True Internet/TV convergence - It’s almost here

September 17, 2008 · Filed Under Product Reviews · Comment 

As an avid TV viewer and internet junkie, I’ve always had that dream, the dream of a television-viewing experience where the Internet was not only always accessible but integrated right into the experience. There was no switching back and forth between environments. I viewed what I wanted when I wanted online or via broadcast and tapped into information about what I was viewing through a small bar or window that could either sit on the screen or be safely minimized. If I saw something that I wanted to buy, I didn’t have to grab my laptop or switch out to Windows. I simply accessed the information about the product right on the TV screen, and bought it right then and there.

Now, a group of events appear poised to make this dream a (partial) reality. Last week, Intel and Yahoo! announced a somewhat unlikely partnership that would result in Internet-enabled HDTVs that play and use on-screen Yahoo! widgets to give viewers direct access to Web-based content, applications, and contextual advertising. It could be the germ of what might become my idea, brought to life. In fact, execs at Intel and Yahoo! did note that viewers might be able to, say, buy the shoes Lauren is wearing on an episode of The Hills, or anything similar to that sort of thing.

The digital TV part is pretty much going to be taken care of soon. The FCC’s decision to strong-arm the nation and broadcasters into the digital spectrum is probably the best thing to happen to television since color, IMHO. Sorry, all you people still fiddling around with your rabbit ears, but it’s an idea that really needed to happen at one time or another, for a lot of reasons. Those complaining about next year’s switchover on February 17, 2009 might end up feeling quite differently once they see everything the programmers and partners can do with a digital screen.

The Intel/Yahoo! tool and the Sidebar feature look like a really good start. I love that these toolbars can slide on and off the HDTV screen, providing you with instant access to content you’ve stored online. What’s missing, of course, is the deeper integration that would offer direct interaction between your live TV show and the Internet as I mentioned earlier, but I know that’s coming. So, for example, on Deal or No Deal, you could play along with the contestant, select your cases, and even see what’s in them (via an overlay). You could also select a winning case and, perhaps, be entered into a live drawing—maybe you’d compete directly against the on-air opponent for a million dollars! This is the type of digital world I always envisioned.

So do these exciting developments represent true integration and convergence? Not quite yet. In fact, significant hurdles remain. Few of the glowing reports about the Internet TV revolution and the surprise Intel-Yahoo! partnership mention that not enough people have broadband access anywhere near where their TV is located (or have broadband period in some areas of the country). So consumers either need to wire their homes (not gonna happen) or add access points near their TVs. An obvious alternative would be for these Internet-ready TVs to come wireless-ready, too. But these hurdles will be overcome. Eventually.

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A Hewlett-Packard PC with Linux?

September 14, 2008 · Filed Under Technology · Comment 

According to a recent story in BusinessWeek, Hewlett Packard has been exploring the possibility of using something other than Windows Vista for some of its computers. The article has some denials from HP spokespersons, but their denials seem weak and uncertain in wording, so odds are, they’re correct in some form or another.

Apple and Mac computers are grabbing increasing market share; at least some of Apple’s new sales are coming at the expense of companies like HP and Dell. It has to be frustrating to Windows OEMs like HP that they don’t really control the complete user experience the way Apple does. HP has a history of wanting to control the user shell more closely, so that loss of control must really irritate them at times.

The idea that HP might create its own operating system from scratch is crazy (and expensive and unnecessary), so they had no problem denying that rumor. Part of the article, confirmed by HP, was about their efforts to “innovate on top of Vista”, in HP’s words. That could simply be some tack-on applications, or added functionality at the BIOS level for certain functions, but I have a hard time believing that would solve a lot of consumer problems. It may even create a whole new set of compatibility issues.

The big question is whether HP is pondering the use of Linux on its consumer PCs. This is territory already explored by the successful Asus Eee PC. That tiny notebook offers both Linux and Windows — but it’s Windows XP. Microsoft has made it clear that XP is OS-non-grata its future plans, so the Linux option may be HP’s best alternative. This would turn the whole OS/PC world pretty much upside down, and MS would be none too happy to see one of its biggest partners defect to Linux.

There are plenty of Linux distributions that HP could use, so the engineering effort could boil down to making sure that high-quality Linux drivers are available (sometimes not a given). HP could push most of that work down to their chipset suppliers such as Intel and NVidia. Sure, they’d want to brand their Linux user interface with some sort of custom HP look, but that shouldn’t take long and wouldn’t cost much, more than likely. Some Linux gurus would probably volunteer testing and ideas for nothing, just to see it happen.

HP has tried to be a good partner with Microsoft in the past, and hasn’t always been rewarded with much loyalty for the effort. One example came to light in a lawsuit where MS told HP execs that Vista would require high-end video hardware, and HP accelerated a redesign of their product lines to support the new chipsets Vista needed. Then, Microsoft backpedaled and said that less-capable video chipsets, the ones in HP’s soon-to-be-defunct products, could be labeled “Vista Capable.”

Microsoft has some options to keep HP consumer products Linux-free. Microsoft will probably use the carrot of a price break or marketing money, similar to the way Intel appeased OEMs with the Intel Inside program. In essence, Microsoft can price Vista or XP in a way that “pays” HP to not use Linux. That may ultimately be an offer HP can’t refuse. Either way, MS needs to step up and do something it appears, or an HP box with Linux may become reality.

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Google App Engine

May 15, 2008 · Filed Under Recent News · Comment 

Google and free are synonyms right? I mean - who isn’t tired of hearing about some google ‘product’ that is beta and free to customers.

Of course when I say free - I mean in exchange for your privacy and ad attention..

So Google announced its long-awaited App Engine a few weeks ago. The Google Application services will directly compete with Amazon’s ever-growing S3 and Db services. Think Cloud Computing.

What is Google App Engine?

Well, the Company described this as an application-hosting tool by which developers can make use of in order to put up scalable web apps on top of Google’s infrastructure. There are no servers to maintain. All you have to do is to upload your application and you are ready to serve your users through a free domain name on the appspot.com or simply use Google Apps itself if you want to serve it your own domain.

It is easy and you will have a choice whether to share it with others or limit access to members of your organization.

The free account can give you up to 500MB space with sufficient CPU and bandwidth for about 5 million page views a month. If this is not enough for you Google offers a paid increase (price unknown).

Is it reliable? You are kidding, right? Has google every been down for you ?

The App Engine development environment comprise of outstanding Web serving, automatic scaling and load balancing, large space for better file storage, Google APIs for authenticating users and sending e-mail and a full packed local development environment. With all these, one can surely assume that the service is possibly reliable because Google is known for being almost invulnerable to widespread outages.

There are a few reasons to dislike the service - the most notable downside is the fact that developers can only make use of Python as their programming language. Google assures the public that Python is merely the first supported language, and that the whole infrastructure is intended to be language neutral.

Data Portability is increasing - as is the availability and ease of use of cloud computing services.

Amazon really set the pace with S3 and continues to lead in the area. Competition and choices are always a good thing - so we should all welcome google into the game.

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Online Movies - Are we there yet?

February 25, 2008 · Filed Under Product Reviews, Technology · Comment 

The recent surrender of HD-DVD in the latest format war has got us thinking about online video rentals - so we thought we’d review the options available today.

Streaming or downloading full movies instead of renting or buying physical media is nothing new. As happens time after time in the world of technology the real first adopters are the adult industry and the hackers/pirates. The adult movie folks have been providing video content only for years now. And we all know well that hacker-kids have distributed full dvds in online format for some time as well. If both these groups can handle it successfully why not the movie studios?

With the rise in popularity of Youtube consumers have grown familiar with online videos and the entire medium has gained market acceptance. Fears that studios once had over the customer acceptance of less-then-highest quality video have disappeared. Consumers bandwidth will only increase in the future allowing for higher quality.

Netflix: As part of the base netflix subscription all customers can watch unlimited movies online - free. Tough to argue with that deal. The biggest downside is the selection, of course the online library of movies are limited. Quality is above average and the program is very easy to use. As netflix offers more movies into this category it will have an even bigger market impact. We have to wonder when/if they will start charging for the service. Another challenge for Netflix is getting onto the TV and into the living room - not everyone is willing to watch movies on the PC or laptop. Watch for a partnership with Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony in the future. But right now it is the market leader for cost and ease of use.

Amazon Unbox: Amazon has been at this market for quite some time (opened in 2006). Unbox offers a wide selection of newly released and classics at near DVD prices ($14.99 for most movies) and rentals for lower cost (4.99 in most cases). Although the service received mixed reviews when it was released it has improved over time.

The videos can be played on about 20 handheld devices (again - big drawback if you can’t connect the PC to the TV). They’ve since partnered with Tivo to allow purchase of videos which can be sent directly to your living room Tivo system for review. Of course Tv shows are also available for those into that type of thing (who really buys and watches old tv episodes?!)

Apple - iTunes: When it comes to online media - iTunes is still the name we all think of first. Apple has made available movies for download since 2006. Of course they use the itunes market place and application to support the download service. The move catalog matches the size of Amazon’s and most physical rental stores. Pricing is equivalent to Amazon (about $14 a pop) with the edge going to Apple for ease of use. Naturally the advantage is apple’s in the device category as legions of iPod Video’s and Nano’s can show movies and tv shows purchased through itunes. Recently Apple released the AppleTV device (getting into your living room.. sound like a familiar theme?). It allows for move rentals (HD content too) as well as the rest of the itunes HTPC functionality - plugged into your TV of course. So far its received a bit of a lackluster response (for an Apple product that is) and we’ll hold our breath before we tell anyone to run out and buy one.

Comcast (ondemand): The biggest name in the video on demand cable industry - comcast leads the pack. One of the first cable companies to roll out on demand video (which comes free with their digital cable package). This competes with downloadable purchases and rentals head to head. Comcast has the advantage in many areas since they are already entrenched in the consumers living room, have market share and control much of the delivery. The ease-of-use factor cannot be dismissed either. Consumers have embraced the video on demand service in a surprising fashion and other cable vendors have been struggling to catch up.

Directv on demand: Directv is fighting to catch up to Comcast on the movie delivery/video on demand front. Their vod service is still in beta. The distinct disadvantage for Directv is not controlling the consumers broadband as Comcast does, meaning Directv VOD users must rely on their existing dsl/broadband to download video content to their DVR system.

Slingbox & Orb: Both worth a mention here as similar software packages and devices which allow for ‘place-shifting’ of video content. You can pull your recorded TV episodes from the living room and watch them on the cell phone, in the hotel room, or at work. Not mounting any big-time competition with the video rental/download services yet - but keep an eye on them. Either could provide a medium or means of easy distribution in the future.

None of these are set to overtake Blu-ray or DVD sales in 2008 - but with the delay in adoption of hidef movies caused by the format wars you can bet that they’ve gained traction.

You can bet your gold-plated dvd’s that downloads will overtake physical disc purchases by 2011.

Any comments or additions are welcome. We’ll be glad to update this as they come in.

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An Overview of Social Platforms and the OpenSocial Initiative

February 19, 2008 · Filed Under Technology · Comment 

It seems that everyone today webpage that ends up being their own persona to the world.  Be it a superstar athlete, a musician, an actress, or just some guy down the block, everyone seems to be connected and blogging on-line.  

And anyone who is anyone has a Myspace or Facebook page these days to connect with their fans, their friends, or even nobody in particular. (60 Million active facebook users vs. 110 Million for myspace)   

For the purposes of this article we’ll keep it simple and leave the discussion with the two giants in the industry. 

Facebook made waves last year by opening their API to allow for user created Social Networkfacebook apps.  This created a surge in popularity for Facebook, as well as a mini virtual market for small casual applications that run the gamut from trivia games to trivial time-wasters. 

Myspace is rumored to announce their own custom application system in the very near future.

These changes have transitioned both myspace an facebook into more of a platform then just websites.  The user base already existed in large (large) numbers, but now the content is much more engaging, customizable and dynamic.  The social platform tempts advertisers as the holy grail of marketing, and users were hooked before they even knew it. 

Of course Google couldn’t stand on the sidelines very long.  Google’s OpenSocial is just the latest attempt to join in the fray of the white-hot social platform development trend. Launched in November 2007, Google released a collection of API’s built to work together and to standard the core and method which websites and services work and speak together. 

You can think of Open Social as a similar initiative for social platforms as Open ID is for User IDS. While Facebook and MySpace got an initial headstart in launching the Social Networking revolution, Google has actually made large strides into the medium in just a few short months.   

Since the launch, OpenSocial has gathered support from the likes of LinkedIn, hi5, XING, Friendster, Plaxo and Ning, among others to create a huge conglomerate of social networking sites and applications that are all now linking together to form one community that uses one standard for all the software applications used across it.   

Facebook, with a reported 60 million users, doesn’t seem to be that worried yet since they believe their users are satisfied with the service and the applications and netware that run over it.   Sooner or later, however, as OpenSocial and the network it is creating across the internet continues to build and gain size, the two will almost inevitably be forced to join together or clash over user bases that will be huge. 

Google has already extended an olive branch according to some reports, and Microsoft, which owns Facebook, rebuffed their offer at a partnership.   

As the recent Open ID initiative demonstrated last year, there is strong movement in the internet community to bring barriers down and let users bring a distinct digital identity with them wherever they go electronically.  It remains to be seen if while users are beginning to enjoy seamlessly moving about the internet with one sole digital identity, if they will have any enthusiasm for a protracted trade war between two conglomerates determined to rule the internet social networking community. 

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