Apologies for the video focus today but TechDirt has a great post questioning the proliferation of video-sharing services, which seem to be sprouting up like dandylions these days. What do you expect when the barriers to entry are so low what with low-cost servers, bandwidth and storage? Rest assured, there will be a few winners because every Web-based service sector has one or two dominant players (e.g. eBay, Google, Amazon, Yahoo) and a few mega-deals as the frenzy reaches its zenith (e.g. YouTube will get likely get acquired by Rupert Murdoch or another major media player looking for a Web “foothold”). But there will also be plenty of carnage with many video services disappear without a whimper. Then again, the silver lining about Web 2.0 is it is a giant science experiment that encourages entrepreneurship and some risk-taking given the cost of failure is so low. And that's not a bad thing.
Lulu.TV Enters Video Fray
Bob Young, who made his fortune from Red Hat, is moving into the video business with the creation of Lulu.TV – a video-sharing service with a twist: it offers a “pro” account in which it charges content creators $14.95 a month to submit their videos. Of that, 80% is put into a pool, which is split between “shareholders” based on how many times their video is seen each month. For example, if there are one million views, and one person's video receives 10,000 hits, they would get 1% of the pool.
In a press release, Lulu cites how a “once-struggling video-maker from Manchester” just got $3,966.17 for two videos, and how his success has led to a deal to shoot 10 comedy mobile movies. While Lulu.TV sounds, well, interesting, you have to wonder how many people are actually willing to cough up $14.95 a month for a shot at success – something the company describes as “get played, get paid”. It's like online gambling, and there is little evidence the growing army of online content creators is willing to pay for the privilege of sharing their material. Without dissing Lulu.TV too much, it strikes me as an opportunistic move by Young, who has a panache for marketing. If anything, Lulu.TV puts the focus on Lulu.com, which offers a self-publishing service for aspiring writers. No doubt, Young is aware of all the buzz surrounding video, and figures Lulu.TV is a no-risk way to get in the game and, at the same time, hopefully put Lulu.com in the spotlight. If Lulu.TV works, I'd eat my (red) socks.
Update: Another twist on video-sharing is CNN Exchange – a service that will let people submit their video, audio and stories to CNN. If you think about it, Lulu.TV and CNN Exchange show how companies want to capitalize on user-generated content, but at some point – and I think Lulu.TV is a sign of things to come – content creators are going to want to be compensated for their work. For example, if CNN Exchange gets a great video of a spectacular car accident that attracts millions of TV viewers, doesn't it make sense for the videographer to get some financial reward? Scott Karp has some thoughts on who will make money from user-generated video content.
How Long Does/Should a PC Last?
A couple of friends at work had an interesting conversation last week about the life span of desktop or laptop computers – stemming from one of them buying a desktop for $500 based on the expectation that in a couple of years, it would either break or be obsolete. This prompted his friend to suggests “computers are disposable consumers electronics; they are not appliances that people keep for years. A computer is pretty much only good for two years”. This struck me as a pragmatic given computer prices have dropped so sharply in recent years to the point you can get a half-decent machine for a few hundred bucks. The big question is whether PC makers such as Lenovo, Dell and IBM can reduce their costs to make a healthy profit margin from each unit. Of course, the downside of our disposable culture is dealing with PCs that people no longer want. While some of them can be re-used, there needs to be more of an effort put into recycling old machines, and dealing with nasty substances such as lead, cadmium and phosphorus. As much as no one wants to admit it, millions of PCs end up in small villages in China where their components are salvaged. At the same time, however, these computers caused terrible environmental damage. There has to be a better way.
Wi-Fi Telephony: Possible or a Dream?
The New York Times has sparked a lot of discussion about Wi-Fi telephony – the idea you can make a telephone call over a Wi-Fi network when using your mobile phone rather than burning up your mobile minutes. While Mathew Ingram and Om Malik have their doubts (and the mobile carriers will make Wi-Fi calls a technical challenge, if not an impossibility), it is an intriguing idea. In Toronto, you have to wonder the impact Toronto Hydro could make on the mobile market when its Wi-Fi network is rolled out in September? Can you imagine all those business folks in the downtown core using Skype over Toronto Hydro's network rather than Rogers, Telus or Bell? While telephony is a small part of the utility's plan, it's one area that gets Toronto Hydro Telecom CEO Dave Dobbin excited. He made a point of showing off the technology in action during a roundtable while at the Canadian Telecom Summit last month.
Amanda's So Yesterday, Ze Frank is So Now
Now that Amanda Congdon has left the video-blogging world (at least temporarily), the medium's new star is Ze Frank, whose in-your-face (literally), smart, rapid-fire commentary has become a must-see for many people (Rob Hyndman calls Ze Frank one of his first stops on the blogosphere). Ze Frank's star should burn hotter now that Blogspotting has put him on its radar. Not sure where the guy gets his inspiration each day but his video blog is darn good.
Freedom of Speech Event in T.O.
Rob Hyndman, one of the mesh gang, is chairing a roundtable on online freedom of speech on Aug. 5 in Toronto at the Rivoli featuring Jon Newton of p2pNet, Michael Pilling of OpenPolitics.ca, Jason Young of Deeth Williams Wall, and Russell McOrmond of Digital Copyright Canada. More details on the event can be found here.
