Right there, whenever you like, on your browser, iPhone or iPad. Yes.
Let’s be real: Nobody but Nielsen families watches TV on a television set anymore. I bet so few people watch “TV” TV that only a few of you understood my killer Nielsen family joke!

To be honest, who has time to sit around and watch the tube? Most of it’s not must-see; if it is—trust me—some bar in Williamsburg has a theme night for it. Not to mention how totally unhip it is to actually watch TV these days. We all know kids these days are watching the Internet just like the rest of us. If you are watching TV, it’s likely you’re using a DVR to do it, which is sort of what Aereo is about.

All the way back in 2009, Vishesh Kumar and Sam Schechner reported in the Wall
Street Journal, “The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a new type of digital video recorder from Cablevision Systems Corp., [which set] the stage for wider use of the technology.” That, of course, was the good ol’ Cablevision DVR Plus; much lauded for not requiring a small object in a room but derided for being unfathomably
slow in the beginning. When Cablevision launched their bright idea, a slew of networks sued them too. Cablevision hired a lawyer and won their case—no spoilers, but Aereo just hired the same one.

The original defense rested on the fact that DVR Plus members were basically doing the same thing TiVo lets you do: recording content that anybody with an antenna and a TV has free access to. Every recording was saved to an individual’s own private virtual DVR storage. It’s very much like when Universal and Disney sued Sony
because the Betamax was considered an evil piracy device. Aereo is is likely to use the Cablevision defense because their whole system works by allotting members their own private pair of micro-antennae located on the company’s Brooklyn rooftop— in effect, you’re paying Aereo to hold on to your antenna for you.

Like millions and millions of my contemporaries, to me, the Internet equals an Absolutely Everything Machine. If it’s not on the Internet, I don’t know about it. Even if it is on the Internet, if it’s not in the cheap-to-free price range, I actually do not want it. Aereo’s $12/month price is not bad at all. If you add in the price of monthly Netflix and Hulu Plus accounts, the price tag for your TV diet is still way less than my grandfather pays for cable. After an extended Beta, Aereo launched for New York residents on March 14th. New users get a 90-day free trial. Their website looks nice and the video quality is just fine when you’re watching it live—that’s right: live streaming video.

All this actually-on-the-air-right-now content reminded me of what a huge letdown it was back in the day when there was “nothing on!” But with Aereo, I flipped ahead in the guide a bit, set it to record 30 Rock, did things, came back at 9 p.m. and was actually giddy! To think, my very own, brand-new episode of 30 Rock saved snug in my 40 hours of DVR storage space on the Aereo cloud and—What?! Under the Recordings tab, I found
a friendly, devil-red line of text that read: “Not recorded: System error.”

I felt feelings then that I hadn’t felt since I once forgot to put a new VHS tape
in for the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale. There’s bound to be issues at first. And an episode of Seinfeld and an airing of the Addams Family movie recorded just fine later on.

Broadcasters need to stop and take stock of their industry. Here is another example, of many, of a business model showing us that the future of television is not allergic to revenue. But still, these clunky old brands are so afraid of reality that they’ve become incapable of taking all this money I’ve got sitting around.

Services like Aereo could be a non-candy lifesaver for these guys. All of the ingredients are there: TV, Internet, willing consumers and money. And think of how much more in touch networks would be with all the data available from a web audience. Instead of spending cash picking on the new kids, legacy media outfits might consider a few smart investments.

Don’t be afraid of working together to make life easier for consumers.
How do you get your sitcoms? Think the plaintiffs are right? Let us know at nypress.com!
Follow @44carib on Twitter, just because.

There are companies like Freedom of Creation and Shapeways that offer on-demand printing. A lot of their catalogue is knick-knack stuff like jewelry and iPhone cases, but a few allow customers to upload designs and have custom products printed and shipped out. But these companies are still essentially creating novelty items without much practical value, and their prices aren’t great for what you get.

My bet for the Future of Stuff is on DIY outfits like Brooklyn based MakerBot Industries. Anybody can go on their website and buy the Thing-O-Matic, a desktop 3D printer for home use, as well as the items needed to build or improve your own. It’s still a little expensive at $2400 for the fully assembled version or $1,099 for the build-it-yourself kit, but compared to $20k for commercial 3D printers it’s still quite a deal. Also, it’s all open source technology which means that hobbyists are constantly working on making the technology better and cheaper.

For example, PrintrBot is an affordable ($500ish) 3D Printer created by Brook Drumm. He put the idea up on http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your-first-3d-printer?ref=card>Kickstarter with a goal of $25k to start manufacturing 3D Printers that anybody could build and use. By the time the Kickstarter clock ran out, PrintrBot had pulled in a staggering $830,827 USD. The first PrintrBots are expected to ship out in January for the original funders. Then Brook hopes to start up a ‘Bot Farm’ for mass-(re)production.

Both MakerBot and PrintrBot are evolutions on the original RepRap (REPlicating RAPid prototyper) project. Started in 2005 by Dr. Adrian Bowyer, a Senior Lecturer in mechanical engineering at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, RepRap.org is a community of enthusiasts bent on creating a machine that can build (most of) the parts needed to recreate itself. On the Wiki are the instructions for anybody who wants to take the time to build their own 3D printer.

I expect that as the technology progresses we will begin to see 3D printers become a commonplace household appliance. Besides the fact that it just makes sense to have personal access to the power of manufacturing and product replacement/repair, these machines will enable people to fully customize the items we use everyday. Also, think of all the warehouse space that could be repurposed into Awesome Starving Artist Pads. Then of course there’s the environmental benefit to consider.

By now most people are aware of the giant “Plastic Trash Vortex” swirling around the Pacific Ocean. While 3D printing won’t lessen the disposable lifestyle we’ve grown to enjoy, they might do much to reduce the environmental impact by allowing manufacturers to print what consumers need when they need it. Speaking of Green, check out the Filabot Kickstarter project. They’re trying to get funding to create a machine that will recycle plastic waste into the filament used by RepRap 3D printers. As of now you’ve still got a month to support their Awesome Science.

Personally, my early interest in 3D Printing had more to do with my intense love of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Replicators onboard the USS Enterprise made everything from Captain Picard’s Earl Grey tea to medicines used by Dr. Crusher, and allowed the post-scarcity utopia of Gene Roddenberry’s universe. While the printers available now are a far walk from the miracle machines of the 24^th century, we’ve still got three more centuries to get this stuff right. Engage.