Talk about consumer-generated media. Apparently hackers have turned Sony's latest portable game player, the PSP handheld, into a device for online chat, Web browsing, and a venue for movies and music.
Leave it to hackers who managed to add an online chat function by hijacking a Web browser built into a racing game called "Wipeout Pure." Once the hackers are able to change the PSP's
network settings, they can point the browser to a Web portal. There's also a way for hackers to transfer TV programs recorded on the TiVo service to the PSP player, a program for reading e-books, and
a viewer for comic books downloaded from the Web.
Apart from the PSP, the individual as a media generator takes on a whole new meaning with Google's plan to expand its "My
Media" feature. The search giant will enable consumers to submit self-produced videos, essentially video blogs or video diaries. Take your pick. We can all thank Apple for this, since Apple
seeded the trend of the individual movie producer. Literally, anyone can make a movie using Apple software and related gear.
The most delicious thing about the "My Media" plan
is no one, not even the great and powerful Google, can know how the people's video blogs will turn out. So, if they're about robots, or dogs, family dysfunction, or turn out to be soft porn videos
shot in Aunt Bertha's basement, one would assume that they'll be indexed by Google and good to go. Or will Google censor the content? The Minute doesn't see how it can possibly do that.
Everyone's a content creator. Everyone's a publisher. It's consumer-generated media aided and abetted by the Web. It's also the subject of a cover story in the April issue of Media magazine.