Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category:
Streaming Netflix to your TV via a PC or an Xbox 360
For those that don’t know, early this year Netflix started offering movies from their library for downloading or streaming. Currently there are over 12,000 movies and TV show box sets that you can watch instantly on your PC. Of course, most people prefer to watch movies on their TV, which is where this blog post comes in.
The movies range from black and white classics to recent Oscar winners, although most movies are older. The TV shows include cult hits like Xena Warrior Princess, 80’s classic like Night Rider and The Incredible Hulk, and current shows like Heroes and The Office. As for pricing, the basic $8.99 a month Netflix service will get you unlimited streaming PLUS one DVD at a time through the mail. This is the package I’m on, and I use the online portion to stream TV shows and older movies and request the new releases I can’t stream through the mail. Hopefully, some day we can eliminate those pesky discs altogether and be able to stream any movie we want for one low flat-rate monthly fee.
Netflix has announced their service will be coming to Xbox Live late this fall, but you can actually stream Netflix movies on your Xbox now if you have a copy of Windows Vista on your PC. All you have to do is download a copy of the Windows Vista Media Center plug-in called VmcNetFlix and follow the directions on their website. I use the program myself to stream Netflix movies to my TV and it’s worked great for me so far. The only issue I had installing the program is that it didn’t work until I set IE7 as the default browser on my PC rather than Firefox but that is clearly stated in the troubleshooting instructions.
Personally, I don’t use the 360 option as I have an actual PC hooked up to my LCD TV through HDMI. This is probably the best method for watching Internet videos on your TV because you can watch any format movie and aren’t limited to only watching formats compatible with Windows Media Center. However, if you don’t have a spare PC running Windows Vista that you can hook up to your TV, an Xbox 360 is the next best thing, but still requires a Vista PC running somewhere on your network.
The Xbox 360 is a Media Center Extender, which means it can be used to access movies, mp3s, and photos stored on Windows Media Center machines on your network. This also holds true with the Netflix Media Center plug-in, which allows you to stream Netflix videos to your TV through your Xbox 360 once it’s installed on your PC. If you have Windows Vista Media Center, you can watch Netflix on your Xbox 360 now. If not, I recommend trying it out this fall when it comes to the Xbox Live service. Note, however, that you’ll have to pay for both an Xbox Live Gold subscription and a Netflix subscription, while with my method all you need is the Netflix subscription.
400GB Blu-ray disc?
Long ago, before the HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats were even on the market, I predicted Blu-ray would be the eventual format winner. It seemed like a no-brainer as the Playstation 3 was going to ship with a Blu-ray drive. Those with long memories may recall that the Playstation 2 helped launch another disc format, the DVD. In fact, when DVDs first came out, rental chains such as Blockbuster stocked them in the video game aisle, as very few people had stand-alone players yet.
Now that Blu-ray is the clear format winner, there are still several hurdles before the format is actually profitable for Sony and their partners. For one thing, you need a high-definition TV to see any benefits from Blu-ray and not everyone has upgraded yet. Secondly, not everyone feels there’s enough improvement from DVDs to Blu-rays to justify the cost of upgrading their players and movie libraries. Third, Blu-ray is still competing with another high-def format that I think will eventually win in this new format war: high-def digital downloads.
With cable providers and video game consoles both offering on-demands high-def movies purchases and rentals at the click of a button, is the attraction of owning a physical disc enough to make Blu-ray a success? Will a generation trained on buying constant downloads such as ringtones and games for cell phones and other devices have a problem doing the same for their living room television?
I think in the short term, there is still a place for Blu-ray as a storage media if nothing else. 50 gigs of space on a single-layer disc and 100 gigs on a double-layer is nothing to sneeze at. Until 100 gig flash drives are $10 a pop, Blu-ray is a much cheaper format for storing massive amounts of data. Pioneer’s claim that they’ve created a 400GB, 16-layer, possibly Blu-ray compatible disc is even more promising. Downloads are great but people will always want to make backups of their data, and we seem to have more and more personal data every year as cameras, camcorders, and other digital devices become more and more affordable.
I have a Playstation 3 and so far I think I’ve spent more money downloading content from the PS3 store than on actual discs, although I have rented several Blu-rays from Blockbuster. As an old school video game collector, I never though I’d latch onto the download concept, as I love buying and trading actual physical games, and yet I’ve spent $100+ on game downloads for my Wii at $5-10 a pop. If a child of 80’s console gaming and colleting like myself can learn to appreciate game downloads, anyone can.
SNIFF your Facebook friends
Fortunately, this has nothing to do with smelling your friends over the Internet, as many of my friends tend to be unwashed computer geeks. No, SNIFF stands for Social Network Integrated Friend Finder, which is a service that allows you to use your cell phone or other portable devices equipped with GPS to track your friends’ locations in the real world (with their permission). The idea is that your cell phone would alert you when one of your friends was nearby, so that you could meet up with them. You wouldn’t even need to call them to ask them where they are, as you’d have a map directly to their location. While the concept is interesting, I have to wonder if people would really want their friends tracking their movements or knowing where they are at all times. One application I could see this being used for, however, is by parents wanting to keep tabs on their children.
Jun. 3 – The Social Network Integrated Friend Finder is a permission-based service that allows friends to find each other in the real world.
The service is billed as a safe and convenient way to connect with online friends in the offline world. But do people really want their friends to SNIFF them?
Japan robot scales Grand Canyon
The machines continued their slow climb to total world domination and human annihilation last week when one of their own managed to scale the Grand Canyon in 7 hours powered by two AA batteries. Meanwhile, work continues on the robot-proof bomb shelter under my house.
June 2 – It may be a Great Wonder of the World, but the Grand Canyon could not stop a determined 17-cm robot and a pair of AA batteries.
After a few returns to base camp, a carbon-plastic robot powered by Panasonic’s Evolta batteries made the 530-m rope climb in under seven hours.
Monkey controlled robots to take over world
It was reported yesterday that scientists have developed tiny microelectrodes that can be implanted in the brain in order to control robotic limbs. The long-term practical application of this technology would, of course, be to provide artificial replacement limbs to humans that function as normal limbs would.
One impractical application would be to give perfectly healthy humans extremely strong cyborg limbs for combat or industrial purposes. You could even combine lab animals and robotic limbs to create deadly (and cute) cyborgs with robotic strength and animal reflexes ala the comic book series WE3 (soon to be a major motion picture). Personally, I welcome our new monkey cyborg overlords and plan on buying up stock in Chiquita just in case.
May 28 – A monkey has been able to control a robotic arm using brainpower.
With tiny microelectrodes implanted in its brain, the monkey could direct a robotic arm to pluck a marshmallow from a skewer and feed itself.
Are jet packs a reality?
Well, the year 2000 has come and went and still I have no flying car or jet pack to use to get to the office every morning. I had almost given up hope of this happening in my lifetime until I stumbled upon a video of a Swiss man demonstrating a prototype jet wing that he flew for 10 minutes at speeds up to 186 mph. One of those bad boys could really shave some time off my daily commute.
May 14 – Known as ‘Fusion Man’, a former pilot has stunned crowds by flying a jet-propelled wing for nearly ten minutes at a peak speed of 300 km/h (186 mph).
Yves Rossy, a Swiss former military pilot and Airbus commander for Swiss airlines completed an official demonstration on Wednesday (May 14, 2008) in the Swiss Chablais region, where he was released from a plane at 2438 metres (8000 feet) with his wing folded.
He deployed his craft after a short free-fall and began his flight. After a flight of almost ten minutes, he deployed his parachute, folded the wing and landed at the Bex airdrome.
E-mail spam turned 30 this month
On May 3, 2008, spam turned 30. For those confused by this, as the web in its current form wasn’t around 30 years ago, this is possible because the first spam actually predates the Internet. It was sent via Arpanet, a U.S. government computer network that was the predecessor of the Internet we know today.
The first spam message was advertising a new computer that had Arpanet capabilities built into it, and partial text of that message can be found below:
Mail-from: DEC-MARLBORO rcvd at 3-May-78 0955-PDT
Date: 1 May 1978 1233-EDT
From: THUERK at DEC-MARLBORO
Subject: ADRIAN@SRI-KL
DIGITAL WILL BE GIVING A PRODUCT PRESENTATION OF THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY; THE DECSYSTEM-2020, 2020T, 2060, AND 2060T. THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY OF COMPUTERS HAS EVOLVED FROM THE TENEX OPERATING SYSTEM AND THE DECSYSTEM-10 COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE. BOTH THE DECSYSTEM-2060T AND 2020T OFFER FULL ARPANET SUPPORT UNDER THE TOPS-20 OPERATING SYSTEM. THE DECSYSTEM-2060 IS AN UPWARD EXTENSION OF THE CURRENT DECSYSTEM 2040 AND 2050 FAMILY. THE DECSYSTEM-2020 IS A NEW LOW END MEMBER OF THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY AND FULLY SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE WITH ALL OF THE OTHER DECSYSTEM-20 MODELS.
WE INVITE YOU TO COME SEE THE 2020 AND HEAR ABOUT THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY AT THE TWO PRODUCT PRESENTATIONS WE WILL BE GIVING IN CALIFORNIA THIS MONTH. THE LOCATIONS WILL BE:
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1978 – 2 PM
HYATT HOUSE (NEAR THE L.A. AIRPORT)
LOS ANGELES, CA
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1978 – 2 PM
DUNFEY’S ROYAL COACH
SAN MATEO, CA
(4 MILES SOUTH OF S.F. AIRPORT AT BAYSHORE, RT 101 AND RT 92)
A 2020 WILL BE THERE FOR YOU TO VIEW. ALSO TERMINALS ON-LINE TO OTHER DECSYSTEM-20 SYSTEMS THROUGH THE ARPANET. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT THE NEAREST DEC OFFICE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXCITING DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY.
You can read more about the history of spam by checking out Brad Templeton’s article on the history of the term.
GM shows off hydrogen car
At $250,000 each to produce, hydrogen fuel cell cars are too expensive to be practical yet, but the technology does exist and it does work. These cars use no petroleum and emit zero greenhouse gases. The government needs to provide more incentives and rebates for hydrogen fuel cell research so the cost can be brought down to something more reasonable.
May 1 – General Motors calls it one answer to the problem of America’s heavy dependence on foreign oil– Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles.
The cars– still in development – use no petroleum and release zero greenhouse gases. They will be test driven for the next two months by about a hundred motorists in Washington, New York and Southern California– as part GM’s “Project Driveway.”
Tesla Motors releases electric sports car
May 2 – Tesla Motors is opening its first car store at the launch of the new Tesla Roadster, the newest fully electric vehicle available in America.
The Tesla — a two seater– can travel 0 to 60 miles per hour in just over 3 seconds and over 200 miles on one charge– and has no emissions.
Will your newspaper someday be delivered on e-paper?
Apr. 17 – Long predicted to replace traditional book or newspaper pulp, e-paper is not yet printing money, but tech firms hope its popularity may eventually mimic the real thing.
Japanese companies already use electrophoretic display, or EPD, for everything from watches and mobile phones to e-readers, with limited color, lower power use and freedom from traditional paper the attractions.
