Crazy Darpa Bot - Big Dog

I'm blogging this mostly because it came up in conversation at the pre-production dinner for a client.  Big Dog is the latest engineering wonder from Boston Dynamics.  At first I feel bad for it when it's slipping on the ice.  Then I think about how it's going to kill me in my sleep.

Vara Software : ScreenFlow - Professional Screencasting Studio

This software just won best of Apple's WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) 2008.

It looks like a pretty elegant screencasting video program - maybe it would help us with some of our presentations and production needs?

Link: Vara Software : ScreenFlow - Professional Screencasting Studio.

Plainview – Windowless Browser for Presentations

Plainview is a browser based on WebKit (the Safari engine) that has no window... just the content of the web-page. Something like this might be useful in presentations so we don't have the desktop or menubar showing.
Just a thought.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Mobile phones expose human habits

Link: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Mobile phones expose human habits.

The whereabouts of more than 100,000 mobile phone users have been tracked in an attempt to build a comprehensive picture of human movements. The study concludes that humans are creatures of habit, mostly visiting the same few spots time and time again.

Why HD movie downloads are a big lie

There's a chart on this page with hi-def delivery services and the actual quality level they can deliver. It's a good way to clear through the hype of how good HD delivery online is right now. Even better, you can check out this analysis of the future potential for HD over the internet or through other "non-disc" related delivery systems. Looks like I am sticking with Bluray.

"...you have to wonder what Steve Jobs is thinking when he says Blu-ray and HD DVD will get killed by download services such as his newly launched 4 mbps 720p “HD” iTunes movie rental service.  I guess if consumers believe the lie that you can do HD with these low bit-rate downloads, then Steve might be right.  But with cheap 42 inch 1920×1080 full 1080p LCD and Plasma panels coming out spring this year at less than $1400, consumers are going to be in for a surprise when they see the difference between the free stuff coming over the airwaves versus the crap they actually pay for coming from Satellite and download services."

Cross Platform content distribution

http://www.snellwilcox.com/products/featured/icr/

Technology Group Plans Wireless Network

Big news in the tech front... a who’s who of technology and telecommunications companies announced Wednesday that it intended to build the first of a new generation of nationwide wireless data networks.

The consortium includes a disparate group of partners: Sprint Nextel, Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner and Clearwire. From the New York Times:

"The wireless network of the future is expected to be fast enough, rivaling speeds that cable customers have in their homes today, to allow delivery not just of text and simple Web pages, but of video and advertising."

Senator to ISPs: "Think twice" about 'Net neutrality... or else

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is jumping in headlong to protect net neutrality.... the ArsTechnica News Desk reports:

Link: Senator to ISPs: "Think twice" about 'Net neutrality... or else.

AP launches news aggregator for iPhone

This new service from AP allows the iPhone to aggregate news from more than 100 news publishers and offers text plus multimedia coverage including, photo galleries of sports events and video coverage of the presidential campaign. From CNet:

"The Associated Press has created a news aggregation Web application called the Mobile News Network for the Apple iPhone."

Broadband Over Powerlines Is Dead, Dead, Dead

A couple of years ago, on the late great L'Orange blog, I posted a story about the possibility of broadband being sent over power lines. Well... looks like that isn't turning out so well. From Techdirt:

"For many, many years we've pointed out the reasons why broadband over powerlines was unlikely to succeed. Despite the FCC calling it the "the great broadband hope," many people referred to it as "the great broadband joke.""