Editorial

Password Sharing Isn't a Victimless Activity

“Smuggling beer into a war zone.  That’s not the smartest thing I’ve heard of.  It’s certainly not the worst either.” – Coates, “The Greatest Beer Run Ever,” Skydance, 2022

 Back when DVDs were first being introduced the industry’s – and undoubtedly content creators’ – biggest concern was making them so they couldn’t be copied.

They really wanted to lock things down … permanently.

 No one wanted to follow in the RIAA’s (Recording Industry Association of America) footsteps--share our stuff with your friends, we’ll take you to court and take you for everything you have. 

 One case they won was against a curly-haired 12-year-old that cost her single mom living in the NY projects $2K. That didn’t sit well with no BS New Yorkers or other adults around the country.

 To proactively sidestep that awkward situation for DVD content, engineers/software developers produced a small piece of software that would go from the disc to the player, be recognized as a legal copy and BAM! you could watch your movie.

 The problem was solved but … It only took a couple of weeks for some super smart kid to capture that approval code when it was unprotected – less than a second – and the key was suddenly available everywhere on the global internet in less than a day.

Articles

The Metaverse Emerges Slowly at CES 06-Feb-23

 “The thing about perfection is that it's unknowable. It's impossible, but it's also right in front of us all the time.” – Kevin Flynn, Tron: Legacy, Disney, 2010

Covering the Metaverse at this year’s CES is difficult.

The Metaverse is really like a giant iceberg.

The stuff you see on the show floor – headgear, glasses, apparel, toy guns – is the 10 percent folks see, smell, feel, talk about, brag about at the show.

But the truth is ninety percent of the Metaverse is totally out of the view of the consumer – below the waterline. 

We Can't Take the Human Out of Entertainment 30-Jan-23

“Oh, I'm afraid that won't work anymore. I have a new primary user now: me.” – M3GAN, Blumhouse Productions, 2022

No matter what business segment you’re in, it’s hard not to be swept away by the well-orchestrated programs, the something for everyone company announcements and the bubble of new, better, real now!

Shapiro, his team and exhibitors constantly sell the sizzle and folks fly home feeling, “they’re right, business is back and it’s business as usual”… except when it’s not.

When it comes to the content production, distribution industry, that fact gets lost on many of us as we walk the halls seeing the eye candy and listening to the polished pitches.

Back in the mid-90s, smart TVs were just the talk of the show and a lot of them featured Waterworld because it was being shown the way it was shot … MPEG-4.

The picture was so crisp you could see every ripple of the waves.  It was fantastic.

Work or Relax, Viewing Just gets Bigger, Brighter, Better 23-Jan-23

“I find social media to be a soul-sucking void of meaningless affirmation.” Wednesday Addams, “Wednesday,” Netflix, 2022

Bigger, badder chips, computers and screens all got their share of lookers and attention at CES; and the eye candy often overshadowed the most important message … we’re doing more and using less!

While she promoted the company’s next generation of processors, AMD’s Lisa Su stressed they’re more powerful and more energy efficient.

Asus trotted out some excellent new computing options while emphasizing they were using tons of recycled plastic in their products.

Samsung highlighted that they had a major initiative underway to not only use recycled materials but also reduce microplastics in the world’s water supply.

"Sustainability is a major strategy for today’s consumer electronics firms,” Lopez Research’s Maribel Lopez. “Not just because it’s a consumer hot button but because it’s vital for the world, the industry and the company.”    

An estimated 120K people from around the globe gathered in Las Vegas – double 2022 – to see what is new, improved, exciting. 

And the chip, system, screen producers didn’t disappoint us.

Editorial

A Lifeline to the Outside World

“When Ruth and I first moved to Brooklyn, it was like an outpost. To our friends in Manhattan, we might as well have moved to Nebraska.”  -- Alex Carver, “5 Flights Up,” Lascaux Films - 2014

We received a very nice letter from our electric company… “Just to give you a heads up, we’ll be replacing a transformer in your neighborhood so your power will be off for ‘a few’ hours in two weeks.”

Are you kiddin’ me?

We have the whole home video enchilada …

• Unlimited GB cable broadband service that’s perfect for the ultra-connected family/house.
• Killer 4K huge OLED screen.
• New/reasonably new personal screens – smartphone, tablet, computer – for everyone in the family.
• Reassuring security service including “I see you” doorbell, “adequate” cameras around the house.
• An assortment of listen to us/talk to us devices.

All the things that helped us make it through the past two years working from home, constant barrage of zoom meetings, remote education, online shopping and access to some of the best, newest video content that is introduced. 

Suddenly, we were going to be thrown back into the Dark Ages!