Epic 2015 makes a good point, even if it's buried under a few bizzare predictions. The so-called "new media" is gaining influence every day. However, I don't think that anyone, even the creators of the video, think that the New York Times will really be out of the picture in 10 years. I'm sure that the producers just wanted to make a point about the power of the Internet in the news world.
The other prediction I found bizzare was that Amazon and Google would merge. Amazon is a store and merchant service, allowing people to trade physical goods. Google is a search engine and information tool, allowing people to easily find and store (via Picasa and GMail) information. In fact, the only thing that these two companies have in common is that they both depend on the Internet.
Epic 2015 does do an excellent job in the historical section. It does a very good job of breaking down the major milestones relating to finding news and publishing on the Internet. I also agree with its prediction about a combination of social networks with news stories. Being able to see what stories your friends have been reading and commenting on is a natural extention of existing technologies.
However, I think my favorite part of the whole video was the nod to 1984, when they use the name Winston Smith while talking about how Google will know everything about us.
But Amazon has A9 (which actually uses Google technology) and Google's got Froogle. They're not so dissimilar, and they both want to take over the world. So maybe it won't be called Googlezon, but that doesn't mean it won't exist.
Robin Sloan was on a fellowship with NewsU when he made this. We are currently looking for a recent grad to apply for the same position. If any of you are going to graduate at the end of this semester you should apply.
http://www.newsu.org/articles/view.aspx?id=330
The Amazona and Google team is by no means a bad idea. With Google as a leading search engine and also branching out into other areas of the web, and Amazon as a leading hotspot for consumers, that conglomerate would be a power house over the internet.