Beccaria - A Poetry project in Philadelphia, PA

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About this project

Beccaria is a chapbook of poetry which brings awareness to the death penalty in Pennsylvania. The chapbook is a compilation of the art and poetry of murder victims' family members, current death row inmates and exonerated death row prisoners. The first printing of the chapbook was funded through a Leeway Art and Change Grant. This project is to fund the second printing and will be available for purchase and available for the first time to prison inmates by May 2012.

The Leeway Foundation site states the intention of the chapbook "is to make a powerful artistic statement that could potentially encourage those that read it to consider whether the death penalty truly serves the needs of victims or the community at large."
Read a review of Beccaria here

Beccaria contributers:
Delbert Tibbs, David Keaton, Mary DeWitt, Reginald Lewis, Jan Williams, Devon Williams, Elizabeth Johnson, Hasan Shakur, Aja Beech

US online video viewing hits all-time high

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During the month of October, the total US internet audience viewed 42.6 billion videos, representing an all-time high.
184 million US Internet users watched online video content in October for an average of 21.1 hours per viewer, according to comScore. This equals to 86.2% of the total number of internet users in the country.

Google sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in October with 161 million unique viewers and reached a record high of 20.9 billion videos viewed.

Facebook.com ranked second with 59.8 million viewers, followed by VEVO with 57 million, Microsoft sites with 49.1 million and Viacom Digital with 48.2 million.
More than 42 billion videos were viewed during the month, with the average viewer watching a record 21.1 hours. Google sites demonstrated the highest engagement with 7.1 hours per viewer.

The October 2011 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channels Vevo (54.2 million viewers) and Warner Music (30.4 million viewers) maintained the top two positions.

Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 17.7 million viewers, followed by Schmooru with 9.9 million, Maker Studios with 9.4 million and Demand Media with 7.4 million.

Within the top 10 partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement with 65.1 minutes per viewer on average, while accounting for the second highest number of videos viewed (277 million) after VEVO.

Other notable findings from October 2011 include: the duration of the average online content video was 5.5 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes. Video ads accounted for 14.9 percent of all videos viewed and 1.4 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.

Source is
http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2011/11/28/us-online-video-viewing-hits-all-time-high/

Apple TV or Roku Set-top Box: Which is Right for You?

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Keen as some of us are about Apple and its products, the second-generation Apple TV ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ) is not the only set-top-streaming-media game in town.

For the same or less money than the Apple TV, you can still stream music and video to your television--and from many more places than the Apple TV. So which media streamer is right for you, the Apple TV or a less-expensive alternative like one of Roku's offerings ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice )? Or, depending on your needs, you may want two--one of each.

Models

The Apple TV comes in a single $99 configuration. You get a small, black, streaming-only device (you can't store content on it because it has no hard drive). It carries HDMI, optical audio output, 10/100Base-T ethernet, and Micro-USB ports on the back. It additionally offers 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networking, plays 720p HD video, and includes Apple's latest Apple Remote hardware.

Roku makes four Roku player models--the $50 Roku LT, $60 Roku 2 HD, $80 Roku 2 XD, and $100 Roku 2 XS. All models include 802.11b/g/n wireless networking, an HDMI port, a hardware remote control, and support at least 720p video. The Roku 2 XD and XS devices additionally support 1080p video from channels that offer it, and include a microSD card slot for storing extra games and channel settings. All Roku 2 models support games controlled by a Bluetooth remote control (it comes with the XS model, and Roku offers the Roku Game Remote as an add-on for the HD and XD models as well, as part of a $30 bundle that also includes a 2GB MicroSD card). The top-end XS model also includes both ethernet and USB ports.

Local Content

The Apple TV was designed with local and iTunes content in mind. When you fire up your Apple TV and associate it with your computer's iTunes library, you'll find the contents of that library sorted under Movies, TV Shows, and Music headings on the Apple TV. Choose some media and it streams from your computer through the Apple TV to your tethered TV. (This means that to access this content your computer and iTunes must be running.)

In regard to streaming local content, the Roku models don't do a terribly good job. They can't play content protected with Apple's DRM, and even setting up the devices to find the content stored on your computer can be a cumbersome process.

Internet Content

Conversely, the Apple TV is limited in what it can stream to you from the Internet. If all you want is content from the iTunes Store, the Apple TV serves admirably. It additionally streams Netflix, NHL, MLB, WSJ Live, NBA, YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, and Internet radio content (some of which require additional subscriptions). But if you're looking for more from the Internet, the Apple TV isn't the best choice.

Roku 2Roku 2The Roku boxes can stream more than 300 channels of content including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, Pandora, Mog, Disney, Facebook, and TWiT.TV. You can additionally add "hidden" channels if you know the correct code. And Roku recently added support for HBO Go (although neither Comcast nor DirecTV allows its customers to stream HBO Go using a Roku device).

Purchased Content

As much free video content as there is floating around on the Internet, people still rent and purchase stuff. Each device allows you to buy or rent some media, but not all. With an Apple TV you can rent movies but not purchase them. (If you want to purchase movies, you must do so from your computer and then stream them to the Apple TV.) Conversely, you can purchase TV shows, but not rent them. When you purchase a TV show, it resides on Apple's servers, ready to stream to your Apple TV and iOS devices. If you want to download a copy, you do so within iTunes on your computer by clicking the iTunes Store link, clicking the Purchased link on the Store's main page, selecting the show you've purchased episodes for, and then download all or a selection of the show's episodes.

Amazon Instant Video is the closest thing for Roku owners. Using Amazon's channel you can rent as well as purchase movies. This content is stored on Amazon's servers and streamed to the Roku. Unlike with the iTunes Store, Mac users can't download video purchased from Amazon. Instead, they must stream this content to their Macs in a Web browser.

iOS Streaming

One huge advantage the Apple TV has over Roku set-top boxes is AirPlay. Using AirPlay you can stream media from your iOS device to your Apple TV. And on the iPad 2 or iPhone 4S, you can mirror the content of your device's screen on your TV via the Apple TV.
External Storage

Although the Apple TV bears a Micro-USB jack, Apple maintains that it be used for service purposes only. You can't use it to attach a USB drive full of media to your Apple TV. If you have a Roku 2 XS, however, you can connect a hard drive to its USB port and play supported media from that drive (MPEG-4 and H.264 video, AAC and MP3 audio, and JPEG and PNG images).

Where You Go From Here

Broadly speaking, which path you take will be determined by your desire for local or Internet media. If you have nearly all the media you want in your iTunes library or on an iOS device--and can make up for the media you don't have with Netflix streaming video--then the Apple TV is a good fit. If, however, you seek nearly everything the Internet offers in regard to streaming media, the Roku devices deliver exactly that.

Source is
http://www.pcworld.com/article/244861/apple_tv_or_roku_settop_box_which_is_right_for_you.html

Will usage-based pricing kill the streaming video star?

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Streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are attracting more eyeballs every month, stealing attention away from traditional TV. But cable providers could soon fight back, by basing their pricing on how much a given user streams every month.

comScore reported earlier this week that viewers watched a record-high 42.6 billion videos online in October, with YouTube leading the way. Viewers watched an average of 21 hours of online video a piece during the month, which is a far cry from the four or five hours a day that they watch of broadcast TV. But its a 50 percent increase from the 14.5 hours of video that online viewers averaged in December 2010.
Pay TV services finally on the decline?

As online viewership has increased, there’s evidence that it’s finally causing some viewers to avoid paying for cable. Credit Suisse analyst Stefan Anninger forecast in a research note this week that the multichannel video industry will lose 200,000 subscribers in 2012, which is a big about-face from the 250,000 new subscribers that he previously estimated cable, satellite and IPTV providers would gain next year. The reason? Economically driven “cord avoiders” who can’t afford cable or satellite TV, as well as “cord nevers” — young people who get their first homes but choose not to pay for TV, choosing to stream video over broadband instead.

That’s led to a new round of concerns about the future of the pay TV industry — and what cable companies might due to combat potential threats from streaming competitors. And it’s prompted more speculation that an increased focus on broadband could lead cable companies to institute usage-based pricing that links the amount of bandwidth users consume with the amount that they pay. The latest comes from Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett, who said in an interview with Bloomberg that at least one cable provider will institute that type of pricing model over the next year.
The specter of usage-based pricing

For years, usage-based pricing has loomed as a threat to the mostly unlimited broadband Internet plans that users subscribe to today. While cable companies like Comcast have long instituted caps to limit the amount of data some of its users consume, they’ve stopped short of charging more based upon customer usage. But now more than ever, it seems like operators are finally ready to pull the trigger on usage-based pricing.

One big reason is the ever-growing amount of video traffic popping up on their networks. Earlier this year, Sandvine reported that Netflix users, on average, stream about 40 GB a month, and that the streaming provider makes up about a third of all peak downstream Internet traffic.
Killing two birds with one pricing model

Not only do services like Netflix clog their pipes, but they’re also competing with traditional TV services. For that reason, usage-based pricing is being promoted as a way to kill two birds with one stone: By effectively raising rates that customers pay to access streaming services, the effect could be less competition with their video services, while also possibly decreasing the amount of traffic that goes over their pipes.

Services like Netflix and Hulu Plus are attractive in part because they’re cheap: At $7.99, both services are significantly less expensive than the $70 on average that cable subscribers pay. But if more streaming means higher broadband prices, those services don’t look as cheap.

There are other reasons for cable companies to pitch broadband services, of course. They have better margins than traditional video services, and that profitability isn’t threatened by content costs that continue to rise. It’s also a key differentiator from satellite competitors who can’t bundle their own Internet services with TV packages. But as streaming video continues to gain consumer adoption, carriers will be looking to slow that growth and make competing online options less attractive.

Source is
http://gigaom.com/video/will-usage-based-pricing-kill-the-streaming-video-star/

Fanhattan adds Crackle, PBS and Lifetime

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Fanhattan is trying to make it easier for users to discover content available on mobile, and soon connected TV devices. With that in mind, Fanhattan announced Friday it has added videos from new content sources, including Crackle, PBS and Lifetime.

The company has built an app for iOS devices that allows users to search for and discover videos from multiple content providers, rather than having to look in individual apps themselves. So a Modern Family fan, for instance, would be able to see which episodes might be available on ABC’s app as well as Hulu Plus all in one place.

Until now, though, Fanhattan’s video discovery app has been somewhat limited in its content sources, indexing videos from iTunes, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu and ABC. The addition of videos from Crackle, PBS and Lifetime will help diversify that selection, with a wider range of new movies and some exclusive TV content.

Crackle is Sony’s online distribution engine, which includes content from its movie and TV divisions. While it has spent some time making web originals over the last few years, the main thrust of Crackle lately is creating an ad-supported distribution engine for some of its movies and TV shows. As a result, Fanhattan viewers will now have access to movies like Donnie Brasco or A Few Good Men, and TV shows like Seinfeld, Sanford and Son and All in the Family.

Lifetime adds another unique content source, as it brings titles like competitive reality show Project Accessory to the video discovery app, as well as some syndicated content like How I Met Your Mother or The New Adventures of Old Christine that Lifetime distributes through its iOS apps. And public broadcaster PBS has a wealth of exclusive programming available as well, including favorites like Antiques Roadshow and The American Experience.

Video discovery on apps is a big problem, which Fanhattan is hoping to solve. For it, the addition of new content sources makes it even more valuable to users, as they seek to browse and navigate videos available on their devices. And for its partners, being part of Fanhattan’s index makes it more likely that viewers can find their content, as users might not have known those shows or movies were available.

Source is
http://gigaom.com/video/fanhattan-crackle-pbs-lifetime/

Western Digital WD TV Live media streaming device

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The WD TV Live is the latest model in Western Digital's range of media players, designed to stream video, photos and audio from any computer on your home network to a TV.

It also connects to the Internet, allowing the TV to screen services such as Facebook and Youtube.

It is about half the size of a paperback book and controlled by a TV-style remote control. There are two USB ports into which can be plugged a camera, a USB memory key, or hard disk, which is then made accessible by any computer on the network. There's an optical sound output for connecting to amplifier or speakers, and a network socket for a wired link to the household router, though it also supports wireless network connections. It can be connected by HDMI or composite cable to the TV, though the former is much better.

New to this model, which confusingly has the same name as its predecessors, is support for the £10-a-month Spotify online jukebox service which plays virtually any music track you are likely to want (the ad-sponsored free version is not supported).

The WDTV Live is also worth considering as a cheaper and more versatile alternative to an internet radio, as it can use the Tunein online service to receive stations. A big TV screen is a better way to navigate stations than the tiny screens on most internet radios.

The interface has been revamped: its response was crisp and the control screens well designed but they cannot alter the fact that a remote control and TV screen, viewed from across a room, are not the easiest way navigate the thousands of music and image files many people have on their hard disks. Nor are people likely to be able to post long messages to Facebook using the awkward on-screen keyboard or the remote-control keypad.

It can be controlled using a computer but only through an on-screen rendering of the remote control which means users cannot use their PC keyboards to enter login details for the various services, or messages, which is a missed opportunity.

Nevertheless, the new WD TV Live is a good media streamer.

Source is
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/review/2122726/western-digital-wd-tv-live-media-streaming-device

RapidShare nixes plans for movie download store

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RapidShare has abandoned plans to launch a download store for movies and TV shows, a company spokesperson told us via email. The Switzerland-based file host service had planed to open a platform called RapidMovies that would sell digital downloads to its customers, and a former CEO once proposed that users looking for illegal copies of Hollywood blockbusters could be redirected to the licensed download offering instead.

RapidShare soft-launched an experimental RapidMovies site at the end of 2009. Back then, the site only offered free-to-view movie trailers, but the launch was nonetheless remarkable because the service was able to win Warner Bros. as a partner. At the time, RapidShare hoped the Hollywood studio would also remain on board for its commercial launch.

However, two years later, it looks like that initial cooperation never went further. RapidShare’s spokesperson told me there are currently no further plans to work on RapidMovies. The company wants to concentrate instead on further developing its core hosting services.

Oddly enough, it looks like RapidShare’s competitor MegaUpload is now trying to fill the gap. Megamedia Limited, the company behind such ventures as MegaUpload and MegaVideo, plans to launch a site dubbed MegaMovies before the end of the year. From its site:

“Megamovie is coming in 2011. It’s our marketplace for Movies and TV series streamed in the highest quality for the lowest price. Megamovie will be available to all content creators and licensees, from Hollywood studios to independent film makers to TV production companies.”

Megamedia didn’t reply to a request for comment, but it looks like this would simply be a self-serve digital video store, meaning anyone could sell access to downloads — and given MegaUpload’s contentious history with rights holders, I’d bet none of the Hollywood heavyweights would come on board.

Source is
http://gigaom.com/video/rapidshare-rapidmovies-megaupload-megamovie/