NAB April 11-14 in Vegas

National Association of Broadcasters, NAB  April 11-14 2011 in Las Vegas

This is the Big Broadcast Show of the year.

It comes just days after the ISC security video conference on April 6-8th.

ISC west is coming to Vegas, April 6-8th 2011

If your in to CCTV / Security and video surveillance this is the show to attend. 
International Security Conference  (ISC)  April 6-8th 2011 Las Vegas


Booths to Visit:

Win an iPad 2 at ISC West from FLIR

Full-Featured 320 × 240 Thermal Cameras For Less Than $3,000!

High-quality thermal security cameras this affordable are being used in
hundreds of new and exciting ways! Come to FLIR’s Vendor Solutions
seminar and learn about some of these groundbreaking security and
surveillance applications, as well as how dealers and integrators can
take advantage of this remarkable paradigm shift that’s happening –
literally – overnight.
This presentation will go beyond just an overview of new applications,
and explore how these new, low-cost cameras are creating entirely new
customer bases and market opportunities for FLIR’s thermal security
camera technology.
If you’re a registered 2011 ISC West attendee, not affiliated with
FLIR, and you come to FLIR’s Vendor Solution seminar you’ll be
registered to win a new iPad 2 with AppleCare.

Vendor Solutions Seminar
Wednesday, April 6th
Marco Polo Room #704/804
3-5pm

To Register visit
http://www.cvs.flir.com/e/6132/ricas-en-security-iscwest2011-/1O6Q/7828502

Visit FLIR at booth 18063 to see the latest in low-cost, high-performance
thermal security cameras.

Come visit FLIR Systems’ two other booths at ISC West:

FLIR Thermal Camera Cores for OEM Solutions – Booth 25123

FLIR Integrated Detection Technologies from ICx – Booth 25091

booth no 36008

Longse Electronics Ltd
No.8 Bldg,Yujing Industrial Zone,Zhuji Rd,
Tianhe District, Guangzhou,510620 China
http://www.longse.com

Booth No 35022

Shenzhen Dowse Electronics Co., Ltd
Address: :5F,5# Building,Mingxing Industrial Park,MingKang Rd.Mingzhi,longhua Town,Bao'An District,ShenZhen, China
www.szdowse.com/en/index.php

Other related Shows:

IFSEC 2011 May 16-19 in Birmingham, UK

Secutech 2011  April 20-22 Taipai, Taiwan

Hong Kong Electronics Fair  April 12-16

Study: Pico projectors to vastly expand market by 2015

Pacific Media Associates estimates that sales of projectors will surge to 39 million units by 2015, compared with 8.5 million last year. A large part of the growth is expected to come from small units called pico projectors, which are forecast to explode to 27 million units by 2015 -- a significant leap from the 1 million sold in 2010. ElectronicHouse.com

NCR eyes disc sales via new kiosks

NCR, which already operates more than 8,000 Blockbuster Express rental kiosks, is looking at starting a separate venture that would use kiosks to sell new releases on DVD and Blu-ray. Last month, when NCR reported its latest quarterly results, the company said it planned to deploy an additional 3,000 Express kiosks this year. Home Media Magazine

Netflix closes in on a 5-year streaming deal with Miramax

Netflix reportedly is close to a deal worth more than $100 million with Miramax to stream more than 700 films from the studio, including popular titles such as "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction." The studio also held similar talks with Amazon and Facebook, sources said. Earlier this month, rival Warner Bros. Entertainment launched an independent application to rent out movies on Facebook. The Wall Street Journal

Study finds higher engagement levels with 3D Blu-ray discs

Viewers watching a 3D movie on a Blu-ray disc are 12% more engaged than with a standard Blu-ray and nearly 30% more attentive than they are when watching the same film on a conventional DVD, according to a study conducted for the Blu-ray Disc Association by Mindlab International. "3D is a fully immersive format, increasing engagement in viewers," said Duncan Smith of Mindlab. "... 3D technology draws attention to peripheral images on the screen and, coupled with Blu-ray quality definition, it is able to deliver footage that increases engagement and emotional response over all the formats."
Pocket-Lint.com (U.K.)

M-3DI 3D standard for Active-shutter Glasses used in 3D HDTV's.

Aiming for greater interoperability among 3D devices, XpanD 3D has started licensing an active-shutter standard developed with the help of Panasonic. The system, called M-3DI, has been licensed by Panasonic and is designed to allow users to buy a pair of XpanD active-shutter 3D glasses for a Panasonic TV and take them to other places, such as the cinema or a friend's house, that employ comparable systems. Other companies expected to get involved with the M-3DI standard are Changhong, Funai, Hisense, Hitachi, Sanyo, Seiko Epson, Sim2, Mitsubishi, Philips and Viewsonic.


Read more at:
XpanD 3D, Panasonic Team For New 3D Standard

 -----------------

CEA begins standards process for 3D glasses
The Consumer Electronics Association has launched a new standards process for 3D glasses. CEA seeks proposals for standardizing 3D active eyewear that uses an infrared (IR) synchronized interface from consumer-electronics (CE) manufacturers. Interested participants are encouraged to join the 3D Technologies Working Group, R4WG16. "The expanding presence of 3DTV in the home makes the need for interoperable 3D glasses more urgent than ever," said Brian Markwalter, CEA vice president of research and standards. "As the hub of technology industry innovation, CEA is the logical host for such a crucial effort. Industry participation will help meet consumer demand and expectations regarding 3D interoperability in the home." R4WG16 requests that interested parties in the CE industry download the formal Active Eyewear Standards IR Sync Request for Proposal (RFP) and return it to Alayne Bell by 5 p.m. Eastern time Thursday. To join the working group, contact Alayne Bell at (703) 907-5267

Cable Channels Panic Over iPad Streaming App

From Slashdot:
"Time Warner Cable this month released an iPad app that would allow its subscribers to stream (some of) the channels they already pay for to their iPad, so long as they're connected to home Internet service provided by Time Warner Cable. The app probably seems like a baby step to most Slashdotters, and was extremely popular among subscribers — but it's thrown the owners of those channels into a panic, and they're threatening lawsuits. Time Warner says the contracts they've signed with the channels allow broadcast to any device in the home — 'I don't know what a TV is anymore,' says one company exec — but the channel owners fear that this will disrupt current and future revenue streams and that they need to stop it now. 'If we allow this without litigation, everyone will do it tomorrow,' says an anonymous source. 'If we litigate, we have a chance to win.'"

Talk: Content Distribution Networks and Broadcast Video

SVLUG (Silicon Valley Linux Users Group)

Wednesday April 6^th, 2011, 7PM-9PM
Speaker: John Sokol
Location: Symantec (formerly Veritas), Mountain View

Topic: Content Distribution Networks and Broadcast Video 

 

 

The History and Usage of TIFF

Read it here:
The History and Usage of TIFF

Mobile DTV

Climbing the Mobile DTV Summit

Broadcasters have to make it clear that over-the-air television is an integral part of the new media environment.

I think there is a lack of vision with these industries.

There are many live TV streams using Flash over the Internet now that work great on my Droid Cell phone and I am told work on iPhones too.


Here is a little demo / test to try on your home PC and Cell phones.

http://www.videotechnology.com/tv/

Anyhow coming up with different standards and protocols for the "Three Screens"  TV/PC and Cell. Four if you now count table PC/ iPads.

RTSP & RTMP and even MMS can work on all of these screens and there is no need for "special" systems and methods for the Mobile market. In addition there going to make the legal contracts side of this more difficult as well since there will be additional contracts for the Mobile market.

Paramount Pictures To Release Film On Bittorrent

From Slashdot:
In a little over two months time, the long-awaited horror movie "The Tunnel" will receive its world premiere. Rather than a traditional theatrical release, the movie – which is set in abandoned real-life tunnels under Sydney, Australia – will make its debut online for free with BitTorrent. Simultaneously it will be released on physical DVD, to be distributed by Hollywood giant Paramount Pictures.

This is Interesting. Paramount also tried releasing movies on USB drive back in Nov 09 using the Mo-DV DRM technology.

Critical vulnerability in Flash

Adobe is warning its users about a critical vulnerability in Flash that affects Adobe Reader and Acrobat, as well, and is being used in some highly targeted attacks right now. The vulnerability in Flash Player affects Reader and Acrobat, both of which include Flash functionality, but it does not affect Reader.

Read more:

• Security Advisory for Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Acrobat
• Critical vulnerability in Flash and Acrobat

IsoHunt to court: Google is the largest torrent search engine

From techspot.com:
IsoHunt is still fighting its legal battle with the MPAA. In the latest episode, the torrent website filed a reply brief (PDF, via TorrentFreak) to the US Court of Appeals in which it suggests that Google, and not IsoHunt, is the largest BitTorrent search engine on the Internet.
IsoHunt is essentially arguing that if it is going to be targeted by movie studios, so should Google. Last month, Google got involved took interest in the ongoing court case between IsoHunt and the MPAA, fearing that the standing injunction could damage it. Although the search giant did not dispute IsoHunt's liability, the company is clearly concerned. Here's the crux of IsoHunt's argument:

Neither Google nor Plaintiffs mention the 95% overlap between torrents available through Defendants’ systems and torrents available through Google and/or Yahoo!. (AOB 29-30.) Neither Google nor Plaintiffs mention the 96% of Torrentbox tracker users who get torrents from places other than the Torrentbox torrent site, such as from Google or Yahoo! (AOB 11.) Defendants might argue to the jury that it is unfair to hold Defendants liable if Google, unbothered by Plaintiffs, provides torrents to ten or twenty times the number of users that visit Defendants. Defendants might argue that Defendants are being scapegoated. Defendants might argue that holding Defendants liable while ignoring Google would not curtail infringement. Defendants might argue that Plaintiffs have litigation purposes other than curtailing infringement.

Through the appeal, IsoHunt hopes to reverse the permanent injunction which orders it to filter its search results, and obtain a jury trial instead of a summary judgment. In its reply brief, IsoHunt argues that the majority of the files that can be found through its search engine are also available via Google.
While Google is not a torrent search engine, it does index and cache hundreds of millions of pages with directs links to torrent files. There's even a filetype command that allows users to search only for torrent files (by specifying the .torrent extension).

Netflix To Start Creating Original Content

Finally someone is doing this.
This is beautiful, cable will have the show after it's played on Netflix. I love it.


From Slashdot: Netflix To Start Creating Original Content
"Netflix may be known for offering some of our favorite TV and movie streams, but the company is about to step up its game and begin offering original content. Netflix has allegedly outbid a number of major cable networks for a new drama series produced by and starring Kevin Spacey called House of Cards, and may be about to close a deal at more than $100 million, according to a report on Deadline.com."

Time Warner Cable Cuts iPad Live TV Access 50%

From Slashdot: Time Warner Cable Cuts iPad Live TV Access 50%
"According to the article: 'Time Warner Cable March 16 slashed the number of channels available for live streaming on the Apple iPad — less than 24 hours after launching the TV Everywhere app. The No. 2 cable operator reduced to 15 channels from the original 32 offered up as the first-ever live TV broadcasts available for streaming on a portable media device. The concept allows participating media providers to grant unlimited on-demand access across multiple devices to monthly subscribers at no additional charge.'"

 

BBC plans for 3D

The World Teleport Association sent a tweet:
"BBC warns that full 3D tech strategy must be in place by 2012 or current standards will fail to deliver."

BBC warning on 3D standards
[by Julian Clover, broadbandtvnews.com]

The BBC is maintaining its cautious stance on the development of Stereoscopic 3D broadcasting. In an update to its technology strategy, the BBC says much of the current hype has come from the success of recent movie titles and their imminent release on Blu-ray.
In a cautionary note, the BBC says the strategy is expected to have a lifespan that reaches only as far as mid-2012, by when either a full 3D strategy will have been developed, or current 3D standards will have failed to deliver.
The report states: “There is no standardisation of the technologies for acquisition, post production, contribution or distribution of S3D. This approach is likely to suit a smaller but better funded number of players in the movie industry. Within the broader, more diverse and often less well funded television making community a lack of standardisation would be a more significant issue; not just for S3D as a format but also in financial terms for the
producers and commissioning broadcasters.”
Reiterating previous statements that the corporation will not invest in 3D programme production, the BBC says it will continue to investigate the genre through limited trials and participation in standards making. Yesterday it was announced the Wimbledon tennis championships, where the BBC is host broadcaster, will be filmed in 3D. However, the project is being backed by the manufacturer Sony.
Meanwhile, a much more positive outlook is being given to high definition, which says the report will be “business as usual” for the BBC by 2012/13. The BBC puts this down to a combination of the benchmark quality level expected by the viewing audience and because the HD standard is one of the key enablers of the transformation to an efficient end to end digital TV operation
The BBC exclusively supports the 1920 x 1080 HD standard (so called Full HD by the consumer market) for programme making using a range of frame rates and the delivery of programmes with multi-channel audio (surround sound). The plan is for the BBC to work with other UK broadcasters to produce common delivery standards for tape and file based HD programmes. Only platforms capable of meeting a minimum standard will have HD branding.
Support continues for Red Button interactive services with plans to create broadcast and IP “hybrid” services, which include broadcast event driven interactivity on connected TV platforms. The document does not mention the YouView project, continuing the theme started by the BBC’s director of archive content, Roly Keating in his presentation to the DTG Summit on Friday.
Flash, MHEG and HTML will be used in presentation environments, which the BBC says will help it remain relevant on the emerging connected TV platforms.
The Future Media & Technology division will build interactive TV applications using the Krypton Framework and MHEG+.
see the original post here: http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2011/03/08/bbc-warning-on-3d-standards/


BBC plans 3D experiments in the run up to the Olympics 
[By Rob Coppinger, www.theinquirer.net]

It’s unlikely to have an eye-boggling channel

EYE-BOGGLING 3D TELLY experiments will be conducted by the BBC over the next year, but it has no plans for a 3D channel during the Olympic Games.
In its technology strategy update blog post, the corporation has published its strategy document that covers 35 areas and refers to forthcoming 3D trials and its investigation into what the eye-boggling 3D technology means for the future.
Aunty Beeb isn’t too glowing in terms of this 3D future. Its strategy says that by mid-2012 there will either be a full BBC sterescopic 3D programme strategy being developed or nothing.
It says it will publish in due course what programmes, genres and events it will cover with the 3D trials. The INQUIRER strongly suspects that those poncy period dramas will be one of the genres involved.
But for now Aunty Beeb will only tell The INQUIRER, “The BBC is considering a small number of 3DTV editorial experiments in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics.” But this doesn’t mean the Olympics will be broadcast in 3D. Can this forthcoming debacle of Britain’s national humiliation get any more embarrassing?
The BBC’s technology strategy also states that up to 2012 the corporation will plan a capacity roadmap with Internet service providers. It probably needs to do this due to the network capacity busting impact of the Internet protocol telly widget Youview that the BBC is backing and plans to roll out in 2012.
See the original post here: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2032236/bbc-plans-3d-experiments-run-olympics



BBC to take cautious approach to 3D 'hype'

[By Tony Smith www.reghardware.com]

Tests but no shows before mid-2012
The BBC seems no more keen on 3D TV than licence payers, at least for the moment.
In an update to the BBC's technology strategy, published last night, the Corporation confirmed it will not be rolling out a 3D channel until mid 2012 at the earliest, though it does plan to "investigate the technology challenges 3D produces through a series of trials".
The BBC is being cautious because there is "no standardisation of the technologies for acquisition, post production, contribution or distribution" of 3D TV content.
That's clearly a problem because it increases costs - not a trend that will be accepted in the "broader, more diverse and often less well funded television making community" in Britain today, the BBC said.
We'd add that there's relatively little indication viewers want 3D, at least until it becomes a standard feature on reasonably priced tellies.
That's a few years away, and the BBC admits its current 3D strategy is a short-term one, running to mid-2012. Then, either the Corporation will be in a position to develop a specific 3D programme strategy - or the current 3D standards will have failed to deliver or take off.
The eponymous body that oversees the DVB digital TV technology late last month put a DVB 3D standard in place.
We suspect next June's Wimbledon tennis tournament may form the basis for one of the aforementioned trials. Sony said yesterday that it will be shooting the semi-finals and finals in 3D. It will be working with the BBC, it said, which will be recording them in 2D. It's a perfect opportunity for BBC engineers and producers to work with 3D kit provided by Sony

Independent Teleport Operator of the Year: Arqiva

The World Teleport Association Announces Independent Teleport Operator, Teleport Technology and Corporate Social Responsibility Awards at the Annual Teleport Awards For Excellence

Arqiva, XipLink and Thaicom honored for exceptional service and dedication to the teleport industry

(New York City and Washington DC, March 15, 2011) – The World Teleport Association (WTA) announced the recipients of its 16th annual Teleport Awards for Excellence during a luncheon ceremony. The awards are presented each year to organizations and individuals in the teleport industry whose achievements have been deemed exceptional by the international trade association and its awards committees, made up of industry members from across the globe.

The 2011 recipients are:

Independent Teleport Operator of the Year: Arqiva Broadcast and Media – In addition to providing ongoing provision of teleport services for key customers including Sky, BBC, Viacom, ESPN, Universal Networks International, Traffic Sports International, ABS-CBN, USEI, and EchoStar, Arqiva Broadcast and Media (2007 Independent Teleport Operator of the Year) has taken a leadership role in the industry with regard to the electronic delivery of media content to cinemas via satellite. Over the last 12 months, Arqiva has set the bar for Digital Cinema Platforms, including dissemination of films, trailers and advertising to such clients as Dolby, Arts Alliance Media, Opus Arte (The Royal Opera House); Ciel Ecran (Bolshoi Ballet), The Metropolitan Opera, as well as major distributors and cinema chains.

Teleport Technology of the Year: XipLink Hub Optimizations – XipOS Hub Optimizations (“XHO”) feature bandwidth savings and performance enhancements that operate on a standalone appliance located at the teleport or Internet point of presence in a satellite network, allowing operators to compress HTTP traffic by a factor of 1.5. The technology can be limited to the teleport only with no changes to remote sites, yet offers a highly effective bandwidth savings solution that can span multiple networks at the same time. A recent deployment for Omniglobe significantly reduced bandwidth to remote communities by a blended rate of over 15%, resulting in considerably faster web browsing for users, better use of the bandwidth, a higher potential subscription ratio, with an ROI of only a few months.

Corporate Social Responsibility Award: Thaicom – According to the statistics of Distant Learning Foundation in 2009, there were 30,000 schools under the Ministry of Education throughout Thailand, with 10,000 in rural areas unable to access the national education channels. Thaicom established an ongoing program to support education in these rural areas by installing DTH terminals and televisions in select schools to level the educational opportunities between kids in rural areas versus those living in cities. As of the end of February 2011, 759 of the projected 999 school installations were completed. In addition, Thaicom employees volunteer at 63 schools.

The winners for all three categories were selected by a volunteer committee of WTA members and previous Award winners based on nominations submitted during the first quarter of 2011.

In addition to the above honorees, WTA presented the previously announced Teleport Executive of the Year to Adrian Ballintine, President of NewSat.

The 2011 Luncheon and Awards Ceremony, sponsored by SES, hosted many of the world’s leading teleport operators and previous winners of WTA’s Teleport Awards for Excellence. A senior representative from SES, Chris Schram, gave the Host's Welcome and presented the awards to the recipients, with WTA Director of Development Louis A. Zacharilla announcing the winners.

Commenting on the 2011 Awards, WTA’s Director of Development Louis Zacharilla noted that, "Innovation and dedication to service have long been motivating drivers for the teleport industry. Each of the finalists in the 2011 Teleport Awards for Excellence has gone above and beyond a daily commitment to quality operations. As a group they exemplify the drive that has made this industry successful, as well as a community with a dedication to helping others.”

About World Teleport Association
Since 1985, the World Teleport Association (www.worldteleport.org) has focused on improving the business of satellite communications from the ground up. At the core of its membership are the world's most innovative operators of teleports, from independents to multinationals, niche service providers to global carriers. WTA is dedicated to advocating for the interests of teleport operators in the global telecommunications market and promoting excellence in teleport business practice, technology and operations.
Independent Teleport Operator of the Year: Arqiva Broadcast and Media – In addition to providing ongoing provision of teleport services for key customers including Sky, BBC, Viacom, ESPN, Universal Networks International, Traffic Sports International, ABS-CBN, USEI, and EchoStar, Arqiva Broadcast and Media (2007 Independent Teleport Operator of the Year) has taken a leadership role in the industry with regard to the electronic delivery of media content to cinemas via satellite. Over the last 12 months, Arqiva has set the bar for Digital Cinema Platforms, including dissemination of films, trailers and advertising to such clients as Dolby, Arts Alliance Media, Opus Arte (The Royal Opera House); Ciel Ecran (Bolshoi Ballet), The Metropolitan Opera, as well as major distributors and cinema chains.

NASA Building Network of Smart Cameras Across US

From Slashdot: NASA Building Network of Smart Cameras Across US

"A major government agency is looking to blanket the US with cameras that will never stop their surveillance. But don't worry, privacy pundits, those cameras will be spying on the sky, not civilians. NASA's All-sky Fireball Network is a series of cameras that track meteorites as they enter the atmosphere. With careful triangulation, NASA can not only know where the meteorites will land, they can determine where they came from as well. One of the coolest parts of the All-sky Fireball Network is that it's fully automated. Meteors are detected by a computer which sends images, video clips, and data analysis to William Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. Now you can get the same information as Cooke, too – the All-sky Fireball Network's website publicly records all the data for you to peruse."

 This sounds a lot like my SETINE idea, "Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Near Earth"

Time Warner Cable Launches iPad App With Live streaming TV

I always felt TV would be the Killer app for the iPad. I can see kids sitting in bed or doing  homework with their iPads blasting away with cartoons or music. 

The new app will play 30 basic cable channels in high definition to start, but that number should expand soon.

The app will be free to download on Tuesday morning, but it will only work for people who subscribe to both video and Internet service from the New York-based cable company. Even then, it only works in the home, when connected to the company's cable modem via a Wi-Fi router.
 
So they are never going over the Internet, just with the Time Warner Network.

Companies such as Netflix Inc. and Hulu Inc. already have apps that stream movies and TV shows to the iPad, bypassing, in some respects, cable companies. However, the apps don't show live TV.


From Slashdot:
"Time Warner Cable Inc. is launching an iPad application that plays live TV, becoming the first cable company to do so. The app will be free to download on Tuesday morning, but it will only work for people who subscribe to both video and Internet service from the New York-based cable company. Even then, it only works in the home, when the iPad is connected to the company's cable modem via a Wi-Fi router."

Top U.S. Online Video Content providers by videos viewed September 2010

Top U.S. Online Video Content providers by videos viewed
September 2010

Site	Total Unique Viewers (000)	Viewing Sessions (000)	Minutes per Viewer
Google Sites	144,166	1,904,315	260.4
Yahoo! Sites	54,356	239,154	31.5
Facebook	52,174	202,813	18.5
Microsoft Sites	45,490	282,449	40.6
Fox Interactive Media	43,851	240,037	18.3
VEVO	43,650	208,442	73.3
Viacom	33,570	72,095	46.7
NBC Universal	29,961	62,315	16.5
Hulu	29,890	145,070	162.6
Turner Network	27,195	91,836	25.4
Total Internet	174,685	5,254,794	863.7

from comScore Video Metrix

The effects of live video on society.

19-year-old Commits Suicide on Justin.tv
http://gigaom.com/video/19-year-old-commits-suicide-on-justintv/

I'd like to add more commentary and also some additional links, but I am not in the mood.

Are AT&T Download caps an attack against Internet Video?

I have measured Netflix and it's sending on average 2.4 Mbps of data while watching a movie, this is 300KB/s.

A 150 GB caps is 138 Hours of Netflix level of streaming video; Or 4.6 Hours of TV viewing per day.

With High definition content like 1080i HD which we can now stream over the Internet we would hit this cap faster.

For now it's probably reasonable to charge a little extra, at least it's a soft cap, rather then just cutting you off.

I think I prefer this to what Comcast is doing by trying to charge Netflix extra or there long history of slowing down connections.




From Wired: AT&T Puts Broadband Users on Monthly Allowance:

AT&T broadband users will soon face a cap on the amount of internet data they can download a month. Traditional DSL users will be capped at 150 GB per month, while subscribers to the fiber-backed UVerse system have a 250-GB limit. Usage over that will be charged at $10/month for 50 GB, the company says

So, how could a user end up hitting these caps? Streaming video such as HD movies from Netflix, using bit torrent to download movies and heavy gaming with services like Steam can easily eat up lots of data, especially in households with multiple heavy internet users.

From Engadget: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees (update)

From Slashdot : AT&T To Introduce Broadband Caps

• Comcast Rolls Out Broadband Meters Coast to Coast
• Bowing to Pressure, Time Warner Alters Broadband Caps
• ISP Download Caps Not Dead, But Ought to Be
• Time Warner Cable Earnings Refute Download Cap Economics (Again)
• Congressman Wants to Ban Download Caps

Justin.tv's Live Video Broadcasting Architecture

Read Article:
Justin.tv's Live Video Broadcasting Architecture

Platform

1. Twice - custom web caching system. (http://code.google.com/p/twicecache/)
2. XFS - file system.
3. HAProxy - software load balancing.
4. The LVS stack and ldirectord - high availability.
5. Ruby on Rails - application server
6. Nginx - web server.
7. PostgreSQL - database used for user and other meta data.
8. MongoDB - used for their internal analytics tools.
9. MemcachedDB - used for handling high write data like view counters.
10. Syslog-ng - logging service.
11. RabitMQ - used for job system.
12. Puppet - used to build servers.
13. Git - used for source code control.
14. Wowza - Flash/H.264 video server, plus lots of custome modules written in Java.
15. Usher - custom business logic server for playing video streams.
16. S3 - small image storage.

The Stats

1. 4 datacenters spread through out the country.
2. At any given time there's close to 2,000 incoming streams.
3. 30 hours per minute of video is added each day.
4. 30 million unique visitors a month.
5. Average live bandwidth is about 45 gigabits per second. Daily peak bandwidth at about 110 Gbps. Largest spike has been 500 Gbps.
6. Approximately 200 video servers, based on commodity hardware, each capable of sending 1Gbps of video. Smaller than most CDNs yet larger than most video websites.
7. About 100TB of archival storage is saved per week.
8. The complete video path can't have more than 250 msecs of latency before viewers start losing the ability to converse and interact in real-time.

The worlds smallest camera.

Microcamera for use on the tip of endoscopes
(Credit: Image courtesy of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft)

At 1 Cubic MM and a resolution of 62,500 pixels this is possibly the smallest camera ever made.

Stephan Voltz, who is the CEO of Awaiba GmbH, says that "at 1.0 x 1.0 x 1.0 millimeters, this camera is as small as coarsely ground grain of salt -- the smallest camera that we are aware of."

The new microcamera was developed that the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) in Berlin, has developed together with Awaiba GmbH and with the support of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena, Germany.

Read more:
Medical Microcamera the Size of a Grain of Salt Gives Razor-Sharp Images, Very Inexpensively

Teardown of the Microsoft Kinect

Teardown of the Microsoft Kinect
EDN Editor Brian Dipert and iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens tear down and analyze the Microsoft Kinect at DesignCon 2011 in Santa Clara, Calif.

Boxee Scores $16.5M Investment

Video on the Internet takes another step forward.

From Slashdot 3/1/2011 : Boxee Scores $16.5M Investment

"Boxee, maker of the free Boxee multimedia-player software platform for PCs and Macs, and the smarts behind D-Link's recently introduced Boxee Box, has just received $16.5 million more funding. Following several significant firmware updates and the addition of new apps for Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and other content sources, all pushed automatically out to users' devices, the $199 D-Link Boxee Box is finally stating to feel more like a finished product than a beta-test device. What's next for Boxee? The D-Link device will soon be joined by two more Boxee-powered devices: a Boxee NAS device from Iomega and a ViewSonic TV running Boxee, and one of the main uses of the company's new funding will be to "sign up more device and distribution partners," says Boxee CEO Avner Ronen."

From Slashdot 2/26/2011 : Boxee Box Matures; Another Look At the Platform
"Though D-Link actually started shipping the Boxee Box media player back in Q4 of last year, it was obvious that it needed a bit more polish to offer a reasonably satisfying experience. Since that time, Boxee has released a number of firmware and platform updates that enhance the device and bring new services, like full 1080p movie content from Vudu and what could be considered critical mass in mainstream movie rentals, Netflix. The Boxee Box has had time to mature and this full walk-through of the system shows it's actually an interesting alternative to competitive products in this class of device, like Apple TV, Google TV and Roku. There's still lots of work to be done in fleshing out services and content but the Boxee platform has a bit more polish behind it now."

Comcast has been trying to extort money from Netflix.

It seems that for a while now Comcast has been threatening to interfere with Netflix video traffic if they aren't paid an additional Fee. The FCC just wasn't doing anything to enforce Net Neutrality.

Comcast has a long history of abusing it's power as an ISP and the only Internet option available in many locations, consumers have little choice of service and are most completely unaware of the issues that have been taking place.

With selective Internet traffic disruption consumers are more likely to blame a site like Netflix rather then there local ISP that is actually causing the denial of services to it's own customers.

Comcast has a conflict of interest because they see Internet video as a direct threat to their cash cow, premium Cable TV channels, such as Showtime that is also available as VOD on Netflix.

With such a Showtime VOD over the net, Recording shows using a PVR just makes no sense as the shows are just available at any time to watch.

With the popularity of Internet video many people are leaving cable TV in favor of Internet only content.  This is similar to how many people also no longer have Land Line phone servers and only have Internet VOIP or Cell phones for making calls.

See some interesting articles below on this.



From Slashdot 3/1/2011 : Comcast-NBC Deal Accidentally Protects Internet?

"Details of the conditions that the Department of Justice required to approve Comcast's purchase of NBC have emerged today. Blogger Kevin Fogarty looks at the details — Comcast is forbidden from blocking Netflix over its pipes, and must sell NBC shows via iTunes and other similar services — and concludes that Internet access for everybody, including business users, has been protected, more or less by accident."

From DSLReports 2/18/2011: Will FCC Act On Level3 Comcast Dispute?

a request by the cable industry and AT&T that the FCC clarify their position on Comcast's financial dispute with Level3 -- which Level3 insists involves Comcast using their size to impose a new toll on Netflix traffic, but Comcast insists is just a run of the mill peering dispute. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but it's hard to for anyone to be certain given the agreement between Comcast and Level3 is confidential.

From DSLReports 11/29/2010 : Level3 Accuses Comcast Of Net Neutrality Violation

Level3 today accused Comcast of demanding an additional fee from Level3 to transmit Internet online movies and other content to Comcast customers. According to a Level3 press release, Comcast informed Level3 earlier this month that they'd be requiring the supposedly new recurring fee, which Level3 believes violates not only the FCC's policy statements on neutrality (which have shown to not be worth much on the enforcement front) and Comcast's previous proclaimed dedication to an open Internet.