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.

Writers Strike Blog

I haven’t payed close attention to the Hollywood writers’ strike, but given that the heart of the issue is digital media distribution, I probably should. Multichannel News notes that the Writers Guild of America is penning a strike blog, and from today’s posts comes a succinct video on media moguls discussing the riches to be … Read more

Gift Card Email Scam

Just in time for the holidays, I’ve gotten a slew of emails telling me about the $500 gift card Target/Macy’s/Walmart is trying to send me. Since I’m a sucker for deals and the emails suggest this is a “second attempt” to send me a confirmation, I’ve actually found myself on the verge of clicking my … Read more

Tips for Holiday HDTV Shopping

As someone helping relatives purchase HDTVs this holiday season, I thought it would be worthwhile to post some of the things I’ve learned: Prices have dropped into the highly-reasonable range. You can easily get a 32″ HDTV display for under $1,000, and I’ve already seen Black Friday ads for sets over 40″ in the same … Read more

Sheer Google Brilliance… And I’m Not Talking Android

Most of the news on Google is (rightfully) focused on the giant’s new mobile phone strategy. However, there’s a story in the AP today (covered by our buds at JKOnTheRun) on a new initiative to bring Google Maps to gas stations. This is utterly brilliant. A few of the gas stations near me have started … Read more

Pricing CDNs

Since we’ve been talking about content delivery networks (CDNs), I did a little research to determine typical CDN services fees. We’re starting to see hybrid models, such as the GridNetworks solution (CDN and P2P), but for strict CDN services – where content is hosted on regional servers for faster delivery – here’s what I discovered … Read more

Deal of the Day: Free Flash Drives for All!

New to Google checkout? There’s a great deal still going on at Buy.com. Spend at least $10 and sign up for a Google checkout account to get $10 off. The best part? If you buy something that is exactly $10, like this Kingston 1GB USB flash drive, it’s completely free! There is one catch – … Read more

The CDN Middleman

NewTeeVee has a post up regarding Akamai’s new HD strategy. If you haven’t heard of Akamai, well you’re probably not reading a lot of video blogs, because the company’s been everywhere lately. Akamai specializes in content delivery networks (CDNs), hosting content in a variety of geographic regions for faster, more efficient transport to end users. … Read more

Seen Around Town

I’m not much of a photographer, but that doesn’t stop me from always taking my camera with me. Here are some recent gadget shots:

The music branding and advertising at Starbucks has gone completely over the top. Above is a pic of the digital release displayed in front of the cashier. I also picked up a business-card-size promotional sheet offering a free “song of the day” by entering the download code online. Makes me wonder where Starbucks will go next. (Co-op work spaces? Theme parks?) They’re clearly more than a coffee shop these days. And what about the music distribution business? Do music studios have to sell an experience rather than just a song?

Next check out what I found at Costco and a yard sale…