Seeking Nerdvana

Two interesting recent news items show a glimmer of hope for Australia's fledging electronic content delivery eco-system.

The first is ReelTime offers Download-To-Own movies to XBox 360 - a follow up to ReelTime's recent move to offer download-to-own movies available the same day as they hit the retail shelves. Adding XBox 360 compatibility may not sound like much, but it shows that ReelTime is obviously putting some serious though into its strategy as well as how end users actually want to user their content. Such an approach is very encouraging.

The second is Internode upgrades network for IPTV push - another step forward for one of the country's most progressive ISPs which has just picked up PC Authority magazine's ISP of the Year as part of its Reliability and Service Awards. I think we're in much safer hands if the future of IPTV lies with a company like Internode rather than Telstra, although Internode admits its plans are still somewhat at the mercy of Telstra. You also have to respect a managing director like Simon Hackett of Internode, who returns your emails at 1 in the morning when you're working on a story. Now that's a service you'll never get from Telstra.