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.

Au Revoir, Pandora

In a move that I can only suspect is designed to show Pandora’s willingness to abide by copyright law, the Internet radio company has said that as of today, May 3rd, it will start blocking access to its service for listeners outside the US. While Pandora is currently fighting a ruling by the CRB that … Read more

Comcast and Yahoo Deal

Somehow amidst watching his Mavericks squeak out a respectable series against Golden State, Mark Cuban has had the time to write insightful commentary about the revolution in advertising brought on by the recent Comcast/Yahoo deal. The specific point Cuban makes is that Comcast can entirely bypass the Internet with this set-up, which also means bypassing … Read more

Ready, Set… Joost

Joost has gotten more hype pre-launch than any start-up company I can remember, and here I am contributing to it. Officially Joost may have made its commercial launch announcement earlier this week, but isn’t actually be available to everyone yet. If you’re still looking for an invite, I too now have 999 available in my … Read more

More on Mochila

Earlier in the month I sat down with Mochila CEO Keith McAllister and got the 1-hour version of what it is Mochila does. As best as I can sum it up, the company offers a-la-carte, multiplatform syndication. Together those words make it sound thoroughly uninteresting, but actually Mochila brings an intriguing approach to the new media market… at least once you get your brain wrapped around the concept.

Here’s how it works. Anyone can become a buyer or seller of content by joining Mochila’s network. (Sellers are vetted to make sure they’re selling legit material and no naughty stuff.) If you’re buying, you can choose text, photos, audio or video, and either pay money to redistribute the content – online or offline – or syndicate it with advertising. If you’re selling, you can make your content available on whatever terms you like. Mochila has a handy licensing system that lets you customize everything from price to embargo times to the specific publishers you’re willing to do business with.

Pandora and Internet Radio Saved?

PC World reports that two Congressmen have submitted a bill called the Internet Radio Equality Act that could save Internet radio broadcasters, including Pandora, from going out of business. The bill is the follow-up to a petition started by the SaveNetRadio group. Pandora’s founder: Following our outreach to Pandora listeners, every congressional office was flooded … Read more

Battlestar Galactica Video Contest

Dave and I are having a disagreement about the plot twist in the season finale of Battlestar Galactica (I liked it; he didn’t). Fortunately, BSG now has something of a choose-your-own-adventure option. Fans are being encouraged to create their own BSG video clips online. The Sci Fi Channel site gives you visual effects, sounds and … Read more

Mochila Adds Video

No, it’s not a new Starbucks flavor. Mochila is a multimedia syndication service that just launched its video player and video content today. It’s an interesting business model and I got a full briefing on it from the CEO earlier in the week. Unfortunately, time has been running shorter than usual and I haven’t had … Read more

Staten Island Residents Get PhotoShowTV

Time Warner Cable quietly launched PhotoShowTV in Staten Island last week. I say quietly because it appears there was very little press coverage. Granted the service was already operating in Hawaii, but this is the first time PhotoShowTV has been available on the mainland, so to speak. And it’s a very cool service.

SimpleStar’s PhotoShow has been around for quite a while as a simple tool for creating photo slideshows with music, graphics and even some animations. (Comcast subscribers can download the Deluxe version on Comcast.net) The TV part comes in with the combination of PhotoShow and Time Warner’s VOD service. Staten Island TWC subscribers can now create PhotoShows online and then submit them for public viewing on a local VOD station. In other words, what you create in your living room can be watched on Grandma’s TV screen across town.