I wanted to announce that I now have my Facebook TV channel up and running. Configuration was very simple, and I only needed to identify some of the local video content from the home video server that I wanted to share, along with a selection from the list of broadcast shows it had suggested based on my profile.

The application, VideoMe, integrated the content and offered me three different sequences for the first 24 hours of my broadcast. I chose the first one that started off with some video of my 2007 trip to China. It then indicated it would segue in to a recent episode of CSI, followed by some content taken last year around Halloween. Somewhere along the timeline there would be a slide show of the family with a gentle music track. I’m not too sure what came next, but I watched it start off on my PC and it looked pretty good. After a few days I’ll fine tune the content but it seems that the relevance is very high and on a par with Pandora’s ability to select music for me.

I also enabled the advertising feature which will roll commercials for 3 minutes each hour, which allowed me a greater selection of broadcast content.

The program guide is easily available, and I can drag and drop content from one time slot to another to instantly revise the schedule. Commercials follow the new content based on context, time of day and a couple of other factors that I can’t quite fathom. I can also email and IM friends through Facebook to let them know when something interesting is about to come on.

Facebook is selling detailed viewing statistics back to those broadcasters who are contributing content (CBS and FOX) and the advertisers, with demographics to nearest 1 second and location data where the user has given permission. Those who give full permission for personal data are entered into monthly draw for prizes provided by advertisers. Recent advances in battery technology mean that the average user can watch approximately 4 hours of personalized TV without recharging.

Not to be outdone, Google has promised a WiMax interface linked to location which will seamlessly integrate with the VideoMe app while away from home (for use on in-car infotainment systems and handheld devices). It has also promised the ability to go live with streaming content from a Google phone (the Poogle), giving the ability to share it online with those watching the personal channel, or as a standalone video communicator. The quality is likely to be excellent since Google own the majority of the 700Mhz spectrum and have licensed third-party applications to operate within the band.

But this ability to create a personalized video channel for sharing is just the next step in Social Networking. By further blurring the difference between broadcast content and personalized video we witness an enhanced ability of the owners of the infrastructure to monetize our own content and leverage its value to entice our friends to  consume commercials. After all, if our we are encouraging them to watch our content, aren’t we personally endorsing the advertisers that coexist with us?

Over the past 3 years, driving a car has become increasingly expensive, with increases in fuel costs, plus road tolls and congestion charges that increase in line with the 3 month trailing average of the price of oil. Much of these costs of course are taxes, which are plowed back into repairing roads that are over-crowded.

But innovation in technology has delivered some relief for travelers, as I found out in a trial a few months ago after purchasing a new car equipped with the latest version of MoveMe, the satellite delivered data service for transport. My new car has version 2.2 installed with simple voice recognition, wireless access to my home network, GPS tracking and integration with my mobile phones’ Bluetooth for confirmation of my identity. As long as my mobile phone is switched on, or I’m in range of my house, then MoveMe knows everything it needs to know to be of service.

I received an email from MoveMe last week asking me to try out their new “Concierge” level of service, free for a month. One of the services it provides (in addition to hands-free calling, turn-by-turn navigation, music and movie downloads, audio books, podcast city tours for tourists, audio versions of incoming email, vehicle status reminders and a million other things) is to create a booking for my car at my preferred garage when a service is due. I suppose I must have indicated I would try the service because I always try and put off having a service due to the disruption to my schedule, but thought no more about it until last night.

On my way home from work the service burst into life, muting out The Who:

“This is MoveMe Concierge. Would you like to have dinner delivered to your house tonight?”

Huh? Who are you, I thought. That was not what I had ever expected to hear from the service.

“The Steak House has an 8oz New York ribeye for $12.95 delivered, please say Yes,  Next, Picture or No”

It occurred to me that I had been using Google to search for a local steak restaurant over the weekend, and The Steak House had been at the top of the list. Picture? The video screens are in the back of the headrests.

“Next”

“The Steak House has a 12oz sirloin steak for $14.95 delivered, please say Yes, Next, Picture or No”

Now that did seem enticing, and it would save me about 30 minutes of slaving away over a hot oven when I got in. “Picture.” Ha, get out of that one.

“In 1.2 miles, please look at the LED billboard on your right hand side.” And, as promised, about a minute later as I approached, I saw the advert change on the billboard from one for the local hospital to a beautiful picture of the sirloin steak, with the restaurant’s name overlaid. “Would you like the 12oz Sirloin steak for $14.95 delivered?”

“Yes”

“Thank you. The restaurant confirms that it will be delivered 10 minutes after your arrival at home. Your caredit card on record has been charged. Thank you for using the MoveMe Concierge Service”

Now I suppose I shouldn’t risk a stop off at the gas station to spend $5.95 a gallon and fill up the car. I just hope that tomorrow it doesn’t ask me if I want any more Victoria’s Secret gifts. That could cause an accident.

My home site is now ranked number 209 in Microsoft’s “Avalon” virtual world. When I launch my browser it takes me to my Avalon site rather than my old 2-dimensional Yahoo Home page. After 3 years, over 100 people now have added my site to their list of Favorite Teleports, and on Saturday’s there’s quite a crowd of both friends and newcomers. It’s intriguing to watch people arrive (sometimes in groups), interact, move around and leave again all day long. From the stats I can see that encouraging Chase and Joost to allow a virtual presence at my site has improved it as an attraction. Anyone can click on the Chase building to enter it, and after signing in can obtain their banking data. Chase is great because they display the information on the walls inside their building, and you just have to turn around to get the information you need. Of course, you can initiate transactions using the avatar teller just like you can on their usual 2D site. There’s a store for Paytrust so I can walk in and pay my bills, Stop and Shop for my everyday groceries for home delivery and even B&H Photo for stuff I really, really want but don’t need. By creating a normalized interface between different online shops and Avalon, Microsoft made it very easy for retailers to establish a fully-functional presence in their virtual world.

Just down the street the Joost cinema is almost full, with a main Joost-chosen feature playing on the huge screen inside, and four smaller rooms available for semi-private screenings of selectable Joost-driven content. I met some folks from the UK in there recently who I hadn’t talked to for ages. They showed me a video of their last party and it was fortunate for everyone that this was away from the main entry lobby.

The news stand next door has copies of most international newspapers, and inside I’ve subscribed to the BBC World News video service and AlJazeera. By walking in there I can see news headlines on the far wall, and watch video clips (driven by my preferences) on the two adjacent walls. The audio follows my line of sight with uncanny accuracy. Alternatively, on the floor, I can read news headlines just like I used to on my 2D Yahoo home page, and by stepping on the headline I can read the story.

The open-source Autotour facility is very popular (from the main bus stop), mainly because it transports you around the site in under 5 minutes and includes a narrated tour of everything that I think people would find interesting. That includes the new park that I built a couple of months ago after purchasing the land next to me. Apart from walking around the lake and boating on it, visitors can play with the giant chess set, or join a game of cards. Playing for small cash stakes is allowed unless you live in a country where you can’t be trusted. Also on the tour are Hallmark for virtual and real birthday cards, iTunes, Amazon and the art gallery which has exhibits from the British Museum, the Tate and New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. I am seriously thinking of staging an open-air concert next year of the Rolling Stones Final Farewell Concert II. If the live rights are less than $750 for my half-region then I think I can break even from tickets and souvenir sales.

Right now I have about 40 buildings on my home site, arranged so that they join at a crossroads, and rather than having straight streets I’ve jumbled them up a little to look less regimented. All the building textures, fittings and architecture are table driven which makes it easy to change with the seasons – Christmas snow is a drop-down selection.

It seems strange though that back in 2007, Sony had launched their “Home” project which I thought at the time would become the leader in the intersection of real and virtual worlds. But it never progressed beyond the limited Playstation platform which they marketed at that time. I wonder if it will be looked back on as the best technical solution at the time but overtaken by better marketed service? Now, didn’t I have a betamax recorder in the attic somewhere?

I have been a loyal user of MyNewsTeam’s web application for exactly 4 years today, and I know that because when I looked at my newspaper this morning it showed Volume 4, Issue 1 on the front page. As usual I just had to disconnect it from the USB port and it was waiting for me to take and read on the train.

Surprisingly, it hasn’t changed very much from the first time I used it. It gathers news and information from around the world based on my location and preferences, and organizes it into a newspaper format of 8 sheets of e-ink, with text, images and data laid out in a logical sequence. It manages to prioritize stories and news items as part of the service, and knows that family news should be dominant on the front page, but without squeezing out world headlines. The local news content is served by our village newspaper, along with the local High School and other interest groups. Blog scrapers deliver a great deal of the technology news.
 

I have fine tuned it a little recently to direct it to new RSS feeds, especially my family feed that provides three or four news stories each day. I’ve also created a playlist of world and personal video that is reviewed on the newspaper and available on my TV or any other device for $2 whenever I want to access it.
 

I can also look up back issues, email web versions of the newspaper to friends and relatives, clip out stories for saving locally and have a version created for podcast download. But the greatest thing about MyNewsTeam is sitting in Starbucks, plugging the newspaper into my cellphone and watching it change in real-time. As new stories come in and gain prominence over existing news, the animation shows them exchanging places, settling in, shuffling around before the banner changes from amber to green to signify that all is well and a new edition has hit the airwaves. In the 4 years I have never had to change the e-ink pages, they still work remarkably well.

 
But the strangest thing has to be that I registered the URL www.mynewsteam.com way back in about 1997 and allowed it to lapse two years later due to a lack of automated news gathering at the time. It seems that today it is still waiting to be claimed.

Here’s a review of the development of Internet TV that was produced back in 2007 in response to a competition on Network2.TV. 

It’s interesting to note how some of the predictions for future technology took place within months rather than years. You can watch it here

The video was produced at Chelsea Studios in New York with the help of Michael Starobin. Post-production services were provided by Todd Brous of Untwist Technology. ODA Consultancy is focused on providing consultancy services to the broadcast and media industries.

A day of shock and anger. Opening the front door, it became immediately apparent that the instructions to the decorators had been either misread or disregarded. Two weeks ago I had emailed them swatches, textures and floor covering samples and clear instructions on where they should go. For example, swatch 1, apply to walls in Dining Room using eggshell finish. Flooring 1, apply to Dining Room floor, and so on. The only room that appeared to be correctly configured was the kitchen, but then that was fairly simple as it only required a paint finish to each wall. Other rooms had bad joins in the panels, the wrong color paint or incorrect flooring - where did they get those tiles?

I had paid the company on  February 16^th 2011. “Decorators for Life” had received $300 as a down payment, and would get $200 on completion and $100 after completion of any punchlist items. I gave them the key to get into the house and left them to it. They said the job would take about a week, which seemed quite reasonable.

I now have the problem of getting the mistakes remedied. Of course, I can’t visit their offices, as their email address indicates that they live in Korea, but then they could be anywhere, and I am in New York. Nor is there any authority that could take up my case and obtain a refund for me. And there is the root problem of it all in this virtual world of Second Life. While money changes hands freely and rapidly, some form of escrow or a monitoring authority is required to ensure satisfaction.

But this is not a new problem. Back in 2007, as major real-world corporations and advertising agencies set up business along side virtual builders and craftsmen in Second Life, concerns were raised about policing the new economy. Tools for self-builders were non-existent at that time and only those well versed in scripting (and with infinite patience) could create buildings. Some argued that legislation would stifle competition, encouraging a barter economy which was not the goal of the creators.

But those builders and decorators who set up shop early in the game have grown into huge businesses. Each time the resolution of the game increases the poor quality of the existing surfaces becomes more apparent and so inhabitants feel forced to decorate. Driven by major real-world and virtual corporations who have a brand and image to maintain, the decorators demand and obtain commissions in six figures for the renovation of some buildings. As in the real world, there are great companies and then there are those who get carried along as the economy flows. Unfortunately, Decorators for Life is one of the latter and I am $600 poorer. To add insult to injury I have people coming round next weekend and will have to pay a premium to get it fixed by then. Perhaps I’ll just say that we have the decorators in and suggest we go to a nearby hotel.

For those who may be confused, this blog is set 4 years in the future, and reviews future technology trends and issues. The views here are purely my own, but through this blog I narrowcast, therefore I am.

This column charts the problems and successes I have had utilizing new technology both for work and pleasure. What better way to start off than to relate a problem I had recently with my SAN at home? I had installed a hybrid fiber/wireless SAN with management system way back in the summer of 2009 and had been reasonably happy with it. In the past three months though I had seen the available capacity decrease more rapidly, and like any reasonable parent had blamed the children. They produce so much 1080p/60 content (read 3GB/s ‘junk’) these days that our initial 10Tb had to be increased with another 10TB last year. Even so, we were down to less than 1 TB and were in danger of having to erase the 12th season of ‘24’ (the one where Jack’s daughter works for him as a summer intern but she turns out to be a mole who is then captured by her terrorist handlers and has to defuse a nuclear bomb guided by Jack via video-conference). I subscribed to a net-application called SAN-Sense and for about $15 and over a period of about an hour it analyzed the drives and reported back that over 54% was taken up with hundreds of copies of the same video,  “Paris Hilton Baby”, 4 minutes, 700 GB. Nobody except cave-dwellers can have failed to have seen the video and everyone has their own idea about who the father might be. One copy is plenty. The problem turned out to be the metadata tags which had been randomly altered in an attempt to get the video to pass through my content catcher – in my case Clip-Grip’s “U-Cache” V2.2.

Until there is a worldwide taxonomy defining the XML structures for video content that can be resolved to a person’s XML preference data then these issues will continue. Great news for Best Buy but not so good for the consumer or those firms that depend on getting guaranteed access to personal media caches under a subscription agreement.