Month: May 2007

Posted on

Judge Blocks Gift Ban Provision of Amendment 41

A Denver District Judge has banned the gift-ban provision of Amendment 41. This was a constitution vote by voters last fall that banned gifts over $50 and banned all gifts by lobbyists.
Gifts are now allowed to be given to elected officials and their families until there is a trial and verdict.

This had drawn some controversy because it was interpreted to include the ban of giving scholarships to sons and daughters of elected officials. I think that is ridiculous.

Continue reading “Judge Blocks Gift Ban Provision of Amendment 41”

Posted on

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates: historic discussion live from D 2007 – Engadget

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates: historic discussion live from D 2007 – Engadget
Everyone made fun of the fact that they would be on stage and it would be awkward for them and their hosts. But that is not the case. You have two really professional and smart people who both started their own companies and became quite successful.

It will be interesting to see how this is played in the media, but apparently it is a success.

Posted on

Be Careful of Firefox Extensions

Be careful of Firefox extensions. There has been a vulnerability identified in some of the Firefox extensions, particularly the Google Toolbar.
You can read the story by Washington Post Columnist Brian Krebs, “A New Vector For Hackers — Firefox Add-Ons“

Google has since announced a fix for the security flaw that was identified by Chris Soghoian, an Indiana University doctoral candidate. He has documented many flaws in many of the popular add-ons.

Just be careful when you are updating extensions. Especially if you do it at a public hotspot.

Posted on

Apple TV Getting an Upgrade

Apple TV is getting an upgrade.
Coming soon is the ability to download and watch the more popular YouTube videos. YouTube will be encoding them in H.264 codec.

The YouTube videos will be the most popular to begin with, but YouTube will begin to convert all the videos to h.264 codec later this year.

Also coming soon is a higher capacity Apple TV. The current version, which I have, is 40 GB for $299. But they will have a 160 GB for $399. I guess that it what I get for being an early adopter.

Read the CNET article: “Apple TV set to download YouTube“

Read my earlier review of Apple TV.

Posted on

Marriott Updating TVs and Computer Options

Well Marriott announced it a while ago and now they are beginning to role out the new TVs and ways to connect to them.
They are putting in a 32″ LCD TV from LG that has a connection box attached to it so you can play your audio and video files. You can also even connect your laptop to it for one big computer monitor.

This is a tremendous move from a hotel chain because I travel a lot and it is impossible to hook anything up to the TVs. I travel with my own media and iPod and I like to watch my own stuff.

Well with this I can.

The connection box will have connections for HDMI, mini-plug, RCA jacks for audio and video, and a 15-pin VCA connector. This should cover most everyone and their travels.

I can’t wait until this is in all their properties. It will be nice to stay at a Marriott.

View more at: plugintomarriott.com

Posted on

Memorial Day

I just want to do a quick post to remember all those who served our country, protected us, and defended our rights.
Many made the ultimate sacrifice and I want to honor them.

On this day that we use to kick-off the summer season, let us take a moment to reflect on what this day is supposed to be and remember the sacrifices that many people have made throughout the course of the history of the United States.

Let’s all remember to fly our flag today in their memory.

Posted on

Studio 60 is back

It is nice to see Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is back.
The quality of TV shows is declining when a show like this does not make it.

This show has not been getting ratings, but the problem with going by that is that they are not taking into account how many people are using their Tivo or DVR to watch the show.

When you add in those numbers, it puts it up there with the most popular shows on television.

The bad thing about this for the network is that the people who are time-shifting this show are the right demographic and have the most disposable income.

The networks are just going to miss out on a good revenue stream and rely on more reality TV.  I just won’t be watching.

Backwardfive.com has an interesting look at Studio 60 and how we should treat it.  He is going to treat it as a novel and not be too disappointed when it is gone.  I guess that is how I am going to have to think about it.

Posted on

Newspapers Don’t Get It – Harsh On Google Indexing

In an article that appeared on the weekend edition of CNet’s News.com website, newspaper publisher’s are harshing on Google wondering why they are getting a free ride.
Last month in a speech at Stanford University, the Tribune Co’s new owner wanted to know, “If all of the newspapers in America did not allow Google to steal their content, how profitable would Google be?”

But the problem is that newspapers get about 25% of their traffic from search engines. If they start trying to get compensated for this coverage, then they will lose viewership and revenue.

Basically, if someone can’t find you on Google, then you don’t exist on the web. Whether that is right or wrong, it is the truth.

When I search news stories on the Internet, I am searching for specific stories. If I can’t find them, then they don’t exist. It would be best for them to let Google index them and make them available so I can find them.

That increases views and that increases their ad revenue.

The newspaper business is changing from a paper based model to a mixed paper and electronic and will soon be all-electronic.

If they don’t adapt and move towards new ad revenues, then they won’t be around. And that would be a bad thing.

Now don’t get me started on subscription based newspaper websites. I think that they are stupid. More soon.

Read the entire CNET story: “Newspapers want Google News’ quarter“