Startup looks for money in online video

A new company called Revver is trying to change the fact that most online videos (those submitted by the lightsabre wielding fans of this world, amongst others) don’t make money by attaching advertising to the videos and giving the creators a cut of the profits.

The technology, which also tracks the content as it is shared across the Web, is not limited to amateurs. Major media companies, which are just beginning to experiment with offering TV shows and movies online, are also looking for ways to distribute across peer-to-peer networks while avoiding piracy.

Revver is the brainchild of Ian Clarke, the man behind the Freenet file-sharing network; Steven Starr, a former Hollywood agent and co-creator of MTV’s “The State;” and Oliver Luckett, who recently spearheaded the Norman Lear “Declare Yourself” voter registration campaign.

It is also backed by the same venture capital company that bankrolled Internet phone provider Skype Technologies SA, which eBay recently acquired for $2.6 billion. (These guys are sewing up…!)

People wanting to use Revver upload their videos for free to the company’s Web servers. Revver than attaches a static ad to the end of the video.

It also attaches a “RevTag,” which keeps track of how often the video is viewed no matter where it ends up. People can leave their video on the Revver site, post it on their own Web site, e-mail it to friends and even download it to a portable device.

Revver says it will split the ad revenue evenly with content creators.

Should seem some interesting times ahead. This article is available in full through Yahoo news and is available by clicking here.

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Connecting People Together

Dux Computer Digest provides a great tutorial on making your own network cables, whether patch or crossover.

It is often the little things we overlook. Stepping through the tutorial was a breeze and the cable was cut and put together in about 2 minutes or less. Mind you, since I knew what I was doing already I had the upperhand. But you can’t fault a good tutorial.

It provides an introduction as to why we use cables and what kind of cable you need (whether you’re going PC to PC or PC to Hub etc), followed by a little history, a little theory, and with the greatest of large colour diagrams it moves on to “Lets Make Cables” while guiding you through where to make cuts, the tools you need for the job and all the rest.

What I would suggest though is that if you are making your own cables (I’m making a bunch to allow me use the XBOX and PC on broadband at home), get cables that are clearly marked (colours and stripes) and make sure you leave yourself a little slack to allow some room to move.

Good tutorial though….

Windows Mobile 2003 to Windows Mobile 5 anyone?

I’m a serious stickler for upgrading things.

12 months ago I purchased a Motorola V300. Not content with the phone I had seen as everyone was buying them up last summer I decided to take a bit of action and so tore apart my V300.

By tearing apart my V300 I mean buying new casing, transferring the internal workings of the phone to a V525 body, replacing the antenna and upgrading the camera, fitting new lights and flashing the firmware on the phone to upgrade the software end of the phone to a V600, thus unlocking more memory, a video camera and the rest. Yes folks, the V300 is the bastard offspring of the V600 - cut down in price, cut down in size but secretly - secretly - they’re the same phone.

I’m doing the same with the XBOX. Not content with something standard, I’ve ordered a ModChip, borrowed some soldering gear and I’m going to transform the innocent XBOX into a sweet multimedia console as opposed to games console.

Now its in me to get a way to upgrade from Windows Mobile 2003SE to Windows Mobile 5.

Let me draw your attention to the Windows Mobile Team Blog which makes for some interesting reading.

Then there was this….

The h6300 and hw6500 product lines are significantly more complex products that function on mobile operator networks. Mobile operator networks require stable product performance in order to maximize quality of service for their end-users. In some cases in order to maximize service performance with the new operating system, hardware changes are required. Hardware modifications to on the h6300 and hw6500 are not planned; therefore HP will not provide MS Windows Mobile 5.0 on the iPAQ h6300 and hw6500 models

Followed by this dated September 26th….

In conjunction with the unveiling of its first Windows Mobile 5.0-enabled handhelds today, Hewlett-Packard today confirmed that the company does not have an upgrade to Windows Mobile 5.0 scheduled for its iPAQ hw6515 communicator. Citing minimum hardware requirements for Windows Moile 5.0, the company also said that it had not scheduled upgrades to the latest version of Windows Mobile for any products beyond its hx2000 and hx4700 ranges of iPAQ handhelds

And finally this little ditty from engadget which might well suggest there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I don’t like waiting. I don’t like making people wait. I sure don’t like people keeping me waiting. But I’m a patient guy.

Can you be confident in Windows Vista?

Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft.

Vista. Longhorn. Vista. Longhorn.

Which would you have preferred? In the techie computer sense of the person that exists within me, I’ve already had a Longhorn bootscreen replace my XP Pro boot screen for the last 18 months or so. First my laptop had it. Then it was the desktop theme for Longhorn and now my desktop has it.

If I’m not careful I’ll end up with a beta version of Vista before too long and that will be the end of that!

What amazes me though is one of the taglines, that Windows Vista will breed a whole new level of confidence to the experience of using your computer. So does that make you confident in what your computer can do, or is Windows Vista supposed to turn you into a Microsoft Guru overnight?

To quote…

the fundamentals of the operating system free you from worrying about security, reliability, and managing your computer. You are in control.

When has any good Windows user been free from worry about security or reliability or actually managing your computer? What really interests me though is this whole ‘fast on and off’ routine they are proposing. Vista, so it seems, will start up within 2-3 seconds, and shut down in the same time… as good as a TV they say. Windows XP was supposed to be super-fast loading and exiting, but over time users actually realise that giving Windows the cold-shoulder and holding in the power button for 5 seconds is actually more effective.

Breeding confidence. Is that the new thing now is it? I’m still waiting Microsoft….

My Christmas Present

Now I’ll leave the floor open. If anyone - anyone at all - feels like donating in or around the €600 mark then, let me tell you, you’re more than welcome! Trust me, it’s going to a good home!

What is that home I hear you ask? Well, after some serious debating in the evening it was decided that the Christmas present to Ken this year, from Ken, will be the phone you see on the right of the screen.

Specs:

Display: Transflective TFT color LCD. 64K colors, screen size diag: 3″. Resolution: 240 x 240.

Battery: 1200 mAh Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable.

Phone: GSM with EDGE and GPRS for data. Quad band world phone: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz.

Performance: Intel XScale PXA 272 312 MHz processor. 64 MB built-in RAM (55 megs available). 64 MB Flash ROM with 12 megs available in File Store for your use.

GPS Software: Varies by market and country.

Size: 4.65 x 2.8 x .71 in. . Weight: 5.8 oz.

Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 2.5mm stereo headphone jack. Voice Recorder and Windows Pocket Media Player 10 included for your MP3 pleasure.

Camera: 1.3 megapixels capable of taking both photos and video. Max. photo resolution 1280 x 1024. Max video resolution: 352 x 288.

Networking: Integrated Bluetooth 1.2.

Software: Windows Mobile 2003SE Phone Edition. Microsoft Pocket Office suite including Pocket Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, and Outlook. Also, Terminal Services, MSN Instant Messenger for Pocket PC, Voice Recorder and handwriting recognition. ActiveSync 3.8 and Outlook 2002 for PCs included.

Expansion: 1 SD (Secure Digital) slot supporting SDIO and SDIO Now!. 1 Mini-SD slot. Standard IR.

As the man says…. “She’ll drive herself boss!!”

Fluffy Coffee Anyone?

Ah yes.

Today marked a new period in Event Ireland coffee making. Out with the old, Lidl style of coffee and in with the new, Café Noir with added ‘fluff’ or ‘froth’ - whatever you want to call it. Free gadget with the jar of coffee makes for a more interesting, smoother cup for the morning in the office. Fair play Aidan.

The XBOX rocks as well. I’ve also ordered the Aladin PRO Mod Chip from a dude in Italy (eBay is my friend) so if its here at the weekend, my plan is to do the following…

• Play DIVX movies on the xbox
• Change the HD to a 250GB model
• Start filling up the HD with MP3s and convert to a media centre
• And some other stuff…

Also found my Christmas present to myself today but a little more on that later…

I’m Off To Cincinnati

Spelling it was tricky enough.

Moving there was easy.

What am I on about?? Oooooooh the mindless world of the NFL creeps through again. While I have a lovely pizza on order (mexican hot and spicy), it seems that I’m off to Cincinnati. Bad enough that I left Dallas, joined Baltimore but now, after three years I’m back at square one. Rookie style.

This, of course, all arrived out of the fact that to celebrate the graduation I bought myself an XBOX and kindly donated my playstation to my brother’s room for a DVD player and the rest. How best to start off my life as an XBOXer than with some Madden 06.

After pulling a good IQ test, I remembered my father was a pro boxer, which meant that when it boilded down to the genes, I wasn’t going to be the fastest apple to fall from the tree - though I’m working on it. Drafted in the 3rd round to Cincinnati Bengals.

Gonna try the whole XBOX Live thing and see if I can kick some American kid’s ass at Madden. That would crown what I have already carved out to be a great day!

First Class Finish

Thats it.

I’m done with college, done with the graduations, done with academic life - for now. I’ve a feeling I’ll be called to do something in a few years and when the time is right again, I will. Some day.

A good day yesterday, but “meeting people is easy” is just bullshit. Thought thats possibly only 10% true to the cause, the other 90% was fine! Good times catching up with people, getting in the few drinks, finding out what people are up to and simply getting the hell out of there.

Life in slow motion. Definitely the case for yesterday.

Three graduations and two degrees later, first class honours degree, a first class finish to four fantastic years.

Here’s to the rest of em!

The Power of The Playstation

I’m a big NFL fan, and have been for years.

But what the hell is with the Baltimore Ravens? During preseason I got so excited when it turned out we had landed Terrell Owens, who now happens to be ripping it up with Donovan McNabb at Philly…. but seriously? No! Owens decides he wants nothing to do with Baltimore and so up sticks and heads to the Eagles to form a great partnership we really could have done with.

Now, I say “we” really could have done with it. Since I picked up my copy of Madden 2006 for the Playstation the weekend of its release (I’m good that way…) I’ve become attached to the Dallas Cowboys, seen as I was drafted there albeit in the 4th round. From one awful season last year with the Cowboys to a great opening this year, and I’ve a feeling they’ll make the playoffs as well.

But for the Ravens? No! The 2001 Superbowl champions are an absolute shadow of their former selves. Having lost Baxter to the Bengals (who turned up to make a good pick at the weekend), they’ve been struggling to show form. Sloppy defence, an unholy amount of penalties (one shy of an NFL record last week, 11 this week that also forced the loss of a good TD), poor offensive moves as they struggle in the AFC.

I guess what I’m saying is that my heart is shifting to the Cowboys. Getting Julius Jones to run it up the middle (it being the ball), having Keyshawn make those almost impossible receptions high on the right, or have McGuire drop from a receiver, sneak to the halfback position and run the ball out wide for a winning touchdown.

But in reality, McGuire isn’t playing for the ‘Cowboys. So how is it that a computer game can spur you on that much that you would slowly change your allegience knowing that your own team seems to be falling down and needs your help!

When Sony were getting ready for the launch all those years ago, they used to say “never underestimate the power of the Playstation”. I never thought they would be serious….

Music Sounds Better With You

Its true what they say, the music DOES sound better with you! That single random fact aside, let me fill you in. If you check the music part of the site you will know that I’m involved in a few different aspects of music whether performace, songwriting, electronic music, promotion, theatre… whatever!

As an earlier post mentioned, I’m also behind KilkennyMusic.com, a new music venture in Kilkenny aimed at promoting new kinds of music the fair way, providing equal opportunities for large and small bands or artists alike.

The music sounds better with you, there. On the night. Come out and support your local musicians, your local bands, meet new people, experience new sounds! What is this? It’s a plug for our next series of gigs!

November 4th - Skylight & 79Cortinaz
November 18th - The Company & Guests
November 20th - Itchy Trigger Finger & Guests (all ages event)
December 16th - Frames Tribute Night

Thats the plan for now anyway….

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