Informal Brain

Hybrid Parking Only!

Originally uploaded by chezsmithy

This is Portland at its best. I took this shot at the new Wildlife Reserve area near Sherwood Oregon. Right at the front of the parking lot there are a few spots with these great signs noting Hybrid Vehicle Parking Only. Fantastic!

I noticed this interesting analysis of TV’s cost per hour of Fun today from WalletPop…

We watch a lot of TV, perhaps 90 hours a month (mostly baseball for me) and have about a billion channels on our cable package. Our monthly bill is around $90. The big-ass televsion set us back around $600, and should last four years, I hope, or $10.50. This puts our television f/h at $1.14 per hour.

[From How much does an hour of fun cost you? - WalletPop]

What was interesting is I think the analysis is all off. For example: If the cable package is $90 per month. That is a whopping $1080 per year! If you only watch TV 1-2 hours each night that is 365*2 = 730 Hours. Perhaps conservatively we would say we only watch TV 5 nights out of 7 so 52*5*2=520 hours. $1080 / 520 hours = $2.08 per hour.

Now in the case of our family, I purchased an Apple TV used from the internet. Total cost $198. I buy each show at $1.99, and sometimes pay even less if I buy an entire season which I watch over a month or more of time. Finally, I spend many a night watching a favorite video podcast (TED) or even NBC news which is free.

So, for $1080, I get 542 shows per year. That is more then 1 per night, and I never have to watch commercials. Plus when I choose I can spend just over 4 dollars to get a movie. When you look at it that way, Apple TV is just more cost effective.

The Microsoft Mesh project is ambitious but in my mind also lacking the real desktop sha-bam that we expect from Microsoft.  Where Ray Ozzie delivered an amazing P2P story with the groove platform, Mesh feels like yet another desktop to cloud file synchonization service.

What would have really knocked my socks off would have been a mixed mode web 2.0 synchonization story and a powerful P2P play which would have enabled desktops to work together over adhock wired and wireless networks.  How often are we in a conference room and we are trying to exchange files which might be stored on a web site, but oops we don’t have a connection.  However, a bit of P2P magic over an adhoc P2P network would solve it.  Now that is a Mesh story.

Perhaps, the real play is coming, with a true free Groove collaboration and Mesh integrated vision.  For now, it sounds like just another synchonization service.

George, shh, are you still there?  There is an election going on.

Guitar Hero IV to Feature Other Instruments

Guitar Hero IV to Feature Other Instruments news from 1UP.com

Ok, I want to see the Jazz version with a wireless saxophone.  Look out Bill Clinton, I am going to rock our word in Sax Hero.

I picked up the new Tristan Prettyman album from the iTunes music store this morning.  Normally, this is not my cup of tea musically, but something about the vocals caught my interest.  It might be the subtle combination of a bit of country with a bit of KT Tunstall.  None the less I am enjoying it.

The latest Apple TV update (2.0.2) has been installed on my box for a bit of time now and I must say I am impressed by the level of stability and responsiveness with the new version. Navigating menus and the iTunes movie selection screens is much better then the previous version. The new Flickr favorites feature is great allowing me to quickly see my contact’s favorite photos.

The HD and non HD movie selections continue to grow in the online store. I must admit I have used the apple TV to watch more movies of late then my Netflix service which is collecting dust. I need to make a call quickly if I should even continue it.

Additionally, the new TV content is great. There are lots of shows to watch with the only missing exception being the NBC content. Even today, some shots were fired over the Apple bow by NBC about privacy controls. I suspect it is only a matter of time before NBC comes back.

For now, Apple TV has made its mark in our entertainment ecosystem. I continue to look for great updates from apple, and no DVR is not one I need. I don’t have satellite or cable any longer. Apple TV and the iTunes content fils that void nicely thanks.

Something has gone wrong with this build. The speed comparison between 3.1 and 3.1.1 is night and day. Slow page loads are frequent. Switching to the webkit nightly builds restores fast speed but I suspect the safari team needs to put some immediate attention to this problem.

Hopefully, this isn’t a prelude to apple’s security fix success?

The Hype Machine: hypem.com

• If you are interested in the latest happenings in music from around the internet the hype machine surfaces trends in blog postings about new music. Very good site to discover great new things to listen to.

Muxtape: muxtape.com

• Like the best of 80’s mix tapes except from across the internet. I could spend hours here listening.
• Oh, and best part is it works from your iPhone.