Author Archives: Isaac Bolin

The Music Socializers

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Music is an art form. It’s something every culture throughout history has enjoyed. And our generation is taking it to the next level.

With advances in technology we are able to store, play, and share digital music in ways never seen before. On the frontier of the online music world are streaming music platforms Pandora and Spotify. These organizations allow for people to listen to a variety of music not only on their computers but also on mobile phone applications.

I found a good article on the battle between the two on Mashable. I think the author, Matthew Beck, does a good job of illustrating the similarities and differences of Pandora and Spotify. I would add that the two are different in the fact that Pandora is more for users that like a genre of music and don’t mind waiting and ‘digging’ for a great song. I’ve also found that Pandora plays less current chart-topping songs. Spotify on the other hand has a lackluster Android mobile app. It also has a partnership with Facebook, which gives it a huge advantage.

People are now beginning to use Facebook to share songs on Spotify with their friends. Here is an example of how easy it is to share with friends, I dragged my ‘ladeedah’ playlist onto my blog and it automatically created a link to it. Spotify found a good use for Facebook’s new Timeline page by sharing the history of music. It’s pretty neat and you can check it out here.

As a result of the digitization and social sharing of music, marketers are finding this new medium (digital music platforms) to be profitable after a majority of years advertising on the (old-fashioned, if you will) radio. Today is the second day of an event called ad:tech in San Francisco and Pandora and Spotify will be there to speak on the future of brand marketing. It should be interesting to read what they had to say tomorrow.

Now that we have the technology to listen to music with such ease, I feel that distributing good music that may not have made it to the top of the charts will also become easier. That’s good news for little known bands. Get out there and start enjoying music, new and old, anytime and anywhere. But if you work for Proctor and Gamble, you’ll have to wait until you get off work.

Random thought of the day:

I wish the dollar store would sell gas.

Streaming Video Is Now King

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In my last post I sort of touched on the popularity of streaming video. It is increasing to the point where many researchers, such as IHS Screen Digest, are saying it will surpass DVD and Blu-ray use within the year.

One reason for this new trend is because streaming movies online on services like Netflix or Hulu is easier for most people, rather than using the physical media of a DVD. Another huge reason is because streaming online is cheaper than buying or renting the physical copies. According to IHS’s research, you pay $0.51 per movie while streaming and $4.72 when you physically purchase a video. This can only help Netflix gain more movie licenses to show on its streaming services.

You may have noticed that Netflix streaming is very limited when it comes to newer, bigger budgeted films. But with the majority of viewing being done on Netflix’s Watch Instantly service, they stand to gain more in negotiating licenses with movie and television studios. For the studios, this is not a good thing, because they will be losing more and more profit to Netflix while physical copy sales decrease. The studios will probably add incentives to buying Blu-ray discs, maybe with added features.

Another thing studios have done is created a cloud streaming service called UltraViolet. When a consumer purchases a Blu-ray disc they get a code that allows them to add that movie to their digital library, viewable (streaming from the cloud) on multiple devices as long as they have a UV account.

DVD and Blu-ray sales will most likely continue to see big profits for the foreseeable future. Netflix instant streaming capabilities and ‘the cloud’ are still unknown to a portion of consumers. A way for Netflix to get the word out would be to have a Facebook app that shares what you and your friends are viewing. But this isn’t available in the U.S. currently because of an old video privacy law.

Another tell-tale sign for streaming video’s rise is that Netflix is funding a new season and movie for the previously cancelled cult hit “Arrested Development”. Up until recently there were talks that Netflix would also revive Fox’s drama “Terra Nova”. Those hopes are now dashed as The Hollywood Reporter and other sources have denied these claims.

While I believe streaming video to be the future, physical copies will never die out completely. It’s not only video that is being streamed; music and even video games have begun being streamed online.

Tweet of the day:

Pete Cashmore ‏ @mashable

Bacon-scented cat litter? That’s gotta be an #AprilFools joke, right – http://on.mash.to/H3WUh2

Social Gaming Boom

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From the olden days of dice and playing cards to the golden days of Super Nintendo and arcades, all the way up to the current consoles and social networking games, gaming has evolved in a very social way.

It seems like we all feel the need to compete, whether it be for survival or for fun. And we have competed against each other in a friendly manner (no cheating!) throughout history by playing games. So as technology has evolved, so has gaming.

To get to the point, I wanted to point out the current trends the gaming industry is seeing. We all know about video game consoles like the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. But did you know that Playstation Network has 90 million registered online accounts? This fact backs up the idea that a majority of gamers are going online to play with friends and other users on games like Call Of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo.

Now that’s what I call teamwork (Call of Duty style) I apologize for the annoying announcer:

Video game consoles have been specializing on realistic graphics for multiplayer online games, up and coming streaming video, and being capable of playing Blu-rays. Meanwhile, social networking sites and mobile devices have taken a different approach to the gamer in all of us.

Simple games that go viral on social networks like Facebook is the basis behind these mobile social games. There are hundreds of millions of people that play games on a social network and a lot of them download the application for the game on their mobile device in order to play wherever and whenever they want to. These games are beginning to see big profits as well. To reinforce my last post on infographics, here is one from Mashable.com on the social gaming pioneer Zynga’s earnings.

I believe we have seen the rise of mobile social games just over the beginning months of 2012. It started with games like Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook seen as profitable virtual products. Game developers such as Rovio then ventured into mobile based applications with Angry Birds and that sparked many more popular games. Another big game Words With Friends has recently been the top application downloaded. But a ‘Pictionary-like’ game called Draw Something is my pick to be the next trendy social game. This game is different from the others because it asks gamers to cooperate rather than compete against each other.

In concluding this topic (because I HAVE to go play Call Of Duty with my roommates!), the future of social gaming is very unclear. But I do see mobile social games stepping up to the plate this year and being seen as a very viable option for game developers and advertisers alike. The market is open for new, innovative companies to change the way we play.

Random thought of the day:

The 20 minutes of belting out old tunes, acting out movie scenes, and daydreaming in my shower is as necessary as the 5 minutes it takes to wash up.

Infographics Just Got Personal

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I just ran across something pretty cool on Mashable. It’s an infographic generator that is all about you. It come’s from Intel’s ‘What About Me?’ app. You can sync your Facebook page, Twitter profile, and Youtube channels up to the app and it will create a digital picture of your life. It doesn’t seem to be very useful other than the fact that it can be entertaining to see what you’ve done online in the past.

I signed into all of my accounts and came up with some neat results. If your not familiar with infographics (information graphics) here is what mine looks like from the Intel app:

My 'What About Me?' Infographic

So besides being a novelty for your digital life, I really see nothing coming out of this infographic app. That is unless Intel uses this technology for more important infographics that convey actual important information; which I am sure they will. Here are ten good reasons infographics are important.

Infographics are the new book. There are many reasons why they are so important nowadays. They are available to present a rich amount of information without scaring the viewer off like an analysis research paper would.

Tweet of the day:

          CNN Breaking News ‏ @cnnbrk     

Trayvon Martin case sparking debate on racial inequality, U.S. justice system. on.cnn.com/GHRIGN

Back From Break

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It’s been a while since my last post and that’s due to the fact I was on Spring Break. Where did I go? Well physically, I stayed in Fargo-Moorhead (where I go to college). But technologically, I went back to the days before we went on the web daily- if not hourly. It felt good to not be a slave to the social society we’ve become. It also feels good now to catch up on things that I missed over the break though.

One of the things I talked about in my last post was the KONY 2012 video. Recently there have been some developments that I just wanted to let any of you followers know about. It was reported last week that the creator of the video, Jason Russell was arrested for being nude in public.

Also, George Clooney was arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy on Friday. This was after he spent some time in Sudan and in front of Congress trying to get them to do something about it. Clooney has a history of social activism and this story went viral within a day of him being arrested. This is just one current example of how celebrities try to raise awareness. The KONY 2012 video is an example of how an entertaining video can raise awareness.

But awareness doesn’t mean action. Although raising awareness is a good thing, I would argue that it is easier than actually doing anything good. This is where the term “slacktivism” comes into play. Slacker and activism are the two words that combine here. This sort of activism requires that minimal effort be put forth by people wanting to contribute a change to something. I’m not saying slacktivism is a bad thing, I’m simply saying that it is the easy way to raise awareness.

I guess I took the easy route here by just raising awareness and not actually doing anything either. What a slacktivist I am.

Random thought of the day:

Since when did George Clooney start looking like the ‘Most Interesting Man in the World’?

Happy Birthday Mom! (and other stuff)

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This post is dedicated to my beautiful mother. Thank you for everything you do for me and with this being my last year of college I especially want to thank you for supporting me and helping me find my way through these past 4 years.

Now that you all are teary eyed, let’s talk about what’s been going on over the past week. We’ve had brooms standing up by themselves, an African guerrilla group leader gets a presidential-like campaign, and with all that going on some guy managed to solve a rubik’s cube, blindfolded mind you, in 28.8 seconds.

So these brooms what’s the story behind them and why are they popping up now over everyone’s Facebook newsfeeds. The urban legend is that you can balance a broom by itself when a vernal equinox is near. As it approaches people took pictures of their brooms balancing on the floor and posted them to the web. After using the urban legend as an excuse, this fad caught fire and spread across the globe. A professor at LSU Reveille debunked the claims of this witches tale.

The KONY 2012 campaign is another trendy fad being spread across Facebook and social networking sites. It is a campaign to arrest an African guerrilla group leader that is charged with multiple war crimes that involve children. The 30 minute documentary was very well put together and in case you want to watch it here it is.

After watching though many people have accused the campaign’s founders, Invisible Children, of not financing direct services to the people affected and using much of the donations for staff salaries and other expenses. Some people have gone so far as to make memes of the campaigns origins, I found this one to be particularly HILARIOUS: found on Reddit.com.

With all of these trends and fads going viral in a very short amount of time, it makes one wonder. Have we researched these things well enough to support and spread across the internet to make other people watch and possibly believe. I believe things like the KONY 2012 should be further looked upon because of the impact it can have on the world. Other things, like the world record rubik’s cube time, may not need any research by the common viewer.

People’s willingness to accept rumors to be true could be the downfall to the society we live in. We need to do our research if something is important or even seems somewhat significant.

Tweet of the day:

Isaac Bolin ‏ @isaacsbolin

Happy Birthday to my mom! i.imgur.com/8FV05.jpg

(Spring) Break From Social Media

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Spring break is only a week away for NDSU students and nearly 1 million other college students across the U.S. This seems like a fitting time to talk about the sometimes much needed escape from many aspects of our lives but also from social networking sites. When you think of spring break you may think of vacationing, partying on the beach, working, or just going home and resting.

Another thing we should be reminded of doing is detaching ourselves from our computers, smartphones, and in general the virtual world that is social networking. This break is going to be important for me to get away from the stress and hassles of working two jobs, going to school, family and friends, and my social networking life. Just as with sleeping every night, we need to take planned breaks in our online life every once in a while to get energized. I don’t believe there is a certain amount of time. It’s different for everyone.

For example, someone running a small business that relies on social networking sites as a big part of its business should not take more than a week off. But a busy parent of four young children that works in a non-social networking related workspace might be able to take a few weeks off at a time. And for me personally, I think taking days around holidays off and also this spring break week off is a good idea as it will help recharge my mental and physical batteries while having a good time.

The reasoning behind needing to recharge ones batteries from social networking is that it is not a passive medium like traditional television. Social media is an interactive conversation between two people at the very least but capable of up to millions and millions of people. People are constantly able to think about not only their own (sometimes extremely mundane) thoughts, but everyone’s thoughts.

Another reason we need to take a step back from social networking sites is because a lot of us have become addicted. An article from tech news blog BGR says there are new studies that show Facebook to potentially be more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol. It also states that the the reason for this addiction is at least in part to positive physical and psychophysiological responses people achieve through using Facebook.

In the following infographic I found on Mashable.com there are some interesting yet scary statistics illustrated. Take note that there are over 10 million comments made in just 20 minutes on Facebook. And I believe the addiction shows more so than anywhere else in this stat: 57% of people talk to people more online than in real life.

Yikes, now that is a lot of information to take in. I’m stressed just thinking about my social network life now. Spring break can not come soon enough!

Random thought of the day:

A lot of people tend to confuse bad decisions with bad luck.

My First Mac

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My first Big Mac was delicious. My first Macbook is DEEELICIOUS.

Earlier today I acquired my first Apple product since the iPod came out in 2001. I had a not so delicious experience with my previous PC’s. The Acer I recently had crashed after 3 months and one not-so-hard fall from my desktop. Before that my HP’s motherboard went bad unexpectedly after 2 years of use and a replaced battery. So, I wanted to test my luck with the much-acclaimed Macbook Pro.

Now for those that don’t yet know, Mac’s run a completely different operating system than PC’s. Mac OS X vs. Microsoft Windows. So far, here are the differences I am noticing.

Mac’s are much more user friendly and aesthetic, it just takes some time to get use to the different controls. For example, Macs have a Command key that is nowhere to be found on PCs. Macs meanwhile are usually more spendy than their counterpart. Mine cost me approximately 300 Big Macs (I must say it is more than 300x delicious). Another downfall for Macs is that Apple has made the operating system a closed one in that it does not accept a lot of foreign(not made by Apple) software to work with the OS X. Windows meanwhile has an enormous amount of great software to run on it’s system because it is an open operating system.

Many people believe that if there were a computer with Apple’s peerless design and hardware AND with Microsoft’s unrivaled software cache. There is a way to run Windows on a Macbook and it is called Boot Camp. This is one way to get around having to choose between Mac or PC.

Throughout the course of this blog I will return to this topic and let you know how my Mac is running and compare it to PC experiences.

Tweet of the day:

CNN Breaking News ‏ @cnnbrk

“The Artist” wins the Oscar for best picture on.cnn.com/zFeWi9

The Corporate Battle for New Media Continues

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In my last blog post I introduced the current and future battle of mobile computing. The rate at which Facebook and Google come out with new ideas and applications for the virtual community is astonishing. Google has made another move against Facebook. Google’s +1 button is the answer to Facebook’s Like button. It is supposed to act as a “public stamp of approval” for any and everything that Google shows you on its site according to Google Labs. And not just that, external websites are now able to include a +1 button on their own site that allows viewers to recommend a story, ad, or whatever to everyone else. Here is a video introducing Google’s new move into social media.

And a day after the button was understood by tech junkies; somebody cracked the code and found a way to put +1 on external websites. Google hadn’t made this public yet, but they did as soon as people figured it out. It just goes to show you how quickly the public expects these new advancements in social media. In a similar fashion, internet users found holes in the New York Times innovative paywall last year and breached it within the first week of use.

Advertising money is how these two websites generate revenue. Google stepped into the social networking scene with Google Buzz in early 2010 because Facebook was taking away tons of advertisers. To date, Google has had very little success with their making their business more social. But with the launch of Google Plus in July and the +1 button in March, Google made strides in 2011 to topple Facebook and take hold of some of their users.

The reason we are seeing advertisers turn more to Facebook with the placement of their ads is because new ad platforms see quality over quantity in the form of expression is greater than impression. Facebook allows advertisers to target their audience with the use of keywords and the user’s demographics. Google has been using the impression model of advertising. Where more clicks equals more money. While Google has more unique visitors according to a Nielsen Company study, Facebook users spend 5 times as long on the site.

Marketing Charts

So there you have it. The battle rages on…on the web. The Google v. Facebook, search engine v. social network skirmish seems to be the most interesting as of now. I believe these fights between digital media companies can only mean good things for the public consumer. We get more variety of newer technologies at a rapid pace.

Random thought of the day:

A lot of people tend to confuse bad decisions with bad luck.