Lionsgate claims first Blu-ray interactive movie blog

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Anyone with a passing interest in the world of consumer electronics, and particularly high definition disc players, will have heard of HD DVD and Blu-ray.

The feature set of Blu-ray, now the dominant high definition disc format, is still evolving. Eventually, all players will have to offer BD-Live functionality which, amongst other things, offers Internet connectivity and interactive features.

Most Blu-ray discs still don’t offer much in the way of interactive features, mainly because the technology is still quite new, development costs are still quite high, the installed user base is fairly small, and “Profile 2.0” isn’t yet a mandatory feature for all Blu-ray players.

However, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, a long time supporter of Blu-ray, has announced that its SAW IV movie, released in the UK this month, premieres “the world’s first interactive Blu-ray disc movie blog, called MoLog”.

According to the press release, this feature will allow users to create and share their own added value content via blog entries.

And that’s it. Details are scarce, though it does seem as if the technology will appear on other titles in due course. Whether these are real blogs, and whether they’ll be accessible to the wider Internet community, remains to be seen. It could simply be Lionsgate using the word “blog” because it’s a bit trendy right now.

Added to which, I can’t imagine many people wanting to type out long blog entries using a standard TV remote control unit. Perhaps a Twitter-style system would go down better?

Why Blogs Can Be Extremely Profitable But …

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There is a cloud over many of the world economies caused by the financial woes in the USA. When the American banks sneeze the rest of us catch a cold. This is causing a lot of people to worry about their jobs and mortgages, so of course there will be many who look at blogs for a quick buck.

I’m not a “make money online” blogger, I don’t really do the monetization posts like Darren or John Chow, but I do believe blogs are an excellent way to make some money, even if it is just a supplemental side income.

There are low overheads and potentially high profits, doing something fun and rewarding. What’s not to like? [Read more…]

Deep Jive Interests Looking for Guest Blogger

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For those unaware, Tony Hung, our former editor here at the Blog Herald, is actually an MD (medical doctor, that is). And whenever he’s not busy saving the world, he loves to write about new media, particularly on Deep Jive Interests. However, with a big exam coming up, Tony will be unable to post regularly on his blog. So to make sure the site stays alive, he’s looking for guest bloggers.

[M]y Royal College Exams in Internal Medicine are here (or will be, in April and May), and seeing as they are the Final Exams one writes at the end of one’s medical training they are rather important.

Although my training won’t quite end, because I’ve decided to do an extra year’s training in Palliative Care, this Exam is the Big One. Its the kind where people sweat and stress, and really, start studying in earnest about a year before the exam date.

In case you’re interested, or know someone else who may be, do get in touch with Tony. You can help the new media scene with deeper, jivier and more interesting thoughts and commentary over at Deep Jive Interests!

Malaysia To Bloggers: Forget The Past, Let’s Be Friends

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Malaysia, a country located in the South Sea of China has decided that opposing dissenting voices just may be bad for elections.

So instead of persecuting vocal bloggers, the government of Malaysia now wants to make peace with those who shout out against it from virtual microphones.

(ABC Radio Australia) Dropping earlier threats of arrest, the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition now says it wants to listen to dissenting voices.

The information minister, Ahmad Shabery Cheek, says he is keen to meet bloggers and build a bridge for a two-way dialogue between the government and people.

[Read more…]

Creating Barriers Between You and Your Readers

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One of the mistakes that most bloggers make is their continual addition of barriers between them and their readership. They might not even realize they are doing it, but these barriers can mean the difference between a successful blog, and an “okay” blog.

Comments

The first barrier I want to talk about is comments, or rather the barriers that bloggers place on their comments. To combat spam, we have done a variety of things, but in doing so, we could be killing the potential conversation on our blog. Nothing stops conversation faster on a blog than closing the comments. WordPress makes it easy to close comments, and doing so will protect you from spam, but creating a community around your blog is one of the best ways to make it successful.

The next worse offense in my opinion is forcing registration to comment. While this also helps with stopping spam dead in its tracks, it also turns off readers who feel over-subscribed. I have accounts on so many blogs, sites, and services, and I feel like if I have to sign up for one more site, I will go crazy.

I know I am not alone as a friend of mine, Mark, has noted that he hasn’t commented on the Splashpress Media blog, Performancing, because of the registration requirement, despite him enjoying the blog, and wanting to join the conversation.

I think this is where OpenID could really shine, as we continue to try to find a happy medium between fighting spam and allowing legitimate users access.

The last comment related issue that I see many blogs adding are complex CAPTCHA’s. These word images are becoming so complex and difficult that I can barely read them. I’ve written about CAPTCHA recently on Devlounge. Please spend time finding something better than CAPTCHA. Knowledge tests are much more preferred, but keep it simple to allow international readers a chance to “break the code”. If you ask something like “Who is the current President?” You’ll be putting up a huge barrier to those that don’t know, don’t understand the question, and the answer changes over time, making it more complex.

Subscribing

The second barrier I see bloggers creating is with subscriptions. If I enjoy your blog, and I want to subscribe, then you are gaining access to a piece of my mindshare. If you publish partial feeds, I will no doubt unsubscribe. Even worse, if I can’t find the subscription link on your blog, then I will move on as well.

For me, the biggest reason for bloggers to publish easy to find, full feeds is that they will be gaining access to my daily mindshare and attention. I will be exposed to their writing each and every day. Isn’t that worth more than the few pennies you will never receive by me clicking through to your actual blog?

Advertising

I understand that blogs as a business need advertising to survive, grow and even prosper, but advertising can be a huge barrier to your users. If you lay on the advertising too heavily, some users will move on without really understanding your message, or reading your content. If you put all the advertising at the top, users will sometimes leave before your content even loads, and many will not scroll down to find your content, even after it loads.

If you use animated advertising, you might find yourself with a large distraction on your blog. Who can focus on content when they have a chance to win an iPod Touch if they just make the flash widget do more pushups?

Advertising can be helpful if used correctly, but it can also be a huge barrier if done incorrectly, and far too often bloggers are using it incorrectly.

Design and Typography

The final, and one of the largest barriers that bloggers put between themselves and their readers is their design and typography. If you have a poor design, especially one that has display errors based on the browser your audience uses, you could be putting up a huge barrier and not even realize it.

Just because you downloaded a WordPress theme, doesn’t mean it works in ever browser. There can be huge issues with typography. I’ve seen a blog that was very different based on if I was in Windows, Linux or OS X. It was completely unreadable in one operating system, while beautiful in the other, but because the font wasn’t installed by default on all of my computers, I was given a different experience on each computer.

Conclusion

There are many ways you can turn away users from your blog, and in this increasingly competitive world, standing out from the crowd and making as few mistakes as possible, is the smartest way to success. Keep the barriers as few as possible, and reap the rewards of a strong user base.