Posts Tagged ‘Technology’

Consumer Electronics Show 2012

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Jan 17, 2012 at 5:19 pm

As I write this, the CES 2012 show is in full swing in Las Vegas.  My other duties have precluded my attending this year, but there are a number of technologies that are “up and coming” that might be of interest to our readership:

Gesture and Voice control of Electronic Devices–This seems to be a wave (ahem) of the future.  Samsung showed off a gorgeous TV that used gesture and voice control rather than the conventional remote.  Microsoft Kinect for Windows seems to be gaining some traction as well.  Apple is rumored to be developing a television with a “Siri-like” interface.  All of this actually makes sense.  If we can talk to our cars and our smartphones, it’s just a matter of time before this technology is commoditized to other devices as well.  I will give my personal “tech editor” award to the first company that makes a voice command driven remote that will translate to IR/RF and with older home theatre components.  Now that would be a “universal” remote!  And you wouldn’t have to search for the “light” button!

OLED Televisions–”Organic Light Emitting Diode” sets debuted in several booths this year.  This display technology is very power efficient and allows the design of very thin displays.  This technology has been used in smartphones and tablets for a number of years, and has found its way into the design of large displays.  In theory, display panels could be manufactured less than 1/4″ thick-certainly a conversation piece in anyone’s living room.  I question the practical advantages of such a thin display, in terms of shipping, set up, connectorization, etc.  There are no inherent quality advantages of OLED over currently available technologies, but that said, my sense is that we will see more of this technology in larger displays as manufacturing/logistical challenges are conquered.

Thunderbolt–The Intel “Thunderbolt” connectivity standard appears to be gaining mainstream acceptance.  Thunderbolt boasts incredibly fast data transfer rates, as well as the ability to connect multiple devices with different functions; i.e. an external disc drive and a display monitor in the same I/O port, for example.  Throughput is over 20 times faster than USB 2.0.  Apple’s new laptop line has had Thunderbolt connectivity for a while now, but peripherals and Wintel computers hosting the standard were pretty scarce.  Acer has embraced the standard with its new Aspire Ultrabook computer and both Seagate and Western Digital showed new external drives with the standard embedded. This particular technology becoming more ubiquitous  is a good thing IMHO as this is  a really, really good technology–very user friendly and highly capable.

A couple of notable points–3DTV was not generating the buzz that it did last year, although Samsung and LG, among others, still seem to be committed to the technology.  Most set companies appear to be pushing internet apps into their more mainstream (read: “cheaper”) televisions.  The show was again awash in tablets, just as it was last year.  But market penetration numbers have not changed much.

A great time to be alive, if you’re a gadget guy!

Until next time…

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A New Voice Mail System at WOW!

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Sep 30, 2011 at 4:25 pm

Over the past several weeks our voice products engineering group (which I happen to head up as my “day job”) has been converting our esteemed customers over to our new Metaswitch-based Voice Mail platform.  We have converted the Cleveland and Columbus markets over to the new system, and will be converting the Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan markets as well over the next couple of weeks.

Voice Mail customers should have received a letter from the general manager of their respective region regarding this change.  We understand that this change will bring some inconvenience (because ALL change is inconvenient!), but I’d like to explain why we feel such a change is needed at this juncture.

As a technologist, I love good technology, but the longer I’m around the more I realize that technology is only as good as the people behind it.  Our existing platform is relatively new, and it is great technology–it has been in service only since 2007, and it was a major investment for the company.  But here’s the thing.  Over the course of the 4 years we have owned and maintained this system, the company which manufactures and supports this equipment has undergone some major changes–none of them particularly positive.  Some very bright people that my engineers depended on to support this product have left this particular firm, and at the beginning of last year, we determined that this platform would be difficult to support going forward based on current circumstances.  Said much more simply, we felt our customers deserved better than they were likely to get in the future from this system and the drama surrounding its parent company.

So my engineering team has been busy placing an entirely new system in place, with the help of an extremely supportive and competent manufacturer.  It is our hope and expectation that the new system, and the people behind it, will provide superior service to our customers well into the future.

BTW, any of you have need of a lightly used, very large VM system?

Until next time…

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DOCSIS 3.0-A New Reality at WOW!

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Sep 13, 2011 at 8:46 am

As has been indicated in past posts, WOW has been working behind the scenes for the better part of a year to upgrade Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) plant to support DOCSIS 3.0, a cable standard which more effectively manages digital bandwidth on the cable network as well as allowing “channel bonding” to attain higher speeds to individual users.  That work is largely complete at this point.

What this means for our customers is the availability of higher speed data connections, as well as more network availability during times of peak congestion.

Currently the maximum speed available is 15MPS down and 2MPS up with our Xtreme Turbo product–very fast by any standard, but by mid 4th quarter, two additional HSD tiers will be available in all markets.  They will feature download speeds of 30MPS and 50MPS, and upload speeds of 3MPS and 5MPS, respectively.  New modems will be required to support the DOCSIS 3.0 based products.

We have had a number of testers out there who have had the product for a while.  It has performed very well, and certainly is fast.  I spoke to one individual today though that offered some perspective on these upper speed tiers that is worth passing on to our readership.  Quote, “The way I use the internet, there isn’t much discernible difference between what I had (Xtreme Turbo) and what I have now.”  We discussed the “garden hose” metaphor of internet service, and that is that regardless of how large the opening is on the end of the hose, there is generally a narrower pipe on the far end server providing the requested data.

Now, lest I be accused of reducing the internet’s complexity down to a “series of tubes” as the late Senator Ted Stevens so infamously opined, there is, nonetheless, a component of truth to this “garden hose” analogy.  In practice, Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and other video providers have practical limits on the stream they will send to any one customer, and all of these streams will fit very nicely into one of WOW!’s lower speed tiers, thank you very much.  Said another way, you may not see a lot of difference on most of the content downloads/streaming in the new superfast speed tiers, particularly at peak times when servers providing the requested content are sharing bandwidth to potentially thousands of customers.  It certainly will make a huge difference in non-peak times, or other types of traffic such as peer-to-peer, gaming, etc.  So it depends on how you use the internet, and how many users you have in your household that would be using the service simultaneously.

One thing is certain.  Bandwidth requirements will continue to rise as new services and applications become available through the internet.  DOCSIS 3.0 positions WOW! and our esteemed customers for the future.

Until next time….

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The State of 3D

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Aug 19, 2011 at 8:26 am

As we approach the “3/4 mark” for 2011, I thought it would be informative to check up on 3D television technology generally, and where the industry sits at this time.

Just this past week, Sony and Samsung announced a joint initiative to develop common standards for active shutter glasses that would allow interchangeability between televisions made by different manufacturers.  Implicit in this idea would be the potential availability of glasses manufactured by third parties, potentially driving the cost of 3D technology down over time.  In a jointly prepared statement, the companies revealed:

“Panasonic Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation and X6D Limited (XPAND 3D) today announced their intent to collaborate on the development of a new technology standard for consumer 3D active glasses, under the name, “Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative.”

“With this new agreement, the companies intend to work together on the development and licensing of radio frequency (RF) system 3D active glasses technology, including RF system protocols between consumer 3D active glasses and 3D displays such as televisions, personal computers, projectors and 3D theaters with XPAND active shutter glasses.

“The standardization will also include multiple types of infrared (IR) system protocols between 3D active glasses and 3D displays, ranging from the protocols jointly developed by Panasonic and XPAND 3D*, to the proprietary protocols of Samsung and Sony, respectively.”

In my opinion, this is good news for 3D fans.  Certainly anything that standardizes 3D technologies is a positive development, primarily because this standardization potentially lowers the cost of entry.

From a non-technical perspective however, 3D remains a wild card.  Sales rates for 3D televisions this past year have been 1% for the United Kingdom, 2% in Canada, and 5% in the United States.  This is not very encouraging from an industry perspective.  There is some question as to whether these low numbers are the result of “early adopters” holding off for price decreases similar to what happened with HDTV sets, or whether there is just a general lack of enthusiasm for the technology.

A recent study of 400 filmgoers by L Mark Carrier of California State University suggests that 3D technology does not allow viewers to experience more intense emotional reactions, more immersion, or any other potential advantages over their 2D counterparts.  Neither did viewers experience an enhanced ability to recall a film’s details.  Carrier’s study also suggested that watching films in 3D increased the risk of eyestrain, headache, or other vision trouble by a factor of 3.

“All other things being equal, I would say you’re increasing your chances of having some discomfort,” said Carrier at the America Psychological Association’s annual meeting on August 7th, 2011. “There aren’t going to be any benefits in terms of understanding the movie better or making the movie more meaningful, as far as we can tell,” he added.

This research potentially sheds light on why adoption rates for 3D have been so glacial.  I personally believe that another reason is simply that 3D should be an artistic tool for a gifted filmmaker to use with a light touch.  Implicit in that statement is the idea that not all films should use the technology–2D is the best choice for most of the quality content produced these days.  Simply shooting in 3D to get a short term financial hit from a theater release is a bad idea, and will backfire big time if the practice continues.  In fact, with one or two exceptions, 3D releases have not offered the box office boost producers were hoping for over the past 18 months or so.  It would be a shame if a potentially legitimate artistic tool would fall prey to misuse and overuse, souring a public already saturated in empty spectacle.

Until next time….

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Streaming to Tablets–Part Deux

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Aug 12, 2011 at 9:27 am

Several weeks ago I wrote a piece on the dispute between Time Warner and Viacom. (See that article here.)  At the center of the “TV Everywhere” paradigm is the legal question whether consumers should have access to content on any device that they’ve paid for as part of their cable subscription without additional fees being levied on the cable provider and consumer.  Most cable companies, as you would expect, feel that a cable subscription to a channel should extend to every viewable device within the home at no extra charge to the distributor or consumer.  Content providers see additional screens as an opportunity for more revenue.

In an announcement made this afternoon, CableVision (another large cable player who had introduced a “TV Everywhere” service) and Viacom announced that they had settled this dispute to their mutual satisfaction.  In a joint statement, the companies said: “Viacom and Cablevision have agreed to resolve their pending litigation, and the Viacom programming will continue to appear on Cablevision’s Optimum Apps for iPad and other IP devices. In reaching the settlement agreement, Cablevision and Viacom were able to resolve the iPad matter and an unrelated business matter to their mutual satisfaction. Neither side is conceding its original legal position or will have further comment.”

Hmmm….wonder what that means.  At least one on line source opined that Viacom had indeed bowed to the legal opinion of Cablevision, but I’ve been unable to find any other corroboration of that possibility.

As I indicated in a previous post, the cat is out of the proverbial (technical) bag IMHO.  I do not believe that the content providers’ desire for more revenue based on screen size or portability is a sustainable model.

Case in point:

Several weeks ago I replaced one of my televisions with a Samsung 7000 series LED HDTV. Samsung calls it a “Smart TV”, and indeed, carries with it a full series of apps as well as a QWERTY remote and the ability to surf the net via its built in wifi.  Guess what else is part of the technology?  Yup…streaming all channels from the TV set to a second screen, the Samsung Galaxy tablet!  Now at present, there are some limitations on this paradigm if you are not using the built in digital QAM or ATSC tuners, but I suspect that it is only a matter of time before enterprising manufacturers increase the functionality of the app and extend the option to iOS devices as well as other screens using the Android OS.

The point is that this idea has consumer inertia that will push continued development of multiple screen access to content.  Try as they might, content providers have historically had little control over the consumer electronics industry generally, and I don’t believe that they will bear sway here either.

These developments in the industry should help the content providers realize that forcing distributors of content to pay additional freight for implementing elegant solutions to “TV Everywhere” makes little sense, and is not a sustainable business model.

Until next time…

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