Fuel Cell for Cell Phones

A fuel cell is a device designed to produce electricity through a chemical reaction arising from the combination of a fuel with oxygen.

The Cell, built by Medis Technologies, works like a glow stick or hand warmer. The user squeezes the cell to mix two chemicals together, and the unit runs until the chemicals are exhausted — about 40 hours. It comes with an assortment of connector tips, including those for USB ports, BlackBerrys and cellphones of various other models, MP3 players and similar devices.

The company is hoping soon to manufacture a cell strong enough to power a laptop and even your house!

In 12 to 18 months, Medis plans to market a version of the fuel cell that will accept a replaceable fuel cartridge.

The company expects to announce a deal soon with a major retailer so the cell will be sold as an electronics accessory. For now, it's only being produced to be a part of an "emergency kit" to power your cell & flash light.

A version of the Medis fuel cell that comes with a flashlight is $50; a smaller version with cables and a variety of tips is $35. A replacement cell, minus the cable and tips, is $25.


The full article in the NYT is available here.

AOL 

AOL Video to feature popular clips from leading THE SCRIPPS FOOT PRINT lifestyle brands HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network and Fine Living Network Knoxville, TENN. and Dulles, VA, (June 18, 2008) –Scripps Networks and AOL today announced a partnership to deliver clips from Scripps portfolio of  leading lifestyle content to consumers through AOL Video and selectively throughout AOL Food, AOL Home and Slashfood later this summer.  

 

SCRIPPS STATED AS FOLLOWS - 
“Building our distribution platform with these AOL partners allows a vast audience to sample some of the best our brands have to offer,” explains Deanna Brown, president of the interactive group for Scripps Networks.  “These short highlights allow our fans an additional access point, and introduce a new audience to our brands as well; the partnership also supports our strategy of growing a wide footprint in the categories of home, food and living.” 

The President of Scripps Networks used the term "FOOT PRINT" to announce their ambitions in regard to the merger with a cable network  and Internet. This is an interesting choice of words, "FOOT PRINT" to describe a business deal that will undoubtedly be mutually beneficial to both sides. However, When I think of a foot print. I think of dinosaurs and extinction. Scripps is putting their mark on this new piece of Technology to claim their territory, like the dinosaurs.  Well, we all know what happened them. Although, they seem to see it in reverse.  I just think they should watch their language. What Scripps is truly attempting to achieve is to get an edge on the "Digital Media' as they strive to achieve a "Tacit knowledge" branding themselves as Home and Garden of the future, establishing a sort of "Organic Convergence."

R. Kendall

 

Some stations will make the digital conversion on the original deadline

Network-owned stations agree not to switch to digital until June 12th

Some stations say they will switch on February 17th as planned, including: major Providence stations, those in northern Vermont, Billings (MT), Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque, and some in Madison, Wisconsin. (Hawaii's stations already made the switch on January 15th.) The primary reason for making the switch sooner rather than later is to avoid paying for both digital and analog transmission facilities between now and June. In addition, many broadcasters believe that a delay with both negate all the work they've done thus far to get people ready for the February deadline, and will only serve to further confuse people. These station executives believe they have done their part to educate the public, and that those who are still unprepared may never be prepared. That said, the four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC/Telemundo) have agreed to keep their owned and operated stations broadcasting in analog until the new June deadline. Stations had until yesterday (Feb. 9th) to inform the FCC they wanted to stick to the original date. Sinclair Broadcasting Group's stations intend to switch Feb. 17th while the vast majority of stations owned by Gannett Co. and Hearst-Argyle Television Inc. said they would wait.

Resources and Links:

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/173716-More_Stations_Opt_for_Early_DTV_Switch.php

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-digitaltv6-2009feb06,0,2008685.story?track=rss

The Future of Apple TV

Apple TV has long been perceived as mostly an Apple fanboy product, as it offers nothing revolutionary and can be considered unpractical. Also, unlike the average Apple product, it has faced no major updates or facelifts. It seems that Apple, however, is taking steps that would point to a new version of the product in the future. AppleInsider ran an article revealing that Apple has begun to survey owners of the product, asking questions like how much it is used, what it is used to view or listen, settings, and other services that the customer belong to or may be interested in. 

One question asks, "If you could change one thing about your Apple TV, what would it be?" 

Apple does very little to promote the device, but because of a recent spike in sales, it seems that maybe a new version is being considered and researched. DVR? Cable? DVD's? Blu-Ray? A new App Store? I guess it depends on what the fanboy's want and what Apple is willing to dream up. 

I own an Apple TV, and I actually like it. My favorite part about it is the streaming of music videos from my computer to the TV, as well as my iTunes library hooked up to the stereo. Also, the recent trend of digital copies being bundled with many new Blu-rays and DVDs is nice, as you can start to build your own little on demand library. However, movies are too expensive to rent through iTunes, and it is not worth paying 9.99 for a straight digital copy. Netflix still has them beat in that department.

I have not taken the survey, but the one thing I would change about Apple TV would definitely lie within movie viewing. Netflix is now offering instant movie viewing. This can be on your computer, or if you have an Xbox 360, through your TV. This should be the next step for Apple. 

Click here to view the AppleInsider article. 

Technology and Obama's Stimulus Plan

As a part of President Obama's $800 billion legislation to stimulate the economy, $7 billion of that money will be going towards improvements with high speed internet access. This additional aid to broadband assistance came from lobbying by the Communication Workers of America, the country's largest media and communications union. Advisers to President Obama also include representatives from companies such as IBM, Google, and General Motors. This increase in funding is projected to created an additional 2.5 million jobs in the broadband access field alone. President Obama was quoted in a National Business Review article by saying that it is unacceptable that our country ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption.

A link to the NYT article can be found here

The National Business Review article can be found here

Upload your Life

The Sony Webbie HD camcorder is definitely on my wish list. It comes in 3 colors- orange, purple "eggplant" and silver, and is pretty compact (not as compact as the Flip Mino HD). 

Pros: 

- It shoots in HD!! (well..sort of, it's not as great as HD on your TV, but it's better than the Sony Webbie without HD) 

-2.5 inch swivel screen 

-5X optical zoom (LOVE that it has this) and 20X digital zoom. 

-Built-in video light for low light situations 

- Its software (Picture Motion Browser) allows you to easily upload your videos to YouTube. Now that You Tube has gone HD, this is the perfect time to get one of these. 

-85 minutes of continuous recoring 

-Build in rechargeable batteries 

-sharp audio

-It's only $199

Cons

- You can't replace the battery once it's dead:-( this is a huge bummer)

-not the kind of HD we're used to seeing

-Unlike the Flip Mino HD that plugs straight into your comp USB port, you need a USB cable for the Webbie

Despite the cons, I still want one! But I'm going to wait until March, because I heard that they're coming out with a newer cheaper version. 

'This Device Will Not Replace Books'

Interview: Stephen King On Kindle: 'This Device Will Not Replace Books'
from paidContent.org by David Kaplan

imageRest assured, bookstores and publishers: Amazon's Kindle will not do to books what Apple's iPod and MP3 downloads did to the music industry. That's the word from novelist Stephen King, who was the special guest at this morning's well-choreographed Kindle 2.0 launch.

After the presentation, King hung around and granted paidContent a quick interview. Excerpts after the jump, and audio excerpts are here.

Following his introduction by Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos, the perennially best-selling writer discussed how he was approached by the online retailer in mid-January to produce a story to be specially featured for the next generation launch of Amazon's gossamer-thin e-Book device. Initially, he demurred, saying he had never written a story on demand. But when King, who had the original Kindle, realized "Hey, I could have gotten a new Kindle," he called Amazon back and agreed. In the excerpt King read to the audience, a young Kindle reader debates his teacher about the virtues of the electronic reader. King didn't reveal how his short story ended, but he did wind up with a new, one-of-its-kind pink Kindle. Prospective customers will only have the choice of the white/gray model for now, which will ship for $359 in the U.S. on Feb. 24—no word yet on when sales will start in Europe.

—A good (electronic) read: King told me he's pretty taken with the object, but he is still reading print and ink mostly. King: "I see it as a complement. I like reading on it just fine. I was surprised at its ease of use. It's counter-intuitive, in the sense that you don't want to read an instruction booklet. In fact, the one the kid has in the story doesn't come with one. If you can turn on a button and turn a page—it's really amazing to me. They've really done their best to make it easy."

—Books are apples, songs are oranges: In other words, selling books online can't be compared to selling music online. King, who published a story on the internet about eight years ago called Riding The Bullet, offered this take on the distinctions between buying books and music: "I just have to say that there is a fundamental difference between books and iPods and CDs and MP3 downloads. People, when they want music, they have a tendency to be selective. And they can be [when it comes to music]. You can take a song like Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing", and pull it out of that album by downloading just that song. It's 8-and-a-half minutes long and costs you 99 cents. Maybe you don't want anything else on that album. I might want "Walk of Life" [another song on the band's Brothers In Arms album], but that's just me. Or take The Police—there's only two songs in their entire catalog that I might want, because I don't really like them. But I can enjoy the parts that I do like. But when you talk about a book, you have to have the whole thing. So it seems to me that there's a more level playing field. Yes, MP3s and iTunes destroyed the CD industry. Nobody's going to buy the whole if you can just buy a slice. But that doesn't apply to books.

—Kindle's also a plot device: Making the Kindle integral to the plot device was King's idea. Amazon did not require him to mention or tout the product for the story they commissioned, King said. "I don't think I would have written just any story for the Kindle. It made it more interesting to me to make it more Kindle-specific. It actually gave me a chance to confront some of these questions of books versus electronics."

Discovering Family on Youtube

In this age of convergence, the ways families interact are changing. My entire family (of over 30 people) are all on facebook, including my oldest aunt who is 75. Recently, I discovered a cousin I'd never met before on youtube. My parents met some relatives they hadn't seen in like 30 years and it turns out their son is a magician in Florida. They said we should look him up on youtube, and I did. It was strange watching someone i'm apparently related to for the first time, performing magic tricks in the digital medium....(he kind of looks like Syler from Heroes) :-O

Here's a video of my cousin the magician:

Microsoft Tries To Catch Up

Microsoft, which has been struggling to come up with something to rival the iPod, is going to bring original video programming to their Zune product.

Their first program is called "Cinemash" which will feature various celebrities like James McAvoy, Elizabeth Bnks, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Kingsley, and Seth Rogan, playing roles in movies they wish they had been in. It seems like it could be pretty funny - but is it really going to be a deciding factor for customers standing in Best Buy debating whether or not to get a Zune or an iPod? 3 million people own Zunes, 173 million people use iPods. That's quite a difference to make up. However, the Zune device is only available in the United States and Canada.

I found an old article on the New York Times when the Zune first came out. David Pogue, who wrote the article, said that although it can't match the "coolness" of the iPod, it's actually an excellent player and sounds just as good as the iPod.

Here are the two articles:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999529.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/technology/09pogue.html?scp=3&sq=zune&st=cse

MLB.TV - Score!

Wow! I just read this and it seemed cool.
The people at the Major League Baseball (which have not had any trouble getting users to pay for online video and content) have improved their platform starting on... Spring Training!

The new service of MLB.TV will allow users -apparently- so see each drop of the chin-sweat on the faces of their favorite players, as long as they have a fast-enough internet speed.

The new service will have also DVR qualities, meaning that users will be able to pause and rewind to re-live their favorite play (as they happen). Stop depending on the networks' selection of repetition-worthy plays! Additionally, users will also be able to select their preferred newscaster to narrate the event for them. (Talk about 'Baseball Idol'! This is going to stir the sports narrator market as users preferences are revealed)

I mean, this whole thing makes me want to watch Baseball online! Forget Fenway!

The MLB is also working on improving their iPhone and Blackberry apps, making them suitable to offer live radio broadcast of games for their users.

Guess the MLB is really immersing into the three screens experience now.

The only thing -there's always a thing- is that due to previous TV copyrights agreements and permissions, the live broadcasts of certain teams may not be available for users in certain markets. (Guess the MLB still wants to keep the peace with the network powers. Good. They should do it... While they can)
Thank God Fenway is not that far, after all.

Schehe
SOURCE

Hit iPhone application by a 9 year old boy

I just wanted to post this news that I found on Yahoo.

A 9 year old boy from Singapore created a game application for the iPhone. The game has over 4,000 downloads in just two weeks.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/nine-year-old-writes-hit-iphone-app/1287368

Kindle 2: Thinner than the iPhone

Jeff Bezos Amazon’s chief executive presented today in New York the second generation of the Kindle device, the e-book reader that is revolutionizing the printing industry.
The first version of Amazon’s gadget was released on November 2007 and was sold out five and a half hour later. Oprah’s endorsement has made it impossible for new costumers to acquire the product since November 2008.
But the news was send few days ago through e-mail messages confirming that the Kindle 2 will be shipped on February 24th.
One of the most attractive features of the new kindle is its size. It’s thinner than the iPhone!!! (This was their opening line on the presentation)
It also turns pages much more quickly and holds its battery charge for about 25 percent longer than the previous version. “You can read for 2 weeks on a single charge”
The price is still $359, but the waiting list to get it is at least 6 months!

It’s hard to tell if this technology will replace our beloved books, but if Oprah is endorsing this gadget maybe it will!

Here are the articles:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/live-blogging-amazons-kindle-20-launch/?scp=1&sq=kindle%20oprah&st=cse

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/amazons-kindle-2-will-debut-feb-9/

Blockbuster offering more points of access to their video library

Blockbusters MediaPoint Box

Blockbuster in video download pact



by Steven Musil



In an effort to keep pace with rival Netflix, Blockbuster has announced a partnership to offer instant access to its video library through various home and portable devices.
The movie rental company has partnered with Sonic Solutions to offer more than 10,000 movies for rent and sale to a variety of PCs, cell phones, portable media players, Internet-connected televisions, and Blu-ray disc players. The collection of offerings will be a combination of titles from Blockbuster and CinemaNow, a movie downloading service that Sonic recently purchased.
"Blockbuster is a ubiquitous entertainment presence in the physical world. Through this alliance with Sonic, we plan to become a ubiquitous presence in the digital world as well," Jim Keyes, Blockbuster's CEO, said in a statement. "Our goal is to offer consumers the most digital content, the most accessibility, via the most devices, both in and out of home."
While Blockbuster already has an existing library of online titles, thanks to its earlier acquisition of MovieLink, the CinemaNow partnership could get Blockbuster content onto more third-party boxes, such as all of the LG Blu-ray players and home theater systems announced at last week's CES
The partnership is Blockbuster's latest attempt to match Netflix, which has expanded past its DVD-by-mail service to offer movie streaming on Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console, Blu-ray players, and TiVo digital video recorders. In November, Blockbuster introduced the MediaPoint player, a set-top box that--like Netflix's Roku--offers on-demand content to a consumer's TV.
Blockbuster plans initially to sell videos or rent them on a pay-per-view basis, but the movie rental chain said it is considering offering a subscription plan for unlimited access to Blockbuster's digital library.
Netflix already provides a free Web-streaming service to customers who are signed up for a monthly subscription that costs at least $8.99.


http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10142375-93.html

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/14/blockbuster-sonic-solutions-team-up-for-online-movie-delivery/

Marauder's Map in the Digital Age

Google has come out with a digital version of Marauder's Map (last Harry Potter reference, I promise)--a new mobile mapping application called Latitude , that allows users to take advantage of GPS technology to pull up friends' locations whenever they're phones are turned on. The app is bundled in with the newest version of Google Maps and is currently accessible on Android-powered G1 phones, most color BlackBerry's and many Windows Mobile smartphones. According to Cynopsis Digital, it will soon be available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Location updates made on Latitude are then communicated to Google Talk and Gmail. 

Latitude may feel like a breach of privacy for some, but luckily it's opt-in and users would have to agree to share their location. I don't think I'll be using this application since I'm still using my  Moto Razr V3 (a dwindling species), but more importantly, I'm late alot and when my friends call asking where I am, I almost ALWAYS lie. "I'll be there in 2 minutes" I say, when clearly I'm about 10 minutes away (my friends have even coined a term for this tendency: OST- Oriana Standard Time). It's a habit I'm trying to rid myself of, BUT until I do on my own terms, I wouldn't want this Latitude thingie blowing my cover. If there are alot of people like me, I don't know if this application will take off. But it's pretty cool nonetheless. 

Media and Screen Mix

So...
This is not actually "three screens", but it has to do with screens and media converging... And it seemed quite interesting to me. So, here it is:

There's this movie coming out soon called The 5th Quarter, that tells the true story of John Abbate, who, after his younger brother (Luke) was killed in a car crash, wore Luke's No. 5 jersey and helped lead Wake Forest University's football team to a record 11 wins in 2006. (More on IMDB).

Trying to take advantage of the latest soundtrack uproar [yes, soundtracks are kind of popular again], the producers of the film are conducting an open online-based talent search in order to find the tunes for the soundtrack.

Artists from various genres are prompted to go to http://music.the5thquartermovie.com and submit their songs. The final ones will be "democratically" elected by the online population.

Considering this, a few things come to mind:
- Cinema: there's a screen that seemed forgotten! And here it is claiming its place. (Ok, so it's not really a screen, but you get my point)
- Record Industry: "We got tired of looking for people, let the people come to us". [If you build it, they'll come]
- Promotional stunt? "Oh, let's go see this movie. My friend's song is on the Soundtrack". "Is that the movie that did not select my song?"
- B-listed hoping to score an A? Sounds cruel... But Andy McDowell, Aidan Quinn (Brad's older bro of Legends of the Fall), Ryan Merriman (of The Ring TWO, and Final Destination THREE)? Who knows?
- Justin Timberlake: Seriously. In 2007 his label signed a girl he found on YouTube. Esmee Denters. She's good.

I just got a headache from this combination.

Whatever it may be, the truth is that the screen predecessor of them all is looking online for interactivity as well. In this case, in a strange, desperate way -I mean, this is not the Forrest Gump people looking for artists [that was an astounding soundtrack] but, hey, I don't really know this movie! It could have said the same thing about Slumdog Millionaire 18 months ago.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll continue designing my own Twilight trailer on the European Nokia site.

Schehe

[Source 1: HERE]
[Source 2: HERE]

MORE ELECTRONIC BOOKS COMING TO MOBILE PHONES

Trying to increase the popularity of e-books, Google said thursday that the 1.5 million public domain books it had scanned and made available free on PC were now accessible on mobile devices like the iPhone and the T-Mobile G1.

Coincidentally, Amazon also announced that it was going to release the titles of the Kindle on a variety of mobile phones. However, Amazon did not reveal when the titles would be available. Approximately, the Kindle offers 230.000 titles.

Actually, there is a difference between the services offered by Google and the Kindle. Google pretty much offers older books for which the copyrights have expired, whereas, the Kindle offers newly released books, even current best sellers. However, Google said that it would make other types of books available on mobile in the future, including out of print titles and current books. Another thing Google is working on is to provide text for the mobile version, allowing users to download printed material over wireless networks.

Some people fear that the new ability of phones to read books would hurt devices like the Kindle, however, experts believe that this new feature would be used for quick access to reading material, not for long form reading which would be excruciating.

According to Michael Gartenberg, an independent technology analyst "Consumers will trade a certain amount of quality for convinience and cost".

I think that this article is very important for our "Three Screen Class". As time goes by, more and more applications are being adapted to be used with our mobile devices. Some of them are not as practical as other ones, for example, I find the whole reading things on cellphones a little daunting, I mean, I would never atttemp to read an entire book on my cell phone (heck, I still have headaches trying to read stuff off my computer for long periods of time), however, I think that some people would find this feature appealing. The thing that called my attention from this article is seeing how many things are being tailored and developed for cellphones. In a not so distant future, we might be able to do everything we do on our computers on our cellphones, which is a pretty interesting idea.

Here are the sources of the article:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/02/google-mobile-b.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/technology/internet/06google.html?em

MySpace Music Videos

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/06/myspace-begins-monetizing-music-videos-with-impressive-results/

MySpace Begins Monetizing Music Videos With Impressive Results
by Jason Kincaid on February 6, 2009

In an effort to monetize the growing number of music videos on its site, MySpace has just launched a new pilot advertising initiative that places attractive overlays at the bottom of some clips, allowing users to buy the song they’re listening to or immediately jump to the artist’s homepage.

The new initiative stems from MySpace’s partnership with Auditude, a content detection and management company that can identify copyrighted content and serve relevant advertising, even on user-submitted video. Now Auditude is applying the technology to music videos, which in the past have largely relied on banner ads and static text links to music stores for monetization.

On Wednesday the site, in a partnership with Warner Music Group, placed an overlay ad on a video for My Chemical Romance’s cover of Desolation Row. Users were presented with the option to buy the song either on Amazon, or (in an interesting twist) on a vinyl disc. Over the 24 hours that the ad ran it posted an impressive 1.2% click-through-rate (significantly higher than rates seen on typical banner ads), encouraging MySpace and Auditude to expand the program to more videos. Today the site began displaying advertising on U2’s new single Get On Your Boots, with plans to expand the program more broadly in the near future.

Much of the overlay’s success probably stems from the fact that it doesn’t look too much like an ad - it actually shows informative content like the album the song came from, the year it was released, and a link to the artist’s profile. I wouldn’t say I like having it there, but MySpace could have done a lot worse. And frankly in the current economic climate it’s encouraging when companies can find advertising methods that actually work without being ridiculously annoying.

YouTube launched a similar program three weeks ago, allowing content owners to insert overlays for products into their videos (MySpace’s overlays are significantly more attractive, but they both serve the same purpose). YouTube wouldn’t provide any exact numbers, but a representative confirmed that in general the site has seen significantly improved clickthrough rates when ads are embedded in videos themselves, as opposed to appearing in surrounding banner ads.