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Home >> The News Editorial
The News
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Written by Andrew McCaskey
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Tuesday, 06 January 2009 01:17 |
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A Big Challenge for CEA Over the Air, plus Digital is enough for me. This CES might well be the final straw that pushes a lot of consumer household out of the television Consumer Electronics mainstream and into an online and over the air mode. It's equal parts austerity, and it's frustration.
If you are taking a critical look at your budget - how you spend, what, and why - I'd bet that your cable, satellite TV, satellite radio and DVR are all getting a close look. And compared with the budget item for Fast broadband access - all are on the chopping block at my home. Bandwidth is not discretionary for geeks of almost all income levels, but a lot of the rest of the Consumer Electronics / Content dollar is. Crummy content is going to spill into a lack of hardware and software sales. Unless the purchase involves computers, unlike most geeks I am firmly in the late majority segment of the consumer market, especially regarding television. The decision to move towards a 42" 720p screen only 18 months ago is not going to impress anyone with geekly credentials. And, the driver was spouse driven "Flat on the wall" and "what to do about the TIVO" and DirectTV when the conversion came in 2009, not movies, gaming or some other driver. So granted, I am not ripe for an upgrade unless there is some compellng reason (make that content) to incent me to do so.
I'm getting grouchy about content, and if others are like me, that's having a direct effect on the equipment near and dear to the CES manufacturer's interests. The packages from DirectTV/Comcast are so full of stuff that I don't want - the effort to program it out sets up another set of dis-satisfiers. Don't get me started on XM+Sirius. I don't even keep up with the RIAA and MPAA's antics any more, other than to further polish their negative image. I can get news, entertainment and information online - the only thing that I can't feed is the background noise wall display. When I could do that easily, it did not bother me. But in today's economy, I wonder just how much entertainment value I am really geting. I just hope that the rest of consumers are in a better mood than I am - or that somewhere in the halls of Las Vegas there is something that is worth the most limited commodity of all - the time to watch it.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 January 2009 04:13 )
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Written by Andrew McCaskey
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Sunday, 04 January 2009 20:02 |
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TechPodcast Network No video today - there is going to be lots of video later in the week. Here's what to expect in the Techpodcast Network coverage of CES.
I arrive in Las Vegas Monday 1/5 ,followed up shortly by Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine podcast. We will be getting our initial set up done on Tuesday, and as soon as Todd Cochrane from Geek News Central arrives on the Redeye flight from Honolulu we will begin to get organized, credentialed and staked out. Andy Brown will join us from Chicago, and we'll be ready to go. We have two big pre-show events, beginning Tuesday night - the CES Unveiled and then on Wednesday the Pepcon reception. These are both "Press Only" events where we will get an advanced peek at some of the products that will be revealed for the first time at CES. A lot of the information will be embargoed - in other words we will be shooting video but will not be able to release it until the official opening of the CES show on Thursday.
There will be as many as three channels of video active at various times during the week, and all at the site at SDRNEws.com. All will be announced on Twitter @axmc TPN Backchannel. This is the real story of the behind the scenes activities at CES - what it is like to cover the show as a podcaster. If you thought SDRNewsroom was reality TV you will see that it is super professional compared with the backchannel. You will meet the team and we will punch up video as quickly as we can to realtime, depending on where we are, what bandwidth we have, and what we have to report. SDRNewsroom - streaming live when and where we can. Most of the time we will be using the EVDO and embedded SDRNewsroom chatroom. This channel will go up and down, but will be recorded for later playback.
TPOD: The formal product interviews, our TPN Pick of the Day and product selection. I will record a backchannel and may also fire up a live session of the SDRNewsroom on the arrival in Las Vegas Monday night, some initial backchannel video. I will be announcing live sessions on Twitter, so if you follow axmc , geeknews and geekazine you will be in the know as far as the latest on our full up TPN coverage of CES
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 January 2009 04:21 )
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Television to the Next Level |
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Written by Andrew McCaskey
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Monday, 29 December 2008 20:49 |
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Here's What's After HDTV WorldTV is the first articulation of the vision of television in the 21st Century. While Video on Demand (VOD) will, in the words of the commercial from fifteen years ago, give you access to every movie, show and commercial ever made, WorldTV will give you access to the realtime universe of video. And it's going to be big. They have 100,000 channels in the works right now, and once they get rolling, it's going to be millions more. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 January 2009 04:23 )
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More on Television to the Next Level
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Obama Broadband Plan $44B Well Spent |
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Written by Andrew McCaskey
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Sunday, 28 December 2008 21:02 |
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Far More than a 'Two-Fer' The incoming administration's broadband investment stimulus plan outline was just announced - and while we are throwing away $Billions on all sorts of schemes for economic stimulus, this is one $44Billion package that has the marks of something that makes sense. Fiber is the preferred technology - not that continued investment in other technology is impossible, just that accelerated depreciation and government encouragement is going to flow to the medium that provides a competitive level of speed - not by US standards, but by world standards. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 05 January 2009 04:38 )
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More on Obama Broadband Plan $44B Well Spent
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Merry Christmas From SDRNews |
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Written by Andrew McCaskey
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Monday, 22 December 2008 23:26 |
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Two Christmas Gifts for SDRNews Listeners It's a day or two early, depending upon what part of the world you are listening - and I want to be among the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. This has been a memorable year for the podcast, and with the best of holiday goodwill, I want to thank you for listening and encouraging the growth of the podcast in 2008 we have made the shift from SlashdotReview to SDRNews, officially adding in coverage of materials from a number of sources, including Slashdot, Digg and Reddit - moving towards a simple daily report on highlights from the world of tech news, business, and government regulation. The wrapping is not the best, but I hope that you will try out and enjoy two gifts for the New Year: Two new SDRNews podcast editions that may meet your listening needs, and hopefully be of interest to friends and colleagues around the world. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 03 January 2009 05:06 )
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More on Merry Christmas From SDRNews
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