Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Dymo Discpainter: First Impressions

Art Adams | 05/21- 05:58 PM

Will a printer that does only one thing save my sanity?

For quite a while I’ve used an Epson R320 printer to label my showreel DVDs, but the end of that era has come. I now own a Dymo Discpainter.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

The Myth of 1%

Chris Meyer | 05/06- 11:21 AM

When making a business plan, don’t make any assumptions about market share.

There are many variations on this common trap, but the general outline goes like this: Someone hears a report about how much money there is being made in a market segment, such as podcasts or movie trailers or renting out RED One cameras. They then theorize that if they could capture just some small percentage of that market - say, 1% - that they would be rich. And thus, a business plan is born! After all, who can’t capture at least 1% of a given market?!?

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Adobe’s NAB Sneak Peaks

Hart Shafer | 04/24- 03:35 PM

Another NAB has come and gone and it appears everyone at Adobe survived the crazy/great week. Well, I’m at home nursing the traditional post-NAB cold, and my feet took days to get their feeling back, but that’s all just par for the course. It was a great show for us--while overall attendance was definitely down, our booth was packed. I had the opportunity to get to know a lot of customers and partners all at once, which is the ultimate point of going at all.

During the show I had an opportunity to share a little sneak peak of some of the things Adobe is working on in our technology labs. We wanted to pull back the curtain just bit and show a little of what we are working on because it’s important for you to know where we’re going. You obviously choose the tools company you want to work with based on what they have available today. But because you invest a lot of time, energy, and money into adopting a toolset you’re also interested in where they’re going tomorrow. And so when you look at Adobe, you want to know we’re not just committed today, but that we’re thinking about the challenges you’re just starting to face, or will be facing soon.

If you weren’t able to make NAB, or were at NAB and missed my presentation, no worries. We just posted a bunch of our theater demos to the new Adobe TV site and my technology preview can be found in the video pro section. I won’t give away everything I show, but if you’re an editor at least watch until I get to the speech analysis part. Good times. Then again, the last thing I showed was definitely the most popular. How’s that for a tease? Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

If an HDTV Falls in the Woods…

Frank Capria | 03/25- 12:21 PM

A surprising number of HDTV owners don’t view any HD content on their sets… and other interesting tidbits.

ABI Research released some highlights of its recent research on HDTV adoption and the viewing habits of Americans. While 41% of Americans have HDTV’s, only about half of those HDTV receive any sort of an HD signal. While it might not be too surprising that only one out of Americans can view HDTV in all its glory, it’s shocking that another one out of five think they are watching HD when they are just watching a blown up SD image.

Lay the blame at the feet of the cable companies. I’ve been to several living rooms where what’s sold as HD looks indistinguishable from an up-converted standard definition DVD. This isn’t something I want to be pondering at 2:00 AM as we’re perfecting the look of my next HD production. 

Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Future of Advertising and Non-Fiction Television

Frank Capria | 03/20- 04:54 PM

Broadcast networks charge advertisers more to reach fewer viewers. How long can it last, and what does it mean for independents?

Anyone making a living in video would do well to read this special report on the future of advertising by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. It succinctly explains how television advertising rates continue to rise even as viewership declines dramatically. Even before the writers strike threw an anvil to an industry trying to tread water, the numbers were telling:

For the first 11 weeks of the 2007-08 television season, prior to the effects of the fall 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, Nielsen data show viewer declines for the crucial 18-to-49 age group of 19.4% for NBC, 16.7% for CBS, 10.5% for ABC and 28.6% for CW. Only Fox improved, with a 3.4% gain.

The trend is clear. Broadcast television is fading. Audiences are gathering information and getting entertained elsewhere. With broadband penetration now over 50% in the US, web video may be at a long-awaited inflection point.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Perhaps Flash Not Coming to iPhone Anytime Soon?

Scott Gentry | 03/19- 05:52 PM

Man, I’m getting tired of the on again, off again, will they, won’t they Flash on the iPhone posts.

According to Adobe [via AppleInsider.com]: “Adobe has evaluated the iPhone SDK and can now start to develop a way to bring Flash Player to the iPhone,” the statement reads. “However, to bring the full capabilities of Flash to the iPhone web-browsing experience we do need to work with Apple beyond and above what is available through the SDK and the current license around it. We think Flash availability on the iPhone benefits Apple and Adobe’s millions of joint customers, so we want to work with Apple to bring these capabilities to the device.”

I promise a moratorium on iPhone - Flash posts for at least...um, a week.

Page 3 of 5 pages « First  <  1 2 3 4 5 >