Video on the Rise

I actually worked more than 12 hours today, and as a result I not only missed seeing some co-ops that I won't see again, but I missed church and The Contender. How much does that suck? Similar story yesterday when I missed my post. I'm going to try to keep this post brief so I can go to bed since I'm so exhausted. Google has replaced the link to Froogle above its friendly home page search bar with a link to Google Video, which shows how their paradigm has shifted. I think that they realized that people aren't using Froogle as much as many of its competitors, and Google Video is probably going to be making them more money anyway. Plus, their most famous services now are search, maps, images, video, and news. They don't change their homepage layout much (except for the logo on special occasions, of course), so I think it's safe to imply that this is definitely a shift in where they see themselves going as a company, and Google Video is becoming more and more important to them. On the other side of the coin, Fox is moving more towards digital distribution of television shows and movies on their sites and on MySpace, and that same article actual points out how other studios are following suit in an effort to not become as reliant on Apple as the music labels have already become. Is it really going to take off this way though? If they were to offer shows for free with commercials then that may attract younger audiences, but are people going to be so excited about digital distribution without an effective engine of viewing and storage? Media centers and portable media devices haven't altogether taken off yet like the iPod did when iTunes got big, and I predict that the studios will be at the mercy of whoever makes digital videos easiest to watch and obtain away from the computer screen.

Back to Google for a minute though. They've opened up registration for their Code Jam competition (hadn't heard of this one before) where you can compete with programmers worldwide for fabulous cash prizes. If you're an aspiring computer scientist then I'd highly recommend this as the only reason I won't be doing this is because I know that I'll be struggling to keep afloat around the time. It would also appear that they're preparing for a major upgrade on Blogger including privacy settings on your blog (this will get them a lot of teenagers), easier template editing, tagging capabilities, better publishing structure, and more feeds. I'm really excited to see it since it's been so long since they've updated anything on this thing. It looks like Apple may be preparing for their fall product launch very soon as they've not only been preparing massive freight shipments, but also there are signs that its inventory management system is preparing to phase out the Nano and Seagate's announcement of a small 60 GB hard drive would bode well for a new iPod. I'm going to hold off on getting excited about this, but I can't help but wonder if they're going to replace the Nano with an iPod phone? Does that sound so crazy? The LA Times/Bloomberg have determined something that my friend and I have discussed on a few occasions though: young people these days don't really care about watching TV and movies on small screen devices, like a widescreen iPod, perhaps. That would support the theory that the movie store thing is for a Mac Mini media center, not a new iPod. Lastly, Microsoft has unveiled Live Writer for your blogging needs on Live Spaces with some real nifty features including map and photo publishing. The only drawback, of course, is that you have to blog through their service to take advantage of it.

I actually have some real interesting movie news today. First off, remember word that you'd be able to download director commentary for Clerks 2 and listen to it in the theater? It turns out that everyone was all ready to go with that, but theater owners were concerned about it bothering other movie watchers so they didn't allow it. How much does that suck? It was such a neat concept! If you want to see all the ComicCon videos for Grind House, Movie-List has your video fix covered. I think I saw them already, but any Tarantino fans that missed it should give them a quick look. The Japanese site for Iwo Jima has the teaser trailer for the movie (in English for a bit of it), and it looks like it could have the makings of a great war movie but it's really too early to tell. The teaser trailer for Saw 3 has finally hit Yahoo Movies, and it looks real awesome. It makes me want to run out and rent Saw 2 so that when I catch this one I can decide if the series is losing steam. I really do think these movies are predicated on a pretty genuinely scary idea. Now enjoy this blood drive promotion that coincides with the movie's publicity:



Now for a rather sappy Tuesday Twosome:

In your opinion...

1. What are the two worst things about people of the opposite sex? Explain:
Passive aggressive behaviors (why not just be straightforward with me about what's bothering you?) and mind games. I guess they're both related, but the mind games thing is mainly directing at the point where the guy is trying to get the girl and she screws with his head in any of a variety of ways.

2. What are the two best things about people of the opposite sex? Explain:
The female figure is so much more beautiful than the male figure, and they usually have a level of sensitivity that makes them easy to talk to without having to have your guard up about things.

3. What are the two worst things about people of the same sex? Explain:
Sex on the mind too much (hey, I'm victim to it but it doesn't mean it's a good trait) and the urge for power. It always seems like when guys do jerk things it's because they feel like their power is threatening (again, I have been victim to it, but it's still bad).

4. What are the two best things about people of the same sex? Explain:
Ability to bulk up in muscle and look good with it, and I guess that they usually have similar interest to me in stuff like video games and sports? I don't know of something else that most guys possess that are great because guys can be so different from one another.

5. Which would you rather have happen: dying alone with nobody to love or dying miserable because you were with someone you didn't really love? Explain:
Definitely the first one. It is my greatest fear to die alone, but to feel like you actually wasted your time with someone when you're on your deathbed and to know that you were living a lie is even worse.