Apple TV can now learn other remote controls and use them in addition to the Apple Remote.

Other remote controls? How about a game controller? The rumors were swirling around not too long ago that the Apple TV was headed towards having games (reported by Engadget, Apple Insider and Ars Technica) and perhaps it’s time to rethink those rumors.

Recently the company SGN, who make such great iPhone games such as iBowl and iGolf, have something called iFun which uses the iPhone as a controller for computer based games. What if the next step was the Apple TV? There is unused Bluetooth capabilities in the Apple TV via a USB dongle.

It’s absolutely possible that Apple open the Apple TV into a gaming platform like they did with the iPhone, perhaps even using the iPhone as a controller. Last time around the rumor was shot down pretty quick, but when a rumor circulates with that much detail its usually a matter of time until the feature is rolled out.

It’s going to be a long fight, but it’s a worthwhile one. When one court makes a decision, it will be appealed to the next highest court until it’s sitting in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. I want this issue of hatred to leave California and step onto the national stage. I’m looking forward to having this become a real national issue. Once it is, the Supreme Court of the United States will look at this and end this public debate. I seriously hope the silliness ends with all of America being able to marry whomever they wish.

Do you think that the people who voted for Prop 8 would have fought as hard had they lost the vote?

This is a list of best practices, so be ready for list.

Think Google. People used to come to the front page every day, like getting their paper at their doorstep. Now people go to Google to find out the news. Type in the question you want answered and see what’s there.

Write about what you know and stick to your guns. Write what you know and know what you write.

Create an editorial calendar and stick with it. This has been echoed by lots of people at the Thin Air Summit. Write out a calendar of content in advance, so you’re ready to write and you have the information you need.

Headlines should clearly state what the article is about. When people are on the web, it needs to be completely clear what the article is about. Avoid one word headlines and cleverness. The best headline writers are clear and clever. Good headline starters: How to, 10 ways to, the best… Deliver on promises. Bait and switch is for crooks.

Post frequently and regularly, posting content at the same day at the same time. writing too long is writing LAZY. Put your best stuff and make your point in the first 200 words, no one makes it to the end. Explain jargon. Use all the tools that are available to you. Be useful to your reader. Punctuation matters. Go through your old articles and clean them up. Avoid passive voice, write with authority. Avoid personal tirades.

Article ideas: write frequently and short. Write evergreen. Check out what other publications are writing, and write about it but don’t forget to link back. Sign up to be on a press release distribution list.
Post timely info. Late info doesn’t help. Posting a little something is better than nothing at all. Don’t take on too much with a post. Ask a question in your headline, answer it in the post. Use templates that work and stick with it. Stop using multiple fonts and colors. you don’t have to be profound with each post. Avoid obscure references, know your audience. Write a good lead.

Create good subsections that people will be able to find your content easily. Be useful.

Partner up! If not with other publicatons, then other bloggers.

Chris is a writer for Rocketboom.

He read Culture Jam - How to Reverse America’s Suicidal Consumer Binge–And Why We Must. In the book, the author advocates turning off the TV altogether. Chris couldn’t do that, but instead turned his TV into his computer monitor. His living room is his office. He immersed himself in the pertinent medium (internet) in order to write for it.

RB presents the news in a new way. Each episode is meant to able to be a viral video, something made to be shared. There are two to six people working locally and remotely on the script working up to 12 hours on each script. How do the writers collaborate?

Google Chat - video is not necessary when you are writing. It’s the basic means of communication.
RSS Readers - looking for the most interesting stuff that’s not already viral (for video RSS, Chris suggests Miro)
Social Networks - Digg, Delicious, Friendfeed. Here’s the friendfeed room: http://friendfeed.com/rooms/rboom it’s a means of sharing.
Google Docs - pastes story ideas while chatting in real time.

For writing a news magazine style show, your ext has to have compelling visuals. Every two to three seconds there is a new visual. They have 10-12 stories within three minutes. Example - Rocketboom on Anti-Gravity. Lots of visuals and heavy subject matter into a short show.

Another angle in educating your audience is to give valuable education that’s useful. Example: Rocketboom on Fallacies. The show attempted to help people realize why they pass judgments.

People love recognition, and in order to build loyalty you can appeal to the audience and show recognition. O RLY? Know Your Meme - ORLY?

Treat every video like it’s going to be seen by millions of people.

http://12seconds.tv/channel/robblatt/47199

Story telling is the key to your voice. It’s how you communicate to children, and it’s how communication has always been.

A breakthrough in media was the walkman. It changed how you consumed media. It made media personal. Through mixtapes we became personal publishers with audio. The original version of it was diaries. Even further back was the printing press.

Graffiti is also an interesting form of story telling. Imagine having something you want to say so bad you’re willing to go to jail or worse for it. It’s a metaphor to some degree for blogs. It’s a need to have their voice heard.

How do we best get our voices heard?

Speak in a forum where people will hear you. Occasionally (as in graffiti) you put your voice in a place that is illegal to do so. Bloggers DO get arrested, as do people who paint graffiti and pirate radio stations.

This is a redefinition of the status quo in the media. We have made media easier to create. With more voices making noise, the less control the media has. Everyone is a channel, and our channels run parallel with traditional media channels. Some of our channels represent or are traditional media channels.

Mobile devices are the future because they are your connection to these channels everywhere.

What are we doing? Citizen media. It’s both amazing, but also maddening. For all the awesome stuff out there, we’re also drowning in spam.

In 2004, Drupal was built up around the Howard Dean campaign. Now, it’s one of the most flexible content management systems available. Who knows what Barack Obama’s campaign has in mind for the millions of cell phone numbers and email addresses.

The music industry attempted this dog and pony show before with the DVD-A and SA-CD formats. Each were promised as the future of music, but in the end each were failures. The discs are still manufactured, but the formats have not hit the mainstream in terms of popularity. I know this because when my wife and I upgraded our home theater, I went to every store I could think of to attempt to find some SA-CD or DVD-A discs with no luck. Not one employee I spoke to knew what I was talking about. When in San Francisco I asked at Amoeba Music and was given a blank stare. Eventually I ordered some off the internet.

What people crave on an audio disc isn’t high quality. The public can barely tell the difference between a poorly encoded mp3 and CD quality anymore. The public craves high QUANTITY. A Blu Ray double layered disc holds about 50 GB of data, which is equal to about eighty 74 minute CDs. With that amount of data, discographies or entire tour of music could be released on one disc.

If Sony adopted an audio format that used current CD standards for the music on the disc, we could fit nearly one hundred hours of audio on to one disc. How valuable would it be to you to have all of the Beatles’ recorded collection on one disc? How about a complete collection of one year of Pearl Jam’s live show? Certainly more than $42.