Joost iPhone App

Joost just launched an iPhone app with access to about 46,000 videos. I have been using it over my wifi and have not tried it over 3G or EDGE and so far the application is pretty smooth and the videos play without any issues, although VentureBeat had some issues. Overall, the app is pretty impressive and Joost has done broken some ground but as content is king Hulu on the iPhone would be much more compelling. Also, as I have stated in my "Interesting Companies" post when Orb and Sling come out with an iPhone app they will truly have the killer apps since they will allow you to be the content aggregator rather than the programmers at Joost or Hulu.

I kind of wish someone would create an iPhone app that would get video from the web via Joost, Hulu, or whatever new content creator puts their content online (like Criterion announced recently) mainly because I don't want to download multiple apps that do the same thing. For me there is still a space issue on the iPhone and I don't want apps that I am only going to use once in a while to take up valuable space.

Nikola Tesla and NYC

I didn't know that much about Nikola Tesla (just something about electricity, a car, and a band) but yesterday as I spent 2 hours traveling to my sisters for thanksgiving dinner I was listening to Studio 360 with Kurt Anderson and this weeks program focused on the "Strange Genius of Nikola Tesla." I would really recommend you listen to the program as Tesla was a very fascinating man.

(Hear the whole show here)

The thing that most surprised me about Tesla was that he spent most of his life here in NYC. Tesla spent a lot of time feeding pigeons in Bryant Park and 40th and 6th Ave is Nikola Tesla Corner. Tesla's first lab was on 175 Grand Street. He lived in the New Yorker Hotel in room 3327 and 3328. And there is lots more that he did in NYC (including his earthquake machine that he created in his lab on Houston). 

There is a great interactive map with pictures and audio clips on the WNYC page (the Mayor Fiorello La Guardia eulogy of Tesla is a great listen). This is one of those times I really wish the iPhone supported flash as I would really like to take an interactive tour of Tesla's NYC. I guess I can visit and read the stories, I just can't listen to the great clips.

Riding

I have been riding a fixed gear for about 2 years now and it is pretty fun/intense riding a bike with no breaks in NYC. Below is a pic of my bike a Bianchi Pista:

The video below is a series of 63 pictures I took while riding from Broom Street up West Broadway to Union Square (see map below).

It was a fun short ride slightly over a mile. My camera work definitely needs some work but I am happy with the first effort. I need to play around with my camera to figure out some of the settings to make some of this automatic.

I also took these 2 videos with my camera riding on 25th street to lex and down on lex to 23rd to broadway and down broadway to union sq.

and 

PSFK's Good Ideas in 2009 in Design

This is worth watching and reading:

On Tuesday the 2nd PSFK will host Good Ideas in 2009 in Digital.

Graffiti vs. Brands

Graffiti artists and Brands have one thing in common, they both would like to be ubiquitous. What happens when graffiti artists start attacking brands' ubiquitous logos? 

The artist attacking these brands is Zevs and his intention is to force the passer by to pay attention and question to these images rather than just letting them slip into our subconscious.

Another graffiti artist attacking advertising here in NYC is Poster Boy, you can read about him here and see his all of his work here. 

Poster Boy slices and mashes 2 or 3 different ads to create a composite image, which still remains brand heavy but adds cheeky irony to it. 

What does this mean for marketers/advertisers? Well we need to be much more cognisant of what media we are buying and where our message will be going. Brands that are socially conscious and accessible for dialogue will get attacked much less than brands that are closed off to 2 way communication and only interested in spreading a message. Social media/application, when done right, can be a great way to foster communication between brands and consumers. A good example is Comcast which was getting attacked for is poor customer service by a rather famous advertising critic, Bob Garfield of Ad Age and On The Media. Comcast started a twitter account in order to be more responsive and to start a dialogue with customers. Marketers need to realize that consumers and advocates have a lot more power to spread their message weather that message is positive or negative is up to the brand.

Enjoy your thanksgiving holiday.

Walking

As a small hobby I have been taking photos for some time and I mostly upload to flickr. I have played around with trying to do some different things with photos like my highline montage with 36 different photos layered on each other to create one huge piece or this photo which was 10 different pictures stitched together using software to make one panoramic photo. Now I am trying to create a type of stop motion movie with photos. My first attempt is below of me walking.  I used movie maker and it seems kind of crude but it will have to do since I don't want to invest in software.

I really want to try to mount my camera on my bike and set it to take a picture every 5 seconds and see how that works out.

Zune Phone

In the past week I have read several articles here, here, and here about Microsoft creating a Zune Phone. I think it will be yet another mistake for Microsoft. I know they have more money than god but they really need to learn a valuable lesson from the Zune and not dump more money into a product no one really wants. 

If they do develop a Zune Phone or a non windows mobile phone they are clearly focusing on the Xbox chapter of their history lesson rather than the Zune chapter. The Xbox 360 was unique in that it was the first next gen console to enter the market the only competitor is Sony with the PS3 and they didn't come into the market for a full year after the 360 launch (Nintendo Wii is not really a next gen console although it was a smashing success Nintendo was going after a different market than the 360). The game console market is also unique in that gamers are a very engaged market segment and are willing to provide a ton of valuable feedback to help improve the product and clearly the Xbox development team used this info to its fullest extent. 

The Zune and now the Zune Phone have a much bigger barrier in front of them. iPhone and now Google's android have established a market and whatever MS is going to try to do with a Zune Phone will seem like a me too product. The market is also broader than the gaming market and we have seen how MS does when they try to provide a product that is all things to everybody (where is my freaking WOW). They don't seem to be giving up on the Zune so I guess when you have buckets of cash laying around you can afford to live with 4 % of market share and I am sure the barriers with Zune Phone will be much higher. I suppose MS could create a MVNO and push the Zune Phone out on their own without being attached to a specific carrier. But even this has been an impossible business model if Helio, ESPN, Amp'd, and Disney couldn't create a market I don't think the Zune Brand will be able to either.