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ESPN will create a daily sports show for Quibi's streaming service
Quibi's upcoming mobile video service is so far focused on short-form shows from celebrities like Chrissy Teigen, Idris Elba and Steven Spielberg, but sports are now set to be part of the package as well. ESPN has agreed to create a daily sports show for Quibi that will recap the "biggest moments" and deliver breaking news. While the finer points of the show haven't been mentioned, it will be the exclusive US multi-sport provider for Quibi's curated news programming and should be ready when Quibi itself debuts in April 2020.
Paul Allen compares working with Bill Gates to 'being in hell' (video)
Paul Allen doesn't give many interviews, but Microsoft's famously eclectic co-founder recently decided to sit down with 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl, to discuss his juicy new memoir, The Idea Man. It's a book peppered with old stories of Allen's early days as a programmer, when he and Bill Gates would spend their days searching for discarded code in dumpsters and building software for the original Altair computer. But the memoir's most intriguing (and controversial) revelations revolve around Allen's personal and professional relationship with Gates, whom he described to Stahl as a gifted businessman with a penchant for being a total jerk. According to Allen, Gates would regularly engage in testy shouting matches with his Microsoft brethren, and wouldn't hesitate to sling "personal verbal attacks" against anyone who dared to disagree with him. Allen says he tolerated Gates' explosions, for the most part, even though he desperately wanted to tell him that "working with you is like being in hell." The two hit a particularly rough patch after Gates allegedly plotted to squeeze Allen out of the company, not long after he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma -- an incident that spurred Allen to leave Microsoft, shortly thereafter. Gates, for his part, hasn't commented on Allen's tell-all, nor, apparently, has he even discussed it with his former partner. The next time the two men sit down for a chat, however, Allen says he expects a "heated discussion." Naturally. You can watch the interview after the break, along with a glimpse at some of Allen's most jaw-dropping toys.
The Bloom Box: a power plant for the home (video)
Those two blocks can power the average high-consumption American home -- one block can power the average European home. At least that's the claim being made by K.R. Sridhar, founder of Bloom Energy, on 60 Minutes last night. The original technology comes from an oxygen generator meant for a scrapped NASA Mars program that's been converted, with the help of an estimated $400 million in private funding, into a fuel cell. Bloom's design feeds oxygen into one side of a cell while fuel (natural gas, bio gas from landfill waste, solar, etc) is supplied to the other side to provide the chemical reaction required for power. The cells themselves are inexpensive ceramic disks painted with a secret green "ink" on one side and a black "ink" on the other. The disks are separated by a cheap metal alloy, instead of more precious metals like platinum, and stacked into a cube of varying capabilities -- a stack of 64 can power a small business like Starbucks. Now get this, skeptics: there are already several corporate customers using refrigerator-sized Bloom Boxes. The corporate-sized cells cost $700,000 to $800,000 and are installed at 20 customers you've already heard of including FedEx and Wal-mart -- Google was first to this green energy party, using its Bloom Boxes to power a data center for the last 18 months. Ebay has installed its boxes on the front lawn of its San Jose location. It estimates to receive almost 15% of its energy needs from Bloom, saving about $100,000 since installing its five boxes 9 months ago -- an estimate we assume doesn't factor in the millions Ebay paid for the boxes themselves. Bloom makes about one box a day at the moment and believes that within 5 to 10 years it can drive down the cost to about $3,000 to make it suitable for home use. Sounds awfully aggressive to us. Nevertheless, Bloom Energy will go public with details on Wednesday -- until then, check the 60 Minutes sneak peek after the break. [Thanks, Abe P.]
James Cameron thinks he can get viewers asking to wear 3D glasses
The promotional hype train for Avatar is just getting started, one of the more recent stops was on 60 Minutes for an interview with director James Cameron. Of course one of the segments focused on was the film's potential to push 3D at home and in theaters, with Cameron dropping this interesting line on all the glasses-haters (video embedded after the break) "my goal has been, over the last few years to get people from a point of say "Do I have to wear the glasses?" to a point of saying "Do I get to wear the glasses?" because the glasses must then become associated the sense of a heightened experience, of a journey." Our trip took a turn towards believing in 3D after checking out the BCS National Championship game last year, we'll have to wait for the launch December 18 to see if this very Pocahontas / Dances with Wolves style sci fi tale is a similar turning point for others.
60 Minutes pulls out the HDTV cams for Obama & McCain Sunday
Best reason to watch 60 Minutes on CBS Sunday: It's the 40th anniversary, it features presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, or that it's the first in glorious high definition? Multichannel audio is promised (has the tick-tock been remastered?) to go along with the crisp picture, but all that really matters is that September 21, 7 p.m. -- you know where we (and our HDTVs) will be.
Followup: the first real iPhone ad lands
Funny how all the marketing meetings, TBWA \ Chiat \ Day-bought inspiration, planning, and advertising budget in the world still can't weed out the x-factor. Case in point: people seem pretty amused by the fact that the first (real) iPhone ad, all cheery and chipper, complete with launch date, probably couldn't pick up the spirits of those watching tonight's edition 60 Minutes, the show during which it ran. The guests on tonight's episode included: Daytona beach partyman Jack Kevorkian, Marxist anti-semite Vanessa Redgrave (spotted this weekend dancing with Lindsay Lohan), and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom some of you may know for his stint in the original cast of Cirque du Soleil (or, alternately, his tenure as Iran's current President).The most amusing bit, however, came from Engadget pal Andy Pargh, who gave a call to the real restaurant featured in tonight's iPhone ad, Pacific Catch. They answered: "Pacific Catch, may I help you?" "Hi, I just wanted to know if you were getting a lot of calls tonight?" The hostess answered, "Yes." "Do you know why?" "Yes." Say, didn't Steve pull this same kind of move in January (on a much smaller scale) when he called the Starbucks next to Macworld and used his iPhone order 4,000 lattes? iPhone: the ultimate device for mobile audio, video, and making prank calls; all this and Andy Rooney tonight on 60 Minutes.[Thanks, Andy]Read - 60 Minutes takes on KevorkianRead - ... and RedgraveRead - ... and AhmadinejadRead - Oh, and here's the iPhone ad featuring seafoodRead - And to cap it off, Pacific Catch's web site. Must be delicious.
Dan Rather leaving CBS for HDNet?
Could happen, according to the New York Times. Dan Rather has been frustrated by his role on 60 Minutes as of late and is looking to leave CBS soon, enter our deep-pocketed friend Mark Cuban. He is apparently offering Rather his own hour long news show on HDNet, and the opportunity to be the first big name in high definition news. For his part, Rather says he hopes to take advantage of it. News programming in high-def has been very slow to roll out and such a big name jumping in could provide some needed attention to get the ball rolling. [Via Digital TV Facts]
