Harry Warner, one of the 3 founding brothers of Warner Bros. Films, famously opposed sound in their motion pictures. “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” he pondered. Luckily for Warner Bros., the other brothers’ opinions prevailed and by 1926, films were being produced with sound for the first time. The internet has been abuzz the past couple weeks with a similar quote from a major film and entertainment conglomerate. Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton caused some collective head scratching among internet users as well as Sony stockholders. I’m not sure either were completely convinced with his original comments, or this week’s rebuttal. At a breakfast speech co-hosted by Syracuse University and The New Yorker, Lynton said:
Archivo de Mayo de 2009
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Sony Stuck in the Past
Miércoles, 27 de Mayo de 2009 -
Google The Next Ma Bell?
Lunes, 18 de Mayo de 2009Is Google too big? In the United States, Google has cornered 64% of the search market, which leaves just 36% for the competition. This is a far cry from the nearly 100% market share that AT&T enjoyed in the United States telephone industry in the 1970’s. AT&T’s dominance led to the landmark antitrust case United States v. AT&T which saw the breakup of the telecommunincation giant’s operations. The case is historically viewed as a success, and long distance telephone calls indeed became cheaper in the newly competitive market. Should governments put Google under similar scrutiny?
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Where’s Gaming Going?
Miércoles, 13 de Mayo de 2009We are going to step away from the internet today for a trek down technology’s fun side — video gaming! For an older guy like me that still fondly remembers the early days of Pong, Asteroids and Space Invaders, the evolution of video games over the past few decades has been incredible. But it seems we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
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How Low Can You Go?
Miércoles, 6 de Mayo de 2009“I predict that most sites that are not financed through traditional product sales will move to micropayments in less than two years.”
Unfortunately, Jakob Nielsen in his essay The Case for Micropayments made that bold prediction back in 1998. Nielsen’s overstatement seems humorous in hindsight, but perhaps he was just a bit ahead of his time. Companies from media to online gaming are taking a fresh look at advertising’s baby brother, and the numbers are startling.
