That’s the good news. And, I might add, the little wonder arrived at 10:09am today, despite Fedex estimating delivery by Monday at 10:30am. So total turnaround time was 10 business days since I ordered on the day the new Core 2 Duo versions came out, including custom build options. Now on to the bad news…
The machine has an obvious screen defect (as seen at left). I went with the glossy version, and approximately 100 pixels from the right side of the screen is a band roughly 100 pixels wide which is significantly washed out compared to the rest of the screen. It runs from above the top menu bar to the bottom of the display.
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!
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.
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…
The machine has an obvious screen defect (as seen at left). I went with the glossy version, and approximately 100 pixels from the right side of the screen is a band roughly 100 pixels wide which is significantly washed out compared to the rest of the screen. It runs from above the top menu bar to the bottom of the display.
