Dexter

The group over at TorrentFreak.com have come up with the top ten pirated shows this last year. They collected information from many Torrent Trackers to come up with this list. This list is US only.

Dexter, the show about a serial murderer who kills bad guys topped this years most downloaded list at 3.6 million downloads. Game of Thrones was second, and CBS’s “Big Bang Theory” hit third.

Terra Nova is the surprise – 8th place at 1.9 million. This is a show that is on the verge of cancellation by Fox. So does a number like this mean there is still hope for this show?

Some good news is these numbers are declining. Web streaming sites like Hulu give people a chance to see their shows on their schedule. In return, they don’t have to search for the latest episode.

Game of Thrones

However, shows like Dexter and True Blood –  which are on premium channels Showtime and HBO – don’t show up on Hulu. A season of these episodes might take 2 years before they land on Netflix streaming. You can buy seasons at the conclusion through sites like Amazon, and rent shortly through Blockbuster or Netflix DVD.

Five network TV shows ended up on the list – Big Bang Theory, House, How I Met Your Mother, Glee, and Terra Nova. TorrenkFreak deduces these are mostly downloads for people who are overseas and do not have access to Hulu.

The owners of Hulu announced today that they are no longer for sale, after shopping themselves around since June.  Maybe with Netflix’s sudden unsettled condition, it occurred to them that maybe they could make a few more dollars on their venture.

I am not a huge user of Hulu, but my teenage daughter is.  She watches all her favorite cable and network shows there when she misses them on regular broadcast, or when someone accidentally erases something she’s saved from the DVR.  Unlike others in the geek-o-sphere, we are not ready to cut the cord on our satellite yet.  But having choices like Hulu means that we have some flexibility in how we watch some of our favorites.

I went and tooled around on Hulu tonight for a bit, to see what was there to watch.  The American Experience series from PBS is available for free viewing, as is one of my guilty pleasures, Storage Wars from A&E.  Much of what I found was cable-based, as most network shows end up on the networks’ own websites.  Hulu is good for getting links directly out to shows that they don’t carry directly.

Most shows won’t play unless your ad-blockers are turned off, and they all include ads.  Most ads are only a minute or less, and happen only a couple times during the episode you may be watching.  That’s what you get for free.  If you want to pay $8 a month, you get access to more shows, many of them current or newest releases including movies, plus the ability to watch them on any device from a smart phone to a tablet to an Internet-enabled television or set-top box.

From what I can tell, if you’re looking for things that have appeared on television, Hulu is where you want to go for content.  If you’re looking for new releases, they are pretty much a black hole of nothing.  But still, for those that don’t want to pay Netflix’s inflated prices for content, Hulu may be a reasonable alternative.

I intend to spend a little more time poking around seeing what is there.

Roku LT

This morning, Roku announced a $49 model of their popular Over the Top TV solution. The Roku LT is a very slimmed down version of the box. It does up to 720p video (which most content providers are creating content for), and while you cannot play Angry Birds or have a USB and Ethernet port (it’s a WiFi device, too) like the $99 model, it does have all the other functionality of this popular internet appliance.

Roku has been growing, adding many new channels including EPiX, which has been convincing people to cut the cord, as GigaOM discusses. Roku also added HBO Go – which is a On Demand service offered by HBO. You still need to order a cable package to get the OTT channel.

There are other great channels on Roku that do not require a cable connection, such as the TechPodcasts channel and Blubrry. You also have the Netflix, HuluPlus, Revision3, KoldKast, Glenn Beck, NHL, Fox News and many other channels.

The LT also undercuts the Apple TV by $50. Roku was already the lowest priced box, with a $59 and $79 version of the box. But this new magic price point turns the OTT box into a “great gift”. With the holidays fast approaching, this might be the hot item.

So with this news, will you finally be purchasing a Roku? Let us know!

Looks like someone is messing with my net connections while I am streaming the show. Twice in two weeks the net connection has went dead while live time to do some digging. Lots of tech tonight but the last two shows the intro has slipped a bit in length. I will get that re-aligned next show. So far nothing but postive feedback on the HD version of the show. See the bonus links in the show notes and check out our iTunes network provider listings.

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I took advantage of the Hulu Plus free trial week, because I wanted to see if it is worth the monthly subscription fee. After a week of using it, I have decided for me it is not worth the price. The reasons it is not worth the price for me is the following

 1. The shows I want are not available on the Iphone or Ipad
 2. Shows expire
 3. The commercials
 4. Its still not available on the TiVo
 5. It is blocking Google TV and Boxee

Once I decided to try Hulu Plus I started to look around at shows that I wanted to watch. The first thing I noticed was that more then half were not available on the Iphone, which is where I watch a lot of my videos, so that is strike one. Strike two was the fact that shows that I wanted to watch like Fringe expire and become unavailable. I went back to catch up with Fringe and the shows from earlier this season had expired and were not available. I don’t understand the point of expiring videos, especially those from the current season. Strike three are the commercials. I have no problem with commercials in the free version I realize companies have to make money to survive. However if I am paying a subscription I don’t want to see commercials. I would prefer to be given a choice to pay more and see no commercials or pay minimum and get commercials. It is still not available for the TiVo and if its anything like the wait for Pandora, it will be awhile before it will be. I don’t have either the Boxee Box and or Google TV, but the fact that Hulu is blocking both of them is just dumb. If I connect my mac mini to my TV I can watch Hulu Plus, but if I connect my Google TV I can’t, how this makes sense I don’t know. Finally, and this a purely a personal thing there are not enough anime shows available.

I will probably take another look at Hulu Plus at a later date, but for now a combination of Netflix, Itunes, Amazon and Crunchyroll along with my TiVo take care of my video needs at this time. If you use Hulu Plus what do you like about it and is there anything you would change about it.

This weekend simply crushed me and it hit me like a ton of bricks during the show tonight. Nevertheless the show has to go on. Details in the show and some cool pictures at the bottom of the show notes. Saw the F22 Raptor perform at an airshow this weekend and what an amazing airplane. Two new contest started on tonights show listen to win.

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If you’re a Windows Media Center user then you, no doubt, are disappointed by Hulu‘s snubbing of the platform.  You probably also have waited for Boxee to arrive.  After all, Netflix jumped on board about a year ago.  Why not the other major players?

Netflix is always quick to jump into whatever platform they can get themselves on.  They get it.  I’m not saying Hulu doesn’t get it, because I think they do.  But, they are handcuffed by NBC and Fox.  With the recent release of Hulu Plus came the announcements of the platforms they are now available on.  After avoiding it for the first couple of years, they are no longer afraid of getting on actual living room TV’s.  Well, they told themselves they were avoiding it, but every geek in the world was already watching them on the TV.  So where is the deal with the biggest computer company in the world?  With the recent release of Media Center embedded and the first set-top boxes starting to leak out this could be a major cash-cow for Hulu.  Think if they made Hulu Plus a part Media Center and Media Center embedded!

Boxee, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same strict, old-fashioned bosses that are behind Hulu.  They jumped straight onto the AppleTV platform, but beyond that and PC’s they didn’t seem to seek out partners anywhere.  And, of course, they didn’t actually partner with Apple – it was a hack that Boxee pushed.

So, Netflix seems to be the only forward-thinking company in this space.  Maybe Amazon, since they have partnered with a few set-top boxes and Blu-ray players, but they also have not jumped onto Media Center.  Now all of these are available in Media Center via pretty simple hacks and plug-ins.  You can find instructions for Hulu here, Boxee here and Amazon Unbox here.  I use the Hulu plugin and Amazon hack on my own HTPC.  I expect that, sooner or later, both Hulu and Amazon will come to Media Center, but with the soon-to-be-released Boxee Box, I am not sure they will be looking to partner with anyone.

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There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding Hulu lately, and I am trying to figure it all out.  There’s Hulu Plus, rumors of an IPO, content questions…the list goes on.  So, what do we make of it all?

Let’s start with Hulu Plus.  For those not familiar, Hulu Plus  is the recently announced, and released, paid version of Hulu.  You can get full details on what’s available in Plus here.  In a nutshell, though, you get every episode from the current season of all shows on ABC, NBC, and FOX, plus all episodes from past seasons of many of the shows.  This comes with a price tag of $9.99 per month.  That’s not a bad price – a whole lot cheaper than any cable or satellite subscription.  There’s no trial though.  You have to pay right from day one, which has been a big drawback for many consumers.

There have also been recent rumors of a Hulu IPO [initial public (stock) offering].  I would have to say it’s a fairly credible rumor based on it coming from the Wall Street Journal.  Based on that story, Hulu may be worth as much as $2 billion on the market and they are looking to use money raised from stock to land contracts from other content providers.  With only three networks on board there is plenty of room for expansion.

That segues nicely into the last question – content.  Obviously an IPO would allow them to have the funds to really negotiate some big time deals – think CBS, HBO or maybe even Disney.  But if that doesn’t pan out, then how do they build relationships to gain more content?

So, we have looked at the three aspects of what Hulu is doing and/or trying to do right now.  Where does that take them?

First, let’s look at Plus.  It’s a good offering.  After all, everyone’s chief complaint had always been the shifting content.  Any given show you wanted had only certain episodes available and those seemed to change regularly.  So this is a solid win for them.  But, what about subscriber numbers?  That seems to be kept secret from every source I checked.  Everyone talked up Plus when it was announced, but how many actually signed up?  Or, maybe more telling, how many signed up expecting a trial only to find that they had to pay from day one?  We need numbers, combined with ad revenue (which is different from every source), to determine how they are really faring.

Second, the IPO (or rumored IPO).  If it’s true, and if the valuation ($2 billion) is in the right ballpark then that solves a big content issue.  More content available, even if it’s only in Plus (and I would assume most would be) means more users.  That much money, or even close to that much, would allow for negotiations for big content providers.  Every major provider added, such as an HBO, would add huge amounts of value to Hulu and their revenue.

And third, the content question.  This one pretty much hinges on number two.  If the IPO happens, and goes as laid out in the WSJ, then this is moot.  But, if not, then where does Hulu turn to add subscribers?  They have a decent stream of revenue from ads, plus whatever they are getting from Plus subscribers, so there is some money to work with.  In this case they will need to work with smaller networks to get content.

So, let me come to a conclusion, such as it is, here.  We know nothing about the Plus subscribers and, therefore, nothing of the revenue from the program.  The IPO is a rumor, although fairly well based.  If it happens then Hulu has the money to go after the big fish,  But that doesn’t mean they will land any of them.  I think Disney is out of the question for now.  I think CBS and HBO are possible.  If they don’t do the IPO then they go after smaller content providers.  I would think Comedy Central would be on top of the list.  Having The Daily Show would really be a feather in the cap.  But, it can’t go in Plus, because it’s already free on Comedy Central’s web site.  Showtime might also be possible, and they have some sought-after original content.  Then all of the others – Discovery, History, WB, USA, etc.

It seems that they can make it without the IPO and without making a lot off of Plus (if they get something like The Daily Show in their regular feed).  So, they are viable for the foreseeable future.  But, I think, as they stand now, they are not in the best place.  They will definitely need revenue to add either one or two big providers or several smaller ones.  And, depending on who they add, will make the difference of if the content goes to Plus or not.  But some, no matter how much it hurts them, will have to go to the regular, free feed.  After all, that’s what brings the initial views.

Ad Dollars

It’s the cost of doing business – advertising pays the bills. However, when you have a live show where someone clicks on – and is ready to move on when they don’t get instant gratification, 30 second ad might make them move on before they even see the show. Is 30 too long and what is the magic number?

But Hulu Does it…

Hulu, of course, has really cornered the market on stream TV. And most people will wait through the ads. Each ad is 30 seconds.

Some of them are longer and give you the option to watch the longer commercial to avoid the commercials at the breaks.  Some of them are only 10-15 second ads, too.

There are 7 commercial spots in a 1-hour TV show on Hulu. It’s network content from NBC, ABC, FOX (and soon CBS on HULU Plus). It’s not live content, so nobody misses a thing (Same thing with YouTube – pre-recorded, so an ad can easily go in without losing content time).

We might even expect and accept network TV ads simply because it is coming from a major network.

Why it doesn’t work on uStream, Justin.tv

Whereas Hulu contains studio productions that can take a pause 7 times a show, uStream and Justin.tv contains live content. Every extra second an ad takes, you lose what is being done or said.

For a person trying to start great content on this system, a 30 second commercial in the foreground could cause loss of viewership. The person, in turn, could just nix the idea and move on simply because it’s harder to get an audience.

Refresh

If the content freezes or if the system crashes, then when you head back to the site, you have to endure another 30 second ad. Would that make people feel the need to come back to the site?

How should they make money?

I’m not talking about taking away the ads – just remember that people will not only leave a show, but also leave a website because they are not entertained.

10-15 seconds ads sound palatable. Add the pop-up ad every now and then – You’ve got a winning combination. Maybe when the show is off-line, content is played with breaks – 15 seconds every 5-10 minutes of content.

Browser Blocker add-ons?

Yes – if you install an add-on blocker in your browser, you could avert those ads. Personally I wouldn’t do that. It is a free service, after all. They need to make money to keep it free.

Pay a Premium?

What if the content producer paid to do their show? Would that in turn be good or bad for companies like uStream?

If the consumer was asked to pay, you might get a few that do it for a while. Most would want to go somewhere else for their content. You can only ask and see what happens.

While sites like uStream, Livestream and Justin.tv need to make money, long ads in front of the videos might not be the answer. Re-thinking the ad sounds like a better idea. break up off-line content -Play an add every 5-10 minutes in a pre-recorded show. Pop-up video ads that are not too invasive. That is what is needed in a live “See it now” environment.

OTT, short for “over-the-top-television” is an up-and-coming acronym that we are all likely going to become familiar with in the near future, provided someone doesn’t come up with a different marketing name. The concept is simple – it’s TV that comes “over the top” of traditional channels on a cable system via the Internet delivered in digital packets. It can either be live streaming video, on-demand streaming video, or in the form of a pre-recorded on-demand podcast.

There are many aspects of over-the-top TV that have yet to be shaken out. Specifically, here in the early stages there are some still-murky areas when it comes to details of how advertising is going to work.

Things that we know about how OTT works successfully so far:

People are willing to pay for bundled on-demand professionally created OTT content in the form of Netflix on-demand streaming of movies, TV shows, and other content. The bundled Netflix price for all-you-can-eat on-demand streaming OTT offers the consumer a real value. In most cases, a great deal of marketing money and effort has been spent promoting the majority of individual movies and other content that are available on Netflix, so the consumer has a fairly high degree of familiarity with much of the on-demand streaming content they offer. These are essentially repurposed movies that are already on the shelf.

People are willing to watch on-demand streaming OTT of professionally-created content with embedded ads as demonstrated by the ongoing success of Hulu.Com. The consumer is likely already familiar with a portion of the content, but Hulu also allows the consumer to discover and explore previously unknown TV show content in an on-demand stream with embedded ads. These are essentially repurposed TV shows, some movies, and other content.

Live streaming OTT of live content is still catching on. The most successful live OTT content as typified by what Leo Laporte and company are generating still offers an on-demand podcast version that can be downloaded later. Currently, on-demand, after-the-fact podcast versions of live OTT generated content end up with many more downloads than people watching via live streams. Both live streaming OTT and the on-demand podcast versions can contain ads. For the ads to be effective in this format, they need to be relevant to the audience’s needs and desires. The old “shotgun” advertising approach does not work in this format. This specific type of content is closely associated with word-of-mouth promotion.

There are a few questions that remain to be answered. Will consumers pay for on-demand streaming of TV drama-type content they are unfamiliar with — in other words, will consumers pay to watch an on-demand stream of a new TV show drama, documentary or reality show? Using myself as a gage, I wouldn’t pay for individual on-demand episodes of a TV show or movie I wasn’t fairly familiar with. Promotion and word-of-mouth still has to take place.

If consumers will pay-per-view for an unfamiliar on-demand TV show, can the content still contain ads? I think the answer to this depends on the content and its perceived value – i.e., how well it is promoted, and the resulting perceived value that is generated in the potential consumer.

Once “Lost” was a hit TV show, would the fanatic fans have paid for on-demand streams of new episodes? Probably they would have, if they could have gotten them, say a week or so in advance of the actual broadcasts. “Lost” fans would have also put up with ads in the advance on-demand stream. They might have grumbled about it, but if that were the only way it was available in advance, many of them would have opened-up their wallets and paid the price monetarily and with their attention to the embedded ads in order to satisfy their “Lost” habit. Clearly, the producers of “Lost” – ahem – “lost out” on a time-sensitive revenue stream opportunity.

Bottom line, I believe it all revolves around the content and the real and perceived values that the content delivers.

I liked last season’s remake of the old “V” television series. If I could be assured the production values remained just as high, I might pay to subscribe in some manner. If the “V” series is picked up again by ABC next season, I would also pay to subscribe if I could get episodes via on-demand streaming before they were broadcast.

In the meantime, we are still dealing with the death-throws of the old broadcast model with its old appointment based viewing schedule combined with the old shotgun advertising approach. ABC broadcast TV affiliates would have had a cow if “Lost” episodes had been made available as a paid on-demand OTT stream before the episodes were actually broadcast via the network.

The final destination of OTT and when it ends up at that destination depends on what is right for the time. Both delivery infrastructure capabilities and consumer demand will make that determination.

I was listening to a podcast where the hosts were chatting back and forth about the newly offered Hulu Plus, where for $10 dollars a month, you can get Hulu on a wide variety of devices including smart phones and over-the-top Internet TV boxes. Hulu is also offering a somewhat wider, but still incomplete back catalog archive of shows. One of the hosts was saying he wouldn’t pay for content, he wanted it “for free.”

Whether we realize it or not, we are all paying for content, either directly or indirectly. Even if we have only a TV antenna and watch only the local TV channels, we are still paying for content indirectly via advertising. When we buy consumer products of virtually any kind, part of what we pay goes for advertising, which pays for content creation.

If we are paying indirectly only, someone else is deciding for us as to the quality of the programming content. We can either consume that content or not, but we still pay as consumers buying products. We have very little indirect control over what gets put on the air. On the other hand, if we pay for content directly, then we have far greater control over the quality of the media we are consuming.

If Hulu can offer value for the money, then it will succeed What they have to do is figure out what people are willing to pay for. Perhaps that value revolves around putting highly-sought-after content on as many devices as possible. Perhaps it revolves around coming up with the absolute best back catalog of old TV shows. Imagine having instant streaming access to every TV show ever produced in every country in any language, and every movie ever produced anywhere in any language. Something like that would be well worth paying for. Imagine a site such as IMDB.Com that lists every movie and TV show ever made, except as a subscriber you could instantly stream it – now you’re talking. Hulu, anyone else out there – are you listening?

I personally would be willing to pay for a service such as Hulu, except for one small glitch. There are no back catalog shows on the site at the moment that really excite me. Network drama shows can sometimes be quite good, but my tastes are somewhat different.

When I had Dish Network, I was watching a few selected shows on only 3 channels – Discovery, TLC and History. I can get most of these shows if I really want them at some point via Netflix. To my way of thinking, Netflix is a much better value. Netflix has a far wider variety of content, plus they also offer the handy rental service of DVD’s and Blu-ray discs.

The verdict is currently out whether Hulu will be able to figure out what value it needs to best serve its customers. If people are paying Hulu money directly, then Hulu had better quickly figure out exactly what those customers want and do its best to deliver it to them.

Hey Hulu, here’s an idea to try. Offer first-run streaming movies, but do it the Hulu way. I would be willing to pay for a first run movie streaming for a nominal pay-per-view fee, say $5.99. Vudu is offering streaming first run movies, but you have to have a big fat Internet connection to be able to use Vudu. The Vudu service demands way more bandwidth than my Internet service can currently deliver.

Here’s yet another idea for Hulu – offer exclusive, Hulu-only content consisting of well-produced material revolving around the “Entertainment Tonight” type of concept. Do exclusive interviews of movie and TV stars. Do exclusive interviews of directors. Give people real value for their money. Make your customers want to not only see you succeed, but motivate them to help you succeed.

A few years ago remember seeing all those “Joost” commercials pushing their Internet TV application? “Proper TV – Joost” the sophisticated-sounding British spokesman endlessly blurted out towards the end of the ad.

Of course, the initial Joost experiment ended badly. The Joost application stopped working December 19, 2008. Literally millions of dollars went down the drain.

I remember downloading and playing with the application and watching a few minutes of the various included streaming videos. I wasn’t impressed, and never opened the application again.

What went wrong? Why have Hulu and Netflix ascended to near household name status, and Joost flopped with the thud of a drunk elephant tripping over it’s own trunk?

There’s something the Joost folks, savvy as they were, failed to take into account. It’s a little something called choice. Joost failed for the same reason that broadcast, cable and satellite providers are losing viewers and subscribers. The “choice” offered by channel surfing revolves around searching for the least-boring junk content that is currently playing. It is choice, but not a very good one. People sitting in front of their Internet-connected computers watching the Joost application trying it’s best to replicate the conventional channel surfing TV experience lost out to the Internet itself. Joost – b-o-r-i-n-g, close it and move on to another website and find something more useful and/or exciting.

The lesson is choice. Enlightened, sophisticated content consumers will choose that content based on three primary criteria – Entertainment, Information, or Character – either any single one or a mixture. By the way, these are the same three filters you apply to your choice in selecting friends.

The failure of the initial Joost experiment was inevitable, and should serve as a warning for all content creators and marketers. Sitting in front of an Internet-connected screen and the conventional channel surfing model don’t mix well. The Internet will easily win the battle.

Get ready for a world where everything is on demand and à la carte. Traditional broadcasting is going to change whether it wants to or not. Marketing will be forced to change in profound ways. As a result, content-making will also go through a major metamorphosis.

Marketing and traditional broadcasting have long had an interesting relationship that has had a potentially detrimental effect on the quality and quantity of available content. Television in particular has long been known as “a vast wasteland.” If one thinks about how this lowest-common-denominator programming can exist, the realization emerges that anxious, aggressive television advertisers have often been willing to sponsor junk programming content to capture passive viewers. In the pre-Internet world of broadcast TV, people would surf channels in order to find what was often the least-boring programming. Also because of the hypnotic potential of this type of TV watching, many viewers were willing to sit in front of virtually any programming without really caring about what they were watching, using TV viewing itself as a sort of nightly drug. Marketing messages get programmed into viewer’s brains, but more importantly using this type of passive TV viewing as a drug has definite detrimental side effects to both the individual, the family unit, and society at large.

After a few months of agonizing, I recently cancelled my Dish Network account. I was already a Netflix customer and was watching more stuff from Netflix than I was from Dish Network, so it has been a remarkably easy transition.

There are differences. One of the differences is that I’m now forced to choose what I want to watch when I want to watch TV. Being forced to choose necessarily forces me to choose something I find personally interesting. The net effect is I’m making a conscious choice of my television influences. Of course, another difference is that streamed Netflix content has no ads.

Hulu.Com offers streaming content with ads, and recently started offering an inexpensive monthly premium streaming content option, which also has the added benefit of vastly expanding the list of devices they will stream to beyond the desktop/laptop computer to include media extenders and cell phones. Like Craig’s List cannibalized the local newspaper ad business, Hulu.Com and similar emerging streaming services are going to further cannibalize the now-breaking and broken broadcast TV model. I say this not to blame Hulu and other services as I believe this push for choice has been well underway for a long time and these emerging streaming services are simply accelerating it.

The ad-supported content will be forced to change because the programming must be appealing-enough to consumers to get them to choose the particular content. Non-ad supported content will continue to have a market but will be forced to appeal just the same to induce consumers to choose that content.

Mom always said don’t count your chickens before they hatch but, I am real happy with the last two shows. It is great to be home. One a second note, I get serious in talking about looking ahead with the show, as I want to advance the shows potential. Through the end of July will be hoping to offset some of the upgrade costs associated with moving forward with donations to the show details within but hope you will consider helping me reach a very big goal.

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Todd’s Show Links:
Newspapers should read this!
Net Neutrality no issue in UK?
Zune.net takes Credit Cards.
Apple King of Hill 10 Lessons.
How to Hold your iPhone ios 4.
FaceTime Works.
iPhone 4 Yello Tint.
Multi-tasking Heads Up Android vs iPhone.
App Developers How Much do they make?
Twitter gets slap on hand by FTC.
Testers get Win 7 SP1 Beta.
Google 1 – Viacom 0
Viacom in Shock!
Horseman?
Thunderbird 3.1 Features.
Internet Kill Button moves ahead!
Is the iPhone 4 worth it?
FCC no Transparency.
YouTube has a Little Fun!
Facebook says not so fast Twitter.
Storage for 100 Years.
.xxx coming to the net!
Ice Cube Telescope in Antarctica.
Is that a Nuclear Reactor in your Apartment?
New Zealand Movie Industry as Wacked as US!
Rolling Stone missed a Payday?
ACLU joins Amazon in NC battle.
Facebook likes data to come in but not go out!
Superstorm on Exoplanet.
NASA to delay last 2 Shuttle Launches?
Hulu to Playstation.
Windows 7 Phone in October.
NVIDIA gets Snarky with Intel.
Garageband.com RIP.

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!

What does a GPS and a Traffic Jam equal? Detour! I think you will get a kick out of how my GPS saved me hours in my car stuck in a massive traffic jam in I35 in Texas. Find out how Julie wife of long time listener Ronald was able to score days off work by using GotoMyPC. I have a new contest you need to listen to win you have a few short days to act. My 2009 24hr Podcast Charity Announced!

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Windows 7 Upgrade Help.

Show Notes:
Top Mobile Apps of 2009.
Crunchpad Dead before Arrival.
Apple Retail down Online Sales Up!
Malware Software Faceoff!
Hadron Collider cranks up the Juice.
ICANN no more Redirecting!
Solar Prices to come down 30%?
Get your wallets out for Hulu.
UK Newspaper puts up Firewall.
Hulu focuses on Search.
Who complains the most about companies and how?
Fix that Scratched DVD or CD.
NASA Prepared to take last Module to ISS.
FCC to go forward on White Space Database good for us!
Google Chrome OS on Macs!
Fake Lab Meat food of the Future?
Is your employer taking advantage of you?
Psystar only sold 768 Computers?
ASUS Motheboard lets you mod with Bluetooth.
Intel Chip Roadmap!
Perfect Band-aid!
Do you really want this in your car?
Small Towns + High Speed Internet = Increased Property Values!
What did you buy on Cyber Monday?
How to pick out the Perfect Domain!
iPhone to go to T-Mobile?

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!

This last week I gave up my older HTC 8125 for the Apple iPhone. It’s been an interesting experience so far and I really like how the phone works. I also like the apps – Especially the ones that keep me productive. I am not really a gamer or a fluff app person – I may download and try it, but those apps usually go to the wayside.

Two apps I was excited to try out were Stitcher: a Podcast aggregation site, and Pandora: for online radio stations. I’ve used both before getting the iPhone and couldn’t wait to install and try them.

Of course, I could just use the integrated iTunes program on the phone. It does music and aggregates podcasts. However, I like to try out all the options – make sure I have the easiest and best program.

So let’s take a look at each program and see what advantages there are to it.

Stitcher

If you haven’t tried this site out yet, you should. Stitcher is a Podcast aggregator. You can get many great podcasts, add them to your watch list and be alerted when new episodes are available. You can listen to your shows on your iPhone, Blackberry or on any PC.

In turn, iTunes also has an area to download podcasts. You can search the store and download episodes. However – As Todd noted in his last podcast – While the PC version lets you subscribe to the podcast, the iTunes store only allows you to add episodes. I have yet to find a way to “Subscribe” from the iPhone.

Pandora

Pandora

Pandora has just been in the news because of the agreement they have reached for Internet radio. You can join up with a radio station, listen to it and move on. The control of the music is not that great; which was a design of the new agreement.  You can skip songs, but only 6 per hour. All this, so you won’t have to pay for any music you want to hear.

Flipping over to iTunes, you can pay .99 cents a song, sync up with one computer to get your playlist of songs and go. You can customize your playlists and listen to new songs. They even give you some free ones.

There are other apps, like Audio books. Audible lets you read books right from your iPhone. iTunes also has an Audiobook option. I have not tested that feature yet, so we will leave it as a footnote.

iTunes

The Advantage

The biggest advantage iTunes has is that if you have to use another application; like checking your email, whatever you are listening to will continue to play. If you try the same for Pandora or Stitcher, the program will close. Once the application is re-opened, you will be able to continue listening. However- in the case of Pandora – it will not continue where it left off.

iTunes will also do video – TV shows and even Video Podcasts. While there is no Hulu application (yet), you do have the option of YouTube – which also comes with the native OS.

I don’t want to make it sound like you shouldn’t download Pandora or Stitcher. They are great programs in their own right. The applications are free and can be an addition to any iPhone. That is why they are on my iPhone to stay.

Newsletter subscribers check your emails for clues but you have to listen as well to win. I talk about the Video Gravy train for a bit tonight. Looking for input from non podcasters details on the show. As we head into the summer months you will want to remember to take the show with you as you roll outside to do yard work heck you can even have fun with it by shouting out in agreement when I hit some company with criticism.

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Show Topic Notes:
Mark is correct free ride on Video is about Over!
Sony Digital Copies on UMD Library to be Available
45mps Wireless downloads on Airlines?
Palm Pre iTunes Support Funky
Cool Clock but way to Pricey
Great 4th of July Prank
AT&T Prepaid Data Plans Good Idea!
Have you tried Bing?
Steve Jobs how bad was it?
iPhone Video? Weird ring to it!
FTC shuts down Webhost with 15k Customers
Cirque to be next ISS Tourist
Endeavor good for Launch on 6-13.
Atlantis back at Kennedy Space Center.
RIAA no Takers in 6 Months for ISP Cooperation plan???
EFF to track Terms of Service Changes
10 Hot Jobs
Warrantless Wiretapping and Surveilance Suit tossed out!
This is Hogwash how long have we been holding reg Phones?
Hulu looking to get your Money?
DOJ looking at Hiring in the Valley.
Oprah hottest Tech Ticket in Town.
Record Video Watching Last Month!
Manage files in OSX outside of the horrid Finder
YouTube coming to your Flat Screen!
Tuesday Next week will be a big Patch Tuesday
ICANN Finally taking action on DNS Security
Stem Cells Treatment cause site to be regained!
DVD Sniffing Dog makes big bust!
MSI Air PC
Go get them Cher!

We have a winner of a crispy $100.00 bill listen to see if you won. Pet tragedy today here at the house, resulting in a late start to the show. Lost of tech news and I have fun at the expense of some of the highest paid executives in the country.

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Listener Link Submissions:
Pencasting?
iPhone plan price reduction pending?
T-Mobile supports the iPhone not so quietly!
Mifi 2200 EVDO Cloud
RSS Dead?

Show Topic Notes:
A very weird non vacum cleaner from Toshiba
Clickfree backup devices perfect for the traveler.
MPAA wants teacher using 1980 techniques to make Videos.
Shinoda I want one of these for a Tradeshow Screen!
Mifi 2200 by Verizon your own EVDO hotspot.
Nasa needs some Plutonium 238 Russians are all out!
Pystar to make Mac Netbook.
ISS Synth very cool!
Nick Bradbury I have some ideas for FeedDemon listen to show.
Did someone say 200 mbps broadband ?
Does Qwest have a Bandwidth cap or not?
Track those inbound links to get insight to your blog traffic.
Firefox Multi-Processor support coming!
Hulu Big Media can’t help themselves!
Newspaper and Magazine Owners have Lost the initiative?
Xerox and Solid Ink Printers.
Kindle DX e-reader still sucks to read newspaper on it.
Administration orders review of NASA.
Dukem Nukem Forever RIP!
Where are they gonna put the nuclear waster now?
Online Newspapers to start charging but who is gonna pay?
Progress un-docks from ISS.

Big Media = Control at All Costs!

Control at All Costs = Going the way of the Dinosaur!

The Gatekeeper at Hulu have been working very hard to slam the door on all so called illicit usage. This includes blocking companies like Boxee and cutting foreign viewers off by blocking proxy services and any foreign IP’s.

With global connectivity there is no way to put the rabbit back in the hat. Because for every door that is blocked by the Hulu folks 10 more open up because people are pissed they cannot get access to the content.

As a experiment I asked my son who is 11 if he could find a copy of the latest episode of a popular show on HULU. In a matter of 42 seconds by doing a Google search he had found a full length episode online. Being he is 11 I asked him if he thought it would be ok to watch it.

His response did not surprise me he said sure why not the episode was already on TV two weeks ago why not.  I asked him next what he knew about BitTorrent and the response was more in line with what I teach as responsible computer usage here.

He said that down loading the video was probably wrong but he has a hard time understanding that if he can watch it on Hulu and also the other website we found why could he not download the episode to his computer.

If my 11 year is confused then imagine people worldwide who are being blocked by Hulu who are frustrated that they are being treated like criminals.

We all most realize the BIG Media makes millions of dollars selling syndication rights to all of those old seasons of materials. The solution is not simple but if you live in a foreign country you need to call your cable operator and tell them that you have already watched the 2009 season of Lost online and would ask that they get the 2010 season next year instead of being a year or two behind.

Foreign cable operators need to realize as well that people in your respective countries do not want to see old programming. If it was aired today in the United States then it needs to be aired on your service today as well. Next year is to late and local advertisers need to wake to the fact that the audience share will be much smaller because it has already been consumed for free online whether Big Media likes it or not!

Recently Disney bought an estimated 30 percent stake in Hulu.com, bringing the streaming giant even closer to world domination, and adding to the credibility of its online-based television distribution force.

It is clear that Hulu.com and its partners have invested large sums of money into developing and funding this new media distribution center, yet anytime someone tries to bring this content to the general public and make it easy to use, they seem to go out of their way to hurt their own investment.

Take Boxee for example, they have developed an easy to use interface that collects all of the online media sources into one place for users of a broad range of operating systems. Instead of embracing and thanking them for this improved user interface and social media integration, Hulu’s partners demanded that Hulu take steps to ensure that their content wasn’t available on Boxee’s system.

Their chief concern according to many tech analysts is that the major media companies make more money from standard broadcast commercials than they do from online advertising. This sounds to me like the classic question of “What came first the chicken or the egg?”

It would seem logical to me that the best way to improve the value of your product for advertisers would be to reach as mainy people as possible. In a time of economically hardships such as these I would expect that advertisers, like any other business, would be looking for the most bang for their buck. I would state that online distribution is a much better advertising proposition for today’s market, for one simple reason. if I’m watching something I’ve recorded on my DVR equipped cable box, there is zero chance of me watching an ad. If I’m watching Hulu or one of the other major media online outlets that have built-in mandatory ads, I’m almost guaranteed to watch it unless I need to get up and refill my drink or perform another mundane tasks typically reserved for commercial breaks.

As it stands now, television has went from the world of ad supported shows of the 1960′s to the DVRed shows with no commercial breaks of the 21st Century.

Feel free to comment or rate this with the links below or I can be contacted at jparie@gmail.com.

Honestly I have no idea how my lovely wife keeps things organized, I am just glad she is not going to be gone more than 2 weeks. Lots of tech tonight and a few laughs as well which you will hear.

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Listener Link Submissions:
Do we have enough Bandwidth?
Media Companies: Use it or Merge it!
Clear Channel cuts 590 Jobs!

Show Topic Notes:
Lower Prices possible for Mac’s.
Internet to Suffer Brown Outs in 2012.
T-Mobile connected Digital Photo Frame Cheaper!
Motorola bleeding red in Losses!
Amazon starts charging by the MB on Kindle.
Monster Video card for Mac Users to check out!
.TV going away when Tuvalu sinks?
Microsoft to update Pirated copies of Windows 7?
A very Expensive Green Home can save you money!
Smile your on a Stolen Laptop !
FeedDemon Supports Google Reader finally!
2009 DOCSIS 3.0 Role Out Per Vendor.
Do you still have a copper Land Line?
Windows 7 Available Oct 23rd, 2009!
Are you Going to Podcamp Ohio?
HULU knocking out competitors quickly.
Payola may be dead but Radio stations are entrenched with old Media .
Are you a Early Bird or a Night Owl.
United States needs a Bot Army?
AT&T in battle to retain iPhone exclusivity.
YouTube gives dad info to deliver baby when no one else there to help!
NASA starts laying of Shuttle contractors!
Search Google in Gmail now!
Sony walks away from OLED display space!
Hacker Gains access to Twitter admin spys on Britney Spears.
Twitter Fadding dont let it happen to you!
Orlando Police Chief needs to read Constitution!
Sweedish ISP tells EU were not logging!
Next the government are going to be tracking us in our car’s and applying a tax based on usage..
Ok to stream AT&T TV Content but not 3rd Parties content
50 Tools any Home should have. (wink wink)

Well folks it has been a long time coming but the new website is online and I am pretty happy with the performance and responses so far. There may be a few tweaks we have to make but overall I am a very happy camper with the design look.

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Listener Links:
22 Ways to make your iPhone a better Camera
Social Networking in the workplace?
Sidekick LX
Spyware on Cell Phone
Why Facebook is for Old Foggies
GrooveShark
Saturn V OMG!!
Blind to be cured by Stem Cells
Soldiers and iPods
Curing Cancer with Radio Waves (Cool Stuff)
The power of constituents

Show Notes:
Tweetie (cute) for Mac
Pirates buy more music?
Google Image Captcha now a Puzzle
Pirate Bay Defendants Found Guilt must walk Plank
Not only walk plank but Pay to do it!
Massive Panoramic Pictures for all soon!
Craigslist Wacko found in Boston
Locked up with 8 guys for 500 days!
HULU to iPhone trouble ahead
Toyota reducing prices on Hybrid
Time Warner CEO Salary
eReader.com goes US Customers only dumb move!
Small Windmill Generation test results not positive
Global Warming Antarctic Ice Thicker!
Magazine Prices up
CNN abusing DMCA removing Fair Use content!
Thanks for the positive PowerPress Review
17 Reasons your mac is slow
Rescue Shuttle Rolled Out
Abandoned Feed Hijacking on Feedburner
Lacie monster Raid
AT&T to add more Speed and Pipe to Mobile Bandwidth
Belkin Car Lighter USB Charger Brillant
NYC to Broadband Rescue
AT&T DSL bandwidth caps Shrink!
Google Labs some Cool Stuff
Susan Boyle Amazing Voice

Watch the Video

Austin Meetup on Saturday lunch time details on the Podcast. No clothes in Texas my bag has been found but not yet delivered. Portable Studio showed up at least so the show can go on.

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Federalization Cybersecurity
Honda connects to your Brain

Show Notes:
Where gadgets go when they die!
More Productive using Facebook and YouTube
Conficker non event
Skypes Battle with Carriers
Twitter Discover Engine
President Cyber Security Powers
Older Sling Obsolete for iPhone App
More Layoffs at Wired
4G Coming to the Country
Blubrry Podcast Uploader
Hubble Repair Mission a Go!
Clear Spot
Mini Sony HD Camera
Upload Speeds the Truth will haunt you!
April Fools Day Round Up!
Hulu measures Fail – Boxee Wins
Time Warner 40GB Cap Targets More Cities
iPhone 3.0 Jailbreak achieved!
Parkinsons Test Treatment
Macbook logo LED Hack
Eizo 56ing LSC
Google Secret Server?
Zune in your Living Room

I was perusing TechCrunch this morning and found Academic Earth, a hulu-like resource for academic lectures. I had been using the online lectures at MIT for several years with my kids. That has been a good resource for those homeschooling high-school-age students. But Richard Ludlow, once a struggling math student, has put together Academic Earth, pulling together all of the free college-level lectures online into one place. I just spent a good half-hour playing with searching for keywords, navigating through the subject listings, and finding some very good lectures from some very interesting instructors.

Subject matter ranges from economics to English to physics to political science to religion to math at all levels. I could spend hours every day listening to some of these lectures, including the series of five lectures on the current financial crisis.

I’m so impressed. I know this is not really tech-related, but this is a resource many could use. And twenty years ago, we couldn’t have even dreamed of such a resource being available at the click of a mouse.

Last Show from Japan and then I will be back in Hawaii for a few weeks. Look forward to getting back to the regular studio and cranking out the shows from home. I am announcing a new segment in tonights podcast pretty excited about adding it to the line-up.

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Listener Links:
Newspaper Popup

Show Notes:
Safari Speed Good – Features Flop
Free Hosted Blog Publishing
Let’s Vote for Woz
VMWare vs Parallels
Philips Master LED
Music Add-Ons for Firefox
Security Metrics that Lie
Kepler Mission Launched
STS-119 Shuttle to Launch
Chevrolet Volt
Hulu/Boxee Battle Royale
Streaming is now at Fault
Verizon TOS Scary
Bloggers are Journalist?
Forgot how to make Nukes?
Encrypted hard-Drives
Fingerprint Paper
Anti-Virus Vendor Says 1% PC hacked
Google Docs Leaked
A New Way to Search?
Seagate 6gb/s
Cydia Opens Rouge App Store
Clear to launch in many Cities
Google – Blogger DMCA Policies
12 Megapixels is that it?
Norway Gets P2P
Running Wndows 7 beta on Macbook Info

The latest Boxee update brings back support for Hulu feeds, something that was lost a couple weeks ago. Todd has talked highly of the Boxee, and to be honest, I’ve been giving it a pretty close look myself. When the support for Hulu was lost, I stopped looking. My kids and I find a ton of things to watch on Hulu, and it has at times supplanted what we have saved on our DVR. We’ve been watching most things through my Apple 22″ cinema display when it comes to Hulu, which is big enough for us to gather around and enjoy, but is not like flopping on the couch to watch it on the television. Having that link between the two would be great.

In addition to the returned support for Hulu, a new “app store” has been added and there is also an auto-downloading function.

Boxee states clearly that the upgrade has not been deeply tested, and that it can’t guarantee the results, but so far, geeks using it seem thrilled with the changes and have reported few problems. The upgrade should be available at app.boxee.tv.

Great commentary from all of you and we cover a huge amount of tech news today. Some voicemail taking me to task at the end of the show over the financial issues of dreamhost.

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Listener Links:
DNA Cloning
DNA Cloning 2
Crunchies
OSD Hack
Hotel Drinking Cups
ATV and ESA
AT&T Sims
HandBrake
My FoxNews Interview
How Big is our Solar System

Show Notes:
Firefox Growing
Stupid Employee Tricks
iPhone 1.1.3 Jailbreak
MPAA hates College Kids but Lies
Transplant Break Through
Comcast Bittorrent
Apple Stock Takes a Hit
iPhone Sales Truth
Anonymous DOS
Linux is that Legal
Asteroid Misses us
Sometime Men cannot be Trained
Microsoft Earnings
MacBook Air Slow
MacBook Air USB Port Issues
Netflix Mac Video
Vudu Lowes Prices
Vista fewer flaws than other OS’es
Hulu Interview
Digg Changes
Google Health
Virgin SpaceShip2
OLPC Big Issues
Leave the Social No Way
OLPC Issues 2
Microsoft Updates Vista SP1