technology filter: Entertainment

Theft of Intellectual Property Not Serious, Americans Say

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:40:00 GMT

Americans equate the theft of intellectual property – movies, music and other recorded trappings – with minor parking violations according to a new poll by Toronto-based Solutions Research group.

Since the dawn of Betamax lawyers and engineers have grappled with the idea that people who wouldn’t think of shoplifting a recording from a record store would casually make illegal copies. Consumers would argue that once they buy an original recording, they have the same right to copy the work as they would a newspaper clipping. Music and film recording studios would argue that the illegal recordings diminish their profits and therefore their ability to fund new projects.

Asked to compare illegal duplication of movies and other recordings to other infractions, 59 percent of Americans say “parking in a fire lane" is a more serious offense. In this age of YouTube and the ability to upload illegal copies to the masses, some industry sources say a compromise needs to be developed that would bring down the price of CDs and DVDs, and discourage the illegal duplicates.

Meanwhile, YouTube has announced a revenue sharing plan that would encourage users to upload ORIGINAL recordings. YouTube says it will ultimately share profits from advertising on the site with producers of uploaded videos. Whatever the revenue, it’s not likely to be enough to hire a lawyer to protect the producer’s intellectual property.

Posted by Barbara.

Improving the Search for Video on Demand

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:11:52 GMT

In the early days of 2007, one of the top videos on the planet has been a parody of a Saturday Night Live parody, “My *&^i% in a Box.” But if you look for simply “box” in a video search engine, you’re likely to get kittens playing in a box and the latest information on box office results, before you get to the parody in question.

Online videos have come a long way from Web 1.0 when online video watchers were frequently entertained with the word “buffering.” Now that YouTube is part of the Google family in Web 2.0, the search engine giant is just one force attempting to make searching for a particular video easier. Microsoft, AOL and a list of other giant video portals are also hoping to improve the experience before someone else does.

Google has now incorporated YouTube search results within its own video listings. However, the search still depends on metadata and other keywords entered by the video producer, a search process that is so Web 1.0. Video Search “sucks” according to a new report by Forester Research The report says video giants like Google, AOL and others have not distinguished themselves as either an online video portal, a search engine or a paid download service.

There are new technologies in the works. Some search engines already have the capacity to search audio within a video. Engineers are developing a method of outlining facial features of famous individuals and thus capturing videos of specific people. An audience that has been bred for video on demand can’t wait to see what technology can deliver yesterday.

Those of us who remember getting up from our chairs to choose between two broadcast channels on the old idiot box are more willing to wait for progress.

Posted by Barbara.

Is There a Mushroom Cloud in YouTube's Future?

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:20:31 GMT

The producers of the Fox television drama “24” have made criminal suspects of Muslim Americans, nuclear physicists and even a fictional President of the United States. Now, they are taking on lawbreakers that do business through You-Tube.

Fox executives have subpoenaed YouTube to reveal the identity of a member who put up unauthorized episodes of the popular television show before its network premiere earlier this month. YouTube has not yet complied or commented on the subpoena.

Visitors to YouTube were able to view the first four episodes of the series’ sixth season. The episodes, which now have been aired on broadcast television, have been removed from YouTube.

YouTube, now a Google property, has often been cited by broadcast operations for its airing of pirated copyrighted videos. Now that the upstart is part of a larger operation, copyright holders have become more interested in legal relief.

Anyone who has watched the episode in question should warn YouTube that "24" has its own nuclear arsenal.

Posted by Barbara.

Love At First Byte?

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:53:18 GMT

Are you the type who can’t find the “start” button on your romantic life? You’ve seen the “metro-sexual”, now please welcome the positively charged, RAM-driven life of the the “techno-sexual.” They’re here, they drink beer, and they require someone who can whisper sweet “abort, retry or ignore…” in their ears.

In a world where boy meets girl, boy meets boy, or girl meets girl, there are Macs attempting to meet PCs, bits awaiting bytes and nerds looking for someone who will give them a bit of aerial density. The computer guy (and guys seem to dominate the online search for bit brethren) or girl simply needs someone with whom they can reverse engineer a relationship.

Fortunately, In the twenty-first century, there are places online for just such a need. New mating reserves have been established exclusively for the techno-sexual, although the ordinates of male to female remain unbalanced. If you are a gay male techie, however, your techno-sexual harvest may be plentiful.

Posted by Barbara

Get With the Programming

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 18:20:16 GMT

There was a time when I wished I could be a television program director when I grew up. I would put on more shows like “Laugh-In,” and air them at a time when kids like me could watch them on a school night.

Yes, I grew up in an age when you swallowed what the networks handed you — even the vegetables. Comedically challenged kids were starving for “My Mother the Car,” in China, and we should be grateful to Jiminy Cricket that we were entitled to heaping helpings of “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.” Even, as in my case, you lived in a rural area, where reception on the one channel you received depended on the strength of the tin foil on the rabbit ears.

Today, the final pieces are being added to a world where anyone can be a program director. Already, during the recent election campaign, You Tube has given us access to any negative political commercial anywhere in the country. It also gives us, at least temporary access to copyrighted material without commercial interruption. Tivo now gives us a “private network” in which we can program our home-grown videos for the “pleasure” of friends and family.

Now, Slingbot, which already provides access to your cable connection at home on your laptop anywhere in the world, is adding reception via your tiny cell phone screen — at least for European customers.

Meanwhile, Comedy Central — an entire Laugh-In network — is now giving You Tube-like reception to its own copyrighted materials, through a new video platform.

With so many choices, how will you ever be able to do anything but watch video?

Posted by Barbara

The $350,000 Laptop...Paris is Waiting

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 17:14:08 GMT

Got this via CPU. Seems the company a posted on back during January's CES-with-the-Jesuits episode, namely Tulip and its customized notebook cases, has taken the next step in notebooks as a fashion statement.

Tulip Computers announced availability of the new E-Go notebook PC encrusted with about 80 carats worth if precious stones, finally making the CPU one of the least expensive components of the PC.

Means it'll run you about $350,000 (or so) and will most likely not be available at CompUSA--when it is available because though it's announced it still hasn't seen the light of day.

Can't wait till Paris has this one stolen.

New Filter Family Addition

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 15:28:54 GMT

MSN's added another blog to our little group of filtering friends. The Movies Filter just opened up; you can get to it off the Filter Link list to the left, too. Kevin Canfield and Kim Morgan blog over there keeping you up to date on all the deep film industry dish you might want. Check it out.

D&D 2...Unbelievable

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 21:17:30 GMT

I've got high hopes for Serenity (to be viewed this weekend), but ever just see a movie title and know deep in your bones that it's going to bite the big monkey chunk?

The SciFi channel is going to debut Dungeons & Dragons 2 Wrath of the Dragon God this Saturday, Oct. 8. Even the trailer doesn't look any better than D&D1; and D&D1 was the worst movie I've seen since Starship Troopers.

Couldn't they maybe hire one of us ex-D&Ders to be a consultant on one of these things? Little basic hints, like make the movie about the actual game rather than just some shlocky fantasy yarn? Kills me.

Freak Site of the Day

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 23:10:32 GMT

Check out the anti-Wikipedia..the Uncylopedia. Not sure how long these pirates will be around, but if you've got some time to waste it's a pretty funny site.

I guess more than a few people have a little Captain in 'em.