Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

Originally posted by vansmack:
So yes Hoya, IP TV is the future - but how far in the future is up to the IP industry, and they've throttled every attempt to expand for the past 10 years.

maybe i'm crazy, but i think it'll be more dramatic than just IP TV or ondemand movies … more of a tectonic shift of how we purchase/consume media, "owning" nothing and streaming everything from some giant central server … but i don't really keep up regularly with tech news, is that realistic?

it may be hard to make the move from physical media to digital media, but i think it would be even harder psychologically to make the leap from owning digital media to streaming it

The technology is already there, but the platforms are not - if that makes any sense.

The problem with the all IP delivery model is that somebody still has to pay for it - and that doesn't exist yet. So there's no way the networks are going to give up that revenue model until there's a new revenue model.

Look at Apple's TV show sales. They were decent last year, but are going to get killed this year because the networks have figured out their own revenue generating model. Who's going to pay when it's free online and all I have to do is sit through 3-4 15 second commercials?

The engineers are still consistently ahead of the business models - that's what killed Napster (perhaps twice) and that's what is the major impediment to the license structure you propose.

Do you think the Orange Bowl knew this in advance?

Uniwatch is reporting...

Missouri is hinting that they may wear solid gold in the Cotton Bowl (as reported by Drew Wagner). â?¦

Either way, Venerable and I think this will not help with New Years Morning hangovers….

Originally posted by vansmack:
Do you think the Orange Bowl knew this in advance?

Uniwatch is reporting...

Missouri is hinting that they may wear solid gold in the Cotton Bowl (as reported by Drew Wagner). â?¦

Either way, Venerable and I think this will not help with New Years Morning hangovers….

fairly certain that won't happen

It's been quite a while since I created a new Smackie Corollary, but after a few Irish Coffees on Friday, we started working on a new one.

It's quite clear that the Cougar phenomenon has taken on a life of its own, and young guys seem to be working just as hard as the Cougars these days to get their Cougar stripes. But before guys start bragging that shaggin any divorcee is a stripe earner, and Cougars braggin on "The Real Housewives of Orange County" that any younger man qualifies as a Cougar, I've taken it up myslef to create a new Smackie Corollary on Cougars.

The problem really stems from a loosely worded definition that limits cougars to 30-50 years olds, which really isn't right. Nor does it take into account the age of the male compared to the Cougar.

Half the Cougars age, plus no more than +10 years qualifies as a Cougar Encounter (always round down).
</font>

• &lt;font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda"&gt;35 year old Cougar = any male under 27 can qualify as a cougar encounter.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
• &lt;font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda"&gt;40 year old cougar= any male under 30 can qualify as a cougar encounter.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
• &lt;font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda"&gt;50 year old cougar= any male under 35 can qualify as a cougar encounter.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

<font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">
I'm not quite happy with this as it pertains to women under 35 at the moment, so maybe we need a Cougar-in-Training rule for 30-35 year old Cougars:

When dealing with a Cougar in Training, Half the Cougars age, plus no more than +7 years qualifies as a cougar encounter.
</font>

• &lt;font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda"&gt;30/31 year old Cougar = any male under 22 can qualify as a Cougar encounter.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
• &lt;font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda"&gt;32/33 year old Cougar = any male under 23 can qualify as a Cougar encounter.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
• &lt;font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda"&gt;34 year old Cougar = any male under 24 can qualify as a Cougar encounter.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

<font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">
This is one is still open for negotiation. I'm really looking at pivotal factors at the moment (like the Cougar must be a divorcee or have children, maybe there must be some form of botox or plastics work involved). I'm open to all suggestions….

I wish I had something to say about this, but it just seems too easy….

Former MLB pitcher Mark Littell demonstrates the new protective cup for you with special words from Chris Sabo on the Nutty Buddy at the end:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C9aiWr0Vfg

Originally posted by vansmack:
new Smackie Corollary on Cougars

eww. do these rules apply to old men chasing young women, or that simply expected behavior? is the reverse that noteworthy? seems like college frat boys have been forever getting drunk and chasing whatever tail is available - does codification make it cooler?

Originally posted by sweetcell:
do these rules apply to old men chasing young women

Half your age plus seven, no lower. That rule is steadfast.

Originally posted by sweetcell:
does codification make it cooler?

I don't think it's cool at all - I've almost always gone younger. But I think their need to be some ground rules for definition purposes before these things get out of hand.

Originally posted by vansmack:
with special words from Chris Sabo on the Nutty Buddy at the end

and those special words are "in the testiclese". awesome.

Originally posted by tigers scare me:
any guess as to what the "big announcement" after the Hills finale is?

I was actually pretty excited about that announcement last night. Bring it on!

i totally fell asleep during the aftershow. god, i hate those two people. really? is it that hard to throw a boom mic up there? i find those little wig-mics really distracting on anyone who's not on stage.

was the announcement that there's going to be another season? i'm hoping.

Originally posted by tigers scare me:
i totally fell asleep during the aftershow. god, i hate those two people. really? is it that hard to throw a boom mic up there? i find those little wig-mics really distracting on anyone who's not on stage.

was the announcement that there's going to be another season? i'm hoping.

Yes, those two are terribly annoying and they were even worse live (sans editing!).

No! The big announcement was that THIS SEASON IS NOT OVER! They've decided to continue The Hills (From Paris) and to finish up the Speidi saga this season.

Here's a preview: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1575931&amp;vid=194620

(video #11)

Are there any boardies currently over in England? I thought there was one.

I need a copy of Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten on DVD and will pay hansomely (and I'm not just talking about the exchange rate).

oh good. i wanted to see Paris. If i ever won money, i would buy a small apartment there. i love that city.

how long is the continuation and when does it start? i dont have sound at work

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
how long is the continuation and when does it start? i dont have sound at work

They didn't give a number, and it won't start until the New Year.

THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER to Broadcast in High-Definition Format Beginning Monday, December 17, 2007

Which brings me to Tech Prediction #4:

2008 will be the long anticipated year of REAL HD Revolution

The Satellite industry (most notably DirecTV) has now given the cable network channels a platform to deliver HD Content, and it will be up to the Networks to finally provide the HD content. This is the year they do it.

The Major Networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) have been doing a decent job of HD content for it's primetime shows, and everyone knows sports has been driving the broadcast HD bandwagon for sometime. And now the cable network channels will finally catch up.

DirecTV offers over 75 different HD channels and will likely have 150 by the end of 2008, the Networks finally have a reason to invest in HD. Content was always the problem, but by the end of 2008, the majority of the TV Americans watch most often will be available in HD.

So that leaves two problems: (1) Other content deliverers and (2) the price of HD TVs. The other content delivers vary per type of delivery. The Cable networks are in big trouble. BIG. They are desperately trying to use existing infrastructure (coaxial cable) to broadcast HD content. This is a losing battle, but one they will continue to fight with switching technologies and other highly touted possible solutions. Bottom line, I wouldn't be investing in Cable companies in the near future. The Fiber Optic companies are in pretty good shape, and I think FiOS stands to gain the most of the newer companies to take a lot of business from Cable co's in 2008. AT&T on the other hand is in for a big shock - they built a network with copper to the door (instead of Fiber to the door like FiOS) - this will prove disasterous in the HD revolution. Dish has a decent chance of surviving if they invest in new satellites - but they are way behind DirecTV these days and slipping faster everyday.

As for the price of HD TVs, they have been falling very quickly, and with a decent sized HDTV (26inch) below $400, I think it's not unreasonable to see an HDTV below $300, maybe even $250 by the end of the year. With the price of iPods rising, it makes the HDTV at $250 for the teenagers bedroom the Xmas gift de jour of 2008.

When Comedy Central goes HD in 2008, you'll know I was on to something here.

Originally posted by vansmack:
As for the price of HD TVs, they have been falling very quickly, and with a decent sized HDTV (26inch) below $400, I think it's not unreasonable to see an HDTV below $300, maybe even $250 by the end of the year.

you can get a 22-inch widescreen LCD "computer monitor" for a little more than $200 and use it very easily as a 1080p HDTV (cable box / dvd player / video game console –> HDMI-to-DVI cable –> monitor)

mine is working great as an office tv

smackie, i've been wondering what channels we get in hd on dtv that are not available on (say) comcast? i got dtv and hd tvs pretty much at the same time