Quick Link: Bill Gerba's Updated Graphic of the Digital Signage Ecosystem, 2011

This might interest readers who are interested in digital signage and DOOH (Digital Out-of Home):


Bill Gerba is the author of Wirespring's Digital Signage Insider blog and his articles are worth taking the time to read.  I especially like the way he's conceptualized the world of digital signage.  He includes a graphic from 2008 and rolls out an updated version that shows how things have changed in the industry over the past few years. 


Visualizing How to Add Value to the Digital Signage Ecosystem
Bill Gerba, The Digital Insider, 1/21/11




As I read Bill's post, it occurred to me that the changes represented in the 2011 graphic are similar to those occurring in other technology-related areas.  Things are changing rapidly and it is not always easy to conceptualize things on the fly.  It is helpful to understand complexity through an ecosystems model, in my opinion.

"TV Everywhere": Google acquires Widevine to support adaptive streaming video, including DRM content.

This evening I followed a tweet to an article written by Ben Parr, of Mashable:    

Google Acquires Some Powerful Video-Streaming and DRM Technology.   According to Google,  Widevine's adaptive video streaming technology monitors and adapts to bandwidth changes as it delivers content.  This technology make accessing high-quality video content across the web more seamless, consistent, and convenient across platforms and locations, and is known as "TV Everywhere". 

A range of  technologies developed by Widevane in the recent past look like they will be of benefit to Google. Widevine's intellectual property portfolio covers a lot of ground.  The patent claims distribution, as outlined on the company's website, includes realtime piracy detection and response fingerprinting, forensic watermarking, media tracking, evolving detectors (monitoring and response to piracy), security renewals, QOS, cross domain content security, secure processor technology, trusted computing technology, grooming/transcoding, DCAS (Downloadable Conditional Access System), device certificates, application level encryption, adaptive streaming, and usage controls.  

Google will have a wide reach with the acquisition of Widevane, as it plans to continue the company's partnerships with the "entire ecosystem" of businesses related to digital video content in some way.   As more people access web-based video from smart phones and related devices, and discover they can access video whenever they want, the demand for Google's cloud computing support will grow, along with the need for additional centers and support to handle the demand for multimedia content and related software applications.

The acquisition of Widevane might provide Google with a great deal of power over the next generation of cable/airwaves. If so, this will be a boon to advertisers, if done well. As it is, viewers must wait patiently to watch an ad for 15 minutes or so before viewing a short video clip on websites such as the Wall Street Journal. For some, this just a minor annoyance, and certainly not as bad as garish banner ads and pop-ups.  Marketers will have additional opportunities to reach potential customers through the use of product placement/embedded ads when people access more longer-playing videos and movies on-the-go.  The technology exists to create customized embedded ads in videos based on data collected about the viewer, which is right up Google's alley.  

Google's Data (on us) + Widevane = ?  

FYI:

A recent post on the Google Blog explains the acquisition of Widevane in detail: On demand is in demand: we've agreed to acquire Widevane (12/03/10). According to the information from the website, "Widevine is a privately held corporation headquartered in Seattle, WA, funded by Constellation Ventures, Cisco Systems, Charter Ventures, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP), Pacesetter Capital Group, The Phoenix Partners, TELUS (NYSE: TU) and VantagePoint Venture Partners." 

RELATED

5 Reasons Google Bought Widevine -Ryan Lawler, GigaOm, 12/3/10

Google to acquire DRM firm Widevine and what it means for Google TV - Tyler Cunningham, GTV Hub, 12/4/10

Google to acquire Widevine - Heaven sent or a Devil's Deal? (Includes list of Widevine's partners/customers) - Paul Johnson, AppMarketTV, 12/4/10

Google acquires Widevine - Colin Mann, Advanced Television, 12/4/10

10 Advantages of Google's Cloud -Google

Related Posts from Advanced Television

Widevine, Qtv enable Internet video on PS2 and mobiles

Funai selects Widevine

Motorola resells Widevine

Panasonic chooses Widevine solutions

Sonic and Widevine launching USB movie drives

Are we moving to cloud-based DRM ? Take a look at the content & links below:

Universal DRM renamed Ultraviolet, beta starts this fall

Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica  (Interesting- 122 comments)

UltraViolet

Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC

SOMEWHAT RELATED

Anywhere: How Global Connectivity is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business

The Battle For Your Digital Living Room: Apple, google and others are vying hard for this valuable real estate -Knowledge @Wharton, Forbes, 9/17/10

The Fifth Wave of Computing: Why the next decade of journalism will depend on engineers for survival -Trevor Butterworth, Forbes, 6/29/10

Tom Johnson's Media Convergence Matters blog 

Tech Product Placement & Embedded Advertising, Legal/Ethical Concerns

Why is this important to me?

I'm working on some ideas for web-based interactive educational videos and other interactive multimedia applications designed to be accessed across various screens and devices.  Technology is changing rapidly, and to move forward, I need to know more as I make decisions in the future.  I'll return to this topic in future posts as I research this topic further.

Thanks to Pawel Solyga (Solydzajs) for the tweet that sent me down this rabbit hole ; )  

FYI: Pawel is a software engineer, focused on next gen mobile apps.  He is the VP of Technology at Numote. He also is a NUI Group co-founder.  

OpenFrameworks & Interactive Multimedia: Funky Forest Installation for CineKid

The Funky Forest was created by Emily Gobeille and Theodore Watson for the 2007 CineKid festival in the Netherlands, using OpenFrameworks, an open-source application used for multimedia and multi-touch applications. Take a look at the video and pictures of the children interacting with this technology!

"It “is a wild and crazy ecosystem where you manage the resources to influence the environment around you. Streams of water flowing on the floor can be diverted to make the different parts of the forest grow. If a tree does not receive enough water it withers away but by pressing your body into the forest you create new trees based on your shape and character. As you explore and play you discover that your environment is inhabited by sonic life forms who depend on a thriving ecosystem to survive.”

The trees and creatures in the installation look really beautiful; just abstract enough to make it look like a strange magical forest, but the processes of our real ecosystems are still recognisable. A really wonderful project. And it sure looks like a lot of fun!" -Tanja, from the TakeBigBites blog