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NerdTV Coming in September
Random BedHead Ed writes "After years of development, Robert X. Cringely's NerdTV is finally on its way, and will be released September 6th. The program will feature interviews with prominent nerds, such as Bill Joy and Macintosh programmer Andy Hertzfeld. But far from being a normal television show, it will be downloadable. As Cringely explained last week in his column, BitTorrent and the expansion of broadband made this the right time for such a move. The show will be available at pbs.org/nerdtv/, where there is currently an information page.
Larry Lessig points out that the show will be distributed under a Creative Commons license - the specific license is not specified, but Cringely and PBS say that noncommercial use and redistribution will be allowed."
This is way cool.
Really nice for us geographically challanged non-americans to get it without the usual half-a-year waiting period too.
So between slashdot stories I can get my "hit" from TV?
Unless they have a mostly white back ground with a funky green menus and fonts. Otherwise I think I will stick with my Slashdot.
- Your stupidity got you into this mess, why can't it get you out? -Will Rogers
The Creative Commons license is often heralded among certain music circles, because it affords an artist the ability to remix and mash licensed songs as they see fit for non-commercial purposes. ..personally, I can't wait to make my own 'remixed' versions of Cringely's show for my own nefarious purposes.
--- What
I have to sit at work listening to my fellow programmers, now I can finally go home and listen to more programmers. Thank you PBS!
Just the fact that someone is giving their show away over the internet for free earns enough respect for me to actually give this a look. I haven't ever heard of the host, but if he's smart enough to know about Creative Commons liscenses he's better than 90% of the computer show people out there.
Software is like sex. It's better when it's free. -Linus Torvalds
When did it become ok to start calling people nerds ? Seriously, is it ok to call a hip-hop dance show "N*ggers that dance" ? Before you say "Well that's different because that's a racial epiteth then how about a home remodeling show "Fags have fun with your living room" ?
I mean, since nerd IS still a word that is used in a negative way it should not be bandied around like this. I don't care if you're not offended by it. Some people are.
And before you say "Well you are posting this on a site labled 'news for nerds'" I say yes, I know that Einsten. And it bothers me, but I think if anything. This is the place that a discussion like this needs to happen.
In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Vin Diesel could use to kill you, including the room itself.
Will it include commercials? If it does, and advertisers are still willing to pay even if the show is not being distrubuted via standard means (i.e. television), then we may be witnessing the beginning of a new era of advertising. Kind of like what Google did with Adwords.
It will gradually build its own cast of ecclectic personalities, building a loyal fanbase. Eventually it will reach a critical point at which it starts to slide more into the mainstream. This of course will be its doom as actual nerds are replaced by increasingly bland and mediocre television personalities. Then end will come when that scion of drek, G4, buys NerdTV out.
No, i'm not feeling hostile. Why do you ask?
If more programs start jumping on the p2p bandwagon, then it's going to start getting harder and harder to pass laws against it under the argument that it is only used for illegally trading files.
The success of this show may directly effect the future of p2p, and the internet as we know it; because if it does make it, others will likely follow suit.
Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
It would be great if they used bittorrent to distribute the programming. The more valid legal reasons for bittorrent to exist the better.
It's a pen name and it isn't really ever officially abbreviated or otherwise shortened.
And as for "How many Robert Cringley's are there who write tech columns and host PBS computer shows?", there are at least 2 Robert X. Cringely's that write tech columns (though one is barred from writing them in tech publications). Mark Stephens started using the pen name when writing for InfoWorld and continued to use it after leaving, but InfoWorld had a trademark on it.
They sued and it eventually ended up that Robert X. Cringely means Mark Stephens everywhere but InfoWorld and InfoWorld continues to host a column under that name which isn't written by Stephens.
Wikipedia has more information.
....is doing at http://twit.tv
Sick of stupidity? http://www.patentlystupid.com
A lot of people think a middle initial adds a touch of class... In my mind, a middle initial adds a touch of crime
;-)
Says Alex P Keaton..
"reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
I want my...
I want my...
I want my Nerd TV.
Technoli
now we get NerdTV. (You know you need the 'bleeding edge' and early adopters before you get to the generally accessible fun stuff, but since they're not time-locked, it doesn't matter when you 'discover' a series.)
Wait until producers realize that they can use broadband and a content aggregator or Google to skip the entire 'kowtow and then bend-over facing the other way' process that they go through with the current lot of content disseminators.
No more canceled shows until there's no audience for them, not the current trade-off of "we can squeeze more profits with pushing ads on schlock than we can with your high concept stuff, so piss off."
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
"Beginning Sept. 6, PBS will make available - exclusively over the Internet - broadcast television's first entirely downloadable series"
So it won't actually be airing on PBS, just on the internet?
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
"We're pleased to be offering this new video-download news format free to Slashdot customers." said CmdrTaco, who would not indicate whether he was hard or soft-shell, "It is another example of how Slashdot is on the fringe of digital news."
When asked why viewers should get their video news from Slashdot rather than going straight to PBS and downloading the whole news program, CmdrTaco replied "Well, we know our Slashdot readers are busy. Some of them can only check the site 10-12 times a day, and as everyone knows they don't have time to read the articles. So what we've done is cut out everything but 10 seconds of the interview, the best inflammatory bits we can find, and then added an audio-only cynical or sarcastic comment at the end, with an occasional 'Linux is getting better every day' comment for good measure. We tried video footage using a web cam for the comment, but it was, well, kinda creepy."
CmdrTaco also said Slashdot is working on another new feature called Slashdot ReMix, where existing news items are posted by different Slashdot editor and given a slightly different spin, to see how different angles of the story are received. Perceptive Slashdotters, he noted, have noticed this system in beta testing over the past few years, with more heavy testing in the last 1-2 years. He believes the system is now nearing perfection.
George W Bush comes to mind.
I
They should add Leo Laporte to the line up. He was one of the few good things on TechTV.
I have no