What might the iPad mean for me?

I have yet to actually see an iPad but there is already so much to read about it.  Some love it, some hate it.  MacUser magazine have just published a nicely balanced article on the iPad - in advance of it's UK launch.  It really placed the iPad into context for me.

The points they made were simple and practical:

• fast Apple apps and web browsing
• small text is easily readable without zooming as on the iPhone
• books and magazines look really good
• illustrations look great
• colour text works well

But:

• you need to have some means of propping it up when reading
• it wont wirelessly sync
• videos are displayed in 4:3 or letterboxed 16:9
• there's no alarm clock
• holding and typing is awkward
• the iPad uses iTunes to sync and store most material.  So you still need a computer
• it can't ise Adobe Flash
• (at the moment) it can't multitask (that comes with the next OS upgrade later this year)
•  

They conclude that there probably isn't an over-riding need to buy one at the moment if you already have an iPhone or computer (3rd party apps that may well change this).

The ring fencing via iTunes is regretable.  The same limitation exists for the iPhone - adding the problem of trying to sync to 2 macs each with separate iTunes installed.  (The Dropbox iApp is one great way around geting material onto your phone.)

This week I have been asking my media students what they think of the iPad.  They generally said (in this order);

• they wanted one
• it'll be useless for editing

None really thought about what they could publish or broadcast on it. As MacUser states

"...the iPad is about consuming media."

I would add that it's about presenting media. As a keen photographer, and with an old fashioned love of radio, the possibilities of delivering these in some multi media form on the iPad, and it's Android equivalent, look awesome.  Content may be king but finding compelling ways to present and deliver that content is also important.

What the iPad does is to advance the quiet innovation that Apple ushered in with the iPhone - an easy system of making micro payments. They recently extended this further by permitting micro payments from within the applications.  All of which raises the rather basic question - what exactly is an application?  What is the difference bwtween a website, a magazine and an application?   Could the answer be 'money stream'?  Is this the reason for the publishing world's frenzy over the iPad?


How should my teaching and the materials I generate reflect the likely development of these platforms?  Is the iPad robust enough to be used in education?  I replaced the battery in my MacBook this month.  It cost £100.  If the iPads are similarly priced then running costs might well be rather high.

I look forward to using the iPad in the UK soon.  The UK price of the iPad is yet to be released.  I suspect that the price break will be keenly sensitive.   I also think that without a deal with Adobe over the implementation of Flash on both the iPhone and iPad, Apple will lose the initiative in this new market they've created. See more from MacUser.  Things are going to move very quickly in this new market and we may well know by this time next year.

the second semester

Well its very nearly the start of the second semester. We'll be tackling writing for the Media and starting to work with images and video. Find the instructions for your mobile phone's camera function - you are going to need it.

regards, Mike J

A late Christmas present?

Just released Cinemizer headset, which is designed for use with video iPods, as well as other devices with a standard AV output. It marks a push into the consumer entertainment for the company, more famed for its camera lenses, industrial and medical applications of its expertise.

The headset - worn like a pair of glasses - includes a screen for each eye, and uses the company's expertise in optical technology to show video as though it was on a 45" display at just a touch under two metres away. Each display can be individually adjusted between -3.5 and +3.5 diopter to cater for eyesight issues like near and farsightedness.

The device will go on sale in Germany in February, with a US and UK launch planned for the second quarter. The suggested price in Germany will be €369, and five colours will be available. (Source MacUser website)

Awesome. I want one!

Visiting speaker

We have Rob Bayly coming to talk to us on Friday 25th. Rob is a Director working for BBC Bristol Docs. & Contemporary Factual TV. His series of largely self-shot format documentaries following British families testing emigration to Australia/ New Zealand is currently on BBC1. To prepare yourselves for meeting Rob you can watch his work on the (now mac friendly) BBC iPlayer.

The King Family

Revell Family

As you watch the Programmes ask yourself:

1. How any particular sequence/ situation happened on Camera?
2. How much was set-up by Production?
3. How much was spontaneous or Documentary?"

Rob was Series Director on these (20 x 45 mins). He is a very experienced self shooting director producer and this a really great opportunity to understand this important and increasingly common role in TV. At the BBC Rob has been involved in training junior self-shooting directors. He is a regular mentor/instructor at BBC Elstree Staff Training. So make the most of his visit.

From Trad to Rad?

NBC is no longer using iTunes to make its content available. However its working on other ways of providing content and spreading its services. NBC Direct is currently in beta but illustrates a modern, practical and flexible approach from NBC. Here is a traditional linear broadcaster reaching out to both VOD and peer-to-peer file sharing to provide a HIGH DEF service. (Techcrunch.)What an awesome combination! The continuing problem of bandwisth presents a problem for companies wanting to provide high resolution video. We guess that people want this - look at the sales of HD TV's. The trad Companies need some way of separating their content from Youtube's frame rate and frame sized reduced output. Quality is their selling point and they therefore put distance between themselves and UGC. If you get paid for your content does that make it professional? Well, YouTube wants to give you some of that crazy Google money. If you make the cut, that is. After half a year of testing out its Partners program with 100 lucky YouTube contributors, YouTube is now accepting applications from all comers. Tell them why they should give you the money and they might enroll you in their revenue-sharing program. If they feel like it.

Recent 'film' firsts

As we start to see some of the ramifications of the spread of technology on the traditional forms of distribution - whether by broadcast or otherwise - there were a couple of interesting firsts recently. Rune, a movie, was premiered exclusively on the iPod and 'released' exclusively and free via iTunes in September.

"We felt Rune's distribution method should be as timely and as comprehensive as possible, and the burgeoning popularity of video iPod and digital downloads gives any filmmaker unprecedented access to a wide audience," said writer/director Arayana Thomas. "It's the new movie theatre for independent filmmakers."

Download it yourself from iTunes or directly from the creators site.

In the past filmmakers have sort interesting ways to distribute their work as well as promoting their skills. '4 eyed monsters' was released in its entirety on YouTube in June this year.



It joins some other notable web based films such as the 911 documentary 'loose change' (it explores the possibility of a cover up in the coverage of 911) and 'stealthisfilm' (Peer-to-peer distribution). These stories raise all the issues we have looked at over the semester in terms of regulation, controls and freedoms as well as changes to the structure and technology of media distribution. Whats going to happen next? Someone might shoot a film and make it ALL available for download via Peer-toPeer and invite anyone to re-edit it! Well its happened. Bruce McDonald's Tracey Fragments is being offered in exactly this manner. (That's about 36 gigs of rushes and Final Cut Pro files!)

User generated content

There is an enormous amount of material provided by people who are not media professionals. Referred to as User Generated content (UGC), some is obviously derived from consumers while at other times its less clear. Even the Royal Television Society has an award for the best use of UGC. This was recently won by Sky News " in recognition of its groundbreaking work in getting users involved in content and distributing video news." The UGC award was won by Skys's Green Week, which saw people throughout the country invited to help create a snapshot of climate change. In addition to special reports, exclusive interviews and practical advice, contributors were invited to make a video about the environment. Sky are not the only industry professu=ionals making use of UGC. Jake reports that Sony and Yahoo have collaborated on a venture to use this content. Michael makes the point of the implications of the use of UGC on journalists and broadcasters. Rob also highlights the way that the media industry feels threatened by UGC and while they expect to be making money from it over the next few years they are unsure as to exactly how!

NEWS from week starting 5th November

How much to download music?

Several weeks ago Radiohead released their latest album 'In rainbows' by making it available for download at whatever price the customer wants to pay. As a differnet approach to marketing and pirating it has been closely watched by the record and media industries. In July Prince provided his Planet Earth LP free with the Mail on Sunday provoking anger from the music biz and retailers (see this guardian piece). Free CD's on magazines are not new - they provided the lynch pin for Bath based Future Publishing - but this was the first studio album. (BBC website). However for Radiohead the figures are now coming in and showing that rather than downloading the album from the Radiohead website fans are still preferring to use bit torrents provided by Peer-to-peer sites. Why might that be?

A recent Canadian commissioned survey on P2P found that Down loaders actually buy MORE music. So why the fuss?