Thursday, January 10, 2013

On Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory




I said that quote like a butterfly goes
drifting along at the edge of a storm
or maybe I said it like a whale goes
drifting along under a madman’s boat
or maybe I said it like a spacecraft
drifting along above a storm in space
or maybe I said it like a pigeon
drifting along above electric lines
and I wonder now how...







The Flip Video cameras are a series of tapeless camcorders for digital video created by Pure Digital Technologies, a company bought by Cisco Systems in March 2009; variants included the UltraHD, the MinoHD, and the SlideHD. Production of the line of Flip video cameras ran between 2006 until it retired in April 2011.

... It was announced on March 19, 2009, that Cisco Systems had acquired Pure Digital Technologies, the maker of Flip Video for $590 million USD in stock. The acquisition was completed on May 21, 2009.

On April 12, 2011, Cisco announced that it "will exit aspects of its consumer business" which includes shutting down the Flip.

Some observers suggested that the Flip was facing growing competition from camera phones, particularly smartphones (which have disrupted point-and-shoot cameras, wristwatches, alarm clocks, portable music players, and GPS devices) that have recently added HD movie capability; the smartphones' cellular networks have enabled better ease of sharing content. Contrary to popular perception, however, smartphones as of 2011 are still a small fraction of overall worldwide sales of cell phones (most which do not have high-definition video), and the Flip was still selling strongly when its discontinuation was announced. Another suggested reason was because consumer hardware was not part of Cisco's core businesses of services and software, furthermore the profit margins on consumer electronics were narrow.

As Cisco shut down the Flip business instead of divesting of it, it has been suggested that the patents and other intellectual property from the acquisition could have proved valuable to Cisco's videoconferencing businesses in the future.


Flip Video
at Wikipedia



Of all the various mistakes I’ve made here at the blog—and by mistakes I mean things I wish I hadn’t done—there are two that stand out to me.

The first is that I wish I hadn’t ever posted about celebrities. Celebrities, possibly especially in the modern world, are almost always deeply troubled people. Just by paying attention to them, their troubles in some small way become part of our world. There’s just no reason for that. There are more important things worth doing.

The second is that I wish I hadn’t ever posted about one or two real people I know who are part of that celebrity world. Celebrities are sad enough. But the very smart and very talented people who create celebrities and create our pop culture built around celebrities are almost incomprehensible to me.

I said “almost incomprehensible” because I think and feel I do understand it a little—very, very little, but a little—I mean about the people who create and service celebrities and pop culture built around them.

But like celebrities themselves, that behind-the-scenes stuff is so horrible that there is just no reason for paying attention to it. There are more important things worth doing.

I’m trying to get better at lots of things. I’m making a special effort to not repeat these two mistakes. Ever.



*



Of all the gadgets that I never bought
I think I miss the Flip camera most.

My e-mail database has some letters
from someone who worked at Pure Digital.

It was a cool company. Cool people.

They designed and marketed cool gadgets.

I bought a better camera instead.

But what really does the word ‘better’ mean?

I wish I had paid more attention to
all the issues of that question sooner.





. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


The Monster Thought Of The Waldensians

The Optimum Expressive Moment Of Time And Place

That Third Evil Clown

The Dark Sidewalk In Daylight (Still Dark)

When You Press Down A Piano Key

Damsels And Werewolves

Fictional Characters Can Keep Trying



The woman came in
To switch off the monster’s film
But stayed
To watch
With him




“The cinématographe itself was patented
on 13 February 1895 and the first footage
ever to be recorded using it was recorded
on March 19, 1895. This first film shows
workers leaving the Lumière factory.”
























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