Hasta La Creative!

Here’s one to contemplate over the weekend: A Boston-area start-up called Myka has introduced a BitTorrent-enabled set-top box that allows users to view any of the millions of BitTorrent files on the Internet directly on their TV sets. Three different models are available from the company’s Web site, at prices ranging from $299 to $459, with hard drives ranging from 80GB to 500GB. The box, which looks like an Apple TV box but appears slightly larger, comes with an LAN port, HDMI port, component video outputs and a USB port.

Promo copy on the company’s Web site takes direct aim at Apple TV:

And because it’s BitTorrent, that means Myka can deliver any kind of content to your TV, developed in an open platform. No closed, proprietary system that works only on, say, Apple TV.
That means you don’t need iTunes or any other prepackaged, closed system.
This is the Internet as it was meant to be experienced – without borders and open to any kind of content for consumers and any kind of innovation for developers.

[snip]
BitTorrent is the leading peer-to-peer file-transfer protocol with more than 160 million installed clients. That means the more popular a large video file, the faster it can be transferred with BitTorrent. The result is quick, easy-to-use, high-quality, video downloads from major studios and content providers without tying up you computer for hours.

And Media Wonk’s personal favorite:

Not Built By Kids
Myka was designed and built by veterans in the Internet video industry who know the importance of providing an open system that is easy to publish to.

Before you say “contributory infringement,” the Web site TorrentFreak quotes Myka boss Dan Lovy claiming, “We’ve looked the legal side extensively. We are like a movie projector. It has kept the competition down though, to our advantage.”

TorrentFreak helpfully adds that “it may be possible, with [the Magic Box’s] h.264 support, to playback Blu-Ray torrents.”

Beyond the quote Lovy gave TorrentFreak, however, the company is keeping a low profile. The About Us section of Myka’s Web site reads in its entirety, “Myka is being produced by a privately held company in the Boston area. More to come…”

We can’t wait.

 

Paul Sweeting for Content Agenda

Advertising Agency: Zig, Canada
Creative Director: Elspeth Lynn/Lorraine Tao
Art Director: Elspeth Lynn
Copywriter: Lorraine Tao
Planner: Tania Gregory
Team Leader: Leslie Hunter
Agency Producer: Sharon Nelson
Producer: Justin Edmund-White, UK Producer
Executive Producer: James Davis
Production House: Untitled
Director: James Haworth
Editing House: Panic & Bob
Editor: Matthew Kett
Music Company: Rosnick MacKinnon
Music Producers name: Ted Rosnick

Advertising Agency: John St, Canada
Creative Directors: Stephen Jurisic, Angus Tucker
Copywriter: Chris Hirsch
Art Director: Nellie Kim
Agency Producer: Dale Giffen
Account Manager: Elana Olavesen
Music: Imprint Music
Production Company: Soft Citizen
Director: Sara St. Onge
DP: John Choi
Producer: John Nadalin
Executive Producers: Eva Preger, Link York
Editors: Ryan Hunt, School Editing
Post: Paul Binney, Rodney Dowd, School Editing
Animation: Aylwin Fernando, Crush Inc
Production Company: Head Gear Animation
Director: Steve Angel
Producer: Kathryn Rawson
Animator: Sean Branigan
Compositor: Kyle Griblin
Editor: Head Gear Animation

Advertising Agency: JWT Kuwait
Executive Creative Director: Mazen Fayad
Art Director: Johnny Boulos
Copywriter: Laila Al-Gharabally

Production: Click 3X, USA
Director/Editor/Compositor: John Budion
DP: John DeFeo
Audio Post: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Justin Matley
Shoot Location: NYC

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong
Creative Directors: Eugene Tsoh, Gavin Simpson
Art Directors: Eugene Tsoh, Roy Yung
Copywriter: Thomas Tsang
Illustrator: Kim Ho
Photographer: Jacky Ip
Aired: April 2007

Advertising agency: Campbell-Ewald, Los Angeles, USA
Creative Director: Debbie Karnowsky
Art Director: Chip Kettering
Copywriter: John Dolab
Agency Producer: John Haggerty
Director: Dante Ariola
Production company: MJZ
Production producer: Natalie Hill
Editor: Rick Russell
Editorial company: Final Cut
Visual effects: The Mill LA
Music: Carter Burwell
Aired: February 2008

Advertising Agency: Zig, Toronto
Creative Directors: Stephen Leps, Aaron Starkman, Martin Beauvais
Copywriter: Aaron Starkman
Art Director: Stephen Leps
Agency Producer: Sharon Nelson
Planner: Lynn Sivec
Project Manager: Sheri Hachey
Production Company: Radke Film Group
Director: Craig Brownrigg
Executive Producer: Scott Mackenzie
Line Producer: Ken Eggett
Director of Photography: Glen Keenan
Editor and Company:: John Evans, Panic & Bob, Toronto
Online: Panic & Bob, Toronto
Music and Sound Design: Ted Rosnick, Rosnick McKinnon Webster, Toronto

Advertising Agency: Venables, Bell & Partners, San Francisco, CA
Creative Directors: Paul Venables, Greg Bell
Associate Creative Director: Eric Liebhauser
Art Director: Brandon Sides
Sr. Copywriter: Crockett Jeffers
Agency Producer: Craig Allen
Editorial Company: Bug Editorial, NY, NY
Editor: Andre Betz
Sound Mix: Play Studios
Engineer: John Bolen
Sound Design: Human

Production Company: Epoch Films, Bicoastal
Director: Phil Morrison
DP: John Toll
Producer: Marc Marrie
Exec. Producers: Doug Halbert, Jerry Solomon

Via: Adfreak