Just when you thought that Google had done everything and then some, they go and announce a new move today: a partnership with Matsushita of Japan and YouTube, to bring Internet video to conventional plasma TVs.
IPTV has been touted for years now as the future (anyone remember Microsoft’s $425 million acquisition of WebTV in 1997?), but this move in particular, more than any other, could actually stand to have an impact in this space and inspire other content providers to interface with the solution. Sure, Microsoft has moved further into IPTV with MSNtv and lately, the Xbox 360, but to utilize these and other services, one has to buy hardware.
What will be interesting with the gTV, however, will be to see if what this looks like in a more concrete, developed form: will Google’s efforts be in the vein of the iPhone and Internet video, where only YouTube and other Google content (Picasa, for example) can be consumed through these TVs, or will other Internet video be available, such as Joost, Hulu, and networkcontent? The possibilities seem endless, so it will be interesting to see the extent to which copyright concerns and other business partnerships (or potentially the lack thereof) affect the final product and consumer experience.
Check it, folks– today Sony announced that the PSP’s next firmware update will include Skype, allowing PSP owners to make cheap Skype calls over WiFi. There haven’t been many details released yet, but the upgrade should be available late this month.
This is obviously a good move for consumers in the sense that it’s a step further toward wireless openness and thus, cheaper calling, but it’s also an interesting step for the PSP as a possible step toward becoming an iPhone rival: an all encompassing communications and media device (once you’ve installed a 3rd party web browser, of course). And with the PSP, you’ve got gaming quality and diversity that an iPhone simply can’t and will never be able to compete with.
Clearly, the PSP can’t be your full-time phone as you’re tethered to WiFi, but at home, school or the office, you’ve got got an extremely cheap VoIP phone. Perhaps we’ll see a future partnership between Sony and members of the Open Handset Alliance? (FYI, Sony is not currently a member of the Google-led OHA.) It seems that in light of Android and other developments, there likely would be demand for a touchscreen, Skype- and CDMA-enabled PSP, should Sony decide to produce it in the future. I’d certainly be interested…
If you’re like me and can’t live without Internet access, pick up from ThinkGeek the only known item that both clothes you, and also lets you know when you’re in a WiFi-enabled area. Not bad, for only $29.99… just make sure to take out the battery before you wash it!
Last night, I saw “Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience.”
Life-sized free-moving animatronic dinosaurs.
Oh man . . . it kicked ten flavors of Jurassic robot as$!!
Here’s the video I made:
Spectacular Hi-Def video of the Earth rising above the Moon’s horizon. Recently taken by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (NAXA) lunar probe “SELENE/Kaguya”, launched September 14, 2007 and currently in orbit around the Moon.
According to the AP, a South Korean man in Seoul was killed Wednesday by his cell phone, when the phone’s battery exploded in his shirt pocket. LG, the maker of the phone, claimed this was virtually impossible, but in light of other accidents, one has to wonder.
If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us - it’s that animatronic dinosaurs will not be contained. Animatronic dinosaurs break free, expand to new territory, and crash through barriers . . . painfully . . . maybe even dangerously.
Oh man . . . ROBOTSandDINOSAURS!! Two supercool things in one place (much like bacon and chocolate). On tour now, the Bay Area venue is the San Jose HP Pavillion, December 26-30.
December 8: Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day. If you’re stumped, the Web site offers many helpful suggestions about how to carry this off:
Walk up to random people and say “WHAT YEAR IS THIS?” and when they tell you, get quiet and then say “Then there’s still time!” and run off.
If you go the “prisoner who’s escaped the future” try shaving your head [Contributor's note: This one would work really well for fellow Blogadiller timbotron] and putting a barcode on the back of your neck. Then stagger around and stare at the sky, as if you’ve never seen it before.
Take some trinket with you (it can be anything really), hand it to some stranger, along with a phone number and say “In thirty years dial this number. You’ll know what to do after that.” Then slip away.
I can hardly wait to see who actually observes these…holidays.
With services like Verizon’s FiOS and Intel’s WiMAX emerging as a replacement for DSL and cable Internet connections, it’s clear that the world is moving toward faster and faster connectivity. Today, the average speed for broadband Internet service in the US is 1.9 megabits per second. While this is a huge leap up from the 56 kilobit per second dial-up connections we had not too long ago, it’s nothing compared to the connection that Sigbritt Löthberg of Karlstad, Sweden has.
Until recently when her son gave her one, Sigbritt, a 75 year old, never had a computer. Along with her new machine, her son set her up with an absurd 40 gigabit per second Internet connection– the world’s fastest connection, and thousands of times faster than the average person’s connection speed.
How is this possible? Well, it helps to have Peter Löthberg, who is Sweden’s (and, arguably the world’s) top optical Internet guru, as a son. Peter wanted to prove that both technically and commercially, it’s possible to provide ultrabroadband Internet connections to average people, even over long distances. What else to do than give ridiculous connectivity to his pensioning mother?
To put it in perspective, with a 40Gbps connection Sigbritt can watch 1,500 HDTV channels simultaneously, or download a full length HD-DVD in 2 seconds flat. And to illustrate just how feasible this is now and likely will be in the future for the masses, network boss Hafsteinn Jonsson said this: “The most difficult part of the whole project was installing Windows on Sigbritt’s PC.”
Having 2 boys has made me a big Lego fan and Lego knows it. Being target market #1 I’ve been notified of the coming Lego MMOG, Lego Universe. Will there be Lego guilds, Lego sex, Lego MMOG law suits, Lego 12 step programs…?
Now, Jeff Lieberman has taken this concept a step further with electromagnets, allowing his wirelessly-powered lightbulb to basically levitate. It’s a piece of art, no doubt, but it’s functional too. And as Lieberman points out, the irony of this setup is that with both the levitation and power on, this lightbulb consumes less than half the energy a traditional wired lightbulb consumes!
Early yesterday, Google launched their next phase of interstellar domination with Google Sky. This is an addition to the Google Earth app that allows you to navigate the heavens by way of constellation maps, Hubble satellite images, and planetary orbit animations. Not to mention the ability to aimlessly wander space the traditional Google Earth way by panning, zooming and rotating your view. I have to say, this is pretty freakin’ sweet. Check it ›
A couple days ago I posted about Animoto- a very cool web service that I’ve been alpha testing for the past few months. In the most basic of descriptions (and this really doesn’t do Animoto justice), the site matches your photos to music for a unique, one of a kind “slideshow.” Honestly though, it’s super cool– like nothing else I’ve ever seen.
So, to honor their public beta launch today at around 3:22am Eastern Time, and mostly because Animoto rocks the hizouse, I was fortunate enough to convince Brad Jefferson, Co-Founder and CEO of Animoto.com to give us an exclusive interview. Thanks Brad, and thanks Animoto! Enjoy, and definitely go check out the site! [for some nitty gritty details, check out the Animoto Press Kit]
BLOGADILLA: Animoto is an entirely new way to interact with and view photos. What is the vision behind the project? Has your team’s vision changed as you’ve developed the site, or has it remained constant from the beginning?
BRAD: Part of the vision for Animoto is to catch the internet up to the type of production value commonly seen in film and television, and then give that type of production value to people in a way that is simple yet powerful. Our technology is focused on emulating the actual process that a post-production crew for film and television goes through. To that end, the fun part is that our Cinematic Artificial Intelligence algorithm is really more of an art than a science so the potential for improvement is unending.
BLOGADILLA: What do you see as the main target for Animoto: to operate as a standalone entity, or to interface with existing websites, such as myspace, facebook, etc?
BRAD: Short answer, all the above! We see Animoto.com as the place where users create, collect, share and view Animoto videos but the consumption of Animoto videos is not limited to our website. Through a partnership with an interesting company called Clearspring, our users can post their Animoto videos to any website, such as social network sites like MySpace and Facebook, with a click of a button. We plan to also allow consumption of Animoto videos through cell phones and ipods in the future.
