Tonight I’m going to hear Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief of Wired Magazine, speak about his upcoming book, “Free.” In a previous post I presented my position on the culture of free, the gift economy and how I think it’s driving the quality of content and applications towards amateur hour. It will be interesting to hear Chris address web economics and I hope to engage him in a discussion about what this means for the future of web-based entertainment content.

I’m specifically interested in Google and how they’ve enabled the culture of free online. From my perspective, Google is bad for business. Let me qualify that, bad for business-as-usual (added). By offering everything you need on the web for free, Google has effectively put web-based business opportunities on life support. (more…)

My recent post “Economic Constipation and Digital Malnutrition” was an attempt to critically analyze Mark Cuban’s provocative May 4th post entitled “The Ala Carting of Video on the Net - Will it lead to disaster?”.

Incidentally, it was my most trafficked day and much to my surprise, I received a comment from one of my favorite bloggers, Hank Williams, who writes the influential whydoeseverythingsuck.com?”

Mark’s post has sparked a debate that has spilled over from the circle of web video bloggers into a broader conversation. Next week I’m in New York for the Advertising 2.0 event and plan to bring Mark’s position, and my rebuttal, to the panel on which I’m speaking. (more…)

This month’s Wired magazine has a nice feature on Jury Hahn, the founder of MegaPhone, one of Safran Digital’s technology ventures. Jury is the creative force behind MegaPhone, a unique software that turns digital billboards from cluttering eye-sores into elegant, multi-player, video game battlefields, where gamers control their players by pushing buttons on their everyday cell phone.

This is MegaPhone ’s second round of kudos from Wired. In late 2007, the company was identified as one of the faces of innovation to look out for in 2008. Watch for them at a screen near you. (more…)

Despite its cliche, the question of “what is the next version of the web” provokes as intense a debate as you’ll find within digital circles. Web 3.0 definitions vary wildly with any number of partisan descriptions coming from very smart, yet fundamentally biased people.

These descriptions are all forward thinking, yet intrinsically flawed. They neglect that versioning, or defining the next version of the web, isn’t just about software or hardware. It’s about culture.

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Few things are as ominous as waking up to the sound of gushing water coming from your basement. When the sun has barely risen and you find yourself, in pajamas, pre-caffeination, next to your wife, broom in hand, ankle deep in a flooded laundry room sweeping waves of what you should have been showering in out into the backyard, you have to ask yourself, “How did I get so lucky? To whom do I owe this pleasure? What did I do to deserve this?” (more…)

Saw this featured on NewTeeVee and had to piggyback. Too funny. Happy Mother’s Day!

Make no mistake, Fridays are very productive here at SDG. Especially when the big boss is on a movie set in a remote location with limited (not really) blackberry reception, we crack our own digital whip to move the needle on web innovation.

Yawn. Friday is also a good day to research online video patterns. Especially when it comes to debating the best videos out there. (more…)

Today, MySpace did something different.

Something bold.

Something sexy.

And like the one hot girl at the tech party, nobody knew how to handle it

Today’s MySpace announcement was totally misunderstood and mishandled by the press coverage. It was too hot to handle. (more…)

Wrong. Very wrong. Unless you like train wrecks. The disconnect between the actors’ guild and the studio positions on new media is one of the major issues gumming up the current (non)negotiations. The AMPTP / SAG talks aren’t getting the kind of press outside of LA that the widely covered writer’s guild strike received, but the concern amongst the theatrical and TV creative communities is widespread. Casting is dead on life-support, actors are at home (not David Lawrence), studio projects are on hold and an agent friend of mine said he is telling actors that “their job is to call their SAG reps and demand that the union give up their losing fight and close a deal.” (more…)

Let’s make a bet.

I’ll bet that by the time you’re halfway through watching the below video your commercial instinct will suggest that what you’re watching is a piece of marketing material. I’ll also bet that you’re going to keeping watching until the video is over. It’s that good. (more…)