Daily Marauder

SEX AND THE DIGITAL CAMERA: THE FASHIONISTA’S SOLUTION

With the Sex and the City movie debut swiftly approaching, I set out to find the perfect compliment in digital camera for the Monolo Blahnik-loving woman…or man. Before getting to the camera, please take a moment to appreciate the extended trailer for the Sex and the City movie as released at the end of February. Even if you’ve already seen it, nothing brightens a Monday like this:

Back to the camera. The Canon SD1100 which started selling in stores in March can be best described with a word from Project Runway’s Christian: fierce.

Image Quality

Do you need 8 megapixels? Probably not. . .but it’s nice to have. The SD1100 ups the ante on its predecessor with 8 megapixels rather than 7.2 and optical image stabilization.

Image Stabilization

Works well with significant vertical shift but not quite as well with horizontal shift. After a few cocktails, nothing is more necessary than image stabilization.

Controls

I’ve had a Canon camera for several years now so it’s a bit difficult for me to be truly objective on this matter. The controls are fairly intuitive. That said, it took speaking to a bona fide camera expert, my colleague Doug Milby, to understand all of my camera’s capabilities. Here’s one example. Night shot mode. Apparently, this mode keeps the shutter open longer to encapsulate more of the photo in darkness. Do I really need to read the entire manual? Really?! Besides, no fashion-loving New Yorker has time to read a manual. . .well, maybe in line for brunch at Balthazar.

Continuous Shutter

After commencing operations on Project Jump!!, photographing my friends jumping in front of artwork derived from inspiration from a fellow blogger, I realized the need for continuous shutter, allowing continuous picture-taking over a set amount of time. On this camera, the continuous shutter performed flawlessly and more importantly took pictures quickly in sequence. Cat fight in line for the bathroom at the Whitney Biennial Cocktail Party? Continuous shutter mode time.

Contrast

Photo Credit: Doug Milby

Note the contrast between the light and dark shadows on this image taken in midtown Manhattan by the SD1100. Nothing says contrast like a black and white cookie…but this camera comes close.

Flash

Excellent coverage. Next time you’re grabbing some red carpet action, this camera will make sure you capture Jay Z and Beyoncé having a fight about Jay Z’s relationship with Rihanna from the other end of the carpet.

Color Matching

Here. . .I’m a bit disappointed. These colors remind me of the ill-fated path traversed by the Microsoft Zune. Brown? Hmmmm. . .no.

Let’s compare the above color palette with. . .say, another popular piece of technology:

While I’m not a huge supporter of the iPod color palette, at least one feels vibrant while the other just feels blah. Nice attempt Canon but next time, come with it.

Price

$250

Final Call

Excellent novice camera for the price. Wanna buy one? Click here.

BROADCAST/CABLE

Bravo’s Thursday night finale of Make Me A Supermodel drew in 899,000 A18-49 viewers and 1.3 million total viewers. Then Bravo’s series premiere of Step It Up & Dance (11p) had 574,000 A18-49 viewers as well as 826,000 total viewers. (Cynopsis 4/7)

Make Me  a Supermodel

Film distributors Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who turned Miramax into a major critical and financial success story, are getting into the TV-distribution business. First up will be “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency,” which HBO is developing into a series. (C21 Media 4/7)

“Dance on Sunset,” a new show on Nickelodeon, is trying to stop couch potato syndrome, one choreographed step at a time. A central part of the show, which runs Sundays at 8:30 p.m., is that it encourages home viewers to get up and strut their stuff, just like in the old days on participatory shows such as “American Bandstand” and “Soul Train.” (The New York Times 4/5)

The choreographer Tony Testa, center, with the Nick 6 dancers from Nickelodeon’s new show “Dance on Sunset.”

On Friday, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against eight FOX-owned or affiliated stations to collect indecency fines totaling $56,000 associated with a 2003 airing of Married by America. (Cynopsis 4/7, http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080405/fox_indecency.html 4/5)

Spike TV’s series premiere of DEA last Wednesday (11p) posted a 1.2 rating with 679,000 viewers among M-18-49 and a 1.2 rating with 341,000 viewers among M18-34.  Elsewhere at Spike, the network has picked up the off-net series Married … with Children, distributed by Sony Pictures TV. The sitcom will join the schedule this fall. According to Variety, the deal will cost Spike $12 million for its 5-year license to air all 257 episodes.  And finally, in the re-edited and updated version of Unsolved Mysteries distributed by HBO and set to air on Spike beginning in October, Dennis Farina has been engaged to host. (Cynopsis 4/7)

A study of big media companies from 2003 to 2007 suggests that they will end up smaller and that shrinkage may be here to stay. Behemoth Time Warner, from a combined market cap of $280 billion in 2000, has fallen to a meager $52 billion today and is under pressure to sell off assets. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=80026 4/7)

Chief Sumner Redstone’s frayed relationship with his daughter, Shari, who is nonexecutive vice chairman of both Viacom and CBS, makes the issue of who will succeed him as controlling shareholder much more difficult. Shari was once regarded as the clear successor. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/business/media/07redstone.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 4/7)

Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari have had a falling out, but she remains vice chairwoman of Viacom and CBS.

The DVR and other such devices have revolutionized the way people watch TV in a way that challenges the common assumptions about viewing habits, according to one observer who considers the implications of a media-saturated society in which watching television has morphed from a shared ritual into an increasingly individual experience. (The Wall Street Journal (free content) 4/7)

The cable TV industry in Tennessee has come to terms with AT&T on rules that will enable the telecom to offer video services in the state. The agreement details the number of customers that AT&T must serve and includes a minimum standard for low-income homes. (The Tennessean (Nashville) 4/7)

AZN Television will officially go off the air at noon Wednesday. The Comcast-owned operation is geared toward Asian-Americans and, in a statement, AZN officials expressed hope that other media companies could foster and develop Asian-American talent. (The Hollywood Reporter 4/6)

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

The clock is ticking on the next digital deal of the century as Microsoft set a three-week deadline for its $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo. In an open letter to the Yahoo board, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer chided the company’s unwillingness to act and threatened to launch a proxy war if the deadline was not met. (Cynopsis 4/7,  http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSWNAS694820080407 4/7)

Yahoo says it will have a Web-based system in place to buy online advertising space across some 600 newspapers and other online sites as soon as July. The system will let publishers find available ad space on their own sites for advertisers, and when none is available, on other sites. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/07/Yahoo-previews-online-ad-management-platform_1.html 4/7)

Amid reports it would not reach its $1 billion revenue target for 2008, Fox Interactive Media announced an executive ranks shakeup as well as a new advertising network designed to offer advertisers “HyperTargeting” capabilities. FIM EVP/Technology & Production Adam Bain will take the reigns as President of the FIM Audience Network. His team is charged with building an automated ad system that will deliver contextual ads which sufficiently monetize MySpace’s massive audience. (Cynopsis 4/7)

Facebook launched a live chat feature this week allowing users to communicate in real time from their profile pages, according to the company’s blog. (Cynopsis 4/7, http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=12811122130 4/6)

Let’s just say I was more than just a bit excited to try out Facebook Chat which as I see it, stands to blow AOL IM right out of the water.  Here’s why: It’s always on whenever you connect to Facebook.  It’s easier to use and functionality free.  If you want to turn it out and stop receiving messages, you can change to offline mode.  The only con is that I only receive notification that I have a new message if the window is still open.  Perhaps, adding some sound when new messages are received would help.

The founding assumption of Hulu, the NBC-News Corp. online video venture, is that viewers will like finding television shows on one Web site. This assumption may turn out to be fatally flawed: A Google search will lead to “South Park” episodes on a Web site dedicated to the show. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/technology/06digi.html 4/6)

Joost, the online television service launched last year by the founders of internet telephony firm Skype, is expected to rein in its global ambitions to focus solely on the U.S. market. Joost has been overshadowed by the success of Hulu, a collaboration between NBC and News Corp. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3688393.ece 4/6)

P2P online television start-up Babelgum will bankroll its first feature-length documentary called Oil Sands as part of its $15 million Digital Studio Initiative, according to Variety. The project will examine the impact of oil mining in the Athabasca Oil Sands region of Northern Alberta, Canada. (Cynopsis 4/7)

AOL’s move to New York this month may signal the last chance for Time Warner’s Internet division to convince investors it has a future in advertising. “I know we have work to do,” admits AOL COO Ron Grant. If the ad strategy fails, Time Warner investors may revolt. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0Qq0vVU0UsY 4/7)

Pedestrians and traffic pass outside 770 Broadway, the future home of AOL’s headquarters, in New York, U.S., on Thursday, on April 3, 2008. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News

AOL’s recent $850 million acquisition of London-based Bebo is “a return to AOL’s roots,” says Dana Dunne, CEO of AOL Europe. “Chatrooms, profiles, buddy lists; that was really the beginning of social networking.” He is coy, however, on how AOL wants to develop the site. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/dana-dunne-aol-chief-keeps-the-personal-touch-as-he-integrates-bebo-804984.html 4/5)

MLB is working to simplify blackout restrictions which prevent local viewers from catching games on air and online in local markets, according to Yahoo Sports. The so-called gerrymandering, which causes in-between markets to be blacked out from a large % of games, could end before the Baseball Channel launches on cable systems nationwide in 2009. (Cynopsis 4/7)

The music Web site Pitchforkmedia.com launched its own version of MTV today, with the new Pitchfork.tv. Pitchfork is already widely recognized as the most influential music destination on the Internet. The new video site will air concerts, interviews and music videos. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2008/03/pitchfork-to-la.html 3/4)

Very clean.  Very nice.  Interesting transitions if you click on the top headers.  I dig.  Not a lot of content there but for what is there, definitely quality.

Microsoft is unveiling an ambitious slate of original programming created for its multiple Web platforms, including the MSN portal, MSNBC.com and Xbox Live, to advertising execs. Among the new series: “The Men’s Room,” a fashion series for young men who are averse to reading GQ and Details. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003785474 4/3)

Amazon.com is looking to respond to the changing entertainment market by looking beyond physical books to digital delivery, according to this article. “Digital is where the growth in music is, and other industries are likely to follow,” said Bill Rosenblatt, chief executive of GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies, a New York consulting firm. “Amazon needs to position itself to capture that.” (The New York Times 4/7)

The leaders of Amazon’s digital operations are, from left, Steven Kessel, Ian Freed and Bill Carr.

A growing work force of wired home-office laborers are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy. In the last few months, two bloggers have died suddenly. A third, Om Malik, survived a heart attack in December. (Iwantmedia 4/7, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/technology/06sweat.html 4/6)

Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Show Sites (Week ending March 29, 2008)
Rank     Network     Website                           Market Share of Visits
1           FOX         American Idol                              26.02%
2           ABC         Dancing with the Stars                  10.48%
3           NBC         Deal or No Deal                             6.71%
4           CBS         Survivor: Micronesia                       4.84%
5           FOX         America’s Most Wanted                    4.47%
6           ABC         Lost                                             2.93%
7         The CW      One Tree Hill                                 2.56%
8           CBS         Jericho                                         1.93%
9           NBC         Celebrity Justice                            1.79%
10           ABC        The Bachelor                                  1.59%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise

Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Websites (Week ending March, 29, 2008)
Rank     Network     Website                           Market Share of Visits
1           CBS        www.cbs.com 27.73%
2           FOX*       www.fox.com 24.31%
3           ABC        www.abc.com 23.87%
4           NBC        www.nbc.com 17.85%
5         The CW     www.cwtv.com 6.10%
6    MyNetworkTV  www.mynetworktv.com .15%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise, *includes traffic aggregated from stand alone websites americanidol.com, amw.com, familyguy.com, thelot.com and thesimpsons.com.

WIRELESS

Uncle Walt thinks a 3G iPhone will arrive within the next 60 days.Walt Mossberg, the legendary technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, made the prediction during an executive summit held by Beet.tv last week. For some reason, Mossberg’s comments were not noticed until over the weekend, perhaps because the title of the post referencing his talk was “FTC Should Stop Verizon from Calling DSL ‘Broadband,’ Walt Mossberg.” (http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9912833-37.html 4/9)

LG is expected to unveil a new series of handsets under its Black Label series April 24. The latest handset in the series, which already includes the LG Chocolate and LG Shine, will feature smart technology and a 5-megapixel camera, according to the company. (Pocket-lint.co.uk 4/7)

Verizon Wireless and AT&T provided some details how they will be utilizing their newly purchased 700 MHz spectrum. Verizon said 3 year + plans are underway to fulfill open-platform conditions and connect a range of digital devices through a faster nationwide “4G” broadband network including media players, gaming consoles and home appliances. AT&T mentioned using its spectrum to enhance the quality of its existing wireless broadband services. That’s good news for iPhone users and mobile video platforms. (Cynopsis 4/7)

GAMING

Analysts are predicting record-breaking sales for the week after the April 29 release of “Grand Theft Auto IV,” a bonanza that they say could endanger Electronic Arts’ $26-a-share buyout bid for Take-Two Interactive, the maker of “GTA4.” One gaming analyst suggests that Take-Two could sell 5.8 million units and propel the company’s shares past $26. (New York Post 4/6)

While Nintendo’s Wii gaming console continues to set records, the makers of Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox are positioning their devices as the hub of home-entertainment systems, with games acting as an ancillary feature. Analysts say they feel the Wii might help its rivals because parents who were won over to games by the Wii might gravitate to a more technologically advanced console. (The Times (London) 4/5)

A new start-up named FlowPlay is combining virtual worlds with casual gaming to attract tweens’ attention in ourWorld. For a modest $6/month users can earn “flow” to put toward virtual items such as hairstyles, clothing and furniture. (Cynopsis 4/7)

MISC

Oscar winning actor Charlton Heston, 84, died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills. Heston’s roster of roles and films include Ben-Hur for which he won the best actor Oscar in 1959; Moses in The Ten Commandments; Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy; and the title role in El Cid. (Cynopsis 4/7)

Charlton Heston