Friday, June 27, 2008

Dymo Discpainter, Part Deux

Art Adams | 06/27- 01:07 PM

Wherein I use the Discpainter to print 70 DVDs, with reasonable results.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Mainstream Media’s new correspondent: YouTube

Chris Meyer | 06/23- 10:34 PM

YouTube as the new AP Wire Service. Except nobody gets paid.

I’m still working out how I feel about this, so feel free to chime in with your own comments.

This past weekend, drag racer Scott Kalitta died in an accident while qualifying for the NHRA SuperNationals. The event was televised by ESPN.

I first learned about the tragedy while browsing the web site for the Los Angeles Times newspaper. In the initial version of the story, they didn’t have photos, but they did have a video of the accident.

It turns out that the video was an embedded clip from YouTube.

The interesting implication of this is that a news gathering source no longer needs to have staff on site, trade the story with a partner, or buy it from another news service; they can just link to a free service someone else has created.

Friday, June 20, 2008

AFI Digital Content Lab Sessions

Chris Meyer | 06/20- 08:10 AM

A couple of interactive TV sessions at upcoming conferences.

We occasionally post mention of what’s happening at the American Film Institute’s Digital Content Lab (AFI DCL for short), as it’s perhaps the best incubator around right now for interactive television. Here’s a couple of sessions they have coming up that are part of other conferences (the first with a registration discount):

MediaXchange
June 25-27, Los Angeles, CA

Exhibition Session June 26: New Technologies Impacting Drama Creation
Professionals from around the globe congregate in Los Angeles to address new models for scripted drama and for an exciting insight into the fast-evolving future of a more global TV drama industry. AFI Discount Resistration Code: EDU814 (3-day) or AFIEDU814 (1-day).

LA TV Festival Digital Day
July 30-August 1, 2008, Hollywood, CA

DCL Session, July 30: Steal These Ideas
Join project participants and mentors as they share lessons learned in the Digital Content Lab. The innovations and ideas developed in the lab are for the benefit of the entire television community, so come, learn and steal an idea or two!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

A Retro View of the Future

Chris Meyer | 06/14- 02:40 PM

We unearth a time capsule and see how predictions for digital television have panned out so far.

Back in the early 90s, I wrote a column on interactive media for Audio/Video Interiors magazine. It was an odd fit; I was writing highly technical, philosophical think pieces, while the magazine was aimed at the most blatant forms of consumerism and instant gratification – but the editor gave me free rein, and it was a fun romp.

I’ve had reason to go clean out my archives recently, and it’s been quite a laugh to read the predictions of what the “future” of television and video would supposedly look like. To give you an idea of the landscape at the time, DVDs were just being developed, HD was but a promise, and the main way of gathering information was to attend lots of conferences and trade shows – for example, it was considered odd that I also had started to use chat rooms on sites such as The Well as part of my research.

One set of predictions I wrote about were made by noted futurist Nicolas Negroponte (co-founder of the MIT Media Lab, founder of the One Laptop Per Child project, and author of Being Digital) on the implications of television going digital. Let’s have some fun and see how many came true:

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Cable Salaries

Scott Gentry | 06/11- 10:40 PM

Raise your hand if you’re in the Cable industry, have a show on Cable TV, work on a show that airs on Cable, or even if you just subscribe to Cable.

Want to know why you don’t get paid what you should be paid?  Why your documentary cost more to produce than you’re earning from airing on Discovery?  Why your Cable bill is so much?

According to MultiChannel News:
With the consolidation of its ownership into one public company expected by the end of the third quarter, Discovery Holding, which includes cable network powerhouse Discovery Communications, filed its first proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing among other tidbits that founder and chairman John Hendricks received nearly $58 million in compensation last year.  I am so in the wrong vocation.

via [MultiChannel News]

Friday, June 06, 2008

Who Will Rule The New Internet?

Chris Meyer | 06/06- 04:36 PM

“Take what man makes and use it, but do not worship it, for it shall pass.”

For those who contemplate issues such as the title of this post, Josh Quittner wrote an excellent article for Time on this subject. (It’s rather long, so be ready to carve out a small chunk of time before heading over to read it.) He doesn’t preach, nor pick winners and losers; he notes at the end “I’m rooting for everyone in this war.” Instead, he gives thoughtful, in-depth coverage of what Facebook, Google, and Apple’s iPhone are up to, along with a bit of a history lesson and comments from top-shelf thinkers such as Marc Andreessen. Find a few minutes this weekend and give it a read.

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