BijanBlog

What is the definition of heavy metal ?

You'll have to watch Nite Fite to find out.

Brought to you by the same folks that brought us Internet People.

I love this. Reminds me of high school in too many ways.

RockMe Petraeus

Lauren and I were laughing so hard last night after seeing John Stewart's take on Gen Petraeus recent testimony before Congress. So funny

An animated tribute to Internet People

Fred Seibert showed me Dan Meth's creation last month.

And I couldn't wait to show everyone. Today they made Internet People available. It's an animated tribute to all Check it out. It's awesome.

If you like this then you will want to tune into The Meth Minute which will have 38 one minute shows. One show per week.

(disclosure: we are investors in Next New Networks)

Wallstrip this weekend

Wallstrip this weekend is as funny as ever.

On todays show, Howard talks with some smart (and cute) experts on the stock market. Check it out.

JETSET

JETSET is one cool internet show.

The show covers internet and pop culture. And the host Zadi Diaz is funny, bright and so great in front of the camera.

I was catching up on my JETSET shows on my flight to SF yesterday. Here's one from earlier in the week.

My favorite part of this episode was learning about the 2007 US Air Guitar Championship which took place August 16th in NYC. Looked like a blast.

Garmin on Wallstrip

My friends at Wallstrip do a much better review of the Garmin Forerunner than my previous review on the product. Howard blogs about Garmin as well and why it's the stock to own. I'm glad I own the product and the stock.

It's another great Wallstrip show. I love Lindsay's "punch in the face" question at the end. So funny.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Free Hugs - Wallstrip style

Last year I posted the Free Hugs video to my blog. I thought it was great.

Shortly afterwards, I sent Howard an email suggesting a Wallstrip version of Free Hugs. I think my dopey idea at the time was something like VCs and entrepreneurs hugging each other. I don't exactly remember.

Howard, Adam and Lindsay had a much better idea. Here is Free Hugs Wallstrip style.

Social Media explosion

Alex Blum, the CEO of KickApps, has an interesting post today about the dramatic increase in social media usage online.

We all know in our gut that social media has been on an absolute tear over the past few years but the numbers are quite impressive.

We made the investment decision in KickApps late in 2005. It was the second investment we made after starting Spark. We believed then, as we do now, that web sites will need social media applications. There are thousands of big and small websites using KickApps to easily add social media experiences to their existing web sites.

I like BET's recent use of the technology. The BET audience was invited to submit their own award category introduction videos for the BET Awards 2007 show on cable last night. The audience voted on their favorite videos and the top videos were on the actual television show.

I thought this one was pretty clever for the "Best Collaboration" award intro.

Robot ate my homework

Readers of this blog know how much I dig robots (my various posts).

So it's no wonder I'm loving this recent fun cartoon from Channel Frederator.

(disclosure: yep, we are investors in Next New Networks, the creators of Channel Frederator and many more networks)

A Chat with Al Franken

I'm just catching up on one of my favorite web shows,TPMtv on Veracifer.

Last week Josh sat down with Al Franken. Al is the man. Nice job Josh. Here is part 1.

If you like this one be sure to check out part 2.

(disclosure: Veracifier is part of the NNN family and we are investors in the company)

Introducing Total MMO

If you are into MMOs like EVE, Everquest, WoW or others then you will want to check out Total MMO.

It's a new show about the worlds of MMOs, tips, tricks, reviews. And its brought to you by Next New Networks. In addition to the show there is a blog and also viewers/readers are encouraged to comment and upload video as well. Hope you like it.

(disclosure: we are investors in NNN)

Threadbanger meets Maker Faire

A lot of my friends went to Maker Faire ten days ago in the bay area. I read a few blogs on the event. Sounded like a blast. The whole DIY space is a big theme on Threadbanger - one of the networks brought to you by NNN, (and also one of our portfolio companies).

Threadheads did an excellent show from the Maker Faire. In case you missed it here it is.

I like the DIY/prosumer space a lot. We recently made another investment in this area that we haven't announced yet. I can't wait to tell you all about it soon.
 

Star Wars video mashups. woot!

Tomorrow on StarWars.com Lucas is making 250 clips available for editing and mixing various clips with user generated content as well.

And users will be able to publish their mashups everywhere.

The tools have been here for awhile. In this case StarWars.com is using Eyespots products. There are others that are great as well. And iMovie on a Mac is super easy.

But now we have content owners understanding the value of getting this stuff into the hands of users. George Lucas, who has always been ultra conservative on protecting his IP, is jumping into the pool and no doubt others will now follow. Get your hands on a copy of the Phantom Edit if you want to see how creative users can be.

Wow, now we really need a big honking database and web service for content owners to dump their clips and make them available instead of one-offs.

Anyone want to start this?

Disney video mashup

I thought the Battlestar Galactica video mashups were pretty cool.

Here is another video mashup

The creative folks at Stanford University's Documentary & Film program developed this video using a large variety of Disney video and audio clips.

The purpose of this particular mashup is to highlight issues surrounding copyright laws and fair use doctrine

Very clever. Check it out here.

We need a big honking database full of video and audio clips so we can do video mashups easily and legally. Maybe something like what Snocap is doing for indie artists on myspace but instead for video mashups.

Content owners could dictate the rules, ie. whether their assets can be used with or without advertising, with or without fees and with or without creative commons credentials etc.

We are the creative generation

Internet Video

This afternoon I was on a panel at Streaming Media East today in NYC. The topic of the panel was "From the Web to TV: New Media Delivery Revolution"

On my panel was Fred McIntyre from AOL, Tara Maitra from TiVo and Ed Lee from Akimbo. Unlike the panel I was on last week, I liked this one. I was at a NNN board meeting in the morning today so I had a lot of ideas swirling around my mind. Some of them I felt comfortable sharing and I did. There were video cameras rolling so if I get a copy I will post it at some point.

I enjoyed Tara's view on the future of internet video, how internet video business models are evolving and  Swivel Search (announced today).  More about TiVo and some future stuff in a post soooon. Fred and Ed and the audience also had a lot of interesting points. Jose did a nice job moderating the session.

There were varying opinions on our panel but one thing is clear. While lots of folks in the press, startups and big companies are trying to connect the web to the TV, consumers are enjoying video on their computers like crazy. They aren't waiting nor will they need to. The big screen tv is just another display. not the only display.

Right now I'm on a train from NYC back to Boston. And I'm watching a bunch of videos on veoh, youtube, wallstrip and veracifier on my Macbook w/a verizon evdo card. And it's great. It's fun and it's interesting.

Here is todays episode of Veracifier. It's a good one.

The genie is out of the botttle

The recent deal between Disney and Cox is interesting to me. They are going to disable fast forward functionality on VOD. It's an effort to preserve an endangered species (aka the 30 second spot)

I'm not opposed to ads. I want content creators and distributors to make money. We have portfolio companies that are counting on ad sales.

But I think anytime you force the consumer to do something unnatural you are going to lose. At the very least it will bum out that user and that can't be good. And forcing someone to watch an ad (especially for time-shifted/prerecorded content) seems unnatural to me.

I think we need to find creative solutions here. NNN is rolling out some new pre-roll campaigns at VODCars that integrate the pre-roll and the show itself. And Wallstrip has done a masterful job integrating product placement in some of their shows. NBC is reducing their 30 second prerolls to a 15 seconds and YouTube is going to reduce it even further.

DVRs and VOD is a platform for innovation. We can do a lot with these platforms to make sure the economics work. New ad units are starting to emerge and there are a lot of lessons (good and bad) that can come from the online world to the cable/satellite/iptv world.

We shouldn't go backwards and turn off functionality or make the consumer experience worse. It's too late. The genie is out of the bottle.

Introducing Veracifier

Veracifier is the latest network launched by Next New Networks.

And very quickly it is one of my favorites.

Veracifier is a network that has an interesting mix of content.

Mondays-Thursdays, Joshua Micah Marshall and the team at Talking Points Memo are the hosts of TPM TV. It's a new web show delivered by a passionate group of bloggers that are credited with breaking the US attorneys story wide open among other things.

On Fridays, there will be exclusive episodes of Alive in Baghdad. Alive in Baghad is web show created by Americans and Iraqis on the ground and shows the occupation through the voices of Iraqis.

There are also some great new community elements to Veracifier. In addition to the regular stuff you see in lots of places like comments and email sharing, readers of Veracifer can also upload their own videos. That's cool. I think their blog says it the best. So here's the quote

"Most importantly, we want to know what you, the viewers think. That's why there's a comments link under every video. An email address on every page. And a link to upload your own video. Whether its your own commentary, footage, an original report, or simply your thoughts recorded on a webcam, we want to see it, hear it, and put it on the network."

And here's todays show. Hope you like it as much as I do.

(disclosure: we are investors in Next New Networks)

What does Etsy have in common with Make magazine

Make magazine is very cool. I first learned about Make from Peter at Bug Labs. More about Peter in a post coming soon but not too soon :) Make is quickly becoming a very popular magazine for DIY electronics.

Etsy is a place to buy & sell handmade items. Great stuff. They both have a very loyal and growing community behind them.

And this week they have another thing in common.

I'm happy to say that both are featured inside the current episode of Threadbanger. Check it out.

(disclosure: we are investors in N3 the folks behind Threadbanger and other great networks)

ABC.com goes big

ABC.com just upgraded their video player so you can watch their shows in full screen mode.

It works just fine in Firefox on a Mac (I haven't tried it on Windows) and so much better than the previous player.

Yet another reason to hook up a PC or MacMini to your HDTV.

Pulp Secret

I've blogged about Pulp Secret before and I'm really enjoying it. The show is getting better and better. Great energy and fun style.

If you like comic books and super hero stuff (who doesn't) than you should consider adding Pulp Secret to your favorite rss reader. Here's the latest episode (disclosure: we are investors in N3)

Congrats to Wallstrip

My friend Howard blogged about Wallstrip's 100th episode yesterday.

My favorite shows so far was probably the Jack in the Box show and the VCA Antech show (and I had so much fun being part of the blackberry dork-a-thon.)

Great 5 months and congrats to the Wallstrip team.

Update: here is the Wallstrip anniversary show with Howard & Lindsay's top 5.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

We want cablecards in the MacMini

Looks like an upcoming Dell/Vista PC is going to support CableCard which means built in premium HD cable channel support.

I can't wait until the MacMini supports cablecards. It's gotta happen soon and that will be beautiful.

Video mashups

Well I already confessed to being a Battlestar Galactica fan.

The show just announced a video mash up service and tools where fans can download video and audio from the show and mix and mash them up. How frakking cool is that. I can't wait to see what BG fans create.

This should be fun to watch.

And I hope other shows follow this example.

Time Warner Cable Internet Video Trial

It looks like Time Warner Cable is ending their internet video trial. Does anyone know if this service was simply broadcast or unicast over the internet.

I have a feeling it was simulcast.

I'm trying to get more information from TWC subscribers that used the service.

Technicolor 3.0

On vacation at Disney World it's obvious that this is an amazing company. The attention to detail for the kids, characters, brands, packaging, promotion etc. Consumer marketing nicely executed.

But I'm also thinking about the history of Disney and its respect for technology in the creative process.

The history of technicolor is an interesting one. In the 1930's Disney was able to get a 2 year exclusive contract on the technology and as result was able to create effects that was unparalleled at the time.

Fast forward a few decades and with the acquisition of Pixar they purchased a hit machine. They also purchased RenderMan. RenderMan is Pixar's technology to create incredible photorealistic images. Call it Technicolor 2.0.

Technicolor 3.0 is coming soon. Probably from some startup. It will deliver videorealism to the world of CGI. And if history is any guide, Disney may just acquire this future technology.

Online Video Quality

The team at N3 (creators of Channel Frederator, VODCars and more coming soon) launched a blog recently. I really like Herb's latest post about online video quality. (I also like that Herb is a fellow Ramones fan). I thought his quality post was spot on.

Readers of this blog know I'm a fan of robots. Here's a cartoon from Channel Frederator called "The Secret Life of Robots". I think it's hilarious.