This may sound like sacrilege, but it's not: Ubuntu Linux can be useful even if you’re a hardcore Windows user.
That's because there’s no way to boot a full Windows system from a USB
stick to troubleshoot your PC—well, not without an Enterprise version of
Windows and Windows To Go—but anyone can make a free Ubuntu USB drive, CD, or DVD. A Ubuntu live drive can be used as a digital Swiss army knife to troubleshoot all sorts of problems with any
PC, whether you need to recover files from a failing computer, diagnose
hardware problems, perform a deep virus scan from outside Windows, or
even reset a forgotten Windows password.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
The Netflix Channel
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Netflix's Internet video service is about to join the programming lineup of three small cable-TV providers in the U.S., a breakthrough that acknowledges the growing popularity of online entertainment.
The agreements with Atlantic Broadband, RCN Telecom Services and Grande Communications gives Netflix's subscription service a channel on the TiVo boxes that the three cable services provide their customers. Netflix will debut on Atlantic and RCN on Monday and then will expand on to Grande's service by end of next month.
Collectively, the three cable-TV services have about 820,000 subscribers scattered through nine states and Washington D.C.
Although that's a small fraction of the cable-TV market, the deals represent another milestone for Netflix Inc. as it tries to make its Internet video service more like premium channels such as HBO and Showtime.
Netflix already had landed spots on the cable-TV boxes of services in England, Denmark and Sweden, but hadn't been able to make similar inroads in the U.S. until now. The company's nearly 36 million U.S. subscribers typically have to buy a separate device, such as video game console or a player from Roku or Apple Inc., if they want to stream video on to their TVs. That method usually requires a separate remote and an additional step to flip over to a different TV input to see the picture.
Now, Netflix will be like any other channel on the cable-TV dial except that it relies on a high-speed Internet connection to deliver its video.
"We think this signals a new generation of cable-TV service of offerings," said David Isenberg, Atlantic's chief marketing and strategy officer. "It's a watershed moment."
He likened what Netflix is doing for Internet video to what HBO did for cable-TV when that service began transmitting through satellites in the early 1970s.
Netflix has been striving to become more HBO-like since it expanded upon its DVD-by-mail service and began offering Internet streaming seven years ago. In the past two years, the Los Gatos, Calif., company has been featuring more original programming, such as the critically acclaimed "House of Cards" and "Orange Is The New Black," to persuade more U.S. subscribers to pay $8 per month for its service.
To help pay for its rising programming costs, Netflix plans to raise its prices by $1 or $2 by July. The higher prices initially will only affect new customers.
HBO, which is owned by Time Warner Inc., views Netflix as such a competitive threat that it has steadfastly refused to licenses its old TV shows, such as "The Sopranos" and "The Wire," to the Internet video service. Those HBO shows instead will be streamed through a rival Internet video service offered through Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime shipping service as part of deal announced earlier this week.
The agreements with Atlantic Broadband, RCN Telecom Services and Grande Communications gives Netflix's subscription service a channel on the TiVo boxes that the three cable services provide their customers. Netflix will debut on Atlantic and RCN on Monday and then will expand on to Grande's service by end of next month.
Collectively, the three cable-TV services have about 820,000 subscribers scattered through nine states and Washington D.C.
Although that's a small fraction of the cable-TV market, the deals represent another milestone for Netflix Inc. as it tries to make its Internet video service more like premium channels such as HBO and Showtime.
Netflix already had landed spots on the cable-TV boxes of services in England, Denmark and Sweden, but hadn't been able to make similar inroads in the U.S. until now. The company's nearly 36 million U.S. subscribers typically have to buy a separate device, such as video game console or a player from Roku or Apple Inc., if they want to stream video on to their TVs. That method usually requires a separate remote and an additional step to flip over to a different TV input to see the picture.
Now, Netflix will be like any other channel on the cable-TV dial except that it relies on a high-speed Internet connection to deliver its video.
"We think this signals a new generation of cable-TV service of offerings," said David Isenberg, Atlantic's chief marketing and strategy officer. "It's a watershed moment."
He likened what Netflix is doing for Internet video to what HBO did for cable-TV when that service began transmitting through satellites in the early 1970s.
Netflix has been striving to become more HBO-like since it expanded upon its DVD-by-mail service and began offering Internet streaming seven years ago. In the past two years, the Los Gatos, Calif., company has been featuring more original programming, such as the critically acclaimed "House of Cards" and "Orange Is The New Black," to persuade more U.S. subscribers to pay $8 per month for its service.
To help pay for its rising programming costs, Netflix plans to raise its prices by $1 or $2 by July. The higher prices initially will only affect new customers.
HBO, which is owned by Time Warner Inc., views Netflix as such a competitive threat that it has steadfastly refused to licenses its old TV shows, such as "The Sopranos" and "The Wire," to the Internet video service. Those HBO shows instead will be streamed through a rival Internet video service offered through Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime shipping service as part of deal announced earlier this week.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Fan TV
Going
beyond the DVR, Oceanic parent company Time Warner Cable is offering Fan
TV to subscribers who want to connect their TVs to online sources
of programming.
Fan TV
offers streaming content from Redbox Instant, Crackle, Target Ticket and
the Rhapsody music streaming service, and the company will add
more over time.
"Today,
discovery is backwards, you're narrowing your options by first picking a
device, then an app, then shuffling through a limited content
library," said Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Fan TV, in a statement. The
small, dome-shaped Fan TV box and palm-sized remote give users the
option of live TV, video on demand and streaming services "in one
simplified discovery experience," he said.
Time
Warner Cable subscribers in Hawaii and 28 other states can pre-order Fan
TV for a one-time fee of $99, and the devices will be shipped in
June, Fan TV spokeswoman Jeannie Hornung told TheBuzz in an email.
"Fan TV
will work with your existing set-top box and on its own," she wrote. "As
long as you are a current Time Warner Cable video and broadband
subscriber, you can install Fan TV yourself in a matter of minutes. Just
connect it to your TV via HDMI cable, plug into the wall for
power with the included AC adapter, and connect to WiFi or Ethernet."
Monday, April 21, 2014
Netflix to raise prices
SAN FRANCISCO >> Netflix is preparing to raise its Internet video subscription prices by as much as $2 per month this summer to help pay for more programming such as its popular political drama "House of Cards."
The price increase will be imposed on new customers by July. The company says current U.S. subscribers will continue to pay $8 per month for a "generous time period."
Netflix announced the price increase as part of its first-quarter earnings released Monday.
***
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Video streaming service Netflix Inc reported higher profit that beat Wall Street expectations and said it intends to raise the monthly subscription price for new customers, sending its stock up 6.5 percent in after-hours trading.
Net income for the quarter that ended in March reached $53 million, Netflix said on Monday, an increase from $3 million a year earlier. Earnings-per-share came in at 86 cents, topping the average forecast of 83 cents, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Netflix said it added 2.25 million customers to its U.S. streaming business during the quarter, in line with the company's earlier guidance.
The company, in a quarterly letter to shareholders, said it plans to impose "a one or two dollar increase, depending on the country, later this quarter for new members only." It did not name the countries. Existing customers would keep their current price "for a generous time period," it said.
Shares of the company jumped 6.5 percent to $371.26 in after-hours trading, up from their earlier close of $348.49 on Nasdaq.
***
Hmm. A dollar increase would mean 3 cents a day. Two dollars would be 6 cents. Wait, actually more like 7 cents!
***
Meanwhile, Netflix's DVD-by-mail service is slowly dying. Through March, Netflix had 6.7 million DVD customers, a 52 percent drop from 13.9 million just two years ago. Netflix isn't changing its DVD prices, despite rising postal costs.
Netflix's comeback has been propelled by the company's increasing emphasis on exclusive programming such as "House of Cards," an acclaimed series starring Kevin Spacey as a cunning politician with a ruthless plan to become President of the United States. Netflix released all 13 episodes in "House of Cards'" second season on Feb. 14, midway through the first quarter.
Another popular Netflix series, "Orange Is The New Black," is returning with new episodes June 6, toward the final month of the current quarter.
Even with "Orange Is The New Black," Netflix is only expecting to attract 511,000 U.S. subscribers from April through June before prices rise for new customers. That would be down from an increase of 630,000 U.S. subscribers at the same time last year.
Netflix Inc. earned $53 million, or 86 cents per share, during the first three months of the year. That compared to $2.7 million, or 5 cents, last year. The latest quarterly earnings exceeded the average estimate of 81 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue rose 24 percent from last year to $1.3 billion to match analyst projections.
*** 5/9/14
The price increase will be imposed on new customers by July. The company says current U.S. subscribers will continue to pay $8 per month for a "generous time period."
Netflix announced the price increase as part of its first-quarter earnings released Monday.
***
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Video streaming service Netflix Inc reported higher profit that beat Wall Street expectations and said it intends to raise the monthly subscription price for new customers, sending its stock up 6.5 percent in after-hours trading.
Net income for the quarter that ended in March reached $53 million, Netflix said on Monday, an increase from $3 million a year earlier. Earnings-per-share came in at 86 cents, topping the average forecast of 83 cents, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Netflix said it added 2.25 million customers to its U.S. streaming business during the quarter, in line with the company's earlier guidance.
The company, in a quarterly letter to shareholders, said it plans to impose "a one or two dollar increase, depending on the country, later this quarter for new members only." It did not name the countries. Existing customers would keep their current price "for a generous time period," it said.
Shares of the company jumped 6.5 percent to $371.26 in after-hours trading, up from their earlier close of $348.49 on Nasdaq.
***
Hmm. A dollar increase would mean 3 cents a day. Two dollars would be 6 cents. Wait, actually more like 7 cents!
***
Meanwhile, Netflix's DVD-by-mail service is slowly dying. Through March, Netflix had 6.7 million DVD customers, a 52 percent drop from 13.9 million just two years ago. Netflix isn't changing its DVD prices, despite rising postal costs.
Netflix's comeback has been propelled by the company's increasing emphasis on exclusive programming such as "House of Cards," an acclaimed series starring Kevin Spacey as a cunning politician with a ruthless plan to become President of the United States. Netflix released all 13 episodes in "House of Cards'" second season on Feb. 14, midway through the first quarter.
Another popular Netflix series, "Orange Is The New Black," is returning with new episodes June 6, toward the final month of the current quarter.
Even with "Orange Is The New Black," Netflix is only expecting to attract 511,000 U.S. subscribers from April through June before prices rise for new customers. That would be down from an increase of 630,000 U.S. subscribers at the same time last year.
Netflix Inc. earned $53 million, or 86 cents per share, during the first three months of the year. That compared to $2.7 million, or 5 cents, last year. The latest quarterly earnings exceeded the average estimate of 81 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue rose 24 percent from last year to $1.3 billion to match analyst projections.
*** 5/9/14
Netflix is raising its Internet video prices by $1 per month for new
customers and giving its current U.S. subscribers a two-year break from
the higher rates.
The changes mean anyone signing up for Netflix's video subscription
service beginning Friday will pay $9 per month for in the U.S. The old
price of $8 per month will continue until May 2016 for Netflix's
existing 36 million U.S. subscribers.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Al Gore keeps on ticking
The man who was almost president graced Honolulu with his presence Tuesday and walked us through a "seminar of sustainability."
By turns a university professor, a wry observer, a recovering politician, a joke teller and a Southern preacher, Al Gore fired up an audience of thousands at the Stan Sheriff Center to believe that global warming can be stopped. But it's possible only if each of us does our part.
"Ultimately, we are going to win this thing," he said, one of many statements met with hearty applause.
Gore did not disappoint. Grayer and with less hair, and with a slight paunch filling out his aloha shirt, in voice and mind he sounded as passionate as ever about the environment — a far cry from the inanimate robot label that has stuck to him over the years.
Gore's talk was an updated version of the one he's been giving for years and that he first laid out in his 1992 book "Earth In the Balance." The planet is in trouble because humankind burns too much coal and oil, which is trapping greenhouse gases and raising temperatures.
The consequences grow more obvious by the day: famine, drought, floods, refugees, species extinction, to name just a few. The last few years alone have witnessed unprecedented super storms like Typhon Haiyan in the Philippines and Hurricane Sandy along the Eastern Seaboard.
And Gore brought part of his famous slideshow, powered by a Mac laptop. The pictures and graphs were gorgeous — like the Earth taken from the moon in 1968 — and startling — a Bell Curve showing the number of hotter days over the past 80 years grow alarmingly disproportionate to the number of cooler days and days with average temperatures.
"The way we have to respond to this is going to require a set of changes that are beyond our routine," he said, his voice growing to a shout. "I know that we are capable of that. Our way of life is at stake, our grandchildren are at stake, the future of civilization is at stake."
Gore cited two "game changers" in recent years that will help. The first is the growing realization from even climate-change deniers that something seems to be strange with the weather. The second is the exponential growth in photovoltaic solar panels, driven largely by consumer demand for lower prices.
The "barriers" to doing something about climate change are business and political interests that profit off of fossil fuels — "dirty energy that causes dirty weather." He compared fake science from polluters stating that humans are not to blame for the climate to tobacco companies that used to hire actors to play doctors who denied cigarettes were dangerous.
By turns a university professor, a wry observer, a recovering politician, a joke teller and a Southern preacher, Al Gore fired up an audience of thousands at the Stan Sheriff Center to believe that global warming can be stopped. But it's possible only if each of us does our part.
"Ultimately, we are going to win this thing," he said, one of many statements met with hearty applause.
Gore did not disappoint. Grayer and with less hair, and with a slight paunch filling out his aloha shirt, in voice and mind he sounded as passionate as ever about the environment — a far cry from the inanimate robot label that has stuck to him over the years.
Gore's talk was an updated version of the one he's been giving for years and that he first laid out in his 1992 book "Earth In the Balance." The planet is in trouble because humankind burns too much coal and oil, which is trapping greenhouse gases and raising temperatures.
The consequences grow more obvious by the day: famine, drought, floods, refugees, species extinction, to name just a few. The last few years alone have witnessed unprecedented super storms like Typhon Haiyan in the Philippines and Hurricane Sandy along the Eastern Seaboard.
And Gore brought part of his famous slideshow, powered by a Mac laptop. The pictures and graphs were gorgeous — like the Earth taken from the moon in 1968 — and startling — a Bell Curve showing the number of hotter days over the past 80 years grow alarmingly disproportionate to the number of cooler days and days with average temperatures.
"The way we have to respond to this is going to require a set of changes that are beyond our routine," he said, his voice growing to a shout. "I know that we are capable of that. Our way of life is at stake, our grandchildren are at stake, the future of civilization is at stake."
Gore cited two "game changers" in recent years that will help. The first is the growing realization from even climate-change deniers that something seems to be strange with the weather. The second is the exponential growth in photovoltaic solar panels, driven largely by consumer demand for lower prices.
The "barriers" to doing something about climate change are business and political interests that profit off of fossil fuels — "dirty energy that causes dirty weather." He compared fake science from polluters stating that humans are not to blame for the climate to tobacco companies that used to hire actors to play doctors who denied cigarettes were dangerous.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
HitBliss
I got an email ad from Hulu featuring DragonHeart as one of the featured movies. [I remember watching part of this movie at Circuit City, but didn't know what movie it was. But I remember a dragon and a red-haired woman. I finally figured out it was Dina Meyer in the movie DragonHeart.] Sadly, it wasn't available. (That might tell you something about Hulu).
Anyway, I checked to see if was available for streaming elsewhere. Only on Infinity at this time.
Then I checked a few more movies to see if they were available. I noticed that the Matrix was available at HitBliss, a service I never heard of. They show movies for free, but in exchange for watching ads.
Maybe I'll try it later, but I don't feel like watching ads at the moment.
In the meantime, here's a review. And another. And another. The Verge. Mashable. BitWhich.
Sounds interesting.
***
Hmm. Apparently you can earn credits on HitBliss then spend them at Amazon Instant Video! (Then watch on your Roku or whatever.) Hey maybe I can buy some Cesar 911 episodes. I'm now tempted to try it.
***
OK, let's try.
Downloaded the app for my ipad, but evidently it requires you to create an account first.
OK, go to my laptop. Create an account (which requires you name, email address, and password, oddly no double-typing of password for verification -- that's one strike). After doing that, you're required to download a program. So can't do it strictly from the browser (strike two).
Downloaded and installing the program. Evidently there are two different programs. One is the store app (HitBliss Store) and the other is the earnings app (HitBliss Earn). There's an option (at the beginning) to download one or the other, but I see no reason to.
I see you can actually earn cash (as in real money sent to you), but with some stipulation. Here's the wording in the agreement that most people don't read.
You may use your earnings to make purchases in the HitBliss Retail Store, using the separate Store App if you elect to install it and in accordance with the Store Terms of Use. Using your earnings at the HitBliss Retail Store does not require us to transmit them to any third party, as we own the HitBliss Store.
If you chose to have your earnings mailed to you, we will mail a check within 90 days of your completing the following steps:
1. You send an e-mail to mailmyearnings@hitbliss.com requesting that your earnings be paid to you by a check.
2. The subject line of the e-mail must state your HitBliss Earn account username.
3. The body of the e-mail must indicate: the e-mail address associated with your HitBliss Earn user account; your first and last name; and your address, including, city, state and zip code.
4. Attached to your e-mail should be a scanned copy of your driver’s license or other document verifying your residence.
5. We will then email you an IRS W-9 Form, which you must complete and return to us before we can finish processing your request and send you a check.
After we have processed your request, we will mail you a check for your earnings, less a service fee (currently 2.5% of the earnings amount) for processing your request, postage fees, and any service or transmittal fees charged for payment processing services (collectively, “Service Fees”). We are not liable for any checks lost in the mail or undeliverable for any reason, including due to errors in your contact information. We will mail only to addresses in the United States. You may also request that we apply your earnings, or part of them ($5 minimum), for the purchase of a charitable donation to Prize4Life or another charity of our choosing in the United States. You agree that we may deduct the applicable Service Fees from your HitBliss Earn account when purchasing a charitable donation.
We will regularly monitor your HitBliss Earn account activity. If your HitBliss Earn account has been inactive and you have accumulated unused earnings, we will remind you of your unused balance by e-mail or through the Earn App. If you do not use your balance within 30 days of our notification, we will notify you by e-mail or through the Earn App and offer to mail your unused earnings to you (less the applicable Service Fees and subject to the steps described above for obtaining a check for the earnings). If you do not request that your earnings be mailed to you by completing the steps listed above, within 365 days of our notice, we may, at our discretion: (i) suspend your HitBliss Earn account and access to the Earn Services; and (ii) apply your earnings balance for the purchase of a charitable donation to Prize4Life or another charity of our choosing in the United States (less the applicable Service Fees). In purchasing a donation to a charity, we are not acting as your agent or making the purchase on your behalf; we are instead being authorized by you to purchase such a donation. We do not guarantee that you will receive a tax receipt for such donation. Proof of the donation is available upon written request to us. Note that this donation will never exceed the Earn Cap.
HitBliss Earn includes a localized matching engine that, with your express permission, automatically builds your Private Profile for the purposes of personally attracting relevant marketing messages and improving your earning experience. You may also add information to your Private Profile and indicate whether you want to use such information to attract and have marketing messages served to you in your queue. You may modify your Private Profile at any time, through your Earn App.
After installing the Earn App and authorizing use of our localized matching engine, the matching engine will operate continuously on the device to which it was installed. When you enter HitBliss Earn, marketing messages matching your profile will be served to you in your personal message queue.
[and a whole lot of more lawyer-speak] OK, Agree and install. Apparently the app (or the installer) is from Project Concord. Ah, that was its previous name.
OK, I see an icon on the desktop and app started automatically after install.
Sign in.
Looks like a pretty slick interface. There's three main sections/actions to do.
(1) Looking for something specific? Search for it here?
(2) Once you've picked what to watch, earn cash to buy it here.
(3) Browse for your favorite movie or TV show.
Evidently it lets you browse through the Amazon catalog, at least partially, as I see some movies/shows sub-labelled with Amazon.com. Actually almost all of them are.
Let's see if I can find Cesar 911.
Looking at Reality section, I see It's Me or the Dog. But don't see Dog Whisperer or Cesar 911. Let's do a search.
Dog Whisperer doesn't come up. No Dogs in the City. No Cesar 911. Shucks.
Looking the movies, I see most of them are available for $2.99 for a 24-hour rental.
More search, no Monk.
Ah, here's one I might want. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It's $1.99 to purchase on Amazon.com.
I see Iron Man and Iron Man 2, but not Iron Man 3. Thor and Thor: The Dark World are both on there. Thor is a $2.99 rental, while Thor: The Dark World is $4.99.
No Man of Steel.
For the Amazon purchases, I see the message "Use your HitBliss earned-cash to buy an Amazon.com GiftCard to rent this title on Amazon Instant Video". So I'm wondering if you can buy a gift card to rent or buy anything at Amazon? I wonder how they check?
Well, let's earn some credits.
Three steps.
1. Go here to earn cash (HitBliss Earn)
2. Personalize and earn faster (Trust Level)
3. Check your account balance here
You start at Trust Level 1. 10 points to next level. Higher trust levels enable faster earning with fewer interruptions. Increase your trust level by paying close attention to ads.
Click HitBliss Earn. First the 60 second tour.
You can pick three personalization options.
Earn Slower
Earn Faster
Earn Fastest.
Let's go fastest!
Asks for your age, gender, income level, education, children's age. Click finish.
And you have to pay attention. (No leaving, switching tasks, etc.)
Let's start earning.
Visit our sponsors to keep HitBliss running!
Browse ads and watch them out of order.
Your earnings accumulate as you pay attention.
First an Aflac ad. When I Alt-tabbed to write this, the ad stopped. Pretty smart.
Watched about four ads and hand to click or press return a couple of times so they could make sure I was there. Now at Trust Level 2!
A few more ads and return presses and I'm at Level 3!
Up to 20 keypresses and Level 4.
Let's see how much I have earned. Hey up to $3.48. Enough to buy something.
OK, let's try buying Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, the pilot episode. It goes to a Link Account window and asks you to log in to Amazon.com. A wheel spins while it tries to link the account.
Link apparently successful as a message comes up that Amazon might charge you a sales tax (though "to the best of our knowledge, you might come from a state that doesn't charge a sales tax on video rentals. However it is possible that Amazon might start charging the tax in the future.). I agree.
Confirm your purchase. Cash balance $3.48. Amazon.com Gift Card purchase. Balance $1.49. Confirm. Wheel turns some more.
Congratulations! You have purchased a $1.99 Amazon.com Gift Card to buy Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (Season 1) - Pilot on Amazon.c... Access the title on Amazon.com Watch Now or Close
Let's go to Firefox and Amazon.com to see what happened. Checking my account, I see it in my Video Library. In face I see several videos in there that I didn't know (or forgot that I had). Lexx Season 1. The Batman Season 1. Learn Along with Sesame Street Season 1. Argo: Declassified [HD]. Good Day to Die Hard, A: Extended Preview [HD], House Season 4.
Now I wonder if I can watch on on my iPad and/or Roku?
OK, I guess that answers the question. I can't just buy anything. Only titles accessible through HitBliss.
Let's earn more. Darn, wasn't paying attention and didn't press enter in time. My trust level dropped to 2. Again. Now back on 1. But at least it doesn't erase the money earned. Now up over $2!
OK, let's see if I can watch the video on my iPad.
Install Amazon Instant Video from the App Store.
Sign in.
Click on the Library icon at the bottom.
There it is!
And I can stream it to the Apple TV. Pretty cool.
Even the subtitles work.
***
go back to watching ads. back to level 4!
You've watched all available ads. We'll now show you ads that you may have skipped in the past. Resume.
You've reached the end of the ad queue. Reload ads.
A few more watches. You've earned the maximum balance! You can earn more after you spend some of your earnings. OK
I now have a balance of $6.00. Cool.
Let's buy something. I'll buy episode 7, season 10 of South Park. That's the one with Cesar Millan.
Exit app on iPad. Then go back in. There it is. Shucks, no captions. I'll live.
***
Trying out the HitBliss app on the iPad. Works about the same as on the PC as far as earnings. But it appears you can't buy movies or TV shows from the app, you have to do it from the computer.
***
Went home and ran Amazon Instant Video on my Roku. Yep, it's there in my Library. Looks good. And the captions look better than on Hulu Plus. Looks like they're using the Roku captions.
***
Install HitBliss on my home computer. Purchased MAOS, episode 1.
What else is there? Hey, NCIS. Which isn't on Netflix or Hulu. I see the Season 10 recap is free. So I can buy that from the website. OK, let's go for season 1, episode 1. Got this message
With this purchase, you will reach your weekly limit of 4 Amazon movies or TV episodes. After this purchase, you'll be able to buy again on April 15 at 1:00 AM. OK, so there is a limit. And I guess you'd better buy your 4 before the week is up..
Let's earn back that $1.99. Watched one ad. Balance up to $4.27. So it's like 26 cents per ad. Let's round it off to 25 cents. So you need 4 ads for $1.00. The max $6.00 would be 24 ads. At 30 seconds per ad, that comes out to 12 minutes.
Yep, three more commercials, up to $5.01. And am now on trust level 5.
***
I notice the HitBliss Profile Builder runs on startup as I can see the icon in the system tray. I don't see an option to prevent it from starting. If you're uncomfortable with it running, you can go to msconfig or use ccleaner to prevent it from starting up.
But even if it doesn't run on startup, it'll run when then application is started and will stay in the background even when the application is exited. So you have to exit both separately. (Right-click on the "b" icon in the system tray and choose exit.
***
When I went to rent a movie, it asked me for credit card information. It asks this even though you have a HitBliss balance enough to pay for the rental. This is because some vendors want the item to use a credit card (for nonsensical reason). So your credit card won't get charged. But HitBliss offers you the choice of using their own credit card if you don't want to use yours.
*** [4/14/14 palindrome week]
Now I see that the weekly limit of 4 movies and/or TV shows applies to Amazon.com shows. You can buy more than that for HitBliss shows. They don't have that many TV shows, but there's quite a number of movies available. Currently there are 414 HitBliss movies and 53 HitBliss TV shows. Of course, each TV show has another of episodes, so there's probably more HitBliss TV episodes than HitBliss movies.
***
Browsing. I see there's all the Harry Potter movies. The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Matrix Trilogy. The four Indiana Jones movies. The three Jurassic Park movies. Only the first Back to the Future movie. No Star Wars. Only the Star Trek movie from 2009.
*** [4/15/14]
The latest version of HitBliss automatically downloaded upon running it this afternoon. There's some new TV shows that I hadn't seen in there before. There are now 549 TV series and 2492 movies. Wow, imagine if you had to buy all the DVDs!
*** [5/9/14]
In the past few months, we at HitBliss have been working behind the scenes to collaborate with large entertainment services to make our service bigger and better. We have now reached the point where we need to put our beta on hold in order to complete the work on joining forces with these partners. We anticipate that this hiatus will take a few months.
In the meantime, you can request that your earned-cash balance be disbursed as an Amazon.com Gift Card. The instructions will be sent to the e-mail address associated with your account.
That’s about all we can say publicly for now. But when all our work is done, we think you’ll be very happy with the result. We really appreciate your patience and look forward to coming back to you soon – bigger and better!
[we'll see how long it takes to get my Amazon gift card, if ever. Can't complain. Got 8 episodes of Marvel's Agents of Shield, 3 episodes of Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, 2 episodes of NCIS, 2 episodes of The Mentalist, and 1 episode of South Park (though I can now get it now on Hulu Plus anyway). So that's 16 episodes for "free")]
[our long facebook thread on hitbliss and other items]
*** [3/31/15 - via searching for HitBliss on twitter] Everything We Know About The Future of HitBliss
Anyway, I checked to see if was available for streaming elsewhere. Only on Infinity at this time.
Then I checked a few more movies to see if they were available. I noticed that the Matrix was available at HitBliss, a service I never heard of. They show movies for free, but in exchange for watching ads.
Maybe I'll try it later, but I don't feel like watching ads at the moment.
In the meantime, here's a review. And another. And another. The Verge. Mashable. BitWhich.
Sounds interesting.
***
Hmm. Apparently you can earn credits on HitBliss then spend them at Amazon Instant Video! (Then watch on your Roku or whatever.) Hey maybe I can buy some Cesar 911 episodes. I'm now tempted to try it.
***
OK, let's try.
Downloaded the app for my ipad, but evidently it requires you to create an account first.
OK, go to my laptop. Create an account (which requires you name, email address, and password, oddly no double-typing of password for verification -- that's one strike). After doing that, you're required to download a program. So can't do it strictly from the browser (strike two).
Downloaded and installing the program. Evidently there are two different programs. One is the store app (HitBliss Store) and the other is the earnings app (HitBliss Earn). There's an option (at the beginning) to download one or the other, but I see no reason to.
I see you can actually earn cash (as in real money sent to you), but with some stipulation. Here's the wording in the agreement that most people don't read.
You may use your earnings to make purchases in the HitBliss Retail Store, using the separate Store App if you elect to install it and in accordance with the Store Terms of Use. Using your earnings at the HitBliss Retail Store does not require us to transmit them to any third party, as we own the HitBliss Store.
If you chose to have your earnings mailed to you, we will mail a check within 90 days of your completing the following steps:
1. You send an e-mail to mailmyearnings@hitbliss.com requesting that your earnings be paid to you by a check.
2. The subject line of the e-mail must state your HitBliss Earn account username.
3. The body of the e-mail must indicate: the e-mail address associated with your HitBliss Earn user account; your first and last name; and your address, including, city, state and zip code.
4. Attached to your e-mail should be a scanned copy of your driver’s license or other document verifying your residence.
5. We will then email you an IRS W-9 Form, which you must complete and return to us before we can finish processing your request and send you a check.
After we have processed your request, we will mail you a check for your earnings, less a service fee (currently 2.5% of the earnings amount) for processing your request, postage fees, and any service or transmittal fees charged for payment processing services (collectively, “Service Fees”). We are not liable for any checks lost in the mail or undeliverable for any reason, including due to errors in your contact information. We will mail only to addresses in the United States. You may also request that we apply your earnings, or part of them ($5 minimum), for the purchase of a charitable donation to Prize4Life or another charity of our choosing in the United States. You agree that we may deduct the applicable Service Fees from your HitBliss Earn account when purchasing a charitable donation.
We will regularly monitor your HitBliss Earn account activity. If your HitBliss Earn account has been inactive and you have accumulated unused earnings, we will remind you of your unused balance by e-mail or through the Earn App. If you do not use your balance within 30 days of our notification, we will notify you by e-mail or through the Earn App and offer to mail your unused earnings to you (less the applicable Service Fees and subject to the steps described above for obtaining a check for the earnings). If you do not request that your earnings be mailed to you by completing the steps listed above, within 365 days of our notice, we may, at our discretion: (i) suspend your HitBliss Earn account and access to the Earn Services; and (ii) apply your earnings balance for the purchase of a charitable donation to Prize4Life or another charity of our choosing in the United States (less the applicable Service Fees). In purchasing a donation to a charity, we are not acting as your agent or making the purchase on your behalf; we are instead being authorized by you to purchase such a donation. We do not guarantee that you will receive a tax receipt for such donation. Proof of the donation is available upon written request to us. Note that this donation will never exceed the Earn Cap.
HitBliss Earn includes a localized matching engine that, with your express permission, automatically builds your Private Profile for the purposes of personally attracting relevant marketing messages and improving your earning experience. You may also add information to your Private Profile and indicate whether you want to use such information to attract and have marketing messages served to you in your queue. You may modify your Private Profile at any time, through your Earn App.
After installing the Earn App and authorizing use of our localized matching engine, the matching engine will operate continuously on the device to which it was installed. When you enter HitBliss Earn, marketing messages matching your profile will be served to you in your personal message queue.
[and a whole lot of more lawyer-speak] OK, Agree and install. Apparently the app (or the installer) is from Project Concord. Ah, that was its previous name.
OK, I see an icon on the desktop and app started automatically after install.
Sign in.
Looks like a pretty slick interface. There's three main sections/actions to do.
(1) Looking for something specific? Search for it here?
(2) Once you've picked what to watch, earn cash to buy it here.
(3) Browse for your favorite movie or TV show.
Evidently it lets you browse through the Amazon catalog, at least partially, as I see some movies/shows sub-labelled with Amazon.com. Actually almost all of them are.
Let's see if I can find Cesar 911.
Looking at Reality section, I see It's Me or the Dog. But don't see Dog Whisperer or Cesar 911. Let's do a search.
Dog Whisperer doesn't come up. No Dogs in the City. No Cesar 911. Shucks.
Looking the movies, I see most of them are available for $2.99 for a 24-hour rental.
More search, no Monk.
Ah, here's one I might want. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It's $1.99 to purchase on Amazon.com.
I see Iron Man and Iron Man 2, but not Iron Man 3. Thor and Thor: The Dark World are both on there. Thor is a $2.99 rental, while Thor: The Dark World is $4.99.
No Man of Steel.
For the Amazon purchases, I see the message "Use your HitBliss earned-cash to buy an Amazon.com GiftCard to rent this title on Amazon Instant Video". So I'm wondering if you can buy a gift card to rent or buy anything at Amazon? I wonder how they check?
Well, let's earn some credits.
Three steps.
1. Go here to earn cash (HitBliss Earn)
2. Personalize and earn faster (Trust Level)
3. Check your account balance here
You start at Trust Level 1. 10 points to next level. Higher trust levels enable faster earning with fewer interruptions. Increase your trust level by paying close attention to ads.
Click HitBliss Earn. First the 60 second tour.
You can pick three personalization options.
Earn Slower
Earn Faster
Earn Fastest.
Let's go fastest!
Asks for your age, gender, income level, education, children's age. Click finish.
And you have to pay attention. (No leaving, switching tasks, etc.)
Let's start earning.
Visit our sponsors to keep HitBliss running!
Browse ads and watch them out of order.
Your earnings accumulate as you pay attention.
First an Aflac ad. When I Alt-tabbed to write this, the ad stopped. Pretty smart.
Watched about four ads and hand to click or press return a couple of times so they could make sure I was there. Now at Trust Level 2!
A few more ads and return presses and I'm at Level 3!
Up to 20 keypresses and Level 4.
Let's see how much I have earned. Hey up to $3.48. Enough to buy something.
OK, let's try buying Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, the pilot episode. It goes to a Link Account window and asks you to log in to Amazon.com. A wheel spins while it tries to link the account.
Link apparently successful as a message comes up that Amazon might charge you a sales tax (though "to the best of our knowledge, you might come from a state that doesn't charge a sales tax on video rentals. However it is possible that Amazon might start charging the tax in the future.). I agree.
Confirm your purchase. Cash balance $3.48. Amazon.com Gift Card purchase. Balance $1.49. Confirm. Wheel turns some more.
Congratulations! You have purchased a $1.99 Amazon.com Gift Card to buy Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (Season 1) - Pilot on Amazon.c... Access the title on Amazon.com Watch Now or Close
Let's go to Firefox and Amazon.com to see what happened. Checking my account, I see it in my Video Library. In face I see several videos in there that I didn't know (or forgot that I had). Lexx Season 1. The Batman Season 1. Learn Along with Sesame Street Season 1. Argo: Declassified [HD]. Good Day to Die Hard, A: Extended Preview [HD], House Season 4.
Now I wonder if I can watch on on my iPad and/or Roku?
OK, I guess that answers the question. I can't just buy anything. Only titles accessible through HitBliss.
Let's earn more. Darn, wasn't paying attention and didn't press enter in time. My trust level dropped to 2. Again. Now back on 1. But at least it doesn't erase the money earned. Now up over $2!
OK, let's see if I can watch the video on my iPad.
Install Amazon Instant Video from the App Store.
Sign in.
Click on the Library icon at the bottom.
There it is!
And I can stream it to the Apple TV. Pretty cool.
Even the subtitles work.
***
go back to watching ads. back to level 4!
You've watched all available ads. We'll now show you ads that you may have skipped in the past. Resume.
You've reached the end of the ad queue. Reload ads.
A few more watches. You've earned the maximum balance! You can earn more after you spend some of your earnings. OK
I now have a balance of $6.00. Cool.
Let's buy something. I'll buy episode 7, season 10 of South Park. That's the one with Cesar Millan.
Exit app on iPad. Then go back in. There it is. Shucks, no captions. I'll live.
***
Trying out the HitBliss app on the iPad. Works about the same as on the PC as far as earnings. But it appears you can't buy movies or TV shows from the app, you have to do it from the computer.
***
Went home and ran Amazon Instant Video on my Roku. Yep, it's there in my Library. Looks good. And the captions look better than on Hulu Plus. Looks like they're using the Roku captions.
***
Install HitBliss on my home computer. Purchased MAOS, episode 1.
What else is there? Hey, NCIS. Which isn't on Netflix or Hulu. I see the Season 10 recap is free. So I can buy that from the website. OK, let's go for season 1, episode 1. Got this message
With this purchase, you will reach your weekly limit of 4 Amazon movies or TV episodes. After this purchase, you'll be able to buy again on April 15 at 1:00 AM. OK, so there is a limit. And I guess you'd better buy your 4 before the week is up..
Let's earn back that $1.99. Watched one ad. Balance up to $4.27. So it's like 26 cents per ad. Let's round it off to 25 cents. So you need 4 ads for $1.00. The max $6.00 would be 24 ads. At 30 seconds per ad, that comes out to 12 minutes.
Yep, three more commercials, up to $5.01. And am now on trust level 5.
***
I notice the HitBliss Profile Builder runs on startup as I can see the icon in the system tray. I don't see an option to prevent it from starting. If you're uncomfortable with it running, you can go to msconfig or use ccleaner to prevent it from starting up.
But even if it doesn't run on startup, it'll run when then application is started and will stay in the background even when the application is exited. So you have to exit both separately. (Right-click on the "b" icon in the system tray and choose exit.
***
When I went to rent a movie, it asked me for credit card information. It asks this even though you have a HitBliss balance enough to pay for the rental. This is because some vendors want the item to use a credit card (for nonsensical reason). So your credit card won't get charged. But HitBliss offers you the choice of using their own credit card if you don't want to use yours.
*** [4/14/14 palindrome week]
Now I see that the weekly limit of 4 movies and/or TV shows applies to Amazon.com shows. You can buy more than that for HitBliss shows. They don't have that many TV shows, but there's quite a number of movies available. Currently there are 414 HitBliss movies and 53 HitBliss TV shows. Of course, each TV show has another of episodes, so there's probably more HitBliss TV episodes than HitBliss movies.
***
Browsing. I see there's all the Harry Potter movies. The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Matrix Trilogy. The four Indiana Jones movies. The three Jurassic Park movies. Only the first Back to the Future movie. No Star Wars. Only the Star Trek movie from 2009.
*** [4/15/14]
The latest version of HitBliss automatically downloaded upon running it this afternoon. There's some new TV shows that I hadn't seen in there before. There are now 549 TV series and 2492 movies. Wow, imagine if you had to buy all the DVDs!
*** [5/9/14]
In the past few months, we at HitBliss have been working behind the scenes to collaborate with large entertainment services to make our service bigger and better. We have now reached the point where we need to put our beta on hold in order to complete the work on joining forces with these partners. We anticipate that this hiatus will take a few months.
In the meantime, you can request that your earned-cash balance be disbursed as an Amazon.com Gift Card. The instructions will be sent to the e-mail address associated with your account.
That’s about all we can say publicly for now. But when all our work is done, we think you’ll be very happy with the result. We really appreciate your patience and look forward to coming back to you soon – bigger and better!
[we'll see how long it takes to get my Amazon gift card, if ever. Can't complain. Got 8 episodes of Marvel's Agents of Shield, 3 episodes of Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, 2 episodes of NCIS, 2 episodes of The Mentalist, and 1 episode of South Park (though I can now get it now on Hulu Plus anyway). So that's 16 episodes for "free")]
[our long facebook thread on hitbliss and other items]
*** [3/31/15 - via searching for HitBliss on twitter] Everything We Know About The Future of HitBliss
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Hulu Plus
Signed up for Hulu Plus. The one-week free trial anyway. But I'm going to continue because I bought a gift card (at a discount) on eBay. Plus I'll get monthly subscriptions from Bing Rewards (I signed up for that too).
First thing. Hulu Plus doesn't have all the shows the Hulu does (oddly). That's because they don't have the rights to show some shows on your TV or mobile devices. Just on your comptuer. So no Three Stooges. Well, they have the three public domain episodes if you look hard enough. And there's always Crackle for some more (so why can Crackle show The Three Stooges on TV, but Hulu Plus?). Also no HGTV episodes either. Or CNBC Titans, to name just a few.
Some of the newer shows have captions. Mostly the current ones. But not that many of the older shows. None on Dog Whisperer. None on Bob Newhart Show. And those are two of the main shows I want to watch on Hulu.
What's especially disappointing is that I know that captions are available for many/most of these shows. For example, The Dick Van Dyke Show has captions on Netflix, but not on Hulu Plus. Dog Whisperer too, though they have only a limited number of episodes on Netflix. Netflix does a much better job supporting captions.
Captions are a little strange. On my Roku HD, they apparently originate from Hulu. Are so are yellow. But on the Apple TV, they use the Apple TV captions. (Same thing with Netflix. I think the Roku 3 might be like the Apple TV and use the system captions.)
And on those shows that are captioned, when no captions are displayed, there's a small empty box showing where the caption normally is. Somewhat annoying. I think this is just on the Roku HD. [Maybe I can change the background. Nope makes no difference on the Roku since they're using their own caption system.]
And I notice it runs somewhat sluggishly on my Roku HD. And is prone to errors. Every once in a while it seems to lose connection and I have to restart the app. [Or it stops being responsive to the remote control and just keeps playing on without the subtitles.] Seems more responsive and less prone to crashes on the Apple TV.
Auto-play is not supported on the Apple TV, but oddly is supported on the Roku HD.
Thinking about getting a Roku 3, so stay tuned.
*** [5/3/14]
Free hulu coming to your mobile device this summer. Kind of diminishes the attraction of Hulu Plus. I wonder if that includes Roku and Apple TV. Probably not.
*** [5/5/14] check out my Roku 3 post for more comments. Summary: Hulu Plus plays much better on the Roku 3, but uses their own captions. Youtube much more responsive on the Roku 3, but captions for some videos are cut off.
*** [5/13/14] see my resetting my Roku post for more comments. Summary: removed a bunch of apps on my Roku HD to see if it would help. Didn't seem to. Hulu Plus still locked up with captions on. But then turned captions off and it seems OK.
*** [4/8/15] from my other post in the Amazon Fire TV entry. With Amazon Fire TV, you can now customize the captions for Hulu Plus and turn off/on auto-play. So I would now rank the Fire TV as my favorite streaming box for Hulu Plus. And I also see that you can turn off/on auto-play on the Roku as well. As far as I know, there's no way yet to turn on auto-play on the Apple TV.
First thing. Hulu Plus doesn't have all the shows the Hulu does (oddly). That's because they don't have the rights to show some shows on your TV or mobile devices. Just on your comptuer. So no Three Stooges. Well, they have the three public domain episodes if you look hard enough. And there's always Crackle for some more (so why can Crackle show The Three Stooges on TV, but Hulu Plus?). Also no HGTV episodes either. Or CNBC Titans, to name just a few.
Some of the newer shows have captions. Mostly the current ones. But not that many of the older shows. None on Dog Whisperer. None on Bob Newhart Show. And those are two of the main shows I want to watch on Hulu.
What's especially disappointing is that I know that captions are available for many/most of these shows. For example, The Dick Van Dyke Show has captions on Netflix, but not on Hulu Plus. Dog Whisperer too, though they have only a limited number of episodes on Netflix. Netflix does a much better job supporting captions.
Captions are a little strange. On my Roku HD, they apparently originate from Hulu. Are so are yellow. But on the Apple TV, they use the Apple TV captions. (Same thing with Netflix. I think the Roku 3 might be like the Apple TV and use the system captions.)
And on those shows that are captioned, when no captions are displayed, there's a small empty box showing where the caption normally is. Somewhat annoying. I think this is just on the Roku HD. [Maybe I can change the background. Nope makes no difference on the Roku since they're using their own caption system.]
And I notice it runs somewhat sluggishly on my Roku HD. And is prone to errors. Every once in a while it seems to lose connection and I have to restart the app. [Or it stops being responsive to the remote control and just keeps playing on without the subtitles.] Seems more responsive and less prone to crashes on the Apple TV.
Auto-play is not supported on the Apple TV, but oddly is supported on the Roku HD.
Thinking about getting a Roku 3, so stay tuned.
*** [5/3/14]
Free hulu coming to your mobile device this summer. Kind of diminishes the attraction of Hulu Plus. I wonder if that includes Roku and Apple TV. Probably not.
*** [5/5/14] check out my Roku 3 post for more comments. Summary: Hulu Plus plays much better on the Roku 3, but uses their own captions. Youtube much more responsive on the Roku 3, but captions for some videos are cut off.
*** [5/13/14] see my resetting my Roku post for more comments. Summary: removed a bunch of apps on my Roku HD to see if it would help. Didn't seem to. Hulu Plus still locked up with captions on. But then turned captions off and it seems OK.
*** [4/8/15] from my other post in the Amazon Fire TV entry. With Amazon Fire TV, you can now customize the captions for Hulu Plus and turn off/on auto-play. So I would now rank the Fire TV as my favorite streaming box for Hulu Plus. And I also see that you can turn off/on auto-play on the Roku as well. As far as I know, there's no way yet to turn on auto-play on the Apple TV.
after XP
Windows XP is dying. On April 8,
Microsoft will stop supporting the ancient operating system that was
released in 2001 — and at one point was used by 400 million people.
You might think that an
operating system that was actually engineered in the late 90s would be
fully obsolete and unused by now. After all, since XP came out,
Microsoft has released several major replacement versions: Windows
Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 (recently upgraded to Windows 8.1).
But there’s something about
Windows XP. It’s basic, stable, fast enough, and good enough for a lot
of people. It’s still running on more than 10 percent of the world’s
computers, and it’s huge in China.
Still, it’s time. It’s hard to
keep an operating system this old up to snuff in today’s online
environment. XP works, but it’s not built to the same security level as
modern operating systems. Microsoft doesn’t want to keep writing new
security upgrades for it, so on April 8, it’s stopping. No more security
updates. No more support. Your XP computer will still work, but
Microsoft won’t help you anymore. Microsoft is pretty harsh about it:
“XP cannot be considered safe to use after support ends.”
But how do you move from an old computer that’s running XP into the
modern era? I’ve heard a lot of advice on how to make the transition.
Not all of it good. Here are your options.
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Fire TV
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -
Amazon.com Inc unveiled a $99 video streaming device called Fire TV
that the e-commerce company promised would be more powerful and easier
to use than rival services by Apple Inc, Google Inc and Roku.
Amazon is a latecomer to the set-top
TV market that is dominated by the Apple TV. Amazon customers have a
large appetite for film and TV, but many already own similar devices,
analysts said.
Fire TV, which is available on Amazon.com, can access Netflix, Hulu and other providers of streaming video content. It also provides a more prominent showcase for Amazon Prime Video as well as its growing slate of original television shows and video games from Amazon Studios.
"It's the easiest place to watch Netflix," Amazon executive Peter Larsen said at an event in New York on Wednesday to launch the product. "You can watch 'Alpha House' and you can watch 'House of Cards'."
Amazon said it decided to develop the device after getting feedback on its website from customers who bought set-top boxes like Roku, Apple TV and Google Chromecast. Common complaints include lagging performance, cumbersome search and closed "ecosystems" on those devices, it said.
"When we look at the living room, how do we make the complexity disappear?" Larsen said.
Fire TV can predict what the user will watch and cue it up instantly, Larsen said. A microphone in the remote enables voice-activated search. A video game controller can be purchased for $39.99.
Seattle-based Amazon said it tried for "lowest price point possible" on Fire TV, which costs about the same as an Apple TV, but substantially more than Chromecast or Roku.
***
Fire TV doubles as a gaming device as well. By next month, Fire TV will have plenty of games from EA, Disney, and other gaming studios. You can play games with your remote or with the app. Or you can also play with a dedicated remote that Amazon is selling for $40, and you get 1,000 Amazon coins along with it. It looks much like a regular old console controller.
Fire TV, which is available on Amazon.com, can access Netflix, Hulu and other providers of streaming video content. It also provides a more prominent showcase for Amazon Prime Video as well as its growing slate of original television shows and video games from Amazon Studios.
"It's the easiest place to watch Netflix," Amazon executive Peter Larsen said at an event in New York on Wednesday to launch the product. "You can watch 'Alpha House' and you can watch 'House of Cards'."
Amazon said it decided to develop the device after getting feedback on its website from customers who bought set-top boxes like Roku, Apple TV and Google Chromecast. Common complaints include lagging performance, cumbersome search and closed "ecosystems" on those devices, it said.
"When we look at the living room, how do we make the complexity disappear?" Larsen said.
Fire TV can predict what the user will watch and cue it up instantly, Larsen said. A microphone in the remote enables voice-activated search. A video game controller can be purchased for $39.99.
Seattle-based Amazon said it tried for "lowest price point possible" on Fire TV, which costs about the same as an Apple TV, but substantially more than Chromecast or Roku.
***
Fire TV doubles as a gaming device as well. By next month, Fire TV will have plenty of games from EA, Disney, and other gaming studios. You can play games with your remote or with the app. Or you can also play with a dedicated remote that Amazon is selling for $40, and you get 1,000 Amazon coins along with it. It looks much like a regular old console controller.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Woz the delivery man
Steve Wozniak just sent this fun stunt caught on video a few years ago:
Watch him deliver a Mac to Emma, a girl who freaks out when she realizes
her idol is at the door carrying her new computer. As Emma's father
says in the video: "This is like having your lightbulbs delivered by
Thomas Edison."
-- via roy
-- via roy
Friday, March 28, 2014
speeding up Windows 8
I noticed Windows 8 seems a bit sluggish on my laptop, especially while scrolling. Don't know whether it's Windows 8 or the laptop. Probably both. But let's see if I can speed things up.
Came across this page and tried step 2. Don't know if it's my imagination, but seems more responsive now.
Came across this page and tried step 2. Don't know if it's my imagination, but seems more responsive now.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Tim Cook on ROI
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has bluntly told climate change sceptic investors to ditch their stocks if they do not support his pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions, in the latest signal that the company will continue to invest in sustainable energy.
According to witnesses at Apple’s annual meeting on Friday, Cook became visibly angry when questioned by a radical right-wing think tank about the profitability of investing in renewable energy.
Under Cook’s leadership Apple has stepped up its commitment to curbing its environmental impact, pledging to supply 100% of its power from renewable sources and crack down on the use of minerals mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that can fund war and human rights abuses.
At the meeting last week, shareholders voted down a resolution by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) - an avid campaigner against action to tackle climate change - that would force Apple to disclose more information about the costs of its investment in tackling climate change.
However, Justin Danhof of the NCPPR pursued the line by asking Cook if Apple’s environmental investments increased or decreased the company’s bottom line. He also asked Cook to commit Apple to only investing in measures that were profitable.
Cook became visibly angry at Danhof’s questions and categorically rejected the NCPPR’s climate scepticism, according to the Mac Observer’s Bryan Chaffin, who attended the event. He told shareholders that securing a return on investment was not the only reason for investing in environmental measures.
“When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI,” Cook said, adding that the same sentiment applied to environmental and health and safety issues.
He told Danhof that if he did not believe in climate change, he should sell his Apple shares. “If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock,” he said.
Cook’s comments and visible passion over the issue are one of the strongest signals yet of his commitment to reducing Apple’s environmental footprint. He told shareholders that he wanted to “leave the world better than we found it”.
-- TheGuardian
***
Apple CEO Tim Cook took on so-called climate change "deniers," issuing a stern message to anyone who disagrees with the company's clean energy push.
According to a report by Mashable, the exchange occurred Friday at an annual meeting with the company's shareholders.
He was pressed on the issue by a general counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research, a D.C.-based conservative think tank that owns Apple shares. He asked Cook to pledge not to go forward with any new energy initiatives that do not improve the company's bottom line.
"We want to leave the world better than we found it," Cook responded, telling any shareholder who doesn't like the policy "to get out of the stock."
-- Fox News Insider
***
It looks like former Obama EPA Chief Lisa Jackson (alias: Richard Windsor), who Apple gave a job to last year in spite of her scandals, and Global Warming High Priest Al Gore, an Apple board member, have gotten to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook is so entrenched in the faulty theory of man-made global warming that he’s even willing to see his shareholders dump his stock.
Never mind that a plurality of Americans reject the myth of the discredited belief in man-made global warming and that the co-founder of Greenpeace this week referred to the myth’s followers as being like members of a religious cult, Apple CEO Tim Cook has a message for his shareholders. Cook says if you don’t like believe in man-made global warming, you should sell his company’s stock.
The National Center for Public Policy Research, a free-market think tank, who owns shares in Apple stock along with National Center executives, released the following statement on Friday:
***
Tim Cook, was asked at the annual shareholder meeting by the NCPPR, the conservative finance group, to disclose the costs of Apple’s energy sustainability programs, and make a commitment to doing only those things that were profitable.
Reportedly looking directly at the NCPPR representative, he said, “If
you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of
this stock.”
Mr. Cook made clear that Apple would continue with energy
sustainability and its other initiatives. Most of the shareholders went
along with that: the NCPPR’s proposal received just 2.95 percent of the
vote.
-- Forbes
According to witnesses at Apple’s annual meeting on Friday, Cook became visibly angry when questioned by a radical right-wing think tank about the profitability of investing in renewable energy.
Under Cook’s leadership Apple has stepped up its commitment to curbing its environmental impact, pledging to supply 100% of its power from renewable sources and crack down on the use of minerals mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that can fund war and human rights abuses.
At the meeting last week, shareholders voted down a resolution by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) - an avid campaigner against action to tackle climate change - that would force Apple to disclose more information about the costs of its investment in tackling climate change.
However, Justin Danhof of the NCPPR pursued the line by asking Cook if Apple’s environmental investments increased or decreased the company’s bottom line. He also asked Cook to commit Apple to only investing in measures that were profitable.
Cook became visibly angry at Danhof’s questions and categorically rejected the NCPPR’s climate scepticism, according to the Mac Observer’s Bryan Chaffin, who attended the event. He told shareholders that securing a return on investment was not the only reason for investing in environmental measures.
“When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI,” Cook said, adding that the same sentiment applied to environmental and health and safety issues.
He told Danhof that if he did not believe in climate change, he should sell his Apple shares. “If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock,” he said.
Cook’s comments and visible passion over the issue are one of the strongest signals yet of his commitment to reducing Apple’s environmental footprint. He told shareholders that he wanted to “leave the world better than we found it”.
-- TheGuardian
***
Apple CEO Tim Cook took on so-called climate change "deniers," issuing a stern message to anyone who disagrees with the company's clean energy push.
According to a report by Mashable, the exchange occurred Friday at an annual meeting with the company's shareholders.
He was pressed on the issue by a general counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research, a D.C.-based conservative think tank that owns Apple shares. He asked Cook to pledge not to go forward with any new energy initiatives that do not improve the company's bottom line.
"We want to leave the world better than we found it," Cook responded, telling any shareholder who doesn't like the policy "to get out of the stock."
-- Fox News Insider
***
It looks like former Obama EPA Chief Lisa Jackson (alias: Richard Windsor), who Apple gave a job to last year in spite of her scandals, and Global Warming High Priest Al Gore, an Apple board member, have gotten to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook is so entrenched in the faulty theory of man-made global warming that he’s even willing to see his shareholders dump his stock.
Never mind that a plurality of Americans reject the myth of the discredited belief in man-made global warming and that the co-founder of Greenpeace this week referred to the myth’s followers as being like members of a religious cult, Apple CEO Tim Cook has a message for his shareholders. Cook says if you don’t like believe in man-made global warming, you should sell his company’s stock.
The National Center for Public Policy Research, a free-market think tank, who owns shares in Apple stock along with National Center executives, released the following statement on Friday:
Cupertino, CA / Washington, D.C. - At today’s annual meeting of Apple shareholders in Cupertino, California, Apple CEO Tim Cook informed investors that are primarily concerned with making reasonable economic returns that their money is no longer welcome.
The message came in response to the National Center for Public Policy Research’s shareholder resolution asking the tech giant to be transparent about its environmental activism and a question from the National Center about the company’s environmental initiatives.
“Mr. Cook made it very clear to me that if I, or any other investor, was more concerned with return on investment than reducing carbon dioxide emissions, my investment is no longer welcome at Apple,” said Justin Danhof, Esq., director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project.-- TPNN (the Tea Party News Network)
Tim Cook, was asked at the annual shareholder meeting by the NCPPR, the conservative finance group, to disclose the costs of Apple’s energy sustainability programs, and make a commitment to doing only those things that were profitable.
Mr. Cook replied –with an uncharacteristic
display of emotion–that a return on investment (ROI) was not the primary
consideration on such issues. “When we work on making our devices
accessible by the blind,” he said, “I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” It
was the same thing for environmental issues, worker safety, and other
areas that don’t have an immediate profit. The company does “a lot of
things for reasons besides profit motive. We want to leave the world
better than we found it.”
The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) attended the meeting as shareholder. It describes itself as a conservative think tank and was pushing a shareholder proposal
that would have required Apple to disclose the costs of its
sustainability programs and to be more transparent about its
participation in “certain trade associations and business organizations
promoting the amorphous concept of environmental sustainability.”
-- Forbes
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Whoosh!
As I was walking through the recent International CES, the big, bright-orange Whoosh! booth caught my attention. I gave my phone to the Whoosh! representative – and wow! My phone was probably the cleanest it has ever been. What makes this cleaner different than all the rest is that it coats your screen with a nano-thin proprietary polymer that resists fingerprints, dust and dirt buildup, yet allows your fingers to glide easily over the surface.
The very first thing I noticed after my phone was Whooshed was the ease of swiping my finger across the screen. There was significantly less resistance than before, which is a good thing. It now has been more than a month since my iPhone has been Whooshed, yet I still can feel the coating’s effectiveness. I’m sure I should be cleaning it much more often than that, but I wanted to see how long it would stay on.
Being the germophobe I am, I already know that my iPhone harbors a ton of germs. To be exact, according to the BBC, 18 percent of mobile phones are contaminated with staphylococcus and 16 percent are contaminated with fecal flora and E-coli. On top of that, Yahoo states that the average cell phone is up to 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat – yuck!
Whoosh! is 100 percent natural, non-hazardous, environmentally friendly and never tested on animals. Best of all, there is nothing within Whoosh! that will damage or etch harm to any of your screens or devices. Visit whooshscreenshine.com or Amazon.com to purchase for $4.99 (pocket/.3 fluid ounces), $9.99 (on-the-go) or $19.99 (Duo+/one 3.4 fluid ounce bottle and one .3 ounces).
-- Click Chick, Midweek, February 12, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
reporting phishing attacks
You can take steps to avoid a phishing attack.
• Don’t ever email or text personal or financial information.
• Be cautious about opening attachments and downloading files from unfamiliar emails.
• Use trusted security software and make sure it is updated consistently.
• Provide personal or financial information through a business’s or organization’s website only if you typed in the website address yourself. If the URL begins with https (the “s” stands for secure) it is likely safe. However, keep in mind that phishers have been known to forge security icons.
• Review your credit card and bank account statements and check for unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company to confirm your billing address and account balances.
If you think that you have been tricked by a phishing email, take the following actions.
• File a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at www.ftc.gov/complaint.
• Visit the FTC’s identity theft website, www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014-identitytheft. Victims of phishing could become victims of identity theft; the site lists steps you can take to minimize your risk.
• Forward phishing emails to the FTC at spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank or organization impersonated in the email. You may also report phishing email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, a group of ISPs, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies, uses these reports to fight phishing. UPS offers more tips on fighting phishing. Go to www.ups.com and search “fight fraud.”
-- Costco Connection, March 2014
• Don’t ever email or text personal or financial information.
• Be cautious about opening attachments and downloading files from unfamiliar emails.
• Use trusted security software and make sure it is updated consistently.
• Provide personal or financial information through a business’s or organization’s website only if you typed in the website address yourself. If the URL begins with https (the “s” stands for secure) it is likely safe. However, keep in mind that phishers have been known to forge security icons.
• Review your credit card and bank account statements and check for unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company to confirm your billing address and account balances.
If you think that you have been tricked by a phishing email, take the following actions.
• File a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at www.ftc.gov/complaint.
• Visit the FTC’s identity theft website, www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014-identitytheft. Victims of phishing could become victims of identity theft; the site lists steps you can take to minimize your risk.
• Forward phishing emails to the FTC at spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank or organization impersonated in the email. You may also report phishing email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, a group of ISPs, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies, uses these reports to fight phishing. UPS offers more tips on fighting phishing. Go to www.ups.com and search “fight fraud.”
-- Costco Connection, March 2014
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Amazon Prime price increase
“There are two kinds of companies,” Amazon.com (AMZN)
Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is fond of saying, in one of his
earnest, oft-repeated Jeffisms. “Those that work hard to lower prices,
and those that work hard to raise prices.”
In a letter to Prime members this morning, Amazon cited fuel and transportation costs and noted that the number of items eligible for free Prime two-day shipping has jumped to more than 20 million products. Amazon’s shipping expenses have indeed risen dramatically, from $2.4 billion in 2010 to $3.5 billion in 2013. In all but two years since Prime’s inception, Amazon’s net shipping costs have increased more than 25 percent. At the same time, Amazon has extended Prime eligibility to millions of products sold by third-party merchants that store their stuff in the company’s distribution warehouses, via its popular Fulfillment by Amazon program.
Prime isn’t just a two-day shipping program anymore. It’s become a varied loyalty program that draws customers in and seeks to convert them into Amazon addicts. And that costs more. That said, Amazon Prime’s streaming media service isn’t priced at much of a premium compared with competitors. Prime’s monthly cost is now $8.25, not much more than the $7.99 that Netflix (NFLX) charges for a service that doesn’t also come with digital book rental and free shipping on a vast assortment of merchandise.
The Prime price increase is partly the result of changes in the way Amazon itself has used the service—as its prime weapon (pun intended) in the battle against Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL). Bezos believes, even more so than his rivals, that content (books, music, and the like) can be the gateway drug that lures customers into Amazon’s immersive world of devices and digital services. So over the last few years, he has packed digital freebies into Prime membership: 40,000 movies and TV episodes inside Prime Instant Video, plus more than 500,000 e-books that can be borrowed free, one each month, within the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
And Bezos is only getting started. Amazon is producing its own television shows and movies in an arms race with Netflix to secure exclusive streaming rights to the most popular TV series. And the company is reportedly working on adding a free music streaming service into Prime. It’s also hiring game developers like crazy up in Seattle, building a game studio from scratch in an effort to replace the selection of mobile applications it loses by not putting Google’s more popular Android app store on its Kindle Fire tablets. In the next few weeks, Amazon will also likely release a set-top box for the living room, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the device touting extra benefits for Prime members.
***
Non-HBO subscribers will soon be able to watch some of the network's old TV shows, like "The Sopranos" and "The Wire," on Amazon Prime's streaming video service.
Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) described the deal as a first for HBO, which has a reputation for being tightfisted with its library of hit shows -- even ones that stopped airing years ago.
The assortment of HBO shows will be a significant addition to Amazon Prime as it attempts to sign up more monthly subscribers and challenge Netflix. HBO will continue to provide complete access to all its shows through HBO GO, the streaming service for its existing subscribers.
The Amazon deal draws a bright line between old and new. The seasons of "Girls," "The Newsroom" and "Veep" that are premiering this year won't be available through Amazon Prime for approximately three years. The three-year delay will apply to past seasons as well: for example, the first season of "Girls," which premiered on television in 2012, will become available on Prime in 2015.
What's missing entirely is HBO's current biggest hit, "Game of Thrones." The deal also excludes "True Detective," the new series with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson that debuted earlier this year to rave reviews and quickly became a pop culture phenomenon. HBO may seek to make money from repeats of those shows some other way.
HBO is owned by Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500), which is also the parent company of CNNMoney.
Previously, the only ways for people without HBO to watch the network's shows would be by purchasing DVDs, buying individual episodes through Amazon or Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iTunes store, or by watching reruns of certain shows on other cable channels. ("Sex and the City" now runs on the E! channel, and isn't included in the Amazon deal.)
In the television industry, revenue from DVDs and reruns has been declining as viewers gravitate toward on-demand ways to watch. With Amazon, HBO is generating a new way to make money from its reruns. In Hollywood, this is known as a new "window" for programming. (The first "window" remains the hotly-anticipated premieres of episodes on the main HBO television channel.)
Amazon and HBO said the first shows would start to appear on Prime on May 21, just in time for Memorial Day weekend.
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
Dish's deal with Disney
The Walt Disney Company and Dish Network said Monday they've agreed
to a new carriage deal that restricts an ad-skipping feature in Dish's
digital recorder and grants the satellite TV service provider new
streaming rights.
In partnering with one of the world's largest media companies, Dish gets the right to provide to its customers -- though it didn't commit to it -- live-streaming of Disney's channels, including ABC and ESPN, as a separate service.
Many pay-TV providers, including Dish, Comcast, DirecTV and Verizon, allow subscribers to stream Hollywood's content -- TV and movies -- on other devices inside and outside the home. But this new deal is the first to raise the possibility of a pay-TV provider using a media company's content, in this case Disney's channels and movies, for a new online service without requiring customers to subscribe to the video portion of their cable or satellite subscription.
***
Dish Network took a big step toward such a future with a deal announced Monday with Disney. The agreement opens the way for the satellite TV service to live-stream Disney-owned channels like ESPN and ABC over the Internet to customers' smartphones, tablets, video game consoles and other devices.
The new service will bypass Dish's
14-million-customer satellite system and offer content via the Internet
in much the same way that Netflix delivers video.
No start date has been announced. Dish will probably have to cut similar deals with other programmers to make such a service attractive.
*** [3/8/14]
This deal gives Dish Network the right to offer a separate, live TV and video-on-demand service that you could only access by streaming over the Internet. According to Bloomberg, Dish Network would be looking to price such an offering at between $20 and $30 a month.
Q: That sounds awesome, where do I sign up?
A: In the famous words of ESPN's Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend." There's still a lot that needs to happen before Dish's plans for an Internet streaming network (also known as an "over-the-top" network) can become a reality. For starters, industry analysts think Dish and Disney's contractual agreement likely prevents Dish from launching a streaming network without content from other major players like NBCUniversal, Fox and CBS.
*** [3/8/14]
Mark March 3, 2014, as the day Dish Network and Walt Disney signed the death warrant for the cable industry.
In partnering with one of the world's largest media companies, Dish gets the right to provide to its customers -- though it didn't commit to it -- live-streaming of Disney's channels, including ABC and ESPN, as a separate service.
Many pay-TV providers, including Dish, Comcast, DirecTV and Verizon, allow subscribers to stream Hollywood's content -- TV and movies -- on other devices inside and outside the home. But this new deal is the first to raise the possibility of a pay-TV provider using a media company's content, in this case Disney's channels and movies, for a new online service without requiring customers to subscribe to the video portion of their cable or satellite subscription.
***
LOS ANGELES (AP) — With a string
of recent deals, cable and satellite providers are beginning to
acknowledge a brutal truth that companies like Hulu and Netflix have
known all along: Many TV viewers, especially young ones, want shows and
movies on their own terms — wherever, whenever and on whatever devices
they choose.
Dish Network took a big step toward such a future with a deal announced Monday with Disney. The agreement opens the way for the satellite TV service to live-stream Disney-owned channels like ESPN and ABC over the Internet to customers' smartphones, tablets, video game consoles and other devices.
The
goal is to attract so-called cord-cutters who have become disenchanted
with large channel packages and rising monthly bills for cable or
satellite service.
Charlie
Ergen, Dish Network Corp. chairman, hinted at the underpinnings of the
deal last month, when he admitted that the traditional pay-TV business
model — charging customers $80 or $100 a month for hundreds of channels,
many of which they never watch — is not appealing to younger people.
"We're losing a whole generation of
individuals who aren't going to buy into that model," he told analysts.
"Obviously you'd like to kind of have your cake and eat it too, and
make sure that you come up with products that can engage that new
generation."
No start date has been announced. Dish will probably have to cut similar deals with other programmers to make such a service attractive.
*** [3/8/14]
This deal gives Dish Network the right to offer a separate, live TV and video-on-demand service that you could only access by streaming over the Internet. According to Bloomberg, Dish Network would be looking to price such an offering at between $20 and $30 a month.
Q: That sounds awesome, where do I sign up?
A: In the famous words of ESPN's Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend." There's still a lot that needs to happen before Dish's plans for an Internet streaming network (also known as an "over-the-top" network) can become a reality. For starters, industry analysts think Dish and Disney's contractual agreement likely prevents Dish from launching a streaming network without content from other major players like NBCUniversal, Fox and CBS.
*** [3/8/14]
Mark March 3, 2014, as the day Dish Network and Walt Disney signed the death warrant for the cable industry.
Roku Streaming Stick
Roku announced the Roku Streaming Stick today, which manages to pack
nearly all the functionality of a full-size Roku box into a device not
much bigger than an USB flash drive. It's actually a new version of
Roku's old MHL-based Streaming Stick, but there are two major differences: it now works with any TV that has an HDMI input, and it's half the price, at just $50.
If this all sounds familiar, that's because the design is awfully similar to Google's $35 Chromecast, and it's hard not to see the updated Streaming Stick as a response to Google's popular streamer. So what do you get for the extra $15?
For one, you get a traditional remote and an onscreen interface. It's a pretty standard Roku remote, and it works via Wi-Fi Direct, so it can still control the Streaming Stick when it's hidden behind your TV.
The other major perk over the Chromecast is you get access to all 1,200 of Roku's apps, or "channels" in Roku's parlance. This includes nearly every major service -- such as Netflix, YouTube, HBO Go, Amazon Instant, MLB.TV, Showtime Anytime, and PBS -- as well as a huge number of niche content sources. While the Chromecast has added some crucial apps since its launch (including HBO Go, Hulu Plus, and Pandora), it still can't compare to Roku's sprawling and frequently updated library.
If this all sounds familiar, that's because the design is awfully similar to Google's $35 Chromecast, and it's hard not to see the updated Streaming Stick as a response to Google's popular streamer. So what do you get for the extra $15?
For one, you get a traditional remote and an onscreen interface. It's a pretty standard Roku remote, and it works via Wi-Fi Direct, so it can still control the Streaming Stick when it's hidden behind your TV.
The other major perk over the Chromecast is you get access to all 1,200 of Roku's apps, or "channels" in Roku's parlance. This includes nearly every major service -- such as Netflix, YouTube, HBO Go, Amazon Instant, MLB.TV, Showtime Anytime, and PBS -- as well as a huge number of niche content sources. While the Chromecast has added some crucial apps since its launch (including HBO Go, Hulu Plus, and Pandora), it still can't compare to Roku's sprawling and frequently updated library.
Friday, February 28, 2014
installing Windows 8.1 (one user's experience)
Bill
Gates’s first day at work in the newly created role of technology
adviser got off to a rocky start yesterday as the Microsoft founder
struggled for hours to install the Windows 8.1 upgrade.
The installation hit a snag early on, sources said, when Mr. Gates repeatedly received an error message informing him that his PC ran into a problem that it could not handle and needed to restart.
After failing to install the upgrade by lunchtime, Mr. Gates summoned the new Microsoft C.E.O. Satya Nadella, who attempted to help him with the installation, but with no success.
While the two men worked behind closed doors, one source described the situation as “tense.”
The installation hit a snag early on, sources said, when Mr. Gates repeatedly received an error message informing him that his PC ran into a problem that it could not handle and needed to restart.
After failing to install the upgrade by lunchtime, Mr. Gates summoned the new Microsoft C.E.O. Satya Nadella, who attempted to help him with the installation, but with no success.
While the two men worked behind closed doors, one source described the situation as “tense.”
“Bill is usually a pretty calm guy, so it was weird to hear some of that language coming out of his mouth,” the source said.
A Microsoft spokesman said only that Mr. Gates’s first day in his new job had been “a learning experience” and that, for the immediate future, he would go back to running Windows 7.
[P.S. it's a joke.]
A Microsoft spokesman said only that Mr. Gates’s first day in his new job had been “a learning experience” and that, for the immediate future, he would go back to running Windows 7.
[P.S. it's a joke.]
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
is this website safe?
there are several websites which check whether other websites are safe to visit
There was one I was using the other day, but I don't remember what it was, so here's a few more:
https://safeweb.norton.com/
http://www.avgthreatlabs.com/website-safety-reports/
scanurl.net
PCWorld recommends URLVoid since it checks using multiple websites such as the above.
(Note: I assume the above websites are safe, but one can't be too sure as anybody with experience with fake antivirus / anti-spyware software can attest to.)
There was one I was using the other day, but I don't remember what it was, so here's a few more:
https://safeweb.norton.com/
http://www.avgthreatlabs.com/website-safety-reports/
scanurl.net
PCWorld recommends URLVoid since it checks using multiple websites such as the above.
(Note: I assume the above websites are safe, but one can't be too sure as anybody with experience with fake antivirus / anti-spyware software can attest to.)
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Comcast agrees to buy Time Warner Cable
Comcast said Thursday it had agreed to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion in a deal that would combine the two biggest cable companies in the United States.
If the deal is approved, the combined group will be the country's dominant provider of television channels and Internet connections, reaching roughly one in three American homes.
Time Warner Cable (TWC, Fortune 500) owners will be offered 2.875 Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) shares for each share they own, valuing Time Warner Cable at about $158.82 per share.
The two companies expect the merger to take effect by the end of the year, but regulators are likely to take a close look at the potential impact on consumers.
To address those concerns, Comcast said it was prepared to divest about 3 million subscribers. But it would still have about 30 million customers. Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit will lead the merged company.
The proposed deal ends months of jockeying for control of Time Warner Cable, the second biggest U.S. supplier of cable television, with about 11 million subscribers in cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
Smaller rival Charter (CHTR, Fortune 500) wanted to buy Time Warner Cable, indicating last month it was ready to pay about $130 per share.
Now, by swallowing Time Warner Cable on its own, Comcast will gain even more leverage over the country's marketplace for television, broadband Internet and phone services. Comcast has about 23 million television subscribers in markets like Philadelphia, where it is headquartered.
With millions more subscribers, Comcast will add muscle in its negotiations with cable channel owners like The Walt Disney Company (DIS, Fortune 500) and Time Warner (TWC, Fortune 500), the parent company of this website. (Time Warner Cable was spun off from Time Warner in 2009 and no longer has any connection to the owner of CNN, HBO and Warner Bros.)
Although cable providers in general have poor reputations, Comcast has received some high marks for its next-generation software and set-top boxes.
Time Warner Cable, on the other hand, had what the American Customer Satisfaction Index called an "industry low" score last spring. It has shed television subscribers in recent months for a number of reasons, including a protracted blackout of CBS and Showtime in several million homes. Comcast could theoretically improve Time Warner Cable's performance by bringing in its own software.
If the deal is approved, the combined group will be the country's dominant provider of television channels and Internet connections, reaching roughly one in three American homes.
Time Warner Cable (TWC, Fortune 500) owners will be offered 2.875 Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) shares for each share they own, valuing Time Warner Cable at about $158.82 per share.
The two companies expect the merger to take effect by the end of the year, but regulators are likely to take a close look at the potential impact on consumers.
To address those concerns, Comcast said it was prepared to divest about 3 million subscribers. But it would still have about 30 million customers. Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit will lead the merged company.
The proposed deal ends months of jockeying for control of Time Warner Cable, the second biggest U.S. supplier of cable television, with about 11 million subscribers in cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
Smaller rival Charter (CHTR, Fortune 500) wanted to buy Time Warner Cable, indicating last month it was ready to pay about $130 per share.
Now, by swallowing Time Warner Cable on its own, Comcast will gain even more leverage over the country's marketplace for television, broadband Internet and phone services. Comcast has about 23 million television subscribers in markets like Philadelphia, where it is headquartered.
With millions more subscribers, Comcast will add muscle in its negotiations with cable channel owners like The Walt Disney Company (DIS, Fortune 500) and Time Warner (TWC, Fortune 500), the parent company of this website. (Time Warner Cable was spun off from Time Warner in 2009 and no longer has any connection to the owner of CNN, HBO and Warner Bros.)
Although cable providers in general have poor reputations, Comcast has received some high marks for its next-generation software and set-top boxes.
Time Warner Cable, on the other hand, had what the American Customer Satisfaction Index called an "industry low" score last spring. It has shed television subscribers in recent months for a number of reasons, including a protracted blackout of CBS and Showtime in several million homes. Comcast could theoretically improve Time Warner Cable's performance by bringing in its own software.
Tuesday, February 04, 2014
new chief at Microsoft
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Microsoft has named the head of its cloud computing business as the company's next CEO, tapping a longtime insider to lead efforts to catch rivals in mobile devices and offer more software and services over the Internet.
Satya Nadella replaces Steve Ballmer immediately to become only the third chief executive in Microsoft's 38-year history. Company founder and first CEO Bill Gates is leaving his role as chairman to serve as an adviser. He will spend a third of his time working on future products and technology.
Nadella, 46, most recently headed the company's small but growing cloud computing unit, in which customers buy software and services housed on distant servers connected to the Internet. It's a departure from Microsoft's roots making software installed directly on personal computers.
In addition to growing that business, one of Nadella's first tasks as CEO will be the completion of Microsoft Inc.'s $7.3 billion purchase of Nokia's phone business and patent rights — part of a plan to boost Windows Phone software in a market dominated by iPhones and Android devices.
The direction points the company toward an orbit occupied by rivals Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. and away from the core PC business that has been Microsoft's mainstay.
"Going forward, it's a mobile-first, cloud-first world," Nadella said in a video accompanying the announcement Tuesday.
Gates, meanwhile, will remain on the company's board. The new Microsoft chairman will be board member John Thompson, who led the search for a new CEO after Ballmer said in August that he planned to step down.
Thompson said Nadella was the board's "first and unanimous choice." Other candidates considered included Ford CEO Alan Mulally and other insiders such as Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner and former Skype head Tony Bates.
Nadella has "the right background to lead the company in this era," Gates said in a video message. "There's a challenge in mobile computing. There's an opportunity in the cloud. The various business groups he's worked in, he's driven innovation, gotten architectures put together that really meet the needs of our customers. The opportunity for Microsoft is greater than ever before."
Nadella has been an executive in some of the company's fastest-growing and most-profitable businesses, including its Office and server and tools business. In four years as division president, he helped grow that business into one with $20 billion in annual revenue — about a quarter of Microsoft's total revenue in the most recent fiscal year.
For the past seven months, he was the executive vice president who led Microsoft's cloud computing offerings. Nadella's new cloud enterprise group has also been growing strongly, more than doubling customers in the latest quarter — although it remains a small part of Microsoft's current business.
Satya Nadella replaces Steve Ballmer immediately to become only the third chief executive in Microsoft's 38-year history. Company founder and first CEO Bill Gates is leaving his role as chairman to serve as an adviser. He will spend a third of his time working on future products and technology.
Nadella, 46, most recently headed the company's small but growing cloud computing unit, in which customers buy software and services housed on distant servers connected to the Internet. It's a departure from Microsoft's roots making software installed directly on personal computers.
In addition to growing that business, one of Nadella's first tasks as CEO will be the completion of Microsoft Inc.'s $7.3 billion purchase of Nokia's phone business and patent rights — part of a plan to boost Windows Phone software in a market dominated by iPhones and Android devices.
The direction points the company toward an orbit occupied by rivals Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. and away from the core PC business that has been Microsoft's mainstay.
"Going forward, it's a mobile-first, cloud-first world," Nadella said in a video accompanying the announcement Tuesday.
Gates, meanwhile, will remain on the company's board. The new Microsoft chairman will be board member John Thompson, who led the search for a new CEO after Ballmer said in August that he planned to step down.
Thompson said Nadella was the board's "first and unanimous choice." Other candidates considered included Ford CEO Alan Mulally and other insiders such as Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner and former Skype head Tony Bates.
Nadella has "the right background to lead the company in this era," Gates said in a video message. "There's a challenge in mobile computing. There's an opportunity in the cloud. The various business groups he's worked in, he's driven innovation, gotten architectures put together that really meet the needs of our customers. The opportunity for Microsoft is greater than ever before."
Nadella has been an executive in some of the company's fastest-growing and most-profitable businesses, including its Office and server and tools business. In four years as division president, he helped grow that business into one with $20 billion in annual revenue — about a quarter of Microsoft's total revenue in the most recent fiscal year.
For the past seven months, he was the executive vice president who led Microsoft's cloud computing offerings. Nadella's new cloud enterprise group has also been growing strongly, more than doubling customers in the latest quarter — although it remains a small part of Microsoft's current business.
Sunday, February 02, 2014
SD over HD?
It seems to me like 95% of the people I know still watch SD TV even though HD is available to them.
Granted these are probably older people that grew up on SD. And they know that SD channel number and not the HD channel numbers.
Furthermore they usually watch the picture stretched out of proportion on a wide-screen TV. That kind of annoys me, but I guess they're used to it. And some people seem to even prefer watching SD over HD (even though the screen is out of proportion and the picture is blurry).
I wonder if my experience is the same as others. So I'll google it.
And here's a couple of links.
why do people watch SD programming on HDTV sets
step away from the SD
yep.
I guess it's kind of like Frank Barone preferring his scratchy LPs to digital CDs.
Granted these are probably older people that grew up on SD. And they know that SD channel number and not the HD channel numbers.
Furthermore they usually watch the picture stretched out of proportion on a wide-screen TV. That kind of annoys me, but I guess they're used to it. And some people seem to even prefer watching SD over HD (even though the screen is out of proportion and the picture is blurry).
I wonder if my experience is the same as others. So I'll google it.
And here's a couple of links.
why do people watch SD programming on HDTV sets
step away from the SD
yep.
I guess it's kind of like Frank Barone preferring his scratchy LPs to digital CDs.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Macintosh, it was 30 years ago
NEW YORK » Look around. Many of the gadgets you see drew inspiration from the original Mac computer.
Computers
at the time typically required people to type in commands. Once the Mac
came out 30 years ago today, people could instead navigate with a
graphical user interface. Available options were organized into menus.
People clicked icons to run programs and dragged and dropped files to
move them.
The Mac
introduced real-world metaphors such as using a trash can to delete
files. It brought us fonts and other tools once limited to professional
printers. Most importantly, it made computing and publishing easy enough
for everyday people to learn and use.
Apple sparked
a revolution in computing with the Mac. In turn, that sparked a
revolution in publishing as people began creating fancy newsletters,
brochures and other publications from their desktops.
These
concepts are so fundamental today that it's hard to imagine a time when
they existed only in research labs — primarily Xerox's Palo Alto
Research Center in California. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his team
got much of its inspiration from PARC, which they visited while
designing the Mac.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
progress
Tomorrow's children will become tomorrow's adults in a world where the
sort of life taken for granted over the past half-century -- school
until you're 18 (or 21, or 25...), a decent job at a living wage, and a
retirement supported by pensions and Social Security -- will become as
archaic as a nation of farmers is today.
You might be tempted to reject the notion of a future that looks radically different from our present, but recent history offers more than enough evidence of dramatic change from one generation to the next.
Someone born in 1800 might have lived to see their children become the first to travel on machines -- the locomotive or the steamship -- but someone born in 1900 might have lived to see their children travel further in an aircraft in one day than their parents traveled in a decade.
The march of progress has been strong for over two centuries now, lifting billions out of a hardscrabble life largely indistinguishable from that of the first farmers. But technology also steadily improved before the Industrial Revolution, though at a rate slower than might be appreciated by those living in earlier times. Why has it taken so long to get to the point where we now take progress for granted? It's because progress accelerates. It took hundreds of thousands of years to get from fire to the farm, but only a few thousand years more to get from the farm to the aqueduct. Major leaps forward took less and less time. Aqueduct gave way to cannon, which gave way to printing press, which gave way to steam engine, which gave way to telegraph. Progress accelerates because it proceeds at an exponential rate.
[and on and on he goes. This is probably the longest article I've ever seen at fool.com. Practically a book..]
You might be tempted to reject the notion of a future that looks radically different from our present, but recent history offers more than enough evidence of dramatic change from one generation to the next.
Someone born in 1800 might have lived to see their children become the first to travel on machines -- the locomotive or the steamship -- but someone born in 1900 might have lived to see their children travel further in an aircraft in one day than their parents traveled in a decade.
- "A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth's atmosphere." -- The New York Times , 1920.
- "Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia." -- Early science writer Dr. Dionysius Larder , 1828 .
- "There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." -- Robert Millikan , winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize in physics, 1928.
- "The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty -- a fad." -- President of the Michigan Savings Bank, to Ford investor and inaugural chairman Horace Rackham , 1903.
- "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -- Scottish mathematician and creator of the Kelvin temperature scale William Thomson, Lord Kelvin , 1895.
- "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olsen , founder and president of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977 .
The march of progress has been strong for over two centuries now, lifting billions out of a hardscrabble life largely indistinguishable from that of the first farmers. But technology also steadily improved before the Industrial Revolution, though at a rate slower than might be appreciated by those living in earlier times. Why has it taken so long to get to the point where we now take progress for granted? It's because progress accelerates. It took hundreds of thousands of years to get from fire to the farm, but only a few thousand years more to get from the farm to the aqueduct. Major leaps forward took less and less time. Aqueduct gave way to cannon, which gave way to printing press, which gave way to steam engine, which gave way to telegraph. Progress accelerates because it proceeds at an exponential rate.
[and on and on he goes. This is probably the longest article I've ever seen at fool.com. Practically a book..]
Friday, December 20, 2013
Google's plan to rule to world
You didn't think Google would be satisfied with a place in your pocket, did you?
The world's dominant search engine has displayed an impressive proclivity for the big breakthrough in recent years, but until it announced its acquisition of Boston Dynamics this weekend, it was hard to say just what Big G's long-range strategy might be. Now we know. Google wants to rule the world. It began with a search engine, but it won't stop until the world runs on Google's technology.
Here's the five-step plan that Larry and Sergey just put together that will take it from garage start-up wunderkinds to the architects of the most ambitious scheme for global corporate dominance since the days of Standard Oil.
The world's dominant search engine has displayed an impressive proclivity for the big breakthrough in recent years, but until it announced its acquisition of Boston Dynamics this weekend, it was hard to say just what Big G's long-range strategy might be. Now we know. Google wants to rule the world. It began with a search engine, but it won't stop until the world runs on Google's technology.
Here's the five-step plan that Larry and Sergey just put together that will take it from garage start-up wunderkinds to the architects of the most ambitious scheme for global corporate dominance since the days of Standard Oil.
Friday, December 06, 2013
Monday, December 02, 2013
Amazon Prime Air
NEW YORK »
Amazon.com is already cracking same-day delivery. Next up: getting your
package delivered quicker than a pizza? The online retailer is working
on a way to get customers their goods in 30 minutes or less — by drone.
Amazon.com
said it's working on the so-called Prime Air unmanned aircraft project
in its research and development labs. But the company admits it will
take years to advance the needed technology and for the needed federal
Aviation Administration rules and regulations to be created.
The project was first reported Sunday by CBS' "60 Minutes."
Amazon
CEO Jeff Bezos said during the primetime interview that while the
octocopters look like something out of science fiction, there's no
reason they can't be used as delivery vehicles.
Bezos
said the drones can carry packages that weigh up to five pounds, which
covers about 86 percent of the items Amazon delivers. And the current
generation of drones that the company is testing has a range of about 10
miles, which Bezos noted could cover a significant portion of the
population in urban areas.
While
it's tough to say exactly how long it could take the project to get off
the ground, Bezos told "60 Minutes" that he thinks it could happen in
four or five years.
*** [2/25/14]
Netflix Drone2Home
*** [8/28/14] Google testing drones too
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc is developing airborne drones capable of flying on their own and delivering anything from candy to medicine, the Internet company said on Thursday.
The effort, which Google calls Project Wing, marks the company's latest expansion beyond its Web-based origins and could help Google break into lucrative markets such as commerce and package delivery, ratcheting up the competition with Amazon.com Inc.
Google, the world's largest Internet search engine, said it will take years of development to create a service with multiple vehicles flying multiple deliveries per day.
An early version of the drone, which Google showcased in a video on its website, has a 1.5 meter-(yard)wide wingspan and is capable of flying pre-programmed routes.
"These planes have much more in common with the Google self-driving car than the remote-controlled airplanes people fly in parks on weekends," Google said on its website, referring to the company's test fleet of automobiles that use sensors and radars to navigate city streets and freeways on their own.
The drone Google showed in the video Thursday was equipped with rotors to allow for vertical takeoff and landing, as well as a fixed wing for plane-like flying. The drone flew about 40 meters above the treeline, Google said, and dropped a package of chocolate bars to a farmer in Queensland, Australia.
*** [2/25/14]
Netflix Drone2Home
*** [8/28/14] Google testing drones too
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc is developing airborne drones capable of flying on their own and delivering anything from candy to medicine, the Internet company said on Thursday.
The effort, which Google calls Project Wing, marks the company's latest expansion beyond its Web-based origins and could help Google break into lucrative markets such as commerce and package delivery, ratcheting up the competition with Amazon.com Inc.
Google, the world's largest Internet search engine, said it will take years of development to create a service with multiple vehicles flying multiple deliveries per day.
An early version of the drone, which Google showcased in a video on its website, has a 1.5 meter-(yard)wide wingspan and is capable of flying pre-programmed routes.
"These planes have much more in common with the Google self-driving car than the remote-controlled airplanes people fly in parks on weekends," Google said on its website, referring to the company's test fleet of automobiles that use sensors and radars to navigate city streets and freeways on their own.
The drone Google showed in the video Thursday was equipped with rotors to allow for vertical takeoff and landing, as well as a fixed wing for plane-like flying. The drone flew about 40 meters above the treeline, Google said, and dropped a package of chocolate bars to a farmer in Queensland, Australia.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
new Google search algorithm
Google
has overhauled its search algorithm, the foundation of the Internet's
dominant search engine, to better cope with the longer, more complex
queries it has been getting from Web users.
Amit Singhal, senior vice president of search, told reporters on Thursday that the company launched its latest "Hummingbird" algorithm about a month ago and that it currently affects 90 percent of worldwide searches via Google.
"Hummingbird" is the company's effort to match the meaning of queries with that of documents on the Internet, said Singhal from the Menlo Park garage where Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin conceived their now-ubiquitous search engine.
Page and Brin set up shop in the garage of Susan Wojcicki -- now a senior Google executive -- in September 1998, around the time they incorporated their company. This week marks the 15th anniversary of their collaboration.
Amit Singhal, senior vice president of search, told reporters on Thursday that the company launched its latest "Hummingbird" algorithm about a month ago and that it currently affects 90 percent of worldwide searches via Google.
"Hummingbird" is the company's effort to match the meaning of queries with that of documents on the Internet, said Singhal from the Menlo Park garage where Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin conceived their now-ubiquitous search engine.
Page and Brin set up shop in the garage of Susan Wojcicki -- now a senior Google executive -- in September 1998, around the time they incorporated their company. This week marks the 15th anniversary of their collaboration.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Oceans storing heat
The oceans are becoming a repository for almost all of Earth’s excess
heat, driving up sea levels and threatening coastlines, according to a
leaked draft of the most comprehensive United Nations report addressing
climate science.
Temperatures in the shallowest waters rose by more than 0.1 degree Celsius (0.18 degree Fahrenheit) a decade for the 40 years through 2010, the study found. Average sea levels have increased worldwide by about 19 centimeters (7.5 inches) since 1901 and researchers said it’s “very likely” the system of ocean currents that includes the Gulf Stream will slow in the coming decades.
The findings are detailed in a 2,200-page report that will guide UN envoys as they devise a new treaty to fight climate change by 2015. It was obtained by Bloomberg from a person with official access to the report who declined to be further identified because it hasn’t been published. The UN declined to comment.
“The Earth is absorbing more heat than it is emitting back into space, and nearly all this excess heat is entering the oceans and being stored there,” the report’s authors wrote. “Changes have been observed in ocean properties of relevance to climate during the past 40 years, including temperature, salinity, sea level, carbon, pH and oxygen.”
It’s “extremely likely” mankind is responsible for more than half of the observed temperature rises since the 1950s and it’s “virtually certain” the global rate of sea-level rise has accelerated over the past two centuries, according to the summary document. Those main points are little changed from an earlier version that was leaked by the blogger Alec Rawls on the website www.stopgreensuicide.com in December.
The latest version of the summary includes a lower forecast for temperature rise from 2016 through 2035 of 0.3 degrees to 0.7 degrees Celsius, compared with 0.4 degrees to 1 degree in last year’s version. Both versions conclude that there’s “very high confidence” the Greenland Ice Sheet has lost mass and “high confidence” the same has happened to the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The two ice sheets contain more than 99 percent of the planet’s freshwater ice, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center.
Temperatures in the shallowest waters rose by more than 0.1 degree Celsius (0.18 degree Fahrenheit) a decade for the 40 years through 2010, the study found. Average sea levels have increased worldwide by about 19 centimeters (7.5 inches) since 1901 and researchers said it’s “very likely” the system of ocean currents that includes the Gulf Stream will slow in the coming decades.
The findings are detailed in a 2,200-page report that will guide UN envoys as they devise a new treaty to fight climate change by 2015. It was obtained by Bloomberg from a person with official access to the report who declined to be further identified because it hasn’t been published. The UN declined to comment.
“The Earth is absorbing more heat than it is emitting back into space, and nearly all this excess heat is entering the oceans and being stored there,” the report’s authors wrote. “Changes have been observed in ocean properties of relevance to climate during the past 40 years, including temperature, salinity, sea level, carbon, pH and oxygen.”
It’s “extremely likely” mankind is responsible for more than half of the observed temperature rises since the 1950s and it’s “virtually certain” the global rate of sea-level rise has accelerated over the past two centuries, according to the summary document. Those main points are little changed from an earlier version that was leaked by the blogger Alec Rawls on the website www.stopgreensuicide.com in December.
The latest version of the summary includes a lower forecast for temperature rise from 2016 through 2035 of 0.3 degrees to 0.7 degrees Celsius, compared with 0.4 degrees to 1 degree in last year’s version. Both versions conclude that there’s “very high confidence” the Greenland Ice Sheet has lost mass and “high confidence” the same has happened to the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The two ice sheets contain more than 99 percent of the planet’s freshwater ice, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center.
Friday, September 06, 2013
HECO could charge more for solar
Hawaii's solar energy boom has grown to the point where rooftop photovoltaic panels are providing all of the electricity consumed during some daylight hours in about 13 percent of Oahu neighborhoods, the Hawaiian Electric Co. said.
The high level of PV penetration, far beyond what is occurring anywhere on the mainland, is the result of a doubling of solar power generating capacity in Hawaii nearly every year since 2005. The rapid growth has put Hawaii at the forefront of an evolving effort by utilities nationally to accept greater amounts of intermittent solar energy into their electrical grids.
While HECO is taking steps to integrate more solar energy, that could result in added costs for some new solar customers. If HECO determines improvements are needed in a certain area to accommodate additional amounts of solar energy, new solar customers may have to bear the cost.
This week HECO began contacting its Oahu customers planning on installing PV systems, as well as PV contractors, to make sure the customers are informed of any equipment upgrades they may have to pay for.
The upgrades to the Oahu grid are necessary, HECO says, because of the rapid growth in solar installations.
The latest numbers from HECO, unthinkable just a few years ago, show that solar energy provides all of the minimum daytime power needs for 54 circuits, or neighborhoods, out of the 416 circuits on Oahu. The threshold has been reached on 26 out of Maui's 132 circuits and 17 of 143 circuits on Hawaii island.
"Those are impressive figures. Saturation on some of those circuits is higher than any other area in the country," said Tim Lindl, attorney for the nonprofit Interstate Renewable Energy Council based in Latham, N.Y.
Roughly 5 percent of HECO's customers on Oahu and Maui, and 4 percent of its customers on Hawaii island, have installed PV systems, according to data from the utility. That compares with about 1.5 percent of the customers served by California's two largest electric utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison.
*** [10/19/13]
The high level of PV penetration, far beyond what is occurring anywhere on the mainland, is the result of a doubling of solar power generating capacity in Hawaii nearly every year since 2005. The rapid growth has put Hawaii at the forefront of an evolving effort by utilities nationally to accept greater amounts of intermittent solar energy into their electrical grids.
While HECO is taking steps to integrate more solar energy, that could result in added costs for some new solar customers. If HECO determines improvements are needed in a certain area to accommodate additional amounts of solar energy, new solar customers may have to bear the cost.
This week HECO began contacting its Oahu customers planning on installing PV systems, as well as PV contractors, to make sure the customers are informed of any equipment upgrades they may have to pay for.
The upgrades to the Oahu grid are necessary, HECO says, because of the rapid growth in solar installations.
The latest numbers from HECO, unthinkable just a few years ago, show that solar energy provides all of the minimum daytime power needs for 54 circuits, or neighborhoods, out of the 416 circuits on Oahu. The threshold has been reached on 26 out of Maui's 132 circuits and 17 of 143 circuits on Hawaii island.
"Those are impressive figures. Saturation on some of those circuits is higher than any other area in the country," said Tim Lindl, attorney for the nonprofit Interstate Renewable Energy Council based in Latham, N.Y.
Roughly 5 percent of HECO's customers on Oahu and Maui, and 4 percent of its customers on Hawaii island, have installed PV systems, according to data from the utility. That compares with about 1.5 percent of the customers served by California's two largest electric utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison.
*** [10/19/13]
Two weeks
ago, this column covered concerns on the part of consumers that had
contracted to install solar systems and on the part of industry
leadership. In the meantime, the state Legislature held an informational
hearing during which it questioned HECO about its procedural
changes and also heard testimony from the Interstate Renewable Energy
Council, the Hawaii Solar Energy Association and the Hawaii PV
Coalition, ending with a directive to work on a solution and report back
next month.
HECO
acknowledged that the transition to new procedures on Sept. 6 left many
customers that had followed all the company's rules in what the
solar industry calls "solar limbo." This then caused a significant
slowdown for many solar installers.
HECO
announced on Sept. 6 that consumers wanting to install solar systems
first had to get HECO to confirm that the grid in their
neighborhood could handle the added solar power. HECO said if the grid
needed an upgrade to handle more solar power, the consumers
installing new solar systems would have to pay for those upgrades.
This
week, I had the opportunity to interview Peter Rosegg, a spokesman for
HECO. He said that at the informational hearing, all parties
agreed that safety cannot be compromised. Responsible solar installers
also acknowledged the utility's statement that too much solar on a
circuit without proper protective equipment risks the safety of
customers and utility crews and damage to customer electronics and
utility equipment such as lines, transformers and substations. Still,
many solar industry leaders are skeptical, saying that HECO is
heavily overplaying concerns about safety, reliability and grid
penetration.
Delays
both for HECO customers and the solar industry are frustrating and costly. The impact of the changed procedures, from the solar
industry's point of view, include 30 percent to 75 percent of their jobs
postponed; "millions" lost in revenue; "millions" in commitments
to vendors; warehouses full; lost hours for employees; continued payment
so as not to lose skilled and hard-to-find electrical journeymen;
and six weeks of confusion.
In
response, and in an effort to work with the Hawaii Solar Energy
Association and PV Coalition, HECO has pledged to try to help some
1,000 customers who may have committed to bank loans, obtained building
permits and ordered solar equipment but had not yet notified the
utility in advance as is now required.
While
HECO is a major reason for the slowdown, the solar industry is also in
the midst of an inevitable industry consolidation. The combination
of federal and state tax credits together with bonus depreciation in
recent years has fueled a dramatic, unsustainable proliferation in
the number of companies in the market. Concurrently, as the Great
Recession resolves, investment capital, once vying for solar
projects, may be pulling back in favor of other competing opportunities.
During
the last legislative session, strong consideration was given to reducing
state credits now in place. It didn't happen. Legislators should
let it go. Federal credits begin to phase down at the end of 2016.
Tapering state credits now while HECO is also in transition on its
policies and its grid is a dangerous prospect. The phasing out of
additional federal Safe Harbor and bonus depreciation benefits
together with industry consolidation portend substantial headwinds for
solar.
The big
picture is that modern civilization is quickly realizing that the health
of the planet and its inhabitants is, in part, dependent on our
collective ability to move beyond petroleum toward a consortium of
clean, renewable energy options including not only solar, but also
wind, geothermal and hydroelectric sources. HECO's ability to support
this transition to the maximum extent possible is a critical step.
The task is huge, but essential. As a society, we will get there in
time.
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