Recently I read Ryan’s blog post about Urthecast. The introduction in class and the points that Ryan questions made me think about the product. I was confused on whether or not the cameras are actually built yet ( the videos shown in class were a “cool” aspect of earth but not necessarily what it’ll actually look like). Looking at the about section, the website states “How it will work” alluding to the fact that it has not been built yet which leads to question another aspect. How did they create the footage that they use to advertise it? Is their advertisement reliable or just away to increase angel investors and spark consumer interests.
Ryan states that UrtheCast would be a new way to view natural disasters and it replacing live videos in say a riot. The quality of live video is questionable, do we need footage of a tsunami bringing down a city? People running for safety? As remember that the resolution and quality will not be that great, a golf cart would only represented by a pixel. I don’t think Urthecast could replace having an actually reporter at the scene with camera crew recording the after effects of a natural diaster. Another problem I had with the presentation was that the presenter stated that it was able to view a one meter by one meter point on earth, but when answering someone’s question about privacy issues they stated that they you wouldn’t be able to anyone. The social aspect of these new technology might be a harsh negative for consumers. It can be distracting and adds an aspect of privacy which I believe does more harm then the revenue it’ll bring to the company (which is why they want to implement the service).
Although I find the concept for intriguing and I think it can add a lot of depth to society, the way they are advertising it, I find bothersome, the aspect of social media potentially violating privacy is an issue. This new technology is quite powerful. I wish, that instead of emphasizing about the financial burdens that the presenter focused innovation has brought upon owners and investors they highlight the use and how it will revolutionize the world. I dislike how some of the video footage shown in class it contradicts what the presenter was saying for example the nature footage in one of the videos were quite high depth ( how we would be able to watch animals in deserts which no man had walked, and showing nature scenery: waterfall and sunsets) but the UrtheCast probably would not be able to manage that resolution and quality, it’s false advertising. It the only problem that I had with this presentation. Although I question how they should implement and use the product, I am still excited to see the capabilities and contributions it will bring to society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vgb-0qCa10Q#!