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December 29, 2005
**MEDIA RELEASE** Expedition 360 exclusive debut on AKIMBO
Akimbo Debuts Its First Exclusive Video Series on Expedition 360 - Human-Powered Circumnavigation
Thursday December 29, 8:00 am ET
Around the World by Rollerblade, Kayak and Bike...Akimbo Has the Adventure, On-Demand from the Net to Your TV
SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 29, 2005--In a programming first, Akimbo(TM), the first Internet-to-TV video-on-demand service for consumers, will debut the first four episodes of Expedition 360's remarkable documentary of an attempt to be the first to circumnavigate the globe solely by human-powered transportation. In what many have called "The Last Great First", two Englishmen, Jason Lewis and Steve Smith, set out in 1994 to travel around the world using only bikes, pedal boats, kayaks, and other human-powered means, a quest that echoes the drive to explore physical challenges experienced by classic explorers like Magellan and Sir Edmund Hillary. They have already completed over 25,000 miles and their adventures will begin airing via the subscription Akimbo Service today.
Check out Expedition 360 on Akimbo
For the first time, viewers will be able to experience this journey in depth, seeing the struggles and the triumphs, the setbacks and near-disasters, in far more detail than have ever been seen before. Without motors or sails, Expedition 360's Jason Lewis, a former rock musician, crossed the Atlantic in a pedal boat, bicycled across the U.S. and pedal-boated across the Pacific to Australia. On the way, Lewis and his compatriots have had to overcome broken bones, crocodile attacks, high seas and other obstacles -- including too often, a near total lack of funds -- making theirs one of the most dramatic and human stories ever told. Episodes one and two of the series are available at no extra charge to Akimbo subscribers while the final two episodes will be sold for $1 each, with profits going directly to Lewis and Expedition 360 to support their continuing journey.
"Expedition 360's team is fascinating not only because of their determination and resourcefulness, but because they are such skilled documentary filmmakers. The series is perfect for Akimbo because it combines a story of ambition and drive with wonderful visuals," said Joshua Goldman, CEO of Akimbo Systems. "Akimbo is happy to sponsor this journey and to work with Jason and his team to bring their story to a wider audience."
"Allowing viewers to immerse themselves in the adventure and to experience the great highs and lows of the experience is something that is very important to us," stated Lewis. "We're pleased to be associated with Akimbo and look forward to our ongoing partnership."
Akimbo's award-winning service bridges the gap between broadcast and broadband and offers a complementary service to existing broadcast, cable and satellite systems. The Akimbo collection of over 7,000 titles includes on-demand video and movies from 150 providers in 85 different categories. The basic "Free for All" Akimbo Service is available for $9.99 per month at www.akimbo.com. It can be accessed through an Akimbo Player (available for $69.99 through the holidays) as well as in the Online Spotlight section of Windows Media Center systems. Programming from Akimbo can also be watched on a television using an Xbox 360 game player as a media extender.
Akimbo's proprietary "Queue and View(TM)" technology delivers an onscreen program guide filled with channels, information, previews and viewer options, including full parental controls. Subscribers use the Akimbo Guide to select programs they want to download to view later at their convenience. Each time Akimbo subscribers turn on their TVs, high quality videos are ready and waiting so that there's always something good to watch.
About Akimbo
With the Akimbo Service, your wish is on demand(TM). Akimbo was named "Best of What's New" by Popular Science and accepted 2005 Digital World Innovations and CES Best of Innovations 2005 awards. With 12 patent applications featuring more than 150 patent claims, Akimbo is the first company to deliver digital-quality video-on-demand to any television via a broadband-Internet connection. Akimbo has offices in San Mateo, Calif. and is a privately held company funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Sprout Group and Zone Ventures. For more information, visit www.akimbo.com
(The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.)
Posted at 6:55 PM
December 7, 2005
The Funding Drive
Now Moksha is safely housed, the next priority on the agenda is getting in the funds for the next leg through SE Asia . I'm confident that given some excellent sponsorship leads recently generated in Singapore primarily thanks to Melissa Kwee, Luke Beadle and Farid Abdul Hamid, plus some great offers of help following the feature on Apple Computers HOT PICKS section of their site, this will come about quite quickly. At least in comparison to this last leg through Indonesia that took 3 years to save up for!
We're also planning some workshops with kids at the SAF Yacht Club after Christmas. With their excellent facilities for giving multimedia presentations and Moksha being on site, I think we can offer an educational but fun program for young watercraft enthusiasts to draw benefit from.
In the meantime if you're missing stories from the high seas check out these guys currently rowing across the Atlantic . Erden Eruc is attempting a circumnavigation of the world by human power in addition to climbing six of the world's highest peaks en route (makes Expedition 360 look like a goof-off!), while Tim Harvey is circling the northern hemisphere by human power having already biked, rowed, skiied and canoed over 2/3rds of the way from Vancouver.
Posted at 12:55 PM