Is there a recipe for creating a viral video? This question is often pondered at digital media conferences and responses typically suggest viral video success stems from ingredients that include authenticity, quality of production, timing, the message and entertainment value. These elements are critical, but what might be the most important element is out of a producer’s control; luck.
Telecom ’96 and Blowout Author Speaks
And last week we were lucky to run into former Senator Byron Dorgan and our interview scooped NewYork media as he gave us the skinny on his first novel, which deals with North Dakota, energy and eco-terrorism. Dorgan had just given a keynote lunch address at the Minnesota Telecom Association when we caught up with him. In that speech, he compared the efforts to bring broadband to rural America with the wagon train of the 1800s, where the wagon train would not move ahead if it meant leaving someone behind. Click here to read the rest of the post and view the video interview.
FCC’s Order – Delay and Uncertainty Abound
The industry has been, “shaken upside down”, because of the FCC’s order on USF and Intercarrier Compensation, so says Brent Christensen, president of MTA. In this interview from last week’s MTA Annual Convention, Christensen explains that his organization and members are still trying to determine the impact of this order and how much it will cost end-consumers. Click here to read more and to view the video.
Not Going to Disrupt Our Customers by Roger Bindl
Frustration with retransmission consent echoed from the halls of the 2012 ACA Summit in Washington DC all the way to the MTA Annual Convention in Minneapolis. As it turns out, we had interviewed a couple of MTA members at the ACA Summit, held in early March. This video, edited by Roger Bindl, provides a variety of cogent soundbites from this very important conference for any rural telecommunications operator attempting to provide residential video and broadband services. Click here to view the video.
Help Wanted: A National Clearinghouse for Smart Energy
A clearinghouse that brings third parties and the 2,000+ electric utilities together to create a national market for Demand Response (DR) is needed, according to Roy Perry of Alarm.com. Perry, formerly of Cable Labs, has been a thought-leader in looking at how to achieve energy efficiency goals in cost-effective ways. In this video interview, he calls for standard Application Programming Interfaces that allow third-parties to act on real-time data from utilities. Click here to view.
Cisco to Boost Home-Networking Portfolio with ClearAccess Purchase by Alan Weissberger
Cisco Systems took steps to expand its service-provider business with the announcement that it will acquire ClearAccess, a provider of wholesale network-management solutions. According to Cisco, the purchase will bolster its Prime network-management-software portfolio with a suite of home-networking solutions. This is part of a growing new market generically referred to as the “Connected Home,” which in this case includes monitoring and managing bandwidth usage, parental controls, diagnostics and analytics. The ClearAccess system provides the ability to manage devices using the Broadband Forum’s TR-069 specification. Click here to read Weissberger’s analysis.
Key Messages from IDC Directions 2012 for “The Network” – Part 2 by Alan Weissberger
Part 1 of this article summarized the big picture view from IDC Directions 2012 as well as changes in enterprise IT and network infrastructure/ architecture. Mobility and next generation mobile network architecture’s are examined in this piece. Click here to read more.
Some Tweets and Short Thoughts:
- Installed Xfinity Xbox app– surprised there was no warning about possibility of exceeding bandwidth cap – granted, that would be loads of TV
- Good explanation directed at consumers regarding retransmission consent rules and their impact.
- This is a first (and probably last) – two Senators (one former) on the ViodiTV home page at the same time!
The Korner – Strong, Faster Than Before – The Video
About two months ago, an impromptu video I shot at CES 2012 went somewhat viral. The reason for its relative popularity was because Popular Science selected it to be part of their YouTube channel. Why it was picked up by Popular Science remains a mystery. Still, based on the number of YouTube “likes” versus “dislikes”, the message of the video must have overpowered the poor production values of this impromptu, one-man production.
And the accompanying article, title The Augmented Life or the $6M Man Becomes the $6K Man, was also well received by Viodi View readers.
So, knowing it would be on the television channel at the MTA Annual Convention, I felt inspired to put more effort than normal in the creation of a video explaining the context of my viral video. It was fun to play with the green screen and superimpose my face on images of robots (the little butler-like devices carrying trays) and on an exoskeleton. Whether the above video goes viral, remains to be seen, but it was fun to produce and it is always interesting to ponder the future that seems to finally be the present. Click here to view the video, before it goes viral :-).
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