The Gamers are Coming…and they’re changing the world!!!

In the opening lines of the original Star Trek series captain James T. Kirk introduces the episode with the phrase “Space: the final frontier”?. Today there is a new frontier being crossed by society. A frontier no less foreign, intimidating, and in some people’s minds, no less fictional than Star Trek’s galaxies – this new frontier is the world of the Gaming Generation.

Generation X and the Millennials are the first generations to have grown up in the computer game era. In the past games were events; everyone would gather around and block off an evening or significant amount of time to play Monopoly, Risk, Backgammon, or cards. The game was played at a time set aside specifically for it. Today’s youth come home and turn on the TV to play on their Playstation, not watch TV. When they stand in queues they have games on their cellphone or iPod to keep them busy. At the end of the year when Sony releases the PlayStation 3 it will be the most powerful computer in the household. In short, games and gaming pervade almost every sphere of their lives, not just the odd Friday evening put aside for a social gathering.

This shift has built gaming into the DNA of the Gaming generation. Their values, worldview, and lifestyles are affected as they look at the world very differently to those non-gamers they share the world with. These changes need to be understood & engaged with as we become the colleagues, friends, bosses, and parents of this group. World of Warcraft [one of the most popular games on the internet] wizard Helen Cheng says that many players spend more time playing the game than working at their regular jobs.

… Continue Reading

Music Labels show their greed

If music wasn’t such a significant part of people’s lives, the music industry would have been brought to it’s knees by now. My own opinion is that it’s run, generally speaking, by a group of money grabbing, consumer abusing, artist exploiting, fat cats, with very little intention of changing their industry willingly In that department they’re a little like despotic regimes who need revolutions to over throw them. In case the music industry hasn’t noticed… there’s a revolution on the boil.

The latest show of their continued abuse of power comes in the investigation by the US attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, into allegations that record labels are fixing prices of music downloads.

Here’s the kicker…
… Continue Reading

Google Video should go back in the box

Google just launched the beta version of Google Video. It is in beta, and so we can expect something less than the real deal, but having looked at this beta site, one hopes it’s light years away from the real deal.

I only have iTunes to compare Google’s offering with, and disapointingly Google comes nowhere close. My disapointment mostly comes from my growing expectation of the Google machine. I’m starting to expect only fantastic things from them. Instead I am served up ‘Google’ with some video.

But it is still beta. And as this BusinessWeek review of the site suggests:

This one probably should have stayed in the lab a bit longer.

An Idea: Customisable Music (and movies)

In a previous post, I explained that I collect Christmas music. One of my favourite songs of this year’s crop comes from a compliation album (WOW Christmas – get it at Kalahari.net), and is “Little Drummer Boy”, as done by Audio Adrenaline. AudioA is an alternative rock band, and they took the well known Christmas carol by the scruff of its neck and did a great rock version of it, complete with overdriven guitar and pounding bass.

But as each verse built up, I was looking forward to the obvious pounding drum solo. Yet, the only instrumental breakaway we have in this version is a guitar solo. Strange, I thought, and a little disappointing, to be honest. My brother is a drummer, you see. A good one, too, with a few bands, a stint as a full-time drummer in the Airforce orchestra, a session muso, and the proud owner of a fairly impressive electronic drum kit/rack. So, I’m a fan of the drums. But a drum solo never came. I wondered why not, and if we could get a version that did.

… Continue Reading

An African Christmas: Awesome customer service

Ed Jordan is fairly well known in South African music circles. Together with some business mates, he has produced a few albums of kids music with a distinctly African flavour – you can get them here. Their latest album is “An African Christmas”. Its traditional Christmas carols and songs, done with an African feel. There are also some original songs, including a great, “Give me an African Christmas”. For anyone wanting a change from the sickly sweet Christmas album factories of the northern hemisphere, this album is an absolute tonic (Personally, I wouldn’t have put “A White Christmas” or any snow songs, like “Jingle Bells” onto an African Christmas album, but that’s just me, and the songs are well done anyway .

Having recommended it, however, you may have difficulty getting a copy. Try CD Wherehouse or Look and Listen before anything else. Or do what I did, and go straight to the source (per their website): “For comments or other ordering information please contact
Paul at paul@beautifulmusic.co.za, Tel: +27 (0)11 880 9157 | Fax: +27 (0)11 442 0103″.

I did so, and Paul phone me within a few hours and arranged to meet me to give me a few copies at a discounted rate. He may not do that for everyone. But here’s the story (I saw them on SABC late night TV): they have done this album themselves, and are managing and distributing it themselves. Some of the big stores don’t get “small guys” and so continually run out of stock. Frustrating for entrepreneurs. But I salute these guys, and their desire to control their product. Its a testament to passion and makes my listening to their album even sweeter. And what a contrast to some of the other idiots in the recording industry at the moment. We need more people like this in the world!

Now, go and buy their album. If Africa is in your veins, you won’t regret it!

Any bets on me getting a new DVD?

I bought my daughter the DVD of ‘Finding Nemo‘ a few months ago (not sure when?). As all well watched DVD’s are destined to do, this one cracked, and is no longer playable.

So here’s my theory on DVD’s you purchased legally, breaking: I’ve paid for the right to watch ‘Finding Nemo’ through the medium of this DVD. When I went to wherever I ended up buying it, I paid predominately for the license and not the medium (DVD). Let’s face it, the physical cost of the DVD is negligible. Hence the entertainment industry up in arms at the moment. They’re trying to stop us from duplicating the ‘license’ and not the DVD. So in theory then, when my DVD breaks, they should charge me just for a new DVD and not a new license. After all my DVD broke, and not my license. But I’m prepared to bet that they’re going to tell me I have to buy a new license as well as a new DVD and so end up paying the full price. If that’s the case then in theory I have two licenses and can legally make a copy of the DVD. Right? Let’s see. I say let’s see, because I’ve done this before.
… Continue Reading

iPod war heating up

The patent dispute between Creative and Apple over the music navigation system on portable players is old news.

Creative boss Sim Wong Hoo has told the BBC he plans to “pursue aggressively” a US patent it owns on a system used to navigate music on digital players.

But the release of the Zen Vision: M is sure to churn it up even more, especially when it’s clearly got an ‘iPod look’ happening all over it.

I can’t help but wonder how much energy, time and money is being used every minute in the entertainment industry ‘legal wars’? If it’s not the copyright issue, or the illegal copy issue, then it’s the patent issue. Could it be that more money could be saved by hiring fewer lawyers and replacing them with leaner, cleaner and more relevant business models?

For commentry on an interview between Sim Wong Hoo and BBC click here

Why you need an iPod for Christmas?

I just had a birthday. My amazing wife bought me an iPod Video. It replaces my iPod mini that’s given me hours of amazingness. I used my iPod mini for mostly travelling by plane to escape the mind-numbing experience of airline travel. As I discovered PodCasts I spent a lot less time listening to music, and a lot more time getting some great input from the various PodCasts I subscribe to. The iPod video will enhance my experience even more. (that’s the theory)

In our business we’ve started to video some of our presentations. We’re hoping it will not only share the knowledge of a virtual team, but act as a quality enhancement tool as well. We’ll now be able to give eachother contructive feedback on what we saw and heard.
… Continue Reading

The dawn of the iPub

I’m always on the look out for new ways people are viewing and using the world (paradigm shifts). In a world of discontinuous change they’re happening all around us. It’s in these spaces that we see new innovations as people’s minds are opened up to possibilities never before imagined, or if imagined, often ahead of their time.

It’s happening in Chicago, and it wont be long before it’s also happening in a pub near you. People are leaving the Juke Box and turning to the iPod. Here’s a great story, of a few pubs that allow customers to connect their iPod’s to their sound system in order to share their music with the rest of the pub. I’m not sure how it’s managed and if they have to bring in extra bouncers? Certainly some of my mates would require protection if they played their music in a public space.

The jukebox at the bar Brian Toro manages isn’t gathering dust just yet — but it may only be a matter of time. The popular nightspot is among a growing number of places across the country where people can bring their iPods and other portable music players and, for as long as the bartender allows, share their personal favorites with the crowd.

Yes puleeeze

Do Microsoft Really Believe It?

Microsoft South Africa are currently running a series of radio and print ads. The theme is how “risky” it is to have unlicensed software. The pic attached here is of a shop left unattended and the door open. The radio slots include a person phoning a friend at the top of his voice and getting his bank card access PIN number shouted for everyone to hear. There are other similar ones, all related to being at risk.

You’re encouraged to ensure your software is licensed legally by going to a particular website. While I obviously believe that it is correct to have legal software (I disagree vehemently with the price one has to pay to GET legal, but that’s a different story), I cannot believe that the marketing crew at Microsoft genuinely (excuse the pun) believe that this ad campaign will elicit action. Seriously? Is it REALLY “risky” to have unlicensed software?

Why do companies think we are so stupid as consumers that they can tell us anything and we’ll just believe them?

Clearly the concept of having genuine software is a good one. But don’t insult my intelligence while telling me about it.
… Continue Reading

Sony and the ‘mother measure’

Excuse me for one last Sony post, but this is a beeooot.

A friend mailed me today (sorry if I got in first, couldn’t resist) to say that his mom had forwarded him a ‘Boycott Sony’ e-mail. His comment was wonderful:

Even my mother is getting this stuff… Sony is dead, when my mother starts checking them out…

Sony and how NOT to do the customer experience thing!

How does a company who so often has been on the cutting edge of innovation and known for delighting their customers with some of the most amazing gizmos and gadgets get it so wrong? Personally I think they’ve moved a bunch of accountants and lawyers into their R&D labs and some of the crazies and hackers out.

We all know the media world is in crisis. People downloading their stuff all over the place, ripping, burning, copying, sending, and in the eyes of the media mogules, doing anything but buy their stuff. So they start to panic and freak out, and find new ways to do things (kudos to you for getting off your large, very wealthy butts). But instead of being the innovative and creative people we thought they were, many of them have chosen the route of criminalising their customers and potential customers. It’s beeeoootiful isn’t it.

Here are two new editions to this unfolding drama:
… Continue Reading

How not to treat your customers: a lesson from Sony

Scenario: you’re a Windows user who buys a new cd distributed by Sony. To play the cd you *have* to install Sony’s software (the cd works fine on Mac or Linux) – and an extra programme called a rootkit which hides itself from your system and doesn’t let you make more than 3 copies of the music. Good for Sony, bad for you, because they neglect to mention anywhere in the license agreement about the rootkit (which essentially has a signature like a virus). What’s more, you can’t uninstall it. And if you delete the files it installs on your systems you mess up Windows.

Mark Russinovich – who discovered the rootkit on his machine – details this on his blog. And he’s mad with Sony. As are the many people who left comments at his site.

Why did Sony do this? Perhaps they weren’t aware that people wouldn’t want hidden software installed on their computer without permission. Perhaps they didn’t know this was the case (the software wasn’t developed in-house – they used a contractor who specialises in Digital Rights Management). But the impression they give is simply that they don’t care if they infringe other’s rights as long as they’re protecting their own. Not the way you want to treat your customers.

Technorati Tags: music, DRM, rootkit, Sony

Digital Revolution

The digital revolution is coming to Hollywood. Digital movies are now making it possible to bypass the massive hierarchies that exist in Tinseltown, allowing innovative directors to go direct to making movies, without getting bogged down in the politics and cost-spiralling of the movie studios, producers and big wigs.

Hollywood’s creative machine has long been mired in the bogs of big money players. Now, digital media are making it possible to bypass all of this. A possible tipping point is the release of Sin City by director, Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez left the Academies and “unions” of directors and actors, and did producing, directing, screenplay, editing and even the music from his own studios in Texas. With a monster ensemble cast, he also proved that he can get any actors he wants to.

And, now I see he’s planning a sequel already.

Its nice to stand on the edge of an earthquake zone, and see the earth twist before your eyes. If you want to read a more substantial report, check out this weekend’s FT – “A Defining Moment“.

Piracy, the Digital Divide, & Improving Our ‘Lot’

Can the current licensing structures around software, etc actually make it impossible to improve your lot in life without risking HUGE fines? The following is an extract from a post on The GripeLine by Ed Foster.

“A few decades ago, a man could still ‘pull himself up by his bootstraps’ — meaning all it took was some hard work and determination to improve your lot in life. If you already had money and means, you could easily afford the tools and education that it required to move from one station in life to another. If you didn’t have the tools or the education, you could legally obtain them by borrowing them from a neighbor. Even the government was more than willing to give you a hand-up in doing what needed done.

Today it is not necessarily the case, especially in a digital world.
… Continue Reading

www.TomorrowConnecting.biz

As part of TomorrowToday.biz’s ongoing commitment to helping our clients find the most effective tools for understanding, processing and exploiting the Connection Economy, we would like to announce the launch of our “blog about blogging”, ?ic@TomorrowConnecting.biz.

?ic@TomorrowConnecting.biz will focus exclusively on new technological advancements (blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasting, etc.), how they are changing the way we do business and most importantly, suss out which are useful and which create more noise. We hope to provide insight and advice in plain English, create conversations and offer opportunities for people to network in progressive new ways.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Behold… the PS3

Gizmodo has just notified us that the PS3 is available on pre-order from Amazon.com.

My mom never let me get a PS1 – said it would interfere with my schoolwork.

My wife won’t let me get a PS2 – something about “but I’ll never see you!”. Can’t imagine why.

No-one is stopping me from getting one of these babies!

Ever read the EULA?

EULA = End User License Agreement. That annoying scroll-down window of text you always ignore when installing new software. I must’ve installed software hundreds of times, and never once read the agreement. My indifferent attitude has never come back to bite me, however, “World of Warcraft” gamers are finding out the hard way that they should think twice before selecting “I accept”…

… Continue Reading

Podcasting goes mainstream

Podcasting, according to Wikipedia, is a method of publishing audio broadcasts via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s). It became popular in late 2004, largely due to automatic downloading audio onto portable players (like iPods) or personal computers. The latest edition of BusinessWeek online features an article titled Podcast: David vs. Goliath that examines this dynamic new medium and it’s emergence as a mainstream player.

… Continue Reading

What the Dave Matthews Band did right

I am a huge fan of the Dave Matthews Band. They have differentiated themselves in the music industry (see Raymond’s post) through some innovative, out-of-the-box thinking.

Aside from the fact that they continue to produce exceptional music after 13 years in the game (and of course the fact that Dave is South African born), the band continues to gain popularity through outstanding, industry-renowned live performances and the largest online follwing of any musical ensemble, worldwide (see Nancies.org and The Warehouse).

There is a very specific, very unique reason for their success…

… Continue Reading

You’ve gotta love the music industry……

The posting below is from the Gripeline weblog and was posted on Mon 25 Aug. If you want to see the original posting click on this link Gripeline Weblog.

This weblog provides regular updates of hassles consumers are having with licencing and service. It is very USA centred but is a wonderful portal of consumer militance…..viva la revolution!!!

Dumb DRM Gets Boost From Sony Music CDs

“For all their weeping and wailing about peer-to-peer piracy, sometimes it seems like the music industry giants are trying to discourage us from buying their CDs. That’s certainly the impression readers are getting from dealing with the copy protection scheme being used on recent Sony BMG Music releases.

… Continue Reading

Will we ever see one of these?

I get the idea that a piece of music is written by someone with a certain context in mind. But have you ever found yourself adding in an extra drum beat, or ‘dawoop daddy’ somewhere in the score? I’m not even an accomplished musician or singer, but I often do this. And when I catch myself adding my own little extra bit I wonder who else out there is doing this? And I wonder further around what I’m actually missing, because while the originator did an excellent job attracting my attention, there may be someone else out there who could really blow my hair back?

So here’s a solution for someone out there (I’m sure it exists already – everything does, it’s just unequally distributed). A device that plays the original on one track and the ‘add-on’ on another track. The add-on track doesn’t carry much, but it adds bits and pieces that take what the originator has done to a whole new level.

Imagine the industry it would create? There’d be awards for ‘Music Adder-Onners’. Top 100 for add-ons. Entire new sections in music stores. The emergence on new add-on web sites. It would give the originator’s music extended life as different add-ons are developed. It would allow less accomplished musicians the opportunity to do their bit. Most of all it would give me the best possible opportunity to get to hear the best version of a song.

But first we’ve got to wait for the big wigs in ‘music land’ to stop trying to dominate and control our music.

The DVD party is coming to an end

BusinessWeek of July 18, 2005 (online version) reports “The End of Hollywood’s DVD party?” (premium content, I think).

For many years, Hollywood studios have been able to reap in many years’ worth of royalties and income from the sale of their movies on video and DVD (quite ironic, really, when you consider that it was those studios that sued Sony and others a few decades back over the introduction of the home VCR. They eventually lost, but I’m having deja vu experiences in their response to Internet downloads – see last week’s post). But, it seems that this is now tailing off (no doubt, partly due to Internet downloads and easy ripping).

“On June 30, Pixar Animation Studios cut its earnings-per-share estimate for the second quarter to 10 cents from 15 cents, due to slower-than-expected DVD sales of its blockbuster The Incredibles. The stock of Dreamworks Animation dropped sharply in mid-May, after the studio reported that returns of its own blockbuster Shrek 2 left sales 5 million short of its forecasts.”

Why is this happening?
… Continue Reading

Cellphones on steroids

The New Scientist of 9 April 2005 has two small “60 second” items of interest.

Sony is to are for its top of 500 movies as paid for downloads, with versions available for mobile phones and portable games consoles. The company is hoping to combat the rise in the legal movie downloads by following the strategy that Apple fans so successful with it iTunes music service. Like iTunes titles, the movies will play only on compatible devices.

Cellphone users worldwide spend a $1 billion a year downloading musical ringtones. So the music industry may not be too pleased with the new way to make your own ring tones at home using your record collection. Magix Ringtone Maker is a PC program costing just $20 that lifts music from a CD or MP3 file, converts ringtone format and loaded straight into a mobile phone. To stay legal, users should first obtain “express permission” from record companies, says, Magix.

Ownership isn’t everything

There is a great post today on Marketing Web (see here). Its about the experience economy I was talking about earlier (see here).

Rather than owning things, many people are moving towards experiences, rentals, trading, and the virtual. The old world of purchase, prestige and property rights is being replaced by a world where ownership is not necessary or assumed, and may even be violated.

The light lifer literally travels light, preferring instead to borrow, filch or share possessions. They will be more willing to lease a car than to buy it (which car companies fear will reduce the value of their cars), are happy to visit an internet café rather than deal with the hazards of technology at home, and design their own impromptu holidays. For them, ownership is merely a burden.

I’m not sure I agree with all his examples, but this certainly is a trend we are seeing, too.

Advertising on/in/by Games

As young people spend less time watching television and more time online and playing games, advertisers have devised a new way to reach them. So says a report in the Economist (11 June 2005 – see here – premium content). “In the 1930s, the sponsorship of radio serials by makers of household cleaning products led to the soap opera. Listeners were enthralled by episodic, melodramatic storylines, and advertisers were guaranteed a big audience. Today, the same thing is happening with another new medium. Video games have been crossed with advertising to produce a new genre: the adver game.”

Research is showing that gamers seem to have a very positive view of ingame advertising. this is particularly true in sports games, where advertising mimics real world stadiums and gives a more lifelike feel. For now many of these, the ads are currently built in, but in future they might be piped in via the Internet and games consoles.

An early example of the advergame is “America’s Army”, first released by the US military as a recruitment tool in 2002. It is a free downloadable and strikingly realistic war game, covering basic training, tactical planning and a variety of missions and now has over 5 million registered players. The United Nations has “Food Force” which was released by the World Food Program, intending to raise awareness for global hunger with players acting as emergency aid workers. There are also many browser based games on the Internet, and these are becoming more and more popular.

File swapping now illegal (at least in the USA)

The Economist are reporting today that America’s Supreme Court has ruled that makers of peer-to-peer file-swapping technology can be held responsible for the copyright infringement that their products allow. They say that “This may stop much of the free downloading of music and film over the internet, but it will not cure the entertainment business’s ills. Nor will it do much for innovation.”

Firstly, if they think it will stop downloading of music, they’re crazy. The ruling only applies to the USA, and how do they think they’re going to stop it happening? Who’s going to police it?

Secondly, this may stop innovation in the USA (I doubt it), but it will sput it on elsewhere in the world. Legal or not, file swapping is here to stay, and the industry had better get used to it. They’ve got a short reprieve – won a minor battle in a war they’re losing horribly. They’d better learn quickly how to profit from this, rather than fight it. File swapping is the natural extension of democracy, freedom, technology and the free market – all the things America stands for. Its created its own monster, and its can’t tame it again.

The industry are doing themselves irreprable harm at the moment. A 14 year old girl was fined just over $ 4,000 this past week for downloading files. Does the industry think that this will (a) stop this 14 year old ever doing that again, and (b) be a deterent for anyone else to stop the practice? Are they mad?
… Continue Reading

Another reason to question advertising awards

My good friends who work at Ad agencies will disagree, I am sure, but there are always question marks about the nature of Advertising Award Ceremonies. Right now, the ad world’s attention is focussed on Cannes 2005, where global entries are competing for attention. I spent the whole of the last night tracking down and downloading the top rated entrants, and most of them are excellent ads.

The concern has to do with the correlation (or lack thereof) between the winning of advertising awards and the effectiveness of the advertising for the customer. Let’s be clear: advertising is a product/service that has a specific purpose – to sell more of the client’s products and services. That is the ultimate decider of whether an adevrt is “good” or not. Does it motivate people to spend money on the product? Of course, some adverts are subtle, and about awareness raising. Others are more PR than sales-focused. But, although simply stated, my point is valid.

The big news at Cannes 2005 right now is the forced withdrawal of two spectacular Sony Playstation 2 adverts: “Duel” and “War”. Barrie blogged about them earlier this week (here). But there is controversy. They were produced by TBWA South Africa for the North American office, and their client, Sony Playstation. But TBWA South Africa reports to TBWA London within TBWA’s global network, and apparently didn’t get permission to do work for America. So, TBWA Global has withdrawn the adverts from Cannes and all other international competitions. Who knows what politics is going on behind the scenes at TBWA, but it certainly doesn’t feel like they have their client’s best interests at heart in the process.

I copy the full press release from SA’s Marketing Web below. But one line stands out for me: “its in the network’s best interests to first consider what is in the client’s best interests”. At this early stage, it looks as if TBWA has dropped this ball… (TBWA has no comment yet on their website – which, amusingly, trumpets their status as “global network agency of the year”).

… Continue Reading

Sony Playstation / TBWA takes it to a new level

Have you seen the new Playstation adverts? You can see them on AdCritic or AdForum. Or you can watch them right off of the TBWA web site (click here) They were aparently developed in South Africa for a North American market. (click here to see article on Marketing Web)

There’s no way I can describe them to you. They’re of the kind that need to be experienced. And everything they aim to do, they do.

Why they caught my attention is because they run pretty close to the line, in an interesting conversation emerging around the world about the influence of games and their correlation to violence. Two events spring to mind: one a young guy who murdered someone aparently out of a game experience he’d had. The other, a man who murdered someone who’d stolen a sword from him. Except the sword was stolen online as part of a game, and the guy was murdered in real life for doing it.

Personally I have mixed views on ability of a game to influence, but with the conversation growing globally, Sony Playstation is choosing an interesting moment in time to release these adverts.

We wait and see

Nuf Sed

Professional or not?

Sport is a profession, is it not? By this we mean that there are people who make a living out of it – people who have studied and worked hard, who have made the sport their life’s focus, and who “sell” their time and expertise to the profession of their choice. In everything except the academic qualifications required for entry, sport is pretty much like any other profession on the planet.

Right now, there are many “interesting issues” floating around various sporting codes around the world. These issues may be instructive to the corporate world, as big companies also learn how to deal with demanding “players” (talented staff) and “fans” (empowered customers). The analogy itself is worth spending a few moments pondering, as you consider what professional sports codes must do to attract and retain both players and fans. Some of those techniques would be helpful in the corporate space, too.

But I write this blog entry just after one of the most bizarre races of Formula 1’s half century history.

… Continue Reading