Kari Villiard

No New Set Top Box Required for This Silicon Valley Service.

i2TV Broadcasts UGC on TV Channels:  If you’re serious about getting a local audience to see your latest video creation, why not upload it to a TV station and have it broadcast for everyone to see on their TV?  i2TV is TellyTopia’s viewer video upload platform which allows the next Spielberg or Tarantino to showcase their video productions on a broadcast TV channel not just on YouTube.

Everybody Gets Paid! Once again, this is not a philanthropic endeavor.  TellyTopia’s server engine supports banner ads which appear under the videos at 30 second intervals.  What makes this different from most ad based UGC programs is the money split:  some for the broadcaster, some for TellyTopia and some for the PRODUCER!  So now there’s  a business model for those film students, soccer moms and semi-pro video studios.   Advertisers are getting actual TV exposure for a local audience at a rate of $300 – $500/month – which is far below what the big networks cost.

Silicon Valley is the Second TellyTopia Launch: : After successfully launching i2TV on Sacramento Telco SureWest’s IPTV service in December 2008, TellyTopia launched their “Make Me A TV Star” service on a free ATSC digital channel KAXT 22.8 in the San Francisco Bay Area on August 1, 2009.  New TV moguls simply upload their finished products to the website which reviews it for suitability and puts it into a broadcast loop.  The author is sent an email with a time window of when their program will be broadcast.  Authors can then post a tweet or announcement on Facebook to let their friends know when to watch.

Local Youth Sports on TV:  In April 2009, SureWest extended the i2TV network with a focus on local youth sports.  On channel 702, which can be viewed by any SureWest subscriber, young athletes and parents can watch game highlights on their TVs and online.  “Sacramento residents have been demanding a show like this due to the enthusiasm surrounding youth and high school sports,” said Peter Drozdoff, SureWest’s VP of Marketing. Instead of just sponsoring the local soccer team with an ad on the backs of their shirts, the local pizza parlor (or car dealer or bank or car wash) can put an ad banner on the video highlights of their team’s greatest games.

Shaking Up the Status Quo: According to Dr. Ram Srinivasan, VP of TellyTopia, they have a library of 50,000 videos from 5,000 content producers ready for broadcast.  Whether or not this is enough content or the right mix to ensure TellyTopia will be successful is not for me to predict.  What I like about their approach is that once again, small players are taking risks and creating new entertainment consumption models.  Their enthusiasm and creativity is just what the television industry needs to stay fresh, current and viable.

Keep pushing forward

Jeff Vinson

jeff_vinson@sbcglobal.net

[You may contact Jeff directly for consulting and trade show speaking events.]

First time homebuyers have taken full advantage of the $7,500 tax credit for purchasing a home in 2009, but may still exist in the New Year.

According to US News.com, negotiations are moving quickly to extend the ever so popular tax perk to April 30, 2010. The home credit will provide up to $8,000 for first time homebuyers. A negotiation of an additional credit of  $6,500 is being discussed for some repeat homebuyers who have lived in their current home for the past five years. The credit would be available to individuals earning up to $125,000, or $250,000 for couples, up from $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples under the current law.

Special Sportsbook Bonus from Regaw World

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Free Sports Betting Pick on the World Series

Pedro Martinez takes on the Yankees in Game 6

Last night was another pitcher’s duo, but this time the Yankees came out in the wining side. AJ Burnett had 7 strikeouts and only gave up 1 run. Mark Teixeira ant Matsui hit homers in the 3-1 victory for the Yankees as they tied the series at 1-1.

~Signing Off~
AGE

Film critic Richard Roeper’s best and worst baseball films of all time:

* because the author says at some point, awful is just awful.

From 10 Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed & Other Surprising Movie Lists, Hyperion, 2003.

These have been culled from Roeper’s lists of all-time best and worst sports movies. There have been a few additional baseball films since this book came out. At the risk of speaking out of turn, I would venture to add The Rookie to the “best” side while some might put the remake of The Bad News Bears in the “worst” category.

I usually enjoy the NZ Royal Society Lectures. This year we have had the Galileo Lectures to mark the International Year of Astronomy.

Here are the description of the six lectures, together with links to download the podcasts. Taken from: Radio New Zealand National : Lectures & Forums : The Galileo Lectures.

The Galileo Lecture series is produced by Radio New Zealand National in partnership with the Royal Society of New Zealand. It celebrates the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, marking 400 years since Galileo used a telescope to view the solar system and transformed our understanding of Earth’s place in the Universe.

Galileo Lecture 1 – Galileo’s Telescope

Associate Professor Ruth Barton, The University of Auckland

When Galileo turned his telescope to the stars he saw spots on the sun, mountains on the moon, and moons about Jupiter. The moons of Jupiter, he wrote, proved the glory of the Medici name (and this gained him the position of mathematician and philosopher at the Medici court), but did they prove the Copernican theory that the Earth moved in circles around the Sun as Galileo claimed?

Recorded in Hamilton.

(duration: 43′42″)

Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3

Galileo Lecture 2 – The mystery of the first stars

Dr Grant Christie MNZM, Research Astronomer, Stardome Observatory.

The first stars formed when the Universe was less than 2% of its current age. At this early epoch the conditions were very different to those that exist now so exactly how these stars got started and what they were like remains a major unsolved problem in astronomy. Can we probe this far back in time and shed light on how the first stars formed?

Recorded at Auckland’s Stardome.

(duration: 43′16″)

Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3

Galileo Lecture 3 – The search for other planets, other life

Alan Gilmore, Mt John Observatory, University of Canterbury

The realisation that stars are just distant suns, like our own, led to speculation about the existence of other planets, and other life forms. The first extra-solar planet orbiting a ‘normal’ star was detected in 1996. More than 300 planets have now been identified, and many have been discovered by New Zealand astronomers. But the chances of finding one which has the pre-requisites for life are slim, and even if we do find another in “The Goldilocks Zone”, the possibility of travelling to it is as yet out of the question. Earth is a very special place indeed.

Recorded in Tekapo

Alan Gilmore has been resident superintendent of the Mt John Observatory at Lake Tekapo since 1996. An amateur astronomer since his school days, he began professional astronomy at the Carter Observatory, Wellington, in 1970. He is involved in many observing programmes at Mt John, including, with wife Pam Kilmartin, a long running programme to track near Earth asteroids

(duration: 41′06″)

Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3

Galileo Lecture 4 – Comets and asteroids: clues to our origin and threats to our survival

Professor Jack Baggaley FRAS FRSNZ, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury

Comets and asteroids provide us with vital clues as to how the solar system was born. Small sized asteroids may reach the ground as meteorites, sometimes producing impact craters or exploding dramatically. Impacts by large comets and asteroids are a very real threat to the survival of mankind. There are international programmes with networks of dedicated telescopes to map the positions of these objects and forecast their future trajectories and approaches to the Earth.

Recorded in Christchurch

(duration: 40′53″)

Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3

Galileo Lecture 5 – Neutrinos: Ghosts of the Universe

Dr Jenni Adams, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury.

More than 50 trillion solar neutrinos pass through your body every second! Abundant but elusive, these particles have truly amazing properties and provide a new way to look out at objects in our galaxy and beyond.

(duration: 52′08″)

Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3

Galileo Lectures 6 – The Square Kilometre Array

Brian Boyle, Director, Australian National Telescope Facility

Stretching over a continent and comprised of over 5000 antennas, the Square Kilometre Array is proposed to be the world’s largest radio telescope and one of the most ambitious pieces of scientific infrastructure ever built. It will address some of the key questions of 21st century astronomy and physics and act as a scientific icon for generations to come. New Zealand has the opportunity to join in Australia’s Bid to host this multi-billion dollar telescope.

Recorded in Wellington.

(duration: 41′42″)

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Matt wanted me to title this post “Dega-Mean Trick or Sweet Trick.”  However, I don’t do “Dega.”  I don’t do Vegas either.  I don’t call New York City “the Big Apple.” The race this weekend is at Talladega.  As far as mean trick or sweet trick that sounds like the drive thru at the Fremont Dairy Queen-it is a mean trick having to wait in line so long for a sweet treat.  That does not mean there won’t be some tricks and treats at the big track in Alabama this weekend.

“The big one” is a racing analyst cliché I am growing somewhat tired of too.  Yes, there is going to be a major wreck during Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race.  There may be two of them.  The odds of avoiding a major incident at Talladega are not good.  It may be safer to be running up front, but that is no guarantee of avoiding “the big one.” My guess is that this mean trick is going to be played by Jimmy Johnson or Juan Pablo Montoya.  If Johnson creates a major wreck, he will somehow manage to avoid any serious damage.  If Montoya creates a big wreck, he’ll be heading back to the garage for repairs.

What Chase drivers are likely to be involved in a damaging accident at Talladega?  Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, and Brian Vickers are my prediction.  Jimmy Johnson will leave Alabama with a bigger point lead than he had when he arrived, and Jeff Gordon will be in second place in the point standings, though the race for the championship is just about over, despite season ending races remaining in Arizona, Texas, and Florida.

I can’t believe I am actually saying this, but the sweet treat this weekend may go to Dale Earnhardt Jr. It is a track he can win on, even if there are lots of questions to be answered before the 88 makes it to victory lane.  Questions like-can Earnhardt find his pit space and not overshoot it?  If he handles pitting properly, can his crew get all the lug nuts tight this weekend?  If they do, can he avoid getting caught up in other driver’s problems? An Earnhardt Jr. win would be very popular and leave a smile on the faces of NASCAR execs. At least if he beats Paul Menard I won’t receive another email from snowed in Tony Anville that Menard beat Earnhardt for the umpteenth time in a row.

Something that should cause a frown on the faces of NASCAR execs is another driver was charged with DUI.  I blasted Michael Waltrip for his multiple offenses, and I am going to do the same with the latest drink and drive driver, A.J. Allmendinger. You don’t reach the legal limit with a few beers while eating supper.

When I was eight years old I saw a head on crash in which a pregnant woman was thrown through a car windshield and killed.  A drunk driver caused the wreck.  I will never forget the scene, and I have never forgotten that a drunk driver was the cause.  How many times has a drunk run a red light or veered into oncoming traffic and killed someone?  How many times have they walked away from the crash uninjured?  How many chances do some drunk drivers get-multiple offenders are commonplace?  If you are going to drink, have a designated driver.

Maybe I hold celebrity drivers to a higher standard than others.  I don’t think so.  Still, these drivers have been given a chance to perform on a stage like no other, and to earn incomes that most of us can only dream of.  They are heroes, and like it or not, they are role models.  Part of the NASCAR hype is that the Sprint Cup drivers are the best drivers in the world.  There is no question most are superb.  However, there are many drivers who never had the chance to run a Sprint Cup race that are also extremely talented.  They are racing on Saturday nights and work as mechanics or truck drivers or factory workers during the week-the same thing Allmendinger and Waltrip would be doing if someone hadn’t given them a chance to race in the big leagues.

I do believe that most drivers do accept the responsibility that goes with the opportunity.  I also believe that for those who do not there should be some consequences.

Sorry for the rant, but it is what I believe.  Thanks for stopping by.

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I have to get this out so I figured I would do it here on my blog. Is it me or does anyone else see Trick or Treating on many nights besides Halloween is just wrong? Some think that Trick or Treating is just wrong to begin with and that it is just begging for candy. I do not think that – it is just a fun tradition for the kids and they enjoy parading in their costumes door to door.  BUT when did it get decided that Trick or Treat night should be on more than one night and not even on Halloween in some neighborhoods? That is what I think is so wrong and greedy.

I grew up in NY and as a child we Trick or Treated on Halloween only – October 31st no matter what day of the week it was. If it was a school day we ran home changed into our costumes and off we went. There were no times set or special tricks of lights being on or off – we just went door to door. If someone answered it was a Bonus. There were no crazy rules involved – it was just fun.

Then once I had my own children and moved to a new state  – now in PA things changed so much from those times. I live in a rural area and where my house is kids do not Trick or Treat because the houses are just too far apart so we travel to my in laws neighborhood so the kids can Trick or Treat with their cousins, but I can remember my sister in law telling me I can choose what day I could bring the kids I was so taken back.  She told me they do Trick or Treat Night two nights and for the life of me I can not figure out why to this day. I was like so you mean parents have to buy all that candy to give out twice? Yup that is true, but if you choose not to participate you just shut off your porch light – WHAT?

To me this is just wrong wrong wrong!!! Halloween is on October 31st and that is it – not the entire week. Kids do not need all that candy anyway. Why did this happen? What made this change occur?

In addition to that my kid’s elementary school does not even allow the kids to dress in their costumes or have a parade like I had when I was a child.  I remember that being something I looked forward to every year as well. Going to school changing into my costume and parading around for all my school mates to see and having my parents come and watch. BUT nope not here and why? I heard something about religious views being an issue. WHAT? Give me a break – if that is an issue then keep your kids home that day, but do not ruin it for every one else. The kicker here though – once the kids get into Middle School then can go dressed. Is it me or is something wrong here? Do religious views change once your in Middle School? When has Halloween been a religious holiday anyway?

This is one of those things that gets me worked up every year Halloween comes around.  I just got fired up last night when my son’s friends father asked if we would come to his neighborhood this year to take the kids Trick or Treating on Thursday night. Uh Halloween is on Saturday this year!!! See my point.  And now I have my own kids saying – we can go there on Thursday, Our town on Friday and to our cousins on Saturday – I don’t think so!!!

I would love to hear what you think – tell me by leaving a comment.