t about work, it isn’t about search, it isn’t about finding things and effort - it’s about escape. TV should not work like the Web nor like my smart phone any more than my microwave should work like my smart phone.  Yes, we could use some better paradigms for discovering content, and integrating with second screen apps sounds like a good idea in many ways.  But that doesn’t mean I want an app per channel, show, network, etc.

5. The Future of TV is the Death of the Television Industry As We Know It

As I wrote above, TV is dying, it just must be dying!  The kids are watching lots of videos on the YouTubes, and since the Internet by definition is disruptive, it must impact TV.  After all, the TV services business is a $200+ billion dollar a year industry, and if you factor in manufacturing, production, distribution, and other related costs, it easily scales past $500 billion.  And this still doesn’t account for the internal marketplaces within each of the players.  That’s a lot of money for the Internet to kick the snot out of and hand over to the engineers in Silicon Valley!

Well, what if it doesn’t?  What if all the brains and the coding and the apps and the investments can’t topple this old school, well-loaded, not technically unsophisticated industry?  What if instead of disruption, the contributions of the Internet and the tech sector simply contribute to more growth?  After all, that’s what happened with cable in the first place, then VCR, then DVD, …  Sure, some of the deal-making might change, and we should expect to see the players evolve, grow, and of course fade.  Netflix is larger than any US cable operator, maybe they’ll take one of them out?  Or maybe the cable companies will expand into competitive regions?  Maybe the Xbox will be the next generation of set top boxes, with no need for truckrolls?  Lots of potential, lots of Internet contribution, but dying?  I doubt it.

In conclusion…

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not all doom and gloom for speculation.  I love some good speculation.  But the above topics are worn thin, dried out, and only mildly less entertaining to read about than tech bloggers getting into spats with each other.

There’s a ton of innovation on the second screen that goes far beyond Social TV.  Future TV interfaces are coming and changing, and Voice Control will play a role, but what else should we expect?  There’s no real evidence that cord cutting is happening, and sure, it might come, but as with all things, it’ll either be massively slower or faster than all typical predictions, so let’s move past that point.  What else is out there?


from TechCrunch http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/14/future-of-tv-is-overhyped/?utm_source=feedbu...

Bitten by the maker bug: one man's first steps with Arduino

Hopefully you're here because you've heard about this new-fangled "Arduino" thing, and you'd like to know more. Maybe you know your way around a soldering iron, maybe you want to relive your glory days troubleshooting college lab circuits, or maybe you just like looking at pictures of circuits. Hopefully, some or all of this will help whet your appetite to play around with the Arduino and discover what it can do.

Arduino describes itself as an "open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software." If you're interested in maker projects, circuit boards, or just goofing around with a soldering iron, Arduino may be worth your time.

Arduino hardware is available in a number of form factors, so you can decide whether you want to spend a lot of time assembling hardware or build the boards by hand. The hardware can receive input from a "variety of sensors" which can be used to turn on motors, lights, and "other actuators." Programming is accomplished via the Wiring-based Arduino language. Best of all, everything is offered under an open source license.

This article marks the start of my journey—one from a guy who has some basic circuit knowledge and some (rather outdated) technical training, to a guy who decided to get off his butt and figure this Arduino stuff out. This specifically is the small start to a greater project I have in mind—ultimately driving a color, multipixel display by means of an Arduino processor. Before we get to the whiz-bang cool stuff, today we start from the absolute bottom of the barrel.

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from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/guides/2012/04/bitten-buy-the-maker-bug-one-ma...

Trend: Social Media Agencies Turn to Advertising

In a stunning early finding of interviews with nearly a dozen social media agencies and software providers, I’m seeing a new trend: Social media agency of record (SMaoR) are now moving into advertising buying.   I’ve just spent a week interviewing a number of social agencies here in Manhattan as well as taken briefings from around the globe (see below for source info)

Why this dramatic change from social media purists who once declared war on advertising?

The new advertising features from both Facebook and Twitter (Such as sponsored tweets and trends) encourage earned content to become advertising units and give an opportunity for social marketers to get into the advertising game. This also means the opportunity for ads to perform at a higher level because they’ve been ‘approved’ by the crowd is a unique opportunity afforded to the social media agencies vs the ‘carpet bomb’ approach of yesteryear.  This results in three distinct impacts to the industry:

  • Advertising is Limited to Social Networks: The advertising units that these agencies are purchasing are often limited to Facebook or Twitter –not broader banner and skyscraper ads across media and Google serp.  In fact, in most cases they’re analyzing which earned content performs the best, then using the features like Twitter’s sponsored tweets to amplify this earned content to reach new audiences and drive attention or call to action.
  • Social Media Agencies Don’t Have Solid Case Studies, Yet. Most of these pure play social media firms lack an advertising background and are staffed for engagement.  They also tend to have a longer term approach for community building –not six week ad block flights.  As a result, it doesn’t guarantee that they’ll be able to outperform traditional digital advertisers although most say they’re working on case studies to show higher engagement, and conversion.
  • Expect a Battle Between Digital Agencies and Social Media Agencies. Now, there’s going to be a fight over advertising budget as social media agencies battle for small shares of advertising dollars.  We’re also seeing digital agencies develop social competencies and battling the social pure plays.  In the end, I believe we’ll get rid of the term ‘social’ or ‘digital’ as a prefix for any agency as they’ll all have the same competencies, esp after a mass M&A that biz dev execs are already starting to sniff.

Sources: As an Industry Analyst, I’m fortunate to speak to many in the industry for research purposes, In the past few weeks I’ve spoken to Adobe, Attention, Banyan Branch,  Big Fuel, Buddy Media, Converseon, Deep Focus, Edelman, Google+, SocialFlow, VaynerMedia, We Are Social, and many others.   Our analyst focused on agencies is Rebecca Lieb (Blog, Twitter), although we’re both talking to many-in-the-industry for our upcoming joint report on Paid Owned and Earned integration.

from Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2012/04/14/trend-social-media-agencies-tur...

Review: Fez's world-spinning puzzles drive us to distraction

It's hard to think of an indie game that has had more prerelease buzz and attention than Fez. Polytron's Phil Fish has been working on the game for nearly five years now, teasing fans with trailers and small trade show demos as he constantly put off planned release dates to perfect it just a little more. The game that is finally seeing the light of day today shows the care that went into creating a world full of hidden depths, but some players might find those depths a little too well-hidden.

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from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2012/04/review-fezs-world-spinning-puzz...

The future of media = many small pieces, loosely joined

As traditional media revenues continue to fall off a cliff thanks to the precipitous decline in print advertising, there seems to be a desire on the part of media companies to somehow find a single solution that will magically cure this problem — hence the increasing popularity of paywalls. But as media industry analyst Ken Doctor points out in a recent post at the Nieman Lab, it is far more likely that success for media entities of all kinds will come by making smaller bets on a number of different things. The big problem for the industry’s traditional players is that they have spent decades getting good at doing one thing — but now not as many people want that thing, and experimentation and rapid innovation is not in their DNA.

Doctor says that after years of hoping that the rise of the web and digital media would not decimate the industry, followed closely by the hope that digital ad revenue would somehow arrive and close the gap, print executives are finally starting to understand that both of these hopes are futile:

Until recently, the holy grail was summed up in two words: replacement revenue. Now the jig’s up. No matter how fast you shovel digital dirt into the chasm of print loss, you can’t recreate the past; you can’t fill the hole.

Stack those digital dimes as fast as you can

John Paton, the CEO of Media News Group and a leading advocate of the “digital first” approach for newspapers, has said that the only possible response to the problem of digital dimes not making up for the loss of print dollars is to “stack those digital dimes” as fast as possible. In other words, accumulate as much as possible from as many sources as possible (while also reducing costs to try and stem the bleeding). In his Nieman post, Doctor notes that Meinolf Ellers, the managing director of German multimedia agency dpa-infocom, made a similar point at a recent conference of news executives:

What we all see — newspaper publisher or news agency — is that the bundle is eroding, losing its power. The more we see the bundle losing market share and reaching the end of its lifecycle, the more we have to work on smaller, fragmented products that, not each by each, but overall, can compensate. That’s the strategy.

This reminds me of a phrase that David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for the Internet and Society and co-author of the book The Cluetrain Manifesto, came up with to describe how the web works: he called it “small pieces, loosely joined.” One of the things I took from this is the idea that the web allows for individuals and small groups or entities to have almost as much power as — and in some cases more power than — established players. The barriers to entry, and the barriers to discovery, are so much lower now thanks to the web’s “democratization of distribution”.

We have seen the impact of exactly that phenomenon in the media industry in spades over the past few years, with the rise of digital-first entities such as The Huffington Post, TMZ, Politico and others — as well as the rise of individual media sources, using social tools to become the equivalent of media entities in their own right, or hybrids such as Andy Carvin of NPR and his one-man Twitter newswire model.

What will readers pay for other than just a paywall?

In his discussion of what media outlets can do to make a number of smaller bets instead of one or two big ones, Doctor refers to a number of things, including “in-sourcing” — using printing presses and distribution chains to provide services to others who need those skills — as well as providing marketing services outside the traditional newsprint platform. These are also things that Paton has focused on while trying to remake the Journal-Register Co., a chain of papers he took over after it emerged from bankruptcy.

But the things that really interest me are the ones that fit the kind of “velvet rope” model I have argued for as an alternative to a hard paywall around content: the ones that encourage a kind of membership approach, where new features or ways of packaging content or experiences related to that content are offered to readers. So live events, for example, which both the Texas Tribune and The Atlantic have been using to their advantage — or e-books, which are different way of packaging content, and can be remarkably profitable even if that content has already appeared on the web for free.

Unfortunately, many traditional media companies simply don’t have the kind of culture that allows for random experimentation or rapid iteration and prototyping – in other words, a startup culture. Some papers such as the New York Times have a skunkworks or research lab, and others such as the Washington Post have experimented with new features such as the Trove recommendation engine or the Facebook social reader. But many of these still feel like afterthoughts or side projects, rather than a co-ordinated plan of attack on multiple fronts. The ones who are trying the hardest always seem to be the digital natives, or the ones with the gun to their heads.

Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Flickr user See-ming Lee

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from GigaOM http://gigaom.com/2012/04/13/the-future-of-media-many-small-pieces-loosely-jo...

NAB: Broadcasters Conference Highlights Digital Content


At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show, digital media professionals will present, educate and collaborate on the industry’s latest technology. The show takes place April 14-19 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Founded in 1923, NAB has certainly come a long way from its roots in film and radio advocacy. Now the show tackles new media and entertainment technology in the widest scope possible — from content creation all the way to content consumption, and every step in between.

“Our event is about bringing together the leaders, the folks who are really driving media, entertainment, content development and distribution,” says Chris Brown, EVP of conventions and business operations for NAB.

Some major players in the digital media space will be attending NAB to discuss current events and announcements. Ben Silverman, founder and CEO of entertainment studio Electus and producer of shows like The Office and Ugly Betty, will talk about how we can connect digital media titans and players with those who create content. Other speakers include Stephen Dubner, author of Freakanomics, and James Cameron and Vince Pace, who will provide updates about their company, the Cameron Pace Group, which fuses creative and tech. Last but not least, Hollywood sweetheart Betty White is a keynote speaker.

As you can imagine, the digital media landscape changes drastically from year to year. More and more the industry is being impacted by particular consumer preferences and buying habits.

“[The NAB Show] reflects a new reality today that’s being driven by consumer demand,” says Brown. “There’s more demand for content, and maybe more demand for a new kind of content.” And in fact, this year’s event theme is “The Great Content Shift: Defining Your Evolution.”

That’s where creative comes in. Brown explains that NAB is dedicated to fostering content creation that can not only reach a wide number of people, but tell a story across a variety of different platforms and devices. NAB calls it “disruptive media.”

And new creative means new business opportunities. “There’s both an operational challenge in figuring it out, but then there’s also a business model challenge in trying to understand how does that affect the way we make money?” says Brown.

NAB also features intricate technology that directly impacts content delivery and consumption — namely, connected TV systems, second screens, rich media streaming, next-generation 3D technology, and high-definition streaming in cloud-based platforms.

Content delivery platform Akamai specializes in making sure many of these technologies are accessible to the average viewer. The company will be attending the NAB Show, where it will demonstrate how it manages to deliver about 30% of the world’s Internet traffic — by hosting high-quality content at very high volumes.

In fact, Akamai plays a role in the content delivery of almost every major broadcaster, event and sporting league in the world, says SVP and general manager of Akamai’s media division, Bill Wheaton. The company has built the largest video delivery system over IP in the world.

“We’re basically looked at as the FedEx of the Internet. People outsource to us that large-scale delivery at very, very large volumes,” he says.

At NAB, Akamai will be announcing its work related to this year’s Olympics. Wheaton says 30-36 broadcasters are expected to participate in the 2012 games, the majority of which Akamai will be helping to deliver content. Just how much content? About 3,600 hours of footage over a 17-day period, all of which needs to be high-quality, adaptive bitrate streaming across a myriad of devices. Oh, and it has to be secure from potential cyber attacks. Akamai employs KONA Security Solutions to protect its customers’ content from these threats, of which it sees about 1,400 in a given 24-hour period.

“[Akamai security] allows high-profile sites and companies to work on the web very securely, and they don’t have to worry about potential attacks from groups like Anonymous,” says Wheaton.

Other attending companies are more involved in the search and discovery stage of digital content. For instance, Rovi’s discovery technologies and entertainment metadata help consumers who seek all kinds of content, from live broadcast, video on-demand, recorded, cloud-based or over-the-top entertainment.

Chief evangelist at Rovi, Richard Bullwinkle, explains the company’s role at the upcoming NAB Show. “For companies involved in the delivery of professional video, we will unveil new encoding solutions designed to streamline the preparation of video entertainment for digital distribution channels.”

Rovi will also be sharing an updated version of the MainConcept SDK, its video and audio codec library, which helps developers serve the broadcast, professional and consumer industries.

Interestingly, NAB isn’t just about serving strictly the new media and entertainment spaces. Traditional TV, radio and cable powerhouses, independent content creation agencies, special effects and computer animation houses also benefit. The event is also valuable for enterprise sectors, like health care, education, retail, government and even the military (at the show, an unmanned surveillance drone will circle overhead).

Where does your industry fall into the mix? Are you involved in any phase of content creation or distribution? Where do you see digital content and media technology going in the future?

Images courtesy of NAB Show

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