mbAce’s blög
MScBA Marketing, web 2.0, etc.Larry David reinvents sitcoms even before the Seinfeld “reunion” show.
The season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm will air on the 22ndof Nov on HBO and will likely be one of the biggest things in TV lately. This is of course due to the return of the infamous Seinfeld gang in something vaguely resembling a reunion show.
Still the second to last episode (#69 The Table Read) was simply a stunning piece of comedy and almost had to be watched immediately again. I’m sure fans of all kinds are excited about this new episode of an old friend and it remains to be seen if the new installment comes even close to the actual Seinfeld finale that is still remembered well by many.
Even the Michael Richards stand up issue is very well parodied in episode 69 and lets the audience like Kramer again.
Illegal downloads and product launches
Thesis time
So I have now been working for who knows how long on my thesis project and everything else in the world has failed to get my attention. So much so that I even forgot to pay my tuition to my university and will like have to go on a hunger strike in front of the main building just to get my credits back.
Anyway I’m doin my thesis about Online Video Environments and if you would possibly like to help out the survey is available here.
http://videoresearch.wordpress.com/
Hopefully this will change the way we look at online video or at least give me a passing grade.
Google Ketchup is easy 3D for all
This reasonably new 3D modeling program from Google seems to be another winner from a company hell bent on eventual world domination… In a good way it seems.
The Google SketchUp, as it is really called, allows a user to easily create 3D models with almost as easy to use interface as that of original MS paint. It just requires you to watch the basic instructions in the form of a youtube video for each subject matter (about 40 all-in-all) and then you are pretty much and expert user.
The unique Google-esque addition is the possibility to add real life textures easily to your own houses 3d mock-up and then upload your model to Google Earth for everybody to see. So this is how they planned to fill all of the buildings on earth… user created content hmmm.
Nokia N97 so far…
Here is a little list of sites and news related to the N97 launch.
TED.com: Just launch related advertising
A nice and informative piece on TED.com that really shows how the device wants to be on the cutting edge, but doesn’t even say if you can watch the TED shows on the N97. Also something about the new TED translations, but not really related.
Qik blog: Streaming online from the N97
Here Qik is showing how the newly redesigned live streaming software will work on the N97. Looks pretty nice and apparently the program is pre-installed in the phone so you can start live video right after unboxing it.
Nokia Nseries blog : Facebook integration demo
The official Nseries brand-blog has something to say except mostly the same regular information and imminently biased reviews. Still this clip about their Facebook application shows how well popular third party apps have been finalized.
Bangalore blogger event: N97 buzz in India
Oh yeah, and also this blogger event from Bangalore, so not too much real buzz around the launch so far…
Proof that friendly software companies are writing Malware to fight Piracy?!
Now even Macs get STDs
It has been widely known and even covered in the ad wars that Microsoft has got coodies. Many of us know have always known about pestering bugs that haunt Windows users over Mac snobs.
Even though it’s not the first malware to hit Apple OS, this is still quite new for the piracy scene. Why would the pirates turn on their own, is this mutiny on the high seas? Either that or the companies are really just fighting back …or it’s counter advertising from M$oft.
Either way, lets look at the ethics here:
1. If pirates were infecting these copies that would be dumb, because they would unlikely intentionally sabotage their own work.
2. Companies like Adobe and others are fighting the piracy issue by making shit that potentially cripples your PC and now even Macs.
3. And the last choice is that Windows is just getting a little competitive advantage with the good ol’ Scarface tactic.
My point is the business ethics that are involved. Do the options have any ethics and if so in what order?
Here is my opinion:
Case and point.
Links: CNN, The Register, Opinions on possible entertainment industry links to piracy
Extra Question: Is it ethical for a studio to leak a movie for free (X-men Origins: Wolverine) and still fight pirates?
Shaheen vs. Susan and the power of Youtube
Britain’s Got Talent has started its newest season with a big bang and this time it’s going global by the power of Youtube.
Susan Boyle became an instant sensation after the first week of auditions and started a whirlwind in the blogosphere and pretty much in all of the old medias also.
Her youtube video has gotten 33 million hits to the current moment and that’s about a weeks worth of buzz so far.
Another sensation who is sure to get at least almost as much attention is a young 12 year old named Shaheen Jafargoli. He was first stopped by Simon Cowell for apparently not picking the right song. Directly after that he went on to wow the audience even more and even Simon got on board this time.
See the two hype worthy competitors on your friendly neighborhood youtube site and only on youtube itself since it seems that embedding of these videos is banned. Maybe the owners didn’t want it to spread even more than it already has on the internets, but still embedding is our livelyhood and we needs to keep it free. Please remember to share kids.
All in all I really think this kind of success is just tell tale signs of the next shift in internet tv, in which access to media is instantaneous. I mean, numbers like 33 million viewers wouldn’t be as cool if this had aired months later globally, like in the good old days.
PirateBay members get 1 year in jail!
It is a sad day indeed for all copyright activists, since the Swedish court system has decided to jail four of the Piratebay.org members for one years duration in the local (very luxurious) prisons. On top of this they have to pay a fine of about 3.5 million dollars, maybe the fact that their website is starting a subscription based anonymity service this summer can help them pay that off.
This comes as a shock to all the peer-2-peer sharing aficionados out there who still thought that they could stick it to the man without consequences.
Even though this might mean the beginning of the end for an era of questionable media sharing freedom, the piratebay has already reached success unknown to many of its fellows. Currently in Finland and Sweden the Piratbyrå is an official political party that has established large numbers of committed members.
So in the end there are still some who are fighting “the good fight” and will likely never be stopped by the MAN!
Cloud Computing: the legal answer to digital entertainment distribution
So those of you who have heard about cloud computing might know that it has a huge potential but has been pretty much restricted by modern broadband technology.
Now a company called Onlive claims that they have achieved the ultimate holy grail of interactive video streaming that can supposedly make any old PC, Mac or even a TV into a high-end gaming machine.
To many these claims may be hard to believe but if Onlive is capable in delivering what they promise this could very well be the biggest thing for video games in terms of connectivity and user friendliness. Not even considering the potential to the rest of the entertainment industry.
This service (if it works) would basically establish zero latency interactive TV over the internet. People would be able to interact with multiple forms of streaming video, no matter if it is a HD movie or an interactive advertisement alike. The possibilities seem to be endless.
Oh yeah, it will also help eliminate piracy. Since the media is never physically (or even digitally) transferred to the end user, piracy is sort of preemptively prevented by just keeping the games only on the servers doing the cloud computing.
A new era for online media distribution or a big FAIL! in the wake of false promises? I guess we will see when they launch.
