iTunes Movie Rentals and Music Subscriptions?

Let me tell you what I won’t do. I will not purchase a digital movie, whether via Xbox 360, Amazon Unbox on TiVo, iTunes, or anything else. I’m hooked on the Netflix paradigm of unlimited rentals not to mention I have no guarantees that the movie I purchase today will work on the device I … Read more

Digital Media Bytes: Capitol Hill Edition

Mark Cuban, YouTube, TiVo, and Sling Media hit the Hill yesterday, chatting up the House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee. Congress gets earful on net neutrality, CableCARD, YouTube: Ars Technica Congressman-Cam Debuts on YouTube: NewTeeVee Hill-icon Valley: Washington Post

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: BBC iPlayer Given the Go-Ahead: WebTVWire Simple Convergence– Caller ID on the TV: Connected Home 2 Go If You’re Gonna Dig the Trenches: Connected Home 2 Go Waivers on the Eve of The Cable Show: Connected Home 2 Go

The Akimbo Post-Mortem

After Akimbo announced that they’re killing the RCA hardware line, I got in touch with my PR rep. We agreed there wouldn’t be much point in a review of the device now, though the GUI may be similar to what they license to other manufacturers/services. She suggested I recycle the box… and as we all … Read more

American Airlines & Hilton Entertain Road Warriors

Both Hilton Hotels and American Airlines announced this week they are ramping up programs to entertain their traveling clientele. First up, American Airlines revealed they will be running a four month pilot (pun!) program in which business/first class customers will be loaned Archos 704 PMPs and Bose QuietComfort headsets. Don’t worry, though — us working … Read more

Back To The Future: 21st Century Movies

As a digital TV blogger, I spend a lot of time writing about where I think television is heading. Given the impact that technology is having on the television experience, it hard enough to know what is going to happen next week, let alone 25 years from now.

This is why I was surprised at how eerily familiar things seemed, when I was reading Paleo-Future’s review of the The Omni Future Almanac. The book was written in 1982 by Robert Weil and offers his vision into what the television industry would be like, in the 21st century.

We’re only a few years into the 21st century of course, but considering that it’s been 25 years since the book was published, I couldn’t help, but be impressed with how many of the predictions he got right (except for the whole people loving westerns thing, he was way off base on that one.) In looking over the list of predictions, here are a few, that I think we’ll continue to see throughout the rest of this century.

*Instant classics will be created by increased Hollywood hype and intensive advertising. Aggressive marketing techniques will also be used in the promotion of pay television and home video media.

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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

Netgear to Acquire Infrant

No sooner am I reminded of Infrant’s NAS solutions, do I discover that my friends at Netgear just announced that they will be acquiring them. This should be a win/win in providing Netgear more robust storage solutions while pushing Infrant’s technology into mainstream retail locations… and maybe at lower price points.