Joakim Baage

Buzz Watch: No News Again?

Authored by Jay Baage on May 14, 2008 - 6:25am.

Think for a second that there was no news, what would you do? Jason Arber has created this latest video of “The Day There Was No News” clearly inspired by Adam Buxton's similar “No News” video from 2007 (via Laughing Squid). In this Internet Age, even information-junkies like us in the DMW-team are faced with information overload from time to time, would it not be sobering if we all could have at least one day with no news at all?
tags: Video | TV | BBC | News | Publishing | UGC |

Introducing the DMW Video Blog

Authored by Jay Baage on May 13, 2008 - 11:04am.

We are happy to announce the launch of the official DMW video blog! Our first post introduces the concept behind the vlog and extends an open invitation to you, our readers and viewers, to nominate interesting people that you would like us to interview. You will be able to see the video interviews we do right here on dmwmedia.com or on our YouTube-channel at YouTube.com/DigitalMediaWire.

Lonelygirl15 Founders Building Studio To "Teach Hollywood How To Do It Right"

Authored by Jay Baage on May 8, 2008 - 7:15am.

Beet.tv has interviewed the co-producers of lonelygirl15, Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, who recently raised $5 million in venture funding for their new company called EQAL. Apparently they have a number of shows are in development and they are confident that they're "going to teach Hollywood how to do it right." It will be interesting to see what these guys can cook up in the future and how their various monetization schemes play out.

All Things D On Microhoo Backlash and Backpedaling

Authored by Jay Baage on May 6, 2008 - 10:37am.

I think it's pretty interesting to see how this one plays out... Good vlog from John Paczkowski at All Things Digital today about the whole Microsoft/Yahoo deal debacle.

Report: Chinese Online Games Market to Triple in Five Years

Authored by Jay Baage on May 2, 2008 - 9:59am.

Shanghai - China’s online video game market is expanding rapidly, with sales forecasted to grow from $1.7 billion in 2007 to $6 billion in 2012, according to a survey released by Niko Partners today.
“This market is attractive because it is leading the way for online games,” said Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners, according to VentureBeat.

NPD Report Indicates Blu-ray Players Still Slow To Catch On

Authored by Jay Baage on May 2, 2008 - 8:26am.

New York - Sales of Blu-ray standalone players plummeted 40 percent from January to February, then rose only 2 percent from February to March in spite of winning the high def format war, according to a report by research firm NPD Group. This is bad news for the home entertainment industry, which has put its hopes into a drastic increase in adoption of the next generation high def DVD players after Toshiba dropped its support for the HD DVD format earlier this year in favor of Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Blu-ray format.

tags: Games | Video | Sony | Metrics | DVD | Blu-ray | NPD |

ABC.com To Experiment With More Ads Per TV Stream

Authored by Jay Baage on May 2, 2008 - 6:34am.
New York – Viewers of video at ABC.com might soon be seeing two advertisements, one after the other, within each video break. "It would be premature for us to say people only want one ad," said Albert Cheng, executive vp digital media at Disney-ABC Television Group (NYSE: DIS), to the Hollywood Reporter. "It's a likely sort of thinking, but we want to push it a little bit to see how it would go."

Buzz Watch: The BlackBerry 9000 - an iPhone Killer?

Authored by Jay Baage on April 30, 2008 - 8:09pm.

Yes, Research in Motion (NSDQ: RIMM) is trying to jazz up it's popular email cell phone, the BlackBerry, (read our previous coverage here) and rumors are that the new 9000 model will be sexy enough to take on Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iPhone. As the funny financial web video show Wallstrip notes in the episode embedded above, if the company succeeds in making the new Blackberry appeal to both business as well as "regular" consumers, it may be a stock to keep an eye on. But then again, it is very hard to try to be everything to everybody...

GTA IV Looks Great, But Is It Worth A Full 10?

Authored by Jay Baage on April 28, 2008 - 7:53am.


Tomorrow April 29, one of the most anticipated video games of the year, Take Two Interactive (NSDQ: TTWO) and Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto IV," will hit store shelves. Analysts predict that it will top last year's record-breaking $300 million first-week sales of Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) and Bungee Studios' first-person shooter "Halo 3", according to the Associated Press.

Weekend Fun: Don't Miss The Battle of the Lip Dub Videos

Authored by Jay Baage on April 25, 2008 - 7:21am.


Digg Dubb: Groove Is In The Heart from Trammell on Vimeo.
A new viral lip dub video has appeared (embedded above). This time courtesy of the staff at Digg. I would say it's a worthy follow-up to the video done at the offices at College Humor and Connected Ventures (see below). Revision3 has also joined the party with a lip bud video of their own (embedded at the bottom, gotta love INXS). Think about it, these videos are not just viral branding for the companies but also smart recruitment tools...

Nokia N95 and a Filmmaking Deal with Spike Lee

Authored by Jay Baage on April 24, 2008 - 6:58am.

I really like the PR and marketing efforts that Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is doing with its N95 model, giving it to reporters and bloggers as a video news gathering tool (Nope, I have not been given one, so I do not need to disclose anything). Think about it, what better way to showcase that the phone is really a "multi-media computer" now, as Nokia's senior management like to put it? I don't think this beet.tv piece was shot with an N95, but it highlights some interesting issues as another interesting Nokia marketing project was revealed today which involves the American director Spike Lee (read the NYT piece here).
tags: Games | Mobile | Video | Social Networking | TV | CE | Nokia | UGC |

Will There Be a Microsoft and Yahoo Deal?

Authored by Jay Baage on April 23, 2008 - 5:49am.

In this video, Kara Swisher of All Things D asks some tech people at a party in San Fran about what they think will happen between Microsoft and Yahoo! after the MS bid expires this Saturday. The answers are kinda interesting, but the highlight to me is when Kara confronts one of the tech guys wearing a Jawbone Bluetooth Headset: "What is that, an anti-dating device, a female repellent?"

Mahalo Daily's "The Week in 60 Seconds"

Authored by Jay Baage on April 18, 2008 - 5:37am.

Yes, that's about it. Can't wait for Mahalo to also do a weekly recap of business news in 60 seconds...
tags: Video | TV | News | Mahalo Daily |

Buzz Watch: No Internet in South Park? The Horror...

Authored by Jay Baage on April 17, 2008 - 5:49am.

In case you missed it, last night’s South Park was all about an Internet “black out”. I caught it today, on the Internet, of course. Embedded above is a clip from the show's beta site South Park Studios. To watch the full episode click here. It's both clever and funny. Isn't it scary how dependent we have become on the Internet?

Buzz Watch: Tokio Hotel, Habbo and Breaking a Band in a Digital Universe

Authored by Jay Baage on April 15, 2008 - 2:41pm.

I'm on my soapbox again about the changing landscape for entertainment marketing and sales. I want to do a quick follow-up to my last article about the challenges that face Habbo Hotel, the popular virtual world for teens, when trying to cut a deal with the record labels to feature and sell their music. Today, the popular German teen rock sensation, Tokio Hotel, did an appearance in Habbo's Canadian Hotel and they are not alone. So far over 300 celebrity guests have visited Habbo to chat with fans and promote their projects. Clearly the artists as well as the record labels see the promotional value of following the fans to their online hang-outs. Habbo was subsequently the first virtual world to sign a deal with William Morris Agency. So why not set up a system to easily monetize music in this new media channel?

Buzz Watch: Flickr (Finally) Launches Video Application

Authored by Jay Baage on April 9, 2008 - 6:18am.

Flickr, my favorite photo sharing service (owned by Yahoo! (NASD: YHOO)), just launched a much anticipated video service. The embedded player is really nice (see above), but a limiting feature is that the videos can't be more than 90 seconds with a max upload size of 150MB. Why? The company claims that it is because Flickr is all about "sharing photos that you yourself have taken", hence they don't want people to upload copyright protected videos like movies and TV shows. It will be interesting to see how that strategy works out for them. BTW, pretty cool that they choose to announce the new service with a puppet show. I haven't seen that before...

Buzz Watch: Adobe's New Hybrid Business Model For Monetizing Online Video

Authored by Jay Baage on April 9, 2008 - 5:46am.

Adobe is launching an application called the Adobe Media Player (AMP) today. It is interesting because it allows a new hybrid business model for monetizing online video. The basis is that the AMP platform is highly customizable. You can sell DRM? protected video content on the platform (like iTunes), but the AMP also supports banner advertising and all sorts of in-stream media (unlike iTunes). On the negative side, AMF doesn't allow you to transfer files to a portable device or a second computer (the DRM problem). Check out beet.tv's interview with Adobe's Laurel Reitman embedded above.

Wallstrip's Microhoo Recap

Authored by Jay Baage on April 8, 2008 - 6:50am.

Julie Alexandria of the web TV show Wallstrip has put together a quick recap of events leading up to Microsoft's setting a three week ultimatum for Yahoo to decide if the King of Redmond is their Mr. Right… or Mr. Right Now... It's pretty funny.

Buzz Watch: Jim Kosek and Weather on the Web

Authored by Jay Baage on April 7, 2008 - 5:59am.

Is having a "crazy Jim" the key to success in a cluttered media world? From CNBC's Jim Cramer to AccuWeather.com's Jim Kosek (above), overly energetic presentations have (literally) shaken up the way traditionally "boring" subjects like financial news and weather are covered. Love it or hate it, I think that the crazy Jims are perfect examples that personality matters - no matter if you are an on air talent or a consumer brand, as DMW contributor and author Rohit Bhargava points out in his just released book.