RealNetworks created software, RealDVD, that allows you to copy a DVD, on up to 5 computers for $30 (can get additional coverage for $20 each).

Studios (Paramount, Warner Brothers, 20^th Century Fox, Sony and Universal) are like, “Screw that! We’re building a download biz and we’ll be damned if we lose any revenues from DVD sales.” So studios are trying to establish a moat around this business to protect it…by suing the hell out of RNWK.

RNWK is saying that copying one’s personal collection of DVDs is cool and covered under fair use.

But given the limits software makers place on the number of copies of software licenses, isn’t RealNetworks being hypocritical?

What if I wanted to buy a copy of RNWKs software (any software) and put it on four computers instead of the three limit (mine, my wife’s laptop, her kid sister - who can’t afford it on her own, and my brother’s laptop).

RNWK would probably have a conniption!

Am I missing something???

As a consumer, I’d like RNWK software, since I’m not trying to make money off of this stuff.

I may want to mix some footage of home video of my 10 month old, with scenes from Star Wars and my mom’s amazing piano and vocal performance in 1989 J. Again, this is for personal usage, so I’d hate to be limited on usage.

Yet, part of me wonders if the studios are going down the wrong path. These are the same people who said the home entertainment market (i.e., video rentals) would kill its business. Now the home entertainment market is massive and actually saves the bottom line for movies that either didn’t or couldn’t make it in theatres. Adams Media Research estimates lost revenues from DVDs will be about $15B if consumers stop buying DVDs and instead copy DVDs from friends or rental outlets like Netflix or Blockbusters.

The other part wonders if the studios are borrowing a page from the old “failed” record label playbook, “sue anything that moRealNetworks created software, RealDVD, that allows you to copy a DVD, on up to 5 computers for $30 (can get additional coverage for $20 each).

Studios (Paramount, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Sony and Universal) are like, “Screw that! We’re building a download biz and we’ll be damned if we lose any revenues from DVD sales.” So studios are trying to establish a moat around this business to protect it…by suing the hell out of RNWK.

RNWK is saying that copying one’s personal collection of DVDs is cool and covered under fair use.

But given the limits software makers place on the number of copies of software licenses, isn’t RealNetworks being hypocritical?

What if I wanted to buy a copy of RNWKs software (any software) and put it on four computers instead of the three limit (mine, my wife’s laptop, her kid sister - who can’t afford it on her own, and my brother’s laptop).

RNWK would probably have a conniption!

Am I missing something???

As a consumer, I’d like RNWK software, since I’m not trying to make money off of this stuff.

I may want to mix some footage of home video of my 10 month old, with scenes from Star Wars and my mom’s amazing piano and vocal performance in 1989 . Again, this is for personal usage, so I’d hate to be limited on usage.

Yet, part of me wonders if the studios are going down the wrong path. These are the same people who said the home entertainment market (i.e., video rentals) would kill its business. Now the home entertainment market is massive and actually saves the bottom line for movies that either didn’t or couldn’t make it in theatres. Adams Media Research estimates lost revenues from DVDs will be about $15B if consumers stop buying DVDs and instead copy DVDs from friends or rental outlets like Netflix or Blockbusters.

The other part wonders if the studios are borrowing a page from the old “failed” record label playbook, “sue anything that moves” philosophy. In that case, when people virally spread music around the net, it actually created buzz for the artist, which reflected in concert ticket and merchandising sales, paid appearances in movies, etc. The labels didn’t push to get any of that alternative revenue though. This could drive merchandising, etc. George Lucas realized this and built a massive empire (no pun intended) out of it.

But I have to admit, about this last point…it generally doesn’t cost as much to produce good music as it does a good movie. So in theory, you have to recoup more of the cost from DVD than, say music CD sales.

es” philosophy. In that case, when people virally spread music around the net, it actually created buzz for the artist, which reflected in concert ticket and merchandising sales, paid appearances in movies, etc. The labels didn’t push to get any of that alternative revenue though. This could drive merchandising, etc. George Lucas realized this and built a massive empire (no pun intended) out of it.

But I have to admit, about this last point…it generally doesn’t cost as much to produce good music as it does a good movie. So in theory, you have to recoup more of the cost from DVD than, say music CD sales.

Well, it looked inevitable.  EA has FINALLY backed off of it’s, seemingly longstanding desired of EA to plow it’s seed into the fertile soil of Take-Two (yuk - for visual, but that’s the way TTWO felt).

It was inevitable.  TTWO, for 8 months, said “I’m not ready”, probably because of it’s vows of chastity.  EA, the ever present jock, was like “Come on, baby.  I’m the captain of the football team, and all-state.”

TTWO’s stock hit the skids today, as would be expected, when a suitor pulls out of a bid.

Daniel Craig is the freakin’ coolest Bond ever!

There, I said it.   You know it’s true.  He’s built, rugged and has that swagger…not the kind of Pierce Bronson or Roger Moore, but the kind that says, “I wonder if he listens to rap music?”

He does all the cool stunts too…like free running in Casino Royale, besides the norml cadre of cool gadgets.  Beat that, other 007s!

This episode of 007 also has Jeffrey Wright in it, an amazing actor who you don’t really recognize in many movies…he’s so talented that he’s able to make his characters so distinct from any others he’s done.

Can’t wait for this puppy to hit the theaters Nov 14.

Here’s a Free Running Vid that’s pretty good.

For the Family Guy fans, including me, I’m ready for the internet-only cartoon series from Seth to debut on September 10 (I wrote about the cool distribution here as a different business model).  Check out the site at sethcomedy.com, where you can see the teaser.

The style of the teaser suggests that if you like the style of Family Guy, and to an extent, American Dad, then you’ll like Calvalcade. 

I’m pshyched.  Calvacade is supposed to free Seth up to do uncensored stuff.  Some of the DVDs he’s released in the past have been less censored (ie, he showed some cartoons that weren’t allowed to be aired). 

This time it seems like it’ll be no-holds barred.

A little bit ago, I wrote a blog on why video games are recession proof. The theory is that people want a nice form of entertainment that, in a recession, is extremely low cost. Think about it. For about $50 for a brand new game, you get unlimited play for the LIFE of the game. The means the cost/play or cost/hour of play is as close to zero as you can get. Compare that to the movies. That cost is $9/play or maybe $4.50/hour. It’s off the chain for most popular concerts.

So why would movies do well in a recession? I have a couple of thoughts…

1. People like going out. In a recession, this truth still holds. And in an environment when there are so many reasons to stay home, it’s still true. For example, the ungodly number of social networks, video chat, AIM and other ways (like the phone) to maintain contact with friends, in addition to movies on demand and the old tried and true, TV, are some of these reasons to stay home. These should not be underestimated.

2. Compared to other forms of entertainment, going to the movies is relatively cheap (assuming that you eat before/after the movies and avoid the concessions, which can eat a whole in your pocket). It always gives you something to talk about afterwards too.

3. The reason to go out to a movie is because something is good. There were so many movies I wanted to see this summer it’s ridiculous (The Hulk and Batman being two of them). This is very crucial. If there were horrid movies at the box office, theatres would not be doing well at all.

What’s interesting is that some theatre chains (the industry is coming off of a period of consolidation) are doing okay. Theoretically, consolidations should be good since you can squeeze synergies out of most of them. With the theatre consolidations, initially, I was wondering whether it would good, since the industry wasn’t doing that well. I kept myself in check, because you can never scold good companies in a bad industry (don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater – type of thing).

Here’s a wonderful blog from Wired.com that gives some stats on the matter.

Valleywag had a piece on The 4 Worst Athlete-Backed Startups of All Time.  In short, they name:

1. WePlay, a youth sports-related social network social.
2. Dunk.net, focused on promoting Shaq’s shoes and other wears, with backers, Shaq, Mike Piazza and DeLisha Milton
3. MVP.com, an e-tailer, with backers John Elway, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky.
4. Chatwithastar.com, a celebrity blog portal, with backers bestselling author Burton Rocks and Billy Wagner

The article made me think about athlete’s and their money. 

It’s interesting in what and how some of the guys put their money in. 

The What

If I had a dime for everytime I heard an athlete wants to do a clothing line or a restaurant, I’d have so much seed money to start two ventures.  One financial advisor, who works closely with Venus and Serena, Donovan McNabb, and a few more, told me he advises his clients that if they’re thinking about investing in a restaurant, they’re better of throwing away the money…it’ll be easier and lot less stress.

The How

Now, this is fascinating…

Many athletes don’t know too much about business so they have advisors (smart move).  But many of them have their friend from around the way as their businesss guy (stupid move).  It’s classic “the blind leading the blind”.  Decisions aren’t made on hard data (like financials, reputation/experience of management team and size/sustainability of the market…you know, the usual cast of characters. 

Instead, it’s how confident does the guy pitching them seem, or how cool does the idea sound, or how can it boost their ego (of either the athlete or the advisor).

Very fascinating…

To their credit, some are getting wiser…thinking about things as a business, and getting the right people in place to help them make decisions.  Look at Jay-Z!

So there’s a service called slydial.  It’s kinda cool.  Basically, you can go straight to voice mail. 

So the kinds of people you want to use the service on…

This “Issues” Chick

So if you met that chick at the club that looked hot, but then you found out she has some “issues” and you wanna break it off…

The “Investment Banker” Dude (or Ass depending on the depth of annoyance)

What about that dude, same club (it’s a weird club), who said he was an investment banker, but you wonder why he’s ALWAYS home, break it off.

Here are some more situations to use the service.  Hilarious. 

These can be done drama free.

I can see this service doing well.  Too nervous to ask the VP of business development for a job, you can leave a voicemail.  But whoever is sitting at their desk and the voicemail light blinks, he/she might just think you’re a punk because you couldn’t actually call.  So the service will be limited.

I would’ve used the service, but I like the people I’m around.  Seriously, I’m reluctant to give out my cell number b/c it might get sold to telemarketers.

The company behind slydial is MobileSphere.  They have a couple of more cool services including Joopz, which allows you to send/receive text messages b/t website and cell phones.

This is hilarious.  What’s funny is that my wife and I just passed a sign promoting Kenny Loggins in concert yesterday. 

One notable remark from “America’s Finest News Service”:

Analysts speculate that the sector-wide layoff was a result of multiple factors, including redundancies in the singing-songwriting division, rising rehab fees that have cost the group millions, and a 34 percent decline in jump-kicks since 2003. In addition, some of Aerosmith’s younger, more ambitious employees, such as Joe Perry, 57, are willing to sing and play an instrument at the same time, often for half the salary.

 Come on!  Gems, I tell you, these are gems.

Here’s the link to the article.

Well, this isn’t the kind of tech news that I was thinking about writing about, but it is, technically, a technology (chainsaws) being used to power a motorcycle (a form of entertainment).

I don’t know if this actually runs. The video below didn’t cover that :(. But I’m into sport bikes…came across this one when looking at sport bike crashes (I already crashed on a dirt bike, so I think I got my first crash out the way - 100% dislocation of right ankle).

Here it is.

Btw - here are some tricked out bikes..these are HOT!!!

Yahoo is using viral marketing to push its search engine past Google.

Before I go there, I gotta admit, while I’m a free market kind of guy, I also don’t some companies that absolutely dominate a space (errr…unless I own stock in them at a good buy-in price). 

So when I see Google killing the competition in search, I want to see someone else to temper them (I don’t own stock in Google).

So Yahoo’s latest idea is to have other companies build search engines using Yahoo’s search technology, thereby saving these companies the cash necessary to build from scratch (Yahoo estimate: $300 million).  In return, Yahoo will sell ads on through those search engines.

I think it’s brilliant (barring a few possibly filled holes).  You have other developers customizing, and more importantly, marketing your technology, while you generate money through that method.  What it does is instantly make Yahoo bigger without the time, people and money to do it otherwise.

Classic viral marketing, in another form.

 The possible whole are the kinds of financial deals Yahoo would work the companies.  The NYTimes mentions Me.dium as an example of a partner-company that Yahoo has signed up (financial terms are uncertain).  Me.dium is a search engine (not yet fully released) that allows users to see what other websites their friends are going too.  The theory is that people place more weight on what their friends say than through other means.  This is true, for good or bad (if my friends are looking at ill-informed sites, then those are the ones that will probably pop up first in the search).