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Archive for June, 2008
Comcast’s Triple Play
June 27th, 2008 2 Comments
Years ago, I got rid of my landline because, well...who needs one?
Sure lots of people have them still, but it's well known that telephone operators are losing revenue to mobile operators because of the popularity of cell phones. Many people have decided to drop the land lines because they are a) always on the run, b) don't want to pay extra for a phone they don't use and c) love their cell phones.
Well, I decided to get a phone but through my cable provider Comcast. I called them up yesterday to see if I could get a lower rate on my cable bill, and they came back with a great offer of $159/month for a triple play package--voice, data and cable. That comes with all the premium channels (Starz, HBO, Showtime, Skinemax Cinemax and more), plus unlimited local and long distance calls.
I've used VOIP years ago when it was kind of crappy quality, but now I'm guessing that it's much better.
Cable operators are also under pressure to get more revenue and keep customers. Telephone companies like AT&T and Verizon are starting to offer TV (U-Verse and FiOS TV, respectively) and they already have voice and data (DSL). So telcos are now competing with cable companies. And vice versa.
Overall, it's great for consumers. We get cheap triple or quad-play packages. And they get to keep me as a customer for another month.
At least until I get a better offer from someone else.
Anyway, I recommend calling your local broadband or TV provider and negotiate for a lower rate. Shop around, find out what kind of prices and offers are being advertised, and chances are you'll get a much lower rate and maybe some new services or channels. Good luck!
Internet Video and Social Change Survey
June 26th, 2008 No Comments
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm conducting a research report on how Internet video can impact social change.
I'm inviting non-profits, independent filmmakers and other organizations interested in social change to discuss how people can widen their distribution (to DVDs, theaters, etc.) and how they can earn additional revenue.
If you're involved in Internet video delivery or social change, I'd like to invite you to fill out this survey. Responses will be anonymous and I'll be able to share top level results publicly.
Digital Media Overload
June 26th, 2008 No Comments
I'm suffering from digital media overload (DMO).
In the past few months, I've been going all digital and have encoded all of my CDs onto iTunes, and have even started recording my family's VHS home movies onto DVD so I can keep them digitally. I have over 400 CDs, so this was a tedious task. But I'm tired of hauling around CDs and jewel cases and not having them available anywhere I want. Now, all my CDs are on my home server and my iPod.
iTunes organizes all my music and keeps track of where they are stored and makes it easy for me to access it at anytime.
But I'm having a lot of problems with pictures and videos. I like digital media; I take lots of photos and shoot video through my digital camera too. And that requires a lot of time to move files to my PC, rename files and organize them into folders. Who has the time to do this everyday? Maybe that's why I've just been transferring photos into random folders on my computer--I just don't have the time to organize everything.
Perhaps the problem is metadata. CDs have metadata built-in which makes it easy to create a music library. However, personal digital photos and movies are different. There's no metadata. That means I have to review the photos, then rename files with something meaningful and organize them in folders. Forget about editing the photos--I definitely don't have the time or expertise for that. Overall, that's a lot of manual work to manage my digital media. Why isn't there something like iTunes for my photos?
I've played around with Picasa, Google's photo editing and organization software, but it's not filling my needs. For example, it doesn't integrate with Flickr (which is owned by Yahoo!), but with Google's online Picasa site. That's not good. I've chosen Flickr as my photo site and don't want to change it now.
So what's the best way to save, catalog and store digital photos and movies? How can I organize everything? By date? By tags? By event? By type of file? By location? I have no idea! Nothing makes sense to me right now.
Eventually, I want to post all my photos on Flickr, but I feel like I need to organize them on my PC first and get rid of my DMO.
So how do you organize your digital photos and home videos on your PC?
Photo courtesy of frumbert
But I'm having a lot of problems with pictures and videos. I like digital media; I take lots of photos and shoot video through my digital camera too. And that requires a lot of time to move files to my PC, rename files and organize them into folders. Who has the time to do this everyday? Maybe that's why I've just been transferring photos into random folders on my computer--I just don't have the time to organize everything.
Perhaps the problem is metadata. CDs have metadata built-in which makes it easy to create a music library. However, personal digital photos and movies are different. There's no metadata. That means I have to review the photos, then rename files with something meaningful and organize them in folders. Forget about editing the photos--I definitely don't have the time or expertise for that. Overall, that's a lot of manual work to manage my digital media. Why isn't there something like iTunes for my photos?
I've played around with Picasa, Google's photo editing and organization software, but it's not filling my needs. For example, it doesn't integrate with Flickr (which is owned by Yahoo!), but with Google's online Picasa site. That's not good. I've chosen Flickr as my photo site and don't want to change it now.
So what's the best way to save, catalog and store digital photos and movies? How can I organize everything? By date? By tags? By event? By type of file? By location? I have no idea! Nothing makes sense to me right now.
Eventually, I want to post all my photos on Flickr, but I feel like I need to organize them on my PC first and get rid of my DMO.
So how do you organize your digital photos and home videos on your PC?
Photo courtesy of frumbert 
Posted in Digital video, Photos 
Tags: digital media, digital photos, Flickr, iTunes, metadata, photo, Picasa, picturesLearning to Play Guitar via YouTube
June 25th, 2008 No Comments
Right before I decided to get carpal tunnel release surgery for both of my hands, I decided I wanted to learn how to play a few musical instruments. I love all kinds of music and wanted to write and play my own songs. And I wanted to be a rocker and rock out.
In junior high school, I played the alto saxophone. Well, I didn't really play that well. I mostly just blew into the instrument and figured it didn't matter what it sounded like. I was young and kind of bored with the sax and just didn't take it seriously.
I wish I had because I regret not taking up music much younger. After junior high, I didn't play another instrument for many years and lost a lot of my knowledge of notes and music reading.
Nevertheless, I have now decided that I want to play multiple musical instruments. In the last few years, I've bought used instruments like a tiny drum kit, a violin, and a clarinet at garage and estate sales. But I didn't take those very seriously either.
Just a few weeks ago, however, I decided to get serious about playing the guitar. I started with a used acoustic guitar, but that was hopelessly always out of tune. Then I bought a cheap electric guitar and have had lots of fun with it. Finally, I feel like a rocker!
So I haven't taken any formal classes, I'm just playing around and teaching myself. Although I have used the intro DVD that came with my guitar, it's only taking me so far into beginning guitar playing. So I've been using YouTube to learn.
The good thing about using YouTube as your teacher is that it's video and I'm a visual person so this helps me look at notes, strumming and chord placements. Plus I can play along with the video and practice, practice, practice. The downside is that many people on YouTube are amateurs themselves in many ways and they don't know how to be a good instructor. In other words, the quality of your guitar tutorials can vary greatly.
So what I do, is go to YouTube and type in things like "beginning guitar" or "how to play". Now that I've been playing a few weeks, I also tend to search for songs that I'd like to play like "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Whole Lotta Love" or "Hey There Delilah". Fortunately, many people post their instructional videos, so if one person doesn't explain it well (or goes too fast for me), I can try someone else.
Now, I'm no expert, but these tutorial sure help me along my way. Once I learn the basic chords or notes, I'm on my way and practice on my own.
Excuse me while I go practice now!
Internet Video and Social Change
June 24th, 2008 2 Comments
I am currently working on a research project on how Internet video can affect social change. Do you know individuals involved in distributing, producing and/or creating films or movies involving social change?
This may include companies involved in Internet video and distribution (YouTube, Brightcove), documentary filmmakers, non-profit organizations involved in Internet video, or anyone that is involved in making a difference using Internet video.
I'd like to talk to as many organizations/people as possible and send them a survey on how the Internet is being used for social change. The end product will be a private research report, however I will be able to release some top-level results to participants and the public.
If you know someone who'd like to talk about this, please contact me at jose at alvear.com.
Posted in Administration Tags: documentary, film, independent media, Internet video, media, movies, social changeWhat’s Going On
June 23rd, 2008 No Comments
I've had this blog for a very long time, but it's going through a change again. Alvear.com will mostly be about my personal life with just a few bits on digital media and how it affects my life. My other blogs, Digital Media Bulletin and DVR Bulletin, focus on Internet video and next generation TV, respectively.
Yes, there'll be lots of cross-posting and talk about digital media here, but I'd like to keep it a bit separate. Hopefully, I can achieve this goal.
Alvear.com will still remain the place where I post pictures from my mobile phone, however. For some weird reason, my phone the Sprint Mogul (HTC PPC-6800) cannot send picture mail. Even though I've signed up with Sprint for picture mail. Apparently, Sprint has decided to disable Sprint Picture Mail on this phone. Although there used to be a work around by installing a third-party application, that no longer works. It looks like Sprint has shut down that loophole for good.
Instead, Sprint said I can just go to the Sprint web site and send mail from my phone's browser. Uh, no way. That's too clunky and it takes for ever to log-in, upload the picture and send it out.
The better solution, I've found, is to integrate Flickr with this blog. All I do, is take a picture on my phone, then use my phone's email and send it to a special email address that is created for me by Flickr. The picture is automatically posted on the blog of my choice and is added to my Flickr account at the same time. Pretty nifty, eh?
Not sure how many people know about this, but I guess not every has a blog (yet).
I'm a bit of a shutterbug (as you can tell from my Flickr site) so I like it when there's an easy way to upload pictures to my phone site.
Anyway, thanks for reading and tuning in!
Armour For Sale
June 17th, 2008 No Comments
Armour For Sale, It seems that cable companies are finally getting tired of competing with all the free TV shows that are streaming over the Internet. According to an article in AdAge.com, Armour dangers, Armour for sale, Time Warner Cable's CEO Glenn Britt said that they do care when TV networks put their full-length content online and essentially bypass cable TV.
This is a fight that's been a long time coming, buy generic Armour. Rx free Armour, Hollywood studios and networks are finally realizing that they want to reach the most number of people as possible and not be constrained by traditional broadcast TV models. For example HBO has hosted many full-length shows online, low dose Armour, Armour results, as have ABC (Desperate Housewives, Lost), fast shipping Armour, What is Armour, NBC (Hereos) and others.
Studios are embracing this new "Hollywood 2.0" mentality that they want wider options for their content, and different mediums rather than trying to keep everyone tuned into their TV sets, Armour For Sale. In fact, Armour pictures, Armour treatment, a Time Warner cable spokesperson said they are prepared to withhold some subscriber revenue from the networks.
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June 16th, 2008 No Comments
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Posted in Administration Who’s Buying the NetFlix Player?
June 16th, 2008 No Comments
Well, the NetFlix Player (by Roku) has been out for about a month now and I was wondering who out there has purchased one yet. I held out, but this weekend I decided to order it and test it out. After all, hands on reviews are the best way to go I think.
While I was writing a story on NetFlix for the subscription-based IPTV Bulletin that I'm editing, I did some research on the competition, namely Apple TV and Vudu. They are all set-top boxes designed to deliver movies and TV shows directly to TV sets, not PCs. It's not a very crowded market, so I'm hoping to get hands-on with all of them in the future.
In the meantime, here's the comparison table I did.
The biggest plus about the NetFlix Player is its low price. Just $99 means it's an impulse buy and not something you have to consider stretching your credit card debt such as with Apple TV (up to $329). Plus, you don't have to pay per download like you do with Vudu and Apple TV. Again, this lowers the overall cost proposition for consumers.
I don't think the NetFlix Player will be a killer device, but I think it's definitely changing the game through its low prices.
So, I'm wondering... Have you bought the NetFlix Player? If no, why not?
P.S. Seems like NetFlix Player shipments are delayed about two weeks, so I'll have to wait a bit longer than I thought. However, this may be good news for Roku and NetFlix since it seems like demand is outstripping supply.
[tags] Vudu, Roku, NetFlix, NetFlix player, Apple, Apple TV [/tags]
The biggest plus about the NetFlix Player is its low price. Just $99 means it's an impulse buy and not something you have to consider stretching your credit card debt such as with Apple TV (up to $329). Plus, you don't have to pay per download like you do with Vudu and Apple TV. Again, this lowers the overall cost proposition for consumers.
I don't think the NetFlix Player will be a killer device, but I think it's definitely changing the game through its low prices.
So, I'm wondering... Have you bought the NetFlix Player? If no, why not?
P.S. Seems like NetFlix Player shipments are delayed about two weeks, so I'll have to wait a bit longer than I thought. However, this may be good news for Roku and NetFlix since it seems like demand is outstripping supply.
[tags] Vudu, Roku, NetFlix, NetFlix player, Apple, Apple TV [/tags] LG’s Scarlet – It’s Time to Brand Your TV
June 15th, 2008 No Comments
You've probably seen it by now.
What looks like a commercial for a new TV show or movie, turns out to be a commercial for a line of HDTV sets from LG called Scarlet. (Check out the video below if you haven't seen it already.)
It seems like it was a successful campaign, in that it garnered lots of press attention including a red-carpet fake premiere with (fake) celebrities and lots of mentions on the Internet.
However, I'm more interested in the fact that this is one of the first TVs that are branded. And it's about time. Everything else around us has branded names. Think of cars (Toyota Avalon, Ford Taurus), MP3 players (iPod, Zune), cell phones (LG's Chocolate, Motorola's Razr or the iPhone)--heck even condoms have brand names (Trojan, Magnum). So it's about time that TV sets are becoming brands that consumers can identify.
LG's Scarlet line of sets don't really push the bar as far as new or advanced features, it just has a good brand name. And the back of the TV is red, too. So it doesn't take much beyond lots of advertising dollars, an online viral marketing campaign, and a new product to begin promoting a new brand.
Why aren't other TV set manufacturer's doing this? I mean, Sony, which came up with Walkman, and Vaio, should have a good TV brand. Panasonic does have the Viera line of TV sets, but it reminds me too much of Good Morning America's Meredith Viera to really have a brand impact with me.
Having a name like Scarlet, also makes it easy for consumers to find reviews and prices on the Internet. You don't have to remember that the Scarlet is product number AZTX-4208, for example. (I just made that up.) Just Google "Scarlet" and TV and up comes results to help you shop and compare.
Brands. It's what people want. People share with others what brand their new cell phone is. And consumer electronic manufacturers should realize that people want to show off their new HDTVs also. And let's include DVRs also. Tivo has done pretty well as the top brand of DVRs, but distinguishing different product lines is kind of tricky. Tivo's Series 2, or Series 3 DVRs are boring names. Why not the Tivo Magum? Or um, something like that.
[tags] Tivo, LG, Scarlet, branding, advertising, HDTV, TV [/tags]
