Cordkillers Ep. 40 – I love you for the conditions we are in

Cordkillers / October 13th, 2014

Nielsen is inaccurate but HOW inaccurate? Also whether Amazon should join Ultraviolet. 

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CordKillers: Ep. 40 – I love you for the conditions we are in
Recorded: October 13, 2014
Guest: Derrick Chen

Intro Video 

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

Gear Up

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

On our Radar

  • Young Ones
  • -YOUNG ONES is set in a near future when water has become the most precious and dwindling resource on the planet, one that dictates everything from the macro of political policy to the detailed micro of interpersonal family and romantic relationships

Dispatches from the Front

Just listened and wanted to point out that in the conversation about Kevin Smith Brian called Tusk a bomb /flop /don’t remember. However since he’s obviously a Smith podcast listener he probably knows but didn’t think about it, but Kevin has really moved away from the traditional money making methods in favor of more musician styled.

I don’t know for sure about the financing of the movie, but if it’s anything like the Super Groovy Cartoon Movie it’s probably mostly self financed. I know he’s planning on touring it to theaters with live performances, so ticket sales will hopefully make up the “traditional rocket sales” loss.

For example Super Groovy cost $69,000 to make, and was never really released to theaters. But with the tour it was paid for in the first few shows, and while I don’t know exactly what it brought in from what he’s said in podcasts I believe it’s something on the order of five million. Think of the pure profit from that with none of the marketing overhead.

It’s work, yes, but almost his own version of crowd funding… Think of it as interactive Patreon. Possibly something like that could be a vehicle for other well known creators to pay for projects they want to do but can’t get a green light.

-Derek in Chattanooga

PS. Brian is completely right, Myst was the streaming pile that Seventh Guest stepped over on its way to level ‘Awesome’ 

 

 

Hey Brian and Tom,

I’m the science teacher in Taylor whose email yall read on the last episode about Netflix offering channels that streamed the same content to everyone at the same time. I was working my Saturday part time job with Austin Moonwalks (Brian: hit me up if you want a deal for one of the girl’s birthdays!) when I heard it and about flipped out. Thanks guys, it was awesome to hear yall talk about it. I don’t expect you to revisit it on the show, but just to clarify: I think I overstated how much I cared about the “communal” experience of watching what everyone else was watching. I didn’t mean for that to be the main focus. That was more of a side-effect. For me, its more about the giving-up of control that I need. For example:

My favorite TV show growing up was Star Trek The Next Generation. I watched it at 9pm every night on FOX 42. (Do you remember before it was KEYE, Brian?). I didn’t get to decide what episode I watched. I watched whatever came on: good or bad, whether I liked it or not. Because THAT was the one that was on, and there was nothing I could do about it. Now, I have every episode of the series at my disposal, but I can’t pick one out to watch. It’s impossible! I even devised a randomizing system to pick one out for me, but even that didn’t quite work because I could still stop and change it if there was a part I didn’t like.

It’s not just TV shows. Do you guys remember before DVRs, just going through the channels and happening on a movie that you liked? Maybe you even had it on DVD or VHS, but hadn’t watched it in years. You could have pulled it out anytime and watched it, but you hadn’t and probably wouldn’t for years to come. But there was something about it being ON TV that made you stop changing channels and watch the whole thing.

That’s the feeling I’m talking about. Watching and ENJOYING something by chance, because that’s what was on, and there was nothing you could do about it.

If Netflix had a Sci-Fi “channel”, it could play movies, TV shows, or even documentaries (all of which came from what Netflix already has), and you could just put it on and watch what was there (knowing that other people were watching it too). Maybe I’d come across a TV show I never would have watched or a good movie I hadn’t seen in a long time and never would have picked-out even if it were suggested. If I don’t like what’s one the Sci-Fi station, I can click on the comedy station and see what’s there.

I guess some might call this “vegging out,” but that’s exactly what I need to do sometimes.

Anyway, sorry to write so much. Just wanted to make sure you understood what I meant, whether you agree or not.

-Andy (better known by 11 year olds as Mr. Morris)

 

 

Hey Brian and Tom,

I was listening to this week’s show and I had an idea. When you discuss the number of “bosses” you have and how to support the show on Patreon, I think you should call the segment “The TPS Report” (Total Patreon Supporters). You could do it with or without a fancy bumper since Tom usually leads in with a factoid from the relevant year but what will he do when you pass 2014 bosses after all? 🙂 Maybe a running gag about new cover sheets would be in order? Just a thought and I am also one of your bosses!

Thanks,

Tony Sheler
Albany, OR

 

 

Brian said a few times in the last episode that the chromecast is ‘open’. I’ve looked into developing for the chromecast and I want to say it definitely is not. If you want to make your app chromecastable you need to have your application approved and your application signing key signed by google. And there’s no way around this. It’s not like Android where you can check the ‘unknown sources’ box and do whatever you want. It is totally controlled.

This may be why the firefox stick could be better. If it’s truly open you may see things available there that you will never see on chromecast. Particularly I’m thinking porn and piracy apps like popcorn time, or even legally grey apps like grooveshark (an app which google has just banned from chromecast see http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/09/09/grooveshark-longer-supports-chromecast-following-riaa-claim-infringes-artists-copyright ). That freedom and real openness might be just enough to give the firefox dongle an edge.

Clint Armstrong

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box

Cordkillers Ep. 38 – Tony Stark in a Cubicle

Cordkillers / September 30th, 2014

Should the FCC allow Internet cable services? Did Amazon have its House of Cards moment? Is Roku sleazy?

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CordKillers: Ep. 38 – Tony Stark in a Cubicle
Recorded: September 29, 2014
Guest: Roberto Villegas

Intro Video 

Primary Target

  • FCC Proposes Defining ‘Linear’ OVDs as MVPDs
  • -Multichannel news has ‘multiple sources’ who say FCC
    – Preparing NPRM define an online video provider that delivers a linear stream of programming as an –MVPD, similar to a cable or satellite operator.
    – Would have access to programming through access rules but also negotiate retrans fees.
    – The FCC tentatively concluded that an MVPD has to have control of both the content and the transmission path .
    – That killed Sky Angel which suspended service when Discovery pulled out
    – New rules would remove requirement for transmission path
    – NCTA argues transmission path necessary. Argues this would be “regulation of the Internet”

Signal Intelligence

Gear Up

  • As Roku grows, it’s moving towards pay-to-play for successful channels 
  • – Roku has 1800 channels. Open to anybody through an API and a few rules
    – Now calling popular channels and asking for revenue deals.
    – Sources told GigaOm’s Janko Roetgerrs they were pretty aggressive
    – Roku Stephen Shannon (Gm SVP content and services) says as revenue increases Roku has more sophisticated offerings which share revenue but increase promotion
    – Roku considers themselves an “Internet Services Company”
    – Margins on $50 boxes are not large

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

Hey guys,

I’ve loved your show since the FR days.

So you have been talking about spoilers recently, and I have a question for Tom. You mentioned on It’s Spoilerin Time that Brian’s spoilers for the season finale of The Leftovers did not affect your enjoyment of the episode. Then later you discussed Mum, one of the most pivotal episodes of The Shield (amazing show!), and I’m curious if you would have enjoyed that as much if you knew what was going to happen. It sounds like you experienced the gut-punch from this episode that Brian felt when he watched The Leftovers finale. Of course enjoying an episode and having that “Holy s–t!” feeling don’t have to be the same, but I think there are certain scenes that have such an impact, it’s better not to know what’s coming. [And there’s another scene that you will eventually experience with The Shield that will make this one seem tame.]

Oh, and fun fact for Brian: the writer, or at least co-writer of Mum was Kurt Sutter, the creator of Sons of Anarchy (another great show).

Thanks guys. You rock.

 Daryl

 

 Hey guys, it’s your boss. Though it is my first time contacting you, I have been a listener since the days of a show that I think was called “RameFrate”

Literally days away from breaking down and signing up for the service, I decided, on a whim, to connect a coax cable to an empty outlet behind my TV to see if any channels were able to be received. When I did a channel-scan, however, I was shocked to find that I am receiving almost 80 channels for free. Granted most of these are music, shopping, and crappy old movie channels, but I am getting all of the broadcast stations based in Memphis, Sundance, AMC, SEC network, NFL network, and Fox Sports 2, most in HD. When I researched this, I found that many cable providers send a few unscrambled QAM channels out over any active line. Apparently, as long as I continue receiving internet service, these channels are both legal and free. The only drawbacks that I have found are a lack of a channel guide and channels sometimes moving around. All that I really wanted was the local broadcast stations in order to watch local sports programming, so this has saved me from signing up for TV service. I hope that this will be helpful to some of your listeners in the same way that it was to me. Thanks for a great show!

 

Jared

 

 

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers
Dog House Systems Cordkiller box

Cordkillers Ep. 36 – Rise of the Chaos Monkeys

Cordkillers / September 16th, 2014

We may actually have Internet-delivered TV by mid-2015 but we get a little more excited by Netflix’s chaos monkeys.

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CordKillers: Ep. 36 – Rise of the Chaos Monkeys
Recorded: September 15, 2014
Guest: Andrew Zarian

Intro Video

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

Gear Up

  • SlingTV review: Convenient TV place-shifting, with an underwhelming new interface
  • -$150 M1 WiFi
    -SlingTV ($300) replaces Slingbox 500
    – Retooled UI coming to 500 as well
    – Gallery feature, which is an overlay on your actual TV, showing you what’s on in a more visual manner
    – Browse current sports scores—and see them ranked by recommended viewer interest via sports website Thuuz
    – Rotten Tomatoes scores and icons in the movie listings

Front Lines

Under surveillance 

Dispatches from the Front

First of all wanted to say that I LOVE THE SHOW and that i finally started watching Breaking Bad, I’m on season 3 and even though i heard almost all the spoiler zone episodes related to the show i dont feel it has ruined my experience.
I also wanted to share with you the fact that i got 416th place in the Summer Movie Draft and I’m really proud of that cause last year I was in the 500 range. Pertaining to the draft is there any way to find the results of previous drafts I kind of want to see my progress through the past years.
Keep up the great work.

Alejandro  Guadalajara Mexico.

 

Now that Bezos owns the Washington Post, how long until a live anchored, online WashPo news service appears on TWITCH to compete with the cable news networks?

Also, the Tivo Roamio may be cheap hardware, but they still want $15 a month for the guide. That’s $230 for the first year, $180 thereafter. For that money I’d buy the ChannelMaster OTA DVR and pay no monthly fee.

StrikitRich

 

One of your bosses here who just upped his pledge. Just wondering if you guys would put a Donate section on the website so people could donate via PayPal or Bitcoin. I like Patreon and all but sometimes I just feel a need to donate money to stuff that I like. And Cordkillers definitely falls into that category. I see Daily Tech News Show now has a donations page and I plan to use it. Just want Cordkillers to jump on board too.

Cheers guys. Love the show.

Anthony 

 

Another summer has come and gone. And while fewer and fewer of us are enjoying these warm months (or cold if you live in the southern hemisphere) at the movies, I walk away from this season with a question. How in the hell did a flying turd on a stick like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” end up being the number one movie in the draft? Sure you can explain the math to me all day long, but there is no reason that Michael Bay’s passively racist abomination should be the draft leader. Not only should a just and loving God have denied such an occurrence, but the way the movie draft is set up needs to be drastically changed.

Made $137,224,768 more than the winning host team,

Kingpinatron

 

Links