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PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
Watch the Standard Deviants with Pocket PC Films
By Steve Niles
There was a time awhile back in the ZATZ offices when we'd take an hour out of the day a couple times a week for some educational sessions that weren't necessarily work-related. The first area of interest was finance, a fairly dull topic, as even an accountant would have to admit.
We turned to Cerebellum, a producer of educational videos and DVDs for high school and college students. Their "Standard Deviants" brand of educational programming (at http://www.standarddeviants.com) incorporates irreverent humor to make topics as dry as finance more palatable. I can't speak for the entire line of Standard Deviants videos, but the ones we watched appeared to have been shot in a college dorm and used your standard Video Toaster level special effects. However, when we started getting into such heavy topics as annuities, interest rates, portfolios, bond valuation, Internal Rate of Review, and so on, their Monty Python by way of the Electric Company humor was much appreciated.
Having experience with the Standard Deviants, I took notice when it was announced that Cerebellum had entered into a partnership with Pocket PC Films (at http://www.pocketpcfilms.com), a multimedia distribution company for Pocket PC and Palm OS handheld devices. As part of the agreement, Pocket PC Films is to be the exclusive distributor of Cerebellum's Standard Deviants brand of educational programming for the handheld device market.
Pocket PC Films distributes video programming for use on Pocket PC and Palm OS devices via CD-ROM at retail, as well as through the nReach Mobile Content Kiosk (at http://www.nreach.biz), which loads programming directly onto device media cards. To view this programming on your Palm OS device, you have to use the Generic Media gMovie Player to view programming on the Palm OS system. According to Pocket PC Films, you should be able to view VHS quality video on your handheld using this software. The installation and viewer programs are provided on each CD-ROM.
The first Standard Deviants products to be distributed under the agreement include language tutorial videos on Spanish and French, as well as business videos on business law, marketing, and accounting. Each product should retail for under $20.00.
Steve Niles is Senior Editor for ZATZ Publishing. He is also an independent filmmaker and freelance writer. For more information, visit http://www.sn-films.com.
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