Here are some audio and video trends for 2018.
Buying headphones in 2018 is going to be a fragmented mess because of a silent goodbye to the 3.5mm audio plug, Majority of new headphones introduced at CES were wireless and there are several different wireless systems. Bluetooth audio has historically sacrificed sound quality for convenience relative to a wired connection. However, there are a couple of standards now that promise “better-than-CD” audio quality. For wired connections where we once had the solid reliability of a 3.5mm analog connector working with any jack shaped to receive it, there’s now a divergence of digital alternatives:Lightning, USB-C, and Sony’s 4.4mm Pentaconn connector.
Voice, connectivity and AI took center stage at the Consumer Electronics Show. Alexa Skills and the Voice Experience is really getting off. With over 15 million Amazon Echo devices shipped and 244 million projected by 2022 it is expected to take lead with Google Home Assistant and Apple Homepod with Siri following. Also Google Assistant was mentioned a lot in CES. Google Sold 6.75 Million ‘Google Home’ Devices In the Last 80 Days. ‘Language assistants were a big topic at this year’s CES. More and more manufacturers like JBL and Creative are integrating smart helpers into their WLAN speakers. Alexa support comes to 2018 TVs from Sony, Hisense and LG. Google launches smart displays with JBL, Lenovo, LG and Sony. There will be also other competitors aiming to this market, for example “China’s Google,” shouted out most loudly for voice. Microsoft’s Cortana had a crappy CES so it seems that Amazon Alexa will soon arrive on Windows PCs (HP, ASUS, Acer and others). Introducing Single-Chip Solutions for Building Alexa-Enabled Products.Sony launches a bunch of new headphones and adds Google Assistant functionality to the line.
Binaural, ambisonic, spatial, surround, 3D will be talked about. The most accessible exhibitions of this technology are in Youtube VR and Facebook 360, where users can interact with 360º videos that contain spatial audio. AR/VR was hot topic at CES 2018.
Sound bars are popular for compact home theater setups. Traditional home cinema systems with AV receivers and large speaker arsenals are only used by film and sound enthusiasts who sacrifice space in the living room for this purpose.
People listen to four hours of audio content every day. Streaming platforms like Spotify take a big bit of that. Streaming accounts for 41% of music consumption was the 2017’s most jaw dropping statistic. People will also listen a lot of music from YouTube.
Acoustics-based NFC is being pushed to market as it requires only a microphone and speaker, eliminating tags and chips. Chirp and LISNR are two emerging companies facilitating soundwave communication.
Wireless headphones and speakers become more common. Portable loudspeakers without cables are more popular than ever with music listeners. Most popular connection technology is Bluetooth.More and more manufacturers are breaking away from the cable and are showing new models and updates of completely wireless in-ear headphones at the CES 2018.
There is a bit of nostalgia involved: Several traditional technology tries to make come-back in 2018. The traditionalists among the music lovers continue to use records, so new record players keep coming. Cassette tapes making a comeback thanks to young, independent artists. Artists like Justin Bieber, Eminem and Metallica have all put out material on tape recently as a recent blockbuster film “Guardians of the Galaxy” put a hero center stage with a Sony Walkman. Tube amplifiers are back for traditionalist audiophiles that think that tubes can make your music to sound better.
4K video resolution is hot and 8K going to be pushed to market. TV has progressed to the 4K ultra-high-definition stage with its 3,840 × 2,160 pixel resolution. LG Display has made a 65-inch rollable 4K OLED TV. LG displayed 8K OLED TV at CES. Samsung has technology scales the image resolution to a 8K with AI. LG, Panasonic, and TCL put the spotlight on the chips that do the video processing: For the foreseeable future, any advances in image quality will be coming from these chips, not from the displays themselves.
Welcome ATSC 3.0 in USA: In November, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued new rules that will let TV broadcasters adopt the next-generation wireless TV standard designated ATSC 3.0. This new standard defines the specifications for ultra-high-definition (UHD) or 4K over-the-air (OTA) digital TV. But over-the-air is minority in USA as roughly 75% of households pay for their TV reception for cable or satellite distribution.
Home theater headsets have come a long way. AR/VR is hot. Oculus partners with Xiaomi to launch the Oculus Go and Mi VR Standalone.
Wired peripherals and electronics are still a major part of the market. Cabling for AV systems will have new features: a new HDMI standard and how active cables will provide both power and video to consumer devices.
3D cameras are hot. HP’s Z 3D Camera puts Sprout’s scanning power on your PC. Intel’s new cameras add human-like 3D vision to any machine.
When almost all AV products are pushing more and more features, it seems that almost Everything is too complicated for an average Joe.
Sources:
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2018/01/10-audio-marketing-trends-2018
http://www.computerbild.de/artikel/avf-News-Audio-Trends-CES-2018-11264743.html
https://www.marketplace.org/2017/11/22/business/cassette-tapes-make-comeback
http://aeaaudio.com/why-tubes-are-back-and-how-to-get-in-on-it/
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/coolest-best-audio-gadgets-ces-2018/
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/18/16903516/headphones-wireless-analog-jack-future-ces-2018
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/alexa-support-comes-to-2018-tvs-from-sony-and-hisense/
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332845
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYhgJlEn880
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7368-tekoaly-skaalaa-televisiokuvan-8k-tarkkuuteen
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/6/16859102/lg-display-rollable-oled-65-inch-ces-2018
https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/08/eagle-wearable-home-theater/
http://www.electronicdesign.com/community-home/free-tv-keeps-getting-better-welcome-atsc-30
https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/18/intel-realsense-ready-to-use-depth-cameras/
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/hps-z-3d-camera-puts-sprouts-scanning-power-on-your-pc/
841 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Camera Obscura On Wheels Hits the Open Road
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/24/camera-obscura-on-wheels-hits-the-open-road/
A camera obscura is a very simple device. Consisting of a dark chamber, with only a pinhole to let light in, it focuses an image on its inside surface. If you want to take a permanent copy, it’s as simple as installing a photosensitive film inside and managing the exposure time. Sounds like a normal camera, right? The difference is the scale — a camera obscura is large enough that humans can stand inside and view the image. Usually, they are large stationary rooms. [Physics Girl] took the show on the road by building a camera obscura out of a rented box truck.
We turned this truck into a GIANT CAMERA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIp9kItDUh8
Tomi Engdahl says:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook launches Candidate Info, direct-to-camera intro videos by political candidates appearing in potential constituents’ News Feeds starting next week
Facebook launches Candidate Info where politicians pitch on camera
https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/24/facebook-candidate-info/
Facebook wants to make YouTube-style monologue videos the new way for politicians to talk straight with their constituency. Today, Facebook launches Candidate Info, featuring thousands of direct-to-camera vertical videos where federal, state and local candidates introduce themselves and explain their top policy priority, qualifications and biggest goal if they win office. Elizabeth Warren (D – MA Senate), Scott Walker (R – WI Governor) and Beto O’Rourke (D – TX Senate) have already posted, and Facebook expects more candidates to jump in shortly.
These videos will soon be available as part of an Election 2018 bookmark in the Facebook mobile app’s navigation drawer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.wired.com/story/these-new-tricks-can-outsmart-deepfake-videosfor-now/
Tomi Engdahl says:
These Twenty Projects Won The Musical Instrument Challenge In The Hackaday Prize
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/16/these-twenty-projects-won-the-musical-instrument-challenge-in-the-hackaday-prize/
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube CEO says EU’s new copyright legislation threatens jobs, smaller creators
https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/22/youtube-ceo-says-eus-new-copyright-legislation-threatens-jobs-smaller-creators/?guccounter=1
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki published her quarterly letter to creators today, which included very strong language regarding the EU’s controversial copyright reform directive.
Specifically, her letter focused on Article 13
Tomi Engdahl says:
China’s ByteDance leapfrogs Uber to becomes world’s most valuable startup
https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/26/chinas-bytedance-leapfrogs-uber-to-becomes-worlds-most-valuable-startup/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
Move aside Uber, China’s ByteDance is now the world’s highest-valued tech startup.
That’s according to reports from Forbes and Bloomberg both of which claim that the company has completed a $3 billion investment that values the company at $75 billion.
ByteDance operates a range of digital media platforms, but it is best known for Toutiao, its AI-based news aggregator that has become one of China’s most-used apps with over 120 million users, and short video platform TikTok, which recently gobbled up Music.ly
Tomi Engdahl says:
T-Series vs PewDiePie: The Race For The Top YouTube Channel Just Got Real
https://tubularinsights.com/tseries-vs-pewdiepie/
Anyone familiar with YouTube will know that one creator has dominated the platform for the past 5 years as the most-subscribed to channel. PewDiePie, one of the most talked-about gamers in the world, has held onto his position as King of YouTube since 2013, but his crown is about to slip as Indian Media company, T-Series, looks on course to surpass PewDiePie’s 67M subscribers in the next few days – and that news is causing quite the stir.
T-Series is set to surpass PewDiePie’s total subscribers by Sunday, October 28th 2018
Tomi Engdahl says:
Snapchat’s new Camera desktop camera app brings AR masks to Twitch, Skype…
https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/26/snap-camera-desktop/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
Snapchat is launching its first Mac and Windows software that takes over your webcam and brings its augmented reality effects to other video streaming and calling services. Snap Camera can be selected as a camera output in OBS Skype, YouTube, Google Hangouts, Skype, Zoom, and more plus browser-based apps like Facebook Live so you can browse through Snapchat’s Lens Explorer to try on AR face filters.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Twitch says it has 1M concurrent viewers at any given time, announces Squad Streaming to allow up to four people broadcast at once, Twitch Sings game, and more
Twitch announces group streaming and a karaoke game for its 1M concurrent viewers
https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/26/twitch-sings/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jordan Pearson / Motherboard:
A look at the tough anti-piracy approach taken by powerful companies in Canada, who are suing TVAddons, a site hosting unofficial apps for the Kodi media player
What Happens When Telecom Companies Search Your Home for Piracy
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9k7pya/tv-addons-sued-by-rogers-bell-fairplay-members
Adam Lackman ran TVAddons, a site hosting unofficial addons for Kodi media player. A legal team representing powerful telecom and media companies—Bell and Rogers included—searched his home and sued him for piracy. Now, he’s fighting to make it to trial.
When 30-year-old web developer Adam Lackman heard loud knocking on his Montreal apartment door around 8 AM, he thought he was about to be robbed.
On that morning on June 12, 2017, Lackman looked through the peephole and saw men he didn’t recognize. They called out his name. He didn’t answer. “Scared for his life,” he called the police and, he said, hid in a closet holding a knife while he waited for the cops to arrive.
When the police showed up after about 20 minutes, according to Lackman, he opened the door and was met by lawyers, a bailiff, and, rather ominously, a locksmith. Seeing that he wasn’t about to be mugged, the police left.
One of the lawyers represented some of Canada’s most powerful telecommunications and media companies: Bell, Rogers, Vidéotron, and TVA.
Lackman, who called a lawyer in to represent him, was questioned for nine hours by the opposing counsel. They presented him with a list of names of people suspected of being digital pirates in Canada and asked him to snitch. He didn’t recognize the names, he told me, and said nothing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T to shut down WarnerMedia’s FilmStruck, its two-year-old streaming video service for indie, arthouse, and classic films, on November 29 — In AT&T’s latest move to streamline WarnerMedia, Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Networks announced Friday that the FilmStruck indie …
WarnerMedia’s FilmStruck Subscription-Streaming Service to Shut Down
https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/filmstruck-shutdown-warnermedia-turner-1202998364/
Tomi Engdahl says:
SOUNDCLOUD’S NEW ARTIST CONTRACT IS A RAW DEAL FOR MUSICIANS
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/26/17968694/soundcloud-new-artist-contract-indie-musicians-label
As indie artists escape predatory label contracts, streaming services may be offering something just as bad
Tomi Engdahl says:
Joshua Topolsky / The Outline:
Mainstream adoption of VR hasn’t happened because there’s no “killer app” for VR and no one has made a simple headset that lets a novice user engage casually
The virtual reality dream is dying
https://theoutline.com/post/6443/virtual-reality-dream-is-dead-hype-oculus-rift-facebook-playstation?zd=1&zi=2d7fspkt
We were promised better worlds, and all we got was this lousy headset.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Imax closes its New York City VR center, bringing VR center closures to three; company says it won’t spend on VR projects in 2019
Imax Closes New York VR Center, Forecasts No New VR Investments for 2019
https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/imax-vr-center-new-york-closed-1202998579/
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube May Have To Ban People From Uploading Videos Due To New EU Rule
http://www.ladbible.com/news/technology-youtube-may-ban-people-from-uploading-videos-due-to-new-eu-rule-20181022
YouTube has said that new EU copyright rules may mean it has to start banning people from uploading their own videos – in turn potentially ‘drastically’ changing the internet we know today.
The EU’s new copyright directive, which is known as Article 13, will see platforms like YouTube forced to scan through content in order to ensure nothing includes anything copyrighted.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The future of photography is code
Might makes light
https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/22/the-future-of-photography-is-code/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
What’s in a camera? A lens, a shutter, a light-sensitive surface and, increasingly, a set of highly sophisticated algorithms. While the physical components are still improving bit by bit, Google, Samsung and Apple are increasingly investing in (and showcasing) improvements wrought entirely from code. Computational photography is the only real battleground now.
The reason for this shift is pretty simple: Cameras can’t get too much better than they are right now, or at least not without some rather extreme shifts in how they work.
Sensors are getting better, yes, but not only is this pace too slow to keep consumers buying new phones year after year (imagine trying to sell a camera that’s 3 percent better), but phone manufacturers often use the same or similar camera stacks, so the improvements (like the recent switch to backside illumination) are shared amongst them. So no one is getting ahead on sensors alone.
Perhaps they could improve the lens? Not really. Lenses have arrived at a level of sophistication and perfection that is hard to improve on, especially at small scale.
If you can’t get more light, you just have to do more with the light you’ve got.
Unlike film, even the most basic digital camera requires computation to turn the light hitting the sensor into a usable image. And camera makers differ widely in the way they do this, producing different JPEG processing methods, RAW formats and color science.
The first real computational photography features were arguably object identification and tracking for the purposes of autofocus. Face and eye tracking
DSLRs weren’t being used for live video or augmented reality. And until fairly recently, the same was true of smartphone cameras
Roughly speaking, it’s collecting an order of magnitude less light than a “normal” camera, but is expected to reconstruct a scene with roughly the same fidelity, colors and such — around the same number of megapixels, too. On its face this is sort of an impossible problem.
The key insight in computational photography is that an image coming from a digital camera’s sensor isn’t a snapshot, the way it is generally thought of. In traditional cameras the shutter opens and closes, exposing the light-sensitive medium for a fraction of a second. That’s not what digital cameras do, or at least not what they can do.
Why not just always be recording? Theoretically you could, but it would drain the battery and produce a lot of heat. Fortunately, in the last few years image processing chips have gotten efficient enough that they can, when the camera app is open, keep a certain duration of that stream — limited resolution captures of the last 60 frames, for instance. Sure, it costs a little battery, but it’s worth it.
Access to the stream allows the camera to do all kinds of things. It adds context.
Context can mean a lot of things.
A simple example of context is what is commonly referred to as HDR, or high dynamic range imagery.
Something more complex is of course the “portrait mode” and artificial background blur or bokeh that is becoming more and more common. Context here is not simply the distance of a face, but an understanding of what parts of the image constitute a particular physical object, and the exact contours of that object.
one company may do them better than the other
Tomi Engdahl says:
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Imax closes its New York City VR center, bringing VR center closures to three; company says it won’t spend on VR projects in 2019
Imax Closes New York VR Center, Forecasts No New VR Investments for 2019
https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/imax-vr-center-new-york-closed-1202998579/
max continues to scale down its virtual reality (VR) ambitions: The company closed its New York-based VR Center in recent days, bringing the total number of such closures up to 3. Separately, executives promised investors on the company’s Q3 earnings call that they wouldn’t spend any additional money on such projects in 2019.
“With the launch of the IMAX VR pilot program our intention was to test a variety of different concepts and locations to determine which approaches work well. After a trial period with VR centres in multiplexes, we have decided to conclude the AMC Kips Bay 15 IMAX VR pilot run.”
Imax had plans to launch a total of 10 VR centers in multiple countries by the end of that year. “If successful, the intent is to roll out the concept globally to select multiplexes as well as commercial locations such as shopping centers and tourist destinations,” the company said in a press release at the time.
However, this year, Imax has been striking a decidedly different tone. The company closed a separate New York location in June, and shut down its Shanghai VR center in early July. “The consumer reaction was extremely positive, but the numbers just weren’t there,” Gelfond said during an earnings call earlier this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluetooth-kuulokkeet eivät koskaan pärjää johdollisille
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8633-bluetooth-kuulokkeet-eivat-koskaan-parjaa-johdollisille
Tuoreen tutkimuksen mukaan Bluetooth-kaiuttimet eivät kuitenkaan koskaan pärjää laadussa johdollisille. Kaikissa Bluetooth-audiokoodekeissa on puutteita.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DVD players are diying as product category
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8639-nyt-on-dvd-soittimen-vuoro-kuolla
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hollywood formalizes support for open source in filmmaking
https://opensource.com/article/18/9/academy-software-foundation?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences teams with the Linux Foundation to launch the Academy Software Foundation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jättikenno tarkistaa kännykän näytön yhdellä kuvalla
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8641-jattikenno-tarkistaa-kannykan-nayton-yhdella-kuvalla
KAI-50140-kenno on resoluutioltaan suurin ITCCD-kenno (Interline Transfer CCD). IT-CCD on useiden megapikselien tarkkuuteen skaalautuva elektroninen globaali suljintekniikka – eli kennon pikselit valottuvat kerralla – joka ei tuota kuvaan liikkeestä aiheutuvia vääristymiä.
50 megapikselin resoluutiolla ja 2,18:1-kuvasuhteella kennolla voidaan ottaa kerralla kuva nykyisistä älypuhelinnäytöistä. Näyttöjen lisäksi kenno sopii piirikorttien konenäkötarkistukseen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Spanish police arrests three card-sharing TV pirates
https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2018/10/29/spanish-police-arrests-three-card-sharing-tv-pirates/?mc_cid=ed5f7eefb4&mc_eid=95e89a7ebe
The Guardia Civil of Alicante has arrested three British men aged 30, 46 and 63 years in Formentera del Segura, who operated an illegal card-sharing operation.
The men are accused of committing crimes including tax fraud, social security fraud, money laundering, misappropriation of property and belonging to a criminal gang.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/tekniset-artikkelit/8644-miten-kamera-voi-tuottaa-hdr-kuvaa-hamarassa
Tomi Engdahl says:
RIAA: Highest artist rates come from Apple Music as music industry slowly rebounds
https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/30/music-streaming-artist-payout-rates/
performance of the music industry during 2016.
revenue of $7.7 billion during 2016, up 11.4 percent compared to the year before.
Perhaps most notably, the report states that streaming music revenue from Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube made up the majority of that revenue for the first time ever.
The RIAA data shows that streaming music services accounted for 51.4 percent of revenue during 2016. This marks the first time that streaming services have accounted for the majority of revenue in the music industry.
The RIAA notes that revenues are half of what they were in 1999, during the CD-driven era.
The latest RIAA report shares positive news as far as Apple is concerned. In terms of payments to music creators per 1,000 streams, Apple comes out well ahead of Spotify and YouTube. Apple pays between $12 and $15 per 1,000 streams, whereas Spotify pays around $7 per 1,000 streams, and YouTube pays around $1. The RIAA notes that what’s really hindering the music industry from growth is the low payouts from services like YouTube
Tomi Engdahl says:
Visualizing 40 Years of Music Industry Sales
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/music-industry-sales/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare
The record industry has seen a lot of change over the years.
Vinyl gave way to 8-tracks, and cassettes faded away as compact discs took the world by storm, and through it all, the music industry saw its revenue continue to climb. That is, until it was digitally disrupted.
Looking back at four decades of music industry sales data is a fascinating exercise
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Spell to Cast Out Audio-Video Sync Problems
https://www.electronicdesign.com/community-home/spell-cast-out-audio-video-sync-problems?NL=ED-001&Issue=ED-001_20181031_ED-001_794&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=21107&utm_medium=email&elq2=15c3f4c005ff4d509df36dc520559983
Sifting through gigabytes of compressed data, an unemployed software developer finds the one bad value.
MPEG files are interleaved streams of audio, video, and proprietary system data. I trimmed each recording down to a few seconds before and after the glitch, hoping the problem existed nearby.
I wrote a program to parse the MPEG stream, so I could examine all data packets. After weeks of work I made little progress and the decoded data looked fine.
Because these recordings are generated in a closed system, I ignored much of the data frame headers except data type and size fields. I ignored the decode timestamp (DTS) and presentation timestamp (PTS) that are embedded in every data frame, which tell the decoder when to decode and present the data. I found these values may be ignored by MPEG decoders (including those mentioned above), which correctly play these clips.
Running out of ideas, I decided to check the time stamps, notwithstanding that I had absolutely no idea what constituted a “bad” value. Since encoding and playback rates are consistent, I decided to check offsets between PTS and DTS values in successive data chunks.
I got extremely lucky that among the thousands of values displayed a single negative PTS offset stood out. Could this be the cause?
I confirmed a bad PTS was set for seconds before the prior PTS. This jump backward was found in all shared recordings. Since a PTS is derived from the previous PTS, any error will propagate through until the end.
The fix was simple; I needed to recalculate the bad audio PTS and then update the remaining times. I shared my streamfix tool with users on avsforum.com. Users began fixing their recordings with my tool.
I shared my findings with ReplayTV, but unfortunately they never fixed their problem.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Auto Transceivers Enable High-Definition Video via Basic UTP Cabling
https://www.electronicdesign.com/automotive/auto-transceivers-enable-high-definition-video-basic-utp-cabling?sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=21119&utm_medium=email&elq2=1f189bc2f5fa4ef08a2f766337c585e8
New transmitters and complementary receivers developed by ADI provide a transceiver link for automotive and other high-definition cameras, using low-cost unshielded-twisted-pair interconnections.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/31/the-swiss-army-knife-of-audio-synthesis/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Average Cable Bill Has Increased More Than 50 Percent Since 2010
https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/10/31/2258236/the-average-cable-bill-has-increased-more-than-50-percent-since-2010?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
According to new research, the average cost households pay for cable is now up to $107 a month — that’s a 50% increase since 2010 when cable bills were $71.24 a month. When compared to last year, it’s only a 1% increase, “thanks in large part to increasing fees for things like regional sports licensing and taxes,”
The Average Cable Bill is Now $107 a Month, Up More Than 50% Since 2010
https://www.streamingobserver.com/the-average-cable-bill-is-now-107-a-month/
The most common reason so many households are kicking their cable TV habit is the cost. Cable bills keep soaring ever higher, yet millions of households still pay ridiculous costs each month for hundreds of channels they’ll never watch, endless hours of commercials, and contracts with hidden fees. Despite the fact that streaming video has become the new norm for millions of households, some people seem to hang on to their cable subscriptions no matter what the cost. According to new data collected by consumer research firm Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG), the average cost households pay for cable is now up to $107 a month. How high will it go before more households decide to cut the cable for good?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Data Cam Combines Camera, GPU, and Neural Network in an Artisanal DIY Cereal Box
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/29/open-data-cam-combines-camera-gpu-and-neural-network-in-an-artisanal-diy-cereal-box/
The engineers and product designers at [moovel lab] have created the Open Data Cam – an AI camera platform that can identify and count objects as they move through its field of view – along with an open source guide for making your own.
https://opendatacam.moovellab.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Uusi tekniikka pakkaa kuvan häviöttä
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8654-uusi-tekniikka-pakkaa-kuvan-haviotta
Aiemmin Applen iPhone-puhelimien grafiikkaprosessoreista tunnettu Imagination Technologies sanoo nyt kehittäneensä tekniikan, joka pakkaa kuvadatan 50 prosenttia pienemmäksi ilman häviöitä.
Uusi kompressiotekniikka on nimeltään PVRIC4. Imaginationin mukaan tekniikka takaa, että kuvan siirtoon tarvitaan puolta vähemmän kaistaa ja laitteen grafiikassa puolta vähemmän muistia, eikä ihmissilmä kykene näkemään eroa alkuperäiseen kuvaan.
Chips&Media on jo käyttänyt lohkoa WAVE5-videokoodekeissaan.
PVRIC4 perustuu kahden liukuhihnan kompressioarkkitehtuuriin. Erillinen logiikkalohko päättelee, saavutetaanko pakkaamisessa taattu 50 prosentin suhde. Mikäli osa kuvan viipaleista ei taivu häviöttömään 50 prosentin pakkausasteeseen, käytetään kovempaa pakkausta, jotta taattu 50 prosenttia saavutetaan.
Koko prosessointi tapahtuu grafiikkaprosessorilla ilman, että se näkyy grafiikan suorituskyvyssä, Imagination lupaa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DeOldify
https://github.com/jantic/DeOldify
Simply put, the mission of this project is to colorize and restore old images. I’ll get into the details in a bit, but first let’s get to the pictures!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Flickr says it will end 1TB storage for free accounts and delete all but the most recent 1,000 photos or videos if users don’t upgrade to Pro by February 2019
Flickr will end 1TB of free storage and limit free users to 1,000 photos
But it’s offering big improvements to the paid Flickr Pro service
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/1/18051950/flickr-1000-photo-limit-free-accounts-changes-pro-subscription-smugmug
Tomi Engdahl says:
Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
How US-based Truepic and UK-based Serelay discern true images from fakes by using proprietary algorithms to automatically verify photos the moment they’re made
Deepfake-busting apps can spot even a single pixel out of place
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612357/deepfake-busting-apps-can-spot-even-a-single-pixel-out-of-place/
Two startups are using algorithms to track when images are edited—from the moment they’re taken.
Falsifying photos and videos used to take a lot of work. Either you used CGI to generate photorealistic images from scratch (both challenging and expensive) or you needed some mastery of Photoshop—and a lot of time—to convincingly modify existing pictures.
Now the advent of AI-generated imagery has made it easier for anyone to tweak an image or a video with confusingly realistic results. Earlier this year, MIT Technology Review senior AI editor Will Knight used off-the-shelf software to forge his own fake video of US senator Ted Cruz. The video is a little glitchy, but it won’t be for long.
That same technology is creating a growing class of footage and photos, called “deepfakes,” that have the potential to undermine truth, confuse viewers, and sow discord at a much larger scale than we’ve already seen with text-based fake news.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NASA, ESA Release First 8K Video From Space
https://science.slashdot.org/story/18/11/03/064214/nasa-esa-release-first-8k-video-from-space?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
NASA and the European Space Agency have released the first 8K ultra high definition video filmed in space. It was shot with a RED Helium 8K camera and provides a glimpse of what the astronauts are working on aboard the International Space Station.
NASA and the ESA release first 8K video from space
It shows astronauts working aboard the International Space Station.
https://www.engadget.com/2018/11/02/nasa-esa-release-first-8k-video-from-space/
it’s the first 8K ultra high definition video delivered by the agencies, shot with a Helium 8K camera from RED.
The camera was delivered to the ISS in April by a SpaceX cargo resupply mission, and the new video shows astronauts living aboard the ISS as they work and conduct experiments
“We’re excited to embrace new technology that improves our ability to engage our audiences in space station research,”
NASA has released some pretty amazing 4K videos in the past
there just aren’t many displays available yet that can resolve 8K
Tomi Engdahl says:
National Geographic is using VR and social platforms to appeal to Gen Z
https://digiday.com/marketing/national-geographic-virtual-reality-social-gen-z/
“We know that to remain relevant and regarded within this shifting media landscape, we must create exceptional content that reaches our readers wherever they are,” said Jill Cress, CMO and evp of National Geographic. “Understanding that we aren’t going to necessary engage a younger new audience coming to our traditional channels, we are creating content in platform-specific ways.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build Your Own Professional-Grade Audio Amp on the Sort of Cheap
https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/audiovideo/build-your-own-professionalgrade-audio-amp-on-the-sort-of-cheap
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tubettajien tulot huimassa kasvussa – parhaiten tienaa TheRelaxingEnd-pelikanavan kasvoton tekijä
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10482971?utm_source=facebook-share&utm_medium=social
Tomi Engdahl says:
How we perceive colour depends on our culture and language – Prof. Anna Franklin
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/how-we-perceive-colour-depends-our-culture-and-language-prof-anna-franklin.html?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=repro
Our ability to see a colour is limited by the words we have to describe it, and understanding more about colour categorisation could help improve how colour-blind children learn and develop, according to Anna Franklin, professor of visual perception and cognition at the University of Sussex in the UK, who is studying the relationship between language development and colour perception.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Room with a VU (4-in-1 Review)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAljJJyh9dI
A review of four music visualisation devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Understanding Amplifier Operating “Classes”
Class A through H, what do they mean?
https://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/understanding-amplifier-operating-classes?PK=UM_Classics10218&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=20791&utm_medium=email&elq2=9678664977d1440d8a2e609b5164206f
Tomi Engdahl says:
This 16-Lens Camera Is a Threat to DSLRs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpXNyWPfs8E
Light’s pocket-size L16 replaces one big lens with 16 small ones, plus some super-smart software. WSJ Personal Tech columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler asks, is this the future of photography?
Light L16 Camera
€2,050
https://light.co/camera
Tomi Engdahl says:
LIGHT L16 CAMERA REVIEW: FUTURISTIC FRUSTRATION
A fantastic piece of technology that’s only slightly greater than the sum of its parts
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/4/10/17218758/light-l16-review-camera-photos
Tomi Engdahl says:
Man From Earth Director Slams Pirates, Promotional Love Affair Over
https://torrentfreak.com/man-from-earth-director-slams-pirates-promotional-love-affair-over-181105/
The director of The Man From Earth and The Man From Earth: Holocene has done a complete 180 on the benefits of movie piracy. In 2007, the first movie soared in popularity due to word-of-mouth marketing by BitTorrent users so the sequel was put up on torrents by its makers early this year. Now, however, pirates apparently pose an “existential threat” to all creators.
With a backdrop of Hollywood waging war on pirates and pirate sites, 2007 delivered a ray of light for BitTorrent users and filmmakers alike.
After being produced on a tiny budget, an almost unknown independent sci-fi film called “The Man From Earth” appeared on pirate sites after someone obtained a promotional screener and uploaded it to the Internet, weeks before its official release.
While this type of development is often labeled as disastrous by movie executives, The Man From Earth director Richard Schenkman was very upbeat indeed.
“Our independent movie had next to no advertising budget and very little going for it until somebody ripped one of the DVD screeners and put the movie online for all to download,” Wilkinson said.
The Man From Earth went on to win multiple awards and did really well on Netflix
The Man from Earth: Holocene – appeared on The Pirate Bay upon release earlier this year. This time, however, the team had decided to ‘leak’ the movie themselves, hoping to follow the success of the original
In a new piece published by pro-industry, anti-piracy alliance Creative Future, Schenkman rips into pirates big and small. While noting that the sci-fi sequel has been downloaded almost a million times with uncounted streaming views on top, just 7,000 people supported it with donations.
Despite his early love affair with pirates (which appeared to still exist early this year), the director now finds himself singing the same anti-piracy tune as the majority of film creators around him. Movies aren’t free to make, he points out, so people need to understand they can’t be free to watch either.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A long and winding road to new copyright legislation
https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/03/a-long-and-winding-road-to-new-copyright-legislation/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
Tomi Engdahl says:
A quick guide to using FFmpeg to convert media files
https://opensource.com/article/17/6/ffmpeg-convert-media-file-formats?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
FFmpeg is a great tool for quickly changing an AV file’s format or quality, extracting audio, creating GIFs, and more.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China’s obsession with short videos has its internet giants worried
https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/06/chinas-obsession-with-short-videos-has-its-internet-giants-worried/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
Take a subway ride in China and expect to see a lot of commuters’ eyes glued to TikTok videos on their phones.
Video clips like TikTok’s are now consuming nearly nine percent of Chinese people’s time online, a 5.2 percent jump from 2017
easily add beautifying filters and music to spice up their work
It also helps that smartphone data became cheaper and internet penetration kept growing in recent years — China now has 800 million smartphone users
Initially geared towards Chinese youth, short-video apps have increased in popularity across all age groups – including the elderly. Over a third of the country’s 1.4 billion people are active on these apps every month. People above the age of 50 now spend as much as 50 minutes on them every day
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fight AI with AI! Code taught to finger naughty deepfake vids made by machine-learning algos
It works for now because the forgeries are quite easy to spot
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/06/fight_ai_deepfakes/
The rise of AI systems that can generate fake images and videos has spurred researchers in the US to develop a technique to sniff out these cyber-shams, also known as deepfakes.
Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are commonly used for creative purposes. These neural networks have helped researchers create made-up data to train artificially intelligent software when there is a lack of training material, and has also assisted artists in creating portraits.
However, like anything tech-related, there is also a sinister side. The technology has been abused by miscreants to paste the faces of actresses, ex-girlfriends, politicians, and other victims, onto the bodies of porn stars. The result is fairly realistic, computer-generated video of people seemingly performing X-rated acts.
Now, PhD student Yuezun Li and Siwei Lyu, an associate computer-science professor at the New York state university in Albany, have come up with a technique that attempts to identify deepfake videos, such as those crafted by the open-source DeepFake FaceSwap algorithm.
Deepfakes are, for now, not hard for humans to spot. The doctored videos are uncanny, the facial expressions aren’t very natural, and any motion is pretty laggy and glitchy. They also have a lower resolution than the source material. Thus, people should be able to realize they are being hoodwinked after more than a few seconds. However, as the technology improves, it would be nice if machines could be taught the tell-tale signs of these forgeries so as to alert unaware folks in future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8681-nanokamera-sopii-yhdelle-neliomillille
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xiaomi Mi Laser projector review! Full Test!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sk7G3MDtys
Xiaomi Mi Ultra Short 5000 ANSI Lumens Laser Projector 150inch screen full review! Video include: unboxing, setup, test with lights on, with lights half on and with lights off, brightness lumens test, sound test, power consumption test, noise sound level and 4k video samples! This is very impressive laser projector with great Video/audio experience with very solid build quality and with 25.000 hours life!