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People love predictions.  Some cable networks exist solely by airing pundits who are supposed to tell us how the future will unfold.  Personally, I hate predictions.  Not because they are usually wrong – I say and think lots of stuff that’s wrong.  I hate them because they are the best way to seriously mislead.  We Continue Reading →

This article by SCOTT STEEPLETON, NEWS-PRESS ASSISTANT METRO EDITOR is reprinted from the Santa Barbara News Press. Cameras are barred from the courtroom where Michael Jackson sits accused of molesting a teenage boy, but that hasn’t stopped E! Entertainment Television from going “inside” the trial. The cable network known for puff pieces on plastic surgeons, Continue Reading →

Nike, as part of it’s Nike iD program, has just unveiled a new 22-story billboard in Times Square.  It is a pioneering effort in interactivity and design.  You use your cell phone to design a sneaker that will be displayed for all the world to see and then you can download your footwear masterpiece to Continue Reading →

No matter how you look at them, Podcasts are simply amateur audio recordings.  Some are in show formats, some are simply stream of consciousness audio musings, others are indistinguishable from professional radio station fodder – but, no matter what the content, they are what they are. Interestingly enough, user generated content has been a huge Continue Reading →

Rob Glaser, founder and CEO of Real Networks, took out more than a few full page ads to tout his new semi-free, music rental service, Rhapsody25 — a revamped version of Real’s Rhapsody online music service that allows users to download and listen to 25 songs a month free of charge. They also announced Rhapsody Continue Reading →

“See you on the flip side,” has taken on a whole new meaning as Stephen Humphries reports: All eyes are on the latest music-industry merger: a disc that has a conventional CD album on one side and a DVD on the other. The new format, called DualDisc, plays in most CD and DVD players and Continue Reading →

Microsoft Corp. has finally released versions of its Windows operating system optimized for 64-bit microprocessors.  It will run on Intel and AMD chips that are designed for (among other things) heavy-duty graphics and video. The new products, Windows XP Professional x64 and Windows Server 2003 x64, will cost the same as their 32-bit counterparts, and Continue Reading →

There’s a pretty comprehensive article in today’s New York Times about Google’s new Gross Impression advertising model.  The concept is a radical departure from the company’s search model.  The brand marketing test, which will allow advertisers to choose where their ads will run, is supposed to be limited to Google’s network and will not effect Continue Reading →

There’s an interesting article on CNET’s news.com entitled, TiVo looks for an edge.  It’s fairly non-technical, but unless you are a Java developer, you won’t get too excited.  The author posits that there is a trend afoot to turn TiVo set-top boxes into media hubs.  TiVo is built upon the Linux operating system and, those Continue Reading →

There were many things to love about this week’s NAB 2005 but my favorite is Apple’s new Final Cut 5.0 and the way it integrates Sony’s HDV tape format. Quicktime 7.0 is H.264 compatible (allowing HD material to be processed at SD data rates) and, as Steve Jobs has said, “… this is the year Continue Reading →