VLC: An Excellent Media Player (Finally) Turns 1.0.0
There’s nothing worse than a video player that won’t play all of your video files. That’s why I’ve long been a fan of the free VLC media player: It plays back just about every kind of file you can throw at it. And, finally, several years after the first version was released, VLC media player is now available in version 1.0.0. If you’ve never used VLC, now is the time to start.
VLC media player is an open-source application from VideoLAN that runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. (For a full list of supported OSes, see VideoLAN’s site.) You may not think you need an application to play back videos, with so much browser-based content available these days, but downloading VLC is a no-brainer if you want to watch any kind of offline content, whether that’s stuff you download (legally, ahem, or not) or even DVDs you pop into your computer.
Q&A With That’s Gay’s Bryan Safi
- Editor rating:
- Premiere: June 2009
- Length: 3 minutes
- Budget: High
- Cast
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- Host: Bryan Safi
- Crew
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- Producer : Natalie Proctor
In the first installment (which racked up over 70,000 views on Current’s site), Safi lashed out against the gay best friend stereotype, before moving on to discuss gay marriage and whether or not Sasha Baron Cohen’s Bruno is the new Malcolm X. We spoke via phone about reclaiming the word “gay,” Safi’s previous work at Funny or Die, and what, if anything, would be too gay to do on That’s Gay. An edited transcript follows.
NewTeeVee: What inspired the first episode of That’s Gay?
Bryan Safi: I think from watching Millionaire Matchmaker and being so offended when [Patty Stanger] asked a guy she’d never met if he was a top or a bottom. And I love Kathy Griffin, but all the stuff with her shouting “Where my gays at?” bothered me. It just seems kind of antiquated — I just wanted to say “Enough!”
NewTeeVee: Were you surprised by how fast it spread? Read more of this story
NTV Meetup LA Was En Fuego
The only thing hotter than the NewTeeVee LA meetup last night was an actual wildfire that broke out near the Getty. But neither natural disaster nor the most horrific traffic this reporter has ever experienced could keep people from this party. We had so many people pack the Cat n’ the Fiddle that management moved us to our own private room.
Thanks to everyone who came out last night. It was a great mix of familiar and new faces. We love LA, and we love the new media folks down here. Enjoy these pics from the event.
Vid-Biz: TiVo, Qik, FCC
Best Buy and TiVo Hook Up; retailer to heavily promote the DVR maker and bring TiVo tech to Best Buy’s Insignia line of devices; TiVo to develop version of its box that lets Best Buy advertise its products directly to the TV. (The New York Times)
Qik Gets $5.5 Million; round led by Quest Venture Partners and Camp Ventures. (VentureBeat)
FCC Steps into Verizon’s Spat with Cablevision; Verizon asks the feds for help since Cablevision won’t sell the Madison Square Garden network in HD to FiOS TV. (The Hollywood Reporter)
GoAnimate Launches Software as a Service Model; will allow any company to deploy GoAnimate’s animation tools, Cartoon Network using the platform for its Toon Creator. (emailed release)
Ad Buyers Flex Their Power Over TV Networks; the upfront negotiations haven’t even started yet as the recession, multi-platform deals and even Jay Leno complicate the ad buying process. (The Wrap)
ESPN Rolls Out Fancy New Home Run Tracking TV Technology; “Ball Track” uses Doppler radar to create a graphic that shows real-time distance the ball travels from the crack of the bat to where it stops. (Broadcasting & Cable)
Fred Envy Pervasive at LA Conference
Here a Fred, there a Fred, everywhere a Fred-Fred. The specter of 15-year-old Lucas Cruikshank has seemed to haunt NATPE’s LA TV Fest this week, with mentions of his hit web creation, Fred Figglehorn, on many a talk or panel. Here’s our report from the conference hallways.
Whether you’re wearing a suit or jeans, everyone has the same disclaimer about Fred: “Personally, I don’t get it. Maybe I’m just too old.” But then it becomes clear that each and every one of them is in awe and fear of the Fred phenomenon. Cruikshank has created the most-subscribed channel in the history of YouTube by depicting a chipmunk-voiced 6-year-old with anger management issues.
EQAL’s Greg Goodfried displayed perhaps the most stunning case of Fred envy, talking about his guy-with-a-Flipcam-and-Final-Cut work on the new EQAL project Get Cookin’ with Paula Deen. “Literally we sit around and say, ‘Is this as good as Fred? Does it feel like Fred; is it cut like Fred?’”
Netflix Streaming Coming to Sony TV Sets
Add Sony TV sets to the long list of hardware devices that will stream Netflix movies. Netflix announced this morning that starting this fall, net-connected Sony Bravia TVs and older Bravias that use the Internet link module will be able to access its “Watch Instantly” movie service.
Sony joins a host of other consumer electronics companies carrying Netflix including LG, Vizio, Samsung along with Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Speaking of the Xbox, noticeably absent from the Sony announcement is streaming to the PlayStation 3. Netflix currently has an exclusive game console relationship with the mighty Microsoft, but once that ends, it’s likely the PS3 will get Netflix as well.
Sony also has a deal with Amazon’s VOD service to stream movies to its sets.
This deal was kind of inevitable given Netflix’s plan to be everywhere (and success so far at achieving that), but it’s a nice feather in the cap for the company to get (another) a big brand name like Sony. In April, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that his company had a “tremendous number” of hardware partnerships in the pipeline.
ESPN Goes Interactive With SportsNation
If there is a type of TV show just screaming (sometimes literally) for socialization — it’s sports, and now thanks to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, there are more soapboxes than ever on which the sports fan to spout off. ESPN is looking to tap into that fan-ergy with SportsNation, a new daily live show that incorporates instant viewer polls, audience tweets and viral videos.
The show debuted Monday (hat tip to Mediaite) on ESPN 2 and we caught the second episode yesterday. According to the SportsNation web site, the show’s goal is “to be the most interactive show on TV.” Viewers can interact with the program via its site, Twitter, Facebook and a good ole-fashioned telephone.
The “interactivity” is a bit of a mixed bag, and sometimes feels like more of a stunt than a show built from the ground up for audience participation. The opening segment was a poll asking a series of questions like “Where will LeBron [James] play in 2009-2010?” or “Would you buy the Cubs for $900 million?” Each host gives their opinion while the audience votes on the web site with the results shown on-air.
For Online Storytelling, What Is “Participation,” Anyways?
I sat in on the “Adapting Existing Properties for Digital” panel at NATPE’s LA TV Fest this morning, and one of the key themes of discussion is what exactly is the evolving nature of participation in online storytelling.
The general consensus among panelists was that a participatory story was less about letting users play with the actual content in a choose-your-own-adventure style, and more about letting people participate through communication. As Sarah Szalavitz, founder and CEO of 7Robot, said, “It’s not about choose your own adventure, it’s about saying your adventure is stupid.”
Speakers on the panel were: Szalavitz, founder and CEO, 7Robot; Jamie Elden, VP, Digital & Branded Entertainment, Alloy Media + Marketing; Curt Marvis, president, Digital Media, Lionsgate; Jeff Katz, chairman and CEO, American Original; and Chris M. Williams, general manager, T180 Studios, The Walt Disney Co.
The more effective participatory path is to build an active community. “Engage audiences through comments,” said Elden, “Get them involved with watching the content and how it affects them in their own real lives.”
A Love Letter to Internet James Franco
- Editor rating:
- Premiere: May 2007
- Length: 5 minutes
- Cast
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- Internet James Franco: James Franco
- Internet James Franco's Brother Davey: Dave Franco
I’ve got a thing for Internet James Franco.
Let me be clear about this. I have no actual interest in the talented and reliable co-star of Milk, Freaks and Geeks, and the Spider-man films, who is now pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia University. For, with the exception of Pineapple Express, James Franco has never shown much range in his film work, sticking mostly to roles that fit within his James Dean-esque image. James Dean was pretty, sure, but he spent a lot of time crying.
However, since 2007, Franco has been crafting a separate persona for web distribution only, and Internet James Dean might just be the man of my dreams. Internet James Franco doesn’t cry, but he’ll teach you his secrets for how to cry on camera. Internet James Franco doesn’t appear on the covers of magazines calling him “the Next James Dean;” Internet James Franco DOES his James Dean impression for you. Internet James Franco is a good older brother. Internet James Franco wants you to meet his mom. Internet James Franco is a catch. Read more of this story
YouTube’s Pitch to Hollywood
YouTube came to Los Angeles this week to seek out content partners, pitching them its 3-month-old redesign for premium content. “This was a big strategy change for us, one of the most significant ones to date,” said Jordan Hoffner, the site’s director of content partnerships, noting the site’s new “clean, well-lit” shows page was “the first navigation change in about two and a half years.” Hoffner emphasized online distribution of long-form content as a companion to television, but with fewer ads and the opportunity to get audience feedback.
But television content has not yet been particularly successful on YouTube. According to recent stats from TubeMogul, full-length shows average only 7,407.9 views per episode. Perhaps the TV content the site has secured isn’t high value enough; perhaps it should do more to promote the stuff it can actually run pre-rolls on. For whatever reason, few people look to YouTube to watch TV shows online.
Hoffner’s remarks were the keynote address at NATPE’s LATV Fest, where YouTube is a headline sponsor and also sponsored his speech itself. It’s clear YouTube has a pretty strong interest in reaching this audience.
When we asked Hoffner during the Q&A whether his expectations had been met for premium content viewing, he said, “Momentum is taking more time than we anticipated. But growth is not going down; it’s going up.” Hoffner said YouTube is working with programmers to add more content, promote it and refresh it, but that tweaking premium content presentation is limited by the fact that “the data set is not statistically significant yet.”
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