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How iTunes Saved The Office
The Office is one of the best shows on network TV. It’s clever, witty and very funny. But according to the Nielson ratings, The Office was a dud. The ratings were so bad that NBC almost cancelled it before the end of its first season. But since NBC owns and produces The Office, they had nothing to lose by posting it in the iTunes Store. At the very least, NBC thought they might make a little money on iTunes before canceling the show. But once episodes of The Office were available online, they became an iTunes overnight best seller. The Office had a huge fan base and the low Neilson ratings were basically just a lie.
Angela Bromstead, president of NBC Universal Television Studios, had this to say in Newsday:
“I’m not sure that we’d still have the show on the air” without the iTunes boost… The network had only ordered so many episodes, but when it went on iTunes and really started taking off, that gave us another way to see the true potential other than just Nielsen. It just kind of happened at a great time.”
Personally I think the Nielson ratings are a total joke. They only put a few thousand viewing monitors in dumb people’s houses. How is this an accurate sampling of US households? It’s not. Think I’m wrong? Consider the following:
- Why is COPS still on the air and getting good ratings 10+ years later?
- Why were shows like Family Guy and Futurama cancelled for low ratings, only to be renewed after doing well on the Cartoon Network and DVD.
- Why is wrestling now on the SciFi Channel?
- Why did Fox cancel Firefly before the end of its first season? The show went on to be a best seller on iTunes as well as on DVD. It was also made into a major motion picture called Serenity.
The answer to all these questions: only dumb people have Nielson boxes and the networks don’t have enough guts to ignore Nielson’s lies. Also, ponder this little tidbit. Until recently, the Nielson boxes were NOT compatible with home TV systems that had a TiVo, satellite dish or digital cable box. That’s a lot of people Nielson just decided to conveniently ignore.
If you are also a fan of The Office, just remember that the iTunes Store is responsible for keeping the show alive. Fans of the show voted with their wallets while dumb Nielson households were busy watching COPS reruns. Again.
3D Scanning – The ZScanner 700
Just 29,900 you too can scan in anything and everything!
Z corportation (the people that bring you the awesome Z-axis 3d printer).
Have designed a scanner to work in cooperation with their great 3d rapid prototypers. Together, they form a rudimentary, yet, complete low-level replicator (as long as whatever you want to have made is made of their plasticish material.
Continue reading » 3D Scanning – The ZScanner 700
Buyer Gets Soap Instead of iPod
I was on Jason D. O’Grady’s PowerPage when I saw this article and started cracking up. We’ve all heard of the iPod’s vaunted “clean design,” but this is ridiculous.
Apparently someone named Sean bought what he thought was an iPod from Smalldog.com. However after removing the shrink-wrap and opening the box, he instead found inside two bars of soap and a package of cheap batteries.
As you can imagine, Sean was pretty pissed off. I found a write up of how his conversation with a Smalldog customer service rep went on Consumerist.com.
“I picked up the phone and gave Smalldog a call… I was ready to really tear into someone when a supremely polite and nice customer service rep answered the phone. When I told her about my situation (and not too nicely, I might add), she started laughing. For a second I was shocked! I mean, first you screw up, and then you laugh at me!? But the next thing I knew, I started laughing too. She used just the right amount of humor and seriousness in helping me figure out what had happened… She also wanted to know if I took any pictures, saying that she’d love to have a few to show the other people in the office… It was good to see that someone could have a sense of humor and still be incredibly accommodating at the same time.”
The big mystery to this story is how was the iPod box shrink-wrapped if it had already been opened? There are two theories.
- Someone in the iPod factory swapped out the iPod with the soap and batteries before the box got shrink-wrapped.
- Someone at UPS or Smalldog might have done a homemade shrink-wrap job. All you need is a roll of plastic and a heated cutting device.
We will probably know exactly what happened, but this tale does have a happy ending. Sean got a replacement iPod. The moral of the story: just because something is shrink-wrapped, doesn’t mean it’s actually in the box.
Free Tickets to The Best of Stuff Show (Again)
It’s that time of year when the Best of Stuff show is back in town. We covered the show last year and reported on gadgets such as:
- The Ferguson Hill Transparent Speakers
- The NUVU foldable projector screen
- Q-BE MP3 Player
- Nokia 770, hmmm Nokia Girls.
This years looking equally cool with the list of exhibitors, including a chance to play with the new and upcoming PS3 
. I’m also out shopping for a new plasma and surround system so I can’t wait.
Like last year the organisers (thanks David) have been good enough to give us 10 tickets to give-away. If you’re a fellow lover of cool gadgets and can get to the Novotel London West Hotel this weekend, have a look at this thread in our gadget forums, then reply with your request.
I don’t know what I’m looking forward to most, playing with gadgets or oggliing booth babes .
UK Urged to Legalize iPod
Want to be a rebel and break the law in the United Kingdom? It’s easy. All you need is an iPod and a CD.
Here’s how:
Step 1: Pop a CD into you computer.
Step 2: Import the songs into iTunes.
Step 3: Sync the songs onto your iPod.
Millions of people in the United Kingdom break the law everyday just by using their iPods. Why? The music industry in the UK claims that the illegal practice of coping music onto your iPod costs them hundreds of millions of pounds a year. Anyone else getting a 1998 Napster flashback here?
Apparently the UK music industry is about a decade out of sync with reality. In an effort to help the UK music industry get with the times, ministers in the UK are being urged to relax copyright laws to prevent music fans from facing prosecution for using their iPods. A UK think-tank called the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has recommended an overhaul of the legislation to allow a “private right to copy” music, and thus stop home users being treated the same as large-scale pirates.
Ian Kearns, deputy director of the IPPR, had this to say on the subject:
“Millions of Britons copy CDs on to their home computers, breaking copyright laws every day. British copyright law is out of date. When it comes to protecting the interests of copyright holders, the emphasis the music industry has put on tackling illegal distribution, and not prosecuting for personal copying, is right. But it is not the industry’s job to decide what rights consumers have. That is the job of Government.”
The dawn of the digital age of music was initially damaging to the music industry… but only because the industry failed to embrace the change consumers desired. As a result, people turned to illegal file-sharing sites such as Napster to find digital music. However, since the launch of the iTunes Music Store, digital music has proven to be a successful business model and the laws in the UK should be changed to better reflect current times.
Duh!?
Apple Patent Says Adios to iPod’s Click Wheel?
If it weren’t for that click wheel, the iPod would probably be less symbolic. Consider, for example, navigating the iPod via the touch screen. Or, finding barely visible buttons on the frame of the display. Apple has apparently been experimenting and filing patents for this type of navigation control for quite some time now, but the patent only got published last Thursday. From the looks of it, we’d soon be watching more videos from our iPods and playing songs less often.
It isn’t really a black or white concept. Apple’s been looking into a hybrid, just to appease you guys who’ve fallen so faithfully for the click wheel. If this hybrid sees the light of day, we’ll be seeing a virtual wheel in the touch screen and a bunch of other navigation controls in the display frame as well. The perfect reason for this, according to Apple, is that the display ought to take more space in the device, and the click wheel is indeed going to get in the way.
And if it does see the light of day, expect something more freakish features in the iPod versions of the future. In the patent diagram, Apple showed that the iPod would have a sensor that will detect whether you’re lying down or standing up. The text, display images, and touch screen controls would change horizontally or vertically and adapt to your spatial orientation. Neat!
Apple didn’t confirm, however, whether the new features will be included in all the iPods or in the latest video-playing versions only.
Source:
Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/15868279.htm
Touchscreen iPod Rumors
If the latest round of touchscreen iPod rumors are true, you may want to revise your holiday wishlist.
Touchscreen iPod rumors have been circulating around the Internet for awhile now. Even MethodShop.com posted some touchscreen iPod patent pictures back in February. The new twist to this story is that the touchscreen iPod might have a wide aspect ratio screen. This would make a lot of sense since Apple recently started selling movies on iTunes.
The new widescreen rumor originated from an anonymous executive at an iPod accessories company who spoke to someone at TrustedReviews. How reliable is this anonymous executive? Your guess is as good as ours. Anyway, here’s what Mr. Anonymous had to say:
“In a very matter of fact tone I was told that the product was not designed for the current generation of device, but the official 6G iPod… which is to be released in December. His company’s device only comes onto the market shortly before then and would benefit hugely because the new iPod would sport a screen that filled the full side of the device and consequently offer higher resolution video… This is why Jobs isn’t afraid of the Zune,’ he said, though he had no knowledge of whether wireless would make an appearance.”
This might help explain Steve Jobs dismissive attitude last week:
“Jobs is unimpressed with Microsoft’s Zune, which allows users to exchange songs. ‘It takes forever,’ said Jobs. ‘By the time you’ve gone through all that, the girl’s got up and left!’”
Adding more fuel to the fire, here’s what Gizmodo had to say about the widescreen iPod rumors:
“One thing’s for sure, if this widescreen iPod is released in the next two months, the Microsoft Zune with its old-fashioned 4×3 screen and crippled WiFi will be slam-dunked.”
Macworld Blooper Reel
Ever talk yourself into a corner or been bogged down with technical problems during a presentation? Just remember that these problems can happen to anyone… even Steve Jobs.
Here’s a blooper reel of Steve Jobs and his gang over at Apple messing up on their very important Macworld keynotes. My favorite part is when Jobs tosses a camera to someone in the audience after it didn’t work for him on stage. Enjoy.
