The real beauty of Boxee is that it feeds content from the internet giving the end user an “on demand” type of experience from services like Hulu, YouTube, NetFlix, CBS, CNN, MTV, PBS, ESPN and tons more.  So you can watch what you want when you want and it’s all done over the web. You can also hook up to your flickr account or even listen to Pandora internet radio. The have also recently opened up a new area within Boxee called the appbox which allows users to add repositories or sources of even more content and apps. I’m having a blast using Boxee and can’t wait to see where this thing goes.

Here is a wallpaper I made for my Boxee Media Center. Enjoy!

Interactive Video Object Manipulation from Dan Goldman on Vimeo.

Originally found this here – http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/29/video-adobe-dabbles-in-video-object-manipulation/

Technorati Tags: Adobe, Labs, masking, rotoscoping, After Effects

Excited about going to Echo in a few weeks. I really love there graphics and promo materials.  They really have done a great job.

The whole media team is coming down to Texas for this one. Pastor Mark will actually be speaking for the first keynote. I am really grateful for a Lead Pastor who understands the need for quality media in the church today. He may not be able to design or edit a thing, but he understands the need for it.

It should be lots of fun. Let me know if you are planning on coming.  I would love to hang out and talk shop a little. I just wish NFL season was in full swing.  I would love to have caught a Cowboys game while im in Dallas.

Bunch of Geeks who all wore the same shirt to work.

ECHO Full Promo Video from barton Damer on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: Echo, Church Media Conference, Mark Batterson, Dallas Texas

I was shocked at the end of the show though.  They closed with the classic worship song “Shout to the Lord.” I did a double take at first.  When they announced the song I was like… “did they just say, Shout to the Lord?” Sure enough.  Right off the bat the first thing I noticed is they replaced the opening line of “My Jesus, my savior…” with “My shepheard, my savior.”  I guess they were worried about offending some people or something like that. Even though they changed that line, there is definitely no denying the song is about God and I’m more than sure that everyone listening picked up on that.

I guess overall I think its cool that they did the song. (not that they needed my opinion =)   But, I guess I am just curious as to the “why” behind the song choice. Crazy that a worship song like that gets prime-time air play on such a popular show.  Were some of the producers of the show tonight believers?  Is it a ploy to sell a ton of iTunes songs of the most popular worship song ever to all of the christians watching? Anyway, It just struck me as very funny and it got the wheels in my head spinning.  Maybe next year they will do “The Time Has Come” by United. =)

I promise this wont turn into an American Idol blog =)

Technorati Tags: American Idol, Shout to the Lord

My wife thinks I’m crazy for doing this kind of stuff. But ever since I was a kid, I have had a passion for taking things apart. So now I put that to good use and “flip” broken laptops.  This particular 12 inch powerbook is a great machine.  It just has a bad Superdrive (dvd drive for you non-mac types).  So, I picked it up for a deal (because of the fact its got a broken drive) off of Craigslist, then found a new replacement drive on Ebay. It arrived today and I spend a couple hours in surgery and – presto. All fixed.

No extra screws or parts after everythings back together either. =)  Seriously, that a good thing.  When I first started at this in my college years I would occassionally have a few screws left over here and there. Woops! =)  But now I’m a little smarter with my planning and approach. Fun stuff.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Final Cut Studio 2, Motion, DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Color

Joost is the latest piece ingenuity from the makers of Skype, formerly dubbed as the Venice Project. Basically it brings you near-TV quality content with an application that utilizes P2P protocols. However, you would never know it was working with P2P by just using the app, and although it is P2P you wont be uploading any of your own content to Joost either. Joost is based on Mozilla’s XULRunner engine, which basically means it’s cross-platform. There are still commercials just like your old TV, but hey, they got to pay for it somehow. So basically its kind of like TV on demand just delivered via the internet to your computer.

I received my beta about a month ago and have been toying around with the app here and there. I am running the mac version of Joost and so far it really hasn’t given me any issues. After the simple install you just click the icon and Joost starts up in full screen. I have to admit at first I did feel a little bit like my machine was getting hijacked with Joost now being the only thing visible on my screen, but then I was watching full-screen TV in a matter of seconds.

The GUI is pretty nice and navigates fairly easily. The buttons and icons are over sized so that they can be selected with ease. Once you have selected your show all of the buttons and controls fade away so that you can tune in on the action. It’s defiantly not as slick as apple TV, but what do you want for free =)

The video quality is not stellar and being that I am a videophile I know I am really picky, but I must say that Joost looks much, much better than anything on YouTube or Google Video. I have used Joost from everything from a 750k DSL line to a full T1. The quality of the image definitely depends on your connection speed.

Joos is definitely trying to beef up their content. I have noticed an increase in content in just the few months that I have had it. I am sure that the amount of content will grow when Joost goes out of beta invite-only mode. Currently you can watch MTV, the car show Fifth Gear, The National Geographic Channel, Warner Bros. Records and many others. A decent selection for kicking off an app like this.

One cool and interactive feature of Joost is its support for plugins. Joost’s plugins are basically widgets you can load in your Joost screen, things like clock, feed reader, instant messenger, rating plugin which enables you to rate the current clip with grades from 1 to 5, notice board, and channel chat. The developers are promising new and better to come. These beginning ones are basic but the possibilities for the future plugins are huge. Could make TV truly interactive.

Bottom line… it’s free TV. Ultimately whether or not the app lives or dies will depend on if they can get enough good content. Content is king! I think the tech that they are using to push everything is really amazing. So I think the groundwork is laid and now we will just have to wait and see where Joost takes us. Think about it, we could have a channel for NCC with all of the services and videos right there on demand. On demand discipleship. =)

If you want to try Joost out, just let me know and I can send you a beta invite.

Technorati Tags: Joost, IPTV, TV, Mozilla XULRunner, P2P

Four Jobs I’ve Had
Pool Table Installer
Disc Jockey
Wireless Consultant
A grunt for a moving company

Four movies I can watch over and over
Gladiator – Goosebumps everytime!
Tommy Boy – (anything with Chris Farley really)
The Matrix
The Program

Four places I have lived
Ontario, Canada
Modesto, California
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Norristown, Pennsylvania

Four shows I like to watch
Sportscenter
24 – Jack Bauer is my hero =)
American Idol
House

Four foods that I like
My wife’s Pasta -mmmm
Pizzaria Uno’s Chicago Classic – Sooo bad for you!
Cinnabon – Awful for you!
Pat’s Cheesecake! =)

Four websites I visit daily
http://www.engadget.com
http://www.evotional.com
http://www.google.com – hahaha
http://www.dallascowboys.com

Four things I want to do before I die
Fly a Plane
Go Skydiving
Visit Every Continent
Have Children – someday =)

Four people I’m tagging
Anthony Coppedge
David Russell
Jeremy Hopkins – College Roomate
John Hassler

When I saw this I just knew that I had to share it with you. Man! They didn’t sell one of these @ Toy’s R Us When I was a kid. This little baby can push about 280 MPH!!!

Click here to watch the video