All posts by jetrotz

the author of this blog.
awards

Emmy Nomination, Part Deux

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Well, it’s deja vu all over again, folks! CNN Enhanced on Echostar (launch, interview) has been announced as an Emmy Finalist for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Non-Synchronous Enhancement of Original Television Content, this time by the National Television Academy. As those regular readers of this blog are aware, this project I spent over a year of my life managing was also nominated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for that bodies’ similar award for interactive television over the summer. Sadly (for me anyway), the award went to TiVO. But hey, at least I can say I’m a ‘two-time Emmy nominee,’ no? And maybe, just maybe, the judges will see just how spiffy our application is and give it the nod. ‘twoud be nice, indeed. And as they say, the nominees are:

  • CNN Enhanced – CNN/Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
  • Fantasy Football Tracker – BIAP Systems, Inc.
  • Passions Vendetta – NBC.com
  • Sopranos: Crime. Organized – Deep Focus/HBO
  • The Cultivated Life: Thomas Jefferson & Wine – NetBlender
  • The-N.com Video Mixer – The N

The awards will be presented at the opening evening event of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Monday, January 8, 2007. You’ll note that we’re up against the Sopranos this time, as well as some friends over at BIAP. May the best app win!

grantpark, sam

Happy Halloween

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It’s amazing to me that a full year has gone by since Sam’s first Halloween. He’s such a big boy now – he had an absolute blast this past weekend through tonight with a full dance card of spooky activites. First up on Saturday afternoon was the annual Grant Park Halloween Parade (gallery here). Highlights featured a medusa, fish and even a ‘thing‘ to see! Sam even ran into another Tigger – imagine the odds! On Monday, we joined the festivities at Trick or Treat on Turner Street (gallery here) where Sam really got into dancing – with Lauren and various Mascots from the Hawks and Thrashers. The big event was tonight, where we recreated the 2005 Kangaroos playgroup ‘team photo’ (2006 gallery here, 2005 gallery is here). Amazing to see how these kids have changed so dramatically.

ugc, work

Super Deluxe is in the Wild…

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superdeluxe

Yesterday, Turner Broadcasting (you know, those guys who sign my paycheck) took the wraps off a project that’s been in the works for a while – a new broadband site called Super Deluxe (splash site up and running – find the easter eggs!). Dubbed by a story in MediaPost and the Hollywood Reporter as a blend of features of TV networks like Comedy Central with the social networking features of a MySpace, the coverage reports that the site will feature material from both established and emerging comedians and allow for a fair amount of ‘UGC’ (that’s user generated content to those uninitiated among you) from users to also appear on the service. The Hollywood Reporter had this to day:

Dubbed Super Deluxe, the free, advertiser-supported venture will target men 18-34 with a mix of live-action and animated material that won’t skimp on profanity and toilet humor. “It’s like cable TV without the rules,” Turner Entertainment Group president Mark Lazarus said.

TBS has recently announced another effort in a similar vein, though of smaller scale, where users can submit videos to for consideration as being ‘Funny or Not’ as well as the already launched VeryFunnyAds.com, a place to – you guessed it – watch funny commercials. MediaPost reports that the Super Deluxe site will launch in January. My team is involved with – you guessed it again – the ad technology to support the service. We have a busy Fall ahead of us…


technology

Oh Happy Day

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Yes, Virginia, there is a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro.

As those of you who know me well, it has been a painful year for me. When I moved back into the world of ad serving last Fall nearly full time, I needed a PC laptop to access our adserving system (’twas not Mac-friendly).

I have been waiting with baited breath for the first major revision to the Intel MacBook Pros that came out almost eight months ago. That has led me to travel with not one, but two laptops for most of the past year. Oh, my aching back! All that changes next week when my new MacBookPro arrives.

This morning, I was oh so excited to see a notice on TUAW.com that the Mac store had it’s old-skool ‘We’ll be back soon’ message that typically precedes a new product being posted. Lo and behold, shortly after arriving at work I visited Apple.com to see the beautiful news you see in the image above. Fully capable of running Windows via BootCamp or Parallels, this will replace both of my existing laptops. First to retire will be my ancient (4 year old) Titanium Powerbook G4 running at 1Ghz. I’ve been using that laptop for over a year with no functioning ethernet access and miserable battery life, and can’t wait to get my hands on this new machine. Also heading for the backup bin will be the sorely underpowered IBM Thinkpad Tablet I have as well – it’s better in concept than reality. The Core2 version of the MacBook Pro will run at 2.33Ghz, includes 3GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. My back thanks you, Apple.