Download Hmmcast #51 mp4

The Song Remains The Same: Soundtrack From The Led Zeppelin Film, Fair Use, FOX, 24 - Season One, 24 - Season Two, 24 - Season Three, 24 - Season Four, 24 - Season Five

All Amazon links in this post are affiliate links. When Season six comes out on DVD, we’ll most likely be adding that to our collection as well. Since our family continues to be by choice TV-less we are watching current 24 episodes using the Fox On Demand thru MySpace site. A friend asked me what this setup was like, so I took a picture:

The white speakers are from my wife’s iPod and sound a lot better than they look. Longtime readers might remember this same laptop setup for use with Vongo. I learned the cool FUNCTION + F8 trick to toggle the TV out from a Hmm reader, thanks CTyler.

Another good case made for keeping comments open on archive posts. Some 11 months after that post was made and almost 100 comments later, people are still contributing. The only good reason to shut down comments on archives is to limit the amount of spam received but I believe the good far outweighs the bad.

Bonus: Just before publishing this post, I came across Jeff Baker’s updated listing of where to watch TV online which includes: ABC, CBS, FOX and more. Handy reference.

Download Hmmcast #44 mp4

Twilight Zone, IZ (Blue, affiliate), Dynex AA rechargeable batteries

I was invited to an earlier version of The Venice Project, the TV-related project from the wizards behind Skype. An NDA has prevented me from writing about any details of the experience including screenshots, but I can and will admit that I didn’t spend much time with it. Sort of an in, check it out, look around, and get out experience.

I’m very interested in TV on the web. I just tried using my login to checkout the new version of Venice Project, strangely name changed to Joost and it didn’t work, so not sure if my beta status is still valid (anybody else able to get in?). Whatever the case, I know two things I don’t like that carry no NDA.

The name and the design.

How do you say it? Juh-ooo-st? Joooost? It doesn’t have the appeal that Skype had. Who wants to be a Jooster? Is the name easier to remember than The Venice Project? Perhaps, but it’s not very appealing.

And what’s with the psychedelic color scheme? Doesn’t work for me. Why not something that better represents it is a TV-related project? Do you like the name Joost better than The Venice Project? Premature name and design change and breakaway from the Venice Project linkage. Why not start out with Joost?

Not sure when Joost will offer a public beta, but their best move would be waiting as long as it takes to polish and perfect the software, not changing names and perpetuating the clubbiness of an invite only with NDA marketing strategy.

While most other 24 fans are catching up on Jack Bauer’s nail biting adventures in the new Season 6 that kicked off with a four hour blast over the last two nights, tonight we got the urge to jump back in and go pick up the DVDs in the set we’re missing. We have seasons 1-3. Season 4 & 5 were on sale at Fred Meyer’s for $34.99, a rather nice savings of $25 (regular price: $59.99). Unfortunately only Season 4 was available. We bought that but I think we’ve seen most those episodes already. Last season we didn’t catch all the episodes and I was hoping we could pick that one. Apparently some others in our area also had the Jack fever.

Noticed on iTunes that a season pass for 24 Season 6 is running $44.99. Compared to the $34.99 that’s too high, but hey, you’re getting it delivered the day after it airs. Must admit this is one of very few times I’m having TV withdrawls, but no, we’re not going to buy TV service for one show.

Burning Crusade, the first expansion for World of Warcraft, depending on when you read this is probably now in stores everywhere. I wonder how many will be taking another vacation day for some serious MMORPG action? Any readers planning on getting the Burning Crusade ASAP?

HD-VMD. There’s a name you probably won’t remember since none of the major studios are signed on board to support the format yet, but it isn’t completely without potential, especially considering the text I bolded below.

Variety (emphasis mine):

Initial HD VMD discs will have similar capacity as the first hi-def discs released by the majors. But players will cost much less: Next month, the company will release software enabling users to play the discs on their computers, likely for free. Actual players cost less than than $300 — a significant savings vs. the $500 to $800 HD DVD players or the $1,000 Blu-ray decks — due to lower manufacturing cost.

With Microsoft already fortified on the HD-DVD front and Sony with Blu-Ray and a smattering of major studios choosing sides where does this leave HD-VMD? Without major studio content support can HD-VMD be a contender? The nmeinc.com website succeeds in telling us how great it is, but the online store simply carries the sometimes ominous words: “coming soon.”

It seems silly to suggest HD-VMD has any chance, but compared against Blu-Ray and HD-DVD which aren’t exactly off to a disruptive start replacing — or even supplementing — DVD, almost anything is possible. I’m still going with DVD not being seriously threatened by any of the HD options available to date. Yes, the high and low end technophile crowd will continue to eat up HD, but we’re still a couple years away from the mainstream public en masse buying into a different physical format than DVDs. And I still think the replacement format will be something without moving parts and vastly more storage space like holographic or perhaps even protein based storage.

Moving parts wear out. Think of the heads of a VCR and tape versus the replay factor in a DVD and there was a definite advantage since nothing was physically touching the DVD (yes, the laser is reading it, but there is no head on the DVD essentially wearing it down with each play). Surely there is some theoretical limit of wearing out a DVD as the more cycles it will eventually weaken and crack, but it is nothing to the effect of taping running across a head. Also, it can be rough on CD/DVD media just taking it out of the protective case.

Now imagine something that doesn’t require spinning of the media. Imagine a credit-card sized object being able to hold your entire families music and movie libraries. Something like that would be disruptive media, not yet another spinning object of any kind read by more effective lasers.

Arianna Huffington, one of the 2006 stars of political blogging through her Huffington Post site wants to organize a debate between the Democrats and Republicans Presidential candidates online. I looked around for a link to a specific post on that and didn’t see one to quote directly so just gave you the main URL. Perhaps there is no story on the site yet, as the article below does say they are “working” on it. I don’t see this working very well. It won’t scale. Yet.

“2008 is going to be critical in terms of the coverage of the election,” Huffington said. “We are working to put together the first primary online debate among candidates and working out the logistics of how this is going to happen.”

I’ve been thinking about the reality of a debate online. A single large chatroom wouldn’t work. There exists no global chat software I’m aware of that’s been used for large attendance public events. Those who have been to an IRC event with more than a couple hundred people know how well that goes. Second Life? You’re joking, right? About the best hope for any sort of huge scaling interactive debate would be text messaging like they do on American Idol or perhaps email questions. These questions would still need to be vetted somehow. Unfortunately, any sort of non-moderated internet event is open to widescale abuse.

I think it’s a worthwhile idea to have some sort of TV to internet streaming but technology doesn’t yet have an answer to a true, interactive online component that scales. As far as myself having a chance of asking the 2008 Presidential candidates any questions and receiving direct responses? My best bet is probably doing it right here on this blog and hoping that somebody in the candidate’s camp replies or if I’m lucky to attend a geek event where a candidate is attending maybe getting some brief face time there. Or maybe the Google brains will be able to solve this problem so people like you and I can visit some live event online and feel like more than just another audience member listening.

Frankly, I’m tired of the political campaign game that has had little change over my voting life and would like to see something where the common voter has more direct input. Yes, I do realize our votes are our ultimate input, but I mean in terms of Q&A phases with candidates directly. How about some back and forth public blog commentary? With any luck in my life technology will overcome this barrier somehow. Yes, I realize it is impossible for one candidate to hold a personal dialogue with each and every voter, but there are public events where large numbers of people can attend like at football stadiums where there still isn’t an online equivalent. Heck, you can go to a concert with 150,000 people in attendance and be as close to the stage of the artist and slap their hand, but is that possible online? Not with current technology.

Blogs, podcasts and videoblogs have helped bridge some of this interactivity on a larger scale gap. They have made individuals like me feel a little more like my voice might or could be heard and answered. Leaving issues on subjects aside for a moment, candidates who embrace technology and give me the ability to reach them and ask direct questions and provide direct answers are admittedly more attractive than those who have some overpolished web site run by supporters. What do you think?

Is money the cure or disease?
Then there is the issue of money. In the current system if I was donating a lot of money I could get the access I’m talking about and that’s another part of the problem. The people with the most money, power and influence aren’t always the people with the best questions. All too often they use that money to leverage their own interests and agenda and do not speak for the masses.

Scoble, who was recently granted some limited access to the Edwards campaign, commented here recently that we wouldn’t get this type of access. That’s the problem for me. The people who would give me and other citizens that type of access I don’t believe will be viable candidates in 2008. In 2012 or 2016, who knows? Google, Google, do, where are you?

We can always dream. Answers? Solutions?

The On10 crew at Microsoft on Sunday published a video teasing us with how IPTV will work on the Xbox 360. This was sort of pre CES2007 and it’s being showed off there. IPTV along with Windows Home Server intrigue me. It will be available by year end, which sounds to me like holiday 2007.

I covered things to do without TV quite a bit last week and how we haven’t missed it that much, but must admit Live TV through the Xbox 360 with PVR could definitely bring us back. I’m almost embarassed admitting that we’ll seriously consider buying a third Xbox 360 for our bedroom and live account to go next to the PS3. If we did do that, it would be a first as we’ve never bought three console systems before. We bought three Nintendo DS portable systems. To increase the likelihood we’d buy a third Xbox 360 and pay again for a TV a few things would be needed.

Xbox 360 future wish list
- lower the cost. We’ve already paid $900 for two Xbox 360. Would be nice to pay $250 or less for a cooler, better one.
- HDMI port please (the rumor is it is coming)
- much bigger hard drive or the ability to tap into the Windows Media Server for additional storage. 20GB is a joke
- Xbox 360 needs to add a web browser please. I’d like to be able to check my email, stocks, what’s playing at the movie theater and RSS Reader without having to switch game systems (to the PS3)
- a sensible pricing plan for the Live TV option. Next to having enough storage, this weighs in as the second most important item I’d want to see before paying for TV again.

We don’t need a package price with a bunch of crap channels we won’t watch. Give us a la carte options at a lower cost. Give us the local over the air networks for free or very low cost. As for what I’d think would be “sensible” $5/month for local channel HD access and $1/month a channel for additional channels. Microsoft has announced no prices yet.

Surely, I’m missing a few other important Xbox 360 wish list items above? What new features would make you buy either another or your very first Xbox 360 system?

Today during Steve Jobs keynote he announced the Apple iPhone running OSX will be available in a partnership with Cingular (will update when I see date). Since the keynote wasn’t broadcast and I’m not there, I’m going off various media reports. Andy Merret liveblogged the event complete with pictures of the iPhone. Steve Jobs just can’t resist bashing the competition:

“we want to make a product way smarter than what’s been around before here it is … ‘They’ call these devices “smartphones” - they’re smart, not easy to use.”

He’s kind of right though, most of those smart phones are either good at being Pocket PCs or good at being phones, but how many are good at both?

Are people going to be rushing the stores when these iPhones are available the same way they do when there’re a new iPod? I don’t know about the masses but I’d guess no. Most people are tied into contracts and if they aren’t with Cingular, they’ll have to wait for the contract to end or pay steep early cancellation fees. Me? Our cell phone contract terminated 21 days ago and we didn’t renew.

I’ll show you ourNewPhones. They’re inexpensive, carry no monthly fees, expensive minutes or yearly contracts. If you listen on the right channel you might pick up some emergency services cross chatter. Here’s a picture:

Don’t laugh too hard now. If your office is within a mile of home these aren’t a bad solution. Yeah, they aren’t a long term cell phone replacement solution, but that’s what we’re using at the present along with 100 minutes we bought from OnStar.

Seriously, I don’t see running out to buy an iPhone when they become available. I’m curious, but not ready to buy one the minute I see one excited. Nor am I that excited over the iTV stuff that will be available in the Apple store for $299 and ship in February. We already have media in our living room on the Xbox 360 and Apple seems too late for the party. My feelings could change as I dig into both these products more, but I don’t see Apple taking over the cell phone market even with the iTunes/iPod tie-in.

Being an Apple shareholder I’m happy to see them enter both these markets, but I don’t see our family buying either one in 2007. I am interested in getting a new Intel based Mac. Maybe I’ll be more into iTV when I pull that trigger. How about you? Will your next Cingular phone be an iPhone?

Update 1/10/07 8:47am PST: Watch Steve Job’s keynote address and iPhone introduction.

See comments at the site below for discussion on pricing and release date.

The power of choice. Download Hmmcast #35 mp4.

My wife and I haven’t been to a local casino for a few months, not because we have been trying to stay away, just haven’t taken much time for ourselves. It was Kara’s birthday earlier this month and she had a free gift at one of the local indian casinos, so we stopped by, grabbed some lunch, played a little Keno (she won $13, I lost $28) and then checked out their new non-smoking building.

If a business is going to separate the smokers from the non-smokers in a casino, the only effective way I’ve seen is using a complete non-smoking building. I have nothing against smokers, was one of them myself many, many years ago, but it’s a hopeless cause trying to mix smoking and non-smoking areas in the same building.

My wife played this Clue slot machine and I decided to try my luck at the $1 Double Jackpot slots by putting in $30. The screenshot to the right, for those interested, is from the Masque Masque 101 Bally Slots (Win/Mac) (affiliate, $19.99). It’s not the exact game I played in the casino, but it’s pretty close. If you are looking for some fun, authentic casino slots to play on your Windows or Mac desktop I’d recommend the Masque line of games. We have bought all of them. Since it’s not real gambling, you have nothing to lose.

But I wasn’t at home playing a game yesterday, I was gambling with real money. At $3 max bet per game I didn’t expect I’d last long. I know, don’t have a loser’s complex when gambling, but to my surprise I got the blazing 7s and two double bars, which equalled 4x payout!

$120 x 4x = $480 — SWEET

I played two more games ($6) and then cashed out with $501. Told Kara excitedly: “Let’s get out of here.” She thought I won $200, not $480, and was even more pleasantly surprised later when I showed her the cash. Before leaving I stopped at the craps table and they quickly swept away $70 of my winnings. Don’t you just love how the craps tables are always close to the casino cage? Fortunately, my wife won another $40 on a slot machine making our total winnings that we exited the casino with well over $400 for a couple hours of fun and lunch.

We took the casino’s money and some of ours and bought our second HDTV. Not one that is 1080p, we’re still looking for one of those, but a 27″ Samsung HDTV with two HDMI, two composite and three AV inputs. If you see any good deals with sub $1,500 1080p HDTVs please let us know about in the comments below. Cheapest 1080p TV I’ve seen inside a retail store available for purchase is $1,399 (Westinghouse 42″) from Fred Meyer. Online my friend JP found the 37″ Westinghouse LCD TV 1080p for $1047.88 at Sam’s Club. Anybody reading have a Westinghouse HDTV? Are they any good? I have a Westinghouse LCD monitor bought last year that I was a little disappointed to learn didn’t include a cable.

We put the Samsung HDTV in our bedroom and moved the PS3 there with HDMI connected cable. Even though it’s not full 1080p, my son and I played Marvel Ultimate Alliance (MUA) at 1080i for over 4 hours last night (and we’re still not done with the game). Was so engrossed I didn’t stop and take any pictures, but will get some the next time we play. Said this the other day, but MUA really reminds me of Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, only with better graphics. Most fun I’ve had playing a cooperative multiplayer game in a long time. We now have four PS3 games: Resistance Fall of Man, Need for Speed Carbon, Tony Hawk’s Project 8 and MUA.

Thanks for helping to buy our new HDTV, ye wise and venerable casino gods.