classic in hindsight

CableNet 2000 Tour, Part 1: CLASSIC IN HINDSIGHT! Stream video to the PC? Seriously? You could do that?

I’m posting this interview for you to see 14 years after it happened, while watching the video of it stream through a cable modem to a PC screen … so, watching myself rapturously wonder whether such a feat is even possible. Trippy, maaaan…

Please enjoy this CableLabs CableNet interview with Jeff Huppertz, then (2000) with Clearband — about this wacky new idea: stream TV through the cable modem to the PC screen. Crazy!

Video courtesy The Cable Channel. Originally posted May 9, 2000.

CableNet 2000 Tour, Part 3: CLASSIC IN HINDSIGHT – The First Tablets with Companion TV Apps

Yes, dear viewer, there was a time (2000) when this stuff really did seem like pie in the sky. In this interview with Ericsson’s Frank Risseeuw, wireless home networking is a distinct possibility — over a 720 kbps Blu-tooth router. BRING IT! Nearby is what we’d now call a (rather blobbish) tablet, destined to let viewers watch TV on the big screen, and do interactive stuff using a companion app on the smaller screen.

Posting this in 2012 and feeling a bit silly…

Video courtesy The Cable Channel.

CableNet 2000 Tour, Part 2: The Beginnings of the Bound App (Alex Thompson, Mixed Signals)

At CableNet 2000, I interviewed four companies showcasing some of the must-see technologies of the year. In this segment, I spoke with Alex Thompson, CEO of Mixed Signals Technologies, about interactive TV. She (a rock star in her own right – in her spare time she races motocross) explains interactive applications that the let viewers play along with game shows, and gather statistics on sporting events, like HBO Boxing. Her system was up on WebTV+ and AOLTV.

IN HINDSIGHT (2011): Yes I cringe at myself through many of these. Sometimes violently. Did I not notice that she said “you pick up the remote,” proceeding to hoist up an enormous, wired keyboard? Or was it edited out for brevity? Let’s go with that.

Video courtesy The Cable Channel.