Do you...... Hulu?
Man, who says that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. The recording industry was torpedoed around the turn of the millennium because it CHOSE not to deliver what its consumers were asking for. Consumers asked for a cheap and easy way to download music. When the recording industry turned up its nose, the market delivered a solution: Napster. When a legal solution was finally made popular by Apple years later, the genie was already out of the bottle. The music industry is now in free-fall having missed its opportunity to course-correct.
Over the last couple of years, Hollywood has been feeling some of the same market pressures. As mobile devices have become more popular and laptop prices have fallen, consumers have increasingly demanded a cheap and easy way to watch TV online, and on-demand. Until now, broadcatching via usenet or bittorrent has been the only option. An illegal option, I might add. But one that has become increasingly easy using programs like Vuze and T.E.D.
But just when it looked like Hollywood was about to be Napsterized, along came Hulu. If you've never visited, take a peek today. It's a service that streams current TV shows (as well as a surprisingly wide selection of movies!) in full-screen 480p resolution, with only 1/3 of the ads that you would see on television. It's as easy as finding the show you want to watch, clicking on it, and reclining...
Today, I discovered something unprecedented. Hulu has the live, streaming presidential debate. Yes, I said live. By the way, I don't care who you support, but you should educate yourself about the issues. Apathy is the greatest destructive force of a democracy.
Over the last couple of years, Hollywood has been feeling some of the same market pressures. As mobile devices have become more popular and laptop prices have fallen, consumers have increasingly demanded a cheap and easy way to watch TV online, and on-demand. Until now, broadcatching via usenet or bittorrent has been the only option. An illegal option, I might add. But one that has become increasingly easy using programs like Vuze and T.E.D.
But just when it looked like Hollywood was about to be Napsterized, along came Hulu. If you've never visited, take a peek today. It's a service that streams current TV shows (as well as a surprisingly wide selection of movies!) in full-screen 480p resolution, with only 1/3 of the ads that you would see on television. It's as easy as finding the show you want to watch, clicking on it, and reclining...
Today, I discovered something unprecedented. Hulu has the live, streaming presidential debate. Yes, I said live. By the way, I don't care who you support, but you should educate yourself about the issues. Apathy is the greatest destructive force of a democracy.
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