Digital Media News (week 22)
Date:
21 May 2012
Weekly bulletin collating public sector, industry and company news for creative industries by David Hartley.
Public sector
From the BBC
"The use of mobile devices and tablet computers in Scottish classrooms could be expanded in a bid to modernise teaching and learning. Pupils in some schools are already using iPads and Android technology. Government agency, Education Scotland, is to consider how digital devices could be used on a wider scale."
From Screen Daily
"Executives from Creative Scotland and Distrify are in Cannes meeting distributors and sales agents, to launch scottishfilms.com later this year. The platform will include such films as Rob Roy, Trainspotting and Red Road among many other hundreds of films. Distrify is pioneer in direct-to-audience online film distribution. The company now offers any film institution, film archives or library rights holder to set up a web platform where their content can be digitisted, centralised and become profitable."
Local industry news
From The Drum
"Titles from the Penguin English Library have been made interactive Zappar, to allow Moby Dick, and Lady Audley's Secret to come to life, with two more titles to follow. Launching today, the interactive experience includes animations of Coralie Bickford-Smith’s illustrated covers, video, audio and extracts."
From Develop
"iOS developer Serious Parody is to launch a new Dundee studio after garnering £1 million in investment. The mobile outfit, which has worked on titles such as the recently released Wrestling Manager, also revealed that it expects to create up to 18 new jobs at the company thanks to the funding. The money was raised through private investors and $230,000 from the Scottish Enterprise’s Regional Selective Assistant grant."
From The Scotsman
"Media group Johnston Press disclosed yesterday that digital revenues jumped by almost 14 per cent in the 18 weeks to 7 May compared with the same period in 2011 – but total advertising revenues fell 9.1 per cent… Johnston said online display and online employment helped drive digital revenue grow."
From allmediascotland
"The Big Issue magazine is to be the subject of an experiment to determine whether it should be also made available in digital format. The Glasgow-based global network of 'street newspapers' is exploring whether vendors offer customers the option of buying a print copy of their publication or a digital card allowing for it to be downloaded on to a computer or mobile device instead, using a QR code."
From The Telegraph
"PC phenomenon Minecraft makes its way to Xbox 360 with considerable success… 4J, the company who ported Mojang's Minecraft, have done a brilliant job of bringing the game to console and adapting its interface to suit the controller."
From the Scotsman
"A burlesque boutique in Edinburgh has signed up to become the first shop to test a new smartphone app that allows customers to receive special offers through wireless networks. Emma Dixon, who owns Miss Dixiebelle, will be able to use the system to advertise her store’s vintage clothing and her new beauty parlour. Bonnie Lawson-Brown, who came up with the idea for the Silver IMP app, is an Edinburgh-based student… She commissioned xDesign365 to create the app, which is to be launched on Android phones next month."
Video from the BBC
"Rovio Entertainment, maker of the hit mobile game Angry Birds, is now worth almost as much as Nokia. So it is no surprise that young technology entrepreneurs are bursting to get into the mobile games market. Jack Garland reports from Scotland on how to crack the lucrative mobile games market"Rovio Entertainment, maker of the hit mobile game Angry Birds, is now worth almost as much as Nokia. So it is no surprise that young technology entrepreneurs are bursting to get into the mobile games market. Jack Garland reports from Scotland on how to crack the lucrative mobile games market."
General industry
From paid content
"Record labels’ new-found enthusiasm for ending their iTunes dependence has created an opportunity for new digital music services… But, as the services embark on this VC-funded globalisation, which are the world’s most competitive, most lucrative and most digital music markets? Our clickable map has the details…"
From the Guardian
"Twitter now has 10 million active users in the UK and 140 million worldwide, the company revealed on Wednesday, underlining the rapid growth in the microblogging network since it launched just six years ago… Independent studies suggest the UK has the fourth-largest number of Twitter users in the world, beaten for numbers only by the US, Brazil and Japan."
From Tech Crunch
"Mobile app store analytics firm Distimo today published some interesting data that answers just this question. Turns out, in the U.S. store, the answer currently is about 38,400 daily downloads for free iPhone apps and 3,530 for paid iPhone apps. To rank in the top 25 per category, of course, takes significantly fewer downloads, with games unsurprisingly being the most competitive category. It takes 25,300 daily downloads to rank in the gaming top 25 for free apps and 2,280 downloads for paid apps."
From The Next Web
"India currently has 57 million registered Facebook members, putting it some distance behind the US (157 million) and narrowly below Brazil (59 million) — according to Socialbakers — but India has barely scratched the service of its online potential, and could bring hundreds of millions of its population online in the coming years. Speaking to CNBC, Gartner analyst Shalini Verma predicted that a change of order will take place before the end of 2015, driven by a continued growth in mobile-based Web access."
From The Guardian
"Author isn't keen on the idea, but perhaps if she saw what some developers have been doing... I've picked out 10 examples of apps that hint at other ways The Gruffalo could go digital in a way that Donaldson might approve of."
Reports
From Cellular News
"Adobe Systems has published findings from its most recent Adobe Digital Index report examining how global website traffic and engagement differ when the visitor is on a tablet, smartphone or personal computer (PC). The report found that tablet devices will generate more Web traffic than smartphones by early 2013 and that consumers find browsing websites on tablets nearly as engaging as on PCs. The results indicate that tablets have become a channel very distinct from smartphones."
From The Next Web
"The growing ubiquity of smartphones in the US is helping to drive the surge in app downloads, but as Nielsen reports the average number of apps per device has also increased significantly over the past year… in the past twelve months the average number of apps per smartphone has risen to 41 from 32, representing a 28% rise. The rise in app installations per device corresponds with the amount of time people are spending on apps vs. perusing the mobile Web."
Compiled by David Hartley