Go Rays!!

Did I mention that I am a sports fan. The Tampa Bay Rays are my baseball team. That has been almost a point of shame for years. They now have a playoff win!! I wasn't sure that would ever happen, but it has.

There is a tech angle to this, of course. I am sitting at work, watching the game as I write this, thanks to the internet streaming. Maybe the greatest invention of our lifetime for a sports fan. I could be in Tokyo right now watching the Rays in play in my hometown of St. Pete. I could be in Berlin, and still watch the Bucs on Sunday.

I would like to thank MLB. The baseball people have been smart enough to allow out-of-market internet streaming. VERY rarely does a large, old organization like MLB get credit for forward thinking, but in this case it has actually happened. Well done gentlemen.

Now, how long is it going to take the NFL to figure out that internet streaming will NOT drain the network viewers. The quality is too bad. Now, I realize that the quality will improve, and there are higher quality streams out there. But if the NFL doesn't authorize a stream, then the P2P streams will be the only ones out there, and the league will have no control over the content or anything else. The NFL is really good at making money, so they'll figure it out eventually.

Google Media Server?

www.technewsworld.com

The report this morning about Google Media Server makes Google look like the young company they are: aggressive, scatterbrained, and unaware of the past. Which in this case will probably be good for the consumer, and (as usual) Google.

Who remembers WebTV? That would be the company that tried "console surfing" (my words not theirs) and was later absorbed by Microsoft. I think "abject failure" is a little strong, but not far from the mark. And here comes Google with the same device. Of course, it works better because the tech is newer, and Google does a good job in general. Doing a good job alone is insufficient if the device lacks demand. Seriously, a guy I worked with just bought an Acer rebuilt laptop for $250. Who needs a console for surfing on a TV? Even the lowest of income brackets can afford a $250 laptop.

Oh, but wait. For all of the aforementioned reasons, the Microsofts, Ciscos, and Sonys of the world will not enter this market again until it is proven to be potentially profitable. What Google sees - and they don't - is that evolution of the net. YouTube, Revver, Metacafe, etc. (don't forget RedTube, YouPorn and their brethren either). The net is now made for TV. Google sees it, and is too young and too dumb to follow the advice of history. By the time web video resolutions reach big screen levels, they could dominate a lucrative market.

All thanks to youthful stupidity.