Blogarithms
Doug Kaye's thoughts on web services, web hosting and managed services.
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Te Amo (Made in Chile). This Chilean film remided us of My Brother Tom that we saw a week ago, also at the Mill Valley Film Festival. While "Tom" was a truly remarkable film, I'd call Te Amo "very good."
It's about a group of four high-school kids from well-to-do Santiago families. Together they find an abandoned house in which they create their home-away-from-home along with fantasy lives separate from their problematic real homes. Sam, the lead character, has a video camera, and much of the first half of the film is effectively shown through the eyes of his camera. Slighlty disturbing at times (but only slightly), this is an inventive, creative, and well-produced story about coming of age in an environment nearly devoid of parenting or family. Two thumbs up.
Posted Saturday, October 13, 2001 2:30:47 PM 
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Spoils of War. David Blaustein has created this superb film about the Grandmothers of the Plaza del Mayo in Argentina. I first heard of their plight a few years ago on (I think) 60 Minutes. Their's is a compelling story, even without the good filmmaking. During the '60s and '70s the Argentine military systematically kidnapped, tortured and executed anyone thought to oppose them. And if any among the opposition were pregnant women, they gave birth (sometimes while still restrained using chains) before being killed. The children thus born were then given to families and friends of the military junta.
The grandmothers of these stolen children began while the military was still in power. They had to meet in secret and communicate using codes. Even after democracry came to Argentina, the grandmothers found it difficult to get attention for their cause. But they kept at it. As of 1999 they had found and identified 64 stolen children.
The film documents the grandmothers 30+ year plight. Blaustein uses his own interview footage mixed with newsreels, older interviews, and background material and scenery. And he does it well, with excellent enhancement using sound and music. (I'm convinced he replaced the soundtrack of chanting crowds in the newsreel scenes, all to the better.) Excellent filmmaking combined with a terrific story. Two thumbs up for this one at the Mill Valley Film Festival.
Posted Saturday, October 13, 2001 1:50:05 PM
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Ouch! That Hurts! The page-five caption reads, "Akamai's CDN services weren't worth the price, say Scott Thompson and Julie Webster of ABCNews.com." It doesn't get much more negative than this blurb in InternetWeek.
The article goes on to suggest that carrier-provided CDN services are less expensive than the dedicated commercial CDNs, such as Akamai, and that the standalone CDNs may be acquired or otherwise disappear. "Akamai's high prices have caused ABCNews.com to switch to Digital Island...Sources say Akamai sells bandwidth at 10 times the prices of carriers."
Something's wrong here. The only reasons for such a price differential must be due to an imbalance in supply/demand or other temporary conditions. Web-hosting services are 9I believe) selling services below cost in order to attract customers to their empty data centers and underutilized pipes. At the same time, Akamai has costs that are increasing as they continue to grow their infrastructure. Ultimately, the economics of delivery via a CDN should turn out to be better. The question is, can the CDNs survive until realistic costs and price return to the market?
Posted Saturday, October 13, 2001 12:07:07 PM
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