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Perhaps we can encode high quality video onto physical media... using microscale structures to _optically_ encode the video data? We could then use snail mail t

Perhaps we can encode high quality video onto physical media... using microscale structures to _optically_ encode the video data? We could then use snail mail to move these optical storage devices to end viewers. Oh, wait. Darnit.

gm-conspiracy 9y ago
Thing bigger. Instead of a movie or few episodes, consider physical media that could store a year or decade of TV shows and movies. What is more likely to occur in the next decade: increasing density and decreasing costs of storage media, OR, increased speeds at the local ISP level with decreasing costs?
- Symbiote 9y ago
  "The Paquete is an alternative to the web in [Cuba] where, according to some estimates, fewer than 5% of homes are connected. It consists of a terabyte of data bringing together the latest music, Hollywood movies, TV series, mobile phone apps, magazines and even a classifieds section similar to Gumtree or Craigslist. Every week, unidentified curators compile a selection of content and deliver it via a complex network of hundreds of distributors who, much like old-fashioned newspaper delivery boys, bring the Paquete to the door of its subscribers." http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33816655 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33816655
- cle 9y ago
  There's a lot of incidental value in on-demand streaming. The streaming company gets immediate and much more intimate feedback about how you're interacting with their product.
  - peteretep 9y ago
    I'm sure the "NetFlix CHILLNAS™" device which you plug into your TV via HDMI can be made to be Wifi-enabled only and absolutely lousy with instrumentation to send analytics back to homebase.
ryandamm 9y ago
Evidently my satire was too subtle -- I was referring to DVDs in the era of early Netflix (Qwikster?). I'm also confronting the possibility that I'm old, and a lot of you whippersnappers have already forgotten about DVDs, CDs, eight tracks, etc. (Though are strangely very tuned in to vinyl.) So yeah: Please get off my lawn. I'm going back to my rocking chair to listen to recaps of Google I/O streamed directly into my hearing aid.
- gm-conspiracy 9y ago
  No, I got your reference. I grew up with 5.25" floppy disks.
  - ryandamm 9y ago
    Oh, I remember. I remember loading 10 of those things to run a video game, keeping your games in a big file of floppy disks....

gm-conspiracy 9y ago

Thing bigger. Instead of a movie or few episodes, consider physical media that could store a year or decade of TV shows and movies. What is more likely to occur in the next decade: increasing density and decreasing costs of storage media, OR, increased speeds at the local ISP level with decreasing costs?

Symbiote 9y ago
"The Paquete is an alternative to the web in [Cuba] where, according to some estimates, fewer than 5% of homes are connected. It consists of a terabyte of data bringing together the latest music, Hollywood movies, TV series, mobile phone apps, magazines and even a classifieds section similar to Gumtree or Craigslist. Every week, unidentified curators compile a selection of content and deliver it via a complex network of hundreds of distributors who, much like old-fashioned newspaper delivery boys, bring the Paquete to the door of its subscribers." http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33816655 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33816655
cle 9y ago
There's a lot of incidental value in on-demand streaming. The streaming company gets immediate and much more intimate feedback about how you're interacting with their product.
- peteretep 9y ago
  I'm sure the "NetFlix CHILLNAS™" device which you plug into your TV via HDMI can be made to be Wifi-enabled only and absolutely lousy with instrumentation to send analytics back to homebase.

ryandamm 9y ago

Evidently my satire was too subtle -- I was referring to DVDs in the era of early Netflix (Qwikster?). I'm also confronting the possibility that I'm old, and a lot of you whippersnappers have already forgotten about DVDs, CDs, eight tracks, etc. (Though are strangely very tuned in to vinyl.) So yeah: Please get off my lawn. I'm going back to my rocking chair to listen to recaps of Google I/O streamed directly into my hearing aid.

gm-conspiracy 9y ago
No, I got your reference. I grew up with 5.25" floppy disks.
- ryandamm 9y ago
  Oh, I remember. I remember loading 10 of those things to run a video game, keeping your games in a big file of floppy disks....