Published on July 9, 2007
Nintendo has teamed up with the Seattle Mariners for a pilot program in their stadium. People can bring their DS to a game, and for $5 ($30 for 10 games) load it with software that ties the device into the stadium’s WiFi network. Then, the users can order food, play trivia games, and watch video replays of the action on the field.
This is such a cool concept, and looks to be a great execution. I could see this being used at a NASCAR race to show everyone the position of their favorite drivers on the track. Or how about at a Basketball game to show the number of points each player has scored so far, or who’s about the foul out.
The DS has been one of the best selling devices in history… is the install base large enough for something like this to catch on? The hardware is not particularly expensive at $130, and if enough places utilize it this way the cost may be justified. Can enough parents just borrow the kids’ DSs?
It’d be nice if this type of solution could be rolled out for an open set of hardware… a sort of intranet website with this functionality, but without the ability to control the target hardware things like interface and streaming media become very difficult to pull off well.
So what do you think? Is the DS the perfect platform for event-augmentation? What other applications do you think would have a chance to becoming popular? Will a day come that our cellphones are standardized enough to log onto a local network for this sort of thing?
Via: Engadget
Published on July 8, 2007
I had heard quite a while ago that Netflix was offering a new Watch Now service, where you stream movies over the internet. For every $1 you spend on your Netflix membership per month, you get 1 hour of viewing time online. So a $14 membership gets 14 hours of online streaming time. At first I brushed it off, assuming that the product would be low resolution, laggy, and restricted to a small browser window. Man, I was wrong!
I was encouraged by a friend to try it out. I just happened to have my Windows Computer temporarily hooked up to my HDTV through its VGA port, so I decided to see how things were. The selection of movies is rather limited right now, but they are constantly adding new content. I’m sure a combination of encoding time and licensing issues are to blame for the delay in converting content, but I have high hopes that the library will grow quickly.
The service requires you to be using Internet Explorer inside of Windows because of its use of Windows Media player for DRM. (I e-mailed Netflix, and they said that they are working on a cross-platform solution). Thankfully, you never have to actually touch Windows Media Player, as all of the action happens through a flash applet on the Netflix website. Clicking on the full screen button gives you a completely full screen presentation with a small auto-hiding overlay for playback controls. Movies take between 15 and 30 seconds to buffer, and after that initial buffer I’ve never had a pause or skip. I was completely blown away by the quality of the video. On my HDTV it rivals the quality of a physical DVD, though compression artifacts are a little more visible in the streaming video.
Now there are rumors that Netflix is working on a set-top-box for streaming movies and TV shows to a TV without a computer. A standard def box may be $50, while a box with component connections would be $100. I think that pretty soon this will be the main method of watching Netflix movies, once HD streaming and multi-channel audio become part of the service. I would sign up for that instantly.
At any rate, if you have a Netflix account and access to a Windows computer, give Watch Now a shot, I think it will surprise you.
Published on July 7, 2007
Flipping through the program guide this morning I ran across Ultimate Factories on the National Geographic Channel (which I honestly didn’t realize I got). So far today I’ve seen the assembly line at Harley Davidson, and right now they’re showing how Ferrari manufactures the 599.
This shows feel like How It’s Made with much more detail and background into the products being made. I think it’s a great look for anyone in product design, or anyone who’s just curious about what goes into making some of the most famous products we buy.
You can see the whole Ferrari episode here: http://flixreel.com/?v=ufx45c7411c4543f
