Traditional Media - Read This and Shudder

Sheff — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:27:32 +0000

This is how I followed the NASA Phoenix mission landing on Mars.

I’ve set up my iMac so I can look over the top of the screen and clearly see the HD TV image projected on a 106 inch screen. So I’ve got Web-based media on the iMac and traditional TV on the big screen.

So I started out watching Phoenix landing coverage on the NASA Website, NASA.gov. They had live, moderated coverage via NASA TV. In another window I was watching for blog updates by a NASA team member who was blogging from mission control. And in yet another window, I had Twitter going and was following several interesting threads there.

Fox News and CNN came to the coverage late and really never had anything to offer. They brought in several experts to explain what was going on, but none of them were actual Phoenix team members at mission control. CNN had a former shuttle astronaut… commenting on an unmanned mission! He annoyed me. The main problem with both CNN and Fox was that they would just not shut up! This was a story that told itself. During the “seven minutes of terror” as Phoenix was descending to the surface in its make-or-break landing, the news anchors talked constantly, but not about what was happening right then! The Fox anchor was going on and on about how many millions of dollars the project cost and what a shame it would be if things didn’t go well. This was when the Phoenix was less than two minutes from landing.

The Web coverage on NASA TV was much different. They had already explained what was going to happen, and they just quietly let it happen. They let the pictures of the faces of the team members and the calm updates from the voice of mission control tell a much more powerful story. Earlier interviews with people who were actually running the landing gave me a much stronger feeling of connection to these people. On Fox and CNN they were just background faces at mission control, but on NASA TV, they were actual people whose names we knew and who we had seen explain things and show how excited and nervous they were. When the lander finally touched down, the explosion of applause said it all. The commentator remained quiet and let it all just play out live.

Plus, the information that I got on the Web, from NASA TV and various blogs, was just plain better, and more up to date. The networks need to step it up if they want to complete with Web coverage for big live events.

No One Believed Me When I Said I saw Coyotes in Roswell

Sheff — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:30:02 +0000

Several times when coming home very late at night I’ve seen coyotes loping across Mansell Rd. near my house. It looks like the City of Roswell may start a wide-scale coyote trapping program. Hah! I knew I wasn’t crazy!
How To Catch Coyotes? Roswell Debates Trapping

Do I Get a Certificate?

Sheff — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:38:55 +0000

Getting my new TiVo-HD working required several visits by the cable tech, a smart, young, black kid from Collage Park (CP to the cool kids). Once we got everything working late Staturday afternoon, he was done for the day and wanted to hang out a bit and see how my system worked. So I showed him my demo DVD with cool hi-def stuff and great sound (sorry neighbors), and then played Wii for a bit since he had never see one in action before.

After playing with my toys and seeing the my seven-year-old Lexus, he decreed that I was a “legit baller.” I confess - I felt a rush of pride.

I’m thinking of adding that designation to my business cards:

Richard Sheffield B.S., M.A., Baller (Legit)

TiVo HD Success (Eventually)

Sheff — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:39:18 +0000

When I started thinking about getting a TiVo HD last year, I did my research as usual (yes I’m a bit compulsive about product research), and what I read scared the hell out of me. The cool thing about the TiVo HD is that it uses a CableCard to replace your cable box so you run everything through the TiVo. Ahh, there’s the rub. I read horror story after horror story about dealing with various cable companies, and my cable provider, Charter Cable seemed to be one of the worst (I’m a Charter “customer” in the the same way that my goldfish are MY customers… they can’t move next door if I don’t clean the tank).

So I called Charter and talked to a friendly CSR and had this fun conversation:

CSR - “We don’t support cablecards for TiVo HD.”
Me - “There is an FCC regulation saying that you have to support them.”
CSR - “That regulation only applies to television sets, not TiVos.”
Me - “That regulation applies to anything on the approved list, and TiVo is on the approved list.”
CSR - “Our cablecards are special and will not work in a TiVo.”
Me - “I was in a neighbor’s house last night and saw a Charter multi-stream cablecard working in his TiVo HD with no problem.”
CSR - “I’ll have someone from technical support call you.”

I never heard from them again.

So I deceided to let that situation sort itself out for a while.

So it’s six months later and I finally took a leap of faith that I could make the thing work one way or another, and bought a TiVo HD. It looks like my decision to wait a while paid off.

I unboxed the TiVo a few days before the cable guy was scheduled to come to give it time to connect to the TiVo network and download any updates. All that went exactly as described in the installation instructions so I was up and running. I contacted Charter online with the chat feature on the Web site to request the cablecard. I didn’t mention that I wanted it installed in a TiVo and they didn’t ask.

Now there are two kinds of cablecards, single-stream and multi-stream. One multi-stream card can function as two cable boxes so you can record two shows at once or watch one channel and record another. You can get the same functionality by installing two single-stream cards but you have to pay twice the monthly card rental fee. I specifically, and forcefully, requested one multi-stream card. Of course the installer (a contractor) showed up with two single-stream cards, the multi-stream request had not been noted on my work order. I had already waited half a day for him to show up so I told him to go ahead and put them in.

The first card installed properly and worked fine. He was able to call the data center and pair the card with my account and I started getting channels. All was great. When he installed the second card, he got an error that he didn’t understand. While he was on hold with tech support, I Googled the error code and found out that it meant he had a bad card. I told him this. Ten minutes later, his tech support told him he had a bad card. He didn’t have another card.

So he came back the next day, and to my surprise, he brought a multi-stream card like I had originally asked! But before he could install it, he had to get the two cards he installed the day before un-installed. That took some doing, but he was a champ and plowed through all the dim-witted people on the other end of the phone and got it done. Success!

So I am once again in love with TiVo. The TiVo HD works great, I love being able to do all the TiVo stuff (rewind and pause) with live programming while watching something in HD. Plus, I moved the old TiVo and cable box upstairs and now my two little media TiVo robots are talking to each other and exchanging shows over my wireless network. Pretty cool. This lets me load balance my recording by recording the non-HD stuff on the non-HD Tivo and saving space on the HD TiVo for HD shows. I’ll try this for a while and see how it goes, hopefully I won’t need to buy additional external storage space.

A cool thing that the TiVo HD does that they don’t seem to talk about is upconverting. It will upconvert regular, non-HD signals to 480p - a very noticable improvement! I had no idea.

2008 Goals

Sheff — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:22:28 +0000

Last year, rather than list fifteen or twenty things to work on, I just listed two - Go on fifty dates and finish grad school. Surprisingly, both got accomplished so maybe sharp focus is the way to go for me.

I’ll give it a try again in 2008. Here are the two new imperatives:

100 workouts. I figure if I can get in 100 workouts, I should be able to get and maintain a 36 inch waist. This will be measured by an actual tape measure, not pants sizes - clothes companies are lying bastards! I have a pair of jeans from A&F that are listed as Waist - 32 - they are at least 6 inches off. Don’t get me started. If you want to depress yourself, go get a tape measure and find out your real waist size.

Sell 100 copies of my new ebook. Stay tuned for more info and a link to The Web Content Strategist’s Bible.

Let’s see if I can get a mini streak started and hit my goals two years in a row.

Cool Wii 3-D using the Wiimote and Sensor Bar Backwards

Sheff — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:27:12 +0000

Damn clever. So what would happen if I mount the Wiimote in front of the TV and move the sensor bar around??? Hmmmm. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

Steve Martin - Born Standing Up

Sheff — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:48:57 +0000

Just finished reading Steve’s autobiography, Born Standing Up and it’s … well… just right. It’s smart and crisp, not too long, introspective without being depressing, and oddly inspiring.

Reading about his rise from ten years on the road to overnight success reminded me of how his comedy created a clear dividing line between my generation, who mostly ‘got’ it, and the previous generations who could not understand what all the fuss was about. Steve’s comedy style was as different from the Bob Hopes who came before him as the Beatles were from the Perry Comos. I remember buying his Let’s Get Small album at Turtles Records in Buckhead and the older checkout guy just shook his head and said, “I don’t get why everyone is buying this record, there’s not a funny joke on the whole damn thing.” And in the old style of “hey lemme tell ya…” jokes, he was probably right.

Time to Re-start the Movie Log

Sheff — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:03:31 +0000

OK, so I didn’t keep up with things as well as I could have… there is always another year. So let’s try this one more time… with feeling. New log started today.

I figured an easy way to archive the old log was to just put it in a post:

Listing of Movies Seen for the Second Half of 2007

7/1 - Stranger than Fiction (DVD)
7/2 - Talladega Nights (listened to commentary - dull) (DVD)
7/3 - Die Hard (TV)
7/4 - Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones (TV)
7/5 - Joe vs. the Volcano (DVD)
7/8 - Casino Royale (DVD)
7/8 - Casino Royale Bonus Disc (DVD)
7/9 - Transformers (UA Northpoint) Awesome!
7/12 - To Have and Have Not (DVD)
7/15 - Gilda (DVD)
7/16 - Edie Murphy -Delirious (DVD - Netflix)
7/19 - MST3K - Space Mutiny (DVD)
7/20 - Wedding Crashers (TV)
7/22 - Minority Report (TV HD)
7/23 - The Bourne Supremacy - plus bonus material (DVD)
7/26 - Full Metal Jacket (TV HD)
7/29 - Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer (AMC)
7/29 - Forrest Gump (TV HD)
7/30 - Sharkey’s Machine (TV HD)
8/2 - Hot Fuzz (DVD)
8/4 - The Bourne Ultimatum (Phipps)
8/8 - Harold and Maude (DVD)
8/9 - The Simpsons Movie
8/10 - Kill Bill Vol. 2 (DVD)
8/11 - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (DVD)
8/13 - 300 (DVD)
8/15 - Lucky Number Slevin (DVD)
8/19 - The Razor’s Edge (DVD)
8/21 - Henry Rollins- Shock and Awe (DVD)
8/23 - Finding Nemo (DVD)
8/24 - Toy Story (DVD)
8/25 - Rumor Has It (TV HD)
8/26 - The Killer (DVD)
8/29 - The Presidio (TV HD)
8/30 - Blazing Saddles (TV HD)
9/1 - Superbad - Theater
9/2 - Samurai Champloo Vol 1 - (DVD)
9/3 - Aliens II (TV HD)
9/12 - Out of Africa (DVD)
9/15 - Samurai Champloo Vol 2 - (DVD)
9/16 - Princess Bride (DVD)

The Frankenstein Shower

Sheff — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:35:06 +0000

Thought this was funny… and a bit scary.

“What? You crazy Anglos just heat water and have it sitting there hot all day? What a waste!”

We are just safety-crazy Americans I guess. You gotta check this out. It’s not a bad idea, I think it’s the big, Boris Karloff switch that freaks me out.

http://gobudgettravel.com/links/the-infamous-frankenstein-shower

Why I don’t need Hi-def DVD

Sheff — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:09:17 +0000

That’s it. I’ve had it with this battle over hi-def DVD formats. I’m with WOPR on this one, the only winning move is not to play. Paramount is dropping Blue-ray, BlockBuster is ONLY going to carry Blue-ray, and the new titles are just trickling out. This thing is not going to be settled any time soon and by the time it is, it probably won’t matter. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that you really don’t NEED or WANT hi-def DVD anyway.

Regular DVD May Kill HD-DVD

Regular DVDs are getting so good that when combined with a good upconverting DVD player, there may be little need for Hi-def DVD. The use of new 24p HD digital cameras, third-generation lenses designed for these new HD cameras, and new high-horsepower digital video processing equipment that can handle raw, uncompressed data is creating a new generation of finished product content that is much cleaner, clearer, and crisper than ever before. So even when this content is compressed to fit on a standard DVD, it looks remarkable. And this high-quality, non-interlaced content works great with the new generation of upconverting DVD players to produce a picture that looks damn close to 1080i. Take a look at the opening scene of Star Was Episode III played on an upconverting DVD player on a HD screen and see for yourself. You’ll swear its true hi-def.

The Superbit Secret

Remember Superbit DVDs? For certain movies Columbia Tri-Star would remove all the DVD extras to make more room on the disc for more video and sound data. More data and a higher bit-rate produced noticeably better picture and sound quality. Great idea, but what most people forget, and no one seems to be talking about, is that most of these Superbit titles were on old 4.7 gig discs. So even with getting rid of the extra stuff, they could only squeeze so much data on the disc. Now that 8.5 gig discs are the standard, there is plenty of room for more video and sound data. Much more than was possible even with Superbit. The file size of just the movie (excluding extras) for most new releases is over 6 gigs. So depending upon the quality of the disc production, every new non-HD DVD could be better than Superbit.It’s the Source Stupid

Hi-def DVD really only works well for movies made very recently with very good HD equipment and source material. Sure film captures a lot more “data” than even HD, but film developing and processing, old lenses, and film degradation over time all combine to produce enough softness in the image so that a hi-def image is not noticeable better. So if new movies on regular DVD will upconvert and look great, and old movies won’t be noticeable better, then why again do I need hi-def DVD?

Hi-def DVD Will Probably Get Leap-Frogged Anyway

This HD-DVD vs. Blue-ray issue is not going to be settled any time soon, technology is moving very quickly these days, and moving data around on a physical disc is a dead idea anyway. Something else is going to come along, and I have no idea what it will be. But it seems likely that users are just not ready to jump to another recorded media storage format. The time of a hard media storage format that requires a dedicated player device has probably passed. When media is stored as a digital file, we expect to be able to move that file around as much as we want and play that media file on a variety of devices.

Good Enough

It seems like we have developed DVD and CD technology to the point where it is generally good enough. New storage ideas continue to come along, but the improved experienced offered is just not enough to justify the additional expense and hassle. Did anyone go for HD audio? Not really, because regular audio CDs and MP3 files were good enough. I suspect that for most people, standard DVDs will be good enough for a good long while. Long enough for technology and the Internet to develop to a point where moving digital files around on a disc of any kind no longer makes sense.

Bluetooth Headset + Public Setting = Mullet

Sheff — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 19:28:31 +0000

Again, I’m not anti Bluetooth headsets, they are great when driving, or connecting to Skype, or other tasks when you need to communicate with both hands free. Perfect solution. But come on Lt. Ohura, I don’t think you are going to be getting a priority comm on the subspace channel while you are at the grocery store. You just look like a major fucktard and people are laughing at you.

Yes… everywhere you go with that thing hanging out of your ear, just outside of your field of vision, strangers are laughing, pointing, shaking their heads, and giving you the eye roll. You’d be less dorky with a fanny pack and Members Only jacket. Someone needed to tell you. Sure, there was a brief time when (as with the mullet) for maybe half a second, it was a cool look. But that time passed as quickly as Billy Ray Cyrus. Now, when you sit down to eat at a nice restaurant with a blue LED flashing in your right ear, you simply look like the most self-absorbed, low self esteem, please-look-at-me, douche-nozzle imaginable. I’ve had two encounters in the last 24 hours that pushed me over the edge into this rant:

1 – Standing in line at the store. A guy, by himself, comes up and stands right behind me. After a few seconds of silence he says loudly, “I’m in the checkout line.” I started to turn around and say, Hey Rainman, thanks for the update, - but then I noticed the headset. He was apparently boring some acquaintance with descriptions of his every move. If your phone conversation has degenerated to the point where you are telling the other person that you are fifth in line for take off at self-checkout, then it’s time to hang up.

2 – At the movies last night. I settle into my seat and as the previews start, “1 of 7” sits down from me about three seats over with the side of his head blinking bright blue. I give him the benefit of the doubt, thinking he will take the thing off once the movie starts. But no. Numb-nuts just sits there, now enjoying his ten dollar, monaural movie event. And I wouldn’t have cared except that the blinking blue light was bobbing around in my peripheral vision driving me crazy. Nothing like a bright blinking blue light in a dark theater to F up my immersive movie-going experience. Luckily the theater was not full and I just moved one row down, right in front of him. Pardon my height.The guy’s stupidity exists on many levels, but the most annoying thing to me was the implication that if indeed his phone did ring that he would actually answer it! Somehow it never seems to be these guys that Dick Cheny is calling with a last-minute invitation to go quail hunting. I completely lose it when people answer the phone in the theater and have a conversation.

Rant over. (Yes, I realize that I made TWO Star Trek references and that probably makes me a dork as well.)

iPhone Owners - Please don’t be such dorks

Sheff — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 02:31:42 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, I love the iPhone. Apple designers have done it again and I plan to own one at some point. But by now, everyone who cares knows all about the iPhone, has see one up close, and gotten on with their lives. So when you whip it out at the gym (who take their phone to the gym?), in the club, or at a bar, you are just embarrassing yourselves. Really, we are laughing at you. I know you just spent 600 bucks on a phone, but you are the same person you were before. If you were not cool before, an iPhone is not going to help. Get some decent shoes and lose the comb over. That would help a whole lot more than an expensive phone.

You really want to impress me? Answer your call, chat, hang up, and put the thing back in your pocket without trying to show it around to whoever is standing there. That’s what a normal person with decent self esteem would do. Then finish the hell up with the shoulder press machine so I can get on with my workout.

Movie Log

Sheff — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 02:00:58 +0000

Thanks to Gray for the idea - I’m logging movies seen for the second half of 2007. Look for the new Movie Log tab in the top right corner of the page.

Last Car in the Parking Lot

Sheff — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 17:07:35 +0000

My lonely car. How does this keep happening??

I’m, Not Totally the Bah-Humbug Type…

Sheff — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 17:00:32 +0000

But I really don’t get into the whole “crazy Christmas stuff in the front yard” thing.

There are, however, exceptions…

Is TiVo Trying to Go Out of Business?

Sheff — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:48:23 +0000

The folks at TiVo sent me an email over the weekend with some nice discounts on a new Series 3 HD TiVo. I love my TiVo and would love to use it for HD programming so I followed the link and checked it out. The unit itself was pretty much what I expected, but the pricing structure makes no sense to me.

First - A basic Series 3 TiVo goes for $800.00 and can hold 300 hours of programming (only 32 in HD). Upgrades are offered, which is cool, but to go from 300 hours to 480 hours cost and extra $400.00! A bigger hard drive has got to cost them 50 bucks? Maybe? Crazy.

Second - But speaking of crazy - Why punish your best existing customers who bought a Lifetime subscription to the TiVo service? Here is what the offer says about those with a Lifetime subscription:

“And if you have a lifetime service on any Series 1 or Series 2 standalone unit, you can transfer it to your new Series 3 HD unit for $199, and still get one year of free service on your old unit!”

They are going to charge me $1200.00 for a decent capacity unit and then add another $200 for something I already paid $300 for!? That’s just nuts. I’d pay $40 or so as a handling fee to cover the cost of transferring my subscription from one device to another but that’s about it.

The people that ponied up $300 bucks for a lifetime subscription have got to be TiVo’s most avid fans. These are the people that took the time to explain what the big deal was to all their family, friends, and neighbors. Seems like they should be courting these people, not chasing them away.

I was considering buying a new Series 3 until I read the part about the lifetime subscription. As much as I enjoy the TiVo interface, as soon as my cable company offers a HD unit, I’ll switch. Sigh.

At Last, Japan Pictures

Sheff — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 16:10:19 +0000

I’ve finally posted pictures from my recent trip to Tokyo up on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/26997541@N00/hJWJDz

I’m not really happy with the Flickr interface for viewing shared photos. I spent a lot of time adding captions to my pictures to explain or tell a little story about what was going on, and when you view photos on Flickr in Slideshow mode - the captions don’t show up! Arrrg, so if you use Slideshow view, click on every picture when it appears to see the captions.

Japanese Slang

Sheff — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:54:44 +0000

In prep for my upcoming trip to Tokyo, I’ve been reading a lot about Japan and picked up a couple of slang nuggets I love.

Barcode - Slang for a combover. Perfect.

Christmas Cake - Slang for an unmarried girl over 25. “Nobody wants Christmas cake after the 25th.”

iTunes 7 Re-exposes My Windows-based Impatience

Sheff — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 15:26:58 +0000

Completely oblivious to the storm of complaints about serious bugs in the new iTunes 7 release, I installed it on my iMac the other night. I expected a five minute install then a reboot , then I could load a new Japanese language CD onto my iPod and get on with my TV watching for the night. So everything installed and I rebooted and launched iTunes. It comes up fine, but then starts a gapless playback analysis of all my existing music and gets stuck on a song about 5% down the list. I get the beach ball of hell and the system locks up. I can’t Force Quit so I hard reboot. I delete the offending song and try again. It hangs on another song. Hard reboot. I relaunch and now it hangs as soon as it starts up.

Now my old “Windows user” mentality pops up. As a long-time Windows power user, I was used to this sort of thing on the Windows side. This was just part of the process. Nothing complicated installed correctly without a few, post install, tweaks to system interrupts or COM Port settings or a dive into the dreaded registry. I always assumed that any problem was fixable if I beat on it long enough. So I started this process with iTunes and my iMac. I re-installed, deleted preferences files, removed the iTunes receipt file and installed again. Everything I could think of. Same result. Locked up Mac and no iPod.

Finally about 2 AM I decided to give up and go to bed. I’d revert back to 6.05 the next day. I rebooted one more time and launched iTunes again. Still getting the lock up and beachball. But I noticed that it seemed to be hitting the hard drive once or twice a minute, so maybe something was going on. I left it up and running and went to bed. I ignored it the next morning and went off to work. When I checked it again the next afternoon, iTunes was up and running and connected to the music store, my iPod was updated, and the computer was unlocked and working fine.

Turns out that the real problem was just my Windows-based impatience and my expectation of problems. Once a problem appeared, I assumed that there was something that I could “fix” to keep the process moving. My old processor just needed a few hours to crank though my files.

Patience Richard, patience.

Clever Store Window Display Comes to Atlanta

Sheff — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:51:02 +0000

If you’ve spent time in New York or Paris, you’ve probably noticed some very creative and edgy stuff in the front windows of clothing stores. Anything to get your attention. In conservative Atlanta, well, this is just a little too crazy for most stores. But I did see this display over the weekend at Phipps Plaza. Note the back of the dress tucked into the panties. It’s not a prank, they were pushing the fancy panties. Made me laugh.

What’s in Your Bag?

Sheff — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 21:08:23 +0000

I love gadgets and toys, but carrying them around is always a challenge. What do you carry around?

Here is a cool tag path at Flickr where fellow geeks post pics and explanations of the stuff they feel is important enough to carry around. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/whatsinyourbag/

Dot com Billionaires and the Ultimate Model Rocket Club

Sheff — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 17:07:32 +0000

Remember those geeks in high school who launched model rockets from the parking lot? You know the ones usually left looking puzzled as the rocket came floating down onto the roof of the gym? Well give those same guys twenty years and a few billion dollars and the only thing that changes is the size of the rockets. Take these examples:

PayPal founder Elon Musk founded SpaceX to launch military payloads to low earth orbit
John Carmak made a fortune on Doom and Quake owns Armadillo Aerospace to build hydrogen peroxide rocket vehicles.
Microsoft co-founder and zillionaire Paul Allen spent $20 million to fund the SpaceShipOne rocket plane.
Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame just announced his new company Blue Origin and plans to build a spaceport on 165,000 acres near Van Horn, TX.

If one of these rockets falls on the roof of the gym, I don’t want to be around.