Saturday links: A new video iPod? ... UMD, we hardly knew ye ... Kevin Smith ... More

Some Saturday links for you...

- Does Apple have a new video iPod in the works, designed specifically for watching content, rather than listening to music?

- Sony loves its proprietary media formats. Consumers don't. Say goodnight, UMD.

- Speaking of silly format stuff, since the studios couldn't agree on one high-definition DVD format, now the Blu-ray and HD DVD camps are gonna have to spend millions to try to win consumers to their side. HD DVD is shelling out $150 million in promotions.

- Kim Masters on Disney's new strategy.

- Entertainment Weekly has a piece about how motion capture and software created the Davy Jones character in `Pirates 2.' Some nice comments from John Knoll at ILM.

- Enric was at the opening night of the SF Silent Film Festival last night, and has some photos and a report.

- Mark Olsen writes about Kevin Smith in today's LA Times. Here's one passage that I found interesting, about how Smith has used the Net to communicate directly with his fans:

...[Smith] has an extremely active and direct role online in a circle of Internet sites. The websites allow him to interact with a broad swath of fans, sell merchandise and, as with the case of "Clerks II," heavily promote his upcoming releases.


..."Kevin is incredibly savvy when it comes to marketing," [Richard] Kelly says. "Part of preserving your auteur status, preserving your vision and continuing to make films the way you want to is developing an identity, a fan base and an audience that will always be there for you. I think Kevin has done that, and he's able to make exactly the films he wants to make."