Media Centre or not?

~ rbonini

The issue of streaming media (TV, Music, Photos) across a network really zeros in on the reason for having a home network.

For those of you who read this blog, you’ll know that I’ve been trying out SageTv for Windows Home Server. And it works great, if you set aside the EPG issues. Recorded TV is of high quality, crisp and clear; and watching from a SageTv Client is only slightly spotty (mainly due to the server being busy and the wireless connection).

My problem is two fold. One WHS is actually a server and is busy all the time and only has a Celeron D.

Two, SageTV shows only play in SageTv itself or in Real Player. Requiring re-encoding to watch via WMP11 or for use in Movie Maker. Which is a pain since a 27 minute show comes out at 650MB at Normal quality and takes about 4 and a half hours for Windows Media Encoder to process.

The EPG issue that I’m encountering means that the Program Guide only has info for about 4 channels out of 24. It is irritating in the extreme since identifying shows requires that you watch them. UK EPG support is quite spotty the forums tell me.

The solution to all of this is, I think, a Media Centre PC. A dedicated hardware device. The whole point of dedicated hardware is to share the load. My broadband connection goes though a router instead of a PC. A GPU handles 3D graphics instead of a normal, general purpose processor. In this case, WHS can stick to the business of serving files and taking backups and let the Media Centre take the load.

I’ve only heard positive reviews for Media Centre Edition (XP) and it seems pretty good. On top of that, Microsoft has a good strategy as far as extenders are concerned such as the Xbox 360 and so on. Also it should slip seamlessly into an all-Microsoft network.

I’d be using WHS for Storage, and WMP11 to watch the content on a PC. It also makes the purchase of a 360 more likely (I’ve been sitting on the fence lately and can’t decide either way).

To actually build the hardware, I’d use the same method that I did for my Windows Home Server. Order the shell (Chassis, power supply, motherboard, processor(s), hard drive) from Dell and then order the rest of the kit from Amazon.

The thing is, how much juice do you need in a Media Centre? SageTV uses about 15% CPU at record time and not much RAM.

Dual Quad Core 2 might be pushing it a little far. A single Core Duo 2 might cut it, but then again, you don’t want “might” to be anywhere near your Media Center. Specially since after-market upgrading can be extremely expensive for hardware like this.

RAM is dependant on whether Vista Media Centre is 64-bit. I’d say that 2 or 4 GB is safe enough.

The next thing is required for this is, well, a network. Streaming media over wireless is Ok if its small enough and you are close enough to the Access Point to get the and excellent signal ( In my house that practically means sitting right next to it). For real media streaming, you need Gigabit Ethernet. More on that to come.

Photography: Beginning

~ rbonini

Whew, Photography isin’t easy. You need the camera, the software,the online storage and so on. Not to mention the accessories.

I bought a Nikon D40x a few weeks ago and haven’t stopped playing with it since. Which is one reason the blog has been suffering. Got a 55-200mm lense in addition to the supplied 18-55mm lense. And a flash and tripod for night shooting. Though I might have to take the tripod back and get a better model.

After thinking about the moment for a while I finally settled on Smugmug mainly because I get a kick from dealing with faceless corporations everyday (not 🙂 ).  Take a look at their About us page to see what I mean .Plus they really have a good reputation.

I’ve got a few photo’s from holiday (4,300, to be exact – I went overboard). A good portion of that is from Luxor, Egypt and they’ll be the first ones up once I get them sorted. And I’ll cross-post the best of the best here.

I came within a whisker of splashing out and buying the Educational version of CS3 Design ( I qualify as a Second Year undergraduate). Though I definitely get it next month. What really sealed it was the fact that Smugmug  has a CS3 add-on for uploading your newly tweaked shot from within CS3. I’m getting it mainly for Photoshop, but Acrobat and Illustrator would be useful as well.

Once I have that I can start shooting in RAW and acting like a proper photographer 🙂 .

One thing that really would make life easier is a WHS Add on for Uploading straight to Smugmug from your Photos folder.

As a side note I subscribe to Thomas Hawks’ Blog. He has some really great shots.

Also see this list of the best photoblogs of 2007.

Great things to come…

Data: Mine or Theirs?

~ rbonini

Although I’m writing this under the fallout of  Scoble-Facebook, I don’t think the issue of who owns your data is either confined only to Digital identity or has been very well thought out.

First, a roundup of the various reactions:

It’s not about data portability. It’s about trust.

Offline, my friends and I share a mutual connection. Maybe it’s around work, maybe it’s around our kids or something in our past. Whatever it is, they’re my friend because they know something about me beyond what’s easily accessible to others. Keyword here is mutual. I know a bit about them too. Their relationship with me is unique as compared to their relationship with others.

…

Online, those lines are blurred. For what I would guess is at least 4,500 of the 5,000 “friends” Robert Scoble has on Facebook, he is the equivalent of a magazine publisher and you are his subscriber base/audience. He says it’s mutual and that’s the beauty of the social and connected web, but he only cares about you when you put something on the table that he’s interested in. It’s not about you. Yet, he’s “sitting” right next to your real friends, getting the same information about you that you’re sharing with them. If he takes that information and abuses it, however un- or good-intentioned, it serves you both right.

…

Robert Scoble valued his relationship with Plaxo more than he valued his relationship with his “friends,” otherwise he would have posted to them what he was doing with an experimental, alpha-quality and untested script before he did it…or he wouldn’t have done it at all.

Judi Sohn

I think there are two questions here. The first is whether users should be able to extract their data [including social graph data] from one service and import it into another. I personally believe the answer is Yes and this philosophy underlies what we’ve been working on at Windows Live and specifically the team I’m on which is responsible for the social graph contacts platform.

Dare Obasanjo

Then there is the oft-cited  post by Paul Buchheit (the guy who created Gmail).

Now I’m not on Facebook et al for a reason: data, in the case of a person,  is that person. Whereas data for iTunes is essentially  the signals sent to your sound card. Se the difference

Is it important to guard those things? Yes, or course. At the end of the day, its all you are left with if everything goes to hell: Your sense of self and identity, and your friends ( real friends, that is).

So we essentially have two options:

  1. Manage that data ourselves in a way that gives complete and utter control over every aspect of things
  2. Give our data over to a less than trustworthy service that essentially controls who you are, your identity ( on- and off-line) and who your freinds are and what your realtionship is with them

I’ll take option one any day of the week. Why? Becuase of control. It is all about control.

Plaxo may or may not keep your data after you opt-out ( i think its the former rather than the latter). Facebook has the awesome power of wiping out very single trace of you from its universe with a simple mouse-click. Add a hundred and one other web services that suck your data out of Google, Hotmail and the like.

There is a missing element in the above situations. Find it yet? And its not trust. Its control. And I mean, complete and utter control.

At least Twitter gives you more granular control( in terms of message recipients)  and has a proper API.

Better yet, Open ID, while somewhat flawed, is a brilliant idea insofar as you have a digital identity provided and vouchsafed by a trusted source ( AOL, for example). This blog is my digital identity ( since WP supports Open ID).  I can decide what to do with that identity, what to reveal, what to password protect. If I move on to from one blog to another, I can export all my posts and import them else where.

In short I have complete control of that Open ID identity (short of running my own webserver).

So because I have control I can never be in a Scoble snafu like that ( And I don’t care for the fact that Scoble was pressing FB’s buttons on purpose – he gave up his control over that data and he knew it).

In a  sense, its the MS DOS command line all over again. And  loss of control is like letting Vista hide the RUN command and the task manager and tickle itself silly with crashes.

DRM: Someone Check My Logic

~ rbonini

Scoble has a post up suggesting that the RIAA is right and that we shouldn’t rip Cd’s.

1. Cause no one should copy Britney Spears, not to mention listen to her. The RIAA is doing us a service by making sure we don’t listen to her. Oh, and the RIAA is so brilliant that they brought us Britney in the first place (and now Hannah Montana) and that’s evidence enough that they are right and we should listen to them.
2. Because no one should be allowed to use music how they want. For instance, I hate using a CD player. Why? That requires me to get off the couch, find the darn CD and hope I put it away properly after that fun party, and then find the song I want instead of just opening iTunes from my couch and clicking on the right song. The RIAA is doing us a service by forcing us to get off the couch and get some exercise.
3. Bits have feelings too. Turning them from 0 to 1 hurts them.
4. They’ll force the kids to buy non-DRM music from the get go and not buy any CDs. Good for the environment! (My son, Patrick, says he only buys MP3’s or AAC’s without DRM now off of his online music stores).
5. This behavior will make sure people buy (or steal) music directly from bands. See how Radiohead did it. By doing that the price for music will go down thanks to fewer intermediaries. RIAA is just helping us get rid of them, which is good for everyone who loves music. See, they are on our side! I’m looking for a site that lets us do Vendor Relationship Management with bands. Doc Searls taught me about VRM. What is that? When we can get the company to do what WE want. Radiohead put the power of setting the price in OUR hands. Brilliant.
6. My son says that since they are making stealing music so dangerous (the kids are hearing the stories about parents getting sued for hundreds of thosuands of dollars) that they are getting paranoid about stealing music. So, what do they do instead? Have you heard of iPod trading? You will. Ahh, and we thought “sneaker net” was dead? Yeah, right. The RIAA brought it back.

On the plus side of this, I agree that music should NOT be copied to distribute. In other words, ripping music to a publicly accessible file sharing service or server is a no-no.

I mean it. We gotta remember that artist and records labels have to be compensated for all the work they do. And to ensure that they do, they have distribution networks set up – wether that is digital, CD, radio, etc.

So far so good.

I only buy CD’s. And I rip them for Personal Use. Let me emphasise that again- personal use.

And let be clear I have nothing against buying digital music off iTunes et al. The only problem is the DRM. Pure and simple.

DRM is the Black Death of the digital commodities industry today. When I buy a CD, I expect to be able to use the music across my home network, put it on my iPod and listen to it however I choose. The intrusion of DRM is nothing more than a source of frustration. So I buy CD’s to avoid the intrusion of DRM by iTunes and the like.

The limits of personal use are clearly defined. The barrier between personal use and piracy is just as clear.

So I propose the following: that the RIAA and the equivalent bodies in other countries trust the consumer.

Sounds radical. But think of this. Shouldn’t music and software companies be working together to find easier ways of identifying those who overstep the bounds of personal use? Instead of frustrating every Tom, Dick and Harry out there that want to enjoy the music, the pointy end of the stick should be firmly on those who overstep those clear bounds.

Amazon, eMusic – and to a lesser extent Apple- are trusting the consumer.

The RIAA just has to play catch up and face the music.

Nerd Humor

~ rbonini

If you don’t read the Official Playstation.Blog from Sony, you really should be. Its really good and is a daily staple of my blog diet, along with the Gamerscore Blog from Microsoft. I don’t have either console ( 360 or PS3) , but I really enjoy reading the posts.

Take this recent post from Jason Coker, Associate Producer of the PlayStation Network title PAIN for PS3:

What I CAN tell you is that it has been a blast to work on. It hasn’t been easy, but it sure has been hilarious. Here are just a couple of the gems I’ve heard (or said):

* “Coker, can you write up a description of a little person hip-hop pirate right quick?” (Yeah, I had the same reaction. You’ll see.)

* “Ummmm….who did the voice-over for that? That’s nasty.”

* “Hey man, if I get you a big glass of water, can you step into the recording booth and belch for about half an hour?”

* “Check the Leaderboards, Son. Spank. The. Monkey.”

* “Dude, I just really don’t think the farts are loud enough.”

* “Did you just grab that Granny by her head? Do it again! Do it again!”

* “That’s him right there. We call him the Ooch Master. He can’t be touched.” (You know who you are at Idol Minds, and I’m coming for you. The student has become the Master, baby!)

* “OH, *&%*!! THAT *^&%*#@ DONUT!!!!!!”

What are you waiting for? Subscribe!!

Google Business Roundup

~ rbonini

Thought the following Fake Steve Jobs list might be interesting funny:

  • Word processor in the cloud. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.
  • Spreadsheet in the cloud. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.
  • Photo storage in the cloud. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.
  • Calendar in the cloud. Status: Done. Income: Zero.
  • Google Earth. Status: Extremely cool.
  • Google Maps. Status: Done. Income: Zero.
  • Google Street View. Status: Not illegal, but should be.
  • Google Talk. Status: Done. Income: Zero.
  • Google Pack. Status: I know it’s around here someplace.
  • Google Ride Finder. Status: Still waiting to get picked up.
  • Google Transit. Status: Lost.
  • TV ads. Status: Uncertain.
  • Radio ads. Status: See “TV ads.”
  • Video game ads. Status: See “Radio ads.”
  • Patent searches. Status: Who cares?
  • RechargeIT hybrid car thing. See here. Status: Hybrid cars, dude.
  • Clean energy. See here. Status: Nice gesture.
  • Google Checkout. Status: Um …
  • Google SketchUp, 3-D modeling. Status: Alpha? Beta?
  • Robots on the moon prize. See here. Status: Robots, dude. On the freaking moon!
  • Google NASA. See here. Status: Awesome!
  • Neven Vision. Image recognition. (Acquired.) Status: Mindblowing.
  • YouTube videos. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.
  • Scanning books. Status: In process. Income: Zero.
  • Blogger. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.
  • RSS Reader. Status: Done. Income: Zero.
  • Google PC. Status: Vapor. Income: Zero.
  • Google OS. Status: Vapor. Income: Zero.
  • Gmail. Status: Done. Income: Negligible or zero.
  • Orkut. Status: Done. Income: Don’t know, I don’t speak Brazilian.
  • OpenSocial. Status: Pipe dream. Income: Zero.
  • VaporPhone ™. Status: Release-ware. Income: Zero.
  • Storage in the cloud. Status: Pre-alpha. Income: Negative.
  • Electricity. Status: Pre-vapor. Income: GBH. (Gonna Be Huge.)
  • Radio airwaves. Status: Bidding. Income: Zero.

    • iPod Touch Week One

    ~ rbonini ~ 1 Comment

    I’ve been listening to music too much and posting too little 🙂 .

    The iPod Touch ( I prefer calling it the iTouch) is really good. Some songs come out sounding  better than they do on my speakers on the PC (Ok, not the best available speakers – JBL Creature).

    The web browser is really really good. The whole JavaScript thing doesn’t work ( which you would expect since it is a full version of Safari, I belive). I mean what on earth were Apple thinking??? How many websites do  you  know of that don’t have Javascript???? I use it all the time in developing websites. Even if it’s not for visual stuff, java script can be doing a lot of heavy lifting in the background ( take, dare I say it, Facebook Beacon).

    Looking at Google Reader in Classic mode is an experience somewhere between being eaten alive and having an out-of-body-experience of the event – can’t decide which is worse.  Trying to type and send an email in GoogleMail ( I tried), I found a strong urge to became a Chinese Citizen ( even the Great Firewall of China doesn’t stop Javascript) 🙂 . And by the way, I did finish the email and used by PC to find the addresses to send it to.

    Though the Mobile mode is much, much better. I think its specially formatted for the iPhone/iTouch.

    Viewing websites that don’t run on JavaScript or gracefully handled the fact that Javascript was off was pretty good. I think the lack of Javascript was one of the main reasons that Youtube is a separate application on the iTouch.

    Don’t even get me started on Flash support…

    The integration with iTunes direct from the iTouch is a gift from heaven itself, from His Steveness to his faithful Apple flock 🙂

    200706290853.jpg

    Change that to an iTouch Comic and it would be perfect.

    Youtube works seamlessly as well.

    Now, the Syncing experience is something else. If I plug my iPod into my laptop instead of my PC ( keeping in mind I originally used my PC to Sync the iTouch), I get asked if I want to erase my iTouch and sync new music to it. Now my library is exclusively ripped CD’s that I’ve bought myself. Shouldn’t iTunes recognize that I already have music from the library ( both my laptop and PC use the same iTunes library out of a shared network location on my server) and shouldn’t it allow me to add, change or delete the playlists/music on my iTouch???

    Now if there was a way to sync shared  library music (i.e from iTunes running over the server and sharing its library) to my iPod, there wouldn’t be this problem ( if there is, please post a comment. Thanks). 

    Podcast subscriptions work great. Already subscribed to Scott Hanselmann.

    Can’t complain about anything else. the design is great. the interface is supurb. Take how the screen gently coasts to a stop when you’ve finished scrolling. The whole flipping thing is really great. I’m getting used to it and its quite responsive when you know what to do.

    My mother was using it quite well with out even being told what to do. She still asks me about emails.

    Can’t wait for the SDK to come out. I’m assuming that the iPhone SDK is also for the iTouch. Can’t wait till I can say: “Pimp my iTouch”.

    Dear Steve:

    We hold these truths to be self-evidently pie in the sky, that all bloggers are created equal, that they are endowed by their Computers and iPhones with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are lots and lots of Links, [JavaScript, Flash] and the pursuit of AdSense Dollars

    Ken Newsome

    PS added in the bit about Javascript and Flash myself.