MagneticMediaFed

One year ago I spent the entire upfronts week feverishly clicking my refresh button looking for the latest information on the coming fall television season. What a difference a year makes. After the 100-day writer’s strike left most of the network’s schedules flopping on the dock like a hooked but forgotten flounder, no one (not the advertisers, not the networks, and certainly not the audience) seems particularly thrilled about the network announcements (or lack of announcements) for their future plans. This week is, after all, FOR the advertisers, and since network television is no longer viewed as being all that lucrative those advertising dollars are looking for something more than the typical slate of potential prime-time disasters. Take ABC, for example. The network plans on adding a whopping TWO new programs to its fall prime-time line-up, choosing instead to bring back almost all of it’s fall ‘08 slate (minus, Carpoolers, Cavemen and October Road). But who cares, especially this early in the process? More after the jump…

(more…)

Image via apple.com

Right now we’re mid-cycle when it comes to new and exciting technology. At the Consumer Electronics Show that wrapped up last week in Las Vegas the “sweeping technological innovation” seemed to be ridiculously thin televisions, a product whose actual benefits can be measured with a six-inch plastic ruler. Even my beloved Apple couldn’t find a way to properly dazzle us Tuesday at this year’s Macworld Expo. What was the big product? A thin laptop. Are we really this short on space? (Those who have seen my bedroom… ladies… probably shouldn’t answer.)

Having a couple days to mull it over, I’ve started to realize that the gem of Macworld was not the MacBook Air, but instead the companies revamped Apple TV — a product that still isn’t quite ready for prime time but does give us a very realistic look at how the television experience could change (soon). More after the jump…

(more…)