There was general outrage last month (except from Dave) when word came down from NBC that it won’t show any live Olympics coverage if it’s set to be televised in the evening. That might not be a big issue if there wasn’t such a huge time delay between Beijing and the US. But as it is, we’re likely to read scores and text highlights long before we can actually see Olympic action from half way around the world.

Or so we’ve thought.

One industry insider (my own Deep Throat) says talks are ongoing at NBC about the possibility of posting teaser coverage online during the day. With the success of other sports events on the Web, NBC has to know there is huge revenue potential in making live or nearly-live highlights available for daytime viewing. The network says it’s not having any trouble selling ad spots. Why not expand the audience?

Of course the big issue here is that NBC doesn’t want to cannibalize its primetime TV viewership. I don’t know why it’s worried. Show me a clip of the latest 14-year-old phenom on the uneven bars during the day, and I’m still going to tune in at night to see her take on the balance beam.

Here’s hoping NBC’s interactive folks win the day on this debate. The summer Olympics only happen once every four years. I want all the coverage I can get. And, assuming I’m not alone, that translates into big bucks for NBC.

One year ago I wrote about MGM’s trial release of the movie A Dog’s Breakfast on iTunes and put in a prayer that Joss Whedon would follow the straight-to-download distribution model. Apparently someone heard me over in Whedonverse.

If you’re a fan (Buffy, Angel, Firefly…), you’ve likely already heard about Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the first installment of which appears tomorrow. It’s not exactly straight-to-download. Instead, Whedon is premiering his new creation in three streaming parts. The three segments will appear in sequence on July 15th, 17th and 19th. And then on July 20th, they will all disappear. Soon after July 20th, Dr. Horrible will be available for download for a “nominal” fee, and eventually the video will come out on DVD. Read all about in Whedon’s master plan.

Now a plug for the video itself. Go watch it! Seriously. Even if you know nothing about Joss Whedon, this show’s got Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. Doing comedic villainy things. And it’s a musical! Could you ask for anything more?

The folks over at Unstrung got confirmation from Sprint VP Atish Gude that one of the payment options for the upcoming US WiMAX network will be day passes. (via Broadband Reports) In other words, if you don’t want to sign a contract, you can pay for a day of use just like with a Wi-Fi hotspot.

I’ve written before that the per-use mobile broadband model would be my ideal. I don’t need mobile access often, but when I do, it’s critical, and I’m willing to pay. That said, I had an interesting conversation on this topic with Arnie Berman, chief technology strategist at Cowen and Co., and he makes a good argument that the “by-the-drink” model has serious flaws.

Broadly speaking, as Arnie says, all-you-can-eat pricing drives adoption by bringing predictability to monthly billing levels. Fine. WiMAX isn’t doing away with that model as its main option. However, the big question is whether wireless carriers can maintain flat-fee day-pass payments (predictable per-use fees) or whether they’ll start charging by bandwidth used. Since bandwidth caps are now a serious part of the conversation in fixed broadband, why shouldn’t we expect the same to happen on the mobile side? And if that happens, how can we gauge our own usage and avoid unpleasant billing surprises?

Over on GigaOM last week, Arnie talked about this very dilemma with regard to cloud computing. He argued there that we need more than a usage monitoring tool; we need a tool that forecasts likely usage. Maybe the same is true for mobile broadband. I’m all for WiMAX day passes, but if service providers end up charging by the byte, I want a simple way to determine what payment plan makes the most sense for me. And more importantly, whether I can afford mobile broadband at all.

An interview with The Washington Post’s Rob Pegoraro aired this morning on NPR. The topic? Whether the Kindle makes for good beach and poolside reading. The verdict was mixed.

On the pro side: a few drops of water aren’t going to kill the Kindle, and the fact that the screen’s not backlit makes it easy to read even in the sun.

On the con side: the Kindle isn’t going to survive getting buried in the sand, and you’re going to be a lot more worried about it getting stolen than a dog-eared paperback.

All in all, I think even if I owned a Kindle I’d fork over ten bucks for a paperback at the beach… just for the peace of mind of being able to leave my book thoughtlessly behind for a dip in the ocean.

Apple products are the gifts that keep on giving. Right before the July 4th holiday, AppleInsider reported on how first-gen iPhone buyers can still operate their handsets as iPod Touch devices - Wi-Fi and all - if they decide to buy the new 3G iPhone. This met with some derision on the AppleInsider forum as an iPhone costs more than an iPod Touch, but the realists in the group pointed out that for year-old technology, it’s not such a bad deal.

In the meantime, the story got me thinking about the options for old iPhones and iPods. What to do when you’re ready to move on to the next-gen product?

1. Sell your old iPhone or iPod on eBay. It’s an obvious choice, but one that many may be too lazy to take advantage of. For those folks, try an iSOLD It store. Drop off your old product, let them sell it for you on eBay, and reap a portion of the profits. Dave likes this method.
2. Pass it down to a child or up to a parent. Again this is an obvious choice, but you can turn it into a true gift by loading your old gadget with personalized music for the recipient. Think mix tape without the romantic connotations.
3. Keep a travel version. Like to work out on the road? Keep an iPod or iPhone-cum-iPod-Touch topped up with workout tunes in your travel bag. You’ll have no excuse to avoid that run around the hotel grounds.
4. Raffle off for a local community group. Got a kid’s extracurricular club that’s looking for prizes to raffle? What could be better than that old iPod Mini?
5. If your old iPod or iPhone is totally trashed, there’s always the recycling option. Apple has its own recycling program, and it’s completely free, including shipping. No better way to end-of-life an Apple music player.

We’ve been seriously low on good television in my household, so yesterday I thought I’d come up with a brilliant idea when I remembered my Swaptree account. I’ve been holding on to box sets of the first seasons of Lost and The Office, and I figure I’ll be able to do a nice trade on Swaptree for something else worthwhile. I was about to see if the first season of Entourage was available when my better half had a better idea. The library. Sure enough, Entourage is there.

In the library’s favor: It’s free. There’s no shipping. It’s within walking distance.

In Swaptree’s favor: No grumpy librarians. It’s got social networking features. (Yes, I’m being sarcastic.)

Of course there are plenty of other scenarios where Swaptree comes out on top. New DVDs not available in the library yet, books you want to take notes in, games you don’t want to have to return, etc. But in this case, the library wins out. Grumpy librarians and all.

I’m beginning to think that soon I won’t be able to turn my head without seeing a TV screen. My local Wi-Fi cafe haunt has added a display above the registers with local advertising, and I just heard via Shiny Shiny that London is getting movie trailers piped in on screens at select Underground stops. Add on TV commercials at my local gas pump, and I fear that soon I won’t be able to go anywhere without a video screen in my face.

Dave may have to hold off on The Battle Royale. Word is that Netflix may be upping the ante with new content for the Roku box. (via Forbes, and Silicon Alley Insider) While Netflix isn’t saying what that content might be, VP Tim Twerdahl claims that a software update later this year will let the Roku box stream video from other “big name” providers.

Clearly the battle of the boxes is leading up to an all-out content war. That’s great news for the content providers and for consumers. More competition means more licensing fees for the providers and more stuff to watch for us at home.

Except, wait a minute. Doesn’t this mean we’re moving toward another video consumption model with a subscription fee and a set-top? Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?