interweb ink

TV plus internet equals love (and savings)

Savan Thongvanh — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:37:15 +0000

Today I was forward a news story from Yahoo News about the up and coming trend of leaving the cable tv world (and bill) behind and doing strictly online for content. This might not be for you but I’ve been doing this for about a year and and I’ll describe our setup for you to possibly help you in your decision.

As I said We’ve been doing this for many months now. Our cable bill went from almost $150/mo to about $60/mo. The entertainment package, after some tweaking, ended up being internet($60/month) + netflix($10+$2 for blueray subscription) (+redbox if we REALLY have to have a movie). Still our tv centric entertainment cost is 1/2 what it was before. Also, we do everything described here on a 12mb down connection.

How did we accomplish this feat you ask?

Well, we have three TVs. We have TVs in our living room (aka main tv), bedroom, and our downstairs living room. Our bedroom and the downstairs are just using the over the air HD and standard definition channels. It’s about 40 channels of broadcast tv and public access, mostly junk but isn’t cable the same?

On the living room tv we have a computer, in our case a MacMini, hooked up to the tv via DVI (computer) to HDMI (tv). This affords us all the standard channels plus the unbridled internet for content. We of course have our blueray player hooked up there too.

Downstairs we have an XBox 360 that also is an access point for netflix if we choose to watch downstairs. But, then again we rarely watch tv down there.

In our bedroom we basically just watch news before bed and in the morning so broadcast channels are ok in there. Sometimes if we really want to watch a particular program before bed we’ll grab a laptop and a beer or glass of wine and watch it on there.

An additional perk is that our cable provider gets us access to espn3.com which is streaming sports. I believe most major providers get you this access. It lets you watch an insane amount of sports live and post humus, like, EVERY, SINGLE, World Cup match and EVERY, SINGLE, Wimbledon match, or golf, or basically anything espn or abc sports.

I listen to 2+ hrs of npr broadcasts per day, NYT front page headlines, and about 45 minutes of AC360 podcast (which is just the show distributed online after the fact). I also listen to 2 or 3 hours of tech specific news broadcasts. I get plenty of news. This doesn’t really speak to online tv watching but moreso to a tv alternative for news.

For baseball fans for $35 a year you can get the premium subscription to mlb.tv, you probably already know about this. But, for fans of other sports there are similar options, all of which will probably keep your monthly bill lower than it is now.

Don’t even get me started on boxee and hulu…

I can’t promote the act but I also hear that there are ways to get any episode of pretty much any show online. Try searching watching tv online on lifehacker. Your mileage may vary in terms of video quality for this option but such is life.

If there are *must have* cable shows well, then you’re stuck but needless to say, I’m a proponent of ditching cable tv and going online for content.

Have you done it? What’s your setup? Anyone waiting for Google TV??

iPhone iOS4 Signal Strength Software Update

Savan Thongvanh — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:15:29 +0000

Today Apple announced that they’d be releasing an update for it’s operating system iOS4. The update is said to fix an incorrect equation used for calculating and showing signal strength. The fix is to be released in “a few weeks”. The update also contains a change to make the first few bars of the signal strength indicator taller and consequently easier to see..

The press release sticks with the company line that’s similar to a line in a viagra commercial, I paraphrase “it’s ok it happens to everyone”.

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

Let the flame wars begin! It’s already started on the internets. People that care are still irate about the apparent mediocrity of the fix. The fix, in effect, just shows the bars differently. How can this affect the reception?

Unless the software update also includes fairy dust gripping the phone in the suspect manner will STILL affect the reception. It’s a mechanical problem, not a software problem. I can’t wait to see what happens when people apply the update and calls are still dropped. I guess we’ll find out next week.

At the end of the letter Apple goes back to another snobbish retort, if you don’t like it, take it back.

As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

Classic.

Sourc: Apple

Apple iPhone 3gs iOS4 upgrade experience

Savan Thongvanh — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:15:20 +0000

I just wanted to do a quick hit on my upgrade experience for my iPhone 3gs.

I came home for lunch today so I could do my upgrade. I hit up iTunes PRAYING that I wouldn’t get queued up for download like last time. Also in my prayers was that after going through the trouble of downloading that I wouldn’t get the dreaded “cannot contact activation server” error.

Well, it looks like this time I lucked out. My iOS4 download only took 17 minutes. I’m seeing people tweet now that the download is taking upwards of half an hour. No problemo there.

After I got the download iTunes started to backup my iPhone. Thank you. The backup status bar seemed to sit on 2%ish for EVER. After about 15 minutes of looking like it was doing nothing it jumped to about 25%.

The rest of the install included expanding the download and restoring my data from before. All in all it took me about 50 minutes to upload 17 for the download and about 35 for the backup and install.

Now on to playing around iOS4 and seeing how gimped it is on my iPhone 3gs.

More to come on the features and limitations on the 3gs.

UPDATE: This article is actually about updating a 3G, not 3gs but all info is still applicable.

UPDATE:After trying to update a second iPhone 3G I got all the way through the install process and got the activation problem that seems to be common. Servers are evidently swamped now. I’ll try later tonight to upgrade the 2nd phone.

Robot Arm Controlled through Monkey Brain Interface

Jason Patocka — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 14:20:55 +0000

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh recently demonstrated a robot arm being controlled by a monkey using a neural interface. They were even kind enough to post recorded results to YouTube so we could all share in this moment of inter-species achievement.

Its too bad we don’t have that monkey trained to direct robots to fix oil pipes 5 miles below the ocean surface. Perhaps I’m just snarky after seeing a week’s worth of wildlife choking on oil and washing up dead in the Gulf of Mexico, but my money is on Bubbles the Chimp having better results than BP at this point.

Just sayin’.

No related posts.

Android Augmented Reality Integrates GPS

Jason Patocka — Mon, 24 May 2010 23:47:59 +0000

Top Gear enthusiasts and Android fanboys alike will get a kick out of Wikitude’s slick new platform that integrates GPS and augmented reality. Its apps like this that drive home Android’s uncanny ability to suck on some serious Apple milkshake. One of the greatest Android criticisms was its scant supply of apps, and now by every metric I’ve seen to date, its gaining ground on the iPhone at record speed.

Safety concerns, carbon footprint, and local law enforcement withstanding – I kind of want to see a guitar hero / geocache overlay on that AR navtrack. That my friends, would take road trips to an entirely new level.

Documentary Tackles Human Gene Patenting

Jason Patocka — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:11:46 +0000

If you think you have legal ownership of your genes, you might want to take a moment to sit back, queue this documentary trailer, and hit play.

Genetic research has been at the forefront of research and patent law in the biotechnology industry for over 20 years now. Much of this debate has been veiled in an ethical and legal minefield of intellectual property debate, and increasingly you find many biotech companies filing patents for ownership of specific genotypes.

What is currently widespread in the agriculture industry is now gaining traction with a dramatic increase in the number of patents filed by pharmaceutical companies – some on sequences shared by all people.

Civil rights is starting to enter a bold new frontier of 21st century biopolitics, and I dare say we are ill prepared.

Google’s Nexus One to be available in stores

Savan Thongvanh — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:02:30 +0000

On May 14th Google announced that the Nexus One will soon not be available for purchase via Google.

In a post on the Google blog they basically said oops, although Android has done better than we thought, we realize now that people like to play with phones when they’re buying them.

But, as with every innovation, some parts worked better than others. While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not. It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from.

So, in the US as they did in Europe Google is going to “work with partners” to offer the Nexus One “through retail channels”. I read that as they’ll soon be selling them in Verizon stores. Once all the retail distribution has been set Google will take the Nexus One off the web store and you’ll only be able to window shop there.

Not only will they be showcasing their wares but they’ll also be showing off other handsets that run Android.

No timing for this great plan was given.

See the original post from the Google blog

Microsoft Envisions Future – Kind of.

Jason Patocka — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:25:47 +0000

I love it when marketing departments envision the future.

It’s just a shame that they don’t show someone throwing their fancy futurepaper across the room because they suddenly discover it won’t play Flash. This also omits the holographic pop up you get when you try to transfer some files to your table interface, only to discover you’ve ran out of license agreements.

Perhaps a better video would be a future inspired romp through interface standards protocol and 2035 IP litigation, but that doesn’t quite get the kids posting to Facebook status these days does it?

Regardless, enjoy the sequel to Minority Report.

Blizzard Announces Starcraft 2 Collector’s Edition

Call Of Duty MW2 Resurgence Pack to be released to Xbox LIVE June 3rd

Savan Thongvanh — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:02:54 +0000

Activision announced today that on June 3rd they’ll be releasing to Xbox LIVE a Multiplayer Map Pack they’re calling the “Call of Duty(R): Modern Warfare(R) 2 Resurgence Pack”. They’re going to need some resurgence with this map pack because the last one came out to mediocre reviews.

The map pack to be released at the end of this month will be the first multiplayer map pack releasedy by Activision/Blizzard with FIVE NEW MAPS. ADDITIONALLY, May 28th and June 4th Infinity Ward will be hosting DOUBLE XP weekends.

This is the second map pack this year, three months after the Stimulus Package. Does that mean we can expect two more this year? Only time will tell but for now I’m looking forward to five new maps and a shortcut to prestiging on the double points weekends!

Nanoscale Fabrication Continues to Scale Into Realms of Awesome

Jason Patocka — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:58:24 +0000

IBM published impressive news of their ability to create complicated geographical replica of the Earth with features as small as 15 nanometers in last week’s issue of Advanced Materials. When you wrap your head around just how small fabrication methods are these days, its easy to see why there is much excitement in Nanotechnology. Yes, you could fit thousands of these maps on a grain of sand but these feasts of chemical engineering have potential far beyond building microchips.

There are many active areas of research in designing and fabricating nanoscale structures. IBM’s achievements in pattering 3D surfaces marks an important milestone in what is considered a tip based ‘top down’ approach to fabrication. Previous tip based methods were typically very expensive and couldn’t scale features down beyond 30 nanometers. In this recent achievement, the engineering mantra of smaller, cheaper, faster has pushed ever smaller designs further into the scale of possible.

If this trend continues, an age of desktop fabrication and molecular manufacturing could shift decidedly from the realm of hostile criticism to the possibility engineer’s wet dreams manifest. Subsequent generations of a desktop device like this could lead to a revolution in mass customization and perhaps even desktop manufacturing.

Time will tell, but if this certainly qualifies as a sign of things to come.