Although the event was typical of a tech/geek gathering in the unconference format – lots of healthy debate, discussion and networking – there was often a disparity between the ‘open rights’ and open source culture of the tech world and the locked-down, “copyrighted up to the eyeballs” culture of the TV world.

There was also not a great deal of talk about funding and where the money was going to come from to fund the brave new ventures online which TV firms will need to make to capture their audiences which are ebbing away. TV people are used to hearing about commissions, advertising, subscription models. They are not used to – or at least have yet to be convinced – that user generated content and ‘video ad insertions’ into online video clips will replace the millions in cash currently available to them in the traditional networked TV world. And to an extent, one can’t blame them. Its a brave new world we are entering.

Talking to the very few (I suspect they are not into unconferences!) number of real TV producers and the “geeks” at the event I got an unexpected difference in opinion. The TV people often felt they were at the cutting edge of the new world. And although the atmosphere was overall positive, some “Geeks” meanwhile would express frustration to me that the over-riding culture of the tech world was going to have a very hard time communicating what they had to offer to traditional TV.

In other thoughts from the event…….

• We had a presentation from Sclipo.com, a user-generated ‘skills sharing’ site. Users can sell teaching videos ebay-like or revenue comes from ads. Along with the usual ‘how to’ video there is one quite impressive feature where users can pay for lessons from a teacher literally live streamed via webcam, and there is an in-built payment mechanism. What’s the betting that’s going to be used for nefarious purposes fairly shortly? Based in Barcelona, they are looking for staff so if you want a warmer climate and can do flash, php, Web2 style stuff then get on to them.

• A Joost guy (unnamed) told me that they thought building legally ratified stuff – as in not going the ‘open rights/creative commons’ route – is ‘the way forward’ because it means building on stuff which doesn’t get taken down by the lawyers later on.

• The man with the most zeitgeisty name in the Web business “Paul Pod” demo’d a full-blown working site for Tioti which so far is still in closed Beta. They plan to have an API coming out in a month of so, which will show info on shows and TV characters. He also insisted TIOTI is not a ‘recording service in disguise’.

Sponsored by:

NEXT EVENT: Brunch Bites 1.5 (BETA)

Date: Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Time: 10:30am – 12:00pm

Location:

The Dana Centre Cafe

The Dana Centre
165 Queen’s Gate
South Kensington
London
SW7 5HD

The nearest underground station is Gloucester Road, on the District, Circle and Piccadilly lines.

Email: editor [at] bitesmedia.com

Track this event on…

FaceBook

Upcoming

Or join our groups on:

Bites Media Facebook Group

Bites Media Upcoming Group

What is Brunch Bites?

Work in digital media, marketing, music, mobile or “Web 2.0″? Working in or on a startup?

Brunch Bites is a new “salon” style event built around discussion and open networking over good coffee.

Your host is blogger and journalist Mike Butcher, of mbites.com and publisher of Bites Media, new ‘mini network’ of blogs:

tbites.com

MediaBites.com

MobBites.com

MusicBites.com

• Brunch Bites is about business, debate, discussion and ideas

• You can also pitch your company but be prepared to debate/discuss it

Who is the perfect Brunch Bites attendee?

• Tech startups / entrepreneurs

• Digital Creatives / Designers

• Developers

• Bloggers in the Tech / digital media/marketing

• VCs

• Angels investors

• Journalists

• Analysts / researchers / academics

Introducing the event Simon Grice of etribes and Mashup says sites like TV-Links.co.uk and Joox.net are the reason he hasn't watched live TV for 6 months. And hasn't rented a video for 6 months…

Tom Weiss, CEO of TV Genius, is Chair.

John Varney
Sturart Prebble, launch CEO of On Digital, said digital TV is about turning 1 audience of 20 million into 20m audiences of 1.

But with no backchannel they could only create lots of channels that weren't very good.

The shift towards IPTV (BT Vision, YouTube, Titan TV, Aattoo, Jaman, Babelgum) headed towards 1 billions audience of 1. The entire Net population.

Is this TV 2.0? No. It's TV delivered by other means.

The events of 9/11 was the last event covered by major TV networks. The rest have begun to be covered by ordinary people with mobile phones like 7/7 or the Bali bombings. They gave this coverage to broadcasters. But the trend is towards user generated content, especially for major events. Future events go straight online not straight to the big broadcasters. This indicates a big change in only 4 years. Broadcasters are in effect helpless.

It doesn't mean IPTV will be irrelevant but it does mean that it will fail if it doesn't take account of the community of viewers and users.

TV: 15 mins of fames
YouTube: 15 secs of fame
Twitter: 15 characters of fame

Summary: It's not about TV 2.0, it's about version 1.0 of 'something else'. The web becoming a media in its own right. The winners will use content as a community experience, broadcasting every single life to billions of people. The losers will just put TV onto the web.

Mike Short, 02 and Mobile Data Association

Policy from government is not helping paid-for content.
He says Brussels announcement's preference for DVB-H is not helpful.

The mobile is the "fourth screen" and it's not just TV, but messaging, downloads you name it. By the end of next there will be 100m GPS enabled mobiles in the world. So maps and applications anywhere anytime is heading to a visual world.

Video capability of handsets is not great. BUt the mass market fourth screen needs to be more imaginative than just TV.

We need to think about personalisation of content and interactivity. Premium rate mobile means that you are partly more in control of getting involved in TV shows, but it has to evolve.

We also have to think about advertising. So the transaction basis may not continue… so a Mobile Sky or sponsored advertising. Adverts where you can influence the outcome on the screen.

1 billion phones shipped a year. 4bn phones by 2012. We need to plan for this. Some innovation will come from Asia, not just Europe.

Nick Brown, Cube.tv part of a2a Groupl PLC
(Inventor of the Red Button on Sky)

How do we generate cash out of this fragmented audience. We all have cameras now but who cares? Where's the revenue? Audience? How do we fund it till we answer these questions? How to drive and retain viewers?

In the next 8-10 years while there is a shift to watching OUT of home, there is also a stable revenue stream for watching IN home.

Trainers Eye is a new channel he is working on. It's a niche products, – trainer stables for horse racing. Why not buy a channel like toy buy a magazine in the newsagent? Move it into pubs and clubs and outdoor screens

Idea is to push meaningful content to outdoor screens, instead of BBC News 24 but comedy with SMS interactivity.

They want to launch a 'red button for outdoor'. Want to switch interactivity from the phone into the email in-box, which will be a TV mail. Supported by ads and driving audiences into and out of content. TV in your email basically, possibly using a Flash player.

All of the content ITV has only 15% were hitting on-demand button. Most people still want linear lean back TV.

What do viewers want. There is 3/4 bns of pounds spent on TV? So where's the cash?

PANEL DISCUSSION

Existing speakers joined by….
Peter Miles, Sub.tv
Richard Griffith, BT Vision, Strategy dir.
Mateo Berlucchi, LiveStation – Microsoft's Joost Killer) (Sign up for it and mention Mashup to get a beta invite)

Mateo: Old TV model based on lack of choice. People have become a lot more time-poor and the audience is now fragmented. But the Red Button never took off. So people now want real interactivity and that's what the web delivers.

Richard: In theory we could do a lot more interactivity because we will have a broadband backchannel. But we have to be smart. Ordering a pizza via digital TV is torturous. The remote control is not the right device. So doing interactivity right is really important.

Peter: IPTV is just more clever TV. Yes, return path and interactivity. But TV 2.0 is a lot more about integrating messages and people can consume it in different ways. Young people don;t really use email now they use IM, so it's that kind of leap. It's about finding a community and delivering content that relates to them to a niche audience where people want it and they can in turn create content for the community.

The BBC and ITV are losing young audiences they.

Richard: Young people are going to get jobs and old and people get home form work and want to watch stuff on the big screen and sometimes on demand. But it's not just about what young people do.

John: Every study over the last 15 years shows that 30-45 year olds are not the same as their parents who now just watch Newsnight.

Question:
Paul Cleghorn, tioti.com: People under 40 are watching TV while doing something else like doing email.

Peter: Youth are great at filtering out ad messages because they are multi-tasking and consume media in a different way. They are digital natives, not immigrants.

A guy from Three: We run TV through DVB-H and TV on demand and have done it for three years. People's interest can be satisfied by a small as well as a big screen interest. In Australia where we run live TV over the mobile. We see drop in mobile voice. People switch on mobiles to see BB when the ads come on the TV. So it's about understanding what individuals want at any one time. Choice drives a lot of it.

Matteo: Broadcasters will have an upper hand because they still are in the market for broadcasting fantastic content. A guy with a Web cam still won't be able to compete with CNN.

Nick: Youth don't spend money. Their choice is to find content without paying any money.

Richard: Joost is not the death of BT Vision. Great pictures if you are on a PC but not great for TV. Apple TV has an advantage as it gets to the TV. Both have the same problem which is content. Wither you own the right or you are a firm like BT where you are buying content rights. You need money to play in that game and the problem with a lot of companies

Nick: Joost does not work well with UK broadband networks. Quality will go down and as they try to scale they will hit products. They have great marketing and hype. BT Vision and Apple – the bar is already set at Sky Plus. With has 2.5 units in the market. Apart from a few issues you have

My problem with BT vision and Ale is how to you sin-post non-linear TV. Watch more o to E4?

Peter: Is Joost disrupting? Yes. Kill TV ? No. People want to watch rugby on 42inch plasma screen not PC. We show student sports on Wednesday afternoon as we know student groups are watch TV. So they can send messages to eachother.

John: There is room for Joost and ITV and Channel 4. The question is what is the percentage that moves online away

from the networks.

Nick: Will be more like the original Sky model. Before Sky it was The Big Match etc. People predicted the death of live Football when Sky came on but the opposite happened. So Joost and other players will bring in gross numbers of niche players, like fishing or chess. There is going to be a space for them.

TechTV. John Robinson: We're still looking at broadcasters if we want to watch a movie. We're not looking at values in packets. The value is in the technology not TV. TV is just a way of gathering people to sue the technology. americans can build these networks because they have a very big market. So it's best to devise a device where you can track the audience. The tech is there, we have to find the way the advertiser wants to pay for it.

Peter Daw (Dawe Vision): Will users cease to distinguish between PC and TV screen? Is the concept of TV of lean back only one of four other ways.

Mike: Interactivity still has to be built around rights. In the digital world we need rights that can flow across platforms. Mobiles are becoming projectors not just small screen.

Question: Most channels are rubbish on digital. Interactivity is not what will save niche channels.

Peter: Most UGC TV is crap but even there there is an audience however small.

Q: What about data?

Mike: Media on demand rather than video on demand is where I start. It's all about the personal experience. Place, time and personalisation.

Matteo: 1.1m subscribers . 1 pay per movie per month and fill up their DVR and the rest is linear TV because they can't be arseed.

Simon Grice: All the historic content created like classic TV shows means there is a lot of stuff to watch online and TV is not needed as much.

Q: Can discovery be generated ?

Answer (my interpretation): Social networks help with discovery of long tail TV.

RAN OUT OF LAPTOP BATTERY AT THIS POINT…

Startup showcase notes:

Parkatmyhouse.com

Parkatmyhouse.com has 1000 uniques per day and has a had a lot of press coverage. Partnered with Zipcar and which is helping them to move to the US market. The founder claims to have had a sudden amount of adoption by users in London. The future is increasing the user base and syndicating content around restaurant web sites. Also extending the brand into: Liveatmyhouse, Sleepatmyhouse, Holidayatmyhouse.com and is looking to raise investment.

Seedcamp.com launches

New initiative for starups launches. Here’ the blurb form their site:

“Seedcamp is where Europe’s top young founders can come together in one place. From securing funding to developing the right network, young entrepreneurs in Europe face challenges in building globally competitive technology businesses. Through the provision of seed capital and a world class connection of mentors, we are providing a catalyst for Europe’s next entrepreneur generation. We welcome Europe’s brightest and most ambitious young entrepreneurs to take part in Seedcamp.”

More to follow…

BREAKING NEWS: The Internet is getting polluted, said Jason Calacanis today in his keynote speech today at NMK Forum 07. He calls it an 'environmental crisis' of bad blogging, gaming the system, SEO gone mad and "pay per post".

"The polluting SEO slime balls have destroyed our Internet and it's time to take it back" he said.

He introduced Mahalo.com to the UK internet industry, which is a new human powered search engine to filter the rubbish in search results into a comprehensible form.

He went on to make a new announcement about "Mahalo Greenhouse" – where anyone can help build the world's first search engines and users will get paid to do this.

If a user is accepted they get to start building age on, for instance, a history of the Martini.

Mahalos explains the concept more fully here:

"Today I'm thrilled to announce the Mahalo Greenhouse, a place where the public can build search results that-if accepted by our Guides-will be included in the Mahalo search index. Oh yeah, if we accept your search result we will pay you $10 to $15 per search result (the range is based on how many search results you've completed: more here). Now, if you're a disciple of Yochai and you absolutely will not work on a web-based project for money, we've got an amazing proposition for you: make the web better by writing spam-free search results and we'll donate your fees to the Wikimedia Foundation. So, you can make the world better 2x: first by making clean, spam- free search results and second by helping keep the Wikipedia running (those server bills ain't cheap!). We've earmarked up to $250,000 in donations to the Wikipedia this year."

UK new media community Chinwag has announced it’s free summer party, planning to entertain more than 2,000 Web 2.0-era Internet people. It’s also signed some big name sponsors including Adobe and Channel 4, along with recruitment firm Purple, all keen no doubt to attract the UK’s digerati.

The brinks and BBQ event be at Imperial College Union in Kensington, London, and if past events are anything to go by it’s going to be a very big event for people working in the digital sector: encompassing 5 large rooms and the enclosed quadrangle, allowing a total capacity of 2,000 revellers.

Chinwag, which runs communities and events aimed at UK and European professionals in web, mobile and other interactive media, also plans to use make some innovative use of social networking tools and technologies to promote the event.

Here are the details, but note that you need to register on the site:

- Thursday 5th July 2007 @ 6.30pm (runs until 12:30am)

- Place: Imperial College Union, Beit Quad, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2BB

- Cost: Free.

- Includes: Summer BBQ, drinks, entertainment and lots of networking

But now, out of nowhere, First Tuesday has decided to re-animate itself like some kind of crazed zombie from 28 Weeks Later (or perhaps the bath tub scene in Fatal Attraction?). Winging it's way over to Bites Towers was an email today from one Christer Holloman "Chief Executive, First Tuesday UK":

"Are you in?
. . . as a former highly valued patron we would like to invite you to our launching event in London after the summer but first we would like to ask you to please reply a blank email (but feel free to include your job title, and company name/employer) to this address to confirm that you are still interested in hearing from us. If you prefer us to send information to another email address, just write that in your reply. Win 1 of 7 annual memberships in daily raffle! Over the next 7 days we will be giving away 1 annual membership per day (worth £440-£740) among those of you that re-register with us. If you are one of the winners, we will send you an email to notify you within 24h of your reply."

We confirmed with Holloman via email that First Tuesday is indeed back to bring us all together (as if Chinwag Live, SCT, Glasshouse, NMK and countless other events weren't enough already).

Holloman says: "Today we have only contacted old members asking them to verify their details and already we have 500 people in London interested to attend the first event and I am still working my way through the list as we speak. I haven’t released that information to anyone, so you are the first to hear that." He says the "official" announcement will be made in 4 weeks time, assuming it's needed by then of course…

If Google is correct, this is the same Christer Holloman who has some prior experience in networking, given that last year he created the Business Wise Network for entrepreneurial students, and all. For all our sakes, I do hope it is.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Computer Gaming & Virtual Worlds Public Policy Workshop
Ren Reynolds will lead a discussion about the public policy issues bought about by computer games and virtual worlds.

Friday, May 25, 2007
The Social Impact of the Web: Society, Government and the Internet
The RSA is looking to explore the political culture and norms that the internet has been instrumental in fostering, both in relation to centralised democratic politics, and more diffuse social and civic networks, including blogging.

Friday, May 25, 2007
Better Blogger Relations
How PR can engage with social media? A half-day workshop about the opportunities and threats associated with the latest developments in 'social media'"

[More events after the jump]

Friday, May 25, 2007
London Drupal Drop-In
Presentations will range from a complete introduction through to expert tips, and there will also be a number of Drupal experts available to answer your questions.

Friday, May 25, 2007
MiniBar6
For those who don't have time to attend a full BarCamp, some of us have come up with MiniBar, a chance to snaffle some free beer while discussing p2p, Creative Commons, web applications, social networking and general Web 2.0 mayhem & fandango.

Saturday, May 26, 2007 – Sunday, May 27, 2007
BarCamp Sheffield
BarCamp Sheffield is an open forum for all ages with an interest in all things Internet related.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Plotting the Brighton Digital Festival
We're holding a drop-in session to plot what events might go into the programme: next Tuesday 29 May, 5-8pm, upstairs at The Victory, 6 Duke St, BN1 1AH.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Brighton New Media Social
Long overdue BNM social. Same format as before – no speakers, nothing heavy, just a chance to meet other subscribers over a beer.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Geek Dinner with Becky Hogge from the Open rights group

Thursday, May 31, 2007 – Friday, June 1, 2007
Mobile Lifestyle Experience (MLX) 07
A combined annual exhibition and conference for the mobile
and media sectors.

Thursday, May 31, 2007
New Statesman New Media Awards
The New Statesman is once again looking for entries for its New Media Awards. Running annually since 1998, the awards celebrate the positive impact that digital media can have on society, democracy, politics and culture.

Jun 1, 2007
PSFK Conference London
PSFK presents a series of presentations and discussions by leading innovators over the course of a day speak to an audience from the creative, media and marketing communities.

June 5, 2007
Delivering the New PR 2.0
Social media is revolutionising the way we communicate. Speakers include social media PR expert, Neville Hobson – http://www.nevillehobson.com.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007
London Wiki Wednesday at Conchango
London Wiki Wednesdays are held once every two months on the first Wednesday of each month.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Sussex Geek Dinner
Geek dinner for programmers, web developers, bloggers, and anyone else into computers and gadgets.

Monday, June 11, 2007
Energy 2.0
Energy 2.0 is a new series of events in the UK bringing together the industry innovators, smart investors, forward looking NGOs, strong government leaders and media organisations who are playing in role in shaping the next era of energy generation, management and efficiency. Registration will be open very soon please email tony[@]mashupevent.com if you'd like to pre-register.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Geek Dinner with Jyri Engeström of Jaiku

Wednesday, June 13, 2007
NMK Forum 07
NMK's annual get-together to discuss the business and digital issues of the day, the year, the age! NMK Forum 07 will act as a melting pot of the essential strategies for commercial success in a digital age.

Saturday, June 16, 2007 – Sunday, June 17, 2007
Yahoo! BBC Hackday 2007
http://hackday.org has all the details – the wording is a bit 'official' but that's what happens when lawyers attack.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Chinwag Live: The Dark Side Of Social Media
Identity theft, scurrilous abuse, libel, stalking, scams and even violence… Social media, once hailed as the great new "Naked Conversation" where the planet would talk to itself in a spirit of open debate and companies would 'crowd source' fantastic new products, is starting to turn sour.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Mashup – On Location
Within this theme of location we will be exploring where and what the value of location is. 

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 – Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Online Marketing Show
From search to online ads, mobile to analytics, the show tackles all the challenges and issues surrounding online marketing, and shows you how to make interactive marketing and advertising campaigns work for their money. Brought to you by NMA and Marketing Week

Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Essential Web 2007
Essential Web 2007 is a unique one-day showcase of the most dynamic and disruptive web ventures today, with an exceptional mix of pioneering internet innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity that will change our world tomorrow.

Saturday, June 30, 2007
BarCampBelfast
BarCamp comes to Belfast. Come along and tech out..

Saturday, June 30, 2007
DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper (DDD) 5
There will be NO Microsoft speakers presenting, just speakers from the UK .NE

T developer community; although we will have some of the Microsoft UK Developer Team on hand to help out and chat to attendees.

Tuesday, July 12, 2007
Mashup – TV 2.0
Exploring the next phase of TV. 

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Mobile Marketing
A full day workshop introducing you to the world of mobile marketing and how to apply it in the real world.

Sunday, November 4, 2007 – Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Flash on the Beach 2007
The Flash on the Beach 2007 conference will be the second time that over 40 of the world's most talented Flash designers, developers and artists will have been brought together to present the most creative, technical, inspirational awe-inspiring, educational and entertaining sessions across a wide range of subjects.