Technology
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WHAT’S HAPPENING, MR. JONES?
In Bob Dylan’s 1965 song “Ballad of a Thin Man,” he famously observes: “Something is happening here/But you don’t know what it is/Do you, Mr. Jones?” Well, something is sure happening to the U.S. movie entertainment business and nobody seems to know what it is. Most disturbing, the MPAA reports box office ticket sales have been declining for the last decade and a leading market research firm, Digital Entertainment Group, reported DVD sales continue to shrink. Making matters more trying, there has been no comparable increase in web streaming revenues to make up the difference. Adding to this bleak picture, […]
by David Rosen on Aug 14, 2012 -
Google Glass and the 21st Century Panopticon
If you’re like me, you watched the product demo for Google Glass, found its hipster-targeting — learning about a new band from a street poster? — silly and didn’t think too much more about it. I mean, don’t we need to find a way to interact with our personal computing devices less, not more? But this morning after reading Jon Evans’ TechCrunch piece, “Heads Up! This Was Google’s Apple Moment,” I’m changing my mind. As a product category, Google Glass has a lot of potential — potential that’s fascinating and scary. In the fascinating category are some immediate uses for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 7, 2012 -
CABLE WOES
Some 70 years ago, the economist Joseph Schumpeter introduced the notion of “creative destruction” to explain the role of technological innovation in capitalism. Over the last decade, digital disruption has wrought havoc on the publishing industry (i.e., magazines, newspapers and books) as well as records and broadcast TV. Now, it is upsetting the cable TV apple cart. A recent Wall Street Journal article noted that the audience for 11 of the top 15 most-watched cable channels, including Nickelodeon, TNT and FX, is falling. Reuters reported that a Citigroup analyst, Jason Bazinet, found: “Beginning late last year we began to notice […]
by David Rosen on Apr 24, 2012 -
VIA HOLOGRAM, TUPAC PERFORMS AT COACHELLA
This is some kind of watershed. Dre and Snoop Dogg were joined by a hologram of the late Tupac Shakur at Coachella this weekend. Audience response was reportedly mixed, with some creeped out by the hologram’s “What’s up Coachella!” “The place just went silent. People are genuinely horrified by the Tupac hologram,” tweeted the L.A. Weekly. Others on Twitter, however, said the crowd went nuts for it. Watch it below.
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 16, 2012 -
The Microbudget Conversation: SXSW #1
2,637. That’s the number of days it has been since I was in Austin, TX. My wife and I moved there right after working a full season at the Maine Workshops, and the moment we arrived we realized we absolutely loved the place…and there was no way we could stay. At the time (and until I’m dead it seems) I owed an incredible amount of money in school loans and 2004 seemed to be the year everyone decided to stay, or move to Austin…I considered working at Jamba Juice after two months without a job…I said “considered.” We were flat […]
by John Yost on Mar 8, 2012 -
DETAILS ON APPLE’S NEW IMOVIE FOR IPAD2
Apple announced the new iPad 2 today, and with the announcement came a new iMovie for iPad. The iPad itself is thinner, has a faster processor, has both front and rear-facing cameras (although the still camera is not of iPhone 4 quality), and can be outfitted with a new and very cool protective covering that snaps on via magnets and can be folded for use as a stand. As for iMovie, Jobs said at the keynote that with its precision editor and touchscreen interface multi-track audio “you can really edit a movie on this thing.” I’m not sure I’d go […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 2, 2011 -
YOUTUBE — HERE TO STAY
CNET covers Youtube: Executives from heavyweights such as Yahoo, America Online and Turner Broadcasting were buzzing about YouTube’s sudden success at the Digital Hollywood conference here this week. Even though it’s not clear exactly how YouTube will make money, no company generated as much excitement at the gathering of Hollywood studios, electronics manufacturers and Internet media companies….
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 31, 2006 -
SNEAKER ENVY
Coolhunting reports that Adidas has hired seven directors to make short films for each of their new “adicolor” hues. The first is by the animation and design house Tronic. On their website, the outfit states, “The strength of Tronic lies in our ability to leverage our various backgrounds as architects, designers, art directors and directors to establish a collective fusing of ideas, images, movement and experience. By actively shaping all projects through a rigorous conceptual process, we transcend preconceived notions of how to arrive at a particular creative solution within any of the media that we work.” Their film for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 29, 2006 -
THE RIGHTS STUFF
I’ll have more to say in a future post about the situation in France involving iTunes and Apple’s proprietary “Fair Play” technology. Briefly, the French government is considering a bill which would require Apple to share it’s proprietary digital rights management (DRM) technology so that a consumer could play songs downloaded on iTunes on any iPod-competing music player. This is big news for Apple, as it threatens the near-monopoly they’ve developed on portable music players and online music downloads. And as iTunes is positioned to be a market leader in movie downloads as well, anything that challenges their business model […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 22, 2006 -
WHAT IS A DARKNET?
A bit of advocacy and image rehabilitation for underground file-sharing networks by mash-up editor JD Lasica can be found here.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 19, 2006
