Jumbotron On-Demand?

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Photo courtesy of David Silbey and his T-Mobile Dash

I was at the Villanova/Georgetown b-ball game today contemplating how I could reasonably write off the tickets as an expense for tax purposes, and I started thinking about how Comcast could get more out of its Jumbotron. If there was a way to plug the Jumbotron display into a cable network, Comcast could then broadcast that out on-demand to college campuses. Dumb graphics, half-time show coverage and all.

More interestingly, maybe cable operators should do something equivalent to ESPN’s Full Circle coverage of certain events like last year’s Duke vs. UNC games. Instead of having different ESPN networks covering different aspects of the game, have different on-demand channels showing different game-related content. One station could have the game at 3/4 screen with the rest of the display dedicated to dynamic player and game stats. Another station could syndicate one of the college’s own radio commentators over the broadcast video feed. Another station could feature different camera angles.

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Free March Madness Webcast Returns

Awesome, the NCAA and CBS SportsLine are serving up March Madness On Demand (again) online and for free! Sure, glued to my laptop may not be the ideal way to watch days of basketball but I’ll be able to view specific games that my local affiliate doesn’t broadcast (if necessary). Starting March 5th, the site … Read more

The Perfect Phone

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My headline is a fantasy… There is no perfect phone. My favorite phone for purely email and voice has been the Blackberry 8700, but as a guy who runs a decent amount of multimedia, Windows Mobile is my preferred OS. (Though it frequently drives me crazy.)

I’ve been using the 6700 on Sprint since last summer and it’s time for change. The thing weighs a ton, no longer holds a charge, and I find the hidden keyboard too wide for comfortable thumb typing.

To borrow a term from Gizmodo, I’d like to build a Windows Mobile “Frankenphone” using the best features of the Dash, Blackjack, and 700w:

Dash

  • Form factor
  • Standard USB Connection
  • Windows Mobile 6 Update

Blackjack

  • 3G Connectivity
  • Jog Dial
  • Extra Battery

Palm 700w

  • Software dialing enhancements
  • Touchscreen
  • 3G Connectivity

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TiVo Series2 Receives Minor Update

Broadband-connected Series2 owners: 8.1 becomes 8.1a… This release is a very small update, specifically targeted to address the TiVoToGo issue and provide some needed infrastructure for the new Amazon service.

Update: Dave’s Vista Upgrade

So much for getting Vista this month… or even next month. Looks like I’m slated for a mid-April delivery. I’m no math whiz, but that doesn’t seem like 6-8 weeks after US launch. “Express Upgrade” is a bit misleading… Bah! Between the numerous hotfixes in the works and at least one report that editing DVR-MS … Read more

TiVo Recruiting Video

TiVo’s been posting tons of job openings lately, so they put together an inside-look recruiting video and shipped it off to select boxes (TiVo Central). I may have had a few content suggestions prior to shooting…

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Not Everyone Deserves 15 Minutes of Fame

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There’s a new trend in online video that I’m entirely in favor of. Editors. And for that matter, producers.

Yes, people have learned that most user-generated content is trash and the way to make money is to provide better filters. Hence the recent Facebook/Ziddio announcement and efforts to offer promising video producers a little professional support.

On the Facebook front, the company has teamed with Ziddio.com to select top video submissions for feature placement on the Ziddio site. In addition, through Ziddio’s relationship with Comcast, these same top videos will be available through on-demand cable. Don’t waste time rummaging through heaps of crappy video. Let someone else do the rummaging for you, then sit back and enjoy the show.

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How HD-DVD Copy Protection Was (Possibly) Defeated

Over the last couple of months, there have been reports of HD-DVD and Blu-ray copy protection being defeated and bypassed. I can’t say I’m an expert in this area and I haven’t slogged through the public AACS documents. While it’s unclear if these methods (and keys) are temporary “solutions” or if they will permanently bypass … Read more