When I read the news today that Comcast had upgraded free storage for customers to 1 Gig per Comcast.net email address, it happened to be right after reading another stat from a firm called InfoTrends. InfoTrends predicts that Americans will take 50 billion digital photos in 2007 and 60 billion by 2011. Putting the two data points together pointed me toward a conclusion that I’ve been percolating on for some time now: consumer storage is on the verge of becoming big business.

While Comcast is offering more storage for free (which means storage must be mind-bogglingly cheap), it’s not offering any kind of archiving management solution that I know of. Unfortunately storage isn’t just about finding space, it’s about preserving materials so they’re accessible over the long haul. TWICE magazine had a panel discussion on this issue a while back pertaining specifically to the photo industry, but it’s true whether you’re talking about photos, videos, emails, blogs, or whatever.

There are consumer storage services out there, but none that have broken through to mainstream American consciousness. And more importantly, none that have been tested over years and years to prove they’re lasting solutions. It will be interesting to see how these services hold up and what new ones appear in the next decade.

If money grew on trees, I’d have a funkadelic living room. FogScreen “produces a thin curtain of fog that serves as a translucent projection screen, displaying images that literally float in the air.” It sounds like FogScreen has been available overseas for a bit (mostly appearing at trade shows), but is now making its way to advertisers across the US. In fact their PR agency tells me FogScreen recently landed at the LA nightclub, Opera - supposedly where A-listers congregate.

Of course I was curious how the fog is created, figuring it was dry ice or something difficult to come by, but it’s just water:

The FogScreen hangs from a trestle, but does not use dry ice or any sort of chemicals. All that is needed is ordinary tap water, so it’s totally environmentally safe. It uses about 2 gallons of tap water per hour, depending on the desired fog output.

Unlike prior products I’ve highlighted that may be unreasonably priced, FogScreen isn’t intended for the individual consumer…. So while I’ve been pretty intrigued with the product, there’s no way I’d spend $40k (one meter unit) or $79k (two meter) on a non-HD display for my personal usage. Wonder what it would take to roll your own?

The National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) has launched a new commercial campaign to inform American consumers about the upcoming digital TV transition. In one of four new spots, Eunice Mixon tells us not to worry about February 2009, cable’s got it taken care of. I find her authority somewhat undermined by the purple feather duster she brandishes earlier in the PSA.

Industry Note: The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is somewhat peeved with the NCTA’s claim that the DTV transition will be seamless for cable viewers. Cable would like to cut off local digital content (think public television) for analog customers to save on bandwidth. The NCTA is floating a proposal now for cable operators to multicast this content (broadcast it in digital and analog) until 2012. The FCC wants multicasting until cable systems are entirely digital, which is sure to take longer than five more years.

The great thing about software updates is that they can roll out at any time. Word is that AT&T is now field-testing new U-verse apps in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area. While folks are still waiting on the more coveted whole-home DVR feature, the U-verse Users Forum has screenshots up of a Yellow Pages directory on U-verse channel number 97. My first reaction was tepid at best, but the more I think about it, the more it seems quite useful. While I may not be ready to order a pizza on my TV (the holy grail of interactive television in the 1990s…), I wouldn’t mind being able to look up the pizza delivery number while watching trashy shows on a Friday night.

AT&T is apparently also officially testing Yahoo apps and the U-bar in DFW. The U-bar is a customizable toolbar with widgety-type info like traffic and weather updates.

Buried toward the end of this morning’s WSJ article on Sony is a short blurb on Apple TV:

Apple’s set-top device called Apple TV, which lets users play music and video from their computer-based iTunes library, has not been selling strongly since it went on sale earlier this year, analysts say.

I had numerous debates with people when Apple TV first launched about how successful it could be. Then and now the biggest argument for Apple TV has always been that it has the potential to become so much more. If you add HD content to iTunes it could be a great HD video machine. If you add a TV tuner and DVR features it could replace your set-top. If you give people a chance to pay a premium for no DRM, it could transform the video purchasing experience.

Unfortunately, each “if” is fraught with complications. The content companies are fiercely protective of their content and only want to work with Apple on their own terms. This goes double where HD video is concerned given fears of piracy and lost revenue. As for consumers, they (we) want access to content they’re used to getting from their cable, satellite or telecom company, and that means dealing with CableCARDs or some other workaround technology. No simple task.

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The Netflix rental model is beloved in my household, and we watch very different things on Netflix DVDs than we do on our DVR. However, a new study out of the UK by a firm called Ofcom, the independent regulator of UK communications industries, suggests that DVR viewing may be cutting into DVD popularity. In other words, people are building up viewing material on their DVRs rather than bother with the inconvenience of procuring DVDs.

This is not a big shock, and certainly the trend is bound to continue as more and more video is available digitally and on demand. However, while Hollywood may temporarily make a big fuss over the loss of DVD revenues, it’s hard to imagine producers and distributors won’t get a little creative before long. They can still sell content digitally, and ultimately they’ll have a lot more flexibility in offering video and interactive extras. It’s kind of like the ruckus DVRs have created in the advertising world. Sure people can skip over ads now, but in a digital world, advertisers have lots of opportunity to foist their messages on us - from YouTube’s new ad overlays to services like Time Warner’s Look Back which blocks commercial skipping. If and when DVDs completely die out, there will still be no lack of money to be made.

In a world where content is king, probably nothing matches the audience appeal and leverage power of sports programming. Most people want to watch sports live (a boon to advertisers) and there are rabid fans at all levels, from high school athletics to professional-league games.

Witness the recent hullabaloo over the Big Ten Network (BTN). BTN has decided to launch this Thursday on AT&T’s U-verse service. Neatly left out of the launch party is cable giant Comcast. Comcast wants to stick BTN on its sports tier, while BTN has argued it should be placed on the extended basic service tier, which has a much larger audience. The companies are at an impasse, and BTN believes it can hold out because AT&T offers a nice alternative. In other words, Comcast isn’t the only game in town.

Of course for consumers the result is that a lot of people are going to miss out on Big Ten games. An editorial in the Chicago Tribune uses the issue to argue for a-la-carte pricing, but of course there are problems with that approach, as EngadgetHD covered recently. Still I hope somebody finds a reasonable solution for getting regional sports games, particularly out of market. Oh wait, isn’t there something called a Slingbox?

UPDATE: Comcast fights back with free on-demand coverage of Big Ten team Notre Dame.