Get weather updates sent right to my cell phone? Umm, I think I would rather just look outside. Networks are trying to adapt to the latest technology, but they are changing far too slowly. When I interned at a station this summer, I signed up for text updates of the latest weather. Sure, it had nice pictures of the Doppler radar, but I wasn't getting these messages until the weather had already changed. It would have been more convenient to just bring an umbrella every day, and I could have saved my messages for more important updatesâ€â€like what bar my friends would be attending.
Media outlets are catching on to new technology, but not fast enough.Photo: Gretchen Wieland
A few years ago, streaming video was the greatest new thing since sliced bread. We have come a little further since then. I can now pay to download clips of an ESPN or Nickelodeon show to my phone, but it's something that has already aired on TV. When I'm riding in a car on my way to Illinois, I don't want yesterday's episode of SportsCenter. I want to watch the live version of the Cubs game, or at least behind-the-scenes specials that won't be shown on TV. Why would I pay for old news?
Networks are on the right track by opening their content up for podcasts and vodcasts, but they need to start moving at the pace of a cheetah, not a tortoise. Then, maybe I'll get the weather before it starts raining on me.
I like the point that technology can outrun useful applications. Just because we can do it, doesn't mean people want it. Part of the problem with new media is that the old media guys won't turn loose of content until the old media have it first. It took me three years to get Dick past that point. But he is there now.
It seems that those mobile connection features are a problem because I blogged about their unreliability also.
*Love the pic. Very illustrative.
Weather aside, how do we now define "old news"? You're on to something really compelling by bringing the idea of payment into this. What is worth investing our time & money in. . .and why? & in light of that query, do print magazines have anything of value to offer?