Charbax is here

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    Consumer Electronics Shows that I video-blogged:
    CeBIT
    2007, 2006,
    2005, 2004    		 IFA
    2007,
    2006, 2005    		 CES
    2007    		 Other
    E3 2006
    WCIT 2006    		 Conferences
    Reboot 2007
    Lift 2007

    When Google starts to revolutionize Youtube using overlay advertising

    April 30, 2008 – 7:25 am

    Once they activate it, I think it can probably use voice recognition to synchronize overlay advertising with the words said in the video. “When somebody says Coca-Cola in the video, there might be a Coca-Cola ad popping up at the bottom of the ad”.

    I think this could be so insanely huge it will revolutionize the whole entertainment industry. Finally it will be possible to make a living putting videos on the Internet. As much as $10 or $15 per 1000 views on the videos should be what Google would be paying any content creator who ties up their Youtube account with their Adsense account and who activates the Overlay advertising on all their videos. No Youtube content creator would be forced to activate the ads, but if the content creator wants to earn money they would be able to flip a switch and start displaying ads on all of their uploaded videos.

    So I was saying, this will revolutionize the entertainment and blogging industry cause it would be relatively easy for video-bloggers to then improve the quality of their video productions to get higher audiences. When artists and citizen journalists finally get paid even just a little for their effort, they will be able to do this full time. Walk around with Youtube connected cell phones and still concentrate uploading a lot more quality content then they were uploading back when uploading videos on Youtube was something the independent content producers only did in their free time as a hobby.

    I think Google are probably fine-tuning the overlay advertising feature to have it totally ready for when they launch it big time for any content provider on Youtube to be able to start making serious money. Income per 1000 views on Youtube overlay ads are perhaps as much as 100 times higher compared to textual ads using Adsense on for example blogs.

    By Charbax | Posted in Video-On-Demand | Comments (0)

    OLPC has launched the revolution

    April 25, 2008 – 10:23 pm

    OLPC has succeeded in forcing Microsoft to lower the licencing price of Windows XP to $3, OLPC has succeeded in forcing Microsoft to slim down the hardware, storage requirements of running Windows XP, OLPC has succeeded in getting the whole laptop industry to start building what they call XO competitors out of their desperation of the prospect of loosing all of their profit margins, OLPC has succeeded in forcing Intel to speed up the release of the Atom Centrino processor to compete with AMD Geode as a low power fanless CPU.

    Hey, what’s wrong with Microsoft continuing to invest multi-billions of dollars to push and promote their Windows XP alternative to Sugar Linux, why is that bad? At the end Microsoft will be forced to provide an open source version of Windows XP or perhaps Microsoft will even be forced to develop software based on Linux and the goal of OLPC will be completely reached.

    I know OLPC is not a laptop project but it is. I’d like to see the XO in a commercial version sold in my local supermarket within the next few months for $200 each. OLPC needs to commercialize the product in partnership with whomever brands and distributors who would like to take care of the commercial mass market distribution. This way, the whole industry will have to speed up even faster and reach the result of the $100 laptop that works for 24h on a battery in sunlight and connects to broadband wireless internet for free everywhere.

    By Charbax | Posted in OLPC | Comments (0)

    I video-blogged the campaign for the Free Public Transportation initiative in Geneva

    February 18, 2008 – 4:46 am

    I posted my HD video interviews in French at http://tpg.video-blog.eu/.

    I think that free public transportation is an inevitability in all cities. It’s the most effective way to reduce significantly the CO2 emissions in a city. It also creates better equality for the poor and the middle class who can better afford transportation. It reduces car traffic and improves parking conditions.

    I think that there are no arguments against providing free public transportation in all cities of the world. A way to improve the organization of the public transportation would be to use a software on people’s mobile phone using GPS, uploading people’s position to the city overview system, which can then regulate frequency of the different busses, trains, subways dynamically with the exact real-time expectation of demand at any given place in the city. Also combining that as soon as possible with the Personal Rapid Transit system:

    By Charbax | Posted in Clean cars | Comments (0)

    I video-blogged Lift08

    February 10, 2008 – 8:11 am

    I filmed 50 or so video intreviwes in HD at the Lift conference in Geneva these past few days. Look for my Lift08 videos at http://techvideoblog.com/lift/ and http://olpc.tv/channel/charbax/

    By Charbax | Posted in Videos | Comments (1)

    I really think Last.fm is fantastic

    January 23, 2008 – 4:02 am

    Tomorrow, Last.fm and CBS are announcing new features that are to be added to Last.fm. I am always amazed by the awesome music recommendations it gives me. I think that technology could be simply revolutionnizing for video. There are so many awesome videos out there on sites such as Youtube, imagine a Last.fm Video filter that provides personalized recommendations, so you keep getting amazed by the recommendations that just perfectly fit you.

    I would like Last.fm to add these features:

    - Personalized recommendations filtered by genre, mixed with Loved tracks by genre. Basically this would provide an automatic DJ’ing function. So for example I could set Last.fm up to play lots of party tracks at a party. And perhaps have it synchronize with a Pioneer type of hardware but very cheap type that let’s me preview the next songs, re-arrange them and mix them live.

    - “Download all songs by this artist” feature. Artists are able to add songs that Last.fm users can download for free. I’d like to download all songs in one click, even if it would cost me a few cents per gygabyte and that it downloads through a Last.fm download manager integrated with the player software. And also download x amount of GB of songs from my recommendations and from my Loved tracks. Basically this feature would be to fill up my Mp3 player with music that I like, that I need to discover, that fits my taste, complete discographies for artists which I loved one of their songs, basically fill up my Mp3 player without me having to think too much what to put on it.

    - Let me pay the artists through Last.fm. I’d like to pay for example $5 per month which I would like to reward all the artists that I listen to a lot. Especially the artists who’s song I love on Last.fm, especially the artists who provide me with free Mp3 downloads. So based on popularity and quality, this Voluntary Artists Money should be redistributed by Last.fm. The idea is that millions of Last.fm users could fund a lot of artists, giving them an incentive to release all their music on Last.fm as free Mp3 downloads so they can earn a larger amount of money this way. Integrate this with countries legislation on the global licence, so people through taxes can reward the most popular and the highest quality artists. So Last.fm this way could provide the statistics to reward all the artists fairly.

    By Charbax | Posted in Ideas | Comments (1)

    My video-blog on a DivX Connected video-on-demand set-top-box

    January 23, 2008 – 12:29 am

    A plugin to watch all the videos from my http://techvideoblog.com directly on your HDTV or standard definition TV, with the remote control is available here:

    http://labs.divx.com/node/1320

    I think that the DivX Connected set-top-box standard is the beginning of the mass media revolution. Soon the box will cost below $100, currently it is available for £130 at Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Link-DSM-330-Connected-Wireless-Player/dp/B000X4F7RO.

    Currently the DivX Connected hardware requires a Windows based computer on your local network to function, it uses a Windows software to stream content from the Internet to your TV using HDMI on a HDTV or using composite, scart and component connections. But there is probably a next version of DivX Connected hardware in the planning that would also provide the option to work without the need to have a desktop or laptop computer in the home, which I think is crucial to reach mass market penetration, to reach and change media consumption for consumers who aren’t using broadband Internet much to watch videos yet.

    You can watch my Interview with the DivX Connected products manager Dan Salmonsen demonstrating the technology at IFA 2007: http://techvideoblog.com/ifa/divx-connected/

    By Charbax | Posted in Consumer Electronics, Video-On-Demand | Comments (0)

    More facts about Intel vs OLPC

    January 16, 2008 – 6:32 pm

    Truth is Intel makes huge profits the way the industry works today and does not want things to change. Intel management feel that their established business model domination is extremely threatened by a small open-source hardware and software project like the OLPC project.

    Fact is Intel does not have a processor that consumes as little power and costs as little as the AMD Geode processor.

    Fact is Intel does not want the market to embrace $200 laptops. Intel would loose all sales of Dual Core High-K metal gate quadro core processors if most new laptops only will have 400mhz fanless ultra low voltage, since most people in fact don’t need more processing power to browse the Internet and access all their unbloated Web Apps and other most basic apps on the laptop.

    Fact is Intel wants the business model of big margins on expensive hardware to continue to be the defacto mainstream standard for when people need to upgrade their computers. Fact is Intel is not present in any of the low cost new solutions coming out such as the VIA based $199 Shuttle and Zonbu desktop computers or the $150 OLPC laptop.

    Fact is the Intel Classmate brings absolutely nothing to improve education nor improve battery life or lower the cost of laptops. The Classmate is designed to fail. Intel does not want to mass produce cheap laptops. Classmate has 5 times shorter battery life, double or triple the manufacturing price.

    Given all these facts, I believe Nicholas Negroponte has been really polite not to tell more of the disgusting ways Intel’s salespeople in Nigeria, Mongolia, Peru, Mexico, Pakistan, India, Libya and so many other countries have been doing non other than telling blatant lies to trash the OLPC project and that Intel has given those sales people all means to attack the OLPC effort in any way possible. Threatening to remove existing investment projects such as the ones mentionned by Paul Otellini was most probably one of the dirty tactics used (just look at the facts, how much Intel say the plan to invest and have invested in Indian and Pakistani ICT, presents given to Nigerian ICT, personal level friendships and promise of free teacher training in Microsoft Excell spreadsheet software in cooperation with Mexicos presidents. Intel has been using all of its connections to undermine the OLPC project.

    By Charbax | Posted in OLPC | Comments (1)

    Aiptek unveals the Aiptek PocketDV AHD300 and AHD500 Pro at CES 2008

    January 15, 2008 – 12:57 am

    Taiwaneese cheap camcorder manufacturer Aiptek might actually become the first to provide a 1080p HD camcorder at consumer friendly prices of around $200-300. Today as far as I know, the cheapest 1080p camcorder costs tens of thousands of dollars at semi-profetionnal levels. Sony and Panasonic have always only provided interlaced HD camcorders so far.

    So it seems to have no mic input, at least it’s not mentioned, too bad for that.

    Hopefully they improved sound quality at least a minimum so one can stand listening to interviews and conversations recorded with it and not think this was filmed with a lame mobile phone type audio-recorder.

    I’d like to know the bitrates. I guess 720p stays around 4mbit/s and 1080p becomes around 8mbit/s perhaps. That would be just very COOL. Much more usable bitrates considering the storage space used on SDHC cards and the possibillity of uploading the HD videos directly to the Internet. At least I think those bitrates are much more usable than Canon’s 17mbit/s for 1080p, Sony and Panasonic’s 15mbit/s for interlaced recordings or Sanyo’s 9mbit/s 720p content or 12mbit/s 1080 interlaced content.

    Actually 1440×1080 progressive 30fps would be very awesome. I guess the pixels would be recorded in non-square fashion to provide 16/9 aspect ratio. Sony and Panasonic has been providing 1440×1080 resolution interlaced video for all of their HD camcorders for the past 2 years. It’s only just recently with the latest models that Sony and Panasonic started to do 1920×1080, but still they provide ONLY interlaced video recording so far. The first camcorder to provide 1080p recording at consumer friendly prices MIGHT actually be Aiptek as far as I know.

    Canon just announced a nice looking 1920×1080 30fps progressive camcorder the Vixia HF10 but it won’t be out till March or April. Samsung seems to have announced a 1080p camcorder also the HXM20 but it seems not to be immediately available. Sony and Panasonic so far are NOT providing 1080p camcorders at consumer friendly prices as far as I know. Sony and Panasonic want to force semi-profetionnal users into buying their $5000 HD camcorders if they want to get 1080p recording. Which is the only format usable for editing, for computer screens, for HDTVs, for the Internet, for encoding to other formats and more. So thanks Aiptek for bringing $200 1080p camcorders, even though its not square 1920×1080 pixels.

    I’m just hoping the sound quality has become more usable for interviews and that some of the rolling shutter has been fixed. If that’s the case, then the AHD300 will be mine, and then I think Aiptek has a shot at completely disrupting the whole HD camcorder market and taking all the big companies by surprise. Then I think Aiptek could become one of the number 1 most popular HD camcorders. Though if sound quality remains unusable and rolling shutter still makes the video look like it was taken using a cell phone, then people will still choose to pay more for Sanyo, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony and Panasonic.

    The only coverage so far of these new Aiptek camcorders was posted at http://www.krunker.com/2008/01/13/aiptek-shows-off-new-hd-digital-camcorders-at-ces-2008/ and a discussion is going on about those new Aiptek HD camcorders at http://forums.steves-digicams.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=584700&forum_id=92

    By Charbax | Posted in Consumer Electronics | Comments (1)

    I just interviewed the Youtube founders

    January 9, 2008 – 2:32 am

    I just asked two questions to billionnaire Youtube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen through Robert Scoble’s Nokia N95 when he was taking in questions from the live audience broadcasting live video using http://qik.com.

    I asked them the questions “When are people going to be able to make money on Youtube” and “When is Youtube going to be in HD”.

    Watch more awesome live CES 2008 video coverage at http://www.mogulus.com/podtech_ces_live http://www.qik.com/scobleizer and some of the clips are stored at http://podtechceslive.blip.tv/

    By Charbax | Posted in Consumer Electronics, Video-On-Demand | Comments (1)

    Intel-powered XO is too expensive and consumes too much power

    January 4, 2008 – 3:15 am

    2 days before Intel CEO Paul Otellini would unveil the Classmate 2 or the Intel-powered XO at the CES, Intel announced that they are quitting the OLPC board.

    Intel claims that they are quitting because of Nicholas Negroponte wanting them to stop the promotion of the Classmate/Eee to education in third world countries, but I think that the real reason is that Intel does not have a good enough processor for the OLPC project to use as an alternative to the AMD Geode LX-700. Intel has not been able to develop a processor to match the price, power consumption and performance requirements of the OLPC project. Paul Otellini could have looked like a fool at the CES if he had to unveil an Intel powered XO that was performing worse in terms of price and power consumption compared to the AMD powered one.

    Intel executives probably have seen the OLPC project more as a threat than as an opportunity to their core business from day one. Intel probably wants to do whatever they can to stop the development of cheap laptop alternatives using cheaper fanless AMD processors and even ARM based processors in the future (XO-2, XO-3…), which is a direct threat to Intel’s market-dominating X86 standard.

    I think that Intel did not achieve or want to achieve any of these technological and pricing advancements in an Intel-powered XO and thus in fear of being ridiculed at CES with a more expensive Intel-powered XO with shorter battery life, Intel, as a last resort, decided to quit OLPC and blame it on Nicholas Negroponte.

    Intel might think it is a superior technology provider and that it can simply continue to market its Intel powered education laptop against the OLPC project. Intel probably feels too unconfortable with the prospect of supporting the development of cheap low powered laptops by being a member of the OLPC board. I think that Intel sees those cheap XO laptops as potentially becoming huge devastating disruptors to the established expensive laptop business in the developped nations. A commercial XO could replace all laptops in the business productivity, educational, personal and entertainment sectors of the PC and laptop business, which is the reason Mary-Lou Jepsen, OLPC’s previous CTO, is working on her new business to commercialise XO technology in the coming weeks and months.

    When will we hear of the first commercial cheap laptop projects using many or most of the OLPC XO open-source technologies? Quanta’s ex-CEO talked about Quanta producing a commercial version of the XO many months ago. I think that any company with an interest in indroducing low margin, large volume, low cost, low power laptops, could most probably come in, approach Mary-Lou Jepsen and the OLPC for access to using the open-source hardware and software of the project for commercial projects. And this could lead any of WalMart, Dell, Medion-Aldi, Google, AMD, Amazon and IBM to introduce commercial $200 laptops in the near future, all running optimized and free versions of Linux.

    Would the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation not be criticised for working against the work of the Red Cross to bringing vaccinations and food to starving and sick populations? Why would anyone want to compete with a non-profit open-source project like OLPC? I have been asking those questions to Intel ever since I filmed an Intel representative at the WCIT in May of 2006 when they first introduced the Classmate PC.

    If anyone has a better technology to decrease the price, improve the battery life, improve the e-book screen readabillity, improve the flash/divx video playback performance or improve the connectivity with WiMax, cellular, satellite or other technologies, then logically that entity currently simply can contribute that new technology into the open-source development for the XO-2 by simply contacting OLPC, posting on their Wiki, making press announcements and talking about their newer, better technologies to bloggers and to the media. I think that Intel doesn’t want to share it’s R&D, distribution network, design ideas and proprietary technologies with a non-profit like OLPC. I think that Intel hates the open-source hardware/software/distribution revolution.

    By Charbax | Posted in OLPC | Comments (8)