“We see things as we are, not as they are…” Isaac Asmiov
Just past Leceister I took a picture out of a train window and thenposted it to this blog. Sometimes technology is amazing . It makes me wonder. It makes me consider ‘where next?’
And although I was heading for Bridgenorth via Kidderminster, I don’t think that’s the answer.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Warner Bros to sell movies on net
“One of the most effective weapons for defeating online piracy is providing legal, easy-to-use alternatives,” said Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group.
Its In2Movies service will enable viewers to download legally Warner’s blockbuster movies and regional programmes as well as material supplied by third parties.
New films will be made available to registered users of the service from the day they are released on DVD in the German language.
At last! I foolishly claimed Movies would be available online as long ago as 2004, but no such luck! Reading the quote above you would think that it is obvious that to provide this stuff legally online (rather than prevent its access) is a good idea. It seems to have taken them a long time to realise it. Maybe Warners are more progressive or maybe they have been hit worse than most.
In any case it certainly highlights that convergence more than ever is on its way to homes (again later than I predicted but then no body is perfect).
Get your multimedia converged digital device now or as Communities Dominate Brands would have it - your mobile (oh and you might want a Windows Media Center as well in case you feel like it).
Just as I was about to publish I noticed Tomi’s latest post
Convergence is obviously happening, nobody would doubt that. The beauty of it is, that today there is so much of a new opportunity, that convergence can give numerous opportunities to create new innovative service propositions to existing customers. That of course needs innovation and creativity.
This is all very exciting - I wish I was back in the Produyct Development workspace looking at these for real rather than as an interested bystander.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Jowell outlines switch-over plan
In a speech to broadcasters, she will say viewers on the English-Scottish borders will have their existing TV signals switched off in three years.
The rest of the UK will follow, region by region, ending in 2012.
So analogue switch off is happening. We’ll see 
I just realised I can look at a satellite image of where I live.
Very cool - probably only for 15 mins but coooooollllll.
Sometimes I really want to be a geek…
Oh I live here: Betaroad
Still, Grokster has turned out to be the kind of friend that assures the worst enemies. Among those enemies is a Supremely false distinciton between creativity and technology. I don’t know how we’re going to unf**k this one, but I’m sure it will take a very long time. And that tech can’t do it alone.
The most worrying point I have seen is one made by Cory Doctorow:
…what today’s decision will kill is American innovation. Chinese and European firms can get funding and ship products based on plans that don’t have to comply with this decision’s fuzzy test, while their American counterparts will need to convince everyone from their bankers to the courts that they’ve taken all measures to avoid inducing infringement. This is good news if you’re an American corporate lawyer but not if you’re an inventor creating a new way to enjoy content.
Its not that I don’t support European firms (or Chinese ones for that matter) however innovation breeds innovation. Anything that could slow this down is bad news.
Marc Canter isn’t too happy either:
This totally effects the fuure of DLAs (digital lifestyle aggregators.) I want to store my music, video and photos - the content I BOUGHT and access it from anywhere I go.
We want to provide the tools to do that.
We’ll ask all our users to agree to terms which say “I understand that the copyrights laws forbid me from illegally distributing content I haven’t paid for.”
But we sure as hell will protect our fair use rights!
So to what limits can our customers ’share’ the music they’ve legally purchased?
That’s the question.
Legal and political arguments are all interwoven in this decision, not to mention aspects of the right to intellectual property versus the commons.
I wonder if this decision will ultimately affect blogging and user created content?
BBC NEWS | Magazine | Shed heaven
While some sheds are crammed full with garden tools, and others are shrines to their owner’s hobby, more people seem to be opting for full-on luxury sheds - “garden offices” - to help them get better work-life balance.
I want one… of course I need the ‘work’ before I can justify one but I still want one.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Cable firms offer video-on-demand
I couldn’t very well not mention this Product launch. Although two points spring to mind from this article:
1) Great new technology which the cable firms think gives them a lead on BSkyB (not convinced entirely but I’ll let it ride) and gives customers a lot of interesting choice and perhaps more importantly control.
2) Telewest get their senior mangement team to deliver a PR launch, very upbeat, very excited pioneering and visionary.
ntl get their anonymous spokesperson (probably Malcom Padley, ntl’s PR Manager) to deliver a few words - although if you read the article they are actually delivering the more exciting service. Its as if they are embarrassed or afraid.
So I would love to have the VOD service tomorrow ( I have actually used the BBC VOD trial and it was brilliant) I doubt I’ll get it given my current circumstance and I would love for once for ntl to actually start creating buzz about their products. They do have other stuff to go fix but products they generally do well - so someone for pity’s sake shout about it!!!
I just looked at how much this now is - sub £60 is a fantastic price I can’t believe how much this has been reduced since last year. I think I paid double this…
Its interesting that there has been very little out this year in terms of new developments (well, at least not that I am aware of). Last year lots of media adapters and hushed tones of new and exciting products in this area none of which seem to have emerged. I await optimistically that there will be something interesting later in the year.
In the meantime you can always go look at the Internet Washing Machine
BBC NEWS | Technology | What the net did next
The internet is set to become the basis for just about every form of communication, according to net pioneer Vint Cerf:
“You are going to see a fairly dramatic increase in services riding on top of basic internet infrastructure,” he said, “You will see more and more layers of functionality showing up in the net.”
One of the original innovators who designed TCP/IP the fundamental communication protocol of the web, Vint offers a fairly standard industry view of where the web is taking us, but interesting nevertheless in that it gets across some of the true potential of the internet - worth a little read!
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Voyager ‘at edge of solar system’
Wow. Sometimes the achievements of man are astounding.
From another perspective its interesting to note how this achievement (or nearly achievement) is serendipity: a happy accident. Engineers built Voyager to last 5 years and here it is 21 years after that deadline still functioning and providing incredible information to scientists.
Innovation and creativity are so often bounded / linked to serendipity. At least that’s what it appears. Perhaps in fact what we are really seeing is the application of complexity theory and in fact it is emergence that occurs: complex forces produces colesence around a certain attractor (or attractors) leading to a firm pattern. At the time it appears to be serendipity but in reality it is in fact emergent?
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