Article #4

Was buying YouTube a good thing for Google? These articles explain how it might be hard for the Goog to make advertising dough. One is from TheSteet.com and one from CNET talking about what MTV said about it. Eyeballs do not always equal money.

Media Trends Questions

• The term "Surfing the net/web" originated from the term "channel surfing". And "channel surfing" is surfing only in a figurative sense in that it alludes to the moving easily and smoothly from one place to another. Like surfboarding.
• Disruptive Technology: Automobiles over horses. Early roads were designed for horses, not cars. Nevertheless, the potential for greater convenience, reliability and speed offered by the motor car meant that the road system was eventually redesigned in its favor, after overcoming many obstacles.
• Second Life is an online virtual world where a virtual person could do virtually anything. Starting with beta testers in March of 2002 it has grown to support over half a million members. The word of Second Life is split up into three main continents plus 1350 private islands totaling 83 square miles, and it's growing more every day. The open economy there is pretty incredible. You are given the tools to create anything you can imagine then copyright it to sell it to others. The currency is the Linden Dollar, or L$. The current exchange rate is 309L$ to 1 U.S. Dollar, and that varies like the stock market.

Article #3

• Well, this one doesn't have much to do with video production. But it is about Google and Wisconsin, and we all know how much you love both. Google is now in the process of scanning many historic and medical books from UW Madison and making them available on the net. You may access the article here.
  

• I was going to sent a link to an article about an LCD screen that can show three different pictures from different angles, but instead I found this one about a company called Trion developing an online game that specifically uses broadband to put you in a changing real time story. That article may be seen here.
  

Who is your daddy and what does he do?

• Danger Mouse --- He's part of the band Gnarls Barkley, and the cool thing about them is they dress up as different themes every time they perform or make a music video. Everyone could follow that lead, it would make the world a much funnier place. But the other thing he did as a DJ was sampling sounds from The Beatles' White Album and mixed it with the lyrics in JZ's The Black Album to form the all new The Gray Album. Which would probably sound pretty sweet.

• Faith Popcorn --- This chick from NY, NY is a "World Famous Trend Forecaster". She also runs BrainTrust.

• www.wired.com --- Is where I get all my latest trends from... if I wasn't too busy being a trendsetter...

• ADD --- Approximately 1.6 million elementary school-aged children have been diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Extreme Makeover; Home Edition's Ty is one of them.

• Mark Cuban --- See his mad ravings @ www.blogmaverick.com

The Roles of a Production

I found this site to be pretty helpful in understanding the different people it takes to get a movie/show together. This one lists the main crew of the PBS movie The Old Settler, what their job roles consist of, what they did specific, and great interviews.

www.pbs.org/hollywoodpresents/theoldsettler/prodroles/