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Apparently Google is working on something that to me sounds a little freaky. Through a microphone in the room, a computer could listen to what’s on the television, and identify what the person is watching by taking a small audio snippet. That info can be fed back to Google to feed contextual advertisements back to the home viewer, or just spy on what kind of trashy reality shows you really enjoy.

Not sure what the benefit is, but if Google is working on knowing everything, then this will probably be part of it.

Check out the story here.

There are various things that can transform industries forever. Changing market conditions, commodification, and disruptive technology to name a few.

Online services such as Google and AOL are now getting into the video advertising game. As people increasingly get video content over the internet, the marketplace for video advertising is about to be expanded exponentially.

While we have seen this coming for awhile, there is a more interesting twist to the story. eBay has come up with an auction system to sell online advertising. You can buy a spot on a show in an open market. This has the potential to take control for setting rates away from the broadcasters and into the hands of the marketplace. Now shows and the audiences that follow them can be traded, much like what happened years ago with cotton and pork bellies.

If audiences are bought and sold on some kind of mercantile exchange, you don’t have to be one of the big networks to get in on the action, all you need is an audience to sell. Who else sees the possibilities in this idea?

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I’m sitting here quite enjoying Game 5 between the Phoenix Suns and L.A. Clippers.
One thing I’ve noticed about the TNT coverage this year, is what they consider to be safe-title for all their graphics. The shows are all shot in high-definition, and then downconverted for the unwashed. The graphics are all done for HD, and for the most part they aren’t really worrying about how they look when seen on a regular set. Everything is way too wide, and the font is very small. TNT has made the concious choice to format their show for the HD audience, which is something new indeed.

I’ve posted a some information about the projects that upNext Media have been involved in lately. I’m going to be getting some video clips ready to include as well.

You can find the projects page button on the left-side of the screen.

We tend to think that if people are good at something, it’s because they just have a god-given talent. In a very interesting article by the guys behind “Freakonomics”, there is a body of evidence that suggests that isn’t true at all.

They set out to answer a question, why is it that most elite soccer players are born in the first three months of the year? It turns out that practice, and a very specific kind of practice, holds the key to success in any endevour. If we want to get good at something, we should set specific goals, obtain immediate feedback of how we’re doing, and concentrate on technique more than outcome as we practice.

Read the article here.