Archive for November, 2007
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
Hulu’s Unsullied Offering Keeps YouTube in the Game
I received my private beta test invitation for Hulu today, NBC’s and FOX/News Corp’s answer to YouTube. Despite it’s silly name, the site is serious business: the two media giants bet big in thinking pulling their popular content from YouTube and setting up the site to actively compete with the online video king.
While I’ve only given marginal respect to most of the useless user-generated content uploaded to YouTube in the past (see “Otters holding hands” as a perfect example), in exploring Hulu, I found myself missing the mix of professional, semi-professional and decidedly amateur content, tossed together in a very easy to use interface.
While Hulu does provide a nice spectrum of “real” content–from recent episodes of Heroes to favorite short clips of the Simpsons–the site feel very much like a hospital: very antiseptic and pretty to a fault.
The one thing that I think could really damage YouTube’s market share and give Hulu a big edge, archives of entire shows’ runs beginning from Season 1/Episode 1 to the present, is glaringly absent. The studios likely wary of cannibalizing DVD sales, are missing an opportunity to draw new viewers to a show with this decision. (I won’t get hooked on Heroes without watching the first season, I guarantee you.)
Much to Hulu’s disappointment, for me, at least, there’s something homely about the democratic, take-all-comers approach of YouTube that will keep drawing me back, even if I start to watch commercial TV on their site. In a similar fashion, I will continue to turn to Fora.tv for highly intellectual public-interest programming–stuff that’s unlikely to appear on YouTube or Hulu anytime soon.
As Hulu moves from private beta to public launch this spring, it’ll be interesting to see whether it is successful in becoming an online video juggernaut or whether it is just one of many players in the arena. The deciding factor may end up being the average Joe’s appetite for otters.
• Email This PostWednesday, November 28th, 2007
When 1>3: The iPhone Dock Adapter
So I went Christmas shopping today, which is already a horrid enough experience: wading through throngs of shoppers in San Francisco’s Union Square area, trying to find the perfect gift.
I stopped by the Apple Store to grab an iTunes gift card for a relative and used the opportunity to pick up a simple, but needed accessory for my iPhone — a universal dock adapter. This simple piece of plastic allows my phone to sit in the dock I’ve had for a number of years and connect to my computer (the dock included with the phone is in my bedroom for overnight charging purposes).
Apple includes this item with all new iPods it sells, so I’m already angry that I have to buy one, but when the Apple Store representative hands me the package, it contains not one, not two, but three identical dock adapters for $9.
Now, I understand that some people have more than one universal dock, but I have to believe that most users have one, guaranteeing that 2/3 of what users buy ends up in the trash can (not to mention the packaging). What a waste.
Here’s a suggestion for Apple: either give away the dock adapters or sell them individually. I’d much rather pay $4-5 for one than $9 for three, even if it’s just to satisfy my environmental inclinations for a day. No wonder Greenpeace gave Apple such a poor environmental score.
In the meantime, there are 2 iPhone dock adapters on Freecycle, yours for the cost of a stamp.
• Email This PostTuesday, November 27th, 2007
Rest in Peace Mr. Gatorade
The Gator world lost a tremendous innovator today, Dr. Robert Cade. He was a professor of medicine and, more popularly, the inventor of the Gatorade sports drink.
Cade created the drink in 1965 by analyzing the fluids and electrolytes lost by the Florida Gators football team in the brutal heat of Gainesville. Cade and his co-inventor, Dr. Dana Shires, called the drink Gatorade after the team. When head coach Ray Graves credited the the drink with the Gator’s 1967 victory over Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl, sales took off.
While Cade and UF were engaged in a fierce legal battle in the 1960s and 1970s over royalties from the drink, an agreement was reached providing 20 percent of royalties to the university.
Most amazing is a story from CNBC anchor and Gatorade historian Darren Rovell who wrote about the drink in his book, First in Thirst. When asked what he was most proud of, Cade would not reference the tremendous commercial success of Gatorade, but rather how the drink helped cure diarrhea in third-world countries.
• Email This PostMonday, November 26th, 2007
UOP-Ting Out of DVD Prohibitions
I love Entourage, the hit series about Vinny Chase, a star actor, and his three high-school buddies in Los Angeles. While I’m not fortunate enough to get HBO, I follow the series regularly on DVD.
Most recently, I finally received the two box sets that make up Season 3 as a birthday present and popped them in the DVD player yesterday to settle in for an Entourage marathon.
The next thing I know, I’m watching an HBO promo for its other television shows (and DVD boxed sets, of course). I try to get past it by hitting the menu button, fast forward button and virtually every other button on my remote control, but have no luck. The HBO promo concludes, but is immediately followed by another segment, a preview of a new show on HBO, Flight of the Conchords, again, which can’t be skipped.
It seems I’ve stumbled upon the misuse of a User Operation Prohibition (UOP), a sneaky little provision snuck into the DVD specification through which a DVD can expressly prohibit fast-forwarding. Originally intended for the ubiquitous FBI warning, manufacturers–led by Disney, among others–have decided that preventing their users from getting to the content they have paid to view is good business.
Unfortunately, they’re 100% wrong. Look, I know that HBO produces some great shows; I’m a Entourage devotee, my sisters are just finally getting over their Sex and the City obsessions and my parents are still pondering the mysterious end to The Sopranos. Between the five of us, we’ve purchased a large number of boxed sets over the years to both review and archive our favorite shows.
When I purchase a license to own a copy of a movie or television show (e.g. a DVD), however, I expect to be able to watch as much or as little of it as I want. If I can’t stand another Drama soliloquy, it’s my right to skip it. Similarly, if I don’t have time to sit through the 5 minutes of required promos and previews, to require me to do so only makes me less likely to buy another DVD from your company again.
Luckily, some organizations like the Electronic Freedom Foundation have been to arguing on behalf of consumers for some time. They’ve yet to make substantial progress yet, but deserve the support of movie fans nonetheless for fighting the good fight. I wish them luck; until then, I just have to hope HBO makes its way to iTunes sometime soon.
• Email This Post