EPimentl: Comcasting

Is the SUN setting on CLECs ? How will they survive in a UNEP-LESS Post ERA?

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 01:43:49 GMT

In the good old days 199x - 2004 a typical CLEC with a 50 central office (CO) HDSL build-out, the CLEC is able to break even with just 20 business customers, show net EBITDA
(earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of 20-plus percent over three years and become cash-positive in less than two years.
With the recent UNEP ruling how will these xLECs navigate the vehement tumultous telecom sea and steer their company/ship away from the regulatory rocks so as not to shipwreck?

One solution is VNAP http://vnap.ws and http://dv4.agileco.net/BizLocity Now Virtual Operators, xLECs, xSPs, Mobile, Wireless and Cable MSOs, and others can leverage this Virtual Network Infrastructure to redefine how services and products will be created and offer and break the tyranny of the DS0 and and the shackles of the unwilling partner.

I will have more to say about this at a later time.

BroadCasting

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 01:25:12 GMT

Why The Long Tail of video is about to get longer. Broadband Directions: New forces are at work which hold the potential to flood the market with a torrent of new video content. This would dramatically lengthen the long tail of video programming, as it would be defined today. In addition, consumers will also have new ways to find, share and consume this video.

While these disruptive influences are well-known, their effects are not yet fully understood. Broadband and IP have opened up a new path to deliver quality video directly to the end-consumer; wireless connectivity and new devices are redefining how and where video is consumed; production costs to create high-quality digital programming are low and getting lower; video search engines from Google, Yahoo and Blinkx, which extend existing internet usage behaviors, are becoming more sophisticated and widely adopted; and most importantly, traditional television advertisers are increasingly shifting their mindsets (and their bucks) from big brand-building campaigns to surgical, ROI-based online tactics prompted by consumers' heightened disdain for commercial interruptions.

Examples of non-traditional publishers who are enticed by the potential of direct-to-consumer video opportunities abound. Recently I've seen video product demos on CNET and print reporters doing video news and features on USAToday.com and NYTimes.com. TheKnot.com is planning bridal related programming on its site. Last holiday season, I watched Amazon's short films. Meanwhile, a resurgent AOL.com is preparing a fall relaunch of its site with a video-centric strategy. Plenty of more announcements are on the way.

Via CyberJournalist.net

[unmediated]

MSNBC: "HERE COME THE VLOGS

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 01:22:44 GMT

MSNBC: "HERE COME THE VLOGS".

MSNBC: Ready for your close-up? Here come the vlogs is a great snapshot of videoblogging by Michael Rogers. He namechecks all our favorites including Rocketboom, Ryanne, Jay, Human Dog, Steve Garfield, and Dylan. He also mentions the tools making it easier to find videoblogs, such as ANT and MeFeedia. And, inescapably, Serious Magic's Vlog It! software, which nobody I know actually uses.

Check out Rocketboom's aggregation of SXSWi video/audio/pics/text and the official video coverage of SXSW for all the geekery you'd ever want to munch on.

If you're just looking for fun, please immediately watch Dylan's latest vid, Toys of Our Lives, where Dylan's dolls engage in sick and hilarious romantic shenanigans. Then why not see me "shake my thing" (am I saying that right?) on 6th Street in Austin for DanceFlash - it was like a mini-Burning Man.

Via Blogumentary

[unmediated]

Blog, Vlog, Podcast, Mobcas

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 01:13:00 GMT

Blog, Vlog, Podcast, Mobcast.

So many new words, so little time. Blog (web log), Vlog (video web log), Podcasting (including audio in your RSS (really simple syndication) feed for download into an Apple iPod or other MP3 player) and Mobcasting (mobile podcasting) an Andy Carvin acronym which posits the use of smart phones to create podcasts -- are all relatively new words that represent one extremely big idea -- unfettered plebeian access to the fifth estate.

Until a few years ago, governments (secular or non) had almost complete control of information. That made (and continues to make) information a form of currency -- like the military and other stores of economic value. These "new words" are much more powerful than the technologies they represent, they speak a new language of information and, to be sure, currency.

The value you will place on this information is in direct proportion to the use you have for it. Most people won't care about the rantings of a technophile or a housewife lamenting her need for appropriate child care -- or will they? Imagine a world where a group of protesters use their cell phones to acquire and document their experience with government forces and aggregate (and spin) that audio/video experience on the web. How about a simple group of friends witnessing a car accident or something worse.

We are at the dawn of a new era -- not the cliche version of the phrase -- "new era" the home game! Imagine the power of an individual when they are able to publish and internationally distribute audio and video more efficiently than CNN or Fox News. That's not years in the future ... it's already here. Want to believe? Check out some of the websites like http://tv.oneworld.net
or http://www.audiolink.com or http://www.audiolink.com and just play the tape .. err ... file to the end.

[unmediated]

Ten To Watch in Mobile Content

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 02:58:47 GMT

Ten To Watch in Mobile Content.

This is not a definitive list, just a list of smart young blood in the mobile content sector. Notice that except for one, none of them are CEOs (yet), but youâ€™ll hear a lot from and about them in the next few years (that was the criteria). Just a way of recognizing the people in the second wave of mobile content (in no particular order):
Â»Â Greg Clayman, Vice President, Wireless Strategy and Operations, MTV Networks
Â»Â Rio Caraeff, mobile head at Universal Music
Â»Â Thomas Ryan, Senior VP, Mobile Development, EMI Music
Â»Â Mark Levy, VP content at InfoSpace Mobile
Â»Â Lucy Hood, VP, Content, News Corp
Â»Â Shawn Conahan (end of page), CEO, Intercasting Corp
Â»Â Adam Flick, Chief Marketing Officer, Airborne Entertainment
Â»Â Robert Tercek, Chief Strategy Office, mForma
Â»Â Manish Jha, Senior VP, ESPN Mobile
Â»Â Russell Beattie, Yahoo Mobile

I realize this is a US-centric list, and if you want to add to my list of the people influencing our fast growing sector, post them in the comments belowâ€¦

[unmediated]

http://dv.open4all.info/?postid=107

Sun, 06 Mar 2005 03:48:52 GMT

Hoobastank - Pieces.

A reader has sent a link some great AMVs (anime music videos) by articnightfall. So here is the sample ...

Torrent Name	Category	Seeders	Leechers	Completed	File Size
arcticnightfall_pieces.avi	0	1	0	38	18 MB	Download

[DV Guide]

Jon Stewart on Blogs.

Sun, 06 Mar 2005 03:48:02 GMT

Jon Stewart on Blogs.

Jon Stewart's segment about blogs, blogging, political correctness, Jeff Gannon and all of that ... Taken from onegoodmovie.

Torrent Name	Category	Seeders	Leechers	Completed	File Size
ds021605bloggers.mov	0	3	0	47	9 MB	Download

[DV Guide]

Jeremy Allaire starts new compay BrightCove

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 15:00:17 GMT

Jeremy Allaire recently founded BrightCove http://www.brightcove.com/ (2004) to meld television and the Internet.
It would be truly awesome to see BrightCove and iComCentral http://dv3.agileco.net/iComCentral to find a way to work together.

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 02:11:10 GMT

Wireless Companies Turn Their Eyes To TV (Investor's Business Daily). Investor's Business Daily - There's a major push under way to bring more TV content and video to wireless devices. Asia's big consumer electronics firms, as well as Europe's Nokia and U.S.-based Qualcomm , have jumped into the fray. They're supporting a number of different standards for beaming digital TV to mobile devices. [Yahoo! News: Technology]

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 01:00:18 GMT

Game Boy On Your iRiver iHP-140.

Rockbox is an open source replacement firmware system for your Archos Jukebox, iRiver and one or two other players. There's a new plugin for Rockbox in development called Rockboy, which allows you to port the gnuboy emulator over to your iRiver iHP-140 (only?) and play your favorite GameBoy Color games. Rockbox only supports monochrome, so you're stuck with that, and playback is pretty slow, but it's a neat concept nonetheless and not faked like those Sonic-on-Archos pics. Still, we're not sure when/if it'll be widely available, as it appears they're still in the relatively early stages of Rockbox for iRiver. More pictures after the jump. (Thanks, BiLo!)

Rockboy Plugin [Rockbox]

[Gizmodo]

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 00:22:19 GMT

Is videologging the next big hype storm?.

At last weekend's Northern Voice conference I was interested by a small community of people who were doing video blogs. There was a session there and the videos ran from the emotional (one guy gave his last will and testament on camera before dying a month later) to artistic stuff, to boring talking head stuff.

I linked to a few video blogging sites to get you started in case you're interested.

Michael Verdi seemed to get the best read on why vlogging is cool. Here, watch his "Vlog Anarchy" post. My favorite line comes right at the end:

"I'm making stuff up and putting it on the Internet and you can't do s**t about that."

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

Sun, 27 Feb 2005 06:16:41 GMT

The latest Daily Podcast feed is up. It contains a poem, discussion on jumping the shark, information about NY Hotel Bars, Podcast safe music from Jersey and more. So go over to my new audioblog experiment, "The Daily Podcast Feed" and listen to some of the podcasts in it!

All of the tools (GigaDial, Blogger, FeedBurner, WebJay, Smoothouse Webjay wizard, Fabricio's XSPF MusicPlayer ) I am using in my latest audioblog experiment are free and available right now on the web. That fact opens the potential for a group of pioneer podcast feed producers to evolve using a set of open free tools.

Below is a list of descriptions of some of the tools I use to create "The Daily Podcast Feed":

GigaDial

GigaDial.net is a new approach to radio programming. You can use it to create and subscribe to podcast-powered stations composed of individual episodes from your favorite podcasters. Outputs RSS 2.0 XML feeds.

Blogger

Free blogging authoring software. Enables the distribution of Podcast feeds through the embeding of audio players and links to RSS 2.0 feeds using the weblog platformy. Outputs an ATOM XML feed that can be inputted to other services such as FeedBurner.

FeedBurner

Can converts a ATOM feed to RSS 2.0 XML file. Using it's SmartCast feature, FeedBurner will take the first anchor (<a>) tag that it finds in your posting content and convert the linked URL into an RSS 2.0 <enclosure>. Is the case of Audioblogging 2.0, the RSS 2.0 enclosure file type is also a RSS 2.0 file.

Feedburner turns the feed item into content that future audioblogging 2.0/podcasting clients can potentially use to produce "show channels".

WebJay

Mother of all music playlist generators. It allows you to take a RSS 2.0 file with mp3 enclosures and convert it to a XSPF playlist to feed into Fabricio's XSPF MusicPlayer.

Smoothouse Webjay wizard

Assists in the generation of the correct HTML for linking/embedding a Webjay playlist in Fabricio's XSPF MusicPlayer.

Fabricio's XSPF MusicPlayer

XSPF Web Music Player is a flash-based web application that uses xspf playlist format to play mp3 songs. XSPF is the XML Shareable Playlist Format. The software is written in Actionscript 2. Player can be embedded into a weblog post using weblog authoring software like Blogger.

Many of the tools above contain other features that do a lot more then the features I described. My explanations focus on the features used for creating "The Daily Podcast Feed" and what I call Audioblogging 2.0.

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 05:29:45 GMT

DIY TV.

The New York Times writes: "Homemade cable boxes. Episodes swiped off the Web. TV is becoming a do-it-yourself affair, and the industry is terrified."

The members of the MythTV community, who now do not have to pay monthly fees to rent set-top boxes or digital video recorders, have plenty of more mischievous company in trying to outwit the television industry. Millions of viewers are now watching illegal copies of television programs - even full seasons copied from popular DVD's - that are flitting about the Internet, thanks to other new programs that allow users to upload and download the large files quickly. And entrepreneurial souls are busily concocting even newer applications, including one that searches the Internet for illegal copies of any television shows you may desire and automatically downloads them to your computer.

These high-tech tricks address desires that have become standard in an age of instant media gratification: the desire to watch what you want, when and how you want it. And they're turning television - traditionally beamed into homes at the convenience of the broadcast and cable networks - into something more flexible, highly portable and commercial free.

Not surprisingly, the repercussions - particularly the rapidly growing number of shows available for the plucking online - terrify industry executives, who remember only too well what Napster and other file-sharing programs did to the music industry. They fret that if unchecked, rampant trading of files will threaten the riches of the relatively new and surprisingly lucrative television DVD business. It could endanger sales of television shows to international markets and into syndication. And it could further endanger what for the past 50 years has been television's economic linchpin: the 30-second commercial.

[E M E R G I C . o r g]

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 05:28:13 GMT

Sony Ericsson Z800i, similar to Robin Hood, takes from Vodafone and gives to the world.

A while back, Sony Ericsson announced the V800, a 3G clamshell that while totally awesome, is offered exclusively through Vodafone. Well through the clever act of using a different letter of the alphabet, this same great phone will get into more hands under the name Z800i. This bad mutha will be available in the second quarter, and it brings quite a bit to the party. Bluetooth, Infrared, or USB will give users synchronization capability with their PC. A 1.3 megapixel camera will rotate along the hinge of the handset, and the photos will be stored on Memory Stick PRO Duo cards, with support for up to 1GB. The music player inside the Z800i will support MP3/AAC/M4A formats and playback with stereo sound and Sony’s MegaBass technology. While it’s early in the first day of 3GSM, we think it’s safe to call the Z800i the RAZR V3 killer.

[Engadget]

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 02:04:25 GMT

Mitsubishi PocketProjector.

I am confident that portable front-projection is going to be one of the break-out products this year. Look at this new Mitsubishi PocketProjector: weighing only 14 ounces, it can project an 800 by 600 pixel image that is 20 inches across from only one foot away (the 'throw'). It's a DLP system, which is arguably the best technology for projection (although there's much to recommend LCD in certain scenarios), and uses an LED for its backlight. That means it won't have a terribly bright lamp, but the LEDs will not only last ten times as long as a normal projector bulb, they'll also be a lot more sturdy (good for something so easy to toss in a bag).

So think about it: while right now there isn't a good interface between, say, a smartphone or PDA and the projector (it accepts VGA and s-video in), you'll be able to roll into a coffee shop or something, pull out your PDA and battery-powered projector, and work with a 20-inch screen shining off the back of every passing barrista. I'm willing to haul around 14 extra ounces (and shell out $700) for that.

Press Release [ChaitGear]

[Gizmodo]