Bouv's Blog » Film & Video

Graphic Designers Hate eBooks and the Kindle.

J.C. — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:34:42 +0000

I can understand why graphic designers would hate eBooks. After having spent years honing PageMaker, Quark or InDesing skills, you now have to re-shape that set into a Kindle or iBook format, or grow new skill limbs for even developing your own eBook reader apps…However, IMHO, a talented designer is a talented designer, and that sensibility is hard to come by…I would rather have design sensibility than Flash skills and I would cite, Jim Coudal/Coudal Partners, and they might disagree, as one of the best examples of a team that has evolved from that neighborhood of near straight-up graphic design, into something more.

This vid has been out there for a while, but it’s still fun…invoking the famous devil printer scene from Mike Judge’s “Office Space”…Certainly the skills of the graphic designer are not lost in the need to now design for the eBook market. Where the web development community has gone from hand-coding websites to Dreamweaver, Flash, Firework or a CMS system and CSS…so it is w/the traditional printed book. BTW, I just saw a listing at Sotheby’s for a 16th century print of some religious scribes kicking the shit out of Johannes Guttenberg…

Optical is Dead: I’m Talking to You Blu-ray.

J.C. — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:13:48 +0000

I’ve been quietly responding to questions from friends, for about 3 years time now, that Blu-Ray was dead on arrival. The victim of at least a 2 year delay to market resulting from a Beta vs. VHS like industry dispute. This historic lesson having been apparently unlearned by the major manufacturers, it was compounded by increased broadband infrastructure and delivery of video content via stream or file either at no charge = Hulu.com…Or at no additional charge; examples include your Netflix subscription via laptop, other device like your Wii, PS3, Xbox, Roku or dare I say your Comcast/DirecTV/Dish set top box using on-demand or time-shifting DVRs.

Blu-ray is good looking (1080p), sounding (THX or Dobly 7.1 surround) and is sometimes chalk-full of extras, sometimes including Internet downloads et al. The format was supposed to be the next long-tail revenue opportunity for the optical consortium, with names like Philips, Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi making up the membership.

Personally I’m watching Netflix on my Wii…And I’m very happy with it…while the image quality isn’t Blu-Ray…it’s surprisingly good and I can watch a whole lot of content…anytime I like, and if I don’t want to sit on the couch…I or my wife can fire up the laptops anywhere. I’m currently racing to catch up on “Lost”…God help me.

Debroah McAdams, over at Television Broadcast is suggesting Google TV will drive Blu-Ray because the manufacturers they partner with will include it:

Neither current cable set-tops nor specialized peripherals like Roku support full access to the Web. An Android-enabled, Intel-powered, Blu-ray playing, HD-recording, CableCard-slotted, sleek-looking set-top box is another matter all together.

- I disagree…see this SAI Chart of the Day from March 4, 2010:

I don’t know anyone buying Blu-ray discs, I don’t see a huge selection at Wal-Mart – they’re still trying to sell the original stockpile of SD-DVDs, and it doesn’t look like that is going too well btw…

Again, I point to the success of digital…yes there will be hounds for strong picture quality…but most folks are still stunned when they see 720p, never mind 1080p…some degree of better than NTSC is enough for 95% of the visual consumer market…and that “enough” is already being delivered…Optical is fragile and is incremental cost…Digital is any time I damn well please…We’ll see about the Android set top box…I’m waiting to the Apple hobbyists to come out of the garage. – J.C.

Microsloth Leading the Sheep to the Slaughter – “Look, we have stores too!”

J.C. — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:11:29 +0000

Microsloth, in yet another un-original move, has opened their own retail presence.

Congratulations, that’s 1000 stolen strategic plans! Their customers may become confused when they accidentally wander into an Apple store looking for support for Microsoft products…oh well…Apple will probably still help them out…

Apple + iTunes + The Beatles – Finally!

J.C. — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:18:06 +0000

The Apple Invite for today's iPod event.

9 to 5 Mac is reporting that Apple will finally offer The Beatles catalog through the iTunes music store.

The Rock and Roll event scheduled for later this afternoon EST (1PM I think)…may also bring a new set of iPods, modifications to iTunes and AppleTV along with a possible appearance by Steve Jobs…but no confirmations yet…my fav site MacSurfer will have all the places for updates…but for now, the Apple Online store is closed for business…always a good sign new items are about to arrive in inventory…

Final Cut Editors: Final Cut Users Groups Network – Super Meet Issue #3

J.C. — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:30:57 +0000

Hey all you FCP editors out there…The Final Cut Pro User Groups Network has just issued the Super Meet Mag issue # 3:
http://www.fcpugnetwork.org/supermag/2009/index.html

Enjoy!

Mashable Social Good Conference: Livestream

J.C. — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:51:51 +0000

The Mashable team is streaming their conference in NYC today. Thanks guys…

Eric of Tim & Eric – Major Lazer “Pon De Floor” – Wow.

J.C. — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:51:20 +0000

Major Lazer “Pon De Floor” from Eric Wareheim on Vimeo.

Ok, so I’m not a big Tim & Eric fan, but clearly someone is thinking about their material…and w/this video, we get a huge hint as to which of these guys is “the mind”…

iPhone Video: How to Type Faster on the Virtual Keyboard

J.C. — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:57:46 +0000

Efficient parsing of the top tips for typing more effectively on the Apple iPhone virtual keyboard…thanks Howcast. Nice NYT article on these guys today…

NYT: Gadgetwise: Blu-ray – Is Optical Dead?

J.C. — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:23:43 +0000

UPDATE: Gizmodo making my point…

Ok, the NYT is saying the indicators are that Blu-ray is on the upswing…personally, I don’t buy it…I don’t know anyone w/a Blu-ray player that didn’t come as a by-product in a game console and I don’t know anyone buying any discs? Do you?

Disc sales may be up…now that there’s only one format…that makes sense…and the need for a physical disc…that’s pucky…tell it to the music business…optical media in my opinion is a dying creature…and as soon as the FCC get’s its head out of its arse and mandates that cable companies allow consumers to purchase content a la carte, you’ll see just how dead it is.

Tracy Morgan – Ah to be a Clown.

J.C. — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:56:38 +0000

Oh this is good stuff…who are these guys? I mean really…and yes, “these are the two morons behind Tracy Morgan…”