Digital Technology for Digital Living.
July 10, 2007
MSNBC Reporter Kills Paris Hilton Story - Becomes Internet Sensation
A lighter and paper shredder helped make Mika Brzezinski the “symbol of television journalism’s guilt trip” about Paris Hilton. Brzezinski used both to destroy a script calling for her to read about Hilton’s release from jail on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program recently. Part serious, part an act, it has become an Internet sensation. More than 2 million people have watched a clip of the incident on YouTube, around 10 times the number who watched it live on TV. Apparently, she’s not the only one sick of the socialite.
“Among journalists it touched a nerve because I think we’re tired of pretending this is important,” she said. “We also know that, deep down inside, our viewers know that we don’t believe this is news. They can’t. They can’t think we’re that dumb.”
Brzezinski, who left CBS News last year, has been working as a news- reader and on-air foil for Joe Scarborough on the show MSNBC is trying out to replace Don Imus in the morning.
Hours after Hilton’s June 26 catwalk to freedom, Joe Scarborough (widget) and Brzezinski discussed one of the day’s other big stories at their show’s opening: influential Republican Sen. Richard Lugar’s declaration that President Bush’s Iraq strategy wasn’t working.
It was then Brzezinski’s turn to sum up the day’s news. She looked down at her script and Hilton was the top story. She froze.
“I could not get through the first three words without crumbling,” she said. “My skin was crawling. This was our lead? On a day like this? To me, it was just the ultimate Paris Hilton out-of-control moment. We’ve gone too far and we’ve got to stop. That was all real. There was nothing planned about that, and I believe we got a little snappy.”
BeSocial: breitbart | digg story | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband
June 20, 2007
YouTube Live Today on Apple TV
Good news for Apple TV and the iPhone. Starting today, Apple TV owners can start watching YouTube content on their TV sets. YouTube content will also be available to the iPhone when it officially launches on June 29th.
Apple TV users can download a free update via the built-in software update option to enable a new YouTube content menu. An option to “check for updates” is listed under the Apple TV settings screen.
iPhone users will be able to enjoy YouTube’s originally-created content on their iPhones when they begin shipping on June 29. A YouTube player application on the iPhone will wirelessly stream YouTube’s videos to the iPhone over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks and play it on iPhone’s 3.5 inch display.
Both AppleTV and the iPhone will play YouTube content that has been reencoded into Apple’s h.264 video format. 10,000 of YouTube’s videos have been converted so far with the remainder expected by the fall. An Apple press release claims that h.264 was chosen “to achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices.”
Reports coming out of WWDC 2007 say that one of Apple’s justifications of avoiding Flash video playback on the iPhone is improved battery life. The iPhone contains dedicated hardware capable of playing h.264 content, while Flash content would require more intensive use of the iPhone’s CPU, resulting in higher battery drain.
You can read a review of the Apple TV here.
BeSocial: macrumors | digg story | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (1) | Broadband, Video
June 13, 2007
Security Bugs in Safari for Windows
It’s been an interesting few days for Apple and their Safari web browser. On Monday, Apple released a PC version of Safari 3 (beta) at the 2007 Worldwide Developers Conference. But within a few hours, Internet security specialists and hackers had uncovered several bugs capable of crashing the Windows operating system as well as a major security flaw making it possible to remotely take control a PC without the owners knowledge.
Just hours after Apple made Safari 3 available for Windows, David Maynor from Errata Security and independent expert Aviv Raff both blogged about the Safari security bugs they found.
“I can’t speak for anybody else, but the bugs [I] found in the beta copy of Safari on Windows work on the production copy on OS X as well… The exploit is robust mostly thanks to the lack of any kind of advanced security features in [Mac] OS X.” erratasec.blogspot.com
“A first glance at the debugger showed me that this memory corruption might be exploitable. Although, I’ll have to dig more to be sure of that. Again, this is just a beta version. But, don’t you hate those pathetic claims?” net-security.org
At last count, 6 total bugs in Safari have been recorded despite this claim on the Safari 3 download page: “Apple engineers designed Safari to be secure from day one.”
But hell, Safari 3 is just a beta version, it’s supposed to have bugs, right?
So why did Apple decide to make their Safari web browser Windows compatible in the first place? Three reasons come to mind:
- A cross platform web browser will encourage web developers to create web-based programs for the iPhone and make their sites more compatible for existing Safari (Mac) users.
- A PC version of Safari is an opportunity to expose Windows users to another Apple product. Apple hopes PC users will enjoy their Safari experience and think about getting a Mac the next time they get a new computer. So far, they are off to a pretty bad start.
- Search dollars. The little search box in the upper right corner of the Firefox web browser is a major revenue generator. Every time you use that little search box, the browser manufacturer makes money off the search ads you are exposed to when you are taken to the results page. I’ve seen reports that Firefox (an open source project) made around over $50 million dollars from that little search box in 2006 alone.
You can download Safari 3 (beta) from Apple.com.
BeSocial: digg story | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband, Software
May 31, 2007
YouTube Coming to Apple TV
Wish you could watch YouTube videos on your Apple TV? Sometime in June, all Internet connected Apple TV boxes will accept a free software patch that will enable wireless streaming of YouTube videos. YouTube is making thousands of clips available each week until thier full catalog is accessible later this fall.
You’ll be able browse the YouTube content on your Apple TV in a variety of ways including: featured, top viewed, recently viewed, history, and even by search. I’m dreading the search option. If you haven’t used the Apple TV yet, there’s a USB port in the back of the device, but you currently can’t use a keyboard for some reason. Entering text on the Apple TV is the equivalent of typing in your initials for the high score screen in an arcade game. Very painful without a keyboard.
So how chewy will these compressed YouTube videos look on your HD TV? I’ve already ripped a bunch of music videos off YouTube, converted them to MPEG-4 videos and saved them in iTunes. Honestly, the Flash encoded YouTube videos look like crap on a HD TV. YouTube doesn’t even look good when stretched out to its default 480 x 360, let alone 640 x 480 or HD. But YouTube does have thousands of clips and can provide endless hours of entertainment. Fuzzy, but fun.
Apple also announced a new Apple TV model with a 160 GB hard drive for $400. You’ll still be able to buy the old 40 GB version for $300, but personally, I think $100 for 4x the storage is a great deal.
You can read more about the Apple TV here: Apple TV Review
BeSocial: digg story | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband, Video, Digital TV
Google Adds Facial Recognition to Image Search
It looks like Google’s 2006 acquisition of Neven Vision, a company specializing in facial recognition software, is finally starting to pay off. Google Blogoscoped, a blog dedicated to everything related to Google, got a tip from a Google engineer that Google had secretly added some facial recognition abilities to its image search this week.
The feature remains unofficial and unannounced, but you can add a small query string to the end of your Google Image search URL to see the facial recognition software in action.
For example, do a normal Google image search for “Starbuck Battlestar” and your image results should produce images from the American SciFi TV show Battlestar Galactica. Then try adding “&imgtype=face” to the end of the URL. Your new search results will only contain photos of people and tight shots of their faces. Cool right?
Last August, Google Picasa product manager Adrian Graham had this to say about Google’s acquisition of Neven Vision in the official Google blog:
“Neven Vision comes to Google with deep technology and expertise around automatically extracting information from a photo. It could be as simple as detecting whether or not a photo contains a person, or, one day, as complex as recognizing people, places, and objects.”
BeSocial: flickr | digg story | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband
May 30, 2007
Animated Google Korea Page
Google has launched a new home page for Korea that departs from Google’s “classic,” minimalist home page approach. The new look features animated product buttons below the search box and will become the default home page in the country, a move Google is comfortable with given the near universal presence of broadband.
The new, animated Google Korea home page is intended to help Google better compete in the country where it seeks to gain market share.
When you roll your mouse over the colored dots, icons appear. You can see the animation on the live Google Korea page.
“It was important where our classic minimalism wasn’t working that we adapt,” Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience at Google, said in a briefing earlier today.
BeSocial: digg story | methodshop | flickr
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May 19, 2007
Google Universal Search
This past Wednesday, Google unveiled a new “universal search” function that integrates text, photos, video, news, scanned books and blogs in a single list of results. The search engine will automatically check Google Video’s archive and allow users to click on a “watch video’ link that will embed the video right on the search results page.
Other video sites publishing clips or full-length versions also appear. Several companies have been working to improve video search on the net, but none with Google’s pedigree or market share.
BeSocial: digg story | methodshop
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May 08, 2007
Presidental Hopefuls Meet Googlers
The Google Interview could become the 21st-century equivalent of the candidate’s pilgrimage to the General Motors plant. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was first, in February, followed by McCain on Friday. The company has extended invitations to all the major candidates and expects more campaign appearances in coming weeks.
“I like to think of (seeking) the presidency as a job interview with the American people,” Schmidt, who moderates the sessions, told McCain. “And you’re also sort of interviewing with Google. It’s hard to get a job at Google.”
The company famously demands college transcripts and high grades; Schmidt’s staff whooped at the indirect praise. “I know I have my work cut out for me,” John McCain replied. After apologizing for his mind-bending opening inquiry, Schmidt, a regular Democratic political donor, heaped praise on his GOP interviewee. He asked a series of gentle questions about McCain’s Vietnam War combat and POW experiences, a chapter virtually no one in his audience was old enough to recall.
[Via USAToday.com]
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband, Video
New Spinal Tap Sequel Free Online
Director Rob Reiner has created a fifteen minute sequel to his mockumentary classic This is Spinal Tap. While the short film was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, it won’t be released in theaters any time soon. It is available, however, online. The sequel is part of an effort to raise money for Live Earth. Spinal Tap will also reunite for a performance at Wembley Stadium in London as part of the Live Earth Worldwide concerts on July 7.
Since their last breakup, the members of Spinal Tap have apparently been raising miniature horses, producing hip hop albums and languishing in Internet rehab.
You can find the Spinal Tap sequel on the Live Earth MSN site.
BeSocial: digg story | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband, Video
May 07, 2007
Did MySpace Buy Photobucket
Talk about a love/hate relationship. It looks like the high-profile feud between MySpace and Photobucket might have jump-started a romance between the two companies. MySpace’s move to block content from Photobucket originally got the two parties together in the same room. After that, the two companies stopped fighting with each other and started talking about a partnership… and even a possible merger. The value of the reported merger is estimated to be somewhere around $250-300 million. Photobucket had been shopping itself around for a buyer since late February.
MySpace is smart to make nice with PhotoBucket. According to web stat company Hitwise, “Photobucket Accounts for 73% of MySpace’s Photo-Related Traffic.” And many savvy web users have been using Photobucket as a web marketing tool.
Rumors of the deal first surfaced last weekend on the tech gossip site Valleywag. The deal hasn’t been confirmed yet by either party.
BeSocial: digg story | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband
April 24, 2007
Modest Mouse Music Video Contest
Want to make it big as a music video director/editor? The band Modest Mouse wants help making a video for their new song “Missed the Boat.” With the help of Apple, Modest Mouse posted 12 high quality videos (each shot at a different angle) of them performing in front of a green screen.
The public is encouraged to download these video clips and edit them together into one final music video. Feel free to use your own footage and experiment the green screen.
Why is Apple generously providing massive amounts of bandwidth for people to download these giant high resolution video clips?
methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband, Music, Video
Should Sci Fi Green Light Outer Space Astronauts?
Sci Fi.com and Sci Fi Magazine are asking Internet users if they should pick up a new sci-fi comedy called Outer Space Astronauts.
Visitors are given access to 5 vignettes from the show on the SCI FI Pulse Broadband Network and asked to fill out a survey explaining what they think. Sci Fi says it will also take traffic into account when deciding whether or not to pick up the show.
Think you know how to program the American Sci Fi Channel better than NBC Universal? After they started airing wrestling on the Sci Fi Channel… who doesn’t.
You can watch the Outer Space Astronauts clips here.
BeSocial: digg story | flickr | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (1) | Broadband, Video, Digital TV
April 16, 2007
Google Maps Darfur Atrocities
Google is using its popular online mapping service to draw attention to atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan. In a joint effort with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Google has updated its Google Earth application (free download here) with high resolution satellite images and special icons to draw attention to destroyed villages, displaced people and refugee camps.
Google Earth allows users to focus on satellite images and maps of most of the world.
When users scan over the Darfur region, where the United Nations estimates that more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in four years of carnage, Google Inc hopes to attract their gaze with icons. The icons represent destroyed villages with flames and refugee camps with tents. When users zoom in to a level of magnification that keeps most of Darfur on a computer screen, much of the region appears to be on fire.
Google Earth works with Mac OS X 10.3.9+, Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Linux. Please visit HelpDarfurNow.org if you would like to raise awareness or make a donation to help the victims of Darfur.
BeSocial: digg it | via news.com.au | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband
Google acquire DoubleClick
Google has announced a definitive agreement to acquire DoubleClick Inc., for $3.1 billion in cash from San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman along with JMI Equity and management. Many companies were vying for control of DoubleClick such as Microsoft.
Google has identified a number of advantages such as:
• For users, the combined company will deliver an improved experience on the web, by increasing the relevancy and the quality of the ads they see.
• For online publishers, the combination provides access to new advertisers, which creates a powerful opportunity to monetize their inventory more efficiently.
• For agencies and advertisers, Google and DoubleClick will provide an easy and efficient way to manage both search and display ads in one place. They will be able to optimize their ad spending across different online media using a common set of metrics.
The deal means that most advertisement you see on the web will be from Google and has hampered Microsoft’s attempts of entering the market.
Reference for posting: http://www.i4u.com
AndyD | Comments (0) | Broadband
January 29, 2007
YouProfit with YouTube
In an effort to stay competitive with revenue sharing viral video sites like Revver, Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, said that his site will start sharing profits with its millions of users. The announcement was made during Hurley’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland this past Saturday. Many active YouTube users have started removing their videos and reposting them on Revver so they can make some money off their hard work. Revver started sharing profits with their users back in October of 2005.
“We are getting an audience large enough where we have an opportunity to support creativity, to foster creativity through sharing revenue with our users… So in the coming months we are going to be opening that up” Hurley said.
How much will popular YouTube posters like The Wine Kone or Adam Wade start making off their videos? It’s still unknown. Hurley didn’t go into any payment details during his speech.
About 70 million videos are viewed daily on YouTube, which was sold to Google for $1.65 billion last year.
Be Social: digg story | methodshop
methodshop | Comments (1) | Broadband, Video
November 30, 2006
Naked People on Google Earth
Like sunbathing naked outdoors? Who doesn’t (especially Europeans). Just keep in mind that one day a satellite might fly by and capture your naked body for the good of posterity. Services like Google Maps and Google Earth have made satellite photography accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. This topless sunbather became an overnight Internet sensation, but she’s not alone. Apparently the Hague is overrun with naked and semi-naked Dutch people.
So grab a magnifying glass and open up Adobe Photoshop, because here’s Google Sightseeing.com’s Top 10 Naked People on Google Earth!
10) This picture got a lot of people hot under the collar. Many people think she’s on her front, but personally I remain unconvinced.
09) Very close to the original topless sunbather, this one is definitely female, I think. It looks like she’s lying on her front, and she does appear to have some kind of top on, so keep your hair on people!
08) Just six doors down, here’s a half-naked Dutch, person. Wearing a sarong perhaps?
07) This ones been widely discussed on other sites, but I personally reckon this is a guy, wearing shorts. Phew!
06) This person thinks they have privacy on this rooftop (haven’t they seen Enemy of the State?) and they’re definitely topless! (Sex unknown of course, but topless nevertheless.)
05) Outside a cafe on the beach (presumably before it opened that day), we find someone sitting calmly in a chair, blissfully unaware the whole world can now see them in their birthday suit.
04) The previous nudist may have also been unaware that just on the other side of the building, there was another person sunning themselves - flat on their back and completely in the altogether! Does anyone know someone that works in this cafe by the way?
03) Again on the beach, here’s a couple of naked people who think they can hide behind a beach wind wall! Don’t they know there is no escape?
02) Hiding away behind some bushes is no escape either. Mind you, I wish that person would keep their legs together. Yeuch!
01) Well, do you know of a better picture? I’m sure there’s loads more brilliant ones yet to be found. So fire up Google Earth and start searching! Enjoy.
methodshop | Comments Off | Broadband, Digital Camera
November 16, 2006
MSNBC Gets Mac Friendly
I guess the Internet video battle between QuickTime, RealPlayer and Windows Media is over. Who won… none of the above. Sites like MySpace and YouTube have made Flash the standard flavor of video on the Internet. Even Microsoft has thrown in the towel. Their news website, MSNBC.com switched over to Flash in October.
It was probably a painful decision for Redmond to admit defeat, but they were losing eyeballs and ad revenue on a daily basis. If you wanted to watch video on MSNBC.com’s site, you had to be using Internet Explorer on a PC. But as the Macintosh user base grew (thanks to the iPod) and more and more people started using the FireFox web browser, Microsoft saw their audience start to shrink. Microsoft had to finally face the fact that they needed a cross-platform video player that worked with other web browsers.
Charlie Tillinghast, president and publisher of MSNBC.com, had this to say in a company email “We have been pushing for a player that works on Mac and Firefox for a long time and are eager to see it launch… Some people assume that Microsoft, and by extension MSNBC, are anti-Mac, but it should be noted that Microsoft makes an outstanding version of Office for the Mac, including the Entourage email system. I purchased a new iMac in anticipation of this release and we have several in use at MSNBC itself.”
Is it me or did hell just freeze over at Redmond?
methodshop | Comments Off | Broadband
November 14, 2006
Wallop vs MySpace
As the online social networking phenomenon continues to grow, more and more competitors are trying to get into the market. There has been a lot of talk about Microsoft’s new Wallop, but is it really worth leaving MySpace for this new social network?
Unlike MySpace, Wallop is an invitation only social network. Meaning you must be invited by another user to join. Upon joining, Wallop will ask for your credit card information. This is because of Wallop’s “mods.” For MySpace, all modifications to your profile are done using HTML code. The HTML may be written by the end user, or taken from the internet and as a result, is free. The pages on Wallop are more like Power Point pages, which do not use HTML code to change the look. To change your look on Wallop, you have to purchase these “mods” for about $0.50 - $1.00 a piece. An easy way for Microsoft to make more money, but is Wallop targeting the same demographic as MySpace?
The answer is no. Wallop is meant to be an adult social networking community. The concept is a good one but will adult users migrate from a free social networking community like Myspace to a pay version? More and more adults are using Myspace to keep in touch with family and friends and also to advertise their businesses. The network is huge mainly because of its ability to personalize your page with free and widely available HTML. Wallop is cleaner and easier to navigate but profiles are not searchable (yet) and you must pay to personalize your page.
With the addition of Wallop to the social networking community, adults now have a place to go where it is targeted strictly for adults. However, it appears that Myspace has provided a place for 14-35 year olds to go without having to enter a credit card number, and pulling those adults away from a free and open service to a pay service is going to be a challenge.
Is Wallop a “MySpace killer” for Microsoft? Not a chance. Is Wallop worth a try? Only if you like tinkering around.
methodshop | Comments (1) | General, Broadband, Software
November 09, 2006
Monitor Your Web Addiction in Firefox
Are you addicted to the Internet? How much time do you spend on your favorite websites everyday? If you are curious, a free Firefox extension called PageAddict can give you a summary of your daily online activity.
If you are already using the Firefox web browser, just install the PageAddict extension and surf the Internet like you normally would. When you want to see the results, just return to PageAddict.com. There you’ll get the time spent at each site, percentages of overall time and the option to apply tags. You can even categorize different sites and restrict how much time you spend in each category per day (if you deem necessary).
PageAddict results are often surprising. Will you use the data to help make positive changes in your lifestyle? You can download PageAddict here.
methodshop | Comments (0) | General, Broadband, Software
October 18, 2006
World’s First YouTube Band
If you get a chance, head over to YouTube.com today. The number one video is something called “Internet Killed the Video Star” by the ClipBandits - the world’s first YouTube only band.
There are currently only 3 members in ClipBandits - J-Pe$o, Girl Bass Player and ClipBandit. They don’t even know each others real names, just their YouTube IDs, and have never met in person. They also live in 3 different states, California, New York and Texas. So how does an Internet only band practice or play gigs together? Easy. They do it all via YouTube. J-Pe$o and Girl Bass Player record their separate parts and upload their clips to YouTube. Then the ClipBandit syncs up their clips on several large video screens in his recording studio and plays his part live. He then uploads the final product to YouTube.
ClipBandits all got started when J-Pe$o uploaded a video to YouTube of a song he wrote during college. Then The ClipBandit saw the video and submitted a video response of himself playing along with J-Pe$o’s clip. Several songs later they’ve added a bass player, are considered the front runner for the Cingular YouTube Underground Band Contest and are looking for a drummer. We wish them luck.
If you want to download any of the ClipBandits videos and convert them for your iPod then check out this tutorial: How to Copy Videos Off YouTube.
methodshop | Comments (0) | General, Broadband, Music, Video
