Al Gore Invents Internet TV 474
catdevnull writes "The SF Gate is reporting that former VP Al Gore is launching "Current" a new CableTV-Internet hybrid. From the article: "Current, the name of Gore's enterprise, hopes to do that by airing a shuffle of short news features, some produced by the network but many submitted online by viewers. Current will also air segments every half hour showing TV viewers what Google searchers are tapping into at that moment -- everything from current events to tourist destinations. It's all directed at a generation that thinks nothing of plugging into more than one media outlet at once." "
Whole discussion: -1 Flamebait (Score:5, Interesting)
Poor choice of words? Maybe, but Wired misquoted (libel!) him and put the word "Invented" in his mouth.
Either way, Al Gore did coin the phrase "Information Superhighway" and Eisenhower should get credit for the Internet because it's his vision of the Interstate system that was the fundamental idea that went into creating the Internet (and that was in like the 1950's!)
Re:It will be crap (Score:4, Interesting)
What, you mean the stuff we get has had most of the crap screened out.
Re:Uhhh... (Score:3, Interesting)
A couple of years ago at OLS [linuxsymposium.org] they had a presentation by someone from Google on their use of Linux in house (this one [linuxsymposium.org] I think).
At the end of the presentation, he brought up a web page that showed a scrolling list of google queries that were being done in near-real-time. I think it was showing every nth query (every query would have been scrolling too fast to see). He said that they had two versions of this web page - a filtered and an unfiltered one, and he was running unfiltered.
Was it ever funny - people entering some of the craziest X-rated search phrases you could imagine. If he could have left it up I would have stayed there and watched for hours :-)
Sounds good at first... (Score:3, Interesting)
Having viewers make shows for you? I guess that's kind of like how /. works. I was hoping, however, that it would be like blogging meets TV--you know, bloggers at events and getting air time in front of a cable audience and not just the blogosphere.
Then again, it's already like that but with only text. And the blogging goes straight through to the viewer. So the more I think about this, the more it sounds like he's creating a middle-man company, which is to say, a completely useless and potentially brain-damaging company. Fuck that.
By the way, the first sentence of the article is "Al Gore never said he invented the Internet." So at least there's some good text in there.
Re:Will the lame Al Gore jokes never cease? (Score:2, Interesting)
I trust AC's very little and those who label me as something I'm not, not at all.
Yes, it'd be funny if it was true... but it isn't, so it isn't.
Interesting fella... (Score:5, Interesting)
- Advanced the Internet
- Guest-starred multiple times on Futurama
- Was Vice-President
- On the Apple Board of Directors
- Now going into...um...network television.
I gotta tell you, I respect the guy. And this is only what I know about!Re:right flop like air america radio (Score:3, Interesting)
Dude, I've been listening to talk radio since I was 8 years old. I have two solid decades of talk radio under my belt. I know good talk radio from bad. I have listened to "Air America" plenty and it is the most droll, uninteresting, unprofessional, ill-prepared drek ever. It's a decent idea, but poorly excecuted. You can't just take the cast of SNL and make a syndicated political talk station out of it.
And 53 stations is nothing if they're 53 stations with poor ratings.
I don't know a soul who regularly listens to their programming. It's downright painful at times. Even my hardcore liberal friends can't stand it. They'd rather listen to a professional right-winger who knows what being a radio personality is than some chunky comedienne whining about how unfair the world is like your typical hollywood looney.
I'd give my left nut for a station that aired an opposing side to the right-wing drek that's on the air (I don't agree with either side, but it would be nice to switch to for a bit of flavor now and then), with a reputable person instead of some smarmy LA git. Dump Al Franken and Janine and give me, say, James Carville. Come on.
I'm really tired of everyone thinking that just because they're famous, they can swing radio. They CAN'T. Radio is DIFFICULT. You have to be INTERESTING and CLEVER and ARTICULATE. People like O'Reilly and the above mentioned names don't belong within a mile of a radio broadcasting booth.
Anyway, the same network that is responsible for all of the whacko rightwingers is responsible for the leftwing "Air America". Yep. You got it. Clear Channel. Oooh. That's really showing them!
And just because it has okay numbers (nothing to crowe about in most of the country, including the very progressive west coast state I live in), doesn't mean it's good radio. If you're a hardcore lefty, what are you going to listen to? It's not that there's much else out there. You have your choice between many very talented conservatives who you may disagree with most or all of the time, or very unpolished highschool/junior college quality liberal broadcasters that you can enjoin for a round of daily navel-gazing.
That it can manage to eek a three-share at times just means people are desperate for a different voice. And since this is the only voice out there doing that, it's their only option. Stick a competing network up out there that shares the same views, but with more professional and qualified personalities and you will quickly see Air America circle the drain.
Re:Electoral College (Score:2, Interesting)
It sure looks like they are openly selling the Electoral College as a tool to increase Republican power. When someone proposes such a policy for blatantly biased or unfair reasons like this, it turns me off from it. This is similar to the racists who try to sell "PR" (Proportional Representation) to elect individuals of a certain race. Or the places where Republicans opposed "motor voter" because if it was easier to register, more Democrats might vote. (the reverse of this is Democrats who oppose IDs to prevent voter fraud, out of an apparent belief that too many fraud voters are Democrats and this would hurt them).
Re:NSF had nothing to do with his funny claim (Score:5, Interesting)
Al Gore didn't create a damned thing, all he did was spend money to expand it. No matter how many times his fans mod it down as flamebait, the truth will not change.