chris | word

Its fun and so good for you. Well, not really but it could be. Just testing something. Sorry to bother. More and better soon.

I know, I know, how could it get much better than this?

Just in case you don’t get enough Chris in your day I am now writing a weekly Mac help column for LAist called “Ask the MACist”. Today is the first one so please take a minute and check it out.

And, if you have any Mac or Mac-related questions, feel free to send them in. Maybe I will be able to answer one for you and as an added bonus, you can see your name in print! What could be better than that?

Nice weekend all.

Over at LAist I have posted a rather good (IMHO) article about the HD DVD format wars. So, as I don’t have anything cool or witty to say
here, how about just going over to LAist and reading the article? That would be great, thanks.

Here it is.

Or, if you insist, here are a few other great things to read. One, written by me and others, written by some equally intelligent and fantastic people.

Enjoy!

apparently, there is some sort of event going on in las vegas called the consumer electronics show (aka CES). at the show, the major and minor electronics companies duke it out with press confrences to announce that they have developed similar products to each other that while new and exciting are not really that new or exciting. what a sad state of affairs indeed.

if you want everything in all of its glorious detail, point your browsers to the big tech blogs engadget and gizmodo. they are doing in-depth coverage of what’s hot, what’s not and what really stinks (including the backed-up toilets at the convention center). for my money, the more interesting announcements should come next week at mac world expo. perhaps on tuesday of next week to be exact.

however, if i must pick some things from CES that look interesting (and i must, for i am a writer who picks things) here they are:

tivo offers up a new box. the series 3. will this be the end all be all and finally replace all of my other boxes? mmm, doesn’t seem like it. in fact, it looks like us directv people are going to be left out in the cold with this one. cable card slots only from the look of it and no provision for satellite?

hopefully, that’s just because i don’t have more info at the moment. fingers crossed as i really, really want to keep using a tivo device and not have to switch over to some bastard child designed by the room of monkeys at directv. tivo knows something about simple and useable interface design. directv not so much.

google announces a video store. gee, what a great idea. they will be selling content from cbs and other sources as well as letting you download stuff for free. no prices yet but more content available online (legally online that is. yes, i’ve heard of bittorrent thanks) should be a good thing.

sony announced its first blu-ray dvd player. its got all the big time features and looks like a monster as well. and toshiba announced it’s HD-DVD players as well which also look pretty good.

now, if all the kids could just get together and agree on one format, that would be great. what it will come down to will be the programming. as in, what movies will be available on each format. in fact, here’s a list of release titles for blu-ray and hd-dvd(at least for now).

sony also announced a few other things including bigger memory stick pro duo cards (finally) as well as new phones and the sony reader for reading ebooks.

verizon offers up their new v cast wireless music downloads. you can download music to your verizon cell phone for two bucks each and listen to it on your phone. you can also transfer it to your computer via usb. could be interesting. sprint also has a similar offering only theirs includes video. wireless is the new black i guess.

this would be a great gaming rig (or allow you to keep yourself warm in winter) that is, if you are a person who uses a windows pc. not that there’s anything wrong with that.

last but not least, fuji is using my friend nick’s pictures in their booth at CES. so, if you are there, drop over and tell them how great the pictures look. nick would appreciate it.

oh, one more thing. there was also another event going on in vegas this week at the same time as CES. it gets less publicity but it is no less important. its the adult entertainment expo which climaxes (sorry, had to do it) with the AVN awards.

that’s it for CES. tune in next week for even more important announcements from my favorite company, apple. predictions? well, i think we might see one or two new laptops with brand new intel chips. and maybe a mac mini or imac with intel as well. perhaps some new ipod variation and hopefully, a mac-mini like device that can be put in the living room to record television content and play it back to my hd tv. too much to ask? come on apple, make it happen.

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as a side note, i really wrote this for LAist but if you read carefully, i have tailored it for this site. see what i do for you.

we are considering many alternatives and are getting together a new business venture that promises to bring many exciting things (at least for us). we are working hard and are not ready to reveal all the sordid details as of yet. however, it will be pretty cool and has the potential to make some pretty good returns. so, anyone out there want to be our angel? (sorry, shameless plug but really, we could use some more startup dough).

in other news if you have a TiVo Series2 box connected to your home network, you’ve likely noticed that TiVo is testing a new feature that allows you to download programs to your TiVo box over broadband. as part of this test, they’ve got a special offer for their network-connected subscribers: a free movie! can TiVo Netflix be far behind? sign me up.

also, popular science magazine showcases their 18th Annual celebration of innovation or best of what’s new for 2005. a.k.a. the 100 most impressive technologies of the year. check it out. i like some of the choices but the airbus a380 does nothing for me. besides, their french.

and, the first reviews for Xbox 360 games are starting to hit the web. 1UP has reviewed Kameo, Project Gotham Racing 3, FIFA Soccer 2006, NBA 2K6, and Amped 3, while IGN has reviewed Madden NFL 06, Kameo, and NBA 2K6.

last but not least, the battle for the new DVD standard still rages. here’s a summary of the arguments and features in favor of either. go nuts!

even though they seem like they are trying to do the right thing. it appears that greed trumps innovation yet again. i’ll let om tell it like it is.

all i have to say about this is that the apple business model seems to make more sense to me. i think you should be able to record content and time and place shift it at your convnience, as i have said before.

also, in case you missed it, sony has been up to no good selling cd’s that install a rootkit on your windows machine. what does this mean? well, its an attempt by sony to monitor and control in what way you can use their content. here’s a more “tech” explanation.

i don’t like it when sony (or anyone) installs something on my machine that i don’t want and didn’t agree to. or even did agree to but didn’t know exactly what i was getting. that’s not very nice. good thing i use a mac. also, here’s a partial list of the cd’s that have this problem. can you say boycott?

and finally, good old steve ballmer, ceo of microsoft, on why apple computer is seen as “good” and microsoft is seen as “bad”. interesting read and with good play-by-play from mac daily news.

as many of you may know, i have been using the palm treo650 for a few months now as my primary cell phone/pda/etc. device. however, a few weeks ago, i decided that i had had enough of the treo 650′s “quirks” and switched to the blackberry 7100t directly from t-mobile.

i know what you are thinking. am i not the one who talked smack against locked devices tied to one carrier? did i not spent extra money and get the unlocked treo 650 to avoid this exact trap? the answer is, of course, yes. as i have used the treo these last months i have come to realize that its a great device that does many things but none of them particularly well. plus, i have decided that despite some spotty coverage in LA, t-mobile has been a good company to work with and i don’t mind giving them my money (at least for one more year).

one of its major weaknesses of the treo 650 is the phone. i have come to realize that the phone part of a device like this is one of the most important parts. i need the phone to work and work as much of the time as possible. i understand network dead spots and all that and i can live with it. what i can’t live with is a device that after losing connection with the cell network, needs to be completely reset before it will send or receive calls again. this doesn’t happen all the time with the treo 650, but it does happen enough so that it became quite annoying.

the blackberry, in contrast, does not have this problem. it works well as a phone and gets reception in places i never had a signal with the treo 650, even with its external antenna. so, kudos to the blackberry on this score. also, if i am ever in a place with minimal or no reception (which happens very frequently here in LA) the blackberry doesn’t freak out and need to be reset. it simply waits until it has a signal again and then goes about its business without complaint. i like that in a device. i want to be able to use the device for what it is intended to be used for and not have the device get in the way or hinder that use. that’s a major reason i use a mac instead of a windows pc.

plus, the email functionality on the treo 650 is marginal at best. in order to improve it, i ended up having to install a third-part application called snappermail and not use the included versamail application (which sucks big time). now that i have been using the blackberry for a couple of weeks, i know what all the fuss is about. if someone sends me an email, the email comes to the blackberry. i don’t have to launch an application and call for the email and download it to the blackberry like i do with the treo. it simply is “pushed” out to my blackberry when it is sent and i have it. that’s a great feature that i didn’t know i wanted until i had it. now, i will never go back.

there are many other ways in which the treo falls short of what it was intended to do. it’s a great idea for a device that was poorly realized. the palm os simply isn’t robust enough to handle the demands put on it by a device like the treo 650. palm feels this way as well, i think, or they would not be putting out a windows mobile version of the treo and perhaps a linux powered one as well. i, of course, would love to see an osx mobile smartphone/pda/ipod but i won’t hold my breath for that one. although, it could happen. and i would be right in line to get one.

so, anybody wanna buy a slightly used unlocked treo 650?

not only did i recently get a big new TV so naturally i have to watch shows that i would not normally watch, like any of the CSI shows, because they are in High Def but i have also started to, it seems, suffer from some sort of carpal tunnel or repetitive stress disorder. in other words, when i use the computer, more specifically the mouse, for even a short time, i get a tingling in my right hand and pain in my right elbow and even more annoying, a pain in my shoulder and neck.

so that is some sort of explanation for the longer duration between posts here. its not that i don’t love doing this or really appreciate the readers who keep coming back and read this, its just that i have this new big TV and more importantly, it kinda hurts to get on the computer. so, i got that going for me, which is nice. however, i am here now and my neck does hurt and my hand is tingling but i say what he hell, you guys deserve an update or at least some sort of effort on my part. just had to move the mouse just then and its so odd, it hurt my neck to move it. this is not good.

its especially not good in that i make a large part of my living sitting in front of a computer. not always mine but other people’s. if i could not do it, i would not only suffer physically but financially as well. this has been going on for about a week or so and i thought it would go away. unfortunately, no such luck. so, i guess a trip to the doctor is in order. although, i am not looking forward to it as we recently changed insurance and the doctor that i really like is now not included in our plan. so, we need to find a new doctor.

i don’t know about you but i really don’t like doctors all that much. it took a long time to find one that i not only like but trust is making the right decisions. (let’s not get started on my control issues right now, thanks) so, finding a new one might not be so easy. i really think that the insurance industry in this country has its head up its ass for the most part. isn’t a large part of maintaining patient health associated with believing in your doctor and their ability? it is for me. i only hope we can find someone who we like and isn’t a total lame ass who just follows what the insurance company says is the right thing to do.

with our previous doctor, i really felt like she had our best interest in mind and didn’t really think about what was best for the insurance company or anything like that. it was a great feeling. i really felt like they cared. maybe its lame but it meant something to me. now, who knows what’s going to happen. i didn’t meant this to turn into a rant against insurance companies or anything but it sure seems like the system has some real problems. at least we don’t live in Canada.

ok, now to salvage this post and talk about a little news and stuff around the internets (as i sometimes like to do):

see the innards of the new XBox360! try to control your excitement.

the dualphone for skype is finally available in the good old USA. make calls over the internet for free using this phone and the skype service. you can even call me if you want. although, i probably won’t answer.

and, sadly, one of my favorite places could be under water shortly as Katrina prepares to kick the shit out of New Orleans. i hope the gumbo shop and jaques-imo’s are going to be ok. those places rock. if you ever get to New Orleans, try them. you won’t be sorry.

lots of cool things happening around my place in the last few days. we are making the transition to HD so that required a new television and a switch to DirectTV in order to get HD programming and a TiVo that will record HD. our old and trusty Sony TV gave it up a week or so ago and so the hunt for a replacement was on.

i looked at various models, features and kinds. i was trying to stay under 2K as i think that’s enough to spend on a TV, even if we do watch a lot of it. we settled on another Sony and are looking forward to the delivery on Tuesday. so, that’s the first part done. need an HD TV. check.

next, due to the good folks at Adelphia not being able to offer HD cable in our area as of yet, we are forced to abandon them and move to DirectTV. actually, its not that big of a deal as DirectTV is the only one that offers a DVR with TiVo anyway and we have to have TiVo so that’s a no-brainer. i would rather give my five bucks a month to a company i like instead of a company that kinda sucks like Adelphia.

so, now we have a DirectTV HD DVR with Tivo to hook up to the dish that DirectTV will be sending with an installer next Monday. i will have to use the TV for almost a week with only standard def programming (sad for me). although, i should be able to get over the air HD in the interim as our building has an antenna on the roof. so that’s cool. either way, i can wait a week to get this all finished. then, i can cancel Adelphia. i can’t wait to make that call.

of course, any good HD TV needs a progressive scan DVD player to go with it so we needed to get one of those also. again, a Sony was the call. good reviews at Amazon.com and a price that’s pretty darn low made this a winner. it should arrive in a day or so and then we can really see what one of those Superbit DVD’s can do. more on this later.

as the whole process moves along, i will report back in and also post some reviews of the various parts of this HD puzzle like the TV and the DirectTV Tivo. plus, does the Superbit DVD process really make things look better and is it worth not having any extras on the disk? i’ll get into that also.