Author: Paul

  • Talkin’ Genachowski, FCC Heir Apparent, on Thursday’s radioshow

    Ace FCC watcher Matthew Lasar will be my guest on this week’s radioshow to talk about the new FCC Chairman apparent, Julius Genachowski. Matthew will lay some knowledge about Genachowski’s past and help us polish the crystal ball to see what communications future this cat will bring us. Tune in to the show live at…

  • I Think I Must Admit that Laserdisc Is Dead

    I have the sinking feeling that I might be forced to define my terms…. My pal Aj alerted me to this boingboing post about the news that Pioneer is ending production of laserdisc players. The funny thing is, I honestly didn’t think Pioneer was still making laserdisc players. That’s not a joke. Although I’ve been…

  • mediatwit

    I realize not everyone reads the blog from the webpage itself — some read by RSS readers. So you might have missed my Twitter feed over on the right sidebar. I started using the micro-blogging Twitter app about eight months ago, and integrated it into the site some time in the fall. I like Twitter…

  • Film’s not dead, either

    Oh, no. I’m not ready to give up on the anti-planned-obsolescence rant just yet… The world of photography has been much less chaotic than the worlds of audio and video over the last century. There’s really only been one significant technological disruption–from film to digital. Yes, there have been multiple formats of film over the…

  • Rumors of VHS’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

    Oh, planned obsolescence, you are such an insistent mistress. It seems like the end of the year news hole combined with the imminent digital TV transition (which does not necessarily mean the end of analog TV…) has sparked additional interest in the press ringing the funeral bells for that most ubiquitous yet unloved video medium,…

  • Reboot the FCC? Better, Democratize the FCC

    A week ago Prof. Larry Lessig penned a provocative little column for Newsweek that apparently was supposed to be titled “Blow Up the FCC,” but was published as “Reboot the FCC.” In essence, Lessig argues for the FCC to be done away with, replaced by an “Innovation Environment Protection Agency,” focused on curtailing monopoly power…

  • Cheapskate Audiophile

    As a geek videophile audiophile there’s the tendency for that interest to be conflict with my critical side that questions our modern consumerist capitalist economy. I believe that balance can be found, as long as one accepts that it’s nearly impossible to be entirely non-comsumerist without checking out of modern technological society altogether. Yet, it…

  • What Makes for Compelling Educational Video, and Predictions for 2009

    I have two recent columns on educational media posted over at Streaming Media Magazine. The most recent one is the “Futurewatch” for education in 2009, which will be published in the upcoming Industry Sourcebook 2009 issue. I’m predicting a greater emphasis on mobile-accessible media along with greater convergence between communication platforms like videoconferencing with streaming…

  • Lubbock, TX loses an alternative radio voice

    I very much regret to report the news of yet another college station leaving the air. This time the news comes by way of Jennifer at Spinning Indie: nearly 50-year-old college radio station KTXT at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas was abruptly shut down on December 10th by the university. Apparently the school is…

  • Limited Area Broadcasting

    I’ve just spent a little chunk of time plowing through the archives of the Low Power Radio blog, which I found through my referrer logs. It promises insight on “how to set up and operate your own low power radio station.” By low power, the blogger Kev means: Micro radio, micro power broadcasting, part 15…