Just Wanted to Say Thanks

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Tom Long

It has been a year since I started this blog.  In January of 2009 I had 80 visitors.  In January of 2010 I had over 4,000 visitors.  My videos have been watched over 24,000 times.  Peanuts compared to sponsored sites like Lifehacker or Engadget, but very gratifying indeed.  I hope that you the readers-viewers have been helped and look forward to what year two might bring.  Maybe it is silly to be excited by these numbers, but I am.  And I wanted to thank you for visiting and hope you will take the time to subscribe and actively comment on the topics of interest to you.

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TV Tuners + XBMC?

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Tom Long

Coming soon | XBMC.  Way down at the bottom of this news release is something that could be a game changer.   Two criticisms I have had of XBMC are 1) lack of A Boxee-style internet TV interface and, 2) it doesn’t play nicely with TV tuners.  It sounds like at least one of those needs may be addressed.

They state:  “PVR Frontend: Probably the most requested feature for XBMC. This will provide a unified experience to your choice of PVR backends such as: VDR, MythTV, Tvheadend, and MediaPortal TVserver.”

This would potentially bring live (and recorded) TV to the most beautiful media center out there.

With the right addons, the new Addons Manager might address my other criticism, but we’ll just have to wait and see.   Please let there be a Clicker plug-in that out Hulu-desktops Hulu Desktop, okay?

I’m excited to see the XBMC team moving forward because when it comes to handling local video files as well as scraping and editing metadata (the source of all those beautifully presented extras like fanart and synopses), nobody does it better.

I think I hear my Windows Media Center’s knees knocking together, but I can’t wait for the shoot-out.

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Boxee Responds to NBC

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Tom Long

Boxee Blog » Boxee responds to NBC’s Jeff Zucker.  In case you haven’t heard, the reason Hulu-NBC has been messing around with Boxee’s access is because their CEO, Jeff Zucker,  is a schmuck surrounded by lawyers and kiss ups who are also schmucks.  Since when is watching Hulu through a specific browser illegal?  As mentioned in my previous post, I routinely watch Fox shows on Hulu via Boxee.  I see all the Hulu ads when I do it, also.  Hulu provides a great service, but they’re really leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

The irony is that if I watch Hulu on my browser – the ads are blocked by my add-on, Adblock Plus.  So, if you’re paying for an advertisement on Hulu and Hulu is blocking the best media center interface (your chance for your ad to appear on the big screen) you are losing lots of eyes on your product.  Seems to me that if anyone should be paying anyone it should be Zucker paying Avner for giving Hulu ads greater visibility.

Where do corporations find these guys?  Anyone on my block would have more sense than this.  (Okay, there might be one or two people on my block that wouldn’t.)  Avner, out of curiousity, have you thought about asking Conan to invest in Boxee?

Of the twenty-five series currently scheduled to record on my DVR, only two of them are NBC.  None of my stocks are NBC.

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Boxee – TV Streamed the Right Way

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Tom Long

Streaming television is a wonderful thing. When the DVR’s electronic program guide (EPG) is thrown off by a football game, you haven’t missed the show. Can’t afford the internet and cable TV? You haven’t missed the show (unless it’s The Mentalist). You can watch it online. I use them all: Hulu, Hulu Desktop, Clicker, TV Guide DVR, TV.com, FindInternetTV, and so on. I like Clicker the best. What I don’t like is leaving the media center-style 10 foot interface. I tried the alpha Boxee and found its merits outweighed by its shortcomings. But a new release deserves another chance, right? Good news. Boxee Beta is much easier to navigate. And the one area where every other media center comes up short, streaming TV shows, is where Boxee really shines. Watch the video after the break, to see what I mean.

Continue reading →

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Speaking from Ignorance – Kindle Killer?

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Tom Long

If you are anything like me, when you hit Google reader this morning, most of the posts were about Jobs’ new iPad Kindle Killer.    Yes, I love my iPhone (sorry AT&T none of that bleeds over to you).  But I am not an Apple worshipper or hater.  I guess you could say I am an Apple agnostic who avoids the endless forum Apple versus PC debates .  As a gadget freak I have been watching the pre-release hype quite closely and was anxious to see this magical and revolutionary product.  Well, I haven’t seen one so I’m only addressing specs not experience.  (Hence “speaking from ignorance.”)

My first impression is pretty much in line with my previous posts about iTunes.  The iPad is great for those who wish to shop only at the company store.   Publishers are excited about being able to charge more than the $9.99 they get from Amazon according to the interview I heard on NPR this morning.  Are you excited about paying more?  You’ll pay twice as much for the iPad versus the Kindle to get color ebooks, a larger screen, and more interactivity.  Of course, that interactivity will be crippled by the lack of flash support.

Can a device be magical and revolutionary but not even support USB or SD cards?  For crying out loud, even Sony finally gave up and started moving to SD cards because they are the people’s choice.  Continue reading →

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