This Week in Photography (TWIP)

In case you didn’t pick up on the latest announcements for TWIP in the Leo Laporte podcasts and you enjoy photography, then I recommend subscribing to both the web site and podcasts feeds. I’ve been listening since the start and it is shaping up to be a rather interesting source of photography information.

Podfitness

© Podfitness

Your personal music collection + a workout program + the voice of a professional trainer = Podfitness. See how it works for more info.

Clever.

Netflix “Watch Instantly” Experience

Introduction

During the course of the weekend I started making use of the Netflix “Watch Instantly” feature which means that I am able to watch video content streamed via the internet.

Technical Requirements

Unfortunately, the tech specs are limited:

• Windows Vista or Windows XP with Service Pack 2.
• Internet Explorer version 6 or higher.
• Windows Media Player version 11.

Since I am a Mac OS user, I ended up using VMFusion to load my Windows XP VM. Had no issues.

Questions & Answers

In case you are a current Netflix member and wondering how the “Watch Instantly” feature works, here are some official answers from Netflix:

• What are the limits?: “Netflix membership plans that come with unlimited DVDs per month come with unlimited instant watching, regardless of the number of discs you may have at home at any given time. Plans with a cap on monthly total discs come with a specific number of instant watching hours per month. Click here to view the full details for your plan.”
• How does is this feature related to my queue?: “Watching instantly and your DVD Queue are unrelated. Even if you have the same title in your DVD Queue, watching that title instantly won’t delete it automatically.”
• How does my internet speed affect the video?: “The speed of your Internet connection can change frequently based on network conditions in your residence and your Internet Service Provider’s system. The faster your internet connection, the better your video quality. Still, we automatically adjust Instant Viewing video quality to give you the best possible image for your connection speed.The faster your internet connection, the better your video quality. Still, we automatically adjust Instant Viewing video quality to give you the best possible image for your connection speed.”

Experience

Not all video in my queue is available for playback but I was happy to see that Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was available (notice the play button next to each disk):

(click to view)

Clicking the play button will launch the player. Depending on whether you have the necesary software installed, you might have to proceed through some software upgrades before viewing the video. If all is good, then you’ll start seeing the Netflix load screen:

(click to view)

Once the movie loads, you can then switch from player to full screen mode. The video stream tries to keep streaming ahead so that you have a sufficient buffer. However, sometimes the movie will pause and you will get something like this:

(click to view)

In my situation, I was the only one using a dedicated network (jacked in directly to the router). I’m sure there are a bunch of performance tweaks that could be made for the hard core user of this service.

Verdict

At times I noticed some choppiness when the camera would pan across the screen. I also switched to a wireless connection and noticed that the video was still good but the load times were longer. At one point, I noticed my connection being so bad that the video was being corrected to stream at a much lower resolution where the video became quite pixelated.

The video quality is much better than Joost but openHulu might prove to be a strong competitor. However, being a home theatre nut, I’ll most like use this to service to sample video before adding to the queue for watching properly on my home theatre system. Even if I hook the laptop up to my home theatre system, I’m getting video and audio quality that still pails in comparison to DVD and even Blu-Ray.

My search for digital video on par or better than Blu-Ray quality still continues.

Tags: Netflix

Denver Open Media

I recently learned about the Denver Open Media group while chatting with Matthew Moore and via Tony’s comment on Refresh Denver web site. What is interesting about Denver Open Media is that they are allowing the general public to generate media content using their own equipment or equipment provided by Denver Open Media. Here is a direct quote from the Denver Open Media web site that explains better:

“Denver’s New Public Access TV Station, Denver Open Media is a revolutionary new approach to TV. Employing a participatory user-driven model in every aspect of its operation, Denver Open Media is part of the next phase of user-generated media.

YOU use the equipment, YOU create the shows, YOU provide feedback as viewers, and YOUR votes determine the broadcast schedule on Comcast Ch. 56, 57, and 219. Coming soon to your TV screen: YOU!”

As for me, I found the class descriptions to be rather interesing and am considering signing up for the web video workshop as soon as it becomes available.

Online File Storage

The following services might be of interest in case you are looking for an alternative to host and share files (rather than use a web host like GoDaddy):

• Box - Probably the easiest and best designed of the services listed here. You can upload files via your web browser or use e-mail. Check out Robert Scoble’s interview with Aaron Levie as he demos some of Box’s features.
• MediaFire - A free service that allows decent customization and organization of files. Has a 100MB restriction on files and uses your web browser to manage files. If you need a free, quick and dirty solution this is the place to go.
• Strongspace - Unlike the rest listed here, this service focuses on keeping your files secure (including the uploading and downloading of files). Files can be managed via your web browser or by using secure FTP clients. This service has no free account plans.
• DropSend - Uses e-mail as the primary means of storing files. Another quick and dirty solution but not as flexible as MediaFire.

Check out these 20 free online storage solutions as well.

OpenDNS Experiences

I was reading or listening to a podcast (can’t remember now) a while back about OpenDNS and thought I’d give it a try. The idea behind OpenDNS is that it claims to provide faster internet connectivity, increased reliability, and protect against fraudulent sites. All of this done for free. You simply need to change your primary and secondary DNS settings to the following IP addresses:

• DNS 1: 208.67.222.222
• DNS 2: 208.67.220.220

I ended up configuring my router so that all computers on the network would benefit from the OpenDNS settings. While I didn’t do any formal speed tests, web sites did seem to load faster. Ultimately, I ended up setting my router back to it’s default settings. Here’s are some reasons why:

1. I found it annoying when OpenDNS would try to help me out with misspelled URLs.
2. I have concerns about privacy since all my web traffic is routed through OpenDNS.
3. OpenDNS does not play well with Virtual Private Networks (VPN). You can jump through hoops to get this to work, however.

This might be a nice upgrade for the non-tech crowd and general web surfers but not for me. If you search the web for other articles on OpenDNS, you’ll find that the general opinion seems to be a mixed bag.

Discover Card Holiday Mall Promotion

© Discover Card

Should you be doing a little holiday shopping this season and have a Discover Card in hand, you might think about earning yourself a little money back on their Holiday Mall Promotion. You can find the details below by following the link but here are some quick highlights:

• Get a $20 gift card for every $200 spent at select malls.
• Valid from 2007-11-1 to 2007-12-31.
• Original receipts must be kept.
• Only a max of 5 gift cards can be issued per account.

These gift cards work just like credit cards and can be used anywhere that Discover Card is accepted. You can also use this promotion in conjunction with the current %5 cashback shopping bonus. This promotion seems to happen every year, so keep it mind for future use too.

Tags: Discover Card

FrontRange Express (FREX)

Started using the FREX to commute into the Denver area and have to say this is a really great service. While it can take around an hour to an hour and a half each direction, this time difference is easily put to good use due to the WiFi service (using cellular technology). Interestingly, I can keep a solid network connection (VPN included) without interruption the entire trip.

From the FREX, I make a short connection via the RTD lightrail system and hoof it the rest of the way in.

I still get better price per mile on the motorcycle but, of course, I can’t work at the same time or ride through the snow.

LinkedOut

In an effort to reduce some of the clutter in my life, I have decided to drop my service with LinkedIn. Here are a few reasons why (listed in no particular order):

1. Outdated Information - I’ve noticed that several of my contacts haven’t updated their information in years. To be fair, this isn’t a problem specific to LinkedIn but a common problem with any service that requires upkeep from its clientele. Even a few of the points below suffer this same fate.
2. Injudicious Connections - I’ve always treated my LinkedIn connections with some discretion. My criteria has been that one must be passionate, exhibit excellent workmanship, trustworthy, dependable, etc. All the qualities that I would want should I want to hire someone or have them represent me. I try to adhere to these values as well since I, in turn, am part of someone else’s network of connections. Not everyone does this and in some cases I wonder if people just add connections to seem important.
3. Unwanted Invites - This is along the same vein as Injudicious Connections, mentioned above, where I receive invites from people who I’ve never met or barely corresponded with. Then are those cases where I’ve met people that are a ton of fun to hang out with, yet their professional behavior is less than desirable. Professional connections should be just that: profession.
4. Time Consuming Job Searches - Supposedly, one of the features of LinkedIn, is to find job opportunities but it is a bit more personal if you an e-mail directly rather than via LinkedIn. The other issue is that when you want to keep tabs on jobs, you can’t generate a syndicated feed. I’m afraid that I don’t have time to keep logging into my LinkedIn account to check job updates. I’d rather have my feed reader do all the work and there are plenty of services that can make that happen: Google, Authentic Jobs, Simply Hired, Monster, LifeHacker, and Joel on Software to name a few.
5. Lack of Syndication - It would be nice if benefits of LinkedIn were less manual. It would be far more interesting if I could sync contact information with my address book without always having to sign into the service and then copy and paste the data. This would also allow me to be more mobile with my updated contact information should I be traveling with my laptop or phone and when I don’t have an internet connection.

For me, my address book, which is synced between my laptop and my phone, is far more valuable. Not only that but it is immediate and local. No internet connection required. Granted, my address book requires upkeep just like LinkedIn but it easier to use and requires fewer levels of complexity.

Ta-Da List

One critical application that is missing from the iPhone is a proper to do list. Fortunately, there are a bunch of web applications that somewhat solve this issue. The one I have been using recently is Ta-Da List provided by 37 Signals. The service is free and easy to setup. Here are a couple screen shots of the web application running within my Firefox browser:

(click to view)

The first image is a view of all my lists and the second image is a view of my buy list. The interface changes slightly when viewed via the Safari web browser on my iPhone:

(click to view)

The first image is a view of all my lists, the second image is a view of my buy list, and the third image is a view of buy list item being edited. As you can see the interface changes slightly but not by much. The design is simple and the features are basic but that is all I am shooting for at the moment.

While the Ta-Da List web application is not optimal it will get me by until more interesting apps come along like Mail 3.0 and OmniFocus.

Tip: A web application is essentially worthless when you loose internet connectivity. I recommend loading up information from each of your favorite web applications on a separate Safari page on your iPhone before leaving an area where you have connectivity. Later you can view the information from cache (memory) without needing an internet connection.