Google eying Hulu

Hulu's apparently accepting initial acquisition bids starting Wednesday, and wouldn't you know it, Google's sniffing all around it. To be fair, Yahoo, Microsoft and Amazon (amongst a few others) are also interested, but it's always more fun to lead with Google since they seem to be getting their rather big hands into everything these days. According to the WSJ, bids could range from $500 million to $2 billion....but what do they know, right? They obviously haven't heard about this looming double dip recession thing.

So, someone wants to buy Hulu. But why? The owners of Hulu (Fox, NBC, ABC etc.) are busily trying to restrict their content as much as possible in order to make money off subscriptions, instead of charging more for advertising. Honestly, I can't see many people deciding to pay for Hulu, since we all got used to watching it for free.Then there's the issue of Netflix as a competitor. IF Hulu were free, it would be easier to undermine Netflix, but I'm really not sure how any potential buyer of Hulu hopes to handle Netflix. Yes, anyone reading this might have a different opinion, so please share your point of view in the comments section below.

Now, IF Google ends up scoring Hulu, it's my hope that they get rid of Hulu Plus, and increase whatever they charge for advertising. Maybe they can also come up with some kind of advertising profit sharing deal with the networks too, thus allowing them to release their programing for viewing on Hulu sooner than the current 8-10 day period. OR maybe they could just replace their current content providers; I wouldn't mind watching some HBO and Showtime on Hulu :).

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Stargate Baby!

Who brought you the internets? DARPA! Who brought you GPS? DARPA! Who brought you chicken and waffles?... Um, I'm not sure; but who now wants to bring you Prometheus? DARPA! Well, not really Prometheus, but that's where it's headed.

DARPA, the agency that develops ground breaking technology for use by the US military is looking to award a $500,000 grant to some lucky organization this November. Their charge? Take the lead in research into interstellar travel.

Honestly, I think they're already way ahead into this "Starship" program than they're letting on; the government is pretty good at keeping awesome secrets. But we'll see. Read more on this DARPA initiative here ... .

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Photovine, by Google

Photovine is Google's latest foray into the social media world. It is a social photo sharing application, that lets people snap and share photos instantly, and group them thematically in "vines"; I would equate "vines" to twitter's hashtags. Anyway,the service which apparently was invitiation only just last month is now available for download. HALT! Before you all go running off to download it, you should know that this app is ONLY for the iphone.

Why would Google go and do something as crazy as that? Well, I read somewhere that this app may have been developed by a social media acqusition of google's, Slide. They probably started developing this thing before Google bought them last year. SO there you have it folks, yet another something to mold our ever looming hive society!

Check out the video below for a nice little demo on how this Photovine works:

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Hidden: theft tracking software for your Mac

Hidden is a "tracking app" exclusively for Apple computers. It basically activates the Lappy's camera when it's stolen, and takes photos of the would be thief, their surroundings, and their activities on your computer, which can be viewed in real time, I believe. And best of all, this app is only $15 a year!

Check out the video below (may take a second to show) to see the app in action.... and the dumbest amateur rapper alive. I wonder what his jail buddies are going to say about his method of building street cred.

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SixthSense-- how cool is this?

Photo credit: MIT; CNET news

A few weeks ago a good friend sent me this link about an innovative gesture-driven computer platform called SixthSense. I was (and still am) quite intrigued by the many prospects this new system offers in the field of information management-- if adopted as mainstream. However, after speaking to a few "regular" people (as opposed to super tech nerds), I've found that most are concerened with how this new platform will impact the privacy debate-- if it goes mainstream. I tried to explain to them that they wouldn't HAVE to check their e-mails on a blank wall in the airport OR check their bank account balance on a crowded subway platform if they didn't feel comfortable. Furthermore, I explained that this system seems to to be one build upon the already existing system of the internet. Thus, most privacy issues that may arise would be pre-existing problems, and not new ones created by SixthSense.

O.k., enough with the boring stuff already! Do you remember Tom Cruise in Monority Report? Yes, that's exactly what I thought when I first saw heard about sixthsense-- the computer Tom Cruise was using. Take a peek and tell me what you think:


Video

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