Paul Melcher is the founder of Kaptur and Managing Director of Melcher System, a consultancy for visual technology firms. He is an entrepreneur, advisor, and consultant with a rich background in visual tech, content licensing, business strategy, and technology with more than 20 years experience in developing world-renowned photo-based companies with already two successful exits.
Within its half-open, half-closed status, 2021 will be remembered as a transition year: A melting pot between ending lockdowns, rising vaccines and masks mandates, new variants, ending and restarting restrictions. But if anything, it did nothing to slow down the pace of online innovation—quite the opposite. If visual tech experiencedContinue Reading
On one side, an economy exponentially craving for content. On the other, a static, unprepared landscape ripe for disruption. The stage is set for a redistribution of value in a vibrant and volatile environment: Witness the formation of a new visual content ecosystem. It’s been a cascading series of announcements:Continue Reading
The age of the camera is slowly coming to an end—especially the bulky DSLR and all its associated declinations. In a very short while, all that will be left will be those pesky in-object cameras, like the one in our cell phones and a query type box in our browser.Continue Reading
As an exclusive sneak peek preview of the upcoming Visual 1st conference to be held virtually on October 19 – 20, we sat down with one of the many captivating presenters, PicUP.Ai: – A little about you, what is your background? It was back in 2018, the founder of PicUP.AiContinue Reading
Users have been warned multiple times by terms of usage and public reports. Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Snap, TikTok, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest have made it very clear that in exchange for allowing you to use their platform to share your visual content, you grant them rights to do pretty much anythingContinue Reading
You walk through the supermarket aisle until you face various choices for the product you wish to eat. In the case of cereals, it can be 20 or more different options. You reach out and pick one, which you feel is the right decision based on a well-educated process. InContinue Reading
The first iteration of the internet, the one we are still somewhat experiencing, was built on the fundamental belief that content should be free. In its early days, it was to be this fantastic social experiment where anyone and everyone would be able to share anything, anytime, with anyone. ItContinue Reading
Shutterstock’s acquisition of 3D marketplace Turbo Squid is significant for a few reasons, some of which might not be obvious. The first and well-understood purchase trigger is that the microstock company is under pressure to expand its offering horizontally. There is a known ceiling to the paid licensed still imagesContinue Reading
2020 has made screens our primary interface to the world. While pre-pandemic, we were mostly physically interacting with the world, using all of our six senses, the past year has been essentially just visual. Except for our immediate family, it is via a digital representation, text, photos, or video thatContinue Reading
According to a recent study, over 63% of Americans say they often come across fake images online. Whether those images are truly faked or perceived as such, the damage is done. We are rapidly losing trust in what we see, our evolutionary number source of information. If this trend continues,Continue Reading