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The Rise of the Internetwork

Thomas Hawk writes "The Seattle Times is out with an article today profiling Jeremy Allaire, the founder of a new internet television company called Brightcove along with, well, a program on 'hog cooking' to be broadcast on the Barbeque Network by DaveTV. DaveTV and Brightcove, along with companies like Akimbo, Total Vid, Open Media Network and OurMedia are part of a growing new group of companies called internetworks that are seeking to compete with regular network television and offer alternative niche video content. Look for these offerings in your living room through platforms like TiVo and Microsoft's Media Center shortly."

110 comments

  1. BBQ Network? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Why can we get a damn BBQ network, and yet still no *GOOD* anime channel?

    Or will this finally fix this?

    1. Re:BBQ Network? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I guess CN isn't so bad now that they don't cut out quite as much as they used to *shrug*

      But still, you're probably better served by the local DVD rental places, providing you can find one that has a good selection, and the internet if you cannot.

    2. Re:BBQ Network? by pete6677 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Up to this point, the reason has been that the bean counters at the cable company and TV production studios decided they would get more dollars per channel by featuring the BBQ network as opposed to an anime channel. Hopefully services like this will make it easier and more affordable for a company to put together a TV lineup, which means that something like an anime channel that may not have been profitable before would become profitable now. Not to mention, there won't be a cable company monopoly anymore with multiple networks available to each house.

    3. Re:BBQ Network? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Why can we get a damn BBQ network, and yet still no *GOOD* anime channel?"

      Because there is no such thing as good anime. Anime is stupid zero-plot slideshow cartoon abortions drawn by talentless hacks and/or sub-minimum wage slaves in third-world countries. If you want to see decent non-CG animation of any kind, you have to look to cartoons of 40-60 years ago (Disney, WB, Hanna-Barberra, etc.). Anything done since then is crap.

    4. Re:BBQ Network? by WhitetailKitten · · Score: 1

      Two words, AC: Hayao Miyazaki.

    5. Re:BBQ Network? by ultranova · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why can we get a damn BBQ network, and yet still no *GOOD* anime channel?

      I know a good Internet anime channel. It's known as BitTorrent.

      Seriously, why would anyone want to watch a noisy, interlaced broadcast with the broadcast companys logo smeared over the image and far too often horrendous dubbing, when you can download a DVD-quality video file with both original and dub sounds and subtitles in a subtitle channel, possibly on several languages ?

      And while Internet broadcasts might be made from non-interlaced material (or they might not be - after all, the publisher wouldn't want the Internet broadcasts to compete with DVD's, now would it ?), they will still have the problems of logo branding and dubbing. And, since they need to be sent realtime (remember, making local copies makes you a copyright infringer) the bitrate can't be very high, especially since it takes a fatter (and theremore more expensive) pipe and beefier (and theremore more expensive) server to serve higher-bitrate content. Not to mention the advertisements that such a company must place on its broadcasts to make money...

      And finally, do you really think that a single company can ever match the sheer number of titles available from fan community ?

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    6. Re:BBQ Network? by Nipok+Nek · · Score: 1

      OMGWTFBBQ?

      --
      Why choose white shoes?
    7. Re:BBQ Network? by bheerssen · · Score: 1

      Dude. BBQ is important.

      That and beer. Why is there no Beer Channel?

      --
      (Score: -1, Stupid)
  2. Gore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But who invented the internetwork?

    1. Re:Gore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm putting my money on Hilary. Gore realized that claiming to invent things doesn't get him elected. Hilary hasn't tried it yet and probably figures it can't hurt.

  3. 'hog cooking'? by Bananatree3 · · Score: 3, Funny
    Barbeque Network?

    You chose the wrong crowd for this article.

    1. Re:'hog cooking'? by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Funny

      You don't BBQ? You don't BBQ?! God damn boy, put down that keyboard and go buy some coals and steaks.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    2. Re:'hog cooking'? by mcrbids · · Score: 1

      Steaks? STEAKS? WTF ?!?! You call that a Q? Pull yer head out, fella....

      Sorry, pal. A rea 'Q doesn't have steaks, unless you are masochistic. A REAL 'cue has

      1) Chicken. The holy, white, tasty nectar meat of the gods. Beef is for Texans and other low lifes. Extra points for salmon or tilapia.

      2) Sweet/sour BBQ sauce. There is none higher. Extra points if you go for cajun sweet/sour.

      3) Partially pre-baked - one of the biggest problems with a 'cue is getting the meat cooked in the center without charring the outside. A slow, medium temp (~300 degrees) pre-bake of your meat allows you to 'cue for flavor, rather than to keep yourself from getting food poisoning.

      4) Cooked over low heat in the 'cue for about 30 minutes to an hour with sauce basted on. If you are a purist, you'd wrap the basted memat in foil. Either way, the end result is everything you want: crunchy, sweet, spicy, juicy, tender, OMFG delicious!

      --
      I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
    3. Re:'hog cooking'? by kyojin+the+clown · · Score: 0, Redundant

      im sorry, you clearly arent british. i think you will find a real 'cue has; 1)sausages. cheap nasty ones. you are going to incinerate them anyway, why pay more? possibly some chicken drumsticks if you are posh. 2)tomato ketchup. loads of it. remember, carbon tastes better with tomato flavour. 3)raging inferno. if your BBQ isnt blackening the neighbours fence, you obviously didnt pile the charcoal high enough. add more charcoal. you may need some sort of highly flammable substance to kickstart it again - send the kids indoors first. make sure the meat pours fat onto the coals for those unpredictable jumping flames. 4)rain. you must stay AT THE BARBECUE while the rest of the family cowers indoors from the torrential storm. frequently inform them 'its clearing up now' and 'its not cold anyway'. the barbecue should be sufficiently hot to withstand any rain.

    4. Re:'hog cooking'? by kyojin+the+clown · · Score: 2, Funny
      im sorry, you clearly arent british. i think you will find a real 'cue has;

      1)sausages. cheap nasty ones. you are going to incinerate them anyway, why pay more? possibly some chicken drumsticks if you are posh.

      2)tomato ketchup. loads of it. remember, carbon tastes better with tomato flavour.

      3)raging inferno. if your BBQ isnt blackening the neighbours fence, you obviously didnt pile the charcoal high enough. add more charcoal. you may need some sort of highly flammable substance to kickstart it again - send the kids indoors first. make sure the meat pours fat onto the coals for those unpredictable jumping flames.

      4)rain. you must stay AT THE BARBECUE while the rest of the family cowers indoors from the torrential storm. frequently inform them 'its clearing up now' and 'its not cold anyway'. the barbecue should be sufficiently hot to withstand any rain.

      sorry, again with formatting. mod my other laughable attempt away please.

    5. Re:'hog cooking'? by mattspammail · · Score: 1

      For the benefit of the true geeks out there who require definitions, the parent fails to point out that there is a difference between barbequeing and grilling.

      Barbequeing is truly an art. It takes hours to do, because the meat (chicken, pork, ribs, etc) cooks by indirect heat and smoke. You often mop on a sauce to keep the meat from drying out. Whatever you eat is often best topped with barbeque sauce. Homemade stuff, not the crap from the store.

      Grilling, on the other hand, is simply cooking over an open flame. This is where burgers, steaks, etc. are cooked within 20-30 minutes. And do not think for a minute that it is less important. The open flame grill is what you have to thank every time you go to a steak house.

      A final note: I am a Texan, and thank God I was here to set y'all straight. If all y'all went simply by what the parent said, you'd all be misinformed for life. Gig 'em!

      --
      Now accepting PayPal donations!
    6. Re:'hog cooking'? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn yes! A barbecued sausage is adequately cooked when you can write with it.

  4. Interesting term... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    but don't they realize that "internet" is an abbreviated form of another word...?

    1. Re:Interesting term... by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 2, Funny



      I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce my new invention:

      The InterNetWorkPlaceHolder

      I don't know what it does yet, but with a name like that, it can't miss!

      --
      ____

      ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  5. Oh jeez by iPodUser · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH Microsoft BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH Barbecue BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH 100 different programs.......... what is the world coming to?

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    This space intentionally left blank.
  6. Annoying term by KillerDeathRobot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Does anyone else find the term "Internetworks" annoying? After all, internet basically is short for internetwork already.

    --
    Thinkin' Lincoln - a web comic of presidential proportions
    1. Re:Annoying term by superpulpsicle · · Score: 1

      Wasn't the Internet in the 70s called Arp net or something lame. That's alright. As soon as money comes thru Internetwork, marketing guys will flood this thing with 8 million buzzwords.

    2. Re:Annoying term by panaceaa · · Score: 3, Funny

      By that logic, shouldn't your username be KillerRobot?

    3. Re:Annoying term by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      ARPANET! Now get out, your geek membership is hereby revoked. Your card will be confiscated on the way out.

    4. Re:Annoying term by KillerDeathRobot · · Score: 1

      No. :P

      --
      Thinkin' Lincoln - a web comic of presidential proportions
    5. Re:Annoying term by WhitetailKitten · · Score: 1

      To be fair, he had it almost right. Maybe his textbook had an unfortunate printing error. PS, grandparent: They ALREADY HAVE. Hmm. Anyone wanna help me test the theory that popunders taste delicious when BBQed?

    6. Re:Annoying term by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah, blame it on lynx!

    7. Re:Annoying term by cthulhubob · · Score: 1

      He's a KillerDeathRobot, as opposed to KillerPusherRobots, KillerShoverRobots, KillerBumperRobots, KillerForceRobots, you know!

      Together they protect us from the Terrible Secret of Space. (They also form Voltron. KillerDeathRobot will form the head!)

      --

      In post-9/11 America, the CIA interrogates YOU!
  7. The ties that bind. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ""The Seattle Times is out with an article today profiling Jeremy Allaire, the founder of a new internet television company called Brightcove along with, well, a program on 'hog cooking' to be broadcast on the Barbeque Network by DaveTV. DaveTV and Brightcove, along with companies like Akimbo, Total Vid, Open Media Network and OurMedia are part of a growing new group of companies called internetworks that are seeking to compete with regular network television and offer alternative niche video content."

    So in other words. The "New and improved" business model doesn't come from the geeks. It comes from corporations.

    1. Re:The ties that bind. by CSMastermind · · Score: 4, Interesting

      No. The software that drives this revolution has been in the making for years. In fact corporations are fighting the switch to online programming hard. Their conservative stance that has made them so against change has for years has also left them wrong on every decision about content distrubution through the years.

      This was foreshadowed by the Napster fight. The difference is that the television market is too diversified for any single group to put it in a chokehold. This means that home produced shows are able to make way into the home. In the end that means the consumer will win and eventually big business will come in and take over the market but until then be prepared for large corporations to fight this to no end.

    2. Re:The ties that bind. by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 1
      This means that home produced shows are able to make way into the home.

      Hopefully this doesn't mean 200 channels of the same drek that is seen on (the blissfully limited to 1 or 2) current public access TV.

    3. Re:The ties that bind. by stubear · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The RIAA does not have a chokehold on all music distribution. Musicians have no less freedom to self distribute, assuming they are not contractually bound, all their music as they see fit. Napster proved only one thing; people just want shit for free. The ensuing battle over copyrighted material being distributed over P2P networks on the internet further proves this point as more and more apps are being developed with the sole purpose of allowing anonymous distribution. People just want shit for free and they want to remain anonymous while they do it so they remain free of responsibility for their actions.

    4. Re:The ties that bind. by schon · · Score: 1

      The RIAA does not have a chokehold on all music distribution.

      Sure - not anymore but they still weild considerable power in the form of government lobbying.

      And the still *DO* have a chokehold on global promotion.

      Musicians have no less freedom to self distribute

      Yes, but without a global promotion mechanism, they have no choice but to submit to the RIAA's contract demands.

      Internet distribution is a good thing, but there is still one piece of the puzzle left.

      Napster proved only one thing; people just want shit for free

      I think you might be surprised that people got "shit" for free *long* before Napster arrived.

      It's this nifty technology called radio, and it's been around for decades.

  8. Hm... by double-oh+three · · Score: 0, Redundant

    This Internetwork of which they speak sounds strangly... familiar. I think I've heard of this internetworking before somewhere, now if only I could put my finger on it... /sarcasm.

    --
    "For years, I struggled with reality... but I'm happy to say I finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd
    1. Re:Hm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you remember please let me know.

    2. Re:Hm... by WhitetailKitten · · Score: 1

      But does the Internet work?

  9. I have an idea... by FlyByPC · · Score: 1

    How about instead of hog-cooking, they bring back the Discovery Wings channel?

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
    1. Re:I have an idea... by swimin · · Score: 1

      Discovery Wings had very little content. I can only stand to watch Kyle's first solo 10 or so times before I get sick of it.

    2. Re:I have an idea... by FlyByPC · · Score: 1

      I know. But I'd rather see that than the Blowing Things Up Channel.

      --
      Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
    3. Re:I have an idea... by zentinal · · Score: 1

      Well, you could contact Brightcove and pitch your own aviation oriented network.

    4. Re:I have an idea... by rikkards · · Score: 1

      The thing I hated about Wings and the Military Channel is essentially there was less than 5 hours of actual shows in a 12 hour period. They would show the same 3 shows over again. What is the point of a PVR then?

  10. Get Dvorak back! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Will we finally now see John Dvorak back on the camera? I miss ZDTV and Dvorak's Prime Time style talk shows!

  11. Well... by PsychicX · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I just have one question.

    What took so long? This was overdue the day video streaming over the net became possible.

    1. Re:Well... by iPodUser · · Score: 1

      Which is overdue... the BBQ part or the part where you have that freakin much material on one topic, available on demand?

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      This space intentionally left blank.
    2. Re:Well... by CSMastermind · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What took so long was that the world at large hasn't widely adapted a fast enough internet connection to make these services profitable. Also you have to remember that the internet is still in its infancy. On top of that we haven't seen great inovations in video compression that would make it possible to deliever realtime streaming video at the same quailty as TV can. Couple all this with the fact that this would potentially be a huge shift in the industry (meaning that large corporations will fight the move) and you have your answer.

      Though I must agree I wish it had happened faster.

    3. Re:Well... by designerboy · · Score: 1

      "This was overdue the day video streaming over the net became possible."

      Holly cow! Think of the late fees!

    4. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Think about RealPlayer for a minute. For several years their software has tried to be its own little media destination, like a TV channel or family of TV channels. Like TV they had premium (extra-subscription) channels, or you could get some free content/playback by putting up with their advertising and related crapware.

      In addition to technical limitations others have pointed out (bandwidth is only now sufficient for watchable quality, content production tools were not as easily available before, etc), Real wanted to be more like your cable company -- the sole arbiter of what content was available through your tuner -- than an electronics/computer company, which would provide the tool and let you use it. They were trying to deliver a whole user experience, and couldn't pull it off -- partly because the video sucked, partly because the software sucked, partly because people don't like being locked in, especially on the boundless information superhighway.

      Digital cable right now is still a superior product, though like most, I dislike my cable company's monopoly pricing. It has good, reliable quality (of picture, if not content), enough channels to keep most people coming back, and a user interface that's better than standard cable, but not too complex. "Internetworking", however, can beat it with advantages in time-shifting, multiplicity of content sources, customizable or specialized interfaces, etc.

  12. Why limited to those devices? by aegilops · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why do I need a Tivo or a Media Centre PC in order to play this content if I already have a PC and broadband?

    Aegilops

    1. Re:Why limited to those devices? by RobinGood · · Score: 1

      You are asking a very appropriate question! If you listen and read carefully to what Jeremy Allaire wrote not more than three months ago, you will realize that what is called here Internetworks is nothing but what Jeremy calls IP-TV. For him IP-TV "...is generally funded and supported by large telecom providers who have undertaken the mission of creating a competitive replacement produuct for digital cable and satellite services. IP-TV operator or carrier-led and controlled platform. There is a physical carrier that has physical pipes and infrastructure that it operates and controls. The consumer interacts directly with that operator/carrier. As such this is an end-to-end system on semi-closed network (infrastructure is all within the carrier environment, and cannot be normally accessed to the Internet as a whole. Further to this, the deployment infrastructure and devices to access it are all managed and operated by the IP-TV carrier). IP-TV will offer essentially the same product and programming offered by digital cable and satellite providers. Similar on-demand and pay per view products probably with some extra integration with voice, and different pricing..." Excatly the opposite of where Jeremy's new baby, Brightcove.com is presently headed. The Internet of Television is the new vision for Brightcove and you can read its unique profile by Jeremy Allaire here.

  13. Network Interface? by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How do I get videos not on regular network television to play on a TiVo? To appear in a TiVo guide, so viewers know they're available?

    --

    --
    make install -not war

    1. Re:Network Interface? by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

      First TiVo would need to design new boxes that support modern codecs. Then these companies would have to make deals with TiVo.

    2. Re:Network Interface? by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      And how would the video content get from the publishers to the TiVos, without going over the "normal" broadcast networks? Can TiVos get content from the Internet?

      --

      --
      make install -not war

    3. Re:Network Interface? by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

      Can TiVos get content from the Internet?

      In theory it's possible if you have the TiVo connected to a broadband Internet connection.

  14. The next logical step after podcasting by bsandersen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems reasonable that the next step after podcasting would be to add video and then look for outlets like these to be the distribution medium. it might also be a welcomed new outlet for independent film makers who are left only with IFC and a few other places for their films, especially "shorts" (films typically under 30 minutes).

    At last, perhaps there will be more than "500 channels and nothing on".

    -- Scott

    1. Re:The next logical step after podcasting by MrAndrews · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'll be interested to see how this turns out. For music, you're used to the same songs being on several stations, because the content isn't tied to a distribution outlet. For video and film, usually only see Lost on ABC, and you are made to associate ABC with "new fresh shows", despite the myriad of producers behind the scenes. If you have 5,000 producers all able to cast, how are they going to group themselves, and WILL they choose to group themselves? In this venue, you don't need to pool your resources to get to someone's TV, you just have to work with whatever standards emerge. I can't wait to see if some sort of powerhouse brand turns up to hold all the hip new 'net content together...

    2. Re:The next logical step after podcasting by CSMastermind · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If you look you'll see that the internet has already been adapted for home made short films and that the industry has slowly been showing signs of becoming more decentralized. I suppose that there being "nothing on" would all depend what you want on. Where I could really see this technology taking off (at least in a direction that alot of people might not expect) would be in a video tutorial world. Say I have a new desk I need to put together. I hop on my laptop, load a video service and boom I have a video demonstartion from the maker on how to put it together.

    3. Re:The next logical step after podcasting by rampant+mac · · Score: 1

      "...to add video and then look for outlets like these to be the distribution medium. it might also be a welcomed new outlet for independent film makers who are left only with IFC and a few other places for their films, especially "shorts" (films typically under 30 minutes). Isn't the internet full of porn already?

      --
      I like big butts and I cannot lie.
  15. GAY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    gay

  16. Internetwork by worst_name_ever · · Score: 1

    That's nice. Can my mom get "the interweb" on it?

    --

    In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
  17. Jeremy Allaire... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who brought you Cold Fusion. Still in the pig business apparently.

  18. Another one by MrAndrews · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not big and commercial, but maybe paired with MythTV or some other kind of box, it could take off... http://participatoryculture.org/

    I still prefer the term "nichecasting" for this kind of idea (microcasting implies "small"), and it's particularly cool when you look at it from a Long Tail perspective. So if we can [n]cast for virtually no cost, all we need to do is create stuff for virutally no cost. RvB is still, I think, the best example of that kind project. Does anyone know of any other FOSE[ntertainment] out there?

    1. Re:Another one by shoebert · · Score: 1

      Having watched the hilarious Pure Pwnage, I also gained a lot of interest in on-demand webshows. Really, I have very little interest in regular TV, outside of re-runs or shows that come on late night once a week. I think people, working independantly, have a much greater capability to make something with niche appeal moreso than corporations that pop out crap after crap thinking it'll appeal to anyone. (see: every other show Fox has put out in the past four years)

    2. Re:Another one by MrAndrews · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I recently had a conversation with a director of acquisitions at a network here in Canada who told me the biggest problem with sci fi was that there were only maybe 300,000 people in the country that would watch it, and that wasn't enough to build a production around. If you're not bound by geography anymore (which is SUPPOSED to be one of the benefits of the internet, non?), you can then collect your 300,000 viewers in Canada, U.S., England, Australia etc... and now you're looking at better numbers, and you're starting to look at GOOD numbers... so why would anyone avoid that? The key is to make the kinds of shows you like and you know your fellow [xyz]s like, and just do it. Don't put Ewoks in to make it fun for kids, cause that's just costing you passionate core viewers.

  19. A million channels by Vile+Slime · · Score: 1

    And still nothing on

    --
    ---- Go ahead, mod me down, I'll just post it again and you lose your mod points.
  20. This is the way to do it.. by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You want tv downloads? Go make a tv show and license it under a permissive license. When there's a whole range of things to choose from the restrictive licensing tv creators will come around. It worked for software, it'll work for tv too. Can you imagine if RMS had taken the path that the warez kids of today had taken? We'd still have no Free Software. Now we have proprietary software companies making Free Software. What we need is a movement. Consider this, if everyone who fancied themselves as a script writer but was already happy in their current employment actually sat down and wrote a script now and then, and let others use their work we would have a wealth of good scripts available for amature actors to read from. Everyone who has a video camera should be filming everyone who thinks they have some acting ability. Then we should throw it all together and make some great shows.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:This is the way to do it.. by MrAndrews · · Score: 1

      Okay, this is way too close to my personal project so I HAVE to plug it (sorry). http://www.dustrunners.com/ It's in the early stages yet, but that's the basic idea. Creative Commons source, lots of raw materials to use, and an attempt to open the source of a show. Oh, and I'm also looking for a PHP dev for the companion FOSS project here: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/cpvs.

      Phew. Plug done. I'm sorry if your eyes are watering.

    2. Re:This is the way to do it.. by Cryofan · · Score: 1

      I am not quite sure what your project is! You might want to get some explanatory metatext up front, dealing with the general concept of what it is you are trying to do. I assume you are creating some sort of audiovisual entertainment of the Sci Fi genre. But what is your planned medium of distribution? Video to be downloaded? And how are you creating the script? Doing the editing? Collaboratively, I assume, since that is what the subject of this subthread is....

      THen say so! Right up front! You can get more participants that way. Right now, what you are doing is somewhat obscure to the casual websurfer, which is NOT what you want.

      --
      eat shiat and bark at the moon
    3. Re:This is the way to do it.. by MrAndrews · · Score: 1

      Indeed, yes, my site is bloody upside down, isn't it? I started off with the glitz without substance, and then had a flood of inspiration for substance, and forgot to change the glitz. Once I get through with some more coding (and of course write some more Slashdot comments), I'll change that. I'm all confused.

      Anyway, the project is taking a show I produced 4 years ago, opening up all the content and resources we have made, and letting people create their own projects like OSS. To make it easier we're going to post 6 short scripts and storyboards and resources to get people started, and see what happens. What we do with the final products is yet to be decided, actually. "First things first" and all that.

      The real problem is that the sourceforge project is what really enables the creative side, and since it's not ready yet, the whole thing is slowed a bit. The front page would have so much more content if I could point to something real :)

    4. Re:This is the way to do it.. by ultranova · · Score: 1

      You want tv downloads? Go make a tv show and license it under a permissive license.

      I don't have a video camera. Neither do I have any acting ability :(. What I do have is a computer, Internet access, and lots of ideas.

      The question is, how to turn those ideas into reality ? Computers can be used to make animation, but that requires making models (difficult and tedious), binding them to skeletons (very very difficult to get right), and animating them (not really hard, but more work than it should be). If one could change this, make it easy and fun to make computer animation, we would propably see an explosion on the available content. Just imagine - you, the very person reading this, could make your own anime series !

      Todays 3D modelling tools are, to put it bluntly, horrible. To get anything done with them requires quite extensive knowledge of how computers handle 3D graphics behind the scenes, and to get anything even remotely good-looking done requires either hand-tuning every vertex (of which there can be thousands in a model) by yourself or to learn the arcane commands (and their quirks) that this particular program supports - and if you (or the program) mess anything up, you'll have such a fun time to untwist the geometry from whatever weird multidimensional knot it has turned into. In short, the programs have a learning curve that makes Himalaya seem flat in comparison, and even when you do learn them it takes an absurd amount of work to create even a simple model - altought I freely admit that I'm no expert, so maybe there comes a point where the program is almost fast to use. Maybe. But I'm not holding my breadth.

      The first task, then, is to create a 3-dimensional modelling program that is easy to use, and which makes as much of the work for you as possible (before anyone mentions Poser, I'd like to point out that it's not a modelling program). Preferably the program should be able to get the basic shape by scanning drawn images, after which you should be able to further refine the model. I'm also wondering if you couldn't rip the parser from some old text game and let the user simply type in natural-language commands.

      So - are there any such projects underway, or should I start coding ?

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    5. Re:This is the way to do it.. by MrAndrews · · Score: 1

      Take Blender http://www.blender3d.org/ and re-write its UI. It's got a massive learning curve like any other program, but maybe if someone was obsessed with usability took a crack at it, something revolutionary might happen. It gets you further along than you'd want to go on your own.

      I love the concept of being able to just mark two places in a room and tell a character to walk from A to B, and worry about subtleties once the basics were down. Making the software work for the artist is the first step to something better.

      So yeah, start coding. I say that cause I can't code at all.

    6. Re:This is the way to do it.. by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Wow ok, where to start. I have an opinion on 3d modelling programs: they're kitchen sinks. They break the fundamental rule about software, they do everything poorly instead of trying to do one thing well. All the parts that make up the "suite" of tools in a 3d modelling program are not accessible outside the environment so whenever you want to perform a simple task you have to fire up this behemoth of a program.

      I recently decided to make a cal3d animation editor. It was very easy to do and I completed it quickly. Then I decided to write a GTK frontend. Unfortunately I find UI coding boring as pigshit so I quit. Maybe I'll finish it one day (like all my projects). This was one tool, it allowed you to pose a precreated cal3d model and animate between poses.

      Cal3d is a good library, you can easily write a system to add Cal3d models to a scene and script them with something like Python (or whatever your favourite scripting language is). One could easily make some interesting movies with that. Of course, don't go looking for lip syncing yet.

      So if you're gunna start coding, that's where I'd start. Alternatively you could go with a completely different animation library, there's a dozen of them.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
  21. Battlestar Galactica by RetepMc · · Score: 1

    If Battlestar Gallactica and/or a few other shows were broadcasted this way i'm sure it would carry quite a following.

    --
    PtPete
  22. Prodigem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Prodigem is also in this space, uses BitTorrent and is ready for use right now. No DRM and no tie-down to Windows Media Player. Gary

  23. The Return of Pseudo? by monopole · · Score: 1

    Remember the Pseudo Network? http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/media/interne t/1703/index.html (actually it's still there) The founder boasted that he would bury conventional networks shortly just as soon as broadband kicked in (this was 5 years ago). The content was reasonably off kilter, (I loved MANX) but it all crashed with the rest of the dotcoms. While I think a PSPcasting scheme might work, I'm still not seeing the killer app here.

  24. How this industry will shape up by CSMastermind · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here's just some oberservaions and predictions about how this industry will shape up:

    1) We'll see the wide spread use of the internet slowly transform it into huge single communications network. Everything, telephonery, telivision, and radio will be done online.

    2) We will finally see the advent of video telephones like in the Jetsons

    3) This switch to the new distrubion medium will shatter traditional industry and decentralize content production.

    4) The decentalization will lead to a decrease in professionalism and for the first years the content will suffer a decline in quality.

    5) Online media interst groups will emerge offering higher quality content and reintroduce large corparations into the industry.

    6) News types of content will result from the above processes and...

    7) Maybe 50 years from now the internet will be free to all.

    I don't know just some things I think will happen....

    1. Re:How this industry will shape up by Frogbert · · Score: 1

      I think the video phone is a suck idea, I want to be able to answer work in my underwear and slap it around a bit during boring teleconferances.

    2. Re:How this industry will shape up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the telephone is a terrible idea. I don't want people to hear my voice when I'm sick besides we already have the telegraph.......

    3. Re:How this industry will shape up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the telegraph is a terrible idea. I don't want to go to the post office to send a message to my relatives while the Indian Voodoo is just in the corner. Besides we already have morse...

  25. Red Vs. Blue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rooster Teeth has been doing this for years. Young men have left their televisions for shows like Red vs. Blue and Homestar.

    The revolution won't be televised.

  26. Competition by bsquizzato · · Score: 1

    It looks like yet another service that will be fairly monopolized by the local telcos.

    I'm guessing that these companies will lease the local telecom companies' bandwidth, and we'll still be stuck with the same old YourLocalPhoneCompany vs. YourLocalCableCompany (in my case Bell and Time Warner) for over-the-internet data options (i.e. VoIP, video over IP, etc.)

    I'd like to see ways for competition to increase in the local broadband spectrum...

  27. its about time... by Lucretius · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Either you can call it a amalgamation of the distribution systems (everything distributed by the network), or a glorious break in the holds of the cable companies on how and when we view media, but either way, I think its a good thing.



    Personally, I haven't had cable in about 5 years because I just don't want to pay $50/month for 500 channels that I don't care about. I watch about 10 channels overall, and if I could pay for those ala carte, I would, but I'm not going to pay for all of them. This style of distribution is perfect for me and the way I want to purchase media.



    However, its going to be hell on advertisers (ha ha), because now they're going to have to do even more market research to figure out where it is worth their time to put advertisements. Technically, it could be the end of in media res advertisements as well. It would be like watching programming made for HBO, purchased on an ad hoc basis. Oooooohhh... I like it.



    Tell me again. How is this a bad thing?

    1. Re:its about time... by lifeblender · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Simply put, it could be a bad thing if there's not enough money to make good (big budget) shows. Lots of money to pay for production comes from advertising. I really wish I knew how much. If the distributor can't prove to the advertisers that the show is watched, or there aren't ads at all, etc., etc., then the only money for shows will come from viewers' dues. If that only covers bandwidth costs and licenses, then they'll only be able to pay for shows that have been made. They won't be able to front the money for production costs ahead of time as the major networks currently do. So... no production strength without strong advertising revenue. Or something. 'Something' could be another deep-pockets company, but than again, those companies already own pieces of the current infrastructure, with which this project would compete. So, nobody big is going to buy into this, unless we get lucky.

      --
      Playing pornographics games during the day is evil! Play at night!
  28. Collaborative Scriptwriting & Editing & by Cryofan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am working on a solo video documentary right now that I plan to release under Creative Commons license.
    When I finish I hope it will encourge other people to collaborate over the Net to write scripts, find public domain & creative commons video footage & images, create flash animations, and edit them all together in copylefted, Creative commons entertainment and educational videos, free to download, anywhere, anytime. Such a copylefted production, if done well, could be traded over p2p networks for decades to come.

    Hopefully, people will do this for the same reason that they make free software--for the resume enhancement, for the personal satisfaction, for the education.

    One reason why public access TV is so bad is because so few people work on each project. THe reason why Hollywood is so much better than public access is because so many more people work on a Hollywood movie than on the public access stuff you see.

    COLLABORATION is the future of video entertainment and news. And when broadband is more widespread in America, the market for such creative commons collaborations will be much greater.

    --
    eat shiat and bark at the moon
  29. Trends by RomulusNR · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Any time anyone hypes a new technology/service with the words:

    "Other companies will pop up to complement [this] and offer great business opportunities" ...they are always either wrong or deliberately full of shit.

    --
    Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
  30. Hog Cooking! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeeeeeehaaaaaa! Ga'damn, now that's good eatin'!

  31. broadcatching by Broadcatch · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I still prefer the term "nichecasting"...


    I prefer "broadcatching" as it inverts one-to-many delivery with "many-to-one" access (and perhaps I'm partial, also, as I coined the word in 1983).
    --

    The antidote for misuse of freedom of speech is more freedom of speech.
    -- Molly Ivins

    1. Re:broadcatching by dodobh · · Score: 1

      Multicasting

      --
      I can throw myself at the ground, and miss.
    2. Re:broadcatching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Sure...

      What would the people in here know about catching broads?

  32. I was going to respond by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But then I realized your trolling.

  33. They profiled Jeremy and didn't mention CFML? by jcknox · · Score: 1

    Come on guys, if you're going to profile Jeremy Allaire, you HAVE to mention that he became CTO of Macromedia when they bought Allaire, Inc. -- the company that gave us Cold Fusion (CFML -- not room temp H to He).

    Maybe you don't have to, but you should.

  34. Nonsense. We do BBQ! by Man+in+Spandex · · Score: 1

    In our own unique way :)

  35. My Start-Up company is in this space. by StreetFire.net · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am part of a small start up http://www.vidiac.com/(Vidiac Networks) that is in this space already and I can say it's huge. There is oceans of consumer-generated media being created as inexpensive DV cameras become popular combined with, cheap bandwidth and home broadband connections.

    While I admire the author for being aware of the consumer-generated video content revolution, I think his focus on pay-per-view and subscription based video is too heavily weighted. Our experience is that advertising supported video is less intrusive to a viewer as they are used to that paradigm growing up on TV. Never would you hear "Hey Mom, Will and Grace is about to come on, can I have $1.99 to watch it?".

    Conversely There is a cadre of people that will not suffer ads, and will pay a one-time fee to opt out of them. (in effect that's what a TiVo is, a one time or monthly subscription fee to opt out of advertising). The problem here is that while TiVo works for television it "breaks" the broadcast company's business model, thus there is a ton of ruckus in the advertising world on how to deal with TiVo.

    The Internet Solution most likely needs to focus on a dual-offering. Ads for free video, or micro-payments for no ads.

    Now the second issue I have with this article is it's missing the number one biggest problem with consumer generated media. Where do you find it? Not until I read this article did I realize there even was a "DaveTV" to go to...and I live in the same city and even listen to "DaveFM". Where do I find videos online? Message forums, blogs, links from friends. Completely decentralized.

    Now pardon me while I toot my own horn with Vidiac.com, but I'm actually rather proud of our solution to this issue. Our solution was to become a "Video ASP" We have a centralized server that offers brandable skinable video portals to message forums and websites. For example http//videos.streetfire.net http//video.freevideoblog.com. This is a win for the web site owners, because they get free video portals added to their site. It's a win for content creators as they get a free place to host with a consistent level of service. It's a win for viewers because they find chanalized content. And it's a win for us as every new domain we add grows our reach into new niche markets. Advertisers get to buy video ads in bulk across multiple domains (win for them), and revenue is shared between the site owners and content creators.....one of these days when someone invents the 25 hour day I'll program in a pay per view system as well, but so far none of my 300,000 viewers last month has asked for it.

    What's nice about this is it creates a lot of synergies. For instance if I'm into the import car scene, and create a illegal street race video, I'll share it with people on my own import car forum. Visitors to that forum, are likely into import cars and the content is relevant to them. Thus all uploaded content becomes "chanalized". Instead of TLC, G4Tech TV, and Comedy Central, I now have video portals around various interests (just like websites, duh). What's nice too about our solution is the ability for a site moderator to move a video out of his/her domain, if the video isn't relevant to their site (say a Skate video on a car site). We allow moderators to put such videos into a general bank, then other forum owners pick up those videos to add more content to their site.

    To sum up in the 90 days we've been live, I've seen our webtrends go from 100 users a day to 40,000 unique visitors a day. We're now serving 80,000 videos per day to 4 websites, and have 5 more in queue for launch. Every day users upload over 100 new videos into the system, so it's always fresh. It's a very exciting segment to be in.

  36. The new channels by Animats · · Score: 2, Funny
    • QVC 1
    • QVC 2
    • QVC 3
    • CarTalk 24/7
    • eBay 1
    • eBay 2
    • The Collectables Channel
    • The Jewelry Channel
    • Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
    • The Better Health Channel (infomercials for drugs)
    • Truck Trader

    All advertising, all the time!

  37. Convergence of technologies by StreetFire.net · · Score: 1

    As we all know video streaming has been around forever. what's driving it is

    1.) Bandwidth, Storage, and Server Capacity has become cheap enough to economiclly host videos.

    2.) DV Cameras have become cheap enough that almost everyone has one.... or at least some mechanism for capturing video.

    3.) Home Broadband connections have become fairly ubiquitous.

    4.) Tools for making "watachable" home movies are finally in place. Windows movie maker can actually make even a horrible travel video tolerable.

    My company gets 100+ video uploads a day, and yes 99% of it is crap, but because of the 1:1 broadcast nature of the net, what I consider to be part of that 99% somone out there loves. The trick is to make it available and expose it. That's were Google is trying to play with their video service.

  38. Set business model by StreetFire.net · · Score: 1

    From experience, large companies do not inovate, typicall you see disruptive bottom up change. My prediction is that we'll first see a viable consumer-generated video system, then a viable "indy" production system, then the "sienfelds" of the world wil finally come on board. There is a ton of embedded process, contracts, people, and existing ways to do business that would have to change to make this viable for the large production companies.

  39. Only creativity matters. by elucido · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Japan created an entire anime industry not with lots of money but with lots of creativity. You don't need money to create anime.

    1. Re:Only creativity matters. by lifeblender · · Score: 1

      I really thought that Japan's television networks were nationalized as the BBC is, and that they paid for production costs of shows with national funding. I could be wrong, though. Also, there is cheap anime and there is expensive anime. The difference is usually how much tweening their is in the animations, since that requires much more labor. Also the quality of the art in general affects the speed of production and therefore the amount of upfront cash needed to finance it. Even the cheap anime takes a dedicated (paid) staff working for several months.

      I would argue that the industry actually created sheerly through creativity was manga, japanese comic books, since their production schedules are not so rigid (for small-scale mangas), and they require much less labor overall. Also, anime has to be made all in one go per season, whereas a single manga issue is all that it takes to get sales.

      I submit that the fact that most anime was originally manga is strong evidence that manga is really the creative force you are talking about. I'm not saying you're not right. I think it's really cool that such a thing could have happened. Japan really needed the boost, too. Manga and anime sales mean a big chunk of change moving constantly in their economy.

      Now if only those of us in the US could pull this off. I think that we generally can't, since the networks are all part of big conglomerates now. Manga sales in Japan prove that there is legitimate demand for that manga and its stories, and that is the proof which studios and networks need to be willing to produce a show. At the moment, we here in the US don't really have that option, since the distributors of television are national across a big nation and can't pick up a show unless it is certain to be watched be a sizable portion of their whole audience. That, in turn, means that a show's story must be much more well known to be picked up and produced in the US than it needs to be in most other places.

      This also explains why most movies are crap.

      --
      Playing pornographics games during the day is evil! Play at night!
  40. LiningUpTV by ianmalcm · · Score: 2, Informative

    We already did this with http://www.firstcutlive.tv/liningup/ and found that advertisers are not keen on new advertising models. But viewers are willing to pay for quality content. With so much DV out there, quality is king now.

    1. Re:LiningUpTV by StreetFire.net · · Score: 1

      My video site http://videos.streetfire.net/ is advertising supported and growing at 30% week to week averaging 40,000 unique visitors a day. 99% of our content is Junky DV stuff, and no one video dominates our 80,000 daily video views. Check this article out. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

  41. internetwork by The+OPTiCIAN · · Score: 1

    I'd had the term 'internetwork' in mind to describe the effect that a specific ISP has in Adelaide. All the geeks I know use it, as do the geeky companies. So you've got a network that's connected to the Internet, but where at times it feels incidental. The vast majority of your bandwidth never leaves their network, whether you're doing things for work, coding at home, or interacting with mates. Telecommuting, download mirror, radio, file sharing, counterstrike, skype, email, even a fair bit of hosting - all goes on inside the network (and the one of the major reasons is of course because they're the ISP who have the reputation for having support staff who don't treat you like dirt when you say you're running something other than Windows, or if your home adsl connects to an internal network rather than a standalone PC. actually, their support is really good independent of that. they know their stuff.).

    This is all completely off-topic for what this article is about, but that's the label I'd been thinking of to describe the effect :)

    --


    Believe with me, my saplings.
  42. Combine the two. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Combine the two.

    Have a Blowing Up Kyle On His First Solo Flight channel.

    1. Re:Combine the two. by MayorDefacto · · Score: 1

      You insensitive clod! Kyle is a woman...

  43. As an infrastructure guy... by crimson30 · · Score: 1

    I found the term very misleading. The article title made me initially think this might have something to do with internetworking technology or some such.

  44. xbox2 / PS3 / GC2 streaming + download on demand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How hard can it be for MS, Sony, and Nintendo to provide an external USB video encoder box and some software disk to turn the next gen game conole into a myth tv and/or download on demand?