tracyswedlow's blog

Steve Jobs died today, October 5, 2011. He was a very young 56. Geniuses always seem to die young.  I met him a few years ago when I was attending the D&AD Awards in London. He was sitting at the table next to me and with Jonathan Ive, the great art director at Apple. They were being honored for their work.

It's like water TV!  -- Tracy Swedlow, [itvt]

The News: We are  hard-working on the TVOT show, so am not able to write this story up entirely until later. Want to get the word out, however, so am posting the press release below. Congratulations to Adam Cahan, the CEO (who will be CEO of IntoNow for now and VP product and technology eventually) for selling the company in a record 12 weeks post-launch (or so he reported to us).

I'm fascinated with Quantum Physics these days. This very simple cartoon scientist video does a good and entertaining job of explaining why an observer affects a different result in the famous Double Slit experiment.  It makes me wonder about the physics of watching and about the power of not only observation but of direct interactivity to affect change. I know this is all esoteric, but sometimes you have to just be an armchair philosopher and enjoy the thinking. -- Tracy Swedlow

I usually post something relevant to interactive television topics here, but I think this merits public visibility everywhere and anywhere.  This AUDIO STORY from the project called StoryCorps (one of my favorite services on the Web) is told by a gentleman named Carl McNair who is/was the brother of Ron McNair, one of the astronauts that tragically died in the Challenger disaster 25 years ago today. Is it really that long ago? I remember it clearly.

This is a short note to send a heartfelt "Thank You" to all the speakers (about 100) at TVOT NYC Intensive. The attendees really appreciated the passion and intelligence you put into your presentations and comments and we do, too, of course. We will be putting out the sessions one-by-one either publicaly or to the attendees as audio or video so more people can benefit from your expertise and insights or get to know you better. We welcome your comments, videos, columns and blogs going forward.

Happy New Year!

Tracy Swedlow, and everybody at [itvt]/TVOT

Congratulations to GEOFF KATZ for securing another term as CO-Governor of the Interactive Media Peer Group (IMPG) for the American Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) (otherwise known as the Emmys) alongside Lori Schwartz for the period between 2011 - 2012.  We're happy to have you back, Geoff!!

-- Tracy Swedlow, [itvt]

While showing my 3 year old the famous Fred Astaire scene when he dances on the ceiling in "Royal Wedding," also found this amazing deconstruction of how it was done by Bigfott Studios. In the spirit of "What's behind the curtain?" I applaud their work.

Tracy

This video is another reason why sharing sites like YouTube have made a real cultural impact. It's not interactive, but...on demand, of course. You have to see the guitar solo!  Thanks to my good friend Bob who always finds the good stuff. -- Tracy Swedlow

Wow. This SUPER MARIO game really generates page views. You have to be quick.

Just couldn't resist. Talk about personalized television. Is this for real? I guess Version 2.0 will have a hard drive, a mini-remote control on the headphone cord, and 4G connectivity? -- Tracy Swedlow [itvt]

This is a picture of a magic drawing pad (held by my mother) owned by my daughter. The screen is translucent and illuminated so the drawing appears as if it were neon. This is the 21st Century version of the Woobie from Winky Dink days.  -- Tracy Swedlow

A sci-fi video I made a few years ago. -- Tracy Swedlow, [itvt]

To Steve Donoghue's credit, he caught Time Warner CEO, Glenn Britt, in the hallways of NCTA in LA this week (see above) to ask him about Brian Roberts' announcement of the Comcast-ready iPad remote. Britt says there is an industry-wide effort through CableLabs to collaborate with Apple (note: CableLabs is working on various broadband TV efforts) on the use of their iPad. What is interesting is that Roberts' said his iPad is working with EBIF to enable the set-top box to work with the iPad - an interesting use of the technology.

Side Note: I wish Apple employees were able to reach out more to the press and participate at events and be more a part and participant in industry dialogues.