Category: media

“Simply, the technology allows you to point a phone at an object and see an enhanced version of reality on the screen – whether a mountain labelled with its height, a person tagged with their name, or celestial objects properly labelled in the night sky.[…] That’s powerful, but there is more to come, especially when these apps start to tap into social websites.”

“New data discs that store 10,000 times more than DVDs could be on sale in five years. The discs could usher in an age of three-dimensional TV and ultra-high definition viewing, scientists say. The ultra-DVD is the same size and thickness as a conventional disc, but uses nano-technology to store vast amounts of information.”

“Hollywood is suing yet another company for creating a product that allegedly violates copyright law. This time the defendant is RealNetworks, whose RealDVD software enables people to copy DVD movies onto their computers despite the discs’ electronic locks. … Rather than reflexively battling such companies, the studios should be working with them to find a legitimate way for people to free the movies they’ve bought from their shiny plastic prisons.”

“As individual donations and corporate sponsorship revenue continue to fall short, the public television stations WNET (Channel 13) and WLIW (Channel 21) said Wednesday that they planned to reduce their staffs by an additional total of about 50 people. That will bring the number of layoffs since January, when a first round of reductions was announced, to about 130 people, or nearly 25 percent of the staff.”

“The Edinburgh International Film Festival has returned a £300 grant to the Israeli government after Ken Loach called for the event to be boycotted. The money was to be used to fund an Israeli film maker’s travel expenses to Scotland to exhibit her short film.”

“Even while the usually uninspired sequels, prequels and flat-out remakes continue to get made (and earn money), Hollywood has come up with a variation – The Reinvention – that shows promise.”

“Peter Johnston wants to alert the world to what he believes is the antidote to the bloated, self-indulgent arthouse movie: the 15-second film. He has commissioned or made 62 of these nano-films for his online gallery, 15 Second Film Festival.”

“Machine translations give workable renderings of basic texts, but complicated ideas or phrasings can trip up even the most sophisticated software, particularly in non-Romance languages. And when it comes to nuance, ‘machine translation just won’t get you there,’ … People worldwide are stepping up to provide that nuance, free of charge.”

Farhad Manjoo: “Google Voice is not the only thing killing phone messages. Every new way we develop of talking to one another – e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, Twitter, etc. – is faster and more useful than leaving an audio message on someone’s phone. … [T]he end of voice mail is nigh, and it won’t be missed.”

“DVD revenues have cratered in the past six or so months, dropping off (depending upon whose figures you trust) as much as 15% to 18% overall. … DVD sales, which have traditionally represented the biggest chunk of pure profits in the business, were the real safety net when it came to greenlighting movies.” Also frightening to studio execs: “the realization that audiences are becoming more quality conscious.”