Digital Technology for Digital Living.
March 18, 2010
Google wants to BUILD your new TV!
Well, they at least are evidently going to start working with Sony and the rumor is Intel on a new TV that they want to act as an entertainment hub for your living room. Here are gadgetlounge we think that makes a lot of sense. We’ve had a pretty powerful computer hooked up to our living room tv for a quite awhile.
Google TV or perhaps “G-TV” will use the Android OS and may have a set-top box and an actual TV. In addition to regular tv, it will have lots of other functions that you would expect like Hulu, YouTube and other web-video sources, as well as games and apps for social networking. Google is of course interested in order to add some advertising to your tv. They own a few resources in that area so far, but this could serve as a big push. Let’s see how Apple responds . . .
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November 01, 2007
The Technology Behind the First Live Broadcast from the North and South Poles
When considering some of the most extreme environments on the planet, surely Antarctica, one of the coldest, driest and windiest places on earth (average temp of -56?Ǭ? F) comes to mind. Now imagine trying to conduct a live TV broadcast there. Sounds crazy right? My Direct-TV dish can’t even get a clear signal when it’s raining outside let alone an Antarctic blizzard. But on Nov. 5th & 6th the Today show will try when Ann Curry and Matt Lauer report live from Antarctica and the North Pole in a segment the Today Show calls The Ends of the Earth. This will be the first live simultaneous broadcast in history from the top and bottom of the globe.
When facing some of planet?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s harshest conditions, how do you even begin to coordinate a live TV shoot? Well, it might not seem like such an insurmountable feat when you consider that there are 1,000-4,000 people living and working in Antarctica on any given day (mostly scientists and their support staff). In fact, there are several year around permanent research stations in Antarctica. According to this article, the Today Show recruited the help of one such research station supported by the National Science Foundation. The NSF?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s established base in Antarctica has advanced technological capabilities including a pre-set data circuit that show was able use for transmission. Using this system paired with a software program called Qvidium, there was no need for satellites. So no matter what the weather is like, NBC will still be able to broadcast live.
The actual equipment in use for this shoot is pretty straightforward. The shoot will be a single camera shot using the Ikegami HLV55 with it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s feed hooked up to a laptop computer that runs the Qvidium software to stream live video. The Qvidium system transports and/or captures live video feeds for IP networks, including High Definition video. It enables this high-quality video transport over unconditioned IP networks, including wireless links and the Internet. It can operate on a single path due to the limitations of bandwidth.
As far as other equipment, goes it was all very standard. Nothing special was used with regard to the microphones, batteries, or the like. It seems as though Antarctica is pretty advanced for a giant desert of ice, especially when considering the fact that NBC?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s director of production operations was easily reached on his cell phone down there.
Ironically it looks like the biggest challenge of this shoot won?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t be technology, but rather making sure that the production crew stay warm. Also, the Antarctic Boomerang won’t make it an easy trip home.
You can track Ann Curry’s progress online here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/21487444
Brrrr voyage Ann!
[Sources: CaptClicker.com & Wikipedia]
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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
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May 15, 2007
How NOT to Ship a HDTV
The person who packed up and shipped this TV must have been a professional… idiot. They might as well have shipped this HDTV using bowling balls or, I dunno, hammers as padding.
For future reference, here’s a photo tutorial on how NOT to ship a Plasma or LCD HDTV.
More Photos: How NOT to Ship a HDTV
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May 09, 2007
Earl is Baby Cooking Crazy
In the May 10th season finale of American sitcom My Name is Earl, Joy’s future lays in the hands of deaf lawyer as her trial finally arrives. It’s “baby cooking crazy”!
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ESPN Producing Gascasts for GSTV
Wish you could get sports scores while you are gassing up your car? According to LA Times.com, now you can.
ESPN, the American sports news network, announced a partnership with Gas Station TV (GSTV) to provide 45-second broadcasts for thousands of TV screens located at gas pumps across the United States.
“It’s another opportunity for fans to be able to watch us,” ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said.
ESPN will slowly ramp up production of the gascasts. The network will initially just produce one segment per day for GSTV. But eventually ESPN hopes to produce multiple segments everyday.
Where can you see these gascasts? Right now only in Atlanta, Dallas and Houston. But next month GSTV hopes to install more screens at gas stations in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
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April 26, 2007
Top 10 Awkward TV Interviews
Maybe it’s something in the air. Maybe they were just having a bad day. Or maybe it was the handful of painkillers they swallowed moments before going on air (right Paula?). But whatever the explanation, weird, awkward interviews seem to be occurring at an ever more frequent rate. The website Double Viking has gathered the top 10 most awkward interview moments of all time.
The list includes such gems as Barbra Walters asking Katherine Hepburn what kind of tree she’d be and Tom Cruise attacking Matt Lauer about Scientology. But by far, my favorite moment is when Vanilla Ice grabs a baseball bat, destroys part of a TV set and makes Jon Stewart crap his pants.
Want to watch these YouTube clips on your iPod? Then check out this tutorial: How to Copy Files Off YouTube and Convert them for your Video iPod
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April 24, 2007
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.
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April 20, 2007
Apple Asks Video Podcasters to Increase Quality
Last week Apple sent out an email (screenshot courtesy of TechCrunch.com) to video podcasters asking them to increase the quality of their productions and start formatting their videos for the big screen. Since the launch of the Apple TV (full review here) in March, Apple TVs have been selling like hotcakes and video podcast subscription numbers have skyrocketed.
Apple TV owners, who don’t necessarily want to spend lots of money in the iTunes Store, are gobbling up video podcasts like never before. Even though there currently isn’t any HD quality videos for sale in the iTunes Store, the Apple TV is capable of HD video playback. So several popular video podcasters, including The Washington Post, TWIT (MacBreak), Revision3 (Diggnation) and Vintage Tooncast, have decided to fill the void of HD content by distributing their podcasts in HD or hi res quality.
Why hasn’t everyone started distributing their video podcasts in HD? Money. Not only does producing an HD podcasts require extra hard drive space (roughly 4 times more), special cameras and editing software, but just hosting these giant video files on the Internet can be enough to bankrupt your entire production. For example, the iPod Video version of MacBreak episode 63 is 21 MBs. The HD version is 93 MBs. To help alleviate increased HD production costs, many podcasters have reached out to HD television manufacturers like Samsung and Panasonic to get them to sponsor their new HD podcasts.
For video podcasters who are still producing content at 320×240 but want to do something to increase quality, there is an intermediary step before going HD. Podcasters can start by migrating their productions to 640×480, or even 640×360 (letterbox). This way their video files will still be compatible with portable media players like the Zune and iPod, but will also work on the Apple TV. If the material is carefully encoded, it will look as good or better than typical TV.
Read the rest of this entry ?Ǭª
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April 18, 2007
Top 5 TV Shows that Should be Canceled
Here is MSNBC.com’s list of the top 5 American TV shows that should be canceled. I have a feeling that a lot of people aren’t going to agree with the top three.
Let the fireworks begin…
Disagree? Want to talk about it? You’re not alone. Head over to the MSNBC.com Message Boards and join in the discussion.
“The Simpson’s stopped being funny years ago.” ~ Ghazi
“Lost needs to start getting down to business. It’s losing it’s appeal. Start answering questions outright already and get to the damn point.” ~ primehifi
You can see the MSNBC.com list here: Top 5 TV Shows that Should be Canceled
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April 07, 2007
$1 Million Dollar Apple Remote Control For Sale on Amazon
Amazon.com is currently selling a $999,999.00 1/2 ounce plastic SiK rex remote control that works with the Apple MacBook Pro, iPod Universal Dock, Apple TV, Front Row, iPod Hi-Fi and is Front Row compatible.
No joke. You can see the SiK rex Amazon page here.
Sound too expensive for a little piece of plastic? What if i told you that the remote can be stored in the ExpressCard/34 slot of your MacBook Pro…
Yeah, I’m not convinced it’s worth it. But if Bill Gates is reading this…. hurry dude, there is only one left in stock!
This is obviously a just a typo. So I took a screenshot of the million dollar SiK rex remote page and posted it here on flickr in case Amazon takes the page down.
If you are still interested in the SiK rex remote control but not the million dollar price tag, you can also purchase one used or from a 3rd party on Amazon.com for only $25.
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March 26, 2007
Sony Adds TV Shows to iTunes
Last week Sony Pictures Television made its programming available for the first time in Apple’s iTunes Store (US).
Episodes from current shows “‘Til Death” and “Rules of Engagement” as well as from classic series including “Starsky & Hutch,” “Charlie’s Angels,” and “NewsRadio” were added to iTunes’ offerings for $1.99 each.
Season 1 from Spiderman, the animated series, was also added to iTunes. The series features Neil Patrick Harris (Starship Troopers, Doogie Howser), Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills 90210) and singer-songwriter Lias Loeb.
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March 22, 2007
Apple TV Unpacking Photos
Guess what showed up in the mail today? You can see more Apple TV unpacking photos here.
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March 20, 2007
Apple TV Shipping
I got an email from Apple this morning at 4 A.M.. Guess my Apple TV is on its way. And it looks like they gave me a discount. I only got charged $281. It’s listed for $299 on Apple.com. I pre-ordered my Apple TV the day it was announced. Maybe I got the discount because it got delayed a month?
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March 15, 2007
TiVo CEO Promises Cheap HD TiVo
Think paying $800 for a Series3 HD TiVo box without service is insane? You are not alone. Consumers weren’t exactly excited about coughing up that much $$$ for the Series3 and TiVo sales have slumped. In fact, TiVo just reported a Q4 net loss of $18.7 million.
With products like Apple TV and a Windows Vista CableCARD coming out soon, TiVo has to do something before they are quickly phased out of the digital living room.
So what’s their solution? Just make it cheaper I guess. TiVo CEO Tom Rogers had this to say in his quarter results commentary: “We will be highly focused this year on launching a lower-priced, mass appeal High Definition product.”
That vague quote doesn’t exactly guarantee a cheap HD TiVo during 2007, but hopefully they can come up with something during the next 9 months. Whatever they are going to do, they better do it quick. I already pre-ordered an Apple TV and if it lives up to expectations, my Series2 TiVo will be making a brief cameo on eBay before it leaves my living room.
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