Thu 8 Jun 2006
A woman was surprised to find that Target would not sell her prints from her digital camera because they looked like professional photographs. They required a copyright release even though she was in one of the photos.
Technology
Archived Posts from this Category
Thu 8 Jun 2006
SlingMedia’s “place-shifting” SlingBox has recently come under fire from both Hollywood and Major League Baseball. “Place-shifting” is the biggest TV-viewing paradigm shift since TiVo introduced “time-shifting.” As TiVo lets you watch a recorded show any time you like, SlingBox lets you view your TV anywhere you like. Simply connect the SlingBox to your TV and to the Internet and you can view and control your TV from any Internet-connected computer. While this seems like a good thing for the networks since people are likely to be watching more TV, it has been criticized by the MLB due to their local market agreements. From ars technica (Link):
For MLB, the bottom line is this. Your TV, turned on, with no one watching the game: OK. Your TV, turned on, with the game streaming to you and only you while on business in Philly: illegal.
Wed 7 Jun 2006
Sony has put together a visually compelling ad for their Bravia line of TVs which involves hundreds of thousands of colorful, bouncing balls. From the Bravia Ad web site:
In an age when CGI is commonplace, this makes the commercial all the more extraordinary. Every single frame was shot over two days – with the main sequence involving a 23-man camera crew and only one chance to get it right.
An entire block was closed off and special compressed-air cannons shot the balls into the air, while earth moving equipment poured thousands down the street. Not that you’d know it from the finished product, but these balls can do some damage, so all the cars were props and crew members went so far as to having protective shields and crash helmets.
Sony doesn’t detail the cleanup job, but I’m sure they just unleashed hundreds of 5-year-olds in the area. Link (Thanks, James)
Wed 31 May 2006
Microsoft announced their new “Windows Live OneCare” product today. For $50 a year, you can protect up to 3 computers from viruses, spam, and data loss. While all of these products were available before from other vendors (often for free), this is the first time Microsoft has thrown its weight into this segment of the software market–certainly to the chagrin of their “business partners” Symantec and McAfee.
This new product release makes me wonder why protecting your operating system isn’t part of the operating system itself, but it will certainly be a lucrative business for Microsoft. It will be an all-inclusive package from a well-known name for people who don’t want to bother assembling their anti-spy, anti-spam solution on their own. Link
Fri 26 May 2006
Send important information from your personal computer to the award-winning Timex Data Link® watch…without wires or cables. In seconds, you can send up to 70 entries from the Timex and Microsoft-developed software that’s included. The watch sensor reads flashing bars of light on the monitor**…that’s the data.
**CRT Monitor required
I had one of these back in 1995–it was the ultimate symbol of cool.
It has also had the honor of receiving a (dis)honorable mention in PC World’s 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time.
Fri 26 May 2006
I installed a new WordPress plugin that now allows me to display RSS feeds on my site.
Now you can view my stories from Digg.com and my movies at home from Netflix.
More coming soon.
Thu 25 May 2006
I never thought I would be saying this, but I am now an Ameritech SBC AT&T DSL customer (I think I missed a Yahoo! somewhere in there). I have always been happy with my Comcast Internet service, up until two weeks ago when my connection started dropping about every 10 minutes. After a technician visit and several tech support calls, Comcast said “there is nothing more we can do” and “we hope you are able to get it working.”
To illustrate the problems I was having, here are before/after PingPlotter graphs:
Comcast (red lines are bad)
AT&T DSL
Ahh, much better. Although I am now paying $20 less per month, I only get 3Mbps down and (at best) 512Kbps up. This is especially hard to swallow since I was somehow getting 10-12Mbps with Comcast after “downgrading” from their 8Mb service to 6Mb (oops).
Fri 12 May 2006
I am in the process of changing my web hosting. More content coming soon.
