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TV news of the future by Dave Winer

I was drinking coffee, watching the morning news when a story about Virginia Tech came on MSNBC. I really wanted to begin this week without more stories about how they're coping. I know this makes me an ogre, but after listening to On The Media yesterday, my cynicism is validated. And after watching 60 Minutes about life in Baghdad, the first report I've seen to actually go in to get the story, I was aware that people are dying in places outside Blacksburg (and truthfully, the dying is probably over in Blacksburg). Permalink to this paragraph

I had a flash, I want a checkbox that tells MSNBC that I don't want any more Virginia Tech stories.

» interface mockup
» dave winer

DVD rental business has rapidly become commoditized as customers shop by price.

That, at least, appears to be the message Netflix's earnings conference call, on which top execs spent a considerable amount of time from the very start talking about the toll Blockbuster's (BBI) new online offering has taken on its business. Competition from Blockbuster, the company has said, hurt first quarter performance.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said he's confident Blockbuster's low prices aren't "economically viable." He added that it's "not a question if, but when Blockbuster will reset prices."

Perhaps, but customers are no dummies. They obviously like the combination and flexibility of mixing bricks-and-mortar with online. More importantly, they have now proven that if service and selection are similar, they'll go with the company that offers the lowest price, margins be damned.

» marketwatch

Digital media proves problematic for hollywood

Simply put, there's no generally accepted way to store digital "footage" for more than a few months. After that the industry is using a hodgepodge of improvised solutions, some rather costly, others not very reliable.

That looked like a small problem when digital filmmaking was limited to low-budget indies, animation houses and tech pioneers like James Cameron and George Lucas.

Now, though, that small problem is growing geometrically as the major studios shift away from film to digital capture. Such recent releases as "300," "Apocalypto," "Zodiac" and "Superman Returns" were shot on digital. Their digital masters could be seriously degraded if the problem isn't addressed quickly.

In fact, the problem is so severe that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Science and Technology Council warned in 2005 that within just a few years films shot with digital cameras could be lost.

» variety

Modern visual effects technology allows directors to adjust actors facial expressions

At the Visual Effects Society’s recent conference, Jeff Okun, the organisation’s chairman, showed before and after versions of one of the climactic shots in the Oscar-nominated film Blood Diamond.

In the “before” shot Jennifer Connolly, the leading lady, was shown talking on her mobile phone. The digitally manipulated “after” shot showed her talking on her mobile phone with a tear rolling down her cheek. Such alterations are becoming increasingly common, but practitioners are discouraged from discussing this work.

“Acting is all about honesty, but something like this makes what you see on screen a dishonest moment,” said a leading technician. “Everyone feels a bit dirty about it.”

» TimesOnline

25+ Million Americans Pirate Movies

Roughly 18 percent of the U.S. online population has illegally downloaded a full-length movie at some point in the past, according to a telephone and online study of 2,600 Americans. A typical movie downloader is 29 years of age, while 63 percent of all downloaders are male, and 37 percent are female. Kaan Yigit, director of the study, observes, 'There is a Robin Hood effect — most people perceive celebrities and studios to be rich already and as a result don't think of movie downloading as a big deal. The current crop of 'download to own' movie services and the new ones coming into the market will need to offer greater flexibility of use, selection and low prices to convert the current users to their services — otherwise file-sharing will continue to thrive.'

» extremetech

MySpace announces trailer collaboration with Lions Gate

MySpace is launching a dedicated video community to debut online theatrical releases, MySpace Trailer, which will premiere 3-6 months prior to a film's theatrical release.

Sony Pictures and Aardman Animations set to announce film deal

The Times reports that it has learned that Sony Pictures will announce on Monday, a deal with Aardman Animations, the maker of "Wallace & Gromit" and "Chicken Run". According to the Times, the deal comes less than two months after Aardman's five-film deal with Dreamworks Animation SKG (DWA) broke down following the disappointing performance "Flushed Away".

Bear Stearns analysts: Online video a 'powerful application'

Citing a new survey analyzing the online video consumption habits of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers, analyst Spencer Wang said Friday that online video is "a powerful new application" that is best consumed on a single site with many choices.

According to their research, 57% of respondents watch video online, with 30% streaming content at least once a week. Males age 18-24 are the group most likely to watch content online, with 62% streaming videos at least once a week.

Although many users prefer online video with no ads, 48% of all respondents and 67% of males 18-34 said their preference for monetization of the platform would be a free ad-supported service with 10- to 15-second commercials. Only 4% said they prefer paying $1.99 per video, and 3% answered that they would like a $14.99 subscription to a service.

A central site for videos was important to consumers, with 56% of all respondents and 69% of males 18-34 preferring that option to different sites. According to the survey, with 42% of all respondents and 72% of males 18-34 report that they use YouTube.

Wang and Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck stressed that YouTube remains the "behemoth" of the online video space, and they do not see any serious competitors at this time. Peck agreed with Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt's assertion last month at a Bear Stearns conference that "you tend to see power consolidated in a market leader." For now, Peck said, YouTube remains that market leader, "far and away."

Wang said that News Corp.'s MySpace could emerge as a potential competitor in this space. The "entertainment companies," though, are too slow and bureaucratic at the moment to compete in this platform, he said.

Computational Photography: The next steps in photography could blur reality

When a celebrity appears in a fan-magazine photo, there's no telling whether the person ever wore the clothes depicted or visited that locale.

In one new aspect of computational photography, a dome contains hundreds of precisely positioned flash units. A high-speed camera captures a frame as each flash fires in sequence. Computers can then relight the scene as they reconstruct it. But today's image processing is just a prelude. Imagine photographs in which the lighting in the room, the position of the camera, the point of focus, and even the expressions on people's faces were all chosen after the picture was taken. The moment that the picture beautifully captures never actually happened. Welcome to the world of computational photography, arguably the biggest step in photography since the move away from film.

Digital photography replaced the film in traditional cameras with a tiny wafer of silicon. While that switch swapped the darkroom for far more-powerful image-enhancement software, the camera itself changed little. Its aperture, shutter, flash, and other components remained essentially the same.

» sciencenews.org [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

Jodie Foster, teenage chanteuse

Here's a 1977 video of a teenage Jodie Foster singing Je T'Attends Depuis La Nuit Des Temps. She recorded the song and several others for the film Moi, fleur bleue.

» youtube.com [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]