Sunday, September 01, 2013

The future of the content producer.. updated...








The advancements of technology available to the content producer of the future could be as influential as the internet has been in the past decade to bring democracy and a voice of the people in those disadvantaged countries in the past 10. It could be the biggest advancement of our species has seen since the industrial or computer revolutions of the past. There is one key element to this advancement, the 3D printer:  I will explain..

The 3D printer will be the biggest revolution to our planet since the printing press, yes,  more influential than the computer, the transistor or the internet.  3D printers will change the way every part of our lives are affected, from food crops, to transport to computers to filmmaking. Why do I think this?  Eventually,  I see 3d printers making everything from our food to our cars to devices we shoot or capture video or communicate with, even recording our feelings or dreams. They will simply be able to draw from all the elements in the periodic table and you will pay to download what ever it is you desire, from the chemical composition of existing items you will simple download the pattern for the latest food item, or computer or indeed a communications/video device, (think the star trek replicator). Initially it will start out in major factories, changing the way every device and item we know being made, and eventually make it in to the home, we can already get a basic device to print 3d stuff in our homes that are mostly made of plastics! Carry this forward a few decades and we will be able to print anything that has been invented.  This will eventually lead to bio engineering , when we simply ingest or inject a nano bot/s that will perform functions like fixing medical issues, or upgrading the existing nano tech in our bodies that will allow us to communicate and share our life experiences with whom we wish, or make experiences, and fabricate them into entertainment or training. I will explain this later on. 

The commutations revolution will continue at a rapid pace over the next 20 to 30 years, many governments and societies, business etc  will see the need for optical rollouts of a broadband infrastructure, to ensure 1TB to 1 petabye per second communications and beyond, as optical has no theoretical data limits beyond the speed of light!  Already in Australia  the current government has seen the need for all citizens to have optical connections to every single house hold.  Even though the vast majority of people will be communicating wirelessly the backbones of many houses and business will be optical. Wireless merely being the last leg of the communication infrastructure.  The invention last year of the photonics router will ensure speeds into the petabye range or even zetabyte. These speeds will allow instant capture and storage of video/audio information, most of our "local" storage will disappear, instead being favour of "cloud based" storage solutions which will allow which ever tech we have either embedded into our bodies at a atomic level (increased storage capacity of our brains to retain information and access for example). Indeed most dedicated capture devices will move beyond the current google glass idea, to embedded bio engineering, initially it will be contact lens type devices that will present our world in a augmented reality style presentation, to capturing that information. Indeed the way to capture some ones memories and replay them to other hosts (see old 1980s film called Brainstorm), this wont just included all the sights and sound of the person who originally captured it, but also the feelings, skin responses, emotions of that captured, it will make 3D look like B & W film.  Editing this "memory" type movie will indeed be a challenge of content producer, but it won't be just a way of delivering entertainment, but will be the next revolution of how we train people, educate or even manipulate.  

The video game industry constantly out performs the traditional based media, games that often have 100 million in development costs return 5 times that amount in profits, more money per year is spent in the video games industry than is spent in the traditional based media the movie industry!! Many A grade films barley make a return on investment, thus more money will be thrown into games development. The very sophisticated games of today that allow for interactive entertainment (like Mass Effect Trilogy of games by Bioware) which essentially allow you to write you own story as you go, and make decisions that will effect other elements of the game will continue, the consumption of linear or passive based entertainment will still be present, but not be the mainstream, people will want to have more and more control of the stories they participate in, rather than be a passive observer. The call for very talented script writers and directors who are no longer writing one story but several depending on the players decisions, conversations and actions will be paramount. Even today the story writers for these games involves an incredible amount of effort, and development even more so with thousands of extra lines of dialogue being recorded and scenes being directed that may never be seen by the player. 

The longer term future based upon the current scientific endeavours to map brain functions will allow us to create simulations and stories that we can plug directly into the brain, that will allow us to participate  or observe what to us will be indistinguishable from real life (like the Matrix). The possibilities to entertain, educate in this medium will be light years ahead of any concepts we can imagine today. But of course none of this is going to happen autonomously, (well not until we have real Artificial Intelligence), we will still need people whom can create content, be imaginative, have an ability to tell a engaging story, or convey an idea, or create art, or music, people will still be producing content, just with a different set of "paintbrushes". 

No technology is evil or good, it will be just like the tech of today, can be used for any purpose, it just depends on the person who created it , what their intent is.  

How this is all implemented will be like technology is now, depending on governments and countries willingness to share this tech with other not so advanced or low socio economic countries.

We can do this!!

For example: We already make enough food to feed to world, its just its badly distributed, 20 % of the food in the western world is thrown out or wasted.  The same with the advanced tech in the next 100 years, its up to us in the "privileged " parts of the world to try and ensure that all humans on this planet can have a equal quality of life.

We wont be able to just feed the world, but we will be able to bring quality of life to everyone. Its all up to us and our children of how to improve this, and the content producer of the future may indeed have one of the most important roles to play in the improvement of our species. 

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

ANOTHER TELSTRA FAIL - A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE







I have an iPad, like many a person these days, and as I have wi fi in most places I use that. I don't need a plan for data or anything like that, but on the odd occasion , business travel etc I need to use 3G data on a pre paid Telstra sim. On a recent work trip I tried to recharge my 3 year old sim, which I top up every 4-5 months..... but it wouldn't work... so I rang Telstra, its expired they say.. you haven't used it in 6 months so we have cancelled it,  of course Telstra never told me it was going to expire. They told me go buy a new one, or better yet get one on a discount at a supermarket. So while a bit disappointed , I did exactly that. I got a pre paid sim for half price , great deal I thought, then I tried to activate it, that went ok, despite the instructions in the booklet I got from Telstra pointing me to the wrong web address.

Ok all going good, or so I thought, I find out the iPad keeps saying sim faulty, invalid etc... so spend 30 mins on tech support trying to figure it all out. I told them 3 times I bought this from a supermarket, they kept telling me take it back there, so I did, the supermarket refused , they said I have to take it back to Telstra shop.  I rang the support people, and they said same thing, take it Telstra shop and they will just swap it. Mind you I live 45kms from the nearest Telstra shop.... anyways take it back.. they just say, "NOPE,  YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT BACK to Woolies"....  so now here I am again about to waste more time and more efforts and more petrol to get a simple sim card from Telstra to work!!

No wonder I have not been with Telstra for years, their customer service is terrible, one part of the company says one thing, the shops say another, I only use Telstra for the odd times my Optus service is no good. I wont be going back with Telstra once I finally get this sorted out.







UPDATE: AUGUST 15TH

After 30 mins on the phone again with TELSTRA support, I managed to convince them to send me another SIM card in the mail, after my very poor experience with the TELSTRA store, so now I await the new sim, lets see if this works!


UPDATE: August 16th.

New sim arrived, and active, wow only 4 days to solve this.. but at least its solved.

Monday, May 06, 2013

The arcades of USA!

I recently went to the USA.

here are some pics of retro arcades and some modern ones !














Thursday, April 18, 2013

NBN Changes my home life!





I am one of the lucky people to be in an area that the NBN has just rolled out to (Bacchus Marsh). Just after one week I can tell you its changed my home life (and my work).

I am a video producer by trade, thus having access to high speed internet is very important to upload video clips to clients. This was never possible on my old ADSL 1,  384kb connection, as it used to drop out and take hours to try and upload such 4 + GB files.   In addition I have two sons at home, avid online gamers, and video on demand watchers, and so too is my wife. Add all this up on ADSL = FAIL!

Now with the NBN (the 100MB down 40 MB up service, via Internode)  I can be uploading files to clients, watching a VOD service , and so too can the xbox which allows VOD service, all the while, the guys can be uploading their favourite clips to you tube, while playing an online game, while using the new voip PHONE without the internet so much as giving a hiccup.   My time to upload to clients is now measure in minutes, not hours, or days or having to sending hard drives in the mail. My Skype calls are in perfect clarity and HD video to the other side of the globe. Buffering of downloading you tube videos or getting a streaming video happening on iview or other VOD service is a thing of the past. Sending large attachments in emails happen in seconds not 30 to 40 minutes later. And this all happens at 20 dollars a month cheaper than I was paying for Telstra's terrible congested ADSL 1 service !

The NBN shows just a glimpse of what is possible with real speeds , and the ability to work , communicate at the speed of light will have quantifiable payoffs in productivity and reduction in wasted time and which will pay off in cost savings and also more time spend with family and friends , be that in the real world or virtual one.  The technologies and services that can now be developed with these speeds available to every home in Australia can now be a reality , not a dream.

Don't let any Government in Australia tear down this great service , this infrastructure project is as,  if not more important than a national highway system, or snowy river scheme!!  The cost and efficiencies such a scheme will bring have not even begun to be measured. Let the NBN be allowed to be continued to all Australians, and let us be an example to the world of what can be achieved if we have progressive long term plans that help every Australian individual, and business be competitive on a world stage.

Many countries look at our system with envy, and my recent trip to USA proved that USA internet is flaky, costly and poor. As they are dictated by commercial forces. I have many an international associate tell me they wish their government had the same vision as the current Australian one,  to deploy such a scheme to truly help all the citizens.

Let us finish what has begun!