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Warner Backs Blu-ray: “Warner Bros. has swung into the Sony Blu-ray camp. The company announced that “in response to consumer demand,” it will release its high-definition home video titles exclusively in the Blu-ray format starting later this year.” This latest development in the DVD format war leaves just NBC Universal, CBS, and Viacom supporting HD-DVD. (0) [link]


55 Million People Receive Facebook Apology: “Saying it went too far in its pursuit of profit, the popular Internet hangout Facebook Inc. is allowing its 55 million users to permanently turn off a new marketing tool that tracks their activities at other Web sites.” Their so-called Beacon tool was even a further invasion of privacy than their friends’ newsfeeds. This is always a danger that exists when you give your personal information to social networking sites. (0) [link]


Guilty verdict in music file-sharing case: “A federal jury found a Minnesota woman shared copyrighted music online and levied $222,000 in damages against her. The jury ordered Jammie Thomas, 30, to pay the six record companies that sued her $9,250 for each of 24 songs they focused on in the case.” Sued for sharing songs via Kazaa, this is the first such case to go to trial. A win for the RIAA, but with over 36,000+ similar suits filed over illegal music sharing, expect more trials to come. (0) [link]


Veoh Launches Internet DVR: “Called VeohTV, the service can access nearly all Internet video, the company said in a release. The new service lets consumers use a single interface to find and watch video from the Web sites of Fox, CBS and other broadcasters as well as major video sites such as YouTube and MySpace.” This is possibly the next step towards total Internet-television convergence… in what seems to be many, many steps. But it is going in the right direction, at least. (0) [link]


CBS Chief Isn’t Worried About YouTube or Google — ‘As Long as We Get Paid’: “Genuine user-generated content — like the guys from OK Go dancing on the treadmills, which I liked a lot — I don’t think poses any threat… If there’s a one-minute clip of CSI, or user-generated clips like different shots of David Caruso taking off his glasses, that’s great promotion. If they were showing a whole episode of CSI and we weren’t getting paid, we’d object.” Les Moonves actually seems to have a great handle on things, which, frankly, is surprising for Big TV. (0) [link]

Amazon to Sell Music Without Copy Protection

May 19, 2007 Technology, Internet, News, Music, Entertainment Add Comment

Amazon.com will sell music without copy protection when it opens its mp3 music store later this year:

Amazon, the Internet’s most successful seller of physical CDs, today announced plans to introduce a music download store later this year, selling songs and albums in the MP3 format without the anti-copying protection used by most online music retailers.

Selling songs as MP3 files means that customers can transfer their music without limits to any computer, cellphone or music playing device, including Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune.

The songs will include EMI’s catalog and music from over 12,000 independent music companies who don’t use copy protection.

Finally, an easy-to-use online music store that gets it. This sounds like exactly what consumers have been asking for since Napster! While the RIAA has resorted to suing their customers, all they really wanted was music without non-sensical restrictions on its use.

Take that, Apple iTunes! This Amazon music store could be the iTunes killer!

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Emergence of Online Stars Creates Ethical Dilemmas at TV News Divisions: As television news outlets try to support old-media formats while sampling new technological platforms and personalities to stay in the game, they are having a difficult time adapting. Interesting article that even highlights Amanda Congdon’s role at ABCNews.com. (0) [link]

“Motion” advertising comes to subway tunnels (VIDEO)

May 6, 2007 Advertising, Design, Technology Add Comment

Subway riders around the world have begun to see a new form of advertising underground — in-tunnel “motion” ads:


Companies such as Canadian-based SideTrack, Manhattan-based SubMedia, and Los Angeles-based Aap! Global have installed miles of frame-stop succession ads (much like an unraveled 19th century zoetrope) in the United States and Europe:


In the US, San Francisco’s BART, Atlanta’s MARTA, Boston’s T, Washington DC’s METRO, and Philadelphia’s PATCO have tried out these ads. Of course, the biggest market for this new brand of advertising would be the largest subway system in the world, namely the New York City Subway.

Several companies are currently negotiating with the NYCTA to make these installations happen, but could you imagine the possible disruptions just three or four of these ad installations could cause to the system? Regular subway riders in NYC can attest to the very long lag time in updating the advertisements inside the trains; outside of them would be a whole different story.

But what New Yorker wouldn’t want to see a 15-second Target ad outside their train window while commuting to work, instead of broken light fixtures and dripping water:


If this subway “motion” advertising catches on, it could generate millions of dollars a year. But until then, we’ll have to go back to pretending to see patterns in the miles and miles of underground graffiti as the subway train drives by…

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Improve your photography with classical art

April 30, 2007 Design, Technology, Photography Add Comment

Improve your photography with classical art: “When Photoshop entered the CS series it included a new tool called ‘Match Color.’ This tools was made so that you could match a series of photos to one another. But there is another thing you can do with ‘Match Color’ that is much cooler: You can match the colors in your photos to those in famous paintings.” Check out the amazing results this method produces.

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WikiMapia: A mashup of Google Maps and a wiki that let’s you plot anything around the globe. Great use of technology! However, someone already labeled all the Walmart stores in New York… (0) [link]

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