Archive for February, 2008

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Sci-Life

February 29, 2008

Life as we know it could all change within the next twenty years. And, that’s what they’ve been saying for over 50 years; people thought we’d have been living in space long before now. Heck, even the vision of 2015 in Back to the Future part two would suffice. The good news is, that we’ve developed more in the past decade than the past fifty. However, Ray Kurzweil (a US inventor) reckons we’ll all be upping our IQ using nano technology by the year 2029. Using devices implanted within our bodies to boost health and intelligence might sound like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. He seemed keen to play down any speculation of an imminent alien invasion though.

Via BBC News Boston

Posted in Misc, future | Leave a Comment »

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HD-Downloads?

February 25, 2008

So HD-DVD is dead, and very worryingly has caused reactions that regular DVD is on it’s arse*. Downloading movies could be the next big thing after blu-ray dies, but can it really? First up, it takes way too long with our inferior broadband speeds. Secondly, where do you plan to store it once you’ve downloaded it? On the hard drive, at least until it fills up, particularly quickly when dealing with HD file sizes.

I think it makes more sense for movie rentals. At least for a storage perspective. Then there’s still the issue of how long it took to download, but at least you don’t have to consider storing it too. It has to be viable to create your own hard copies if downloads (of any media)  are the future. Even when the cost of HD blank media reduces, you’ll still have to have permission to do so, something DRM will likely affect.

Virgin Media are rolling out their fibre optic network, that theoretically should speed up the speed of broadband services. But, downloading movies via your broadband connection is just a view of a dystopian future in my opinion. You can already rent movies via cable TV services, and begin watching them right away without the need to wait to download them.

* – Someone told me the news they’d heard recently about DVD being axed from product shelves. Likely mistaking the mainstream media’s news coverage of HD-DVD’s demise.

Posted in Home Entertainment, Online video, digital media | Leave a Comment »

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BBC iTunes

February 20, 2008

The BBC have released a select amount of content onto iTunes. This would be exactly what I wanted, were it to not just be another way to make more money. I wanted it to be a version of the iPlayer that would integrate with iTunes to sync with iPods and Apple TVs. The former making a viable portable solution and the latter a decent way to get BBC content back onto TV. Instead, it’s just another way to buy individual episodes or whole series of Little Britain, The Mighty Boosh and Robin Hood amongst a few others.

I’d still rather go through the laborious process of ripping and converting a DVD than buying the content again though. Although DRM is evil, I think this is one case where it could be used effectively to benefit people whilst keeping the BBC happy. Allow us to watch the last weeks worth of BBC content on our iPod for free, then use DRM to stop it playing after a certain amount of time (like a week) or once the programme has been watched. This could even work for other channels. Podcasts incorporate advertisements whilst offering the content up for free, why can’t old media catch on and do the same?

Posted in Apple, BBC, Online video, iTunes, podcast | Leave a Comment »

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Pulling the plug on Illegal Downloads

February 14, 2008

Downloading copyrighted material from the net is free and easy for lots of people who don’t have a conscience or care about the future of the media. Whilst up ’til now they’ve been pretty much getting away with ripping off the entertainment industry without a second thought about being caught. That’s about to change. Or at least it could provide the head honchos with more power to limit your downloading fix.

Your ISP is about to get in on the act of enforcing copyright protection. Firstly by sending you a friendly email informing you that you happen to be infringing copyright and reminding you that it’s common decency to pay for such content. If you choose to ignore this friendly reminder, and continue to download the latest episode of Lost, you’ll be suspended from the service. Not too dissimilar to reports that reveal Comcast (American ISP) is restricting access to P2P BitTorrent services. Finally, your contract with the ISP will be terminated if you still refuse to be an honest consumer.

Sounds like they’re going to finally crack down in a big way on pirates. They’ve attempted to stop it at the source, but many being based in Russia it’s proved difficult to enforce. They even tried signing deals to distribute shows legally via BitTorrent; clearly missing the point that such people were drawn to P2P services because they offered up content for free not because it was cool to use BitTorrent software. Now they’re gonna attempt to go for the humble consumer. But with so many downloading content illegally, it could prove to be more complex than they imagine. And how are ISPs going to react to cutting the contracts of so many of their customers?

So stop downloading illegal content or they’re gonna pull the plug.

Read

Posted in Home Entertainment, Online video, Portable Media, copyright, digital media, movies, music | Leave a Comment »

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Stuck in the middle with HD-DVD

February 12, 2008

With the recent news that Warner are going to back out of their HD-DVD exclusivity agreement, followed by Woolworths limiting their charts to blu-ray and rumours beginning to fly about Currys dropping HD-DVD players, it looks as though the dramatised war between HD-DVD and blu-ray isn’t helping anyone. By clinging on, it makes it difficult for consumers to make a decision, who then ask experts that tell them that it’s best to hold on or buy games consoles; that happen to be the cheapest HD players. The bravest consumers are faced with potential of owning the next beta-max and early adopters, as ever would get both. They’ll at least be guaranteed to end up with an extinct format, but at least they’ll be able to buy any HD movie. So, it looks promising that the war is kind of over, which is good for everyone involved. Possibly?

Posted in Home Entertainment, digital media, movies | Leave a Comment »