TV will work like the Web. The future of television will be “Personal TV”, and it will be delivered on-demand in a web-like experience with targeted advertising based on location and behavior. This is what is said in a new report from Forrester Research.

Also it answers the question why is it talking so long. Forrester blames the TV landscape: networks, studios, local TV stations, cable & satellite providers, agencies, syndicators and technology companies. “Cable companies didn’t build-out video on-demand as an ad-supported platform, networks protected the lucrative status quo and agencies didn’t push for innovation”. Forrester sets the transition date to “personal TV” sometime between 2012 and 2018.

Here is the executive summary of Forrester’s report:

“TV advertising has been suffering from media fragmentation and ad skipping. Under pressure from advertisers, traditional television networks finally team up with cable multiple system operators (MSOs) and telco services to build a modern ad-supported television delivery system called Personal TV.

“It will serve non-skippable, interactive targeted ads to the set-top box (STB) and insert them at runtime in both linear and video on demand (VOD) programs. Advertisers will use the system to send interactive ads just to their target consumers or to address a mass audience by inserting an ad at the same time in many different programs at a certain time of day.”

“The benefit for viewers is a free VOD system. The full industry shift to Personal TV will take a decade, but given the impact of this system on media strategy and planning, marketing leaders should start today by joining one of the experiments.”

Forrester lays out a decade-long evolution that will ultimately result in most programming delivered on-demand with a portal-like menu of programming options and search functions. It would allow advertisers to reach mass audiences in a targeted manner.


Google challenges Microsoft with a new browser called Chrome

Google launched on Tuesday Chrome, “a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer and easier”. It’s currently available only for Windows XP and Vista. Mac and Linux version are being developed. Downloading process is being very problematic these days.

Google posted a “comic book”, in order to explain the development process, which took one year. There Google argues that “the Web has evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser.”

Chrome challenges openly Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (73 percent of the browser market), Firefox (19 percent), and Apple’s Safari (6 percent, plus the iPhone and iPod Touch mobile market). Last week Microsoft released a new version, IE8.

Google is increasingly competing with Microsoft in software that handles basic productivity like word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and e-mail programs. Google’s Web-based software is low-cost or free.

Chrome is built with a powerful JavaScript engine, V8, and is based on an open-source rendering engine, WebKit. Therefore, its code is available to everyone for inspection or improvement -even to its rivals.

Chrome is also be able to run in a privacy mode, InCognito, so that no information about a person’s browsing is collected. Microsoft’s IE8 has also a privacy mode of browsing, called InPrivate.

Chrome has no status bar, no menu bar and only a single toolbar for bookmarks. There’s no way to e-mail a Web page, o full-screen mode, no way to magnify the page. This initial version is labeled “beta”, meaning it is still in testing. (Gmail, four year-old is still in beta).


iPods on Campus: Four Universities rush to buy Apple devices for students

Some universities are providing Apple iPhones and iPod Touch to students. It allows universities to foster a cutting-edge reputation.

For example Abilene Christian University in Texas has bought more than 600 iPhones and 300 iPods for students. Three more institutions –the University of Maryland, Oklahoma Christian University and Freed-Hardeman- have announced the same. Other universities are exploring their options. Stanford University has hired a student-run company to design applications like a campus map and directory for the iPhone.

At each college, the students who choose to get an iPhone must pay for mobile phone service. However, Internet through campus wireless networks allows students to be connected for free.

Some teachers are concerned about the distractions these devices might cause to their students. If they are multitasking, they are less likely to participate in class. There are teachers who have ban laptops from their class.

Easing concerns, it is mention the case of Duke University, when years ago it began giving iPods (old models with no Internet access) to students with the idea that they might use them to record lectures. Students used the iPods to create their own content, making audio recordings of themselves and presenting them.