Digital Lifescapes

My recent independent consulting efforts have been focused partly on the research and development of new and emerging media applications -- with multiplatform transmedia projects in particular. The discovery of creative new forms of visual entertainment has been a focal point of my work in this area. Moreover, experimenting with consumer electronics (CE) devices that facilitate increased consumption of online video content has changed my perspective of the future of in-home entertainment. During that exploratory process, I’ve abandoned traditional linear broadcast television -- and fully adopted on-demand service delivery offerings. Streaming online video content to my primary TV set, via a first-generation media player, helped me evolve my perspective of the upside potential for Web-based multimedia. My prior online content experience revolved around my viewing video on a much smaller notebook computer screen. Clearly, a typical PC display is not the best way to consume long-fro...

As I mentioned in a recent post , web-enabled consumer electronics (CE) device shipments are forecast to grow six fold -- surpassing 230 million installed units by 2014, with the majority of these in North America and Europe, according to the latest market study by In-Stat. Many people that purchase these CE products have already discovered, and others soon will, that the essential foundation for distributing multimedia content -- particularly high-definition video -- throughout your residence is an adequately provisioned home network. To date, much of the market emphasis on home networking options has focused on the apparent convenience of wireless solutions -- in particular, Wi-Fi multiport routers. If your residence is relatively small and on one level, then the chances of having good wireless signal coverage are likely in your favor. Quest for High Speed and Performance However, signal strength can be negatively impacted by a number of factors, including the construction of...