AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Best overview of Google’s strategy in the mobile space that I’ve read:
From WIRED
“Is this interesting to Google?” That’s what Andy Rubin was asking Larry Page. It was a spring day in 2005, and the two were in a conference room just off the main lobby at Google’s headquarters. A simple yes and Rubin would have [...]

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The Wall Street Journal
Video Programming And Ads to Be Served On TV, Cellphones, Web
The nation’s largest phone companies sell packages of wireless phone service, Internet access and pay TV to consumers. Now they’re taking integration one step further, airing video programming — and selling ads — across all three platforms.
Content and advertising deals used to [...]

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MobiADNews
Nokia has announced the launch of “Ad Labs” in London and Boston. These labs will aim to train advertising agency workers in the finer points of mobile advertising.
“We want to be a catalyst in the mobile advertising ecosystem. It is seen as somewhat of a black art practiced in a cottage-industry fashion.” Said Mike Baker, [...]

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Red Herring
Nokia added yet another company to its growing roster of mobile services firms with an announcement Monday that it will acquire Plazes, a location-based services provider for an undisclosed sum.
The Plazes acquisition will be Nokia’s ninth purchase of a mobile services or content firm in the last two and a half years and continues [...]

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MobiADNews
Sony Pictures Television has announced that its Minisode Network is now available on Sprint TV. The multi-platform video network features four to six minute versions of popular television shows. Sony Pictures has also announced that Honda will be the launch sponsor for the ad-supported network. This follows a successful trial as sponsor of the Minisode [...]

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Digital Media Wire
Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) announced on Tuesday that it has added more than 800 downloadable TV show episodes from NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Liberty Media (NASD: LINTA) and other providers to the online store for its Zune portable media player. Notable in the deal is NBC Universal’s [...]

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Tech Crunch

Adobe is making a big play to make Flash the de facto viewing environment not only for Web apps on your PC, but also on your mobile phone, your TV, and any other screen you can think of. It is announcing the Open Screen Project to make it easier to develop applications across devices—using [...]

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The New York Times
Who says cellphones are good only for talking? Today they are bringing together two unlikely brand names: Nokia and Spike Lee.
Mr. Lee, the director, is teaming up with Nokia, the cellphone maker, to direct a short film comprising YouTube-style videos created by teenagers and adults using their mobile phones.
By hiring Mr. Lee [...]

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Press Release
Nokia today announced an exciting multimedia film production with Academy Award nominated director, Spike Lee. Nokia Productions will create the world’s first social film built entirely by everyday people using their mobile devices to generate and submit original content which will then be combined into one artistic multimedia film created by Spike Lee.
“The future [...]

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The Wall Street Journal
Nokia Corp. is counting on people such as Rita El Khoury, who splurged on the Finnish phone maker’s €430 ($674) N81 handset so she could be an early user of the company’s N-Gage Internet service platform for videogames.
Nokia wants to draw customers to its feature-rich phones, like the Nokia N95 8GB, a [...]

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