Things that Robert is thinking about that keep him from accomplishing anything.

 
Lighter
Hey, blogging will continue to be light for the forseeable future. Too much to do between class and freelancing and work and dissertating.

I did want to take a second to suggest an invention for t.v., if it doesn't exist already. Somebody needs to invent a way to "layer" television networks so that you can place content from different shows/networks on the same channel.

For example, say I'm watching a movie on HBO, but I want to know the scores for the day in sports, I could select content from ESPN (e.g., it's BottomLine ticker) to overlay the channel that I'm watching. Ditto for placing the CNN or FNC or CNBC ticker on top of a block of videos on MTV (if, in fact, MTV still plays videos). I could ultimately layer as much as I want (put a stock ticker and news ticker and a sports ticker), and ideally I would be able to resize and relocate the graphics with some kind of a mouse, too.

You could also set up reminder services like the flags/notifications on a computer screen. If I'm watching the basketball game on CBS and golf on NBC, I might like to set a flag that notifies me whether the other station (or stations) is back to live coverage or at commercial.

I think what would make this feasible is that the viewer decides what to overlay on the screen. The other networks aren't interfering with a particular network's broadcast, the viewer is. I mean, nobody complains that viewers are able to turn on closed captioning, and some people even like to watch shows while captioned. People don't seem to have a problem using picture-in-picture. It all seems like pretty similar display technology.

Whoever owns the ticker or notification agent could then sell ad space and piggyback onto other shows (e.g., ESPN could charge big(ger) bucks to Verizon to sponsor the ticker when it overlays CSI: and less for "Still Standing"). It is possible you might need to cut the bottom layer network some fraction of the ad rents, but there's a price for everything. This would seem like a great opportunity for expansion into TV for somebody like Google (adding external content to a main content page) or maybe an expansion area for Tivo.
posted by RSaunders at 11:08 PM ⇒ (0) comments

 
Geez, It's Been a While
I've been pretty damned busy with more grants, lots of teaching, a little travel, and sundry other projects. I'll mix some random thoughts with some random events/projects I've got going on.

• I've got 3 new freelance articles in development for the Tennessean, all due in the next few weeks. All are home/design related.
  
• I'm working up another parenting related idea, based on a talk and interview I did with infant development expert Renne Baillargeon of the University of Illinois. She's damned impressive, and her work is really interesting. She studies how infants learn about their physical world and how they learn about their psychological world (i.e., interpreting the actions of others). The experiments are as interesting as the results of the research.
  
• Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen are splitting up. Who would've thought marrying a whore-chaser could turn out poorly?
  
• Chris Rock is taking some heat for the Oscars. I blame a bigger trend in award's show: the marginalization of the host. If you were to watch the Oscars from 1985 and from 2005, you'd see that the host used to introduce all the award presenters; now the presenter does the monologue, introduces a fraction of the presenters, and the voiceover artist handles most of the introductions, in addition to the "fun facts as they walk on stage" info. He can't have much impact if he doesn't get the screen time.
  
• I'm pleased to see that the Oscars have stolen yet another of my ideas. In addition to stealing my idea for moving it into the sweeps period (I routinely posted this in email questions to USAToday chats and to Ebert's movie answer man), they've now taken my idea of gathering nominees on stage to cut down on the walking up to the stage. (I'll search my blog for evidence of this.) I'm telling you, that in itself cut the telecast down by 30 minutes.
  
• My sister, Courtney, had her baby just under a month ago. I can't remember if I blogged on this, but she's Haley Elizabeth, 8 lb. 5 oz., I think 19". I'll be home a week from today to meet her and continue showering her with gifts.
  
• I'm going to a presentation on Friday by this guy Edward Tufte. He's speaking on ways to improve visual presentation of information. People seem impressed by him, but I just don't know enough to be wowed yet. Right now, I'm content to be excited about attending an all-day workshop free, including getting 3 of his books, while others are paying substantial sums. I'll rave or rant afterwards.
  
• I spent this past weekend in Townsend, Tenn., on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with a friend and some of her friends. I know many of these people, but most of them I only know or would be around through my connection to her. Anyway, it was pretty fun. I kind of expected more hiking and adventure within the Park, but it was nice to be out of my apartment being sociable and largely away from the television.
  
  It also further cultivated my fantasies about being a real estate mogul and living in the mountains. Of course, there was no snow, and it was pretty mild out; but, then, that's what makes fantasies fantasies, no?
  
  Probably the oddest thing about the trip though is that we exit off of I-40 and take US-321 North, only if you look at a map, it is more than a little obvious that we're not in any way going north.
  
• The weight is holding steady between 190 and 193. Look for details on my "Oatmeal Diet." Got a publisher? I'm able to run 6 miles at a time. I think when I'm home, I'll try some outdoor running. I checked the price for the 1/2-marathon. Holy crap! $65 for a shitty t-shirt and the right to be jostled by strangers on the city streets? Can't you get that on Times Square free? I guess I know where all my freelance money will be going.

Alright, time to call it a night. God bless the man, woman, or deity that invented Spring Break.

posted by RSaunders at 9:40 PM ⇒ (0) comments