Todays links of interest:

• Blu-ray to Shine In May
  Sony announces May 23rd as street date for first Blu-Ray discs. Millions make a note not to care.
• Mobile phone sales hit 817 million in 2005
  No statistics, however, about how many of those phones were pink.
• US online piracy crackdown nets three guilty pleas
  Well, that oughta solve the problem!
• Re-Imagineering: When the Tail Wags the Dog, er, Mouse.
  It’s not just your imagination. Pirates Of the Caribbean actually was better when you were a kid. Looks like some Pixar people are out to fix it.
• CBS Asks YouTube To Remove Video
  Is it time to devote a full-time reporter to CBS? With all these cease-and-desists, YouTube has got the be the hottest thing going.
• CBS Stations Missing Stern
  Was it just yesterday that we noted that traditional radio needs to engage audiences. Recent ratings suggest that letting your most popular figure go doesn’t help in ratings.
• Iliad of The Future: The ePaper Device - Softpedia
  Another e-reader (see: Sony Librie) to use electronic paper technology. If only these things weren’t so big.

“It took McDonalds 8 years to sell a billion burgers”
- Steve Jobs on the success of iTunes

It’s hard to say exactly what the folks at Apple were thinking when they promoted today’s special event as the announcement of some “fun” new products. For weeks I’ve been convinced that Apple was on the verge of announcing an extension to the current line of iPod socks. Cashmere, perhaps.

For any other computer company todays announcements would be minor at best. Hardly worthy of a special event drawing international media attention, not to mention dozens of live bloggers dutifully typing every word Steve Jobs uttered (has any executive ever had a larger pool of personal stenographers?).
Read the entire entry …

Apple’s “fun” product announcement is currently in progress. Initial indications are that Jobs and Co. are making taking next step toward making the Mac the platform of choice in the era of digital entertainment.

There’s a new Intel powered Mac Mini. Jobs is dropping strong hints that the device is designed to connect to your television.

There’s also a new iPod powered Boombox. Complete with 6 D cell batteries (yes, I said D cell batteries).

Developing . . . .

Just a few scant weeks after Steven Soderbergh’s “Bubble” was available simultaneously to theatres, cable and video, here comes another major test for what they are calling the “day and date” strategy of multi-platform releasing.   IFC and Comcast have announced a deal to release several indie films this year to both their theatres and cable on-demand services on the same day.

“Bubble” could have been written-off as an anomaly, a confluence of a maverick director and a maverick eccentric billionaire (Mark Cuban), but this, my friend, this is a trend.

And it will work because indie film people who live in areas who that don’t have a lot of theatres that show indie film, but happen to have Comcast cable (like, say, in Fresno, California) can watch the first-run movies that they’ve been reading about on various film sites and not have to wait months for the DVD to show up.

This could be the same boon to indie film that iTunes and eMusic are to indie rock.

• Comcast, IFC Entertainment reaches deal

 

As promised, Medialoper team coverage of the 1 billionth iTune sold continues. Today, we look at the economics of the iTunes store. Conventional wisdom suggests that margins on the songs are so low that the real moneymaker for Apple in its iTunes experiment is the iPod.

That, of course, suggests that making money on volume is quaint concept. Apple is selling approximately three million songs a day, meaning the second billion will be reached much faster than the first billion. Unless things go horribly wrong, the third billion will be even faster. 83% of legally downloadable music is sold via the iTunes music store.

Let’s pause for a moment and ask the first obvious question: why in the world would anyone not be cutting a deal with Apple right now? Why would anyone be putting all their eggs in Microsoft’s basket? Yes, two questions. If you want to sell your music on the Internet, wouldn’t it be smart to go where the money is? You don’t have to be exclusive — make deals with everyone — but be smart.

Read the entire entry …

Todays links of interest:

• The New Naughty
  Or as Jim would say, frakkin’ right!
• ‘Old’ radio fights satellite with HD as its weapon
  The advantage of "old" radio: free. The disadvantage of "old" radio: programming. HD won’t change listener minds. Maybe it’s time to figure out why they’re leaving fo satellite in the first place.
• Don?t Get Stampeded By The 7.1 Parade
  On the relative merits of 7.1 vs. 5.1. Personally I’m happy with 2.1. After all, I only have two ears.
• Dr. Gervais’s Frankenstein
  The power of podcasts: how they can transform a local cult figure into a world-wide cult figure. "… if the next Einstein or Newton comes along and nicks me idea about people aging backwards and turning into a baby ? if that happens, I’ll be livid."
• Digital product placement alters TV landscape
  Related, no doubt, to the technology that is used to fill a cafe on Caprica with many different versions of the known Cylon models.
• A see change
  A consideration of all of the shows with seasons starting this spring; the "perpetual TV Season"; and great cancellation stories, including the show that got canceled during its very first ep.
• The Last Aria of Tony Soprano
  Speaking of shows with seasons starting this spring, here’s an interview with the two men who are responsible for creating one of the greatest charcters in all of popular culture.
• Terry Gilliam Calls For Better Movie Piracy
  In the latest volley in his now decades-old war against Hollywood, Gilliam says that his only quibble with DVD piracy is the low quality, not the money that H’wood claims it’s losing.
• PlayStation3 Delayed?
  Stories are flying that Sony’s PlayStation3 — scheduled for this spring — could be delayed as far out as 2007. This could affect the penetration of Sony’s Blu-Ray version of the HD DVD.
• Study Finds Test Scores Not Lowered by Television
  So by all means, use the TV as your defacto babysitter!
• He Helped Build the iPod; Now He Has Built a Rival
  A former Apple designer has created a new media player for Samsung. While the player offers a quality user experience, there’s still no iTunes support.
• Dick Cavett vs. Sly Stone
  Clips like this one are the reason why YouTube is so great. Until they get shut down, sued, or bought out …
• Most get news from broadcasters
  This probably should be noted by CBS executives. Consider this our attempt to help them.
• Top 10 Strangest iPod Accessories
  Apparently Wurlitzer doesn’t realizes that iPod owners don’t need a 100 CD changer.
• Survey: Rural Broadband Users Closing Gap
  In order for the new media revolution to take place, broadband needs to be as common as cable television. It’s getting there.
• Ask Bouncing Butler in Ambitious Makeover
  RIP Jeeves - Ask.com thinks living without a butler will save its world.

It’s been a few weeks since our last CBS update, but, never fear, the powers-that-be behind the network giant (given that there are so few networks, most are, indeed, giants) haven’t been wasting time sleeping. Next up: breaking news to your cell phone.

And it will only cost you 99 cents. If that’s not enough, all those Entertainment Tonight fans out there, can get their E.T. to Go for a mere $3.99 a month. I know, I know, how can you sign up? But wait! There’s more!

In the weeks ahead, CBS is planning to introduce several other mobile ventures. Some, including a soap opera in three- to five-minute episodes meant only for mobile phones, hew closely to the company’s existing businesses. Others do not, including a subscription service offering images, games, ring tones and sound effects, and a product that will let people create animated images of themselves that they can send as messages to friends.

But wait! There’s more!

Read the entire entry …

Todays links of interest:

• Ruling may undercut Google in book scan fight
  Perfect 10 decision could reverberate and bolster author claims of copyright protection.
• New DVDs already sparking copy-protection confusion
  Copyright protection: good. Consumer anger: bad. The motion picture industry’s obsessive search for effective encryption is leading to its biggest nightmare: consumers who can’t be bothered to figure out what works on which player.
• Internet Explorer 7 Adds New Security
  This just in: Internet Explorer 7 has tabs. Yes, tabs. In the year 2006, they are finally getting around to tabs. We are trying to figure out how anyone uses the ‘net without them right now.
• Future of the Internet Highway Debated
  The rhetoric over ownership of lines versus consumer demands is heating up — and it may be the phone companies who lose. If you take the "highway" analogy seriously, then we’re talking about a true public space. . .
• Digital product placement alters TV landscape
  It goes without saying that product placement needed to move to the next level — it’s only been a year since its last shift. With digital placement, you can see a new type of crackers in every media window.
• s.beat combines MP3 player, tools of survival
  Finally, a useful alternative to the iPod: the Swiss Army knife crossed with an MP3 player.
• Turner to Leave Time Warner
  Say what you want about his stone craziness, but always remember this, the man created CNN. Which only, you know, changed everything.
• Where the Money Is in Wireless
  One analyst’s take on who might win in the personal wireless revolution.
• Racy Material Missing From ‘Running’ Game
  "What about the Children?!?!" group succeeds in getting simulated oral sex scene removed from online movie trailer/game. Next on their list: oral sex itself!!
• Next-Gen DVD Copy-Protection Debacle
  Between the format wars and the hosing of those of us who were early HDTV adopters, it’s looking like the HD DVD is becoming the biggest "why even bother?" since the laserdisc.
• Justice Dept. Rejects Google’s Concerns
  This feels like a fishing expedition. There must be better ways to protect children.
• Speed of sound: from disc to download
  A quick look at how the way people have gotten their music over the past half-century or so. From the 78RPM to the mp3, one thing hasn’t changed: the fact that an obscure technological specification often drives what people call the end product.
• New technology offers TV show viewing - without the TV
  A nice roundup of the current state of cross-platform TV on Demand — which, of course, could be completely out-of-date tomorrow.
• Apple to offer full-length feature films via iTunes Store.
  Man, Tom Cruise will look short on an iPod.
• A Milestone for iTunes; a Windfall for a Downloader
  Team coverage of the billionth iTunes download continues. Stay tuned for more . . .

I guess I should have known that something was up when the cable guy almost immediately started apologizing for the fact that there was no way I could have “the moxie.” At first, I thought that he was making aspersions on my personality, but I soon realized that he meant the “moxi,” a media center that did more than just cable that they just didn’t have, and anyways, weren’t able to support until the summer anyways.

And I didn’t care — a critical mass of cable channels had been hit, and I was going to converge two technologies that I had been using seperately for at least four years: the DVR and the HDTV. How could I possibly complain about a dual-tuner Scientifc Atlantic DVR that played shows back in gorgeous Hi-Def?

And indeed, there is nothing wrong with the output: it looks sharp and clear and strong. However, the input — the user interface — is another thing entirely. It totally sucks.

Read the entire entry …

Todays links of interest:

• Michigan teen downloads billionth iTunes song
  And gets a bunch of cool stuff, earning the wrath of those of us who downloaded the other 999,999,999.
• Judge delays BlackBerry cutoff decision
  Life continues to have meaning for millions of people.
• Creative May Be iPod Threat
  Yeah surrrrre. And Apple may be a Windows threat.
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: A word of mouth revolution
  How the Brooklyn band used the Internet (and a key rave review) to garner critical and semi-popular commercial success.
• NBC has company in the Olympic TV business
  How networks world-wide are covering the Olympics.
• Industry fiercely opposes unbundled TV
  The cable industry is going to fight a la carte programming tooth and nail. And even if they lose, no doubt that they will make it incredibly difficult to add and delete channels on the fly.