GreenBase: The Intersection of Music & Climate Change

COOL!

GreenBase: The Intersection of Music & Climate Change

What "In Rainbows" Means for the Earth | EcoGeek | Music, Album, Their, Physical, Radiohead

This story is a confluence of Music, community economics, and eco-friendly distribution methods... a true EQ worthy post and link.

"I've always been confused by physical packaging for digital goods. Why ship hunks of plastic all over the world when I can click and download an identical product without anyone having to leave their homes?

"Well, obviously, digital music (and video) has taken off in the last few years. But still, the recording industry is intent on relying on those antiquated slabs of plastic as their premium product.

"Well, when Radiohead finished with it's 6 album contract with EMI, they decided to change the system a bit. Their most recent album (the first in two years) was recently released in pure digital form. The band made the download available for whatever cost people are interested in paying. Apparently the average price paid has been roughly $8...significantly more than a band gets from a cut of traditional album sales.

"It's a fascinating experience. The recording industry has long believed that people, in the end, want to purchase something physical. As if the plastic and paper of the product is more impotant than the actual music. Radiohead, however, is asking people what they think the music...and only the music...is worth. The answer, it's worth more, as long as the record companies don't take their cut.

"More money for Radiohead, less money for us, and less physical crap existing in the world. That's good news for everyone, right? Oh...except the record companies....it's not good news for them."

Convenience Wins, Hubris Loses and Content vs. Context, a Presentation for Some Music Industry Friends at FISTFULAYEN

This is an interesting article, both for what it is saying about the music industry (and content providers as a whole) as well (and perhaps more importantly) about illuminating the role that vested interest plays in stifling creativity and technological development in order to protect current position.

Imagine, for example, what cars would look like today if only we used our inherent ability as humans to create rather than protect, rather than the DRM-like struggle that was illuminated in the movie Who Killed The Electric Car? I know, the standard answer is that the market would encourage it if it were economical, but read this article (and watch the aforementioned movie) for an insight into the greater story, beyond the dogma of Econ 101.

The viewpoint of the author is very refreshing, and may point to a greater trend emerging in our approach to exchanging our creative potential.

"I’m here to tell you today that I for one am no longer going to fall into this trap. If the licensing labels offer their content to Yahoo! put more barriers in front of the users, I’m not interested. Do what you feel you need to do for your business, I’ll be polite, say thank you, and decline to sign. I won’t let Yahoo! invest any more money in consumer inconvenience. I will tell Yahoo! to give the money they were going to give me to build awesome media applications to Yahoo! Mail or Answers or some other deserving endeavor. I personally don’t have any more time to give and can’t bear to see any more money spent on pathetic attempts for control instead of building consumer value. Life’s too short. I want to delight consumers, not bum them out.

"If, on the other hand, you’ve seen the light too, there’s a very fun road ahead for us all. Lets get beyond talking about how you get the music and into building context: reasons and ways to experience the music. The opportunity is in the chasm between the way we experience the content and the incredible user-created context of the Web."

Laptop With a Mission Widens Its Audience - New York Times

Laptop With a Mission Widens Its Audience - New York Times

A nice write up on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. Beginning in November (for two weeks) you can Buy 1, Give 1 for $400.

Earth2Tech’s Eco-Tour of Google Earth � Earth2Tech

"[Google Earth] is being used by environmentalists, concerned citizens, and yes, eco-bloggers, to map the effects of climate change, tag renewable energy plants, and point out environmental degradations of the land. Scientists, such as Dr. Jon Blower from the University of Reading, even use Google Earth to visualize multiple scientific geo-data sets, which can lead to new conclusions. Google (GOOG) has more recently pulled together the Global Awareness layer and Google Earth outreach, where nonprofits like the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Heritage Fund can create location-based data points to highlight and promote their respective initiatives. "

Dembot: TubeMogul

Andrew Baron of Rocketboom on TubeMogul. In Brief, it is a service that uploads one file to multiple video sites (YouTube, Brightcove, Blip, Dailymotion, Revver, Google Video, Metacafe, Myspace and Yahoo) within minutes. Nice.

Dembot: TubeMogul

Google Docs in Plain English

Part of "leveraging new-media for a rapid transition to sustainability" is the ability to "work smarter, not harder." This means cutting repetitive work. As we have been bringing our vision for EQ from the vision to the manifest, we have been collaborating on many documents. I'll save the details of our experience, as I think it is well represented in the following video. Now, as you get close to formatting the final product, the robust nature of local programs (like Keynote or Excel) are indespensible, but in the collaborative information gathering, synthesis, and wordsmithing phase, a collaborative document protocol like the one sketched in this video could be a more efficient and effective way of working together asynchronously (i.e. not at the same time).



YouTube - Google Docs in Plain English

NYTimes kills its paywall: "Google visitors make more dough than subscribers" - Boing Boing

"What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYTimes.com. These indirect readers, unable to get access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue.

"What wasn't anticipated was the explosion in how much of our traffic would be generated by Google, by Yahoo and some others," Ms. Schiller said."

NYTimes kills its paywall: "Google visitors make more dough than subscribers" - Boing Boing

Dembot: JoCo Live

Andrew Baron post about a new live-streaming show with chat functionality, ala The Mobius Live! on EQ.TV

Dembot: JoCo Live

Seth's Blog: NBC and missing the point about power

Over at Seth Godin's blog, another typically pithy post, this one about the NBC/Apple iTunes fall-out. (Another of my favorites is Nonimpactman Makes an Impact, aka "Zero (as in footprint) is the New Black".)

"For fifty years, NBC's major asset was that there were only three TV networks. That meant that all other things being equal, there was a 33% chance you'd tune in. They had a partial lock on attention. TV Guide was important, but it didn't have enough power to make or break a network.

Welcome to the new age, guys....

This is the major scramble of this generation... who gets permission to talk to the consumer, to represent the consumer, to determine what's hot and what's not. If all three of these players gain power, my guess is that content providers will provide content to all three. On the middleman's terms. If you're not listed, you're invisible."

Seth's Blog: NBC and missing the point about power


http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2123/21414439

Focus the Nation

I just blogged over @ http://thefutureshistory.blogspot.com about Focus The Nation. I'll save the commentary I included there (check it out if you like), but I did want to note FTN here @ the EQBlog for obvious reasons: leveraging the web for sustainability. Get involved!

Focus the Nation:

"Focus the Nation will culminate January 31, 2008, in the form of national symposia held simultaneously at over a thousand campuses, places of worship, businesses, and other venues across the country. On that day, each Focus the Nation team will invite local, state and federal political leaders and candidates for office to come to campus and participate in a non-partisan, round-table discussion of global warming solutions. US Senators and members of congress, state representatives, mayors and city councilors, all will be receiving dozens of invitations to speak about global warming, from over a thousand institutions nation-wide. Every campus will also vote on their top five national priorities for global warming action, producing a campus-endorsed policy agenda for the 2008 elections. (click here for audio/video about Focus the Nation)"

Welcome to Appropedia - Appropedia: The sustainability wiki

Welcome to Appropedia - Appropedia: The sustainability wiki

I've been creating my own wiki over at http://byrnegreen.com/wiki
My intention is part CV?Resume, part list of resources for helping people "meet the challenges and realize the rewards of going green."

I was excited to come across Appropedia, a wiki focused on Sustainable Technologies. I am adding it to my google bookmarks, an my list of links on the byrnegreen wiki.

Soooooo many initiatives. Keep up the good work all!

Pearl Jam responds to censorship on AT&T Blueroom

The Band's statement regarding the censorship at Lollapolooza this weekend is--characteristically--laser sharp. I especially appreciate the tie they made from this issue to the greater cause of net neutrality (see below). To quote them quoting Neil Young, "Keep on Rockin' the Free World" and keep supporting Net Neutrality and Independent Media!

The band's statement was quoted in this eonline article:

"This, of course, troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media," the band wrote. "AT&T's actions strike at the heart of the public's concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media." Pearl Jam noted that the incident showed the need to protect "Net Neutrality," ensuring that telecommunications companies treat all content equally instead of giving preference to partners or those willing to pay more.

"If a company that is controlling a Webcast is cutting out bits of our performance—not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations—fans have little choice but to watch the censored version," the band said.

===

The band released this clip of the censored and complete versions of the performance. See for yourself:

(nice scoop Beryl)

Geni | Webware100 : Cool Web apps for everyone

The Top 100 Web 2.0 services. No real surprises, but a nice collection of apps to peruse.

Geni | Webware100 : Cool Web apps for everyone

Talk about leaveraging 2.0 for sustainability:

green maven continues to get props for its use of google co-op to search the green web. this time it's from the mighty google themself. see google's list here

the brain child of network and technology mastermind (and my dear friend) k.joey shepp, fellow greenMBAers (of which i am an alumnus) and others share a hive-mind for the green web. as greenMaven editor/contributors, we add sites to the search query by tagging them as we surf the web.

early this year, the site was named #9 in TIME's top 25 web sites of 2006, although it had only launched weeks before the endo of the year. that is here:

get a widget (here) for your page and help spread the green web.

"Green Maven makes searching for all things green as easy as using
Google. If you search for socks, you get organic socks. If you search
for cars, you get hybrid cars. Our mission is to make it easy for
mainstream to go green."-Joey Shepp, founder of Green Maven

Empowering Democracy with Aggregation

Using new-media to empower movements is one of the most exciting applications of 21st century communication technology. The internet creates the potential to communicate, but it is the applications being developed that give us the ability to do so.

Presently, Equilibrium Media is researching the very best applications from the leading edge of these technologies to fulfill our mission: To inform and entertain the shift to a global culture of sustainability. While "sustainability" is often interpreted to mean "ecology", the truth is the political sphere is equally--if not more--important, because the ecological strains we face are caused by political concerns being played out. (See China's stance on Green House Gas emissions.)

So, empowering democracy--and our collective ability to lead society in a desirable direction--is an important application of this technology. One offering we will certainly be implementing on WWW.EQ.TV is Splashcast, and a great application of their player is the ability to aggregate videos into one channel, as is the case with the SplashCast player below that contains all the videos in all the candidates’ offical YouTube channels.

We will certainly be using this to empower our own users to share their own creations--original and aggregated--on their profile pages, and potentially as EQ content creators. Additionally, we are looking into using this to publish some or all of our professional content. For now though, check out the channel below, and head on over to Splashcast to see more of what these folks are developing.

The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour has interviews with over 50 leading scientists, thinkers and leaders who discuss the state of the world and the state of humanity. The film will be released in 2007.

A film by Leonardo DiCaprio

Edit Online Video Online - lifehack.org

Edit Online Video Online - lifehack.org

This is a list of tools for editing on-line video, but it is also a recommendation to move the use of video beyond video-blogs into a true multi-media article, where rather than simply quoting a source, the author would embed a clip of the quote into the piece.

Nothing drastically new here, but good advice for all players that deliver information over the web. We are moving from a text-oriented communication model to a true multi-media environment. This is New-Media.

Green Business 101: Are You a LOHAS Consumer? | Green Options

Green Business 101: Are You a LOHAS Consumer? | Green Options:

"So what’s so special about the LOHAS segment? Usually, market segments are identified using things like lifestyle, buying behavior, and demographics. But here’s where the LOHAS consumers diverge: they are distinguished solely by their values, as they care strongly about issues like the environment, social justice, sustainability, and health. Is this starting to sound familiar?

"As the segment grows, more and more businesses have begun to take notice – the marketplace for LOHAS consumers is now valued at over $220 billion. This means that more products and services, meant to serve our needs, will be coming to the market. Good news for anyone tormented over having to buy a product that is no friend of the environment, due to the lack of an alternative."

"Of course, the Forum wasn’t all about food and drink. The program featured a variety of speakers and break-out sessions designed to educate and inform LOHAS companies. My favorite session, “Giving Sustainability More SIZZLE”, focused on the shift of the LOHAS segment from a small niche to the mainstream, and some of the keys to making that jump as a company. Not surprisingly, communicating with authenticity was at the top of the list. LOHAS consumers can see through greenwashing a mile away…even through a chocolate haze.

For those unable to attend the conference, session videos will be posted on the website: www.lohas.com

TV Pilots Crash, Fans Race to the Web for the Next Viral Hit

TV Pilots Crash, Fans Race to the Web for the Next Viral Hit: "Once execs realize that web-surfing TV fans are perfectly capable of recognizing sleeper hits, networks' air-them-or-hide-them business model is bound to change, says Jordan Levin, former CEO of the WB network.

'It's inevitable,' says Jordan, who now helps run the content-creation company Generate. 'Whether it's a proactive strategy (by) media companies or whether pilots get posted by producers, directors, editors, a production assistant, an assistant at the network -- all it takes is one person to post a sitcom,' says Levin. 'We're shifting to a user-empowered era in which audiences take ownership of content.'"

Dembot: Why do Video Platforms Fail?

See the whole post here: Dembot: Why do Video Platforms Fail?:

More Insight from Andrew Baron of Rocketboom!

TOP TEN REASONS WHY VIDEO PLATFORMS FAIL:

1. Insubstantial library of content
2. Poor bit rates
3. Lack of innovation (clone platform)
4. No share in content ownership rights
5. No exclusivity of content distribution
6. Lack of spark/spirit for a centralized community
7. Need for users to d/l proprietary software
8. Awkward interface design
9. Overly excessive emphasis on rights protection
10. Lack of technological foresight & audience expectations

Most noteworthy, I have always suggested that an individual show may thrive best when allowed to live and breathe in its own home, on it's own website, best suited for it's own special case. A video player is one brand, a network is another and each individual show is itself a brand. If the show is unique and special, it will find its own identity and own distinct audience in it's own authentic location.

There is still certainly PLENTY of room for new, quality video content, the kind of entertaining content that Hollywood has traditionally been masters of so the competition is low in the creative studio department, the audiences are growing, business model options are progressing at least - there certainly are plenty of distribution partner options - it seems to be a wonderful time to create video that people respond to online.

As for the audiences, they like to get it in different ways at all kinds of different places. No matter where the big party is, or where the authentic home base may be, hopefully the content can make it's way easily into the growing number of scenes on the growing number of screens.

NYT Magazine on Coulton, Hold Steady, and “Artist 2.0″

Merlin Mann is one of the most ubiquitous web-educators for personal productivity; a major source of information in my (and many others) learning curve with Getting Things Done (GTD). He is also a contributor to the Mac rumor/info mill, collaborating with Leo Laporte and the MacBreak team.

Directly relevant to EQ Media, here Mann links to (and comments on) a story called "Sex, Drugs, and Updating Your Blog" that NYT magazine ran on Jonathan Coulton and the new model of artists connecting with fans. Ranging from self-publishing to "the flash-mob approach to touring": finding towns with fan concentrations of 100+ (thanks to MySpace and the like) and parachuting in to do a show.

There are links to Mann's interview with Coulton (that may have spurned the NYTMag piece) as well. All in all, an insightful perspective into the future of the artist-fan interface, and a great intro to the many offerings of Coulton and Mann to the EQ Media audience.

Obama blows into MySpace

Obama blows into MySpace

"How all this happened is a complicated tale that is still unfolding, and none of the parties involved--Anthony, the Obama online team, and the MySpace political operation--emerge from this story unscathed. Speaking on background, Obama campaign staffers are spreading word that Anthony just wanted a "big payday." Anthony in turn has posted a missive on his blog (that was originally sent to me as an email) accusing the Obama team of "bullying...[and] rotten and dishonest" behavior. However one parses those accusations (more below), the Obama campaign's reputation as the most net-savvy of 2008 has taken a big hit."

This is an interesting summary of the still unfolding Obama-MySpace soap-opera. The astute observation of the author that stood out for me is the following:

"'I considered the time I had put into it from January 1st of this year, not counting the previous two years. It was about $39,000. Plus I asked that if any fees were to be paid to MySpace by the campaign up to that point in time, those should be shared with me, up to $10,000. There was no counter-offer. They said they didn't have any money.'

"The Obama campaign should have faxed him the contract immediately. Instead, write's Sifry:

"[I]t appears the Obama internet team was shocked by the size of Anthony's proposal and argued to themselves that it was proof that he was just in it for the money, even though campaigns like theirs regularly give tens of thousands of dollars to highpriced media consultants who would give their eye-teeth to deliver 160,000 rabid activists to a campaign. Instead to them, Anthony's bid was all the more reason to get control of the site. Obama's staffers are now spreading the word that Anthony wanted a big payday, including a huge percentage of any ad buys on MySpace. I have a copy of Anthony's email proposal, however, and it contradicts that claim.

"Yea, $49K to deliver 160,000 supporters; that's .32 cents each for opted in and engaged activsts. A bargain. [The amount was actually up to $44K] $50,000 is what it takes to advertise on the Liberal Ad Network for two weeks. It's a minor expenditure in the grand scheme of things. But instead:

Whatever the case, at this point it appears the Obama people simply decided that they would get control of the myspace.com/barackobama url by going around Anthony and getting MySpace to lock down his access to it. In their view, Anthony was violating MySpace's terms of service by falsely representing himself as Obama, and thus they didn't have to pay him anything. The worst that would happen, they reasoned, is that they would have to rebuild the candidate's network of friends."

Interesting, the rise of the power of UGC (as we also saw this week with Digg) is, on the one hand, a valuable asset to organizations like Obama's. However, when it comes time to compensate the "volunteer" for the work, the campaign has no money. What is it about our contradictory tendencies to be both a mercenary culture and simultaneously resent just compensation? In the end, will not supporting a supporter be worth the negative press this will heap upon an otherwise promising campaign?

ABOUT: Equilibrium Media

It has been a very busy time here at Equilibrium Media. We have been simultaneously: testing our new webcasting and archiving system; launching the new EQ.TV website; developing series concepts for major networks; and so much more--all with the intention of informing and entertaining the shift to sustainability. And in response to a comment by a reader of this blog (thanks Chris, someone is watching!) we are taking this opportunity to share our vision in this form. A future post will cover the technical aspects of this endeavor, and this post will concentrate on this multi-headed vision we are birthing here in Ashland, Oregon.

ABOUT: Equilibrium Media

Harnessing new-media communication technology and strategy, Equilibrium Media is a multi-faceted vision for informing, educating, and inspiring the shift to a Global Culture of Sustainability.

EQ Media Studios is the production facility for Equilibrium Media, located in Ashland Oregon. This space--also known to locals as a venue; The Mobius--is equidistant from San Francisco and Portland, making for a great stop for artists and performers looking to play an intimate show for a receptive community. The Mobius serves as a well of cultural and educational content, and EQ Studios is soon to begin regular programming on topics relating to the culture, art, and science of Sustainability. Stay tuned for updates to our programming.

EQ.TV is our home on the internet. With a fiber optic connection capable of 100mbs uplink, in addition to capturing and archiving performances, seminars and workshops, we can webcast events and broadcast them on our website, Equilibrium Television (http://www.eq.tv). Newly developed and soon to launch, EQ.TV will become the internet destination for those seeking to find and discuss all topics relating to Sustainability.

Beyond capturing studio events, Equilibrium Media produces professional "communication pieces" for organizations and businesses seeking to tell their story. Examples of our work can be found on http://www.eq.tv (see Trans-Fair and Pura Vida Coffee Co., e.g.). We can deliver the piece via the Internet and DVD. Typically around 10 minutes, these engaging and entertaining films are often just what a business or organization needs to distinguish itself from other claims of green, sustainable, and socially just.

In addition to contracted work with 3rd party organizations, Equilibrium Media works in partnership with Equilibrium Institute (a 501c3) to identify, facilitate, and document ecologically restorative and community enhancing projects. Rather than working in isolation and repeating the same lessons of others who have done similar projects, by documenting the work of sustainability, we can therefore share the experience and grow off of the work of others, pushing the evolution in an informative, entertaining, and inspiring manner.

Equilibrium Media is presently securing a new round of funding, and is continuing the climb toward realizing this grand vision. These are exciting times for us and for the movement to a Global Culture of Sustainability. Stay tuned...

Links:

Equilibrium Studios, aka The Mobius: http://www.themobius.com
Equilibrium Television: http://www.eq.tv
Equilibrium Institute: http://www.eqinstitute.org

Ustream.tv, the future of live video in action - Download Squad

The state-of-the-art EQ Media Studios is capable of webcasting events captured with multiple camera, live edits uploaded @ 100mbs.

While not the prosumer caliber of the above, USTREAM.TV looks like a great addition to the videoblogger's bag of tricks. With hot-spots becoming ever more ubiquitous, this is live coverage for web-journalists.


Ustream.tv, the future of live video in action - Download Squad


.

The Edge Is Not About Content [Like It Matters]

Some great comments to this post re: the difference between content and context in User Generated-Social Media.

How Green Are You? - Riverwired.com | RiverWired

a dramatic entrance. eco-reality. one of many to come.

How Green Are You? - Riverwired.com | RiverWired

iTWire - Adobe poised to take media player market from Microsoft

"In a nutshell, Adobe intends to take its ubiquitous Flash technology widely used to play video in web browsers and enable users to download videos to a Flash player on their desktops. What's more the desktop player will provide superior quality video to what users are currently gettting in their browsers, including full screen video.

"But wait there's more! The new Adobe Media Player, currently on show at the NAB 2007 expo, will enable content producers to embed advertising in downloaded videos, thus enabling them to monetize and protect the value of copyrighted content."

Podcast Hotel

"I have not seen this kind of passion in people since the first days at CNN when we were given video cameras and realized how we could change the world."
— former CNN executive about Podcast Hotel

Two things to note:
1) The gathering itself. Be there if you can.
2) The slideshow-banner delivery of the sponsors with embedded links (at the bottom of the page); a nice way to maximize page real-estate and deliver more impressions without relying on new-page-loads.

BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Fatal' blow to web broadcasters

From a developing front:

BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Fatal' blow to web broadcasters: "'If these rates stand... I believe we'll see a virtual shutdown all of US webcasting,' wrote Kurt Hanson, CEO of AccuRadio, on the SaveInternetRadio.org blog.

'That will be bad for listeners, webcasters, musicians, and the record industry alike.'

But SoundExchange, the not for profit group which will collect the fees on behalf of labels and artists, welcomed the decision.

'Our artists and labels look forward to working with the Internet Radio industry - large and small, commercial and non-commercial - so that together we can ensure it succeeds as a place where great music is available to music lovers of all genres,' said John Simson, executive director of the group....

The new fees, which will apply until 2010, will charge a flat fee per-song, per-user in addition to a $500 fee for every channel owned by a station. Fees will increase every year until 2010.

Radio stations with multiple channels, such as NPR, would be charged thousands of dollars, which they claim will cripple them.

Previously, stations paid an annual fee plus 12% of their profits."

NBC, News Corp. sign video deal with Comcast | Tech News on ZDNet

NBC, News Corp. sign video deal with Comcast | Tech News on ZDNet: "The distribution deal builds on the recently announced joint venture between News Corp. and NBC that aims to take on Google's YouTube, the wildly popular video-sharing site that often features unauthorized programming from the two media powerhouses.

"Under Monday's agreement, Comcast said it will feature NBC and News Corp. programming on its upcoming video site Fancast.net, as well as on Comcast.net. In turn, Comcast will distribute its own video content, such as from E! and the Golf Channel, onto the joint video site of News Corp. and NBC. As part of the deal, the two companies plan to use video distribution and media management technology from ThePlatform, which is owned by Comcast."

Midnight blogger exposes a scandal

The power of citizen media:

Midnight blogger exposes a scandal: "Fellow bloggers frequently said if a Pulitzer were awarded for online commentary, the contrarian professor would win. 'There is absolutely no doubt that Johnson's blog, Durhamin- Wonderland, was the single best source of information about what happened in that house in March of 2006 and what has happened with the case since,' one sports blogger wrote this week."

Green is gold at Cool Product Expo | CNET News.com

Green is gold at Cool Product Expo | CNET News.com: "[M]any of the other exhibitors at the expo were on hand to showcase products that are turning traditional business models upside down. And more than anything else, environmental sustainability was the overriding concept among the roomful of budding entrepreneurs, some who are just getting their inventions off the ground, and others who are established in their chosen businesses."

No surprises here, just more examples of the rising tide. Communicating about the benefits of individual innovations in the coming cacophony of proposals will be of utmost importance in standing out from the green-crowd. "We can help you with that."

Equilibrium Media

Worldwide Developers Conference 2007

WWDC June 11 - 15, San Francisco, CA

The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC07) has a whole session track dedicated to Content and Media developers, designers, information architects, graphic designers and web producers.

You’ll learn how to implement best practices to harness digital content for delivery to the Web, applications and devices such as the iPod or Apple TV. Whether you’re creating next-generation rich-media portals or leveraging the latest AJAX toolkits to develop hybrid/Web integrated OS X applications, the Content and Media track provides the latest information on how to build modern, platform-optimized experiences for Mac OS X Leopard.

WWDC07 is your opportunity to connect with Apple engineers, get a firsthand look at the latest technologies and spend a week getting the information you won’t find anywhere else.

http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/

Apple Invites Video Podcasters to Update their Video at The Apple Blog

From The Apple Blog:

"Apple has apparently emailed to all podcasters registered with iTunes a note encouraging them to upgrade their video podcasts to at least 640 pixels wide:

Greetings from the iTunes Podcasting Team:

Apple TV is here, and podcasts are making a big move into the living room. We want all of them to look as good as possible, so we have three video formatting recommendations for you. Also note that we have just posted a revised and expanded technical spec. Finally, the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is coming up. There’s a major focus on developers of content in addition to developers of software."

Homemade Album Tops iTunes Charts

"The 23-year-old [acoustic guitarist Kate Walsh] recorded her album in a friend's bedroom and named it Tim's House in his honour.



"The homemade album has proved a unexpected hit with iPod fans who had downloaded it from the iTunes website in their thousands...



"'I set up my own record label called Blueberry Pie and just got the music out there. It's pretty easy. Anyone can do it.'



"The classically trained pianist from Brighton said she built up a fan base by putting her music onto her MySpace page and eventually persuaded iTunes to sell it.



"Commenting on the internet phenomenon where unknown artists can become stars overnight, she said: "It's amazing. It's great news for all the people who can have the confidence to go out there and do it themselves.



"You don't need loads of money to make an album and they don't need the backing of a record label. There's no advertising or marketing involved, you don't go on how much money has been spent."

Powered by ScribeFire.

NewTeeVee Creative Commons Content for Your Videos

Good list of resources for where you can find content that’s DRM-free, copysafe and even usable in your own creative efforts.

Happy editing!

Bush Praises Flex-Fuel Vehicle Makers

Bush Praises Flex-Fuel Vehicle Makers

Hub firm leads pact on global warming - The Boston Globe

Hub firm leads pact on global warming - The Boston Globe

Two interesting Shorts

Two short films to note, thanks to Joel Makower: Two Steps Forward (full article):

The first, Energy Independence and Climate Protection: A Business Perspective, from climateprotectioncampaign.org can be found on their site, or here on YouTube. The second is Ahead of the Curve: Business Responds to Climate Change, by Sea Studios.

What I really appreciated about Makover's article was the following quote:

"'We knew top business executives were too busy to read long white papers, so we thought about tapping into the potential power of a short film,'... 'We thought: if more U.S. business leaders understood the many reasons why peers are developing climate change strategies, they'd begin to devote more resources internally to exploring the issues.'"

Here here.

EnergySOS.org

EnergySOS.org Launches:

"Stay tuned as we explore ways to solve humanity's top ten problems by cranking up world energy production to 60 terawatts - over 4 times as much energy as we produce now - without destroying the environment.

The Terawatt Challenge was issued by Nobel laureate Dr. Richard E. Smalley. Often recognized as the father of nanotechnology, he was also very passionate about our need for clean, cheap, renewable energy, which he described as the number one problem facing humanity.

Here at EnergySOS.org, with your help, we hope to continue his work of spreading the message and inspiring young people around the world to enter the material sciences. As Rick often told his audiences, 'Be a scientist, save the world.'"

Using Phones to watch TV, and Airwaves to Deliver the Internet

Convergent Media is upon us, as the following two articles show. The potentials opened up by the synergies of these developments are staggering. Media Dinosaurs should beware of this asteroid, however rather than going the way of Viacom and suing YouTube (Google) to hinder development, they would be wise to get on board and participate in the evolution.

MobiTV dials in to NBC | CNET News.com: "MobiTV, which provides radio and TV programming to cell phone users, has struck a deal with NBC Universal to offer mobile subscribers NBC prime-time shows and select content from cable networks Bravo, Sci Fi, USA, Telemundo and mun2. NBC Universal's news channel, CNBC, also will be offered as a live linear feed to those MobiTV subscribers with a broadband Internet connection. Depending on their carrier's service provisions, some MobiTV subscribers will be able to purchase 24-hour video-on-demand rentals of select prime-time shows such as Heroes, The Office and Monk for $1.99 each. Many other shows, including NBC's Friday Night Lights and Bravo's Shear Genius, will be offered on demand for free with commercials included.

"MobiTV's service costs about $10 a month in addition to whatever fee subscribers pay for using their carrier's data service. "

Internet over TV airwaves | ZDNet Government Blog | ZDNet.com: "Internet, online and on the air Microsoft, Google, Dell, HP, Intel and Philips say they can deliver Internet over TV airwaves - and they're pushing the FCC to give them the green light, says the Washington Post.

The coalition has come up with a device that would make TV-spectrum Internet work in homes. After a few months of testing, they're hoping the agency will approve the device and that it could be sold in stores by 2009."

Dembot: More Attention Required

Dembot: More Attention Required

Andrew Baron of Rocketboom on advertising and other types of financial models. Interesting post, with (some) equally interesting comments (and a shameless public post from Adam Curry).

The Year Without Toilet Paper

Article about a couple in NYC trying to live a NO IMPACT life.....

Beet.TV: Online Video Ad Have Double Click-Through Rates of Standard Ads, eMarketer Reports

"Online video advertising is hot because people are engaged and click on video ads at higher rates than standard advertising, a new report by eMarketer has found.

Viewers of in-stream advertising, watch at a rate nearly double the rate of standard ads. While click-through numbers might appear low, less that one percent, the study has found that viewers of in-stream videos click-through .74 percent versus .40 percent for standard ads."

A yearlong chat ends - Los Angeles Times

For those of you uninitiated to the Sportsracer phenomenon, "'The Show With Ze Frank' was a yearlong online experiment in interactive entertainment that [ended] Saturday. And it's an example of how one guy with a camera in his living room can take viewer participation... to absurd levels."

Aside from the entertainment value (which is significant) the EQ takeaway is the following quote:

"We have this incredible ability to communicate with each other," Frank said. "I want to play around with it, see what this mass audience is really capable of."

Imagine: funny, irreverent, and informative content about important issues that engages an interactive audience who uses this as the foundation of an ever expanding dialogue regarding the important issues of our time. Stay tuned...

zefrank.com

Have Guitar, Will Recycle - New York Times

a great article about greening of rock tours and shows.

Start-Up Fervor Shifts to Energy in Silicon Valley - New York Times

These are the types of organizations that can benefit with a partnership with EQ.TV Productions

The Great Global Warming Swindle (Swindle) and the Importance of Open Media

At EQ.TV, we often speak of the need for organizations and movements to have concise, informative, and engaging (read, entertaining) multi-media expressing their mission and viewpoints. The flip-side of this realization is the ability to offer quick counter arguments to deliberate mis-information.

The article and its follow-up (posted today, both linked below) are detailed critiques of "The Great Global Warming Swindle". GREAT! Their drawback? Who (besides a few of us) has the time and patience to read critiques of critiques of critiques? Rather than tracking down and reading counter arguments, wouldn't it be better if a 7-10 minute piece could outline the general overview (with embedded links to the details)?

Healthy skepticism is a necessary element of any debate seeking to move from theory to action. Be it Michael Crichton, Mr. Durkin, or another who offers a counter to global warming, peak oil, etc., we should not fault the role they play. We should however, investigate all valid claims and take serious issue with them when they are discovered to be misinformation.

The tools to support this public debate are here, and we at EQ.TV are working on harnessing them in support of the Sustainability Movement. We call this the Equilibrium Project, and you will be seeing more of it in the weeks and months to come. Thank you to all who contribute to this discussion and facilitate our creation of content. Thank you especially to the skeptics, who get us out of our heterogeneous conversations and challenge us to make our worldview that much stronger.

The Great Global Warming Swindle ~ Celsias
Follow up

Yahoo shapes up online video project / Reality series pilot to be broadcast on the Internet

Yahoo shapes up online video project / Reality series pilot to be broadcast on the Internet

Brett Dennen - All We Have | EQ TV

This is a test embed (removed, back soon) of content from the EQ.TV Beta. EQ.TV will be ofering archives of shows from The Mobius in addition to original productions related to Sustainable Culture.

Apple Profiles - Washington Post

The Washington Post should be commended for meeting the challenges that disruptive technology poses. In the near future, many newspapers--whose distribution is being severely affected by the internet--will go the way of the dinosaurs. A few, like the WP, will still be around, having reinvented themselves as a media company.

So much of what is presented in this short profile is what EQ.Media is positioning itself for. While our path is one of realizing the opportunities of technological reinvention, the WP path is one of reinvention out of necessity. Either way, this is a great time to be in this business. We're in good company.

Apple - Pro - Profiles - Washington Post

Google Courts Small YouTube Deals, and Very Soon, a Larger One - New York Times

Google Courts Small YouTube Deals, and Very Soon, a Larger One - New York Times: "SAN FRANCISCO, March 1 — Google has been frustrated in its efforts to reach comprehensive deals with major studios and networks to put their video on YouTube. But in the meantime, it is forming partnerships with hundreds of smaller media companies that see value — or at least a valuable experiment — in contributing to the site."

"But most of YouTube’s licensing deals have been done quietly. It says it has firmed up more than 1,000 partnerships with content owners ranging from the Sundance Channel to small independent video producers.

Without specifying how many of those deals have been signed since their site was acquired by Google last fall, YouTube officials say they are adding more than 200 media partners a quarter."

"Mr. Barry of the Sundance Channel said there had been more than two million views of its content on YouTube in a little more than a month. “We have had significant growth on our Web site as well, and some portion of that growth we attribute to our YouTube partnership,” he said."

Beet.TV: YouTube's Success is its "Pass Along" Power, Declare MIT's Henry Jenkins and Forrester's Brian Haven

Beet.TV: YouTube's Success is its "Pass Along" Power, Declare MIT's Henry Jenkins and Forrester's Brian Haven: "The success of YouTube has come largely from the site's utility to 'pass along' video clips to blogs and social networking sites, according to two of our most astute observers of the Internet media scene, Henry Jenkins of MIT and online video analyst Brian Haven of Forrester Research.

Jenkins is a big fan of YouTube, which he calls the 'modern vaudeville' -- but he is not impressed with the social networking environment of the site.

YouTube has created a new kind of content distribution system. Video content creators from small fries like Beet.TV to big shots like the BBC are embracing the platform to expand audience and brand awareness.

-- Andy Plesser"

China goes for green

Straight forward article about sweeping reforms happening in China.as they wake up and realize that clean air and water and land is what makes a nation strong!

YouTube - Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

This is a brilliant 5min. piece. "While people are still debating the definition of Web 2.0, this video captured its essence in just five minutes. Ahh, the power of moving pictures."

Now imagine harnessing this power for change.



Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

Download DVD specification gets approval - Yahoo! News

Download DVD specification gets approval - Yahoo! News: "Despite Thursday's approval, services that allow consumers to legally download and burn movies in their own homes are unlikely to appear quickly. The DVD CCA said it will be initially restricted to professional uses. These might include kiosks in retail stores where consumers can purchase and burn discs in a controlled environment.

Such a system might offer commercial movies but could just as easily offer content that is unavailable on DVD today because the market for it is too small. With custom burning it could be profitable to offer such content.

If such professional applications are successful then further services that allow consumers to download and burn in their home 'are likely to follow,' the DVD CCA said."

Mayor Newsom, United Nations Global Compact and Bay Area Council Form New Business Partnership for Climate Change

Many of our clients will be involved with initiatives such as this one.

The B3 Leadership for Climate Change Principles are quoted below the link.

Mayor Newsom, United Nations Global Compact and Bay Area Council Form New Business Partnership for Climate Change:

"BC3 member companies pledge to address greenhouse emissions throughout their operations and corporate cultures, and agree to follow the BC3’s five Principles for Climate Leadership: Internal Implementation, Community Leadership, Advocacy and Dialogue, Collective Action, Transparency and Disclosure. BC3 provides expert information from Climate professionals to help member businesses achieve greenhouse gas reductions, which these businesses in turn share with other, similar businesses that join subsequently. BC3 operates with the support of local government; however, it asks the businesses themselves to be leaders in addressing environmental issues within their own professional communities.

“Voluntary initiatives such as the Business Council on Climate Change will be crucial in bringing about progressive and robust action on the global climate crisis,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that voluntary action cannot be a substitute for effective regulation – rather, it informs and complements regulation.”"

Hollywood Disrupted

This is a GREAT summary on GigaOm of an LATimes OpEd on the shifting cultural influence between Hollywood and UGC (User Generated Content). The whole article (and the OpEd, I imagine) is a rich illustration of the disruptive potential of New-Media so go read it for yourself, but if not, here are some takeaways:

“All of this has been hastened by the fact that there is now an instrument to take advantage of the social stratifications. To the extent that the Internet is a niche machine, dividing its users into tiny, self-defined categories, it is providing a challenge to the movies that not even television did, because the Internet addresses a change in consciousness while television simply addressed a change in delivery of content. Television never questioned the very nature of conventional entertainment. The Internet, on the other hand, not only creates niche communities — of young people, beer aficionados, news junkies, Britney Spears fanatics {GREENS, cb.]— that seem to obviate the need for the larger community, it plays to another powerful force in modern America and one that also undermines the movies: [digital self-expression]. It is certainly no secret that so much of modern media is dedicated to empowering audiences that no longer want to be passive. Already, video games generate more income than movies by centralizing the user and turning him into the protagonist. Popular websites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, in which the user is effectively made into a star and in which content is democratized, get far more hits than movies get audiences. ...

"At the end of the day, what we’re talking about is the emergence of a new medium with its own art form. And whether Hollywood will remain at the epicenter of future cultural production is the big question. For the first time, Hollywood should be concerned like never before simply by virtue of the fact that, this time, the means of production are now in the hands of the audience itself. What this implies, at the very least, is that the studios will have to increasingly democratize their business model."

GigaOM � Hollywood Disrupted

The Case for Netflix / Mail Order [& Downloads]

Triple Pundit: AskPablo: Is Netflix saving the world?: "The lesson in all of this is that mail order is more efficient than driving your personal vehicle (unless it's a bike).... A study performed for the record label EMI by the Digital Europe Project compared the relative ecological impact of purchasing a CD at a store (which requires driving there), ordering it on-line (from Amazon for example), or downloading the music (iTunes) and came to a similar conclusion as this Netflix case. An even more efficient option is on-demand movies on cable, or movie downloading (which will gain popularity as bandwidth increases)."

New Hot Properties: YouTube Celebrities - New York Times

a good up to date entry level article (with "in-the-know" tidbits) about the state of the economics of the vlogosphere. the "user generated" content (UGC) competition begins.

New Hot Properties: YouTube Celebrities - New York Times

the criteria is no longer between "pro" and UGC, but for dynamic, 3-8 min content that entertains and is prolific. is ZeFrank UGC? is rocketboom PRO? no, and yes, but what makes them popular is the quality of the entertainment, not the size of the studio.

but if a studio were to do it all, well then they would certainly rise to the top of lic.syndication revenue.

How to Get Wall Street to Hug a Tree

ECOnomics, a look at placing value on the environment and uses of it for the presnt and future as a way to perhaps push choices towards conservation by showing the economic insentive of avoiding future disasters!

Virtual loses its virtues

interesting story on second life becoming a corporate environment as it reaches 2 million users...some are pissed off, some are jumping to new virtual worlds and some are just building a world with freaks and corporate biggies..kind of like the bay area these days

Whole Foods to acquire rival Wild Oats for $565 million

WOW! why didnt someone tell me before this was announced

If We Have FREE TV on the Web, Why Should We Pay Cable?

interesting article about p2p vid on web vs cable....looks like we are in the right business...i am looking forward to incorporating a p2p solution/option ofr eq.tv as well

What web 2.0 could teach Warner Music

What web 2.0 could teach Warner Music Eric Bronfman | Web 2.0 Explorer | ZDNet.com

great article on drm and the open source movement. looking forward to having our site be at the forefront of this. lets all stay on top of it!

$25 million prize for greenhouse gas removal: New Scientist Environment

Full Story Here:
"A prize of $25 million for anyone who can come up with a system for removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere was launched on Friday. It is the biggest prize in history, claims its sponsor, Richard Branson.

The head of Virgin Group said at the launch in London, UK, that the prize was not for removing emissions from power plants before they reach the atmosphere and storing them deep underground – an existing technology known as carbon capture and sequestration.

Instead, the brief is to devise a system to remove a 'significant amount' of greenhouse gases – equivalent to 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide or more – every year from the atmosphere for at least a decade. It was inspired by the �20,000 prize for developing a way of measuring longitude won by 18th century clockmaker John Harrison, and recounted in the book Longitude. The $10 million X-Prize for private human spaceflight, won in 2004, was also an inspiration."

Reel Pop: IAC's Diller: Professional content will trump user-generated fare

I think the lesson (below) is that, while the Big Media outlets have a point regarding professional content, nuggets of quality information will be found in UGC that is concerned not with polish but with substance.

EQ.Media offers both: Professional Original Content and High Quality, EQ.TV moderated, User Generated Content.

From: Reel Pop: IAC's Diller: Professional content will trump user-generated fare

IAC CEO Barry Diller say during his keynote that professional content will continue to drive media revenues in the future, not amateur fare uploaded to video-sharing sites.

"The professional talent pool is finite," Diller said during his keynote conversation, adding that the content those writers and actors produce is of greater appeal to and worth more money.

"Professional made content is where this will develop, not the long tail," he said. "It will be the short tail that appeals to a wide audience."

Diller's stance is shared among many network and studio executives, who have often touted their ability to tell and shape quality stories as a definitive measure of their worth, while expressing a cautious interest in user-generated content....

Panelists in a subsequent session on user-generated media argued Diller's stance, with most generally agreeing that choosing what type of video to watch is not a zero-sum game for the audience.

Greg Kostello, CEO of video-sharing site vMix, said that every viewer likes the polish of professional shows, but that we often choose actual content over polish. Drew Buckley, general manager of Yahoo! Studios, argued that editorial packaging is often overlooked in a sea of UGC.

Welcome to the EQMedia Blog.

This blog is intended to share information and thoughts relating to the confluence of New-Media and Sustainability.

There is a Google Reader feed in the sidebar for shared items that we find to be of interest. In addition, articles will share our thoughts on developments in the analog/digital; local/global move toward an ecologically elegant, socially just, sustainable society.