Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Proof Charter Executives are Smoking Something..
We are planning on switching over to HDTV this year in my house. I have been investigating my options. I would love to have a TiVo receiver, but that requires Charter (and their CableCards). I found out Charter carried more than 20 HDTV channels! Wow! I then found out Dish Network has about twice that, and DirecTV around 85-90 HD channels.
But oh how I was wrong! Why, according to Charter Communications COO Michael Lovett, Charter has 150HD channels! Woohoo! Read all about it here. To save you time I will tell you the catch.. Charter includes more than 100 "on demand" HD content as "channels".
This comment made me even more nervous about getting a CableCard TV or TiVo:
Charter CEO Neil Smith added in the investors call that the company hopes to include a new technology called Switched Digital Video to local systems by the end of 2009 to further boost high-def capacity
From what I have read, both the TiVo and the CableCard have to support Switched Digital Video (a two-way communications stream making overloading of fiber channels possible -- make 5 HD pipes be able to carry 75 channels). Firmware updates, CableCard compatibility. Yuck.
I thought Cheech & Chong worked in the call center at Charter. I guess they have moved to the top floor..
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Real Apple Time Machine..
After years of wishing I finally got an iPhone yesterday (after, of course, Mr. Jobs wrapped up the Apple Macworld Expo keynote -- with no price decrease, memory increase, or new device)..
In the keynote Steve Jobs announced nearly a dozen major studios who will allow iTunes Store customers to download movies to their Apple TV or personal computer.
The way it works is you download a movie for $2.99-$4.99, then have 30 days to watch it. The only catch is that you have 24 hours to watch it from when you view the first frame of the movie. The film goes poof whether you watched it or not after that time.. For me this is a deal killer. I watch a movie in 3-5 sittings over a week. I just don't have a two-hour time block anywhere in my schedule.
The Real Time Machine
Here is a thought. What if you start watching the movie and then a week later (with most of the movie unwatched and disabled) you set the clock on your machine back to the time you opened the movie. Will it work? Will that "trick iTunes"? Did Apple think of this?
My prediction... within a week we will see someone announce how and where the timestamp is located, and then in another week we'll see a Widget to set the clock for you and keep track of what movies were started on what days. It might look like this..
Imagine a list control with a button on the bottom to restore the clock to present time.
3:10 to Yuma (Jan 15 - 09:07AM) - Watch Now
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jan 20 - 11:34PM) - Watch Now
Austin Powers (Jan 19 - 02:45PM) - Watch Now
RESTORE CLOCK
Pressing one of the items in the list would move your clock back, then let you watch your movie. Admin rights needed of course..
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Idea for a Mobile Wireless Video Jukebox
Considering a factory or dealer installed DVD player option in your next new car? You can pay anywhere from $1500 to $2500 for one of these. How about a system for about half the price which can do more?
I read an article this morning about streaming video to an iPhone or iPod Touch. Both offer WiFi web browsing. In the article they point out you could easily setup a web server with video content and stream that to the device. Of course you have to be in range of the server -- but now you aren't limited to 8GB or 16GB of storage!
Mean while.. back in the car.
I have worked this year to build a library of kids movies for my daughter to watch on my 60GB video iPod when we go on trips. She loves it. Its much more versatile that a DVD player since there are no discs to carry around and we can take it into restaurants, or the doctors office, etc. The only problem is the iPod disk is getting full very quickly.
What's the next step? Buy a bigger iPod? Problem. The new iPod touch in its largest configuration (16GB) will not hold my ever expanding collection of videos. What to do? How about offloading the video to a server and accessing your content with a web browser?
Here is all you need:
Now if I could only get Red Robin and my pediatricians office to setup a video web server for the kids visiting the office/restaurant with their iPod Touch. Hey.. theres my next business idea.. I predict a gold mine for whoever begins selling such a device.. Oops.. I would bet there is just such a device in the secret labs of Cupertino. (Sitting on top of the prototype for the just announced Starbucks iTunes WiFi Music Store server no doubt.)
I read an article this morning about streaming video to an iPhone or iPod Touch. Both offer WiFi web browsing. In the article they point out you could easily setup a web server with video content and stream that to the device. Of course you have to be in range of the server -- but now you aren't limited to 8GB or 16GB of storage!
Mean while.. back in the car.
I have worked this year to build a library of kids movies for my daughter to watch on my 60GB video iPod when we go on trips. She loves it. Its much more versatile that a DVD player since there are no discs to carry around and we can take it into restaurants, or the doctors office, etc. The only problem is the iPod disk is getting full very quickly.
What's the next step? Buy a bigger iPod? Problem. The new iPod touch in its largest configuration (16GB) will not hold my ever expanding collection of videos. What to do? How about offloading the video to a server and accessing your content with a web browser?
Here is all you need:
- An iPhone or iPod Touch to watch videos.
- A Mac mini or small footprint PC (something small enough to be tucked in a car) to host a web server and your video files.
- A library of mp4 files (video files friendly to your Apple device)
- A power inverter to power your Mac mini or PC.
- A small uninterruptable power supply so your computer can sleep between trips (instead of hard shutdowns and rebooting when you get gas)
Load up the computer with video in a directory known to a web server, start it up and off you go. You could use Apple Remote Desktop (or some other similar tool) to manage the system when you are parked at home.
Now if I could only get Red Robin and my pediatricians office to setup a video web server for the kids visiting the office/restaurant with their iPod Touch. Hey.. theres my next business idea.. I predict a gold mine for whoever begins selling such a device.. Oops.. I would bet there is just such a device in the secret labs of Cupertino. (Sitting on top of the prototype for the just announced Starbucks iTunes WiFi Music Store server no doubt.)
Friday, April 06, 2007
Tag Me With a Spoon
I got tagged by Brian and Dean. I will relent and provide the required information (five things you didn't know about me). I am not tagging anyone. This insanity must end now!
1. I hate sour cream -- makes me gag. Why would you eat something that has been labeled "sour", as in "hey this milk is sour -- I just gagged".
2. I scored a perfect 7 points in a tuba competition at the state level in Indiana when I was in seventh grade. The composition was In the Hall of the Mountain King. My late mother accompanied me on the piano at Butler University. It was our finest hour together. There really is nothing to compare with a tuba solo in a quiet room.
3. I love collecting and listening to original music scores for movies. There is nothing like writing code to a great film score. I have over 300 scores in my collection. This is one reason I am obsessed with iPods and iTunes.
4. My ancestors can be traced to the American Revolutionary War. Possibly on both sides (one is confirmed).
5. I was once in the Silicon Graphics developer program. There was no cooler place to be in the mid 90's as a software developer. Big iron hardware right on my desk. Used an SGI Onyx with "dual reality engines". I wrote the user interface and 3D visualization software for a really cool mechanical engineering software package called Passage back in the 90's. Check out the animations. These are live screen demos -- not frame by frame renderings (Pixar style). Ten years after leaving the company they still try and sell it. 100,000 lines of C and Motif baby!
1. I hate sour cream -- makes me gag. Why would you eat something that has been labeled "sour", as in "hey this milk is sour -- I just gagged".
2. I scored a perfect 7 points in a tuba competition at the state level in Indiana when I was in seventh grade. The composition was In the Hall of the Mountain King. My late mother accompanied me on the piano at Butler University. It was our finest hour together. There really is nothing to compare with a tuba solo in a quiet room.
3. I love collecting and listening to original music scores for movies. There is nothing like writing code to a great film score. I have over 300 scores in my collection. This is one reason I am obsessed with iPods and iTunes.
4. My ancestors can be traced to the American Revolutionary War. Possibly on both sides (one is confirmed).
5. I was once in the Silicon Graphics developer program. There was no cooler place to be in the mid 90's as a software developer. Big iron hardware right on my desk. Used an SGI Onyx with "dual reality engines". I wrote the user interface and 3D visualization software for a really cool mechanical engineering software package called Passage back in the 90's. Check out the animations. These are live screen demos -- not frame by frame renderings (Pixar style). Ten years after leaving the company they still try and sell it. 100,000 lines of C and Motif baby!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Thinking Outside of the Box: Kids Say the Darndest Things
After enjoying some fine BBQ at Smokey Bones last night, I asked my 4 year old,
She replied:
I asked:
She replied:
"did you like your pork sandwich?"
She replied:
"Yes."
I asked:
"Do you know where pork comes from?"
She replied:
"Porcupines?"
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Vista: No Innovation Allowed Here
Google forced me to use their new Blogger environment today. I couldn't log into the old one even though the welcome page said I could. Here I am.. Lets see if my new posting shows up on my old feed (I already see that Blogger reposted some of my ancient posts as new..).
Now down to business..
A review of Vista I read today at Forbes.com was very eye opening. The article, entitled Dim Vista, rakes the new operating system over the coals. The author enumerates a list of irritations and poorly thought out features. This tidbit is the one which caught my eye:
"Should you upgrade to Vista?", he rants "Are you nuts?".
I played with Vista on a high end laptop at Costco Saturday. It was very nice with the exception of the new Flip3D feature -- which is prominent in the "Wow!" advertisements. It is a total gimmick -- a real flat out joke. You can't see the content of all the windows. Alt-Tab was one Windows innovation I think will be used much more than Flip3D.
(Example of Flip3D showing obscured window content)
Now down to business..
A review of Vista I read today at Forbes.com was very eye opening. The article, entitled Dim Vista, rakes the new operating system over the coals. The author enumerates a list of irritations and poorly thought out features. This tidbit is the one which caught my eye:
I suggested to one Windows product manager that if the company were truly serious about security, Vista might offer a simple way to delete files securely and eliminate all traces of identity and passwords so you could safely pass the machine on or sell it years from now. His reply: "Does any other operating system do that?" That tells you all you need to know about Microsoft. The real slogan: "No innovation here."
"Should you upgrade to Vista?", he rants "Are you nuts?".
I played with Vista on a high end laptop at Costco Saturday. It was very nice with the exception of the new Flip3D feature -- which is prominent in the "Wow!" advertisements. It is a total gimmick -- a real flat out joke. You can't see the content of all the windows. Alt-Tab was one Windows innovation I think will be used much more than Flip3D.
(Example of Flip3D showing obscured window content)Wednesday, February 07, 2007
DRM: Necessary Evil, or Not Necessary?
The Wikipedia defines DRM as:
Now that we know what DRM is. The real question:
Which of these "Big 3" digital content providers is on your side?
Sony:
Microsoft:
Apple:
I define it to my wife as "No. I can't give the babysitter a copy of season one of Grey's Anatomy for her iPod. It is locked to our iTunes account. Won't work for her."
Technologies to give content providers control over redistribution and access to material.
Now that we know what DRM is. The real question:
Which of these "Big 3" digital content providers is on your side?
Sony:
"We are reviewing all aspects of our content protection initiatives to be sure that they are secure"
Microsoft:
"This benefits everyone.." [proliferation of Digital Rights Management, or DRM]
Apple:
"Convincing them [music companies] to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly."Which company would you prefer to buy software and your other digital content from?
