This is an organic mix, which has been in the works for a few months, ever since I listened to Bob Dylan’s She Belongs to Me on a cold New York night. It struck me as a beautiful song that moved me even though I was busy rushing, trying not to hit the mob of people on 14th st., while adjusting my headphones and texting. There’s always texting.
I took a moment to create a new Spotify playlist. For lack of a better name, I titled it “Nicole”. And so Nicole became a work-in-progress. I populated it slowly, whenever I heard a song that penetrated the intense routine.
When I had about 20 songs, I was ready to mix. This one formulized quite quickly, but I still had the name to figure out. For a few hours “Nicole” became “Laura” and then I watched Laura on YouTube and she slipped me the answer.
So what does 2013 hold for online video? As someone who is immersed in this area 24/7, I thought it would be fun to compile my list of the top five trends that I’m seeing the this booming market- and back up each of these predictions with a link to a relevant, engaging video.
#1 Productions like Netflix’s House of Cards will fuel OTT growth
Content will remain king and in 2013 a ruthless politician will make sure of that. Last Friday, Netflix premiered its highly anticipated production, House of Cards. The show, which stars Kevin Spacey and is produced and directed by David Fincher, is Netflix’s biggest production to date and has been widely promoted to the mass market. It positions the streaming service exactly where Netflix wants to be – as a direct competitor to premium cable channels. The big question is whether House of Cards will help Netflix to achieve its goal of gaining more subscribers. We predict that it will do just that and that House of Cards will be the first show to truly level the playing field for the long list of over-the-top TV providers (Hulu, Apple, Google Play, Amazon Prime etc.).
Watch: House of Cards – the official trailer
#2 Tablets will drive creativity
2012 was the prologue, with more and more giants releasing their own inexpensive tablets. The Jelly Bean OS finally brought consumers an iPad-like user experience – and Google and Amazon complemented this with great devices that were much cheaper than Apple’s. With tablet sales on the rise, PC sales declined. While the post PC-world isn’t here just yet, the trend is clear. In the near future, many consumers will likely choose to buy a tablet before upgrading their current PC. The new tablets are also stronger than ever before and have more storage so they can be used to create content and not just consume it. The result will surely be more creative and productive apps like Adobe Ideas, iMockups for iPad, Cinefly and iMovie. Soon enough, the post-PC world will no longer be a trend. It will be a reality.
Watch: tablets are used for so much more these days – here’s one cool example
#3 Smart TV adoption could kick-start the rise of the ‘cord never’ households
According to Informa’s latest Smart TV device forecasts (November 2012), more than 220 million Smart TV sets will be sold worldwide in 2017, up from the 54 million that were estimated to have been sold during 2012. Informa forecasts that 31% of households worldwide will own at least one Smart TV by 2017, with household penetration much higher in North America (63%) and Western Europe (64%).
As always, I mixed some of my favorite tracks of the past year in an attempt to share with you what I’ve been through in 2012: the subways of New York, the house in Fort Greene, the office in Union Square, the swamps of Jersey, my thoughts about LA, my longing to Israel and the joy of great music.
It was a great year. So here it is: My 2012. Have a wonderful 2013!
The nice thing about hurricanes is that they force you to stay indoors. They also put sounds into perspective and reverse the natural sonic state of things. Loud winds and miserable trees fade in and out throughout the day. Every now and then, the beast settles down and the day feels normal for a few seconds.
It’s a good exercise in appreciating the power of nature, our human fragility and the beautiful silence that fills the gaps in our hectic lives.
Sandy is all about acoustic guitars and pianos and green tea and enjoying the fact that there’s no leaving now.
Yoga prep talks are kinda hit or miss. Sometimes they run too long, sometimes they don’t make any sense, sometimes you just can’t connect. But sometimes it clicks. Occasionally, thinking of something or someone changes everything.
I had the same experience while working on this mixtape. I begun mixing it while knowing I had a few songs I just had to mix before 2012 was over. At that point it sounded ok, but I didn’t really connect. While taking one (out of too many) FB break, I noticed an unread message from Nick. It was sent 3 weeks prior but I completely missed it. After that, Coconut became “Songs for Nick” and suddenly my musical practice made complete sense.
So this mix is for you, Nick. It is a bit quirky, a bit funny, quite random and full of soul. Just like you, the friend that nicknamed me –
When I first approached this mixtape I wanted to create the ultimate romantic comedy soundtrack. However, once I started mixing some of these songs it slowly morphed into the ultimate Girls episode soundtrack. I then thought about the new Springsteen biography and especially the albums Tunnel of Love and Lucky Town, which focus of the end of the singer’s first marriage and the beginning of his second. The premise quickly changed again.
And so 72% Match (19% Enemy) was very much inspired by one of the best storytellers of our time (Springsteen) and the voice of her generation (or a voice of a generation) – Lena Dunham. In the spirit of those two talented individuals this mixtape is semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional, a little cheesy and (hopefully) enjoyable.
This is an organic mix, which has been in the works for a few months, ever since I listened to Bob Dylan’s She Belongs to Me on a cold New York night. It struck me as a beautiful song that moved me even though I was busy rushing, trying not to hit the mob of people on 14th st., while adjusting my headphones and texting. There’s always texting.
