June 29th, 2007 Davis
1.) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
2.) Death Becomes Her
3.) Death to Smoochy
4.) Frequency
5.) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
6.) Beetlejuice
7.) Mystery Men
8.) Dude, Where’s My Car?
9.) Empire of the Sun
10.) Cabin Boy
Posted in Movies, Disclosure - I own stock in co. mentioned, Netflix | 4 Comments »
June 29th, 2007 Davis
Posted in Robots, VOD | No Comments »
June 27th, 2007 Davis
Last week, Blockbuster made a pretty big splash after they announced that they were going to support Blu-Ray exclusively at their retail stores. The move prompted a lot of people to ask if this was a sign that HD-DVD was dead in the water. After all, Blockbuster has a significant retail presence and their support for one format could be interpreted as a sign that consumers are demanding Blu-Ray over HD-DVD.
On the surface, this explanation seems to make sense. Blockbuster even went so far as to tell people that 70% of their test stores were choosing Blu-ray content. Sooner or later Blockbuster was going to have to choose a format and by doing it publicly, they were able to control how that information got out. Irrespective of their motivation, the move was smart on many levels and helped Sony to shift momentum back to Blu-ray, in the never ending format wars.
It could be that this is all there is to this story, that Blockbuster choose their customer’s preferences over corporate interests, but as a conspiracy theorist, I can’t help, but feel that there is more going on, back at Blockbuster HQ.
It’s entirely possible that Blockbuster’s love affair with Blu-Ray was an isolated business decision, but I suspect that Uncle Sony may have brought a shotgun to the wedding, in order to make sure that Blu-ray stayed relevant.
Over the last year, the DVD kiosk market has started to get hot. Consumers may have been skeptical at first, but once they get a taste, they have to come back. By the end of the year, there very well could be close to 10,000 kiosks in North America.
Even though the current kiosks have proven to be popular, Blockbuster and Movie Gallery have largely sat out of the DVD kiosk expansion. It could be that they don’t have the capital to pursue the technology or it may be that they really don’t see a future in kiosk rentals, but I believe, that they’ve been holding out for something even better, burn on demand DVD.
As the DVD kiosk market develops, I think we’ll see two different business models unfold. There will still be the current kiosk that offers a couple dozen choices and an inventory of 500 - 1000 discs and there will be the burn on demand machines that will carry 2,000 - 3,000 different movies that you can burn at the retail level. The current kiosks will be popular because they take a relatively low investment and the owners can control the costs of the content because of the fair use doctrine. If you play your cards right, you can make the kiosk pay for itself in the first year you own it. These are especially well suited for adding DVD rentals to a high traffic locations that normally couldn’t support a video store.
Unfortunately though, for a lot of retailers, the limited capacity of today’s kiosks prevents them from using the technology in more powerful ways. If you can’t replace your entire inventory with a limited number of discs, than it’s hard to convince the video stores and big box retailers to adopt the technology. While today’s technology will play a vital role in the future of the DVD rental market, it will be burn on demand that has the potential to save the video stores from extinction.
To a certain extent, Blockbuster will be interested in using the burn on demand kiosks in order to minimize real estate and cut down on employee costs, but the real benefit of the kiosks will be the new franchising opportunities that will open up to them. As the video store industry has gone into consolidation mode, Blockbuster’s franchisees have had a very difficult time adjusting to the new rental environment. Disagreements over the online program and the end of late fees, has even caused one of their first franchise owners to sue Blockbuster for breach of contract. As the market has collapsed, attracting new capital has been difficult and Blockbuster has struggled in replacing this lost revenue.
One of the problems with the stand alone burn on demand kiosks, is that these will not be cheap. It will take a healthy chunk of capital in order for Blockbuster or Movie Gallery to take advantage of this expanding market. With the introduction of the technology though, Blockbuster can leverage their brand by offering franchisee investors an opportunity to help create a new automated video store network.
This would help to raise outside capital that isn’t dilutive to Blockbuster shareholders, doesn’t increase debt, and would give smaller investors, a direct opportunity to invest in the growth of this emerging market.
When it comes to Blockbuster’s retail stores, I believe that they’ll look less like a kiosk and more like a Kinko’s. Blockbuster would be well served in studying the success that Paul Orfalea has had in building his company. The same concepts that he applied, will be key components for maximizing the success in using the technology. Burn on demand at the store level will need to work like a machine, in order for Blockbuster to provide the optimal retail experience, while minimizing their costs at the same time.
Little things like allowing customers to select a film online and have it available for pick up will matter a lot. They may even be able to charge higher prices by guaranteeing that you can always get the movie that you want. With a server and a couple of fast burners, Blockbuster could reduce the size of their real estate and improve customer selection at the same time.
For Blockbuster the stakes are huge.
Unfortunately though, the stakes for Sony are even bigger and while the technology to deploy burn on demand has been here for a very long time, like anything involving Hollywood, it’s been tied down over disagreements tied to the licensing of formats. Last December, things looked promising, that we might be witnessing the birth of this technology.
Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons said that 2007 would see the introduction of burn on demand technology for their retail partners, the DVD forum even “approved” a standard for the DRM, and in anticipation of the launch, Sonic solutions went as far as to announce that they were launching a commercial and retail solution using the technology. Despite all of these signs of this technological evolution, somehow the licensing discussions got hijacked by the DVD-CCA, and everything started to break down.
While Blockbuster hasn’t publicly discussed their burn on demand ambitions, there have been hints that they’ve had their eyes set on this target. Earlier this month, Lionsgate’s CEO Jon Feltheimer said that the company had digital distribution agreements in place with Best Buy and Blockbuster. Many in the press, assumed that he was referring to a movie download service, but no one stopped to consider whether or not “digital distribution” could occur at the retail level. Later, Feltheimer backed away from the comments, which could be interpreted as a sign of on going discussions.
Many retail and technology companies had hoped that Hollywood could come to a decision, but over the last six months, it’s been nothing but a series of delays. When the group met last April, they still couldn’t resolve their impasse and the decision was put off for another two months, while the studios considered their alternatives.
While there is no way for me to know what goes on behind the closed door DVD-CCA sessions, what I do know from my sources in the kiosk industry, is that the disagreement over the licensing has largely been between the studios, not the consumer electronic companies involved. At one point, Sony was even looking into building their own DVD kiosks, that would burn Sony films exclusively.
This would obviously be a less than ideal solution for consumers and retailers, but it suggests that whatever the core issues are, Sony is concerned enough about them, that they are willing to ostracize their customers, in order to maintain their hold on the DVD market.
What makes me suspect that Sony may have brought a shotgun to Blockbuster’s wedding, is the timing of the announcement of their engagement. It was a week and a half before today’s meeting, where the DVD-CCA, (cough: Sony) will decide whether or not consumers should be able to buy a burn on demand DVD or whether it poses too much of a piracy problem 
Coincidently enough, two days before the meeting, Rimage, also issued a press release where they mentioned their love of “Blu-ray” six different times. Rimage also recently announced a $6.5 million order from an unnamed “national retailer”. Rimage helps to make DVD publishing systems, Sonic makes the DRM.
Now, this is just speculation on my part, but considering that Sony owns half of the patents in the DVD-CCA licensing pool, I’m going to assume that they’ve got some control over what happens with the DVD-CCA. If the DVD-CCA can’t agree on a decision, than it might delay Sony’s digital plans, but it would certainly mean a lot more to a company like say ohhhh I don’t know, Blockbuster? It’s easy to dismiss, Blockbuster’s acceptance of Blu-ray as a day to day business decision, but in the larger context of their digital strategy, I think the move very likely could have been made, to shore up Sony’s support for the burn on demand technology.
While the DVD-CCA did meet today, I haven’t been able to find out the decision. They don’t like a lot of public attention and haven’t posted anything publicly. They did post their support for a law making all DVD copying illegal though. It’s hard to argue with them, I can only imagine how terrible it would be if consumers were allowed to make fair use copies of their content.
It could be that I’m reading entirely too much into this, but after watching Sony destroy their own PS3 with a forced Blu-ray “upgrade”, I wouldn’t put it past the company to try and use their muscle on the DVD-CCA board, in order to squeeze a retail partner like Blockbuster. You can call it payola or you can call it smart business, but it’s hard for me to blame Blockbuster, even if their “support” for Blu-ray may have involved a little tit for tat.
If it unlocks the key to burn on demand, then Blu-ray is a small price to pay, for a real shot at long term survival. Until, the studios can figure out a different economic equation, the video stores won’t survive the commoditization of media.
Update - It looks like it’s official, or at least sort of. I’m not sure if Blockbuster’s support was what it took, but the DVD-CCA finally authorized burn on demand for consumers and retailers. The paperwork won’t be signed until next week, but the move opens the door for a brand new market to unfold. It will take time for the rollout of actual products, but I expect that it won’t take long before we start seeing plenty of retailers adopting the technology. It’s way to early to tell how this market will shake out, but I expect to see lots of competition.
Posted in Media, Movies, Technology, TV, HDTV DVDs, DRM, DVDs, VOD, Kiosks | 5 Comments »
June 27th, 2007 Davis
I’ve listened to the Pixies a little bit in the past, but Thomas Hawk got me hooked onto this song today. The Pixies are a great band to begin with, but this song really is one of their best.
Posted in VOD | 1 Comment »
June 25th, 2007 Davis
If you click through the photo, you can use portals to see the jump in action.
Last week, I was walking through the city, when I heard this strange drumbeat coming from one of the nearby blocks. It was a loud series of clacking noises followed by cheering and pandemonium. I wasn’t sure what it was, but was glad that I had taken my camera with me on this trip. As I arrived at the block, I saw a large group of kids watching another kid skateboard in front of the Levi’s building near Union Square. There were probably about 30 kids in total and they had only been there for a few minutes at best.
I was never very good at skateboarding, but I could tell that the kid they were watching, was really talented. He was a natural, every move made it look like the board was an extension of him. While I was watching, he was trying to jump at least 10 feet worth of stairs, without landing head first into rush hour traffic. If I was this kid’s dad, I would have been totally freaking out, but as an innocent by-stander with a camera, I was more than happy to start snapping off shots of the blood and guts successful landing on his amazing jump.
Each time the kid jumped, the crowd would give him more encouragement. After watching him eat it three times, I thought he was ready to give up, but finally he landed another one and when he did, the response was amazing. You would have thought the kids were about to start rioting. Immediately, all of the kids started banging their skateboards on the sidewalk chanting again and again. It was a very surreal experience, it was way outside my normal day to day life in the city. It was as if I stumbled onto a lost tribe in the middle of San Francisco.
Eventually, the kids attracted the attention of security and had to take off, but watching them celebrate this accomplishment, reminded me of what it was like to be young again. They really weren’t hurting anyone with their skating, but you can bet that it was a lawsuit waiting to happen for the property managers. It seemed strange to be able to see both sides for once.
When I talked with the kids, they were really excited that I got pictures, but made me promise that if I sold the photos, that the proceeds had to go to them. I don’t know why they thought I would be able to sell them, but they must have taken one look at my Canon Rebel and thought that I knew what I was doing. My images are not exactly stock photography quality, but these kids were so excited by what they had seen, it didn’t matter. You should have seen their faces when I told them about Zooomr marketplace. I asked them what I should charge and they wanted college savings money, but eventually I talked them down to $100. It’s not enough to pay for any future hospital bills, but it would at least be enough for the kid to buy a helmet. If you are interested in licensing the images of this death defying act, feel free to send me a Zmail and we can work out the details.
Posted in Photos, Uncategorized | No Comments »
June 25th, 2007 Davis
(Warning Song is NSFW)
The winner of this week’s site of week award was the innovative music site, iJigg. What makes iJigg so unique is that unlike sites like Pandora or Last FM, they let you find music in a more social environment. Artists are encouraged to upload their tracks to the service, where users can vote and comment on the ones that, they think are the best. Just like Digg, the more votes a song gets, the closer to the home page it gets.
The site is still very young, they only had their beta launch last December, but already their traffic is going in the right direction. This really is a very unique way to find music. By interacting with real people, instead of a recommendation service, it opens up possibilities to find things way off the beaten path.
One of the other cool things about iJigg, is that the site isn’t just for North American listeners. They support Portuguese, French, Japanese, Thai, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish, German, as well as other languages. Users can either filter songs for certain languages or you can use the global language support, to find music that is good, even if you can’t understand the lyrics.
I was able to find a little bit of mainstream content on the site, but overall, it looked pretty clean. iJigg has a feature where people can report copyright infringement and they take the song down. When I first checked out the service there was a great mash up of Modest Mouse’s Float On and The Beastie Boys, but by the time I had gotten registered, they had already removed it. Not knowing whether or not content will be there later on is kind of a drag, but I can appreciate iJigg’s efforts to keep the site on the up and up, even though they depend on user submissions.
I just wish that the studios would quite freaking out about the mashups and realize the promotional value it can have, when people discover an old song all over again.
Overall, iJigg has created a very impressive set of tools that you can use to find new music. The community is developing nicely and already it’s a fun place to hang out. Even though, I’d like to see more mainstream content in the search results, I’m just as happy to find artists who are still trying to make it and who appreciate the extra attention. There really is a lot of amazing independent music out there and it’s neat to see a site that is helping them connect to eager listeners.
Congratulations to iJigg on winning this week’s award. You can check out their blog here. If you’d like to nominate a site for site of the week, feel free to send me a link and I’ll be happy to check it out. The nominees for next week’s award are listed below. Please vote in the sidebar.
Indeed.Com - One Search, All Jobs
Posted in Site Of The Week, Technology, Music, Media, Web 2.0 | 2 Comments »
June 20th, 2007 Davis
Greatest blogger tool ever or does the world really need more footage of Davis playing Pac-Man on YouTube?
As a blogger, I am always looking for tools that can make my readers’ experience, more multidimensional. Luckily, there are a lot of hard working people out there, who have built great applications that make this easier. Unfortunately, finding these tools isn’t always easy. Usually, I have to spend way too much time trying to figure out how to do things like record Skype conversations or editing videos, I want to upload, but every now and then, I’m lucky enough to come across a piece of software that I instantly know, will come in handy. I’m not always sure exactly how I’ll end up using it, but I can usually tell when a piece of software will be useful.
For a long time, I have been wanting to record things that I do on my computer, so that my readers can see a demo of something I might be working on. This would be especially handy if I wanted to review a website or an application. It’s easy enough to just throw in a link in the story, but sometimes, by adding an extra touch, you can express yourself in a way that writing can’t communicate.
This is why I was so excited when I saw MediaKey.dk’s review on the open source screencasting solution, CamStudio. The software allows you to designate anywhere on your screen, that you want to record. It can then be exported to a number of various codec formats, but it was it’s support for DivX that caught my attention. I didn’t find the software to be very robust in the editing department, but it’s an easy and free solution for demoing applications and for creating software based videos.
If you want to use the software, you can download it for free at SourceForge.
Posted in DivX, Technology, VOD, Web 2.0 | 4 Comments »
June 20th, 2007 Davis
As a video enthusiast, I love checking out new companies that are trying to get a piece of the digital landscape. It’s easy to pay attention to the big guns in the industry, but for every AppleTV, there are 100 smaller companies playing just as an important role in redefining the future of television. At this stage of the game, it would be impossible to predict how things will end up shaking out, but at the end of the day, it’s the consumers who will win the most.
Last night, I had an opportunity to attend NewTeeVee’s 2nd Pier Screening. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the event, but was really impressed with how things turned out. They hosted the event at pier 38 in San Francisco. This is a great venue. If felt like I was at a Drive-In theater that was built right over the water. There was something unique about being able to mingle at a party while watching the sun go down. Later on it got cooler, but they had heat lamps that people could cuddle under 
Once it got dark, they started the program and I was able to hear some interesting insights into the video world, from some of the people who’ve been involved in digital video from very early on.
During the event, NewTeeVee screened a number of parody videos and gave out awards for the most interesting ones. The winner was the hilarious “Real World Ikea“. It’s a story of what happens when five strangers stop acting polite and start getting real. They really probably should have told Ikea, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as funny if they knew that they were moving in.
During the event I was able to talk to a lot of the different players that are helping to bring video to the net. There were content owners there, technology people, bloggers, even private capital players doing a little bit of reconnaissance The whole event turned out really well.
I was especially impressed with MetaCafe’s sponsorship of the event. It might just be the free beer talking here, but I thought Real World Ikea’s top prize was better than some cheesy gift certificate. MetaCafe is going to give them premium positioning on their home page for a whole week. For a content owner, this type of exposure can really open up a lot of doors. Alexaholic currently ranks MetaCafe as the 150th site(*) on the internet. On top of the exposure, MetaCafe pays content owners to put your videos on their site. This means that the more views Real World Ikea can get, the more money the producers will make.
With a week of premium placement, the Ikea video should end up making Sean Sahlin enough that he can put a deposit on his own place for his Real World experiments. He could even try and get Ikea to donate some furniture for all the positive exposure that they’ve gotten from the video.
Even though a lot of people were there to network and meet the people behind internet video, what I enjoyed most about the party was the carefree atmosphere that it had. It was really a celebration of the explosion in internet video. As this industry continues to unfold, there will be people who make it and people who don’t, but no matter what ends up happening, it’s going to be a huge win for consumers. NewTeeVee is hosting another party in July, if you live in the Bay Area, I recommend attending. Not only can you learn a lot about this industry, but you can have a great time, while you’re doing it.
Posted in Technology, Movies, VOD, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
June 18th, 2007 Davis
This weekend I had an opportunity to check out the RoboGames in San Francisco. I had a great time looking at all the different types of robots and watching the games. They had robots that played soccer, a lego robot that doubled as a pooper scooper, even an R2D2 unit that just seemed to beep a lot. Before the event, I had never realized just how many different types of robots there really were.
Before I attended the games, I had been expecting a more stuffy type of event. I figured that a lot of businesses would use the Robogames to show off what they’ve been working on and it would be more trade show, than fighting robots. I had even hoped to meet the iRobot team, so that I could try and use my Jedi mind tricks on them, in order to figure out what they might be working on . . . Unfortunately, iRobot didn’t show up and while there were a few robot companies there, most of the robots seemed to be built by proud hobbyists, instead of the pros. This didn’t make the machines any less impressive, but it did mean that most of the robots featured were more for cool factor, than useful. (I’m still waiting for the robot that knows how to get me a beer, right before I finish the one I’m holding)
The Robots Turn On Each Other
I can’t think of an exhibit that I didn’t enjoy, but the highlight of the show, had to be the battlebots. Watching two robots fight to the death (or 3 minutes whichever comes first) is about as exciting as you can get. I still can’t believe that Comedy Central pulled the TV show. John Stewart liked to make fun of it, but the show used to be one of my favorites.
One of the things that impressed me about this year’s RoboGames, was the great array of battlebots that they had. It seemed like there was an endless supply of fighting robots willing to step up to the each new challenger. Just about every five minutes, two new robots would go at it, smash each other into pieces and the crowd would cheer as someone picked up 6 months of their life’s work, off of the charred wooden floor. There was one that actually caught on fire, but unfortunately I was stuck in the hot dog line and I missed it. (the refreshments were such a disaster it was comical, I have never seen someone iron a hot dog before)
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
Of all the exhibits, the android had the biggest wow effect on me. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the name of the company that created it, but they had built it to be an identical twin of one of their researchers. I’m not sure what the practical implications would be, but this was no country bear jamboree robot, it looked just like a real live human being. A little freaky really. When I first saw them standing next to each other, I could immediately tell that the living person was real, but it took me about 30 seconds, before my eyes were convinced that the robot wasn’t a real human. If they could figure out a way to put a brain inside, we may all be out of work pretty soon.
Jim Henson Would Be Proud
Another robot that I really liked was Animal, the drumming robot. I’m pretty sure that it would be a lot cheaper to buy a drum machine and lay down your own music over the tracks, but having a robot play the drums is pretty impressive. I’d love to see a band use one for a live show. I’ve seen artists fool around with drum machines on stage, but a drumming robot would be wild. I bet a crowd would go nuts over it.
Robots Learn To Get You Drunk Before Starting Laser Attack
I didn’t find any robots that knew how to get me a beer, but I did find a pretty cool cocktail robot. You press a button and choose between three drinks that it’s programmed to mix. It wouldn’t be good for a regular bar because it’s too slow, but so much of bartending is in the presentation and this would be a pretty cool way to serve cocktails at a dinner party.
The device works a bit like a Rube Goldberg machine. It uses a conveyor belt to load the glass and then uses a spinning mirror to move the glass under the ice and the liquor. At the end of the presentation, they asked if anyone wanted the drink, by the looks I got, I may have spoken up a bit too quickly. It could have used more a little more ice and some garnish (and scotch instead of that fruity stuff ), but overall it’s was pretty good, even if I’m not a big fan of a Campari Orange.
I had never seen cocktail robots before, but it turns out that this sub-genre has a bit of a following of it’s own. There is also a drinking robot convention, that they hold in Vienna each year. The name of the event is RoboXotica and it sounds like it’s more of a party than a convention. Last year they had a Mojito robot that would smash the mint before serving you the drink. Very cool and tasty. It would be a lot harder for me to get to Vienna, than it is to check out robots in San Francisco, but I liked the cocktail robot so much, that I’m tempted to go to Vienna in November, in order to cover this year’s event.
When I was a kid the RoboGames didn’t exist. It was probably a good thing because I would have gone into sensory overload from all of the gadgets, but even though I didn’t get to see the RoboGames until just this year, there were still plenty of kids who were enjoying the event. It’s definitely a family type of event. Whether you are 10 years old or 100, robots are something that everyone dreams about. I’m not sure why a talking, moving hunk of metal is so cool, but watching these machines evolve, sure is exciting. While I didn’t see a lot of practical robots at the event, it was still exciting to see the various contraptions that hobbyists have been building and watching them destroy them in the battlebot events.
*For more coverage of the games, you can check out Zedomax’s blog, Snarkolepsy’s two part coverage, Laughing Squid’s great photographs of the event or the Robogame photos on Zooomr.
Posted in Robots, Technology | 6 Comments »
June 18th, 2007 Davis
This week’s winner of the site of the week (cough: weeks) was Tube Battle. I’m not sure why I like competitions so much, but Tube Battle is a lot like another favorite site of mine, PickTheHottie.com TubeBattle puts two videos up against each other and the audience votes for their favorite ones. They have categories ranging from comedies, to movie trailers, to viral videos, they even have a sexy category for the Break.com crowd.
One drawback to using the site was that it does take a bit of a time commitment, if you really want to play the game right. If a video was really lame, I wouldn’t watch the whole thing, but for a lot of the videos I found, they weren’t the sort of things I’d look for normally.
By finding a new way to organize videos, Tube Battle has been able to create it’s own community beyond YouTube. It’s another neat example of how the web 2.0 community is using existing technology, in order to create a unique experience. By taking embedded content from other sites and rearranging it for their users, Tube Battle has created a new way to discover video content.
Congratulations to Tube Battle on winning this week’s site of the week award. The nominations for next week’s award are listed below. You can vote in the sidebar. If you know of a good site that should be nominated for site of the week, please feel free to contact me and I’ll be happy to take a look.
Posted in Site Of The Week, Technology, VOD, Web 2.0 | 3 Comments »