Happy Friday!
It's certainly a sign of the convergence of TV and online when Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Netlfix's Ted Sarandos are front and centre at the Golden Globes, picking up noms and awards for shows like The Crown, Stranger Things and Mozart in the Jungle.
Now, Apple is rumoured to be joining the original content mix. Will we see Tim Cook decked out in his finest tux this time next year?
But first, here's our favourite stories from this week.
Let's get straight to it!
Happy birthday iPhone 🎂
Top Pick
'Sweating bullets' - The inside story of the first iPhone
Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything', stated Steve Jobs when he introduced the first iPhone on January 9th, 2007 at Macworld in San Francisco.
In the ten years since, we've witnessed a revolution in phone technology and the majority of the developed world has now come to depend on these small, but amazingly powerful, computers in our pockets.
The revolution has disrupted every industry that can be represented digitally, from music to news to shopping to TV - and much more. The generations of iPhone which followed have continued to push the boundaries of what we can do with our phones - and how easily we can do them - with features, like the App Store, Siri, Touch ID, VoiceOver, Apple Pay and more. It also paved the way for entirely new product categories with the iPad and Apple Watch.
At Axonista, our founding vision has been to make the video that people watch on these devices interactive so, in many ways, we owe our existence to the inspiration of this momentous product launch, and our tagline "Revolutionary Thinking" pays homage to it.
On its tenth birthday, we reflect on how it all may not have been, due to the loss of the first prototype, a theft that more resembled corporate espionage, and fiery debates between Steve Jobs and his team...
Features
Back to the future ... of television
TV industry expert Graham Lovelace shares his predictions for 2017. He starts by comparing today's TV landscape with predictions in a cartoon by Arthur Radebaugh featured in the Chicago Tribune 60 years ago titled The future of TV is Closer Than We Think..
While Arthur got many things right, it seems the industry is still a long way off being the global TV network he envisaged. Graham walks us through how 2017 could potentially be the year that TV rights borders finally break down.
Future of TV
Facebook is going to start showing ads in the middle of its videos and sharing the money with publishers
It's hardly a surprise that Facebook is finally rolling out a way to monetise the 100 million hours of video that's watched every day on the platform. While it will no doubt be somewhat annoying for users, it finally gives publishers some reward for all of the content that they have effectively been supplying to Facebook for free up to now.
The mid-roll approach is interesting because, while it will be trickier to implement, it at least gives viewers a chance to decide if the video is worth watching or not. No word yet on whether the ads will be skippable after three seconds like they are on YouTube, but we're keen to see how this initiative pans out.
A first look at Hulu's radical redesign for live TV
This year, Hulu aims to become both a live streaming and an on-demand catch up service. This creates a real challenge for UI design, as Hulu has to engineer two services into the one app and TV platform. Hulu have released designs that showcase how it plans to streamline this dual experience.
Hulu's new design won't be released until later this year when the live TV service is fully launched. However reviews from closed door demonstrations are positive. Hulu seem to be making a real effort to design an internet TV experience that is user centric, giving easy access to shows the viewer wants regardless of whether it's on live TV or in Hulu's on-demand catalogue.
BBC iPlayer to be 're-invented' by 2020
The BBC is planning a major overhaul of its 'old' digital iPlayer. By and large the iPlayer, for most UK viewers is a catch up service and not a destination for content, like Netflix and Amazon Prime. For this very reason the BBC could be losing out on audiences.
For legacy broadcasters, it should be alarming that more and more viewers are 'cutting the cord' in favour of on-demand substitutes. To stay current, broadcasters must innovate the purpose, design and functionality of their digital offerings, not just copy the trends of other services. Such innovation will make a distinction and help cater to the specific needs and interests of the BBC's audience.
Storytelling
The Royal Shakespeare Company paves way for virtual reality theater
Following on from their 'Live from Stratford-upon-Avon' series of live screenings of Shakespeare productions from The Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company is making a new leap in digital video and broadcast.
In partnership with Intel and The Imaginarium, the RSC is pioneering a new kind of storytelling tech, using Shakespeare's The Tempest as a guinea pig. In it, they are creating the world's first live motion-capture performance. Think Gollum from The Lord Of The Rings - except on stage, live, and chatting you up in real-time.
Briefs
Briefs
- Google Assistant is coming to Android TV
- Forget a streaming stick: These 4K TVs come with Amazon Fire TV inside
- ESPN adds support for Apple’s iOS single sign-on
- The Steadicam Volt is a camera stabilizer for your smartphone
Adobe is working on a voice-activated digital assistant that can edit pictures for you
Following on in a recent trend across many tech giants - Google, Amazon, Apple - towards digital assistants, Adobe is working on a voice-activated digital assistant to help users crop, reframe and share pictures entirely through voice commands.
At Rerun, we're hugely excited about the potential of voice as the future of UI, for everything from choosing TV shows to running analytics reports and we've plenty of activity planned for the Axonista Lab this year in this space.