As technology thrives, everything could be digitalized. As an avid traveler, every time I travel, I have to prepare a lot of information for directions of destinations. In old times, people found the directions by reading a printed map or asking somebody for direction when they were traveling or on the road; nowadays, as new technology is quickly growing, travelers and drivers can rely on the new technology—Global Positioning System (GPS), to find the exact direction and location for their destinations.
However, GPS was not common and so necessary in Taiwan couple years ago, so lots of drivers and traveler still relied on printed maps or “online maps” to find directions. In December 2005, my family went to western coast for self-visiting. We rent a car but we had no idea about the direction of our destinations. As a result, my sister accessed “MAPQUEST” to figure out the route and the distance between the two destinations. MAPQUEST is a free web mapping service and map publisher owned by AOL, which acquired MAPQUEST in 2000. MAPQUEST gives some degree of street-level detail and driving directions for different countries.
Let’s see how to find a direction via MAPQUEST.
Firstly, enter the starting location and then enter my destination, after that I’ll get the directions with route sign icon as well as distance of each route. It allows me to count the time to reach my destination. Besides, I can choose advanced options—pick up the shortest time or shortest distance. This function is the same as a GPS has (but Google Maps doesn’t have it)
This
information shows my route step-by-step, and helps me organize and schedule my
route easily and quickly find out the direction. Besides, the layout of the
maneuver is quite clear and easy to read! Additionally, MAPQUEST contains other
services such as world atlas, gas price inquiry and MAPQUEST Mobile, which
provides maps and driving directions to any web-enabled mobile phone or
personal digital assistant such as PDA, just like your PDA has GPS function.
Though MAPQUEST has essential features for finding driving directions and
mileages, it was overwhelmed by Google Maps due to having more subtle features.
“These include draggable driving directions, which allow you to alter your
route on a WYSIWYG map and get feedback on how this will affect the driving
experience.” [1]
Google
Maps
Google Maps, another free web mapping service, presents a
map that can be navigated by dragging the mouse or using the mouse wheel to
zoom in (mouse wheel up) or out (mouse wheel down) to show detailed street
information. Like many other map services, Google Maps allows for the creation
of driving directions. It offers me a step-by-step list of how to reach my destination,
along with the distance between the two locations and an estimate of the time
required to reach it (that MPAQUEST doesn’t feature about the estimated time to
destination).
Additionally, Google Maps offers four viewing modes
by default: Map (topographic and street map), Satellite
(satellite and high-resolution aerial photographs), Hybrid (Street maps
overlaid on satellite and high-resolution aerial photographs) and Street
View (ground level 360 degree view of certain streets). This feature was
introduced on May 30, 2007.[2]
The newest feature of Google Maps is “customization my
route”, which is my favorite function. I can drag and drop the blue line to
change my own route. For example, Google Maps schedule the shortest route from
my apartment to UW, but I want to drive along with lakes to enjoy the view. In
other words, I can decide what route I wan to drive instead of deciding by
Google Maps. Beside, I can add more destinations for direction, to create my
own trip route. Also, I can type in any key works such as “Chinese food” into
“find businesses” to find if there any Chinese restaurant is nearby my destination.
Let’s see the clip of how to customize your route.
In addition, in late 2006, Google introduced a Java
application called Google Maps for Mobile,
which is intended to run on any Java based phone or mobile device. You can know
real-time traffic to avoid traffic accident, and integrate search results on my
own map. For instance, to integrate local business location and contact
information which appear in one place on my own map. The function is like a GPS
built-in your phone!
In a conclusion, Google Maps features more interactive
function for users such as “My Maps”, which uses can add their favorite
locations in the city which accompanies with photos and videos to create their
personalized map, and then share their map via flickr and so forth. Below is the clip for introducing "My Maps".
Those are reasons Google Maps becomes the most popular web mapping service among users—it is interactive, containing WEB 2.0 and hyperlocal concept, as well as updated information, even though a GPS doesn’t have some features. About the operation, is also easier than a GPS. I can operate some functions with one click or double-click. It is much easier for me to use a mouse instead of a keypad of a GPS. However, there is still some criticism of Google Maps. For example, street map overlay in some areas, may not match up exactly with the corresponding satellite images. The street data may be entirely erroneous, or simply out of date. Besides, the authenticity of data is also criticized by some users. Actually, when I use satellite mode to find my apartment, I couldn’t find it! Google Maps satellite images aren’t in real time; in fact they are several years old. Moreover, the newest feature Google Street View has also got a significant amount of controversy in the days following its release; privacy concerns have exploded caused by the uncensored nature of its scenic photographs. Nonetheless, based on specific features, Google Maps is still the best choice for me to schedule my route and find the directions.
“It’s all about removing the unnecessary”— by Jonathan Ive
Jonathan Paul Ive was born in February 1967 in London and raised in Chingford, East London. Ive was always interested in constructing objects and then taking those objects apart while he was a child. That’s why Ive chose to study industrial design at Newcastle Polytechnic University in 1985. After graduating from Newcastle Polytechnic University, Jonathan Ive joined a personal design consultancy called “Tangerine” in 1989. During this period of his personal business at Tangerine, Ive commercialized his design skill and developed everything from power tools to televisions. However, in 1992, Ive moved to the US to build up his design career because one of his customers, Apple Computer Inc., offered him a full-time job in California, where Apple’s headquarter located.
When Ive joined Apple Computer was the lowest ebb of this company. Worst, by the time Ive became Apple's design chief in 1996, Apple was in big trouble. However, in July 1997, Steve Job’s return from exile and took over the management of Apple, bringing the dying Apple back to life! Besides, Job gave Ive’s current job title (Senior Vice President of Industrial Design) at that time. In 1998, Ive’s innovation of iMac, selling more than 2m units in its first year, let Apple make profit again. During the period that Ive in charge of Apple’s design, he has three representative works at Apple Computer, which are iMac, iPod and iPhone. Based on previous experiences in Newcastle Polytechnic and Tangerine, Ive applied his design concept on Apple’s products.
Original iMac, 1998
“This is the product that paved the way for Apple’s recovery and brought Ive fame and fortune. As is often the case, Steve Jobs made many of the big calls: Make an all-in-one model with combined computer and monitor that’s easy to connect to the Net, and leave out the floppy drive. But Ive’s team came up with the startling blue translucent enclosure, even visiting a candy factory to help perfect processes necessary to create the jelly-bean-style coating.”[1]
“The design is characterized by translucent candy-colored and milky white surfaces with soft, bulging shapes. Subdued vertical pinstripes show through the translucent faces of these Macs and displays. Printed on the back panel for ports and agency approval marks is a lenticular plaque that contains a wavy 3D pattern. Even the power cords are translucent, showing the twist of wires within.”[2]
iMac, 2002
“Some call it the half-an-egg iMac, based on the shape of the base that holds the actual computer. Others see a "lampshade" Mac, based on the remarkably stout stainless steel neck that lets users adjust the LCD display as they desire ("the neck was designed for misuse," Ive once wrote in an article for the Design Museum). Either way, it was a startling, elegant evolutionary step between the original iMac with its bulky cathode ray tube and today's "PC-less" models, which seem to be nothing more than slightly overweight displays.”[3]
iMac, 2005
“By tucking the electronic guts of the Mac right behind the LCD display, Ive's team essentially made the PC disappear.”[4]
iPod, 2001
“There were a lot of digital music players on the market by the time Apple threw the iPod in the ring, but none that combined such a combination of utility and style. There were obvious design advances, such as the addictive scroll wheel, but also plenty of not-so-obvious reasons it became irresistible to so many consumers. For example, Apple employed co-molding techniques that laid a layer of clear plastic over the white enclosure, giving it a rich, expensive-looking depth.”[5]
Some people wonder why “snowy white” color and “clean” became the basic
concept of iPod, it’s because Ive have ever design for bathroom sinks and tubs
at Tangerines time. Without unexpectedness, the color snowy white inspired
other electronic products and made the technical thing become an elegant object
of art instead of a cold and blunt electronic commodity.
iPhone, 2007
According to Job’s statement, the revolutionary iPhone is the combination of Touchscreen iPod + Phone + Internet Communicator.[6] On July 18, 2007, Ive received the 2007 National Design Award in the product design category for his work on the iPhone.[7]
As senior vice-president of design at
Apple, Jonathan Ive has combined what he describes as “fanatical care beyond
the obvious stuff” with ceaseless trials into new tools, materials and
production processes, to design such revolutionary products as the iMAC, iBook,
the PowerBook G4 and the iPod MP3 player. Those innovation brought Ive to win
the Design Museum's first Designer of the Year
prize for the 2002 iMac and iPod.[8]
It's all about removing the unnecessary
Some
products seem cheap; in fact it’s the color and material wrong. All designers
know, if they want the products look elegant, they should try to use the design
of the low chroma. The white is pure, and the black is noble. A product with
over-saturated color looks interesting and easily catches consumers’ eyes, but
only suitable for children's toy mostly. In Ive’s school time, he figured out
the basic stuff of design—“that form and color define perception of the nature
of an object, whether or not it is intended to.” Ive learned the essential
principles of how to make things and he began to realize the historical and
cultural context of an object’s design.
"It's all about removing the unnecessary," Jonathan Ive has said of the ethos that informs his milestone product designs for Apple Computer. Ive has removed the complexity from technology and moved Apple's products toward what he calls the "utterly serene." His translucent Power Mac G4 Cube, like postmodern sculpture more than office equipment, proved that computer design could even aspire to high art. But nothing better achieves Ive's goal to create graceful, instinctive machinery than his innovative design for the iPod.
The
present, as Apple’s market share and profits grow up, Ive’s products persist to
push the limits of convention and make Apple forward into new markets. From the
latest iPods to the new iPhone, and through enormous care and passion, Ive
brings refreshing simplicity, elegance and creation to everything he touches.[9]
Slide show of Ive's work
BIOGRAPHY
1967
Born in London,
where he spends his childhood.
1985
Studies design and art at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University).
1989
Becomes a partner at Tangerine, a London-based design consultancy where he
works on a wide range of products from power tools to wash basins.
1992
Moves to San Francisco
to join the Apple design team.
1998
Appointed vice-president of industrial design at Apple.
Launch of the original iMac, which sells 2 million units in its first year.
1999
Introduce of the Apple iBook, the 22”
Cinema Display, PowerMac G4 Tower and iSub.
2000
Launch the Apple G4 Cube.
2001
Apple introduces the Titanium PowerBook G4 and the iPod portable MP3 player.
2002
Launch of the new sunflower-inspired iMac with 15” and 17”
floating screens. Introduction of the eMac, a version of the iMac specially
developed for use in the education sector.
2003
Apple launches the 12” PowerBook
and the 17”
PowerBook, which at 1” thick and 6.8 lbs is the world’s slimmest and lightest 17” notebook computer.
Win the Design Museum's first Designer of the Year
prize.
2004
Launch of the multi-coloured iPod mini and ultra-slim iMac G5.
2005
Appointed senior vice-president of design at Apple. Launch the Mac Mini.
2007
Launch iPohone
Reference
Jonathan Ive personal web site: http://www.jonathanive.com/biography/
Editorial (September-25-2006) Who is Jonathan Ive?. BisinessWeek, p. A1. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_39/b4002414.htm?campaign_id=ds7
An Ive for Design: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/09/iveprofile/index_01.htm
Jonathan Ive: Apple of the iMac. BBC NEWS, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/1768724.stm
Design Museum, Design in Britain: http://www.designmuseum.org/design/jonathan-ive
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive
News offers daily information for people, and the establishment of news websites provides another new channel for audiences to immediately receive information. Both KING5 and KCPQ TV are local TV Stations in Seattle, which separately belongs to NBC and FOX. I would like to compare these two news sites by Shneiderman’s eight golden rules of interface design.
The Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design are excerpted from the book of “Designing the User Interface” by Ben Shneiderman. To determine an application program is easy to use or not, it depends on an appropriate interface design. Shneiderman proposed these principles by his ample experiences and delicate observations from interactive systems. Here are the eight golden rules of interface design. 1. Strive for consistency. 2. Enable frequent users to use shortcuts. 3. Offer informative feedback. 4. Design dialog to yield closure. 5. Offer simple error handling. 6. Permit easy reversal of actions. 7. Support internal locus of control. 8. Reduce short-term memory load. Now, I want to focus on some rules to analyze these two sites. 1. KING5.com Their news is tailored for viewers 40+ years old. Also, King 5 news is rated in Seattle as the best newscast for quick reporting and offering a wider view on certain topics. For example, they would produce debates during political seasons and health bulletin board during any outbreaks.
Consistent sequences of actions should be required in similar situations.
As the frequency of use increases, so do the user’s desires to reduce the number of interactions and to increase the pace of interaction.
For every operator action, there should be some system feedback. For frequent and minor actions, the response can be modest, while for infrequent and major actions, the response should be more substantial.
This feature relieves anxiety, since the user knows that errors can be undone; it thus encourages exploration of unfamiliar options.
Experienced operators strongly desire the sense that they are in charge of the system and that the system responds to their actions. Design the system to make users the initiators of actions rather than the responders.
The limitation of human information processing in short-term memory requires that displays be kept simple, multiple page displays be consolidated, window-motion frequency be reduced, and sufficient training time be allotted for codes, mnemonics, and sequences of actions.
At the first glace of this site, I was easily distracted by the ads of the left side of the home page; however, after I browsed it, I found the interface is user-centric and friendly. First of all, the navigation is on the top instead on the left side. No matter the user is a right-hander or a left-handed person, the layout won't bother them. Besides, when I access to the sub-category, the sub-menu will show oh the left side in order to tell me the locus and makes me won’t be lost in the web site.
Secondly, the interface is simple and organized. According to the 2nd rule—enable frequent users to use shortcuts, “as the frequency of use increases, so do the user’s desires to reduce the number of interactions and to increase the pace of interaction.” The sub-menu is “hiding” below each category, when users need it, it will pop out. The design of interface not only “reduce” unnecessary shortcut, but also organize and categorize the information well, allowing users to access it comfortably and confidentially.
Additionally, users can get informative feedback. Those operator actions that users usually do such as accessing to news, weather, and traffic and so forth, users can directly access it with one-click; on the contrary, some functions that users infrequently use takes them more effort to achieve the goal. For instance, if you want to put the headline on you own web site from KING5.com, you have to sign first, and then you could do next.
Further, it definitely allows users to reverse actions. When I applied for KING5.com’ membership, I forgot to confirm my email address again, so I went back to the previous page, double checked it, and then continued to the next step. Every action could be reversal. ”This feature relieves anxiety, since the user knows that errors can be undone; it thus encourages exploration of unfamiliar options.”[1]
Moreover, due to the 8th rule--"the limitation of human information processing in short-term memory requires that display be kept simple", users might not memorize how to acquire the information when they access the site again, so the layout and interface have to be easy to use and clear. Nonetheless, if the information is too converted to be found, users will feel annoyed when they go back to the site. Fortunately, when I accessed KING5.com the next time, I was able to immediately recover the travel information that I discovered last time. The interface design really reduce users' short-term memory load.
About the
interactive ways including one-way e-mailing and two way method, and
social networking feature such as blogging, are collected into the
"Interactive" section. User can be the reporter. I can provide the
news to KING5 in
many ways such as sending text e-mails, sending video clips and photos via my
cell phone, or directly uploading videos and photos to their web site. Through
generating content to KING5 online, users feel more interactive and dominant
when visiting the web site.
2. KCPQ TV—Q13 FOX.com
For this newscast, their news and audience is tailor more towards the college crowd and junior executives (21 – 40). The reason is due the stories they tend report on and the background music is tend to be top 40.
The first impression of Q13.com is "chaotic". The terminology of the navigation is not consistent. For instance, "Q It Up Sports" and "My Q2" sound great but are not accordant with other vocabulary of navigation neither not professional enough. Also, the sub-menu is revealed; they are not hidden and disorganized. For example, the sub-menu belongs "Site Feature" could be concealed and pop out when users want to use it.
Furthermore, the information and the interface are neither well-categorized nor organized. At the time I click the button of "News", I only see the "topic" with a paragraph of content of each piece of news. If I want to particularly read political news, it takes a while to sort out by myself. Besides, the dynamic advertising on the top of the home page disturbs me when I want to press the button on the top navigation. Sometimes I feel annoyed and frustrated to browse Q13.com.
In addition, according to the 7th rule—support internal locus of control[1], I didn't intensely desire the sense that I'm in charge of interacting with this web site; on the contrary, I'm more like a responder. However, there are still advantages. I like the weather feature, which allows me to know the temperature and weather at the first sight of visiting the site. Moreover, the layout of the online streaming TV lets me concentrate on watching the news on it.
To sum up, the interface design of KING5.com is superior to Q13.com's. The resources of KING5.com are more organized, professional and informational; on the other hand, Q13.com gives audiences a more entertaining impression, and there are still some functions should be improved. If I were an online news audience, I would rather obtain the information from KING5.com than from Q13.com, because I might be lost in KCPQ's news site.
Interaction with iPod nano 2nd generation
The iPod marked by Apple Inc has been the leading product in the market of portable digital audio player for couple years; however, I was looking forward to seeing the advent of red iPod in the past few years. Finally, due to market demand and Product Red initiative, it launched in October, 2006. For each red iPod nano sold in the United States, Apple donates US$10 to the red campaign to fight AIDS in Africa.[1] That urged me to buy one at once.
The major reason to buy an iPod nano is that I can listen to the music everywhere and anytime, and it absolutely helps me kill the time when I am bored. Besides, there is some extra functions increase iPod’s additional value. Which functions I use mostly?
The iPod nano is a mid-range iPod, which merges features of both the iPod shuffle and iPod classic. A 4GB iPod can contain 1,000 songs, and this capacity is appropriate for me because I have a lot fond albums, but 30GB is too large for me and it seems like a portable hard device instead of an audio player. The keypad of iPod nano is designed as a wheel, and users can select the features by slipping the click wheel and then pressing it to operate the function. My favorite feature is “shuffle”, which plays my songs randomly; however, when I listen to a fond song and want to stop the shuffle function in order to go through the whole album, I have to press one time to go back to main menu, and then press the central button four times to find that album. If I could stop the shuffle function with one click, it will help me a lot. The 3rd generation iPod nano solves this problem. Users can stop the shuffle function by clicking the central button. That encourages me to get a new one, but the fatty shape discourages me to do that.
l Games.
Besides listening to music, I also play the games when waiting. There are four build-in games: brick, music quiz, parachute and solitaire. I totally have no idea how to solitaire so I give it up. The easiest game is music quiz. There will show multiple choices for the current playing song. In the same way, users can slip the wheel to select the right answer and press the central button to confirm it. Thus no matter which direction my thumb is on the click wheel, it won’t bother me to click the right answer because the button is at the middle.
l Mobile secretary.
--Multiple time zone clocks.
Because I don’t wear a watch, I have to check time via my cell phone. However, when I take a plane, I cannot turn on my cell phone and I’ll lose my time! Fortunately, there is a multiple time zone clock function in the iPod nano. I can set up the time in Seattle, New York and Taiwan. I feel comfortable during the process of setting: click middle button twice to get the time, or click three times to set it up!
--Check schedule.
Also, the calendar is under extra function: extra->calendar. I can know the date on the next month by pressing the right side of the wheel, and check the date by slipping the white wheel.
l Sleep timer. Extra->clock->time->sleep timer->setting
This is also my favorite function. I like listen to the iPod when I sleep, so it’s important that iPod can turn off itself automatically after I fall asleep. Nonetheless, this function hides below the clock setting function so I hardly find this sleep timer function when I want to access it again. It is better that this function is independent under extra feature, thus I could easily set up the turn-off time when I want to reach this function.
During the whole process of achieving my goals, mostly I feel comfortable of using that without difficulty, and I also experienced using a hi-tech and delicate product. The design of the click wheel and central button simplify the shape and interface, letting the iPod nano is easy to be used. In addition, “the surface of the click wheel is slightly textured, and the central button is slightly concave, allowing greater tactile feedback for out-of-sight operation.”[2] In my opinion, the design with user-centric concept abridges the gulf of execution as well as the gulf of evaluation, because my use experience of iPod nano tallies with Norman’s statement. "The gulf of evaluation is small when the system provides information about its state in a form that is easy to get, is easy to interpret, and matches the way the person thinks of the system" (Norman 1988: p. 51). However, the click wheel is not always so smooth and the battery’s lifespan is not long enough, they are two flaws of 2nd nano. Is 3rd generation iPod nano better than 2nd one? We’ll see!
Human beings’ demands caused innovation; and the innovations facilitate human life and satisfy the needs of people. There are many interaction designs around. Everyday we rely on these designs to solve our problems and acquire knowledge. I think a properly designed product is to simplify the complexity of solving-problem process, and achieve the goal without wasting time and energy. In short, the design should be based on easy-usage—easy to learn, and easy to execute. Redundant design would confuse users. It is all the designers’ fault and those designs would be improper and useless.
For some reasons and experiences, I would like to explore about the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) as the topic. “In telephony, interactive voice response (IVR) is an automated telephony system that interacts with callers, gathers information and routes calls to the appropriate recipient. An IVR system (IVRs) accepts a combination of voice telephone input and touch-tone keypad selection and provides appropriate responses in the form of voice, fax, callback, e-mail and perhaps other media. The IVR system can respond with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct callers on how to proceed. IVR systems can be used to control almost any function where the interface can be broken down into a series of simple menu choices.” [1]
Because I had to deal with my cell phone account, I called T-Mobile customer center and then was greeted by a natural voice: “If you want to listen to English, say English.” and I definitely said “English” without thinking; after that, the “agent” asked me “what service do you need today?” but I paused for a sec, and finally I answered “account” and tried to get response from it; however, this “conversation” ended up because I could not access my account via phone call, so I asked to switch to a live agent readily. Based on my experience, though speech technology is more advanced than touch-tone keypresses, for some inactive customers, it’s more convenient for them to get “options” from the IVR and then press the keypad to obtain the confirmation of their action. Thus, I would like to focus on the pros and cons between touch-tone keypresses (DTMF) and natural language speech recognition system.
Speech recognition technology contains Artificial Intelligence concept that makes it workable to recognize a broader range of expressions and learning from experience. Nonetheless, the natural language speech recognition tech is not widely used by companies and business. I think there are some limitations of speech recognition system:
1) Cost. The equipment is more expensive than touch-tone system. Besides, it takes to train the software to capture and recognize callers’ utterances.
2) Accuracy. Average, the natural language speech recognition system could capture 2,500 utterances[2]; however, other pessimistic users, like Bern Elliot, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., said that "Normally, the success rate is 25%, rising to 45% or 50% if you put effort into it." "If you work at it and motivate people, you might get to 70%, but that is the exception rather than the rule" he added.
Though, according to Lamont Wood’s article “Talking to machines: Interactive voice response gets better”, Bob Meisel explained that “Speech recognition accuracy is not an issue, since the system can prompt for clarification if it's confused.” Moreover, according to Wikipedia, “most commercial companies states that recognition software can achieve between 98% to 99% accuracy if operated under controlled conditions.”
Lynda Smith, division manager at Nuance Communications Inc. in Burlington, Mass, claimed that “compared to the touch-tone IVRs, the use of speech recognition system reduces misdirected calls by up to 50%.” In my opinions, speech recognition system simplifies the application menu-structure, and can abridge callers’ time: they don’t have to listen all of options and make choice. Further, callers feel more interactive when doing self-service applications, because it sounds like you are talking with a “live agent”! Besides, callers don’t have to put down the phone to press keypad for making choice. They can just say a term and then obtain what they want.
Nonetheless, based on my personal experience, the accuracy of speech recognition is not always so high. I think the ideal system is to combine both touch-tone and natural language speech recognition system. It is more efficient to apply speech recognition when the IVRs ask “Yes or No” questions; however, if callers have to provide information related to numbers such as account number, it is better allow callers to use keypresses. Actually, most companies utilize partial IVRs now and it much benefits both customers and companies.
Even though those innovations assist human beings in their daily life, criticism always arose. Some people think that IVRs is unhelpful for usage and hard to use because of poor design and not meeting callers' needs. A well-designed IVR system should immediately meet callers' demand and with a minimum of complication. For me, the innovation of IVR indeed improves the efficiency on solving problems and facilitates both operators and callers' usage; yet, I would prefer the lowest level of IVRs (touch-tone system) than the speech recognition system when I call to calling center.
When I
access to Brightcove, the first question in my mind is always “how it makes
money?” As we know, this kind of platform such as YouTube and portal web site,
make money by offering a channel for advertisers to publish ads. On October 29,
2006, Brightcove websites introduced several services, which offers a channel
for content owners such as Warner Music to publish their content, allowing
these publishers to operate their own channels as well as earn money at the
same time.
Brightcove maximizes the spirit of WEB 2.0, providing a platform for
individual users and professional customers (Brightcove calls them “Prosumers”)
to launch their own channels or publish contents and then share with other
users. However, contrast to YouTube, Brightcove enables content owners to make
money by launching their own channels. Joining in the
Brightcove Network, content publishers will be able to deal with video posted
on their own web sites, show their channels for syndication and subscription on
the Brightcove web site, and take half of the advertising revenue to from videos wherever
they play and take 70% of revenue from pay-per-download videos.
Let’s
watch some channels.
1. Music Box http://musicbox.sonybmg.com/
This channel is categorized to music and is launched by Sony&BMG... Musicbox Videos claims it has “The Best Artists. The Best Videos”. There are a bundle of music videos and all of those artists belong to Sony BMG... Musicbox is an online music video channel like MTV, playing many music videos played by Brightcove’s plug-in. Also, audiences are able to pick up what they want to watch online. I saw some ads on the top and bottom of the home page when I accessed to Musicbox’s web site. It’s the main way they make money.
The main screen
2. Taste TV: Life Never Tasted so Good http://www.tastetv.com/
I like this channel! It teaches audiences how to cook and introduces many gourmet foods in videos. Besides, it has various programs such as Asian taste, Latin taste, sexy dishes and chocolate TV. Taste TV manages the videos on its own web site which allows audiences could watch anytime and anywhere. Moreover, Taste TV also builds up a blog which introduces many up-coming events. However, how they make money? It’s also the advertising revenue. When I switch to other programs, ads would pop out randomly and audiences would be led to the ad’s website if you click it.
Under the way that Brightcove offers, besides distributing or authorizing their content through traditional television network, these professional producers have been seeking a new commercial way, such as setting up the channels on Internet network, and try to obtain new source of revenue by joining the service provided by Brightcove and other similar new media. So we can see a brand-new business model is emerging on the Internet.
“Live Earth” was a series of worldwide concerts held on July 7, 2007 designed to raise awareness about man-madeclimate change and advocate environmentally friendly living. The concerts brought together more than 150 musical acts in eleven locations around the world and were broadcast to a mass global audience through radio, television, and the internet.
The content of the event is presented on
the internet by MSN and Microsoft. Since the start of the first Live Earth
concert in ,
MSN has delivered more than 30 million live and on-demand video streams of the
concerts. During MSN's exclusive live coverage, more than 8 million people
watched over 15 million streams, with peak simultaneous viewer ship of 237,000
people, making it the most-watched entertainment event in online history: http://liveearth.msn.com/
The purpose of this web site which integrates streaming media directly in their web page is allowing audiences to view these concerts online especially those were held outside their countries as well as let audience further understand the conception of “Live Earth”. What I like the web site is the high definition and complete clips. I can view the concert anytime and click what I want to view; however, there are two major parts I dislike. First is, the speed of loading is slow and it may lag when watching. The second part is there is advertising from sponsors between each clip. It makes me lose patience to watch. One of the reasons to view the concerts online is I don’t want to see any advertising. Thus, I hope MSN could offer an option for audiences to skip ads at least.
However, there are many artists question that whether the concert of Live Earth has the positive effect for saving the planet and warning the public for global warming. According to Matt Helders, the drummer of Arctic Monkeys, explains that the amount of electricity for lighting the stage could support ten households’ lighting. Dose the concert save the earth? Or hurt the earth?
Year 2006 is a very flourished year for online music in Taiwan. There are four domestic online music stores in Taiwan--- Kuro, ezPeer, Yahoo! Music and KKBOX. In the past few years, Kuro and ezPeer are the two biggest online music providers in Taiwan, and they had biggest membership base, but they sold digital music illegally. However, Kuro and ezPeer legalized their business model in 2006, and ezPeer becomes the first legal p2p online music provider in the world.
YAHOO! Music launched in March 2006. However, after it started to charge, it realized the market size was too small to make profit and it was hard to continually operate, so it withdrew from Taiwan market and switched to cooperate with KKBOX. Now, when users access to the biggest Taiwanese portal web site--YAHOO! and click "music", they will be led to download "KKBOX", which is a streaming music provider.
Some functions of KKBOX are interesting.
1. audiences can get the newest information or special events via the streaming video.
(Michael Learns to Rock will visit Taiwan)
2. Dynamic Lyrics
Most songs are played and come with lyrics. Audience can see the dynamic lyrics while listen to songs. (just like karaoke). Moreover, KKBOX provides a searcher for search lyrics.
3. Listen to special songs with a click.
According to different genres (actually is the "noisy' level), audiences can enjoy songs picked by KKBOX with just a click. This function is similar to "Pandora", audiences won't know what the next song is and cannot forward or reverse.
4. Create your "own" album and release it.
Audiences can add their favorite songs to their "music box" and make their own albums and then release to public. Other audiences can evaluate your album or leave comments. It builds a social network to allow you to make friends who have the common taste with you.
Besides, when you listen to music from KKBOX, the current song appears on your MSN subtitle and your friend will know what song you are listening.
Thus your friend may ask you for the song or discuss with you. You can make your MSN list more personal and let your friends know what your are doing and your mood. (Actually I'm not sure the purpose of this function. Just for fun?)
However, if you want to listen to music from KKBOX, you have to pay about $4.5 (US dollar) monthly and then enjoy "all you can listen". Compared to KKBOX, I would prefer bolgmusik because it's free! Furthermore, like iTunes, audiences have to download the software to access it: http://www.kkbox.com.tw/download/download.shtml
To sum up, there are more and more online music platforms launch and audiences have more and more options. The main function of these streaming music providers is allowing audiences to personalize their playlists (like blogmusik) as well as the interface. Thus, audiences would be more willing to come back to access it.
Different Use of Streaming Media
I think telecommunication provider like T-mobile can cooperate with streaming music providers to offer a service allowing customers to listen to music by streaming via their cell phones instead of downloading music to their phones. If there is the service, I would be glad to pay monthly for it.
During my spare time, I would like to watch some TV shows and listen to some music online, and my favorite US TV show is "Lost"; however, I took T.Y.'s class last quarter and it was on Wednesday night, so I always missed the show time. But I recently heard from my friend that I can watch previous episodes via abc's web site without paying. Besides, it has high-definition without lagging, breaking my previous view that online videos are low-quality and lagging when watching. Here is the link from abc.com: http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing
If you want to watch the free show online, you have to install the player they provide.
Once audiences install the player and then launch it, the list of shows would appear on the bottom and audience could pick which show they want to watch and which episode they missed. abc really offers a more flexible way for audiences who missed the first show time as well as people who don't have a cable TV. Most important, it's FREE!!
Moreover, besides watching US series, I also watch some Taiwanese and Hong Kong shows, thus I use "PPStream" to watch those programming. PPStream is a kind of online TV, and users have to install the software first so that they could access various TV shows and movies. The window of programming would appear when launch the software and users can choose what they want to watch from a bundle of shows and movies. However, users cannot choose episodes and cannot forward or reverse. If a movie is played, it would be repeatedly played for a week; furthermore, if a TV series is played, the next episode would subsequently be played. In other words, there is no break when playing. This is the biggest weakness of PPStream.
Compare to abc's online TV and PPStream, both of them have advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
abc
1. High-quality of programming
2. High-speed
3. Provide a flexible way for audiences to watch shows
4. Free
PPStream
1. Free
2. Offer an alternative way for audiences
3. Diversity of shows and movies
4. Whenever you want
Disadvantages:
abc
1. Have to install the player
PPStream
1. Low-quality
2. Lagging when watching
3. Have to install the software
4. Not really flexible
Besides watching online TV, I also listen to radio online. Because I don't have a radio, so I would check it online when I want to listen to. One of my favorite broadcasting station is ICRT (International Community Radio Taipei)
http://www.icrt.com.tw/en/D01.php
This web site also provide an interactive service for audiences that is they could rate the current song online to reflect whether they like this song or not. Nonetheless, listening online would be a little delay compared to listening via a radio. This is the disadvantage of ICRT's online radio. Moreover, another thing I would like to mention is, Ctrax offered US college students to listen music by streaming. Once you log in (enter your UW's e-mail address), you can enjoy at least 20,0000 songs from it. However, Ctrax has terminated the special service for college students since March 31, 2007.
Above are the streaming media I access during my leisure time.
