The end of broadcast TV?
TV has been around your whole life. Depending on your age, your dad may have been watching TV in the waiting room while you were being born, or it may have been on in the background…
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EDITORIAL: Hotels are too far behind
This is Las Vegas’ Venetian Hotel, site of DIRECTV’s recent Revolution Dealer Conference and my temporary home for four days. A beautiful hotel with a dizzying complement of marble-lined hallways, hand-painted frescoes, and stunning beauty all…
The battle over voice control
You know… you get to a certain age and it becomes harder and harder to believe that “the next big thing” is going to be as big as everyone says it is. Your brain gets full…
Maybe DIRECTV wants to buy Hulu. MAYBE? You deserve better
First of all I want to thank the many, many people who tipped me on this story. It’s a testament to our loyal readers that you keep this blog in your minds, even on a weekend….
EDITORIAL: It’s time to reform retransmission rules.
OK, let’s talk about TV. The rules don’t always make sense. A local station can force the cable and satellite companies to carry them if they give the signal away for free. The same station can…
Will the broadcast networks just pack up and go home if they lose?
In a move worthy of the finest schoolyard playground, News Corp’s COO Chase Carey has decided that if his many lawsuits fail, he’s prepared to pack up his marbles and go home. Mr. Carey, who once…
Surface: Doomed to fail, and will Microsoft fail with it?
Behold the Microsoft Surface. We haven’t been kind to it in the past… we wondered if it was a bag of suck, we asked if the operating system was a day 1 fail, and we didn’t hesitate to…
Will NBC be the first network to collapse?
Unthinkable. NBC has been broadcasting since 1926. Seriously. Almost 100 years. The peacock network is older than your grandparents (probably.) It was around before television even existed — it used to be a radio network. This is the…
How in the name of… can Netflix do 4K?
Netflix has been talking all over town about its 4K streaming plans. Check out this article in The Verge where Netflix’s chief product officer says that 4K is coming within one or two years. Really? Of course Netflix is…
Are batteries obsolete?
Hope so. The one thing that has held back technology more than anything is the battery. Hybrid cars need half a ton of them and just hauling them around takes a lot of energy. They add…
Is it really time for a smart watch?
It’s becoming a story too big to ignore, even though for the most part the products don’t exist yet. We’re talking about smart watches, which are supposedly the next big thing. Everyone is talking about them,…
Should you uninstall Java now?
It’s a black time for Java. There was a time when Java was an essential part of the World Wide Web experience. It was so pervasive it showed up in unlikely places: Blu-ray disc players and…
Here’s why Microsoft needs to be nervous
Because after all these years, Apple is still stealing their lunch money. Google is too. The figures are in from Christmas day device activations and surprise surprise… Apple and Android did very well. In their annual study…
OPINION: Here’s what a Smart TV really needs
Search. Let me tell you something. I’m smart-TV’d up. Oh yes. I have a Samsung Smart TV, a Smart Blu-ray player with the same app interface as the TV, a DIRECTV receiver with Pandora and…
EDITORIAL: Windows 8: Day 1 fail?
With recent articles saying that 85% of users promptly ignored the Windows 8 Start screen and sought the relative refuge of the desktop, many pundits have been proclaiming Windows 8 a total failure. It certainly doesn’t help that Stardock’s…