Content Everywhere

Why do people increasingly choose texting over phone calls? For the same reason I watch 90% of my entertainment content from Netflix and Tivo: participating in communication and entertainment on my schedule vs. someone else’s is convenient and empowering. Continue reading »

It’s easy to think about things in a black-and-white way. This simple view usually makes intuitive sense, but it can be misleading.

Take digital content delivery, for example. The black-and-white view is that physical delivery of content via optical disc is now being replaced in one fell swoop with online delivery. This oversimplified view masks an exciting trend that falls between old-fashioned DVD/Blu-ray physical inventories (think Blockbuster rental stores) and new-fangled content streaming (like Netflix Streaming) : on-demand physical content delivery. Continue reading »

I’ve talked about how Qumu video communications solutions are delivered via “Atoms” (loaded on servers) or “Bits” (software alone), because our customers need both options.

But the question of Atoms vs. Bits is bigger than just how video infrastructure is deployed; content itself comes in these two forms. We as consumers of digital content make this same choice every day in deciding how we will consume it. Continue reading »

Everyone knows the world’s consumers are rapidly shifting to digital content consumption. If you’re a physicial media publisher, you know you need to make the leap. You also know that digital sales will cannibalize your current business.

How do you do make the transition and come out intact on the other side? Continue reading »

Netflix led the way, starting with mailed DVDs and then adding streamed content in bundled form. The recipe works, and other video stores are following suit with bundled physical/virtual subscriptions.

Now the trend has spread to magazines and newspapers. Continue reading »

There is nothing in the world more ubiquitous than the Internet – unless money is at stake.

I can check Facebook or Google anything just about anywhere. In Germany, I can’t stream movies – at least not from Netflix.

What’s the difference? Continue reading »

All video content is streamed content.

Whether from a DVD, a PC., a datacenter, a satellite or a movie projector, the images on the screen are being sequentially fed a stream of content from somewhere else.

But all streamed content is not created equal. There are two factors that account for the wide range of content viewing experiences. Continue reading »

Industry pundits often talk glowingly about the potential for the internet (and computing in general) to be a utility. Nirvana, right?

Actually, the internet already resembles a classic utility – the power grid – in some disturbing ways. Continue reading »