Brainfood

Neelie Kroes: Europeans "hate copyright"

brainfood — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:14:05 +0000

And why is might that be? In a speech addressed to the Forum d’Avignon Neelie Kroes, EC Digital Commissioner, criticises the copyright regime across Europe. Millions have been invested to enforce copyright, only to disgruntle customers with infuriation limitations of how to use media. On the other side, only "97.5% of one of the biggest collecting society’s members in Europe, receive less than that paltry payment of 1000 euros a month for their copyright works." Advanced Television provides detailed coverage of her speech.

Play more e-games and raise your IQ

brainfood — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:10:09 +0000

Yep, that is right according to a study done on kids. The caveat: This effect only takes place with a specially designed game. Maybe, you get more intelligent, because you have fun learning... You can read more on the study (in German) on the website of the Uni Würzburg, Germany.

TEDxZurich

brainfood — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:26:37 +0000

Today TEDx took place in Zurich. The conference was brilliantly organised with some very memorable speakers. The highlights were Eleanor Dobson, who gave some insights about CERN, Roman Gaus with the innovative and forward-looking "urban farming" and a very entertaining Marco Tempest.

Music streaming services help reduce piracy

brainfood — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 07:42:49 +0000

This is the magical bullet for ailing music industry. According to a study by Media Vision (in Swedish), the launch of Spotify in Sweden has led to a 25% reduction in the illegal downloading of songs and albums. So, a wide variety of music a few (convenient) clicks away is a real alternative to wading through torrents. Maybe, other industries (films, ebooks immediately pop into the mind) should take this study to heart.

Tesco Korea reinvents grocery shopping

brainfood — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:04:37 +0000

Home plus, as Tesco Korea is called, has tackled a problem of us all who don't really have the time - or the will - for grocery shopping. Home plus created a virtual super market in the subway, with billboards of products attached with QR codes. Shoppers simply scan what they would like, go to the virtual checkout and organise delivery. No more standing and waiting in the line to pay and no more lugging the groceries back!

The Swiss just have Migros and Coop apps that help plan the shopping or make online purchases.

Smartphones are the TV ads bane - not DVRs

brainfood — Tue, 31 May 2011 08:04:46 +0000

DVRs are really practical and we love them. A DVR lets us go on go on about what we do and watch shows at our convenience. Even better, we get to skip over ads. So, for years the TV industry has been at war with the DVR - except, it the real threat turns out to be the smartphone. According to a IPG Media Lab study, simply by turning the head to ignore TV ads had a far greater impact than fast forwarding through the ads.

It comes as a surprise that the "ad skippers" see more ads than feared. Even fast forwarding through ads requires a basic level of attention. However, TV viewers using other media like the smartphone or sifting through physical mails had a much lower ad retention.

Of course you might argue that the study was undertaken with only 48 participants and debate over the statistics. But it is clear that more and more people have a smartphone and tablet pc are becoming more popular. It looks like the key to holding the viewer's attention is to make ads that people want to watch.

Are we going to kiss the TV goodbye?

brainfood — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:38:10 +0000

It seems so according to the newest Nielsen report. The research firm Nielsen found that the number of US households with TVs is declining. The reasons are digital transition, economics and multiple platforms, says Nielson.

Maybe the reasons are:

Crap content
Endless reruns
Pesky commercials

And maybe the decline is a good development, keeping the TV and film makers and broadcasters on their toes. It means, the viewers is not tight to what a TV programmer schedules and he or she can view what they want when they want.

Thirdly, the fall in numbers of households with TVs might not be such a big deal, unless these households also don't have broadband internet.

It is true: Everyone is hanging out without you

brainfood — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 08:07:54 +0000

It begins with feeling envious, followed by anxiety, then self-doubt even feelings of inadequacy. This is set off by reading the social media alerts of our friends spending a long weekend in London, enjoying a cool concert or sipping cappuccino in a trendy cafe.

This phenomen has a name. It is called FOMO, the fear of missing out. According to Dan Ariely it is that we worry that we have made the wrong decision about how to spend our time. It is also the key theme in Sherry Turkle book, Alone Together.

Feeling FOMO is maybe not so new. It is just that our social insecurities, the angst not to be popular, to be picked last, not being invited to THE party, are being digitized.

Is personalisation dumbing us down?

brainfood — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 07:27:02 +0000

The Internet has to deliver every bit of information in a personalised way. We user only (want?) to see bits and pieces that interest us, perhaps supplemented with the views and preferences of our peers - or in Facebook lingo "friends*.

The personalised service of in Facebook, Amazon or Google narrows down what we see in the Internet, reinforcing our world view and opinions. Of course, personalisation has its advantages, we really get interesting suggestions of friends. However, personalisation can filter out serendipity, that is to stumble upon something great just by chance.

What do you think? Is personalisation making us live in a small box?

Winner of world's first robot marathon crosses the line after 55 hrs

brainfood — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 10:15:31 +0000

The humanoid robot Robovie PC of venture Vstone wins the world's first full-length marathon for robots in Osaka, beating its closest rival by a second after more than tow days of racing. The other robots still have to complete the race.