MaxxoMedia Digital Media and Entertainment Trends

Netpulse announced last night it had raised $3.1 million in Series A funding led by Javelin Venture Partners to bring interactive media to gyms. We were curious about the idea of connected fitness devices and followed up with Netpulse CEO Bryan Arp today to learn more.

NetpulseBasically, Netpulse offers software and accompanying services to turn a computer screen hooked up to an exercise machine into an interactive entertainment center. Gyms buy a $600-800 15-inch touchscreen terminal for each of their treadmills, bikes and ellipticals, or spend more for a new fitness machine with the screen already integrated. Then users can watch the club’s TV subscription, access on-demand music and video, read RSS feeds, plug in their iPods to their own content, and track their exercise sessions, all coordinated by touch through Netpulse’s interface.

Not all this is ready yet; San Francisco-based Netpulse has yet to announce its content partners, and Arp said integration with OpenID, Google, Twitter and Facebook will come next year. That part sounds pretty cool; users will be able to maintain accounts, a la Nike+, to track their workouts across machines. Pretty soon you’ll be able to auto-Twitter your 5k splits and challenge your friends to beat you, and perhaps even stream one of your Netflix movies at the same time. Ain’t technology great?

Layar iPhone Example

Layar is a free application on your mobile phone which shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of your mobile phone.

Layar is a global application, available for the T-Mobile G1, HTC Magic and other Android phones in all Android Markets and now available for the iPhone. It also comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy in the Netherlands

How do you use Layar?

By Mark Levy CEO of MaxxoMedia

To TXT or not to TXT We all know cell phone text messaging is a great way to quickly connect with someone. Everywhere we look people are hunched over their phones, tapping on the keys feverishly. But what about texting while driving?

I know you would never do it .. .but even though the overwhelming majority of adults think that driving while texting is dangerous, two in three adults (66%) who drive a car and have used text messaging say they read text messages or e-mails while driving — and 57% of them even admitted to sending text messages or e-mails from behind the wheel. On January 1st, the State of Washington was the first state in the nation to enact a new law that prohibits text messaging while driving and more states are not far behind.

So what is the technologically well-connected person to do? How can you communicate safely on the go? Enter instant voice-messaging for your mobile phone from San Francisco based Pinger. The service helps you keep your eyes on the road and minimize distractions while you drive. Combined with a hands-free headset, Pinger’s instant voice messaging service is a safer way for drivers to stay in touch from the road.

by Mark Levy CEO of MaxxoMedia

For the most part, listening to the radio is a passive experience. Tune in your station and let the DJ lead you through the programming. Aside from the occasional call-in request to win tickets or call-in to Talk radio, there isn’t a lot of direct response interaction with listeners.

A Colorado-based company is looking to bring interactivity between radio stations and listeners to a whole new level. CynoCast (pronounced sin-O-cast) aims to help stations keep listeners tuned in longer and generate new streams of revenue by giving stations the ability to easily launch web pages while broadcasting live on the air.

With CynoCast’s “DJ CynoCaster,” stations can simulcast web pages that run alongside live broadcasts. Instant push-polls, poll results, song lyrics, traffic maps, news articles, blogs, weather maps, sports scores and any other type of information can be fed directly to the listener’s computer in real time.

On Tuesday, a company called Eye-Fi launched the Eye-Fi Card, a WiFi enabled 2GB SD card for your digital camera, that once set up to see your home (or other) wireless network, you pop it into your camera, go out and shoot photos, come home, turn on the camera and the pictures automatically go up to your photo destination site of choice and/or to your PC/MAC. It will change the way you share and print.

It is available from one of several online retailers at http://www.eye.fi/buy/

It is getting great reviews (see below). For anyone that wants to get their photos off their cameras and on to their PC/Mac and/or photo destination of their choice of 17 so far – Dotphoto, Facebook Flickr, Fotki, Gallery (opensource project), KodakGallery, PicasaWeb, Phanfare, Photobucket, Sharpcast, Shutterfly, Smugmug, Snapfish, TypePad, Vox, Wal-Mart, and Webshots – This is the easiest way to do it.

Those of you over 30 probably remember the days before button presets took over the radio interface.  In my opinion nothing beats the the feel of turning that dial and finding new radio stations.  Tun3r.com is the radio dial for the digital age.  Move the ‘tuner’ line left to right or up and down to experience audio programming from all over the world.  Or just click around the squares on the home page and let the audio fly.  You can bookmark stations you like for easy future access and even get a playlist in the local language.

Chilltheplanet.com just launched an innovative digital media campaign to drive awareness of global warming issues. Through the website you can donate money that will be used to create and buy TV ad time on regional networks.

Google has launched another incredible addition to their already stellar mapping services. Now you can view street level images of cities and explore them in a whole new way. Currently available for New York, San Francisco, Miami, Las Vegas and Denver. Check it out here or click on the picture below. It will be interesting to see how people use this new tool to enhance their web experience.

Bridging the divide between digital and physical, DiscRevolt provides a tangible solution for selling digital media. Artists upload songs to DiscRevolt’s website and design their own artwork for a plastic download card. The cards are then printed by DiscRevolt with a unique redemption code on the back. Artists sell the cards to fans at live shows, and the fans can then download songs or albums from the artist’s online page.

Many independent artists make most of their revenue at merchandise tables after they play a live show. Audiences connect with a band or song, and are most likely to pay for music during the post-gig buzz. As bands are moving from CDs to digital downloads, they need something to hook potential customers when they can, instead of asking them to download later. Which is a challenge DiscRevolt aims to solve. The start-up describes its download cards as a cross between a gift card, a backstage pass and a baseball trading card. They’re designed to be collectible items, attachable to lanyards or backpacks or rear-view mirrors. The fact that artists design their own artwork, and often make cards in limited runs, adds to the appeal.

Pricing is set at 500 cards for USD 250. Each card gives fans access to 15 credits worth of the artist’s material on discrevolt.com. Artists set their own prices, but DiscRevolt recommends USD 5 per card, which brings the price per song to 33 cents for buyers, and gives artists a 90% profit margin. Since artists buy the cards upfront, profits are received as soon the cards are sold. Which can be useful while bootstrapping a tour. It also provides a user-friendly download avenue for bands that haven’t yet made it to the front page of the iTunes Music Store.

By: Priyanka Pradhan | Jan 17,2007

Applause to CBS for reportedly joining with Slingbox to investigate how sharing of video clips builds communities around content. The Clip+Sling service will allow owners of Sling Media’s Slingbox device to clip and share content directly from live or recorded TV shows with both other Slingbox owners and others over the Internet.

Usually big media companies wait to be disrupted and then react from a position of fear. Quincy Smith, CBS Interactive President, is taking the unusual step of being a catalyst for disruption. One thing I’ve seen over and over though is that you can’t control what happens after the disruption. That keeps many in paralysis, afraid that what they do will come back to haunt them. Funny thing is that doing nothing leads to the same result. Only time will tell if the decision was the right one.