Allen Weiner » Conferences

SXSW, Day One Preview

Allen Weiner — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:30:15 +0000

I think I have the hang of it.

This is my second SXSW and I did my best to prep in terms of which sessions to attend, which trade show booths I want to attend, which movies I want to see and which parties I want to crash. Those who know me will attest that I am not much of a party guy.

I have a meeting with one of our large clients over lunch which is fine as the events don’t start until 2 pm. I struggle with the sessions, to be honest. I find the titles of many to be rather pedantic and a little too high-level. That said, some of the topics, especially those that deal with the future of news, sound compelling. The big panel is at 5 pm and features Avner Ronen (Boxee) vs. Mark Cuban. It’s supposed to be about free vs pay TV but will likely stray into other areas.

Tonight, I will attend the world premiere of “Kick-Ass,” a new movie about a guy who pretends he’s a superhero.

Lots of other events in-between; photos and videos to come.

Reporting from SXSW

Allen Weiner — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:00:51 +0000

It’s with great excitement that I will be reporting/blogging/video-ing/Tweeting, etc… from South By Southwest (SXSW) or, as we Austinites say, “South by.”

The show is in three sections: interactive, film and music. The first several days are interactive (think a cooler version of Internet World in its earliest San Jose days) and the last several days are music. Lots of music. Thousands of bands. The films run throughout including several world premieres.

I will be blogging related to interactive (as appropriate) here at my Gartner blog and will also be blogging everything (interactive, film and music) at my personal blog, The Nomadic Newsman.

Live from Nokia World: Nokia Booklet 3G, First Look

Allen Weiner — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:45:43 +0000

Nokia has just announced details of its new netbook, the Booklet 3G. It will be available in Q4, be priced at 575 Euros (>$800 U.S.) but it will be subsidized by many carriers. In the U.S., however, many netbooks are already practically given away by carriers ala the combo of phone plus service plans. The product boasts 12 hours of battery life, swappable SIM cards and …. well, that’s the rest of the story. We’re still waiting to hear about levels of differentiation between the Booklet and the countless (and growing number) of netbooks already on the market. The model of carrier plus device will not cut it with this new breed of devices; there must be some level of content differentiation in the form of premium services that are bundled on the home screen of the Booklet. A home for conditional access video via cable providers? The ultimate bundling of e-books and magazines?

The other part of the story is how Microsoft fits in here given Nokia’s new relationship with the Redmond software giant. The netbook is a safe place for Nokia and Microsoft to combine efforts because it does not inherently compete with Microsoft’s mobile phone plans. A joint Microsoft-Nokia OVI Store for content? Microsoft’s weak but growing “TV” plans may fit in nicely with the Booklet as a portable video device.

And where does Apple’s tablet plans fit in? Based on the details so far, Apple should not lose sleep over the Booklet announcement. Nokia will have an uphill battle in the U.S. to unseat Apple as the place where cool kids go for next-gen devices and the content that feeds those hungry monsters.

Presenting At And Blogging from NAB

Allen Weiner — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:27:15 +0000

My colleagues Andrew Frank, Mike McGuire and I will be at the NAB Show April 20-22nd, leading two sessions in and around issues related to TV 2.0. If you go here and her e, you will find out the details of our sessions on April 20 and 21. In addition, we hope to offer up on-the-scene insights via word, picture and sound.

Stay tuned.

The Mikey: Recording With Your iPod at SXSW

Allen Weiner — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:50:57 +0000

Tyler Barth, director of marketing for Blue Microphones, demos the new Mikey, a cool gadget that attaches to your iPod, iPhone, etc.. and facilitates amazing .wav recording.

Interview with Mike Bonnano of The Yes Men Fix the World at SXSW

Allen Weiner — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:42:22 +0000

After a delayed screening of “The Yes Men Fix the World” at SXSW, I was able to catch up with Mike Bonnano, one of the Yes Men, and ask him some questions about what’s next for the corporate pranksters as well as film funding issues.

While not a prank, one of the memorable scenes in the film is when Mike and his partner Andy Bichlbaum go to great lengths to compose and print an edition of The New York Times which featured fake stories that focused on “what could be possible.” They printed 100,000 copies and handed then out in front of The Times building and the reactions are priceless.

The film with air on HBO this summer. Do not miss it.

uStream.TV at SXSW

Allen Weiner — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:43:14 +0000

We made our way over to The Belmont, uStream.TV’s headquarters for SXSW. Eager to see just how uStream put together a high-quality live streamcast, I captured the configuration (somewhat) in the video below.

There’s an s-Video out from the Panasonic HD camera to the broadcast mixer and an audio out from the camera to the mixer. The mixer is then fed into a computer and then sent over the web. I did not see what sort of bandwidth was in use. The Belmont offers WiFi, but there’s little chance uStream was using WiFi for this sort of exercise.

Reporter’s Netbook at SXSW

Allen Weiner — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:01:05 +0000

Last year, I wrote about the concept of turning the mobile phone into the ultimate device for mobile reporting (a concept which applies to any content creator). Publishers, in keeping with the Web 2.0 notion of timely information in a variety of formats, would arm journalists with a tricked-phone phone from which they could write, take pictures, shoot videos and easily upload them to the mothership (read Digital Media Operations center) for deployment in print, online, mobile, etc.. Outside of some experiments with the Nokia N-series devices, the idea has not caught on. Mobile phones can also deploy live stream applications such as Qik and Flixwagon, but to be honest they are not totally reliable and often the resolution is not suitable for lengthy viewing.

Admittedly, the computer notebook is a wonderful tool for the reporter/content creator. The notebook can be a powerful device with great processing power and the capacity to launch a number of content creation tools from word processing to webcam-delivered video. With a Firewire port and the right videocamera, live video streamed via one of the many socialcasting sites (Now Live, uStream, etc…) can take the place of an expensive mobile broadcast unit. Still, in some situations where space is cramped, the notebook is not ideal.

So, now there is the Netbook, a three-pound mini wonder that has some of power of the notebook with an added dash of true portability which could turn a reporter/content creator into a true “platypus” journalist. (Go here for a definition of a platypus journalist).

With that in mind, the folks from Dell have given me a two-day loaner of a netbook here at SXSW so I can see how it works as a portable content creation device. My goal is to do some blogging, podcasting, live video and “video on demand” creation. I downloaded VideoSpin from Pinnacle to do basic editing of video files.

Stay tuned

SXSW Interactive Comes to a Close

Allen Weiner — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:53:17 +0000

After two-plus days of panels, meeting and briefings (as well as just bathing in the spirit and energy at SXSW), the interactive (web/internet) portion of the show ends and the music takes center stage. Film continues throughout the week with a mix of indie films, short films and some world feature film premieres. Spike Lee’s “Passing Strange” opens tonight, but we’re opting for some strange looking film called “Make Out With Violence.”

Early this afternoon, we saw “Over the Hills and Far Away,” the story of a family who goes to great lengths to find a cure for their son’s autism. A gripping story that proves real life is sometimes more interesting than fiction.

SXSW: Interview with Indiepix president, Bob Alexander

Allen Weiner — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:54:42 +0000

I had the opportunity to sit down with Bob Alexander, president of Indiepix Films, an independent film distributor, and discuss the role the role technology is playing in the creation and distribution of independent films. The interview is about 20 minutes, but very interesting for those who follow the movie industry. Indiepix’s film, “The Least of These” debuted at SXSW.

Click here to listen or download. (starts after 5 seconds)