Work: The Connected Fridge...

Just finished a huge tranche of pre-show work on the ISE Daily (was meant to be going out there and working on it as Exec Editor too, but them plans got scuppered unfortunately).

ISE starts next week, but of all the thousands of words I've read about the show and what will happen at it, one quote really stands out: an expert on Smart Buildings suggesting that by 2016 there will be between 60-100 connected devices sitting on your home network.

The pic above used to be the take on how that will look, but he wasn't thinking that. He was thinking fridges, microwaves, curtain motors that adjust the amount of sunlight getting into a room to regulate temperature, televisions, lights...in short, if something can be given an IP address and put on a network, it will be.

Remember the Big Bang Theory episode where they let some mirror-image geeks from China turn their lights on and off? That.

One suspects that hacking could get a lot more fun in the near future...

Life: My God, it's full of stars...

Daughter has suddenly become obsessed with all things to do with space - planets, galaxies, shuttle launches and, particularly, anything to do with Saturn. Am not sure I'll be able to keep up with her long after she's two...

All of which makes the recent decision to home-school her when she's older all the more interesting. The main driver in thinking about this was her CF - this will keep her free from infection and mean we can ramp things up or dial them down depending on how well she is  - and it still is, but that it increasingly being joined by the knowledge that a) it'll be fun and b) she might really benefit from it academically.

And it is very interesting that you mention home-schooling to people and their first reaction is worry about socialising. No-one has said anything about the learning aspects of education at all...Do we all really feel that that is mainly what schools are about now?

Anyway, current plan: a visit to the National Space Centre for her birthday seems only right and proper. Set the controls for the heart of the sun etc...

New post coming soon

Honest...

A brief lull...

Well, sort of a lull. Next major project is going to be as Exec Editor on the ISE Daily for the Integrated Systems Europe tradeshow that takes place at the RAI at the end of January (http://www.iseurope.org). What can I say? I must like Amsterdam (though waiting for the Number 4 tram in the depths of the Netherlands winter can be an interesting experience.

That all properly kicks off at the start of November. Keeping me honest up till then is:

SVG Europe - a regular spot examining sports broadcasting and the Connected World

Red Shark News - regular contributions about all manner of industry gubbins

Broadcast - how UK broadcasters get their content on your mobile

InBroadcast - filming extreme sports

And various other bits and pieces for various other clients.

IBC = I'll Be Ceeing you

So, no sooner has one giant RAI-based tradeshow finished, than after a quick break I start work on a Daily magazine for another one.

Must enjoy this combination of Amsterdam, tradeshows and Intent Media, as I've just been appointed Executive Editor of the ISE Daily for ISE2013. Big show, and getting bigger all the time = big gig.

Thoughts on IBC? The show seems to find itself caught between technology waves at the moment, with no huge new products unveiled but plenty of action in areas of standards (FIMS etc) and companies jockeying for position in forthcoming areas such as Ultra-HD.

Think many people are waiting to see if autostereoscopic displays will take off in advance of the next Olympics, basically. If so, then 3D was always the horse they were backing. If not, then there's 4k to consider. Interesting to note that those with deep pockets - the Sonys of this world - currently seem to be doing both.

O Inconstant Consumer, look what chaos you're causing!

The Song is Over...

Just written an – unbylined – piece for a client on the broadcast legacy of London 2012. To summarise:

• OBS did an okay job
• The BBC did a brilliant one
• NBC really, really cocked it up
• The days of tape delaying major events and getting out of sync WITH THE ENTIRE INTERNET are over
• Ultra slo mo looks fabulous when done right. Andy Hayford, take a bow
• 3D is in serious danger of becoming an evolutionary cul-de-sac... again
• The Socialympics is a horrible word, but does describe what happened. Social media is now an integral part of this sort of thing
• Super Hi-Vision will mean much lobbying for the 2020 Games to be in Japan
• The big broadcast story from Rio 2016 will likely be remote production

IBC = Impressively Busy Chap

It's been a while since the last update, for which I totally blame IBC. In full on production mode on the IBC Daily now, with around 150 stories under our belts already. Sounds a lot, but we're not even a quarter of the way up the mountain yet, and crampons will be required for the next stage. Also undertaking a series of '60 Seconds with...' interviews with various CEOs and high-profile speakers at the IBC Conference alongside various other bits and pieces of marketing gubbins for IBC itself. And then there's the odd feature about the Olympics broadcasting set-up. In other words, it's been a bit of a busy old time. People tell me it's been raining...