Category: Tech

Where Have You Gone Mr. TIVO Man

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A Newsome turns his lonely remote to you (woo woo woo).

If I sound bitter, it’s only because I am.

The reason I write so much about the impending death of TIVO is because I love my TIVO so much. It makes me mad that I am going to lose such great (and expensive) technology. But if I (like a lot of TIVO’s customers) am a DirecTV customer unwilling to go backwards to cable, then I have no choice but to find an alternative, since DirecTV is killing TIVO slowly, but surely.

Here’s an article in Forbes that says DirecTV may start shipping non-TIVO DVRs next month. So the end that I have been dreading is about to begin.

What’s that you say Mr. R. Murdoch, Mr. TIVO has up and gone away?

Windows Vista

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I’m not all that excited about the (late next year) forthcoming new version of Windows (now called Vista, previously called Longhorn), mainly because it sounds like Microsoft has decided to leave a lot of the previously heralded features out and the end of next year is a long, long way away (plus the release date will undoubtedly move back several times).

However, Paul Thurrott (Windows guru) has an interesting review of the recently released beta version 1.

Installation seems to be easier. I’m dubious of the new desktop search, because it can’t be as good as, but may spell the end of, my beloved X-1. My Documents, which is somewhat of a nightmare now, especially in Windows 2000, seems to have miraculously become more confusing, which is not what most computer users need. The Parental Controls stuff sounds promising, since my kids will be well supervised computer-wise by the time Vista ships. Tabs in Internet Explorer 7 looks very useful and is, as Paul points out, very overdue. Microsoft still seems to be optomistically pushing voice recognition, but everybody knows that its no more than a neat toy that is utterly useless for increasing productivity for most users (though undoubtedly of great value for people with disabilities). Networking (perhaps the most important thing) looks spotty in this release, but will undoubtedly be fixed in future beta releases.

I was a beta tester for Windows 95 and it was sort of fun. But these days I just want my computer to work. I think I’ll wait until the end of 2006 or better yet, the middle of 2007.

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TIVO, HDTV, Media PC = SOL

I continue to read with interest (both the curiosity and vested kind) the discussions and debate regarding the future of PVRs and Media PCs, especially as it relates the the delivery of HDTV.

Here’s where we are to date:

1) TIVO, which I have used for years but is dying on the vine due to its break with DirecTV, has a great interface and, for a few more months until the HDTV models become incompatible with the DirecTV stream, delivers HDTV, both via satellite and over the air antenna. This is good, but DirecTV is about to switch over to MPEG4, which the current HD TIVOs cannot decode- thus they will become $1000 paperweights.

2) DirectTV has abandoned TIVO in favor of its forthcoming DirectTV branded HDTV compatible PVRs. TIVO is not a medium or long term solution for satellite owners.

3) Media PCs are nifty (sort of), but don’t truly support HDTV (over the air doesn’t really count because not many TIVO or Media PC owners get most of their programming over the air).

Now the current debate, led by two smart guys whose blogs I read literally every day.

The Thomas Hawk camp argues that Microsoft is catering to the Hollywood cartel by not leading the charge to make Media PCs HDTV friendly. I dislike the Hollywood cartel second only to the record label cartel, so this argument is appealing to me.

The Ed Bott Camp argues that unless the voices of reason, led by the EFF, get the DMCA overturned by the Supreme Court (which Ed implies is unlikely and I couldn’t agree more), Microsoft cannot bring HDTV to Media PCs because of the differential treatment of PVRs (closed box) versus Media PCs (open box) under the DMCA. Granted, I don’t practice in this area, but based on my reading of the DMCA, I believe Ed is correct.

The issue I have is not so much why Microsoft doesn’t turn its nose up at the Hollywood cartel and do it anyway – because the feds have a history of beating up Microsoft over alleged federal law violations, and all they need is an excuse and a bunch of compaign contributions to try it again. My question is why can’t Microsoft and everyone else with a brain cell to dangle and a dollar to be made line up against the Hollywood cartel and let it know that it needs movies distributed at least as badly as a Media PC needs HDTV. Tell them that they can be reasonable and play fair, or they can keep churning out copy-protected DVDs that can languish on the shelves of empty Blockbuster stores (though Netflix would stand to profit nicely from such an outcome).

One of the first rules of negotiation is that when you have no bargaining power in a certain situation, change the situation so hopefully the disparity in bargaining power will be lessened.

I say let’s make this issue not “how we will be forced to distribute your content” but instead “we are the gatekeepers to the new generation of viewers and if you want us to distribute your content, here’s how we will do it.” Yes, that would put Media PCs at a disadvantage over DVD Players and whatever replaces TIVO, but there is plenty of content that would readily be licensed and before long someone would break ranks with the cartel. Once that happens, momentum has shifted and truth and justice will prevail.

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Extreme Website Makeover (Part 1)

About once every 2 years I decide it’s time to update the look and feel of Newsome.Org. I’ve been doing that for the past month or so.

I’m good at computers. I built the one I use now myself. I used to be good at software, having written shareware and served as a game designer. But time passes fast when it comes to software and related applications. Now, every time I get into the recreation of these pages, I have to learn a bunch of new technology that has made my pages obsolete in the 2 years since I last went through the exercise. This time, I’ve had to learn CSS, RSS and XML (surprisingly, at least to me, the hardest by far for me was CSS). In the process, I’ve picked up a trick or two that I think makes website creation and management much easier for the technically proficient as well as the technically challenged. Hopefully, my trial and error will benefit those of you who decide to create a new site or update an existing one.

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Here, in no particular order, are some things I have learned:

1) Use blogging software, whether you consider your site a blog or not. It automates the creation, addition, editing, archiving and deletion of content. In sum, it makes what used to be time consuming and difficult fast and easy. I use Blogger as a front end (although the pages are actually located on my server), because it is convenient and enables me to add content from anywhere. If you don’t have a server, you can easily set up a site via Blogger- and Blogger will host it for free. If you want more flexibility (and you are good at computers) there are other options, such as Movable Type and WordPress. My advice, start out with Blogger and work from there.

2) Look around for helpful add-ons that make your site more user-friendly. I use Haloscan for my trackbacks (Blogger has no native trackback capability). It’s free and seems to work well. On the other hand, I don’t want my comments hosted somewhere else, where they might be archived or deleted after a period of time, so I use Blogger’s built-in commenting system (in lieu of Haloscan’s) along with Haloscan’s trackbacks. The place to go to see how to do this, and to learn about many other blog add-ons, is the excellent A Consuming Experience blog, and specifically this post. I also use Forret.Com’s free trackback tool to send trackback pings to other sites that I quote or write about. One word of caution- use add-ons that make the site more useful for your readers. Resist the ones that merely add cyber-bling bling.

3) Once you get your site up and running, syndicate it. This makes it easy for people to subscribe to it in their news readers. I use FeedBurner, another free service, for syndication. If you use Blogger, the FeedBurner page has easy step-by-step instructions for getting set up.

4) Add some photos with Flickr. Flickr is simply the greatest photo site on the internet. You can upload photos for free, and show them on your blog via a Flickr Badge. Flickr integrates easily and deeply with your blog, so adding and managing photos is simple. Plus you can share photos with friends and family for free. You can also create sets of photos that are only visible to the people you select- family, friends, anyone or only yourself.

I’ll continue this discussion in Part 2 later this week. If anyone has any additional tips, please add them via Comment or Trackback.

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More on Getting Heard

canthearyou

Yesterday, after reading Randy Charles Morin’s post about the internet “A-List,” I wrote about the difficulties in promoting a web site to its target audience. There were a number of interesting replies to Randy’s post, including a good one by Richard Querin, who wrote that it’s the writing, not so much the reading, that makes all of this rewarding. Brad Kellet agrees.

I agree too, to an extent. I don’t think you need to have 2000 hits a day (much less 2 million) to make all the effort worthwhile. On the other hand, as I have written before, my goal is to encourage the exchange of ideas which in my experience is the first step to community building. Communities can be built around a location, a relationship or a common interest- anything that a few people who know about each other care about.

I spent a lot of time writing the policies that apply to ACCBoards.Com (spam is a problem with big message board sites, but it pales in comparison to schoolyard-type fighting and the protection of a user’s right to express unpopular ideas). The terms of service there is an evolving document, even today 9 years after we started that community. The main thing is to encourage the respectful exchange of information and ideas. If that happens, the commnunity will grow naturally and police itself. The trick is to figure out how much of the stuff we learned there applies to web sites and blogs. I think a lot of it does.

For example, if I’m in a group that’s discussing photography, whether that group is at dinner together, on a message board or on a blog, I love to listen and learn. But at some point, I also want to ask a question or perhaps make a point. If I can’t be involved, even in a small way, in the conversation, eventually I will get discouraged and bored. I can tell you from experience that graduate students are that way too. I believe most of us are. The only difference is the method of cimmunication.

So while I obviously enjoy writing, I want this site to be more than an online journal or a living Christmas letter for my extended family. I want it to be my side of a discussion on whatever topics come up. If my extended family was more interested in the internet as a way to stay connected, I could community build around that. If our friends had web sites (fat chance, it took all I had just to get them to sign up on flickr), I could build around that. I don’t have that luxury, so I look to build connections with other people who write about the things I’m interested in.

In sum, for me it’s a lot about the writing, but it’s also about the building, and the reading and even the being read. The potential for conversation and community is why I’m here.

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What if a Tree Fell

treefellOn the internet, but no one saw it. One of the hardest things about creating and operating web sites is trying to attract enough traffic to make it worthwhile. You can have the best web site in the world, but if no one notices, it becomes a ghost site. Often, web sites that one might think should be popular go unnoticed while others become popular overnight.

I have created a ton of web sites: AVBoards.Com, The Cats Domain, The Cardinals Nest, Songwriting.Org, ACCBoards.Com and others. Of those, I caught lightning in a bottle exactly once- with ACCBoards.Com. It became the most visited Atlantic Coast Conference sports site almost overnight. Not because of some nifty angle I dreamed up, but because it filled a need. Once the dot.com bust forced me to affiliate with a network, ACCBoards was surpassed by other sites, but it still gets a ton of traffic. The Cats Domain and Songwriting.Org are still active, but neither of them get a fraction of the traffic ACCBoards.Com used to get. In fact, I keep those sites online mainly because I am grateful for the small group of core users who have used them for years. The other sites are but memories of a virtual day gone by (the links above are from the Internet Archive).

So here we are in 2005. I don’t start many new web sites these days. I still write and speak frequently at seminars and conventions; I still make music; I still write articles for various publications. Other than my music, all of these endeavors, which generally cost money to attend, are popular. I also write almost every day on this site, which is both free and much less popular. Why is that? A couple of reasons come to mind.

First, a lot of people who attend my seminars and read my articles are less comfortable using computers to gather information. That will change over time, but it hasn’t yet. Second, I am not an A-Team internet commentator. Randy Charles Morin’s interesting piece yesterday about this problem got me thinking about what to do about it. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know this: just because people will pay money to hear me speak and read my print articles doesn’t mean they will bookmark my web site and read my posts.

So how do the rest of us get noticed? Here’s my approach so far:

1) Let folks know you have a web site- I have just begun adding a reference to this site to the bio I use when I give speeches and write articles. It will be interesting to see how this affects traffic, since previously most people I interact with in that way didn’t know I had a web site. My guess: moderate traffic.

2) Use blogrolls and trackbacks- I link to other writers fairly regularly. Eventually, the hope is that some of them will link back to me. It’s not cool (at least in my book) to ask for a link, so I keep writing and hoping. My guess: not a short term answer, but some potential for traffic over the long term (limited perhaps by the fact that it will be harder and harder to get linked as more people clamor for the same audience).

3) Cross promote- I have started linking to this site from ACCBoards.Com. I have to be careful because that is a college sports site and this is not. But occasionally there are things here that might be interesting there. My guess: steady traffic (the most promising so far).

4) Keep on keeping on- I think my legal/musical/technical experience gives me a somewhat unique perspective. Everyone else may think it’s the cure for insomnia. But I’ll keep writing in the hopes that if I build it right, they will come.

We’ll see how things go. In the meantime, check out Randy’s interesting RSS blog.

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Maybe We Should Just Go Back

vcrto using VCRs. I don’t watch a ton of television. Not because it’s somehow beneath me (people who claim that TV is beneath them are generally the same ones who claim that they spend all their leisure time reading biographies of world leaders, but who are usually found drinking $8 coffee at Starbucks while debating the color of their next BMW), but because I can’t find anything I like, now that The Deadliest Catch is over. Battlestar Galactica is back on now, thereby cementing my belief that the Sci-Fi Channel is about the only channel on the dial that I can count on for something interesting. Other than that, I have to scan the listings for the few movies and shows that interest me.

All of that makes the ability to record shows that come on at odd hours very important to me. Like a few other idiots, I bought (several of) the HDTV Tivos that will soon be (a) obsolete and (b) filled with ads. TIVO is dying on the vine. The problem is that there are no good alternatives.

In theory, I’d like to try a Media Center PC. But that’s not going to work because Microsoft is going to cripple it with restrictions demanded by Holywood in the name of so-called digital rights management. Who exactly is this digital rights management intended to manage?

In my 44 years, I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on records, tapes and CDs, beginning at age eight with this record through today when I received this CD from Amazon. I do not pirate music. But I have never bought and will never buy a song that has DRM protection. If I wanted to steal songs, I could figure out how to do it. Having someone else try to micro-manage what I can and can’t do with music I have bought is simply unacceptable.

Now comes Hollywood. I do not know of a single instance where anyone I know has ever pirated a second of video. Not one second. But Hollywood, taking a page from the priority-challenged RIAA, thinks we’re all waiting around to spend hours and hours to save $15 by pirating a DVD. The industry’s answer of course is to add a ton of restrictions to the videos we buy. Well, that and making sure that HDTV never comes to Media Center PCs in any usable fashion.

In sum, all of this is actually making everbody’s whipping boy, cable TV, sadly appealing again. In the big race to keep some kid in Belgium from making a copy of a $15 DVD everybody (consumers, manufacturers, even the movie industry itself, loses). Everybody except the kid in Belgium who will crack any restrictions in the time it takes the rest of us to extract our DVD from all of the anti-theft wrapping.