Friday, April 27, 2007

10 Things You Can Do With Mixed Media RSS | Marshall Kirkpatrick

Let's just step past the rather inane definition of "Media RSS";

My definition of a mixed media RSS feed is this: it's a feed created for the delivery of video, photos, audio files and other media items all together by RSS.

and consider the implications;

Today, we're the only company that provides a way for you publish a channel of mixed media content (video, photos, audio and more) that's subscribable by RSS and can be displayed in an embeddable player.

There's some great possibilities that we're looking at here.

Codehunters

Via Steve Bryant's Reel Pop, who lays down the background of the story and production.

"The story: Vigilantes in a failed Pacific Rim state search for the indestructible but hidden remains of Krai, a superbeing who can manipulate DNA and, hopefully, return order to the ruined port city of Lhek."

Worth watching on the official site with better res and bit rate...


...but for now here's the YouTube version.



Just a beautiful piece of animation. I'm looking forward to the possibility of a heap more in the future from this franchise.

When things just fall in your lap.

A great topic to put to the Federal Opposition Leader should he drop by for the Newswriting Press conference assignment in a couple of weeks time. Isn't it great when this sort of stuff, which is right up your alley, just pops up at the right time?

Via Joshua Gans' excellent Core Economics blog.

A great piece of investigative journalism by the Canberra Times' Peter Martin. On his blog no less.

"The Labor Party's boast that its national broadband network will expand the Australian economy by as much as $30 billion a year is based on an obscure and dated report that fails to substantiate the claim.

"The Department of Communications cited the Accenture study in its Broadband Blueprint prepared launched last year by its Minister Helen Coonan. The department, too, had been unable to locate a copy until late last week when, after repeated requests from The Canberra Times, it found one on a disc in a box that contained the records of its 2003 Broadband Advisory Group inquiry."

Sometimes I love the fact that the country is being run by people who are no smarter than I am. At other times it scares the shit out of me.


And the follow up piece in today's SMH where opposition communications spokeman Senator Conroy responds.


"Senator Conroy yesterday insisted the economic benefits remained 'in the billions of dollars'. He defended Labor's use of the $30 billion figure by pointing out the Government had used it first. 'The accuracy of this number has been good enough for the Government to frequently cite the number itself, most recently in its much hyped broadband blueprint,' he said.

The Minister for Communications, Helen Coonan, quoted the figure in a speech last August, but yesterday she said of Labor's broadband plan: 'Australians deserve better than a hastily cobbled together piece of flawed economics which delivers nothing more than an empty promise.'"

Scary. Both sides acting like children.

"He said it was worth lots of money and he was wrong."

"But she said it first!"

"I'm gonna tell mum on you."

Corp-pocalypse - Chapter 2

For what it's worth, I do think some of the comments are a little panic-stricken and overblown creating a Media Watch level of ignorance of the medium. Still, rampant, illogical panic is still a sign of the end times.

Friday, April 20, 2007

What a week!

I'm not even gong to touch the practical upshot of the Virginia Shootings. Enough people doing that already.

Instead, the video player announcements at NAB!






(Wow! That's an overblown hyperlink!!)


On to the RTNDA address at NAB, starring a host of online luminaries. Comments and video follow.




From Steve Bryant at Reel Pop, the question of our time - do we still need a laugh track?


And to finish off the week, a story that I found quite pressing on my view of the world.


"When President Bush ordered troops to Iraq, he probably never imagined that he would be ultimately be responsible for what very well could be the very first D&D convention/game day ever held in a war zone. Ziggurat Con, being held June 9 from 1200 to 2100 hours at Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase, is open to all allied military personnel and civilian contractors in Iraq."

I always felt that one of the things D&D/RPG players were undergoing when they played was a sense of wish fulfillment, i.e. a chance to imagine themselves in dangerous and exotic locations performing feats of daring do for noble causes.

What the hell do a bunch of soldiers in Iraq fighting in the War on Terror need any more of that for? A rethink is in order.

(BTW, try and tear your eyes away from that damned LJ avatar on the top right of the page. Where you been all our lives, boy? Who woulda thunk of it?)

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Quote of the week

"Brings a whole new meaning to 'logging on'."

My brother-in-law's response to Google's April Fools day prank, Google TiSP.

On leave this week so no reading for me. I intend to shut down and take it easy before the big push on the lead up to the birth of the cub. If I don't get to rest now I probably never will, so you're on your own.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

NIN Year Zero album - Listen to it now

Via WarrenEllis.com (who has apparently given his holy blessing by saying "fuck me, that’s actually pretty good").

Not enough that Nine Inch Nails are marketing their new album with a kick-ass ARG, you can listen to the tracks online at the official site. All that's required is a mail address to sign up.

I wish I'd found this earlier today because I have to head to Uni now.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

MSNBC explains Iraq using Flash!

A great Flash presentation that combines video and interactivity to explain the background to what's going on in Iraq right now. A perfect vehicle to give context to a place that we only get a minute a night about on the evening news.

This is what internet video content should be.


Only problem I can think of is that you can't embed the player elsewhere. It's locked into the MSNBC site which does, I think, limit its effectiveness. Other than that, absolutely sterling work.

Supermarket 2.0 | glumbert.com

Teh Funny - 2.0

Via Boing Boing