Page 23 - Aruba Today

TECHNOLOGY A23
New online site hopes to be the Rotten Tomatoes for theater
MARK KENNEDY
AP Drama Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Like a
lot of people, Tom Melcher
was frustrated with the
amount of work it took to
find something to watch
onstage in New York. Un-
like a lot of people, he did
something about it.
Melcher, a startup guru
and veteran of such sites
as CNET and MongoDB,
recently moved to New
York and threw himself into
the theater scene. To pick
shows to watch, he would
Google past reviews while
his wife, Sharon, would
cruise the discount ticket
sites.It was time-consuming,
and Melcher yearned for a
something like Rotten To-
matoes for theater-goers.
Everyone he asked seemed
frustrated, too. He offered
to help anyone create
a site, but no one would
commit. So he jumped in.
“My friends will tell you
I get to a point when I
get so obsessed and frus-
trated about a problem
that I can’t not do it,” said
Melcher. “I needed to find
a better way.”
He thinks he’s found it in
Show-Score — an audi-
ence-friendly guide he
launched with his own
money in which people
can search hundreds of
Adam Selman, MasterCard turning
clothes into payment devices
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Call it
payable fashion. You won’t
need a credit card to
pay for your clothes; your
clothes will BE your credit
card.
MasterCard is pairing with
fashion designer Adam Sel-
man and others in a pro-
gram aimed at making an
array of consumer products
double as mobile payment
devices, including clothing
but also automotive prod-
ucts and “yet to be imag-
ined categories.”
“The idea is that virtually
any device can be a com-
merce device,” said Sherri
Haymond, group head of
digital channels for Master-
Card, in a telephone inter-
This screenshot image provided by Show-Score.com shows a web page for Show-Score.com.
New York shows by theme,
find reviews by critics and
users, and tickets at the
best price.
So far, the site has been
a hit. It launched Sept. 15
and hit 10,000 members
on Tuesday. It hopes to
one day offer the same re-
sources to theatergoers in
London, Los Angeles, north-
ern California, Toronto and
Chicago.
Inspired by Netflix and
Amazon, the site lets au-
dience-goers find exactly
what they want — options
include a show with pup-
pets, a Shakespeare revival
or a romance, and many
view Tuesday. The program
was unveiled Monday at
the Money 20/20 confer-
ence in Las Vegas.
Selman works closely with
pop star Rihanna and de-
signed her famous, very
sheer dress for the 2014
Council of Fashion Design-
ers of America awards.
How one would hide even
a microchip in such a sheer
garment is, of course, hard
to imagine, but Selman was
chosen, Haymond said,
“because he is extremely
innovative, really creative. wearable technology,
When we met Adam, his
vision and our vision really ing that measures various
connected.”
Other partners set to be
involved in the program:
General Motors, wear-
more. There also are guides
for folks who like their shows nior marketing positions at
90 minutes or less, fam-
ily friendly or even scary, in Company, Two River The-
time for Halloween.
Deeksha Gaur, a co-found-
er and director of content
and community, said the
site employs seven peo-
ple, including four theater
professionals with master’s
degrees whose job is to sift
and evaluate reviews from
some 1,300 distinct publi-
cations and bloggers.
“What we’re really trying to
do is understand what the
reviewer is saying and try-
ing to read between the
lines as much as we can,”
able technology maker
Nymi, jewelry company
Ringly, and Bluetooth loca-
tor TrackR, according to
MasterCard.
Haymond said the pro-
gram uses existing tech-
nology and functionality
that MasterCard has been
working on for two years.
“People can pay with
what’s most accessible to
them,” she said.
In the past several years,
a number of fashion de-
signers have ventured into
with everything from cloth-
health functions to acces-
sories that charge devices.
As for Selman, he has pro-
duced a prototype of two
Thursday 29 October 2015
sucks,’ we want you to say,
Associated Press ‘OK, it does not appeal to
you. Who would like it?’”
said Gaur, who has held se- said Melcher. “If you spin it
that way, we’ve found with
Woolly Mammoth Theatre consumers everyone is like,
‘Oh, yeah, you’re right I
ater Company and Long didn’t like it, but my mother
Wharf Theatre. would love this show.’”
Users — who cannot log Users can follow individual
in anonymously — are en- artists they admire, theater
couraged to review, too. companies or any review-
First, they are asked to rank ers. Email alerts can be
the work on a scale of 1-100, configured about upcom-
then they are asked to pick ing shows they might like,
among a list of words to de- shows that score over 80 or
scribe it (from “dizzying” to artists they follow who are
“banal”) and to comment opening new things.
on two sections “See it if...” Reviewers — whether pro-
and “Don’t see it if...” fessional or amateur — gain
“Even if you’re sitting there influence on the site based
in the audience and you’re on the number of followers
going, ‘You know, this they amass, the number
of reviews they write and
whether other users have
deemed their opinions
helpful.
The site’s creators said they
wanted to build something
for the average person who
found researching shows
too hard and who eventu-
ally just stayed home. “Our
ultimate goal with Show-
Score for the near term is to
get people who like theater
to go more,” said Melcher.
He won’t disclose how
much he’s put in the site.
(“We’re not in the stinking-
rich category,” he said,
laughing.q
In this Sept. 10, 2015 file photo, designer Adam Selman waves
to the audience after his Spring 2016 collection was modeled
during Fashion Week in New York.
Associated Press
dresses, gloves, sunglasses MasterCard. “What sets
and a handbag, all imbed- the program apart is that
ded with microchips for it features the technology,
payment. while still remaining invis-
“Technology is vital to the ible, yet interactive and
fashion industry,” Selman totally functional with the
said in a statement from wearer.”q