Random ocHui Thoughts

Just some random thoughts, concepts, and ideas before I forget.

Social TV

This idea is inspired by HBOGo’s iPad app, specifically when watching the Game of Thrones. Sure, with HBOGo, you can watch selected HBO shows when you want over a high speed Internet connection. But with some shows like the Game of Thrones, the app unlocks interactive features associated with the show. Rotate the iPad from landscape to portrait view, and the extra screen real estate below the video now displays interactive content related to the show.

Now take that example and carry that over to other shows available via Oceanic Cable, namely Hawaii Five-0. There’s already lots of Twitter hashtagging and conversations going on during airing of the show. I’m guessing there are two devices involved – the TV and a mobile device (iOS, Android) for Twitter. What if that experience were united into the TWC TV app? Watch popular shows on your mobile device and watch the online social chatter on the same screen, even engage in the conversation through the app’s integration with Twitter.

Since Hawaii’s a geographic and temporal island due to the time zone difference, there may be sufficient local followings for other shows. Perhaps America’s Next Best Dance Crew featuring Flavahz Crew partially from Hawaii would be one of these social TV experiments?

Intelligent House

A newly revamped service that sounds cool. There’s already a lot of competition in the home security space so the value proposition would need to be solid. Is it there? I don’t know. The features of the Intelligent House are cool, but really, do I want all that access and (private and secured) visibility? At the core of this is home security. That’s what really matters. If something’s going down in my home, I don’t necessarily want the ability to watch it in real time. I want someone to react in real time and act on the potential incident/intrusion. If I’m going to dish out monthly for this service, I want to rest assured that safety and security are paramount. The whiz bang tech is secondary.

Beta Testing Services

I’m all for this one. Heck, once I heard about Oceanic’s Road Runner Extreme, I went for it at a reduced cost. Allowing customers to test run these services might hook them forever.

Besides trying out services, how about customizing your services. With RR Extreme, I got a new DOCSIS 3.0-compliant cable modem. From what I understand, this is the new industry standard for cable data networks and offers additional capabilities. Is it possible to set my own upload and download speeds (within reason)? There are times when I need fast upload speed (those HD videos take awhile). During these moments, can I “flip a switch” and reverse my up-to-down ratio. Then there are times, especially overnight, that I’d like to dedicate bandwidth for off-site backup services such as BackBlaze. Even if there were three pre-configured settings (normal, faster upload, faster download) I could easily change to, that would be welcomed.

Trading/Syndicating Content

This is a tough one that I don’t yet understand or fully appreciate the exchange. I can see having RSS feeds included on Oceanic property’s web sites. They get a lot of traffic, but where’s the win-win situation? Is it that as a content provider, you’d get name recognition that leads to more followers and more traffic)? Could be, but I don’t know if merely displaying RSS feeds is enough. Perhaps something more along the lines of a featured post or featured author would be better and magnified by a mention on the accompanying Oceanic Facebook account.

I guess it comes down to guest blogging which I frequently hear is a good tactic and also overcoming that fear and hesitation of contributing content elsewhere other than your own blog.

That’s it for now.

Update: Check out Damon Tucker’s blog and his coverage of the event via Google Hangout.