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.

FiOS as Dreadnought

dreadnought.jpg

Bill Koss has submitted a fascinating if dense post on Verizon FiOS over on SeekingAlpha. The main thrust of is that Verizon’s changing the rules of the broadband game the same way the H.M.S. Dreadnought changed the rules for naval fleets a hundred years ago. Okay, it’s a bit of an obscure reference, but the analogy is pretty apt.

Mr. Koss is arguing one thing that I’ve found lacking in most other discussions of FiOS, namely that Verizon is probably taking the most strategic route to long-term broadband success. Sure the cost of laying fiber is obscene, and the risks are not insignificant. But at the same time Verizon is literally laying the groundwork for a future of nearly infinite broadband demand.

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BrightCove Adds Editing Features

David Berlind reported last week on BrightCove‘s new, not-yet-released AfterMix application, but I haven’t seen much else in the way of coverage. According to Berlind, Aftermix has two important new features: it lets consumers “record video directly to the Web” and, like Jumpcut, it adds video editing capabilities. (Photo below is also from Berlind’s blog) … Read more

The Day the Music Died

Many, many people have covered this story, but in case you haven’t seen it here, here or here, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has made a significant change in its rate scheme which, if upheld, will result in substantial royalty increases – enough to kill off most Internet music services.

From GigaOM, here’s what Tim Westergren of Pandora had to say:

“Left unchanged, it’s over for us and every other internet radio service, period. Makes it un-viable,” Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren wrote in an email. “We’re staying online because we’re hopeful that sanity will eventually win out. This is a ludicrous ruling.”

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Mari Goes Moto

Dave’s not the only one going corporate. I am now blogger-in-chief for the Motorola Connected Home Solutions group. Officially I started the job at the beginning of the year, but we’ve been working out a few kinks, and in February made the switch to WordPress. (Counting my lucky stars on that one…) Check out the … Read more

Perceptive Pixel

Remember in Minority Report when Tom Cruise and friends stood in front of screens and their mere hand motions summoned up data, zoomed in on photos and generally brought the universe to their fingertips? Well that’s what this video demo from Perceptive Pixel reminds me of. I saw it over on NewTeeVee, and it’s sheer … Read more

Comcast’s Big Foot(print)

Shot of giant clothespin in front of Comcast’s current HQ location. Photo courtesy of Nemahziz’s Flickr photostream – CC License With all the excitement around Internet video, some may be tempted to ignore signs of growth among traditional cable operators. Recent earnings reports would set you straight, but if you’re not big on scanning IR … Read more

Red-Eye Be Gone!

Here’s one you might have missed. FotoNation has announced the “world’s first” red-eye correction technology for camera phones. It’s an embedded solution that can automatically detect red-eye and correct it.fotonation.jpg The company claims a detection rate of 70-80% with a visible false positive rate of 1-2%. (Note: The photo caption to the right is my own.)

Since my camera phone doesn’t take very high-quality shots, I’m not sure this is something I’d care about. But as camera phones get better (and high-end ones certainly already have), this technology seems like a no-brainer. Back at DEMOfall last September, there were at least a couple of image-correcting companies on site. The one I remember is Photobot, which installs an application on your desktop that scans and corrects (red-eye, brightness, color) any uploaded photos. Just as folks like Thomas Hawk are getting excited about more technology for sophisticated photo-snapping, mere amateurs like myself are getting to take advantage of more automated tools that might just make our photos print-worthy.

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