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Google set to upgrade its OnePass system

Gerard — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:00:49 +0000

paidContent has reported that Google will make some major upgrades to its OnePass paid content system. OnePass, a payment system that lets publishers set the terms for people to access their digital content, is just a year old and hasn’t recruited as many publishers as it first hoped. The changes to the system are, no doubt, an attempt to re-ignite publisher interest.

Sega sponsors new YouTube channel

Gerard — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:27:37 +0000

Sega is to be the first sponsor of a new YouTube channel launched by IGN, a game publisher owned by News Corp.
IGN joins a growing army of channel creators for YouTube as the video streaming site bids to become a home for professional as well as user generated content.
IGN will produce five original weekly shows, including ‘The Next Game Boss’, a reality show where new developers go head-to-head to become a successful games publisher.
IGN.com had a European audience of 14 million unique users in December 2011, according to Comscore.
Sega will be IGN’s first major advertiser. It has signed a one month deal with the new games channel. YouTube is also funding the channel but will receive the money back from IGN – if and when IGN begins to make a profit from advertising.
YouTube is determined to become a ‘proper’ international broadcaster and is enticing celebrities and video producers to create original content. It wants at least 100 new channels and has already signed deals with Madonna, Ashton Kutcher, Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, The Wall Street Journal, Vice, Red Bull, The Onion and Reuters.

Read more about YouTube’s ambitions here: Streaming Dreams.

EU toughens its stance on web privacy

Mark — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:42:27 +0000

Justice Commissioner Vivianne Reding

Digital giants like Facebook and Google are facing another bid by the European Commission to prevent them from using people’s data without their ‘explicit consent’.
Companies like Facebook and Google make billions of dollars a year from collecting data on people who use their services. This data is analysed and packaged in such a way that allows other companies target individuals with advertisements and offers.
The EC, however, see this an affront to individual privacy and EU Justice Commissioner Vivianne Reding wants to force all web companies that collect data in such a way to get explicit consent from their customers and users.
The Commissioner wants web firms to be transparent about how this information is used. She also wants to give users the right to completely erase any information they may have shared or posted online during their lifetime.
Commissioner Reding is determined to introduce stiff penalties for companies that don’t comply, including a €1 million fine or a fine of 2% of annual turnover.
Reding says the EC’s goal is to give people greater control over the information they share online. She believes each country should have a data protection authority whose role is to deal with complaints by consumers, carry out investigations and impose sanctions.
“This is a world of breathtaking possibilities and it should stay so,” she says. “It should be a world of innovation but there are also dangers around these new technologies [cloud computing and social networks] especially concerning the [loss of control] of one’s personal data.”

Timeline in the firing line
Facebook’s new ‘Timeline’ feature (see video below), which brings back a user’s entire Facebook history for everyone to see is also being scrutinised by the EC. The idea that Timeline could reveal a person’s ‘digital skeletons’ is something that doesn’t sit well with privacy advocates.

‘We built you a new Vimeo’

Emma — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:16:37 +0000

Video sharing site Vimeo is undergoing a long-awaited re-design. “We started by re-imagining the video page, and designed the entire user experience around it to minimise distractions and put the focus where it belongs — on your videos,” said the company.
The video player on the video pages will soon be twice as big as the screen on the original site. Currently the re-design is in beta but registered Vimeo users can sign up to take part in the closed beta test.
Vimeo has over eight million registered users and enjoyed over 65 million unique users in December 2011. The site is very popular with the creative community and the re-design promises to be cleaner and softer – an aesthetic designed to appeal to its user base.
Read more on Vimeo’s blog.

Independent.ie claims to be leading Irish online news site

Edward — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:09:21 +0000

Independent.ie says it is now the largest online news publishing site in Ireland. The claim is based on the November 2011 comScore Media Metrix Newspaper category report.
Independent.ie is now recognised by comScore as being bigger than its nearest competitor, Irishtimes.com.
Independent.ie believes the growth is a result of a number of initiatives to drive user engagement across the site. Early last year it re-launched its commenting facility, allowing users to join in the debate on a wide range of stories and opinion pieces.
The social sharing function for each story was also enhanced, allowing people to share stories easily on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg and Reddit. A new video channel was also created.
“A key objective for our business in 2011 was to identify one reliable and trusted source of standard audience metrics that are widely used and recognised by agencies and online brand marketers, when making advertising investment decisions. We are delighted to work with comScore for 2012 whose metrics and the underlying Unified Digital Measurement methodology demonstrates our position as the number one online newspaper site in Ireland. It was also nice to have outpaced our competitor Irishtimes.com on this occasion,” says Ian Byrne, CEO, Independent Digital.

End piracy, not liberty says Google

Mark — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:06:08 +0000

Google is demonstrating its strong opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) by placing a link on its US homepage detailing its concerns about SOPA and PIPA. Unlike hundreds of other websites – including Wikipedia, WordPress and Mozilla – Google will not be shutting down its service in the US in protest against the most dangerous piece of legislation to [so far] challenge the freedom of the web.
Old media dinosaurs like Rupert Murdoch support SOPA and Murdoch recent accused Google of being a ‘piracy leader’ (he tweeted his thoughts).
Google responded by saying: ‘We’ve worked hard to help rights holders deal with piracy. Last year, we took down five million infringing web pages from our search results and invested more than $60 million in the fight against bad ads. Like many other tech companies, we believe there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking US companies to censor the internet.’
SOPA is not the only threat to the web. The Protect IP Act (PIPA) is also lurking with intent before the US Congress. Google co-founder Sergey Brin posted on Google+ in December: ‘Two bills currently making their way through congress – SOPA and PIPA – give the US government and copyright holders extraordinary powers including the ability to hijack DNS and censor search results (and this is even without so much as a proper court trial). While I support their goal of reducing copyright infringement (which I don’t believe these acts would accomplish), I am shocked that our lawmakers would contemplate such measures that would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world.’
You can read more on the Google page – End Piracy, Not Liberty.

So much content, so little time – the future of TV

Emma — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:59:03 +0000

The digital planet is awash with content. Never before in our history have we been able to access such a variety of content so instantly and across so many different connected devices. We all know this. What’s less clear is where this sea of content is leading us and how we will choose to consume it.
The launch of Netflix in Ireland this week is a good example of what the future looks like. However, Netflix is just one affordable, unlimited video content provider in one of the most competitive sectors of the digital age – the TV industry.
The days of channel surfing and TV guides are coming to an end. The ability to search and stream TV shows and films anytime we want is here, but this is only the beginning.
At the recent CES show in Las Vegas, Samsung, the world’s largest TV maker, showed off a smart TV set that responds to voice commands and gestures without the need for a remote (see video below). Apple is also said to launch a smart TV this year that is likely to have its voice command feature Siri taking orders from viewers. Microsoft’s Kinect gaming console also offers a voice control feature by which to watch shows streamed across Netfilx. And it’s not just shows and films. Viewers will also be able to interact with their social networks, download apps and play video games as smart TVs become more commonplace. What this means for the advertising industry is becoming clearer – the ability to deliver more personalised and targeted content. How? As people watch more TV online, they leave behind a digital footprint that paints a very accurate picture of their tastes and preferences. This information will be shared with advertisers.

Share and share alike
Online and digital content providers like Netflix and Lovefilm are now competing with traditional national broadcasters and cable TV providers.
One of the things these new online streaming companies heavily promote is the social sharing aspect of their service. With so much content available, more and more people are turning to their social networks to see what their friends and followers are viewing. It’s the giant digital ‘water cooler’ effect, where people make recommendations and discuss various programmes and films. These discussions, available for the programme makers and advertisers to read, will increasingly play a part in how producers develop concepts and narratives for future shows and films. Zeebox, below, is a good example of this phenomenon.

Should Irish newspapers band together to make money online?

Mark — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:08:26 +0000

2012 is going to be another challenging year for Irish newspapers, both national and regional, as more readers fall by the wayside, advertising budgets move online and fewer people buy print editions for their news and commentary.
While most of the country’s biggest papers have solid digital platforms, they simply don’t pay enough to cover the level of service offered. There’s plenty of talk of the re-introduction of paywalls by the major newspapers for their online content and such talk is justified. Good journalism costs money. Someone has to pay for it and it should be the end reader.
One such solution the biggest Irish papers could look at has been deployed successfully in Slovakia of all places. In May 2011, all the major Slovak newspapers and the top regional titles went behind one common paywall. They then offered unlimited access to ‘exclusive’ areas in a project known as Piano, for a single fee of €2.90 a month.
The Slovak Piano Media company says the project has been a success and now Slovenia’s biggest newspapers are following suit. Piano Media said a trial period in Slovenia will start January 16, with eight major publishers, including the biggest daily paper, Delo. Users will be asked to pay €4.89 a month for unlimited access.
While Piano Media’s 2011 figures have not been released the company says it is planning to expand to at least three other countries this year. Could Ireland be one of them?

A record 173,000 dot ie sites registered in 2011

Stephen — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:22:29 +0000

The dot ie Domain Registry (IEDR) has published its stats for 2011 which show further growth for the .ie domain. Overall the total number of .ie domains grew by 12.9% net in 2011 to 173,145 at year end.
Registration levels were stronger in the first six months of 2011 with 20,995 registrations recorded between January and June, and 18,403 registrations in the second half of the year.
The IEDR also reached a milestone in 2011, when over 4,000 (4,061) domains were registered in a single month.
Not all web sites are used though. The current non-renewal rate stands at 12.8%, an improvement on the 14% level recorded for 2010. This resulted in 19,726 net additional .ie domains for 2011, a 12.6% increase on the previous year, once non-renewals had been accounted for.
“While growth of the .ie domain continues there is still significant untapped potential in the market for Irish businesses – to establish and grow their e-business through online sales and for those currently with an online portal, to further exploit the benefits of what is a 24/7 sales channel without borders,” says David Curtin, chief executive of the IEDR.

Here’s hoping for a better iTunes store

Edward — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:23:34 +0000

Eddy Cue, Apple's head of web software

Every time we hear that Apple is going to hold an ‘event’ the tech blogosphere goes wild with speculation. This time, with an event scheduled for the end of January in New York, the rumour mill initially talked up a new iPad before eventually settling on it being ‘something’ to do with Apple’s publishing arm and media content platforms i.e. iTunes and all its stores.
According to AllThingsD, citing ‘sources close to the situation’, Apple’s head of web software and services, Eddy Cue, is due to appear at the event. The fact that the event will be held in New York also suggests it will have something to do with the big print publishers and ad agencies of America. Perhaps it’s a new magazine store for the iPad? Perhaps it’s a new digital bookstore? Perhaps it has something to do with its failing iAds platform? Apple, after all, really needs the buy in of Madison Avenue if its mobile ad platform iAds is to work. As yet, iAds is deteriorating miserably, despite all the hype when it first launched.
Whatever the announcement it’s unlikely the event will have anything to do with the iTunes movie rental service, which is a pity. Ever try to search for a movie on the iTunes store to rent? Awful is the only word, the store is probably the worst thing in the Apple media platform portfolio.
The ‘big’ announcement is more likely to concern the bookstore on iTunes. If there’s one think Apple doesn’t want it’s to see the continued rise of Amazon’s Kindle Fire, a fantastic e-book reader that people of even the most limited digital skills find intuitive and easy to use. The Kindle is also in tune with Amazon’s enormous bookstore (it’s more like a book planet really) and Amazon is in pole position to become leader in the e-book market, despite Apple’s enormous success with the iPad.