Posts tagged technology

Like many Americans, I dumped my landline phone a long time ago.  I went to Vonage’s VoIP service in 2006, cut my phone bill in half and never really considered the issue since.  

Of course, I found other ways to spend my money.  

• iPhone and its monthly voice/data charge?  <check>
• FIOS super high speed Internet access?  <check>  
• FIOS’s 8,000 channel TV service?  <check>
• Netflix? <check>

And since I’m silly, I kept going:

• AppleTV to watch digitized DVDs? <check>
• Nintendo Wii with added Netflix streaming service? <check>
• Roku box with Netflix and Amazon streaming services? <check>

Oh yes, I can watch TV, movies and video podcasts all in HD right on my TV.  In 10 different ways….execpt the one free way: Broadcast Digital TV (DTV).  You know what?  I never tried that.

So, being the nerd that I am, I made my own DTV antenna for $4.00, plugged it into the back of my totally awesome Sony Bravia 42” 1080P TV and found out that…holy crap….DTV looks fantastic!  I mean really fantastic.  Like, why the hell am I paying money for cable, when it looks this good fantastic.

So then I started to evaluate my choices.  Why am I paying for cable?

• Access to movies….yes
• Access to cable news….not so much
• Access to live sporting events…typically on the networks
• Access to on demand video…yes
• Discovery channel….big yes

There are some yeses there.  Moves, on-demand, Discovery channel.  But I can do the first two via AppleTV and Netflix streaming.  So what I am paying to basically get access to the Discovery Channel?  $93/month!!!!!  I’m sorry, while I like the Discovery Channel, it is not worth $93/month.

So I dumped cable.  Yes I have three kids, yes they love their Dora and Thomas and Super Why….and yes, they can watch all those shows on Netflix streaming.  

We made the big switch over a month ago and we haven’t looked back.  So what do I recommend?  Get a $50 amplified DTV antenna, sign up for the $8/month Netflix account and dump your cable bill.  

Will you make the plunge?

The annual Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference just came to a close, but it is still worth checking out.

For those of you who may not know about TED (like me as of just two days ago), it is a conference intended to bring thought-leaders from different industries together in order to shape new ideas. I watched some of the conference sessions that are available online and I was blown away. There are talks from writers and physicists and tech geniuses and entrepreneurs. The collection is incredible and the type of information TED makes available online is world-class. These videos are worth going through in you “spare” time.

There are many theories about if/when computers will gain consciousness.  While some of these theories are a little too far out, there is some evidence that machines are stepping closer and closer into our world.

Yesterday Google updated its Maps application to include Street View imagery for just about the whole world (I’m exaggerating, but its reach is impressive)!  You can virtually scroll through the real world using 360 degrees of pan/tilt just via your web browser.

The technology and level of human effort is incredible, but it also makes me stop and wonder.  Will a computer program some day use all of this detailed, real world data “against” us?  Google already as another technology in its Picasa web product that enables its servers to identify members of my family, how far off is it to assume Google’s computer farm can one day find my daughter in a crowd in Chicago photographed by Google Maps Street View?

I love this technology, but it also does make you think twice…..

So I have been trying out Google’s new web browser (Google Chrome) today and it really is quite impressive. Here are the highlights:
-slim design
-FAST, FAST, FAST rendering
-application shortcuts to Gmail, reader, etc
-wonderful tabs support

I hate to let go of Firefox, though. I use so many Firefox Add-Ons, that it would be hard to give up.

As reported on Slashdot, there is now a 3D printer that can make copies….of itself!  Computer driven, this machine can birth more machines and more machines all on it’s own.  It just needs food and power.

I have always been excited about advancements in technology, but I have to say, this story kind of creeps me out.

OK.  I’ll confess.  I watch GeekBrief TV.  I am sure some of you probably think I just like to watch a tight shirt and a pretty face, but seriously it is a good video podcast.  Decent tech news, always timely and the two people who make the show are just an ordinary married couple.

Check it out.