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ARCHIVE
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Somebody asked me if Steve Jobs and my own mother were both swept into the ocean
by a wave, which one would I save. "How insulting!?" I thought to my self, I
would save my mother... Steve Jobs can walk on water.
In 1994, when Jim Clark left Silicon Graphics, his only comment on his motive or
his next move was in a press release which explained that he was going to start
a company which will explore the idea of interactive television. He eventually
started Netscape Communications which produced one of the two main web browsers
in use today.
The web was originally designed as a way to interconnect published scientific
papers for more in-depth research. Jim Clark saw the web as a media for
commerce and entertainment. Netscape was focused on marketing the browser as
well as the server software that could establish secure encrypted connections.
I believe the rest is history, or more like current events. The web as we know
it is pretty impressive but not exactly interactive television.
I did mention a browser war which involves the technology company with the real
Napoleon Complex. Do I even have to say Microsoft? Microsoft saw Netscape
making so many people happy and couldn't stand it, they had to but in.
Microsoft entered the browser market with all the charm of indigestion and since
it's Microsoft, it had to create technological stagnation. What was the big
product meant to dislodge Netscape Navigator... a software application that does
the same exact thing. Microsoft Internet Explorer was just another web browser,
how's that for finesse?
The Browser War raged on and on. Netscape tried an open source model, making
the source code for their browser freely available on mozilla.org.
Netscape was recently acquired by America Online who entered a strategic pact with Sun
Microsystems to create advanced e-commerce blah blah blah. But what kind of war
just stands still like that... taking little steps forward but no leaps.
Enter the impresario... Steve Jobs premiered Quicktime TV at the Macworld Expo
in New York this past July. Quicktime is Apple's award-winning technology for
video authoring and compression. Apple's latest version of the Quicktime Player
has the ability to view streaming content over the internet using open protocols
all delivered by Apple's open source Streaming Server. Quicktime TV is simply a
selection of content from ESPN, FOX News, Bloomberg, BBC, HBO, Disney, ABC,
National Public Radio, Rolling Stone, VH1 just to name a few. Quicktime
provides the highest quality of video and audio on the internet and the
streaming content is further optimized with the help of Akamai Technologies.
Akamai uses their network of servers to deliver video and graphics to you,
faster. Akamai went public last week and the stock shot up at a break-neck
pace.
Big deal right? Video... wonderful, where's the beef? I know that's what you
are thinking. Let me mention one more thing, a little detail that makes a big
difference. Quicktime can also take advantage of Macromedia Flash. This means
that any part of the streaming video can be interactive. Viola interactive
TV... Apple yanked the browser war from under the opposing sides without even
fighting.
The Quicktime Player is not going to replace your browser and QTV is not going
to replace the web, they are going to enhance the web, take it to new heights.
QTV can make the web an even better medium for e-commerce. Anybody who takes
the time to incorporate QTV into their online store has a better chance at
succeeding. The best part is the server software is 100% free, this is as level
a playing field as the web.
What can it do? Well, you can have Bloomberg business news sitting right next
to a stream of Fox Sports while watching an interview of Christina Aguilera
provided by Rolling Stone. And if you get tired of Christina's million-dollar
mid rift, you can switch to Warner Records and watch a video from Darlahood. If
you like it, you can click the buy now button and zoom right to the shopping
cart website. There is so much available and so much being added.
Don't think of this as a shameless promotion of Apple technology although it
looks like it, the difference is clear. The first message here is that there is
a cool way to shop and find entertainment through the internet, you can download
the free Quicktime player for Windows or Macintosh (www.quicktime.com). The
second and more powerful message is for all the internet entrepreneurs and web
architects. The holiday season is coming and the best online stores will be the
ones delivering streaming interactive content. If you can learn how to author
in Quicktime and Flash, you will be invaluable and women will find you
irresistible... because you'll be rich.
If anybody finds me irresistible, please plug in to beatnikblues.com to find
more of me.
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