That’s right all you folks that are going to be live blogging tonights second Prez debate, it will be streamed on Hulu. No need to turn on the blasted telly. Fire up that browser and live blog that sucker in your pajamas!

Link for the Hulu feed.

See ya on the stream!

Earlier today, we posted a discussion of where we think wireless telephony is headed. Here’s a topical 26 minute audio download offering another point of view from Moto’s software architecture honcho.

Motorola’s Dr. John Waclowsky takes a big-picture look at what is happening in the world of telecommunication technology. Adopting the viewpoint of the end-user, he discusses the impact of technological advances, and he translates this into opportunities for those in the industry that have the foresight to take this perspective. (from IT conversations)

Bear in mind that Dr. Waclawsky is addressing a conference of telco people and his remarks are directed to their interests.

300,000 is the difference in viewership between CNN and Breitbart.TV. That 300k difference balanced against millions spent by CNN monthly doing it the ‘ol’ way vs 2 people, a couple of computers and 2 cameras delivered over the Internet. —

About a minute into the latest B-Cast by Liz Stephans and Scott Baker of Breitbart.TV (whom we interviewed a few weeks ago on PJM Political), they casually mention that their previous show attracted about 400,000 views.

In and of itself, that’s an impressive number for a newscast. (Any show on MSNBC would be considered a hit if it pulled those numbers.) But consider the extreme economy of scale going on here:

As of 2005, CNN in primetime attracted less than 700,000 daily viewers, but with a budget of zillions of dollars and a ton of real estate, technicians and on-air talent. In contrast, the B-Cast is, I believe, run out of an office in Pittsburgh by two people with one set, a couple of cameras, laptops for the on-air talent (in other words, Liz and Scott) to cue those cameras and YouTube clips, and I guess another computer or two to record the sum of all those parts and upload the show to Andrew Breitbart’s news aggregation site. The hosting of the video itself is supplied by any one of numerous online video hosting sites, which helps to reduce what was once a significant expense: the high-bandwidth, and associated costs, of online video.

Now I don’t play a TV exec in the movies, but I do hold a MBA in real life and occasionally sleep at a Holiday Inn Express from time to time. So even I can read where this is going. First we need to change CNN, euphemistically called ‘Chicken News Network’ to ‘Comatose News Network’ The CNN system is probably worth more now split up and sold off as pieces. The towers and licenses have value. CNN’s biggest property is probably their presence in every major airport hub in the nation. But if I really wanted to make $$ I would take the presence and switch to Breitbart.TV. under a long term contract.

Read the whole thing at Ed Driscoll’s site.
Breitbart.TV.

Well it happened. Sony BMG the last major record label supporting DRM on its media FOLDS. As the grave diggers lay the dirt down on DRM lets consider —

The impetus to lift copyright protection represents a sea change for the recording industry, which for the better part of a decade has used DRM to guard against what it considers illegal distribution and duplication of songs purchased online. In abandoning DRM on à la carte song purchases, the labels could create a raft of new, less restrictive ways of selling music over the Internet, such as through social networks like Facebook and News Corp.’s (NWS) MySpace. Partnerships with retailers such as Amazon could also help the music industry take a swipe at Apple (AAPL), which has come to dominate the legal download market through a one-size-fits-all pricing scheme record labels find restrictive.

Details of Sony BMG’s plans are expected to emerge in the coming weeks. Justin Timberlake, the popular recording artist signed to the Sony-owned Jive label, is participating in a Super Bowl promotion with Pepsi (PEP) that will kick off Feb. 3 and offer free distribution of 1 billion songs from major labels, including Sony BMG, through Amazon’s DRM-free download service, according to a person familiar with the matter. Sony has been experimenting with DRM-free songs for about six months. The company began giving away DRM-free promotional downloads for recording artists that sell less than 100,000 units, and at least one artist gained mainstream exposure through the effort. “A lot of these tests have led people to believe that maybe this works,” says a Sony BMG executive who asked not to be identified. A Sony BMG spokesman declined to comment. Amazon also declined to comment on its DRM-free deals, beyond what it has disclosed in press releases.

Does this mean RIAA is on the way out too? Not for the foreseeable future. But someone who might also bow out of DRM will be Microsoft. DRM has been the source of much of Vista’s issues. What motivation would Microsoft have for a subcomponent that nobody wants? Could a Vista II show with no DRM by 2009. I figure 50/50.

Linky.

Content of the musical kind usually comes packaged — CD/DVD, Concerts, Pay-per-view. The technology has existed for years to provide live concerts free or paid online but they seem to be the poor stepchild to the rest of the industry. 2008 might be the year that changes? –

“You’re never going to replace live music in terms of being there, of feeling the bass on your chest, and the smells, and all the other things that happen there,” said Arik Berquist, founder of Synchronicity Live, which lets bands stream their concerts free.

Berquist is right, but his company’s core assumption — that there’s a large, hidden audience for live online music — is almost certainly on the money as well. Although the online experience of a show doesn’t come close to being there, you do get to chat with others who have tuned in from around the world, and the only cost is your time. (Beers from your own fridge are cheaper, too.)

The technological roadblock that hampered the industry as it waited for efficient webcasting tools and increased broadband penetration has already crumbled. Today, nearly a third of U.S. internet connections are broadband. As of June 2007, that meant 66 million potential viewers domestically and a total of 221 million broadband users worldwide. Meanwhile, the online media explosion has fueled the growth of content distribution networks, or CDNs, run by companies like Akamai, AT&T and Level 3 that are capable of streaming shows in real time from concert venues.

Linky.

Tom’s Hardware an excellent web site covering PC hardware and related peripherals is always a recommended read. Tom’s is on my RSS feed. Well Tom’s posted this today –

TV services that depend on set top boxes like the Apple TV, are unlikely to see a considerable jump in sales in 2008, ABI Research believes. Even with Apple TV at its front line, the company describes this market segment as a “struggling breed of retail-based Internet video devices” and estimates that about 1.2 million of these systems will make their way to consumers in 2008.

So far, ABI said, Internet TV boxes “have had difficulty resonating with consumers, largely due to their higher prices and competition from legacy set-top boxes, as well as confusion over the benefits they will ultimately bring to the buyer”.

“The high cost of these devices, their reliance on the home network, the need for consumer self-installation, and the scarcity of content have all contributed to their lack of commercial success,” said research director Michael Wolf.

Emerging video services on game consoles aren’t helping this segment, but ABI said that “there is a possibility of a break-out success among these new entrants if they can create compelling content offerings, make consumer installation and management incredibly easy, and offer both the hardware and content at compelling pricing.”

Now my compatriot has covered this previously. And of course the crux of the matter is not the set top box itself. What is the matter is the attempt by the content provider to restrict the venues that can be viewed. The set top box is the key but the gatekeeper is the provider.

Give somebody a set top box that is wide open and I doubt anybody would have a problem with them. Fact that will probably happen come 2009 when a vast majority of folks use set top boxes with their old analog telly’s.

Linky.

We strong advocate more choices. In our second netcast John and Garry discuss the different types of access connectivity, along with their advantages and disadvantages.

 Third Pipe Netcast 2 Connectivity: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It appears that Paramount has an inkling that the future of their franchise depends on alternate venues of delivery. In that regard, the next release of Jackass [not my taste] will be released as an IPTV offering first. –

In a radical departure from the traditional movie business model, Paramount Digital Entertainment and MTV New Media are co-producing “Jackass 2.5,” a sequel to its two-time boxoffice hit that will skip multiplexes entirely.

Instead, “2.5″ will be offered online for free for two weeks beginning Dec. 19 courtesy of Blockbuster, which will exclusively host the 64-minute film during that period. The movie will be made available at blockbuster.jackassworld.com.

Link for full story.

A core component of the Alliances thrust is the the OS called Android. Below is a talking vid piece on what to expect from this OS:

SDK is expected for release November 12th.