To no surprise BMW’s controller is called the iDrive….a perfect fit for Apple’s iProducts.  Drivers will be able to control music playback and browse playlists, podcasts, and Genius mixes.

Tags: BMW, Apple iOS4, innovation, product launch, interface, ideas, business, trends

Tags: iPad, magazine, book, digital publishing, Tablet, design, interactive, media player, innovation, trends

Tags: iPad, magazine, Tablet, design, media player, innovation, trends

I have been following Larry Lessig’s work on copyright and our digital culture for some time, reading his positions online, previous books and keynote addresses at TED, Wired and last week to Italy’s Parliament among others.  His work on Creative Commons is a direct action from the creative limitations of copyright.

His latest book Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy is a very easy read for anyone who has also known his work.  He tells an important story about how new technology is clashing with old money.

Lessig illustrates how copyright’s old money (the big media empires) are clashing with today’s society and technology.  Old money is winning financial amounts here and there, but ultimately they are cutting their own throat as they can no longer control content.  Their motto: since we cannot have it our way anymore (due to the easy distribution of digital content) we are going to sue as many people as we can and take outrageous amounts of money along the way.

Lessig simply points out the two different camps: Read-only versus Read-Write.  Look at popular consumer phones and computers.  Today anyone can create a short video and post it to YouTube.  And by today’s “standard” in social networking — your somewhat expected to post multimedia content on Facebook and YouTube for example.

But post a 29 second video of a baby dancing to Prince’s Lets Go Crazy and Universal Music (they own Prince and his music) files a lawsuit claiming copyright violations.  Its old money trying to control society and Lessig points out it clearly no longer works.

He acknowledges great opportunities that permit art and commerce to thrive in our new hybrid economy.  Yet the RIAA continues to litigate, suing  individuals for monetary gain. YouTube is being forced to alter posted videos due to old-money ideas and their lawyers.

But with the unprecedented growth of the internet and YouTube which serves over 1 BILLION videos each day all the lawyers in the world will not be able to keep up to date.  In the US alone over 12 billion are watched everyday.  And after all the lawyers for the RIAA would rather sue wealthy people in America than say 1 BILLION poor people in China.  Its no wonder some internet media companies have their physical servers outside the US – since copyright is not equal under the law of every nation with a fast ISP.

Tags: Larry Lessig, Remix, art and commerce, copyright, creative commons, ReadWrite Culture, old money, Media Empires, YouTube, Change, control, trends

Kindle DX

Tags: Amazon, Kindle, eBook, Globalization, reading, community, trends

Tags: smartphone, IPv6, network, advanced technologies, trends

The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution proves that indeed access to music can be modified to be as simple as finding water.  If you are interested in education David and Gerd actually spell out something special in chapter one … maybe without even knowing it.

Without a doubt they have The Future of Music nailed down: Mobile and Digital.  The book is labeled a Manifesto for good reason.  If you want to understand the music industry from the inside, gain a better perspective on how the record industry stacks the deck against musicians and how mp3 + iPod + iTunes = Revolution then you will really enjoy The Future of Music.

Authors David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard have combined their knowledge and talent to truly place a wonderful series of ideas, thoughts and experiences from the music industry into a book that will show how radical changes to the digital distribution of music will actually make everyone happy, kill Digital Rights Management in the process yet make the music business profitable.

The book begins with David and Gerd sharing their ideas of what our lives would be like if music was like water.  “Music is starting to flow all around us. It is available on the internet, on mobile networks, wifi, 3G and your home.”   But I was really struck by the idea that they were really talking about the future of education. I’m really not sure how to tell you how this hit me while moving through the first chapter but I realized that in sharing their ideas about the future of music, they were actually describing how the future of education could be accessed just like water.  Try this: read the first chapter and substitute ‘education’ for ‘music industry’ and ‘teachers’ for ‘artists’ and even ’students’ for ‘music fans’ and it just comes together … and makes a very powerful statement about how changes to our educational system due to technology, the internet and digital downloads have just as much impact as how today we can access iTunes for music and iTunesU for learning.

Chapter 2 is a great overview about the top ten truths in the music business for those of us who do not have insider knowledge on how the industry is changing.

The Top 10 Ten Truths of The Music Business:
01.  Music matters more than ever: the music market is alive & vibrant.
02.  The record business ? the music business
03.  The artists are the brands, and entertainment is the main attraction.
04.  Artists and their managers will shape the future.
05.  Publishing income is a crucial income stream
06.  Radio is no longer the primary way that people discover new music
07.  Digital niche marketing outperforms mass marketing
08.  Customers demand and get increasing convenience and value
09.  The current pricing model goes out the window
10.  Music is mobile, and new models will embrace a more liquid view of music.

It was very interesting to learn how U2 even passed up financial compensation for their Apple/Vertigo TV commercials with Apple but arranged a cut of sales of the U2 iPod Special Edition introduced in 2004.  Simply a book you must read.  Get it here: The Future of Music.  And Gerd has written Music 2.0 which I’m going to place on my reading list.

PS – Best thing about writing this post?  I’m listening to Mozart on Pandora via the Internet.

Tags: The Future of Music, David Kusek, Gerd Leonhard, music, globalization, mp3, digital, music industry, manifesto, itunes, ipod, napster, drm, reading, trends

Larry has documented how the music and movie industries are turning students into criminals because they use cheap software, the internet and their creativity.  His presentation at TED hilights the core principals of his upcoming book.

The power and impact of the digital economy has placed copyright and the old guard clearly on the defensive.  Those aging companies still want the market to be “published” (in analog format) are unwilling to change to the new information economy.
–Well okay what I’m really trying to say is they don’t want to give up their revenue streams.

Okay maybe they do understand how the game has changed, yet I’m not sure the impact of how young people are wired has fundamentally changed their business model.

Actually I’m hoping Remix may also hilight how the RIAA should be chasing down the millions of pirates in China rather than students in America.  Larry is proving what everyone under 30 already has accepted as a fact of life…They have never been forced to purchase a majority of their entertainment in analog format.  Should be a great read!

But if you purchased digital music from Yahoo and move that music to a new computer or external drive, you cannot take it with you.  Yahoo’s underperforming music store has announced they are closing their doors (and also taking down their DRM technology keys) stitched into your downloaded music.

This means the music you paid for will not play anymore.  If you purchased Yahoo music you are simply SOL. Actually Yahoo tells a better story:
After September 30, 2008, you will not be able to transfer songs to unauthorized computers or re-license these songs after changing operating systems. Please note that your purchased tracks will generally continue to play on your existing authorized computers unless there is a change to the computer’s operating system.

This should serve fair warning to all the music etailers to abandon DRM.  The customer is always right and today’s teenage market has a powerful voice and the tools (like Digg) to flex their collective financial muscles….so don’t piss them off.

So we can remix photos with Flickr and all the web2.0 photo sites but when it comes to music the RIAA is still holding the handcuffs with their lawyers in the next room?  Keep pissing them off and you’ll drive them further underground. With the internet begin global those music servers are increasing sitting outside the US mainland and are getting harder for RIAA’s lawyers to track down because they sit beyond the reach of US legal copyright.

Tags: Yahoo, music, DRM, copyright, globalization, trends

Tom Friedman’s bestseller is available FOR FREE to download until August 4th. Signup and download version 3.0 of his runaway best seller AND receive a preview of his upcoming book Hot Flat and Crowded

Tags: The World is Flat, Mark Penn, audiobook, globalization, free download

But I’d like to buy a 1st Gen unit too. And I’ll config it to run Sugar.

Tags: OLPC, sugar, Negroponte, prototype, globalization, trends

Tags: Internet2, laptop, orchestra, community, globalization, trends

The HD video concert was projected in Discovery World’s Digital Theater which provides viewers with a spectacular 27foot wide high definition image with a 2048×1920 resolution picture.

Early arrival at Discovery World

The Philadelphia Orchestra is the first major orchestra to transmit live concerts to multiple large screen venues such as Discovery World. The live broadcast uses an MPEG 2 compressed stream running at bandwidths exceeding 50 times that of conventional internet video streams. For this concert performance only 20 venues around the world participated.

Performances in the Global Concert Series provide the audience with an up-close look at the musicians and conductor, in views not seen by live audiences. The live concert is transmitted using seven high definition cameras installed in Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. The first performance was Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. I’ve blogged about Mozart before and was thrilled to watch (and listen) to his work.

This event and concert series provides proof that art performances and exhibitions belong on Internet2, extending the local reach globally to audiences in real-time who simply cannot travel, yet want the experience.

But this was not just a watch only event. Philadelphia’s concert series supports live questions to their host via email (of course) and supports questions via text messaging. Audience participation included a live interview with Orchestra musicians before the concert and included an extensive interview with particularly noted conductor Charles Dutiot during intermission.

This provides an excellent educational lesson to novices and series music students. The series provides Philadelphia an opportunity to connect with venues around the world in their supported “Continue the Discussion” forums with musicians, conductors, and guest artists on-line following the performance. Philadelphia’s Orchestra is leading and engaging a broader, global community from local school groups to retirement communities and extending their community to new patrons.

The Global Concert Series, begun in September 2007 is made possible through a partnership among the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Internet2 Consortium. Local support comes from WiscNet and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Discovery World is another WiscNet member connecting and delivering dynamic content via Interent2.

UPDATE: UDelaware is joining the broadcast for on-campus performance

Tags: Internet2, network, Philadelphia Orchestra, Concert Performance, Milwaukee, Discovery World, global education, digital theater, HD video, Mozart, trends

Although announced months ago BMW has recently posted details online. To date iPhones are compatible with the 2007 line of vehicles. Its another look at BMW and Apple, two of the most known brands working to provide a seamless integration of their respective products.

BMW was the first vehicle manufacturer to integrate the iPod in 2004. Expect additional auto manufacturers to follow their lead.

Tags: BMW, iPhone, advanced technologies, trends

Their solution? Plan future performances over Internet2. The orchestra’s performance hall has installed HD video cameras and now the groundwork for performances sent in HD to Asia and Europe are underway.  This is similar to the plan by Internet2 member New World Symphony in Miami.

As they say, time to face the music. Jump on-board … or get run over. Your choice.

Tags: Internet2, Philadelphia, orchestra, globalization, network, trends

Yale University has joined MIT and select institutions of higher learning by placing academic courses online, inviting anyone around the globe (this means you) to participate. Today seven courses are available with additional courses on the way.

Not only are the courses free, but Yale’s approach is to bring the online visitor as close as online technology allows. The classes are complete from the first session and include downloadable streaming video in QuickTime or the choice for .mp3 audio. Now you can pull your favorite classes on Art via Yale into iTunes and linked to your iPod. One of the new features introduced by Yale is searchable text of each lecture! A great move to freely distribute “power” in our knowledge economy.

Whats the power of these solutions for students today at your local school? Open Courseware is a new source of education (available 24/7) to faculty and students alike. This solutions can empower students by virtually enrolling in another class, and having direct access to additional resources for learning, furthering knowledge and gaining a larger perspective.

Tags: Yale, Open Courseware, higher education, trends

Digital Rights Management

Funny that Microsoft’s own DRM software will not run on their Zune product. Wal-Mart ditched DRM music in August and a month later Amazon’s site launched DRM free. With larger numbers of online shoppers, the control over digital rights now sit in the hands of the big resellers and not the music industry or even technology companies.

PS – The disappointment with Wal-Mart is their decision to NOT support Mac or Linux systems for downloading music.  Not a good sign for a lot of users.

Tags: Amazon, Walmart, music store, music download, Fairplay, PlaysForSure, The Long Tail, trends

Amazon MP3 offers the top 100 songs for 89 cents each and the top 100 albums for $8.99, with most albums priced from $5.99 to $9.99.

However I believe the breaking point will be what is available.
Search for U2 and you get:

Not a lot of music (actually none) from my favorite band.  I have literally everything they have produced on my iPod already but is a clear sign they will have no music from many popular bands.  It will be difficult to overcome at first.

With a lot of independents lining up it proves Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail theory again. Amazon’s advanced systems and reputation will permit them to sell a lot of music…but they are also selling against themselves with their highly successful CD music store available online for years. I’m interested to see how they compete against Walmart.

The benefit for all those iTunes users…buy a song from Amazon and it will be placed in your iTunes directory automatically. Nice touch.

Tags: Amazon, music store, music download, The Long Tail, trends

To prove money greed makes the world go round NBC has broken off relations with the iTunes music store over their demand to charge $5.00/episode … more than double the current episode download price point.

Shame on NBC for pulling such a greedy decision. Exactly who is going to provide that revenue (and successful download solution) tied to all those iPods?

Tags: NBC, iTunes, tv show, download

CSS was the next logical choice that continues today as designers create smarter webpages and blogs with strong visual impacts. Even WordPress‘ own website correctly states: Code is Poetry. These skills have proved to be required tools for today’s successful graphic designer.

The next step may well be Apple’s Core Animation. Look closely at the new iPhone commercials – you will notice a bit of Core Animation: Google push pins drop from the sky onto a map. Good bye static pins!

This small example should really open up the interactive space for designers. Core Animation clearly shows just the tip of the graphical/animation iceberg that will become more robust moving forward.

Designers will jump on this new technology and adapt the necessary code to implement designs on phone and webpages. Apple needs to empower more than their die-hard programmers. Give designers the right tool for the job and we will see amazing interactive graphic elements on the web and our iPhones.

Tags: Core Animation, graphic design, code, iPhone, information design, trends

Remember when the iTunes Music Store suffered a meltdown on Christmas day? Maybe some people still had a balance on their iTunes gift certificates last week.

Tags: iTunes, American Idol, The Long Tail, Billboard, Carrie Underwood, music store, trends

This was also more of an acknowledgement of Solomon’s book and even the most recent writings and hit movie. The previously unknown story of how he withheld the death of his mother who was traveling with him showed new sources that have not been known to me previously. In the end Gay’s book will bolster the knowledge and lifestyle of Mozart and his family lead for any fan.

Tags: Mozart, Peter Gay, classical music

A study by Arbitron/Edison Media Research finds that the weekly Internet radio audience has increased 50% over the last year. Twelve percent of Americans age 12+ have listened to Internet radio in the past week, a 50% increase over the 2005 estimate of 8%.

Nearly one in five 18- to 34-year-olds listened to Internet radio in the last week. Nineteen percent of Americans age 18-34 listen to Internet radio during an average week. Internet radio delivers 16% of persons in the prime 18-49 radio buying demo.

However, just 19% of those online have ever listened online to their most listened to AM/FM radio station. While this number is a record high, up from 15% the previous year, it shows the continued lack of usage of Internet streaming as a way to increase a station’s reach.

Technorati Tags: milwaukee, wuwm, radio2.0, NPR, podcast, trends, technology, culture, news

Technorati Tags: culture, milwaukee, news, NPR, podcast, radio2.0, technology, trends, wuwm

Its clear radio is dying. NPR gives their content away for free. And its hard to beat free. Today the New York Times reported NPR’s new growth and money…including a $230 million gift from McDonald’s widow Joan Kroc. NPR has also been rapidly embracing the Radio2.0 content model:

Radio1.0 – The 1950s model (No sharing)
Radio2.0 – Sharing content free via the internet

Today we have access to new programs called RSS readers. NetNewsWire is my RSS reader of choice. These programs display a gathering of feeds (or content subscriptions) to websites and blogs that support text, audio and video content.

When connected to the internet I can add any NPR feed directly into a NetNewsWire. And every 30 minutes NetNewsWire pulls any update(s) for all my feeds. When I look at my NPR feeds I can select any article and NetNewsWire provides the following:

1. Headlines for each feed
2. Article overview (thanks NPR)
3. Direct hyperlink to each story at NPR’s website.
4. A time-stamp for each article

After pulling an NPR feed you can see a complete listing of each programs audio articles. Locate any article of interest – and simply click “Listen” NPR audio content.

There are some nice features added to every audio article at NPR. In comparison to Radio1.0, I list them as bonus features
…because I don’t think old radio stations can deliver these types of services:

Bonus Feature #1: Would you like to share this article with someone? Just click the “E-mail page” icon in the upper right hand corner. What a great feature. Like me, you probably forget all the details trying to relay the impact of an article because you cannot re-tell the story as effectively as the reporter. With NPR adopting Web2.0 sharing this is no longer a problem.

Bonus Feature #2: An orange RSS icon. Click a link called “News Feeds” and choose any NPR feed of interest. NPR even has a list feeds from member stations around the country.

Bonus Feature #3: The orange POD icon which supports “NPR Podcasts” that allow you to choose from nearly 300 podcasts available for your desktop or laptop computer.

Did you ever have this type of control over audio under Radio1.0?

Bonus Feature #4 The iTunes impact. This software can automatically download your favorite NPR articles to your computer. An iPod is not necessary for this free, cross platform service. NPR podcasts

Bonus Feature #5 iTunes and an iPod permit you to subscribe to a podcast and Apple’s iTunes program will manage the daily downloads to an iPod. Nothing beats plugging an iPod into your computer and getting the latest audio content downloaded automatically. Last summer I did this before heading out for morning walks.

With this as a backdrop, the pitch from the WUWM station manager Dave Edwards is really interesting…Again NPR has everything online for free.

Dave mentioned last week that his station provides a “service” for listeners, who do not have access to an afternoon paper edition or the luxury of watching national news. His position is because everyone has a very busy life, you can ‘rely’ upon his station to provide listeners with NPR’s news and programming. Okay. Probably like you, I’m not in my car everyday at the same time.

I believe more people have access to NPR’s website via their work computer than the ability to play a radio at their desk during normal business hours. Although its refreshing to see WUWM podcasting their local content, why ask for money when NPR’s own audio content is available via the internet without charge?

Hard question: Should WUWM consider focusing on the Milwaukee market and move away from six figure syndication fees from NPR, PRI and American Public Media? It will happen over time. NPR provides their content is free, indexed for search and most importantly – its mobile.

Also by now you’ve also heard the “public radio is your station” pitch. So exactly when does WUWM provide every contributor 10 minutes of air time every week because their money helped support the station? This sounds more like the “give us your money and shut up” approach. Another fine example of Radio1.0 without a doubt. This position was stated repeatedly at Harvard’s Blogging, Journalism & Credibility conference held in January 2005.

The internet has broken radio’s long standing content and business models. Its time we insist stations adopt the upgrade.
ByTheWay: Why does The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have a campus radio station under a “.com” address?

Reference: NPR content broadcast on WUWM:

All Things Considered
Sat, 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Sun, 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Mon-Fri, 3:00pm – 6:30pm

Car Talk
Sat, 9:00am – 10:00am
Sun, 11:00am – 12:00pm

Day to Day
Mon-Fri, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Fresh Air from WHYY
Sun, 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Mon-Fri, 11:00am – 12:00pm
Mon-Fri, 11:00pm – 12:00am

Latino USA
Sun, 7:00pm – 7:30pm
Thu, 1:00pm – 1:30pm

Morning Edition
Mon-Fri, 5:00am – 10:00am

On the Media
Sun, 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Tue, 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Weekend Edition – Saturday
Sat, 7:00am – 9:00am
Sat, 10:00am – 11:00am

Weekend Edition Sunday
Sun, 7:00am – 10:00am

World Cafe
Mon-Fri, 8:00pm – 10:00pm

/end

Technorati Tags: milwaukee, wuwm, radio2.0, NPR, podcast, trends, technology, culture, news

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