The notion of enhanced E Books has been around for years, but it is the proliferation of E Book readers, and more specifically tablet devices like the iPad and the unreleased Samsung Galaxy Tab that will truly transform the way some people view, consume and read books.  Many may ask what the heck an enhanced E Book is.  The definition is still being worked out in the publishing industry, and the formats are certainly far from being defined.  But the premise is simple:  include additional links, data, video, audio, or even software to “enhance” a book above and beyond the typical text you would see on the screen.

So curling up with a good book in bed can also include all kinds of extras if and when you want: an audio track of the author reading the prose, movie trailers, videos of book critics or additional explanations, links to related articles, games or contests, or even promotions for book signings or giveaways.  Some might find it sad that we as a society want to merge a good book with mass media, but I find it very exciting.  And I do believe that it will eventually lead to more book sales, can actually spur people to read more by making it a little more fun, and will certainly assist with the dissemination of information.

Devices like the Kindle and Nook do enable some enhanced features to be added to E Books, but the real game changers are the highly successful Apple iPad and all of the new tablets based on the Android platform set to be hitting retailers over the next 12 months.  These devices can really bring all of these other enhancements to life and provide a broadband connection for the ease of serving media elements.

The current trend is for the publishers to develop an app for the enhanced E Book, and the app will be device specific (iPhone, iPad, Galaxy Tab, etc).  Of course this adds to the complexity and cost for publishers.  As more and more of these devices hit the market, decisions will have to be made to determine what apps they will provide and what devices they will support.  Standardization will be difficult as each device will have it’s own specs and SDK.

Enhanced E Book apps can be very large in size as well if a great deal of video or audio is embedded in the app.  The market will trend in the future to try to limit the size of the apps for both magazine and E Book apps.  The hard drives on tablets are not very large and really are not designed to hold vast amounts of data.  Some of the apps for magazines and E Books I have seen recently are over 1GB in size.  Think about it….that means that if I have a 16GB iPad, I could only have 16 books or magazines on it at a time!  It will be imperative that publishers think about this as they are developing their E Book Apps.  Embedding large video or audio files in the apps will not be sustainable over time.  Utilizing a media publishing platform like Castfire can enable these apps to serve media content to the Enhanced E Books and can publish audio or video to the multiple different devices you are targeting. These apps should be designed so that as much data as possible is coming from the cloud so that the file size is minimized.

Publishers really seem to be rushing to develop and nurture the enhanced E Book market right now.  I don’t think anyone knows what they will look like even in the next 12 months, but I know that I’m excited to read, listen and watch them as they rapidly come to market.

It’s been a turbulent ten years for web video. Before the year 2000, we had something that resembled internet video, but thanks to high costs in server hardware and low internet speeds, late 90s web video was relegated to a basic slideshow with radio in the background.

Thanks to broadband penetration in the earlier part of this decade, culminating in YouTube’s meteoric rise to pop culture icon status, 21st century web video feels a lot better than the days of Real. That familiarity with web video has led smart business folks to re-evaluate how they could connect with consumers in the living room. And now, we’re seeing next year as the year where bits start making their jump from computer screens and cellphones, and into your living room.

While savvy video creators have heard convergence claims before, 2011 looks to be different. How? I’d argue everyone in the TV ecosystem is watching how the internet will move into the living room, and some companies— primarily hardware manufacturers— are actually doing something about it.

Two startups I’ve personally been watching with great anticipation are Boxee and Roku. While they’re not the only companies in the mix, but the two represent both ends of the scrappy startup spectrum. In my mind, it seems Roku is taking the tactic of the $20 DVD player and applying it to on-demand content. Right now, you can pick one of these svelte boxes up for $70 and get full HD on-demand access. Boxee, on the other hand, is going for the high end of the market, where a higher priced box ($200 – $230) leads to more available content, and an attempt at unlocking a web-style ecosystem for video.

But let’s be frank: It’s going to be difficult for two startups to make a real dent in the living room. Sure, they’re partnering with content providers to push the envelope, but I’m not convinced that alone, these two guys can change the living room.

Lucky for them, they’re going to be able to draft off of the larger companies coming to play. With larger marketing budgets to educate the consumer, we should start to see consumers understanding the need for internet connected TV experiences, and even making the leap to prefer and purchase them.

Among the companies leading the charge? There’s Samsung, who currently is a client of Castfire. The company is working with Yahoo on the connected TV platform, allowing couch sitters to do things like check the weather, stocks and other basic news information. On the internet side of things, Google’s new Google TV project looks to woo some watchers, and since it’ll be running Android, we could see some mobile-focused developers give a crack at the box too. Oh, and there’s some marginally large company called Apple who has the double whammy of a media focused tablet and an updated Apple TV. That could help a little. Just sayin’.

Realistically, we’re in a phase where all of these technologies are going to be in the marketplace, they’re barely going to interoperate, and it’s going to be somewhat of a confusing time to be a content producer. That’s actually a good thing. After the hardware has done its survival of the fittest thing, and we start to see some consumer consensus, content creators will have better access to the living room, in ways they’d never thought of before.

While I’d love to place bets on who’s going to win, realistically nobody actually knows for certain. But even though there’s no clear winner, that’s not a good reason to sit on the sidelines. With all of the companies out there gathering data, trying new ideas, and iterating on the traditional living room experience, we’re going to see more progress than before with understanding how people want (and don’t want) their living room to change. 2011 is the year to sow seeds. Start planting in 2011 so you’ll see a plentiful harvest later on. I’m not saying to invest lots of money in all these technologies, but I do think having a presence on these devices shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. It might take a content deal or two, but how much would it take for you to know the future?

If you’ve got the resources, be everywhere. If you don’t, at least pick one and start learning. Even though I’m not convinced next year is the breakout year for TV connected to the internet, I do think it’ll be the year that a lot of people experience it for the first time. And for you, that means it’s your chance to innovate and create the market you’ll be playing in for the foreseeable future.

Our recently signed deal with Samsung exemplifies how Castfire is being used to provide on-demand customer training.  Instructional videos will be organized around Samsung’s broad product categories such as TV, Mobile, Photography, Office, etc. and made available to customers and retail partners.

This is not the first time that Castfire has been used by Samsung. For the last year or so, the marketing agency named MWW Group has used Castfire on behalf of Samsung and Nikon.  For Nikon, we were a part of the Looking Good In Pictures campaign staring Carson Kressley of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

We are pleased to be working with Samsung again!