DirecTV2PC is a media extender which talks to your DirecTV HD DVR unit.  You can watch any show which is already recorded or being recorded, but not "live" TV.  Granted you only have to be time shifted about 30 seconds, but you can't channel surf.

DirecTV2PC has some pretty stiff requirements for use, so it may not work on all of your computers.  Because of this CyberLink has created an Advisor tool which will tell you if the software will work on your system.  As long as you have no Red lights you should be good to go, with a few caveats.

My CPU is a little low which is an issue, but I don't understand why my GeForce 9800GT got a Yellow.

When I first installed the Application I got a RED indicating that there was a problem.  The Geforce 6000 series card I had in the system, lacked HDCP support.  If I used a VGA monitor this would be ok, but for DVI and HDMI support you need to have HDCP.

A quick $150 upgrade to my PC and I got the above.

My network was the next issue.  The Ethernet over Power Adapter I was using wouldn't pass multicast traffic, and was incrementing the Time To Live (TTL) a quick swap from the 85mbps version to the 200mbps version allowed me to connect, but then I was getting a new error.  "Cannot Connect to the Server".  Turns out that I had to disable Hamachi and Internet Connection Sharing or I couldn't connect to actually play content.  As I wasn't using either of these features it was not a big deal.

One Last Issue, I can't run Dual Monitors while watching TV.  This is frustrating because the entire idea was that I would be able to run TV on one screen and work on the other.  Oh, well.

Once I got the software running it works well.  Browsing my DVR is simple, and the shows look good, the deinterlacer seems to work well, but not Amazing.  I'd prefer a Bob method to the method being used which drops content to 30fps.

My Laptop works flawlessly over 802.11G Wifi.  The downmix on the audio from 5.1 to Stereo is clear, and sounds good.  Far better experience than watching shows on ABC.com or Hulu.com.  And I can fast forward the Ads.  Sure it doesn't let me take the shows to work, but everything else about the experience is superior.

Watching my favorite shows on a 30 second delay outside in the hot tub, isn't something I need to do every day, but lets face it, sometimes you just don't want to have to choose between relaxing in the Summer Sun, and relaxing with Summer Glau.

Some little idiots used Digg and Wikipedia to spread the lie that teen actress Miley Cyrus had died in a car accident last night caused by "an unidentified black man"—and Yahoo News picked up the story. The hoax was short-lived. By this morning, it was hard to tell who, if anyone—aside from Yahoo—actually fell for it (There are a lot of threads titled "Is Miley Cyrus Dead?"  and "Did Miley Cyrus die in car crash".

"This report is a hoax planted by cruel pranksters on Digg.com and the ever reliable Wikipedia.com. Miley Cyrus is very much alive. According to the report, Miley Cyrus died in a fatal car crash on the way to the set of Hannah Montana. The report goes on to state that the young starlet was on her way to the filming of the upcoming 'Hannah Montana' Series when her vehicle was reportedly hit by a large truck, according to internet reports."

The Tesla has a suspension that doesn't shake you near as much as the Lotus, and the position of my head was such that I was in the car, rather than in the lotus where my head is above the roll bar.  The Tesla's styling is less aggressive than the Lotus, but also less kiddie.  The lotus looks like a hot wheels car.  The Tesla looks like it was designed by someone with refinement.

For as many high points as the vehicle has it does lack some refinements I would expect in such a high end car.  The JVC audio system looks stuck in.  Like if you replaced the beautifully integrated sound system and computer from my Mini with one from Walmart, and did the install yourself.  There is also the lack luster suede seats.  They just look and feel Lancer, not Porsche or BMW.  Interestingly some features which are not on a Lotus because they add to the weight, are power windows and air conditioning are included on the Tesla.

The fast 0-60 in 4.7 seconds is faster than my Mini (5.6), but the 125 mph top speed is well short of the 146 which I have been clocked at in the Mini.  The price of fuel per mile on the Tesla work out to a 70 mpg equivalent versus the 32mpg that the Mini gets.  But I would have to put 500k miles on the car to recoup the difference in sticker price with the difference in gas prices.

I asked about track days, something that I really think justifies the extra money of a sports car.  Taking the Tesla to the track is discouraged.  While the Tesla is fast, and sporty, it just isn't designed to run all out for long periods of time.  The motors, the power cells, and the cooling just aren't adequate to running 30 laps at Leguna Seca.

I saw your post on Craigslist regarding your search for a personal assistant. I may be able to assist you with some of your responsibilities so you can focus on your career. I see that a lot of the things you listed can be done on the weekend such as running errands, shopping for groceries and clothes, and attending oil change appointments. I can help you arrange a routine housekeeper to come clean your house as I do not to perform housekeeping duties. I can also help you look after your cats while you are away either on vacation or on a business trip. I prefer not to write blog-posts but hope that I am able to free up enough of your time with the other duties so that you can tend to that. If given the opportunity, I will be happy to accompany you to your social functions but will not accompany you back to your house after any of the "dates".
I noticed that you are offering $1200/month. My rate for the personal assistant duties is $35/hour. I live in Fremont and will not be needing room and board or food or a laptop. I would only need reimbursement for costs that I spend for the job (ie. gas, oil change money, clothing if we are attending formal social functions).
A little about me - I am 24 years old and work full-time as an accountant but am flexible around breaks and lunch time to help you manage your appointments. I am fun and energetic and I have full sense of integrity. I carry a blackberry and am accessible quickly. I can multi-task and I have a great attitude all around. I love learning about entreprenuership and would like to get out of the rat race myself one day.
I understand that you are a busy professional and as such, if there are more responsibilities that you need help with, we can discuss. I hope I can alleviate your busy planner and free up some of your time. I hope to hear from you.

My post was pretty clear on what the compensation was.  And if someone wanted to try to negotiate up, I'd be interested, but generally you would negotiate up 30% if you really kicked ass.  Asking for double is not going to happen.  Saying that you are only going to do a small portion of the total job description, like I nanny, but I don't do diapers isn't going to fly.  If it were one thing, like "I don't write blog posts" maybe I'd consider, but saying you can arrange for someone to do those, is far from acceptable.

I'd never take a job as a Fry Cook, and during the interview say, "yeah I don't actually work the deep fat frier, but I'll hire someone to do that".

I would also never insinuate that my perspective employer was looking for something inappropriate.  I have interviewed 2 males, for the position who pointed out that they would not be accompanying me on the red carpet as my date.  I also have interviewed to married women who said their husbands would get a kick out of explaining to their friends why they were on my arm at the Emmy's.

So, He who wishes to remain nameless, if you want to learn about being an entrepreneur you should first learn to be respectful in your communications, that you identify what your clients needs are, and when you approach them, make sure you can answer those needs with in the scope of what they are looking to do.  You failed at that pretty miserably.

In short, you missed the point of the position, which leads me to believe you should evaluate what you want to be doing with your life, because you are looking for a job, not a career. My opportunity is the first step in moving on a career path, I don't want some one who will just fill the role, I want some one who will do this as a chance to better themselves, learn, and go on to something better.

If any of the rest of you are interested in the position of personal Assistant, you can check out my ad on CL.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/dmg/867969534.html (domestic gigs)

To reset the display settings of the Xbox 360 console to the default settings, follow these steps:
1. Remove any discs from the disc tray.
2. Turn the console off.
3. Turn the console on.
Note If you are using an Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, turn the console on by using the Xbox Guide button on the controller. Make sure that you use the player 1 controller when you do this. The player 1 controller will have the upper-left quadrant light illuminated.
4. As the console starts, press and hold the Y button, and then pull the right trigger at the same time.
5. The Xbox Dashboard resets the display settings to the default settings, and then automatically restarts the console

It works like a charm and only takes a second.

You can find out more about June, Nadia and Nicole at their sites.

If you tell them Brandon sent you, they will give you a better price, rather than the $120 each an hour I have arranged that they will give you this amazing massage for $100 each per hour.

Give them a call at (310) 997-8460  June's Studio is located on Westwood, in LA.

Craigslist used to be much more community oriented than it is now.  You knew many of the regular posters.  Now it is just a Spam haven.  The problem with communities is that you have to have a certain ratio of pillars to peons, and as communities grow often the pillar ratio goes down.

This is what happened in the blog community, Myspace, Facebook, and I believe it is fast happening to Craig's List. 

Similar to the Grand Theft Auto 4 joke about $1000 ring tones.  This is the ultimate bling for the iPhone.

If I'd known there was no barrier to getting an app listed in the iPhone App store I'd have made one that did the same thing… but I'd have given you a coupon code to have it tell you how smart, and beautiful you are in a sexy voice using your name.

There are some parts of the treatment which might cause you to burn fat, but it is still not something I would recommend.  Through exercise, Niacin, and fasting, the body burns a lot of calories, and is not given many back.  This does cause the body to metabolize fat, but can cause hypoglycemic shock, and other fairly serious problems.

If dangerous drugs were stored in your body's fat, metabolizing them all at once seems like it would be a bad idea.

Niacin is an essential nutrient, but the large doses prescribed during Purif cause Niacin Flush, rosacia which can cause problems for people who might not know they have other problems like Raynaud's Disease (like me). 

Raynaud's disease and Raynaud's phenomenon are rare disorders that affect blood vessels. These disorders are marked by brief episodes of vasospasm (narrowing of the blood vessels). Vasospasm causes decreased blood flow to the fingers and toes, and rarely to the nose, ears, nipples, and lips. The fingers are the most commonly affected area, but the toes also are affected in 40 percent of people with Raynaud's. 

When combined with the Niacin flush Capillaries can burst causing inflammation, and darkening of the hands, feet, nose, and ears.  Raynauds is more common in people who have lived in a cold Climate, like Toledo, Ohio, where Katie is from.

I haven't rented a movie over Xbox Live in a long while, but seeing as I'm all excited for the Netflix titles to come to the console this Fall, I figured I'd start getting into it more. Last night I sat down to download The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I figured it would take 5-10 minutes to get enough information to start playing and then go. Wrong.
2 hours later I was still waiting as the download pushed past 40%. Fucking ridiculous. I shut it off and went to bed.

AppleTV, Roku, Akimbo, VuDu, they all suck. If you want a great experience… I don't have someone to point you to.

Cell phones live in people's pockets, sit on desks, and have caller ID.    Well not this one.

If you want a phone that looks different than all the others this is the phone for you.  If you need a phone that is easy to sneak into prison, Then this may be the phone for you, but if you like your phone to stay where you put it, or let you know how is calling, this is not the phone for you.

But for a dual use phone/personal massager this is a pretty cool design.

"Girls who wax must be insane… In my attempt to be a little more metro, or atleast a little less hick I have been making a concerted effort to do things like make sure I keep my eyebrows groomed, and that the occasional random hair that decides that my adams apple is a good place to grow gets plucked. So one of my friends recommends Nads, which is this strange Green gel that you put on and then use what looks like a piece of t-shirt to press and rip the hair out "with minimal discomfort". As some one who has had some fairly painful stuff happen… I can say… It ranks up there. It took my hair, my skin, I think there may have been chunks of bone…It certainly gave me worse razor burn than shaving, and my little bits of "t-shirt are now blood stained. I'll stick to tweezers."

I was reminded of the above, because today I dropped a fair bit of money on skin care products, which I will attempt to review, but I got suckered in, because this cute girl with a bit of a french accent practically races over to me from 50 feet away, (felt like those scenes from the movies where reunited lovers run towards each other in the open field) runs the back of her hand across my face, and says, "what do you use as an aftershave? 'Tis positively awful" and she scrunches her face in disgust "Come, seet down, I show you something better"

So I have supposedly purchased $300 worth of cleanser, exfoliant, and aftershave, which she says will last me a year.  Now based on that number I'm looking at $25 a month for skin care.  I barely spend that on TV.  Oh, well.  She says, "You will look 10 years younger, they card you at the raves".

Also from the past… But relevant as I am buying new to replace old….

Not that it is a big deal, or that any of you need to know about my underwear choices, but I recently bought a package of underwear that is lacking the "barn door" that is common on mens underwear. While it seems a non-issue, it perplexed me none the less that Hanes would make a "Premium" line of boxer briefs that would be missing this "Feature" is it a feature that they don't have it? Who decided we didn't need it? And shouldn't it be advertised that they don't have it? Just perplexing.

And while I'm on a rant… Why are all shoes in size 14 ugly?  And why am I a 36-36 in wranglers, and 40-34 in Levi's?  and Hugo Boss Told me "We have nothing in your size you are too tall, try Gap"  because when I'm looking at $150 jeans the place I want to go look after is $15 jeans? 

Ok, I'm going home to give my self a moisturizing treatment, and then overhaul my engine, and cut wood, because if I don't I may become, emasculate.

I had a "discussion" with someone who I work with who used the "authority by association" argument that Apple was the best platform for video and image editing.  I have long argued that even if you like the software, Apple has been notorious for F'ing the color space, which creates problems if you want what you have created to look right on anything other than the same model Apple you were working on.

The argument against using Macs for Video and Image editing was legitimized earlier this year by the iMac display class action suit. But the latest "proof" of Apple's lack of understanding of  conformance with standards, or even consistency in their product lines is the new iPhone 3g with its new less white display.  Now all of your photos can have that warm sepia look. iPhone 3G and firmware 2.0- the day after or Apple- iPhone 3G display color warmer by design have images of the old vs. the new. 

The New less compliant display will make your children look a little less pale, and their eyes have a bit more of that Yellow "crazy" look.  The previous iphone actually did a pretty good job with taking photos that were the same color when they were displayed as taken, and accurately reproduced colors from images taken on other phones, but the new display, which has a warmer color simply has a "wrong" colored back light, so gradients aren't smooth, and contrast is greatly decreased.

Granted the iphone is not designed to be a "proofing" quality display, but it would be nice if your slide decks for elevator pitches done in an elevator would be the same color as when you made them on your desktop, or if your Wedding dress photos, didn't look like you had been playing in the dirt before hand, or your smiling friends didn't look like chain smokers with yellowed teeth.

I visited Linda's Massage in Saratoga, and Anna gave me a great massage starting with her feet, and then finishing with a deep tissue massage by hand.  Well worth the $60 for an hour session.  I feel much more limber, and have much less tension in my legs and shoulders, and my back hasn't felt this good in years.  I'll be making this a regular appointment.

Call for appointment (408)292-1016 or walk-ins OK too.

Map
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1117+Shasta+Ave,+San+Jose,+CA+95126,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=image

Tell them Brandon sent you.  (not because they will give you a discount, or me a kick back, but because I like people to know that word of mouth advertising works).

When you are done check out Tee Nee Thai which is in the same parking lot and has very good Thai food, in a very pleasant atmosphere. 

ZillionTV Corporation (www.zilliontv.tv), headquartered in Santa Clara, is developing a next-generation consumer television service which will change TV as you know it. 

We are currently seeking experienced talent to be a part of our rapidly growing team. We have an immediate need for a Manager of Digital/Online Marketing, reporting directly to the Vice President of Global Marketing. This person will be directly responsible for online content management, program execution and delivery to support ZillionTV digital initiatives. We are seeking an experienced online marketer who will help define and support both short-term and long-term objectives, based on the needs of internal stakeholders, external partners and consumers. This individual will also oversee the strategy, management and ROI/efficiency of all online acquisition channels. Additional responsibilities include search engine optimization, development of lead generation programs, managing social media opportunities, email campaign management and identification and placement of online advertising. This is a vital role in our organization with tremendous growth potential.

Responsibilities

• Manage the content, design and structure of the ZillionTV public website; oversee design and content standards
• Manage agency relationships to develop new site designs and templates based on defined strategy
• Perform detailed analysis and manage reporting systems for continuous improvement
• Ensure that all areas of the site deliver a consistent positive user experience
• Manage web analytics including detailed analysis
• Responsible for optimizing site traffic; develop programs to drive desired traffic to the site
• Manage ongoing maintenance of website; responsible for site enhancements, collaboration with outside agency for prioritization and scheduling
• Conduct research as necessary to ensure site is consistent with our competitive positioning and adheres to industry leading practices
• Own direct marketing efforts and email vendor relationship, ensuring service provision and favorable cost structure
• Ensure compliance with CAN-SPAM and other direct marketing legislation
• Work closely with advertising agency for online banner placement
  

Skills and Experience

• Minimum 5+ years of directly relevant, online marketing programs
• BA/BS required
• Proven experience managing outside agencies, as well as leading teams and / or projects
• Experience in managing website usability and analytics; training in information architecture and user experience preferred
• General knowledge of primary and secondary search engine mechanics
• Basic understanding of HTML, JavaScript, and overall technical parameters
• Demonstrated success in creating and executing online marketing programs
• Proven ability to deliver initiatives on-budget and under a deadline
• Strong writing and editorial skills; experience in the development of online content preferred
• Results-oriented, attention to detail, ability to prioritize and meet aggressive deadlines
• Excellent leadership, project management and interpersonal communications skills; ability to collaborate effectively with employees at all organizational levels
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task, set and manage expectations in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to work in a team environment and in a growing, dynamic organization

Position: PR Manager

ZillionTV Corporation (www.zilliontv.tv), headquartered in Santa Clara, is developing a next-generation consumer television service, which will change TV as you know it. 

We are currently seeking experienced talent to be a part of our rapidly growing team. We have an immediate need for a Public Relations Manager, reporting directly to the Vice President of Global Marketing. We're seeking an experienced, driven, and results-oriented professional to oversee all PR/Communications activities. The PR Manager will play a key role in serving as the primary lead for all PR initiatives and speaking opportunities for the Executive team. This is a vital role in our organization with tremendous growth potential.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate company-wide PR campaigns and manage external PR agency to support ZillionTV launch and ongoing initiatives

• Spearhead media outreach, including developing relationships with key press and working with management team on corporate messaging and positioning; develop, maintain and distribute press kits and media assets

• Manage corporate announcement process, including writing and editing releases; overseeing internal, legal, and partner approval; handling distribution over news wire services; and working with website marketing team to ensure timely release posting

• Assist in the writing of byline articles, executive speeches and presentations

• Drive strategic thinking, development, execution, and measurement of speaking and award opportunities

• Serve as on-site PR spokesperson at trade shows and conferences, including meeting with press to discuss the company and its service offering

• Help support a social media program responsible for driving online communities centered around key initiatives

• Help manage proactive and reactive PR around product-related news and technologies with emphasis on a high-quality product reviews program

• Monitor, distribute, and respond to competitive news while staying abreast of global industry issues

Skills and Experience

• Minimum 5+ years in public relations; entertainment industry experience a plus
• BA/BS required
• Proven experience managing external PR agencies
• Proven track record of success leading the execution of PR plans to advance products and/or corporate agendas among press, analysts and consumers
• Exceptional verbal and written communications skills required
• Excellent leadership, project management and interpersonal communications skills; ability to collaborate effectively with employees at all organizational levels
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task, set and manage expectations in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to work in a team environment and in a growing, dynamic organization

If you are interested in applying, please include (3) writing samples.

Good scam.  From the look of it a lot of people I would have said are sane fell for it.  Thanks a bunch Miss Moore, and Mr. Montgomery.  (first names removed to protect the guilty)

"High end Features" include Rubber surrounds and Focus?  All Binoculars have these features with out them your binoculars are worthless. 

I am intrigued by SHAMWOW which was the commercial after.

· Effectively grow, manage and lead the quality assurance team

· Leverage various teams and resources as necessary to maximize efficiency

· Build relationships with various development teams to evolve and improve the quality assurance strategy

· Drive the development and implementation of more mature quality assurance processes, methods and tools

· Motivate, mentor and collaborate with members of all technical teams

· Optimize quality assurance planning and execution to support trade-off decisions between cost, schedule and quality

· Represent the QA team in cross-functional meetings for release planning and system enhancements

Skills and Requirements:

:

· Multiple years experience as a Quality Assurance Manager, Software Test Manager or related position managing technical teams with an ongoing desire to be hands-on driving project execution and change with a can-do attitude

· Experience with large scale enterprise as well as web applications systems in a open source UNIX/Linux, C++/Java, Apache, Tomcat, relational database (Oracle) environment is a MUST

· Experience leading a quality assurance team and developing quality assurance strategy is highly preferred

· Experience with all phases of software product development lifecycle, including requirements definition, design, specifications, development, test, product release, and sustaining engineering activities

· Experience with different development and test methodologies is preferred

· Very strong written and verbal communication as well as excellent leadership

· Prior start-up experience

· Internet media experience is desirable

· Degree in Computer Science and/or 10+ years related work experience

Send resumes to careers@zilliontv.tv

Quality Assurance Engineer (Set-Top Box)
ZillionTV is looking for a Quality Assurance Engineer who will be directly involved in ensuring the quality of revolutionary TV experience for the company. This person will work closely with our development, operations, customer support and product management teams to establish systems and processes that ensure that software is tested thoroughly and effectively. To meet ZillionTV's challenging development schedules and operational requirements, this position requires a highly motivated individual comfortable with rapid changes in direction and environment. The successful candidate will be customer oriented, results driven (i.e. metrics oriented) and passionate about building a cost efficient set of applications that meet our company's growth and customer experience requirements.
Responsibilities:

· Develops, modifies, executes, reviews and approves test plans. Analyzes and writes test standards and procedures.

· Maintains documentation of test results to assist in debugging and modification of software.

· Analyzes test results to ensure existing functionality and recommends corrective action

· Design and implementation of automated tools

Skills and Requirements:

· Experience with large scale STB environment and testing

· Experience with Black box as well as White box testing of STB application

· Experience with an MSO, Telco or IPTV service provider is desirable

· Experience with different development and test methodologies is preferred

· Experience with QA processes and tools, test management systems, QA automation and how it applies within a development environment, analyzing bug trends.

· Very strong written and verbal communication as well as excellent leadership

· Prior start-up experience

· Internet media experience is desirable

· Degree in Computer Science and/or 10+ years related work experience

· Experience with test automation frameworks is a plus

Send Resumes to careers@zilliontv.tv

I’m working at a company ZillionTV  What makes a guy drawing 6 figures from his home with the ability to work in his bath robe want to get up every morning fight commute traffic, and show up for a 9 to 9 job?  Potential.  I can’t tell you anything about Zillion, they are in stealth mode at the moment, and for good reason.  These guys are the real deal, and when they hit they will be light years ahead of anyone out there, but I don’t want someone to critique, prejudge, or overhype what is coming.  So all I’m going to tell you is what you can tell from the name.  TV and lots of it.

Something is coming.

My second position is for a Media Player software developer.  An ideal candidate has experience working with direct show, Mpeg Transport streams, DRM, and De-multiplexers.  Experience with network flow control is a bonus but not required.

If you are interested in either of these positions, or just want to be considered for any position we might have at Zillion TV in the future e-mail me brandon.wirtz at zilliontv.tv

This is a great company, and I enjoy working with this group.  If you read my blog on a regular basis you will probably fit in, so even if you don't fit these two postings, feel free to forward your resume and I will pass it to the appropriate person.

The first is that in order to get complete coverage they end up being much thicker than a traditional condom.  This means reduced feeling, which can be a mixed blessing depending on who is harder to please the male or the female.

Second there is no reservoir at the tip, which is the single most common cause of condom failure, is failure to apply the condom such that there is a bit of space at the end for ejaculate.

Third is that most men are not completely hairless.  Even if you are well groomed, even two or three stray hairs are going to hurt a great deal when they are ripped out as you remove the latex.  Hence the expression that some one has you by the short and curlies.

I also think that you can put on a condom rather discretely, with out killing the romance.  Breaking out the spray doesn't play well with my idea of romance.

If you were looking at the American Idol results for example there will be a lot of people who are rooting for Brook because they are guys who root for girls, teen girls root for the young David, so polling is predicting for popularity contests.  Sporting events aren't popularity contests, so all of those Detroit Red Wings Fans who vote that they will win the Stanley Cup may not be wrong, but they are likely also not making informed votes.  Instead you are mining for the guy that votes for Red Wings to win all but 2 games.  Filtering out the darts that fly true is then the challenge for a company like predicifty.

They are seemingly doing quite well, certainly if you followed their predictions you could make money betting on sports, but do so in moderation because they are not yet at 100%.

In every test I have conceived (and many of which's results I have published) VC-1 has performed on par with h.264,  Winning in some tests, losing in others, depending on what I optimize for, Encode Time, Quality Per Bit, Bits Per Quality, etc.

Generally VC1 Dominates in VOD.  The Toolset for VC1 on Shiny Disc make VC1 the leader in Quality for Blu-Ray.  The lower play back requirements make it ideal for Mobile Devices, the lowest cost of tools makes it ideal for consumer video enthusiasts. 

H.264 Suffers Greatly from not being as "standard" as everyone thinks it is.  Working with Sigma, Broadcom, Amino, and others simply picking H.264 Main @ Level 3 doesn't mean that your encode will play back.  There are restrictions on total Motion Vectors per frame, VBV Delay, Reference Frames and other things too numerous to name.

VC1 on the other hand has been very straight forward.  If a device support a profile and level, it does so with out exception.  This makes ensuring that your encode will work on any target device that claims it should play it.

If Jan wants to talk people out of a codec, Killing off VP6/VP7 makes more sense.  Getting rid of the huge number of containers that h.264 can live in would make a lot of sense too.  MOV, MKV, FLV. 

Why did my company go with H.264 if I think VC1 is so great?  I came in late.  DRM which for various reasons is better for our model on Transport Streams than ASF (yes VC1 can live in TS but not everything supports that). 

To Summarize: VC1 is my choice for Shiny Disc (blu-ray) it is also my choice for Cross platform delivery, because it has a lower CPU requirement.

For Mobile Devices I am torn between 3gp and VC1.  VC1 doesn't have quite the adoption, and 3gp is ugly.

For IPTV there are too many variables to make a definitive choice.  I don't disagree with our choice to use h.264 transport streams, my job would be easier with VC-1 but it would be harder for other parts of the org. 

There are a lot of services out there that will provide you with Quantitative answers to questions about users, but qualitative data can be just as helpful, and much harder to find.

Knowing the distribution of users with Red Green color blindness may be useful when waying the color scheme of your UI, but it is harder to know if users will like your new interface that tracks where you are looking to move the mouse, or if it will work when you start having users watch fashion models walk the runway in their underwear and trigger the fast forward and rewind accidentally.

There are instances where companies have the clout to dictate new modes of use.  iPhone certainly hit the market with some new ways of interacting with the device, and Apple is notorious for not using focus groups.  They instead trust that the designer understand usability and how to create an experience that will change how users interact with a product.

The short lesson here, is that Focus Groups are more and more becoming Quality Assurance, and companies are expecting that if the product is good people will learn to use it.

So many pitches in fact that they have decided to outsource evaluating them to their readers.  Tech crunch has gone live with "Tech Crunch Elevator Pitches" a video service that gives CEO's of startups 60 seconds to win over the readers of Tech Crunch.  It's not exactly clear what you get for winning over the audience, but it does sound like the top hits are more likely to get covered in Tech Crunch.

Currently you have to be CEO or Founder of the startup, and you need to be far enough along to have a product and revenue model in your pitch.  So just doing a pitch that you are going to rid the world of green house gasses through peace and harmony with nature won't get you any coverage.

Think of it as Under the Radar with out the Audience critiquing you, or the meals catered by Microsoft.

Verismo is based in Bangalore, and is taking aim at markets where PC's are less prevalent, and where niche content is more common on the web than on cable or broadcast.

Verismo's PoD isn't limited to the "legal" content either.  The Set Top Box contains a Bit Torrent Client as well, and leverages vTap for search.

I was not at UTR this year, but Liz was, and she has video of the Verismo PoD.

5% of Internet users account for 50% of total bandwidth used. And while this is disproportionate now, as Internet Video matures it is likely 5% of Internet Users using large file services to 25% in the next two years, which would result in a 400% increase in network utilization.

Currently networks can be oversubscribed by quite a bit.  A typical carrier with have 1/80th the Internet capacity of the "on network capacity".

To entice users to Internet service plans, providers are going to have to start looking for value adds which can be provided with out leaving the walled garden, and differentiate themselves from their competition. Google has already started created peering relationships, but other providers are likely to follow.

Similar to the AOL vs Compuserve days the new Internet Model will be about who has what added features or allows for unlimited access to certain domains that doesn't count against your bandwidth quota.

Then for $25 I picked up an Oil Cloth Air Filter.  There are several brands, K&N is one of the more famous, my lesser known brand should perform as well, and cost half as much, so I'm happy.

A quick highway test over 40 miles resulted in going from 14 miles per gallon (mpg) to 20.  Not an amazing number by itself, but that is more than a 50% increase in fuel economy, and likely about the same increase in horsepower in torque. 

The time it took to go from 5 to 35 miles per hour in third gear went from 11 seconds to 5.  (This is a good way to sanity check power increases because even if your reflexes are a fraction of a second off even small power increases will move the numbers by hundreds of milliseconds, rather than tens of milliseconds that a 0-60 might do, so you are less dependant on the stopwatch)

I have ordered an Electric Fan to replace the belt driven one on the engine.  This is supposed to increase power and fuel economy by 10 HP, and 5 mpg.  I'm shooting for 5 hp, and 3 MPG.  Which would get me to 23 mpg, which is not the 30+ that my Mini gets, but would be a 60% increase from when I bought the Jeep.

I'll try to get one of the girls to do a video of how to do all of this.

Where Michael went wrong is that he used fake names, and there fore committed fraud.  Interestingly it was his bank that ratted him out.  Google and PayPal were oblivious to the problem.

From a TOS point of view Michael probably would have been ok if he had just used DBA's to register.  While most towns charge a fee to set up a DBA there are some small towns which don't.  If you have 100 DBA's, and 100 Bank accounts, and used 5 Payment services you should be able to validate each of the accounts on each of the "Doing Business As" which would each have its own Employer ID Number (EIN).  100×100x5x$.60 is about $30k.  Not a get rich quick scheme but enough to put you through community college.

It would make for an interesting twist on the "Hackers" and "Office Space" plot of stealing through rounding errors.

It is easy to find things to pick at a company that didn't succeed, but I won't fault any of the product managers, CEO's, CFO's in this case I'm going to fault the Board.  As a VC it is important that you recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your execs, and no one seemed to recognize that Akimbo's weakness was a lack of an Office in LA, and some one with some Juice to get Hollywood talking about, and pursuing Akimbo.

Akimbo passed the opportunity to be a sponsor for Night of 100 Stars, and other inexpensive Star filled events that would have got them on the radar of content producers, content providers, and Hollywood movers and shakers.

Being that a Hurst was a board member you'd think that their would have been a deep understanding of the importance of creating media buzz, and getting the right people to create that buzz would be a 5 minute phone call from the media giant.

I am glad for my Akimbo experience.  I hadn't really had an appreciation for how much of a story you had to get right to be successful.  I had assumed if you could get 80% of the execution right you'd succeed, but it seemed that with Akimbo they had made many of the decisions as I would, but still never managed to succeed because of one "soft" component, that relationship with content.

Since Akimbo I have interviewed with nearly 30 Set top box companies in the Valley.  I worked in Microsoft's STB group, MediaRoom, and have recently joined another IPTV Startup.  ZillionTV.tv which I will talk about later as more of its plans become public.

Om you and I aggree most the time, but you are wrong. Set Top Box dreams are not dead.  Silicon Valley Just doesn't know how to speak Content.

Look at PS3, vs. Xbox, Blu-ray Vs. HD-DVD, these are all battles over who has what people want.  Akimbo had floated a business plan to be "THE" STB for foreign language content.  This would have been a great move.  Akimbo tried to be a Niche Content provider, the problem was the depth of any Niche was 40 hours.  Once you had watched the equivalent of 2 seasons of 24 you had nothing else to watch.

The Recipe for Success in a VOD only STB requires that you can meet the Viewing numbers of your user.  Start with the DVD/Netflix Model.  If you watch 2 movies a weeks, or 4 hours a week, and like about 10% of the content in a genre, then you need 40 hours a week of new content in that genre.

A house hold may be interested in 3-4 genre's so you may be able to get this to 20 hours per genre, but you need to have depth in pillars of content.

Akimbo would tend to put 100 hours from one content provider up one week and then nothing for months.  Xbox Live Video Market Place seemingly does the same thing.  The problem is if I consume 10 hours the first week the content goes live and only like 20% of the content, I've got 2 weeks of content and then nothing for weeks.  At which point I have forgotten about the service.

200 Channels and still nothing on, is a BIG problem for STB companies.  If you don't have the ability to put up 20k hours of content a week, then you should look at what niches you can fill.  The number of people that want 10 hours a week of self-help is less than the number of people who want 10 hours a week of Action Films, but you have fewer competitors in the Self Help Space, and you can likely get 100 new hours of content each week.

Other people's reactions

Engadget, NewTeeVee, CNET News.com, Thomas Hawk's, TechCrunch and VentureBeat

But back to Stacey and her gadgets.  If you play much with Google Analytics you get some neat data, the more sites you have the more data you can get about people, but Google doesn't show you everything they see.

I can build a Face book ad that will pretty much only be seen by you and 100 people you don't know who have a close enough profile to be your doppleganger.

But far more impressive is what I can do with your iPhone an a metro wifi.

Drive a car with bluetooth?  Chances are I can know when you are passing under an over pass, or along a mile marker, anywhere I want to scan for signals.  And your car's bluetooth is likely always on, unlike many Cell phone users who don't have their BT enabled.

Did you clip all the RFID's out of your clothes?  Many clothes have RFID's in the labels that get taken out of inventory rather than actually are made non-functional, and many of the non-functional ones just have had their range reduced.  A better antenna makes them work just fine, from 20 feet away.

But Twitter.  Twitter is one of the worst.  Because all your friends betray you.

I'm fighting with Christina's Mac which keeps getting an IP address from school with a 2 year lease that it then wants to bring to our network.  Which is a better problem than the other day when it had used 198 of the 200 Ip's I made available on the network.

Mac should stick to "fun" products that don't require a high reliability.  Mac is becoming the Rolex of the computing world. (anyone who has owned a Rolex will get this)  But why are people still buying in? 

Why is Jason pushing Google Docs instead of Open Office at his startup?  Why is Om Using a consumer device in his corporate environment?  Too many people in the Tech Space are looking at new tech rather than proven tech, and it is biting them on the you know what.

I'm using Om, and Jason as examples, and their small uses are not "big deals" but more indicative of a trend.  I have had several recent encounters that I can't talk about because of NDA which demonstrate that the industry has shiny bobble syndrome, chasing after whatever the new hotness is before it has had a chance to be proven.

Some of this may just be me pining for my old reliable Jeep Wrangler with no computer or parts that weren't end user serviceable, but more of this is just a general, why not take the devil you know.