Friday, July 29, 2005

The future of television will be on television

Andrew Kantor: CyberSpeak, “Music is released. Television is scheduled. That’s going to change:”

The future isn’t video on the Internet in a little window on your computer. The future is full-quality video over the Internet to your television.

The steps are being taken. There’s IPTV that I just mentioned; so the technology exists to use the Internet infrastructure to carry television. There are faster and faster data pipes coming into your home. There’s incredibly cheap storage; a $200 TiVo can hold more than 80 hours of DVD-quality television. There are services such as MovieLink, MovieFlix, and even Netflix that will (or in Netflix’s case, will soon) let you download movies to watch on your PC.

There are Media Center PCs, sold by big names like Gateway and HP, that let you watch and record television shows on your computer.

Those are small steps to the on-demand finish line. A larger one is Microsoft’s Media Center Extender Set-top Box. It connects to your television to your PC, so you can not only watch the networks, you can also access the music, photos, and video that are on your computer.

Now imagine that CBS decided to archive all its shows at cbs.com a month after they aired on traditional television. You could access these shows through your PC, which was connected to your TV.

Or imagine that a company produced a show or movie that they couldn’t get a network interested in, so it they post the video on its Web site. You could watch it not by changing TV channels, but by telling your TV to go to that site.

This is where we’re headed - away from the notion of channels.

All of which bodes well for we TV. His conclusion:

So just as the World Wide Web lets an individual have as much of a presence as a big corporation, Internet-based television will allow anyone with a digital camcorder and a good script get as much attention as NBC.

And that will change everything.

Via Thomas Hawk.

Love Inaction

Zach gets out today and the Queer Action Coalition is holding rallies at Love in Action Headquarters today and tomorrow.

Meanwhile a New York Blade report out today from inside Exodus’ Annual meeting includes this gem:

During a news conference Thursday evening, [Rev. Jerry] Falwell, who was speaking for the first time at an Exodus conference, took issue with claims by other ex-gay advocates that even teens must at least consent to ex-gay “reorientation” for it to be successful.

[...]

Falwell said parents must intervene. Allowing a teen to be gay is as dangerous as allowing a son or daughter to play on the interstate, he said.

Via Gay Orbit.

High housing prices

Blame government:

Instead of the traditional formula “housing price equals land price + construction costs + reasonable profit,” we seem to be seeing something more like “housing price equals land price + constructions costs plus reasonable profit + mystery component.” And, most interestingly, the mystery component varies a lot from city to city.

[...]

Edward Glaeser of Harvard and Joe Gyourko of the University of Pennsylvania have computed these mystery components for about two dozen American cities. They speculate that the mystery component is essentially a “zoning tax.” That is, zoning and other restrictions put a brake on competitive forces and keep housing prices up.

That sounds right to me. And I don’t see it as a problem. Rather, it’s information to be considered and factored in.

Brew, get your camera

In February I posted on the amateur photographer stopped from snapping pictures in Chicago’s Millennium Park because he didn’t have a permit.

This week Thomas Hawk was chased by security guards at 1 Bush St. in San Francisco. Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing posted on his plight and now there’s a photo contest and a meet up tomorrow.

My bet is the claim here will be about preventing terrorism.

I’m an architecture buff, so much so that I once had my own walking tours of Manhattan. Post 9/11 I wouldn’t be allowed to do it.

Back then you could walk in and around buildings and security guards would talk with you about them. We’re in a different time. It’s sad, unnecessary and not likely to be effective.

UPDATE: Thomas reports that “shooting One Bush Street was a complete piece of cake.”

LIARs on TV

Michael in NY at AMERICAblog posts on the recent spate of Love In Action/Refuge ("yes, as numerous threaders pointed out, this makes them LIARs") stories on TV.

On GMA yesterday:

GMA failed to provide context about conversion therapy, how it was founded by two men who ultimately declared their love for each other, admitted it was all a fraud and are now married and campaign against it. GMA failed to note how the rare “success stories” trumpeted by the far right have proven to be failures time and time again… GMA failed to emphasize how these groups have already admitted defeat—they used to claim they could turn people straight; now apparently everyone admits they’re still gay and struggle with desire but just try not to act on it. That’s a far cry from what they used to believe—it admits the fundamental point that being gay is not a choice, something they used to deny heatedly. GMA also failed to tie the hatred these parents have for their own children to the trial of a man in Florida who killed his three year old son because he feared the boy was gay and literally tried to beat it out of him.

On Paula Zahn “Now” last night:

Zahn was polite but pretty darn on target. She emphasized how he is and always will be gay and that the best the program can hope is to get Wellman and others to SUPPRESS themselves. She emphasized how it’s one thing for an adult like Wellman to choose to go through this and a very different thing for a minor to be forced into it. LIAR’s line is that the parents have the right to raise their children any way they choose. But the response is that you have no right to assist a parent in shaming and emotionally damaging a child by telling them to be ashamed of their skin color or gender or sexual orientation. Zahn talked a lot about the vulnerability of the children being pushed through LIARs. When Wellman tried to compare this program to a parent’s right to have their children take music lessons, Zahn shot him down and said that music lessons never lead to suicide attempts.

My favorite moment:

Zahn: But in a way, aren’t you denying who you are?
Wellman: Aren’t we all?

Uh, no. We’re not.

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has the Paula Zahn video.