cable TV threatened by unbundling

With HBO and CBS planning stand-alone streaming services, the oft-maligned pay-TV bundle has begun to loosen. But it’s not clear the brave new streaming world that replaces it will actually be cheaper for consumers.

By offering their networks directly to consumers via the Internet, HBO and CBS are cutting out the middleman—cable and satellite companies—and potentially undermining the backbone of the television business.

On the surface, this is seen as a win for people frustrated with rising monthly television bills and paying for lots of channels they don’t watch. Other networks are following the lead of Time Warner’s HBO and CBS, including Univision Communications Inc. and possibly Showtime, which is a unit of CBS Corp.

Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN is also developing online-only platforms that would be offered separate from traditional channels.

“It seems to me that a la carte, which seemed like a distant reality a few months ago, has become a much more viable option,” said Tuna Amobi, an analyst at S&P Capital IQ. “This is a watershed moment for the industry.”

But cord-cutters should be careful what they wish for. A future where television viewers subscribe to each channel individually could be cheaper for young people who only watch two or three channels, industry executives said. But analysts say that for households filled with people of differing tastes or fans of many channels, this future could make the average cable TV bill — which hovers at around $90—seem like a bargain.

Driving the change is the growing popularity of online streaming services from Netflix Inc, Hulu and Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Instant Video. In response, many networks have started making their own content available online or selling it to such services, but usually after it debuts on their linear service.

Now, though, as the number of people either abstaining from pay-TV or opting for smaller packages with fewer channels grows, traditional networks are starting to hedge their bets. “There is no question that streaming, in terms of consumer options, is becoming a reality,” said Mr. Amobi.

Technology may be doing what consumer advocates and many lawmakers have long argued for—making programming available on an a la carte basis, which they believe will result in smaller bills.

Some analysts however, paint a grim portrait of an unbundled world. Laura Martin, an analyst at Needham & Co., estimates that unbundling would drain half of the revenue, or $70 billion, out of the television industry. Moreover, today’s hundreds of channels would shrink down to about 20, she wrote. That is because advertising would decrease substantially on channels with reduced audience reach, forcing consumers to pay the entire cost of running the channels, instead of splitting that cost with advertisers, as is done in basic cable.

Sports networks could be most at risk in an unbundled world. About half of the subscriber fees paid each month by consumers go to channels with sports, even though these channels account for less than a quarter of viewership, according to Nielsen data analyzed by Needham.

If ESPN were taken out of the bundle, for example, it might need to cost as much as $30—instead of the roughly $6 per subscriber it currently charges as part of the bundle, according to SNL Kagan—to recoup its losses from reduced distribution and continue to afford its content.

Programmers, meanwhile, are protective of the bundle because it allows for the pairing of weaker channels with strong ones. Content companies often offer discounts to distributors for taking weaker channels along with strong ones.

“All these things are so much more expensive when you separate them out,” said David Bank, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. “You are going to have to pay more for less choice.”

***

[I don't know.  Something about this article smells fishy.]

TIVO

I'm tempted by two options.  Giving up cable TV (cutting the cord) or getting the TIVO Roamio.

Those who have the TIVO apparently love it.  Here's a review from Yahoo and another from CNET.  What I like is the high capacity of the DVR.  Along with the capability of transferring the shows to your PC.  I guess those would be mainly sports because most of the shows and movies should be available on DVD or streaming.

Redbox Instant shutting down

Redbox Instant, the streaming-video service developed in partnership with Verizon to take on Netflix, is closing its doors on Tuesday.

Customers who head to the Redbox Instant page on Monday find a "shutdown notice," saying that Redbox Instant by Verizon will end its operation on Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. PT. The companies plan to provide information on refunds to current customers on Friday. The site said customers who have paid for a full month's subscription fee, but have received service for only part of the month, will receive a full month's refund.

Its demise underscores the difficulty new players face breaking into the subscription streaming-video market dominated by Netflix, as it and other large rivals like Amazon's Prime Instant Video benefit from a huge head start on subscriber rolls. It also casts a sharp light on how those bigger competitors have already moved on to the next phase of subscription streaming video -- becoming a creator and distributor of original content, in the mold of a TV network for the digital age.

Redbox Instant was a joint venture between DVD-kiosk provider Redbox, the biggest business of the company Outerwall, and Verizon in 2012, with Verizon holding a 65 percent share and Redbox holding the rest at the outset.

The service officially launched to the public in 2013 with nearly 5,000 titles. Over the last year and a half, the service was made available on several different devices, including the Roku set-top box and Sony's PlayStation 4 game console, among others.

However, the platform never found much traction with consumers. During its second-quarter earnings call, the company said it was "not pleased with where the subscribers are to date" on Redbox Instant. During that call, Redbox said it could nix the contract in 2015, if it wanted to do so.

"The joint venture partners made this decision after careful consideration," said a Verizon spokesperson. "The service had not been as successful as either partner hoped it would be. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers."

In a statement to CNET, Verizon said the service just didn't live up to its expectations. A representative for Redbox said growing Redbox Instant's subscriber base over time was a major challenge. The red kiosks' main business of renting DVDs will continue as usual, she said.

going off the grid

When Hawaiian Electric Co. began slowing rooftop solar installations last year, it pushed energy companies, legislators and residents to seek out other options, including a growing interest in going off the grid.

There are 4,500 people on Oahu waiting for approval for rooftop solar systems as a result of a September 2013 rule change where HECO required customers and contractors to be OK'd by the utility before installing photovoltaic panels. Some customers have waited as much as nine months for approval and are afraid they may miss out on lucrative tax credits if they don't act fast.

"We hear from a growing number of customers looking for off-grid solutions," said Chris DeBone, managing partner at KumuKit and Hawaii Energy Connection.

Local solar companies -- including KumuKit, Distributed Energy Partners and RevoluSun -- are working on offering solar systems linked to batteries.

Power from the sun charges the batteries, which are used at night and on cloudy days to provide electricity to the home. In some cases, these systems could provide all the power for a home, as long as its energy use is modest, and allow the homeowner to go off the grid.

In most cases, the batteries would be used in conjunction with the grid. The grid powers the home when the batteries are depleted. This is called a "non-export" system because all the power from the solar system is used in the home and none is exported to the grid.

A non-export system would avoid the problem which led to HECO slowing down solar installations. HECO said it had to slow down installations because too much intermittent solar power on the grid causes instability.

"The time is right" for battery systems, said Mark Duda, Hawaii PV Coalition president and principal with Distributed Energy Partners. "There wasn't a marketplace need. When they had an option, it wasn't compelling to seek out storage."

Going off the grid, while popular on the Big Island, is still rare on Oahu.

RevoluSun installed less than a dozen energy storage systems that allowed customers to live off grid since 2009. In the last month, almost 50 customers have called the company looking to take their systems off-grid, said Colin Yost, principal and general counsel at RevoluSun.

"We are actually developing some completely off-grid systems right now and testing them. The technology has been changing rapidly. Yesterday, we met with another manufacturer," Yost said.

Energy storage is and will be fundamental, Duda said.

"There is too much uncertainty around interconnection and too many options for battery storage," Duda said. "No matter which direction this goes, you need storage."

The solar companies don't advertise off-grid options due to the cost for consumers and anticipation for a better technology to be available soon.

"Most of the battery systems you see generally have to be replaced far sooner than the PV system itself and can make the whole thing less affordable," said Yost. "It's getting close but we aren't comfortable offering it on a large scale yet."

The initial prices for an off-the-grid system are still very expensive, but because of high electricity rates residents can save money over time if they go off-grid, Yost said.

"Hawaii has reached a grid-parity, meaning an off-grid system is just as cheap or even cheaper than getting energy from the utility and the reason for that primarily is because Hawaii's electricity is so expensive," Yost said. "Once the technology gets better, if the prices stay high, you will see an exodus of customers who all leave the grid entirely."

The price of electricity in Hawaii is nearly three times the national average in large part because of the high cost of fuel oil used for power generation.

Hawaii residents paid an average of 38.66 cents a kilowatt-hour for electricity in June compared with the national average of 12.97 cents a kilowatt-hour, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Another issue for homeowners thinking of going solar is the ticking clock on federal tax credits.

A 30 percent federal tax credit available to those who install solar systems ends Dec. 31, 2016. There is also a state tax credit for PV system installations of 35 percent up to $5,000 per system, which doesn't have an expiration date.

when the wolves came back to Yellowstone

When wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park after a 70 year absence, they did something amazing to the entire park.

While most people consider wolves to be killers, what they don’t realize is how important these animals are to any eco-system. After the wolves came back to Yellowstone, they started feeding on the deer that had overpopulated the park for years. Because of this, an entire “trophic cascade” occurred, and the landscape was completely changed for the better – all the way down to the rivers. One pack of wolves was able to restructure the land, simply by doing what they do naturally.

[via facebook]

The TED talk (George Monbiot narration)

The Yellowstone Wolf Project

In The Valley of the Wolves (PBS)

There's always a spoilsport in the crowd

U2 go away

While Bono and Tim Cook (pictured) might be excited about the release of U2's new album, not everyone is sharing their enthusiasm.

Toward the end of Tuesday's Apple event, Tim Cook and Bono announced that every iTunes user would be given the band's new album for free. 

While that might not sound like a bad thing, many people are angry over the way Apple chose to "gift" the album.

U2's new album, "Songs of Innocence," shows up in iTunes libraries as purchased, whether users have chosen to buy it or not. That has made a lot of people angry, as it's nearly impossible to get rid of the album.

Users who have opted to download new purchases to their iPhone automatically have found the new U2 album sitting on their phone since Tuesday. But even if iTunes users hadn't chosen automatic downloads, "Songs of Innocence" will still be displayed as an "iTunes in the Cloud" purchase.

That means it will still be shown as part of your music library, even if you delete all the tracks. The only way to make the U2 album go away is to go to your Mac or PC and hide all of your "iTunes in the Cloud" purchases, or to use iTunes to manually hide each track from your purchased items list.

Even then, the U2 album will lurk in your account, hidden until you decide you want it.

*** 9/15/14

U2 played at an Apple event last week that included the unveiling of the iPhone maker's new smartwatch and updated iPhone models. In a surprise move, the Irish rock band performed at the event and put out its 11-song release.

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the new album would be given to the company's 500 million iTunes users. The release showed up in users' iTunes music libraries. The company said Monday that 33 million iTunes account holders have accessed the free album.

But some iTunes users took to Twitter to complain and ask how to remove it. While it was already possible to delete the album, Apple's tool makes it possible in one step.

Tool to remove the U2 album: http://bit.ly/1pgShH6

Apple's "how to" guide to deleting the album: http://bit.ly/1uDS46n

who's watching TV?

New analysis of television viewing trends shows the TV audience is aging much faster than previously believed, as Americans under the age of 50 turn away from network programming, even when DVR-captured delayed viewing is included.

Media analyst Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson Research says the median age of the TV audience in the 2013-14 season rose 6%, or 2.5 years, to 44.4 years, from four years earlier. In the past five years, he says, the age of the typical TV viewer has advanced 5% faster than that of the average American. (The 2012 U.S. Census report has the median age of the American population at 37.2).

This “ratings-weighted average age” has climbed by 7% in the past few years among broadcast networks, to 53.9 years, and 8% for cable networks, to 40 years.

The climb in broad TV audience age is almost entirely due to the rapid decline in traditional TV viewership by younger people – but not only the very young. Nathanson calculates primetime live viewing is down 13% since 2010, yet it has not dropped measurably among those over age 55. Even as older viewers maintain their traditional tube time, a separate Nielsen study found those between 50 and 64 watched 19 minutes of digital video last quarter, up from 11 minutes a year earlier.

The graying of the TV audience has a few big implications for the media industry. Advertisers and TV executives for years have focused on ratings within “the demo” – people between age 18 and 49 – almost to the exclusion of others.

Standard wisdom has held that advertisers seek younger viewers because their brand loyalties are still shifting, making them susceptible to marketing messages. Companies still are willing to pay a premium to get at these coveted consumers, but as they become an ever-smaller part of the TV audience, programmers may no longer try to fashion shows for them.

Nathanson says he was prompted to examine the age breakdown of TV ratings by a reader of his reports “who also happens to be a senior cable network research executive,” who suggested that “more networks are now competing for older demographics and focusing less on the more ‘elusive’ younger demos.”

While he says he can’t prove such a shift has taken hold, Nathanson figures it’s logical to expect “more ‘Blue Bloods,’ more ‘CSIs,” to cite two typical CBS one-hour police dramas popular with that network’s older loyalists.

In this way, scripted TV might follow in the path of Broadway theater, a once-broad medium that came to be dominated by global tourists and older folks. Now, most Broadway productions are made specifically for tourists and older people. Similarly but on the other end of the spectrum, Hollywood economics became over-reliant on young men and the global box office,  so comic book vehicles and other effects-laden blockbusters hog studio budgets.

There are other implications of the slow aging and winnowing of the TV audience.

- Expect the continued escalation in the cost of sports-league television rights. Live sports in general, and pro football most of all, is the only form of programming that reliably reaches younger eyeballs in real time.

- Advertisers will turn their attention even more intensely toward Facebook Inc. (FB) and other social networks, which younger consumers increasingly use as their portal to media and pretty much everything else. Facebook's towering $200 billion valuation certainly reflects broad expectations it's becoming the main consumer advertising platform for this century.

- Programmers will be increasingly willing to experiment with alternative distribution platforms for their content. With less risk of cannibalizing one’s core younger audience by offering shows on Netflix Inc. (NFLX), networks will try to cut deals to reach the mobile, “time-shifting” viewer, wherever he or she can be found.

- In terms of the shows themselves, we might see even more formulaic dramas and sitcoms, more pharmaceutical commercials and more older leading men and women in primetime, to better reflect the core viewing audience, rather than the sleeker, younger people who aren’t paying attention now anyway.

iWatch unveiled (as the Apple Watch)

CUPERTINO Calif. (Reuters) - Apple Inc unveiled a watch, two larger iPhones and a mobile payments service on Tuesday as Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook seeks to revive the technology company's reputation as a wellspring of innovation.

The first new product to be developed and introduced under Cook's reign is a timepiece tethered to the iPhone that will combine health and fitness tracking with communications. It will price at $349 and go on sale in early 2015.

First impressions were mixed. Some expected Apple to blow away the current competition but others warned the fact that it requires a paired iPhone may limit its sales.

Starting at $349 - $50 more than the cheapest version of the iPhone 6 with a contract, the lofty price tag may also keep some consumers on the sidelines. It could go up to more than $1,000 for higher-end editions, IDC analyst Danielle Levitas said.

The Apple Watch can receive phone calls and messages, play music, serve as a digital wallet to pay for goods and monitor heart rates via special sensors. The watches will come in three collections, including a sport edition and an upscale line coated in 18-karat gold.

"People are kind of scratching their heads on this watch, especially the fact that to successfully use the watch and to take advantage of its capabilities, you also have to have an iPhone," said Daniel Morgan, vice president at Synovus Trust Company in Atlanta. "I don't know if they're in the right direction with this iWatch."

Still, rival watch and wearable device makers will keep a wary eye on Apple, which upended the music industry and drove once-dominant phone makers like Blackberry to the brink of extinction.

Sony Corp, Samsung, LG Electronics Inc and Qualcomm Inc have already launched smartwatches, albeit without much success.

“Not the knockout some were anticipating. A bit gimmicky also on the health end of the wearable bands market," said Jon Cox, an analyst of Swiss watch companies at brokerage Kepler Cheuvreux in Zurich.

"Not as cool as I feared. Nick Hayek is probably sleeping a little easier tonight,” Cox said, referring to the chief executive of Swatch Group.

The watch is unlikely to increase Apple's top-line. Estimates vary but IDC expects total global demand of 42 million smartwatches in 2015. Apple sells that many or more iPhones in a good quarter.

But the pressure was on for the world's largest tech company to wow on Tuesday, after a years-long drought of products beyond new iPhones and iPads. The prospect of a new gadget attracted a broader swathe of attendees than usual, with celebrities, fashion industry editors and even healthcare executives rounding out the mostly tech-industry crowd.

Also on Tuesday, the company took the wraps off a larger, 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. They will support more than 200 telecoms carriers worldwide, including all three in China - a key growth market for the company.

And it introduced a new mobile payments service dubbed "Apple Pay." Each phone will come equipped with its new payments service, which launches in the United States next month and allows users to pay for items in stores with their phones instead of physically presenting their credit or debit cards.

Launch partners include Walt Disney Co, McDonald's and Whole Foods. The move gives Apple access to a trove of data on how consumers shop in brick and mortar stores, where more than 90 percent of U.S. retail sales are still conducted.

Each new iPhone will come with a "secure element" chip and a near-field communications, or NFC, antenna.

Ronald Wayne

When people think about the original founders of Apple, most people usually think of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. These guys are two of the most notable figures in tech history. However, Apple has a third co-founder that is rarely ever mentioned. In fact, the latest Jobs movie starring Ashton Kutcher didn’t even include him as a character.

Meet Ronald Wayne, some media outlets in the past has dubbed him as “the unluckiest man in the world”, because he sold his 10% stake in Apple 12 days after co-founding the company — his stake would be worth around $35 billion today [with a b]. Aside from that, in the early 1990′s he saw that Apple was plummeting and decided to sell the original document of the first Apple company agreement for $500. After nearly two decades, that same exact document was sold at an auction for $1.8 million dollars. Now if you think thats not bad enough, at one point in his life, he had all his life savings stolen from him as well. He likes to summarize his entrepreneurial enterprises as always being “either a day late, and/or a dollar short”.

A random story about Steve Jobs

I had a stamp store in Tucson, Arizona. And I got a phone call, from Steve Jobs, direct. It hadn’t happen before! “Hi Steve, how’re you doing?” He says, “Look, I haven’t got a whole lot of time. There would be airline tickets waiting for you at the airport and my chauffeur would pick you up when you get here at San Jose and we’ll set you up — no it was San Francisco because they set me up at the Mark Hopkins. And I said, “Well what’s this all about?” He says, “We’re doing a presentation and I thought it would be nice of you to join us.

Okay, fine, but I was wondering what the heck is this is all about. What’s going on here because Steve… this is out of character for Steve Jobs. But anyway, okay. So I got on the plane, got picked up on the airport, they set me up in the hotel. The next morning, he has people come in and pick me up and take me down to the auditorium where they were doing a presentation on G3, I think it was — something like that. They were presenting [the iMac]. Anyway, he did this spiel on stage and afterwards he comes and gets me and we go over the back and there’s a buffet with coffee and sandwiches and whatever and we took the tour of the convention, and we jumped in the car we go off to the Apple facility where Steve Wozniak joins us in the cafeteria, had lunch and we’re sitting in this table out in the patio. They’re carrying on this conversation about absolutely nothing — small talk — and then that’s it. Have a good trip back and we’ll see you! And I’m thinking was all, “What the heck was this all about?” And I never was able in my life to find out what the heck it was all about. It was very anticlimactic! At the end, as I’m on the plane going home, “It must have been something he had in mind! What did he do this for?” I couldn’t understand! [I] still don’t know to this day what that was all about.

$25,589.000 coming soon!

I am pleased to announce that I have recently received an offer via e-mail to transfer $25,589,000 directly into my bank account. I'm rich!

I have no idea why I, among the millions and millions of e-mail users, was singled out for such lavish treatment, but I assure you, I will not be selfish - once I have the money, I plan to share it, generously spending it on highly visible luxury automobiles and enormous yachts so everyone can see my wealth and enjoy it.

Lest you doubt the veracity of this deal, allow me to quote verbatim from the e-mail in question:

"Dear Sir: I am most unfortunate to thinking you may not suspect me as real for we do not now know or been introduced, but allow me to say I am Song Lou. I work for Heng Suck Banq, Ltd, and have the proposition for you of transferring $25.589 million USD directly to your bank account which will be of mutual benefit to you once we have established cordial cooperation and modality. Please GET BACK TO ME ASAP....Song Lou"

Here's how I know this is legitimate: (a) the dollar amount is very specific. I'd be suspicious of a rounded off figure; (b) he works for a Suck Bank. I'm a customer of a Service Sucks Bank, which is probably a subsidiary; and (c) he needs me to GET BACK TO him ASAP - legitimate business people are always in a big hurry. I responded to his e-mail the day I got it:

Dear Mr. Lou: So delightfully I am partaking of your recent e-mail! I would most cooperatively accept your transfer of $25.589 million because that's exactly how much I need! With much insomnia I beg for your response....W. Bruce Cameron

He wrote right back!

"Dear W: My associates are speaking most excitedly on this matter. We are requiring only of some informational proceedings for rapid facilitation of transfer. Please to forward bank account name, number, routing, and phone for reaching....Song Lou"

Great! I decided I just needed a little bit more informational proceeding myself and I'd be good to go.

Dear Song: Most unctuous and florid greetings upon your eyebrows. My concerning is for how the transfer is working. Would you please snorkel your immediate describings of the next notes in the opera? Yours in lasagna....W.

"Dear W: Some puzzlement has befuddled us during your last communications. However, we are confident with you as our partner in business for $25.589 million and can lay the goodness of an additional $10 million USD. However URGENT for response with banking informational details preceedingly requested. Yours truly....Song Lou"

Dear Song Sung Lou: Blessings upon you and your puppies. I have spoken with high regard to all my appliances of your keen business skills and shavings. Though much of my lust is bestirred by the $10 million, I am requisite of a total of $50 million and am inquiring of any possibility you and your associates may emerge from their medications with this additional transfer. Also, through the subscriptions of their loins my parents have blessed me with a sister through all perplexity, and she, too, would be willing for a limited time only to accept a $50-million transfer.

"Dear W.: Though our history suggests you can be trusted with our worthiness, many among us are suspect of you unseriously misdirecting our associations. Please be aware of our availability to the $50 million only if you can be convincing of your honesty! We have no wasting time! Yes, your sister please also bank information with 24 hours for transferring or we will be withdrawn to other matters. Yours truly....Song"

Dear Song: All of my follicles are emerging from the dark winter of their trousers and turning their taste buds to your luscious wrists! Most joyously do I face the soup of your embalming of my sister. My beamings are upon all of the Suck companies, with wishes for continued integrity at every turn of the pipe. Yours most impeded....Bruce

They never wrote back, but I'm sure the transfer is coming soon!

-- 8 Simple Rules, Bruce Cameron, MidWeek, December 5, 2012

buy a blu-ray player instead?

With all the attention on streaming media players such as Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast, you might not realize that Blu-ray players are a great option for streaming. We recently tested 19 new Blu-ray players and found a number of models that would be a smart way to get your fix from Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and more. So here are five reasons to buy a Blu-ray player instead of a streaming media device:

1. They offer streaming options galore. Many of the latest Blu-ray players offer the same video services as dedicated streaming devices. Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, Amazon Instant Video, CinemaNow, YouTube, and a slew of others are pretty common. You’ll also find many models with apps for Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr as well as music services such as Pandora and Rhapsody. A growing number of players have built-in Web browsers, too, along with access to the manufacturer’s app store.
2. They're versatile and easy to use. Early Blu-ray players were a little kludgy when it came to streaming, but they’ve improved a lot in the past year or two. In general, our testers found the players easy to use, with friendly, modern interfaces that might remind you of a tablet or smart phone’s. The boxes themselves are slim and attractive—a bit bigger than a media player, but they can replace your DVD or CD player, so you’ll save space that way. Some models can support a wireless keyboard or mouse, making it easier to search for titles and enter URLs. You can also get an app that enables you to use your mobile device as a remote to control the player.
3. They offer great connectivity options. Most new Blu-ray players have built-in Wi-Fi, so you don’t have to run a wire to your router or modem to access the Internet. (However, we recommend a wired Ethernet connection, if possible, for the best, most stable streaming experience.) DLNA-equipped players can stream music, video, and photos from a compatible computer, smart phone, or tablet on the same network to your TV. And those with screen mirroring let you watch the content from your mobile device on a big-screen TV.
4. Blu-ray discs have the best HD picture quality and sound you can get at home. The 1080p video on Blu-discs is superior to what you get from streaming, which can vary based on the available bandwidth of your broadband connection. It’s the best high-def picture you can watch on your TV. You also have the option of higher-resolution lossless audio, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master. Another plus: When you watch a disc there’s no buffering, as there is with Internet-based video. Any videophile worth his or her salt (and I work with several of them) opts for a Blu-ray disc over streaming for the best viewing experience. Also, many new Blu-ray players can play 3D discs, and a growing number can upconvert 1080p content to 4K for display on an Ultra HD, a plus if it does a better job than the TV.
5. You'll get the most bang for the buck. You can buy a very good Blu-ray player with streaming capabilities for less than $100, about the same price as many of the top streaming media players. Expect to pay a bit more—$150 or so—for a model with a Web browser and 4K upscaling.

facebook messenger

Facebook is planning to motivate people to download and use its standalone Facebook Messenger app by removing messaging capabilities from the standard Facebook mobile app.

Currently, users can chat through the Messages tab located on the bottom toolbar in the main Facebook app, but that tab will soon redirect users to download the Messenger app instead. When installed, a message received in the Facebook app will switch the user over to Messenger to chat, as it does now when a user has both the Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps installed.

***

Guess I gotta download another app.  Didn't even know they had a separate app

-- via facebook

Apple and IBM to work together

Flashback 30 years and no one would have seen this coming: After decades as competitors, Apple and IBM announced a deal to work together to create simple-to-use business apps, and sell iPhones and iPads to IBM's corporate customers.

Enemies during the early personal-computer wars, Apple Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. said they will cooperate in the mobile era, striking an agreement to create simple-to-use business apps and sell iPhones and iPads to Big Blue's corporate customers.

The deal underscores Apple's push to expand the reach of the iPhone and iPad into the business world—beyond their traditional base among consumers. IBM, meanwhile, is hoping Apple's simplicity and popularity will help stem eight consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue declines, as it moves more of its business software onto the mobile devices used by employees.

A partnership between the two companies would have been unthinkable 30 years ago when Apple famously attacked IBM in an iconic commercial titled "1984," painting IBM as a big-brother-like figure protecting the status quo while Apple's Macintosh provided a pathway to freedom.

But both companies have evolved since those days. While Apple still produces Mac computers, its main products are mobile devices. IBM sold its personal-computer business to Lenovo Group in 2005, repositioning the company as a software and computer-services provider.

"In '84, we were competitors. In 2014, I don't think you can find two more complementary companies," said Mr. Cook, who worked at IBM for more than a decade before joining Apple, in a joint interview with Ms. Rometty. "This is a really landmark deal."

Australia repeals carbon tax

SYDNEY (AP) - Australia's government repealed a much-maligned carbon tax on the nation's worst greenhouse gas polluters on Thursday, ending years of contention over a measure that became political poison for the lawmakers who imposed it.

The Senate voted 39 to 32 to axe the 24.15 Australian dollar ($22.60) tax per metric ton of carbon dioxide that was introduced by the center-left Labor government in July 2012. Conservative lawmakers burst into applause as the final tally was announced.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's conservative coalition government rose to power last year on the promise of getting rid of the tax, assuring voters that removing it would reduce household electricity bills. He plans to replace the measure with a taxpayer-financed AU$2.55 billion fund to pay industry incentives to use cleaner energy.

"Today, the tax that you voted to get rid of is finally gone: a useless, destructive tax which damaged jobs, which hurt families' cost of living and which didn't actually help the environment," Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

Australia is one of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters per capita, largely because of its heavy reliance on the nation's vast reserves of cheap coal for electricity.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten lashed out at Abbott after the vote, dubbing him an "environmental vandal."

"Today, Tony Abbott has made Australia the first country in the world to reverse action on climate change," Shorten told reporters. "History will judge Tony Abbott very harshly for refusing to believe in genuine action on climate change. Tony Abbott is sleepwalking Australia to an environmental and economic disaster."

The carbon tax, charged to about 350 of Australia's biggest carbon polluters, was controversial from the start. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard had initially vowed not to introduce a tax on carbon emissions. But after her Labor party was elected in 2010, she needed the support of the minor Greens party to form a government — and the Greens wanted a carbon tax. Gillard agreed, infuriating a public that viewed the measure's imposition as a broken promise.

Labor's popularity plummeted, particularly when consumers saw their power bills soar. In reality, the tax accounted for a relatively small portion of that increase, but many blamed it for the hike nonetheless.

Desperate to improve its standing with the public, Labor replaced Gillard with previous Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who promised to get rid of the tax and transition it earlier than planned to a cap-and-trade scheme, which would have significantly lowered the per-ton carbon price.

But it proved too little, too late. Abbott's party swept to power in last year's elections by vowing to get rid of the tax for good.

The prime minister said families will be AU$550 a year better off now that the tax is gone.

Big businesses and industry groups across Australia rallied behind the tax's abolition, including the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which dubbed the levy a dead weight on the economy.

"It really did impact on the competitiveness of many Australian businesses and of course it put up the price of power," the group's CEO Kate Carnell said. "So it's a good step forward for competitiveness and also for employment in Australia."

In a fiery speech ahead of Thursday's vote, Sen. Christine Milne, leader of the Greens, called it an "appalling day for Australia."

"A vote for the abolition of the clean energy package is a vote for failure," she said. "If this parliament votes to abandon the clean energy package, you are voting against the best interests of the nation."

Environmental groups called the tax's repeal an international embarrassment.

"It's a very sad day because it was working, this carbon price," said Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O'Shanassy. "Our government has failed Australians and they need to go and look their kids and their grandkids in the eye and tell them why — why — they are unwinding laws that will protect people in this country from climate change."

Two Dots

Here's a simple game that's fun to play on the ipad.

But actually I wound up installing (and playing) an even simpler game called Match the Dots by IceMochi.

Claude Shannon

Every digital device you use operates on a string of ones and zeroes, the binary "yes/no" decision at the foundation of modern computing. It's a concept so fundamental to our modern day that we rarely stop to wonder where it came from. But it's all the work of one man: Claude Shannon, whose fascinating story you've likely never heard.

The name would mean nothing to me, either, if it weren't for this gorgeous little video essay from Delve. Shannon, a mathematician, electronic engineer, and cryptographer, was the first person to understand that any form of data could be transferred in the most basic packets: bits, nothing more than a slew of yes and no toggles. As Delve explains, that idea forever changed the way we communicate.

Shannon's work earned him little fame, but the first principles he theorized make every digital thing we do today possible. As we type, tap, pinch, zoom, dictate, download, message and chat our way through every day, it's hard to imagine what life would be like without his innovations.

[via facebook]

Note: Claude Shannon was written about in the first chapter of Fortune's Formula.

OTA DVRs

Aereo promised a breakthrough service for cord-cutters: the ability to watch and record over-the-air TV without the hassle of an antenna or additional hardware for $8 to $12 a month.

Wednesday's Supreme Court decision against Aereo means the company's current service is effectively illegal. (CBS, the parent company of CNET, is one of the companies that brought the suit against Aereo.) But that doesn't mean that cable cutters are out of options. Over the last year, several compelling over-the-air recording solutions have hit the market, making it easier for cord cutters to supplement streaming video services like Netflix with traditional network television, as long as you get reception.

I've reviewed most of the major over-the-air DVRs and the good news is the options are far better than they've been in the past. Each solution has its strengths and weaknesses, so which one is best for you will largely depend on your budget, viewing habits, and level of tech savvy.

Let's take a look at what's available.

TiVo Roamio: The best, if you're willing to pay

Channel Master DVR+: No-frills recording at a budget price

Nuyvvo Tablo: Innovative option that's best for techies

Simple.TV 2: Improved, but with competition

Other options: Skip the DVR or roll your own (Hauppage HD PVR)

*** [6/7/16 inspired from a scribbled note written who knows how long ago.  I looked at this before but I guess I never wrote about it here in this blog.]

Another option is the Silicon Dust HD Homerun Prime.

It's not an OTA DVR, but is a possible replacement for the DVR from your cable company.  It accepts a cable card.  However it doesn't connect directly to your TV.  It connects to your computer which can be connected to your TV.  Currently works with Windows 7 media center.  Alternatively you can use an XBox 360 as a Windows Media Center Extender to watch on your TV.  I don't know the current compatibility with Windows 10.

The homepage says "QAM - Live US CableTV with DRM Support (CableCARDtm conditional access) streaming Premium cable channels throughout your home."  So maybe you can just connect your cable directly to it?  [Well, the HDHomerun CONNECt apparently can.]

Check out Lon Seidman's youtube videos for more info.

Silicon Dust's OTA DVR product is the HDHomerun CONNECT.

You connect your OTA antenna to it and attach it to your router.  Then any computer on the network can access the signal and play and record TV.  Apparently it supports the Fire TV?

And coming up (hopefully), the HD Homerun DVR which would reduce the need for the convoluted hardware setups (and Windows Media Center).

I recall I saw the HD Homerun mentioned on twit.  Don't think it was this episode.  Or was it this one? (which mentions Clear QAM and tuners with CableCards).  Yeah, I think this is the one.

Android TV

Android TV is one of the myriad new things that Google announced this year at I/O, and the platform is very different from Google’s previous effort with Google TV, a project announced in 2010 and updated continually since but that still hasn’t managed to become a significant part of Google’s lineup.

Google is looking to change all that with Android TV. It’s a brand new platform, designed with simplicity and relevance in mind, with an interface that puts a strong emphasis on content first, and then offers up apps ordered based on your usage patterns and focuses finally on delivering top-quality Android games right to your big screen.

Content, apps and games; that’s it, and it’s a smart move by Google to pare down and focus on the core experiences that matter to TV watchers. Over and over, the company spoke to its new desire to provide the right interface for the right situation on the right device, and Android TV is a great example of that theory put into action, at least based on our early impressions.

It’s similar in many ways to what Amazon has done with the Fire TV, but Google’s interface is better-designed and less confusing, and it probably will have a better time incorporating content sources from third-party providers than will Amazon, thanks to its developer tools and the advantages devs have by building apps that work across Android wherever it happens to appear.

*** [10/29/14]

Google announces its Nexus Player.  It reminds the cordkillers folks of the Amazon Fire TV.

the AND car (Elio)

NEW YORK — Some time next year, a company called Elio Motors claims it will begin building a car in its Louisiana factory that will get 84 miles per gallon on the highway and that will sell for a base price of $6,800.

Yes, $6,800.

It won’t be a tiny little deathtrap, either. It’ll have a five-star crash safety rating. At least, that’s what Elio is promising.

That sounds like the wish-list of someone with zero contact with reality, but Elio Motors executives insist it’s possible thanks to the car’s odd lay-out and the complete lack of any new technology. Yes, these folks actually brag that their car has nothing new on it.

Paul Elio, who founded Elio Motors from the crumbled remains of his auto parts design business, said this car isn’t intended to replace the family car, and by the looks of it, clearly it’s not.

“We want to be an ‘and’ not an ‘or’” he said.

The Elio Motors car — it has no model name and they plan to keep it that way — is a three wheeler. There are two wheels out front, separated from the rest of the body, and one back wheel. The engine — 3 cylinders producing 55 horsepower — rides in the nose driving the front wheels.

The weird three-wheeled shape optimizes aerodynamics by cutting way down on frontal area and giving the car a nearly ideal “teardrop” body. Having only three wheels also allows the Elio car to be, in legal terms, a motorcycle.

That should let the company skate by on much looser safety requirements. But, Elio insists, they don’t plan on taking advantage of that loophole. The car will be tested in regular automobile crash tests and, they insist, it will get top marks.

Elio Motors says it’s keeping prices low and chances for success high by keeping things simple. All the parts are being made by established automotive suppliers. The cars will be built in a factory that used to make Hummer H3s and Chevrolet trucks. Even the manufacturing process has been simplified, company executives say. The cars will be built with no options. Most options will be added on after the car is built.

The Elio reminded me of another car: the now defunct Aptera.

The Aptera was an electric car that also used a three-wheel design. It looked like a private aircraft fuselage that was driving itself to the airport. I drove the Aptera back in 2010. That was after years of starts, stalls as the company tried to actually produce its revolutionary new vehicles.

Then, less than a year after I tested the car, Aptera went down for the final time, never having made it to market.

On the other hand, while the Elio car seems crazy and weird, Tesla seemed like a long shot to me once, too. The fact remains, though, start-ups in the auto business have a tough road ahead of them.

*** [8/16/14]

Phoenix-based Elio plans to start making the cars next fall at a former General Motors plant in Shreveport, Louisiana. Already, more than 27,000 people have reserved one. Elio hopes to make 250,000 cars a year by 2016. That's close to the number Mazda sells in the U.S.

Supreme Court rules against Aereo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that online TV service Aereo Inc, backed by media mogul Barry Diller, violates copyright law by using tiny antennas to provide subscribers with broadcast network content via the Internet.

In a 6-3 ruling seen as important to the future of television for media companies and consumers alike, the court handed a victory to the four major TV broadcasters and cast Aereo’s immediate future into doubt.

The court said the service constitutes a public performance of copyrighted content. For the networks, the victory protects the estimated $3 billion in so-called retransmission fees that broadcasters get from cable and satellite TV systems.

Justice Stephen Breyer said in the majority opinion that the ruling should not spell trouble for cloud-based content services in which personal files - including TV shows and music - are stored remotely on the Internet on servers from companies such as Google Inc , Microsoft Corp , DropBox Inc and Box Inc.

Aereo had argued that cloud services use the Internet in the same way as it does to store and transfer copyrighted content.

The case came before the court when Walt Disney Co's ABC network, CBS Corp, Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc appealed a decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2013 that denied their request to shut Aereo down while litigation moves forward.

Aereo, backed by Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, charges users a low monthly fee to stream live broadcasts of TV channels on mobile devices using miniature antennas that the company hosts. Aereo does not pay the broadcasters. It was introduced in 2012.

During oral arguments in the case in April, the Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical about Aereo's position in the copyright dispute with major broadcasters, but several raised concerns about how a ruling against the startup could affect cloud computing services.

Some broadcasters such as CBS Corp had even threatened to cut off their free-to-air broadcast signals or create their own low-cost Internet feeds of the channel were Aereo to win.

[11/21/14] Aereo files bankruptcy

13 pioneers

that forever changed consumers' lives

Apple
Facebook
Google
Netflix
Craigslist
Amazon
Wikipedia
TiVo
Pandora
Square
Magellan
Blackberry
Tesla

No, eBay?

[via facebook]

inside the mind of Elon Musk

When Robert Downey Jr. found out that he was going to play Iron Man in the movies, he said, "We need to sit down with Elon Musk."

That's because Musk — colonizer of Mars, transformer of cars, shepherd of solar panels — is the closest thing we've got to a superhero.

Born in South Africa, he sold his first software — a game called Blastar — when he was only 11. He went on to found and sell a startup to Compaq for $300 million in 1999, and parlayed that into a major stake in PayPal, which eBay bought for $1.5 billion in 2002.

With that dough, he got into three world-changing companies: Tesla, SpaceX, and Solar City. And though Tesla and SpaceX nearly went bankrupt, each of the companies is now shifting their industries.

Yet Musk — with his 100-hour workweeks, estimated $11.7 billion net worth, and habit of never taking a note in meetings — remains enigmatic. So we went looking for clues to his vision, goals, and thinking process.

Here's what we found.

[via facebook]

FreeNAS

an operating system that fits on a flash drive (and more)

The Steve Jobs of Toilets

Yoshiaki Fujimori wants to be the Steve Jobs of toilets.

Like iPhones, app-packed commodes are objects of desire in Mr. Fujimori's Japan. The lids lift automatically. The seats heat up. Built-in bidets make cleanup a breeze. Some of them even sync with users' smartphones via Bluetooth so that they can program their preferences and play their favorite music through speakers built into the bowl.

Three-quarters of Japanese homes contain such toilets, most of them made by one of two companies: Toto, Japan's largest maker of so-called sanitary ware, or Lixil Corp, where Mr. Fujimori is the chief executive.

Now Mr. Fujimori is leading a push to bring them to the great unwashed. In May, Lixil plans to add toilets with "integrated bidets" to the lineup of American Standard Brands, which Lixil acquired last year for $542 million, including debt.

While bidets have often served as a byword for Old World debauchery in the U.S., Mr. Fujimori said Americans would welcome bidet-equipped toilets into their homes once they see them sold under a familiar name. Few people realized they needed smartphones until Apple's (AAPL) iPhone came along. So it will be in the U.S. with American Standard's new toilets, Mr. Fujimori said.

"Industry presents iPhone -- industry presents shower toilet," Mr. Fujimori said in an interview at Lixil's headquarters in Tokyo. "We can create the same type of pattern."

Toto and Kohler, a U.S. manufacturer of bathroom fittings, have been selling toilets with bidet functions in the U.S. for several years. Beyond a niche market of Hollywood celebrities and early adopters, however, they feature more prominently in American bathroom humor than American bathrooms. The price, which can range up to more than $5,000 for high-end models -- more than 10 times the price of some conventional toilets -- is only one reason.

In a 2011 appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," the actress Whoopi Goldberg called her Toto Washlet "the greatest invention on the face of the earth." Homer Simpson, on the other hand, merely looked bemused when, during a 1999 episode of "The Simpsons" that was set in Japan, a hotel toilet announced: "Welcome. I am honored to accept your waste."

power cord labels

[via facebook]

Windows 8.1

finally decided to upgrade the Windows 8.0 on my notebook
took a while to download
it ran in the background as I was doing other things (didn't even realize it was downloading)

complete installation / it requires you to have a Microsoft account (I used my hotmail account)
now has a new desktop background
a start button on the desktop (which goes to the Metro desktop)
and a power off button near the top right of the Metro screen

OneDrive must now be part of Windows 8.1 as it is being installed automatically

now asks for a password on startup (your Microsoft account)
set it so it logs in automatically

just noticed it boots to the desktop instead of the Metro screen
seemed to take longer to boot up now though (at first anyway)
I also see an option to x out of Metro apps (in addition to dragging them down)

tried accessing some files on OneDrive.  at first it didn't work.  In my case, I tried running editpad, but it errored out because the .ini file wasn't available.  So I clicked on it and it came up in notepad.  I guess that made the .ini file available because editpad worked after that.

I see now I could have right-clicked to make it available offline (which I assume downloads it to the computer).

I also now see that Windows 8.1 requires a password after entering sleep mode
Changed it to not require a password on wakeup

Particle Fever

I suppose I should be interested in this movie.  Maybe it'll come to Netflix or RedBox and I'll can watch it.

In the meantime, you can watch this (which might be just as good or better - it seems really good after watching the first minute or so).

see also The Footprint of God for more on the Higgs boson

[10/6/14] Particle Fever currently streaming on Netflix.  Apparently arrived in July.

Turing Test finally passed

Judges in England were fooled into thinking the computer program they were conversing with was a human on Saturday — making the it the first to pass the 65-year-old Turing Test.        

"Eugene Goostman" is not a 13-year-old boy, but 33 percent of the people who partook in five minute keyboard conversations with the computer program at the Royal Society in London thought it was, according to The University of Reading, which organized the test.

The Turing Test is based on “the father of modern computer science” Alan Turing’s question, “Can Machines Think?”

If a computer is mistaken for a human by more than 30 percent of judges, it passes the test, but no computer has accomplished the feat — until now.

“Eugene” was created in Saint Petersburg, Russia, by software development engineer Vladimir Veselov and software engineer Eugene Demchenko, according to the University of Reading. The computer program was tested along with four others during Saturday night’s event, but was the only one to thoroughly imitate a person.

“Our whole team is very excited with this result,” Veselov said. “Going forward we plan to make Eugene smarter and continue working on improving what we refer to as 'conversation logic.’”

GameGavel

Another place to buy/sell video games.

This guy is selling his world record collection of 11,000+ video games.  Bid is up to $230,000 with 8 days left.

[6/19/14] Last week, Michael Thomasson put his record-setting video game collection up to auction. Thomasson has amassed the largest video game collection in the world, with almost 11,000 unique games. It's now gone to the highest bidder for three-quarter of a million dollars.

Thomasson sold this collection, along with the Guinness World Record he received in 2012, for $750,250. That's about $68 per game. Many of the games in his collection are originals, still in their packaging. He began this collection in 1998. Years of working for a game resale website and managing a gaming store allowed Thomasson to create a unique and impressive collection. Now, someone can proudly display all the titles or resell them individually at a profit.

The auction received over fifty bids, including two from Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey. A bidding war between two users began around the $500,000 mark, increasing the price a quarter of a million dollars in about seven hours.

whose line is it?

When you look at the lines on a utility pole, you may notice there are several sets of lines.

Most of the utility poles on Hawai‘i Island are jointly owned and may carry electric, telephone, and cable TV lines.

As you’ll see in the photo at right, higher voltage electric lines are situated at the very top of the utility pole, with lower voltage lines directly underneath. Telephone and cable lines are located farther down the pole.

P.S. Don't call the phone number in the document as I think the pdf is the Maui edition of the insert and lists the Maui number.

P.P.S.  Ah, here's the Oahu edition.

bing vs. google

I did a search for the following text which was in the Hawaiian Electric insert that they include with the bill

"when you look at the lines on a utility pole, you may notice there are several sets of lines"

when I entered it in bing, I didn't find the document I was looking for

but when I entered it in google, I did

Then I entered it in bingiton and it came out with the result I was looking for.

So why is the result on bing and bingiton different?  Hmm.

Now I started bingiton fresh and entered the search, and bing doesn't have it.  Hmm again.

...  Funny when I enter the search phrase without the w of the when, Bing finds it.  That's because the W in the pdf file is actually a graphic W and not a text w.  So google appears to be smarter.

(But I still use Bing because they give me 15 cents a day to do 30 searches.)

free anti-virus

[10/1/14] Panda tops rankings of anti-virus software

[6/1/14]  I routinely install Microsoft Security Essentials for people's computers.  Because it's free and it's from Microsoft.  So you wouldn't think you could go far wrong.

But is it the best choice out there?  Techlogon.com put the top free anti-virus programs to the test.

The results?  Avast is the winner followed by Avira, AVG, and MSE.

But then they tried ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus.  And liked it better than the other four.

Halt and Catch Fire (Woz likes it)

AMC's Halt and Catch Fire pilot brilliantly depicts the Wild West of the 1980s PC revolution. With Breaking Bad and Mad Men, AMC has proved that it can make extraordinary TV shows out of unexpected topics. The network is taking another such risk with Halt and Catch Fire by setting it in the so-called Silicon Prairie. "We thought there was this great opportunity to tell the story you don't know about computers," show creators Chris Cantwell and Chris Rogers said during a post-screening panel. "I give this show a 10 and that's so rare for me," said Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who hosted a screening of the new show at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, this year.

***

The Verge preview

Wired review

The Google burger

LONDON — It looked like a burger. It smelled like a burger. It tasted, well, almost like a burger.

The first lab-grown beef hamburger was cooked and eaten in London on Monday. “We proved it’s possible,” said scientist Mark Post, who created the cultured minced meat in his lab at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He said his hope is to come up with a new and environmentally friendly way to feed the world.

The scene in Riverside Studios in West London, where the event took place, looked like something you might see on a TV cooking show: There was a fake kitchen counter, a tiny sink, a single burner and, of course, a chef — Richard McGeown, who has worked with such culinary stars as Gordon Ramsay.

The five-ounce burger patty — which cost more than $330,000 to produce and was paid for by Google co-founder Sergey Brin — arrived under a silver dome and was promptly put onto a pan to sizzle with a dab of butter and a splash of sunflower oil. The smells that drifted off toward the audience (a few invited journalists and scientists) were subtle but unmistakably meaty.

Next came the tasting. Besides Post, only two people were allowed to have a bite of the test-tube burger: Josh Schonwald, the American author of “The Taste of Tomorrow,” and Hanni Rützler, an Austrian nutritional scientist. Both said the burger tasted “almost” like a conventional one. No one spat the meat out; no one cringed.

Rützler gave the chef an appreciative nod. “It’s close to meat, but it’s not as juicy,” she said. “I was expecting the texture to be more soft. The surface was surprisingly crunchy.” She added: “I would have said if it was disgusting.

Halt and Catch Fire

AMC has been building hype for its upcoming drama Halt and Catch Fire, and today it's letting viewers watch the first episode for free. Starting today and running through May 31st, viewers will be able to watch the episode both on AMC's site and on the network's newly-launched Tumblr page. While the episode will be available through various video on demand services as well, Tumblr is calling the sneak peek the first time it has ever premiered a television show.

Created by the writing team of Christopher Cantwell and Christopher Rogers, Halt and Catch Fire takes place in Texas in 1983, amidst the personal computing revolution. It focuses on a charismatic salesman (Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies) and a brilliant engineer (Scoot McNairy, Argo) as they team up to reverse engineer the IBM PC and change the industry forever. It might not sound like riveting material for a television show at first glance, but we caught an early glimpse of the show at SXSW and found its mix of personal drama and early tech wizardry incredibly intriguing. You can take a look for yourself online right now, but the show will have its official premiere June 1st at 10PM.

Google self-driving car

Google's self-driving car is an ambitious project that hopes to end human error behind the wheel with a very Googley solution: software. The tech titan's robo-cars have logged more than 700,000 hours since it began working on the vehicles in 2009. Google expects to have them ready for public use between 2017 and 2020.

The goal, as Urmson describes it, is to imagine a world where cars are safe. Not only are more than 33,000 people killed annually (PDF) in the US in car crashes, but such accidents are the leading cause of death (PDF) for people under the age of 45.

[judging from some the maniac drivers I see out there, it already sounds safer than a lot of the cars currently on the road]

[via facebook]

[5/27/14] Google X builds a self-driving car from the ground up.

[7/31/14] Driverless cars will be on British roads in just six months time, Business Secretary Vince Cable has announced today.

The Government will allow the first trials of computer-controlled cars to start in January, as part of a move to update the law to allow driverless cars on UK roads.

Ministers have previously admitted that the current Highway Code and rules of the road are inadequate for the new generation of vehicles which pilot themselves.

In June, Google unveiled its computerised ‘hands-free’ self-driving bubble car, which has no steering wheel, brake or accelerator pedals.

Instead, it has buttons for start, pull over and emergency stop and a computer screen showing the planned route.

Google plans to have prototypes ready to test later this summer and says the goal is for the car to ‘shoulder the entire burden of driving’.

In the UK, ministers will look at current road regulations to ensure there is an appropriate way to testing driverless cars.

Roku 2

OK, I'm dissatisfied with the Roku 3's quirks (though I'd probably get used to it after a while), so I went nuts and bought a Roku 2 from Best Buy.  Went nuts, meaning I didn't buy it on sale.  I could have gotten it cheaper online (no sales tax), but I got it at Best Buy so it would be easier to return it.

Anyway, the problems with the Roku 3 (detailed elsewhere) is that youtube captions display partially off the screen.  And the Netflix app doesn't use the system captions and doesn't have a "more like" listing (which the Roku HD aoo has).

The advantages of the Roku 3 is that it's much faster than the HD.  So youtube is more responsive.  And Hulu Plus doesn't lock up when turning on captions.

We'll see if the Roku 2 solves the Roku 3 problems and while keeping the advantages of the HD.

OK, open box.  The form factor looks similar to the Roku 3 (rounded corners) and feels lighter than the Roku 3.  The remote control also feels lighter and has four instant access buttons: MGo, Amazon, Netflix, Blockbuster.  Blockbuster seems like an odd choice.  I wonder if the buttons are customizable? (Apparently not.)

The Roku 2 is supposed to use the same power supply as the Roku 3, so I'll just plug it in that way.  It come with composite cables, but I'll just use the ones connected to my TV.

Yep, it definitely is lighter.  Has composite inputs in the back instead of the ethernet port on the Roku 3.  And doesn't have a usb port.

The remote is much lighter than the Roku HD remote and yes (after weighing them) is somewhat lighter than the Roku 3 remote, but doesn't feel that much different (which is why I had to weight them to be sure).

Setup begins.

Please select your language: English

Get ready to stream!  You'll complete guided setup in three simple steps:
connect to your network
get the latest software
activate your Roku

Continue

Just select your wireless network
Enter the network password [the Roku HD remote works, but not the Roku 3]
Connect
taking a while

Can't connect to Roku
Unable to connect to Roku.  Please try again later (error Code 011).  Contact Roku support at roku.com/support

Try again (is the only option given)

This time it worked.

Get the latest software
Now your Roku will get the latest software.  Once the update is installed, it will restart automatically.

Continue

Updating softare
Your Roku will automatically restart once the update is installed

From an internet connected device, go to roku.com/link.  Then enter the code: HGBE

[on computer] Add some channels to your account (on the computer).  Unselect Target Ticket, Blockbuster on Demand, Quello Concerts, Amazon Cloud Player (even though they're all free).

Continue

You're Done!  Happy Streaming

[back to the Roku screen]  Channel update x of 26 (I thought I had only 20 channels installed?)

In the meantime, let's try this Target Ticket promotion (you get 10 free UltraViolet titles).  I suspect though, I'll have a hard time finding 10.   [Here's a list from last year.  Well maybe Johnny English, Space Jam.  I already have Big Trouble In Little China, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Italian Job on DVD (and also currently streaming on Netflix)]  I think I'll pass for now.  I'll look later.

OK, got the moving Roku screensaver on (since I've been busy looking at the free movies from Target).

Press OK

Congratulations!  You're done and everything loogs good.  Let's start streaming

The screen shows I have 20 channels (don't know why it was updating 26).  And not in an particular order that I can see.

Settings
Display type is 4:3, change to 16:9
Turn captions to On (from instant replay)

Yep, the Roku 3 remote works only with the Roku 3

Let's try Netflix.

Are you a Netflix Member?  Yes
Enter your Netflix email address  *******@*****.***

Next

Enter your Netflix password *******

Sign in

OK, looks like the old Netflix app with the option to view more like this when you press * and with the Roku subtitles.  I think the Roku 3 video looks nicer on HDMI, but it's OK

1 for 1

Let's try Hulu Plus.  Takes a little while to load

Log in

Please visit www.hulu.com/activate on your computer and enter this code or Log in with your email address and password

[let's try that the computer way]

Log in to hulu.com, enter activation code, activate

Hulu Plus has been activated on your Roku
You can start watching Hulu Plus now

Let's try Cesar 911 Attack Dogs, Resume Episode
turn on captions, turn off autoplay
(not very responsive to remote in doing the above)
let's see if it can play the entire show without locking

still uses their own caption setting (so I still like Apple TV's captions better)

played right through with the captions on without locking up.  So thumbs up.

The Roku 3 is still better as it's more responsive, but the Roku 2 is definitely better than the Roku HD here.

Now for the moment of truth.  YouTube.

Pretty sluggish compared to the Roku 3, but much faster the the Roku HD.

Search for natgeowild, pull up Wonder Horse (and episode of The Incredible Dr. Pol).  Captions play fine.

Last test.  Let me see if the headphone jack works.

Plug in my Panasonic earbuds.  It works.

Sounds a little tinny though.  Let's try the Roku 3 and compare.  Yep, definitely a lot faster than the Roku 2.  Sounds about the same I guess.  Maybe a little higher on the Roku 2?  (had to pair the Roku 2 remote to the Roku 3 in settings before it worked)  I also see a small indicator at the top right when I change the volume.

OK, I guess this is a keeper.

I definitely prefer the speed of the Roku 3 on youtube and hulu, but the Roku 2 solves the youtube caption problem.  Plus it runs the older Netflix app which uses the Roku system captions and has the "more like this" feature that are missing in the new app.  (Now if they upgrade the Netflix app for the Roku 2, then I'm screwed there.)

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Hmm..  I lost the remote connection on my Roku 2 controller.  Switched back to the Roku 2 and it says no roku enhanced remotes paired.

Tried power off and power on.  Nope.

New batteries.  Use Roku HD remote to go to remote pairing.  And after a while it paired up.

Not leaving well enough alone, let's put back the old batteries and see if the problem re-occurs.

Works so far.

Checking the "About" in settings.  It's the Roku player 2720x.  Software version 5.4 - build 3337

[5/19/14]  Apparently Plex is no longer free.  Got this message when accessing Plex on the Roku 2.

Welcome to Plex!

With Plex you can easily stream you videos, music, photos and home movies to your Roku using your Plex Media Server.

To download and install your free Plex Media Server on your computer, visit http://plexapp.com/getplex.

Enjoy Plex free for 30 days, then unlock with a PlexPass subscription or a small one-time-purchase.

[5/20/14] Here's a problem with the Roku captions.  When I played HBO Go, the subtitles were tiny.  It uses the Roku system subtitles and the size was set at default.  When I changed the size to medium, the captions became bigger, but then the lines often overlapped each other.  About the best size on HBO Go is small.  The captions are smaller than I like, making it a little difficult to read, but then at least they don't overlap.  I see the problem was reported on April 26.  At least it was acknowledged.

[5/20/14]  What to do?  Here's my latest thinking.  Swap the Apple TV with the Roku 3 for mom as it gives the best captions for Netflix, Hulu Plus, and HBO Go (so I want it at home).  It's lacking youtube captions and Amazon Instant Video, so keep the Roku 2 for that at home.  Retire the Roku HD as the Roku 2 is similar except for VideoBuzz and maybe Plex.  But now I want to try the Amazon Fire TV to see if it would be a better fit than the Apple TV for me.

[7/18/14] Noticed that Hulu Plus now looks different on the Roku 2.  The format was changed and the subtitles look a lot fatter.  They now use the Roku system captions, but as I said they look fatter.  The up arrow to access the menu no longer works and the Hulu Plus default yellow captions apparently are no longer available.

[7/20/14]  Made it through an entire episode of Dog Whisperer on my Roku HD with subtitles on without the thing locking up.  So maybe they fixed the problem.  But then it autoplayed the next episode.  Don't see any option to turn autoplay off/on.  That option used to appear (along with the caption on/off) when you hit the up arrow.  You can access the caption with the *, but don't see autoplay there.

It's now the opposite of Apple TV, where you can't turn it on.  I guess I should check to see how it looks on my Amazon Fire TV next..

Marco Rubio on climate change

WASHINGTON — Senator Marco Rubio on Sunday said that he was ready to be president, becoming the second potential Republican candidate recently to drop big hints about 2016 as he vies for early attention in a crowded field of maybes.

In a wide-ranging interview on “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on ABC, Mr. Rubio, of Florida, also disagreed with accepted scientific wisdom that humans were having an effect on what he called the “always evolving” climate. “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,” he said. “And I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy.”

His comments challenged a major scientific report released Tuesday that found the effects of human-induced climate change are being felt in every corner of the United States, from dry regions where water is becoming more scarce to historically wet regions that are seeing increases in torrential rains.

The report, the National Climate Assessment, stated that the sweeping changes have been caused by an average warming of less than 2 degrees Fahrenheit over most land areas of the United States in the past century. If greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane continue to escalate at a rapid pace, the scientists said, the warming could conceivably exceed 10 degrees by the end of this century.

“Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” they declared.

Asked how big a threat he regarded climate change, Mr. Rubio replied: “Our climate is always changing. And what they have chosen to do is take a handful of decades of research and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that’s directly and almost solely attributable to man-made activities.”

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Al Gore blames the Koch brothers

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97 to 3

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The one Republican (there's always one in the crowd)

WASHINGTON -- You probably have no idea who Jim Rubens is. Nor should you, really. Even the most politically savvy observer would struggle to name every obscure candidate running in a primary for a U.S. Senate seat. And that, certainly, is what Rubens is as he embarks on his long-shot campaign -- obscure.

But Rubens, who is running against former Sen. Scott Brown in the GOP primary in New Hampshire, does hold a remarkable distinction that could –- perhaps, should -– make him a more familiar name. Of the 107 Republicans currently running for Senate as of this week, he is the only one whose website declares that global warming exists and is caused by human activity.

Rubens is used to being non-conventional. He says he was ousted from his role as platform committee chairman for the national Independence Party in a Ross Perot-organized coup in 1992. He started his own political party the next year –- an offshoot of the Independence Party of New York –- and ran for New Hampshire governor in 1998.

But he's hardly a wacko. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in chemistry and made his living investing in high-tech startups, which fed his belief in the importance of scientific research.