Quite a funny story was unveiled here in Las Vegas at Mix. Netflix VP of Web Engineering explained why they deployed a Silverlight-based video player. Netflix wanted to enable their MacOS customers to access their on-line video library. But because the solution worked for MacOS and Windows - and allowed them to use a solution that didn't require an installation of an application from their site, and allowed them to utilize adaptive streaming - dramatically reducing issues associated with "buffering", they've ended up standardizing on Silverlight for their video streaming. I was surprised to learn that they roll-out a new player every two weeks as they continue to try and improve the on-line experience - that's quite a short product development cycle!
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Social BookmarksWould you expect to develop a MacOS application using a platform from Microsoft? With Silverlight 3 developers are able to create applications that run outside the browser on the MacOS. While the idea might sound crazy, and certainly is landscape changing - it's smart for Microsoft. As more applications move to the Cloud, and applications consume Cloud services, Microsoft can continue its role as a big player in the emerging Cloud computing space, in developer tools, and in the platforms used for delivering content.
I saw a great example of this with KEXP developing a media player that works on-line and off-line, with auto-detection of network capabilities. The player is stand-alone (works outside the browser) and I saw it running on MacOS and WIndows. If you are a MacOS developer you can get the Eclipse Tools for Silverlight at www.eclipse4sl.org/mac.
Sometimes you see uses of technology that you've never considered - from vendors you would never expect. That happened today with a totally unconventional use of Silverlight for use with document management and repurposing content - print content.
I thought that Adobe had document management and cross-platform sharing wrapped-up with Acrobat and PDF. After all, PDF is an ISO standard, and Acrobat is on its 9th version. I've written a number of books on Acrobat and managed the largest PDF user's conference for some time - so I'm partial to it... but a short while ago I saw something that is potentially game-changing for publications looking to monetize legacy content. And with magazines and newspapers under pressure - who doesn't want to monetize their digital assets? So I nearly fell out of my chair today when I saw covertocover.com showing past issues of Rolling Stone that include full text search and easy navigation between issues and pages - and it was all leveraging Silverlight. This is a great, unconventional use of the Deep Zoom technology that Silverlight supports - and it solves an immediate business need that publishers are facing - how to monetize legacy content.
Microsoft has made some pretty significant announcement here in Las Vegas today that will impact the way you communicate on-line, develop Web and interactive content - and event how you think about what is on-line and what is a desktop application...
Silverlight 3 was announced here and has some technical features that are useful for developers -things like GPU acceleration and support for additional CODECs such as H.264, MPG 4, and AAC but the real mind-blowing things revolutionize the user experience:
· Live streaming with full DVR-like controls - pause / slow motion / rewind for live streams. This puts Silverlight live streaming miles ahead of anything else. NBC announced they are renewing their use of Silverlight for all streaming of the next Olympics (Vancouver) using Silverlight.
· HD streaming - you'll see this at the next Olympics as they'll be streaming all content in HD.
· Out-of-browser experiences on Mac and Windows - not just a browser plug-in
· Off-line support: Silverlight 3.0 applications can run as stand-alone applications. So they can consume services while connected, and then switch to an "off-line" mode when not connected.
· Support for multi-touch - like the "pinch" - think Minority Report or iPhone
I'll have more updates throughout the event... as I'm at a Microsoft-focused event, most of my posts will focus on their technology this week...
Last week I discussed the Kindle as just the start of electronic distribution. The folks at Amazon have now released an iPhone application, allowing you to view and access eBooks. While this is nothing surprising - the cool capability is something they are calling whispersynch. You can start reading a book or story using one device, and continue it using another. According to a Wall Street Journal story, it supports up to six devices. While I don't think I need six devices to read a book - the ability move between iPhone and Kindle alone is a great advancement.
Because we provide Flash Training and Silverlight Training, we were pretty excited to be able to watch such an important event on-line using technology that we help organizations adopt. published by: Christopher Smith
A major, international daily newspaper based here in Boston announced last week that they plan to cease daily publication in the coming months - at least in print format. They'll be shifting to a weekly printed magazine format, and they'll be shifting more of their content on line. The Christian Science Monitor once had more than 300,000 daily subscribers, but that number has been dwindling fast. And the cost to print and distribute coast-to-coast simply can't compete with the cost to push pixels to your desktop or iPhone. Despite its name, the Monitor is an independent, professional publication well known for its detailed international and political coverage.
The generations that grew up on newsprint may be dwindling, and the Monitor is ahead of the curve in moving to reduce its costs and revaluate its distribution model. Monitor readers may be willing to pay for an iPhone application, or other news outlets that are cutting staff may pay for syndicated stories - all ways to make revenue on-line. And pushing more readers to the Monitor site will increase ad revenue - although it won't reach the levels of print advertising.
As a paper respected by journalist, the Monitor's greatest asset is the stories is collects each day. By finding new ways to syndicate these stories, and by reaching a broader audience on-line - an audience in the millions, not the hundreds of thousands - they'll be better positioned to find new revenue sources. The money won't come easily, but by moving On-line, the Monitor is moving in the right direction.
My iPhone wasn't in its charger this morning. Like many people getting ready to head out the door for work, I grabbed my keys, wallet, and had a moment of panic that my phone was missing. After checking the usual spots around the house, I asked my wife, then my second-grade son who told me it was in his bedroom. After a quick scolding ("Don't take Dad's phone") I located it and turned it on to check the battery level and get my email fix. As soon as I turned it on, I found that my son had located some Godzilla clips on YouTube - and later in the day when using Safari - the web browser on the iPhone - I learned that he had Googled "Godzilla" which is what led him to YouTube.
While Kudos are probably in order for Apple creating the iPhone so that a seven year old can navigate it with no training, and to YouTube for making it so easy to use, we can all learn something from this Godzilla moment. We should all want our Web sites to have such clear ways to request information, learn more, or take the next step. Can the seven year old locate what he needs on your site?
From an even bigger perspective, there's a message here for those involved with marketing and promoting businesses and products - we can actually learn something from the seven year old kid sitting in his bunk bed with Dad's iPhone. The first place he went on his quest for content is Google. "How did you find a Godzilla movie?" I asked, in real disbelief. "I Googled it, Dad" came the much too matter-of-fact answer from the seven year old. He might not be much of a consumer yet, but his behavior is indicitive of how current and future consumers are looking for what they want. Can the seven year old even find your site
While you might not be selling Godzilla movies, you need to make sure that what you're selling is as easy to find at that Godzilla movie.
On-line video hit my home this week, bringing my entire family together in front of my laptop. It wasn't for some YouTube clip, but live video - and thousands of hours of it with the olympics. NBC has been delivering the olympics at nbcolympics.com using streaming video technology known as Silverlight.
My MacBook didn't hiccup with Microsoft's Silverlight. The streaming was flawless across my wireless network, even when watching one main stream and three separate picture-in-picture images - a total of four separate video streams. I never imagined watching fencing, soccer, horse jumping, and bike racing all at the same time. It's left my kids asking to watch the olympics - on our computer. Several times this week we've had the laptop open while watching the nightly games as well. I would have never expected Microsoft to change the way we watch sports - but it has definately proved its worth. Silverlight may have been relatively unknown before this point, but it's emerging as a viable, industrial-strength platform for delivering streaming video at a massive scale to users on different platforms.
The company I work at, AGI, offers Silverlight Training for designers and creative professionals looking to create interactive and streaming content.