Back in February, I talked about Akimbo - a service allowing you to download TV shows and movies from the Internet directly to your TV set via a set-top box.
It's going to launch in October after some technical delays. An article in the LA Times todaytalks about Akimbo and its potential impact on the media scene.
Stay tuned.
BtoB today reports that business marketers are finally getting into video. It appears they've noticed how popular rich media - video in particular - is getting with consumers and have decided to try it in the business marketplace.
It's about time.
Yes, business shoppers are usually more attuned to product information than entertainment as they search for vendors. Video, however, is an ideal way to present complicated product information in a compelling, yet still professional, manner. And now that interactivity can be well integrated into video production, it becomes an even more ideal format for generating response.
Granted, production costs can still be high for small business. Clever marketers, however, will find ways to work with producers who can help them minimize those costs and still produce effective marketing material.
Turns out Acacia made demands on John Hopkins University that would've amounted to 2% of their total revenue. (See the Lexington Herald Leader today.) The people there - and at other educational institutions across the country - aren't laughing.
But they can take a bit of heart from a court ruling against Acacia and its V-chip claims. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the U.S. Circuit in Washington, the nation's highest patent court, ruled that Sharp, Toshiba and Sony didn't have to pay Acacia as they didn't infringe the patent.
Could this portend good things for the streaming industry?
Today's ClickZ article by Jeremy Lockhorn gives some interesting statistics on rich media ads in general and those same ads using interactivity in particular.
As the consumer demands more and more control over the Internet experience, he says interactivity bestows power on the consumer. When the consumer uses that power, the possibilities for the successful advertiser can double and even triple.
Now that interactivity is so easy to attain, advertisers and marketers who ignore its power do so at their own peril.
The Taiwanese are obviously much smarter than we are when it comes to patents for software. (See: Taipei Times.)
Hopefully they'll find a better solution to piracy than the DMCA.
Now they're sending notices to "pay up" by September 15 or the fees might not be so "reasonable." (See the article today in Streaming Media.) Except Acacia's calling it an amnesty. I didn't know you could have one of those before having the war.
And I hope these institutions go to war against this company. Due to the way educational institutions utilize streaming media, it might take Acacia years to challenge each individual school. Maybe that's what it will take to bring these people to their knees.
I'm so damn mad I could spit! Now, according to Forbes, our patent holding friends at Acacia have decided to extort our colleges and universities who "dare" offer any type of distance learning programs utilizing streaming media.
Acacia believes their patent rights don't stop at the door of commercial streamers but also encompass our teaching institutions. No matter that many of these schools are offering course work to those who might not be able to attend classes or obtain college credits any other way. Or that distance learning has been hailed as a breakthrough Internet technology.
Is Acacia so afraid their patents will be voided they're rushing to obtain revenue however and wherever they can?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is advising institutions NOT to pay these licensing fees. I hope they follow that advice and join the lawsuits challenging Acacia's outrageous claims.