MLB.tv Blackout - Truth in Advertising At Last!

A while back I wrote a post about Major Leage Baseball's archaic blackout policies which disallow fans from watching their own home team over streaming services.  One of the mnost annoying things was the marketing from Major Leaguye Baseball which promised fans the ability to "Watch Baseball Everywhere".  It looks like MLB has finally gotten the message:

Of course, thousands of unhappy subscribers and complaints may have had something to do with it.

MLBTV - Truth in Advertising At Last!

A while back I wrote a post about Major Leage Baseball's archaic blackout policies which disallow fans from watching their own home team over streaming services.  One of the mnost annoying things was the marketing from Major Leaguye Baseball which promised fans the ability to "Watch Baseball Everywhere".  It looks like MLB has finally gotten the message:

Of course, thousands of unhappy subscribers and complaints may have had something to do with it.

Fringe Video from Comic-Con - Peter Auditions

The season finale of Fringe left us (Spoilers!) facing two realities without Peter Bishop.  Fringe without Peter would be like Dawson's Creek without Pacey!

Luckily, it looks like producers are auditioning a wide variety of possible replacements, and check out the final few seconds for what could be a total mind-blower (or just a throw-away Comic-Con gag):

"Lost" Mysteries Explained at San Diego Comic-Con 2011

"Lost" Producers Damon Lindelhoff and Carlton Cuse broke their self-imposed silence since the controversial end of the series when they crashed a "Lost: One Year Later" discussion panel at this years' Comic-Con.  They brought along a video to fill in some of the blanks fans have been most curious about, such as the Man In Black's name:

Another Season of MLB's Ridiculous Blackout Policies

While watching my Mets lose their first Opening Day game in six years, the masochist in me decided to take a look at the MLB.tv subscription package for this year, so that I can be as connected as possible to every excruciating moment the Metropolitans are likely to put me through. My first impression was a good one, with the availability of high-definition video and a wide array of client devices, as well as audio feeds, fantasy player tracking, and DVR-type controls on some platforms. Then the ugly truth stuck me anew - YOU STILL CAN'T WATCH YOUR HOME TEAM PLAY LIVE!

Today's technologies have made streaming video ubiquitous, and Major League Baseball has been surprisingly adept in keeping up with the many available outlets for IP video. This year's MLB.tv package offers a wide array of viewing options for your subscription - iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch, Apple TV, PC, Roku, Boxee, Android, Samsung and LG televisions and more.

MLB Blackout Map

Three Great Comic Books Coming To Television

In the wake of the Walking Dead, it's great to see that three great comic series are being adapted for television, in very promising ways (warning, some general spoilers):

Powers - A creator-owned series written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming, Powers follows the investigations of two police officers, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim,  who investigate crimes involving super-powered beings.  Powers has a gritty feel, and remains somewhat grounded even with its ultra-human subject matter, with an almost "Law & Order"-like procedural view of  familiar superhero cliches.  It can be very violent, and takes some wild twists along the way (like flashing back to the beginnings of human evolution) - hopefully these traits will survive the translation to the small screen on FX.  The network that was home to The Shield may be the perfect place for Powers, and the pilot is being written by Charles Eglee, a veteran of The Shield, Dexter, The Walking Dead and NYPD Blue - a great choice for the subject matter. 

The History of Jimmy Kimmel Vs. Matt Damon

It all started with Jimmy Kimmel's running joke at the end of his show, "And I'm sorry to Matt Damon, but we are out of time". 

Jeopardy's IBM Challenge Day 3 - Watson Triumphant!

We start a fresh game - Watson draws first choice on the board, as if another advantage is needed. In the Single Jeopardy, Ken Jennings looks to start getting a rhythm going, with Watson unable to reach his "buzz threshold" of confidence for several questions in a row. I am also wondering if they adjusted his buzzer speed - the humans are beating him pretty regularly. Ken finishes Single Jeopardy with $8,400 after a gutsy $3k+ Daily Double, Watson at $4,600 and Brad at $2,300. We also get to see Ken say "Fitty Cent" and "DJ Danger Mouse".

In Double Jeopardy, Watson comes on strong to $23k, but Ken hangs in there at $18k, and Brad gets a few shots in for $5,600.

Final Jeopardy finds all three contestants providing the correct answer, and Watson betting big to take the challenge. Ken writes in after his response, "I for one, would like to welcome our new Computer Overlords" - has he been reading this blog?

Jeopardy's IBM Challenge Day 2 - Watson Ascendant!

While The Day 1 premiere of IBM's Jeopardy-playing computer was impressive, Day 2 was pretty much a bloodbath. Watson dominated on the buzzer again, barely leaving the human contestants a chance to answer. In one interesting moment, Watson needed to respond on a Daily Double but found its confidence in its response to be below the normal "buzz threshold", and expressed this verbally by preceding the question with "I am going to take a guess". Of course, the guess was right. Watson was correct on most of his responses, with the notable exception of Final Jeopardy. Even this left no opening for the humans, as Watson wagered only $900 and change while holding a $25,000 lead over the closest competitor. This ends the first game, with another entire round of Jeopardy to be played and the totals of both combined to determine the $1 million winner. Looks like Watson is buying beers at happy hour this Friday.

In an interesting feature, a short documentary-style clip discussed other applications to which the research which created Watson could be applied. A fascinating possibility discussed using a similar system to aggregate medical references, current publications, diagnostic guides, test data and patient history to create a decision-support tool for medical professionals. This led me to consider the power of such systems for finding lost children (or adults) by connecting disparate databases, news sources, municipal registrations, school records, social media, etc. What about harnessing this kind of relational power to telephone and web-based interactive response systems, allowing them to return useful information for a change? Add a layer of Watson-like respond evaluation to a search engine to ensure accurate results! The possibilities are endless and just the advances in natural-language processing and response seen here are staggering. IBM's going to sell a lot of Power 7 servers.

Family Feud - Survey Says: Hilarious

For anyone who uses Family Feud as a National Moral Barometer - outlook not so good.  Full credit to the honored BIOSMOB for this one - he is truly special!

Jeopardy's IBM Challenge Day 1 - Watson Impresses!

We've reached the end of Day One, Ken Jennings (winningest player with a mindblowing 74-game streak) trailing with $2,000 at the end of Single Jeopardy and Brad Rutter (Jeopardy's biggest money winner at $3.25 million) tied with IBM's Watson at $5,000.

So far, Watson has been very impressive.  First off, when it is "sure" of an answer (an onscreen indicator shows us Watson's certainty percentage on the top three answers, and whether the first one exceeds its "buzz barrier", indicating confidence to buzz in), Watson seems to smoke the humans on the buzzer more often than not.  Ken, who must be a master of the buzzer, seems to be frustrated by this. 

Watson's weaknesses seem to be in situations where it cannot parse the question, needs to formulate a complex answer and it's lack of the ability to follow the gameplay.  In one response, Watson gave the same wrong response that a human player already had.  In another, in response to an answer about an Olympian with an anatomical oddity, the correct question was "What is missing a leg?", while Watson came up with "What is a leg?".  Close, but no cigar. 

With Double Jeopary and Final Jeopardy still to come, humanity still has a solid chance, but should Watson pull it out, let me be the first to welcome our new computer quiz show overlords.

When Bergs Collide

I guess it had to happen - Eisenberg, Samberg and Zuckerberg together on SNL. Is this the Zuck's tacit approval for The Social Network to rock the Oscars? It definitely isn't a testament to his comedic timing. The best part? "Samberg out."