TeleChimp | TV Journalism

Avatar the Movie went 3D. The Grammys went 3D. Now Mrs. G TV & Appliances in Lawrenceville is going 3D! On Wednesday March 24, 2010 at 10am, Suzanne Kantra, the founder of Techlicious.com will be speaking about 3D TVs and how to set up a 3D home theater system at the third generation women owned appliance superstore.

The presentation is part of CEO Debbie Schaeffer's VIB (Very Important Blogger) Series in which local and regional bloggers and professionals interested in social media gather for discussions on relevant topics and use the opportunity to network with each other.Suzanne Kantra has been on the pulse of science and technology issues for nearly 20 years. Before starting Techlicious, she was Technology Editor of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Popular Science Magazine. She has also been featured on CNN, CBS and NBC

Oh should I say portable All-in-One Viera TV, indeed Panasonic’s latest 10.1” α-Si TFT TVs (1024×600), the DMP-BV200 and DMP-HV100, push the boundaries of being simple portable TVs. Capable of being used to watch not only TV but Blu-Ray and DVD as well (DMP-BV200 only), our TVs also allow you to watch any kind of AVCHD Video from a SD, SDHC or SDX card (MEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 AVCHD, ISDBT Mobile…) plus DivX files (DMP-BV200 only), Jpeg, Mp3 via USB or on SD cards…

If you also happen to own a full Panasonic Viera Home Theater and DVR you can, once your DMP-BV200 or DMP-HV100 connected to your wireless network via a WiFi dongle (DY-WL10), receive streaming video or watch videos stored on your Panasonic DVR from the comfort of your room or in your balcony. With such Wireless setting, Panasonic also offers you the possibility of accessing YouTube and enjoying any kind of video that is available online.

The Carters made a surprise appearance at ‘ concert a few hours ago (Wednesday night).  The crowd went nuts as Alicia performed “Put It In A Love Song” and her other half on the track Beyonce

hit the stage.And the grand finale–putting the New Yorkers in an “Empire State of Mind” of course.  Jay-Z hit the stage to close out the night with their big ass song.  Fun times all around.

ABC News has had amazing success recently with its recent anchor switches -- seamlessly slotting Diane Sawyer into World News and George Stephanopoulos into Good Morning America. So I'm hesitant to be the sourpuss pouring cold water on their latest big idea: a recently-confirmed deal to hire CNN senior foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour to take Stephanopoulos' place hosting ABC's Sunday political show, This Week. But I have been scratching my head for a while since news first broke that Amanpour was talking with ABC about the job. Given that the network has avoided many of the issues I fretted over in its last set of anchor switches, maybe I'll be proven wrong here, too. In an aside, it's interesting to see ABC News recognize the reality of how internal memos get posted to blogs and Web sites, by posting news president David Westin's email to staffers about Amanpour online for the public itself. But here's what comes to my mind upon hearing this deal is final. Diversity gains in TV news now center on gender -- It is gratifying and about time to see that several of the recent high-profile TV news anchor hires in recent months have gone to women, from Sawyer taking over World News to CNN's Candy Crowley taking over its Sunday political news shows State of the Union. Amanpour brings journalistic heft and an international perspective to This Week, along with further diversifying the ranks of those covering America's most important topics. I was hoping ABC might break the color line too by hiring PBS anchor Gwen Ifill, but this is still a wonderful hire for breaking up the old boys network of Sunday political TV. Should This Week focus more on international issues? -- Given Amanpour's expertise on international affairs, I'm wondering what this means for the show's direction. As important as international awareness is, domestic politics are about to explode with the last-ditch attempt to pass changes in heath care, the run up to November's mid-term elections and the ongoing recession. Does it makes sense to pull the program into exploring international issues when there's so much happening on the home front? Will ABC News have the resources for more international coverage? -- The news of Amanpour's hiring comes just after ABC confirmed plans to reduce its staff by up to 25 percent and push more reporters into filming and editing their own video footage. With ABC cutting back on resources, will the network be able to maintain a regular international presence? In hiring Amanpour, ABC gets a host who isn't known as an anchor or for expertise in Washington D.C. -- Thinking outside the box is cool, so it will be interesting to see how different Amanpour's perspective is in shaping the show. I'm hoping This Week benefits from the perspective of someone who is outside the Beltway Gang and is willing to cover politics with a fresh eye. But it may be a challenge for someone coming from outside the Washington establishment.

There’s just six more episodes of ‘Lost’ left before (what better be) the show’s mind-melting, life-altering finale. So, with that in mind, what the heck happened on the seventh-to-last episode? Well, fear not, ‘Lost’ lovers, because the fine and Island-omnipotent ‘Instant Dharma’ crew at AOL Television is back to break down all of the nutty nuances last night’s show had to offer. Because we’re not going to drag you along in true teaser fashion like some shows do

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Movie studios, battling a steep decline in DVD sales, have decided the moment has finally come to get out the megaphone for video-on-demand services.

“The Video Store Just Moved In,” a $30 million advertising campaign backed by eight motion picture companies and eight cable providers, began Tuesday night during “American Idol” and will continue on television, print and online outlets for three months. The effort is the first time rival studios have come together to push consumers to rent more movies through their cable boxes.

The TV ads show two men in an empty video store talking about a better way to organize titles. They ultimately abandon the challenge and watch various movies on demand. “Rent new releases instantly — on cable, on demand,” a deep voice intones. The ads will feature new titles available on video like “The Blind Side” and “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

“Having a robust digital platform for the rental of movies is good for consumers and good for the industry,” Kevin Tsujihara, president of the Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Group, said in an interview.

For years, movie studios have expanded video-on-demand offerings with little fanfare. They worried that creating too much noise would anger powerful retail partners like Wal-Mart and Best Buy, which had a stranglehold on DVD sales. Movie rental companies like Blockbuster had just enough life left in them to cause their own brand of trouble over video-on-demand cheerleading.

But the DVD boom is now firmly in the rearview mirror and rental companies are on life support, if they still exist at all. On Tuesday, Blockbuster warned in its annual report that competition and declining sales “raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.”

In contrast, on-demand usage soared 20 percent last year. On-demand rentals are also more profitable for studios than traditional rental options. Blockbuster gives studios about 25 cents of every dollar spent on movie rentals; on-demand services deliver as much as 65 cents of every dollar to the studios.

Retailers have also grown less worried about the growing practice in Hollywood of “day and date” releases — offering new titles on demand at the same time the DVD hits the stores. Mr. Tsujihara forged the practice in 2006 and research has since shown that simultaneous video on demand does not cannibalize DVD sales. Indeed, Warner will release nearly all of its movies in this fashion this year.

Studios largely still maintain a delay of days or weeks before traditional rental companies like Blockbuster and Netflix get access to new titles.

“Improvements in technology, the instant availability of the most recent box-office hits and thousands of library titles have fundamentally changed viewing patterns,” said Derek Harrar, Comcast’s senior vice president for video and entertainment services. He added that Comcast now processed about 350 million on-demand views a month, which includes television shows. The average on-demand view averages about 20 per home per month.



Random but true: ‘American Idol’ castoff Alex Lambert is moving in with Miley Cyrus’ ex. It’s not that the immensely talented, but quickly eliminated, Lambert and Justin Gaston are the best of friends — the two aspiring musicians are among the cast of Simon Fuller’s new Internet reality show documenting six soon-to-be-stars living together in the Hollywood Hills. Model Giglianne Braga and actors Kara Killmer, Amanda Phillips and Ben Elliott round out the cast of ‘If I Can Dream.’

Lambert was booted from ‘Idol’ a few weeks too soon to make the cut for this year’s national tour, but fans who failed to vote for the 19-year-old singer rallied after his departure with a 20,000-signature petition. It was too late to save his ‘Idol’ career, but fans’ support paid off when Lambert nabbed a spot in the ‘If I Can Dream’ house. Lambert tells PEOPLE what his fans can expect to see on Hulu.com every Monday at midnight: for one thing, no mullet.
During his ‘Idol’ tenure, Lambert’s mullet was a oft-repeated topic of conversation, but the young singer shares that he’s had a haircut since the show. “I still have a mullet a little bit,” he reassures his fans. “It’s just hair. It’ll grow back.”

Lambert also dashes the hopes of any fans who thought his ‘Idol’ defeat might have made Lambert available to a non-celeb dating pool. “I have a girlfriend,” he admits. “Her name is Raylee. She really understands me and believes in me. I’m kinda broke, so we never go out anywhere fancy, but usually I just jam out and she tells me what she likes and I usually write her a song every week and play it for her.”

The top 24 ‘Idol’ contestant says he keeps in touch with Siobhan Magnus, one of season 9′s current front-runners. “We text every once in a while,” Lambert confirms. “She was one of my best friends on the show. Everyone else was spastic and crazy and always wanted to do something, and me and Siohban would sit and eat for like three hours.”

It’s still unclear how Lambert is able to appear in the new series — the singer moves in Thursday, but ‘Idol’ contestants are famously prohibited by strict rules that limit appearances for a period of three months. There’s no confirmation on whether Fuller’s involvement has given Lambert a free pass on signing a new contract.

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With all the negative entertainment news out there, here's a little bit of positivity from the world of television awards. Nope, I'm not talking about the glamorous Emmys that are slated to air August 29, 2010, although these awards are handed out by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, too.

Rather, these awards go by the name of "Television Academy Honors" and are given to particular TV show episodes, documentaries, and other programs that exhibit a "conscience." The awards were created in 2008 in the hopes of recognizing shows that portray real life in thought-provoking and inspiring ways.

The winners of this year's "Television Academy Honors" will be recognized at a May 5th ceremony in the Beverly Hills Hotel:

* CBS's CSI, Coup de Grace: The CSI team deals with racial prejudice when they take on the case of an off-duty cop who shot another cop.

* FOX's Glee, Wheels: The Glee Club supports Artie by performing a musical number in wheel chairs.

* HBO documentary, Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am?: This film shows how some children have coped with their grandparents having Alzheimer's.

* National Geographic Television, Explorer, Inside Death Row: The program includes interviews with three death-row inmates as well as follows the lives of their families as they cope with their family member's death.

* ABC's Private Practice, Nothing to Fear: When one of the practice's cancer patients wants to commit suicide, he enlists the help of two doctors, Pete and Sam.

* HBO's film, Taking Chance: Based on real-life events, this film follows a military escort officer who is bringing the remains of a fallen soldier back to the U.S. from Iraq.

* Discovery Health's documentary, Unlocking Autism: This film looks at autism from a scientific perspective as well as through real-life stories.

* Current TV's Vanguard, The OxyContin Express: The documentary exposes how prescription drug addictions are a growing problem through interviews with addicts, prisoners, and law enforcement.

What other shows of the past year have stirred talk around your dinner table or the water-cooler at work? If you were going to honor any other shows for their emotional stories and thought-provoking ideas, what would they be?

With Google said to be working with Intel and Sony to develop a way to bring the best of the Internet to television, industry analysts wonder if the time for a smart TV has finally arrived.

People have been expecting a convergence of computers and television for a long time now, but it never really happened. Could it be that the time for this idea has finally come? Some say that with the likes of Google, Intel and Sony involved, it just may have.

"This is an interesting alignment of some serious industry powerhouses," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "With this group, they have a lot of options to bring about a TV play, ranging from set-top boxes, to integrated TV processors, along with content from Google. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it."

Google and its partners are working to create what they're calling Google TV, a service aimed at putting the Internet search giant's Web offerings in people's living rooms, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. It would basically put Internet search on a TV, making it easier to find and watch content.

Google TV will combine Google's Android mobile operating system and applications with next-generation televisions and set-top boxes made to run the OS, according to The Times. The TV technology will run on Intel's Atom chips, the report says, and Google will develop a new version of its Chrome browser for the project. A Google spokesman told Computerworld today the company would not comment on rumors and speculation. Van Baker, an analyst with Gartner, said in a blog post today that he didn't have a lot of hope this idea would gain any real traction with consumers.

"Haven't we been here before?" asked Baker. "There have been countless products and services which are designed to bring Web connectivity to the television, starting with WebTV Networks in the early 1990s. There is only one problem with this vision: Consumers have repeatedly rejected these solutions."

But Olds noted that some consumers do want Internet-connected TV. One example of a service people want is Netflix, which lets customers go online to find videos they watch them via a Blu-ray or other device that streams Netflix service to televisions, rather than on their smaller computer screens.

According to a source, Heidi Montag has fired her new manager, psychic Aiden Chase...13 hours after hiring him. The source reveals:

"He's this creepy older guy who is clearly preying on these young girls. It's awful. The guy thinks he's famous now — it's ridiculous. He's referring to himself as the most famous psychic in the world."

During his 13-hour career, Chase went around the set of The Hills asking Heidi for a part of her paycheck and offering his managerial talents to Audrina Partridge.