Dear Hollywood Studios: Let My Video Go

It's early December, and you've been watching DVDs of The Wire, HBO's addictive crime drama, for four hours. Now it's past midnight, and you've just finished season three. You're hooked and ready for more, but season four is nowhere to be found. The DVD set was recently released, but neither Barnes & Noble nor the local video store has it yet, and anyway, they're closed. Netflix offers it, but that would mean a three-day wait for the DVDs to come by mail. Amazon Unbox? iTunes? Netflix Watch Instantly? Not available. Only one place will deliver The Wire right now: BitTorrent.

More.
NVDL: I used to use BitTorrent in Broadband heaven - South Korea. Unfortunately I have been suffering withdrawl since my boeing touched down on South African soil...

Internet: Excess Demand Will Fatally Clog The Tubes Unless New Global Infrastructures Developed (WIRED)

A new study by analyst Nemertes Research Group says that by 2010, increasing internet traffic will fatally clog the tubes. Several numbers are kicked around. For instance, the study says that $137 billion will have to be invested in worldwide broadband infrastructure to meet demand.

Video (including YouTube), VoIP and BitTorrent are blamed, and the study warns of the coming apocalypse: "The [...] study is evidence the exaflood is coming." Predictions include internet brownouts and slow connections: "it may take more than one attempt to confirm an online purchase or it may take longer to download the latest video from YouTube." (so, no real change there).

By Charlie Sorrel

NVDL: Excess demand, as in all things, merely means that it will take longer to get what we want, or we may have to go without it for long (but potentially just temporary) periods. This is also true for other resources, such as fuel and all the rest. But this is an interesting metaphor: excessive human demand to plug into a sort of digitised global consciousness. And there's not enough connectivity to go round. Makes sense. But maybe it is necessary that we start to see the human blitzkrieg slowing down. Perhaps things will slow down enough so that people may finally and collectively leave their desks and walk outside, feeling the sunshine in their faces - or the rain.