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.

Retargeting Images

I don’t often have the patience to sit through embedded videos in blogs (a personal weakness of mine), but sometimes the video is too good to ignore. TechCrunch posted one this morning illustrating a new way to resize or retarget images. The technique is very simply explained and involves eliminating the paths of pixels that are least important to the content of an image. The process also works in reverse where you can add paths of pixels to extend the size of an image without substantially altering the content.

I clipped out screenshots, which you can see below, but if you have the time, I highly recommend watching the whole video. The end also shows how to preserve or remove specific content elements in pictures. Talk about serious potential to alter forensic evidence!

New TiVo HD Hits Retail

If you’ve been waiting to buy the new TiVo “lite”, now’s your chance. Purportedly, TiVo’s retail partners are fully stocked – including Best Buy, Circuit City and (as seen below) online at Amazon. We’ll have to wait and see if sales of this lower cost HD DVR have any impact on TiVo’s profit outlook.

…And a DVR in Every Home

I remember when Motorola (yes, my employer) rolled out its first HD DVR years after TiVo and ReplayTV first hit the market. There was some general concern about Motorola being late to the game, but the truth was that DVRs hadn’t really made a splash yet, at least in terms of mass adoption. Today, Leightman … Read more

Adobe Goes H.264

The Web’s most-used video software, Adobe Flash, will now support the H.264 codec for high-definition display. Will more online HD video bring the Internet to its knees?

Video Rentals

Unless we’re talking about a classic like the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I’m really not interested in shelling out money to purchase video content. And apparently I’m not alone. The Diffusion Group reports that roughly 90% of US broadband households rent movies on a regular basis. (ZDNet picked up the stats last … Read more

Another Day, Another Set-Top

A new set-top maker has entered the fray to the tune of $17.5 million in capital investments. The company, Building-B, says it will have a product in retail this fall that will combine broadcast TV with VOD and Web video. Sounds great. But haven’t we heard that somewhere before? There’s a reason no one else … Read more

FiOS Doesn’t Cause Fires

Yes, we’re all pyromaniacs at heart. First there were the exclusive new pics of AT&T’s fiber node blow-up, and now there’s a Verizon story of a FiOS installer possibly starting a fire when he drilled through an electrical main. Fire or no, Verizon has a great post up on its policy blog addressing the issue … Read more

Digital Yoga

What’s wrong with this picture? Raw Feed reported late last week on a new yoga mat that streams audio and video. The theory is you can get yoga instruction or mood music right from the mat. Seriously, has whoever designed this ever done a yoga practice? The whole idea is to disconnect. Plus, I can’t … Read more