“Just cut some off and give it to a kid”
Published on Feb. 22, 2014, this video has been viewed more than five million times. In less than two and a half minutes, it tells the story of love and charity exhibited by a tiny 3-year-old child.
“What an incredible lesson to learn from a 3 year old, when we have lots of something – don’t hold onto it, give it away to someone else who needs it more. Emily James is just your typical little 3 year old princess. She loves nail polish, frilly dresses and when she can get her hands on it, mums lipstick,” reads the video’s accompanying text.
Meet Emily, who by the age of three had beautiful long hair. What she did with it will warm your heart. To learn more about Emily’s story, visit Flypress Films.
[jwplayer BbQ9pPjY]
Cutting the cable cord
As previously mentioned in this space, I’m a Netflix subscriber. Lately, I’ve added Acorn TV, another online streaming service, to my online streaming “portfolio.” And I’m not alone. I’m among a growing number of viewers who are changing the way we get our information and entertainment.
According to a report in Financial Times, a record number of us are unplugging, cutting the cable cord to providers who charge us for channels we don’t use.
Cable providers have a monopoly on the communities they serve, offering bundled packages paying customers are forced to take, many of which they seldom, if ever, watch. That’s changing. Now that viewers have the alternative of watching commercial-free content of their choosing through online streaming via their Internet provider, they’re cutting the cable, so to speak.
The impact is reverberating throughout the cable TV industry. Second quarter earnings were dismal.
“… this time it was the worst on record for net customer losses: an estimated 566,000 people cut the cord,” reported Financial Times. “With the exception of Verizon, which is still rolling out its video service, all pay-TV companies lost subscribers during the quarter.”
Worst hit are satellite TV companies Dish and DirectTV, who are unable to provide high-speed broadband connections which are critical to streaming services like Netflix or Hulu.
One analyst quoted said, “We are witnessing the rapid erosion of satellite’s competitiveness. The industry is no longer growing in the U.S. and the dynamics have shifted in favour of cable, and in favour of broadband.”
As a reader commented, “If the Cable companies would offer ‘cafeteria’ plans, they would recover subscribers. … That’s why I cut the cable and will not return until ‘cafeteria’ plans are offered.”
I’m not as sanguine. Seems to me that the ability to view programming of my choice, when I want it, wherever I am, commercial free, is well worth five to ten dollars a month. If I ended my cable service today, I wouldn’t miss it. When I want local or national news, there’s plenty of it on the Internet. In fact many, if not most television outlets already are streaming live content. I’m a political news junkie. No prob: C-Span online.
For parents concerned about blocking certain programs, online services are a Godsend with parental controls password protected.
Wrote one parent: “I dumped paid TV when I set parental controls, and had 11 out of 129 channels left to watch and even they were iffy. I have a broadcast TV antenna up to watch the local news and weather, but that is all. The rest of the programming watched is via a streaming device so I can get Netflix, and Amazon Prime, and the adults control the passwords. Even the prime time broadcast commercials are more than our kids get to see. It is really hard to keep the Hollywood and Madison Ave. sewer of blasted vile video out of the home. Big time sexually suggestive programming is losing its audience, and its income. That’s a good thing.”
Exciting is just the beginning
In a related vein, Amazon’s founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos says we’re entering a new golden age of television. In many ways, Amazon alone is responsible for changing the way the world accesses and consumes media. Check out Amazon Prime, which provides a plethora of streaming TV shows and movies for under $100 a year, or less than $10 monthly.
In an exclusive feature published last Sunday, Bezos and his family attended the Dota2 International championship, where video gamers competed for an $18m prize. The competition was streamed to hundreds of thousands of Dota2 fans on the internet, via Twitch.TV according to The Telegraph.
“eSports has become a big thing. There were many, many thousands watching live … and it was really quite amazing,” says Bezos. “I’m a consumer of media of all kinds. But that kind of media is a whole new segment that is very exciting.”
And for the growing number of us who are logging on to the Internet for streaming entertainment and information, exciting is just the beginning.
Imagine this commute …
Some say the future is now. So speaking of things to come, imagine commuting to work in this!
[jwplayer DQ6vLKIl]
DIY headphones
What do you hear when you drill through a bullet?
