Johnstonian Era

UPDATE: The comcast trickery continues. What they don’t tell you on the website is that if you have additional services, the pricing for a second CableCARD rapidly increases. For example, the digital preferred package (which I have) brings the price of a second CableCARD to $7.95 as opposed to $2.95. Talk about getting nickled and dimed….

Comcast customers beware. If you are want to get a CableCARD to replace your current cable box, you might notice on comcast.com that your first CableCard from them is free. CableCARDs are a necessity if you want more advanced DVR services like TiVo.

Before you start jumping for joy, nothing is free… the CableCARD is free, yes… but in order to get the CableCARD, you must schedule an installation appointment, which will cost you $24 (in my area).

Despite all this, I scheduled an installation appointment. I eventually got the appointment free of charge because there are some major issues between what the 1-888 number folks tell you compared to what the actual local office offers. Evidently there are self-installation CableCARD kits you can pick up from your local Comcast office, but the local office in my area doesn’t offer that option. After going down to my local office and complaining about the inconsistencies of the information I got from the 1-888 number and the information I got from the office, they waived the installation fee.

Once the tech arrived he informed me that they don’t use multi-stream cards because they “don’t always work as expected” with TiVo boxes. So he had to install two single-stream cards. Conspiracy to get you to pay more for not using their Digital Service? I think so… link here.

The Comcast verbage regarding the cost of CableCARDs reads:

…additional regulated fee of up to $2.05 for the second CableCARD in addition to the digital service charge…

I get my cable bill this month and I am being charged for both single-stream cards… $7.95 extra per month.

Thanks Comcast… I have really enjoyed the web of contradicting information regarding your services. I wish Insight still existed.

So be fair-warned. You can research the price difference between CableCARDs and a standard cable box, but what you find out will most likely not be what Comcast decides to charge.

tech, television cablecard, comcast, tivo

After several years on hiatus, and at the numerous requests and nudges from friends, the “Say What?” project is back! Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday you will be able to play.

How to Play?

Three times a week, a new post is generated which selects a set of three random images from popular fonts commonly found in most word processors. From this random selection you can post a comment giving a description of what you think these images mean when put together. If you need a clearer idea of what to do, visit the Say What? Archive and browse the comments for any past Say What? entries. Feel free to provide more than one comment for each Say What? post! It is encouraged.

To view the latest Say What? post, click on the Current “Say What?” widget on the sidebar. This will take you to the latest post. You can also view and post comments to any previous Say What? post by browsing the Say What? Archive.

To keep up to date on the latest Say What? entries you can subscribe to the Say What? RSS feed. You will be able to read all the Say What? entries in the comfort of your favorite RSS Reader.

In the future, I plan on implementing a “digg-like” comment rating system. As soon as I find a viable plugin.

Note on Comments

If you are a new commenter to this blog, your first comment will be marked “awaiting approval”. Your comment will not show up immediately. If I deem it is not spam and indeed a valid comment, I will approve the comment. After your first comment is approved you will then be able to post comments anytime and it will show up immediately (assuming you used the same email address as your last comment).

Note on Gravatars

My blog takes advantage of Gravatar (Globally Recognized Avatar) for the comment system. Once you setup a gravatar for yourself (it’s free!), your gravatar will show up when you make a comment on my blog (assuming you enter the email address assigned to your gravatar when commenting).

I look forward to reading all the Say What? comments! Have fun!

wacky gravatar, new project, say what?

Overall, I am very satisfied with this new feature! This is one of the main reasons I bought a Tivo and it is finally here.

The activation process is very easy and straight forward. Once you get the activation code from you Tivo box, simply navigate this address: http://www.netflix.com/Activate and activate to view your queue.

Two things that need improvement.

1. The ability to view all available titles that can be viewed instantly. Currently, you can only view your Instant Queue titles. I have two separate queues (one for me and one for my wife) and I can only see the main queue. Would be nice to see both Instant Queues. It would also be nice to see all titles that are available for instant viewing.
2. There is an issue if you are streaming a title and your Tivo is also recording. This was especially apparent when both tuners on the Tivo were recording AND I was streaming a movie. The streaming movie stopped playing and the Tivo box went directly to Tivo Central. This happened a few times, but didn’t occur again once the recordings stopped. It wasn’t a big deal since you can simply go back to your Instant Queue, select the movie you were watching and resume playing from where it stopped playing previously. Hopefully this is a minor glitch that will be fixed in the next firmware.

With that said, it is very easy to add titles to your queue if you goto netflix.com or use the mobile version for your iPhone or iPod touch. The changes are immediate on your Tivo as well.

This is a great feature to Tivo, the first release is amazingly polished. I hope they work on fixing a few minor glitches.

Movies, tech, television instant queue, netflix, streaming, tivo

After a long hiatus, I’ve added new pics from October!

click here to view see the latest…

family, friends, halloween family, friends, halloween 2008, photos, pumpkin patch

Take On Me by A-ha has always been my favorite 80’s music video. At times it is confusing to know what is actually going on in the video. But not anymore! You gotta check out this video by DustoMcNeato. He sheds new light on the video… I laughed out loud on numerous occasions! Great addition to a classic 80’s music video.

(pipe wrench fight)

music, wacky 80s, a-ha, music video, take on me, youtube

I hope the Raiders do well this season. In the spirit of Raidernation, I present this video in hopes they get to the AFC Championship this year!

Raiders, AFC Champions

The video was shot by my Dad last year. I took the footage and make some tweeks in iMovie.

family, wacky

I finally got around to posting pictures from our July Las Vegas vacation. Check out the photos page to see them all!

New York New York Casino

friends, vacation july 2008, las vegas, vegas

Sarah’s Birthday was yesterday! She is now 25

Here’s a picture of the delicious cake we made. Although, my icing looks like a 5 year old decorated it, the cake was delicious!

Sarah's Birthday Cake 2008

family 25, birthday, happy birthday, sarah

Anyone whose career revolves around creating anything for the web, be sure to take this survey. The fine ladies and gentlemen at A List Apart have created a survey again this year to gauge how are professions are practiced. You can be a part of shaping the future of professional working in and around the Internets.

A List Apart 2008 Survey

tech internet, survey, web development, web professionals

After the E3 2008 conference, I was very disappointed in Nintendo’s “big news” for this year. All they could come up with is WiiSpeak? Seriously… This doesn’t look like a decent product to me. It sounds like something MadCatz would release as a peripheral. Based on the information currently released the microphone is supposed to let gamers communicate from room to room. How is the microphone going to mute out all the other ambient sounds in a room, such as a baby crying, or a dog barking? I’ve used several types on microphones in my day, and all the “room” microphones I’ve used often cut out very easily, making “room to room” communication impossible. Hopefully Nintendo can pull this one off.

I hope this doesn’t turn into another one of Nintendo’s fad peripherals, much like the Super Nintendo Superscope…

video games, wii