I'm getting involved in a major project that doesn't leave any spare time for me now. May or may not be back....
Thank you for following rants and occasional raves!
March 4, 2009
March 3, 2009
OVGuide Updates Video Search and Discovery Tools
Online Video Guide is a comprehensive video search portal that draws results from sites including Fancast, Hulu, ESPN and Funny or Die.
They claim to deliver the most relevant search results of any video engine because of their team of editors, who manually comb, categorize, and tag content. In these tough times, I wonder how long they can afford to ....
While video search hasn’t truly come into its own so far on major engines like Google, OVGuide does face several competitors hoping to do the same thing, including earlier players Blinkx, Truveo, and Meefeedia, according to paidContent.
OVGuide currently derives its revenue through ad partnerships with the likes of NBC, ABC, and Warner Brothers. Here is to wish them the best of luck to keep the ad dollars coming!
They claim to deliver the most relevant search results of any video engine because of their team of editors, who manually comb, categorize, and tag content. In these tough times, I wonder how long they can afford to ....
While video search hasn’t truly come into its own so far on major engines like Google, OVGuide does face several competitors hoping to do the same thing, including earlier players Blinkx, Truveo, and Meefeedia, according to paidContent.
OVGuide currently derives its revenue through ad partnerships with the likes of NBC, ABC, and Warner Brothers. Here is to wish them the best of luck to keep the ad dollars coming!
February 28, 2009
Jeopardy Goes High Definition
Believe or not, Jeopardy originally used cardboard and magic markers (isn't THAT a riot?) but now broadcasts in HD, in a $4.1 million all-digital production. You can watch Alex Trebek here, to tell you how the show has changed over the years:
There isn't much I can add to Alex's story. Many happy returns - Jeopardy is celebrating its 25th anniversary!
Cybercast credit: LiveConnect via Brightcove
There isn't much I can add to Alex's story. Many happy returns - Jeopardy is celebrating its 25th anniversary!
Cybercast credit: LiveConnect via Brightcove
February 25, 2009
Free Video Calls? - Try ooVoo!
I've waited to write about ooVoo until they made it available for the Mac. Now you can download the (beta) software here.
ooVoo???
ooVoo is (another) free web video service that allows you to communicate face to face over the internet with people all over the world.
You can connect with up to six friends, family, and colleagues at any time, through high quality video and audio. Organize a family get-together, share breaking news, or heckle your friends during your favorite sporting event.
Here are the features on ooVoo that make life easier and more fun:
Video calling:
* See, hear and speak with up to 6 people.
* Call Friends who don't have ooVoo can video call you from their Web browser.
* Embed a video chat in any website, blog or social network.
* Make video calls in high resolution
* Record your session to create and share instant memories.
* Send a video greeting to multiple people at once.
* Customize your video calls and messages with fun effects.
You can also:
* Call a mobile or landline AS A PHONE.
* Text chat with up to 6 friends at once.
* Send files up to 25 MB each.
* Change the size of a video call window.
* Find people you know or find new friends on ooVoo.
* Bring your blog or MySpace page to life with an ooVoo link.
* Control who can see or contact you.
IMPORTANT THESE DAYS: Will save you a lot of time and travel expenses too!
ooVoo???
ooVoo is (another) free web video service that allows you to communicate face to face over the internet with people all over the world.
You can connect with up to six friends, family, and colleagues at any time, through high quality video and audio. Organize a family get-together, share breaking news, or heckle your friends during your favorite sporting event.
Here are the features on ooVoo that make life easier and more fun:
Video calling:
* See, hear and speak with up to 6 people.
* Call Friends who don't have ooVoo can video call you from their Web browser.
* Embed a video chat in any website, blog or social network.
* Make video calls in high resolution
* Record your session to create and share instant memories.
* Send a video greeting to multiple people at once.
* Customize your video calls and messages with fun effects.
You can also:
* Call a mobile or landline AS A PHONE.
* Text chat with up to 6 friends at once.
* Send files up to 25 MB each.
* Change the size of a video call window.
* Find people you know or find new friends on ooVoo.
* Bring your blog or MySpace page to life with an ooVoo link.
* Control who can see or contact you.
IMPORTANT THESE DAYS: Will save you a lot of time and travel expenses too!
February 22, 2009
MIT Students Turn Internet Into a Sixth Human Sense
Students at the MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable computing system that turns any surface into an interactive display screen.
The prototype was built from an ordinary webcam and a battery-powered 3M projector, with an attached mirror -- all connected to an internet-enabled mobile phone. The setup, which costs less than $350, allows the user to project information from the phone onto any surface -- walls, the body of another person or even your hand.
Pranav Mistry, "the brains behind the project," wears the device on a lanyard around his neck. Colored Magic Marker caps on four fingers (red, blue, green and yellow) help the camera distinguish the four fingers and recognize his hand gestures with software that Mistry created.
The gestures can be as simple as using his fingers and thumbs to create a picture frame that tells the camera to snap a photo, which is saved to his mobile phone. When he gets back to an office, he projects the images onto a wall and begins to size them.
When he encounters someone at a party, the system projects a cloud of words on the person's body to provide more information about him -- his blog URL, the name of his company, his likes, interests, and who knows what else....
When Mistry folds his hands in "namaste" fashion, the system opens a menu to allow him to choose an application. If he wants to read e-mail on his phone, he draws an @ symbol in the air with his finger. He can project a phone pad onto his palm and dial a number without removing the phone from his pocket. As he reads the newspaper on the subway he can project a video onto the page that provides more information about the topic he's reading.
Maes, Mistry's instructor, and Mistry have been working on the project for four months, day and night, and have filed a patent for it.
Maes' MIT group, which includes seven graduate students, were thinking about how a person could be more integrated into the world around them and access information without having to do something like take out a phone. They initially produced a wristband that would read an RFID tag to know, for example, which book a user is holding in a store.
They also had a ring that used infrared to communicate by beacon to supermarket smart shelves to give you information about products. As you grab a package of macaroni, the ring would glow red or green to tell you if the product was organic or free of peanut traces -- whatever criteria you program into the system.
"We wanted to make information more useful to people in real time with minimal effort in a way that doesn't require any behavior changes," Maes said. "The wristband was getting close, but you still had to take out your cell phone to look at the information."
That's when they struck on the idea of accessing information from the internet and projecting it. So someone wearing the wristband could pick up a paperback in the bookstore and immediately call up reviews about the book, projecting them onto a surface in the store or doing a keyword search through the book by accessing digitized pages on Amazon or Google books.
They started with a larger projector that was mounted on a helmet. But that proved cumbersome if someone was projecting data onto a wall then turned to speak to friend -- the data would project on the friend's face. Last month, they switched to a smaller projector and created the pendant prototype to be worn around the neck.
This year's TED demo was the first time they've shown it in public, though they're far from making a commercial product or forming a company around their invention. "But we're really excited about the potential," Maes said.
They learned recently that cellphone makers soon plan to release cellphones with projectors integrated in them, which will simplify their system even more.
Cybercast credit: Brightcove
The prototype was built from an ordinary webcam and a battery-powered 3M projector, with an attached mirror -- all connected to an internet-enabled mobile phone. The setup, which costs less than $350, allows the user to project information from the phone onto any surface -- walls, the body of another person or even your hand.
Pranav Mistry, "the brains behind the project," wears the device on a lanyard around his neck. Colored Magic Marker caps on four fingers (red, blue, green and yellow) help the camera distinguish the four fingers and recognize his hand gestures with software that Mistry created.
The gestures can be as simple as using his fingers and thumbs to create a picture frame that tells the camera to snap a photo, which is saved to his mobile phone. When he gets back to an office, he projects the images onto a wall and begins to size them.
When he encounters someone at a party, the system projects a cloud of words on the person's body to provide more information about him -- his blog URL, the name of his company, his likes, interests, and who knows what else....
When Mistry folds his hands in "namaste" fashion, the system opens a menu to allow him to choose an application. If he wants to read e-mail on his phone, he draws an @ symbol in the air with his finger. He can project a phone pad onto his palm and dial a number without removing the phone from his pocket. As he reads the newspaper on the subway he can project a video onto the page that provides more information about the topic he's reading.
Maes, Mistry's instructor, and Mistry have been working on the project for four months, day and night, and have filed a patent for it.
Maes' MIT group, which includes seven graduate students, were thinking about how a person could be more integrated into the world around them and access information without having to do something like take out a phone. They initially produced a wristband that would read an RFID tag to know, for example, which book a user is holding in a store.
They also had a ring that used infrared to communicate by beacon to supermarket smart shelves to give you information about products. As you grab a package of macaroni, the ring would glow red or green to tell you if the product was organic or free of peanut traces -- whatever criteria you program into the system.
"We wanted to make information more useful to people in real time with minimal effort in a way that doesn't require any behavior changes," Maes said. "The wristband was getting close, but you still had to take out your cell phone to look at the information."
That's when they struck on the idea of accessing information from the internet and projecting it. So someone wearing the wristband could pick up a paperback in the bookstore and immediately call up reviews about the book, projecting them onto a surface in the store or doing a keyword search through the book by accessing digitized pages on Amazon or Google books.
They started with a larger projector that was mounted on a helmet. But that proved cumbersome if someone was projecting data onto a wall then turned to speak to friend -- the data would project on the friend's face. Last month, they switched to a smaller projector and created the pendant prototype to be worn around the neck.
This year's TED demo was the first time they've shown it in public, though they're far from making a commercial product or forming a company around their invention. "But we're really excited about the potential," Maes said.
They learned recently that cellphone makers soon plan to release cellphones with projectors integrated in them, which will simplify their system even more.
Cybercast credit: Brightcove
February 19, 2009
Global IPTV Growth Creates Opportunity…Even Now!
No, not everything is going to hell … so take heart!
Matt McCall, Managing Director of VC firm DFJ Portage, notes that the internet is growing globally as the primary means of delivering television.
The statistics show strong adoption in China and Europe, but much weaker growth (essentially none) in the US.
Hong Kong 31%
Iceland 27%
Estonia 10%
France 10%
Cyprus 10%
Sweden 8%
S Korea 7%
US <1%
Growth in IPTV services and infrastructure creates significant opportunity for all of us that have innovative ways to deliver distribution, advertising, niche content, mobile integration, and a whole host of other related services.
Are you with me?
Matt McCall, Managing Director of VC firm DFJ Portage, notes that the internet is growing globally as the primary means of delivering television.
The statistics show strong adoption in China and Europe, but much weaker growth (essentially none) in the US.
Hong Kong 31%
Iceland 27%
Estonia 10%
France 10%
Cyprus 10%
Sweden 8%
S Korea 7%
US <1%
Growth in IPTV services and infrastructure creates significant opportunity for all of us that have innovative ways to deliver distribution, advertising, niche content, mobile integration, and a whole host of other related services.
Are you with me?
February 16, 2009
Internet Video Rescues Super Bowl Ads
The sexy PETA ad NFC refused to air also turned up on PETA's site (surprise, surprise....). YouTube also had Saturday's skit from SNL, mocking the actual Pepsi ad that would air Sunday. Ironically, the Web site for Jack in the Box crashed right after they'd aired their cliffhanger about Jack's bus accident, prompting one critic to joke, "Should we assume he's dead?"
A pirated version of Budweiser's un-aired Super Bowl ad also appeared on YouTube proving the Web is more democratic than NBC.
www.peta.org/content/standalone/VeggieLove/Default.aspx
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7bQZLtgHts
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/01/MN0T15LDLS.DTL
Cybercast credit: YouTube
A pirated version of Budweiser's un-aired Super Bowl ad also appeared on YouTube proving the Web is more democratic than NBC.
www.peta.org/content/standalone/VeggieLove/Default.aspx
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7bQZLtgHts
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/01/MN0T15LDLS.DTL
Cybercast credit: YouTube
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