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Over the past few days, I’ve been watching and personally using a lot of the major online e-commerce sites and so far, it seems most have done a good job of having their infrastructure ready for this year’s online shopping crush. I haven’t seen anyone on Twitter or Facebook complaining about any website problems with any of the big guys and I’ve used Amazon, Target, Walmart, Zappos, Columbia, REI and North Face with no problems. I have noticed it taking Amazon and Zappos longer than usual to send me confirmation emails of my order, but the websites themselves have been fast to load with no problems.

One website that isn’t doing well is BlueNile.com. Every time I try to checkout, the website crashes the browser be it Firefox, Chrome or Safari. When I called the company they confirmed that “a lot” of people are complaining about the same thing, yet nearly six hours later, I’m still having the same problem. You would think the company would be more pro-active, but they haven’t responded via their Twitter feed or via email as to when it will be fixed or with any updates. During a second call I placed to the company one sales person told me the website has recently gone an “upgrade” which has caused the problem, but they didn’t know what the exact problem was. During checkout, each time the website tried to load content from “seal.stellaservice.com” and “secure.footprint.net” is when it would crash my browser so it looks to be more of a code/platform problem for Blue Nile rather than a capacity issue. I don’t understand how an online only company like Blue Nile isn’t prepared and ready for the busiest shopping week of the year. They lost my sale, so they must have lost others as well.

Adobe just released numbers showing how big mobile platforms were this year for shopping purchases saying more than 24% of online sales occurred on smartphones and tablets, a record increase of 118% year-over-year. They said iOS devices drove more than $543M and Android $148M in online. Have you had any problems shopping online? If so, let me know which website(s) in the comments section.

Last week the inventors of a new device called Airtame contacted me to let me know they were about to launch funding for their device on Indiegogo. In the past five days, they have raised nearly $95,000 of their $160,000 goal, (as of Nov. 30th they are now at $144,000) for a device that allows you to display your computer screen and sound (Mac, Windows, Linux) on a TV, projector or monitor wirelessly. But what I really like about this device is that you can mirror your screen to multiple screens at the same time, something Chromecast can’t do. (see the video)

The inventors of the device say that the protocol being used is their own custom binary one, using UDP as a transport, and data exchange similar to Google’s protobuf. It supports a number of different channels, both for low latency ‘unreliable’ video/audio data, and for ‘reliable’ inputs and data transmission. The communication is encrypted with AES for security and the protocol was designed future-proof, so it is IPv6 ready, cloud ready, and advanced tricks such as UDP NAT piercing is also possible to allow for connections behind firewalls. The latency for the video being mirrored is around 25-150ms in ideal conditions.

The device looks pretty neat, I know I’d use them. Check out the video to see it in action.

Thanks to everyone who helped made this week’s Streaming Media West show such a success. The feedback we got on the new venue and location was awesome and it really helped make the show much more enjoyable. I got a lot of positive feedback on our speakers, the topics discussed and all of the data that was given out. Tons of really good information was shared helping to educate the market, which was the whole purpose of the event. All of the presentations from the event are now available for download in PDF form, on the program page.

Video on demand archives are being worked on right now and we expect to have those up in about a week. If there is any follow-up you need from the show or introductions to others, please contact me at any time. If you want to get involved in our next show, Streaming Media East, taking place May 13-14 in NYC, the call for speakers is now open. Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday next week.

I’ve just opened the call for speakers for the 2014 Streaming Media East Conference, taking place May 13-14 in NYC. The deadline for submissions is about six weeks, so get your submission in early. Those willing to play an active role as panel moderators who want to participate in creating the contents of a panel, should contact me immediately. Please see the website for full details on the speaking submission process. The call for speakers for the Content Delivery Summit, taking place in conjunction with the Streaming Media East show will open in January.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll be webcasting some of the sessions from the Streaming Media West show and the stream has just gone live on the home page of the streamingmedia.com website. Both keynotes will be webcast as well as all sessions from track A on the program, over both days, and also the Reader’s Choice Awards.

At the Streaming Media West show, taking place Nov. 19-20 in Huntington Beach, learn the best practices for implementing an enterprise video platform from those who have done it. Hear from organizations that have evaluated, identified, and now manage their own EVPs. By attending this session, you’ll understand what considerations and use cases require an EVP and how and why these organizations chose this approach across their user base. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Tim Siglin, Contributing Editor, Streaming Media Magazine
• David Boyll, Director, Digital Media Technology, Oracle
• Eric Hards, Manager, Digital Media and Streaming, Lockheed Martin
• Travis Petershagen, Team Manager, Digital Media Services Team Production Studios, Microsoft
• Tom Wilde, CEO, Ramp

It’s not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DR13, which gets you a two-day ticket to the show for only $595 and gives you access to 40 sessions and how-to presentations and 100+ speakers. You can also register for an exhibits only pass and get access to the show floor, both keynotes and all the networking events, at no charge. #smwest

Key industry trends such as the escalating cost of pay-TV, changes in consumer behaviors, proliferation of mobile devices and the surge in OTT subscription models, suggest that the industry’s traditional bundled TV model could be tested over the next few years. It seems all you hear these days is about public, private, and hybrid clouds. Are cloud services applicable for enterprise video as well? At the Streaming Media West show, taking place Nov. 19-20 in Huntington Beach, we have a session that will explore the current state of the market as consumers express clear preferences for free and ad-supported offerings and subscription vod services. It will also examine the increasing willingness of consumers to pay for quality differentiated online video services, and the key elements they will most strongly demand. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Mark London, VP, Ad Solutions, Fox Networks Group
• Keith Zubchevich, VP, Market Development & Sales, Conviva
• Christophe Louvion, CTO, M-GO
• Chris Carey, VP, Product and Portfolio Solutions, Verizon DMS

It’s not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DR13, which gets you a two-day ticket to the show for only $595 and gives you access to 40 sessions and how-to presentations and 100+ speakers. You can also register for an exhibits only pass and get access to the show floor, both keynotes and all the networking events, at no charge. #smwest