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| A.M. Arno |
amarnoNYC:It's my favorite time of the week Nico...it'sBandwidth Bastard time!!!
amarnoNYC: Bastardmeaning the fusion of entertainment and technology to create streaming mayhem!
nicoontheweb: It sure is... and so muchbastardly behavior to discuss
amarnoNYC: SoWHAT is going on with the Broadband -Congress nonsense you emailed me about!!!
amarnoNYC: canyou send me that article again - I want to share it with Tom here at the office
nicoontheweb: You mean this: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/102996
amarnoNYC:boom-baby- thanks!
nicoontheweb: Nico-on-the-spot!
nicoontheweb: So, basically what thelegislation is trying to do is prevent price gouging, to put it in simpleterms.
nicoontheweb: As a streaming mediaproducer we have "bottlenecks" that are dependent on bandwidth onboth ends of our "broadcasts"
nicoontheweb: When we encode the video andsend it over a land line to the public internet, bandwidth is always a majorconsideration
amarnoNYC:sure
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Nico McLane
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nicoontheweb: on the other side of thatcoin we want the end users, the viewers, to be able to easily and readilyaccess the broadcast, so their bandwidth is another issue
amarnoNYC: Iam amazed at how this is not causing a stir in my end of the office ...I meanbandwidth is so integrated with the television and film business it’s noteven funny! HDTV uses up to six times the bandwidth of standard-definition TVand...
amarnoNYC: DVRSare another great entertainment feature that is affected, right?
amarnoNYC:watchingone HD show while recording another is convenient for consumers, but resultsin not one but two (or more) HD streams being delivered at the same time
nicoontheweb: In a sense, but you alsoneed to consider where the bandwidth is coming from
nicoontheweb: I found a pretty goodarticle, not TOO techie that breaks it down:
nicoontheweb: http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/09/peering-and-transit.ars
nicoontheweb: This article takes youthrough the U.S.-only version of the internet; remember, it's global so it getseven more complicated as to how nations peer with ginormous cables that spanour great oceans -it's pretty archaic really, and messy
amarnoNYC: I'llhave to look at that later, I am still confused as to how the FCC is gettinginvolved here
nicoontheweb: Just look at the roof topsout the window and you can see half the broadband in New York City
amarnoNYC: Yeahthe pigeons are enjoying the new perching wires I see...nice
amarnoNYC: It'snice to see broadband giving back
nicoontheweb: Well, when you get internetaccess from an ISP (internet service provider)—like Time Warner in NYC,Comcast or who ever—you are totally at their mercy for your access to theinternet
amarnoNYC: tothe pigeons
amarnoNYC:fat pigeons in HD—using 6 times my bandwidth www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOpkH3M5cU4
nicoontheweb: So there is a lot ofquestion as to what they should be allowed to charge for certain amounts ofbandwidth—it can get very pricey
nicoontheweb: So, for us who stream froma set location and send a lot of feeds at the same time, we need BIG bandwidthwhich is coming with a big price tag
nicoontheweb: Here's a great comment,allegedly a quote from a letter on a docket to the FCC: One of the humancurrent "owners" of the United States of America, I am outraged thatGovernment regulatory agencies, including the FCC, continue to transfer OURcontrol of OUR airwaves and OUR communication over to for-profit corporations.If you don't start listening to the PEOPLE and OUR wants, rather than tospecial interests, soon there won’t be an FCC. Its not your agency...itsOURS, and you will run it OUR way, or else!"
amarnoNYC: Perhaps THEN sanity canbe restored. Then Media can focus on truly important issues—such as findingthe people responsible for the "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl! ha-ha!
nicoontheweb:People feel very strongly about this topic, as you do your pigeons apparently
nicoontheweb: This also has a lot to dowith restriction of content
amarnoNYC: Noway man, those stinking pigeons, all they feel is the satisfaction of taking upmy broadband and pooing on my roof !
nicoontheweb: like certain video websites
amarnoNYC: TheBranding and Marketing Industry wants to know where this is going because weknow that people in our target markets are packing more media consumption intosmaller slices of time, significantly increasing the amount of bandwidth neededto support individual viewing habits ...lowering the costs of bandwidth wouldfree up more $$$ to pump into products and services that fuel both themarketing and the content creation aspects of the industry!
amarnoNYC: whichkeeps me in a jobby-job
nicoontheweb: If you look at the current"broadcast" model in the U.S., we are restricted to the channels thatare available to the local cable company, a lot of scandal there...
nicoontheweb: ad sales are big money
nicoontheweb: if you make big ad sales,you will be doing a good jobby-job
amarnoNYC: nico...Ijust used the words "jobby-job"—I am now talking baby talk to thestreaming media guru
nicoontheweb: see, we both saidit...moving on...
amarnoNYC: Thiswhole situation is mind freaking me
nicoontheweb: I personally am all forOpen Source and free bandwidth ![]()
amarnoNYC:RED SCARE! RED SCARE!
nicoontheweb: I was a user of the BITNETback in the 80's
amarnoNYC: Wait...BITNET... are we talking about your sordid history with D&D hereNico?
nicoontheweb:What???
amarnoNYC:Nico, don't be afraid, Vin Diesel has come out of theDungeon as a player - you can too!
nicoontheweb: And sure, games were playedwith other collegians located in Russia late at night when lights were out oncampus... But, BITNET ("Because It's There") was a very well-intentioned effort that fizzled out due to lack of interest in the late 90's Ithink
amarnoNYC: whispered: Knock-knock Nico...
amarnoNYC: who'sthere?
amarnoNYC: Thetruth... and the truth is you played D&D!
nicoontheweb: Like that is a reach
nicoontheweb:Take a look at the history and you will see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BITNET
nicoontheweb: Three rules applied to theSUNY's and CUNY's tapping in to the BITNET
nicoontheweb: * Lease a data circuit(phone line) from a site to an existing BITNET node.
* Buy modems for each end of the data circuit, sending one to the connectingpoint site.
* Allow other institutions to connect to a site without chargeback.
amarnoNYC: Nico this is all well andgood but how does this trickle down to the consumer? Thecommon user doesn't THINK about bandwidth and about WHERE their money goes toget access to the net...the lay person thinks in terms of watching HDTV, ordownloading photos from their digital cameras or phones to their computers, orbuying music from the iTunes Store, or interactive online gaming, or uploadingvideo content to YouTube, or getting the last episode of True Bloodon demand or watching streaming video on Hulu at 2 a.m. when they can’tsleep.
nicoontheweb: of course, it's soconvoluted and messy
nicoontheweb: and big business has theirinterests in all aspects of our ability to stream
nicoontheweb: and the ability of peopleto access it
nicoontheweb: that's why when I produce awebcast I ask these two questions first:
nicoontheweb: 1. Where will we bewebcasting from
nicoontheweb: 2. Where will the end usersbe who will tune in to watch
nicoontheweb: Location, location.location...
amarnoNYC: wellI know where my "end users" are
amarnoNYC: ONYOUTUBE
nicoontheweb: Again, I wouldn't mind somuch if we found a way as a United States of America, with all our broadband wecouldn't over come, here's a great excerpt from a quote made by American Cable Association CEO, MatthewPolka: "Broadband speeds in rural America are not what they could bebecause ACA members route traffic to the Internet backbone over slow andexpensive middle-mile facilities that unfortunately have not been upgraded bytheir owners in many years," Polka said. "The FCC could turn thisdisappointing situation around by funding middle-middle infrastructure projectsand demanding that those critical links remain available to ACA members andsimilarly situated third parties on fair and reasonable terms."
amarnoNYC: ha-ha,who defines "fair and reasonable" ?!
nicoontheweb: So, we have a lot of gapsin bandwidth accessibility in the U.S.—take it another step further and thinkabout the global impact
amarnoNYC: uh-oh
nicoontheweb: Now stream to it!
amarnoNYC: *gasp*that stinks of socialism Nico! RED SCARE RED SCARE
nicoontheweb: Think it can't happen, well,we never thought Adobe would consider Open Source nor did we ever think thatMicrosoft would participate in the Linux Kernel Community—are thesetrends a sign that we will eventually wake up in a country we can stream freelyin???!
amarnoNYC: let'scall it freedom of information— I can get behind freedom of information—this other giving it always for free idea is crazy-talk!!!!!
nicoontheweb: Don't throttle me
amarnoNYC: On the other hand the library is free...
nicoontheweb: Can the industry learn toplay nice? Can we learn from the altruism behind projects like BITNET ?
amarnoNYC: sowhat you're saying is that the web is essentially the same type of thing and as suchshould be free too?
nicoontheweb: Will the FCC or Congress orany body of authority just say, "quit messing around, equal accessAmerican's can afford—allow small business to thrive and don't gouge me! Playnice and don't touch the content."
amarnoNYC: sothey filter content too! SWEET MOTHER OF BROADBAND!
nicoontheweb: The mailman doesn't get todecide which mail he or she delivers to me, its my mail and I as long as I paymy taxes damn it, I have the right to receive all my mail on time.
amarnoNYC: Yoursaying they're 1984-ing me!!!! Boooooooooo!
nicoontheweb: They can check for anthraxbut they cannot make decisions about what mail to deliver to me or not, right?
nicoontheweb: and so, the ISPs aremaking some big choices on our behalf
amarnoNYC: WHATABOUT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, THE PRESS, SPEECH...and about a ½ dozenother constitutional rights that goes against...where’s the governmentNOW?!
nicoontheweb: and the FCC is trying tofigure out how to handle this and Obama, big advocate of Net Neutrality, it's funny becausethey took down the page on the Obama issues blog about their position onTechnology—Wow, this is so very political, I really just want bandwidth I canafford where ever I may go, in the U.S. at least ...
amarnoNYC: Mybrowser has parental controls
amarnoNYC: myprovider doesn't need to tsk-tsk me
amarnoNYC: thisis totally mind freaking me too—what is this country coming too?
nicoontheweb:Here's a good headline: Lawmaker Unveils Anti-Metered Billing Law
amarnoNYC: Weuse to be the free-est country in the world – if this is what the worldconsiders freedom, can you IMAGINE what is going on in the 2nd freest nation?!
nicoontheweb: Prompted by Time WarnerCable's botched attempt to force low caps and metered billing on its customers,Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) today unveiled the "Broadband Internet FairnessAct" (HR 2902), legislation aimed at protecting consumers from unreasonablebroadband overage charges. Massa, prompted by consumer complaints, stepped upduring the Time Warner Cable kerfuffle to call the effort an "outrageous,job killing initiative."
amarnoNYC: ...thoseBASTARDS
amarnoNYC: Sohow is playing nice going to help us here??
nicoontheweb: In a statement, Free Press laudedDampier's involvement and Massa's reaction as "inspiring example ofgrassroots activism." But, down to the minutiae, there are alot of initiatives that are strangling our nation's ability to produce,transmit and receive quality web based video. Freedom of access, speech, youname it... Freedom to the pursuit of Happiness (I liked that movie, I feltit was underrated in the media)
amarnoNYC: everybodyhas to play nice except the big guys in thesandbox
nicoontheweb: exactamundo...
nicoontheweb: But I do believe that thetides are changing, slowly changing
nicoontheweb: it's a socialist shift inattitude towards big business, thank you Bernie!
amarnoNYC: REDSCARE-RED SCARE!
amarnoNYC: Idunno Nico...I'm a capitalist at heart
nicoontheweb: Ditto - but, speaking of RedScares...
nicoontheweb: Even more Scary than RED - Did you watchAmerica's Got Talent This week?
nicoontheweb: The MySpace edition!!
amarnoNYC: no,but I bet my "end users" did
nicoontheweb: haha
nicoontheweb: http://www.myspace.com/americasgottalent
amarnoNYC: Nico....what...the....?
nicoontheweb: People were allowed to"vote" on their favorite act—videos posted on MySpace
amarnoNYC: ....inHD I see...so long bandwidth!!
nicoontheweb: And it still sucked
amarnoNYC: yousee...AMERICA LOVES A BASTARD
nicoontheweb: Every single performer,except for the girl with the harp was a big ole waste of Bandwdith—and if 100people in my neighborhood are all watching at the same time,fuggedaboutit!!
amarnoNYC: thepeople, "end users", WANT to see more unusual, freakish, hot messes
nicoontheweb: Yes they do, and on thatnote....
amarnoNYC: themore hot mess—the higher the hits
amarnoNYC: thisis all too much for one day...I do not know if I’m going to recover fromtoday’s mind freaking
amarnoNYC: There are so many bastardsthis week, but my vote goes to the dystopian "thought-police" ISP’stelling me what I can see and when—screw you ISP, I paid for play!!!
nicoontheweb: and I can get behind that! Bastardout! (Thanks for the line Jackal!)