Time for the thanks of a grateful nation to go to the Peacock Network and Jeff Zucker, the president and CEO of NBC Universal. Despite great temptation, Zucker and Co. decided not to tape delay Barack Obama's historic nomination speech for West Coast viewers. Sure, NBC could have just plastered a "Live" notice on the delayed broadcast -- … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2008
Bad mojo at Vudu: 20% of staff axed
The suits at Vudu are saying the things investors and subscribers would like to hear, but it's hard to find much good in the news that the movies-on-demand outfit laid off something like 20% of its staff. The company's line is that the layoffs were "just a normal process" for a start-up, which has to adjust to market conditions in the early … [Read more...]
CinemaNow goes multiplatform with DRM
CinemaNow, the pioneering online movie service, is taking on Apple with a new iTunes-like application that's said to work on Macs, iPods, iPhones and potentially a host of consumer electronics devices. Previously, CinemaNow customers were locked into using Microsoft's Windows operating system and its far from flexible digital-right management … [Read more...]
Vongo pulls the plug, nukes your movies
The movie downloading service Vongo has to go. A notice on the site says, "We are no longer accepting new subscribers for the Vongo service." Current members will be able to use Vongo through the month of September, then it's curtains. The nasty part is, all downloaded movies in customers' possession will self-destruct at that time. Cheapskates. … [Read more...]
‘Two Fat Ladies’: Yummo cooking on DVD
"Two Fat Ladies" waddled over to these shores in the mid 1990s, adding spice to what was already an eclectic mix on the Food Network. Back then, "Iron Chef" was fresh and the "Fat Ladies" were, well, phat. After 1999, the Food Network branded itself into blandness, and, alas, the Fat Ladies cooked no more. Jennifer Paterson, the lady who drove … [Read more...]