http://odeo.com/channels/259-mmeiser-blog no This blog is still and maybee always will be in alpha. There is no strict editorial direction at this time, but it's likely to be rantings and ravings about technology, design, art, culture and especially all things new media. This blog is still and maybee always will be in alpha. There is no strict editorial direction at this time, but it's likely to be rantings and ravings about technology, design, art, culture and especially all things new media. Warning: contains found videos of a contagious or viral nature. Offending items include: cool movie trailers, weird animation, artsy music videos, funny parodies of popular media, obscure found films, TV commericials, and other videos of an experimental n en 40 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:05:50 -0800 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:05:50 -0800 Entertainment http://odeo.com/episodes/25394528-A-little-inspiration-wild-camping-in-the-English-Lake-District This video is a little over the top with the dramatic music but I still can't hold that against it. I don't know anyting about the author, Terry, I just stumbled on this video at random. But I do know he speaks very honestly, hits on some universal truths, shoots some amazing video and visits some extrodinarily beautiful places. It is in a word superb. To check out the high definition version (well worth it) check it out at YouTube - Nirvana This video is a little over the top with the dramatic music but I still can't hold that against it. I don't know anyting about the author, Terry, I just stumbled on this video at random. But I do know he speaks very honestly, hits on some universal truths, shoots some amazing video and visits some extrodinarily beautiful places. It is in a word superb. To check out the high definition version (well worth it) check it out at YouTube - Nirvana This video is a little over the top with the dramatic music but I still can't hold that against it. I don't know anyting about the author, Terry, I just stumbled on this video at random. But I do know he speaks very honestly, hits on some universal truths, shoots some amazing video and visits some extrodinarily beautiful places. It is in a word superb. To check out the high definition version (well worth it) check it out at YouTube - Nirvana tag:odeo.com,2009-11-03,25394528 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:05:50 -0800 no mmeiser blog Videos, Inspiration, adventure, england, hiking, camping, wild camping, micro-adventures http://odeo.com/episodes/25394530-2009-fall-colors-touring Had a few days in a row, decided to take a spur of the moment trip. I call these short one and two night tours "crimes of convenience" and I fit them in wherever possible. Below are some randomish photos. 2009 fall colors touring - a set on Flickr Had a few days in a row, decided to take a spur of the moment trip. I call these short one and two night tours "crimes of convenience" and I fit them in wherever possible. Below are some randomish photos. 2009 fall colors touring - a set on Flickr Had a few days in a row, decided to take a spur of the moment trip. I call these short one and two night tours "crimes of convenience" and I fit them in wherever possible. Below are some randomish photos. 2009 fall colors touring - a set on Flickr tag:odeo.com,2009-10-30,25394530 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:08:40 -0700 no mmeiser blog bicycling, photography, touring, bike touring http://odeo.com/episodes/24913804-The-spaghetti-tree The report was first produced [by the BBC]... in 1957, reporting on the bumper spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, resulting from the mild winter and "virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil." Footage of the traditional "Harvest Festival" was aired as well as discussion of the breeding necessary for the development of a strain that produced the perfect length. The Wikipedia article on the subject is a most enjoyable read. See also this lovely video produced by the BBC on flying penguins. The report was first produced [by the BBC]... in 1957, reporting on the bumper spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, resulting from the mild winter and "virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil." Footage of the traditional "Harvest Festival" was aired as well as discussion of the breeding necessary for the development of a strain that produced the perfect length. The Wikipedia article on the subject is a most enjoyable read. See also this lovely video produced by the BBC on flying penguins. The report was first produced [by the BBC]... in 1957, reporting on the bumper spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, resulting from the mild winter and "virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil." Footage of the traditional "Harvest Festival" was aired as well as discussion of the breeding necessary for the development of a strain that produced the perfect length. The Wikipedia article on the subject is a most enjoyable read. See also this lovely video produced by the BBC on flying penguins. tag:odeo.com,2009-08-05,24913804 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:37:58 -0700 no mmeiser blog Videos, BBC, hoaxes, mocumentaries, spaghetti tree http://odeo.com/episodes/24862534-Trailer-for-Anima-D-Acciaio-Soul-of-Steel Anima D'Acciaio Trailer Ver5.1 from Cinecycle on Vimeo. I was immediately drawn to this trailer because of the great connection it makes between a long tradition of frame building and today's modern fixie culture. Via Urban Velo:Anima D?Acciaio (Soul of Steel) is a film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions. You can see the whole film this summer at the Bicycle Film Festival." The Bicycle Film Festival is in Detroit July 31 to August 1st. ANIMA D'ACCIAIO(SOUL OF STEEL)LANGUAGE: ITALIAN (SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH)A film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions A Portrait of the legendary Italian Frame Builder Giovanni Pelizzoli aka "Ciocc" . Ciocc shares his wisdom and life story while handbuilding a revolutionary new frame for urban fixed gear cycling. Ciocc demonstrates that the tradition and craft of framebuilding's Golden age can be re-born and push the technical frontier of Cycling's future. . also Feaures Ed "Wonka" La Forte and Antonio Colombo with an original soundtrack composed ... Anima D'Acciaio Trailer Ver5.1 from Cinecycle on Vimeo. I was immediately drawn to this trailer because of the great connection it makes between a long tradition of frame building and today's modern fixie culture. Via Urban Velo:Anima D?Acciaio (Soul of Steel) is a film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions. You can see the whole film this summer at the Bicycle Film Festival." The Bicycle Film Festival is in Detroit July 31 to August 1st. ANIMA D'ACCIAIO(SOUL OF STEEL)LANGUAGE: ITALIAN (SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH)A film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions A Portrait of the legendary Italian Frame Builder Giovanni Pelizzoli aka "Ciocc" . Ciocc shares his wisdom and life story while handbuilding a revolutionary new frame for urban fixed gear cycling. Ciocc demonstrates that the tradition and craft of framebuilding's Golden age can be re-born and push the technical frontier of Cycling's future. . also Feaures Ed "Wonka" La Forte and Antonio Colombo with an original soundtrack composed by Amedeo & Simone Pace of BlondeRedhead. Anima D'Acciaio Trailer Ver5.1 from Cinecycle on Vimeo. I was immediately drawn to this trailer because of the great connection it makes between a long tradition of frame building and today's modern fixie culture. Via Urban Velo:Anima D?Acciaio (Soul of Steel) is a film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions. You can see the whole film this summer at the Bicycle Film Festival." The Bicycle Film Festival is in Detroit July 31 to August 1st. ANIMA D'ACCIAIO(SOUL OF STEEL)LANGUAGE: ITALIAN (SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH)A film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions A Portrait of the legendary Italian Frame Builder Giovanni Pelizzoli aka "Ciocc" . Ciocc shares his wisdom and life story while handbuilding a revolutionary new frame for urban fixed gear cycling. Ciocc demonstrates that the tradition and craft of framebuilding's Golden age can be re-born and push the technical frontier of Cycling's future. . also Feaures Ed "Wonka" La Forte and Antonio Colombo with an original soundtrack composed by Amedeo & Simone Pace of BlondeRedhead. tag:odeo.com,2009-07-25,24862534 Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:18:12 -0700 no mmeiser blog video, Videos, trailer, Cycling, bicycling, bff, biking, bike culture, bicycle film fest, fixed gear, film trailer http://odeo.com/episodes/24862535-ghost-bikes Via ghost bikes dot org Via ghost bikes dot org Via ghost bikes dot org tag:odeo.com,2009-07-25,24862535 Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:37:14 -0700 no mmeiser blog bicycling, biking, bicycle commuting, bike culture http://odeo.com/episodes/24768477-Congrats-Jill A quick update on the Great Divide Race / Tour. Jill Homer made it in Monday, July 6th which gives her a time 24 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes which I believe sets a new womens record. Congrats Jill! Jill's call in on MTBCast. (mp3) From Jill's own blog: I rolled as close to the Mexican border as the gate would let me at 5:24 p.m. Monday, July 6, to finish the 2,700-ish miles of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in 24 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes. My parents drove down from Salt Lake City to meet me at the border, so even though the guard station was closed, I didn't have to finish alone. What an incredible experience. Feels strange to not have to pedal any more. Feels even stranger to be wearing clothes that I didn't just wash in the shower. I'm happy, healthy and still feeling strong. Despite a few mechanicals, minor injury and weather setbacks, I still kept my goal of finishing within 25 days, and still feel like I could go out again tomorrow if I needed to. Glad I don't have t... A quick update on the Great Divide Race / Tour. Jill Homer made it in Monday, July 6th which gives her a time 24 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes which I believe sets a new womens record. Congrats Jill! Jill's call in on MTBCast. (mp3) From Jill's own blog: I rolled as close to the Mexican border as the gate would let me at 5:24 p.m. Monday, July 6, to finish the 2,700-ish miles of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in 24 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes. My parents drove down from Salt Lake City to meet me at the border, so even though the guard station was closed, I didn't have to finish alone. What an incredible experience. Feels strange to not have to pedal any more. Feels even stranger to be wearing clothes that I didn't just wash in the shower. I'm happy, healthy and still feeling strong. Despite a few mechanicals, minor injury and weather setbacks, I still kept my goal of finishing within 25 days, and still feel like I could go out again tomorrow if I needed to. Glad I don't have to, though. I took 731 pictures. More to come soon, I'm sure. A quick update on the Great Divide Race / Tour. Jill Homer made it in Monday, July 6th which gives her a time 24 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes which I believe sets a new womens record. Congrats Jill! Jill's call in on MTBCast. (mp3) From Jill's own blog: I rolled as close to the Mexican border as the gate would let me at 5:24 p.m. Monday, July 6, to finish the 2,700-ish miles of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in 24 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes. My parents drove down from Salt Lake City to meet me at the border, so even though the guard station was closed, I didn't have to finish alone. What an incredible experience. Feels strange to not have to pedal any more. Feels even stranger to be wearing clothes that I didn't just wash in the shower. I'm happy, healthy and still feeling strong. Despite a few mechanicals, minor injury and weather setbacks, I still kept my goal of finishing within 25 days, and still feel like I could go out again tomorrow if I needed to. Glad I don't have to, though. I took 731 pictures. More to come soon, I'm sure. tag:odeo.com,2009-07-08,24768477 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:04:16 -0700 no mmeiser blog endurance, GDR, Great Divide, mtbcast, jill homer, gdt, tour divide http://odeo.com/episodes/24737243-Ride-The-Divide-Unofficial-Trailer The bellow trailer was just posted to youtube within the last 24 hours. It's for "Ride the Divide", a documentary on the race down the Great Divide by Mike Dion. It appears to include footage from this years Tour Divide. Ride The Divide, unofficial trailer on youtube More videos are on Mike's website, the official website and blog are at ridethedividemovie.com The bellow trailer was just posted to youtube within the last 24 hours. It's for "Ride the Divide", a documentary on the race down the Great Divide by Mike Dion. It appears to include footage from this years Tour Divide. Ride The Divide, unofficial trailer on youtube More videos are on Mike's website, the official website and blog are at ridethedividemovie.com The bellow trailer was just posted to youtube within the last 24 hours. It's for "Ride the Divide", a documentary on the race down the Great Divide by Mike Dion. It appears to include footage from this years Tour Divide. Ride The Divide, unofficial trailer on youtube More videos are on Mike's website, the official website and blog are at ridethedividemovie.com tag:odeo.com,2009-06-30,24737243 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:41:41 -0700 no mmeiser blog Movies, Videos, trailer, endurance, Great Divide, ride the divide, mike dion http://odeo.com/episodes/24737245-The-Thames-Ring-250-the-UK-s-longest-non-stop-running-race Via: Alastair Humphreys ? The UK?s longest ever non-stop running race, the Thames Ring 250 The UK?s longest ever non-stop running race is the Thames Ring 250. 250 miles, to be completed within 100 hours. Nearly ten marathons in four-and-a-bit days?In wonderfully understated British style, the Thames Ring doesn?t even have a website. You can see the route map here and some photos here from this magnificently understated, yet heroic challenge.I went along to the start of the race in the unlikely surroundings of Streatley Village Hall in Berkshire. Here?s a 90-second video of what I found. Via: Alastair Humphreys ? The UK?s longest ever non-stop running race, the Thames Ring 250 The UK?s longest ever non-stop running race is the Thames Ring 250. 250 miles, to be completed within 100 hours. Nearly ten marathons in four-and-a-bit days?In wonderfully understated British style, the Thames Ring doesn?t even have a website. You can see the route map here and some photos here from this magnificently understated, yet heroic challenge.I went along to the start of the race in the unlikely surroundings of Streatley Village Hall in Berkshire. Here?s a 90-second video of what I found. Via: Alastair Humphreys ? The UK?s longest ever non-stop running race, the Thames Ring 250 The UK?s longest ever non-stop running race is the Thames Ring 250. 250 miles, to be completed within 100 hours. Nearly ten marathons in four-and-a-bit days?In wonderfully understated British style, the Thames Ring doesn?t even have a website. You can see the route map here and some photos here from this magnificently understated, yet heroic challenge.I went along to the start of the race in the unlikely surroundings of Streatley Village Hall in Berkshire. Here?s a 90-second video of what I found. tag:odeo.com,2009-06-25,24737245 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:29:19 -0700 no mmeiser blog UK, Videos, running, endurance http://odeo.com/episodes/24737248-Pulse-jet-bike From: BikeHacks From Oregonlive comes this article on oregonian Robert Maddox, the worlds top pulse jet engine builder/designer. The engine is currently selling on ebay for a cool $1200 (+ $95 for shipping/handling), however if you really want to splurge you can throw down $8500 for a fully assembled jet bike from Bob. The engine pumps out 100lbs of thrust and there is a ?warning? on the ebay post that states ?jet engines are dangerous, buy at your own risk, and that the engine runs at 140 decibles??so you may want to think twice before firing it up in the suburbs. Bob has been working on pulse jet engines for about 10yrs, and now his handiwork brings the possibility of becoming the Rocketeer to your fingertips (if you can afford it). Here?s a video which shows the bike in action, but averaging 1.5 gallons of fuel per mile this is probably not the best way to commute to the office. If you commute by bicycle regularly, riding on this thing will probably put you there in record time. ... From: BikeHacks From Oregonlive comes this article on oregonian Robert Maddox, the worlds top pulse jet engine builder/designer. The engine is currently selling on ebay for a cool $1200 (+ $95 for shipping/handling), however if you really want to splurge you can throw down $8500 for a fully assembled jet bike from Bob. The engine pumps out 100lbs of thrust and there is a ?warning? on the ebay post that states ?jet engines are dangerous, buy at your own risk, and that the engine runs at 140 decibles??so you may want to think twice before firing it up in the suburbs. Bob has been working on pulse jet engines for about 10yrs, and now his handiwork brings the possibility of becoming the Rocketeer to your fingertips (if you can afford it). Here?s a video which shows the bike in action, but averaging 1.5 gallons of fuel per mile this is probably not the best way to commute to the office. If you commute by bicycle regularly, riding on this thing will probably put you there in record time. ... When wide open, it will top out at around 75mph so before you hop on you may want to up the payout on your life insurance policy. From: BikeHacks From Oregonlive comes this article on oregonian Robert Maddox, the worlds top pulse jet engine builder/designer. The engine is currently selling on ebay for a cool $1200 (+ $95 for shipping/handling), however if you really want to splurge you can throw down $8500 for a fully assembled jet bike from Bob. The engine pumps out 100lbs of thrust and there is a ?warning? on the ebay post that states ?jet engines are dangerous, buy at your own risk, and that the engine runs at 140 decibles??so you may want to think twice before firing it up in the suburbs. Bob has been working on pulse jet engines for about 10yrs, and now his handiwork brings the possibility of becoming the Rocketeer to your fingertips (if you can afford it). Here?s a video which shows the bike in action, but averaging 1.5 gallons of fuel per mile this is probably not the best way to commute to the office. If you commute by bicycle regularly, riding on this thing will probably put you there in record time. ... When wide open, it will top out at around 75mph so before you hop on you may want to up the payout on your life insurance policy. tag:odeo.com,2009-06-24,24737248 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:39:55 -0700 no mmeiser blog Videos, bicycling, DIY, biking, bike hacks http://odeo.com/episodes/24684790-Penny-Farthing-Racing Via: AllYearGear.com Singlespeed mountain bike racing was fun until the fast guys figured it out. We need a new racing fad and this could be it. Who?s in? I?d love to see some penny farthings on a car bike rack with a race number on the bike. I second these sentiments. :) Via: AllYearGear.com Singlespeed mountain bike racing was fun until the fast guys figured it out. We need a new racing fad and this could be it. Who?s in? I?d love to see some penny farthings on a car bike rack with a race number on the bike. I second these sentiments. :) Via: AllYearGear.com Singlespeed mountain bike racing was fun until the fast guys figured it out. We need a new racing fad and this could be it. Who?s in? I?d love to see some penny farthings on a car bike rack with a race number on the bike. I second these sentiments. :) tag:odeo.com,2009-06-10,24684790 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:58:02 -0700 no mmeiser blog Videos, bicycling, biking, bike culture, bike racing, penny farthing http://odeo.com/episodes/24669843-Bicycle-Dreams-Trailer "Bicycle Dreams is the true story of the Race Across America, a 3000-mile bike race that challenges riders to pedal across the country in just ten days." Nough' said. Via Urban Velo "Bicycle Dreams is the true story of the Race Across America, a 3000-mile bike race that challenges riders to pedal across the country in just ten days." Nough' said. Via Urban Velo "Bicycle Dreams is the true story of the Race Across America, a 3000-mile bike race that challenges riders to pedal across the country in just ten days." Nough' said. Via Urban Velo tag:odeo.com,2009-06-09,24669843 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:34:32 -0700 no mmeiser blog bicycling, endurance, biking, raam, ride across america http://odeo.com/episodes/25347602-David-Byrne-s-Bike-Racks Just stumbled on this Wall Street Journal interview from David Byrne from July 2008. Mostly filmed as they ride 6 miles across town from his studio to his fabricator and poweder coater. I always find it interesting that David does commute regularly by bike, even when on tour. Youtube link: David Byrne's Bike Racks Just stumbled on this Wall Street Journal interview from David Byrne from July 2008. Mostly filmed as they ride 6 miles across town from his studio to his fabricator and poweder coater. I always find it interesting that David does commute regularly by bike, even when on tour. Youtube link: David Byrne's Bike Racks Just stumbled on this Wall Street Journal interview from David Byrne from July 2008. Mostly filmed as they ride 6 miles across town from his studio to his fabricator and poweder coater. I always find it interesting that David does commute regularly by bike, even when on tour. Youtube link: David Byrne's Bike Racks tag:odeo.com,2009-04-15,25347602 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:54:46 -0700 no mmeiser blog Design, art, bicycling, new york, biking, David Byrne, product design, bicycle commuting, bike culture http://odeo.com/episodes/24659897-David-Byrne-s-Bike-Racks Just stumbled on this Wall Street Journal interview from David Byrne from July 2008. Mostly filmed as they ride 6 miles across town from his studio to his fabricator and poweder coater. I always find it interesting that David does commute regularly by bike, even when on tour. Youtube link: David Byrne's Bike Racks Just stumbled on this Wall Street Journal interview from David Byrne from July 2008. Mostly filmed as they ride 6 miles across town from his studio to his fabricator and poweder coater. I always find it interesting that David does commute regularly by bike, even when on tour. Youtube link: David Byrne's Bike Racks Just stumbled on this Wall Street Journal interview from David Byrne from July 2008. Mostly filmed as they ride 6 miles across town from his studio to his fabricator and poweder coater. I always find it interesting that David does commute regularly by bike, even when on tour. Youtube link: David Byrne's Bike Racks tag:odeo.com,2009-04-15,24659897 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:54:46 -0700 no mmeiser blog Design, art, bicycling, new york, biking, David Byrne, product design, bicycle commuting, bike culture http://odeo.com/episodes/25347604-The-ultimate-gear-review-Ian-Hibell-s-gear All I can say is holy crap. This is an amazing high quality interview with Ian Hibell, famed world bicycle tourist from 1975 as he was headed from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope. The interviews starts as they ride bicycles around the studio after which they proceed to go through every bit of his gear. It's just amazing, I simply can't believe how much gear, in particular how much food he carries. Such as a half dozen eggs!? I have no idea how he fits it all in his bags, they must be magical bottomless bags. Add the fact that everything is simply larger and heavier... pots, stove, sleeping bags. By comparison everything is now much lighter, warmer and more compact, and yet this guy traveled the world with only a couple panniers. It's also interesting to note that the basic touring bike has not changed all that much since 1975. In fact you could ride his bike down the road today, almost 35 years later, and not many people would even notice the difference. Via The Epicurean Cyclist All I can say is holy crap. This is an amazing high quality interview with Ian Hibell, famed world bicycle tourist from 1975 as he was headed from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope. The interviews starts as they ride bicycles around the studio after which they proceed to go through every bit of his gear. It's just amazing, I simply can't believe how much gear, in particular how much food he carries. Such as a half dozen eggs!? I have no idea how he fits it all in his bags, they must be magical bottomless bags. Add the fact that everything is simply larger and heavier... pots, stove, sleeping bags. By comparison everything is now much lighter, warmer and more compact, and yet this guy traveled the world with only a couple panniers. It's also interesting to note that the basic touring bike has not changed all that much since 1975. In fact you could ride his bike down the road today, almost 35 years later, and not many people would even notice the difference. Via The Epicurean Cyclist All I can say is holy crap. This is an amazing high quality interview with Ian Hibell, famed world bicycle tourist from 1975 as he was headed from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope. The interviews starts as they ride bicycles around the studio after which they proceed to go through every bit of his gear. It's just amazing, I simply can't believe how much gear, in particular how much food he carries. Such as a half dozen eggs!? I have no idea how he fits it all in his bags, they must be magical bottomless bags. Add the fact that everything is simply larger and heavier... pots, stove, sleeping bags. By comparison everything is now much lighter, warmer and more compact, and yet this guy traveled the world with only a couple panniers. It's also interesting to note that the basic touring bike has not changed all that much since 1975. In fact you could ride his bike down the road today, almost 35 years later, and not many people would even notice the difference. Via The Epicurean Cyclist tag:odeo.com,2009-04-14,25347604 Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:46:23 -0700 no mmeiser blog Videos, Cycling, gear, epicurean, touring, bike touring, ian hibell http://odeo.com/episodes/24450776-The-ultimate-gear-review-Ian-Hibell-s-gear All I can say is holy crap. This is an amazing high quality interview with Ian Hibell, famed world bicycle tourist from 1975 as he was headed from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope. The interviews starts as they ride bicycles around the studio after which they proceed to go through every bit of his gear. It's just amazing, I simply can't believe how much gear, in particular how much food he carries. Such as a half dozen eggs!? I have no idea how he fits it all in his bags, they must be magical bottomless bags. Add the fact that everything is simply larger and heavier... pots, stove, sleeping bags. By comparison everything is now much lighter, warmer and more compact, and yet this guy traveled the world with only a couple panniers. It's also interesting to note that the basic touring bike has not changed all that much since 1975. In fact you could ride his bike down the road today, almost 35 years later, and not many people would even notice the difference. Via The Epicurean Cyclist All I can say is holy crap. This is an amazing high quality interview with Ian Hibell, famed world bicycle tourist from 1975 as he was headed from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope. The interviews starts as they ride bicycles around the studio after which they proceed to go through every bit of his gear. It's just amazing, I simply can't believe how much gear, in particular how much food he carries. Such as a half dozen eggs!? I have no idea how he fits it all in his bags, they must be magical bottomless bags. Add the fact that everything is simply larger and heavier... pots, stove, sleeping bags. By comparison everything is now much lighter, warmer and more compact, and yet this guy traveled the world with only a couple panniers. It's also interesting to note that the basic touring bike has not changed all that much since 1975. In fact you could ride his bike down the road today, almost 35 years later, and not many people would even notice the difference. Via The Epicurean Cyclist All I can say is holy crap. This is an amazing high quality interview with Ian Hibell, famed world bicycle tourist from 1975 as he was headed from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope. The interviews starts as they ride bicycles around the studio after which they proceed to go through every bit of his gear. It's just amazing, I simply can't believe how much gear, in particular how much food he carries. Such as a half dozen eggs!? I have no idea how he fits it all in his bags, they must be magical bottomless bags. Add the fact that everything is simply larger and heavier... pots, stove, sleeping bags. By comparison everything is now much lighter, warmer and more compact, and yet this guy traveled the world with only a couple panniers. It's also interesting to note that the basic touring bike has not changed all that much since 1975. In fact you could ride his bike down the road today, almost 35 years later, and not many people would even notice the difference. Via The Epicurean Cyclist tag:odeo.com,2009-04-14,24450776 Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:46:23 -0700 no mmeiser blog Videos, Cycling, gear, epicurean, touring, bike touring, ian hibell http://odeo.com/episodes/24440662-Touring-the-Allegheny-Passage Some pics from my trip last week from DC to Pittsburg along the Allegheny Trail. Via: Touring the Great Allegheny Passage - a set on Flickr Some pics from my trip last week from DC to Pittsburg along the Allegheny Trail. Via: Touring the Great Allegheny Passage - a set on Flickr Some pics from my trip last week from DC to Pittsburg along the Allegheny Trail. Via: Touring the Great Allegheny Passage - a set on Flickr tag:odeo.com,2009-04-10,24440662 Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:41:01 -0700 no mmeiser blog video, photography, touring, bike touring, alleghney passage, alleghney trail, allegheny http://odeo.com/episodes/24241277-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 s... 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. 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. tag:odeo.com,2009-03-02,24241277 Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:18:38 -0800 no mmeiser blog podcasts, Alaska, biking, Anchorage, mtbcast, ghost trails, iditarod, jill homer http://odeo.com/episodes/24080290-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 Tra... 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? 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? tag:odeo.com,2009-02-12,24080290 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:21:49 -0800 no mmeiser blog London, Videos, bicycling, san francisco, britain, biking, touring, Public Transit, commuter rail, rail touring, bicycling coalition, bicycle commuting http://odeo.com/episodes/24178883-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 Tra... 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? 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? tag:odeo.com,2009-02-12,24178883 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:21:49 -0800 no mmeiser blog London, Videos, bicycling, san francisco, britain, biking, touring, Public Transit, commuter rail, rail touring, bicycling coalition, bicycle commuting http://odeo.com/episodes/24178884-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 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 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 tag:odeo.com,2009-02-05,24178884 Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:56:39 -0800 no mmeiser blog Videos, commuting, san francisco, urban planning, traffic calming, street films, berkley, bicycle boulevards http://odeo.com/episodes/24059391-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 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 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 tag:odeo.com,2009-02-05,24059391 Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:56:39 -0800 no mmeiser blog Videos, commuting, san francisco, urban planning, traffic calming, street films, berkley, bicycle boulevards http://odeo.com/episodes/24023668-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 remo... 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 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 tag:odeo.com,2009-02-03,24023668 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:25:00 -0800 no mmeiser blog Books, video, Publishing, adventure, epicurean, rob lilwall, siberia http://odeo.com/episodes/24178885-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 remo... 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 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 tag:odeo.com,2009-02-03,24178885 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:25:00 -0800 no mmeiser blog Books, video, Publishing, adventure, epicurean, rob lilwall, siberia http://odeo.com/episodes/24178886-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 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 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 tag:odeo.com,2009-02-02,24178886 Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:03:31 -0800 no mmeiser blog London, Videos, Cycling, commuting, britain, trains, epicurean, touring, Public Transit, commuter rail, weekend fun, rail touring http://odeo.com/episodes/24021709-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 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 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 tag:odeo.com,2009-02-02,24021709 Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:03:31 -0800 no mmeiser blog London, Videos, Cycling, commuting, britain, trains, epicurean, touring, Public Transit, commuter rail, weekend fun, rail touring http://odeo.com/episodes/23671899-Channeling-the-simple-pleasures Errol Morris has captured my love of riding in foul weather. Via: BikeHacks Errol Morris has captured my love of riding in foul weather. Via: BikeHacks Errol Morris has captured my love of riding in foul weather. Via: BikeHacks tag:odeo.com,2008-11-26,23671899 Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:34:32 -0800 no mmeiser blog advertising, bicycling, memes, Errol Morris, simple-pleasures, Miller High Life http://odeo.com/episodes/24178887-Channeling-the-simple-pleasures Errol Morris has captured my love of riding in foul weather. Via: BikeHacks Errol Morris has captured my love of riding in foul weather. Via: BikeHacks Errol Morris has captured my love of riding in foul weather. Via: BikeHacks tag:odeo.com,2008-11-26,24178887 Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:34:32 -0800 no mmeiser blog advertising, bicycling, memes, Errol Morris, simple-pleasures, Miller High Life http://odeo.com/episodes/23302527-City-of-love-a-video City of love HD from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo. This is just a superb video I stumbled upon today of compiled of footage from Parma, Italy by a talented Leonardo Dalessandri. The sound track is a cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity (aka. Major Tom) by Emilie Simon, whom I've blogged about before. The subject is of course love in the city of Parma. I strongly suggest checking it out on Vimeo where you can view it in HD. City of love HD from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo. This is just a superb video I stumbled upon today of compiled of footage from Parma, Italy by a talented Leonardo Dalessandri. The sound track is a cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity (aka. Major Tom) by Emilie Simon, whom I've blogged about before. The subject is of course love in the city of Parma. I strongly suggest checking it out on Vimeo where you can view it in HD. City of love HD from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo. This is just a superb video I stumbled upon today of compiled of footage from Parma, Italy by a talented Leonardo Dalessandri. The sound track is a cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity (aka. Major Tom) by Emilie Simon, whom I've blogged about before. The subject is of course love in the city of Parma. I strongly suggest checking it out on Vimeo where you can view it in HD. tag:odeo.com,2008-08-22,23302527 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:30:01 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/24178888-City-of-love-a-video City of love HD from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo. This is just a superb video I stumbled upon today of compiled of footage from Parma, Italy by a talented Leonardo Dalessandri. The sound track is a cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity (aka. Major Tom) by Emilie Simon, whom I've blogged about before. The subject is of course love in the city of Parma. I strongly suggest checking it out on Vimeo where you can view it in HD. City of love HD from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo. This is just a superb video I stumbled upon today of compiled of footage from Parma, Italy by a talented Leonardo Dalessandri. The sound track is a cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity (aka. Major Tom) by Emilie Simon, whom I've blogged about before. The subject is of course love in the city of Parma. I strongly suggest checking it out on Vimeo where you can view it in HD. City of love HD from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo. This is just a superb video I stumbled upon today of compiled of footage from Parma, Italy by a talented Leonardo Dalessandri. The sound track is a cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity (aka. Major Tom) by Emilie Simon, whom I've blogged about before. The subject is of course love in the city of Parma. I strongly suggest checking it out on Vimeo where you can view it in HD. tag:odeo.com,2008-08-22,24178888 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:30:01 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/23302531-Flickr-has-a-new-slideshow Many of us have been wondering when flickr would redo their excellent slideshow feature to support video (since flickr now supports video). Starting today flickr has a new slideshow. It not only supports video but has a full screen feature. Works great for embedding photosets in pages, but still has some wonkiness as it doesn't always play videos nor always go full screen, but I'm confident they'll straighten these minor problems out. Enjoy some of my latest photos and videos. :) From: mmeiser on flickr Many of us have been wondering when flickr would redo their excellent slideshow feature to support video (since flickr now supports video). Starting today flickr has a new slideshow. It not only supports video but has a full screen feature. Works great for embedding photosets in pages, but still has some wonkiness as it doesn't always play videos nor always go full screen, but I'm confident they'll straighten these minor problems out. Enjoy some of my latest photos and videos. :) From: mmeiser on flickr Many of us have been wondering when flickr would redo their excellent slideshow feature to support video (since flickr now supports video). Starting today flickr has a new slideshow. It not only supports video but has a full screen feature. Works great for embedding photosets in pages, but still has some wonkiness as it doesn't always play videos nor always go full screen, but I'm confident they'll straighten these minor problems out. Enjoy some of my latest photos and videos. :) From: mmeiser on flickr tag:odeo.com,2008-08-21,23302531 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:20:34 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/24178889-Flickr-has-a-new-slideshow Many of us have been wondering when flickr would redo their excellent slideshow feature to support video (since flickr now supports video). Starting today flickr has a new slideshow. It not only supports video but has a full screen feature. Works great for embedding photosets in pages, but still has some wonkiness as it doesn't always play videos nor always go full screen, but I'm confident they'll straighten these minor problems out. Enjoy some of my latest photos and videos. :) From: mmeiser on flickr Many of us have been wondering when flickr would redo their excellent slideshow feature to support video (since flickr now supports video). Starting today flickr has a new slideshow. It not only supports video but has a full screen feature. Works great for embedding photosets in pages, but still has some wonkiness as it doesn't always play videos nor always go full screen, but I'm confident they'll straighten these minor problems out. Enjoy some of my latest photos and videos. :) From: mmeiser on flickr Many of us have been wondering when flickr would redo their excellent slideshow feature to support video (since flickr now supports video). Starting today flickr has a new slideshow. It not only supports video but has a full screen feature. Works great for embedding photosets in pages, but still has some wonkiness as it doesn't always play videos nor always go full screen, but I'm confident they'll straighten these minor problems out. Enjoy some of my latest photos and videos. :) From: mmeiser on flickr tag:odeo.com,2008-08-21,24178889 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:20:34 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/23302544-CBC-to-release-a-TV-series-via-BitTorrent As previously predicted and then reiterated last week another public television network has started to dabble in DRM-free BitTorrent distribution. (yeah!) According to Michael Geist the CBC is going to use bittorrent to distribute the program "Canada's Next Great Prime Minister" which airs this Sunday the 23rd. This is not quite as adventureous as Norwegian Public Broadcasting's first try, but it's a good start. Pardon me I spoke to soon. Upon reading up on the CBC's "Next Prime Minister" show, I see now it's an ambitious ongoing show, not just a single special as I had prematurely assumed. This release of an ongoing show is a very ambitious start for the CBC as it will give viewers a chance to establish regular viewing habits week after week. By the end of the series the CBC should have a really good idea if they can establish a regular audience for Internet based TV viewing. While I haven't heard of anything from the Participatory Culture Foundation I certainly hope the two are wo... As previously predicted and then reiterated last week another public television network has started to dabble in DRM-free BitTorrent distribution. (yeah!) According to Michael Geist the CBC is going to use bittorrent to distribute the program "Canada's Next Great Prime Minister" which airs this Sunday the 23rd. This is not quite as adventureous as Norwegian Public Broadcasting's first try, but it's a good start. Pardon me I spoke to soon. Upon reading up on the CBC's "Next Prime Minister" show, I see now it's an ambitious ongoing show, not just a single special as I had prematurely assumed. This release of an ongoing show is a very ambitious start for the CBC as it will give viewers a chance to establish regular viewing habits week after week. By the end of the series the CBC should have a really good idea if they can establish a regular audience for Internet based TV viewing. While I haven't heard of anything from the Participatory Culture Foundation I certainly hope the two are working on a specialized distribution of the Miro open source TV platform for the CBC, as this would not only be tremendously beneficial to both parties, but I believe it may be essential to the success of the CBC's trial. (hint hint ;) My guess is sometime in the next six months either the BBC and PBS will be the next to embrace BitTorrent distribution on limited programing. Once again I must point out that the model of distribution that the Participatory Culture Foundation has attempted to promote with Miro is exactly what I believe to be the winning model and that a partnership with the CBC would be a logical step on forging alliances with either the BBC or PBS. As to my supposed success in predicting the popularization of BitTorrent by public TV providers it doesn't take a genius to spot this trend. It is one I and other video bloggers have been promoting since as far back as 2004 and it's one the Participatory Culture Foundation has been working on since at least 2006. P2P technology is the only distribution technology that can effectively scale to meet the demands of timely full length and high definition TV programing on the Internet. It is an inevitable part of the future of media distribution on the Internet especially as Internet distributed video gets more timely and gains the attention of large global audiences. Add to this the fact that public radio and television stations such as NPR, the CBC and BBC were some of the first to embrace audio and video podcasting and you have to deduce that sooner or later they would be among the first to start dabbling in BitTorrent TV distribution as well. In fact I have to point out that I'm still amazed that NPR has over 500 podcasts. With this embrace of podcasting by public radio and TV it was only a question was timing, and with Norweigen Broadcasting taking the lead January of this year other public broadcasters were likely to soon follow. If the trend continues then sometime possibly before the end of 2008 we may well see a commercial TV network dabble in BitTorrent distribution as well. Counterpoint Hulu.com Speaking of commercial TV networks there is a very interesting counter point with the launch last week of Hulu.com. Hulu.com is a very centralized, "page centric", albeit fairly sociable attempt at offering full TV and movie screenings to users. So far in my limited experience with it it seems to be holding up (scaling) well to the traffic. However I don't believe demand has been overwhelming do to Hulu's the very inconsistent offerings. To be specific even though there are some great TV and Movie offerings that I think the early adopter / high tech crowd would be interested in (i.e. Battlestar Galactica, Serenity) these offerings often have very inconsistent episodic offerings. It would seem that instead of building viewing habits (an audience) Hulu.com and it's partners are "expiring" older episodes in what I can only guess is some misguided attempt to "tease" fans into purchasing further options. However this just leaves would be fans just as befuddled as the TV scheduling experience, perhaps more so. In short, they have failed to fix the major problem. Hulu.com does not even solve the basic problem that Tivo has solved in letting your return to old episodes you may have missed or might want to see again. If a user has missed an episode there is once again no alternative source for the fan to find these episodes but turning to the bittorrent grey/black markets. Hulu.com should be this catch all, not continue to perpetuate this problem of TV scheduling. Hulu should be offering back episodes so a fan can catch up with an episode they may have missed, or would be fans can preview early episodes to determine if a show is something they're interested in. This does not undermine TV viewership or DVD sales of a show. In fact it supports them. Hulu.com is not, nor is it likely to be an *alternative* to TV. Hulu.com's role in this future should be a *supporting role*. I know of no one who would rather watch their favorite TV show on a computer rather then live on TV or via DVD with no commercial interruptions. As long as content creators struggle to understand this new medium fans will keep returning to p2p grey markets as that catch all solution. It is all about building viewer habits, and as long as media companies fail to provide solutions on which fans can form good habits with good quality alternatives to cable or satellite fans of shows will build habits around p2p grey markets and it will be increasingly costly to lure them from those habits. This is particularly true of younger generations whom are growing up in this age of digital media prohibitions where all they have known is getting their media from the local speakeasy (p2p nets) because there has been know other digital option. To continue with this metaphor... once the prohibition is removed, and work is done to rebuild trust and remove the taboo of digital media consumption.. when these goods come back to an open and sociable market the people will return to the digital sidewalk cafe's of the future and business will be brisk... but it must be natural, and open. No one is likely to return to this market with an attendant watching over them like a hawk, eavesdropping on their conversation and constantly reminding them of the time. Respect, balance and trust must be restored to the digital marketplace and given how badly generations feel it has been betrayed it is not likely they will easily return. It's going to be costly. We need to drag media and digital culture back out onto the open Internet where it can benefit everyone and be a part of a naturally sociable vibrant and bountiful marketplace. This digital prohibition has gone on to long. This last week was the ten year aniversary of the mp3 player. TEN YEARS and only this year have the major labels finally started selling mp3's. If you failed to respond to your customers for ten years where would your business be? As previously predicted and then reiterated last week another public television network has started to dabble in DRM-free BitTorrent distribution. (yeah!) According to Michael Geist the CBC is going to use bittorrent to distribute the program "Canada's Next Great Prime Minister" which airs this Sunday the 23rd. This is not quite as adventureous as Norwegian Public Broadcasting's first try, but it's a good start. Pardon me I spoke to soon. Upon reading up on the CBC's "Next Prime Minister" show, I see now it's an ambitious ongoing show, not just a single special as I had prematurely assumed. This release of an ongoing show is a very ambitious start for the CBC as it will give viewers a chance to establish regular viewing habits week after week. By the end of the series the CBC should have a really good idea if they can establish a regular audience for Internet based TV viewing. While I haven't heard of anything from the Participatory Culture Foundation I certainly hope the two are working on a specialized distribution of the Miro open source TV platform for the CBC, as this would not only be tremendously beneficial to both parties, but I believe it may be essential to the success of the CBC's trial. (hint hint ;) My guess is sometime in the next six months either the BBC and PBS will be the next to embrace BitTorrent distribution on limited programing. Once again I must point out that the model of distribution that the Participatory Culture Foundation has attempted to promote with Miro is exactly what I believe to be the winning model and that a partnership with the CBC would be a logical step on forging alliances with either the BBC or PBS. As to my supposed success in predicting the popularization of BitTorrent by public TV providers it doesn't take a genius to spot this trend. It is one I and other video bloggers have been promoting since as far back as 2004 and it's one the Participatory Culture Foundation has been working on since at least 2006. P2P technology is the only distribution technology that can effectively scale to meet the demands of timely full length and high definition TV programing on the Internet. It is an inevitable part of the future of media distribution on the Internet especially as Internet distributed video gets more timely and gains the attention of large global audiences. Add to this the fact that public radio and television stations such as NPR, the CBC and BBC were some of the first to embrace audio and video podcasting and you have to deduce that sooner or later they would be among the first to start dabbling in BitTorrent TV distribution as well. In fact I have to point out that I'm still amazed that NPR has over 500 podcasts. With this embrace of podcasting by public radio and TV it was only a question was timing, and with Norweigen Broadcasting taking the lead January of this year other public broadcasters were likely to soon follow. If the trend continues then sometime possibly before the end of 2008 we may well see a commercial TV network dabble in BitTorrent distribution as well. Counterpoint Hulu.com Speaking of commercial TV networks there is a very interesting counter point with the launch last week of Hulu.com. Hulu.com is a very centralized, "page centric", albeit fairly sociable attempt at offering full TV and movie screenings to users. So far in my limited experience with it it seems to be holding up (scaling) well to the traffic. However I don't believe demand has been overwhelming do to Hulu's the very inconsistent offerings. To be specific even though there are some great TV and Movie offerings that I think the early adopter / high tech crowd would be interested in (i.e. Battlestar Galactica, Serenity) these offerings often have very inconsistent episodic offerings. It would seem that instead of building viewing habits (an audience) Hulu.com and it's partners are "expiring" older episodes in what I can only guess is some misguided attempt to "tease" fans into purchasing further options. However this just leaves would be fans just as befuddled as the TV scheduling experience, perhaps more so. In short, they have failed to fix the major problem. Hulu.com does not even solve the basic problem that Tivo has solved in letting your return to old episodes you may have missed or might want to see again. If a user has missed an episode there is once again no alternative source for the fan to find these episodes but turning to the bittorrent grey/black markets. Hulu.com should be this catch all, not continue to perpetuate this problem of TV scheduling. Hulu should be offering back episodes so a fan can catch up with an episode they may have missed, or would be fans can preview early episodes to determine if a show is something they're interested in. This does not undermine TV viewership or DVD sales of a show. In fact it supports them. Hulu.com is not, nor is it likely to be an *alternative* to TV. Hulu.com's role in this future should be a *supporting role*. I know of no one who would rather watch their favorite TV show on a computer rather then live on TV or via DVD with no commercial interruptions. As long as content creators struggle to understand this new medium fans will keep returning to p2p grey markets as that catch all solution. It is all about building viewer habits, and as long as media companies fail to provide solutions on which fans can form good habits with good quality alternatives to cable or satellite fans of shows will build habits around p2p grey markets and it will be increasingly costly to lure them from those habits. This is particularly true of younger generations whom are growing up in this age of digital media prohibitions where all they have known is getting their media from the local speakeasy (p2p nets) because there has been know other digital option. To continue with this metaphor... once the prohibition is removed, and work is done to rebuild trust and remove the taboo of digital media consumption.. when these goods come back to an open and sociable market the people will return to the digital sidewalk cafe's of the future and business will be brisk... but it must be natural, and open. No one is likely to return to this market with an attendant watching over them like a hawk, eavesdropping on their conversation and constantly reminding them of the time. Respect, balance and trust must be restored to the digital marketplace and given how badly generations feel it has been betrayed it is not likely they will easily return. It's going to be costly. We need to drag media and digital culture back out onto the open Internet where it can benefit everyone and be a part of a naturally sociable vibrant and bountiful marketplace. This digital prohibition has gone on to long. This last week was the ten year aniversary of the mp3 player. TEN YEARS and only this year have the major labels finally started selling mp3's. If you failed to respond to your customers for ten years where would your business be? tag:odeo.com,2008-03-18,23302544 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:20:06 -0700 no mmeiser blog DRM, BitTorrent, cbc, BBC, NPR, PBS, p2p, hulu, distribution, the future, miro, michael geist, digital prohibition, public-tv http://odeo.com/episodes/24178890-CBC-to-release-a-TV-series-via-BitTorrent As previously predicted and then reiterated last week another public television network has started to dabble in DRM-free BitTorrent distribution. (yeah!) According to Michael Geist the CBC is going to use bittorrent to distribute the program "Canada's Next Great Prime Minister" which airs this Sunday the 23rd. This is not quite as adventureous as Norwegian Public Broadcasting's first try, but it's a good start. Pardon me I spoke to soon. Upon reading up on the CBC's "Next Prime Minister" show, I see now it's an ambitious ongoing show, not just a single special as I had prematurely assumed. This release of an ongoing show is a very ambitious start for the CBC as it will give viewers a chance to establish regular viewing habits week after week. By the end of the series the CBC should have a really good idea if they can establish a regular audience for Internet based TV viewing. While I haven't heard of anything from the Participatory Culture Foundation I certainly hope the two are wo... As previously predicted and then reiterated last week another public television network has started to dabble in DRM-free BitTorrent distribution. (yeah!) According to Michael Geist the CBC is going to use bittorrent to distribute the program "Canada's Next Great Prime Minister" which airs this Sunday the 23rd. This is not quite as adventureous as Norwegian Public Broadcasting's first try, but it's a good start. Pardon me I spoke to soon. Upon reading up on the CBC's "Next Prime Minister" show, I see now it's an ambitious ongoing show, not just a single special as I had prematurely assumed. This release of an ongoing show is a very ambitious start for the CBC as it will give viewers a chance to establish regular viewing habits week after week. By the end of the series the CBC should have a really good idea if they can establish a regular audience for Internet based TV viewing. While I haven't heard of anything from the Participatory Culture Foundation I certainly hope the two are working on a specialized distribution of the Miro open source TV platform for the CBC, as this would not only be tremendously beneficial to both parties, but I believe it may be essential to the success of the CBC's trial. (hint hint ;) My guess is sometime in the next six months either the BBC and PBS will be the next to embrace BitTorrent distribution on limited programing. Once again I must point out that the model of distribution that the Participatory Culture Foundation has attempted to promote with Miro is exactly what I believe to be the winning model and that a partnership with the CBC would be a logical step on forging alliances with either the BBC or PBS. As to my supposed success in predicting the popularization of BitTorrent by public TV providers it doesn't take a genius to spot this trend. It is one I and other video bloggers have been promoting since as far back as 2004 and it's one the Participatory Culture Foundation has been working on since at least 2006. P2P technology is the only distribution technology that can effectively scale to meet the demands of timely full length and high definition TV programing on the Internet. It is an inevitable part of the future of media distribution on the Internet especially as Internet distributed video gets more timely and gains the attention of large global audiences. Add to this the fact that public radio and television stations such as NPR, the CBC and BBC were some of the first to embrace audio and video podcasting and you have to deduce that sooner or later they would be among the first to start dabbling in BitTorrent TV distribution as well. In fact I have to point out that I'm still amazed that NPR has over 500 podcasts. With this embrace of podcasting by public radio and TV it was only a question was timing, and with Norweigen Broadcasting taking the lead January of this year other public broadcasters were likely to soon follow. If the trend continues then sometime possibly before the end of 2008 we may well see a commercial TV network dabble in BitTorrent distribution as well. Counterpoint Hulu.com Speaking of commercial TV networks there is a very interesting counter point with the launch last week of Hulu.com. Hulu.com is a very centralized, "page centric", albeit fairly sociable attempt at offering full TV and movie screenings to users. So far in my limited experience with it it seems to be holding up (scaling) well to the traffic. However I don't believe demand has been overwhelming do to Hulu's the very inconsistent offerings. To be specific even though there are some great TV and Movie offerings that I think the early adopter / high tech crowd would be interested in (i.e. Battlestar Galactica, Serenity) these offerings often have very inconsistent episodic offerings. It would seem that instead of building viewing habits (an audience) Hulu.com and it's partners are "expiring" older episodes in what I can only guess is some misguided attempt to "tease" fans into purchasing further options. However this just leaves would be fans just as befuddled as the TV scheduling experience, perhaps more so. In short, they have failed to fix the major problem. Hulu.com does not even solve the basic problem that Tivo has solved in letting your return to old episodes you may have missed or might want to see again. If a user has missed an episode there is once again no alternative source for the fan to find these episodes but turning to the bittorrent grey/black markets. Hulu.com should be this catch all, not continue to perpetuate this problem of TV scheduling. Hulu should be offering back episodes so a fan can catch up with an episode they may have missed, or would be fans can preview early episodes to determine if a show is something they're interested in. This does not undermine TV viewership or DVD sales of a show. In fact it supports them. Hulu.com is not, nor is it likely to be an *alternative* to TV. Hulu.com's role in this future should be a *supporting role*. I know of no one who would rather watch their favorite TV show on a computer rather then live on TV or via DVD with no commercial interruptions. As long as content creators struggle to understand this new medium fans will keep returning to p2p grey markets as that catch all solution. It is all about building viewer habits, and as long as media companies fail to provide solutions on which fans can form good habits with good quality alternatives to cable or satellite fans of shows will build habits around p2p grey markets and it will be increasingly costly to lure them from those habits. This is particularly true of younger generations whom are growing up in this age of digital media prohibitions where all they have known is getting their media from the local speakeasy (p2p nets) because there has been know other digital option. To continue with this metaphor... once the prohibition is removed, and work is done to rebuild trust and remove the taboo of digital media consumption.. when these goods come back to an open and sociable market the people will return to the digital sidewalk cafe's of the future and business will be brisk... but it must be natural, and open. No one is likely to return to this market with an attendant watching over them like a hawk, eavesdropping on their conversation and constantly reminding them of the time. Respect, balance and trust must be restored to the digital marketplace and given how badly generations feel it has been betrayed it is not likely they will easily return. It's going to be costly. We need to drag media and digital culture back out onto the open Internet where it can benefit everyone and be a part of a naturally sociable vibrant and bountiful marketplace. This digital prohibition has gone on to long. This last week was the ten year aniversary of the mp3 player. TEN YEARS and only this year have the major labels finally started selling mp3's. If you failed to respond to your customers for ten years where would your business be? As previously predicted and then reiterated last week another public television network has started to dabble in DRM-free BitTorrent distribution. (yeah!) According to Michael Geist the CBC is going to use bittorrent to distribute the program "Canada's Next Great Prime Minister" which airs this Sunday the 23rd. This is not quite as adventureous as Norwegian Public Broadcasting's first try, but it's a good start. Pardon me I spoke to soon. Upon reading up on the CBC's "Next Prime Minister" show, I see now it's an ambitious ongoing show, not just a single special as I had prematurely assumed. This release of an ongoing show is a very ambitious start for the CBC as it will give viewers a chance to establish regular viewing habits week after week. By the end of the series the CBC should have a really good idea if they can establish a regular audience for Internet based TV viewing. While I haven't heard of anything from the Participatory Culture Foundation I certainly hope the two are working on a specialized distribution of the Miro open source TV platform for the CBC, as this would not only be tremendously beneficial to both parties, but I believe it may be essential to the success of the CBC's trial. (hint hint ;) My guess is sometime in the next six months either the BBC and PBS will be the next to embrace BitTorrent distribution on limited programing. Once again I must point out that the model of distribution that the Participatory Culture Foundation has attempted to promote with Miro is exactly what I believe to be the winning model and that a partnership with the CBC would be a logical step on forging alliances with either the BBC or PBS. As to my supposed success in predicting the popularization of BitTorrent by public TV providers it doesn't take a genius to spot this trend. It is one I and other video bloggers have been promoting since as far back as 2004 and it's one the Participatory Culture Foundation has been working on since at least 2006. P2P technology is the only distribution technology that can effectively scale to meet the demands of timely full length and high definition TV programing on the Internet. It is an inevitable part of the future of media distribution on the Internet especially as Internet distributed video gets more timely and gains the attention of large global audiences. Add to this the fact that public radio and television stations such as NPR, the CBC and BBC were some of the first to embrace audio and video podcasting and you have to deduce that sooner or later they would be among the first to start dabbling in BitTorrent TV distribution as well. In fact I have to point out that I'm still amazed that NPR has over 500 podcasts. With this embrace of podcasting by public radio and TV it was only a question was timing, and with Norweigen Broadcasting taking the lead January of this year other public broadcasters were likely to soon follow. If the trend continues then sometime possibly before the end of 2008 we may well see a commercial TV network dabble in BitTorrent distribution as well. Counterpoint Hulu.com Speaking of commercial TV networks there is a very interesting counter point with the launch last week of Hulu.com. Hulu.com is a very centralized, "page centric", albeit fairly sociable attempt at offering full TV and movie screenings to users. So far in my limited experience with it it seems to be holding up (scaling) well to the traffic. However I don't believe demand has been overwhelming do to Hulu's the very inconsistent offerings. To be specific even though there are some great TV and Movie offerings that I think the early adopter / high tech crowd would be interested in (i.e. Battlestar Galactica, Serenity) these offerings often have very inconsistent episodic offerings. It would seem that instead of building viewing habits (an audience) Hulu.com and it's partners are "expiring" older episodes in what I can only guess is some misguided attempt to "tease" fans into purchasing further options. However this just leaves would be fans just as befuddled as the TV scheduling experience, perhaps more so. In short, they have failed to fix the major problem. Hulu.com does not even solve the basic problem that Tivo has solved in letting your return to old episodes you may have missed or might want to see again. If a user has missed an episode there is once again no alternative source for the fan to find these episodes but turning to the bittorrent grey/black markets. Hulu.com should be this catch all, not continue to perpetuate this problem of TV scheduling. Hulu should be offering back episodes so a fan can catch up with an episode they may have missed, or would be fans can preview early episodes to determine if a show is something they're interested in. This does not undermine TV viewership or DVD sales of a show. In fact it supports them. Hulu.com is not, nor is it likely to be an *alternative* to TV. Hulu.com's role in this future should be a *supporting role*. I know of no one who would rather watch their favorite TV show on a computer rather then live on TV or via DVD with no commercial interruptions. As long as content creators struggle to understand this new medium fans will keep returning to p2p grey markets as that catch all solution. It is all about building viewer habits, and as long as media companies fail to provide solutions on which fans can form good habits with good quality alternatives to cable or satellite fans of shows will build habits around p2p grey markets and it will be increasingly costly to lure them from those habits. This is particularly true of younger generations whom are growing up in this age of digital media prohibitions where all they have known is getting their media from the local speakeasy (p2p nets) because there has been know other digital option. To continue with this metaphor... once the prohibition is removed, and work is done to rebuild trust and remove the taboo of digital media consumption.. when these goods come back to an open and sociable market the people will return to the digital sidewalk cafe's of the future and business will be brisk... but it must be natural, and open. No one is likely to return to this market with an attendant watching over them like a hawk, eavesdropping on their conversation and constantly reminding them of the time. Respect, balance and trust must be restored to the digital marketplace and given how badly generations feel it has been betrayed it is not likely they will easily return. It's going to be costly. We need to drag media and digital culture back out onto the open Internet where it can benefit everyone and be a part of a naturally sociable vibrant and bountiful marketplace. This digital prohibition has gone on to long. This last week was the ten year aniversary of the mp3 player. TEN YEARS and only this year have the major labels finally started selling mp3's. If you failed to respond to your customers for ten years where would your business be? tag:odeo.com,2008-03-18,24178890 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:20:06 -0700 no mmeiser blog DRM, BitTorrent, cbc, BBC, NPR, PBS, p2p, hulu, distribution, the future, miro, michael geist, digital prohibition, public-tv http://odeo.com/episodes/18332533-Western-Digital-DRM-Hard-Drive-the-most-insane-DRM-implimentation-yet tag:odeo.com,2007-12-11,18332533 Tue, 11 Dec 2007 08:20:28 -0800 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/23302558-Western-Digital-DRM-Hard-Drive-the-most-insane-DRM-implimentation-yet When I read this I thought it was a hoax, but April is 4 months off. From: Western Digital DRM'd Hard Drive Won't Let You Share MP3, DivX Western Digital's 1TB MyBook external hard drives won't share media files over network connections (UPDATE: Don't install the "required" client software! See workaround below). From the product page: "Due to unverifiable media license authentication, the most common audio and video file types cannot be shared with different users using WD Anywhere Access." It doesn't matter what the files are: If you try to share these formats over a network, Western Digital assumes not just that you're a criminal, but that it is its job to police users. You see, MP3, DivX, AVI, WMV and Quicktime files are copy-protected formats. The list of banned filetypes includes more than thirty extensions. Some of them are bizarre: .IT files are banned ? these are Amiga-style music modules composed with Impulse Tracker, a particularly well-loved tracking sequencer that hasn'... When I read this I thought it was a hoax, but April is 4 months off. From: Western Digital DRM'd Hard Drive Won't Let You Share MP3, DivX Western Digital's 1TB MyBook external hard drives won't share media files over network connections (UPDATE: Don't install the "required" client software! See workaround below). From the product page: "Due to unverifiable media license authentication, the most common audio and video file types cannot be shared with different users using WD Anywhere Access." It doesn't matter what the files are: If you try to share these formats over a network, Western Digital assumes not just that you're a criminal, but that it is its job to police users. You see, MP3, DivX, AVI, WMV and Quicktime files are copy-protected formats. The list of banned filetypes includes more than thirty extensions. Some of them are bizarre: .IT files are banned ? these are Amiga-style music modules composed with Impulse Tracker, a particularly well-loved tracking sequencer that hasn't been updated in almost a decade. I composed with IT myself, back in the day, and still have all my shitty compositions, none of which Western Digital would have me share. (Try MOD vs. Speak&Spell masterpiece Eddie Dreams of Women, if you dare: IT, MP3) Isn't it cute how the only data it views as worthy of policing are music and movies? These are the only copyrights that matter under corporate monkey law. It's the most astonishing example of crippled equipment I've ever seen. A DRM'd hard drive! Whatever next? Dreaming meat? Mmm.... Dreaming meat.Wait... what the hell is wrong with Western Digital!? It's so arbitrary, and they've done it on such a large scale. This may end up being the biggest DRM debacle ever.... though it will be hard to beat Sony's rootkit fiasco. Certainly someone is going to end up suing them over this. When I read this I thought it was a hoax, but April is 4 months off. From: Western Digital DRM'd Hard Drive Won't Let You Share MP3, DivX Western Digital's 1TB MyBook external hard drives won't share media files over network connections (UPDATE: Don't install the "required" client software! See workaround below). From the product page: "Due to unverifiable media license authentication, the most common audio and video file types cannot be shared with different users using WD Anywhere Access." It doesn't matter what the files are: If you try to share these formats over a network, Western Digital assumes not just that you're a criminal, but that it is its job to police users. You see, MP3, DivX, AVI, WMV and Quicktime files are copy-protected formats. The list of banned filetypes includes more than thirty extensions. Some of them are bizarre: .IT files are banned ? these are Amiga-style music modules composed with Impulse Tracker, a particularly well-loved tracking sequencer that hasn't been updated in almost a decade. I composed with IT myself, back in the day, and still have all my shitty compositions, none of which Western Digital would have me share. (Try MOD vs. Speak&Spell masterpiece Eddie Dreams of Women, if you dare: IT, MP3) Isn't it cute how the only data it views as worthy of policing are music and movies? These are the only copyrights that matter under corporate monkey law. It's the most astonishing example of crippled equipment I've ever seen. A DRM'd hard drive! Whatever next? Dreaming meat? Mmm.... Dreaming meat.Wait... what the hell is wrong with Western Digital!? It's so arbitrary, and they've done it on such a large scale. This may end up being the biggest DRM debacle ever.... though it will be hard to beat Sony's rootkit fiasco. Certainly someone is going to end up suing them over this. tag:odeo.com,2007-12-11,23302558 Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:20:28 -0800 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/23302564-The-future-is-open-Verizon-to-support-any-device-or-app-on-it-s-network Some people may overlook the importance of this. Verizon opens up, will support any device, any app on its network However, the end-to-end (aka. common carrier, aka. network neutrality) principal of the Internet is slowly taking over how other networks operate as well. These networks are increasingly finding themselves *competing* with the Internet and they cannot do so without opening themselves up and creating a level playing field for innovators as well. You can see it with cellular networks (competing with wifi & the infinite array of internet services), traditional telephony (competing with VOIP), and to some degree cable TV, which is now competing in a very direct way for the attention of younger generations. What this eventually means for Verizon customers is: Good bye having to *rent* the GPS features on your phone. Good bye ridiculous 10 cent text messages. Good bye paying $2.99 for ring tones. Good by buy or rent stupid applications like "weather" on your sell phone. G... Some people may overlook the importance of this. Verizon opens up, will support any device, any app on its network However, the end-to-end (aka. common carrier, aka. network neutrality) principal of the Internet is slowly taking over how other networks operate as well. These networks are increasingly finding themselves *competing* with the Internet and they cannot do so without opening themselves up and creating a level playing field for innovators as well. You can see it with cellular networks (competing with wifi & the infinite array of internet services), traditional telephony (competing with VOIP), and to some degree cable TV, which is now competing in a very direct way for the attention of younger generations. What this eventually means for Verizon customers is: Good bye having to *rent* the GPS features on your phone. Good bye ridiculous 10 cent text messages. Good bye paying $2.99 for ring tones. Good by buy or rent stupid applications like "weather" on your sell phone. Good bye having to pay $10 a month extra just to be able to blog photos from your camera capable phone. Good by having to choose a cell phone based the scant choices your cellular company provided. What this means is in the long run a veritable cornucopia of services will be available to you on your phone, whatever entrepreneurs or anyone else can dream up, and all you'll have to pay Verizon for is the bandwidth you use. What Verizon looses off charging service fees for few obtuse services they will MORE than make up for selling bandwidth for the 100,000's of thousand mobile services that will increase the utility, use and validity of their network. Verizon no longer gets to tax based on the contents of the package or the type of service. Unlike the cable companies they no longer get to pick which content makers get to use their network. They're now pledging to be a "carrier neutral" shipping company for bits. This throwing away of arbitrary and frankly stupid criteria can now mean innovation can really happen. Verizon will no longer arbitrate the winners and losers instead the playing field will be open to ALL comers. All, specifically meaning anyone who has access to the Internet or a cell phone. This means potentially billions of users can use or offer services or benefit from services on their network instead of the few dozen services Verizon offers its customers now. It is funny to watch how the cellular provider "tax" on items like the absurdly overpriced 10 cent text message and other capabilities of cell phones have shifted and distorted innovation which has routed itself around them. This taxing has been going on, and will still continue to go on for a while, but with Verizon declaring its cellular network neutral, the apple iPhone challenging traditional rules set down by cellular carriers and above all Google throwing down the gauntlet in helping create an open source mobile OS the paradigm for these closed networks like cable, cellular, and traditional telephony seem to be opening up. The future is open. Related article: Apple to Unveil Faster IPhone, AT&T's Stephenson Says - Bloomberg.com Some people may overlook the importance of this. Verizon opens up, will support any device, any app on its network However, the end-to-end (aka. common carrier, aka. network neutrality) principal of the Internet is slowly taking over how other networks operate as well. These networks are increasingly finding themselves *competing* with the Internet and they cannot do so without opening themselves up and creating a level playing field for innovators as well. You can see it with cellular networks (competing with wifi & the infinite array of internet services), traditional telephony (competing with VOIP), and to some degree cable TV, which is now competing in a very direct way for the attention of younger generations. What this eventually means for Verizon customers is: Good bye having to *rent* the GPS features on your phone. Good bye ridiculous 10 cent text messages. Good bye paying $2.99 for ring tones. Good by buy or rent stupid applications like "weather" on your sell phone. Good bye having to pay $10 a month extra just to be able to blog photos from your camera capable phone. Good by having to choose a cell phone based the scant choices your cellular company provided. What this means is in the long run a veritable cornucopia of services will be available to you on your phone, whatever entrepreneurs or anyone else can dream up, and all you'll have to pay Verizon for is the bandwidth you use. What Verizon looses off charging service fees for few obtuse services they will MORE than make up for selling bandwidth for the 100,000's of thousand mobile services that will increase the utility, use and validity of their network. Verizon no longer gets to tax based on the contents of the package or the type of service. Unlike the cable companies they no longer get to pick which content makers get to use their network. They're now pledging to be a "carrier neutral" shipping company for bits. This throwing away of arbitrary and frankly stupid criteria can now mean innovation can really happen. Verizon will no longer arbitrate the winners and losers instead the playing field will be open to ALL comers. All, specifically meaning anyone who has access to the Internet or a cell phone. This means potentially billions of users can use or offer services or benefit from services on their network instead of the few dozen services Verizon offers its customers now. It is funny to watch how the cellular provider "tax" on items like the absurdly overpriced 10 cent text message and other capabilities of cell phones have shifted and distorted innovation which has routed itself around them. This taxing has been going on, and will still continue to go on for a while, but with Verizon declaring its cellular network neutral, the apple iPhone challenging traditional rules set down by cellular carriers and above all Google throwing down the gauntlet in helping create an open source mobile OS the paradigm for these closed networks like cable, cellular, and traditional telephony seem to be opening up. The future is open. Related article: Apple to Unveil Faster IPhone, AT&T's Stephenson Says - Bloomberg.com tag:odeo.com,2007-11-29,23302564 Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:09:57 -0800 no mmeiser blog iphone, google, VoIP, verizon, Open Source, innovation, Competition, att, net neutrality, cable industry, network neutrality, cellular industry, common carrier, end-to-end http://odeo.com/episodes/9555473-Customer-relations-podcasting tag:odeo.com,2007-02-24,9555473 Sat, 24 Feb 2007 20:41:18 -0800 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/1770417-Untitled tag:odeo.com,2006-08-23,1770417 Wed, 23 Aug 2006 05:58:57 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/1770416-An-audio-podcast-about-monetizing-video-blogging tag:odeo.com,2006-08-08,1770416 Tue, 08 Aug 2006 23:45:00 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/1454043-RocketBoom-the-evilution-of-media-and-exploding-narratives tag:odeo.com,2006-07-06,1454043 Thu, 06 Jul 2006 23:54:00 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/759451-Homestar-Runner-now-in-video-podcast tag:odeo.com,2006-02-19,759451 Sun, 19 Feb 2006 20:04:00 -0800 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/623542-Stanford-and-Apple-s-iTunes-taking-the-access-out-of-open-access-media tag:odeo.com,2006-01-23,623542 Mon, 23 Jan 2006 23:44:00 -0800 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/132707-NPR-on-video-blogging tag:odeo.com,2005-08-07,132707 Sun, 07 Aug 2005 09:19:59 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/36212-Is-This-The-Way-To-Amarillo tag:odeo.com,2005-05-27,36212 Fri, 27 May 2005 11:42:50 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/17683-On-the-Media-s-The-Chaos-Scenario-on-decentralized-media tag:odeo.com,2005-05-23,17683 Mon, 23 May 2005 11:40:14 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/25777-Podcasting-covered-down-under tag:odeo.com,2005-05-04,25777 Wed, 04 May 2005 05:27:00 -0700 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/7115-Beatallica-thon-Hey-Dude tag:odeo.com,2005-03-25,7115 Fri, 25 Mar 2005 02:18:54 -0800 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/5624-The-engadget-podcast-is-back tag:odeo.com,2005-03-21,5624 Mon, 21 Mar 2005 04:40:00 -0800 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/5625-Beatallica-thon-And-Justice-For-All-My-Loving tag:odeo.com,2005-03-16,5625 Wed, 16 Mar 2005 20:57:00 -0800 no mmeiser blog http://odeo.com/episodes/5626-Beatallica-thon-A-Garage-Dayz-Nite tag:odeo.com,2005-03-15,5626 Tue, 15 Mar 2005 21:12:00 -0800 no mmeiser blog