Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

NBC: 77% of Users View Online Video as a Complement to TV

Source: http://www.centernetworks.com/nbc-rewind-study

NBC has released the results of a research study it completed with users of its NBC Direct service and the NBC Rewind player. NBC Direct is an online and downloadable client which allows a user to view full episodes of current on-air NBC shows at no charge. Video streams from NBC Direct are up 25% in 2008 vs. 2007 and uniques are up 7%. Interesting note, American Gladiators and Deal or No Deal are the two most popular shows on the online video service.

Here are some of the highlights of the study:

Dramatically higher brand recall for ad content created specifically for the internet vs. previous quarters (86% vs. 70%-75%)
High agreement that Rewind ads are less disruptive than ads on television, and a strong desire to interact with advertising. In fact, ads with interactive elements were more likely to elicit higher brand recall as well as higher agreement that ads were entertaining and relevant.
77 percent of users streaming video as a complement to TV viewing (the majority report catching a missed episode online).
Over a quarter of respondents also reported sampling a new show while viewing online, with the majority continuing to watch the show after trial, both on air and online.

The real question is when will NBC integrate Hulu into the NBC properties and drop NBC Direct/Rewind? I understand that Hulu is in beta but the expenses of maintaining two video systems that have, at least, some overlap seems redundant. Also check out my rant about what I'd like in a video service.

Visualizations of IP and phone traffic from New York

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/246270611/visualizations-of-ip.html

MIT researchers are visualizing telecom traffic between New York City and the rest of the world. The project, titled New York Talk Exchange, is part of a the new "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. The system converts IP and voice data traffic into several animations revealing network flow over time between neighborhoods, international calls between more than 100 cities, and the like. Missing from the project though is a visualization showing the traffic routed through the NSA's headquarters. From MIT News:

"We are interested in visualizing and exploring the connections that New York entertains with the rest of the world, how they change over the course of a day, and how the city's neighborhoods differ from each other by maintaining special and distinct relationships with particular cities and countries," said Kristian Kloeckl, project leader at the senseable city laboratory...

Over the next few months the MIT team hopes to address some important research questions that loom behind the MoMA visualizations: How is the structure of global cities evolving? How could telecommunications data allow us to gain new insights into the dynamics of globalization? How do byte transfers across the globe affect the need for travel and physical displacement, thus suggesting ideas for better sustainability at a global level?

"Our cursory analysis illustrates how telecom data can help us to expand our conception of global cities and their role in the process of globalization," said Ratti. "In the end, the NYTE project reveals as much about the city of New York as it does about its worldwide counterparts, in areas such as business, culture and immigration. In other words, our visualizations demonstrate that in the information age, urban life is as global as it is local."

Link

Dell's M209X portable projector announced, reviewed: "better bring your sunglasses"

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/246157059/

Filed under: Displays, Portable Video

Dell's got another portable projector coming by way of its M209X. As successor to their 3400MP portable, the M209X weighs just 2.6-pounds yet pumps a rated 2000 ANSI lumens from VGA, S-Video, composite and HDMI connected sources. Available in the "next few weeks," according to Dell, although review units have already hit the street. The cats at GCN rendered a 1,220-lumen image (1,100 at the corners) from 10 feet which they claim makes it suitable for impromptu presentations in almost any environment. It also includes a laser pointer and PowerPoint controls in the included remote control. Bottom line: the M209X offers "excellent performance" and portability for $999. Or so they say.

[Via About Projectors]

Read -- Review
Read -- Announcement

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Panasonic's Atom-based UMPC Toughbook is officially official

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/246188222/

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Panasonic just owned up to that Toughbook UMPC we spotted yesterday at CeBIT. No real surprises, the unit runs Vista on an Atom CPU, sports a 5.6-inch LCD and is slated for a Fall release.

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Sierra Wireless intros Compass 597 EV-DO USB modem

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/246188221/

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Truth be told, there's nothing extraordinary about Sierra Wireless' latest EV-DO USB modem. It plays nice with Rev. A networks, includes a microSD slot, and comes with TRU-Install to simplify the setup procedure. Granted, it is "the only product in its class to include a connector for an external antenna (saywha?)," and it is remarkably small, so it's still worth a look if you're currently doing without. As expected, you'll reach downlink speeds of up to 3.1Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1.8Mbps, and the built-in GPS antenna is a nice bonus, too. Unfortunately, we've no idea how costly this one will be, but be on the lookout for a Q2 launch.

[Via MobileBurn]

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