Thompson On Hollywood

Wired: Anderson Goes for Free!

In his April cover story, Wired editor Chris Anderson expounds on the new free economy, citing Yahoo, Google, Craig's List and other examples of wildly successful enterprises that provide free services. This article will surely chill the blood of entertainment execs who are terrified that all their hard-won revenue streams will trickle into nothing if they are forced to make their costly content available for free. As DVD sales continue to decline, what if the Blu-Ray vs. HDTV contest is irrelevant and consumers skip that upgrade altogether in favor of some mix-and-match combo of all the following: VOD, XBox, iTunes, Apple TV, Netflix streaming, and Amazon Unbox downloads?

I just had a conversation with a pal about the dwindling newspaper economy. We are not alone in expecting to read content online for free. When anything we want to find is behind a firewall, we get pissed. Another pal of mine routinely illegally downloads all his films. He expects to watch his entertainment for free.

Obviously there will be ways, whether it's iTunes or Google ads or sponsorships and product placement, for companies to gain value from content. But in a recent conversation with a studio head, I was struck when he admitted that they had just renewed their HBO Pay-TV deal. That he considered any radical shift in the ways the studios collect their revenues to be far off. He wasn't worried, because he's sticking with the old-fashioned theater/DVD/VOD/Pay TV/TV model for as long as possible. By taking this course and delaying the pursuit of an alternative distribution paradigm (which they are keeping in their back pockets), the studios risk eventually getting stuck with a lot of content nobody wants to pay for.

Wired also has an update on the Netflix $1-million competition to invent a new movie recommendation algorithm 10 % better than its own Cinematch. The probable winner: a Brit psychologist.

Google to Sell Video Ads

Trying to find an ad model that makes sense, Google is starting up AdSense for Video. It could transform media on the Internet.

Harry Potter Update: First Deathly Hallows Review

First, despite all efforts to control the release of Deathly Hallows, at least one Muggle got an early copy, reports The Baltimore Sun:

And in Maryland, one surprised customer opened his mail to find his own copy -- delivered four days before the official worldwide release. Jon Hopkins, a 25-year-old software engineer, said he has no plans to divulge the book's secrets.

"I couldn't believe it," he said yesterday after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows arrived at his Davidsonville home. He had ordered the book from DeepDiscount.com on June 3. On Friday, he received an e-mail saying his order had been shipped. He never thought it would come this early.

Neither did Scholastic Inc., the Potter publisher. Scholastic has cracked down on Web sites purporting to have obtained the book, going so far as to send one a subpoena. Libraries were made to sign strict contracts to keep the book locked up until Saturday. And pallets of the books on delivery trucks have been fitted with alarms.

So the publisher wasn't happy to hear of the case of Harry Potter and the Early Delivery.

"You're kidding me," said Kyle Good, a Scholastic spokeswoman. The company has spent millions orchestrating the launch of the last Potter book -- and Internet leaks or early delivery of the novel could spoil that plan. Readers are eager to learn what happens to their beloved characters. Author J.K. Rowling has hinted that one or more of them might die, perhaps even Harry himself..

Maybe there was a mail diversion to Baltimore, because The Sun's book reviewer also got an early copy and posted the book's first review today. That website should get a healthy spike in traffic! UPDATE: And here's Michiko Kakutani in the NYT.

Meanwhile, watchdog the National Legal and Policy Center continues to pursue movie pirates far and wide, and discovered downloads of Transformers and Order of the Phoenix available on Google Video Wednesday. (Both films have been taken down.)

"Continuing to expose blockbuster films posted in advance of their release or while they’re still in theatres, NLPC hopes to spotlight Google’s ostensible oversight of intellectual property rights and its lackluster enforcement of its 'hash' technology that prevents repeated uploads of the same copyrighted material," wrote a company representative.

Meanwhile MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman is also on the warpath against pirates: “Reports on the theft of the latest installment of Harry Potter underscores that robbery of intellectual property extends far beyond the movies, to music, publishing, computer software and other creative outputs that are the foundation of our modern information economy," he wrote in a statement.

Harry Potter: It's on Google Video, Along with Hairspray

Not only has the last Harry Potter book The Deathly Hallows been leaked, the movie's already online:

One of my colleagues passed on this alert from the National Legal and Policy Center:

Yesterday afternoon, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) discovered full-length versions of the new Harry Potter movie, the latest installation of the Die Hard series, and Hairspray -- not slated for release until later this week - posted on Google Video. Following reports noting the apparently pirated movies, the films were removed, though Die Hard has since reappeared posted in two parts.

In an ongoing observation of Google Video's lackadaisical approach to screening for pirated content, the NLPC also released its second "Top 50" list today of full length movies, television shows and music concerts hosted on Google Video.

Th NLPC's full release is on the jump:

Wojcicki Marries Google Prince in Bahamas

The world has a new fairy tale couple. Silicon Valley is abuzz over the unorthodox wedding of Google cofounder Sergey Brin (who is worth some $14 billion) and his 33-year-old bride, Anne Wojcicki, a brainy Yale grad who recently founded 23and Me—a biotech company in which Google has invested $3.9 million. According to the NYT the couple not only flew their guests on a private jet to an unknown destination in the Bahamas, but wore bathing suits and swam to a sandbar where they gave their vows:

Google has declined to disclose any details of the wedding, but according to various news reports, the location was such a closely guarded secret that wedding guests boarded the jet owned by Mr. Brin and Mr. Page unaware of their exact destination until they arrived on a private island in the Bahamas.

Guests who attended said the bride wore a white swimsuit, the groom a black one. Some guests took a boat while others — including the bride and groom — swam to a nearby sandbar, where the couple exchanged vows.

Ms. Wojcicki is known for her high energy and approachable, easygoing, personal style. People who knew her in high school in Palo Alto said that she was studious but far from isolated. While at Yale, her mother said, Ms. Wojcicki was a competitive ice skater and played on the varsity ice hockey team. She also had a job as an activities coordinator in her dormitory.

Esther Wojcicki, who has worked at Google as an educational consultant, described her daughter as “an idea factory.” In the past, she said, her daughter has had various health care related business ideas, and 23andMe is the first to come to fruition. Ms. Avey, her partner, has been involved with several start-ups in the past.

Ms. Wojcicki said that she was surprised when her daughter told her of the unusual wedding she had planned.

“She said, ‘Mom, I’m going to swim to my wedding,’ ” said Ms. Wojcicki. “And she pulled it off.”