Dave Zatz, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

Pandora Adds Interactivity and Community Features

Last night I heard from (free) online music provider Pandora founder Tim Westergren that his service is beginning to roll out supplemental features. “Pandora Extras” intend to compliment music with additional content, interactivity, and community features. A summary of the initial batch of Extras launched today:

Real time song and artist info with recommendations for similar content and listeners
Pandora buddy lists
100 finely tuned genre stations
“Pandora Presents” series of original audio and video programming

When I get home from NYC and have some time, I’ll give them a spin… The editorial content and pre-programmed stations look appealing, though I have no need for more online social networking. (In fact, I’d appreciate it if LinkedIn and Facebook would merge.)

ESPN Content Lands on Xbox

ESPN and Microsoft have announced Xbox LIVE downloads:

Effective immediately, fans of all ages can access a growing catalog of marquee sporting events and timely programming, including full-length NCAA college football and basketball games, Summer X Games 13, “World Series of Poker,” “The Contender,” “Madden Nation” and much more on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, the leading high-definition video download service.

I obviously support additional partners and digital downloads, but I wonder how many will pay for a game 48 hours after broadcast? As a college football fan, I know the outcomes of all the meaningful games and have no interest in watching old sports programming… for a fee. Especially, since the first batch of games (above) are SD only. However, what I might pay for is something like DirecTV’s Superfan “Short Cuts” — an entire game condensed into 30 minutes or less. Get creative, people!

The OTTO Wireless MP3 Player Giveaway

Hot on the heels of Kevin’s review, we’re giving away the OTTO Wireless MP3 Headset. It’s a basic 512MB player built into stereo headphones. Notable: OTTO does support secure WMA, so your Yahoo Music or Napster tunes should be good to go – in addition to unprotected MP3 and WMA files. You know the drill … Read more

Deal of the Day: $40 off OS X Leopard

While browsing the beautiful new Micro Center (Rockville, MD) yesterday, I ran across a pretty sweet deal on Mac OS X Leopard. Assuming you’re not one of the millions who’s already upgraded, Micro Center’s $40 rebate is being offered both in-store and online though 11/11. While Spaces appeals to me, I haven’t really felt the … Read more

iTunes Radio?

If you’ve been paying attention, you know I like the idea of subscription-based content services – specifically, movie rentals and all-you-can-eat music. And here we were with another rumor that Apple could be moving in this direction. According to updated AT&T iPhone data plan documentation: Consider that just 20 minutes of iTunes radio takes 20MB … Read more

GridNetworks Lands $9.5 Million

Internet content distributor GridNetworks landed $9.5 million in Series A funding this week. While one of the three investors is Panorama Capital, the other two backers pique my curiosity because their identities haven’t yet been disclosed… and I get the sense they may be something other than VC firms.

Chances are you haven’t heard of GridNetworks and, prior to speaking with CEO Tony Naughtin, I hadn’t either. They’ve developed an “orchestrated, managed” hybrid P2P – CDN service to stream Internet video at up to 1080i with high fidelity audio and requiring throughput of only 768Kbps down and 128Kbps up. They’re currently operating as a white label service provider for some smaller Internet TV plays, though their goals are more lofty. I think we’ll be seeing GridNetworks go after big media and telecom as they continue to ramp up and offer video streaming services at literally a “small fraction” of the conventional CDN-served video cost. Though, as my pal Om notes, the market has become “highly competitive.”

Verizon FiOS TV Embraces HD (Mostly in 2008)

Despite the numerous Verizon FiOS TV DVR updates, I’m most frequently questioned on their HD initiatives. Truly, content is king. Here’s a summary of Verizon’s HD announcement: Plans to double HD channel count next spring, with up to 150 HD channels by the end of of 2008. HD video-on-demand begins rolling out this year, with … Read more

HD DVD Under $100

Guess where I’m headed tomorrow morning… Select Walmart stores will be carrying a limited quantity of the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player for a low $98.87. At that price, I don’t care if Blu-ray ultimately crushes the HD DVD consortium. In fact, even if I can’t score a unit, the $165 Xbox 360 player (with … Read more