Aereo and the Battle Over the Future of Television

While the U.S. Supreme Court considers a historic case involving technology and television, the company at the center of it all is going on the offensive.

In case you're new to the debate, Aereo streams over-the-air content it intercepts via antennas.  The company argues it's doing nothing you couldn't do yourself, and so therefore it doesn't owe broadcast companies anything.

Aereo just released this new video explaining just how its service works:

Company Produced Video: How Aereo Works

Broadcasters say Aereo is in violation of federal copyright law.  At issue is whether Aereo's service qualifies as a public or private performance.  If the Supreme Court rules that Aereo's service is public, then it won't be able to charge for it and its business model goes down the drain.  If the service qualifies as private, then it could be able to continue as is.

In another development, Aereo's TV-streaming service is now available for Google Chromecast players.

This is a significant development in that this is now another player in a lineup that includes iOS devices, Internet browsers made for Macs and PCs, Apple TV as well as Roku.

Subscribe to The Ah! Channel for updates on this and other important stories.

More on the Gravitational Shift in Media

Teenager rockets to fame using a cracked iPhone 

The latest evidence of the blazing speed at which traditional media and the entertainment industry is being upended by technology.

It comes from a Minnesota high school senior who wrote a song in just 15 minutes.  She then propped up her cracked iPhone on her great-grandmother's out-of-tune piano and started playing.

The result?  Here it is!  A world-wide hit, with more than six-million views in nearly 200 countries:

"His Daughter" By Molly Kate Kestner

Kestner had been using YouTube to post the more than one-dozen songs for family members.  But "His Daughter" apparently struck a chord with web surfers after being posed this past Easter Sunday.

The response, Kestner says, has been overwhelming.

The young lady's rocket ship appears to be just into its first stage.  Next up?  A spot on ABC's Good Morning America, admitting in a post on her Facebook page that she's "loving" her first trip to New York City.

CicLAvia Success

Angelenos appear eager to challenge their "car culture" by closing one L.A.'s most vital arteries to automobile traffic for a day.

Tens-of-thousands participate.  Bicyclists, rollerbladers, runners, walkers and even unicyclists take over Los Angeles' unofficial "Main Street" for a day.

Here's some video just as the seven-hour closure of Wilshire Boulevard got underway:

L.A.'s Wilshire Boulevard closed for CicLAvia

And it only got more crowded from there.  Throngs turned out to enjoy a six-mile stretch of the iconic boulevard, free of cars!  Major cross streets remained open with traffic controlled by police, but they closed off most smaller streets.

The official CicLAvia web site

Wilshire Boulevard seemed mostly stress free for the event, but surrounding streets became clogged with cars.  Traffic control involved funneling cars across Wilshire via only major arteries, leaving long lines of vehicles waiting on side streets.

The next CicLAvia is planned for October 5th.

Retweet Record during the Oscars! "Something is technically wrong!"

Ellen DeGeneres brings down Twitter with a retweet!

The host of the 2014 Academy Awards crashed the social networking site with her selfie taken during the show, causing Twitter to throw up a screen saying "Something is technically wrong."  

Twitter users overwhelmed the social networking site as Ellen DeGeneres careened from one surprising skit to another during the Oscars.

Midway through the telecast, Ellen DeGeneres, abandoning the stage to walk the theater isles, asked actor Bradley Cooper to take a picture.  The Academy Award nominee gleefully complied.  The result is a "selfie" stuffed with some of the most famous people in the world.

Repeat Oscar-winner Meryl Streep can be seen grasping DeGeneres' right shoulder as she struggles not to be blocked out fellow award-nominee Jennifer Lawrence.

Julia Roberts, a nominee herself and one of the highest paid actors in the world, laughs as she almost seems to pile on top of her colleagues, with fellow mega-millionaire actor and multiple Oscar-winner Brad Pitt looking as if he doesn't know quite what to make of what's happening.

Kevin Spacey, another multiple Oscar winner, can be seen mugging for the picture between the two of them, with fellow nominees on the left and right struggling to get in on the shot.

When DeGeneres posted the picture, Twitter promptly crashed under the weight of millions of retweets.  Users of the site ended up seeing this screen for a period lasting up to 20 minutes:

DeGeneres' picture had been retweeted more than two-million times by midnight, breaking a record set by the U.S. President Barack Obama with a picture of him hugging First Lady Michelle Obama after his re-election in 2012.

DeGeneres' stunt came during a show in which the movie "12 Years a Slave" won best picture and "Gravity" pulled down seven Oscars, including a statue for Alfonso Cuaron who becomes the first Latin American filmmaker to win the Oscar for directing.

A New Way to Distribute Your Story

I've got a good example of the future when it comes to news!

It comes in the form of a posting on YouTube.

It's something to take notice of, mainly for the technique used by the distributors.  It shows how major news is more than ever in the hands of those who can afford to put it out there for public consumption.

This particular example is from the City of Los Angeles' public transit system, Metro.

Traditional media, including television news, nearly ignored Metro's big announcement this last week.  It involved a press conference about a project that could top a BILLION DOLLARS.

So the agency figured out how to distribute the press conference itself, and did it:

Transit Project Press Conference

Keep in mind, this is no small project!

It involves linking downtown Los Angeles more closely together with public transit.  Trains running through downtown will finally be linked, but at a cost of more than a half-billion dollars!  It's going to take the rest of the decade to build it.

The agency sends out a regular email with important updates on projects as well as events.  It just so happens that this time it included the video from past week's announcement.

Forward-thinking leaders are increasingly posting video of their appearances on the Internet, bypassing what has been a traditional filter of writers, reporters and editors.

The Road to Downtown Los Angeles

I think it's shocking when you consider what's going to happen to downtown Los Angeles!

Imagine the city's Union Station when it's seamlessly connected to the region.  You'll be able to get on about any train and get to Downtown L.A.

It's happening!  What has been a disjointed series of connections will be fused through a more than half-billion dollar project:

It could be finished by the end of the decade!

I think the announcement, distributed here by Metro, shows how public leaders can seize the initiative and distribute the news directly to people:

Metro: A New Day for Downtown L.A.

I'll be watching developments here as the entertainment capital of the world blossoms in what leaders are calling a Renaissance, so check back and "Like" this blog.

Revolutionary Development in Mobile Technology

The Internet of Things is taking a giant leap forward!

New technology has just been developed that will not only allow you to stream high-quality video wherever you are and whenever you want, but also allows greater connectivity to just about any device with a computer chip.

Through this radical new development, anyone can have a broadband connection wherever they are or whatever they're doing.  Cellular networks will no longer buckle under the weight of everyone wanting to watch their own video at the same time.

My colleague, Steve Pearlman, the founder of Artemis in San Francisco, demonstrates it here:

pCell laboratory demonstration

This, of course, is a huge development for the Ah! Channel.  We'll now be able to stream our stories to your mobile devices without delay, sans stuttering.

In fact, each of us are now on the verge of being able stream video on any mobile device.  Steve shows us just how the antenna works that allows us to do that:

pCell antenna demonstration

Basically, the technology uses newly-developed antennas to take advantage of the interference caused by having too many other antennas in close proximity.  Think of it as a jump from the radio tube on which broadcasting was founded to the transistor.  And then from the transistor to the computer chip.

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