Nokia, Google Detail Linux Tablet Collaboration
From the article:
Nokia says it will ship a firmware upgrade for existing and new 770 Internet tablet owners. The OS 2006 upgrade, expected this quarter, will bring better memory performance and a “refreshed look.” It will also feature VOIP capabilities and a pre-installed Google Talk client with a full-screen “finger” keyboard
Wish they would release it already! Can you tell, I am anxious ;-)
PDAStreet: News: Placeshifting: Carrier Friend or Foe?
Will things like this convince the carriers that they should be just that, carriers and let people do what they will with the networks (oh my god, let people do what they want on OUR network, that’s crazy..! wait a minute, isn’t that how the internet became so useful?)
Cool Hunting Video: ITP Spring Show 2006
For those of you wondering what I do all day every day, check out this video of the ITP Spring Show from Cool Hunting. Very nicely produced!
ITP Spring Show 2006
A two day exhibition of interactive sight, sound and physical objects from the student artists of ITP.
This event is free and open to the public. No need to RSVP.
ITP Thesis Presentations 2006
ITP’s graduating students will be presenting a wide variety of highly creative and interactive projects that they have constructed over the course of their final project seminars.
Students have been encouraged to undertake projects that bring together the conceptual and design issues that they have engaged in during their two years of study at ITP.
Projects will include installation based work, digital video and audio pieces, interactive 3D, games and educational applications, to name only a few.
ITP will be providing a live webcast of all the thesis presentations.
Robert Price – Lifeblog Posting Protocol Example
Alas, after doing a bit of exploring, I see why LifeBlog never worked with my blog(s). It doesn’t do XML-RPC. Arrrg..
In any case, detailed on the site above, Robert Price has done the hard work and figured out just what it does and how it can be used. A bit painful but some progress..
Does anyone have a pointer to XML-RPC J2ME code for me?
PDAStreet: News: Cingular Debuts Video-on-Demand Service
More mobile networks launching VOD. You probably know my feelings about these services by now..
I love how most articles about this have the obligatory statement about consumers less than enthusiastic response:
“But are consumers ready to watch mobile video and TV on their small handset screens? According to a new RBC Capital Markets survey of 1,001 Americans, perhaps they aren’t. The RBC study found that three-quarters of those surveyed weren’t interested in watching TV programs or movies on their mobile device, let alone using a cell phone for music even.”
Even better is the confusion over plans and pricing:
“It is not to be confused with Cingular’s MobiTV-run television offering, which delivers live television broadcasts over the operator’s standard 2.5G or EDGE network – 70 to 135kbps. MobiTV costs $9.99 per month and requires a data plan, ranging in price from $4.99 for 1 MB to $19.99 unlimited.
The new service is free to Cingular customers with an unlimited $19.99 per month Broadband Connect plan, which also includes all-you-can-eat messaging and image sharing. As a premium offering, the HBO channel costs an extra $4.99 per month.”
Startup to Wed Mobile Games, Live TV Shows – Yahoo! News
Very interesting:
AirPlay Network Inc. said it will introduce a lineup of cell phone games tied to live television broadcasts. While watching TV, subscribers could use their cell phones to compete against others in “real time” by predicting plays in sports, choosing winners on reality TV shows or picking answers on game shows.
The4thScreen.com :: global mobile media festival
This festival looks very interesting. They are pushing people to think about the phone in a different way, not just as a television that is carried in your pocket as it seems the providers are pushing for:
‘The Fourth Screen’ Global Mobile Media Festival will focus on the mobile phone as an emerging social, cultural and technological phenomenon.
We invite artists, technologists, and other creative thinkers to submit creations, inventions and concepts in two categories:
1/ moving images: videos made with mobile phone, movies, animation and games intended for mobile delivery
2/ wise technologies: software art, software and hardware that proposes new uses for mobile multimedia communication, applications that have positive cultural, social and economic impact in diverse cultures
This is a completion of a post that I started in March of 2006:
Then:
So.. I bought a shiny new Intel Mac Mini solely for use as a set top box. First of all, I love it! Second, a lot of work is needed for this to compete with TiVo, MyTH or even Windows Media Center.
So here is what I have, 1 Dual Core Mac Mini with SuperDrive and a great EyeTV tuner/PVR device…
Now: What makes this truly extraordinary (at least in disruption of the pattern of my life):
At some point last year, the cable was unhooked and never got hooked up again (except for about 15 minutes during the 2008 election). This isn’t to say that I don’t watch TV anymore, I do, I watch Heroes, Lost, ER and a bunch of movies. The difference is that I watch it on my terms, not the terms of the networks. I get none of this TV from regular cable, instead I watch these shows through their respective websites (NBC, ABC) or through Hulu and now NetFlix’s online on-demand service (which is soooooooo much better than DVDs via mail as I don’t know what I want to watch next week today).
No longer do I come home and zone out to reruns. No longer to I switch on the TV just to have something to do..
A couple of additional thoughts:
I am pretty sure that scheduled TV will always have a place and people will always want programming in that form. I don’t think TV will go away (at least any time soon). I do think that (if the cable industry doesn’t buy our government) that it will eventually subsumed into the internet (despite all of the fear mongering about clogging the tubes).