“Sitting,” according to Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic, “is the new smoking. Sitting is literally bad for you.”
It’s a hyperbolic line. It’s also a decent comparison. Sitting for long periods leads to increased risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. It …
Steven Johnson on the impending electric car revolution being led by Tesla:
And if that’s the case, then the automobile industry will go through exactly what the computer and software world went through with the rise of the PC, the Web, and the mobile revolutions. Smaller companies that bet heavily on the new paradigm will become dominant in an amazingly short amount of time; behemoths who cling to the old models will swiftly become afterthoughts. The EV revolution will be like Hemingway’s classic line about going broke: it will happen gradually, then all of a sudden.
Agreed. This is going to happen sooner than most people think.
[via Daring Fireball]
Andrew Wallenstein of Variety reports on a panel featuring CAA TV literary agent Peter Micelli, who spoke about Netflix:
“The cheapest show is $3.8 million an episode,” Micelli told a crowd of more than 500 lawyers in the entertainment business. “‘House of Cards’ started at $4.5 million and (executive producer David) Fincher took it way above that.”
It ain’t cheap, but with Microsoft, Amazon, Redbox, Verizon, and others now getting into this game, there’s little question in my mind that this will be the future of television.
The bigger note from this article is the last one, Ratings are now competitive secrets:
“Micelli even revealed that Netflix’s motivation to be so secretive is rooted in something one of its competitors discovered the hard way. He explained that HBO came to regret its decision to release ratings information when “The Sopranos” emerged as a big hit, only to see much of the programming that came afterward pale by comparison in terms of audience.
“Netflix learned from that and they’re not going to do it,” he said.”“
Aerial Photographs Of Tulip Fields In The Netherlands By Normann Szkop
I think I’ve already reblogged this several times. But I just can’t stop. And I’m not sure why.
This is not a race against the machines. If we race against them, we lose. This is a race with the machines. You’ll be paid in the future based on how well you work with robots. Ninety percent of your coworkers will be unseen machines. Most of what you do will not be possible without them. And there will be a blurry line between what you do and what they do. You might no longer think of it as a job, at least at first, because anything that seems like drudgery will be done by robots.
“
| — | Kevin Kelly |
Some good follow-up thoughts by Marco Arment on my thoughts about Nintendo.
Arment is of course right that Nintendo wants to remain in the hardware business because when things are going well, it’s a much better business to be in. But things aren’t going well. And I’m not sure they ever will again for Nintendo, sadly. As Arment notes, the Wii turned out to be a fad.
The Wii U is just a very strange product. Nintendo’s can’t compete with Microsoft and Sony on high-end gaming hardware. And they can’t compete with Apple on touchscreen-based gaming. So they seemingly did a half-assed job on both.
While the Wii was a fad, it worked very well for a time because it was different. It forced the competitors to come to them. Nintendo no longer had to chase down the big guys in battles they couldn’t win (see: above). That’s the only way Nintendo stays alive. They need to truly innovate in videogame hardware.
Like Arment, I’m worried that instead they’ll go down the Sega road and just pump out cheap versions of their great old franchises to anyone who will take them. That’s why I’d love to see Apple step in and buy Nintendo, and let them operate as the independent iOS gaming wing of the company. If Apple wants to move hardware, it’s hard to imagine a better way than having exclusives on all of the Nintendo titles going forward (as well as the back catalog).
It should be like Pixar within Disney. Remember, Pixar started out trying to make hardware as well.
G4’s Attack of the Show signed-off for the last time Wednesday night. A “secret ending” starring two former hosts from The Screen Savers will be a delight to any TechTV fans
This is great!
I still think Patrick and Leo should need do a show again. But it needs to be a produced show. Not just a podcast+video
The subtle sarcasm they had together was genius.
