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.

The DTV Transition

Are you aware of the 2009 deadline for transitioning everyone over to digital television? Of course you are. Which means you can now feel superior to more than 60% of Americans according to a study cited by John Lawson, President and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS).

The Digital TV panel at the CEA Washington Forum brought together some unlikely fellows working toward a common goal of getting consumers educated about the DTV transition. While the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) are on opposite sides of the fence on some issues (like, say, CableCARD), their CEOs, Gary Shapiro and Kyle McSlarrow, certainly agreed that DTV requires significant cooperation over the next couple of years. Shapiro went so far as to compare the transition to the move from horse and buggy to automobile. (Yeah, not sure I agree with that, but maybe true in the long term.)

Lawson meanwhile emphasized the benefits coming out of DTV, including specifically the availability of new content. Apparently public television is doing a lot more with multicasting than I knew, including adding three new 24/7 channels – a Spanish channel, a “How-To” channel and a public affairs channel.

Celebrity Shots

Here in the geek world, we have an entirely different sort of celebrity. It’s the guy (or girl) who knows all the right geek and gadget stuff. I caught Dave Graveline in the middle of a radio broadcast yesterday at the CEA Washington Forum. Dave is the host of the consumer electronics show “Into Tomorrow”, and he graciously agreed to pose for photos between interviews. (I am shameless.)

More official blogging on DTV a little later today. One more photo with me and Graveline after the jump.

Riding the Green Wave

This morning’s first session at the CEA Washington Forum focused on electronics recycling – an interesting topic, but I’d guess not what a lot of the attendees are here for. The panel talked specifically about state recycling initiatives and the rather patchwork result of a state-by-state approach. A few interesting points from the discussion:

Some states put the burden of recycling solely on manufacturers (much to the CEA’s dismay), and some spread the responsibility across manufacturers and retailers.
Sometimes responsibility falls on the actual manufacturer and sometimes it’s on the brand company that uses a manufacturer’s products. Disney, for example, is responsible for recycling in some states because its brand is on electronics, even though the company doesn’t have anything to do with making those products.
California has the most mature recycling program, yet its collection of recycled electronics in 2006 amounted to only 3.4 lbs per capita, much less than the theoretically available 10 lbs of recyclable electronics per capita.
In a consumer survey, three out of four consumers had no idea how to recycle their electronic products, yet most of them would if they knew how to do so.
Read more

On Site at CEA Washington Forum

Other people may think the CTIA show is the sexiest place to be right now, but they don’t know what they’re missing at the CEA Washington Forum. Senator Ron Wyden is on stage starting the day out by talking about protectionism vs. innovation. He’s already referenced the Internet tax debate and net neutrality. Wow. More … Read more

Apple TV in its Native Environment

Sure you can see Apple TV “unboxing” photos all over the place. But where else can you find photos of Apple TV in its native environment, i.e. the Apple Store at the local mall? (King of Prussia Mall in this case)

I must admit to some skepticism about Apple TV, but the Apple fanaticism is real, and many analysts have positive things to say. Ross Rubin compares and contrasts Apple TV (pretty favorably) against TiVo in his recent Engadget column. Steve Wildstrom on the other hand is a bit more ambiguous on Apple TV’s future. Then of course there’s Dave Z.’s opinion…

The RIAA – No More Cuddly Puppies

Brian Biggs has an “article” up over on BBspot on the RIAA’s new mission statement and innovative communications strategies. Instead of fostering a supportive climate, Brian suggests the RIAA is codifying a different, less cuddly approach: Our mission is to maximize hatred for the music industry by using creative legal and innovative technological methods which … Read more

Boob Tube-onomics

The latest study out of Nielsen Research (also covered by MultiChannel News) has a raft of interesting TV statistics. But since we all know how deceiving numbers can be, I thought I’d add a little context to the facts and figures. For your reading pleasure…

Boob Tube-onomics

• There are an average of 111.4 million TV homes in the United States for the 2006-07 TV season.
Given a US population of around 300 Million, with an average household of 2.5 people (see below), this means that roughly 93% of American homes have TVs.

• The average U.S. TV home has 2.5 people and 2.8 television sets.
The primary TV in consumer homes was bought at an average price of $783. Not cheap, but even doubled or tripled it’s a lot less expensive than .5 of a kid for your typical couple.

• 28% of U.S. TV homes have digital cable.
More than half of cable subscribers to the top two cable companies get digital services: 52% of Comcast subscribers and 54% of Time Warner subscribers.

More after the jump…

March Madness On-Demand?

Well, sort of. The NCAA and CBS SportsLine announced back in February that they’d be offering all NCAA tournament games online again this year for free. (Woohoo!) As a pre-registered, VIP member, I got into the streaming application pretty quickly, though I did get a few error episodes along the way. Unfortunately, the video seems … Read more