Thursday, April 12, 2007

New Entertainment - IPTV at its best

I Love LOST, and House and a number of other network shows. My Tivo gets filled each week with a number of great, compelling television that are high dollar productions. The type of entertainment that only large studios can produce. These are great entertainment, but they don't speak to some of my personal interests. Lefts face it, I am slightly left of mainstream, and my entertainment attention follows that model. I want to watch shows about technology, gaming, and geekdom. Now, throught the power of RSS, I have my wish, with some added benifits.

Other than being delivered over IP, there are a number of user benifits to this new form of content delivery. They include time shifting, niche content, low production costs and relateability to those that are presenting the content. In a later post I will better explain these benifits, but for now lets look at the best of the best.


  • Ask A Ninja - These five to ten minute laughfests may be one of the coolest ideas on the net, not to mention having the best theme song of all time. The creators, Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, have an absolute Gem on their hands with the Ninja. How could you go wrong with an ending like "I look forward to killing you soon!!"
  • TikiBar TV - The Doctor is In. To be honest, when I watched the first episode of this show, I didn't get it. And then I watched the second and the third... I was hooked. Funny stories, good cameo appearances, a hot girl and a new cocktail each episode; lets just say it is a reciepe for excellent entertainment.
  • Goodnight Burbank - Another improv-esque show based around characters at a local news station. Goodnight Burbank gives you some insight of what may happen if the camera never cuts away to the roving reporter. Real headlines mixed with running jokes and interesting social commentary make this satirical piece a great addition to a steady diet of the Daily Show and the Cobert Report
  • Diggnation - If you ahev the slightest inkling towards the Web 2.0 Community you know about Digg. The brain child of Kevin Rose (Formerly of Tech TV) and others, Digg has become a social news community with almost a cult following. The Diggnation show is something of a weekly news highligh reel, but the hosts make the show. Rose and co-host, Alex Albrecht, are the perfect duo to be hosting this show. It is their banter and drunken fun that makes this show highly entertaining.
  • Totally RAD Show - Three RAD dudes... There is alot more to the opening of this really great show. Reviews of Movies, Games, TV... you know all the really RAD stuff. The best part about this show is that the host are believeable, they are just like me. I do this with friends of mine all the time. There is always a drawback with shows like this, and for me the drawback is my new addition to the DS game PuzzleQuest.
  • DL.TV - The Screen Savers Reborn - Patrick Norton and Robert Heron take you through the world of technology. These guys have come the closest to the old Screen Savers and do a great job for tech noobs all the way up to the most 133t.

As the web, new media and IPTV contniue to evolve there will be more shows and more great content, but this is one of the greatest leading edges in technology that the world has ever seen.