Digital Transformation

How long does a digital file last? It depends how and where you save it. On a hard drive? It will last longer than 5 years, but less than 30 years. On a commercial CD, maybe 100 years, no one really knows. On a recordable CD or DVD? Less than 10 years for sure. On magnetic tape? More than 10 years, less than 100 depending upon how the tapes are stored. Sit with 100 digital archivists and you will get 100 different opinions about how to save digital files for future generations. Continue Reading →

You want to cut the cord. You want to take advantage of this brave new video world. You are excited about all the new shows. Just how many video streaming services do you need to pay for? What is on each? Which is best for you? How do you make sense of the streaming universe? Once you get over Streaming Sticker Shock, you’ll want to develop your streaming service strategy, and here’s how to think about it. Continue Reading →

Apple TV+ is live. You can start watching from the Apple TV app on your iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, online at tv.apple.com and on a whole bunch of non-Apple devices. Remarkably, Apple is the low-cost provided in the space. It's free if you purchased an Apple device recently, it's free for 7-days if you just want to check it out, and when you do start paying, it will only cost $4.99/month for up to six users. Apple is even offering a "deal." If you act now, you get 12 months for the price of 10. Too good to be true? I'll let you be the judge. Begun, the streaming wars have. Continue Reading →

Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, announced that Twitter will no longer accept paid political advertising. He tweeted his reasons, “This isn’t about free expression. This is about paying for reach. And paying to increase the reach of political speech has significant ramifications that today’s democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle. It’s worth stepping back in order to address.” Continue Reading →

Blaming "the highly competitive Pay TV industry," Sony will shut down PlayStation Vue (its video streaming service) on January 30, 2020. Ironically, this announcement comes as Disney, Apple and WarnerMedia are all entering the business. Continue Reading →

There’s an article in today’s New York Times with the title, “The Advertising Industry Has a Problem: People Hate Ads.” It says, “the advertising industry faces an ‘existential need for change,’ according to a blunt report published on Monday by the research firm Forrester. Now the agencies must ‘disassemble what remains of their outmoded model’ or risk ‘falling further into irrelevance,’ the report concludes.” Continue Reading →

Apple, Disney, WarnerMedia, and just about everyone who can configure a streaming server is getting into the direct-to-consumer (DTC) content business. In a couple of weeks, you’ll have so many options to pay for content à la carte, you won’t really know where to start. Wondering what all this will cost? Forget your calculator, you’re going to need a spreadsheet. Continue Reading →

If you look at the numbers in a vacuum, Comcast is losing over 2,586 Pay TV subscribers every single day. At that pace, about a million subs will vanish in the next 12 months. Or will they? Continue Reading →

The introduction of CRISPR changed the world of genetic engineering by allowing researchers to “cut and paste” DNA. But the process can introduce errors that produce unpredictable results. A recently published report in the journal Nature by David Liu, a Harvard university biologist, describes a new process that is more like a “search and replace” Continue Reading →

When you look at the list of voice-voice-activated hardware Amazon announced this week, even those who are not paranoid have to stop and think. The standout “Think About This…” device is called Echo Frames, a pair of audio-only smart glasses. They will read you your notifications and offer optional support for Google Assistant. And, yes, Continue Reading →