Category: Video piece

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Halo 3 TV Ad Now Online. Watch It Here

Halo 3 TV Ad Now Online. Watch It HereThere’s always a lot of interest around Halo, the signature game for the Xbox.

The original Halo sold a ton of Xboxes as it just looked so incredible and was a big step forward in gaming. Halo 2 received a huge amount of PR support and therefore created one heck of a buzz when it was released in 2006 with a grabbed by pirates before its launch. We found Halo 2 had improved but wasn’t the wow it had widely expected to be.

Halo 3 TV Ad Now Online. Watch It HereTwo years later and the machine is grinding into action again to let the public know about the non-imminent arrival of Halo 3. It’s expected for release during the third quarter of 2007, and will, of course, run initially exclusively on Xbox 360.

The promotional video released last year at E3 got some attention, but there had been a lot of excitement about the next promo installment that was shown last night on US TV.

Thanks to some willing fellow/fellow-esses it’s hit YouTube, so those interested worldwide can watch it as well. Frankly it gets us no further forward in understanding what it’s about or how it will look, but for Halo fans that doesn’t really matter. Any further sightings of Master Chief are appreciated.

Microsoft Offers Xbox360 Video Downloads

Microsoft Offers Xbox360 Video DownloadsMicrosoft appear to be trying the doors of the lucrative movie download business for the Xbox360 with the announcement of a video content deal with music label Epic Records.

The partnership will see Microsoft offering exclusive artist content and high-definition music video downloads free to Xbox360 gamers for a year, via the Xbox Live Marketplace service.

Free downloads from twelve up-and-coming artists will be offered through the Artist of the Month (AOM) program, with grandma-untroubling, British singer Natasha Bedingfield kicking off the service.

Microsoft Offers Xbox360 Video DownloadsVideos and “exclusive artist content” will also be made available for download from the Xbox site.

“Our goal has always been to make Xbox Live a cutting-edge entertainment experience”, insisted Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft.

“This agreement with Epic Records offers our members exclusive artistic content directly from the source. With Artist of the Month we will be providing exactly what music-loving gamers want: brand-new, exclusive music videos that can be downloaded quickly, easily and free of charge,” he added.

Microsoft Offers Xbox360 Video DownloadsEpic has already dished out music videos for the Xbox 360 from the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Audioslave, and their catalogue also includes acts like Shakira, Matisyahu, Jennifer Lopez and Antipodean dandruff shakers, AC/DC.

Each month Microsoft and Epic will announce the new Artist of the Month, along with exclusive benefits for Xbox360 users.

Xbox360

Intel Apple G5 Bootups Fast – UPDATED

As we know, Apple has been claiming that the new Intel-based processor is 2-3 times faster than their current machines, due in no small part to Intel’s Core Duo processor.

An enterprising clan has shot what they claim is a video of a boot-up shootout between an iMac G5 vs an Intel-based version.

Taken at face value, the new machines do look considerably faster, but many are claiming that the video is a fix. Reading the comments, a number of people felt that the slow booting machine was faulty or had been violently shutdown, leading to the machine having to rebuild itself on startup.

One thing is for sure. The Intel-based version boots faster than any Windows machine I’ve seen.

Join the other nearly 50,000 people who’ve watched the film and judge for yourselves …

For all Mac traditionalists, you’ll be pleased to hear that the new machines use the same boot up sound.

Update: The new Intel-based Macs use Intel’s new boot technology – Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). This has been designed to make machines startup as quickly as possible – a benefit that the Mac is showing, and so too will Windows Vista. Thanks to Seamus for pointing this out.

iMac G5 vs iMac Intel Boot

Gorillaz Launch ‘Next Generation’ Enhanced Video

Gorillaz Launch 'Next Generation' Enhanced VideoAnimated UK act, Gorillaz, are proudly claiming a world first for their ‘next generation’ enhanced video for ‘Feel Good Inc.’

Using new “template technology” brewed up by MTV and its partner Ensequence, the video for ‘Feel Good Inc’ utilises the technology’s modular capabilities which – apparently – allow “more in-depth, bespoke, multi-layered content to be added behind the red button.”

After consulting our buzzword translator, we’ve worked out that their next-gen video will allow viewers to call up more interactive content, including track info, competitions and artist biogs, as well as each band member’s audio commentary on the video.

“The new Gorillaz video takes the extended relationship interactivity offers and takes it a step further, giving fans a much richer experience, “offered Lisa Gower, Digital Media Manager at Parlophone.

“The new technology allows fans to get closer to their favourite artists and brings interactive content closer to the quality and choice found with the ‘extras’ on DVDs,” she added.

Gorillaz Launch 'Next Generation' Enhanced VideoBundling in a host of interactive freebies is clearly being seen as a useful marketing tool for record companies, keen to discover new ways to part loyal fans with their cash.

Matthew Kershaw, Head of Interactive, MTV Networks UK & Ireland, explains, “Offering greater flexibility, we now have the creative freedom to create bespoke interactive layers that complement each video and can be different depending on when the viewer accesses them, giving fans a far richer and more enhanced experience than they have had before”.

Elsewhere, the Gorillaz have confirmed details for an innovative virtual US tour, with unique performances being streamed via the Web sites of radio stations across the country.

The Demon Detour virtual tour starts on June 6 at KNDD Seattle’s 1077theend.com and will go on to ‘visit’ the sites of 39 US radio stations and include two national broadcasts.

Gorillaz Launch 'Next Generation' Enhanced VideoThe band – brainchild of Blur’s Damon Albarn (aka 2D) and Tank Girl” creator Jamie Hewlett (aka Murdoc) – are already celebrating the US success of their second album, “Demon Days,” which has debuted at No. 6 on The Billboard 200.

“It’s not enough that we’ve just recorded and released the defining album of the century, now we’ve gotta go tell the world about it,” quipped. “We’re gonna play some live songs, maybe talk a little about the album, crack some jokes.”

Gorillaz
Ensequence

iTunes 4.8 Gains Video, Speculation Starts

Apple Adds Video To iTunes 4.8With ne’er a whisper or a parp on the PR trumpets, Apple has quietly released an updated version of the iTunes software as a free download from its Web site.

Described as including “new Music Store features and support for transferring contacts and calendars from your computer to your iPod,” iTunes 4.8 has a big surprise lurking in its bag – the capacity to play movies within it.

With all the stealth of a Dickensian pick-pocket, Apple has also added some short promotional music videos to the service, supplementing the music videos and movie trailers hosted through iTunes.

The short .mp4 format promos may not exactly be Hollywood blockbusters, but it’s an effective ‘proof of concept’, illustrating how Apple could easily offer full-length video through its store.

Apple Adds Video To iTunes 4.8Mindful of the marketing value, Apple has made music videos available initially on purchase of albums or tracks from the Dave Matthews Band, Morcheeba, Gorillaz and The Shins.

For example, fans shelling out for the Dad-friendly Dave Matthews Band album, ‘Stand Up’, can also download a digital booklet containing the album artwork, a five minute video (55MB download) showing the making of the album, with the all the usual bundled extras like interview clips etc.

Downloaded video clips can only be played in iTunes, with an option to watch the video in full-screen mode.

The updated software also lets iPod owners manage contact and calendar information, with the choice of synchronising all or some of the contacts in Apple’s Address Book, as well as all or some of their iCal calendars.

Apple Adds Video To iTunes 4.8The new version also includes a security fix to patch up a vulnerability relating to MPEG4 file buffer overflows (they sound rather painful).

By bolting on video functionality, Apple seems to be shimmying ever closer to the full integration of iTunes and Quicktime (iQuick? TuneTimes? Quines?), with the iTunes music store now offering videos and movie trailers for free viewing – just like the QuickTime homepage.

Apple
Apple iTunes

Yahoo 360 To Import Content From Non-Yahoo Services

Yahoo 360 To Import Content From Non-Yahoo ServicesYahoo has announced plans to ramp up the feature set of its Yahoo 360 social networking and blogging service, currently in beta.

According to Paul Brody, director of community products at Yahoo, the company intends to let users import content, such as photos and music, from non-Yahoo applications.

“Some of the things that people very much want to do is to share content from other sources outside of Yahoo,” observed Brody, “[Yahoo] 360 right now does a great job of allowing you to share the content you might have already on Yahoo.”

The Yahoo 360 service entered an invite-only limited beta period in late March allowing participating users to publish blogs, share content and post pictures with control over who they shared their content with.

Yahoo 360 To Import Content From Non-Yahoo ServicesThe service currently only allows users to include content from other Yahoo services such as Yahoo Photos and Yahoo Music, but now Yahoo are to offer the inclusion of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds from other sources.

Brody stated that he wanted the Yahoo 360 service to be an “open” product, adding, “If you have content anywhere on the Internet, you should be able to share it with friends and family through Yahoo 360.”

The beta period has given Yahoo some useful feedback about their users’ needs – with the company now working with bloggers to give them greater flexibility in customising their blogs and adding features such “trackback.” Trackbacks create a links between related information on different blogs, further explained in a link below.

Yahoo 360 To Import Content From Non-Yahoo Services“Yahoo 360 should be made available to the public in the next few weeks, by which time the capability to share non-Yahoo content will also be included.” Brody commented.

Localised versions of Yahoo 360 will be launched soon in some countries in Asia and Europe, according to Brody. The Yahoo blog service is already available in some countries like Japan and Korea.

Yahoo’s My Web Upgrades Personal Search Tools
Google Introduces Local Search To UK
Yahoo 360 Service Blends Blogging And Social Networking Tools
TrackBack description from sixapart

Springsteen DualDisc Album Market Test

Springsteen Album Tests Market For CD/DVD HybridUS Record industry honchos will be taking a bigger interest than unusual in the new Springsteen release as they wait to see how the new DualDisc format goes down with Brooooooce fans.

“Devils and Dust,” the Boss’s 19th album, will also be released in the fledgling CD/DVD hybrid format, marking the first major change in retail music packaging since the compact disc was introduced more than two decades ago.

The format bolts together a standard CD with a DVD on the flip side, and fills it up with fan-tempting extras like video clips, surround-sound mixes for home theatres and lyrics etc.

Springsteen fans shelling out for new DualDisc release will be rewarded with video of their hero performing his new songs and discussing the making of the album.

Although “Devils and Dust” is not the first DualDisc to hit the market, it’s the first one released by a major artist exclusively in the format (there will be no traditional CD pressings available) and should provide a useful benchmark to see if the new technology has a viable future.

The four major record labels, EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner created a consortium last year to launch the new audio-video hybrid in the US market, with Sony BMG claiming that where albums have been released in both formats, DualDisc purchases have accounted for around 30 percent of sales.

Of course, you don’t get something for nothing in the notoriously tight-fisted music industry, and punters will be compelled to shell out an extra dollar for the bundled DVD content.

Springsteen Album Tests Market For CD/DVD HybridThe music business is hoping that the new format – and the extra cash – will help recoup the slice of the retail market lost to piracy and illegal file-sharing. “It’s harder to file-share DVD content and it’s virtually impossible for anyone to burn a DualDisc at home,” purred Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business for Sony BMG.

“We think all this will lure people back to the stores, because it’s a product you can’t really get in pirated fashion,” he continued.

But there’s a darkness on the edge of town, as critics complain that the DualDisc is just another industry wheeze to push consumers into repurchasing the albums they already have on CD.

Hesse was having none of it, reminding critics that because no extra hardware is needed, “it’s really a new product, rather than a new format”, adding that plans were looming to roll out the DualDisc in European markets.

DualDisc Bruce Springsteen

Google Video To Expand Search To “Video Blogging”

Google Begins An Experiment In Google plans to invite users to submit personal video clips for archiving as part of its recently launched video search service.

In a speech at the annual cable industry convention in San Francisco, company co-founder Larry Page announced that the company will start taking home video submissions from people, adding that, “we’re not quite sure what we’re going to get, but we decided we’d try this experiment.”

Not surprisingly, Page admitted to having concerns about the nature of content that people may want to upload (but we think that that may only add to the appeal of the service!)

Google first rolled out the test version of its video search service in January, allowing users to find content in television programs from such providers as PBS, Fox News, CSPAN and local ABC and NBC affiliates in San Francisco.

The service, called Google Video, offers up still images from the video clips and associated closed-captioning, but users cannot view video or read a transcript of the program due to unsettled licensing terms.

In the meantime, an “About this show” option provides information on the program’s next air time.

Google has already established search relationships with numerous content and broadband providers, with Google co-founder Sergey Brin commenting, “We’re always looking for ways to expand partnerships.”

Google Begins An Experiment In The company also announced that it would provide data about popular Web searches to Current, a new television network for the 18- to 34-year-old audience, backed by former US Vice President Al Gore and other investors.

Arch-rivals Yahoo have already begun promoting their own TV and video search site, launched as a beta in December of 2004.

Yahoo has also partnered up with TVEyes to index closed captioning content from BBC, Bloomberg and Sky programming, while Blinxx launched their own movie and TV service, blinkx.tv, at the end of last year.

Google barged its way into the world of blogging after buying the popular blogging tool, Blogger.com in 2003.

The growth of affordable digital camcorders (and movie enabled digital cameras) coupled with cheaper (or free) Web space suggests that vblogging could be big news for 2005, creating a need for suitable search tools.

Google

‘Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room’, Gets Simultaneous Cinema/HDTV Release

HDNet Movies Offer Simultaneous Cinema/HDTV Release For New MovieIn a break with cinema-tradition, HDNet Movies viewers will be able to see Alex Gibney’s highly acclaimed documentary “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” on the very same day the movie premieres in US theatres.

Cackling wildly in the face of convention which dictates that cinema releases always come first, the film, which debuted in the Documentary Competition at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, will appear on the US available HDNet Movies twice on opening night, 22 April at 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm EST.

After its one-day HDNet Movies premiere, the film will then be offered in traditional PPV, VOD and DVD windows.

“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” was produced by HDNet Films, the high-definition production division of Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban’s 2929 Entertainment, and is being distributed by 2929-owned Magnolia Pictures. Using insider accounts and incendiary corporate audio and videotapes, Alex Gibney, the films director shows the almost unimaginable personal excesses of the Enron hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy. It is expected that audiences will be shocked by the avarice of Enron’s traders and their bosses.

Cuban is well known for trying to smash commonly accepted business standards and conventions. “We want to reward HDNet Movies subscribers with great movies,” table-thumped Mark Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and HDNet Movies. “Our feeling is that people who want to get out of the house and go to the theater will do so.

Those who can’t make it, rather than missing the water cooler talk on Monday, will be able to see the film, only on HDNet Movies.”

The company has also announced production on a new drama, “One Last Thing…,” starring Cynthia Nixon, Michael Angarano, Sunny Mabrey and Wyclef Jean which will also premiere on HDNet Movies under the same day-and-date model.

HDNet Movies

Burglar Caught on WebCam Jailed

A 19-year-burglar is now enjoying an eleven month stretch at Her Majesty’s Pleasure after he was photographed burgling a house by the owner’s Webcam.

Software engineer Duncan Grisby, 30, set up the movement-activated surveillance system following a previous burglary three years before.

The Webcam was set to start filming once it registered motion, with images of the hapless burglar being safely transferred from the computer to a remote server.

The Webcam captured every movement of Benjamin Park, 19, including a handy close-up when he stared straight in the Webcam before going on to steal the computer and other equipment worth £3,719 ($7,000, Euro 5,300).

When 30-year-old Mr Grisby returned from holiday this month, the pictures were handed over to police, who instantly recognised Park, a very naughty boy already on bail for an attempted burglary in Ely.

Police tracked down Park, who was already boasting 33 previous convictions for theft, to a block of flats in Cambridge, where he was arrested as he tried to leg it from the long arm of the law.

Travers Chalk, the chairman of the Cambridge bench, sentenced Park to 11 months in prison after he admitted the offences. “You have a record which is awful, dreadful,” the magistrate told him.

Understandably, Mr Grisby wasn’t too chuffed with what he felt was a lenient sentence for a serial burglar, saying, “It is a rather pathetic sentence to hand someone like that, a career burglar.”

Although photographs of the burglar in action have been published by the police, one piece of footage that hasn’t been available was the look on Park’s face when Det Sgt Al Page, who leads the Cambridge burglary squad, showed him the Webcam shots.

Burglar snared by computer Webcam (more pics)