Outraged by Outrage

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Tom Long

I don’t like big government. I don’t like political messages in schools. But what really gets me steamed is people that don’t respect the office of President of the United States. Maybe we didn’t vote for Obama. Well, boo-hoo. President Obama won. He is the President elected by the country almost all of us claim to love. So, why the big stink about him telling kids to stay in school? For those who say he is proselytizing to his political views or indoctrinating kids, I say you’re full of bologna. There is nothing political about telling kids to stay in school. Who doesn’t agree with this? Get serious. The same crowd whining about this would be waving the flag if it was President Bush instead of President Obama. No, the outrage is due to people so cross-eyed with hate that they don’t realize that what they are teaching their children is to disrespect the office of President. What kind of values are those? Lead by example. Either you want a democracy, and the risk of being on the losing side from time to time, or you want a different form of government. Which is it? If you want democracy, then act like it. The example you set for your children today will play a large role in what the future of our system will look like.

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XBMC Setting Up Your Movie Library

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Tom Long

Part 3: Setup Your Movie Library

You have XBMC installed. You have your folders and files properly arranged and named. If you don’t, please do yourself a favor and go back to the second part of the tutorial to learn how to do this and then do it before trying these steps. It really will save you a lot of grief.

Now, it is time to introduce all that lovely media to their new partner. When I was trying to figure out how to make XBMC work, I spent hours figuring out what I hope to show you in the next few minutes. One basic skill you will need is the ability to navigate around XBMC and it won’t be easy at first. (Using it will be a lot easier than setting it up.) You will need a means of interfacing with XBMC. Controlling XBMC is possible with a remote, mouse, or keyboard.

Continue reading →

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XBMC Media Folders and Files Just So

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Tom Long

XBMC_Folder_File_Structure

Part 2: Folders and Files

I have Tivo for TV Shows and iTunes for Music Videos so I’ll focus on Movies in this tutorial. If you love movies as much as I do, I promise the effort to use this will be paid back in spades.

First, let us deal with the folder structure and file name.   If you are at all interested in XBMC, you’ve probably experimented with or will experiment with other ways of watching computer-source TV.   My goal in arranging media files on my computer is to keep everything in a format that will work no matter whether I am watching|listening via a direct connection between my PC and TV or one through my PS3.    I want to listen to music with iTunes (my primary portal) but also with XBMC.   To make this happen, I need to organize my folders and files as flexibly as possible. Continue reading →

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XBMC Media Center – Installed on a PC

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Tom Long
XBMC Tutorial Video

XBMC Tutorial Video

Part 1: Installation

iTunes models a lot of what I want from my PC-on-the-TV experience. It can be tasked to hunt down compatible media and add that to its library. In media-center speak ‘library’ does not refer to the “books” but to the “card catalog.” The library is the database that associates the actual media file with additional data like cover art, genre, artist, etc. If asked, iTunes will then copy all of the media files and arrange them in folders according to “the iTunes way.” It is sort of like hiring a librarian to go into your attic, make copies of all your books, and then shelve them in your den according to the Dewey decimal system. But it gets better. Imagine that some of your books are missing covers or title sheets. The librarian researches the original cover and publisher info and then adds copies of those before shelving the books in the den. Pretty sweet, right? Oh, but there’s more. Let’s say this librarian can answer questions (filter) like, Which of my books were published in New York? What books do I have with the word ‘MacDonald’ in the publication info? The librarian answers you – instantly. Which are romance? Instant answer. Plus, the librarian presents the books that meet your criteria to you in a sexy way. (Insert your own image of what that means here.) Oh, that’s the book you want? Let me read it to you.

Continue reading →

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Custom Home Theater PC

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Tom Long

HTPC_screenshot Thought you might find this project interesting.  I have an old laptop connected to the PC input on my HDTV.  I use XBMC or Boxee for viewing my movie archives; Picasa3 for viewing home movies and pictures; iTunes for music through my home theater sound system (and iPhone syncing); and Miro for viewing EZRSS torrents.  With TightVNC, I use my netbook as a remote (no satisfaction from my iPhone remote apps except for the Boxee remote).  Since I see the laptop only on the big screen, I wanted to easily navigate to the media through the appropriate program or website.  So, I made a webpage.  Great, except that I couldn’t execute computer programs from it.  Converted it to a Powerpoint SlideShow which works, but I don’t have or want Office on my HTPC.  Converted HTPC.pss to HTPC.exe and I have an app I’m going to alpha test for a bit.  There are links to my computer (standard install locations) for XBMC, Boxee, iTunes, Miro, Tivo Desktop, and Picasa3.  On the web I have FindInternetTV, YouTubeXL, RadioTime, last.fm, Pandora, Hulu, Tivo.com, Yahoo! TV Listings, and facebook (for viewing our friends’ pictures).  As an iPhone lover, I have inappropriately procured a few of their icons and their basic layout (sans captions).  Once I’ve lived with it a bit, added a configuration utility and non-proprietary icons, I hope to sourceforge it.  What do you think?

Update 2009 08 20 Tried it on my HTPC without Power Point Viewer and the exe file didn’t work but asked for an Office key.  So much for portability.  (Not that I’ve given up.)

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