Easily one of the most interesting developments in technology from this past week was the release of the beta version of Flash 10.1. What makes this version of the almost ubiquitous, and often annoying, browser plug-in so earth-shaking? The latest iteration of Flash promises to make a huge leap in the technology’s usability by enabling hardware acceleration of Flash video decoding. Prior to this beta release, all Flash video had had to be decoded by the CPU, a task that was very processor intensive, to the point that it made high definition and/or full screen Flash video essentially unwatchable because of poor quality, but also stuttering, crashes, etc. So even as Flash video has become the de-facto standard for online video streaming, powering such dominating sites as YouTube and Hulu, it has retained an almost fatal flaw for large format viewing. Flash’s weakness in this area was especially ironic as so many technologies and devices are striving today to bring Internet video precisely to large HDTVs in living rooms, as the next evolution of media distribution. Hardware acceleration of video on PCs is not new, however, and in fact, both nVidia and ATI have enabled hardware acceleration of h.264 video on their more recent video cards and GPU’s. In addition, integrated graphics solutions like nVidia’s Ion platform have been designed specifically to create compact, low wattage HTPCs with very modest CPUs capable of easily playing back 1080p h.264 content at high bit-rates. A glaring weakness for these video capable HTPCs and nettops, however, was their obvious inability to display Flash video well, even when the underlying codec in the video was h.264, because of how Flash functioned in all versions prior to 10.1. Finally, Adobe has addressed the problem and the 10.1 beta does in fact offload much of the video decoding processing from the CPU to the GPU, and based on my own tests, now lets HTPCs successfully show full screen and HD Flash based video. Prior to 10.1 I would never attempt to watch services like Hulu in full screen via my mini-ITX Ion-based HTPC, but now that is essentially not a problem any longer. Merely uninstalling Flash 10 and then installing the 10.1 beta made an obvious and crucial difference.
It will likely be a few months before Adobe rolls out 10.1 to everyone, but the impact of this move will likely be felt both in the short and long terms. Short term, hardware decoded Flash video could be a real boost tonettop PC’s and netbooks, allowing them to really become cheap and easy media playback devices. In the longer view, however, Flash’s innovation here could really cement its central role as they delivery avenue for video of all kinds over the Internet, dealing serious blows to both Microsoft’s Quicksilver, but also any other competitors still out there. Unknown is what Flash video’s dominance will mean for the file-sharing and downloading communities. Will video pirates move away from downloading entire shows via Bittorrent to instead watch free streaming episodes on Hulu -like services if quality differences disappear? Will more cable customers ditch their TV services in favor of going completely for over-the-top video? Such suppositions may be quite speculative at this point, but with the changes to Flash on the horizon, they are becoming more plausible every day.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sezmi offers a new kind of TV service
Sezmi, a Silicon Valley startup that's pioneering a new type of TV service, is opening up a public test of its system today in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Consumers who are accepted into the program will be able to test out Sezmi's service for free for about three months.
In Los Angeles, Sezmi's service will offer cable TV channels such as the Comedy Channel, TNT and CNN; Internet video from such sites as YouTube; some 6,000 on-demand movies and television shows, as well as local broadcast channels. In the Bay Area, Sezmi won't be offering cable programming — at least not initially — but will include everything else.
After the three-month trial period, Belmont-based Sezmi will begin charging customers who continue to use the service. But the subscription rates will be considerably lower than those charged by cable and satellite operators for similar services.
"There's a lot of frustration among people," said Buno Pati, Sezmi's CEO. "They feel like they're paying a lot of money and getting an antiquated experience."
Sezmi's service differs from those of traditional pay-television operators. Its customers get local broadcast channels via the public airwaves. But the company also relies on those airwaves, via deals with local broadcasters, to send pay-TV channels to its customers. It also plans to send on-demand and Internet programming to consumers via customers' broadband connections.
The company, whose service
Sezmi, a Silicon Valley startup that's pioneering a new type of TV service, is opening up a public test of its system today in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Consumers who are accepted into the program will be able to test out Sezmi's service for free for about three months.
In Los Angeles, Sezmi's service will offer cable TV channels such as the Comedy Channel, TNT and CNN; Internet video from such sites as YouTube; some 6,000 on-demand movies and television shows, as well as local broadcast channels. In the Bay Area, Sezmi won't be offering cable programming — at least not initially — but will include everything else.
After the three-month trial period, Belmont-based Sezmi will begin charging customers who continue to use the service. But the subscription rates will be considerably lower than those charged by cable and satellite operators for similar services.
"There's a lot of frustration among people," said Buno Pati, Sezmi's CEO. "They feel like they're paying a lot of money and getting an antiquated experience."
Sezmi's service differs from those of traditional pay-television operators. Its customers get local broadcast channels via the public airwaves. But the company also relies on those airwaves, via deals with local broadcasters, to send pay-TV channels to its customers. It also plans to send on-demand and Internet programming to consumers via customers' broadband connections.
The company, whose service
Sezmi, a Silicon Valley startup that's pioneering a new type of TV service, is opening up a public test of its system today in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Consumers who are accepted into the program will be able to test out Sezmi's service for free for about three months.
In Los Angeles, Sezmi's service will offer cable TV channels such as the Comedy Channel, TNT and CNN; Internet video from such sites as YouTube; some 6,000 on-demand movies and television shows, as well as local broadcast channels. In the Bay Area, Sezmi won't be offering cable programming — at least not initially — but will include everything else.
After the three-month trial period, Belmont-based Sezmi will begin charging customers who continue to use the service. But the subscription rates will be considerably lower than those charged by cable and satellite operators for similar services.
"There's a lot of frustration among people," said Buno Pati, Sezmi's CEO. "They feel like they're paying a lot of money and getting an antiquated experience."
Sezmi's service differs from those of traditional pay-television operators. Its customers get local broadcast channels via the public airwaves. But the company also relies on those airwaves, via deals with local broadcasters, to send pay-TV channels to its customers. It also plans to send on-demand and Internet programming to consumers via customers' broadband connections.
The company, whose service has been long in development, is also getting a boost from investors. It says it recently raised $25 million in a third round of venture funding from previous investors such as Morgenthaler Ventures, Omni Capital and TD Fund and a new, unnamed, "strategic" investor.
Sezmi's service includes a sophisticated antenna system designed to tune in sometimes finicky digital television signals and a DVR with 1-terabyte of storage space — good enough to store about 1,000 hours of programming, Sezmi says.
The service is designed to be customized for individual members of a particular household. Customers can personalize the "home" screen they see when they log in. More importantly, Sezmi's service will record a particular list of programs for each user.
The test that starts today is focused on Los Angeles. The company plans to allow anyone from Los Angeles who meets certain requirements to participate. Those requirements include having a broadband connection and being able to get decent digital television reception. About 80 to 85 percent of the L.A. area should meet that latter requirement, company officials said.
Sezmi plans a more limited test program in the Bay Area. Company officials did not say how many people will participate in the Bay Area or how it will select participants. Interested people can apply through the company's Web site at www.sezmi.com.
Following the free test period, Sezmi plans to charge consumers $4.99 a month for its service, which doesn't include the pay-TV channels. For its package that includes those channels, it plans to charge $24.99.
In contrast, Comcast charges $15 or more a month for its limited basic cable service, which provides only local broadcast stations and does not include a DVR or on-demand programming.
Satellite and television operators typically charge $45 or more for packages that include basic cable stations.
However, unlike the typical satellite- or cable-TV customer, consumers who plan to continue using the Sezmi service will have to buy its set-top box and antenna. Sezmi plans to charge new customers who sign up after the trial period $300 for the equipment.
It plans to offer a discount to consumers who participate in the trial.
The company has already signed deals with partners in the retail and broadband industries that could eventually lower the price that consumers pay for its equipment, bringing it more in line with those charged by rival providers, Sezmi officials said.
Consumers who are accepted into the program will be able to test out Sezmi's service for free for about three months.
In Los Angeles, Sezmi's service will offer cable TV channels such as the Comedy Channel, TNT and CNN; Internet video from such sites as YouTube; some 6,000 on-demand movies and television shows, as well as local broadcast channels. In the Bay Area, Sezmi won't be offering cable programming — at least not initially — but will include everything else.
After the three-month trial period, Belmont-based Sezmi will begin charging customers who continue to use the service. But the subscription rates will be considerably lower than those charged by cable and satellite operators for similar services.
"There's a lot of frustration among people," said Buno Pati, Sezmi's CEO. "They feel like they're paying a lot of money and getting an antiquated experience."
Sezmi's service differs from those of traditional pay-television operators. Its customers get local broadcast channels via the public airwaves. But the company also relies on those airwaves, via deals with local broadcasters, to send pay-TV channels to its customers. It also plans to send on-demand and Internet programming to consumers via customers' broadband connections.
The company, whose service
Sezmi, a Silicon Valley startup that's pioneering a new type of TV service, is opening up a public test of its system today in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Consumers who are accepted into the program will be able to test out Sezmi's service for free for about three months.
In Los Angeles, Sezmi's service will offer cable TV channels such as the Comedy Channel, TNT and CNN; Internet video from such sites as YouTube; some 6,000 on-demand movies and television shows, as well as local broadcast channels. In the Bay Area, Sezmi won't be offering cable programming — at least not initially — but will include everything else.
After the three-month trial period, Belmont-based Sezmi will begin charging customers who continue to use the service. But the subscription rates will be considerably lower than those charged by cable and satellite operators for similar services.
"There's a lot of frustration among people," said Buno Pati, Sezmi's CEO. "They feel like they're paying a lot of money and getting an antiquated experience."
Sezmi's service differs from those of traditional pay-television operators. Its customers get local broadcast channels via the public airwaves. But the company also relies on those airwaves, via deals with local broadcasters, to send pay-TV channels to its customers. It also plans to send on-demand and Internet programming to consumers via customers' broadband connections.
The company, whose service
Sezmi, a Silicon Valley startup that's pioneering a new type of TV service, is opening up a public test of its system today in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Consumers who are accepted into the program will be able to test out Sezmi's service for free for about three months.
In Los Angeles, Sezmi's service will offer cable TV channels such as the Comedy Channel, TNT and CNN; Internet video from such sites as YouTube; some 6,000 on-demand movies and television shows, as well as local broadcast channels. In the Bay Area, Sezmi won't be offering cable programming — at least not initially — but will include everything else.
After the three-month trial period, Belmont-based Sezmi will begin charging customers who continue to use the service. But the subscription rates will be considerably lower than those charged by cable and satellite operators for similar services.
"There's a lot of frustration among people," said Buno Pati, Sezmi's CEO. "They feel like they're paying a lot of money and getting an antiquated experience."
Sezmi's service differs from those of traditional pay-television operators. Its customers get local broadcast channels via the public airwaves. But the company also relies on those airwaves, via deals with local broadcasters, to send pay-TV channels to its customers. It also plans to send on-demand and Internet programming to consumers via customers' broadband connections.
The company, whose service has been long in development, is also getting a boost from investors. It says it recently raised $25 million in a third round of venture funding from previous investors such as Morgenthaler Ventures, Omni Capital and TD Fund and a new, unnamed, "strategic" investor.
Sezmi's service includes a sophisticated antenna system designed to tune in sometimes finicky digital television signals and a DVR with 1-terabyte of storage space — good enough to store about 1,000 hours of programming, Sezmi says.
The service is designed to be customized for individual members of a particular household. Customers can personalize the "home" screen they see when they log in. More importantly, Sezmi's service will record a particular list of programs for each user.
The test that starts today is focused on Los Angeles. The company plans to allow anyone from Los Angeles who meets certain requirements to participate. Those requirements include having a broadband connection and being able to get decent digital television reception. About 80 to 85 percent of the L.A. area should meet that latter requirement, company officials said.
Sezmi plans a more limited test program in the Bay Area. Company officials did not say how many people will participate in the Bay Area or how it will select participants. Interested people can apply through the company's Web site at www.sezmi.com.
Following the free test period, Sezmi plans to charge consumers $4.99 a month for its service, which doesn't include the pay-TV channels. For its package that includes those channels, it plans to charge $24.99.
In contrast, Comcast charges $15 or more a month for its limited basic cable service, which provides only local broadcast stations and does not include a DVR or on-demand programming.
Satellite and television operators typically charge $45 or more for packages that include basic cable stations.
However, unlike the typical satellite- or cable-TV customer, consumers who plan to continue using the Sezmi service will have to buy its set-top box and antenna. Sezmi plans to charge new customers who sign up after the trial period $300 for the equipment.
It plans to offer a discount to consumers who participate in the trial.
The company has already signed deals with partners in the retail and broadband industries that could eventually lower the price that consumers pay for its equipment, bringing it more in line with those charged by rival providers, Sezmi officials said.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
An Eee PC in Every Room? Twenty Uses for Netbooks in Your Home
These Linux Eee PCs are so cool. They are getting cheap enough that you could practically have one in every room of your house. If you could, what would you do with them all?
Here's what I'd do (most of these things require you to disable the Eee PC's screensaver, which you can do quite easily):
1. Watch TV. The main purpose of our Eee PC right now is to use it as a very portable television. We watch Hulu mostly, as well as South Park when a new episode comes out. We originally bought the Eee PC because we lost our DirecTV (neighbor's trees in the way) and we didn't want to have to run a cable to the far room, so we just set up the Eee PC in that room and streamed content from Hulu. We love it. But you need a set of cheap speakers plugged into the Eee PC to really get sound. Otherwise it works great. My wife isn't a very confident computer user so I built her an easy menu of the sources of entertainment. (Yes, Flash for Hulu and YouTube runs fine on the Eee PC out-of-the-box.) Plus, the Eee PC has a port to connect to a larger monitor or TV (VGA).
2. Listen to streaming music.Pandora works on the Eee PC. If you haven't used Pandora, you should really give it a try. It is a free streaming music service where you can construct your own radio station of cool songs. You can pick a number of your favorite artists and then it will play music that is similar to those artists (as well as the artists themselves). It can go for hours with enjoyable tunes, and if you don't like something, you can vote it down and it will jump to the next song.
3. Listen to the radio. If you have a favorite radio station locally (or around the world), the Eee PC has a function built-in that will take you straight to the MediaU Website.
4. Tape recorder. My wife has a lot of cool ideas throughout the day and she likes to have a tape recorder to record them on the spot before she forgets. The Eee PC has a great microphone and simple sound recorder application built-in that works nicely.
5. Play video games. Okay, you're limited to games that work on Linux, but still. The Eee PC has a cute little penguin bodysurfing game that is quite fun.
6. Alarm clock. When traveling, you don't have to pack an alarm clock, just use your Eee PC. Here are instructions (look further down on the page after the business about the potato).
7. Digital picture frame. This works pretty well. Go into Flickr and use the slideshow feature. If you want just certain files to repeat over and over (like a standalone picture frame) you can use OpenOffice Impress (called Presentations on Eee PC) which works similarly to PowerPoint.
8. E-mail station. Like to look at your e-mail while you're eating breakfast? Why lug your laptop from your home office to the dining table? Just use your Eee PC (dining room edition)! Eee PC uses Thunderbird, plus has desktop links to Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL. Of course, you can get to any POP server through Thunderbird and any Web-based e-mail through the browser (Firefox).
9. Listen to podcasts and music. The Eee PC does not have a podcast catcher built-in, but you can download a Linux-compatible application like Songbird (sorry no iTunes on Linux but Songbird is really nice). Installation is a bit tricky, follow the instructions in this thread. Most Eee PCs do not have much storage space, so once you've listened to a podcast, delete it immediately. You won't be able to store your whole music collection on the Eee PC drive either, but you could use a flash drive (Eee PC has a USB port).
10. Watch tutorials. There are so many awesome video tutorials on technology tools (like this set on GIMP) but who has time to sit still and watch them? Take your Eee PC with you from room to room and have the tutorials playing while you make dinner or cut your toenails.
11. Read your own personalized newspaper (RSS).Google Reader is an incredible time-saving (time-wasting) tool. I've used it to create a personalized newspaper for myself. I don't care about 90% of the stories in my local newspaper, I care about other stuff, like stories about Agile development, business travel, Canadian news, systems thinking, holistic health, open source software, renewable energy, software productivity tools, Web 2.0, etc. So I was able to construct a constant stream of these types of stories using an RSS Reader like Google Reader. The only trouble with doing this on the Eee PC is that the screen is a bit small to see enough of the stories, but you can fix that. Hit F11 on the Eee PC and then click on the border in the middle and you should have lots of reading room.
12. Read your recipes. There are so many good recipe sites on the Web, but AllRecipes is my favorite. Use your Eee PC as a recipe station, eliminating the need to print them out.
13. Read PDFs easily. The Eee PC cannot be called an e-book reader, but it does a good job of reading PDF files. With my job (computer consulting), I often have to get through a massive PDF file and I don't like sitting in my office reading it on the screen. It is sometimes nicer to use the Eee PC to pull it up and read it anywhere, even in my La-Z-Boy chair in the loft. The Eee PC comes loaded with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
14. Mirror. Umm, you can use the built-in Webcam on the Eee PC as a mirror to see if you have something in your teeth. (Gettin' lame, I know.)
15. Social network status. If you are totally into a particular social network (Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, Ping.fm, etc.) you can keep that page loaded on your Eee PC and see what's going on realtime with your friends.
16. Encyclopedia. Nice to have an on-demand encyclopedia in every room, eh? Wikipedia is the obvious choice here.
17. IM station. The Eee PC comes with an instant messaging client, but you'd have to have it running only in one room, otherwise you get logged out elsewhere. Still, nice to be able to IM anybody anywhere in your house (maybe??).
18. Phone. Skype is loaded on the Eee PC, you can use your Eee PC as a phone, but you will definitely need the speakers (as mentioned previously). Although it has a Webcam, you have to go through some additional steps to get video Skype working. Maybe the newer Eee PC don't require this, I don't know.
19. To do list. Nice to have your favorite to do list right in the room with you. My favorite is Remember the Milk, but any Web-based system or Linux-compatible download will work.
20. Real-time information feeds. Things like weather or election results can be nice to have on-demand in the room you're in.
Here's what I'd do (most of these things require you to disable the Eee PC's screensaver, which you can do quite easily):
1. Watch TV. The main purpose of our Eee PC right now is to use it as a very portable television. We watch Hulu mostly, as well as South Park when a new episode comes out. We originally bought the Eee PC because we lost our DirecTV (neighbor's trees in the way) and we didn't want to have to run a cable to the far room, so we just set up the Eee PC in that room and streamed content from Hulu. We love it. But you need a set of cheap speakers plugged into the Eee PC to really get sound. Otherwise it works great. My wife isn't a very confident computer user so I built her an easy menu of the sources of entertainment. (Yes, Flash for Hulu and YouTube runs fine on the Eee PC out-of-the-box.) Plus, the Eee PC has a port to connect to a larger monitor or TV (VGA).
2. Listen to streaming music.Pandora works on the Eee PC. If you haven't used Pandora, you should really give it a try. It is a free streaming music service where you can construct your own radio station of cool songs. You can pick a number of your favorite artists and then it will play music that is similar to those artists (as well as the artists themselves). It can go for hours with enjoyable tunes, and if you don't like something, you can vote it down and it will jump to the next song.
3. Listen to the radio. If you have a favorite radio station locally (or around the world), the Eee PC has a function built-in that will take you straight to the MediaU Website.
4. Tape recorder. My wife has a lot of cool ideas throughout the day and she likes to have a tape recorder to record them on the spot before she forgets. The Eee PC has a great microphone and simple sound recorder application built-in that works nicely.
5. Play video games. Okay, you're limited to games that work on Linux, but still. The Eee PC has a cute little penguin bodysurfing game that is quite fun.
6. Alarm clock. When traveling, you don't have to pack an alarm clock, just use your Eee PC. Here are instructions (look further down on the page after the business about the potato).
7. Digital picture frame. This works pretty well. Go into Flickr and use the slideshow feature. If you want just certain files to repeat over and over (like a standalone picture frame) you can use OpenOffice Impress (called Presentations on Eee PC) which works similarly to PowerPoint.
8. E-mail station. Like to look at your e-mail while you're eating breakfast? Why lug your laptop from your home office to the dining table? Just use your Eee PC (dining room edition)! Eee PC uses Thunderbird, plus has desktop links to Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL. Of course, you can get to any POP server through Thunderbird and any Web-based e-mail through the browser (Firefox).
9. Listen to podcasts and music. The Eee PC does not have a podcast catcher built-in, but you can download a Linux-compatible application like Songbird (sorry no iTunes on Linux but Songbird is really nice). Installation is a bit tricky, follow the instructions in this thread. Most Eee PCs do not have much storage space, so once you've listened to a podcast, delete it immediately. You won't be able to store your whole music collection on the Eee PC drive either, but you could use a flash drive (Eee PC has a USB port).
10. Watch tutorials. There are so many awesome video tutorials on technology tools (like this set on GIMP) but who has time to sit still and watch them? Take your Eee PC with you from room to room and have the tutorials playing while you make dinner or cut your toenails.
11. Read your own personalized newspaper (RSS).Google Reader is an incredible time-saving (time-wasting) tool. I've used it to create a personalized newspaper for myself. I don't care about 90% of the stories in my local newspaper, I care about other stuff, like stories about Agile development, business travel, Canadian news, systems thinking, holistic health, open source software, renewable energy, software productivity tools, Web 2.0, etc. So I was able to construct a constant stream of these types of stories using an RSS Reader like Google Reader. The only trouble with doing this on the Eee PC is that the screen is a bit small to see enough of the stories, but you can fix that. Hit F11 on the Eee PC and then click on the border in the middle and you should have lots of reading room.
12. Read your recipes. There are so many good recipe sites on the Web, but AllRecipes is my favorite. Use your Eee PC as a recipe station, eliminating the need to print them out.
13. Read PDFs easily. The Eee PC cannot be called an e-book reader, but it does a good job of reading PDF files. With my job (computer consulting), I often have to get through a massive PDF file and I don't like sitting in my office reading it on the screen. It is sometimes nicer to use the Eee PC to pull it up and read it anywhere, even in my La-Z-Boy chair in the loft. The Eee PC comes loaded with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
14. Mirror. Umm, you can use the built-in Webcam on the Eee PC as a mirror to see if you have something in your teeth. (Gettin' lame, I know.)
15. Social network status. If you are totally into a particular social network (Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, Ping.fm, etc.) you can keep that page loaded on your Eee PC and see what's going on realtime with your friends.
16. Encyclopedia. Nice to have an on-demand encyclopedia in every room, eh? Wikipedia is the obvious choice here.
17. IM station. The Eee PC comes with an instant messaging client, but you'd have to have it running only in one room, otherwise you get logged out elsewhere. Still, nice to be able to IM anybody anywhere in your house (maybe??).
18. Phone. Skype is loaded on the Eee PC, you can use your Eee PC as a phone, but you will definitely need the speakers (as mentioned previously). Although it has a Webcam, you have to go through some additional steps to get video Skype working. Maybe the newer Eee PC don't require this, I don't know.
19. To do list. Nice to have your favorite to do list right in the room with you. My favorite is Remember the Milk, but any Web-based system or Linux-compatible download will work.
20. Real-time information feeds. Things like weather or election results can be nice to have on-demand in the room you're in.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)