Today Rackpace’s Mosso started offering a new grid computing services to better compete with Joyent, MediaTemple and Amazon S3. Plans start at $100 with the following technology:
Linux: PHP 4 & 5, MySQL 4 & 5, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Python
Windows: IIS 7, NET 2,3+3.5, MS SQL 2005
Who would think of building a company on MS technology? Probably it’s geared towards enterprise customers, cause very few startups would use that technology for their company. Although I recently interviewed a startup that is actually using .Net for development, but then again their service is rather unique on it’s own already. Will post that soon.
I hate to admit it, but Duncan Riley from TechCrunch is probably right. Downloads will not kill Bu-ray anytime soon:
Blu-Ray will likely be the last big/ mainstream physical media technology ever and it will have a strong future. The various factors needed for mainstream digital downloading and viewing will eventually combine to finally kill Blu-Ray (and the domination of all physical media) sometime between 2010 and 2020.
Physical media for such large file sizes is still easier for most consumers. 20 years ago I would have though that PayPerView would have killed VHS and other formats, but it didn’t.
The things digital movie providers need to focus on are:
-Uniform Pricing/Unlimited viewing plans (like Netflix)
-Better compressions/smaller files sizes (shorter download times)
-More flexible time periods (let’s face it….24 hours is not that much)
-Easier TV viewing for “mere mortals” (Apple TV is great)
-Simultaneous international availability (reduce piracy)
-Subtitles
-DVD extra content(I don’t really care about this…but it’s important to a lot of people)
Last but not least the fight for Net Neutrality needs to go on and has to be won. Otherwise hello Blu-ray…till 2050!
Matt Hickey rumors about Verizon’s $99 unlimited voice plan:
Verizon is setting to offer an all-you-can-talk voice plan for $99. Word is it’s to launch on Tuesday, with ads popping up randomly on USA Today’s website, among others. This is hardly surprising as unlimited plans are the next logical step for carriers if they want to stay competitive.
With iPhones plans already offering unlimited data plans, voice is an obvious step.
I just got a call from a family member that recently switched to a Mac. They took over 200 pictures yesterday and were resizing them to upload them to facebook. The managed to do 20 pictures in a couple of hours using Photoshop.
They called me because of some trouble they were having uploading pics to facebook(another post) and I ended up helping them scale the pics using automator.
I build the script, saved it as an app and emailed it to them. They got it, ran it and were shouting off the top of their lungs how wonderful Macs are.
I helped them switch and I am sure they are not going back.
Automator, with all it’s quirks, for helping you feel like a master of your own domain.
Facebook’s recently released Spanish version has no upload button in the pictures albums. Probably a bug or something, but interesting that it hasn’t been fixed.
English:
Spanish:
The order of the buttons should be: Cancel, Select All, Deselect All and Upload. Notice how the spanish version cuts off the last visible button and completely forgets the last functional one.
It is clear that the latest high def DVD format war winner doesn’t matter since there is a new and better format: digital downloads. I honestly didn’t care who won the traditional war (although rooting for Blur-ray since Apple supported them) since I don’t use DVDs anymore. Digital renting is what’s in now. So once again, like the Network Walkman and other formats they’ve backed, Sony was fighting the wrong war, while they should have been backing up the next gen war.
Nice write up on VisualHub, the best video conversion tool I’ve used.
What I like about it: it is blazing fast…and:
VisualHub has become the must-have tool of choice when it comes to converting content for iTunes. Conversions can be optimized for the current selection of Apple devices. There is an option to have concerted content added automatically to iTunes where it will end up in the Movies library by default. The seamless integration with iTunes is a key differentiator from some of the lower-cost/free alternatives.
For those that don’t want to spend the $23 it cost, the Techspansion guys also have a free version called iSquint(can’t recommend it, since I’ve never used it).
For a while now Yahoo has acted like an immature teenager, that doesn’t know what they want. Their lack of unified vision and product synergy has put them on a very rough spot. After reading NewTeeVee’s review for the new Yahoo Video site, it only makes me sad:
Also baffling is the lack of promotion for all the other things you can do with your videos — on Yahoo — once you’ve uploaded it. The only mention of the online editing capabilities of Yahoo’s Jumpcut is at the bottom of the page. Again, this is a wasted opportunity; why not put that in big, bold letters? “Hey, we have an easy way for you to edit your video and here’s how!” Furthermore, even though I was signed in to Yahoo Video, when I clicked on “Edit video with Jumpcut,” it took me to the Jumpcut section, but didn’t recognize me. I had to sign in again.
Jerry Yang should round up the troops(again) and show them a Mighty Ducks movie(or any other sports movie out there) so that they can appreciate the value of team work(rather than gathering to announce layoffs).
Why would they buy Jumpcut if not to integrate it and aggressively market it against YouTube? There is some serious lack of communication between departments at Yahoo.
When they acquired Jumpcut, I though Yahoo would accelerate desktop-like web apps to the tipping point since they could reach mass market faster with Yahoo’s strong user base. Instead it has done so so, not really surpassing the 200k daily visitors(according to compete.com).
