Mick Darling's posterousAll my blogging in one spot. (mostly)Filed under: readerMy Episode Guide Tracks the Air Dates of Your Favorite TV Shows Right From Your Toolbar [Chrome Extensions]
Chrome: My Episode Guide is an extension that tracks your favorite TV shows right in your browser toolbar. All you do is type the names of your shows, click add, and it tells you when the next episode is coming up. Additionally, you can click the > button for a full rundown of any show's schedule to see where you are in the season, what's coming up, and what you've (presumably) already watched. More »
The future of TV isn’t TV, it’s broadband.
Unfortunately, Congress didn’t do all of that. It danced around the problems of pipe owners also owning content providers and pay TV distribution businesses. It didn’t ask about caps on broadband and how that serves the interests of the pay TV business, and despite the fact that network neutrality was brought up several times and was cited by Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC, and Amazon’s public policy lead Paul Misener, the way that Comcast is sidestepping network neutrality by not counting content streamed over the Xbox against its data cap was never mentioned. So what was the Senate’s tangent today?Instead the call during the hearing was for a rewrite of the 1996 Telecoms Act, which deregulated the telecommunications agency, helped establish the rules that let the Internet grow and brought about the rise of competitive local exchange carriers. But in an election year, such a rewrite seems unlikely, and frankly, worrisome given the power that ISPs and content companies have in Washington at the moment. Instead, the law that might make headway is the The Next Generation Television Marketplace Act, which was proposed in December, and was the basis for the hearing today.The proposed act deals primarily with deregulating the broadcast industry to eliminate some required coverage mandates and to allow broadcasters to negotiate retransmission rates with pay TV providers just like cable programmers such as ESPN or AMC do. As a consumer this would likely lead to higher cable costs and the loss of public interest programming. The fundamental question that should be asked with regard to this legislation is whether or not the broadcasters’ access to public airwaves means they should have limits set upon them to serve the public interest? (The FCC gives them their airwaves in exchange for following certain rules and carrying certain types of programming.) But that wasn’t really the focus of the hearing, despite a few questions asked of Diller, who is an investor in Aero, one of the most interesting startups to come out of the convergence of the web and television. Aereo, provides access via the web to over the air content for a fee. Consumers pay a set amount each month and then can get access to over the air television from any device. The value-add is that consumers who can’t receive the over-the-air signals from their broadcaster can still get access to the programming, can record it for later consumption and can get it on any device. Of course, it’s being sued. So what is the real issue?
As Barry Diller testified, the Internet is ready to provide a new platform for content distribution but the interests of pay TV providers and content companies that are linked to distribution companies also want to interfere with how content is accessed. He said eliminating the distribution companies as middlemen given content creators more creative freedom and they wouldn’t have to sign away as many of their rights, adding,”How can that not be in the public interest?” When Blair Westlake, Corporate VP, Media & Entertainment Group at Microsoft explained that he saw TV changing more in the past 18 months than it had in the last five years, he focused on some of the cool things Microsoft is doing with the Children’s Workshop, the producers of Sesame Street. He described children of the future interacting with the characters using the Kinect and even seeing themselves onscreen. This is cool, but sidesteps some of the issues the hearing didn’t really delve into. Where Congress, and regulators must focus.The Internet has become a platform for services and TV is just one of those services. We need to start thinking about TV in terms of who can deliver it at a transport layer (the pipes), how it gets delivered (via a pay TV subscription, YouTube channels, Netflix subscriptions) and where the value is and who gets to charge for that. There is no question that the content is valuable. There is also no question that consumers find value in access that content online from any device whenever they want as Susan Whiting, vice chairman of The Nielsen Company, testified. So Congress should focus on who will capture the value of the new means of delivering TV, and whether or not certain players have an advantage that Congress or the FCC should investigate. Many of the Senators asking questions have come pretty far by recognizing the importance of broadband access when thinking about the future of TV. Some questions Washington should be asking
I can think of several more questions, including those related to protecting the rights of content creators in a completely digital world, ensuring that children’s programming meets certain standards or even mandating accessibility for all on the Internet. However, to ask these questions requires Congress to view the Internet as not just a new way to communicate and share ideas, but as a new platform that will subsume the older industries of TV, voice communications and publishing and transform them into even richer mediums to share ideas, consume entertainment and even change how we work. It’s not an adjunct, it’s a replacement. Or it can be, if we prevent the old-line industries that will see some of their lines of businesses replaced by IP technologies from walling up the promise of the web with data caps, friendly deals with certain hardware makers and over-inflated concerns about piracy and content theft. Congress could help by asking tough questions or doing a real overhaul of the Telecommunications Act with this framework in mind, but I don’t think it’s viewing the web yet through the right lens. It needs to think of the Internet at two levels — the transport mechanism for the bits and the services that ride on top of them. We need a regulatory conversation that recognizes this divide and encourages it. Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
VIM Adventures teaches you keyboard shortcuts, :%s/n00b/pro/gc in no timeIf you've ever had the pleasure of using VIM, the popular Linux (and other platforms) text editor, you'll know that dark magic lies within its keyboard shortcuts. However, with so many to learn, where do you start? Well, some fine fellows thought the answer to that question was a neat little fantasy adventure game. VIM adventures coaxes you through the learning process via ingenious little tasks that teach you the shortcuts along the way, all washed down with a healthy glug of gaming nostalgia. Before long you'll have the keys to the castle and, of course, unabated word processing prowess. Tap j to hit the source link and get started. VIM Adventures teaches you keyboard shortcuts, :%s/n00b/pro/gc in no time originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | VIM Adventures | Email this | Comments
from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/24/vim-adventures-teaches-you-keyboard-shortc...
Eat These Foods Before and After Your Workout to Stay in Top Training Shape [Health]
The foods you eat before and after a good workout, and the fluids you drink during your workout go a long way towards making sure your exercise has the best impact on your health as possible. Whether you're staying hydrated with a bottle of water while you're out on a run, or debating what to munch on for a little post-workout energy, Eating Well magazine has some tips to help maximize your workout and keep you satisfied in the process. More »
NimbleTV streams cable content to 'any' device, launching 'in the next few months' Continue reading NimbleTV streams cable content to 'any' device, launching 'in the next few months' NimbleTV streams cable content to 'any' device, launching 'in the next few months' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The New York Times | NimbleTV | Email this | Comments
from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/24/nimbletv/
NewsFlash uses high-frequency light to transmit data from iPad to smartphone, we go hands-on (video)MIT's Media Lab is chock-full of cutting-edge tech projects that researchers create, then often license to manufacturers and developers. One such project is called NewsFlash, and uses high-frequency red and green light to transmit data to the built-in camera on a receiving device -- in this case Samsung's Epic 4G. The concept is certainly familiar, and functions in much the same way as a QR code, generating flashing light that's invisible to the human eye instead of a cumbersome 2D square. In the Media Lab's implementation, an iPad is used to display a static news page with flashing colored bands at the top, representing just a few vertical pixels on the LCD. As the device presents the standard touch experience you're already familiar with, it also broadcasts data that can be read by any camera, but flashes too quickly to be distracting or even noticeable to the naked eye. A NewsFlash app then interprets those flashes and displays a webpage as instructed -- either a mobile version with the same content, or a translation of foreign websites. As with most MediaLab projects, NewsFlash is simply a concept at this point, but it could one day make its way to your devices. Jump past the break to see it in action. NewsFlash uses high-frequency light to transmit data from iPad to smartphone, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/24/mit-media-lab-newsflash-hands-on/DIY Headphone Adapter Adds Pause, Play, and a Microphone to Any Smartphone Headphone Jack [Video]
Have a pair of expensive headphones that you love but you wish they had a remote for your smartphone controls? Or do you hate the fact that when you're driving with your phone connected to the auxiliary input on your car you can't answer the phone without disconnecting it? DIY blog DepotBassam shows off a simple DIY hack to splice a mic and remote into your headphone jack for use on any smartphone. More »
Time Warner's TWC TV app updated to include sports channels
On Friday, Time Warner Cable added a number of national and regional sports networks to the free TWC TV app for iOS and the TWCTV.com Web portal. The new capability lets Time Warner Cable video customers at the Expanded Basic level or higher to watch those networks live from iOS devices or computers inside the home. While the networks vary based on the region in which the customers are located, they include ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network, and various Fox Sports channels. Time Warner Cable notes that live TV is available to customers with a broadband connection on either TWC or Road Runner, or those with a Time Warner Cable-provided video-only cable modem.
Time Warner's TWC TV app updated to include sports channels originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. The Scientific Method Versus Scientific Evidence In the Courtroom
An anonymous reader writes "A few months back, the National Research Council and the Federal Judicial Center published the Third Edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, the primary guide for federal judges in the United States trying to evaluate scientific evidence. One chapter in particular, 'How Science Works,' written by David Goodstein (Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at CalTech), has raised the issue of how judges should see science in the courtroom: should they look at science to see if it matches our idealized view of the scientific method, or should they consider the realities of science, where people advocate for their own theories far more than they question them?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot. The iPad as an IT professional's tool
John Welch over at Ars Technica wrote a wonderful post about using an iPad as a system administrator's tool, noting that Apple's tablet is "an addition, not a replacement" to the many tools that IT pros currently use to complete their daily tasks. Welch brings up points that I discovered when I first started taking my iPad along on client visits -- the size is right, the battery life is wonderful, and it's much more handy than a laptop or an iPhone. Note-taking, for example, is much easier to accomplish on the iPad, and it's possible to prop up the iPad for easy reading at a distance instead of squinting at a small screen. Welch notes that he's able to easily analyze data from Cacti or Nagios with just a glance, keeping an eye on how things are doing. With Welch's iPad, there's no waiting for a laptop to start up every morning. Most devices can be monitored in the aforementioned Web-based systems, he has email to catch messages about systems going down, and once a problem is found, he can "get a lot done over SSH." Welch uses Prompt (US$7.99) as his SSH client of choice, perfect for logging into Mac or Linux servers and desktop machines. For other sysadmin tasks, Welch has some concerns. There's no iPad analogue to Apple Remote Desktop, for example, although Windows network admins have a wonderful tool available in WinAdmin ($7.99). Apple hasn't released any management tools for Mac OS X Server that run on the iPad, but there are some limited third-party tools available such as Server Admin Remote ($9.99). Still, there's a good-sized market for sysadmin tools for the iPad, and if Apple doesn't step up to the plate to deliver them, Welch hopes that third-party developers will. If you're a system administrator who uses an iPad regularly at work, let us know in the comments what tools you use or would like to see. The iPad as an IT professional's tool originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. |
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