Month: February 2013

Forget the Hopper, I have the Destroyer

So, the networks

Aren’t

Too

Happy

with the Hopper from Dish Network.

Specifically, they are not happy that the service allows users to easily skip commercials.  I got a Replay TV (Actually, a Panasonic Showstopper PVR) in 2000 that I used until they pulled the “lifetime” channel guide a few years ago. I paid a fortune for that, we need to work on the definition of “lifetime” I guess. The Replay TV had a button on the remote that would jump forward 30 seconds.  Of course, Replay TV kind of flew under the RADAR, but it was a very handy feature when commercials came on.
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Plex Has Come a Long Way

Several years ago, I was using Plex as a way to watch movies. I had my TV connected to my iMac as a second monitor and used Plex as the interface to control the content on my TV.

When I first started using it, Plex was standard Mac app, somewhat like a cross between Front Row and iTunes. It was an offshoot of XBMC, and it has really evolved.
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Avoid Telemarketer Calls on iPhone

About once a week, I get a call from “The Captain” telling me I’ve won a free cruise.  It always starts with the sound of a cruise ship horn. It also always comes from a Washington state phone number, so I have gotten used to just ignoring the call if it comes from there.

But now, I have found a great idea from Blogger David Smith on how to minimize the impact of unwanted calls. You can’t stop them, but David’s idea greatly reduces how disruptive they are.

Check it out here.

Transporter Day 1

Summary:

I got a Transporter this week and set it up this morning. I’ve been playing with it all day and I’m trying to really like it, but it just isn’t quite there for me … YET. But, this is pre-release, so I’m hopeful that they can address some of the concerns I am outlining here. In my conclusion, I point out that I believe most of the issues can be addressed with software updates and I outline some of the things I think they need to address.

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Transporter Unboxing

A friend of mine and I backed a Kickstarter project for the Transporter.

The Transporter is a device that you can put on your network (or the network at your office or a friend or relative’s house) and basically create your own cloud.

We backed a two-pack of Transporters and they arrived this week.

Today, I’m going to share pictures of the unboxing. Over the next few days, I’ll talk more about how the devices and the software that goes with them work.
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How Apple Lost its Way and Found it Again

We all know Steve Jobs saved Apple. How did he do it? Well, it was a lot of things, actually. But the one I think was the biggest can be seen by looking at the number of different computer models Apple was releasing.

Apple started with one product.  The Apple I.  Steve Wozniak built this computer and was basically giving the plans away at the home-brew computer club meetings. Steve Jobs saw that people didn’t have the time or patience to build them and proposed that they sell the boards to make it easier. They started Apple Computer and started selling bare boards that could be combined with a keyboard and a TV and turned into a computer.
Continue reading “How Apple Lost its Way and Found it Again” →