Diggnation being retired, 7 years, 340 episodes later
Posted Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 7:39 am by Jason Cartwright
Diggnation has been one of the internets most successful and well known podcasts. After nearly 7 years of weekly episodes, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht are calling it quits at the end of 2011. An amazing 340 episodes, Diggnation travelled the world sharing Digg stories with millions of loyal fans.
Alex Albrecht will continue to appear on Revision3 as co-host of the popular Totally Rad Show.
Kevin Rose will also continue to appear on Revision3 programming on Foundation.
Unfortunately it looks like Diggnation, loved by Australians, will never make the trip down under. While the idea was discussed in multiple episodes, Aussie fans will sadly miss out. Revision 3 will continue to host every one of the 340 episodes so you can reminisce well into the future.
Personally I’ve been watching since the beginning and have enjoyed many laughs, drinks and conversations as a result of watching Diggnation well done Kevin and Alex, and thanks for relinquishing the iTunes charts for someone else to dominate.
Foundation // gets a slick new website
Posted Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 8:25 am by Jason Cartwright
Kevin Rose’s latest podcast Foundation, has now found a new home at http://foundation.bz. If your not familiar with Foundation, it’s definitely worth checking out. Kevin interviews the people behind some of the biggest online services that you use everyday. If your working on a startup or considering getting into it, their insights are incredibly beneficial.
These are people who have been there, done that, so being able to tap their minds and share it with the world is something I personally say thankyou to Kevin Rose for. Enjoy.
AFL Game Analyser app, now on Samsung SMART TV
Posted Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 8:24 pm by Jason Cartwright
Samsung’s new range of SMART TV’s features an app store (doesn’t everything these days?). This afternoon in Melbourne, Essendon Football Club Captain Jobe Watson and players Mark McVeigh and Michael Hurley helped launch the BigPond AFL Game Analyser application. The free app allows you lucky few who have a Samsung SMART TV to watch ANY game from the 2010 and 2011 seasons.. wow.
Brad Wright, National Sales and Marketing Manager for Audio Visual, Samsung Electronics Australia, said, “With games available within 12 hours of being played, the BigPond AFL Game Analyser app gives footy fans the best seat in the house. They can now interact with every aspect of the game, relive game-changing moments, argue with their friends over umpire decisions and celebrate a game’s highs and lows.”
The application puts you in control of the action, allowing you to access game highlights like goals, marks, tackles and bloopers via the remote control. Big thanks to those hardworking statisticians who power mark and index all the action, what an un-recognised job.
You can also access statistics on the game, players etc. Each game of AFL played will be added within 12 hours of being played. Impressive, but I’d expect to see live stats at some point in the future.
If your an AFL super-fan, a Samsung SMART TV with the AFL Game Analyser is a must have. Lets face it, there is no other 10-foot experience like it. For those Rugby fans out there, don’t sweat, there’s also a similar NRL Game Analyser app for you.
This kind of complimentary application really sets the scene for things to come in the living room. My only wish was that Sammy’s SMART TV’s were a little cheaper so more people could enjoy these great new experiences.
For more information, check out http://samsung.com/au/tv
On-demand TV takes off in Australia
Posted Friday, May 13, 2011 at 3:29 pm by Jason CartwrightThe following guest post is by Sarah Routledge who writes for Australian broadband comparison site Compare Broadband, which offers independent advice on choosing the best internet plan.
On-demand TV over the internet is finally taking off in Australia in a big way, with FetchTV, Telstra’s T-Box and Foxtel on Xbox the main options.
While US on-demand services like Hulu are still a long way off in Australia due to rights issues, Australian consumers still have access to a range of great services over their ADSL broadband connection.
FetchTV
iiNet and now Internode have made deals with FetchTV, an on-demand IPTV service that offers extra TV channels and movies over an ADSL2+ or fast ADSL connection. Optus plans to launch a similar service soon on smartphones and tablets.
Through a set-top box, customers can rent the latest movies, such as The Social Network and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The box can also be used to pause, rewind and record TV shows, with a terabyte of recording space available.
iiNet‘s full FetchTV service costs $19.95 a month when the set-top box is bought outright for $399, and $29.95 a month on a 24-month contract if rented. Customers must also have a BoB or BoB Lite modem.
iiNet is offering a free BoB Lite modem for a limited time to new customers who are bundling their broadband and FetchTV package together. Internode offers the same deal as iiNet but Internode allows customers to use their own modem, provided it’s IPTV compatible.
Crucially, both iiNet and Internode offer these services unmetered. This means customers can select a relatively low data plan and still watch TV and movies to their heart’s content.
Foxtel on Xbox
Billed as a more convenient and contract-free alternative to cable, Foxtel’s offer of premium TV channels on the Xbox has generated a lot of interest.
In order to access the service, users need a Foxtel on Xbox 360 online profile, an internet connection of a minimum 1,500kbps, an Xbox 360 console, a subscription to Xbox LIVE for FOXTEL On Demand access or a subscription to Xbox LIVE Gold for channel packages.
Prices start from less than $20 per month and additional packages from $10. Alternatively, customers can rent individual movies without paying a monthly subscription.
Provided you already have an Xbox and an Xbox LIVE Gold subscription, this is an easy way of accessing extra channels and on-demand content and will work with any Internet Service Provider (ISP).
The downside here is all the content counts toward your download limit, so you will realistically need a Terabyte or unlimited ADSL2+ plan to get the most out of your subscription. Foxtel also cannot broadcast NRL and AFL games over the internet, under the current rights agreement.
Telstra T-Box
Telstra currently offers seven Bigpond channels on its set-top T-Box, including AFL and NRL match replays, as well as the free-to-air channels. Foxtel has also struck a deal with Telstra, which means T-Box customers will soon be able to watch Foxtel channels over the internet.
All the free-to-air channels are available to pause, record and rewind, plus a library of movies are available to rent on demand. The T-Box costs $299 to buy outright and there is no monthly subscription fee, as with FetchTV. However, you will need a Bigpond broadband plan, from $49.95 a month. Downloads are unmetered, so the service won’t eat into your broadband quota.
Internet TV in Australia
At the moment, a broadband plan and a set-top box is the best way to enjoy TV and movies on demand. However, Smart TVs with internet connectivity are the latest gimmick from manufacturers, so IPTV will soon be available to more households as people upgrade their technology. It’s likely that more ISPs will offer their own versions of IPTV as the market grows.
BigPond locks up AFL IPTV rights
Posted Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 11:17 pm by Jason Cartwright
In today’s massive $1.53 Billion, 5 year announcement it was revealed that BigPond was successful in securing exclusive access to all AFL delivered via IPTV. This means if your not with BigPond, your out of luck. If you are indeed a BigPond subscriber, you can get matches via the Telstra T-Box, T-Hub or Samsung SmartTV’s with a BigPond Sport app.
While IPTV currently makes up a relatively small percentage of viewers in 2011, by the time the deal ends 2017 it’ll be a different story. If everything goes to plan, the National Broadband Network should be online across large segments of Australia, meaning that it’ll be possible to stream multiple HD streams around the home.
So what if you want one of your displays to be showing an AFL Game ? Well, you better be with BigPond. This isn’t the only sport locked up with BigPond, V8 Supercars is also annoyingly exclusive to BigPond. As someone who’s been with a variety of ISPs over the years, I feel the pain of those not with the biggest ISP in Australia when it comes to missing out on sports. One the flip side, if other competitors could come to the party, then BigPond’s chequebook should win.. right ?
Another interesting outcome of the #AFLRights deal is Foxtel on Xbox 360. While Foxtel will stream every AFL game live on pay tv, they can’t deliver AFL via Foxtel on Xbox 360 as this would breach Bigpond’s IPTV rights.
Update
Turns out I was wrong. Commenter Damien Kelly points out that Foxtel have confirmed AFL via Foxtel on Xbox 360 will indeed happen. This may be via a licencing agreement between BigPond and Foxtel.
On a side note, Telstra mobile customers will get to stream every AFL game live (no word on pricing).
Mostly Photo podcast helps you with that new DSLR
Posted Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 2:09 pm by Jason Cartwright
Rockstar camera chick Lisa Bettany has teamed up with Leo Laporte and the TWiT network to bring you helpful tips and ticks about using digital cameras. One area that tends to be dramatically under-covered is how the transitioning from beginner to pro. While there’s a abundance of topics on entry-level content and specialty pro-focused content, the part in-between is the hardest to find information on.
Mostly Photo focuses on things that you can achieve at home, so if you’ve got a DSLR for a while, are comfortable taking photos with it, but want to get some practical tips on improving, then you should check out Mostly Photo.
Episode 1 focuses on Low Light photography and diffusing flash (when you have to use it). Watch it on YouTube or head over to http://twit.tv/photo to download the audio or video versions.
I tried out Lisa’s covering the flash tip on the Canon 500D, you can see what a difference it makes below. To achieve the result I simply taped a receipt (semi-transparent) over the flash, the end result it much more natural skin tones.
More info @ TWiT
