Some Einstein high The video event <\/a>was at "Ned Most of them were young, but with a respectable smattering The only person in attendance we knew was one of the What followed were much more mundane demos and concentrated We left after drinking two beers and before doing something Last night, while girding our intellectual loins for a tepid year-end academic reception at Sol Azteca, a Mexican restaurant (duh) near campus, we decided to afterward attend "HD in Motion," the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group’s year-end industry social. … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/hdim.jpg\")
Last
\n night, while girding our intellectual loins for a tepid year-end academic
\n reception at Sol
\n Azteca<\/a>,
\n a Mexican restaurant (duh) near
\n campus, we decided to afterward attend "HD in Motion," the
\n Boston Final Cut Pro User Group’s
\n year-end industry social<\/a>. But
\n first we had to at least make an appearance at the annual office Christmas\/Hanukah\/Kwanza
\n Party.<\/p>\n
\n in administration or budgeting had combined the Holiday Celebrations
\n of
\n the Center of English
\n Language
\n and
\n Orientation
\n Programs<\/a> and the Office of International
\n Programs<\/a>, which obviously have
\n nothing to do with each other. It was like a junior high-school dance,
\n with all the guys on one side of the gym and the babes on the other.
\n Neither the cuisine nor the conversation was very spicy, and we slipped
\n out early.<\/p>\n
\n Devines<\/a>" another Boston
\n faux-Irish Chain Pub, this one at the tourist magnet Faneuil Hall, near
\n Government Center. Upon entering, it was clear we had were sailing
\n in very different
\n seas. Entering uncharted territories. The Videophiles are a very distinct
\n cultural sub-grouping of geeks and gearheads, with their own language,
\n look and organizational logic.<\/p>\n
\n of greybeards mixed among the several hundred attendees. The place was
\n set up for show and tell, with a powerful projector feeding a 20-foot
\n screen at the front of the dark, cavernous room. The first feature was
\n a cinematic
\n promo video<\/a> for the FireStore F-3, a small, high-speed hardrive
\n capable of capturing raw video in real time and recording it in Quicktime
\n DVD format using something called Direct to Edit technology. A TV reporter
\n is racing to get back to the station with some sizzling scoopy footage,
\n madly editing and dubbing in the back of the station van, arriving seconds
\n before air-time. Because he shot his video directly onto a FireStore
\n FS-3 hard drive using DTE technology he is able to edit on the run and
\n deliver a broadcast-ready piece, saving everybody’s jobs. This was the
\n product
\n (actually the soon
\n to be introduced FS-4<\/a>)
\n which had attracted our attention to the event.<\/p>\n
\n stars of the
\n video<\/a>, the inestimable Steve
\n Garfield<\/a>, who was also the
\n person who first told me about the FS-4<\/a>. He too covets one, and
\n he followed up on our brainstorm of asking for a review model by actually
\n asking for a review model (he knows the FireStore people and they owe
\n him a favor) and they turned HIM down, so our chances look dim.<\/p>\n
\n sales pitches for products which we barely understood and were certain
\n to never actually use. Nevertheless, it is a testimony to both
\n the powers of persuasion of the presenters and the susceptibility to
\n advertising
\n of the Dowbrigade that by the end of each of the presentations we were
\n convinced
\n that we
\n absolutely needed the product in question. The facts that we barely understood
\n what the products did, would never have a need for their functionality
\n and in fact did not own a computer powerful enough or have the prerequisite
\n software needed to run them, were easily overlooked details. And,
\n dangerously, we had a pocketful of cash from a French-Lebanese student
\n who had told his
\n parent
\n weeks ago that he had sent in his college apps when in fact he hadn’t
\n even started them and needed desperately to get them done before flying
\n back to Paris today.<\/p>\n
\n we knew we would regret later. We have much better things to waste our money on.<\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/td>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"