Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…
What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
Announced yesterday, TSMC is building a new 15 milliard Euro (15 US Cheapskate Billion Euros) production facility in Germany , they are putting up 10 milliard themselves and the German Government is paying the remaining 5 milliard.
Interesting that @Leo noted he gets the F1 TV package. $80/year is not all that bad for the service. Is Leo a true fan – do you get up at ~2am for live coverage of the Australian GP and other races in Asia? We are not that dedicated; we tape those distant races and watch when the sun is up. I’m certain the F1TV service is a superior experience to the Sky Sports production broadcast by ESPN, but that production is pretty darn good. The broadcast reliably cuts to the triumphant pit crew whenever there is an overtake – you feel really connected to the effort and emotions of the teams. The Sky Sports commentators have truly wonderful commentary on the race, and they can even grab a quick interview with the Toto Wolffs and Christian Horners during the middle of the race. Does the F1 TV package come with any air sickness bags for customers who stay on the low-and-bouncy helmet cams for too long? 
Jason notes at 1:42:30 that University presidents (and ADs) are super risk averse [with college football TV packages]. That seems to be true, but they seem to be taking risks with the huge time and resources of transporting teams, support staff, marching bands, etc. literally across the country for competitions (especially for “Big 10” newbies like UCLA and USC). One must pity the poor scholarship athletes in non-revenue sports who will now be spending massive time jetting across the country to home-at-home conference competitions. There must be protesters at these schools who are very upset with the massive carbon footprint impact of these changes – or does nobody really care? Surely there must be a way to relegate non-revenue sports to have far more local competitions, right?
Alex notes the tech to display the line-to-gain in NFL games in real time and how much $$$ and effort it takes to have that line reliably appear. Agreed! At the same time, I’m highly amused that there is still a 3-man crew managing the first down line with a physical chain, and that chain crew typically jogs onto the field about one time during most games for a “precise” measurement. Does anyone really care about this ancient tech – or does it have so little impact on the runtime of games that the NFL sees some advantage to leave this vestigial 10-yard tail hanging out on the sidelines? Those ancient chains can have a huge impact on college games. The less-talented chain crews aren’t quick enough on last-minute drives; the clock is stopped to advance the chains.
@Leo i read an interesting article in c’t this week. The EU battery law has an interesting out for sealed smartphones.
They can have non swappable batteries, if/
- they have 83% capacity after 500 cycles and 80% are 1,000 cycles.
- there are IP 67 rated.
Big_D: Interesting. That actually makes sense and likely lets most of the top tier handies off the hook.
RE: F1TV - I don’t get up at 4am for most races but F1TV can be streamed any time after the fact. Sky/ESPN uses the provided F1 video feed - so the primary feed is the same (with the addition of various custom split-screen features).
Some of the nice features of the F1TV stream: I can switch between Sky’s commentary (Crofty and Brundel) and F1s (more technical) commentators (Jaques and Palmer). Plus I have access to all driver cameras and radio. With the free F1 Multiviewer I can even have these running simultaneously on my computer along with live timing and telemetry. It’s a data nerd’s delight! Well worth the $80/year.
It’s a lot cheaper than NFL Sunday Ticket and an excellent template for what the NFL and MLS could be doing with their feeds. I suspect it’s only possible because F1 (and its owner Liberty Media) don’t have to worry about pissing off linear and cable providers. That was the biggest sticking point at TechTV - our precious cable deals prohibited putting more than snippets on the web.
As for the NFL “chain gang” I love it. Bits and pieces from the analog heritage of the game are part of the pleasure of sport.
1 Like