Particle Debris (week ending 6/5) Bad Checks, Hulu Greed, and American Pie

June 5th, 2009 at 4:55 PM - Blogs by John Martellaro

On Monday, I noted that as part of Microsoft's new initiative to flop about, scrambling to see what sticks to the wall, looking for angles to get on the Apple TV, they've come up with the Natal motion sensor for games and a download store. Cynics are not sure which is the better idea of the two, but here's an article that paints a very positive picture.

Downloaded games and content keeps the Xbox from requiring a Blu-ray player, and that's an interesting judgment call. Their own download store seems inevitable. I just Apple has a trademark on the term "app store."

Back in 1998, many of us suspected that the future of journalism would be on the Internet. But newspapers hung on, tooth and nail. However, the end is nigh, and this chart of newspaper print ad sales tells the story. I like to explain things in words, but sometimes a quick graphic is all that's required.

We live in fascinating times. Suddenly, all those bad checks we wrote right after the turn of the century are being cashed. I see a lot of interesting, fun new things coming as a result.

Lots of people have been playing with the Hulu dedicated app for PCs and Macs this week. On Friday, I published a Quick Look Review. I liked it a lot, and it's gonna be a hit with my wife, I know, because it utilizes the Apple IR remote.

Will Hulu accidentally kill the Golden Goose?

We shouldn't get too excited, however. I suspect that the Hulu app for PCs and Macs is an end run to eventually control Hulu content and keep it from being used on various devices that are undesirable from a financial and competitive standpoint. For example, I am told that boxee has been able to develop a workaround that keeps Hulu accessible. Terminating the Web access someday, via a browser, seems almost certain. FIrst came account registration. Next, comes a paid subscription. It's too bad that technology has caused so much darn confusion in Hollywood. And premature greed. Come to think of it, that phrase could be an oxymoron. Greed always jumps the gun.

For those of old enough to appreciate Don McLean's famous 8m 30s musical devotional, mystical, emotional eulogy to Buddy Holly, "American Pie," I found this fun adaption midweek, the Mad Avenue Blues. The music has new words describing the downfall of American print media. It's both entertaining and clever. (Thanks to reader Jason Barnett on Twitter for the link.) Spending 8 minutes with this will amuse you no end, especially if you loved the original song.

According to market research by the Participatory Marketing Network (PMN), people in the age group called millennials (age 18-26) don't see much value in Twitter -- even though they're hooked on texting. The Online Media Daily article thinks this has implications for Twitter's viability. But, considering that young people don't have as many accumulated things to talk about -- publicly -- I don't think there's anything Twitter can do to solve that particular problem.

On Wednesday, I read about how Hulu's growth is leveling off. The TechCrunch article explains that the slowing in growth can probably be attributed to the winding down and aftermath of the Super Bowl ad that drove an explosion in interest back in February.

On Thursday, I read about how Google's apps are bringing in only a few hundred millions dollars a year in revenue. Almost a throw away amount of money. Other companies should be so lucky. Google's enterprise president Dave Girouard had some interesting things to say about the popularity of Google apps in the business world.

Finally, on Friday, Steve Sande at TUAW, (pronounced like Hoo' -ahh) told us about his experience almost losing his MacBook Air. (I just met Steve in person for the first time -- great fellow. Follow him at StevenSande) Anyone who's heading for WWDC next week should check out his hair-raising experience with a lost and then recovered MacBook. Read his nine tips right now before you forget.

Technical Word of the Week (TWoW)

Incremania (n.) "A state of customer frenzy induced by a vendor's continuous improvements to a popular product." Example: Apple's iPhone.