Why TV Lost

Rarely do you see things put so susinctly. Sometimes I could just kiss Paul Graham, but that would be kind of weird and creepy. :)

He captures the inevitability of the TV vs. Internet war, the sheer obviousness and the magic and slaps it all down in a few hundred words like it was meant to be.

From: Why TV Lost

About twenty years ago people noticed computers and TV were on a collision course and started to speculate about what they'd produce when they converged. We now know the answer: computers. It's clear now that even by using the word "convergence" we were giving TV too much credit. This won't be convergence so much as replacement. People may still watch things they call "TV shows," but they'll watch them mostly on computers.

What decided the contest for computers? Four forces, three of which one could have predicted, and one that would have been harder to.

One predictable cause of victory is that the Internet is an open platform. Anyone can build whatever they want on it, and the market picks the winners. So innovation happens at hacker speeds instead of big company speeds.

The second is Moore's Law, which has worked its usual magic on Internet bandwidth. [1]

The third reason computers won is piracy. Users prefer it not just because it's free, but because it's more convenient. Bittorrent and YouTube have already trained a new generation of viewers that the place to watch shows is on a computer screen. [2]

The somewhat more surprising force was one specific type of innovation: social applications. The average teenage kid has a pretty much infinite capacity for talking to their friends. But they can't physically be with them all the time. When I was in high school the solution was the telephone. Now it's social networks, multiplayer games, and various messaging applications. The way you reach them all is through a computer. [3] Which means every teenage kid (a) wants a computer with an Internet connection, (b) has an incentive to figure out how to use it, and (c) spends countless hours in front of it.

This was the most powerful force of all. This was what made everyone want computers. Nerds got computers because they liked them. Then gamers got them to play games on. But it was connecting to other people that got everyone else: that's what made even grandmas and 14 year old girls want computers.

After decades of running an IV drip right into their audience, people in the entertainment business had understandably come to think of them as rather passive. They thought they'd be able to dictate the way shows reached audiences. But they underestimated the force of their desire to connect with one another.

Facebook killed TV. That is wildly oversimplified, of course, but probably as close to the truth as you can get in three words.

Snowzilla squad suffers setback at City Hall

Did you know snowmen were picketing at Anchorage city hall in December in an apparent attempt to win political favor for Snowzilla, one mans giant homage to the snow god?

Select quotes:

"A small, misshapen snowman protester appeared in front of City Hall earlier this week. Reinforcements arrived Thursday."

"A group of snowman protesters — apparently rallying in support of the towering Anchorage outlaw — appeared on Christmas Day in front of City Hall. They carried signs that read 'Snowzilla needs a bailout' and 'Snowmen have rights too.'"

"Today the remains of the protesters lay in frozen pieces. Their signs sat in a nearby Dumpster."

Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing. Not to trivialize the very serious plight of Snowzilla but it's just hilarious.

Full article: Snowzilla squad suffers setback at City Hall | snowzilla.org

Stories like this make me want to move to Anchorage post-haste.

Vicious Cycles 80mm rims

I forgot to take a picture of them, probably because they were the first thing I saw when I walked in the door at NAHBS, but I talked to the Vicious Cycles rep at the show and saw them with my own eyes.

Vicious cycles will be producing an 80mm production rim as as an alternative to the Surly Large Marge 65mm. While technically you can use up to a 100mm with the Surly Pugsley / Endomorph tire combination, the 80 is perhaps the perfect size as it can slide easily in and out of the dropouts without removing the disc brake calipers.

The 80mm rim will be available with regular and offset spoke holes through Vicious and QBP though there have been some delays in the initial shipments. They also weigh 1100 or so grams which I assume is only about 50-100 grams more then the Surly Large Marge Rim, and this is undrilled. Many people are drilling out large portions of the fat bike rims to drop weight and the vicious rim should be perfect for this.

BTW, I'm not sure I remember correctly but I believe these rims will be called the "big betty" or "big bertha".

No information is yet to be found on the Vicious site that I can see so you'll have to call them for details. Be sure to suggest they update their site.

photo via pedals on Flickr

Signal Cycles wine rack

Another favorite product from NAHBS.

Signal Cycles wine rack.



Not much need be said here. Brilliant, elegant and practical too. I'm sure it holds water bottles or even nalgene bottles as well as it holds wine bottles, though if I was to use it I'd certainly have a bottle of wine on it as well.

Touring with style. :)

My one comment as to the practicality of this is it could stand to have the ability to mount a pannier bag on the right and the top of the rack while big enough for a bag lacks any mount point or verticle support. But heh, why split hairs. It's absolutely beautiful.

A word about Signal Cycles. They're located in Portland Oregon, only build racks for their own bikes which are clean, modern, elegant and beautiful with amazing attention to detail. Also they love Simon and Garfunkel. And so do I. :)

Random bits from the NAHBS

I have LOTS I wanted to post about from the North American Handbuilt Bike Show, so what I'm going to do is post a bunch of random posts focusing on individual builders and products.

First mention goes to, Velo Orange's VO Retro Cage, for most best new old school accessory.



This was not only my favorite, but a favorite of my friends as well. We saw these throughout the show and I personally fell in love with them.

I'm a HUGE sucker for old school designs that still hold their own against the latest materials and designs and this design has been around since the 1940's! It's ability to SECURELY hold a water bottle or even an oversize thermos is obvious. It's lightweight, versatile, flexible and yet durable.

To quote from VO's website.

These cages are based on an old French design from the '40s or early '50. In our estimation they are the best looking bottle cage of all time.

The Retro is a regular one-handed cage; you put in the bottle just like on any other cage; but it holds the bottle very securely due to the spring-like shape. The little tabs allow you to spread the cage for an oversize bottle. You can also squeeze the cage inward for better fit with a metal water bottle.

You may find a better race cage, but $18.50 is a darn good price for the best touring cage ever. :)

This is such a superb design it occurs to me it would work well made out of titanium. Would love to see that. Then again, it is a touring cage and traditionally steel has been the prefered metal for touring.

A word about the company. Velo Orange is definitely on the cutting edge of touring gear employing quite a few innovative production and development practices, hopefully I'll get to blog about the company more but there's so much yet to post.

Iditarod Trail Invitational

MTBcast will be covering the Iditarod Trail Invitational (aka. Iditabike) this year.

The first episode is already out. You can subscribe to it at that url.



Alaska Ultrasport will be posting the latest news twice daily and the latest standings.

Pictures from the start (and ongoing pictures) are being post to Flickr



Some background information from Alaska Ultrasport latest news page:

...47 racers from 6 different countries, including the United States, Italy, Austria, Australia, Spain and England will leave the starting line at Knik. 28 bikers, 3 skiers and 17 runners.15 competitors are from Alaska. 38 racers hope to get to the finish line in McGrath at the 350 mile point and 9 racers will continue another 750 miles on to Nome. We have a great competitive field with many veterans returning and about half the field this year are rookies.

The McGrath (350 mile field):

For the bike record holder Peter Basinger this is his 9th race on the Iditarod Trail and he will for the first time be sking instead of biking this year. The year he set the record he followed the 30 mile longer route through Ptarmigan Pass instead of Rainy Pass.

We have a highly qualified and very competitive women's field this year. There are six women this year, 5 are on bikes and only one runner Anne Ver Hoef from Anchorage.

The Nome(1100 mile)field:

This is only the 4th time that the human powered race is following the southern route (2001,2005,2007,2009).

Tim Hewitt is back for another try to Nome. He became the first person last year to finish on foot to Nome three different years. This year is an odd numbered year, so the race follows the southern route, Tim did the southern route before with his friend and trail compantion Tom Jarding in 2001, and he is back this year as well.

I like many have been following the fabulous Jill Homer from Juneau as she trained for the Iditarod. She's a superb writer and photographer. Her blog is truely a joy. I've been trying to find the time to read my copy of her book Ghost Trails and wish her the best of luck in the Iditarod.

on electric bike sales in detroit

"Countrywide, sales of electric bicycles are projected to increase by 30 percent this year. In 2008, more than 170,000 were sold throughout the U.S., according to data from Electric Bikes Worldwide Reports."

From "Bikes with buzz: Retailer carves out green niche with battery power" by The Detroit News

Bike Activists Win Over Caltrain Stretches Definition of 'Win'

From: San Francisco - The Snitch - Reports of Bike Activists' 'Win' Over Caltrain Stretches Definition of 'Win'

"What we came away with is a lot less than what people would like," concedes Andy Thornley, the program director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

Tired of being bumped off Caltrains with full bike cars -- and legions of empty seats -- Thornley and his fellow activists have been lobbying the trains system for more than a year leading up to yesterday's San Carlos meeting. The Bicycle Coalition's plan was bold: It called for two bicycle cars per train, each of which would be revamped to hold 40 bicycles. But that's not what Caltrain opted to do.

Instead, the rail system decided to augment its conventional gallery cars to allow them to carry 40 bikes instead of 32, and upgrade its newer Bombardier cars (that's the name of the company) to allow 24 bikes instead of 16.

This is an interesting counterpoint to the video I posted last week from British Transport Films in 1955 on bike touring and trains:



I wonder if the British transport ever figured out the issue with flexibility and capacity. Perhaps their system, which is clearly seen in the opening moments of the video above, held enough bikes in one that they didn't have a capacity problem?

Chinese ride to embrace austerity

From: Chinese dash to embrace austerity - Times Online

THE Chinese are getting back on their bikes. As austerity chic grips the nation’s 150m-strong middle class, many are signing up to an internet campaign to live on just 100 yuan, about £10, a week.

The first luxury to go is the private car, which is being left at home in favour of the sturdy bicycles that once swarmed down every avenue in China.

“The smallest traffic fine is 100 yuan, so I just take my bike,” said Chen Wenjin, a 41-year-old housewife.

Reports of such frugality – long deemed ro be a Confucian virtue – have flooded Chinese newspapers and websites since the economy hit hard times.

Chen has also joined the ranks of those terminating expensive gym memberships and returning to the public parks where, for generations, the Chinese have performed traditional exercises in the early mornings.

Many have given up recently fashionable western-style foods such as milk, bread and branded drinks like Coca-Cola.

To put the 100 yuan campaign in perspective, the incomes of those trying it out range from 3,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan a month. Many are also trying to pay mortgages taken on during China’s property boom, which has deflated.

Ironically, the communist government is horrified at the movement to curb consumer extravagance. “To consume is to love one’s country” declared Liaowang (Outlook), a magazine run by the official Xinhua news agency.

“Patriotism doesn’t just mean shedding one’s blood on the battlefield but in these times when our economy is afflicted by the global crisis, going out and consuming is real patriotism.”

Filed under good sentiments ^{1 & 2}. Interesting, and because it's an "internet campaign"... maybe that makes it something more. Perhaps a trackable meme, if only it had a name.

David Byrne takes his bike on tour in New Zealand

From Bicycle added to David Byrne tour party

"If you think you see David Byrne cycling around Wellington or Auckland this weekend you'll probably be right.

The former Talking Heads frontman is in the middle of a world tour and is taking in what sights he can between shows from his trusty bike.

The tour follows the release of Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, an album created with producer-composer Brian Eno, who worked with Byrne on several albums including three by the Talking Heads."

How cool is that.

More:

He says he remembers taking some time out to visit Rotorua and walk the Tongariro Crossing here in 2005, but the touring machine this time around is more restrictive -- and expensive.

"I'm paying the salaries of 17 people. So I can say `let's do some sight-seeing', but for every day I sight-see I'm paying salaries for all those people just so I can visit the beach."

He also remembers early Talking Heads tours here, but admits his touring attitude has changed since then.

"Maybe I was just younger, but there was more partying at night after the shows and then just sleeping it off the next day. So I tended not to see as much."

"It's more civilised now," he says. "I travel with a bicycle, so I can get around various towns on my own."

He was pleasantly surprised to be able to get out and about on the footpaths of Tokyo during a recent tour stop-off there.

"If you do that in New York they yell at you, but it is accepted in Tokyo. You just have to weave in amongst the grandmothers and businessmen."

His affinity with cycling appears to have also rubbed off in other areas of his artistic self.

Byrne says he came up with some designs for bicycle racks which have a different take on the standard range.

He sent sketches to the local transport authority in New York city and they said they would put them up if he was prepared to pay to have them made.

He did so and they now offer New Yorkers a funky bicycle parking alternative.

He's not going to pursue it as a commercial venture, as doing so would soon send him broke, but art design is an ongoing passion.

via Bike Portland

Berkeley Bike Boulevards

In Berkeley, Calif. a citywide network of bicycle priority streets called Bicycle Boulevards allow cyclists to navigate safely. They are marked by smart traffic management, bountiful traffic calming, and the aura of livability and putting people first, cars second. Among their most unique trademarks are the purple signage and street stencils larger than a car!

In this trip to Berkeley, StreetFilms' Clarence Eckerson Jr. talks to advocates and users of the boulevards about their history and benefits.

From: Streetfilms, Berkeley Bike Boulevards

Tweed Ride

"Ladies. Gentlemen. Announcing the first LFGSS Winter Dress Club Run: a social ride with a bit of style.

We will be gathering for 2pm in Hanover Square. Please be prompt; at 2, we'll head down to H Huntsman & Sons, 11 Saville Row to begin the ride. The route will be a fairly leisurely ride through London. No need to pack Kendal Mint Cakes, the ride will include a stop at a tea shop at Tour de Ville for mid-ride fortitude, and will finish at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club for refreshments and cheer.

Proper attire will of course be expected, so dapper gents and elegant ladies, polish off your lugged steel beasts and prepare your best outfits. Suggested attire: woolen plus fours, harris tweed jackets, flat caps, fair isle jumpers, alpaca coats, merino wool team jerseys, cycling skirts and perhaps a jaunty cape for the ladies, cravats or ties for gentlemen, and of course a hip flask of brandy."

Via: The Epicurean Cyclist

Cycling Home From Siberia

Some days in the life of a Siberian cyclist... a dazzling rush through some random encounters from Rob Lilwall on Vimeo.

From CyclingHomeFromSiberia.com:

My book about the journey “Cycling Home From Siberia” will be published by Hodder and Stoughton later in 2009.

[..]

In September 2004 I began this journey by flying with my bicycle as far away from home as I could think of: to the Far Eastern side of Siberia. My intention was to cycle back to England via the most interesting route I could find. As it turned out, I took a detour to Australia and was on the road for over three years, cycling 30,000 miles through 28 countries...

Great video. Can't wait for the book. (And perhaps a DVD?) What really strikes me about this journey though is not that the guy is s superb videographer (though he is), but when you look at his route (pic below), it's unlike any other route I've ever seen. I've seen routes from more then a dozen multi-continent bike adventures and I've never seen anything remotely resembling this. Rob's route really reflects that he truly divorced himself from all the modern expectations and geographical goal setting, a near impossible task, and just followed his nose. More so then any other adventurer I've seen in the past decade it is as if he just climbed on a bike one day and started riding.


(click for full size)

Update: I also found this to be a superb interview.


Small Talk Interview in Nanjing from Rob Lilwall on Vimeo.

Via: The Epicurean Cyclist

A day out cycling in 1955 (video)

Love this video. It was produced by the British Transport Film in 1955 to illustrate a day out cycling.


Cyclist Special - part one

For me the first minute or two illustrate all the things I dream might exist, and hopefully one day will exist, in our national and regional commuter rail systems.

It shows how many of the issues with cycles on a train were resolved over 50 years ago. Particularly how the use of bike cars allow pedestrians to enter bike specific cars, hang their bikes with the help of an attendant and move through the inside of the train to a seating car. Every detail is covered right down to staggering the bike hanging hooks so more bikes can be fit in without entanglement of the handlebars.

part two is available here

Also of related interest is this British Rail TV advert from the 1970's. It's the classic bike vs. car scenario.



British Rail UK TV Advert 1970s

Via: The Epicurean Cyclist

Boxee and the future of the television

From: Boxee Generates Buzz by the NYTimes.com

Boxee is betting that consumers accustomed to the freedom of the Internet will not be interested in a dribble of online services on their televisions but will want more comprehensive access to Web video.

“Consumers and developers aren’t going to put up with the idea of one piece of hardware talking to only a few services,” said Bijan Sabet, a partner at Spark Capital, one of two East Coast venture capital firms that invested a total of $4 million in Boxee last year. “It would be like getting a Verizon phone you can only use to call other Verizon subscribers. It’s not a natural thing.”

Boxee appears to be generating a tremendous amount of buzz. For good reason too.

The people behind Boxee appear to "get it", as is evident by the above quote.

In a world where anyone has access to anything via the internet the game has changed for television and media as well.

It's no longer enough to have some or "most" of media on your TV.

It's no longer enough to have access to some prepackaged set of channels from a cable provider.

It's no longer enough to have access to the popular stuff... or the stuff in english.. or the stuff on youtube.

The television of the future will be able to play any video from anywhere in the world through the internet.

Everyone will have equal access to not only watch but also to publish and share media with everyone else in the world.

No longer will what's on TV be constrained by a cable company like Comcast, a hardware company like Apple, or even the latest greatest kid on the block, Youtube.

The TV of the future must be completely content, language and geography agnostic.

If you want to watch the first landing on the moon... videos from China in a local dialect... a video your sister posted yesterday of her kids making a snowman... you should and you will be able to watch it on your TV.

Wether this content be personal home movies, niche content of any type in any part of the world or any language, or mainstream popular media, whatever your hearts content you should and one day you will be able to watch it on your TV with simply the flip of a button on the remote.

That is the big picture, and until now there has not been any one piece of software or one company that could get you there.

With youtube and a thousand other existing web services are serving every type of content imaginable around the world,

with high-speed bandwidth becoming more ubiquitous everyday,

and finally with the revolutionary bittorrent protocol allowing anyone with even a shred of bandwidth to serve a video to millions...

...the media world is at the cusp of making two more great leaps.

One leap for media will be mobile.

The other leap will be to the living room.

For the next step in revolutionizing media we need piece of software that is Mosaic or Firefox of the internet for media for the TV.

Boxee is the first thing I've seen that *may* very well fit that bill.