Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from Digital Hollywood Spring, 2006 For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Wednesday, August 16 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM Track I: The Broadband Video Tipping Point: Availability of Vast Content and Portability - Broadband, ITV, Mobile & DTV Video has finally reached into the merger of the entertainment, communications and technology revolution and making itself heard. Call it a Video Tipping Point, a video revolution or simply the next logical step in video to the consumer on all platforms, all the time, but something big is at hand. Video search is becoming the hot button topic and one must ask the question, what are they searching for? As broadband brings video to the consumer on any number of devices, there is no shortage of video content. From the billions of hours of already existing libraries, the daily output of the global news and content providers to the trillions of hours of "personal video," call them v-blogs, Video PodCasts, mobisodes or personal video chat, our universe is past the point of no return. We are now simply codifying the experience, giving it form and coherence. For those who are with us today, welcome to the party, because you will remember this tipping point moment forever. Jeff Karnes, Director of Multimedia Search, Yahoo! Inc. Steve Banfield, SVP and General Manager, Sony Connect, Sony Digital Entertainment Thomas McInerney, co-founder and CEO, GUBA Robert Whitmore, CEO & co-founder, NPOWR Digital Media Inc. (stimTV™Network) Theodore May, VP Content & Value Added Services, Synacor Markus Almer, president and co-founder, Almer/Blank Om Malik, Senior Writer, Business 2.0 magazine, Moderator Thomas McInerney is the co-founder and CEO of GUBA®. Mr. McInerney began his professional career as an engineer/scientist for Apple Computer's Worldwide Research and Development Group in Cupertino, CA. While there, he helped to develop Apple's early Intranet in 1996. He left Apple to join Sony, where he was involved in designing the first VAIO laptop computer. An early believer in the promise of the World Wide Web, Mr. McInerney left Sony at the end of 1997 to become an entrepreneur and co-founded GUBA in January of 1998. Under his leadership, GUBA became profitable in less than a year after it was founded and has grown at a 67% compound annual growth rate over the late 8 years. He holds a degree in Computer Science from Arizona State University. Steve Banfield, SVP and General Manager, Sony Connect, Sony Digital Entertainment: Previous positions at Sony include executive roles at both Sony Pictures Digital Networks and Sony Connect, where Steve was responsible for building out the digital distribution infrastructure to support many consumer-driven digital entertainment businesses. Prior to joining Sony, Steve served as Vice President of Strategic Relations at RealNetworks. Banfield joined RealNetworks in 1998 as group program manager for the company's RealPlayerR. In 1999, he was promoted to General Manager of Consumer Products with responsibility for the strategic direction of RealNetworks' consumer applications. Under his leadership, the division shipped three releases of RealPlayer, plus the RealOneTM Platform and RealOne Player, and substantially grew the company's user base from 30 million to 285 million. Prior to his tenure at RealNetworks, Banfield led product development and marketing initiatives at such leading technology companies as Microsoft, where he was involved in the development of Windows 95, NCR, and IBM. Banfield holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and is a graduate of Transylvania University, where he received a degree in Computer Science. He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. Markus Almer is president and co-founder of Almer/Blank, an interactive media agency in Venice, California. He helps clients like ClearChannel, E! Entertainment Television, IKEA, and Apple identify business opportunities and develop rich digital experiences to improve customer experiences, and Marketing-ROI. Markus is also co-founder of the Rich Media Institute in Los Angeles, which provides training, research and community services to Digital Media professionals. He speaks frequently on events and conferences from the American Marketing Association and Digital Hollywood. Markus began his career in digital media in 1998 by introducing patented multimedia card technology to the United States and over the past 8 years, he has gained extensive experience in interactive marketing and rich media applications. Markus earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Zurich. He grew up in Switzerland and has lived in Southern California since 1998. Robert Whitmore, CEO & co-founder, NPOWR Digital Media Inc. (stimTV™Network) has served as its President since the Company’s inception in July 2001. Mr. Whitmore is instrumental in the near-term and long-term strategic planning of the Company and in conjunction with co-founder and CTO Dwight Marcus guides the financing activities and development strategies. Mr. Whitmore supervises the sales and marketing departments of the Company and works with Mr. Marcus on the creative and production operations. Mr. Whitmore contributes more than 25 years of management experience within the entertainment industry. In 1999, he and inventor Dwight Marcus founded NTECH Properties, Inc., the parent company to NPOWR Digital Media. Prior to that, Mr. Whitmore formed and became co-owner of New York-based Manhattan Beach Recording Studios and World Coast Music. From 1989 to 1992, Mr. Whitmore was President of Cine-Source, Inc., a company involved in feature film development and production. For Cine-Source, he arranged the financing for and served as Supervising Producer of Texasville, the sequel to The Last Picture Show distributed by Columbia Pictures, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and starring Jeff Bridges and Cybil Shepherd. From 1985 to 1988, Mr. Whitmore was a development producer for Warner Bros. Television, and just prior to joining, Warner Bros., he was Executive Producer of the feature film Runaway Train, starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, and Rebecca DeMornay. The film received three Academy Award nominations and captured a Best Actor Golden Globe Award for Jon Voight. In the early ‘80s, Mr. Whitmore was Chairman of the pioneering electronic music synthesis manufacturer and software developer/manufacturer, Voyetra Electronics Inc. There, he was responsible for the strategic planning and coordination of the company’s investment banking activities. Mr. Whitmore earned a B.A. degree from the School of International Service at American University and received a Juris Doctor degree from the Washington College of Law at American University. Om Malik is a San Francisco-based senior writer for Business 2.0 and with a primary broadband industry blog, GigaOm.com. He has covered technology and telecom for over a decade for publications like Forbes, and Red Herring. Om has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and MIT Technology Review. He is the author of Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist. His daily rants on tech/telecom and broadband can be found at his often updated blog, http://gigaom.com