#10: Wildcard

Google Play is dead! Or at least it will be...

According to 9to5google.com, "our tipster said that Google was planning to 'move the entire service over to YouTube Music ["Remix"].' They said that Google is 'working on YouTube Music features to bring it more in line with what Play Music offers.' While our tipster didn’t provide a timeline, Kellen’s 'reliable source' says 'users will be forced off of Play Music by the end of 2018 and onto Remix.'"

I, for one, am personally excited for a YouTube hosted rival to Spotify and Apple Music. Around 2009, a younger version of myself would find myself deep in the content of YouTube whether is was random videos or music. Streaming was the only way I could listen to music on my devices other than using the voice recorder app while playing a song out loud. The main struggle with music and YouTube is the lack of multitasking. As soon as you close out of the application, everything shuts off until you reopen it. People have been complaining about this for years, and in order for them to keep up demand, YouTube Remix will most definitely have to be able to play in the background. Remix is apparently YouTube’s attempt to please music publishers with more revenue from music placed on its service. With YouTube continually pulling in major online traffic, a lot of which is dedicated to music streaming, music executives want in on the action. But what about YouTube Red, isn’t that good enough? Well, apparently not, and Remix will be more focused solely on music, not just removing ads from videos the user wants to watch.

Another benefit to YouTube Remix is the universal aspect it brings for android and iPhone users. Although Apple Music will probably never give up, the division that Android and iPhone has with it's products makes it hard to have unity in within their audiences. On the other hand, the deep apartheid may have been the key to keep their brads alive.

#9: Classmate Blog Critique

I want to start off by saying that I am extremely impressed with the blog turn out. A lot of people may take the words "LOOK AT WHAT YOUR PEERS DID" for granted, but you guys have no idea how much you inspire my creativity. I have a system of evaluation that not only helped me conduct this critique , but it also allows me to browse through your work when I am stuck on my own. So let's get to it! 

FIRST, I would like to point out the ones who obviously know how valuable research is. Kobe, Cole, Lauren, Forest Pierce, Shariya, Houston, Joshua Turner, and Suzanne all post with exceptional detail. If I need the expertise on something they most definitely know what they are talking about. As for writing style, I find Lauren, Anna, Desmion, Dasha, Justice and Suzanne to dazzle the crowd. When it comes to length, Anna, Justice, Houston, Joshua Turner, and Suzanne always meet the requirements. And last but not least, Kobe, Justice, Forest Pierce, Lauren, and Houston own the blogs that are most visually pleasant.

I personally loved the layout of Kobe's blog the most:

It is easy to navigate, and I don't have to exhaust myself with a lot of scrolling. However he has this huge amount of space to the right of his text that is not used. His graphics and word choices are consistent, but his font style and sizes are very inconsistent. I would also like to see his post for "Predictions" connect more to what could be artificial intelligence rather than just technology in general. He could also distinguish his post titles more from his body text with a different font. Other than this, I feel that his blog has a very serious vibe to it, and his posts are all well written.

Lauren's blog definitely reflects a powerhouse of analyzation:

Her combination of aesthetics and writing style show promise, and her blog feels the most natural to me. I like the nostalgic feel of the graphics, but I am missing a splash of color from something other than the pictures. I would suggest making the links a slightly brighter color or changing the color of your post titles/blog title. Otherwise, I shall let you be great! [insert clapping emoji here].

Suzanne's blog stands among the ones that I explicitly admire:

Besides her great work ethic, Suzanne exemplifies a writing style that is personal, informative, and continuous. She is very articulate with work, and she does not hold back her opinion. The only complaints that I would have would be the color choice along with the length of her writing. Although her writing is far from boring, the color brown could be misleading and somewhat unattractive. I feel like using lighter nude colors will complement appeal. I noticed the map at the top sort of gets drowned out by how dark the brown is. If the background color is a must then I suggest changing the font of your blog titles to something a little more playful. Try a font that resembles that of a map of a vintage globe.

Both Justice and Houston never fail to leave me envious with their aesthetic appeal and writing abilities: 

Justice is very entertaining, and his blog is beautifully contrasted. I actually sort of feel like I am reading a magazine. I like the touch of sectioning with underlined titles within your "Predictions" post. Perhaps you can go back and separate your ideas the same way in your other posts. Houston, on the other hand, comes off extremely intellectual without being too serious with his themes. I would like to see more consistency with his fonts and text orientation. Also, as beautiful as the background is, I'm not sure if I like how it's tiled in the background instead of just one continuous picture. 

As for others: TURNER has great information, but I feel like he could use a different font or background or develop a theme for his blog. SHARIYA's done great with her color choices, but I think the back ground picture is low resolution and needs to be continuous instead of tiled as well. PIERCE has an inconsistent picture to text ratio to me. The pictures space out the words too much almost like it's a slideshow, but his blog still looks awesome! DASHA's blog is very consistent, but her "Advertising" post needs at least one graphic. I really want DESMION to change the font of his blog title and probably the posts too. It's blocky, and, for me, takes the personality out of the rest of the blog. There are only a few punctuation problems that can be easily looked over on ANNA's blog, unlike her nice eye-grabbing vintage flare. And finally COLE, I like the red, but you have too much. I can't help but stare at the background even though it is simple.

#8: Predictions

Between being flashed by social media and practically suffocated by advertisements, there is absolutely no room for pre-web patience. The most obvious path of television's downfall will start with the infamous practice of "cutting the cord". Now obviously you are not physically clipping any wires or permanently destroying ties with cable/satellite companies. The term "cutting the cord" is specifically described as the process of "cutting expensive cable connections in order to change to a low-cost TV channel subscription through over-the-air (OT) free broadcasts, through antenna, or over-the-top (OTT) broadcast over the Internet" by Techopedia. This act began around 2010, and is now an ongoing trend more encouraged today by popular video streaming hosts like Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV.

There are major advantages to ditching your satellite dish. The most noticeable would be the fixed, low prices that are available; depending on the price of your cable bill, you can purchase more than one streaming service subscription and still save money in comparison. But, is this enough to completely eradicate regularly scheduled programming?

Honestly, we don't give network innovators enough credit for their adaptation concepts. I don't think television will completely die. I think that it will simply merge into a more relevant format that tailors itself to the internet audiences. I can imagine cable television going completely digital. The context would bare resemblance to Hulu or Netflix, but each network will start off independent, and they will eventually merge and one will buy them all out. There will be more commercials unless given the option to pay and remove/lessen them which is a huge commission in itself. Also the extended options will be a plus considering that a common complaint (especially for Netflix) is that there is nothing good to watch or choose from.

Another question could be: "How will the cable providers integrate the convenience of live on-going television with the liberties of streaming video?" Well if you think about it, the format has already been created. Products like Tivo and dish add-ins allow you to pause, rewind, fast-forward, etc. on live television, but for a fee of course. Either way the fear of several contracts and upgrades could still easily send anyone straight to Internet services. If cable/satellite television wants to keep up with the Jones', they are going to have to make some huge financial compromises with costs and commercials. Either that or throw in some very flattering deals to widen their market.