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Dance Videos To Ease Your Humpday
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:00
It’s Wednesday, the rent’s due and there’s already been plenty of Apple-related news today. I can’t think of a better time to kick back and relax with some rad dance videos.
Dance It Up, created by the Dawson Brothers, is ostensibly a viral promotion for the latest Groove Armada single History, off the Black Light album. But in reality, it is a celebration of how awesome street dance is. Sort of.
This video is great, no lie, but here are the three reasons I am featuring it:
1) It has been online for a week and only has about 33,000 views. I believe this to be criminally unfair.
2) The YouTube description is pitch perfect:
Groove Armada’s people asked us to make a thirty second viral advert for their new album. But we got carried away and ended up making a street dance film instead. We f*cking love street dance. We hope you like it, but above all… we hope Groove Armada’s accounts department will still pay us.3) If I write about it here, it might get me to stop IMing it to everyone I know.
Oh, perhaps you’re in the market for some more traditional dance moves? Spreading around today is Dancing at the Movies, which includes dance sequences from a wide array of movies, featuring everyone from Fred Astaire to John Travolta to Patrick Swayze to those kids from Step Up 2.
Forgive its strange Jamie Lee Curtis fixation, and enjoy!
Related GigaOm Pro Content (subscription required): The State of Social TV
Categories: Video News
Vid-Biz: Apple TV vs. VOD, Sony’s Qriocity, Amazon vs. Netflix
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 15:00
Will Smaller Apple TV Spell Big Trouble for VOD?; Apple TV is out of hobby mode and putting cable and telco VOD, as well as over-the-top video boxes, on notice. (Light Reading Cable)
Sony’s Multiplatform Content Play Is a Qriocity; CEO Howard Stringer said the cloud-based Sony Online Services (SOLS) platform will be christened Qriocity and offer unlimited music and on-demand movies to compatible, connected devices. (paidContent:UK)
Amazon Must Offer DVDs-by-Mail To Fully Compete With Netflix; for Amazon to effectively compete with Netflix it would need to secure comparable streaming rights, which is costly, as well as offer a full selection of DVDs by mail. (VideoNuze)
Redbox Needs To Move At Sonic Speed To Catch Netflix; Redbox could theoretically compete with Netflix by adding a streaming option to its $1-a-day DVD rental service, but it lags behind Netflix in its movie library and device penetration. (Forbes)
The New MySpace Movies, Presented By… The Facebook Movie; Sony Pictures’ The Social Network is sponsoring a whole section of the other social network — Myspace. (TechCrunch)
Kyte Rolls Out Universal Embed Code and HTML5 Support for Apple iOS Devices; Kyte’s universal embed code makes it possible to publish to Flash-capable PCs and iOS devices using a single embed code. (Kyte blog)
BBC iPlayer Beta: Less is More; the big design challenge for the next version of iPlayer was to create simplicity in light of more features and functionality without overwhelming the audience. (BBC Internet blog)
Lessons Learned From TV Everywhere a Year After Deployment; thePlatform’s Marty Roberts discusses the challenges it has faced rolling out TV Everywhere services. (FierceOnlineVideo)
Categories: Video News
Comparison: Apple TV vs. Roku vs. Boxee Box
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 13:30
Apple unveiled its updated TV set-top box today, with new streaming functionality and 99-cent TV rentals from ABC and Fox. The offering represents Apple’s second attempt at capturing some of the online video market. Unlike the previous offering, this incarnation of the Apple TV comes at a lower price point — $99 compared to $229 –which should make it more attractive to consumers.
Even so, before running out and buying one, users should consider Apple’s competition: in this case, Roku’s existing broadband set-top offerings and the upcoming Boxee Box. While Apple was busy recreating its digital set-top, these startups were busy bringing their own offerings to market, and despite all the hype of the new Apple TV, they stack up pretty favorably.
Apple TV Roku Boxee Box Price $99 $59-$99 >$200 Top Video Quality/Format 720p H.264 & MPEG-4 video 720p H.264 & MPEG-4; HD-XR upgrading to 1080p 1080p H.264 video, Flash 10.1 capability Local Storage none none none Wireless/Wired Connectivity 802.11N & Ethernet Roku SD & HD: 802.11A/B; HD-XR: 802.11N wireless 802.11N wireless & Ethernet Outputs HDMI, optical audio Roku SD: composite only; HD & HD-XR composite & HDMI composite & HDMI Other Inputs 1 micro-USB port Roku HD-XR: 1 USB Port 2 USB Ports, 1 SD Card Slot Third-party Content First-run movie rentals and TV show rentals from ABC and Fox; Netflix, YouTube, and Flickr access More than 50 Roku channels, including Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand and Major League Baseball More than 400 apps from third-party content providersDespite its startup status, Roku still gets high marks for a product line that’s on par with — if not better — than what Apple announced today. Roku’s high-end HD-XR, priced at $99, has HDMI and 802.11N wireless connectivity, which is in-line with Apple TV is offering. It also has Netflix Watch Instantly and a video rental service in Amazon Video on Demand that rivals Apple’s iTunes store. Roku has also promised a 1080p upgrade to its HD-XR product for personal streaming, going one better than the 720p streaming Apple TV is capable of.
The wildcard here is the Boxee Box, due to be released in November. While pricing hasn’t been announced, it’s a good bet that it will be priced close to $200, which would put it at double the cost of the other two products. However, Boxee potentially has a much larger base of content to offer consumers. Since the apps that run on its software pull in video content from existing online video sites, it isn’t as reliant on striking deals with content providers. The flip-side to that is that some content providers — like Hulu — have acted to block Boxee from displaying their videos through its media center software in the past and may do so again when the startup’s set-top box is available.
No doubt Apple will still attract a new group of users that hadn’t previously bought an Apple TV. But this time around, it could face some stiff competition in the increasingly crowded connected TV market.
Related GigaOm Pro Content (subscription required): Three Reasons Over-The-Top TV Apps Will Beat Big-Cable
Categories: Video News
Could Cheap iTunes Rentals Change Television Online?
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 12:16
During today’s press event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that 450 million TV episodes, along with 11.7 billion songs, 100 million movies and 35 million books, have been downloaded from the iTunes store, making it the number one digital media store in the world. How will its newly announced 99-cent rental program change the marketplace? It depends what’s on offer.
When we compared Hulu Plus to Netflix Instant during its launch, we found while the back catalog was comparable, Hulu Plus had Netflix easily beat when it came to new episodes of current shows. Apple’s rental program, though, draws from a larger pool of content, which could be a game changer.
Note the use of the word “could” here. Jobs announced that so far, only ABC and Fox have signed up for the 99-cent rental program. While we don’t yet know what specific shows will or won’t be available for 99 cents, based purely on studio, the below chart indicates that about a third of the content Hulu Plus is offering this fall won’t be available for rental on iTunes.
AVAILABLE ON HULU PLUS ITUNES RENTAL? 24 Yes 30 Rock No American Dad! Yes Bones Yes Brothers & Sisters Yes Castle Yes Cougar Town Yes Dancing With The Stars Yes Desperate Housewives Yes Family Guy Yes Find My Family Yes Friday Night Lights No Glee Yes Grey’s Anatomy Yes House Yes Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Yes Late Night with Jimmy Fallon No Law & Order: Special Victims Unit No Lie To Me Yes Minute to Win It No Modern Family Yes Parenthood No Parks and Recreation No Private Practice Yes Saturday Night Live No Shark Tank Yes Supernanny Yes The Biggest Loser No The Cleveland Show Yes The Good Guys Yes The Office No The Tonight Show with Jay Leno NoNBC is clearly the missing link here, and if it decides to participate in the future, that would put Hulu Plus and iTunes on par with each other. Of course, you can’t necessarily compare a subscription service to a per-item rental service; for the $10 a month I pay for Hulu Plus (which, without shelling out $99 for an Apple TV, I can watch on my television thanks to the PS3), I have unlimited access to the service’s catalog of content.
That definitely works in Hulu Plus’s favor. When the new fall season starts, for example, I’ll be watching the theoretically rentable Castle, Glee, House and Modern Family on a weekly basis. If I were renting them a la carte from iTunes, in a month when each show premiered three new episodes I’d spend $11.88 to keep caught up, and if I wanted to review them after 48 hours, I’d have to plop down another 99 cents each. Compared to Hulu Plus, that’s not a great way to spend my money (even with the commercial-free video Apple provides).
The deal breaker here is that the iTunes catalog extends well beyond ABC and Fox, thanks to its relationships with pretty much every major TV network and studio. If cable or premium channels like AMC, HBO or Showtime — which do currently sell episodes via iTunes — join the rental program, it could be a very different marketplace indeed.
Frankly, Mad Men is half the reason I still have a cable subscription, which currently costs me $100/month. If I could rent the weekly misadventures of Don Draper for 99 cents each, that’d leave me about $96 a month in savings, which I’d find much easier to use towards a la carte rentals and purchases for series and movies not available through subscription services like Netflix and Hulu Plus.
In short: The iTunes rental program might not make me rethink my Hulu Plus subscription, but if more content providers get on board, it could make me rethink cable.
Related GigaOm Pro Content (subscription required): Three Reasons Over-The-Top TV Apps Will Beat Big-Cable
Categories: Video News
Tiny New Apple TV Costs $99, 99-Cent TV Rentals Confirmed
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 10:20
At this morning’s Apple press event, streamed live, CEO Steve Jobs announced a new Apple TV that’s a quarter of the size of the original box, with all-HD content (when available), cloud storage, and Netflix and YouTube access. The new Apple TV also allows content to be streamed from your computer or iPad to the television. The $229 price is dropping to $99, with pre-orders available today.
Oh, and as we reported, the price for renting TV shows in HD is dropping from $2.99 to $0.99 HD TV shows is shifting from $2.99 to buy to $0.99 to rent for the ABC and Fox shows that will be available at the outset. Other broadcasters have yet to commit to the service, but Jobs said that “other studios will see the light soon, and get on board with us.”
HD movie rentals are set at $4.99 for first-run films, which Jobs says will become “cheaper as time goes on.” The new store also includes Rotten Tomatoes ratings and cast/crew listings “for the first time.”
Jobs called the Netflix interface on Apple TV “the best implementation of Netflix yet,” though he was probably saying that because the interface is a direct ripoff of Apple’s Front Row interface.
Jobs also announced a complete overhaul of the iPod line, including FaceTime for the iPod touch. The iPod nano now has a square face and is smaller, and today’s demo emphasized the device’s music player and other features, including a clock face. The iPod nano camera has been removed, and the square screen implies that there’s a de-emphasis on video.
That just means more cameras for the iPod touch! The new version of the device will have front- and back-facing cameras, allowing people to communicate using FaceTime. On-device editing and direct upload to YouTube will also be possible.
Related GigaOm Pro Content (subscription required): Apple’s Path to the Living Room
Categories: Video News
Akamai Confirms They Are Delivering Apple's Live Stream
The Business Of Online Video - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 09:42
I've just spoke to someone at Akamai who has confirmed that they are delivering today's live stream of Steve Jobs's keynote. While there was a lot of talk about Apple delivering this event from their new data center in North Carolina, that's not happening, not yet at least. Apple will be bringing a lot of their content delivery in-house, but...
Categories: Video News
Amazon Must Offer DVDs-by-Mail As Well As Streaming to Fully Compete With Netflix
VideoNuze.com Analysis - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 09:24
The WSJ is reporting that Amazon is gearing up to offer a subscription service to stream catalog TV shows and movies. Amazon has long offered content on a VOD rental and purchase basis, but a subscription move would put the retail giant into direct competition with Netflix, the current 800-pound gorilla of the TV/movie streaming market.
However, for Amazon to effectively compete head-on with Netflix it would need to secure comparable streaming rights, which is probably doable, albeit costly. More importantly though, Amazon would also need to offer a full 
selection of DVDs, delivered by mail, and the infrastructure to support it. In some ways that's a much tougher challenge, and whether Amazon wants to take this on is a huge open question.
[ReadMore]
Despite all the progress Netflix has made with streaming, the reality today is that streaming is still the "sizzle" of the Netflix service; the "steak" remains the DVDs delivered by mail. That's due to several reasons: first, DVDs are ubiquitously and affordably viewed on TVs, whereas streaming isn't (yet), second, Netflix has built its brand on DVDs, with streaming a much more recent feature and third, because Netflix's DVD content selection far surpasses what's available for streaming, and will for a long while the hairball of digital rights for catalog TV shows and movies is slowly untangled.
Massive DVD selection is just part of the competitive edge DVDs give Netflix. It's what's "underneath the hood" that makes the operation so formidable, starting with the 58 distribution centers strategically placed around the U.S. that guarantee quick turnaround of titles (leading to high subscriber satisfaction) and the complex software that manages all of the inventory and logistics. Between the ongoing importance of DVDs and Netflix's delivery infrastructure, the company has built a formidable entry barrier for competitors.
As long as DVDs retain their value, Amazon would be competing with one hand behind its back if it came to market solely with a streaming service. That's not to say that Amazon's own advantages - it's massive customer base and ability to bundle/promote a streaming service wouldn't be valuable. But if it didn't include DVDs by mail it would have a fraction of Netflix's selection and therefore an inferior offering. This is the same issue that Hulu Plus has, as I outlined last week.
The good news for Amazon is that if it chose to build up its DVD delivery, it already has a solid foundation with its own distribution centers. No doubt some of the software Amazon uses to manage the delivery of its vast array of products would be beneficial to DVD delivery as well. But significant new investment would still be required. And given that DVDs will eventually be obsolete, it's a dubious business case to make, especially given all the other opportunities Amazon has.
Add it all up and Amazon has a tall mountain to climb if it really wants to compete head on in subscriptions with Netflix. We'll see whether it has the stomach to do so.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Video News
Live Blog: Apple’s Digital Media Event
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 09:17
We're here at the Yerba Buena Center for the Apple Music event, and for all of you without Apple hardware who can't see the live stream, we're going to live blog the thrill, chills and anticipated product releases. So check back for the news.
Categories: Video News
Akamai Powering Apple Live Stream (And I Can Prove It)
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 08:49
Apple has queued up Akamai to power today's highly anticipated live stream of of product announcements by CEO Steve Jobs in San Francisco. Contrary to reports the company would use its new data center, the stream will be outsourced to Apple's long-time CDN partner.
Categories: Video News
Justin.tv Going Mobile With Live Streaming on Android
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 08:00
Justin.tv is going back to its roots, with a new mobile video app that will allow new and existing users to stream live video from wherever they happen to be. The new Justin.tv Android app enables users to easily create and share high-quality live video streams with their friends and social networks.
Justin.tv’s first official foray into mobile video as a platform provider hearkens back to its early beginnings, when Justin Kan began the enterprise to broadcast a live stream of his own life. Back then, the eponymous founder carried around a 22-pound mobile video kit to stream his life live to the Internet, but now Justin.tv users need only a mobile phone with a Wi-Fi or 3G connection to broadcast what they’re doing.
As a result, says Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel in an interview, the new mobile app changes the use case for the live-streaming platform. While the company’s users previously were more or less chained to their desks (or wherever their PCs were) when they wanted to broadcast live, they now can shoot video from anywhere.
Justin.tv’s first mobile app is being released nearly 10 months after the first live-streaming apps from competitors Ustream and Qik began appearing in the iPhone app store. Seibel says the reason for the delay was due to his company’s plans to wait for the Android and iPhone platforms to be ready for the type of high-quality streaming that Justin.tv wanted to provide.
When asked why it took so long to get the app out to users, Seibel said, “If this platform isn’t ready yet, we could build the best app in the world, but it wouldn’t be a good consumer experience.”
That includes providing hardware encoding, which Seibel says is one of the key advantages the Justin.tv app has over competing apps, which were built on earlier builds of the iOS and Android operating systems. Other advantages include the ability to create an account, sign into and share with social networks like Facebook and Twitter without having to leave the app, and chat with viewers from directly within the application user interface.
One other key difference between Justin.tv and other platforms is its commitment to consumer applications. While Ustream, Livestream and Qik offer consumer apps, they have also have targeted enterprise and media customers with their streaming platforms. Justin.tv is focused on providing live-streaming tools to consumers and pushing user-generated content.
Related content on GigaOM Pro: Report: The Consumer Video Chat Market, 2010-2015 (subscription required)
Categories: Video News
Conan O’Brien Uses YouTube to Announce New Show’s Name
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 07:20
Been wondering what permutation of his name and “late night show” Conan O’Brien would use for the title of his upcoming TBS series? Apparently, a bunch of people have, and in a video posted yesterday O’Brien reveals the new show’s name with a Sharpie and some white paper.
This in itself wouldn’t be too notable, except that while the Team Coco YouTube channel has been around since June 2008 (such a simpler time), this is only the second video created specifically for the channel, and the first to feature O’Brien on camera.
The other five videos are currently promos for the TBS show and the Tonight Show writers’ Emmy B-Roll, which was shown at the Creative Arts awards and adds some more salt to the Leno/Late Night dispute.
While Team Coco is actively blogging and social-media-ing away, O’Brien himself remains relatively aloof on the Interwebs, seemingly limiting his activity to updating his Twitter account exactly once a day and continuing to follow only one other person. (Jimmy Fallon‘s got him beat before he even gets out of bed.)
Is this video the first sign that Conan on TBS will bring with it a more web-engaged O’Brien? With the launch of the show, undoubtedly, will come answers.
Related GigaOm Pro Content (subscription required): The State of Social TV
Categories: Video News
Sony to Unveil Streaming Video Service
NewTeeVee - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 06:30
Apple isn’t the only consumer electronics company allegedly planning to unveil a streaming service today; according to a report in the Financial Times, Sony will also announce its own streaming and video subscription service that will be available across a wide range of devices.
The service will initially draw on the customer base Sony has built up through users logged into its PlayStation Network on PS3 and PSP gaming devices, but the PlayStation Network will be just the starting point for the new service. According to the FT, streaming video and audio could also become available on Sony “Walkman music players, Vaio computers, Bravia TVs, Blu-ray players and Sony Ericsson mobile phones” in the future.
The Sony service is expected to launch next year, as connectivity across Sony devices proliferates. The FT reports that Sony president Howard Stringer “said last year that 90 percent of Sony products would be able to connect to each other and the Internet by 2011.”
This isn’t Sony’s first foray into offering up a digital storefront for media on its devices; it previously launched a service called Sony Connect that sold DRM-protected music files that were only accessible on Sony products. The service proved unsuccessful and was shuttered in 2007, leaving Apple to take over the digital music scene with iTunes.
This time around, Sony will face significant competition from Apple again, as the latter is expected to announce streaming capabilities at an event held this morning in San Francisco, Calif. More on that event later.
Related content on GigaOM Pro: 3 Things Apple iTV Must Do to Succeed (subscription required)
Categories: Video News
Sony rises to digital-media challenge
VideoNuze.com News - Wed, 09/01/2010 - 05:19
Categories: Video News
YouTube Releases Ridley Scott`s `Life In A Day` Project Raw Footage
VideoNuze.com News - Tue, 08/31/2010 - 19:08
Categories: Video News
Samsung lets you control apps on your TV with Galaxy S smartphone
VideoNuze.com News - Tue, 08/31/2010 - 19:03
Categories: Video News
Is Amazon Looking to Rumble With Netflix?
NewTeeVee - Tue, 08/31/2010 - 17:00
Because we do not know what this service might look like, here is a picture of the Amazon river.
TV and film streaming on a subscription basis has been Netflix’s turf for a while now (sorry, Blockbuster). But Amazon may be looking to change that, according to sources speaking anonymously to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reports that Amazon has been proposing a web-based subscription service for TV shows and movies to a bunch of media companies, including NBC, Time Warner and Viacom. The service would be viewable on the web as well as through devices like the Xbox, Roku and Internet-ready TVs.
At least one version of the proposal suggested that the offering might be bundled with the Amazon Prime service. That subscriber base would consist of people who give Amazon $79 a year for free two-day delivery on physical media — i.e., not exactly the audience you’d imagine as early adopters of a streaming video service — but it would help them launch with a bang.
This would be on top of Amazon’s current VOD service, which we thought might have been planning a redesign due to some recent job postings for designers. But a new streaming service would also potentially explain this.
One ironic twist in this potential faceoff between Amazon and Netflix is that Netflix relies on Amazon’s cloud services to power its website and recommendations engine. Anyone want to place their bets now?
Photo courtesy of Flickr user markg6.
Related GigaOm Pro Content (subscription required): Three Reasons Over-The-Top TV Apps Will Beat Big-Cable
Categories: Video News
Where to Watch Apple’s September Press Event Live
NewTeeVee - Tue, 08/31/2010 - 16:17
Updated: For the first time in a long time, an Apple press event will be live streamed to the public, the company announced today. Starting at 10 a.m. PT tomorrow, Apple.com will host a stream of the highly anticipated announcements of (if rumors and expectations hold true) updated iPods, iTunes rentals, and an overhaul of the Apple TV.
Update: As commenters have pointed out, this is not Apple’s first-ever live stream, just the first in a long time (and in the modern video era). Some of us vaguely recall a crappy 2004-era Quicktime video stream. If you can remember what happened, please leave a comment.
In some ways, this is the end of an era. Due to intense interest in what was being announced to a closed-door audience, Apple press events played a huge part in the birth of the art of live blogging. Sites like Engadget honed awe-inspiring team efforts to live blog every word out of Steve Jobs’ mouth and punch it up with snarky fanboy commentary, pictures and analysis, with fresh updates coming every few seconds.
To a lesser — but still significant — degree, Apple keynotes also helped streaming services like Qik get off the ground. Their early viewing records for livestreams were set by illicit video capture from the events. I know many people scramble around on sites like Justin.tv hoping to find a stream running during the event.
Since Apple doesn’t typically post video from its product launches until later in the day, demand for breaking news is incredibly high. Often, live event coverage influences the stock market. I’ve heard that even Apple employees drop what they’re doing during keynotes and tune into the live-blogs from their desks.
There’s clearly been latent demand for video from Apple’s events for some time, so I have to wonder why it came now. One potential factor might have been the trouble Jobs had getting a reliable network connection to do a live demo of the iPhone 4 at its launch in June, which he attributed at the time to bloggers using MiFi and similar devices to run their own Wi-Fi networks.
To be sure, many desk workers will still prefer text coverage to video. But the true fanboys and girls will want to see Steve for themselves in real time.
One interesting twist is that video coverage will only be available on Apple devices. This is a bit absurd, but I suppose it fits with the company’s passion for controlling the user experience. It’s possible the livestream is being used as the “gimmick” for the Apple TV relaunch, hence the OS X/iOS requirements. Besides, most watchers will be on a Mac or iOS device anyways.
Here are the viewing details:
Apple® will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac® running Safari® on Mac OS® X version 10.6 Snow Leopard®, an iPhone® or iPod touch® running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad™. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.Meanwhile, we video industry watchers will have to hope that after the event Apple tells us how many people tuned in. It’s sure to be a lot.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):
Apple’s Path to the Living Room
Photo courtesy Tom Coates.
Categories: Video News
Vid-Biz: Apple TV, Samsung TV Apps, Google TV
NewTeeVee - Tue, 08/31/2010 - 16:00
Apple Said To Have Netflix Streaming on New TV Product; Apple’s new set-top box will reportedly include movies from Netflix. (Bloomberg) Related: Rupert Murdoch May Be Key to Apple’s 99-Cent TV Rental Plan (LA Times); also Why Apple’s iTunes Rentals Aren’t Game-Changers (MediaMemo)
Samsung Working To Sell More TVs With Web Apps This Year; the Korean electronics giant plans to spend $70 million marketing its Samsung TV apps for internet-connected TVs and other devices. (VentureBeat)
Google TV: Up to $300 Price Premium?; the components necessary to run Google TV could add as much as $300 to the retail price of a TV. (Multichannel News)
Best Buy Selects Widevine for DRM and Adaptive Streaming; Widevine’s video optimization and DRM technologies will allow content owners to deliver videos directly to Insignia-branded CE devices. (press release)
Icahn Ups Lionsgate Bid; Carl Icahn increased his hostile takeover bid for Lionsgate Entertainment by 15 percent on Tuesday, to $7.50 per share, an offer the studio owner said its board of directors would review. (Multichannel News)
EPIX Live Debuts with Lewis Black and Kevin Smith; the cable network and broadband video provider announced EPIX Live, a new online forum that allows fans to interact with their favorite artists via thirty-minute Q&A sessions. (press release)
Disney-Time Warner Cable Deal Is Close, But Not Done; there is still no deal between Time Warner Cable and Disney for carriage of the programmer’s cable networks, including ESPN and Disney Channel, and retransmission consent for ABC stations. (Multichannel News)
Categories: Video News
Paul Dateh’s Musical Talents Enrich The LXD and YouTube Alike
NewTeeVee - Tue, 08/31/2010 - 14:15
Violinist and musician Paul Dateh‘s been playing the new media game for a while — since 2007, he’s been creating videos around his unique mix of classical and jazz music training and hip-hop beats. But like any innovator, the USC-educated Dateh has been keeping busy with a string of recent projects, both independent and for others.
Dateh’s bread and butter earlier this year was creating videos to promote his first solo album, but since then he’s been focusing on the fun that can be had with mashups. Earlier this summer, Dateh’s Top 40 violin mashup blending Lady Gaga’s Telephone, Ke$ha’s Blah Blah, Rihanna’s Rude Boy and Usher’s OMG was featured on Perez Hilton and racked up over 1.1 million views. It is also incredibly catchy, and the video accompanying it employs a dynamic and engaging use of split-screen.
On a more professional level, he scored the entirety of mega-dance web series The LXD‘s Season 1 finale, entitled I Seen A Man, which premiered two weeks ago. The score features Dateh’s quintessential mix of hip-hop beats and classical violin, and accompanies the dance action nicely.
But my current favorite of his projects is the series Violince, which showcases his violin skills as well as those of YouTube-based collaborators like David Choi and Jason Yang. The three episodes released so far have a cartoonish vibe, invoking the spirit of the Warner Bros. at first subtly and then explicitly.
Each project, taken on its own, speaks to Dateh’s abilities. But when you look at the bigger picture, you just kind of have to gawk a little at his range of talent and creativity. Here’s someone with a good sense of humor, strong editing skills and impressive musical ability — and he seems to be just having a blast.
Related GigaOm Pro Content (subscription required): Shattering the Fourth Wall To Find Web Audiences
Categories: Video News
