James Loney

YouTube hits the big(ger) screen

Jim — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:43:48 +0000

The situation isn’t that uncommon. You have a couple of friends over, pop out the beer, and you fire up the LCD TV to show off the latest viral video of the day. But for a while, YouTube had been looking rather hideous from eight feet away on the couch. All of this lies in the site’s original design intended for smaller computer monitors. Typically computer users would be watching YouTube clips in short bursts on a computer monitor 1-2 feet away from their eyes. But with the widespread use of laptops connected to HDTVs that keep plummeting in price, YouTube had to make some changes for a new generation of living room viewers.

Following in the footsteps of the Boxee folks who have designed their computer media centre solution with a “ten foot user experience” in mind, YouTube has liberated our TVs from it’s one foot design to what it calls YouTubeXL. It’s YouTube, but for the big screen — and yes, it does look pretty slick. Video, text, and buttons are now much bigger — an essential design point for users seated eight+ feat away from their HDTV.

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Check it out @ YouTube XL

Did You Know 4.0: The social media landscape

Jim — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:30:19 +0000

Looks to be a viral video designed to promote the Third Annual Media Convergence Forum, but this piece actually does have a host of valid points. It really speaks to our online, socially-networked media climate and contrasts this against the more traditional media vehicles. Certainly an eyeopener. The stats do seem a little questionable and the sources appear cherry-picked, but for the most part, a highly valid summary of the social media landscape.

Just add sunlight

Jim — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:15:11 +0000

Fascinating idea right here. A Brazilian village has employed rooftop-mounted bottles filled with water and bleach to light buildings and amplify exterior sunlight during daylight hours. Canadian winters might intimidate some from doing it over here, I wonder if some fearless entrepreneur could produce a weatherproof version for tougher weather conditions…

Twitter Updates for 2009-04-14

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:59:59 +0000

back to techno-blogging soon…sooh-ish… #

I love my ttc…

Jim — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:54:43 +0000

The power of myttc.ca data + OpenGL…

TTC Weekday Service (HD) from Kieran Huggins on Vimeo.

A day I wish that I didn’t live in Canada?

Jim — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:45:22 +0000

Skype for iPhone/iPod Touch was released today. Well, if you live outside of Canada, that is.

The CBC is reporting that patent-license restriction are preventing the free app store add-on from being used by Canadians. Although Fring has been able to step up and fill the VOIP-void on iPod Touches/iPhones, I was hoping to get a native application supported by the Skype people that perfectly integrates all their features into a single user interface.

It looks like I’ll be moving out of my current apartment fairly soon and I’m actively looking at a phone solution that doesn’t require a landline or extending my cell phone contract for any longer. I was particularly drawn to the Skype out (to call standard land lines) + voicemail package, although it doesn’t include skype in (receiving calls from landlines) in Canada (hmmm…perhaps another patent issue?).

TMCnet has a great guide for Canadians interested in getting the Skype-released client app for the iPod Touch/iPhone. I’ll be trying this Friday, after all my term papers are due and I have time to buy a headset solution for the my iPod Touch (it’ll have to hold me over until my iPod is upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0 and can support a bluetooth headset).

Twitter Updates for 2009-03-30

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:59:59 +0000

Is passport in and eagerly awaiting NAB. #

Twitter Updates for 2009-03-29

Jim — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:59:59 +0000

I’ve finally joined the Twitter band wagon! Quite impressed with the Wordpress integration. Stay tuned here for some micro-blogging… #

Twitter time

Jim — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:29:10 +0000

I’ve finally joined the Twitter band wagon! Quite impressed with the Wordpress integration. Stay tuned here for some micro-blogging…

Now here’s an idea…

Jim — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:57:22 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I was looking at iPod Touch cases for my new 16 GB second generation iPod and bumped into this interesting iPhone case that sports a macro lens on its back. My initial thoughts were great feature, but would someone really use the macro functionality all that much?

Well, let’s consider today’s breed of media consumers, individuals who have ended the cable/satellite subscription, given up the movie store card, and rely completely on the internet as their primary connection to video content. Recently, a program called Torrent Droid was featured on TorrentFreak and got me thinking. Torrent Droid enables Google Android phone users to scan a DVD UPC barcode outside of their home and have it downloaded/ing by the time they return to their home computer.

Looks promising. I wonder when something like this will show up on Cydia’s iPod Touch/iPhone app store and take advantage of the iClarify case.

Here’s a video of all the action that was appearing over at TorrentFreak: