jason hirschhorn's @MediaREDEF: 04/17/2019 - Product and Video, Facebook, Brexit and Hell, Future of Free Speech, Frank Ocean, Peleton, College Kids and Mansions...

It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it and rely on it. It's my partner.
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Does the name 'Kevin Flynn' mean anything to you? What's exciting about OTT video isn't the way it's delivered, but how it will change content itself. "Tron" (1982).
(Disney)
Wednesday - April 17, 2019 Wed - 04/17/19
rantnrave:// Last week was a big one for the media business. The streaming wars are heating up and it was DISNEY's week with their investor day and the unveiling of some details around their new DISNEY+ service. The street applauded and fans are excited. Even skeptic RICH GREENFIELD noted: "Disney is doing "'the right thing.'" There's also a lot of talk of whether these legacy media companies know what it takes to compete in this space. From investment to user growth to product. FRED WILSON had a great post about the latter. In "Functionality Vs Content," he points to some great research from the smarties at MOFFETTNATHANSON. It shows 8 top reasons why people have a NETFLIX subscription. The audience loves the content. Obviously. But that's not the main reason. It's the product. The functionality. And in world where the legacy media companies believe content is king, there could be some dangerous strategic missteps in not taking product seriously. The audience wants control. USV's ANDY WEISSMAN covered the importance last year in his post, "Control." MATTHEW BALL wrote about product extensively in REDEF ORIGINAL, "Netflix Is a Product & Technology Company (Netflix Misunderstandings, Pt. 2)." NETFLIX's product expertise is at the heart of everything it does, including why and how it makes its original content. This culture is easily overlooked and doing so can be fatal. Netflix is as much a tech and product company as FACEBOOK, GOOGLE or AMAZON. To this point, we think what's exciting about the future of OTT video isn't just the way it's delivered, but how the product and technology can change the content itself. Innovation to date has primarily focused on content delivery: on-demand viewing, ad-free experiences, binge releases, recommendations, auto-play, etc. But the next era is about what happens "After Autoplay: 'Interactive, Personalized & Immersive' Entertainment"… The best television shows are like a really good layer cake. Every bite. Every layer. There's flavor everywhere. Cake. Icing. Some tasty morsel for you to savor. The best layer cake on TV right now? It's got to be BILLIONS. It's a show about power, greed, trust, competition, loyalty, ego, friendship, family, and loneliness. And with that a set of great characters who all get their own arcs at some point. It's easy to eat. They seem to have 2-3 finales a season. It moves fast. You eat it up. It's got some camp. It's got soul. And lots and lots of layers. Yes, I watch for the stories. But I also watch for music supervision. BRIAN KOPPELMAN, DAVID LEVIEN, and team pick every song. And their taste in music is stellar. I SHAZAM the show and then add those tracks to SPOTIFY. I watch for all the who's who cameos of famous NEW YORKers (When do I get a cameo?). I watch for the locales, especially the restaurants. Last SUNDAY, they opened up at UNA PIZZA NAPOLETANA on ORCHARD STREET. The pie looked so good I went there with LIZ last night. Chef ANTHONY MALGIERI is an artist. I watch for the pop culture references from sports, tv music, and movies. It's all this flavor that makes "Billions" a great layer cake. Do yourself a favor if you haven't already, get a slice on SUNDAYS at 9 pm on SHOWTIME… Happy Birthday to TAMIE PETERS THOMAS, JOSH KOPELMAN, JESSI HEMPEL, JENNIFER LAPTOOK LATOURETTE, and VY PHAM.
- Jason Hirschhorn, curator
clu
REDEF
REDEF Media ORIGINAL: After Autoplay: 'Interactive, Personalized & Immersive' Entertainment
by Matthew Ball
What's exciting about OTT video isn't the way it's delivered, but how it will change content itself.
TED Talks
MUST WATCH: Facebook's role in Brexit -- and the threat to democracy
by Carole Cadwalladr
In an unmissable talk, journalist Carole Cadwalladr digs into one of the most perplexing events in recent times: the UK's super-close 2016 vote to leave the European Union.
Wired
MUST READ: 15 Months of Fresh Hell Inside Facebook
by Nicholas Thompson
The streets of Davos, Switzerland, were iced over on the night of January 25, 2018, which added a slight element of danger to the prospect of trekking to the Hotel Seehof for George Soros' annual banquet.
Adventures in Consumer Technology
The future of free speech: The panic button and social media regulation
by Anthony Bardaro
The special internet standard and its arbitration system.
GAYLETTER
Frank Ocean Talks Interviews, Major Labels & Creativity
by Tom Jackson
Intuition is a big word for Frank Ocean. It's been a guiding star in his uncharted course to success. His trust in it has led to various awards, beloved albums, even a surprise magazine filled with two years of globetrotting adventures. 
Skift
Google Maps Is Ready to Transform the World of Superapps: A Skift Deep Dive
by Dennis Schaal
If you live in the West and parts of Asia and Africa, you take the Google Maps app everywhere you go, stuffed in a pocket or clutched in a hand. And its Whether Google Maps becomes the next super app may depend on whether users really want a do-it-everything app, and the mood of regulators.
Elemental
The Peloton Effect
by Michelle Ruiz
The workout giant is changing at-home exercise - and spawning a flurry of copycats
Harvard Business Review
Rupert Murdoch, the NFL, and the Negotiation That Remade TV
by James K. Sebenius
The deal turned Fox into a powerhouse.
Bloomberg
College Kids Are Living Like Kings in Vancouver's Empty Mansions
by Natalie Wong and Natalie Obiko Pearson
Globe-trotting landlords can avoid vacancy taxes by renting. It's the latest twist for a housing market down 8.5% from its peak.
BuzzFeed News
These Women Are Only On Facebook For The Groups
by Anne Helen Petersen
Private Facebook groups have been a respite from online toxicity, even as the social media giant continues to suck at combating misinformation and abuse.
sark
The Atlantic
The Images That Could Help Rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral
by Alexis C. Madrigal
And the young, brilliant professor who made them before he died.
Lawfare
Remembering the Bay of Pigs: Law and Covert War
by Matthew Waxman
A 1962 Justice Department memo offers a rare glimpse of the legal rationale for covert warfare.
recode
AMC Networks boss Josh Sapan wants the people who make TV to look at the data -- but not too much
by Peter Kafka and Josh Sapan
There's no algorithm for creativity yet, Sapan says on the latest Recode Media.
Directors Guild Of America
The Innovators
by ​James Cameron and Jon Favreau
James Cameron and Jon Favreau, who have made it their business to push the cinematic medium beyond what was previously possible, exchange views on cutting-edge technology, their roles as directors and achieving the balance between emotion and spectacle.
Variety
How Kevin Feige Super-Charged Marvel Studios Into Hollywood's Biggest Hit Machine
by Brent Lang
Growing up in suburban New Jersey, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was obsessive about watching movies. "I used to keep a journal, and I'd write down every movie that I saw and where I saw it and how many times I saw it," says Feige. "I'd record what the sound system was like.
Point Park Globe
Younger generations turning to K-pop instead of American music
by Jordyn Hronec
How the K-pop craze took over.
NBC News
Thousands of leaked Facebook documents show Mark Zuckerberg as 'master of leverage' in plan to trade user data
by Olivia Solon and Cyrus Farivar
Facebook's leaders seriously discussed selling access to user data - and privacy was an afterthought.
Los Angeles Times
In China, tattoos border on illegal -- and they're his life's work
by Robyn Dixon
Ma Chao has won awards for his full body tattoos depicting swashbuckling outlaws and heroes from ancient Chinese literature, mythical creatures like dragons and phoenixes and auspicious symbols such as koi fish.
Vox
How the Rock 'n Play became a cult baby product -- and why Fisher-Price is recalling it
by Chavie Lieber
The Fisher-Price sleeper has been connected to at least 32 infant deaths, according to Consumer Reports.
Nieman Journalism Lab
What will journalism do with 5G's speed and capacity? Here are some ideas, from 'The New York Times' and elsewhere
by Joshua Benton
Always-streaming reporters, a searchable past, and new internal tools and external products: 5G will have a big impact on news, just as previous-generation networks did.
Topic
The Grifters: 10 Stories of Scams and Scammers
by Haley Cohen Gilliland and Andy Wright
Tales of deception from all sides of a con: scam victims, scam baiters, and the scammers themselves.
The Guardian
Bachelorettes, Bibles and Amazon: is Nashville the perfect model for a second-tier city?
by Khushbu Shah
No longer simply the country music capital of the world, the city is expanding rapidly -- but its unique culture is feeling the strain.
MUSIC OF THE DAY
YouTube
"The Heart Is a Muscle"
Gang of Youths
"REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'"
@JasonHirschhorn


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