Category: Entertainment

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Tivo Comes to Comcast

Sometime in the second half of 2007 Comcast will roll out Tivo for the Motorola DCT6412 set top boxes and I will probably be one of the first ones to sign up for the service.
Once you sign up, the software will download to your set-top box and Comcast will send you a Tivo remote.  This is going to be so cool.  The current user interface that is provided on these set-top boxes is horrible.

The only drawback is that it going to cost more money than the $10 that I am already paying for the HD DVR.  So how much is it going to cost?  Who knows, but it better not be too much.

The question that remains is that will I be able to share with my other Tivo’s or will I will be able to download it to my computer and burn a DVD or transfer it to my laptop?  I have seen some that says that will be disabled and many who don’t discuss it.  This would be good to include and what separates Tivo from the rest.

You can read more on CNET, TiVo without a TiVo box or on Engadget, Comcast DVR with TiVo: pics, features.  You can take a look at a video presentation from the floor at CES at PC World, Tivo Demonstrates on Comcast DVR.

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Mac Geeks Go Crazy Over iPhone

Apple made a revolutionary announcement yesterday when Steve Jobs unveiled their iPhone. This phone is the best phone that has ever been designed and it is less than a 1/2 inch thick.
The user interface is amazing and incorporating a wide screen iPod that automatically switches between portrait and landscape is revolutionary. To be able to control the device with my finger and scroll through all the information is crazy. The multiple sensors that are in the phone that keep track of where it is and automatically turns off when it gets close to your fact to take a call.

The iPod part of is amazing. The scrolling with the finger and then clicking on the song or album that you want to listen to really improves the interface. The scroll wheel is now history.

The phone part of this device is crazy. I think the coolest option was in voicemail where you don’t have to listen through all your voicemail, you can just listen to the voicemail that you want in the order that you want.

For the internet surfing portion of the iPhone, the ability to surf the web in full and not reduced for the mobile device is the big draw for me. The widgets and maps are a great addition especially if the iPhone will interact with GPS.

One of the drawbacks on the phone will be fingerprints on the device. There were already fingerprints on the device from Steve Jobs’ presentation. A minor drawback is that is on Cingular. Cingular Wireless is one of the worst wireless companies out there and their EDGE service is a lot slower than EVDO.

Another negative is that the price points combined with only 4GB and 8GB of storage may be a limiting factor for people. But if you realize that you have a phone, iPod, and PDA in one device, it will be really cost-effective.

To read a good review of the iPhone, take a look at this Time article, “Apple’s New Calling: The iPhone“.

Also, something that hasn’t really been discussed or spoken about is that the trademark of iPhone is held by Cisco, but only in the United States. Apple holds the trademark outside the United States. Apparently they have been in negotiations, but that may have been broken down when Apple was sued today by Cisco for trademark violations as reported by the Mac User Blog. The Wall Street Journal also had an article today on the lawsuit, “Cisco Suit May Snag Apple’s iPhone Plans“.

David Pogue of the NY Times had a good column on the iPhone. He should know, he is one of the only people outside of Apple to spend considerable amount of time with the device. The article “Apple Waves Its Wand at the Phone“, summarizes the device better than those out there. He discusses many items that were not covered in the demo.

If I have some extra money, I will be looking at this device. It is amazing.

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Disk May Help High Definition DVD War

One of the biggest things keeping people keeping people, including me, from upgrading my DVD player to a HD-DVD or a Blu-Ray DVD player is cost and not knowing who is going to win the war.
Why can’t someone create a device and/or disk that will allow me to play either technology?

Well, according to the New York Times, Warner Brothers is working on a disk that will allow them to place one movie on a disk that will play on either a Blu-Ray or a HD-DVD player. They are trying to come up with a solution because neither format is going away anytime soon.

The next great thing would be to develop a player that would play either format. Up until now, the licensing agreement from both the camps forbid their licensees from developing a player that would play both formats.

Read the New York Times Story (New Disc May Sway DVD Wars)

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Casino Royale Worth It!

Being a parent, you don’t have much time to sneak off to go to a movie, but I had some time this week and was able to finally see Casino Royale, the new James Bond movie.
I must say it is one of the better Bond movies that have been made. It had a good plot and some fun twists in it.

The plus to me is that they didn’t use the gadgets that were meant to be futuristic. They had good special effects, stunts, and action and I would make it a must see movie.

On a side note, I was wondering why and how much Sony had to pay for all the product placements. But this movie was produced by Sony Pictures so I guess that is why.

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Pachelbel Rant

This is great. A comedian’s rant against Pachelbel’s Cannon in D. He had some tragic cello playing days when he was young.
He goes through all the songs that are out there today that use the same chords as Pachabel’s Cannon.

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A New Video from U2

An interesting new video from U2.

They make an interesting use of other videos of some of the all-time greatest music artists and groups.

An interesting way to make a music video. The song is also really great! Typical U2, producing nothing but good music.

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Colorado Amendment 43 Ad is False

I have seen many different ads for politicians, amendments, and referendums. But this has got to be the worst one ever. It makes so many false claims, it is ridiculous. There is no way that this Amendment was put forward to create distractions away from other issues, including Iraq. This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen.

How you can the war in Iraq and say this Amendment was created to distract voters from that in this election takes it too far.