To Tether or Not To Tether: Is it Even a Question Anymore?
By Alan Smodic
Tethering your mobile device, in the current format, could be completely gone within the next couple years, according to one mobile device analyst.
Jeff Orr, a senior analyst of mobile devices for ABI Research, believes that current form, which is connecting a smartphone to another device (typically a laptop computer) to use its data services as a modem, will cease to exist mainly because of convenience.
“For one, it’s convenience and mobility,” he says. “People don’t want to be tied down by cords. That won’t always work.”
Orr’s vision one day sees service providers, such as AT&T or Verizon, opening up data plans that will allow connectivity between multiple devices. He compares it to a family plan of calling minutes usage - only with this plan the family is all your mobile devices accessing the same pool of data minutes.
This revelation rests more on simple progression than the threat of more 3G/Wi-Fi-bundled devices such as e-readers or the Apple iPad expunging the use of tethering.
Currently, mobile consumers are able to use most smartphones to tether with another device. For example, a USB cord can connect your BlackBerry and laptop to allow you to access the Internet through your BlackBerry’s data plan.
Service providers, however, are quick to want in on the data action and usually charge an extra fee to access this. Workaround programs such as HYPERLINK “http://tether.com/”Tether (which boasts a BlackBerry and Android app), though, exist to offer you these opportunities without going through your provider. On its end, it just sees data being used but not necessarily how.
This option has felt a major push since Tether created its BlackBerry app in March 2009.
“More than 60,000 customers in 114 countries use Tether to connect their laptops to their smartphones, ensuring a fast and affordable tethering option anywhere they have cellphone coverage,” says Tim Burke, Tether’s director of development.
Some newer devices, like that of Apple’s iPad or 3G-bundled netbooks, will carry their own accessibility to wireless data networks in addition to Wi-Fi. To those devices, tethering would be unneeded, but that’s where Orr’s vision comes into play.
He, along with many consumers, see no reason why someone who is already paying for an iPhone data plan from AT&T couldn’t use that same data for their iPad (or other devices), rather than adding on another fee.
One possibility could be that of better data plans with a small device that could be used as a hub that would allow for instant data access for a user’s mobile devices. It’d be wirelessly tethering to each device with one-click access.
But that’s just one possibility and is by no means the correct answer. Orr says the industry just isn’t quite there yet to open up the data usage, but that it’s close. Whatever the solution may ultimately be, it’ll need to cater to the consumer.
“The solution will need to be convenient, but at a price point that won’t scare people away,” Orr says. “People don’t want to be paying another $60 a month every time they get a new mobile computing device.
“So what will these providers do to encourage me to get all of these devices connected?”
As more devices are added to everyday use - from mobile phone to iPad and laptop computer - the need for constant connectivity will continue to rise, especially for the mobile worker.
For now, tethering (through Bluetooth or USB) remains the best choice. But advanced options will be desired and consumers won’t want to pay too much of a premium. It’ll be up to the providers to make all this happen in a reasonable fashion.
And Orr expects consumers to experience this type of data evolution within two years. “Those problems of combining capabilities are being addressed right now by the providers,” he says. “Tethering is a challenge, but they recognize the market needs to evolve.”
Partnerships Profit From Gaming Consoles
Image courtesy of Gizmodo.com
By Alan Smodic
It’s no secret that online streaming content is quickly becoming the first choice for many viewers and the battle to expand that beyond the computer screen continues to build.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 stand at the forefront to provide consumers with a set-top box that offers a complete multimedia experience as a gaming console, DVD or BluRay player, online content provider and social media aggregator.
Both consoles attempt to stay on top of the game, and one step ahead of the other, in this venture. But as they do, who stands to benefit the most?
A prime example of the possibilities was brought forth by Xbox last month when it was reported that the system may soon reach a deal to stream ESPN-televised sporting events, for a per-subscriber fee.
CNET gaming writer Jeff Bakalar says that setup should be a no-brainer for TV networks. “Theoretically, a TV network could reach millions of people with an Xbox Live ‘channel.’ Microsoft has sold 39 million consoles worldwide, with half of those systems hooked into Xbox Live,” he says. “With numbers like that, it’s no wonder cable companies are looking to game consoles as another outlet.”
The content provides added value to the hardware for consoles like the Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Wii, which benefits each company. For Xbox, it also allows the company to charge a premium for the extra content such as its current setup with Netflix streaming movies.
On the other hand, the content creators are able to reach another mass audience without much effort, thus displaying its ads to many more eyes.
Currently, however, the top streaming site, Hulu, limits its video sharing, which was not always the case. Hulu had been made previously available through applications like Boxee (a media-aggregator application for Windows, Mac or Linux) or the PS3’s browser. But that fact is leaving a number of people perplexed, including the U.S. Government, which asked NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker about the decision during a recent congressional hearing. Hulu is a joint venture between NBC, Fox, ABC and others.
Zucker’s response to the questioning didn’t clarify a thing. “This was a decision made by the Hulu management to, uh, what Boxee was doing was illegally taking the content that was on Hulu without any business deal. And, you know, all, all the, we have several distributors, actually many distributors of the Hulu content that we have legal distribution deals with so we don’t preclude distribution deals. What we preclude are those who illegally take that content,” he says.
Boxee issued a response almost instantly, stating that it uses a browser to access the content, just as anyone with a computer or PS3 was already doing and wasn’t stealing a thing. It even offered to speak with Zucker and noted that Hulu should be taking advantage of Boxee’s userbase.
“There are now close to a million people using Boxee,” Boxee says in a statement. “When they watch shows from Hulu they are watching the ads and generate real revenues to NBC. We hope we will be able to work with NBC and offer more content and value to Boxee users as we believe a good number of our users will also be willing to pay one-time or subscription fees to access NBC’s content.”
Boxee, in addition to its computer software, has plans to release its own set-top box later this year, which will provide direct competition to the gaming consoles — minus the gaming factor.
The high number of consoles already sold (a reported 60 percent of American homes have at least one console), though, gives the PS3 and Xbox 360 a nice headstart. But, as Hulu is showing, providing that content can be tricky.
“We want to offer the best entertainment on Xbox Live in as many countries as we can,” Xbox corporate VP John Schappert told G4 at E3. “But it takes a while to get these deals done, it takes a while to form these relationships, form these partnerships and find a great experience for [all] of our partners.”
In addition to streaming other videos, both Microsoft and Sony have offered their own direct-to-console shows - The Guild, which airs exclusively on Xblox LIVE; and The Tester, a free reality TV show that will debut on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable this month.
The success of these two ventures for the gaming giants opens another realm of content distribution. With that in mind, they both are poised to serve as a be-all, end-all box-top system.
That success, however, may lie with whomever secures the better partnerships first and that answer could come soon enough.
For Mobile Gaming’s Success, ‘Constraint is the Mother of Innovation’
By Alan Smodic
When the Facebook platform went live in May 2007, Zynga’s Bing Gordon says it changed everything about the social gaming industry.
“Its developer APIs were as solid as any video game console development tools, and it achieved mass market penetration much more quickly (Facebook apps are estimated to have reached 40 million users in just 12 months),” he wrote.
Social games, like Zynga’s Farmville and Mafia Wars, burst onto the scene and never looked back in the last two years, which led to the rapid growth of the industry. Zynga alone sees about 230 million monthly active users on Facebook.
But as the realms of social media move away from the computer and onto mobile platforms, more specifically to those of the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices, the young industry must adapt with it.
On the developer’s end, that hasn’t been too much of a problem, especially in terms of Apple’s iPhone. “The iPhone apps development environment has also proven to be enormously productive,” Gordon says, “and the iTunes Apps store is clearly a new ‘killer app’ for mobile computing.”
However, things begin to get a little trickier when other platforms come into the mix. Translating game play from the Web to fit onto numerous devices running either Android, BlackBerry, iPhone or even Windows Mobile takes time. And money.
Foursquare, which recently launched a beta of its BlackBerry app to about 5,000 testers, stated before that it ramped up its BlackBerry development only after it secured more funding. Gowalla, Foursquare’s biggest competitor, has yet to implement BlackBerry or Android native clients.
“As soon as we felt good about the financing going through, we hired our friend Pete to start working on it,” the company says in a press release.
Even then, it took another four months before the beta released. Meanwhile, iPhone and Android users were already growing well accustomed to their apps thanks to what many developers consider a better programming experience.
What has slowed down the applications more, though, (other than the opinionated arguments behind the SDK, API and IDEs) is the lack of ability to transition all profitable elements of the gameplay from the Web.
Each major social gaming company has admitted that they are tinkering with the elements that make them profitable. But most have found success through virtual currency, which hasn’t fully optimized yet on the mobile platforms.
For instance, Zynga reports that purchases of virtual currency account for most of its more than $100 million in revenue in 2009. That says a lot for its necessity to be included in all versions of its games to be successful.
It’s these limitations, or others that may surface as the industry continues to grow, which will only help it flourish, according to Scott Jon Siegel, a former iPhone lead designer for Zynga who now works for Playdom.
Playdom boasts more than 20 million monthly active users and possesses the no. 1 game on MySpace, Mobsters, which recently launched on the iPhone.
Siegel likes to work with a personal slogan: “Constraint is the mother of innovation.” ”As a game designer, I refer to this principle on a daily basis,” he writes. “Whether working on a brand new title, or making improvements to an existing one, the best ideas are born out of limitations - boundaries which designers must work around to achieve their goals.
“Easy problems are simply those with too many solutions. It’s when our options are severely limited that we begin to look in new and exciting directions.”
Playdom’s CEO and co-founder, Dan Yue, takes it one step further, stating that sticking to his company’s values of relying on user feedback and metrics to understand exactly what players want and expect will make social games successful on any platform.
“As long as we continue to respond to our players, we’re confident our games will be successful on new platforms and as player expectations evolve,” he says.
Mobile Gaming: Profitability Still in Limbo
Image courtesy of Apple, Inc.
By Alan Smodic
Although mobile gaming is gaining an audience, the vast majority of gamers still opt for external devices or desktops, says Microsoft’s Larry Hryb. But that’s not to say that mobile isn’t catching up. In fact, today’s more popular games may require the use of a PC or Mac, but are played in the cloud.
The result is a number of games that can be accessed from any number of machines, including a computer, traditional gaming console or mobile device. And it’s this revelation, Hryb says, that will translate to a new gaming market.
If it hasn’t already.
“I play the games because I like to get a feel of everything and it’s obvious a lot of people are playing them,” says Hryb, the director of programming for Xbox Live. “It’s in a different realm than we are in terms of gaming and the audience, but it’s made great strides.
“The iPhone, the [Sony] PSP, the [Nintendo] DS — these could all show major advancements in the next year and beyond.”
Two major driving forces reside within the streamlined development of social gaming and its advancement to a broader audience: 1) games can be developed by any decent programmer or company on the cheap (especially when compared to console games) and 2) games can be marketed to millions of registered people on Facebook and other social networks across the world for free.
These traits provide a process that is beneficial to both ends of the social gaming community, writes Jeremy Liew, a managing director at Lightspeed Venture Partners.
“Social game developers have taken a leaf out of the Web 2.0 page. They launch a game in beta, without completely fleshing out all elements of gameplay,” he wrote. “If the game finds an audience, it will earn further investment in development. But if it does not, then the investment is stopped. This helps mitigate risk.
“Furthermore, developers know quickly if a game is going to work, and are able to iteratively launch new features based on actual data on what players like to do.”
What most Facebook users are vying for now, however, is the ability to play their favorite social networking games on their mobile devices. Zynga, the leading creator of the social games (including titles such as FarmVille, Mafia Wars and Vampires) hears the cry.
The company’s continued success on Facebook and MySpace (with unique monthly users now reaching 230 million) has delivered revenue from the estimated one million players that spend money on virtual goods within the game each month.
“With the popularity of virtual goods today, we are in the early stages of a new economy that could grow and shape the future of the Web,” says Mark Pincus, Zynga’s CEO, in a press release.
But therein lies the greatest problem when making the transition to the smartphone platform. Few, if any, game developers have found ways to be profitable.
For starters, the ability to implement the same in-game virtual purchases is not available for free games (despite the fact that the iPhone 3.0 software did enable it for paid apps). Opening this feature, Pincus says, would allow developers to concentrate on mobile gaming.
“To me, this is Web 3.0,” Pincus says to Venture Beat at this year’s Social Gaming Summit. “If Apple can make these improvements, they should be able to go from a billion apps sold to four billion quickly.”
Zynga has recently pushed a handful of its games to the iPhone platform, most notably Mafia Wars and Vampires Bloodlust. And the company is banking on the hunch that the iPhone and iPod Touch will flesh out the shortcomings limiting the full potential of social gaming.
Earlier this year, Zynga hired Steven Lurie as its general manager of its mobile game group. Lurie worked previously at the venture capital fund MHS Capital and served as CEO of online firm Advice Company. Needless to say, monitoring the iPhone platform will be high on his list.
Meanwhile, as games on this front fine-tune a working Facebook model for mobility, another wave of social gaming activity gains steam close behind, featuring geo-location companies such as Gowalla and Foursquare.
The aim of these two gaming platforms is to allow users to check in at various locations throughout the world, while connecting with socially networked friends and building points along the way.
The games act as a service in connecting friends in real-time situations in addition to serving as fun gameplay. Foursquare has seen its reputation rise suddenly, especially after being dubbed “Next year’s Twitter” by Mashable founder Pete Cashmore.
What all these innovative companies are doing is proving that they are listening to the players. They are breaking new ground, accommodating users on the go and reaching out directly to their pockets wherever they may be at the time.
And no matter who may come out on top of the competition, 2010 will prove to be a pivotal year for the iPhone/iPod Touch platform and the social gaming industry.
50 Digital Media Experts You Need To Follow on Twitter
Image courtesy of Kilobox.net
By Alan Smodic
The best part of Twitter, and the main reason to join, is the ability to chime in and listen to any number of conversations on an infinite number of topics. An added bonus to that feature is the fact that many professionals in those fields also join in on the fun, adding valuable insight and intelligence.
With that in mind, the most crucial step is to build a solid core of people to follow. And if you’re looking for digital media talk, look no further than these 50 people to get you started (in no particular order).
Remember, too, the best option for continued development of your list is to pay attention during Follow Friday.
- Pete Cashmore (@mashable) CEO of Mashable, leading blog in social media news/events
- Michael Arrington (@techcrunch) TechCrunch founder and big-time techie
- Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) Co-founder and EIC of The Huffington Post
- NewsFuturist.com (newsfuturist) Media innovation news provider
- Crindalyn (@crindalyn) A digital media director and self-proclaimed ‘new media geek’
- Knowledgewebb (@kowledgewebb) Twitter home for knowledgewebb.com, a training ground for new digital mediaists
- Andrew Golis (@agolis) Czar of blogging for Yahoo News
- Ken Doctor (@kdoctor) Author of Content Bridges, covering the tranformation of media
- Elaine Helm (ehelm) Online journalist and new media editor
- Greg Linch (@greglinch) Producer at Publish2 and CoPress adviser
- Cali Lewis (@calilewis) GeekBrief.TV host
- Caterina Fake (@caterina) Flickr co-founder
- Biz Stone (@biz) Without him, this list is never created
- Patrick Thornton (@jiconoclast) Community manager at RarePlanet.org
- Ryan Sholin (@ryansholin) Director of News Innovation at Publish2
- Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki) Alltop co-founder
- Chris Anderson (@chr1sa) Wired magazine EIC
- Lance Ulanoff (@lanceulanoff) PC Magazine EIC
- Gina Trapani (@ginatrapani) Lifehacker.com founding editor
- Kevin Rose (@kevinrose) The reason you Digg your stories
- Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) Just follow, read and listen
- Peter Rojas (@peterrojas) Give him thanks for Gizmodo and Engadget
- Daniel B. Honigman (@danielhonigman) Creator of @ColonelTribune
- PBS MediaShift (@pbsmediashift) A PBS blog that covers how media is making the digital shift
- Jay Adelson (@jayadelson) CEO of Digg, founder of Revision3
- Nieman Lab (@niemanlab) Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab attempts to figure out its future
- Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) Journalism professor at NYU
- Ben Parr (@benparr) Co-editor at Mashable
- Leo Laporte (@leolaporte) Host of This Week in Tech
- Richard MacManus (@rww) You love him for ReadWriteWeb
- Harry McCracken (@harrymccracken) The Technologizer
- Jennifer Preston (@NYT_jenpreston) First social media editor at The New York Times
- John Battelle (@johnbattelle) Founder, CEO and Chairman of Federated Media Publishing
- Amber Mac (@ambermac) Co-host of This Week in Tech, produces Girls Go Geek
- Jason Calacanis (@jason) Founder of Mahalo
- Anil Dash (@anildash) VP of Six Apart, parent company of Movable Type, Typepad and Vox
- Chris Pirillo (@chrispirillo) CNN.com tech guy
- Loic Le Meur (@loic) Founder of Seesmic
- Steve Outing (@steveouting) Focused on the reinvention of news
- Mark S. Luckie (@10000words) Author of 10,000 Words blog
- Will Sullivan (@journerdism) Interactive director at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Howard Owens (@howardowens) Online news publisher
- David Cohn (@digidave) Runs Spot.us, featuring community-funded journalism
- Ed Bott (@edbott) Author, Windows expert
- Darren Rowse (@problogger) ProBlogger.net, advancing digital media
- Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) Founding developer of WordPress; You know you use his invention
- Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) A must follow; Social media marketer that digs all things media
- Jason Snell (@jsnell) Editorial director of Macworld
- Dave Zatz (@davezatz) Longtime writer of everything tech
and — shameless plug:
50. Digital Media Buzz (@digitalmediabuz) Keep up with all of the digital media world
All-For-One Entertainment: Gaming Consoles Compete With IPTV
By Alan Smodic
The future of the gaming industry is beginning to rest more on a console’s versatility than the actual gameplay.
That notion isn’t such a bad thing, says Microsoft’s director of programming for Xbox Live Larry Hryb.
“Multiplayer gaming has surpassed moviegoing as society’s imaginative escape of choice,” Hryb says. “Games are at the center of attention and are very social.”
The social features that are found in games are now connecting users to the growing social media world found typically on a personal computer. With the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, Sony and Microsoft have developed social networks of their own, allowing users to connect, share info and play together.
In fact, both networks recently expanded their features when they rolled out updates to include other social networks. Sony introduced Facebook to the PlayStation network, while Xbox Live now integrates its users with last.fm, Facebook and Twitter.
Integration like this opens the doors for much more. “We added value to our system with the original Xbox Live feature and now we view it as the killer application,” Hryb says. “It’s even better that these other consoles have followed suit with their own networks. “It’s only going to make our industry stronger and better.”
The notion presented by Hryb is that competition equals better results. He says the aim to provide the industry’s top choice increases innovation.
Hryb, better known to Xbox Live users as his gamer tag “Major Nelson,” says that Xbox Live now carries about 20 million members with a new account being created every five seconds. Of those members, 32 percent are female.
The numbers and connectivity alone are now appealing to content creators and advertisers who are looking to flood the networks. The power of the user base added one million new accounts on last.fm in one week since the upgrade.
Sony’s initial approach to social networking took a change for the better in recent months as third-party developers created a flurry of mini-games on the PlayStation Home network.
“In the early days when we built Home, we really were building a social network for gamers,” platform director Jack Buser says. “Through that, over the last year, it’s developed into a game platform, first and foremost.”
In addition to that change, PlayStation users also saw the addition of streaming Netflix to the system - a feature Xbox customers already enjoy.
Both systems provide downloadable content in the form of online marketplaces, including HD quality TV shows and movies. These shops, built in the same mold as the iTunes Store and Amazon Video, deviate the need for a desktop computer or Apple TV hookup.
In addition, Microsoft has already started development on an IPTV service that will sync with the Xbox 360. The service, which is seeing heavy testing in overseas markets first, will add another arsenal to the gaming console and its quest to pack everything into one box.
With the consoles now possessing the ability to stream movies, play Blu-Ray (on the PS3), access Windows media libraries, play games, connect with friends and mingle with the online social world, they are turning into one-for-all media hubs.
And when that occurs, the possibilities expand. “For software makers and enthusiasts, the rules of the game are quickly changing,” Scott Steinberg writes. “That means for us, the desktop computer and HDTV-huddled masses, there’s never been a better time to come out and play.”
As the major gaming consoles evolve into these media hubs, and computers for some, the industry will benefit from it.
Users no longer have an excuse to need to leave the gaming network. The console has brought, and will continue to bring, everything to them.
“It’s exciting,” Hryb says. “It’s not just about games anymore. There is a lot more going on and a lot more in store for the consumer.”
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