Tag: nbc

Mac, Microsoft, Windows

"An operating system has never had parental control features before" – Bill Gates

“An operating system has never had parental control features before”

Bill Gates came out with this incredible statement two and a half minutes into the following interview on NBC

http://www.youtube.com/v/BO1pvWUELIUReally Bill? So how do you explain this screenshot of the built-in Parental Controls on my Mac?

OS X in-built Parental Controls

There have been Parental Controls on the Mac for at least three years now (that I can remember, possibly longer).

Bill, two possible explanations come to mind. Either you don’t know your competition or you feel the need to lie about your new product. Neither is a particularly satisfactory situation.

Technology

Is on-demand TV in the offing?

I see CBS and NBC are following ABC’s lead and are now offering some of their shows on-demand – but unlike ABC and iTunes combo, CBS and NBC are offering the shows for 99c an episode (as opposed to $1.99 for ABC) and the shows will include ads (ABC’s are without ads).

CBS are offering the service through cable operator ComCast, while NBC are going with DirectTV, a satellite broadcaster.

In his blog, Thomas Hawk asks the very pertinent question:

if you have a DirecTV DVR why not just record the show yourself and skip the commercials and not pay 99 cents. I suppose there always may be the case where you accidently didn’t record your favorite show, but it would seem to me like an unlikely service to be used

By the sounds of it, these guys have the right idea but the wrong business model – I can’t help but think that this will hinder the long-term take up of on-demand TV.