Mari Silbey

Mari’s tech career started when she became the default “IT guy” in her first job out of college. Since leaving help-desk duties to the experts, she’s focused on trends in technology as a consultant, writer, reporter, analyst and at-home gadget tinkerer. Her current paid gig is with the non-profit organization US Ignite where she focuses on how networks and digital technologies impact smart cities. All posts on ZNF represent her own opinions and not those of US Ignite. Mari is a sucker for anything in the digital media space and covers interesting happenings in cable, telecom, and whatever else she feels like. Find her on Twitter at @msilbey.

Vlogging Killed the Blogger Star?

It’s starting. Now that we’ve had full blog network saturation, it’s time to kick into gear with video log (vlog) networks. Brightcove announced Monday the launch of Brightcove Network, a free service for anyone looking to start their own commercial Internet video channel. In a nutshell, Brightcove is trying to capitalize on the phenomenon spawned … Read more

Who You Gonna Call?

Need a little help with your gadgets? You don’t have to call tech support anymore. I’ve run across two applications recently taking different approaches to solving your gadget woes. The first is Retrevo. Launched at DEMOfall last month, Retrevo is a vertical search engine that lets you look up your devices to find product documentation, … Read more

Can You Hear Me Now?

Well here’s a shocker: Jupiter Research predicts that spending on mobile advertising will more than double between now and 2011. It’s a new medium for advertisers and I can only hope they’ll be a little more creative than they’ve been with TV over the last decade. (Think about it – even most of the Super … Read more

Does Mari Need HD?

I’ve had a DVR for five years now, but I still haven’t picked up an HDTV. Honestly, I have trouble believing I need it and trouble believing it will make that much of a difference in my TV-watching career. Which is why Dave Winer’s recent commentary got my attention: He didn’t offer any great new … Read more

Is Our Online Digital Media Safe?

I hear ya… You want to know who Mari is. I’ll have a proper intro up in the next day or so. Stay tuned! -DZ

youtube.gifSeveral news organizations are reporting that YouTube has wiped nearly 30,000 videos from its site after a Japanese audit fingered the clips for copyright infringement. Aside from the rights management concerns, this brings up an interesting issue for those who upload and store content on remote servers: When content isn’t stored locally, it isn’t under your control…

In this case it may have been perfectly reasonable for YouTube to remove 30,000 files, but these situations won’t always be black and white. There’s a growing trend towards moving our content off local devices — online word processing applications, photo storage sites, even under-development Network DVRs. While remote storage has its benefits, there are also disadvantages that shouldn’t be ignored. The ability for providers to delete files at will is one of them.

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When Good Shows Get Cancelled

Mari Silbey joins ZNF… TV technology keeps getting better, and yet so far it hasn’t solved the problem of good shows that get cancelled long before they should. Rumor has it that Studio 60 may not be getting the viewers it needs to stick around. Will shows like this – with a bad time slot … Read more