disney

Jerry Lewis and the elusive Video Assist patent

I have tremendous respect for Jerry Lewis. He's a great entertainer, a ferocious intellect, and perhaps the greatest charity fundraiser in history.

I was pleased to see Lewis receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award during the Academy Awards ceremony in February, principally for his work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

I had no idea that the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon had raised more than $2 billion over the years. There are larger charities, but I don't know any that owe so much to the fundraising efforts of one man.

The technical side of my brain was intrigued to hear that Lewis had received a patent for "video assist" technology--the use of closed-circuit television to allow a film director to review scenes as they're filmed.

It seemed to me the story of Lewis' invention of video assist technology would make a good post for Speeds & Feeds. I figured I'd also be able to mention another famous movie-star patent, Hedy Lamarr's 1942 patent (US 2,292,387) on frequency-hopping communications (as Hedy Kiesler Markey), and Walt Disney's 1940 patent on animation (US 2,201,689).

I ran a Google search for "'Jerry Lewis' patent" and found many references to such a patent, including an article by a Mark Adler of VAIdigital offering the title "Closed Circuit Television Applied to Motion Pictures." Adler said Lewis came up with the idea in 1956 and first used it in 1960 on his first film, "The Bellboy."

An article by Michael Frediani titled "On the Set with Video Assist" from an issue of The Operating Cameraman (then the magazine of what is now the Society of Camera Operators) includes a picture of a video assist system, complete with… Read more

'Wunderkind' Erica Enders in action at Bristol Dragway

It's a safe assumption that women could have a hard time being taken seriously as competitors in the professional auto racing world. If you factor in being on the younger side of the age spectrum, getting respect is probably that much tougher. Well, in today's blog post in this week's salute to women drivers in the car racing world, we take a look at young Erica Enders and her rise to prominence in the auto racing world.

Erica Enders was born in 1983 and began drag racing at the tender age of 8. Erica chalked up 37 … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 999: Gosh darnit to heck, AT&T!

Natali got a little flustered when we learned that AT&T is changing the subsidy so that folks who thought they would have to pay more might not have to. But it's OK: if you preordered, the company will refund the difference. So she calmed down eventually. We also discuss China backpedaling on the filter software, and the need to encrypt.

Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video) EPISODE 999

iPhone OS 3.0 wide release coming Wednesday http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10265918-37.html http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/17/stop-hitting-f5-iphone-os-3-0-release-still-hours-away/… Read more

Disney, Asus bring Netpal Netbooks to kids

Disney and Asus have teamed up to do something others have been doing wrong for a long time: they've developed an affordable and functional portable kids' PC, according to USA Today. It comes in the form of a Netbook with an Intel Atom processor; a small, 8.9-inch screen; parental control options; and desktops with customizable themes that revolve around the likes of Cars, Toy Story, WALL-E, and Hannah Montana.

The Netpal Netbooks will have an unknown clock speed (our guess would be 1.6GHz-2GHz) and will have a 16GB SSD or 160GB HD based on parental preference. They'… Read more

Cable group switches position: Net neutrality's OK

Go to ESPN360.com. Click on the link at the top that says "Watch Now," and see what happens. You'll either be let in to the viewing area or, more likely, told that you can't access the content because of your Internet service provider.

Why? Ars has it that Disney, the parent company of ESPN360.com, has partnered with certain ISPs to provide exclusive access to its premium content. If your ISP isn't a Disney/ESPN partner, tough luck. This, of course, violates the ideals of Net neutrality.

The Net neutrality position is, in a … Read more

Digital cinema is looking 'Up'

I went to an opening-day screening of the new Disney/Pixar film "Up," on Friday. I had a great time and not just because of the movie. There was an interesting technology story, too.

The Camera 7 theater in the Silicon Valley city of Campbell recently installed four new digital cinema projectors. They're the best on the market today: Sony's SRXR220, which lists for about $200,000 with the usual required accessories.

Sony also has a slightly less expensive model, the SRXR210, for smaller screens. What puts these projectors ahead of the competition is their native … Read more

Riding a flying armchair

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--You might think sitting in a flying armchair would be a blood-pumping, adrenaline-rushing, and terrifying pastime. But I'm here to tell you that it's pretty darn smooth sailing.

I know because on Friday morning, I got a chance to take a ride on, yes, a flying armchair. And while I didn't crash it into power cables or cause a major blackout like Larry Walters, aka "Lawnchair Larry", I did take some serious air.

This was a rare opportunity to take part in what I suppose is the little-known sport of cluster ballooning. Ultimately, … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 964: Bros out loud

Natali's out, and Jason and I are joined by Donald and Brian Tong, making for a fun-filled episode in which Tom says stupid, guy things, like "touchdown line." But we do talk about the Windows 7 RC and Atom processors getting used in Netbooks.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 964

Microsoft preps Windows 7 release http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8026736.stm

Microsoft to disable Autorun http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/29/2110241

In major shift, Apple builds its own team to design chips http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124104666426570729.html… Read more

Hulu-Disney deal hurts YouTube, helps cable

Sure, for a year now, YouTube has trailed Hulu in the number of TV shows and films it offers, but in recent months all the momentum appeared to be with Google's video site.

That was until Thursday, when Hulu announced a partnership with Disney that at least one industry analyst believes has smashed YouTube's chances of becoming an online hub for top TV shows and feature films.

Disney will provide Hulu with full-length ad-supported episodes from ABC, SoapNet, and ABC Family. Some of the shows include "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy," "Ugly Betty," … Read more

Disney signs onto Hulu

Disney's ABC Enterprises announced Thursday that it has entered into online-video joint venture Hulu, currently a partnership between NBC Universal, News Corp., and investor Providence Equity Partners.

This means that TV shows from Disney-owned channels like ABC, SoapNet, and ABC Family will be coming to Hulu. Among them are "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy," "Ugly Betty," and "Scrubs." There will also be Disney movies available on the ad-supported streaming video site, but a press release did not name any of them. Content will be available "soon," the press release explained.… Read more