The program, officially known as the Copyright Alert System, combines the efforts of Hollywood studios, record labels and major U.S. Internet service providers (ISPs.) The goal is to stop piracy, by giving repeat offenders warnings based on how many strikes they have. While the first strike may result in simple warning, users who receive a fifth warning will be redirected to a landing page with educational information on copyright. Their internet service will not be restored until they contact their ISP.

It is unclear how ISPs will handle Internet users who reach six strikes. There is speculation on whether users will be disconnected, sued by rights holders, fined, etc. While Lesser is promising the six strikes program by year’s end, ISPs are not providing any details on the program. Is this a realistic timeline considering we have not heard any new information since the initial announcement of July 2011?

A similar program in France called Hadopi, allows three strikes against users. Keeping up with the copyright infringements for a population of 65 million people has proven to be a difficult task for Hadopi. While 18 million complaints have been made, the agency has only dispersed 470,000 first strikes, 20,000 second strikes and 10 third strikes. Hadopi attributes this to two factors: technical difficulties and wanting to give users time to change their ways after their first strike.

What are your thoughts on the six strikes program? Do you think we will see it in 2012?

China’s middle class is growing and so is its disposable income. More people are traveling to movie theaters to view the latest releases. The Chinese audience wants not only a movie, but a heightened experience – enter the 3-D movie. Hollywood is on the cutting edge of 3-D technology. China’s 3-D technology cannot compare at this time, causing American 3-D blockbusters to be in high demand. China’s box office sales in the first half of 2012 were up 41.7% due to imported movies. Most of the imported movies were in 3-D format.

One issue with importing 3-D blockbusters to China is the language barrier. As a viewer, it’s difficult to watch a 3-D film while simultaneously reading subtitles. It almost certainly causes a headache. This is one of the challenges that filmmakers are trying to address and resolve. One solution is to keep projector bulbs turned up high to help eyes easily adjust. Unfortunately, each bulb costs about $790, so it’s a fairly expensive solution. Another way to help ease the eyes is to shoot the 3-D film live by using two cameras at once. Most 3-D films are shot and then transformed into a 3-D film in post-production. Shooting 3-D films live is also quite expensive.

Despite some challenges, it seems that 3D films in China are the next big thing.

What do you think of 3D films?

Timing is crucial during the Olympics. Just think of the 100m dash —  a fraction of a second is the difference between the gold, silver or no medal at all. Omega is the official timekeeper of the London 2012 Olympic Games, providing scoreboards, countdowns and some new timing technologies that will allow for more data-crunching than ever before. One such technology, The Quantum Timer, can simultaneously compare 16 competitors at once with accuracy down to one-millionth of a second.

With advanced timing comes advanced analytics. This is the first year that data from all 26 Olympic events will be fed to Atos’ Commentator Information System (CIS.) Results from Omega are relayed to CIS in less than a second, which are instantly shared with Olympic officials, broadcasters around the world, press agencies, etc. In addition to the competitive results, CIS takes into account the many factors that can affect who gets the gold- athlete information, weather, event schedules and more. Atos predicts a 30% increase in data captured at the 2012 London Games compared to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Another way technology is playing a role in the 2012 Games is through social media. You can stay up to date on Olympic happenings with Twitter, Facebook and Olympic websites (London2012.com, Olympic.org, NBCOlympics.com.) If Olympic athletes are social media gold, then the Olympic Hub is the jackpot.  Find out which athletes have the most followers on Twitter, learn about featured athletes from around the world and get the latest Olympic updates.

But wait, there’s more! Follow #London2012 on Twitter to get a live feed of the Opening Ceremony this Friday. Wondering where the Olympic torch is right now? You can find out on Twitter by searching for #London2012TorchRelay for the latest.

How will you stay connected during the #London2012 games?

How is this all possible? Tracking. Twitter will compare your browsing history to other users’ on Twitter. For instance, you may frequently visit a certain website. Twitter will find other users who visit the same website and suggest accounts that like-minded users follow similar to the way StumbleUpon suggests websites. For new users, the suggestions will appear on the left side of the screen under the heading “Build your timeline.” For current users, suggestions will be listed under “Who to follow.”

Basically, unless you choose to opt out, Twitter will record any website you visit that has a Twitter button on it. If you’d like to opt-out of these suggestions, Twitter recommends enabling Do Not Track in your browser settings.

So what are the advantages of “tailored suggestions”? You may find some great accounts to follow that you may not have found otherwise. These suggested accounts may present you with a source of information that will be invaluable to you.

Disadvantages? This could be interpreted as a breach of privacy. As Dustin Curtis states in his blog:

. . . tracking should not be opt-out. It should be opt-in. At least until such behavior by companies is commonly understood. I have no problem with Twitter or Facebook tracking me, as long as I know about it and as long as normal people who use those services know about it.

Is invading users’ privacy becoming the norm of social media companies? As the saying goes, “If you’re not paying for a service, you’re the product, not the customer.” Social media is on the rise and is becoming a part of the daily routine for many. The amount of personal information social media platforms can access is staggering. It seems as social media use increases, so does the tracking of users’ every move.

There is a way to protect yourself from the ever-changing privacy policies of social media companies. Stay informed on what these policies are. Take action. Opt-out of privacy policies that will extract more personal information than you are willing to share. As noted in this article, there are a number of privacy tools available online. They include Twitter Disconnect, Disconnect, Priv3, Ghostery and Do Not Track Plus.

What are your thoughts on Twitter’s new “tailored suggestions” and online privacy?

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding this pricey purchase. Instagram is a huge success and has a quickly growing user base of die-hard fans. But does it make money? And how will it help Facebook?

Instagram’s simple, direct nature embodies the features Facebook lacks. Instagram is a mobile success and users love it. While people certainly use Facebook on their smartphones, mobile facebooking does not evoke the same joy that millions of users achieve by snapping a photo with Instagram. Facebook is part of the daily routine. Instagram represents something a bit more creative and spontaneous. Photo effects and filters add a whimsical charm to every-day happenings. Instagram brings another layer to the experience of being an impromptu photographer.

Perhaps Facebook saw Instagram as a rising competitor. Or, Facebook could have recognized the appeal of the photo-sharing app to other social networking sites, i.e. Google +. Instagram currently does not have a Google+ share button and it seems like it will not be adding one anytime soon.

When it comes down to it, photos are key to Facebook. Kara Swisher of allthingsD.com explains just how important they are:

Photos are what allowed Facebook to grow so quickly and what made it more than just a blue sea of text and links to consumers. Its new Timeline depends on big, pretty photos, and Facebook even recently announced that it would allow full-screen viewing of high-resolution photos on its Web site, a pricey endeavor.

Over 250 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day. And Facebook owns them all! Add Instagram to this equation (photos originating from smartphones, another technology on the rise) and the results are pretty powerful.

When the news first broke that Facebook bought Instagram, there was an outcry from Instagram users promising to delete their accounts. Despite this outcry, Instagram catapulted to the top spot in the App Store for the first time ever. This social media marriage has spread awareness for Instagram. Regardless of the motive behind Facebook’s acquisition, it’s clear that social sharing will largely remain in the hands of Facebook.

According to the research firm Nielsen, about two-thirds of tablet and smartphone owners use their gadgets while watching TV. They tweet, they post, they check-in on what‘s referred to as their “second-screen.”  Marketers are thrilled! Imagine the possibilities for Super Bowl XLVI!  It was only a few years ago when Super Bowl viewers would excitedly wait to view commercials, which were kept highly confidential until the game.  The ads came, the ads went and people would talk about it for a few days. In recent years, marketers have been trying to get their money’s worth with pre-Bowl buzz. Many commercials to be featured on the big day have been building suspense with teaser ads.  For instance, here’s the teaser for a Star-Wars themed Volkswagen ad that will be featured on game day.

Some commercials have even been released in their entirety in hope to cash in on the pre-Bowl buzz. Will you watch early? Or will you resist? Haven’t we been conditioned for years and years to wait patiently for the commercial to be aired during the Super Bowl? Isn’t that part of the excitement of the Super Bowl?

Mike Sheldon of Deutsch L.A., the agency that created this year’s VW commercial, explains that viewers “like to be let in on the joke, let in on the story, early.” By doing this, viewers know which ads to look out for and pay close attention to.

In addition to traditional TV commercials, there are a slew of apps, promotions, and incentives allowing viewers to take their Super Bowl experience to the next level. Both USA Today’s Ad Meter and YouTube’s Super Bowl Ad Blitz let game-watchers vote for their favorite commercial. Ad Meter, which was started in 1989, is finally allowing participants to submit votes through Facebook.  NBC has partnered up with YouTube to bridge social media gaps through their Super Bowl Ad Blitz. For the first time, viewers will be able to vote on nbcsports.com as well as the YouTube page.

Chevy’s Game Time app will provide viewers with trivia games, polls and prizes (granted they pay close attention to the Chevy commercials that air during the game.) NFL Pro Tweets will let Twitter users follow players and sports- media outlets throughout the game.  Other apps will keep game-watchers up to speed with the happenings of their favorite Super Bowl team, learn the history of the Super Bowl and view old Super Bowl commercials.

How will you watch the Super Bowl? Will you be using any apps this year? Will you sneak a peek at commercials before game day? Tell us how your Super Bowl viewing experience will change this year!

So what can we expect for mobile in 2012? A recent survey of industry leaders sheds light on what to expect. Survey respondents believe the following:

• The rise of Android was the most newsworthy story of 2011
• Steve Jobs was the mobile person of 2011
• In 2012, mobile payment will be the breakthrough category and most popular consumer app
• Financial institutions will define the mobile commerce space
• Android and iOS will dominate the tablet market, with iOS at a slight advantage
• Mobile Web will start to become more relevant versus apps
• The retail industry is the industry that will be most impacted by mobile innovation

Do you agree with these predictions? Read the whole survey here.

In light of this recent controversy, Harvard Law professor Johnathan Zittrain proposes a way for cell phone users to stay informed. Why not find a way to track what is tracking us? Zittrain says that our phones should include a function to show where any collected data is going. What a great idea! I hope cell phone manufacturers and carriers take a cue from Professor Zittrain and push for keeping cell phone users more informed!

To learn more about cell phone carriers’ use of Carrier IQ, read this article from CNN Money.

Small signs around the mall will notify shoppers that they are being tracked. If they do happen to see these signs, they will be informed that they can opt-out from being monitored by turning off their cell phones. But what happens when a shopper is not interested in being tracked and has to make a phone call? Or perhaps a shopper did not see the sign altogether. Should this be a situation when shoppers should be able to opt-in rather than opt-out?

Sharon Biggar is the CEO of Path Intelligence, the company responsible for Footpath Technology. Biggar assures shoppers that their movement has been tracked for years through other methods, such as security cameras and people counters. Is this supposed to be reassuring? Although the practice of tracking consumer trends is not new, the method of using cell phone signals for this purpose is.

No matter what your stance is on this issue, make sure you are fully aware of your options. To find out more about this issue, here is an article from CNN Money.

Hashtags can clarify a message by putting it into context. People frequently communicate with text; Twitter is no exception. However, there is a small problem in communicating via words on a screen. There is a lack of non-verbal cues! Although it’s disputed exactly how much of an impact tone of voice, facial expression and body language have on communication, it’s safe to say these actions help with interpreting a message. How many times have you received a text and are not sure if it’s meant to be sarcastic or sincere? Hashtags can clear up the confusion.

The words in a hashtag hint at the real meaning of the message or reference a trending topic. Whether it’s Hollywood gossip, a political jab or a personal reflection, a hashtag can clarify the information being conveyed. For instance, “I love missing the bus #badday.” Who knows? Someone may actually like missing the bus. It may give them time to relax before work. Perhaps there is a nice view at the bus stop. But with #badday attached, there is no misinterpreting what is being said.

In addition to putting words into context, hashtags can track how an idea grows by creating a digital trail. The origin of a trending topic is easy to pinpoint when it’s categorized with a hashtag. For instance, an article featured on technologyreview.com shows how #OccupyWallStreet spread through Twitter. You can track the movement from it’s humble beginnings to what it is today.

What are some other uses for hashtags?