The Future of Media #81: Get Out Your Crystal Ball

This post deals with the trends that are happening around us that are replacing the way we did things in the not so distant past. I am asked to discuss the "developments listed" and which one will have the most influence. Seriously, who comes up with this list? I read the blog and I didn't really know if they were referring to blu-rays or downloading movies or something else entirely. (These posts have started to resemble homework assignments where the blogger has to answer all the questions in order to get full credit). Either way, if I am to answer this question, I will say that blu-ray technology will have the most influence.

Sure, they are a not as cheap as regular discs, but more and more people are starting to purchase high-definition televisions. Sooner or later they too will want to watch movies that use this technology to the fullest, and what better way than to watch a blu-ray movie (unless you download it from the cable companies in true HD). One technology that I have seen more and more as of lately is Gesture-Controlled technology. (This is the technology that Tom Cruise used in the movie Minority Report).

I like to know what new technology is out there, and when possible I upgrade. The latest thing was my HD television and blu-ray player. I also do a lot of presentations for church functions and other social events (somehow I have a life outside of video games and playing with my cat). Anyway, this is a small video of something that may prove to make presentations much more exciting.

The Future of Media #80: Movies

1. Using Hulu, The Auteurs, and IMDB, I searched for a free full-length movie. All three websites offered different choices, and I have watched full-length episodes from them all at one point or another. (This was not my first introduction to the websites)

Even though I prefer to watch DVDs on my television, there are certain things that are more accessible through the internet. I choose my television set any day of the week, but every now and then I will sit in front of my computer and enjoy a movie.

2. I like to be informed on movies and I often find myself looking online for the latest news concerning an upcoming film of interest to me. Even though these websites are informative, they are very general. Because I am sort of a geek I tend to keep my eye on any movie that deals closely with superheroes or books that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading on my time off. One website that I recommend for anyone that shares the same interests is iwatchstuff.com

3. I am currently a customer of Blockbuster online. I get my movies delivered at home without having to face the dilemma of late fees. I pay a monthly charge of $15 and can have two movies out at any time, with no limit on the amount of movies I take out per month. I used to have Netflix and I enjoyed their service. Afterwards I stopped my membership, and it wasn't until recently that I started with Blockbuster. What really attracted me to it was that I used to receive emails giving me free rentals from their stores, as well as special in-store promotions. As attractive as Netflix is, the lack of a physical store became an issue when I wanted a particular movie right away. Of course another option would be the library's collection of movies, but the problem is that not all the patrons are responsible with the DVDs and there has been more than one occasion in which I have checked out a movie only to find out it was damaged beyond repair. And if the movie is brand new, the waiting list is a lot longer than the list of admissions at a private school. So, for the time being, I am willing to sacrifice less than $20 a month for movies that I want to watch at home.

Picture credit: http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a9/BlockbusterOnline-oldlogo.png/180px-BlockbusterOnline-oldlogo.png

The Future of Media #79: Television

After visiting Hulu, tv.com, Joost, viewmy.tv, CastTV, and then looking for Smallville episodes, I got different results from all the sites.

Hulu offers very few episodes in their entirety, but the amount offered is not enough to really satisfy my curiosity if I wanted to watch a whole season. They offer a link that takes you to the CW website where more episodes are offered to watch. A small consolation to this search.

Next one on the list is tv.com. This one didn't even offer one single complete episode, just short clips from different episodes no longer than 3 minutes. This website does offer many other shows, none of them limited to small sample clips. But it does seem that shows from certain networks don't make the cut. Too bad.

Joost didn't even recognize the name of the show. There are a few animated series and a few nature videos, but I didn't really see much as far as tv shows. They don't seem to have as much content as the previous two websites do.

Viewmy.tv didn't offer me more than a link to the CW website. This website also didn't have anything to offer me as far as this particular show is concerned, but they at least offered me more than Joost did. This website centers their videos mostly on news from around the world, so is not something that will come in handy when looking for a particular tv sitcom.

The last website, CastTV did have a nice list of the episodes from the show, but you have to pay for them. The price for the shows is not bad, only about $2 per episode. The shows are either through Amazon.com or the iTunes store. There are very few episodes that are free, but it is not a common trend.

I have never watched a TV show on my cell phone. It just doesn't draw my attention. If I want to watch something from tv, I either log online using my computer or from my cable provider. The screen on a phone, regardless of how big the phone is, does not compare to watching it from a computer or from the television.

There are also a lot of streaming programs out there that may interest me, but I don't really have time to keep up with them. If I had more time, I might actually subscribe to a few of them that either dealt with video game reviews or other subjects that dealt with technology or with religion, but as for right now I am not subscribed to anything. I do have a youtube account and I have a few videos posted, but it is not done on a regular basis. Most of my videos either deal with events that have taken place with my church, or as part of wrestling skits from my high school days (I am not in the skits, but my brother-from-another-mother).

Searching #78: Video

Using both Truveo and Blinkx I searched for a video concerning the video game "Alien vs. Predator" that is to be released on February 22, 2010.

At first, when using Truveo, I could not help but note the simplicity with which the website seems to resolve around. It may look simple, but this is what makes it seem more user friendly. As soon as I started typing on the search box, its autocomplete feature looked provided me with a choice of words or phrases that may be what I was originally looking for. The results I obtained were displayed as thumbnails, and on the left hand side of the results was a breakdown giving me the option to narrow my search to specific channels, tv shows, or categories. This search provided me with 5,195 results. Most of the results have to deal with the upcoming game, and one or two of the first videos had nothing to do with the desired search.

Upon using Blinkx, the first thing to notice is how crowded it looks when compared to Truveo. You are greeted by a wall with miniature videos under different categories such as: news, entertainment, business, sport, and more. The search box does not have the autocomplete feature, and once the results show up, they are also in the form of thumbnails. The main difference is that here the same phrase provided "about 62,000" videos. The website also starts to display a preview of each video without having to actually click on it. Below the preview box is an empty area where you can drag the clips you want to watch, making the desired videos appear as your own personal list.

Visiting HCPL’s YouTube channel and looking around, if I were to work in a branch I would make a youtube video talking about our different programs and also presenting th e staff to the general public. Let the audience know that we are accessible to them and also willing to work for the public. It creates good PR. (Is it just me or does this not seem similar to a previous post concerning youtube?)

Image credit: http://ezlink.net/video.html