Jack Sullivan || The Internationalist

.torrent RSS & Comcast Docsis 3.0

Published

on October 15, 2009

. Closed

Comcast is currently upgrading its national footprint to support the newest cable technology, Doscis 3.0. The service became available throughout the Bay Area earlier this year, and I upgraded my modem and service immediately. Without installing new fiber lines, Comcast can compete with Verizon FiOS offering download/upload speeds of 12/2, 16/2, 22/5, 50/10 (all MB). Price varies depending on other Comcast services purchased, but I pay approximately 60USD/month for 22/5. While I have been consuming video as local downloaded files for quite some time already, with such vast bandwidth I have accelerated my migration from television to computer. Behind the walls of private tracker forums, current shows are available in 720p, often before they have even aired on the West Coast. However with member lists in the thousands, this is clearly not a mass distribution method.

The holy grail of (free) media distribution is the .torrent RSS feed. Until recently I had never seen it employed legally – see ezRSS.it for example. Democracy Now!, a non-profit broadcaster, is experimenting with this method. The daily news show airs via satellite on LinkTV, carried on DirecTV and Dish Network, streams online at their website, and is made available via a video podcast. However, with a little digging, one learns that they also create a .torrent file for each episode, boasting video quality about four times greater than the podcast. Bandwidth costs prevent them from offering such a large direct download, so the burden is shared amongst the audience. The Democracy Now! torrent feed is located here.

For the technically inclined, using FeedRinse one can customize the RSS feeds associated with most public and private trackers, and create a powerful, automated video delivery system.

International Hustlers

Published

sullivan.jack

on September 28, 2009

in design, fashion and marketing

. Closed

The Fall 2009 issue of LTD arrived today, the cover a collaboration between Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami and cultural renaissance man Hiroshi Fujiwara. While Jeff Staple’s interview with Fujiwara provided some insight into his enigmatic aura, it was the introduction to the feature “International Hustlers” that most caught my attention.

What exactly is a hustler? It’s meant different things across the ages, everything from shamans selling spells to high priests selling stories of salvation to alchemists selling the power to make gold. It’s also meant Robber Barons selling steel and railroads, gangsters selling booze, kingpins selling weight, and politicians selling themselves. Almost every major act in history has had a hustler behind it.

The feature goes on to chronicle five hustlers “doing big things in fashion, art, design, marketing, and music”. I am grateful for all the hustler mentors in my life – from the Bay to the Bronx to Beijing.

“How American Healthcare Killed My Father”

Published

sullivan.jack

on September 25, 2009

in politics and service

. Closed

In the September 2009 issue of The Atlantic, David Goldhill, a senior media and technology business executive, provides a refreshing analysis of the United States healthcare system. Two years ago his father, not yet retired, entered an American hospital to treat pneumonia. He would die from hospital-borne infection and disease five weeks later. This incident propelled Goldhill to explore how the US system came to exist, and identify the entrenched market distortions and incentive structures that maintain the status quo. His rational approach, informed by decades of business experience, results in an essay I’ve been waiting years to read. At the end he proposes his own solutions, and it is clear that the political battle for “reform” ought to include some radically new thinking.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s Home

Published

sullivan.jack

on September 21, 2009

in digital media

. Closed

In his cinematic debut Home Yann Arthus-Bertrand shifts the venue from outdoor gallery to the big screen, presenting two hours of stunning imagery worthy of his name. Glenn Close’s narration is a touch light on the science for my taste, so I paid her little heed and focused on Earth’s aerial beauty.