The Human Centipede 2 director, Tom Six, will chat live on Facebook with viewers during the film.
“Social Cinema” is the fast-growing movement by movie studios to capitalize on technology and our socially connected culture to reach and engage viewers. In our second Social Cinema Roundup, we look at some of the recent news and initiatives in social cinema.
In light of yesterday’s post about Xbox’s push to own the living room with its updated Xbox Live Dashboard operating system and expansion of video content, we found this infographic from Microsoft particularly interesting.
Some stats that stand out about the growing content consumer base on the Xbox 360 and competing console systems:
(Infographic via Xbox.com/live, design by Stanford Kay Studio, full data sources below in image. Download full-sized PDF from Xbox.com.)
So the story (more or less) goes like this: It’s the spring of 1999, Sony had just announced the PlayStation 2, Sega may or may not have realized the Dreamcast was subsequently doomed (though it would not be released until later that year), Nintendo GameCube was fracturing the trust of its early-adopting disciples (a personal opinion from an ex-Nintendo fanboy), and Microsoft could not have cared any less.
Meanwhile, four “dudes” at Microsoft walk into Bill Gates’ office and pitch him a video gaming console. Gates is naturally reluctant, but hears them out. A short while later, after what I imagine must have been the PowerPoint presentation to end all PowerPoint presentations, Bill Gates gives them the go ahead to see where the project goes.
It’s another great week to attend events in video, social media marketing, and tech. Here’s a list of events, many of which are absolutely free, that will provide you with the opportunity to learn, share, and network with some of the most intelligent people in digital media (via GarysGuide).
Las Vegas was recently flooded with tech geeks and professionals—and that’s not a bad thing—for the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show. We sent Amy Schmittauer to the show floor armed with a camera and her charm to get the skinny on some of the interesting new technology products on display.
Last week, we looked at Blue Microphones’ “Mikey” for iPhone/iPod, the Intel Ultrabook, and Augmented Reality technology from Qualcomm and Sesame Street. In our final Magnet Minute from CES 2012, Amy speaks with JVC about their 4K professional-grade video camera.
View all of Amy’s Magnet Minute videos on YouTube!
What other new tech products did you see at CES? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.
Amy Schmittauer is the Founder & Face of Savvy Sexy Social. She is a social media frenzy working as a freelance video blogger, writer, and social relations consultant. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.
(Image via Google.com)
…Though it might sound like one. This week was just weird. Here are some of the stories we couldn’t ignore this week in the worlds of technology, digital, and social media.
SOPA Scorecard: Internet 1, Lobbyists 0
(TechCrunch)
You really couldn’t use the Internet this week—literally, in some cases—without hearing about SOPA and PIPA. SOPA, the “Stop Online Piracy Act” in the House, and PIPA, the “Protect Intellectual Property Act” in the Senate, were well intentioned but sloppily executed attempts to curb the pirating of copyrighted material online. Largely a push by the entertainment industry, the bills went rather far in their protection of copyright holders as to allow almost unchecked power to potentially shut down any website found to contain copyrighted material. For a great explanation, check out the outstanding video below or The Oatmeal’s smart and slightly off-color animated cartoon.
The Internet went into a tizzy, with sites from WordPress to Wikipedia going black on Thursday in opposition to the bills. Google continued to function, albeit with a giant black bar covering its logo, and drew 4.5 million signatures for the anti-SOPA cause.
What is particularly notable about the whole episode, which is surely not over yet, is how it demonstrated just how powerful a tool the Internet—and social media in particular—can be as a voice for the people. TechCrunch’s piece offers some compelling thoughts about how SOPA might be a true turning point toward political activism by the people that actually gets heard.
In today’s Magnet Minute video, Amy Schmittauer continues her pilgrimage to the tech geek’s Mecca, CES 2012. We sent her to cover some of the most interesting technology on display, and this augmented reality program from Qualcomm and Sesame Street certainly qualifies. As you see in the video, users—and kids, in this case—can interact with a virtual world inside the tablet by manipulating the actual three-dimensional space in front of them. The program uses the tablet’s camera to recognize and recreate real-world objects in a virtual space. Augmented reality has been growing over the last few years, with a plethora of apps on mobile platforms, but this is a smart and interesting use we haven’t seen before in the education space.
View all of Amy’s Magnet Minute videos on YouTube!
Did you catch any other cool technology at CES? Tell us about it in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.
Amy Schmittauer is the Founder & Face of Savvy Sexy Social. She is a social media frenzy working as a freelance video blogger, writer, and social relations consultant. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.
Each week, Magnet’s “resident Internet culture expert,” Debbie Saslaw runs down her picks for the best viral videos of the week. We call it “The Viral Spiral.”
According to Wikipedia, The Sims is a “strategic life-simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts in early 2000.” I know for a fact that some people spend countless hours picking out wallpaper to cover the virtual walls of their tiny avatars’ houses. Such people may or may not include me at age 10, alone in my computer room for days on end.
Now that players can customize their virtual lives until their eyes bleed, those who lack Pixar-level animation skills can use The Sims to create some of the weirdest music videos this side of the Internet. And since SOPA and PIPA are finally dead in the ground, it looks as though our government will allow us to continue perpetuate this wacky genre. As a tribute to the endless creativity of Internet geeks everywhere, I begin this week’s Viral Spiral with two awe-inspiring Sims videos and spiral all the way down until I reach a man eating a raw onion to “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
OnlineSchools.org recently created the infographic below, which offers a snapshot of the undeniable pull of Facebook as of 2011. Some pretty astounding stats that stick out:
Wow. There is no question this is a captive audience.
The video below was created in response to the infographic by Columbus College of Art & Design student, Alex Trimpe using Adobe After Effects and music by RJD2.
Via: Online Schools
What do you think ? Fertile marketing ground or unhealthy obsession? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.
Ryan Swearingen is Managing Editor of the Blog Network at Magnet Media and co-founder/editor of Stated Magazine.
Unless you’ve been hiding under Geico’s proverbial rock, you know that the year’s largest event in the technology space, the Consumer Electronics Show 2012, was held last week in Las Vegas. Our own intrepid reporter Amy Schmittauer was on the scene to get the scoop on some of the most interesting technology products at the show. Yesterday, we looked at the Blue Microphones’ Mikey for iOS, which lets mobile content marketers and bloggers record professional-grade audio on their mobile device.
Today, Amy takes a look at the Intel Ultrabook, one of the most buzzed about products at CES this year.
View all of Amy’s Magnet Minute videos on YouTube!
Where you at CES this year? What products are you excited about? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.
Amy Schmittauer is the Founder & Face of Savvy Sexy Social. She is a social media frenzy working as a freelance video blogger, writer, and social relations consultant. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.
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