Saturday, September 30, 2006

Multimedia computers in an (un)connected world

A few days ago Nokia published it's new N95, the top of the line mobile multimedia computer, as they call it. It's amazing how, in such a short time, mobile phones have progressed into multimedia computers, even the price is as much as my home Media Center PC with 19 inch LCD screen...

The device comes pre-installed with GPS, blog software, music player, etc. Amazing amount of features in such a device. I cannot wait to get one in our office next week.

One thing that I think the industry should pay more attention to is the "connected" part of devices. I just entered a competition in which I claim that more and more households have more and more IP"ised" devices in the home, but none of these talk to each other. For example, I have been "evangalising" already for a numebr of years the strenghth of having Presence on your TV, so that you can see who of your buddies are also watching the same show and start communicating. This makes the "old" broadcasted media into an entire new multi-party content machine. Why not watch TV on your mobile device, then you see your friend is watching it as well and you start chatting about the TV show, then you send some personalised content, and when you get home, your phone knows it is in the home and switches to the TV screen where you continue to use your phone as the input device, and show images of yourself when Ridge tells Brooke that he feel in love with a Dunkey who gave birth to his father's child....That expression on your face just has to be shared, and there is no reason why this cannot be done (as both my TV and my phone speak IP).

As a "final throught", as Mr. Springer used to say before his guests started to undress or hit other people, multimedia computers are becoming more and more powerful with much more features. This is great. But what I want, is that they start talking to the other "multimedia2 computers I have at home, to create the best interactive, easy user experience, utilising the best possible input and output (such as TV screens; hey, TV just looks better on a 42 inch screen than on your phone) whereever you are.
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4 comments:

Dean Bubley said...

The problem of messaging or presence on the TV is that, often, multiple people watch TV simultaneously.

You do not necessarily want the entire family's buddy lists on-screen.... nor a private message popping up on a 42" plasma when 5 people are sitting in front of it....

It would also need a lot interoperability work, especially between the TV provider and the presence provider, which in 90%+ of cases will be different (and probably competitive) companies.

11:49 AM
Donselaar said...

Hi Dean,

Thanks for your comment. I agree with ´both of your comments. However, I also believe that in many cases you are either alone (and for teenagers alone in their bedroom with their own TV) or you have agreed to watch the same program with the family (happens in my home surprisingly :-). I guess this needs a simple User Profile "signin" on the TV.

As mentioned, I agree there needs to be a lot of work to make it happen. Then again, with IP making at least the common "language" the same, I'd say my best guess is that it's the same operator that will bring you your digital TV and your Presence.

9:21 PM
Anonymous said...

Hi both,

Let's turn it around.. What social activities,in the family format, will we do in a world which is centered around personal buddylists and youtube.

The social role of traditional TV as being the mechanism to connect with eachother(also outside the family: knowing that everybody is watching the same show)will slowly diminish..or not?

How will we keep the family together????

See my comment on BuddyTV:

http://thinkmobile.wordpress.com/2006/10/03/buddytv/

1:59 PM
Donselaar said...

Hi Raimo,

Let's reply in English so others can read as well :-)

The TV has had a role in bringing information to the family. I'd say the TV is one of the most anti-social machines in the past years, invented to "not to talk but watch". Here in Finland, we are focrd to upgrade to Digital by August this year, which hopefully will bring more interactive services to the TV so we can, instead of sitting and consuming the infi, start sharing and creating the content! No more quiteness in the licing room, please!

I agree with you that there are a lot of personal buddy lists out there, as well as a lot of YouTube (ie the home-made TV of the 21st centure). However, I strongly believe that these will intertwine more and more, meaning you will have your buddylists conncted to the people you share content with, and creating a "network" of content sharing friends. The only way to organise this is to organise in Groups, which means the contact list won't be personal one-to-one contacts, but more social.

Second, the TV was a Physical place where you consumed information. Now you have mobile TV but I think Mobile TV alone is not enough (see my latest blog). Now that you have interactive TV and you sart to share Presence, content etc with our friends using the TV, this "online life" continues while you are on the go. This means you need to have access to this anytime, anyplace (yak, another buzzword), so access to this from a mobile and any other connected device becomes critical.

I love convergence :-)

I'm sure you have seen Joost TV

10:24 AM

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