Tag: Technology

When did ‘Whats Up?’ become a WhatsApp since?

How has technology changed your job?

When we studied Mass Communication and Journalism in the late 80s, many of us wanted to work in print, on the radio or assist cinema directors.

The copywriter’s job didn’t pay very much. They gave us copies to write about ₹200 ($2) worth of di-pole television antennas. Disgusting!

Television hit India big in the mid 90s. A lot of us could find jobs in the news and entertainment television. The job paid us well.

We were just about halfway through mastering the analogue format of broadcasting and the digital world hit us blind.

4:3 (aspect ratio) gave way to 16:9. All in a blink. Star Group’s Channel V was a rage among the younger music-loving audience. People watched MTV-grind till late at home.

Tapes were gone and we carried large disks. Digitization was a jiffy. Edit at a low resolution and make the master copy in high-res. Multi-layering helped insert cut-away shots quickly. Broadcasting soon became 24/7.

Social media came like a deluge. That hit us big. We were threatened with job losses at Y2K. We sat clueless many times.

Machines have become smaller and one machine (Fire, Flint and Finalcut Pros) did it all. From scripting, sequencing, digitizing, editing, keying, GFX, sound-mixing, titles and mastering. All from the word GO!

The cameras have a lot of pixels to offer. Technicians shot many episodes on a given day.

Citizens journalism is the new kid in town. Thanks to an explosion called YouTube.

The tool for shooting a film sequence is now just a phone. A smartphone is your pocket broadcaster. All credit to technology. 

Amateurish pan-shots. Bad cuts. Jump videos. Poor quality soundbites. No ‘rule of third’ in the composition. Long boring stories. Unethical content. No age-appropriate certificate.

And the greater casualty is the watershed at 9pm was gone. Anyone can watch anything, anytime.

YouTube has become the broadcaster’s market for cheap goods. Made in China.

The ‘cheaper a dozen’ market now has around 2.6 billion (about 250 crore) active users per month.

More than 114 million (about 12 crore) active channels.

People upload 2,500 new videos every minute and more than 150,000 videos are available on your phone every hour. There’s no stopping a video on YouTube.

The last time we heard about an assembly line of a product was when Henry Ford made cars.

Such is the scale of spoil in the mind of an avid video-watching kid.

Ryan Kaji is a nine-year-old boy from Texas. He has over 29 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, Ryan’s World. In 2020, Kaji earned nearly $30 (about ₹3 crores) million from his channel. All he does is review toys for kids.

We lost the race a long time ago, thanks to the arrival of technology. IMHO!

PS: Today I could sit and ask an AI (ChatGPT) to write a brief about how technology affected an editor’s or a news producer’s job in the television industry. But, why?

This is the only time I could give the AI some rest and do a job that’s genuinely mine. So I’ve chosen to write one myself.

Thanks for reading.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

Dallas, USA. Year 2021.

Russell was so upset that he couldn’t get the right girl to talk to or one to date with. He thought he was a total failure.

He’s 22, a software professional and earning handsome money at an IT multinational.

He looked handsome. But he was worried as to why he was not connecting with girls.

That’s when he heard about OpenAI.

This is one of the best Valentine’s stories yet. Read on.

Before the AI technology explosion, Russell used to sit and spend hours on Tinder swiping right after right, but to no avail.

Some he found and proceeded to date with, but he thought they were either drinking too much or throwing emotional tantrums. He wasn’t happy.

He thought one day he would ask for the help of AI technology.

He heard about OpenAI’s GPT-2, and he could employ the chatbot to talk to girls on his behalf. 

Or else how would he find the perfect woman?

He soon was able to enjoy the new invention, and he swiped right 350 times, matched with 150 and struck dialogue with as many.

He finally met with success. He could in fact meet a dozen of them. In real, wow!

But there was still a flaw in the new innovation.

The GPT-2 scheduled a date on his behalf and swore to the girls he would bring chocolates and flowers for them. 

Oblivious to the private conversation, he went and met the girl empty-handed. So embarrassing.

So what’s next?

The best OpenAI, GPT-4, was released, and he was pleased.

He quickly struck a chord with the new arrival and the AI said the best about him. The AI suggested he talk to girls about his childhood, parents, goals in life etc. That sounded so meaningful.

This time, he matched with about 4500 girls thanks to a little help coming from Tinder Gold. All in a month’s time. Great!

UNBELIEVABLE! There’s more. Read on.

He kept striking gold. He once met 4 girls at a time.

After about 5000 women expressing interest in him, he found one that he thought was a ‘match made in heaven’.

Her name is Tanya. Many congratulations! Many more to AI. 

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He still wasn’t content yet. To spice up things, he turned one last time to AI.

He asked for help from ChatGPT V3 and the AI suggested he marry her. That just floored him. How?

The AI was right, and the couple soon moved in together in 2023.

One day, he showed Tanya what ChatGPT V3 did to them. He showed the chat to her.

As the AI said, he proposed to her and they are now husband and wife. Two long years to find the right match. Brilliant.

Hang on! This isn’t over yet. Read on.

Kovai, India Year 2024.

Café Coffee Day at Phoenix Mall, Kovai was full of people cramming for space on Valentine’s Day.

Vineeth turned and showed the story he had just read on FB to his newly-wed wife Archana.

They were sitting, chatting and sharing a laugh the whole day. Full of buzz.

She said to him: We didn’t go through the hassle of using AI technology, dear. To know each other, did we?

He nodded and looked on. Expecting what she was going to say next.

She continued: We met for a short while. A month or two. We hit it off.

“You came, you saw, and you conquered my parents”.

He smiled and spoke softly and slowly, “No, our parents”.

Both had a hearty laugh. He hugged her and looked up at the sky.

They thanked their ancestors.