In 1963, six years before “Sesame Street,” Jim Henson produced a short film called “Robot.”
Originally produced for business seminars, AT&T recently made the lost film available online.
“The short tells an archetypal man and machine story,” reports Forrest Wickman for Slate. “Still, it’s unexpected to see a robot imagined in 1963 not just as a possible weapon of war or spaceship pilot but as a means for ‘digesting vast oceans of information.'”
It’s interesting to speculate whether the film reveals Henson’s own thinking about smart machines. Nevertheless, it does showcase his talent creating an entertaining personality, an ability that would later serve him well.
“I’m struck not only by the robot’s campy resemblance to the tin-can creations of movies like ‘Forbidden Planet,’ but also by its hilariously open disdain for humans,” writes Wickman, “which reminds me above all of Flight of the Conchords’ much more recent ‘The Humans Are Dead.'”
Apple reported record-breaking earnings for its last quarter yesterday. The company generated $46.3 billion in revenue with a profit of $13.06 billion, reports AllThingsD.
The sales figures: 37.04 million iPhones, a 128 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago; 15.43 million iPads, up 111 percent; and 5.2 million Macs, an increase of 26 percent.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the figures represent record-breaking numbers for iPhones, iPads and Macs. The iPod was the only product to see a drop; Apple sold 15.4 million units, down 21 percent.
Apple also announced that by the end of this month, iOS developers will have earned more than $4 billion in total sales.
In a related Tech.pinions post, analyst Ben Bajarin suggests “Apple is just getting started,” citing continued innovation and new markets in Asia.
“There are still industries for Apple to disrupt,” he writes. “There are still new products to be made for new types of customers. We are only half way through this 50+ year journey of bringing technology to the masses… Lots of OEMs better get their tablet strategies in order.”
Time Warner Cable has announced the launch of TWC TV for Apple’s iPhone.
“TWC TV allows subscribers of the second-largest U.S. cable operator to watch live TV from within the home, change channels on their set-top box and manage their DVR from their iPhone,” explains The Hollywood Reporter.
In order to access the interactive program guide, channel tuning and DVR management features, customers will need a set-top box or DVR that uses the “Navigator” interactive program guide, according to THR.
“TW Cable was one of the most visible pay TV providers at CES 2012 this month, which drew a positive review from Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker.” In the related article, THR notes that TV Everywhere is gaining momentum.
The app is currently available for download in the App Store at no additional cost for Time Warner Cable customers with a broadband connection.
CNET offers its take on the highlights of last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
In addition to the anticipated array of ultrabooks and connected CE devices, the show introduced a pair of 55-inch OLED TVs from LG and Samsung: “Don’t expect either of these TVs to be cheap when they hit the market. But make no mistake, OLED is in your future.”
There was real diversity in the crowded tablet market, with standouts including the Asus Memo 370T and the Toshiba Excite X10.
“Google TV got more interesting with a few new devices and the announcement that the OnLive gaming service will work with it,” reports CNET. “But overall there wasn’t as much innovation in the home video space as enthusiasts may have liked to have seen.”
There were 3D printers such as the Makerbot Replicator and 3D Systems’ Cube; a surprisingly small number of new laptops; compelling ultrabooks led by the Dell XPS 13 and HP Envy 14 Spectre; three exceptional point-and-shoot cameras with the Fujifilm X-Pro1, the Nikon D4, and the Canon PowerShot G1 X; and a surprise showing by Gorilla Glass 2, now stronger and allows screens to be 20 percent thinner.
Software and apps took on a new presence this year: “BlueStacks for Windows 8, our Best of CES Award winner in the Software and Apps category, brings you the entire Android app catalog in Windows 8. Several new apps are helping those who want to drop cable TV do so with ease. Aurasma is a cool app that brings augmented reality to both Android and iOS devices.”
“Some of the most notable things about this year’s show were the products we didn’t see,” explains the wrap-up. “Phones bearing Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of the Android operating system, were expected to dominate CES this year but were largely missing in action. Instead, 4G LTE, Windows Phone, and AT&T were the real stars of the mobile show. Highlights included the Nokia Lumia 900, the HTC Titan II, the Motorola Droid 4, the Droid Razr Maxx, and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.”
CNET announced the winners of this year’s “CNET Best of CES Awards” as voted on by the editors and users of cnet.com.
Best of Show for 2012 was awarded to LG’s 55EM9600 OLED TV: “The first 55-inch OLED TV announced as shipping in 2012, and the only one to get an actual model number and public ship date (Q3), the 55EM9800 promises the superb all-around performance of OLED (absolute black levels, ultra-fast panel and excellent viewing angles) in an ultra-thin panel.”
This year’s People’s Voice Award went to the Razer Project Fiona concept gaming tablet, which according to CNET: “suggests that Windows 8 is a serious player in portable gaming, and that Razer is serious about moving into manufacturing computers.”
Other notable winners include:
The Windows Phone-based Nokia Lumia 900 with 4.3-inch AMOLED screen and dual cameras (Smartphones category).
Fujifilm’s mirrorless X-Pro1 featuring a new sensor and hybrid viewfinder (Cameras category).
The $250 Asus Memo 370T quad-core, Android 4.0 tablet with 1280×800 IPS screen (Tablets category).
HP’s Envy 14 Spectre premium ultrabook, “the most glass-covered laptop we’ve ever seen” (Personal Computers category).
The Simple.TV DVR available on iPad, Roku, Boxee and Google TV (Home Theater category). “Think of it like your own personal cloud for your over-the-air TV.”
You can check out the complete list of winners and a video of the awards presentation here.
A group of MIT scientists is using a 3D camera and “time of flight” detection to develop a simpler, affordable gesture recognition technology for cell phones.
“3D acquisition has become a really hot topic,” says Vivek Goyal, associate professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT’s Research Lab of Electronics. “In consumer electronics, people are very interested in 3D for immersive communication, but then they’re also interested in 3D for human-computer interaction.”
Goyal says the camera “provides more-accurate depth information than the Kinect, has a greater range and works under all lighting conditions — but is so small, cheap and power-efficient that it could be incorporated into a cell phone at very little extra cost.”
“MIT’s camera uses what is referred to as ‘time of flight’ of light particles to determine the depth of field: An infrared laser is emitted and a camera measures the time it takes the light to return from objects at different distances,” reports Tom’s Hardware. “However, instead of employing multiple sensors, the MIT system has only one detector — a one-pixel camera.”
Qualcomm has provided a $100,000 research grant for the project.
For those interested, check out the 10-minute video.
“Snapstream offers a TV monitoring service that helps various news services, government agencies and educational clients keep tabs on subjects discussed on TV, clip them and save them for later,” according to GigaOM. “Or, if you’re a customer like ‘The Daily Show,’ you’re using those clips as part of your own broadcasts.”
Prior to this week, Snapstream’s service was only available to Windows users.
The company released a Mac Web player this week for Mac OS X Snow Leopard and above. Mac users can now “search TV recordings, clips relevant video segments, transcode those recordings to a Web-friendly format and set up alerts for when certain subjects are discussed on TV,” explains the post.
The new player features a plugin that plays back MPEG-2 recordings. According to GigaOM: “Since lots of video professionals are already using Macs and Final Cut Pro, that could greatly improve workflow for current customers and win over potential new customers.”
Following the shutdown of file-sharing service MegaUpload.com, founder Kim Dotcom (aka Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor) and three executives have been arrested in New Zealand by request of the U.S. government.
MegaUpload was charged with: 1) engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, 2) conspiring to commit copyright infringement, 3) conspiring to commit money laundering and 4) two substantive counts of criminal copyright infringement.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the service is an “international organized criminal enterprise allegedly responsible for massive worldwide online piracy.”
“This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States and directly targets the misuse of a public content storage and distribution site to commit and facilitate intellectual property crime,” indicates the DOJ press release.
“The complaint alleges that MegaUpload, founder Kim Dotcom, and his team are responsible for $175 million in ‘criminal proceeds’ and ‘more than half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners,'” reports The Verge.
“While SOPA has been tabled for the moment, the MegaUpload case should prove to be a flashpoint for the issue in the months to come: both an example of how large the claimed piracy problem has become and how the U.S. can already enforce its laws with broad international support.”
Wikipedia has joined other sites in going dark today in protest of two proposed bills — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate.
From midnight Tuesday until midnight Wednesday (ET), people who try to visit the English Wikipedia homepage will be redirected to a temporary page, “Imagine a World without Free Knowledge” that includes information regarding SOPA and PIPA and a zipcode search to contact political representatives.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said the blackout is intended to show lawmakers and regulators that people who work on the Internet do not support the bills.
According to Wales, 460 million people around the world visit Wikipedia each month. The blackout could affect as many as 100 million people.
The WordPress homepage and some other international Wikipedia pages will post similar notices. Technology/culture blog BoingBoing and social news site Reddit will also blackout their sites for the day.
Google opted not to go dark with its search service for the day, but a black bar is blocking its doodle art logo. The bar links to a page that states: “Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.”
“Freshmen at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts spent the past semester playing an immersive card game, ‘Reality.’ Participants collected cards hidden across campus that were used as prompts for collaborative storytelling projects,” according to Wired. The school partnered with Ph.D. candidate Jeff Watson to produce the alternate reality game with a focus on media creation.
The game is described as “one part trading card game, one part media creation tool, and one part Web portal.”
“When USC pulled together a team to design ‘Reality,’ they had one goal in mind: to give incoming freshmen the opportunity to collaborate with other students and sharpen their skills before their sophomore year,” explains the article.
Prizes included class recognition, meetings with professionals such as Robert Zemeckis, internship possibilities and more.
A number of students stated the game was a highlight of their freshman year and they are sad to see it go. “I think the game was brilliant because it created an incredible space for experimentation and growth,” explains Allison Tate-Cortese, a Film & Television Production major. “It was brilliant because you felt safe because you can try things that were outside of your comfort zone, but you didn’t have to worry about a grade accompanied with it.”
For those interested in the results, visit the game’s archive of deals, where students explain each project. “Highlights include a special effects-ridden science fiction trailer, a satiric dramatization of students’ experiences with the project, and a game of live-action Minesweeper at IndieCade,” reports Wired.
We have an update to the Samsung Blu-ray news originally reported earlier in the week. The company is expected to demo a 7.1 channel Blu-ray 3D home theater system featuring column speakers with tilting cones that “vertically cascade” audio to the listener.
“Samsung‘s AirPlay-toting Audio Docks aren’t the only home entertainment kit the company has for CES; there’s also a three-strong line-up of home cinema speaker systems, ranging from 7.1-channel lounge-dominators to a slimline 2.1 speaker-bar setup,” reports SlashGear.
Wi-Fi connectivity via Samsung’s home theater system will allow access to Samsung Apps, Facebook and Twitter. According to the post: “Its functionality shared by the Samsung HT-E5500W 3D Blu-ray Home Theater System, a 5.1-channel setup with twin HDMI 1.4a inputs, iPhone/iPod dock, ‘Disc to Digital’ feature for ripping DVDs to digital copies (when the DRM permits it), and upscaling from DVD, streaming or other digital media to 1080p.”
No pricing available yet, but it may be announced in Las Vegas next week.
In its video review of the much anticipated RED Scarlet-X 4K camera, the team at Cinema5D has posted several impressive visual samples that illustrate capabilities of the new camera involving low light shooting and wide dynamic range imagery.
Engadget sums it up: “Native 4K recording? Check. A built-for-war body? You bet. Backordered despite a downright shocking $11,700 price tag? Most certainly. As with RED’s prior products, the Scarlet-X seems to be wowing just about every shooter lucky enough to come into contact with one.”
“The Scarlet-X boasts 4K video recording (4096×2160) at 25FPS, while 3K shooting brings the speed up to 48FPS, 2K can be shot at 60FPS and 1K doubles the speed again to 120FPS,” reports Electronista. “The Super 35-level sensor is also capable of shooting 5K stills at 12FPS continuous capture speed.”
Videos include: 4-minute demo of the camera and its features, 2-minute video shot in low light on the streets of Hollywood, and two additional videos showcasing the camera’s capabilities in various lighting conditions.
The Cinema5D post includes a complete breakdown of accessories used for the tests and a link to an evolving Scarlet-X buyer’s guide.
Facebook and Google are expected to directly compete for dominance of the social sphere in 2012, reports TheNextWeb.
The competition will see both pushing consumer features, but also trying to win enterprise users and social media marketers.
We’ll also see Facebook’s much-anticipated IPO, an increase in social media outsourcing, and leveraging of social tools in realms such as education and the presidential race.
“With the three heavy hitters — Facebook, Twitter and Google+ — taking up most of the social media space, it’s hard to imagine a new company coming into the picture and taking people’s attention away from existing services,” explains TNW. “Instead, we’ll probably continue to see services that plug into the existing environment, like Flipboard and its many competitors, which have capitalized on how social media has become a tool for the curation of current events and news.”
Five predictions: Facebook and Google+ will go head to head for the number one spot, mobile social media will come into its own, social media will become a natural extension of journalism, 2012 will be the year of the social media IPO, and Twitter will embrace advertising and brands.
Despite steep advertising price increases, the Super Bowl has sold out again. Half-minute spots during the game cost $3.5 million, up 59 percent from 2001.
“The increase in ad prices for the Super Bowl are a clear sign of how important the ratings juggernaut has become to advertisers as viewership for regular broadcast TV continues to shrink amid growing competition from cable and the Web,” explains The Wall Street Journal.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, for example, purchased four-and-a-half minutes for the February 5 broadcast.
“NBC also will be streaming the game for the first time on NBCSports.com, though the network says it is limiting the commercials it carries online,” reports WSJ. “NBC said as many as eight advertisers are expected to pay between six and seven figures for the streaming ad time.”
According to Nielsen, last year’s Super Bowl (Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers) was “the most-watched telecast in U.S. history, attracting some 111 million viewers.”
Showtime announced it will offer select promotional episodes of shows such as “Shameless” and “House of Lies” along with additional content including sneak previews and behind-the-scenes video via a promotional app it will introduce this week on the Roku set-top box.
“Showtime is the first content owner to take advantage of a newly released sample reference application built by Brightcove, Roku and A Different Engine, a San Francisco-based interactive agency,” reports Multichannel News.
“The app provides a simple user interface that follows Roku’s navigation conventions and provides built-in connections to Video Cloud playlists, reducing the amount of time required for user-interface design, development and quality assurance,” explains the post.
“The Roku audience is made up of millions of passionate viewers,” says Brightcove VP Eric Elia. “By integrating with the Roku platform, we are making it easy for programmers like Showtime to reach this audience.”
