Practical Technology

You may have noticed that when I talk about TV over the Internet, I haven’t been talking about Google TV or the like. Instead, I’ve been focusing on “media extenders” like the Apple TV, Roku, and the various Internet-equipped Blu-Ray DVD players. The main reason is the elephant in the room: “When will Apple announce [...]

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It seems to me some days like the media companies want their own Internet TV subsidiaries to fail. Take, for example, the simple task of finding the show you want. DVRs manage it, TV Guide managed it when the only way we got to watch TV was by using rabbit ears. But finding the shows [...]

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With Google+ Hangouts, you’ve long been able to do free videoconferencing for up to ten people. Now, with Google+ Hangouts on Air, anyone can also broadcast to a world-wide audience. According to Chee Chew, a Google Engineering Director, “If you have something to say-as an aspiring artist, a global celebrity, or a concerned citizen-you can [...]

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The MPAA, RIAA and other copyright holding companies have long used Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to identify users for their lawsuits. They’ll find that people at various IP addresses have used BitTorrent or some other peer-to-peer (P2P) service seem to have downloaded copyrighted video or music and then sic their lawyer attack dogs on them. [...]

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Ubuntu Linux fans will recognize this story’s title as a play on the operating system’s slogan: Ubuntu: Linux for human beings. Now, Canonical, Ubuntu’s parent company, is taking on Apple and Google by trying to make Ubuntu the operating system of choice for all-in-one Internet, cable, and satellite TV: Ubuntu TV. According to Jane Silber, [...]

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