May 05, 2006
Gandalf versus Darth Vader
Courtesy of Wired’s Table of Malcontents, a video (note: takes a long time to load) that in retrospect seems inevitable. StarLords is a mash-up of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (for those of us who haven’t already mashed these two film franchises together in our minds) and as Wired’s Lore Sjöberg points out, “it’s definitely required viewing if you want to renew your geek credentials next year.”
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2005
Microsoft's Digital Media Technology: A Riddle Wrapped In A Mystery Inside An Enigma
Microsoft has spent ten years and billions of dollars in an attempt to become a key player in the digital media universe. We have our own views on this topic, but are amused by the divergence of opinion on just how successful Microsoft has been in translating its technology for the media world.
First, David Berlind from ZDNet’s Between the Lines blog has clearly been drinking the Microsoft Kool-Aid, as is evidenced by his recent posting entitled Unstoppable? The Microsoft Media Juggernaut:
OK, you’re a doubter. The Podderati will surely eviscerate me for being a Microsoft sycophant. If you want to go into denial, that’s your business. The facts speak for themselves. No single company has circled its technology wagons around the digital media universe the way Microsoft has. It’s just a question of when the world finally realizes that Microsoft has already gone in for the kill. This week’s announcement from Philips [regarding a mobile operating platform] wasn’t just a stake in the ground. It was just another part of a foundation on which Microsoft’s media skyscraper will rest.
From the other end of the spectrum, consultancy Faultline all but cremated Microsoft’s ability to develop software for the IPTV market in this Register report:
Instead it is overly complicated and impenetrable to the competition, an attempt to engineer an interface shut-out in the TV markets. It also costs something like 6 times the price of other services and necessitates the use of Windows 2003 VoD servers, something they are singularly not good at. The whole affair may be a nightmare to manage support for, driving operating costs higher.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 08:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 23, 2005
Where's Jerry Bruckheimer When You Need Him?
When Google announced last month its beta program allowing users to upload their own videos, we thought the era of user-generated video entertainment had finally arrived, signalling the long, slow decline of professional content producers. But, after viewing the “videoblogs” at videoblogger, we suddenly craved a slick Hollywood production. Among the entries: Sally the Tranny Fish (“Our fish has a dark, hidden secret, like something out of Jerry Springer,” the utterly misleading intro to the video states). And let’s not forget Baby Bird, which is about, well, a baby bird that someone saw on a deck at her boyfriend’s parents’ house.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 10:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 22, 2005
Even the Techies Can't Keep Up
Slashdot has an item about UK provider Orange's launch of television programs on mobile phones, with channels such as the Cartoon Network and CNN available in a mobile phone bundle for around 10 British pounds per month.
Now Slashdot usually attracts the cream of the tech community, and isn't known for its Luddite readership. Still, we were amused by the first comment posted regarding Orange's TV for mobile phones initiative. The appropriately signed "Anonymous Coward" asked:
Why would anyone want a phone on their TV? I mean sure it might be convenient, but what if I've been making calls the battery goes flat? I can't watch TV! Why can't I get a TV which is just a TV?
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 11:24 PM | Comments (0)
