The nice people over at MyVu sent me a cool pair of MyVu Crystal “personal media viewers” (read: goggles!) to play around with. I have to admit I was really fascinated by the idea. They retail for about $300.

So I’ve been trying them out for the last few days and I have to say, it’s definitely changed the way I look at my iPod. They are a great device for techies as well as early adopters who want to get a jump start on the future of portable video viewing. I’m not going to spend a lot of time regurgitating specs and what not, you can find that information here.

Instead, I’m going to talk about my experience with the device and my overall thoughts.

Things I liked:

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard about the video iPod (and similar devices) is the inability to truly enjoy watching movies on such a little screen. Even TV shows can be a bit of a strain on the eyes. These viewers readily tackle the problem by providing a bigger screen and surround sound. I definitely see a lot of potential as the technology improves. I watched three movies on the viewer and after a short initial adjustment period, I was completely used to them and enjoying the videos.

The device is light weight and easy to carry around, which is a huge plus since I’m usually a little tight on purse space, lol.

The pictures were bright and the sound was crystal clear, and thanks to the sample media reel that came with my device I was able to see a wide variety of footage from an animated movie (The Incredibles) to television episodes and sports.

I also liked that you can plug these bad boys into any video iPod or portable dvd player. I tried it out on several of my devices and it worked flawlessly each time.

Battery life was more than I expected, I watch almost eight hours before having to recharge the unit.

The Glasses sit on your face in a way that lets you still see your complete surroundings, which is great because you can use them on the subway without being worried about missing your stop or becoming unaware what’s going on around you.

Things I didn’t like:

There were a lot of wires, which made it annoying at times, and when connected to by Classic Video iPod the entire system seemed a little clunky. It’s not the worst flaw in the world, and you easily adapt, but I’m hoping the next few iterations will include a wireless set, because that would be awesome and way more convenient.

I would have also liked to have been able to adjust the glasses. Apparently, my head is a little small, and I would have preferred a tighter fit. Maybe that’s just personal preference and I’m being too picky, either way I’m just giving you all a heads-up. (Pun unintended, although thoroughly enjoyed.)

You can’t really walk around with them unless you want to be called Gordi Laforge, which depending on your perspective might be the best or worst thing ever.

Overall you’ll like these if….

If you travel a lot, or have a long commute to work (note: NOT WHILE DRIVING) then this might be a good investment for you since it really heightens the enjoyment of watching videos on smaller devices. I really liked test unit and am currently debating getting my own set because I often find the selection of movies available when I travel to be limited, and the last time I watched Sex and the City on a plane, the guy next to me kept looking at my screen during the um…intimate parts, and it made me uncomfortable! I’m sure he thought I was watching porn or something, lol.

If you’re a college student who has to share a dorm, or travel from school to home, these are great as you can watch movies in bed without disturbing your roommate. If you wanted to be really practical (aka nerdy) you can upload your teacher’s powerpoint presentations on to your itunes and use it to review your class material! And from personal experience, it’s less clunky than watching a movie on your laptop and the battery life is way better.

I also discovered an interesting and untapped demographic: senior citizens. I showed the unit to my 86 year old grandfather and he loved it so much he almost wouldn’t give it back! The screen allowed him to view content without having to squint and ear buds let him listen at volume 1000 without driving the rest of us up a wall.

All in all, a very solid effort by MyVu, and I’m really excited to see what they come up with next! I can’t wait to get a pair!

Specs:

A friend of mine just sent this video my way, and I’m ever so glad he did! I get really excited whenever TV genius Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly) comes up with anything because it is unfailingly witty and funny while still being a social commentary.

It’s called Dr. Horrible, and it’s a three act video series made specifically for the internet. Each act is around ten minutes long and star the incredibly adorable Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. Harris is Dr. Horrible, a low-rated super villain who’s attempts to be inducted into the League of Evil is continually thwarted by his nemesis Hammer Man. He’s also working up the courage to talk to Penny, his laundromat crush.

Oh yeah: THERE IS SINGING! Awesome.

Here’s the trailer:

Changing Show Business:

Here’s where it gets interesting. The content has been made available for free for now, but as of tonight at midnight, you’ll have to buy them off of iTunes if you want to watch them. Each act costs $2.  Whedon came up with idea during the writer’s strike, as he was frustrated by the current system which circumvents a writer’s ability to create, publish and share professional content.  He started looking for a new way, and this is apparently part of his exploration.

He says :

It is time for us to change the face of Show Business as we know it. You know the old adage, “It’s Show Business – not Show Friends”? Well now it’s Show Friends. We did that. To Show Business. To show Show Business we mean business. (Also, there are now other businesses like it.)

Welcome to Hollywood 2.0!

The age of show friends is the next wave of creativity as professionals begin to embrace the content creation and distribution platforms available to everyone online. Personally, I also feel that despite the billions of videos available online, there is really a demand for well-written, well-produced pieces specifically made for the web. That means shorter videos, smaller budgets but all the creativity and humor you can jam pack in there.

The Foush Says:

Please support Joss and don’t pirate this content! $6 is what you would pay for a coffee and muffin at starbucks and is a small price to pay in helping to change a closed industry for the better. I have been a “Whedonista” ever since I discovered Buffy the Vampire slayer back in 1997, and Joss has not led me astray once!

I’ve watched all the content and am still going to purchase it as a show of support. Let’s vote with our wallets and help Joss out!  Show Friends sounds much nicer than Show Business doesn’t it?

You can find the necessary links here: www.Drhorrible.com

Hi All!

I know you’ve probably noticed a I’ve been a little lax in my posting, and you’d be right! Thanks to those who emailed, it kicked my butt into gear! Just wanted to let you know that the regular post frequency will resume in a few days! I’ve been really busy wrapping up research for Leonard Brody’s book “Everything I Needed to Know about Business I Learned from a Canadian.”

Man, is it shaping up to be a cool book! We’re doing the last of the interviews right now and I am finding them so interesting, that I’ve been wrapped up in the process and neglecting my blogging a little

I had a really good chat with Craig Kielburger founder of Free the Children about Non-Profits and the necessary changes we need to make in order to live in a more ethical world. He really blew me away with his vision, and I can’t wait to share (in a few weeks) his insights on what businesses can do RIGHT NOW to make the world a better place.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Craig, he started Free the Children, the largest organization of children helping children when he was 12, after reading a story about a young boy in Pakistan who had been murdered for speaking up against slavery.

We’re also going to talk to Graydon Carter, Editor in Chief of Vanity Fair about the social values around reporting on issues when the media landscape is owned by a few key players. In particular, Graydon’s choice to use his voice as Editor in Chief to speak out against the Bush Administration even when it was unpopular to do so. He has diligently researched and recorded some of the atrocities committed by this government against the environment, women’s rights, and health care. I’m really looking forward to what he has to say.

So I’ll be posting every other day, and then will be back to my daily routine in no time!

I hope you’re enjoying the summer!!

I had the chance to chat with Rob Riopelle, Founder and Vice President of Business Development of LiveHive Systems about a really cool thing they’re developing called NanoGaming.

NanoGaming is a technology platform that lets viewers interact with live television and steaming video. Basically if you’re watching a certain show, you log on to the portal via your computer and  instantly join a live community of other users who are watching the show at the same time as you. You can meet new people via chat,  answer trivia questions, predict what’s going to happen next, and test your memory recall. The questions and answers are live and flow with the content. So if you’re watching a game and a really unfair call is made by the ref, you know that LiveHive community will be over it- instant debating! The more questions you answer correctly the more points you can win, which you can later redeem for prizes ranging from game tickets to cars!

They’ve worked on everything from Hockey on the CBC, Big Brother and even the Much Music Video Awards! (Someone has to keep those preteens occupied, otherwise things like this happen. Seriously, LiveHive is doing us all a public service.)

I like it because it creates an instant social community around content and provides sponsors with an unobtrusive way for users to interact with their brand without interrupting the viewing experience.

On “tackling” their newest venture:

(pun totally included because I’m awesome like that. )

RR: That project, we’re working with Nissan Canada and in conjunction with Capital C we’re working with all them to provide an interactive experience for the CFL (Canadian Football League). We’re offering it for all 70 games plus playoff games, it’s CFL.NISSAN.CA and they can engage in online competition. At the end of a contest you can win a trip to the Grey Cup with some spending money.

On false Interactivity:

I mentioned that on a recent trip to the States, I had seen some interactive capability through television digital cable boxes, where viewers could participate on live polls during their local news. I asked him how this interactivity compares with LiveHive.

RR: I think that’s a great example of interacting just to interact. People see that, and it’s sort of cool and then you try it. You have a $600 box, so they want to do more with it. They give their opinion once on a poll. How much fun is it to be counted in the poll? The fun comes in the chance that they used the new technology, but that’s a one shot deal. After that, they stop doing. With our platform it’s about creating value during the experience, where they are in a social environment, meeting people and winning prizes.

RR: We have tons of metrics behind our stuff, they come back and do it again and again and again. Not everyone is there every game, but other people come back every second or third game, but we do see high return rates compared to an on-air poll.

Why Two Screen Viewing is the Way to Go:

RR: If you look at typical interactive, people think of your typical set up, where you press the button on the set top box, but there are so much limitations. Limited functionality and real estate mean the interactive experiences are basic or light weight. How deep can you go by pressing up, down, left or right?

RR: When you get on to a two screen environment, you have a dedicated, powerful machine to provide a graphically rich experience and great content. Suddenly you can communicate via keyboard and talk to other people, meet and make new friends.

On live television and the battle over PVRs/Tivo’s

(Although, Canada doesn’t have Tivo up here, just one more little snubs in our rich history of technological shafts. I know I’m feeling sassy this interview!)

RR: We actually work to combat those things [PVRs, timeshifting], where we draw people back to live content because that experience is only available when it’s live. Especially the real-time components. Outside that window we do provide a limited experience for people. Before each event/show there are a series of questions that are trivia related so that people can jump on during the day, check in and comment on what is going to happen.

RR: So with PVRs and DVRs, this is something that the broadcaster has seen as positive because you can use this to ensure users are watching live, and for the full duration of the show. We glue people to the tv and to the computer. On average people are playing for 45 minutes for every hour of watching. So they can participate live.

On the Future of Television, and what LiveHive’s Future Mission:

RR: In five years, we’ll be the center point to interactively enable every show on TV. Instead of thinking which shows are interactive it’s just assumed, all shows are interactive. So no matter what show you’re watching you can just jump on, connect, and socialize withp eole who are watching the same show. Creating a central spot for every program

The Future of TV Advertising

RR: If you look at the advertising, it’s definitely clear, that the traditional 30 second spot are becoming less effective and you can see that most of the dollars are going online. So that does open the opporutnity for us to be a great advertsing platform. And that’s what we are, all of our projects involve a sponser, because they can get a lot of data as a result of peole sitting with your brand for a long time. So if there’s a touchdown, you can say “touchdown brought to you by nissan.” You can do other things as well, you can ask questions about the viewers themselves, you can ask in a poll “are you thinking about buying a car? ” That’s hugely powerful to be able to extract those questions, that’s highly valuable to the sponsers in volved in our porjects. You don’t overload them with questions, but you can definitely ask one or two questions per game to get that extra information about preferences or buying status.

Why I like it:

1) Making TV social again.

There used to be a time when we would all gather around the TV to watch our favorite prime time shows. I remember in University we used to reserve one of the lecture halls so we could watch LOST in agonizing suspense. Somehow it was always better when it was in a group. Then, we got the Apple Store, and time-shifting and PVRs so people got less inclined to get together and started watching TV in a more isolated way. I think LiveHive’s technology is cool because it brings some of that real time social elements. This could make watching live TV engaging again, because it’s the social aspect of the community that is drawing you in. Very cool.

2) Evolving the User/Brand experience

This is a much better way to interact with users, because you can target show demographics more precisely and be engaged with a large amount of people at once. So if you’re a car company targeting men, what better place to have them engage with your than through a hockey game platform? Forget a 30 second spot, they will be looking at your Logo for 45 minutes per every hour watched. Now there’s some bang for your buck!

3) A better TV Experience

This is the first step in eliminating commercials completely. One would hope at least. If the networks got involved - and they should- then they could shift interactivity with content online and use the sponsors to facilitate interaction. Everyone wins. Networks get people to watch their content without the temptation of channel surfing, viewers get engaged on connect because it’s a topic they care about, and advertisers get access to valuable information without interrupting. Win/Win. If they did this properly I bet you could make the same amount of money if not more via advertising maybe causing the evil Viacom to back off on all this copy righted material crap, allowing everyone to make funny Youtube videos in peace.

[Photo from Endgadget.com]

Well, it seems that Rogers has heard the large outcry regarding their ridiculously over-priced iPhone data plans and released a new promotional offer.

RuinediPhone.com, an online petition started a few days ago has already gathered 58,000 signatures protesting the old data plans. While it might not affected Rogers, it apparently irked Apple enough to warrant a behind the scenes smack down. Apple takes it’s branding very seriously and was not amused at the backlash, including the negative press and blog coverage warning consumers to pass on the sleek gadget.

THE JUICY GOSSIP - Tracking the Rumor:

The web has been buzzing with rumors about a potential fall out that occurred between his Majesty Steve Jobs and the suits at Rogers which could shed some light on the timing and introduction of the new promotional plan.

According to blogger Daniel Smith’s Smithereen’s blog, he reported on July 5th that there had been some interesting conversations taking place via SMS between Rogers, Apple and Rim employees: [unconfirmed as of now, but makes sense when you consider Rogers actions]

Apple Canada Employee sends text message to source stating something along the lines of “You guys are screwed on the iPhone.” No responses are given when asked for clarification

Soon after, a RIM (Blackberry) employee sends another text to source asking about the Apple/Rogers fallout rumors that are surfacing.

Source receives a call informing them that several stores have decided to release some of the additional help they had hired for the iPhone launch immediately and without notice. [Note: this decision was made by the dealers and not by Rogers]

Senior Rogers rep confirms to source that Apple has decided to divert a large percentage of planned Canadian shipment to Europe! Some stores may now be getting as few as 10-20 units! The wording from head office claims the number of units will be “significantly reduced.

On July 8, the usually reliable Apple Insider claimed that Apple was sanctioning Rogers by announcing their Canadian retail stores would not be supporting Rogers in selling iPhones. Subscribers will have to go to a Rogers retail store in order to pick their unit up. Keep in mind that this was released before the new Rogers plan was announced so it might no longer apply.

On July 9th - Canadian Consumers declared it National Call Rogers day, and urged people to call and complain to rogers about the pricing. A Facebook group was created. (Of course)

July 10th - New Rogers Plans announced.

It’s a promotional offer along with the iPhone where subscribers can get 6GB of data for $30/month (which is probably as closed to unlimited as you’re going to get.)

The good news:

• The data plan can be added to any voice plan. (DUH- I can’t even believe they didn’t offer this from the beginning.

The Bad News:

• The promotional plan will be on only until Aug 31st.
• You have to sign on with a three year contract.

So with all this buzz there are some claiming that the much hyped iPhone release will be more lukewarm than hot, while others have faith that the new plan will help soothe outraged consumers.

I guess we will have to wait and see!

Here are some of the other Rogers pieces related to this topic:

Canadian Consumers to Rogers: Stop Being Jerks, Part 1

Canadian Consumers to Rogers: Stop being Jerks, Part 2