Man I have so many posts brewing but I'm just not sure when they will come out. I feel like everything has been on hold for so long, and now it is all starting to happen at once.
The new server is our way of playing a little part in this next phase of the internet. Disk space has plunged in cost, bandwidth - both fixed and especially mobile - have soared in speed, and new protocols - especially BitTorrent and RSS/ATOM - are allowing for new applications that will create a significantly richer media experience.
Here's one example. If you're a Mac user (Windows and Linux clients are on their way,) go download DTV. It's an RSS reader that pulls down feeds that contain video clips. You subscribe to different "channels" (which are like different websites,) and your DTV client polls them at a selective interval and downloads any new content. It's a program you just keep running in the background all the time, and then whenever you want you can open it up and there will be tons of new video clips that you watch right in the DTV program. And the downloads can themselves be torrents, in which case the DTV client is also a BitTorrent client - except the user doesn't see any of this, nor needs to know what any of these protocols are or how they work. Very very slick.
The DTV client looks and works much like iTunes. Click on 'Channel Guide' at the top of the left hand column (like clicking on your 'library' in iTunes) and you get a listing of different channels they think you might like to subscribe to. But the channels are just RSS feeds, so anyone can make a feed that can be shown (this is an open system - not a walled garden.) Just click 'Add Channel' at the bottom of the left hand column and you can enter any URL. Here are two to start with:
http://del.icio.us/popular/system:media:video
http://www.commonbits.org/rss/tag/daily-show
The first is a feed of popular video clips from the group site del.icio.us. The second are daily short clips from the Daily Show.
Now nothing here is completely new. We've been reading RSS feeds for years now. And downloading with BitTorrent as well. But it's never all been easy enough to reach critical mass. Now it is. And the way they have baked BitTorrent into this thing is just mind blowing. It solves the bandwidth bottle neck of being a content producer. And that means it levels the playing field significantly in terms of who can distribute the media.
What blogs have done for the written word, and what is generally called "news", which is much like what P2P networks did to the music industry, BitTorrent and RSS combos like DTV will now do to television and movies. It won't destroy them, but it will completely change everything, creating a lot of opportunities for new comers and a lot of disappointment for entrenched players who don't see it coming.
Ok, if you're actually trying DTV there is one more step. After you click 'Add Channel' at the bottom of the left column, and then copy and paste a feed URL in, the new feed will show up in the left column (just like a playlist in iTunes.) Now click on that feed and the main window will show it just like an RSS reader. At the top of that page will be a single check box labeled "Auto Download". Make sure you check that. That's what makes the whole thing work.
Now just leave it running. The icon in the dock (nice icon btw :-) will show how many unwatched clips you have (just like mail tells you how many unread messages.)
They start you with several feeds in that left hand column, but none of them are set to auto download. So maybe check them out and if you like them click on 'auto download' and if you don't then just select them and hit 'delete'.
Please let us know when this comes to the Gates environment. Also, I might want to offer my video (and audio too?) in this format if the bandwidth keeps growing.
Don't worry. We will be hooked into all this.
Also, it's not so much that this one program (DTV) is going to change the world. It's just an example. It's the underlying open protocols that are the thing. No doubt there is cool stuff already on Windows. This one just brings a level of polish and ease that I think might allow it to break through. Maybe something like the way blogger was in the beginning. So many people laughed at it because it didn't do anything new. It was just a glorified FTP client really. But then look what happened. Ease of use is often more important than breaking new ground technologically.
One way or another BitTorrent (in whatever form - some open source package or something I write) will be what allows us to grow despite the cost of bandwidth.
Windows client soon for DTV though. I'll let you know.
Windows client released (need XP.) There is also a new 0.8 release for the Mac. I thought release 0.7 had some issues (memory leak?) You couldn't just leave it open for days. Hopefully that is worked out now.
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The new server is our way of playing a little part in this next phase of the internet. Disk space has plunged in cost, bandwidth - both fixed and especially mobile - have soared in speed, and new protocols - especially BitTorrent and RSS/ATOM - are allowing for new applications that will create a significantly richer media experience.
Here's one example. If you're a Mac user (Windows and Linux clients are on their way,) go download DTV. It's an RSS reader that pulls down feeds that contain video clips. You subscribe to different "channels" (which are like different websites,) and your DTV client polls them at a selective interval and downloads any new content. It's a program you just keep running in the background all the time, and then whenever you want you can open it up and there will be tons of new video clips that you watch right in the DTV program. And the downloads can themselves be torrents, in which case the DTV client is also a BitTorrent client - except the user doesn't see any of this, nor needs to know what any of these protocols are or how they work. Very very slick.
The DTV client looks and works much like iTunes. Click on 'Channel Guide' at the top of the left hand column (like clicking on your 'library' in iTunes) and you get a listing of different channels they think you might like to subscribe to. But the channels are just RSS feeds, so anyone can make a feed that can be shown (this is an open system - not a walled garden.) Just click 'Add Channel' at the bottom of the left hand column and you can enter any URL. Here are two to start with:
http://del.icio.us/popular/system:media:video
http://www.commonbits.org/rss/tag/daily-show
The first is a feed of popular video clips from the group site del.icio.us. The second are daily short clips from the Daily Show.
Now nothing here is completely new. We've been reading RSS feeds for years now. And downloading with BitTorrent as well. But it's never all been easy enough to reach critical mass. Now it is. And the way they have baked BitTorrent into this thing is just mind blowing. It solves the bandwidth bottle neck of being a content producer. And that means it levels the playing field significantly in terms of who can distribute the media.
What blogs have done for the written word, and what is generally called "news", which is much like what P2P networks did to the music industry, BitTorrent and RSS combos like DTV will now do to television and movies. It won't destroy them, but it will completely change everything, creating a lot of opportunities for new comers and a lot of disappointment for entrenched players who don't see it coming.
- jim 11-09-2005 6:08 pm
Ok, if you're actually trying DTV there is one more step. After you click 'Add Channel' at the bottom of the left column, and then copy and paste a feed URL in, the new feed will show up in the left column (just like a playlist in iTunes.) Now click on that feed and the main window will show it just like an RSS reader. At the top of that page will be a single check box labeled "Auto Download". Make sure you check that. That's what makes the whole thing work.
Now just leave it running. The icon in the dock (nice icon btw :-) will show how many unwatched clips you have (just like mail tells you how many unread messages.)
They start you with several feeds in that left hand column, but none of them are set to auto download. So maybe check them out and if you like them click on 'auto download' and if you don't then just select them and hit 'delete'.
- jim 11-09-2005 6:19 pm
Please let us know when this comes to the Gates environment. Also, I might want to offer my video (and audio too?) in this format if the bandwidth keeps growing.
- tom moody 11-09-2005 8:35 pm
Don't worry. We will be hooked into all this.
Also, it's not so much that this one program (DTV) is going to change the world. It's just an example. It's the underlying open protocols that are the thing. No doubt there is cool stuff already on Windows. This one just brings a level of polish and ease that I think might allow it to break through. Maybe something like the way blogger was in the beginning. So many people laughed at it because it didn't do anything new. It was just a glorified FTP client really. But then look what happened. Ease of use is often more important than breaking new ground technologically.
One way or another BitTorrent (in whatever form - some open source package or something I write) will be what allows us to grow despite the cost of bandwidth.
Windows client soon for DTV though. I'll let you know.
- jim 11-09-2005 9:41 pm
Windows client released (need XP.) There is also a new 0.8 release for the Mac. I thought release 0.7 had some issues (memory leak?) You couldn't just leave it open for days. Hopefully that is worked out now.
- jim 2-22-2006 1:53 am