Pop Goes the Culture

"Help me, Obi Wan Blitzer! You're my only hope!"

The ballots have been counted, the excited buzz is fading to a dull roar and both Democrats and Republicans are suffering from hangovers due to the fact that a lot of them got drunk off their asses (mind you, for different reasons). So now that the election has been decided and America has made history, what about this historic event should we remember?

The bridging of the racial divide? Nah.

The looming sense of hope sending shivers down the spines of our country's citizens? Nope.

How about we focus on the media and technology. More specifically, CNN's dip into the sci-fi pool when they used "holograms" during their election night coverage.

Correspondent Jessica Yelling reported from Chicago via "hologram" to CNN election night guru Wolf Blitzer Tuesday night as the final counts started to pour in. Why? Well, that's a good question...

The two seemed to interact directly, though it's unclear whether Blitzer, in New York, could see Yellin (though it's widely accepted that, unless he used his "Blitzer power" or stole the technology from Fox News like the God-less liberal media they are, he could not). In any case, Yellin explained that she was enclosed in a "special tent" with 35 high-definition cameras that were filming her in a 360-degree fashion. Apparently that wasn't enough, so they added a bright red spot below her and gave her a spooky blue glow. Goodness, how...uh...hologramy!

But wait! They did the same with...wait, no...it's Anderson Cooper and Will.i.am!!!

No word yet on if Anderson Copper himself was the one who was able to bend light into a 3-dimensional object, but it's refreshing to see such technology used for something other than alerting Jedis to impending threats to galaxies far, far away.

So why use holograms? Is this the next great step in television reporting. Doubtful. They just as easily could have walked into a "special tent" and reported via satelite the usual way. But it's a gimmick that (kinda) set CNN apart from the rest of the pack this time around, including Fox News and MSNBC. And while the other networks can proudly say "Well, we don't need fancy technology! We report the facts!", the viewing public get to proudly proclaim "Kick ass! I watched the election on the network with holograms!...sorta'..."

If the networks continue to advance their technology at this pace, I look forward to next election when Hannity beams the results directly into my brain.

- Jason

Yo ho, yo ho, it's a pirate's life - for about 1 billion users

  Via Digg, recent reports show that 50 percent of all people using BitTorrent at any given point in time are downloading TV series. According to the report, that's more than 1 billion TV shows being downloaded every year and it's rising. Popular shows, like "Lost" (yes, Jason, that photo over there is for you) and "Heroes," get about 10 million downloads per episode, from all over the world.

For those who don't know how BitTorrent works see the handy dandy graph from HowStuffWorks.com

Running the risk that RIAA or other "The Man" type organizations will come after me, I admit I'm a BitTorrent user. For purposes of paranoia, I would like to officially state I do nothing illegal. Mostly.

The thing is I'm one of many, many, many people and there are more using torrents all the time. I use more legit sources when I can. I watch shows on NBC, ABC and The CW's sites (CBS, despite glimmers of improvement, is still using InnerTube for some shows and that thing sucks like a Hoover). I even download from Amazon Unbox and, every once in a while, I'll wait and buy the DVDs. But this technology is not going away. You beat Napster into the ground and up rises Kazaa. Nail college students for file sharing and someone creates BitTorrent.

It's making more and more things outdated -- not just watching shows live, but having to guess who watches and how many eyeballs any one show has. The downloading system can more accurately track how many eyes are on any given show, far better than the antiquated Nielsen ratings. The top 10 downloaded shows, just on Mininova, are down to the user, the first place show, "Heroes" nabbed 2,439,154 for its most popular episode while UK-import "Top Gear" had 1,217,923 downloads of its most popular episode.

It also means that the world can move in real time television-wise. You can't show "Heroes" in the US and wait six months to show it abroad. You can't even show "Torchwood" in the UK a week before the US without thousands of fans jumping the gun to download.

I pay my cable bill, but sometimes I miss an episode. Or I want to jump on board a show later in the season. This is an easy way to bridge that gap and even get new viewers. Most people, myself included, simply don't see it was stealing. This is a sign that the younger generation wants this service, it's not available through other channels and here's a way to get it.

Some studios have embraced it for promotional purposes, but just imagine if they treated it as a normal mode of broadcasting. Slap some commercials in it and let them download. Start streaming everything.

People are doing it anyway so, in the spirit of Hollywood execs everywhere, they might as well try to make some money off it.

-Mariah

Farscape and Fraggles coming to iTunes

As reported by The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), two Jim Henson shows are hoofing it over to iTunes: Farscape (one of my top five favorite shows ever) and Fraggle Rock (which, though I love the theme song, greatly disturbed me as a child for some reason. Maybe it was the dog.)

For the not-too-steep price of $1.99 per episode, the first seasons of both will be available.  Farscape is difficult to find on DVD because of questions over home video rights (it had been released a while back by ADV Films, a small outfit that lost the rights, I believe). Season one will cost you, oh, $300 used on Amazon right now.

Among other news for Fraggle fans, there is also a Fraggle Rock full-length feature currently in the works. According to a press release from the Jim Henson Company, the untitled film will for the first time take Gobo, Wembley, Mokey, Boober and Red on an adventure outside of Fraggle Rock where they will interact with the strange beings in “outer space” (also known as humans). It is being written by author Ahmet Zappa (son of Frank Zappa) who will also executive produce the project with Brian Henson and Jason Lust. Lisa Henson will produce. Who knows what effect the writers' strike is having on this, but it's at least in process.

As I posted before, there were plans for an online Farscape revival, so keep your fingers crossed that it's still on.

- Mariah

Black Vudu Magic?

Alas. First we decide that the video store was too slow because you'd have to drive there, pick out whatever was left in stock, actually interact with other folks and then drive all the way home.

Then society messily dumped the video store and seduced it's hotter, younger sister Netflix, a business that actually delivered the movie directly to your mailbox and, when finished, could simply be mailed back.

And now comes this hussie, walking in and seductively offering up electronic "quickies".

In a seemingly devious attempt to keep us all in our darkened homes with the blinds closed and limit the contact of our species from one another, a Silicon Valley start-up company has developed the Vudu, a little black box that connects to your TV and can play movies.

So what?, you ask. I have a DVD player, VCR, DVR, cable, satellite and more. What could this usurper of my home entertainment center possibly have to offer?

Actually (and maybe a little sadly), quite a bit.

Though judging from the website, I half-expect a claim at some point saying that this is the movie machine that God himself uses. Just look at that remote glow!

This little box comes loaded with 5,000 movies from the get-go. Think of the basic concept of it as an iPod for your television: movies preloaded electronically, no DVDs or VHS tapes. Hook up a high speed internet connection and you can actually dowload movies to rent or buy. They're supposedly going to be shipped with USB ports in the back for expanded storage with an external hard drive. And the price? A comparatively reasonable $400.

I can already hear the tech-heads drooling. This is seemingly the perfect device for watching films and, now that the euphoria of the magical iPhone has waned a bit, they'll be looking for their next fix.

But, like most newly released electronic gadgetry, there are a lot of figurative and literal bugs to fix. Like what programming and support errors will there be? What if you want to watch a movie on a different TV? What new piracy issues arise? What happens when your Vudu dies? Will it eat all your movies? Can you get a new one? Will it cook you breakfast in the morning? Oddly enough, none of this seems to be covered on the website.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not trying to sell this slice of electronic wonder or curse this demon box into the electronic depths. But you already know some people will be a-twitter about this thing and will buy one the moment it hits shelves. It took a teenager and his pals less than 2 months to bypass the SIM lock on the iPhone, giving a user the freedom to choose whatever phone network they could (as long as it was compatible). Blu-Ray is struggling due to the fact that it was overpriced from the get-go and HD discs are eating away at it's market share. Seeing a pattern?

I think I'll wait a good long while and see how the Vudu does before really taking a look at it.

Besides, my DVD player is quite the fickle mistress and a bit of a "golddigger" herself...

- Jason