Stumbled on this online. Kind of a good look at the more recent statistics and general goings on in the world of technology today. The producers have made a few of these videos, and they put out new ones periodically, so if you want, you should peruse some of the older ones a well. All and all a pretty good time waster.

I’ve seen these ads before, as they have been around for years, but they are beginning to look a lot more relevant these days in the way advances in technology are leading the user experience. With user interactive experiences becoming more of a mainstream motif these days than they were five years ago, devices such as the Nintendo Wii with its innovative controller, the Apple iPhone with its App store and portable WiFi, and the iPad with its particular slant on media access have challenged both users and designers to think differently about how and why they use technology. Early adoption, always a difficult thing to sell mainstream consumers, has begun a journey of in-roads which has opened doors for companies willing to take risks on these emerging techno marvels. Enter in technology such as Microsoft Surface which blends the concept of an intuitive interface with the everyday comfort and functionality of a coffee table or kitchen island. The technology brings an organic sense of playfulness to the environment that it didn’t have before; and in an age of fung suei, it is a technology that is beginning to make sense. As technologies such as these continue to develop, these tools will continue to take an integral position in our homes, offices, and businesses establishments.

I wonder sometimes if there are still people that think like this? I’m sure there are, but it’s funny to think with all the push for green this and green that, corporately funded social programs, media awareness, watchdog groups, and general public sentiment that they can even be thinking that they are getting away with something. Corporations are nothing without their customers, and these days customers are armed with more information and have more power to act on that information than any other time in our history. As it is, public outcry can change the policies of banks, bring back canceled television programs, drive governmental reform, and sell a million ads on Facebook or Youtube. It’s hard to believe that interacting with ones customers doesn’t carry some benefits to corporations at large. As people begin integrating and extending their social networking through these channels more and more often, the benefits continue to grow. It shouldn’t be long before companies that are not able to stand behind a policy of coexistence with their customers is left in the dust behind better companies willing to put their customers first.

A brief, but good history reference on the evolution of social media from the dawn of email through the cloud computing phenomenon. Brings up a lot of older concepts that I’d kind of forgotten about. It’s also interesting how we’ve adopted so many different technologies into our every day lives at this point in our history. Technology has become someone of a unifying theorem in our culture, bringing people and ideas together and closing cultural gaps.

So I was reading an article on Walmarts acquisition of VUDU, VUDU being an online video rental service similar to several others in the market right now, and started thinking how similar this marketplace is to that of video rental chains in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Back in the day, companies such as Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Mr Movies, Panorama, and a number of other chains were popping up left and right to satisfy peoples cravings for the newly burgeoning home video rental market. Even the gas station on the corner and the Seven Eleven down the street had videos for rent, but as we all know at this point, things don’t last. For a slew of reasons: overhead was too high to support physical locations, margins were too low, wear and tear on inventory, and the introduction of new business models such as Netflix, Redbox, Youtube, and yes, even online rentals have all played their part in bringing about the demise of the traditional rental retail store. Now days I look around and see so many vendors such as Roxio CinemaNow, AT&T Uverse, Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, iTunes, and even pay per view and Stars, and I kind of wonder what it all means. VUDU, like the independent video franchises of yesteryear looks to be one among many providers selling a service that everyone wants and everyone can provide. I hate to say it, but online video, as cool of an idea as it is, looks to become an outdated business model even before it gets off the ground. With so many providers, it will be the vendors that can provide the most innovation for the buck that eventually takes the cake; and honestly, I’ve got my money on Netflix subscriptions as the best overall model in this category. Should be an interesting event to watch though, and it makes me wonder what the next big thing in media distribution will be.

Any ideas, feel free to chime in.