Archive for August 31st, 2007
The latest version of Google Earth has a little easter egg hiding in its code. Did I say little? How about a whole flight simulator? Mashable has the details, and sure enough there’s an instructions page for Google Flight Simulator. I have killed an evening flying around Kathmandu, L.A., New York and mostly into the drink. You need the latest version of Google Earth. To access the flight sim for the first time, hit CMD+Option+A on your Mac. Those of you in the dark ages with PCs, hit CTRL+ALT+A and then probably go reconfig some sysadmin batch filewalls, chron jobs, .DLL conflicts or something. I don’t know. Get a beer. Once you’ve uncovered the easter egg once, you will see Google Flight Simulator come up as an uncovered option whenever you launch Google Earth. I look forward to flying the Google Enterprise to take advantage of Google Sky. Below you see the result of my virtual flyover of Cambridge this evening, typical of my mood as I passed over Fenway Park. Most of my landings tend to end this way as the nose camera abandons ship at about 180 feet, spinning toward the ground at a touch under 220 airspeed. I’m good with takeoffs - physics and lift are on my side. Landings? You’d think gravity would be your boy… but it most certainly is not.
Come fly Lost Remote Air. You may, indeed, wind up on “Lost.”
August 31st, 2007
Update: 
Google has moved ahead with an agreement it signed last year with the Associated Press, and it is now hosting AP stories directly on the site — ultimately reducing the traffic Google News refers to news sites. Not only will Google host the AP stories instead of linking off to newspaper sites, but it will filter out duplicates of the same AP story. So you won’t see multiple versions of an AP story from various newspapers, listed with the most recent at the top. Google said the end result is less duplication and a better variety of stories. “Creators of original content should benefit from this,” said Josh Cohen, product manager for Google News. “The goal for Google News is to have as many different perspectives as possible.”
Editor’s note: The story was updated to clarify that this is not a new deal with the AP — they signed the Google deal last year — just the implementation is new.
August 31st, 2007
This keeps getting more interesting. NBCU says it “never asked to double the wholesale price for our TV shows” as Apple asserted in a press release earlier today. And that’s not all. “We want consumers to know that all our returning series, including new episodes, will be available on iTunes through the remainder of the contract, which expires in early December,” a NBCU spokesperson said.
Apple said earlier that it had “decided to not offer NBC TV shows for the upcoming television season beginning in September.” An Apple spokesperson later clarified that NBCU content from prior seasons will remain until December. So it looks like all of NBC’s existing series will be updated with fresh content through December, but new series will not make an appearance. Meanwhile, the NBCU spokesperson said the network is “hopeful” that an agreement can be worked out before the contract expires.
August 31st, 2007
It’s the media vs. technology showdown of the summer, that’s for sure.
- Disney stands by iTunes, which is no surprise given Steve Jobs is on the board. “Clearly the availability of these programs [on iTunes] if anything is helping the linear channel,” says Disney exec.
- Forrester Research analyst is surprised by Apple’s response. “Apple is totally dependent on NBC and the rest of the content creators to make their video playback devices, such as the Apple TV and iPod, valuable,” he says.
- PCWorld bloggers say they would buy episodes of The Office on iTunes for $4.99. Somebody please buy them a DVR.
- Silicon Alley Insider does some rough math and figures the NBC-iTunes deal is worth $70 million. “This is an ugly spat for now. But expect it to end with a reconciliation.”
- Terry Heaton: “Losing this content hurts NBCU much more than it will hurt Apple. Let’s watch and see what happens.”
- Forbes: “There’s still pressure on both sides to conclude a deal.”
- The networks don’t need iTunes, says CNNMoney.com blogger.
August 31st, 2007
Do you think NBCU or Apple will be hurt more by the iTunes break up? Vote here.
(I can’t get the Quibblo poll to embed properly on Lost Remote for some reason.)
August 31st, 2007
Update: Last night, a NY Times story reported that NBC will not renew its agreement with iTunes, which would mean its shows would disappear off the store in December. But today Apple announced that it decided “to not offer NBC TV shows for the upcoming television season beginning in September.” Says Apple VP of iTunes Eddy Cue, “We are disappointed to see NBC leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase. We hope they will change their minds and offer their TV shows to the tens of millions of iTunes customers.” Apple says NBC wanted to raise prices from $1.99 a show to $4.99 (which NBC later disputes).
Apple knows that the value of having shows appear on iTunes is much greater than the direct financial benefit — but the promotional value, especially for new shows striving to get noticed in a new fall season. (NBC accounts for 30 percent of iTunes TV show sales.) NBC is in a rebuilding year on the programming front, and Apple knew this would be a great way to make a point.
As of last check, NBCU shows are still available on iTunes.
Update: See this new post which clarifies which material will stay up.
Apple’s press release below…
Read the full post August 31st, 2007
The single biggest supplier of video to iTunes, NBC Universal has decided not to renew its contract with Apple, reports the NY Times. The decision likely stems from frustration over Apple’s refusal to allow flexible pricing or product bundling.
There are two ways to look at this, of course. The first is there are other players on the market now, like Amazon Unbox, that would be much more willing to flex with NBCU’s demands. There’s also NBCU-News Corp’s upcoming Hulu.com video site, which may incorporate paid downloads. So NBCU has options, and besides, paid video downloading is still in its early years. (And as Safran mentions in comments, you should be able to set pricing for your own products.) The other side of the coin is iTunes dominates the paid video download business right now. NBCU was one of iTunes’ earlier adopters, and the network even trumpeted the fact that the popularity of The Office on iTunes helped boost the show’s ratings. If that’s true, a move like this while NBC is trying to rebuild the network’s programming may not resonate well with the marketing folks.
Regardless, as the NY Times points out, NBCU’s decision to bail may motivate other media companies to drive a harder bargain — or leave iTunes altogether. Reactions?
August 31st, 2007
Update: TVNewser reported earlier today that TV Guide would stop putting out its print edition. LostRemote cited that report - but it turns out to not be true.
Here’s a statement from a TVG spokesperson:
“TV Guide magazine is alive and well. There was no mandatory meeting today; like most businesses, our offices closed at 1pm for the holiday weekend. Everything is business as usual at TV Guide magazine as we are busy preparing for the new fall television season as well as our 5th annual after party celebrating the Emmys on September 16.
August 31st, 2007
