I've become pretty convinced that people's passion for telling stories, both about themselves and the world around them is pretty hard-wired in. But making that easy and fun is a trick. So that's had us thinking a lot about the process of making video, and the fact that not every person is good at every part (in fact certainly every person is only good at certain parts. So we've got on the drawing boards a number of elements, some simple, some quite complex. But all of them focused on making collaberation easier.

EditXchange is the one that's close enough to invite folks to begin to play with. It's beta - so don't expect perfection, yet.

Don't be shy. Feedback, feature requests, bug reports - you name it. The other tool that is super-cool is LogXchange. That code is locked, we're just integrating the sign on process with the new Xchange code and solving a few minor bugs, but logging has always been a chore, and the idea that it can be done in a collaberative fashion seems like it should be great for all kinds of videomakers.

Among the interesting things about the site is a philosphy that embraces both passionate amatures and working pros. So gigs that are barter- things that touch on art, politics, music, or other creative endevors that attract editors by feeding their creative hunger - build the sites community aspect. Gig's that are professional like family videos, corporate, music videos, sort features, docs, etc, allow professional editors to name thier rate and work for fees that are fair to them.

LogXchange is totally free - just a cool tool that should make life easier for all kinds of folks who wrangle video.

It's all pretty transparent, as any collaboration space should be.

So that's what's new - so far. Stay tuned.

The response has been tremendous. The early videos - so cool. So we decided to get a jump start and start posting the video now.

You can see what's happening at the Bicycling Web Site or if you want to jump right to to the videos - start HERE.

The project is part of Magnify Media's overall belief that readers/consumers/viewers will quickly become a significant part of the content creation universe.

Bicycling is part of the Rodale Publishing group - a really terrific collection of magazines on subjects like health, fitness, lifestyle, and wellness. Among their titles - Prevention, Men's Health and Runner's World, which are published in 36 countries, as well as Organic Style, Organic Gardening, Backpacker, BestLife, Bicycling and Mountain Bike.

Our vision is that engaged and respected content consumers are likely to be the early adopters in area of consumer content creation.

And if the fast start at Bicycling is any indication - we're on the right track.

This months issue of The Nation features a long piece about Al Gore and the launch of "Current". The article points the genisis of the network to Gore's initial interest in UnFiltered, which i think is partly true. Certainly there are a number of things happening in the world that drive media toward user-content, blogs, podcasts, vlogs, and such.

But what i think all of the media enterprises trying to link up to user-content seem to miss is that the things that are fueling user-created content are the same things that are undermining mainstream media.

Mass distribution is fundamentally unsatisfying to creators. Would you rather give a speech (or read a poem) in a stadium with a white-hot spotlight blinding you from seeing a crowd of 60,000 or in a place like New York's Town Hall - an intimate room of 350 who can respond, cheer, and even ask questions.

Big media isn't good media.

So Current, or Kyou (san fran), or Adam Curry on Sirus all need to tell content creators why they aren't just fine building their brand, and their own economic future on an internet distribution platform.

Maybe they don't need to be embraced by mass media to feel meaningful.

article | Posted April 28, 2005
Al Gore Gets Down

During a town hall meeting on MTV in 2000, Al Gore dismissed a question about the rapper Mos Def. Throughout his career, Gore viewed hip-hop music, even when practiced by a politically conscious artist like Mos Def, as an undignified form of political expression. "Gandhi once said you must become the change you wish to see in the world," Gore said of hip-hop. "I don't think it's good enough to say, 'Well, we're just reflecting a reality.'"

Can Current be serious and dignified and appealing and popular? "On air, you're faced with the tyranny of the mass media," says Steve Rosenbaum, creator of MTV's UNfiltered, the inspiration for Current's initial vision. "Which is: If you do three pieces--one on the environment in Alaska, one on homeless people in New York and one on teenage girls getting breast implants, guess which one will do better than the others? People, especially those who watch TV, tend to be attracted to less intelligent, coarser, less thoughtful programming."

More

I was with Fred Wilson the other day - and the whole challenge of sorting video content for users is really interesting.

Fred posed this interesting puzzle about the wisdom of the crowd as a mechanism. And it got me thinking.

When I walk down the street and the are three restaurants, I tend to gravitate toward the one with the line out the door. The crowd must 'know something'. Conversely, I never want to be the only person sitting in an empty restaurant. No fun, and likely to end with indigestion.

But what about the neighborhood. What about the kind of crowd that's endorsing this joint? Are they 'cool people'? And - do I like what's on the menue. So using the crowd as a baramoter only takes you so far.

I think I imagine a modified WOC model. Crowds of people with like interests, similar tastes, or related interests. Crowds born in communities.

The big news now is that Google is going to store video. And that should add some rocket fuel to the vblog world - and other uses.

Google has an interesting challenge in this space. Think about their approach to news for a second. The Google News site search branded news sources. If I search on "Akimbo + Rosenbaum" in Google Web, I get a link to my blog and my comments on Akimbo. If I run the same search in Google News, I get no results. So Google has filtered blogs out of the "News" search engine.

As more and more video is shot, edited, and posted - the opportunity to make sense of it becomes more interesting.

For Google to treat ABC News Video the same as Joe Public video is a huge change in how news is filtered. But in opening the Google video search to vblogs, they've in a sense done that already.

On one hand - it's very cool and could result in tons of new content. On the other hand, it creates an interesting problem. Sergi has as much as said, we're going to break it, and then figure out how to fix it. And that's probably a good thing.

Gore TV Network to Launch in August, Google Tie-In
Mon Apr 4, 5:32 PM ET
Entertainment - Reuters TV

By Jeremy Pelofsky

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on Monday unveiled his new television network, "Current," which aims to attract younger viewers with short videos and a tie-in with the popular Google Inc. search engine.

The network plans to debut on Aug. 1 and be available to 19 million subscription television viewers, Gore said at a news conference at the cable industry's annual convention. Gore led an investment group that last May bought the network from Vivendi Universal for an undisclosed sum.

More... LINK

From BOING BOING
Interesting development, no mention of DRM or security solutions that have kept most movie studios from wider digital distribution... maybe they're confident that the P2P law suit will go their way...?

At a conference in Santa Monica today, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment SVP Michael Arrieta said:

"We want to set business models, pricing models, distribution models like (Apple Computer CEO Steve) Jobs did for music, but for the film industry," [said Arrieta], "I'm trying to create the new 'anti-Napster."

To that end, Arrieta said, his group plans to digitize Sony Pictures' top 500 films and make them available for the first time in various digital environments within the next year. He said the distribution for films like "Spider-Man 2" will go beyond just Movielink, the video-on-demand joint venture of Sony Pictures and several other major studios, which to date has hosted a limited library of Sony's movies.

For example, Sony plans to sell and make films available in flash memory for mobile phones in the next year, Arrieta said. It also will further develop its digital stores for downloading and owning films on the PC, he said in an interview. Sony's plans--and similar moves by other studios--are likely to avoid empowering any one technology company--such as Apple in the music equation--and allow studios to pocket more of the profits. The philosophy in Hollywood is "Define your own agenda or someone else will for you."

NOW PUBLIC & OurMedia take on media sharing.

Two very different takes on shared media infrastructure have launched, and both are interesting.

First, Marc Cantor and JD Lasica's OurMedia is a large, free, shared content for rich media. Brewster Kahle's internet archive will act as the backbone for this. It's paid for on Brewster's dime.

There is a great audio interview with Cantor and Lasica on IT conversations (http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail406.html)

Cantor is the founder of Macromind (now Macromedia) - and has been building empowerment tools for a very long time. JD has been covering the evolution of content for 20 years (he interviewed me for a piece on MTV UnFiltered for American Journalism Review in the mid 90's).

Our media has gotten some grief for launch issues, but it's an alpha service -and it's pretty clear that these guys have the background and passion to get it done. It's a storage solution at it's launch, and it's a registry as it evolves... They're pretty sure that storage and distribution will be distributed over time... And building a sharing registry now will create audience and access as content sharing continues to grow.

MEANWHILE:

NowPublic.com is a citizen journalism site that aggregates both video and stills, all under a creative commons license (much like Our Media) but with the idea that it can be shared and used among blog users.

The interface is engaging - with tabs for "news" "footage" and "assignments"
NowPublic almost feels like a content database from a news organization, and they're trying to be transparrent about where footage comes from, and where it is going.

Overall - both sites are exciting developments - and worth tracking.

Just picked this up from Chris Anderson's Long Tail blog:Long Tail blog

Great news on the Creative Commons front:

Yahoo!, whose metabolic rate of innovation has been goosed into overdrive by Google, last night release a Creative Commons search engine.  Larry Lessig, CC supremo (and Wired columnist), describes his meetings with them and why they turned out to be so productive:

They had, imho, precisely the right vision of a future net. Not a platform for delivering whatever, but instead a platform for communities to develop. With the acquisition of Flickr, the step into blogging and now this tool to locate the welcome mats spread across the net, that vision begins to turn real.

To which all I can add is: Thanks, Yahoo! Way to be very not evil.

A few weeks back the folks at HGTV had some pretty strong things to say about the creep of product placement into knowledge oriented cable networks. The gist was "we value the trust relationship we have with our viewers more than any few dollars we'll get from product placement."

It was an great statement, but seemed to have more behind it than just standing on cerimony.

Well it turns out - they've got a pretty big jump on the narrowcast IPTV business as reported by hoovers - LINK

Take a look at th site: LINK

Scripps Takes Latest Channel Direct to Web
March 20, 2005 10:52pm
AP Online

KNOXVILLE, Tenn._Seizing on the success of its Home & Garden Television brand, E.W. Scripps Co. has gone directly to the Internet with its latest channel that combines tips for building professionals and the power of streaming video.

HGTV Pro.com, the company's first independent e-offering, began in January with dozens of three-minute videos on best practices in homebuilding, accompanying text and chat rooms. The ad-supported site will soon offer hundreds of new product demonstrations from a "virtual trade show" and Spanish translations.

Already, more than 110,000 contractors and nearly 1.2 million consumers have registered for its free electronic newsletter. With 380,000 "unique visits" in its first 19 days, HGTV Pro's popularity is nearly that of established residential construction Web sites, such as Hanley Wood LLC's.

"We like to say we are at that intersection where the contractors and the consumers meet," said Jim Zarchin, senior vice president of HGTV Pro at Knoxville-based Scripps Networks. More

As branded venues try to wrap their heads around user-content - two major contests are taking very different approaches to user submitted content and filtering.

On one hand, you have Amazon/Tribeca Short Film Festival. This is a major experiment that has a lot of untested variables. Amazon has put up a $50,000 prize (a wildly signficant number for most independent film makers) and opened the entire judging and filterprocess to it's members.

"Starting April 18 Amazon customers are being invited to rate the films, on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, to determine the five finalists.

At the end of May, the five highest-rated films will each be featured on the Amazon.com welcome page over five weeks. Amazon.com customers will again be invited to rate the five finalists to determine the winner" says the website.

This is a pure open source filter - and begs the question of how low quality films are being screened. But the overall spirit is that all submitters will get a spot in the rotating cue.

On the other hand is indyTV who's recived many submission to thier pilot program. They're web site says: "We have chosen the 10 finalists out of all of the entries we received for the contest. Here's how we got there: We watched every submission – we being myself (Anastasia), and other key members of the INdTV programming team (including four young people we feel are representative of our audience). We then had our president of programming and other executives screen the short list and decide on the final 10."

This is really interesting because it basically says they looked at a lot of submittions, and narrowed down the list to 10 they liked. The judges are anonymus. The purchase price is set at $250 flat - so the value of the submission is fixed. But the published 'finalists' are going to be of highter quility.

Somewhere between Amazon and INdTV there's a model taking shape. Amazon offers greater reward, but requires that the audience does all the work (the first line of review) hence lowering their costs of review/validate and publication.

INdTV is creating a grassroots tv 'movement' - including a public event called "Take Over TV" that will happen in San Fransisco on April 4th at 6:30pm. But the hard line low-cost model to pay creators suggests that content creators are making video as a hobby or a mission - but not as a profession.

The good news is that in between these two experiments there is a movement taking hold. Embracing content creators will work. People will make media. And embracing the audience will work as well. People will reivew, comment,, and engage in video. Somewhere between Amazon's open source (everyone can vote) model and INdTV's anonymus judgest (we'll tell you what works for us) there is a revolution.

I'm at Esther Dyson's PC forum in Scottsdale. This is my 5th year - and I've watched the role of content move from the outer edge - briefly to the center - and now almost assumed.

Content is simply software. Phrases like user-content are now common, an inevitable driver of software, community, and identity. Jerry Yang just announced that Yahoo has acquired Flicker.

If you don't know Flicker - check it out. I met Caterina and Stewart at last years PC forum. They had an idea that sharing pictures was a cool way to create community. And in just 18 months they've built a vibrant, growing community that is truly unique. In an increasingly visual world - photo sharing plugs into the create/share/engage spirit of a new generation of content maker/consumers.

This is a cool acquisition for Yahoo - and support what Jerry said about Yahoo not going 'Hollywood', a concern that Esther said was being debated 'up north.'

User-content (which is my core interest, passion, and vision) is an evolution that has many significant components. For the content creation community - it's both incredibly empowering and very scary. For people who earn their living as a content manufacturer within the current system, there's lots of sense that young storytellers are willing to 'work cheap' and devalue the core skills of professional storytellers. I think that's a natural - but misguided - understanding of the changes taking place. Content creators are soon to be empowered, paid, and valued up by the long-tail content future.

For distributors - the power of a narrow and controlled pipe is ending. That doesn't mean their role is over - just changing. And for distributors who've built a brand that has meaning to consumers- the future is certainly bright.

Finally - for content consumers (I hate that word, it's so passive) for people seeking knowledge, there will be far more choices and a need to develop critical thinking and dimensional reading of ideas. The idea that consumers have to become active in the way they seek knowledge - is both obvious and hard to imagine. If you eat junk you get fat. If you only read comic books, your world view will be fairly narrow. If you only get information from one source -you'll be unable to critically consider complex issues.

So user-content pushes lots of buttons - and that's only good.

From the Economist - (via Unmediated) a terrific article about how companies are embracing open-source and encouraging customers to create not just content, but products for them. Often this is companies embracing user-content rather than raging against it. Back in 1998 - i consulted to Fox as they were wrestling with the whole concept of 'fan fiction', viewers who began to draft their own story lines for their favorite characters. I counseled then - as i would now - that fan fiction is the ultimate expression of brand love, and as such should be encouraged and supported in every way possible.

How and why smart companies are harnessing the creativity of their customers
===================================================

The Economist.

LAST November, engineers in the healthcare division of General Electric (GE) unveiled something called the “LightSpeed VCT”, a scanner that can create a startlingly good three-dimensional image of a beating heart. This spring Staples, an American office-supplies retailer, will stock its shelves with a gadget called a “wordlock”, a padlock that uses words instead of numbers. In Munich, meanwhile, engineers at BMW have begun prototyping telematics (combining computing and telecoms) and online services for a new generation of luxury cars. The connection? In each case, the firm's customers have played a big part (GE, BMW) or the leading role (Staples) in designing the product.

Link for more

from Om Malik

Update: The two companies just announced that TiVo will make a custom version of its product for Comcast. Financial terms of the multi-year, non-exclusive deal with the Philadelphia-based Comcast were not disclosed. Out with DirecTV and in with Comcast.

Okay the only couple with more up and down than Brad and Jen are Comcast and TiVo. The romance between DVR pioneer and cable giant is heating up again, according to The Wall Street Journal. A few months ago, New York Times had reported that TiVo had walked away from Comcast, a move that made many fret about PVR-maker’s future. But now, WSJ says that the deal could be close and the TiVo service could be offered to Comcast customers who have PVRs. Many have expressed dissatisfaction with Motorola PVRs being sold by Comcast.

Comcast would likely charge more for the TiVo service than the Motorola service — which goes for about $10 a month — because TiVo offers features not currently available on most of Comcast’s standard Motorola boxes, such as recommendations of programs.
Now if this deal happens, it could help turn TiVo’s fortunes around. Now if Brad and Jen could get back together… again

Google continues to do nifty little things that give you clues as to where they are heading in the future. Google News - now has a great 'customize' feature. In addition to allowing you to re-arrange the page, and the offerings - you can put your Google news alert data into the home page. The result is that the long promised 'build you own newspaper front page' has arrived.

The customization is simple, and the layout pretty straight forward. But it's not hard to imagine Google allowing you to mix in blogs, even video, as they add more elements to a robust 'customized' Google news homepage. pretty cool.

Akimbo is doing a number of interesting things worth mentioning... among them signing up new content partners that begin to blur the line between specialty video downloads and on demand cable.

But the latest thing in my in box is an email from Akimbo touting it's most recent program offerings. A click on any of the offerings in the email links you to your on-line Akimbo account, and you can schedule it for viewing. It's a nice addition- and if only i could remember my user-name and password, i could use it. (i just re-set it, as i so often do with the various accounts i have to set up, but don't get back to enough keep them top of mind).

The mix of offering - both on line and coming soon - certainly begins to make the product more appealing.

Among the new entries -

THE KWOON - The only series that chronicles the misadventures of five kung fu students struggling to survive in Silicon Valley. Fist-flailing fun!

HEADJAM - Award-winning, educational series for middle school students that brings science, math and critical thinking skills to life.

VEG TV - Vegetarian cooking instruction

SOUNDTRACK CHANNEL - The world's first TV channel dedicated to the music of movies and TV. The hottest movie music videos are right here!

VARSITY TELEVISION - High school oriented and student-produced shows, including music, documentaries, short films, teen-oriented series and news profiles

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - The ultimate "reality TV": Award-winning documentaries featuring the most spectacular images and heart-stopping adventures captured on film.

WHEELSTV. find everything from feature stories on the youth tuner scene to documentaries on automotive history, colorful hot rod and custom car events, adventure series and auto stunt shows.

Ok, it's an eclectic mix - but the transition from Mass Media television to niche services will take some experimentation. If my son likes 'headjam' - i'll be subscriber soon enough.

There's a long convoluted thread on slashdot about Akimbo LINK that's interesting.

Amazon's partnership with the Tribeca Film Festival breaks ground in a number of ways. First all films that are uploaded will be entered, and Amazon members can vote on as many films as they care to review. It's like turning Amazon members into voting members of the TV Academy. Ok, maybe it's the people's choice awards - but the concept is very cool. Secondly - there will be two elimination days during the voting, so low scoring films will be dropped out of rotation - improving the experience for Amazon visitors. And thirdly - there is a $50,000 prize for the grand prize winner - chosen by Amazon members.

To enter - go HERE

Then there's the macromedia connection. Each and every film uploaded must be encoded in flash video format. So it's anyone's guess how many people will experiment with Flash Video - but let's guess thousands, maybe tens of thousands. Oh, you don't have an encoder? No prob, Sorenson has a special demo edition that will expire the day after entries for the contest close.

So Amazon gets content. Amazon members get a special vote. Macromedia gets new sampling customers. Tribeca gets shorts, PR, and a filmmaker prize.

It will be really interesting to see how this audience moderated festival works, and if the quality is good enough to make the first pass review an interesting experience.

Business Week takes a deep look at the impact of Podcasting and the breakdown of conventional distribution to the radio business. LINK. It's worth reading and then projecting against video content and the impact on broadcasting.

NEWS ANALYSIS
By Heather Green, Tom Lowry, and Catherine Yang

The New Radio Revolution
From satellite to podcasts, programming is exploding -- but the fight for profits will be ferocious

How fast is technology turning radio upside down? Ask Brian Ibbott. Last September, when the wannabe Denver deejay started playing music on the Internet, the term for what he was doing -- podcasting -- had been around for two weeks. These days the 35-year-old produces a half-hour show of popular songs called Coverville. Some 9,000 devotees download it three times a week to play on -- what else? -- their iPods. And if they tire of Coverville, they now have 3,500 other podcasts -- and counting -- to choose from. MORE

The most comprehensive reporting yet on the case of Ilario Pantano - from this weeks time magazine:

Monday, Feb. 28, 2005
---------------------------
"No better friend, no worse enemy."  The words echoed through 2nd Lieut. Ilario Pantano's head on the afternoon of April 15, 2004. That was the motto of Lieut. General James Mattis, at the time the commander of the 1st Marine Division in Iraq. Like many junior officers, Pantano looked up to Mattis as the consummate warrior-general. The phrase had stuck with Pantano as he tried to keep his men alive in some of Iraq's meanest neighborhoods, where friends are hard to find.

Now, at the most fateful moment of his life, the words came back to haunt Pantano. It was late afternoon, and darkness was setting in. Pantano and his platoon were on a raid north of Mahmudiyah, not far from Baghdad, acting on a tip about a possible insurgent hideout. As the Marines neared their target, they spotted a car fleeing the area. Pantano's men set up a checkpoint and ordered the car to stop. Inside were two Iraqis. One looked to be in his 30s, the other in his late teens. According to accounts given to TIME by Pantano's civilian lawyer, Charles Gittins, the lieutenant had the men get out of the car and remove the seat panels to show there were no hidden explosives or weapons. Pantano watched, covering them with his M-16. At one point they began talking, and Pantano shouted at them to stop. Then, according to Pantano's defenders, the Iraqis turned rapidly and in unison toward him. LINK TO MORE

Brightcove, Jeremy Allair's Boston-based start up, came out of stealth today - and dropped it's former name - VidMark.

Jeremy and his brother are the brains behind coldfusion - and it's pretty clear from reading his blog and various reports that he's got a long term vision of making video as web friendly as text is today.

This is good news for a bunch of reasons.

While early players like Akimbo make it easy to get excited about IPTV, it is a closed subscription based network. Brightcove is 'customer facing" and seems more like it's poised to build out a big IPTV solution without a hardware base.

There are a bunch of links that have some interesting bits of info.

BOSTON GLOBE ARTICLE

Brightcove Web Site

JEREMYS BLOG

It's worth connecting the dots and remembering tha Jermey was CTO of macromedia.. and the company web site has some pretty cool use of video and flash.

Here's what he said in a December Boston Globe article: "We have this situation where the number of people who can produce video programming is poised to explode, with inexpensive digital cameras and editing tools, and the existing distribution systems can't support it," he says. "You can't have 100,000 people producing shows for cable television. The only thing that can support it is the Internet."

And Brightcove isn't starting in a garage either - Brightcove already has $5.5 million of first-round venture funding from General Catalyst Partners and Accel Partners.

Overall - this is great news for the space, and should help validate alot of the talk that has been buzzing around about content, video, and new publishing platforms.

I've been a big fan of Zana and Ross since i saw Born Into Brothels at Full Frame. It's a remarkable movie - and despite its subject matter a very uplifting and inspirational film.

But even more than that - it's an amazing testament to the power of personal storytelling and first-person publishing. While Zana is the impetus of the story - turning these kids into storytellers, once empowered they quickly understand the power of pictures to both illuminate their lives and change them.

This makes the journey of this film a pretty powerful example of the kind of future I imagine with first person storytelling and user-video coming on line in the next 24 - 48 months.

So BRAVO to Zana and Ross - and don't miss this movie.

Kids-With-Cameras.org

I have now installed Tivo To Go in my Laboratory... (otherwise known as my living room).

And it's been an eye opening experience - both technically and otherwise.

I've been running my Tivo desktop off of my G5, which is where I have all the family pictures and music. But the new app (2.0) is PC only at this time. So I needed to rethink home network architecture. Argh. First, i downloaded a great new app Network Magic which may have been unnecessary - but turned out to be very cool.

Basically - it is a PC app that maps your home network in a graphical way. Also no Mac app (argh), but it does map your Mac's if you run it on a PC.

Then I powered up the new Tivo To Go app. After some troubleshooting with the firewall, ta da.

First piece of WOW is just seeing every file on your Tivo listed on a computer menu. Can't explain why it's cool - just is. Seeing that those files are free to move around - or the promise of that - is exciting.

Now, to the tricky part. Watching something. First you have to TRANSFER the file from the Tivo to your desktop (my Dell). This takes forever. But the files are big, and I'm still on a 802.11b network - so you just transfer and wait till tomorrow.

Then the fun begins. Because now you're out of plug and play Tivo land and into Microsoft Windows Media 10 land. First - the player says that I don't have the right Codec. No clues what I can do to fix it - but Tivo sends me to a bunch of $20+ codec products. Not sure who I'm doing business with here, Microsoft, Tivo, or 3rd party guys who I didn't even know I needed. But MPEG 2 needs a new Codec.

A quick visit to the Tivo user-content discussion boards clues me in -there's a free package that works fine. 19 download, install, configure steps later...

I'm watching Seinfeld on my PC. But it's 480 x 480 and the sound is out of sync.

So it's been 4 hrs. I've got bad aspect ratio and bad sync - and the solution seems to be to keep trying to remove and re-install the codec's until one works.

Hardly for the faint of heart.

Lesson - if we think IPTV or any such thing is just around the corner, we've got some engineering to get through. No average consumer is going to be able to spell Codec.

And then there's the question of what I can do with the media after it looks and sounds right. Because it's still in a Tivo security wrapper. So - for example - if I want to store a news story that my son was featured in, but it's recorded in a 2 hr block of CNN - I've got no way to edit it without dumping it to tape and then bringing it back in.... or using some sort of Dr. Divix software an other $30 - which I don't want to do.

Bottom line. Coolness Factor - +10.
Ease of install - +7
Ease of use (codec install) -3

Now, if only I could de-install the Ligos Codec, I'd be all set.

STATEMENT OF SUPPORT.

As many of you already know - the U.S. Military has filed extremely serious charges against Ilario Pantano - CameraPlanet's former Director of News Operations. While we have no knowledge of what happened in Iraq, we do have a great deal of experience regarding Mr. Pantano and his character during his work at CameraPlanet.

A detailed and dedicated manager, Mr. Pantano took over CameraPlanet's newsgathering operation as we entered a period of extreme danger, complexity, and risk.

During his tenure with CP - he oversaw more than twelve months of production, including work that sent Eve Ensler and a crew to Afghanistan, Linda Ellerbee and a crew to Afghanistan, and Peter Arnett, and a crew to Afghanistan and Iraq. Often on call 24 hrs a day, Ilario was dedicated and focused on the safety and security of all of the members of the crew - establishing detailed and thoughtful protocols to keep our teams out of harms way. Mr. Pantano was instrumental in hiring our traveling security teams, and in assuring that all members of the team operated within agreed upon parameters.

In addition to the newsgathering trips mentioned above, Mr. Pantano oversaw an assignment for the State Department, documenting the opening of new schools in Afghanistan. This too was conducted with dedication and detail.

There was never a time that we found him to be anything other than thoughtful, focused, and rigorous.

Those that worked with him were impressed with his ability to work hand in hand with people of diverse beliefs, focused instead on his mission to move journalists and support personnel in and out of dangerous situations.

We support Mr. Pantano, and have every expectation that he will be found not guilty and returned to his family with his reputation restored.

i'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the Archive, so i thought i'd put out some info and solicit some advice.

Back in 2001 - when i was Directing "7 Days In September" it became clear to me that there were far more stories than i could fit in a feature documentary. It was also obvious that people who experienced 9/11, and who'd photographed it, were looking for a way to both share their experiences and know that the urge to record the events was a valid emotional response.

I can't explain why we took on with such devotion the job of cataloging, interviewing, fact checking, and storing hundreds of hours of stories and video. I would tell you it was for the film, but we continued to collect material long after the film was complete.

I guess i always imagined that my kids - and they're kids - would say one day "What was it like to be in New York on the day of and after 9/11" and i thought that a nuanced and human collection of sounds, video, and memories would be important.

Already history is melting the complex memories and emotions of the time down into simple log lines.

So now i have the honor, and responsibility, of shepherding the largest collection of non-news video from 9/11. More than 400 hrs. And the truth is i always imagined we'd donate it to the Smithsonian, or another appropriate institution, where it would live in some sort of digital, non-linear, shared experience. Maybe... a Creative Commons license that would allow students and artist to share the material.

And that's still my goal.

But the Archive is not owned by me - it's an asset of CameraPlanet. And CameraPlanet needs to address it's issues. So now i'm in the position of needing to find a buyer, investor, philanthropist, foundation, or corporation that wants to pick up this piece of history... and protect it for future generations. And in doing so, make peace with the Bank of America, who has been wonderful, but certainly would like to get paid what is owed them.

So there are lots of moving pieces.

And what i'm concerned about is that in the mix, this treasure gets turned into a piece of collateral that is auctioned to the highest bidder, rather than placed with the appropriate institution or individual.

I guess it's more like an adoption than a auction.

thoughts?

As I've learned in the last 24 hrs - people don't read blogs, they skim. So I've gotten more than my share of hate mail from Tivo fans who think I'm adding to the negative karma.

TO CLARLIFY - Tivo should, and will, survive. The Apple, Google, and other rumors not withstanding... it's too powerful a brand and too exciting a platform to not continue to be a force in the emerging home media market.

I'm sure.

My point was - and is - that Tivo has already had a MASSIVE impact on shaping the public's understanding of what kind of control they can expect from their media. Just watching how Comcast is rethinking the very nature of cable is a clue that non-linear viewing is here to stay.

So - please - stop sending me 'Tivo Traitor' mail. I'm far from it. Instead - let's work on finding an economic way for Tivo to make it during the 2 year gulch while VOD and other services come into their own.

Also - does anyone know what percentage of Tivo is owned by NBC? If Tivo is in fact 'for sale' what is make up of the controlling stock. That should tell us a lot about where it's going to end up.

Here's a take - maybe Tivo shouldn't be saved. Now, I say this as the owner of 3 Tivo boxes (2 series II) that I love.

But let's look at the marketing battle that's been waged so far. Tivo owners are OUTRAGED that cable companies haven't just lay down and let Tivo take control over their interface, their economics, and their future. Shame on them.

Meanwhile TIVO has argued back that cable DVR's are weak rip-offs. Yes they're cheaper, but they're not as good.

Remember back to Beta vs. VHS? Beta was better. VHS was cheaper. Can Tivo win that kind of match up?

The bottom line is that Tivo has been playing footsy with the cable industry - considering deals that would make their device a pawn in the walled garden game.

Meanwhile - Tivo is a hard drive waiting for content marketplace to arrive and give it a new reason to be not just better, but uniquely different than the cable DVR.

The Tahiti software that was announced at CES is the breakthrough that Tivo needed to ignite an explosion of new users, new content, and empower IPTV over broadband.

A great idea - but the gap between early adopters and mass adoption may simply be too great. Remember the Apple Newton?

And here's why it doesn't matter. Tivo has launched the revolution. It's taught the early adopters that control of content is a reality - and now the content creation community is a buzz with new ideas, new services, and the kind of entrepreneurial energy that hasn't been seen five years.

So if Tivo's brand is it's greatest asset - it will evolve. But the hardware (much as I love it) needs to be faster, fatter, and more easily plug-and-play before it's going to earn a place in the average living room.

After all - how many people have a broadband connection near their living room TV. A wireless network?

The future is Tivo. Hard drive connected to a TV. Tied to a broadband connection. With an elegant, intuitive, friendly interface. But a leopard doesn't change it's spots. And Tivo is a brilliant technology company that's grown despite it's feeble attempts at consumer marketing - and expanding products and services.

I'm read! I'm ready to:

1. I'm ready to buy stuff from Tivo. But they have to turn into a marketing and sales company.

2. I'm ready to replace my Tivo II box with a Tivo III if it stores and controls HD video.

3. I'm ready to try Tivo to go (if it EVER arrives on my box - but I'm not holding my breath).

4. I'm ready to entrust my content to a Tivo managed and distributed IPTV network.

5. I'll even try what they call 'couch commerce' even if the term makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

But in order for me to do any of the things above - someone needs to build the service, and have a conversation with me as a Tivo customer. I've owned Tivo for 5 years. I don't want the brand, the service, or the idea to die. But I'm sure that whatever happens to the company - the seeds have been sown. Consumer control of media began with Tivo - but it won't end there.

It began - of course - with .…Jon Stewart (VIDEO) (thanks Jason Calacanis) and today the New York Times adds their voice.

FRANK RICH / The White House Stages Its 'Daily Show'
Published: February 20, 2005

HE prayers of those hoping that real television news might take its cues from Jon Stewart were finally answered on Feb. 9, 2005. A real newsman borrowed a technique from fake news to deliver real news about fake news in prime time.

Let me explain.

On "Countdown," a nightly news hour on MSNBC, the anchor, Keith Olbermann, led off with a classic "Daily Show"-style bit: a rapid-fire montage of sharply edited video bites illustrating the apparent idiocy of those in Washington. In this case, the eight clips stretched over a year in the White House briefing room - from February 2004 to late last month - and all featured a reporter named "Jeff." In most of them, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, says "Go ahead, Jeff," and "Jeff" responds with a softball question intended not to elicit information but to boost President Bush and smear his political opponents. In the last clip, "Jeff" is quizzing the president himself, in his first post-inaugural press conference of Jan. 26. Referring to Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton, "Jeff" asks, "How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"

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