Here are some audio and video trends for 2019:
The global Hi-Fi Systems market was valued at million US$ in 2018 and is expected to grow. EISA Awards has selected Hi-Fi product category winners, but I did not see anything really fancy new innovations that would excite me there. The Hi-Fi speaker market has seen considerable consolidation over the years but is expected to grow. The global Hi-Fi speaker system market is highly competitive. Various established international brands, domestic brands and as well as new entrants form a competitive landscape. The market is expected to have higher growth rate as compared to the previous years due to the booming electronic industry globally. It is due to the rising income of individuals globally and increasing affordability of technology products globally. Due to technological adoption and smart gadgets, North America region is showing steady growth in the Hi-Fi speaker system market. On technology standpoint the Hi-Fi market is mainly based on pretty much stabilized technology as class D amplifiers have been on mainstream for many years.
Smart TVs are everywhere. The vast majority of televisions available today are “smart” TVs, with internet connections, ad placement, and streaming services built in. Despite the added functionality, TV prices are lower than ever. Your new smart TV was so affordable because it is collecting and selling your data. It is clear that TV companies are in a cutthroat business, and that companies like Vizio would have to charge higher prices for hardware if they didn’t run content, advertising, and data businesses. Google wants sensors and cameras in every room of your home to watch, analyze, you, patents show.
Streaming services competition stays high. Apple’s embracing the TV industry for the first time: Vizio and LG TVs will support AirPlay 2 and HomeKit, while Samsung TVs will get an iTunes Movies & TV app, as well as AirPlay 2 support. Google and Amazon are playing are important players on smart speaker markets.
4K video resolution is still as hot as in 2019 – it us becoming mainstream and getting cheaper. Peraso showcases 4K wireless video at CES 2019. LG has produced a market-ready rollable OLED TV. The new 75-inch 4K Micro LED TV announced at CES 2019 proves Samsung is serious about scaling the technology to do battle with OLED. But it seems that even in 1029 “4K” trend remains woefully deficient from a compelling-content-availability standpoint. CES 2019 is already full of weird and wonderful monitors.
But new higher 8K resolution is being pushed to market. The “8K” (resolution) tagline was apparently everywhere at CES this year. Samsung announced a 98-inch 8K TV because why not. LG has come strong to CES 2019 with an 88-inch 8K OLED TV, a 75-inch 8K LED/LCD TV, HDMI 2.1, new auto calibration features, Alexa built in, and many more features. It seems that this ongoing evolution is occurring out of necessity: as a given-size (and -pixel-dense) display becomes a low profit margin commodity, manufacturers need to continually “up-rev” one or both key consumer-attention-grabbing parameters (along with less quantifiable attributes like image quality) in order to remain profitable … assuming they can continue to stimulate sufficient-sized consumer demand in the process. I am not sure if they can stimulate 8K to mass market in next few years.
Wall size TVs are coming. Samsung announced a modular TV at CES. Samsung first showcased this MicroLED TV technology at CES 2018, showcasing how the screens were composed of millions of individual LEDs. Individuals screens could be combined to create massive displays, which the company calls The Wall TV. The wall-sized displays shown in recent years at CES are, in my opinion, quite ridiculous, at least for the masses.
HDMI updates are coming. At present, the HDMI equipment uses the 2.0 standard (adopted in 2013) tht provides support for example for 4K video. HDMI Forum announced a new 2.1 standard already in November 2017, but it just starter showing in CES in January 2019. 8K fiber-optic HDMI cables seen at CES 2019. The 2.1 standard is a big change in technology at the bus bandwidth increases from 18 gigabit to 48 gigabits per second. This enables up to 10K video transmission and up to 120 frames per second.
Bendable displays are really coming to PCs and smart phones. LG’s “rollable” display shown this year neatly showcased the technology’s inherent flexibility while also addressing the question of how to hide a gargantuan display when it’s not in use. Several foldable smart phones have been shown. Chinese company Royole was showing off the FlexPai at CES in Las Vegas.
Micro displays for VR and AR glasses have developed. MicroLED is better looking, more efficient and more versatile than any previous display tech. Now all Samsung, Sony, LG and others have to do is figure out how to manufacture it affordably.Nanoco Technologies and Plessey Semiconductors have partnered to shrink the pixel size of monolithic microLED displays using Nanoco’s cadmium-free quantum-dot (CFQD quantum dots) semiconductor nanoparticle technology. Microchips and organic LEDs that deliver 4K-like high resolution displays a quarter of the size and half the weight of existing virtual reality (VR) headsets have been developed under a European Union project. Marc Andreessen says VR will be “1,000” times bigger than AR even though VR seems to be the popular whipping boy amongst the tech community.
There seems to be no shortage of angst with the current (and unfortunately burgeoning) popularity of usage of the term artificial intelligence (AI). Intelligence has been defined in many ways which makes it hard to get good picture on what is going on. I am still waiting for sensible intelligent AI to do something useful. But the ability for a sufficiently trained deep learning system to pattern-match images, sound samples, computer viruses, network hacking attempts, and the like is both impressive and effective.
Potential problems related to the coming of self-driving car technologies and cameras are expected. A man at CES in Las Vegas says that a car-mounted lidar permanently damaged the sensor in his new $1,998 Sony a7R II mirrorless camera. Man says CES lidar’s laser was so powerful it wrecked his $1,998 camera because the LIDAR laser power rules ensure lasers are safe for human eyes—but not necessarily for cameras. Is this something that camera and car manufacturers need to figure out together?
2019 Will Be the Year of Open Source from software and even hardware. Open source video player app VLC has now reached 3 billions downloads.
When almost all AV products are pushing more and more features, it seems that almost Everything is too complicated for an average Joe.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2019/07/22/suoratoisto-tayttaa-internetin-5g-tulee-apuun/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cloud VR will be worth $292 billion by 2025. See how it will disrupt broadcasting at IBC2019.
Is AR/VR the future of immersive storytelling?
https://show.ibc.org/ibc-insider/is-ar-vr-the-future-of-immersive-storytelling?utm_source=TMT_Facebook&utm_medium=cpc_Facebook&utm_campaign=TMT_Facebook&utm_content=Innovation
Tomi Engdahl says:
PLEX MAKES PIRACY JUST ANOTHER STREAMING SERVICE
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/23/20697751/piracy-plex-netflix-hulu-streaming-wars
As streaming offerings become more expensive and convoluted, people are setting up their own smaller, more intimate platforms
There’s more streamable content now than ever and even more ways to consume it; these days, we’re drowning in choices.
Plex, a company that sells media server software, has found itself in the strange position of being the answer to that problem. It has two components: the piece of software that organizes media on your computer’s hard drive and the client-side program that lets you and your friends and family stream that content from wherever you are on just about any device. It’s clean. It’s beautiful. It is extraordinarily simple to use. It looks a little like Netflix.
What Plex doesn’t say, however, is how that bliss is achieved. Because what’s on Plex servers is populated by people, most of the commercial content you’d find there is probably pirated.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MicroLED Displays Could Show Up in Products as Soon as 2020
https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/audiovideo/microled-displays-could-show-up-in-products-as-soon-as-2020
One of the most striking things about the prototype microLED display that Silicon Valley startup Mojo Vision unveiled in June was its size. At half a millimeter across, it’s barely bigger than a single pixel from the microLED TV prototype Samsung showed off in 2018. That both use versions of the same technology is remarkable,
Tomi Engdahl says:
6 new ways Dropbox can help media teams streamline their workflows
https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/business/new-media-partnerships?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mek-content-cpc&utm_content=media-workflow
Tomi Engdahl says:
PLEX MAKES PIRACY JUST ANOTHER STREAMING SERVICE
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/23/20697751/piracy-plex-netflix-hulu-streaming-wars
As streaming offerings become more expensive and convoluted, people are setting up their own smaller, more intimate platforms
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lataa aidot pieruäänet vapaaseen käyttöön!
https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2018/04/19/lataa-aidot-pieruaanet-vapaaseen-kayttoon
Tomi Engdahl says:
A federal jury’s ruling that Katy Perry stole 6 notes from a Christian rapper’s track comes as another plague on the music industry—and may rain riches down on the holy hip-hopper.
Jury Kills Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” In Another Controversial Copyright Verdict
http://on.forbes.com/6183ELpmc
A federal jury’s ruling that Katy Perry and her song team stole six notes from a Christian rapper’s track — a musical pattern that strikes some as so common and monotonous that a metronome could have produced it — comes as another plague on the music industry and may rain riches down on the holy hip-hopper.
The case follows a line of others that troubles the music industry because of fears that songwriters may suffer writer’s block from nervousness that the simplest musical motif that pops into their mind might be found by a jury to belong to someone else.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Twitch is far and away the biggest video game streaming platform on the internet, claiming 72% of all hours watched, according to StreamElements. Mixer, by comparison, owns 3%, which is approximately 112 million viewership hours this most recent quarter.
https://tcrn.ch/2SYBlgs
Tomi Engdahl says:
Young Beauty Vlogger Revealed To Be 58-Year-Old Woman After Filter Glitches
https://z100.iheart.com/content/2019-08-01-young-beauty-vlogger-revealed-to-be-58-year-old-woman-after-filter-glitches/?keyid=WHTZ&sc=editorial&pname=local_social
A young beauty vlogger with 100,000 followers was actually revealed to be a 58-year-old woman during a live-stream when the filter she was using to disguise herself glitched.
Tomi Engdahl says:
You’ll subscribe to seven or eight different services, you’ll pay over a hundred bucks a month when you’d budgeted twenty, and you’ll like it. That prediction has never been right.
The cord-cutting conundrum: What consumers won’t pay for content
https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-cord-cutting-conundrum-what-consumers-wont-pay-for-content/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0h&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=5d42e2a03ba24600019747dc&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forget The Walkman: It’s The Headphones
https://hackaday.com/2019/07/22/forget-the-walkman-its-the-headphones/
Forty years ago this month, a product was launched in Japan that would have such a huge impact on the consumer electronics market that we are still using its descendants today. The story goes that one of the Sony founders would listen to music while traveling for the business, and found the company’s existing products cumbersome and awkward so asked his engineers to design something more convenient.
The resulting prototype became the Sony MDL-3L2, a set of miniaturised hi-fi headphones with distinctive foam earpads and a sliding metal headband that in total weighed an astoundingly svelte 45 g. It was paired with a cassette player called a “Walkman”
You probably won’t have heard the Walkman’s 40th anniversary described in those terms in the various reports covering the event, because of course the social impact of the portable music player rather than its headphones is what people remember.
But from a tech perspective the Walkman itself isn’t the breakthrough that made personal audio possible, and instead the lightweight headphones are the main event. Diminutive cassette players were not revolutionary even in 1979, the Compact Cassette format that we’re all used to had been around since the Dutch electronics giant Philips rolled them out in the early 1960s as dictation machines
A German inventor had already produced and patented a miniaturised cassette player he called the “Stereobelt” earlier in the decade, and it was inevitable that before long one of the larger manufacturers would have produced a Walkman-sized consumer device.
On the other hand, lightweight high-quality headphones such as those shipped with the first Walkman were a genuine innovation in 1979, and are really the component of the personal audio success story that should be celebrated.
lmost all headphones that don’t cost a fortune are dynamic designs, they have proved themselves over the decades to be cheap to manufacture, reliable, and high-performance. Sony used a rare-earth magnet in place of the much heavier ferrite magnets that would have graced earlier designs, and paired it with a polyester diaphragm over an open-backed rigid plastic frame. The front was covered with those distinctive foam pads, while the open back led to music leaking into the surroundings. These features have been the norm on headphones for years, but in the 1970s these were still exotic materials for a consumer-level product.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disney will bundle Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ for a monthly price of $12.99
https://tcrn.ch/2yKFqeV
Tomi Engdahl says:
PiXPi Is an Open Source, Modular Camera Controller for High-Speed Photography
https://blog.hackster.io/pixpi-is-an-open-source-modular-camera-controller-for-high-speed-photography-6d1fd1b3eeed
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disney will bundle Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ for a monthly price of $12.99
https://tcrn.ch/2KEcdYE
Disney’s upcoming streaming service Disney+ will be available as a $12.99 monthly bundle with ESPN+ and ad-supported Hulu.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Peter Kafka / Vox:
A combined CBS and Viacom will still not be big enough to compete with Netflix, Apple, and Disney, and will have to become a buyer of smaller companie
Add NCIS and The Daily Show and Billions and you get … a company that’s still not big enough to compete with Netflix, Apple, and Disney
https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/8/12/20802777/cbs-viacom-merger-plan-explained-streaming-discovery-amc-starz-apple-netflix-hbo
CBS and Viacom are merging. Then they’ll have to merge with something else.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
Report: UK to give Ofcom new legal powers to penalize video-sharing platforms that fail to establish robust age verification checks and parental controls
‘The status quo is not good enough’: UK tightens regulation around video sharing
https://digiday.com/media/the-status-quo-is-not-good-enough-uk-tightens-regulation-around-video-sharing/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Freemium Model Is Coming To Music
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/08/14/the-freemium-model-is-coming-to-music/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Valerie/#6e821a6e7284
we are starting to see the first makings of the “freemium” model take hold in music, where artists are paid little if anything to perform but can use the free exposure to build brands, which they then leverage into selling merchandise, including clothing, shoes, beauty products or cars.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube changes policy: copyright owners will no longer be able to monetize creator videos with very short or unintentional uses of music via its manual tool — YouTube is making a change to its copyright enforcement policies around music used in videos, which may result in an increased number …
YouTube shuts down music companies’ use of manual copyright claims to steal creator revenue
https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/16/youtube-shuts-down-music-companies-use-of-manual-copyright-claims-to-steal-creator-revenue/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Community > Blogs > LED Diva
Quantum dots explained
https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/led-diva/4462162/Quantum-dots-explained
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frame rate vs. shutter speed, setting the record straight
https://vimeo.com/blog/post/frame-rate-vs-shutter-speed-setting-the-record-str/
Shutter speed and frame rate are two closely related — and often confused — camera settings. The good news is, with a deeper look into what each setting means, you rely on them to really bolster your video making game.
How to set your gear
As a rule of thumb, you want your shutter speed to be approximately double the number of frames per second that you are recording. So, if you’re recording at 30 frames per second, you want your shutter speed to be 1/60th of a second.
Even though you generally set shutter speed to be double the number of frames per second, you can achieve some stylistic effects by straying from the norm. Shutter speed will have a noticeable effect on the look of your video, especially when it comes to motion.
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube removes videos of robots fighting for ‘animal cruelty’
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/youtube-robot-combat-videos-animal-cruelty-a9071576.html
‘Forcing animals to fight is not allowed on YouTube,’ the site’s guidelines state
“It’s a disgrace… [we want] to get YouTube’s attention to stop this because it’s ridiculous.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
After losing 1 million customers, AT&T does the logical thing… and makes streaming TV even pricier.
AT&T brings cable TV prices to online streaming with $135 monthly plan
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/08/att-brings-cable-tv-prices-to-online-streaming-with-135-monthly-plan/
Tomi Engdahl says:
So they actually do work
Hong Kong Protester Lasers Are Frying Photographers’ Cameras
https://petapixel.com/2019/08/26/hong-kong-protester-lasers-are-frying-photographers-cameras/
Protesters in Hong Kong are widely using handheld laser pointers in their anti-government demonstrations, and some photographers on the ground are reporting damaged sensors after their cameras were exposed to the powerful beams of light.
Beams of green and blue light can be seen at protests being aimed at law enforcement and their cameras
Hong Kong police are labeling the laser pointer an “offensive weapon”, saying it could potentially damage officers’ eyes and skin.
“I’ve seen a lot of lasers used in combat but never like this,” Yon tells PetaPixel
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Just Enough’ Piracy Can Be a Good Thing
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/just-enough-piracy-can-be-a-good-thing/
It’s become costlier for retailers and manufacturers to combat piracy in the digital age. But in moderation, it’s not all bad.
This inaction on HBO’s part may have some economic merit: Our research shows that a moderate level of piracy — not too much, not too little — can actually benefit the manufacturer, the retailer, and consumers, all at the same time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Death of Photoshop: A Warning to Photographers
https://fstoppers.com/originals/death-photoshop-warning-photographers-399501
Photoshop’s days are seriously numbered thanks to the likes of AI, machine learning, and neural networks. The question is, what should photographers be doing to prepare for this big change?
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Gear I Definitely Wasted My Money On
https://fstoppers.com/originals/gear-i-definitely-wasted-my-money-400319
We’ve all bought things impulsively, and on occasion it works out. But often it doesn’t, and a few times for me those purchases have been an unambiguous waste of money.
Let’s go through some usual offenders (types of purchases) and one specific offender.
I’ll start with an important caveat: there are vintage lenses that are absolutely superb. However, if it’s cheap and vintage, don’t think you’re about to uncover a hidden gem; you’re almost definitely not. I’ve bought everything from an old 500mm that looked like a Victorian pirate’s telescope, to the “original bokeh monster” 135mm. Every single one of them has been unusable for anything other than abstract art.
For years I wanted some high end strobe lights. However, despite many of them being in essence simple electronics and computing that any electrician worth his salt could hash together
Not to be confused with the Canon 70-300mm which I’ve heard isn’t too bad, the 75-300mm was an insult to lenses. Nay, it was an insult to plastic, glass, and anyone with even partial vision
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exotic, Expensive Lens: Here Is What I Learned
https://fstoppers.com/originals/i-purchased-exotic-expensive-lens-here-what-i-learned-401187
It Won’t Make Your Photographs Better
It Will Make Your Images Better
Good Glass Is Expensive
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and this certainly rings true with camera lenses. I remember being handed someone else’s throwaway gear when I was starting out and finding it to be completely amazing. And I also now know that some photographers wouldn’t dream of using my gear to shoot with, as it is far too inferior in quality for what they feel that they need.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/08/jetflicks-offered-more-video-than-netflix-but-it-was-all-pirated-feds-say/
A federal grand jury yesterday indicted eight people who allegedly ran two pirate streaming services that “offered more television programs and movies than legitimate streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and Amazon Prime Video,” the Department of Justice said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Blueprints for ‘Star Wars’ Death Star were created at UIC
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-star-wars-evl-lab-ent-0524-20170523-column.html?outputType=amp
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://pyscenedetect.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
PySceneDetect is a command-line application and a Python library for detecting scene changes in videos, and automatically splitting the video into separate clips. Not only is it free and open-source software (FOSS), but there are several detection methods available (see Features), from simple threshold-based fade in/out detection, to advanced content aware fast-cut detection of each shot.
PySceneDetect is written in Python, and requires the OpenCV and Numpy software libraries.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Toy Photographer Shows How He Shot a Spooky Image of Jason From ‘Friday the 13th’
https://fstoppers.com/bts/toy-photographer-shows-how-he-shot-spooky-image-jason-friday-13th-401173
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frame rate vs. shutter speed, setting the record straight
https://vimeo.com/blog/post/frame-rate-vs-shutter-speed-setting-the-record-str/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpm&utm_campaign=Core_Social_INTL_EN_FB_Boosting&vcid=37255&utm_content=Topical_VideoSchool_CustomInterest
Shutter speed and frame rate are two closely related — and often confused — camera settings.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://fstoppers.com/originals/dying-vocabulary-photography-words-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean-398061
Tomi Engdahl says:
Star Wars Visual Effects, from AT-ATs to Tauntauns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIlYk7KQe-s
Tomi Engdahl says:
Can You Make Your Own Audio Crossover?
https://blog.hackster.io/can-you-make-your-own-audio-crossover-1bc4adcdda5d
Those calculations can be done by hand, but it’s far easier to use software, like the free VituixCAD, to model the audio crossover circuit and tune it to your driver.
https://kimmosaunisto.net/Software/Software.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mathematicians and neuroscientists have created the first anatomically accurate model that explains how vision is possible.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-mathematical-model-unlocks-the-secrets-of-vision-20190821/
Tomi Engdahl says:
18 commonly used sound terms and what they actually mean
https://vimeo.com/blog/post/what-18-common-sound-terms-actually-mean/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpm&utm_campaign=Core_Social_INTL_EN_FB_Boosting&vcid=37255&utm_content=Evergreen_VideoSchool_CustomInterest
Creating videos is half about the visuals and half about the sounds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Comparing 85mm to 135mm for Portrait Photography
https://fstoppers.com/education/comparing-85mm-135mm-portrait-photography-402515
Most portrait photographers have a preferred focal length that they tend to use for most shoots. Two of the most common focal lengths are 85mm and 135mm, and this great video compares the two to help you choose the right lens for you.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://fstoppers.com/education/learning-camera-flash-balancing-flash-outdoors-401507#
Tomi Engdahl says:
“There’s a name for societies where a small elite own property and everyone else rents that property from them: it’s called feudalism.”
https://locusmag.com/2019/09/cory-doctorow-drm-broke-its-promise/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2019/09/05/tarkempia-televisioita-berliinin-ifa-messuille/
Tomi Engdahl says:
THX redesigned its iconic movie theater intro, and it’s bonkers
https://www.fastcompany.com/90395087/thx-redesigned-its-iconic-movie-theater-intro-and-its-bonkers?partner=rss&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stop Asking About Camera Settings
https://fstoppers.com/education/stop-asking-about-camera-settings-402693
Whenever we see a photo we really like and want to recreate ourselves, one of the most tempting things to do is to ask what camera settings the photographer used. Here is why that’s actually the wrong question to ask the majority of the time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
News volumetric video technology on display at Siggraph 2019, cinematic quality digital avatars, next gen social media influencers, adds up to industry disruptive new technology.
https://medium.com/silicon-valley-global-news/news-volumetric-video-technology-on-display-at-siggraph-2019-cinematic-quality-digital-avatars-a673d2063c5
Tomi Engdahl says:
Canon is Developing a Mirrorless-to-DSLR ‘Converter’: Report
https://petapixel.com/2019/09/06/canon-is-developing-a-mirrorless-to-dslr-converter-report/
One of Japan’s largest newspapers has published a report that contains two very interesting tidbits for Canon mirrorless shooters. First, they claim that Canon will release a 1D X-level EOS R in 2021; and second, the report revealed that Canon is working on some sort of ‘converter’ that can turn a mirrorless camera into a DSLR.
“We are also developing a converter that can join a mirrorless camera to an interchangeable lens for a single lens reflex camera.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Report: per RIAA, revenues from streaming up 26% YoY to $4.3B in H1 2019, accounting for ~80% of music industry’s overall revenue; paid subscriptions grew 31%
Streaming makes up 80 percent of the music industry’s revenue
https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/6/20852568/streaming-revenue-growth-spotify-apple-music-industry-ariana-grande-drake-taylor-swift
Although physical sales are also on the up-and-up
More people are streaming music through services like Apple Music and Spotify, and the record industry is seeing a major lift.
Revenue made from streaming services in the United States grew by 26 percent in the first six months of the year, according to trade group Recording Industry Association of America, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. That makes for a revenue of $4.3 billion, according to research conducted by the group, which represents approximately 80 percent of the music industry’s overall revenue.
It’s not just streaming that’s helping the industry see a boost, though: physical media sales also jumped. Both vinyl and CDs saw increases in sales, growing 5 and 13 percent, respectively. CD sales made up roughly $485 million of the industry’s revenue over the first six months of the year, and vinyl sales brought in an additional $224 million.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Roku expands its licensing program, which includes TV reference designs and Roku OS for smart TVs, to Europe — Roku TV today represents more than 1 in 3 smart TVs sold in the U.S. Now, the company is bringing its TV licensing program to European markets. At the consumer tech show IFA in Berlin …
Roku expands its TV licensing program to Europe
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/07/roku-expands-its-tv-licensing-program-to-europe/
Roku TV today represents more than 1 in 3 smart TVs sold in the U.S. Now, the company is bringing its TV licensing program to European markets. At the consumer tech show IFA in Berlin, Roku announced it will now allow manufacturers to license its TV reference designs and use its Roku OS to build smart TVs for sale in Europe. It also said Hisense would be its first European Roku TV partner.
Top companies like Roku, Google and Amazon are also making their operating systems and reference designs available to TV makers themselves, in a battle to gain consumer market share.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cinematographer Explains 3 Different Camera Lenses | Vanity Fair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGujsKb2e10
Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel takes us through the differences between wide-angle, normal and telephoto lenses. He explains the science of each lens using examples from “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Drive” and “Three Kings”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Symbolism & Propaganda in Popular Culture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soh-3jiHq4s
The patterns of symbolism can easily be twisted and inverted to create propaganda. We look at recent movies such as Wonder Woman and Mad Max, Furie Road, which use symbolic devices to replace masculine types with feminine characters.