Harmonic Aftershock

Angry Birds Toons expands the definition of “TV.”

The first of 52 episodes of Rovio’s Angry Birds Toons launches to the world this weekend. But you won’t be watching it on television – or will you?

The idea of a video game spawning a cartoon “TV” series is nothing new. I vividly remember playing Pac-Man in the early 80s at the local arcade and then watching its Saturday morning cartoon on ABC.

What is new about Rovio’s approach is their distribution strategy that bypasses U.S. television networks. The company is placing its bets on the hyper connected on-the-go/on-demand consumer. With bite-sized content (each episode is 3 minutes long), smart TVs (Samsung), connected TV devices (Roku), plus smartphones, laptops, and tablets is how potential viewers can consume Angry Birds Toons.

Rovio’s biggest asset? Their 1.5 billion app installs worldwide that will now feature a button on the games’ home screen - shepherding its users to take a few minutes to watch some good old “television” and hopefully attracting advertisers in the process.

But with over 100 million TV households in the U.S. is Rovio missing out on a mass audience? A partnership with Comcast distributes Angry Birds Toons via Xfinity on-demand and the Xfinity TV Player. That’s the closest step Rovio has taken (so far) to reach the mainstream TV audience. We’ll soon see if it’s enough…

“DVR Everywhere.”

While the promise of TV Everywhere has gained a lot of momentum over the past year (including Xfinity piloting watching live TV on its iPad app) there’s been one major hole – the DVR.

As someone who watches most of his television, time-shifted, I absolutely hate having to set multiple DVRs for the same show just in case I want to watch it on a particular TV set. Even moreso, I want so badly to be able to access my DVR’d content on my iPad so that I can watch it where I don’t have a TV set (i.e. my balcony).

The DVR meets the cloud.
I was very psyched to see that Motorola is currently testing out a cloud-based DVR system that will do all of the above – and may be available as early as next year. 

 

Doing it again: TVnext.

I remember (and blogged about) the excitement I had following last year’s TVnext℠ summit. There’s something truly rewarding in creating content and putting on programming that people get excited about. 

When we talked about doing it again this year, I was concerned about falling victim to the “sequel syndrome.” – Could we beat the expectations that we set last year? Should we even try? Now, sitting here two days before TVnext 2012, I am so glad we did try -- We’ve got a great lineup for Monday’s show.

And once again, I’ve been floored by the team at Hill Holliday working to make this event happen in the most awesome way possible. And you can tune-in!

Free live streaming by Ustream

We will be streaming the event live via Ustream thanks, once again, to Steve Garfield. The show starts promptly at 9:30am (EST). Hope to “see” you on Monday morning.

 

Boxee Live TV: A Big Step Towards Cutting the Cord.

I was welcomed home from work this past Wednesday with a package containing the new Boxee Live TV dongle which I had pre-ordered late last year. 

I demoed the Boxee Box when it first came out in November of 2010. Now, the Boxee Box has just gotten a whole lot better with Live TV capabilities via a USB dongle and antenna that receives over-the-air HD transmissions from local broadcasters.

The setup is crazy simple. Stick one end of the dongle into the USB port of the Boxee Box and connect the Antenna to the other (coaxial) end of the dongle. After booting up the Boxee, an initial set-up scan of channels takes place.

After the initial setup which takes less than five minutes, the Boxee is now ready for live television. You’ll note my jaw literally dropped when I saw that the HD over-the-air picture quality was more crisp and clear than that of my HD cable picture.

Along with the dongle, Boxee also recently announced its Facebook Open Graph application that automatically shares what you’re watching into your Facebook ticker and timeline. Imagine my excitement to discover that the original 1983 He-Man cartoon was on  :-)

With this addition, I could see the Boxee Box being a one-stop shop for some (perhaps many) “cord cutters.” Am I that person? No, not yet – I am way too hooked on CNN, a heavy time-shifted TV watcher, and I can’t get enough of the “play now” feature on my Xfinity TV iPad app.

But one thing is certain. If and when the time comes where I have to cut the cost of my monthly television bill, Boxee is without a doubt the solution -- the only monthly cost to watch TV is the cost of an Internet connection. 

I can’t wait to see what Boxee has in store next…

A Connected Holiday Gift Guide: Roku 2 or Apple TV?

Santa’s sleigh might just be filled with connected TV devices this holiday season. Over the course of the past week, three different people approached me with the same question: “I’m looking to buy either an Apple TV or Roku 2 for a gift, which should I get?”

In each case, my answer was a bit different based on the kind of content and existing technologies the gift recipient currently wants/has.

Apple TV vs. Roku 2

Apple TV’s AirPlay feature is perfect for those who are heavy iPhone/iPad/iTunes users. I personally love the ability to seamlessly finish listening to a song or watching a movie from my mobile device on to my home theater when I get home. I demoed this functionality a year ago. It’s also great for sharing photos or user generated videos from your device onto the TV screen instead of huddle around a small device – I recently did this when my family was over during Labor Day – the modern day “carousel” slide show.

The Roku Player streams 1080p video and has a lot more content channels. Both Apple TV and Roku support Netflix and Hulu Plus but Roku also has an HBO Go channel. This past July their latest product line (Roku 2) launched with a slick new design and motion sensor remote control supporting a series of casual games including the ever popular Angry Birds. Check out my Social TV (book) interview with Roku’s head of Marketing from July. 

But wait, there are others.

The Apple TV and Roku 2’s high-end model both retail for $99 which is why they’re often compared. But as you’re doing your holiday shopping this weekend, don’t forget about the Boxee Box which has a lot of the same content as Roku, the ability to stream locally stored media, and just announced an add on “dongle” that acts as a digital TV antenna/tuner.

The Boxee Box retails for $179.99 and like the Apple TV and Roku, is also available at Best Buy (among other places) – The USB antenna will set you back an additional $49 (and isn’t available until January) I interviewed Boxee’s VP of Marketing for Social TV this Summer as well as during Hill Holliday’s TVnext Summit last January. You can also check out the demo I did when I first got my Boxee Box back in November of 2010.

And, of course, I’d be remiss not to mention Xbox which is has expanded beyond a gaming console and into a connected TV offering Kinect controller-free Hulu Plus, Netflix and a growing number of content sources including Verizon FiOS TV and soon Xfinity on-demand. Last week I shared a demo of Xbox’s latest software upgrades.

Your cable box will soon act like a connected TV.
Last June, I posted a video of Comcast’s CEO showcasing the next generation of Xfinity TV. To me it walks, talks, and smells like a connected TV device. For me, they’re the dark horse out of the bunch that I think will tip the scale towards bring Web + TV convergence to the masses. However, GigaOM’s Janko Roettgers’s bet is on the newly revamped Google TV.

Whatever happens, the direction is clear and “television” is becoming more exciting than ever before. Happy holiday shopping!

 

Demo of Xbox Software Update

Earlier today, Microsoft released its much anticipate Xbox software update fraught with Kinect controls including a universal Bing voice-enabled search. I was eager to play around with it -- Here's a short demo of the Bing search integration.

Forrester's James McQuivey did a great post on PaidContent talking about the implications of this upgrade and how it brings us closer to a truly engaged TV experience.

Outtakes.

So far I've writen exactly 57,083 words for Social TV and tomorrow I begin the last chapter. As part of the book, Stacey and I (combined) conducted over 50 interviews. About a third of them we captured on video and I've shared many of those on this blog over the past several weeks.

Of course we made our share of "bloopers" along the way. Here's a mashup of some of our favorite outtakes.

Thanks for all of your support around this book guys. It means a lot. Next post, I'll give you a sneak peek of some of the actual content.

How the Boxee Box was built to be a social experience

The connected TV space continues to gain momentum and among the players is Boxee, which was built to be a social experience from the ground up. I had a great time meeting up again with, TVnext alumn, Andrew Kippen who leads marketing for Boxee (P.S. He's also an amazingly genuine guy).

In the video, Andrew talks about how the Boxee experience is both a supplement to traditional TV as well as one that gives its users full access to web content. Andrew also references the Boxee iPad app which has now launched since this interview took place.

If you want more “behind the scenes” as we develop Social TV, please like us on Facebook. You can also pre-order the book starting now from Barnes & Noble

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Mashable's Christina Warren chats about what's up with TV

Lots of interviews taking place to help shape Social TV. As I eluded to when the book was announced, we’re capturing the last 5 minutes on video to give a preview of what’s to come in the book. I had a chance to sit with Mashable’s Christina Warren a few weeks ago. I love how her mom watches most of her television on her iPad! Check it out:

Christina also address the fact that people, today, are  consuming TV in different ways, how social media is bringing us back to watching television live, and the increased targeting capabilities that TV advertisers are beginning to benefit from.

If you’re wondering why we’re both laughing at the beginning of the clip, it’s because we were sitting ridiculously close to each other and were joking about it just before the video kicked in ;-)

Is Your Cable Box the Next Connected TV Device?

An entire segment of Hill Holliday’s TVnext summit (earlier this year) highlighted the notion of “TV gets connected.” We explored the rise of the connected TV device and hosted a panel that included thought leaders from Boxee, Google TV, Roku, TiVo, and Xbox.

Just 2 weeks ago, Brian Roberts (Comcast’s Chairman & CEO) demoed the next generation of Xfinity TV (which is currently being piloted in Georgia).

What’s in store?

• A completely redesigned and interactive channel guide (similar to the Xfinity iPad app)
• Quick search across TV viewing sources (onDemand, live TV & DVR)
• New remote that uses RF (not line-of-site) so your cable box can go anywhere in the house
• A powerful recommendations engine based on what you’re watching/DVRing
• Enhanced “last button” showing 9 last actions (Live TV, onDemand, & DVR)
• Apps for weather, traffic, Pandora, etc.
• Integration with Facebook where your friend’s “likes” help you discover new TV content

On the last point, I absolutely love Brian’s quote: “The [TV] guide becomes what your friends tell you to watch, not what linear alphabet tells you what your options are.”

What’s missing for me, at this stage, is open web connectivity which many of the connected TV boxes have – all except, Apple TV. There’s also no Hulu, Netflix, or YouTube integration…yet.

I cross-posted this on Hill Holliday's blog.